training 4.21.2012

I gorged yesterday -- tons of calories, and I felt good about it.  Totally blew my diet programming and really don't care.  Figured I might feel it today in the rumpus room, for better or worse.  Didn't really.

To add to that, I actually ate breakfast this morning -- about a dozen eggs and a bowl of the boy's cereal.  I was hungry, oddly enough.  I'll get back to the CBL tomorrow, and I'll do a bunch of shopping and cooking to support it.  As I was telling Strongman Bob, I've put together this frankensteinian combo of modified warrior/carb backloading/bulletproof diet that I'm pretty excited about.  Or at least I will be once it starts tomorrow -- yesterday there was Pizza Port pizza to be had, along with an incredible IPA that was one of the best I've had in months.  I will post info about the diet when I get it sorted tomorrow.

My wife is out of town on business as of oh-dark-thirty this morning, so I'm on my own for the diet figuring.  That's probably best.  I'm curious about what gluten-free will mean for me, because I've started noticing things when I eat certain foods -- interested to see if any of that changes, or if it's just in my head.

My days got out of sequence this week (Tuesdays are sometimes tough to train on, and this week was one of those weeks), so I entered the room thinking I might combine two days and drop a couple of the assistance movements.  I didn't.  Sorry, Mike. 

I did two days in one session by taking no more than about 90 seconds between sets.  I climbed to work weights very quickly and kept the complete session to about 75 minutes.  Sucked wind the whole time, which wasn't pretty, I admit.

Started with a lot of dynamic work and a little bar work.  Wore elbow sleeves and knee sleeves, used a belt for the heaviest lower body sets, and Spud velcro wrist wraps.

Drank half a Spike before going in.  Man, I love that stuff.  Also downed the two TN products, so I had the B-Ala tingle going.  Love that too -- it tells me the time has come.

Pin press -5cm x4@8.5 + -5% fatigue: 230kg  not great, not bad; one set to fatigue
Pin press @chest x4@8.5 + -5%: 200kg, sucked; last work set and fatigue set were a grind
Push press x8@9 + -5%: 150kg, really hard; one fatigue set that was more like RPE=10
DL x3@8 + -5%: 290kg; may have had more, but had started thinking.  Also, didn't add my Spud DL belt until about 250kg, so I started having some low-back spasms; one fatigue set; all in all, pretty strong

SSB squat x4@8.5 + -5%: 310kg on the bar, one fatigue set; very strong -- felt unburstable -- weight just kept going up; last work set was a RPE=9; spasms abated after the weight got heavy
Good morning x6@9 + -5%: toast at this point, crapped at 150kg on SSB with very strict form; fatigue set was a drive-by -- not serious, as I was pretty well done at this point

Not ideal, but a good result.  Squat is improving, DL is progressing at a snail's pace, and bench is pretty well stagnant for the moment. 

Some of my shoulder trouble from throwing and general full-ROM paranoia are contributing to my benching issues.  I might work with Mike on some full-range lighter DB work until more confidence arrives.  My top half is very solid -- triceps are as strong as ever, but I'm not handling heavy weights well despite a great setup and consistent tightness.  I need to find a way to work on bottom-half without worrying about the shoulders and elbows.  Ideas are welcome.

Anyway, enough of a novel for today.  Thanks for checking in.