Training 7-26-14: Deadlifts

Quickie session today; Hit the gym before a massive road trip. Had shows in Kalamazoo and Thompsonville, which ended up being about 550 miles of driving. Monday night I head out to Purdue for the International Juggling Festival. Found an anytime fitness about 15 minutes from Purdue university, so I'll be able to keep up training next week!

Deadlits:
225 x 1 x 5
315 x 1 x 5
415 x 4 x 3

Hyperextensions
BW x 1 x 50

Training 7-23: Bench + Chins

Was supposed to lift yesterday, but I was completely exhausted when I got home from practice. Matt and I had finished working on the Acro syllabus so at least I had been active that day. Speaking of Matt, he put us over the $400 mark last night with the fundraiser! Thank you everyone who has been donating; pass the word along, let's keep this momentum up!

http://www.youcaring.com/tomseph

So I just pushed yesterday's workout to today. I think I've got a blog post in the works -- percolating up in the 'ol noggin -- about training around life. How to train when you've got an insane schedule/are wiped out/sick etc.

Anyhoo, great workout today. Brought the Fat Gripz out for today's workout. These little fellas wrap-around the barbell to make the effective diameter larger. In turn, this works your grip much more than a normal barbell would. They're pretty cool. Added an extra set to both the 225# and 185# working sets. Next week I might up the weight, we'll see. I'm also at IJA next week, so I'll have to find a gym out near Purdue. 

I also dug up my dip/pull-up belt. I figure that if I'm doing high sets of sub-maximal chin-ups on Tuesday, the least I can do is add a little weight to them as I go. Started with 10# today, I'll slowly work my way up; I'm in no rush. Also, I had the bright idea of using the chain to wrap around my feet and do weighted hanging-leg-raises, which were pretty damn awesome. Definitely going to keep those in the mix. 

My legs were quite sore/stiff today, so I changed up my support work to get some blood pumping through them. Speaking of blog posts in the work, I can see a few other topics down the pipeline:

• Programming the deadlift
• Programming non-main movements
• Programming accessory work
• Prehab/Rehab
• Recovery

Warmup

1. Arm-spins

listed as weight x sets x reps

Main Movement Bench 45 x 1 x 10 135 x 1 x 6 185 x 1 x 6 225 x 4 x 4 185 x 5 x 6 Total volume: 11520 LBS	Support Work Adductor Calves Backbend 125 x 1 x 100 315 x 5 x 15 BW x 4 x 6
Movement Supplement Chin-ups Handstands BW x 5 x 1 10 x 4 x 9 30s x 4	Ab Work Hanging Leg Raise 10 x 4 x 12

Yoga / Stretching Cool Down

Training 7-21-14: Squats.

Warmup

1. Bent-knee Iron Cross x 5-10 each side
2. Cat-Cow Pose x 10-20
3. Roll-overs into V-sits x 10
4. Rocking Frog Stretch x 10
5. Fire Hydrant Circles x 5-8 fwd/bwd/up+down
6. Mountain Climbers x 10 each leg
7. Cossack Squats x 5-10 each side
8. Squat to Stand x 10
9. Twisted Squat-to-Stand x 10 each leg

(weight x reps x sets)

Increased a rep on my 405s, added an extra set of paused squats as well as upright rows. All this at 11pm, so I call the day a definite win in my book. I hate training my squat late at night, but sometimes the day is so busy it has to happen. At least I belong to a 24 hour gym!

Main Movement Squats (low-bar) 45 x 10 135 x 5 225 x 5 275 x 5 315 x 4 365 x 3 405 x 3 365 x 3 365 x 3	Support Work Machine-Row Rope Pushdown Curl Upright Row Hyperextensions 130 x 4 x 8 50 x 4 x 20 45 x 1 x 40 25 x 2 x 40 25 x 3 x 20 1 x 50
Movement Supplement Paused Squat (high bar) Leg Press 255 x 5 x 3 335 x 4 x 10	Ab Work Cable Crunch 95 x 4 x 20

Yoga + Stretching Cool Down

Light stretching at home; it was already 12:30 by the time I left the gym so i didn't feel like being there too late. 

Straddles > Full Straddle > Fwd Bend
Straddles against the wall
Bicep planche stretch
Pec Stretches against a door frame

Butterfly > Frog

Bridges

Ankle to Knee > Pigeon.

Training 7-15-14: Bench!

Warmup

1. Arm-spins
2. Band dislocations

(not much of a warmup as I came straight from troupe practice and was pretty well warmed up)

Main Movement Bench 45 x 10 135 x 5 185 x 6 225 x 4 225 x 4 225 x 4 185 x 6 185 x 6 185 x 6 185 x 6	Support Work Adductor Calves Backbend 1 x 100 4 x 12 4 x 6
Movement Supplement Chin-ups Handstands 5 x 6, 3 x 4 30s x 4	Ab Work Hanging Leg Raise 4 x 12

Yoga / Stretching Cool Down

• Fully-stretched arm against wall
• 1/2-bent arm against wall

Road to Relentless: Programming My Bench Press

Please help donate to my Relentless Fundraiser!

In the sport of power-lifting there are three competitive lifts: the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift. Over the past few years I've found that I could pretty much do anything and my squat and deadlift would get stronger. Part of this, I think is because they're movements that utilize such gigantic muscles. Look at the size of your quads compared to your triceps. There's simple more muscle to move more weight. The bench press, however, has been a tricky fella for me.

A short history of my programming for the bench:

• Starting Strength. 3 sets of 5 reps.
  A linear progression program, where you increase the weight every day you lift.
• Westside variation: two days of benching: 
• • "Max effort day" working up to  1 set of 3-5 reps.
  •  "Repetition effort day" - 3 sets of as many reps as possible.
• Smolov Jr. A Russian program where you move from 6 sets of 6 to 10 sets of 3, increasing the weight each week.
• Two-a-Day, once a week.
• • Morning: Heavy bench, Several sets of 3 reps
  • Evening: Light-to-Mid weight incline bench
• Strong-15
• • 5-4-3-2-1-1-1 Over warm-ups, dropping back for 3-5 sets of 5
• Current-Era
• • 3 x 3 at 80-85% of my 1 rep max, 5 x 5 at 65-70% of my 1 rep max.

AN ASIDE

Are you keeping a gym log? If you're not, you should start keeping a gym log. For the vast majority of the population, it doesn't really matter what you do, so long as you are consistent in doing something. Keeping a gym log will, in no particular order:

• Keep you on task. Even if you don't have your workouts pre-programmed, simply writing them down as you go will help you to stay focused.
• Keep you honest. You'll be able to see exactly what you have done. No more relying on faulty memory
• Keep you motivated. By seeing the progress you've made you'll stay more motivated. Or, if you're not making any progress, you'll be better equipped to figure out why.
• Gives you something to show off. To yourself, to others. It doesn't matter. Your fitness is something to be proud of

I used to use those Compsition Books. A notebook can be fantastic, as with a pen and paper you're not constrained to any style of notes. But I found I'd end up tossing them around a bit and they were getting kind of ratty. Plus I didn't like having to have a pen or pencil with me. Today I'm using my phone to keep notes. My favorite app for this is Fitnotes (android).

IF YOU'RE NOT KEEPING A GYM LOG, DO IT.

You'll be stronger for it, I promise.

As I've reviewed my bench pressing through the years, a few things have stood out:

1. The most progress I've ever made on my bench press has been when it was programmed with Smolov Jr., a system characterized by MASSIVE volume. 
2. Perhaps more than any other lift, my bench is STRONGLY correlated with consistency. Any time I've taken time off from regular lifting, the bench press has regressed more than any other lift. I've come back from a month and a half off only to squat 350+ on my first day back. Took two weeks off from benching and my endurance and poundage decreased dramatically. 
3. The muscles involved in benching (triceps, pectorals, shoulders) recover quite a bit faster than those involved in the squat and deadlift. 
4. Heavy singles and doubles don't seem to progress my bench like they do squats and deads
5. Either most assistance work (a massive blog post in and of itself, I think) doesn't carry-over well to the bench press -- or -- I'm doing my assistance work wrong. 

As I mentioned yesterday, I feel that there's a gradient between volume and intensity with the lifts:

INTENSITY Volume	Intensity Volume	intensity VOLUME
Deadlift	Squat	Bench

Now, I could program Smolov again if I wanted to see some massive gains in my bench (50# last time), but I don't think I will. Perhaps if I were only concerned about increasing my bench press, because the kind of intensity and volume characterized by these programs will tax your ability to recover like no other. And make no mistake, your ability to recover is what gets you strong. It needs to be exercised just like any other muscle, and it's quite possible to over-do it.

Please help donate to my Relentless Fundraiser!

Lately I've come to understand recovery and preparation for a meet like this: you build a broad base for recover through volume. Keep the intensities reasonable: 70-85%, pump up the volume and you'll build your strength and recover base. When meet time comes around you start tapering off the volume and bump up the intensity. Now you're no longer doing the volume you used to. Instead you're fine tuning your strength and technique, using that ability to recover you just built up to push you into prime shape.

Smolov is notorious for having unsustainable gains, something I certainly noticed when I ran the program. Were I to run it again I would almost certainly see a drop off (or at least a stagnation) of my squat and deadlifts. Instead I will take advantage of the recover rate of the lift to run it at least twice a week. I was doing one day bench, one day incline until last week when I switched both to bench. I felt a noticeable increase in bar-speed and was able to add another few reps in by just making that single switch.  My lifting schedule now:

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sa	Sun
Exercise	Squat	Bench	Recovery	Bench	Deadlift	Recovery	Rest

I'll be keeping with the 5x5 + 3x3 combination. Combined with the twice-a-week it provides a good amount of volume while keeping the weights heavy. While I think it's important to not work at your one-rep max so you can recover better, it's equally as important to stay used to heavy weights. I'll progress by moving my 3 x 3 weight to 5 x 5, and my 5 x 5 weight to 8 x 8 . When I've arrived there, I'll increase the weights. This is called a double progression, and it might look something like this:

Week	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Lift	185 x 5 x 5 225 x 3 x 3	185 x 6 x 6 225 x 4 x 2 225 x 3 x 2	185 x 7 x 7 225 x 4 x 4	185 x 8 x 8 225 x 5 x 4	185 x 8 x 8 225 x 5 x 5	225 x 5 x 5 265 x 3 x 1 265 x 2 x 2	225 x 6 x 6 265 x 3 x 3

and so on and so forth. Increase the rep x set goals, then increase the weight. Every once in a while, on a day I'm feeling +10%, I'll probably through in a set of as many reps as possible at 135 or 185.

Reading + Watching, Week of 7-14-14

There are a variety of forums I visit as well as sites I subscribe to. Lots of stuff to look through. Each week I'll be posting some of the articles and videos that have caught my eye.

GZCL Method, Simplified
Not a program so much as a methodology. A way to go about making your own programs. Similar to what I've been playing around with for my own training.

How much protein do you really need?
Pretty self explanatory. Paul Carter takes a look at several studies. 0.8 to 1.0 grams per lb of bodyweight.

Eric Cressey explains the ab roller

SPEED KILLS: 2X THE INTENDED BAR SPEED YIELDS ~2X THE BENCH PRESS GAINS.
Greg Nuckols looks at a few studies showing that a faster bar speed is the path to a bigger strength gain.

Training 7-14-2014: Squats!

Warmup

1. Bent-knee Iron Cross x 5-10 each side
2. Cat-Cow Pose x 10-20
3. Roll-overs into V-sits x 10
4. Rocking Frog Stretch x 10
5. Fire Hydrant Circles x 5-8 fwd/bwd/up+down
6. Mountain Climbers x 10 each leg
7. Cossack Squats x 5-10 each side
8. Squat to Stand x 10
9. Twisted Squat-to-Stand x 10 each leg

(weight x reps x sets)

Main Movement Squats (low-bar) 45 x 10 135 x 5 225 x 5 275 x 5 315 x 4 365 x 3 405 x 2 365 x 3 365 x 3	Support Work Machine-Row Rope Pushdown Curl Hyperextensions 130 x 4 x 8 50 x 4 x 20 45 x 3 x 40 1 x 50
Movement Supplement Paused Squat Leg Press 255 x 5 x 2 315 x 4 x 10	Ab Work Cable Crunch 95 x 5 x 20

Yoga + Stretching Cool Down

Mountain > ½ Forward Bend > Full Forward Bend

Mountain > Side + Backbends > ½ Forward Bend > Full Forward Bend

Mountain > uDog > dDog > Crescent > Warriors > Triangle > revTriangle

dDog > Grounded Lunge (+ variations) >

½ Straddles > Full Straddle > Fwd Bend

Butterfly > Frog

Wheel

Ankle to Knee or Pigeon.

Corpse.

Road to Relentless - Programming the Squat

Please help donate to my Relentless Fundraiser!

It's about four-months out to the Relentless Detroit meet. Time to get extra-serious about my training. For many, Monday is traditionally "bench day"... for me, I like to squat on Mondays. My reasoning for this is one of recovery. After a weekend exempt from lifting, I'm primed and ready to go come Monday. 

When we talk about lifting, you'll often hear words like intensity, density, and volume thrown around. Intensity is how heavy you're lifting on any given set. The pure poundage on the bar. Density refers to the amount of recovery time; how much lifting you're fitting into a given time period. Less time between sets means a higher density. Volume refers to the over-all amount of lifting performed, sets times reps.

Squats tend to be the most taxing for me because of the combination of intensity and volume. Deadlifts may be higher intensity, but by their very nature they have a lower volume. My grip gives out before my legs and back. With the squat, however, I tend to like a nice middle-ground for volume. Nine to fifteen reps total in my workings sets. Lately, a typical workout may go something like this (weight x reps x sets):

• 45# x 10 x 1
• 135# x 10 x 1
• 225# x 5 x 1
• 315# x 5 x 1
• 405# x 2-3 x 3

Earlier this year I took a lifting seminar with Dan Green, and I really liked what he said regarding the warm-up. He talked about how for any sport - soccer, baseball, etc -- you'd be doing all sorts of drills to hone in on basic skills. What about power-lifting then? Make the warm-up your drill. Focus on technique with your warm-ups, don't just rush to get through them. At a lighter weight you have the luxury of awareness. You can pay attention to all the little things, drilling them in so that when you go heavier it has become muscle memory. 

As an aside, one of the other major takeaways I had from the seminar was his axiom of training: whatever you do, don't hurt yourself.

For quite some time I have believed that warming-up in the rack is all the warm-up you need. That's often true, but sometimes your body takes a beating. Sometimes it needs a little more TLC. And, if I must be honest, sometimes I just want to get straight to squatting. My local gym has only one rack, so when I see it open I want to jump in there and get work done. On the one hand, I don't want to spend half an hour on warm-ups and mobility. On the other hand, it wouldn't hurt to make sure that I'm safe. Based upon Defranco's Agile-11:

Soft-Tissue Work (semi-optional) Roll IT Band:10-15 passes Roll Adductors:10-15 passes SMR Glutes (lax ball):30sec. - 2min. Movements Bent-knee Iron Cross x 5-10 each side Cat-Cow Pose x 10-20 Roll-overs into V-sits x 10 Rocking Frog Stretch x 10 Fire Hydrant Circles x 5-8 fwd/bwd/up+down Mountain Climbers x 10 each leg Cossack Squats x 5-10 each side Seated Piriformis Stretch x 20-30sec. each side Rear-foot-elevated Hip Flexor Stretch x 5-10 reps (3sec. hold) each side Squat to Stand

x 10

Twisted Squat-to-Stand x 10 each leg

I also go back and forth with programming my warm-ups squats. It could go something like this:

• 45# x 10
• 135# x 5
• 185# x 5
• 225# x 5
• 275# x 5
• 315# x 3
• 365# x 3

The trick is to not fatigue yourself before the working sets. No sense wearing yourself out before you even get to the heavy stuff. Paul Carter uses a system like this in his Strong-15 cycle:

• 45# x 10
• 135# 5-10
• 203# x 5
• 235# x 4
• 275# x 3
• 304# x 2
• 356# x 1
• 365# x 1
• 377# x 1
• Working set(s) (paused squats, 303# x 3)

I love his idea of the over warm-up. A heavier weight than you'll use for your working sets, to prime you for the work to be done. He also is a strong believer that the gym is for building strength, not demonstrating it. One-rep maxes, while they have their place in a peaking cycle, are often used to demonstrate strength. Strength is built in the reps, in the total amount of work done. I had worked up to 405# x 3 x 3, but after taking a month off, 405# x 2 x 2 is the norm... and sometimes (usually late at night) even that is a struggle. Time to back off, leaving a bit more room for recovery.  My new plan for the next little while, somewhat of a merger of the two styles. I love sticking to 45# and 25# for my sets, as it makes loading/unloading easier. Plus it looks cool:

• 45# x 10
• 135# x 8
• 225# x 5
• 275# x 5
• 315# x 4
• 365# x 3
• 405# x 2

As far as working sets go, I'm of a few minds. In his book base building, Paul Carter describes three phases of the Barbell Squat. I have an all-time PR of 450#, with a daily training max of 405# x 3... so using 425# as my max:

1. 315#x1, 255#x5x5 in 15 minutes or less
2. 340# x 1, 315# x 3 x 3, 255# x 5 x 5 in 20 min or less
3. 340# x 1, 360# x 1, 382# x 1, 255# x 8 x 5 in 30 min or less

I struggle here, as I know that work (volume x intensity) builds strength, and volume trains recovery... yet my ego makes it hard for me to let go of training >400. In the past I've worked with heavy singles before and I'm not convinced they do as much for me as heavy doubles and triples.

I'm going to try using my warm-up as prescribe today, then backing off to 365# or 385#, and doing 3 x 3 there. Maybe I'll even drop down to 275 for a 3 x 5 or 5 x 5 as well; that will get a lot of volume in.