Monday, 29 December 2014

Bench Dec 28

Bench just feels better and better every time.

Warmups up to 225

6 @ 245
5 @ 255
4 @ 265
X2

Fast and clean. There are two guys that have started benching every sunday around the same time Brandon and I do and every time I have the same internal conflict. They both lower the bar about 4 inches down and "spot" each other by lifting half the bar. They go up to 225 and from how shaky they are unracking it i think they might die if they went too low and actually tried to bench for real. I want to say something but I have too little time to train as it is without having to babysit ego-drunk idiots and there's a 99% chance they wouldn't listen anyway.

Dips

Sets of 10 - bw, +10, +25, +50, +55

Rear Laterals up to 30lbs for 10

Straight arm pulldowns - 3 x 10

Close grip pulldowns with squeeze - 3 x 10

Military Press Dec 23

Warmups up to 125

6 @ 130
5 @ 135
4 @ 140
X2

Felt fine, though i'm beginning to notice that even though the weight is heavier, 135 feels smoother and easier on my joints. The balance of the 45lb plates must help. Maybe i'll try using 35lb plates for 115 and above next time.

Dips superset with Rear Laterals

3 x 20 each movement, 15lb dbs for laterals. I didn't have time to do my normal assistance so i just burned it out.

Box Squats Dec 22

Got some catching up to do. This was Day 1 of cycle 2 using the same numbers as cycle 1. Fortunately, things are already looking up. Day 1 was much better than last time. Day 2 is tomorrow and the 6/5/4 day is the hardest day so that will be the real test.

Warmups up to 295

7 @ 315
5 @ 335
3 @ 355
X2

Leg Press

Sets of 10 with slow negatives

90, 180, 270, 360, 450, 540, 630, 720

Monday, 22 December 2014

Bench Dec 21

Bench

7 @ 230
5 @ 245
3 @ 260
X2

Dips

5 x 10 @ bw, +10, +25, +50, +50

DB Rear Lateral Raises

3 x 10 @ 20, 30, 40
1 x 10 with a pause at the top @ 15

Close Grip Rows

Sets of 10 up to the stack (250)

Saturday, 20 December 2014

Dec 18 Military Press

Dropped the ball on workout logging again but I'm back!

Military Press

Warm-ups up to 115

7 @ 120
5 @ 130
3 @ 140
7 @ 125
5 @ 130
3 @ 140

The second 7 was an accident. I put the 5s on instead of the 2.5s. Still felt easy.

Dips

Bw, +10, +25, +45, +50

These are still moving nicely. I'm going to keep pushing them on both upper body days and see how far I can take them.

Lateral Raises - sets of 10 up to 40's
Standing EZ bar extensions with deep stretch and pause - 3 x 10 @ 20, 40, 60
Hammer Curls - up to 10 with 50's

Thursday, 4 December 2014

Deadlifts Dec 4

Kinda sucked, partly cause of impending sickness and an awful sleep but mainly cause i've apparently lost my chalk bag. My hands got sweaty and the bar nearly slipped out of my right hand a couple of times. This wouldn't have been so bad if the bar had a chalk layer already but... Gold's. The weight is pretty easy though so it's in the books.

Warm-ups up to 335

4 @ 365
3 @ 390
2 @ 410
X2

12 @ 290

Ab Rollouts 3 x 10

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

Military Press Dec 3

Wasn't sure about training today. The plan was to do it in the morning, but I slept in. Then I had to teach elemental jiu-jitsu, and drive all the way across the city to run an errand for my wife. Thankfully I had my pre-workout on me so after a quick stop for something to mix it in and I dragged my ass to the gym.

MP

6 @ 125
5 @ 130
4 @ 135

X2

Weighted Dips - shoulder felt pretty good and dips have been getting easy so I tried adding some weight.

5 x 10 @ bw, +10, +25, +35, +45

Lateral Raises - sets of 10 up to 40's, then paused sets of 10s and 20s

Straight-across cable curls with a 3 second pause at the bridge of the nose - 3 x 10 @ 20, 40, 60lbs

Box Squats Dec 2

Warm-ups up to 295

315 x 7
335 x 5
355 x 3
X2

Ab rollouts from knees - nose to floor 3 x 10. These are getting easy, time to start working on standing ones

Bench Nov 30

Warm-ups up to 205

7 @ 225
5 @ 240
3 @ 255
X2

Dips 5 x 10
Close grip rows - sets of 6 up to 230, then a dropset starting at 250 x 10 and going all the way back down to 30
Face pulls - 3 x 20 @ 30

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Military Press Nov 26th

Day 4, at least for this movement worked out beautifully. It was much easier than the first time, which is the idea. I'm tempted to increase the training max by 10 instead of 5 for next cycle, but i'm not sure it's a good idea. I'd have to absolutely destroy the last two sessions of the cycle to consider it.

MP

7 @ 120
5 @ 125
3 @ 135
X2

Dips 5 x 10
Rear Delt Cable Flies 4 x 10 @ 30lbs
Front, Side, Rear Raises 2 x 60 (20 of each) @ 10s, 15s
DeFranco 21's @ 5s 10s 15s 20s and 25s

Monday, 24 November 2014

Box Squats Nov 24

Sluggish today again. I really think it's cause I ran out of creatine. What I haven't decided is whether i'm going to take it as a sign to stay away from the stuff till I feel better without it, or just buy more.

Box Squats

Warm-ups up to 315

335 x 4
355 x 3
375 x 2
X2

265 x 10 w/o belt

I didn't use knee wraps for the sets with 335 and if those were feeling more solid i would've done the triples at 355 completely raw too but honestly I felt better doing the sets of 6 with 335 last week than I did on the 4's today so I decided to wrap for them for 355 and play it safe. I'm always going to do the back-off set for these without a belt. It's light enough weight that I can safely use it to build up trunk stability after i'm done the heavy stuff.

3 x 10 ab rollouts from the knees - touching nose to floor each rep


Bench Nov 23

Didn't feel great today. I think it might be the lack of creatine. Thankfully I don't program myself into a corner where I can't even hit my numbers without even one success factor, but it's worth taking the stuff if it means hitting your numbers fast and snappy instead of just getting through them.

4 @ 240
3 @ 255
2 @ 270
X2

18 @ 190

Nothing bad or good to say about the sets. They just happened.

Dips - 3 x 10 These felt awful. The shoulder was a bit angry after the back-off set. Next time I'll leave more reps in the tank, getting a few extra on the end of the back-off set isn't worth not being able to do a very important assistance movement.

Rear Delt Raises - meh. These are hit and miss for me. I think i'll start switching them off every other week with face pulls.

Military press nov 19

Great day. I feel like I've worked back to the overhead pressing mobility I had when I was much smaller, which has made my shoulders feel better aside from the current injury. Upper back work feels more solid now too, partly due to the heavier slightly bent over lateral raises i've been working in for assistance.

Military Press

Warm-ups up to 115

4 @ 125
3 @ 135
2 @ 140
X2

12 @ 100

Both pyramids felt very solid. It was my first day 3 and after finishing my second time through the pyramid I felt like I wanted to do something to top up the volume. I crunched some numbers and decided that I'd shoot for a set of 10-12 at about 70% of the heaviest weight I'd hit that day. That would make the overall volume comparable to Days 1 and 2. The set went perfectly, did 12 reps with 100lbs before technique started to get a bit sloppy and I was really feeling the injury. I have now built this back-off set (amrap at 70%) onto the end of days 3 and 6 in the program.

Dips 5 x 10

Lateral Raises slightly bent over 3 x 10 @ 35s

Slow EZ bar curls up to 80lbs x 10

Tuesday, 18 November 2014

Box Squats Nov 18 - What a terrible idea this was

I'm not sure what I thought was going to happen when I said to myself "Hey, I missed deads last week so I'll just sneak them in today after work, the evening before I box squat at 8 in the morning." If that weren't bad enough, I also went rock climbing with Steph till 11:30 and didn't finish supper and go to bed till 1. I've deadlifted and squatted on consecutive days before and I remember it being okay if not great, but I think all those times it was consecutive morning sessions, with three meals and a full night's sleep between. Anyway.

Warm-ups up to 315

6 @ 335 - Did it without wraps but posterior chain was fried and knees were shaky.
5 @ 345
4 @ 360
6 @ 335 - wrapped up this time, better
5 @ 345
1 @ 360 - The first rep actually didn't feel too bad but the combination of hunger, tiredness and soreness was getting to me and I was feeling lightheaded. I made an executive decision that I didn't have to prove anything by proceeding with three awful grindy reps. Redemption will have to come later.

Monday, 17 November 2014

Deadlifts Nov 17

Really had to bully myself into this one. I left work around 330 but had to grab a protein bar on the way to the gym cause I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. I was feeling sluggish, my head was hurting from not eating enough and I didn't have my superdrive or creatine with me.

However, i've always believed that if pre-workout supplements are making the difference between hitting your numbers and not, either your training max is too heavy or it's all in your head. I decided to view today as a test to see if either of those were true for me.

Warm-up triples up to 315

Belt

6 @ 365
5 @ 380
4 @ 395

X2

First pyramid was okay, second was rough. The first four at 395 did NOT help to make 365 or 380 feel any lighter the second time through. My grip was fine but I felt like I wasn't getting much low-end torque from my glutes and my back was doing most of the work. I have to do box squats tomorrow morning so I guess that might not end up being a terrible thing. Also I'm supposed to rock climb later tonight. Should be... interesting.

Sunday, 16 November 2014

Bench Nov 16

This was the second 'Day 2' of the program and I was pretty happy with everything except the last rep of the set of five in the first pyramid. It was way out of groove and kind of turned up toward my left shoulder making it super grindy and awful. Still counted, I suppose.

Warm-up triples up to 225

240 x 6
245 x 5
255 x 4

X2

Everything was pretty smooth and fast. The last set of four was a bit hard but that's to be expected after that much volume.

Dips 5 x 10 - These are getting easy, not sure if I'll keep doing 5 sets and start increasing reps or if I'll try an extra set.

Kroc Rows - These bothered my shoulder more than I thought they would so I focused on using less momentum and a bit higher volume to more precisely control the movement.

Sets of 10 per arm @ 30, 40, 50, 60, 80, 100, 120

Strict Lateral Raise/Supinated Curl Combo - Sets of 10 up to 25's

Thursday, 13 November 2014

Military Press Day Nov 13

Today was the first "Day 2" of the new program and it was pretty satisfying. Shoulder didn't act up too much and despite having to do my workout at a different time and gym than I'm used to, I was able to settle in and go to work confidently and efficiently.

Warm-up 5s up to 115lbs

6 @ 125
5 @ 130
4 @ 135

X2

Dips 5 x 10
Side Laterals w/Bent Arms up to 10 @ 45s
Cable Curls - elbows hurt too much, just did a few sets of 20 with super light weight

Monday, 10 November 2014

Beyond BJJ Supplement Spotlight - Gaspari SuperDrive

 
 
Disclaimer: This review is based on my personal experience and when considering any supplements you should carefully read the product information and if necessary consult with a health care professional to decide whether the product is right for you.
 
Pre-workout supplements are an absolutely monstrous business right now, especially with larger companies starting to diversify outside bodybuilding and tap the relatively new combat sports market.
That's all well and good but as always it's important to understand that just because something is marketed and packaged for combat sports doesn't mean it's actually appropriate for the complex demands of those sports.
 
Now, some companies have come up with some good stuff but here's the real question - is there a pre-workout supplement that works for lifting as well as BJJ, for those of us that do both and don't want to drop a couple hundred bucks every month for supplements? Short answer, Yes! In my opinion, anyway.
 
Superdrive has caffeine like most pre-workout supplements but what actually drew me to it was the high dosages of tyrosine and cartinine. Tyrosine is a precursor to epinephrine, norepinephrin and dopamine and the two taken together with caffeine is great for stimulating brain activity and helping maintain focus. My wife has even tried it for studying and found that it made a huge difference, though she did it a bit too close to bedtime. That's what makes it, in my opinion, a great crossover supplement for sports like BJJ with a heavy intellectual component. I've been using it for just over a month, mainly for lifting but also tried it before rolling and noticed a significant difference in productivity for both especially when combined with creatine (another day).
 
Now, here's where I nitpick. There is a pretty heavy hit of caffeine in a scoop of this stuff - about 250mg. That's about the same as two strong cups of coffee or a large energy drink. Recommended limit for an adult is about 400mg daily so it isn't exactly dangerous by itself but it's something to keep in mind if you're looking to take this stuff and also indulge in those other things throughout the day. I would also never take more than one scoop at a time. Even if you're used to caffeine, half a gram of the stuff in one sitting is nuts.
 
The other thing is a bit of a solubility issue. The trick is to take the scoop out of the tin and then shake or tap it into the water as opposed to dumping it. If you dump the whole scoop at once then you might end up with a few nasty clumps at the end. The taste isn't great but who cares. Supplements always taste awful. It's a bit on the pricey side - $60 for 1-2 months supply but it's Gaspari so you know you're getting a solid product with no pixie dusting. Since it's Gaspari, it's also available pretty much anywhere. If you want to try something new, maybe look into it.

Box Squats Nov 10

Today was some serious work. I'm tired from my toes to my armpits.

Triples up to 295

315 x 7
335 x 5
355 x 3 wraps

X2

3 sets ab wheel rollouts with hard squeeze

Sunday, 9 November 2014

Bench Nov 9

This was awesome. I didn't do a ton of accessory work cause I went to wrestling later on but I didn't really need to. I got a great pump just from the benching itself which isn't typically the case.

Warm-up triples up to 205

225 x 7
240 x 5
255 x 3

X2

These all felt great except for the set of five at 240 in the second pyramid. I think my setup was off cause the last rep was really grindy and way out of the groove. I felt better after the last set though cause i absolutely smashed 255 x 3 the second time. It apparently wasn't fatigue. Looking forward to next week.

Dips - 3 x 10
Side Laterals - sets of 10 up to 35s

Friday, 7 November 2014

Deadlifts Nov 6

First time deadlifting since the shoulder injury, and first deadlifting session of the new program so I wasn't sure what to expect. The military press day had gone well but what works for upper body doesn't necessarily translate to the much larger and higher output muscles of the lower body. I'm working with a relatively conservative training max of 455 but this was still a tough day.

7 @ 345
5 @ 365
3 @ 390

X2

Fast, clean but challenging. I got exactly what I wanted out of this.

Ab Wheel Rollouts - Did these from the knees and tried to go slow with a hard squeeze at the end.

Cannot wait to try bench day!

Military Press Wed Nov 5

Okaaaay so first day of the new program. Feeling pretty good, aside from the shoulder but whatever.

Warm-Ups up to 95

7 @ 115
5 @ 125
3 @ 135

X 2

This felt good. Made sure to power up every rep nice and fast and keep my lats super tight so the shoulder didn't hurt as much.

Dips - 5 x 10

I can do dips!!! I was worried about these cause driving from the bottom of the bench hurts and the front delts get stretched out a lot more in a dip than in the bench but for whatever reason dips are manageable which means I'm going to hit them hard in every single upper body workout.

Lateral Raises - 20-20-20s front side and rear - 2 sets with 10s

Tricep Pushdowns - sets of 15 up to 120 I think

Hammer Curls - Sets of 10 up to 50's

New Program in Testing Phase

Part of the process of growing up as a lifter is that you still love a new program, but you understand that for any given program to work you have to give it a fair chance, so you don't do nearly as much jumping around. It has been several months of Patrick Nyman's prilepin-based programming with great results, and I've been slowly but surely gathering data about my training - what I like, what I don't and what the next step will be.

Nyman's program is the sort of training that really seems to click with me. Relatively heavy weight, relatively few reps but more working sets which translated to high volume. I have begun to find however that I'll go into a workout of six triples at a given weight but i'll come out feeling like I could actually have done another six triples if i had two hours to train. My new program is fairly basic pyramid training, based on Prilepin's chart but at the high end, not the low end. It's a six week cycle like the old program, and rotates two days of high volume followed by a heavy day like the old program, but every day has six working sets. The exact percentages and other specifics will be revealed later depending how well this works, though the math minded will be able to figure it out fairly easily from the logs.

Quick Catch Up on Training Sessions

Box squats: completed 6 x 3 @ 350 and 5 x 3 @ 370

Bench Day: Did 3 x 2 @ 265 and 225 x 10

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

Shoulders and Arms Oct 29

I'm still at a loss as to why overhead pressing hurts my shoulder so much less than benching, but I'm not going to argue with a good thing.

Standing strict press

Sets of 5 @ 45, 65, 95, 115, 135

Singles at 145, 155, 165

Tried 175 but it didn't feel right, only got it up a few inches before I decided to bail and rack it. I really wish I could do this off blocks, taking it out of the squat rack and setting up my feet without looking down is annoying.

95 x 15

One-arm barbell shrugs - Interesting movement, suggested for athletes in a Poliquin article.

10 @ 45, 65, 95, 135

Shoulder Raises - 3 x 20 front, side and rear with 10's. Can't go heavier but burning out with lighter weight seems fine.

EZ Curls - sets of 10 up to 90

One arm hammer curls on preacher bench with deep stretch - I find these have been helping quite a bit with my tendonitis - sets of 20 up to 15lbs

Cable Pushdowns

Sets of 6 up to stack (not sure of weight) then a few sets of 20 going down

Heavy Box Squats and Rowing - Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

Very satisfying workout. Admittedly I was a bit worried going in. 390 is the heaviest double I've ever done so I tried to make sure I stayed properly hydrated and fed throughout the day. Had a great breakfast but got busy at work and didn't have anything else until some oatmeal with my pre-workout at about 4pm when I stopped at home. Felt okay when I got to the gym but still a bit hungry. I find it disconcerting to crave food while training.

Triples up to 315
Singles at 335 and 355 - did the 355 single without wraps

Wrapped up

1 x 375
3 x 2 @ 390

These were pretty satisfying, especially with the guy in the squat rack next to me yelling and screaming his way through some sets at 185. He also tied knee wraps around his thighs, not sure what was going on there.

225 x 15 - went for 20 but shoulder wasn't handling the load for that length of time very well.

Concept 2 Rowing - This is not fun right after heavy box squats. I rowed for 15 mins trying to keep the cals/hr above 1100. Lots of light headed, rusty tasting fun that was. Throwing in a lot more conditioning either along with or instead of assistance work since I've made the decision to travel to do at least one major tournament next year.

Bench Oct 26

This workout was admittedly kind of shitty but I have to maintain perspective. I've now built up great bench momentum and been hitting close to 300 for high volume training weights twice in my life, both times sidetracked by injuries. It's easy to mope about the fact that I'm having to take three steps back and a running start again but it definitely won't help and it might hurt.

Triples up to 245

265 x 3 - I was surprised I hit this, wasn't even close last week, but then...

265 x 2 x 2 - if after surprisingly finishing the previous triple I had tried another rep, it probably wouldnt have felt as hard as the second rep of these couple of sets. Awfulness.

225 x 8, 6, 4

This was okay. The shoulder won't be at the level for a while where I can handle weight and volume that challenges the rest of the structures that've been fine the whole time.

Close grip cable rows up to 250 x 6
200 x 15
150 x 20
100 x 20

Wide grip cable rows to chest

Painful but necessary. Didn't keep track of weight on these but it was light.

Tuesday, 21 October 2014

Box Squats Oct 21 - Getting Closer

These were pretty awesome, aside from some slight issues with belt placement. It was riding up and interfering with how I like to hold my air. Nothing serious though.

Triples up to 315

Singles at 335 and 355

Wrapped knees

4 x 3, 1 x 5 at 370

365 was easy last week so as expected these weren't much different. Strong, fast and even felt confident enough to steal two extra reps at the end of my last set. Thinking back to how hard I had to work for my current PR of 390 x 1, it feels pretty awesome to be smashing a set of five after four triples at a weight which (until lifted otherwise) is damn near 95%.

From that statement, you can also probably imagine how I feel about staring down the barrel of my next workout, which will be the aforementioned PR for three doubles, likely without much drama.

Good. Good is the answer.

90 walking lunges

Bench Oct 19 - Not out of the woods yet

I'm definitely happy to be back benching at all, but god is it awful. I've had to abandon my pipe dream of dropping back into the program where I was and instead just start from scratch finding a groove that allows me to work the muscle.

Triples up to 245

Double at 265 - was planning on a triple. It didn't... yeah, just no.

225 x 9
205 x 9
185 x 9

These were wierd. I was able to draw two conclusions - that heavy weight seems to bother my particular injury more than high volume, and that to a certain threshold around 225, the injury becoming a factor is time based.

It seems to take me about the same length of time to bench press for nine reps regardless of the weight, and at that point in time under tension the shoulder gives out. From these findings, it seems that sets of 6-8 between 70-75% will be a good approach to fully re-introducing the shoulder to the wild. Will test this theory next week.

Box squats Friday Oct 17 I think?

Not as consistent with these lately as I'd like and it can be hard to remember which day I did what.

Triples up to 315

Single at 335

6 x 3 @ 350

These were a bit more good morning-ey than I would have liked. Maybe it's because I was tired and a bit hungry which was causing me to mentally check out a bit between sets, but it could also easily be that it was my first time with that much weight on my back without the support of the knee wraps. I still feel my knees by the end of the workout but they are definitely getting more stable.

Some walking lunges and duck walking, short on time so just did it till it hurt.

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

Roll-a-Thon Oct 10 and Box Squats Oct 12

Great workout. Not much else to say. I was going to do these Friday night but I did a roll-a-thon instead. Yes, my first night back after a four month layoff and recovering from a serious shoulder injury was a roll-a-thon. 

Basically it was a gathering of all the different Arashi-Do schools in the area and it was a great opportunity to get on the mats with some people I had never met and many that I had simply missed. All the higher level partners I had were great about keeping the roll solid but staying conscious of the injury. I'm very blessed that way, not many goons in our schools. I did six rounds overall before having to break for four to try to work the shoulder out. I figured at that point that if I needed twenty minutes to feel okay, that it was a good idea to call it a night. It felt so damn good to roll that even though I was inarguably set back a bit, i'm glad I went. Anyway, box squats:

Triples up to 335

Singles at 355, 375

3 x 2 @ 385

The shoulder was bugging me pretty badly but it felt a bit better with the heavier weight since I was keeping the whole body so tight. With lighter weight I was a bit lazier and the shoulder suffered for it. These were nice and clean, looking forward to attacking 6 x 3 @ 350 without wraps on sunday.

Leg press

Sets of 10 @ 90, 180, 270, 360, 450, 540, 630, 720

Walking lunges

2 x 30

Sunday, 5 October 2014

Three months? Seriously?

Okay, so I've seriously slipped on the blogging. I've started a new job selling Fords and BJJ has taken a back seat. Thankfully powerlifting is still doable thanks entirely to the flexibility of kinda throwing it wherever it fits in the schedule.

In sad news, i've got a pretty serious shoulder injury. It's difficult to pinpoint exactly when it happened but I aggrevated it while trying out John Meadows' 6way shoulder raises. Great movement, just wasn't a good idea to push it once the shoulder started feeling tweaky. The next day I could barely lift it and it hasn't gotten a lot better in the three weeks since despite mobility work every day and an ART treatment. I was up to 5 x 3 @ 270 on the bench pretty easy and snappy. Even box squats are difficult now because it's really painful even to set up under the bar, but they're doable so i've been hitting them hard. Today's training was pretty solid:

Warm-up triples up to 335

Single at 355 with wraps

5 x 3 @ 365 with wraps

I expected these to be harder, honestly. On wednesday i did 6 x 3 at 345 without wraps and it felt really strong and fast, knees felt good too but today I can't recall a single rep that felt grindy or slow. I've now hit doubles at 380 and 385 for three sets and it felt very good, looking forward to taking 390 for a ride in four weeks. 400+ box squats for me have been grounds where angels fear to tread but with the momentum i've got going I have no doubt that in 16 weeks i'll be hitting the big four oh oh for three doubles no problem. It's an awesome thought. Just have to stay focused, not skip steps and put in the work.

Sunday, 27 July 2014

Box Squats Thursday July 25

Box Squats

Warm-ups, then 6 x 335lbs, no wraps

Bulgarian Split Squats, 5 x 10 per leg with pause at the bottom. Havent done these in a while and omfg my glutes hurt.

Wednesday, 23 July 2014

Close Grip Bench July 24

Sets of 5 @ 45, 95, 115, 135, 155, 185, 205, 225, 245

Added slingshot. I felt like 255 or even 265 would've been in the bag easy without it if I'd had Brandon for liftoffs and spotting, but I didn't so my red stretchy friend stepped in instead.

Fives @ 265, 275, 295, 305 - 305 was pretty easy still but it was like 10:30 PM and I have to train again early in the morning. 305 was a good place to leave it, some in the tank for next time.

Shoulders Superset

Seated Face Pulls - 30, 50, 70, 80
Lateral Raises - 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s

Box Squats July 21

Triples @ 45, 95, 135, 185, 225, 275

Add  belt

Triples @ 295, 315, 335

Wrapped Knees

Triples @ 355, 365

3 x 2 @ 375

Hamstring Machine Curls

5 sets, hard squeeze at the bottom, not sure about weight

Bench July 19

Triples @ 45, 95, 115, 135, 155, 185, 205, 225, 245, 265

Full paused working sets

3 x 2 @ 275

Tri-Sets - Exactly what it sounds like - pick three exercises of the same muscle group and do them in circuit format. Good god these are rough when you do them right. Short rest intervals, hard squeezes at the bottom and top.

Shoulders
Seated BB Military Press (bottom half of the ROM) - 45, 95, 115, 135 x 10
Seated Cable Face Pulls - 40, 60, 70, 80 x 10
Lateral DB Raises - 10s, 20s, 25s, 30s

Triceps
Standing EZ Bar Overhead Extensions - 30, 50, 80, 100 x 10
Bench Dips - Bodyweight x 4 x 10
Tricep Pushdown Middle60's (I call these middle60s because the movement is the middle 60% of the ROM) - Not sure about the weight, I think I ended around 130

Biceps
Machine Curls - up to 70lbs
DB Hammer Curls to the Chin - 10, 20, 30, 40
EZ Bar Reverse Curl - 40, 50, 60, 70

Saturday, 12 July 2014

Box Squats Friday July 11

Skipped a few days, really have to get back into the habit of doing this right after a workout. Trouble is I hate typing on my phone and I don't have the spare time at work I used to. Anyway I've got some awesome momentum going with box squats.

Triples @ 45, 95, 135, 185, 225, 275

Added belt

Triples @ 295, 315, 335

Wrapped knees

5 x 3 @ 355

Leg Press

Slow sets of 10 @ 90, 180, 270, 360, 450, 540, 630, 720

Tuesday, 1 July 2014

Box Squats July 1

Happy Canada Day! I was surprised with the day off from work so I got to sleep in an extra half hour and take my time having something to eat and timing my assault this morning. As far as the programming goes, today is a high-volume, muscle-building and knee stabilizing day which means no knee wraps. Normally I'm a bit nervous going into these days because when I keep the rest times down they can be killers and I never know how the knees are going to feel, but I've had great momentum with squats lately and I'm coming off a very strong doubles day from before I went camping.

Triples @ 45, 95, 135, 185, 225, 275

Added Belt

Triples @ 295, 315

6 x 3 @ 335

Beltless Back-Off

21 @ 225

This was painful but awesome. Having the bar on my back that long pinched some nerves and I strained some muscles in the back of my neck, but I beat my 225lb PR by one rep.

One-Legged Press with slow tempo

Empty Sled

5 x 10 per leg

Hammer Strength Ab Machine

3 x 15, 2 x 15 per side obliques, another 15 straight on

Box Squats and Bench June 27

I've missed blogging a few workouts but this was a big one. I was going camping for the weekend near Drayton Valley so I wouldn't be in town for my bench day, so I had to double up on primaries. It historically hasn't gone well for me but I felt good that morning.

Box Squats

Triples @ 45, 95, 135, 185, 225, 275

Added Belt

Triples @ 295, 315, 335

Wrapped Knees

Triple @ 355

3 x 2 @ 370

These felt good, much faster and cleaner than the last time I did the weight. 375 and 380 shouldn't feel much different in the coming cycle.

Bench

Triples @ 45, 95, 135, 185, 205, 225, 245, 265

3 x 2 @ 275

Again, Brandon wasn't there so these were touch and go instead of paused. They didn't really make me feel more or less confident about the prospect of doing them with a pause because I was already tired and kind of expecting them to feel crappy as it was. I was pleasantly surprised on that front but ultimately I won't have a measuring stick for 270+ with a full pause until I actually do it.

Thursday, 12 June 2014

Box Squats June 11

Awesomeness! I didn't train at Axxis and Brandon still wasn't around but I killed these box squats.

Triples @ 45, 95, 135, 185, 225, 275

Added belt

Triples @ 295, 315, 335

Added Wraps

Triple @ 355

3 x 2 @ 370

Fast, solid and sharp. Looking forward to trying it with 375 in six weeks.

Leg Press

Sets of 10 @ 90, 180, 270, 360, 450, 540, 630, 720

Heavy Bench June 8

Kinda sucks doing heavy bench only a couple of days after accessory bench. Normally I leave 72 hours between two upper days or two lower days. I recovered pretty well though, might have had something to do with the 16oz of steak my wonderful wife had bbq'd up for me by the time I got home the night before. Brandon was busy so I once again had no spotter, which left me with a bit of a dilemma. I was supposed to do 3 x 2 @ 270 with a relaxed pause just like I did with the 5 x 3 @ 250 last week. Trouble is, I haven't done bench with a full relaxed pause that heavy before, and though I was confident I could pull it off, I knew that might change if I got into a bit of trouble without Brandon. The other side of the dilemma was that 3 x 2 touch and go with 270 would've been way too easy for a heavy day. I've done sets of six with 265. I decided I'd add a couple of sets, focus on speed and see how it went.

Triples @ 45, 95, 115, 135, 155, 185, 205, 225, 245, 265

5 x 2 @ 270

Still felt a bit easy. With a proper rest between I probably could've done five more sets afterward. Hard to believe what a huge difference a full relaxed pause makes.

Pull-ups - 3 x 10 with different grips

Dips - 5 x 10

Tricep Pushdowns and curls, don't remember how many.

Close Grip Bench Friday, June 6 at Axxis

Brandon couldn't make it today but I went back to Axxis to try an accessory upper day. They've got an old Apex bench that I absolutely love. The pad is probably about 12 inches and there's no taper so I can easily fit both shoulderblades on it. Trouble is, I didn't remember what programming was for that day and my phone was dead. I also accidentally locked up my stuff in the womens changeroom (the entrances look identical, the mens one is just a bit past it). I was just lucky that it was empty at the time, or it could've gotten really weird, really fast. Anyway, I ended up going a bit heavier than I normally would, especially without Brandon there to spot me.

Triples @ 45, 95, 115, 135, 155, 185, 205, 225, 245

5 x 3 @ 255

These were touch and go because I wanted a full range of motion but with the emphasis on the triceps. I had a few shaky reps but nothing major. It was a bit weird going heavier on my accessory day for close grip than I did on my last heavy wide grip day, but I have to keep reminding myself that the pause makes a huge difference and that it's an investment for later.

I did lateral raises, dips, pushdowns and curls for accessory work, don't remember sets of rep schemes.

Box Squats Monday, June 2 / Axxis Gym First Impression

Solid training this morning, Brandon and I checked out Axxis Gym for the first time. I'd heard about it from my friend Jay who's a pro strongman and describes it as the last real gym in Edmonton. The owner definitely seems committed to making sure it's as no-bullshit as a profitable gym can be. I like the equipment, too. They have one of the same Icarian cages that we use at Gold's, but two others besides. While we were there we still saw some pretty awful stuff but it wasn't nearly as bad or as widespread as what you see at Gold's. Still, I could have picked a better day to try it out. My program for heavy days ranges between 82% triples and 90% doubles, so it probably would've been a good idea to try the brand new gym on the 82% day. I had to spend a bit of time setting up the cage, placing the plyo box and finding a plate to go on top of it that would make the squats exactly parallel, but the squats themselves went pretty well.

Triples @ 45, 95, 135, 185, 225, 275, 295, 315, 335

5 x 3 @ 350

I was having some issues with the bar placement. At Gold's they have a couple of 32mm powerlifting bars that we use for squats, so I'm used to that bigger diameter. These were good bars weight-wise but they were probably about 28mm so I was having a hard time hitting the groove across my rear delts where I'm really comfortable and confident in maintaining the arch with heavy weight. I ended up doing a couple of squats that looked suspiciously like good mornings, but I figured it out and my last couple of sets were my best ones.

Sunday, 1 June 2014

Bench June 1st

More solid bench work. Last week's 6 x 3 @ 240 felt really easy, and so did my 5 x 3 @ 250 this week so the momentum is still strong with this one. Focusing on a full relaxed pause at the bottom, and an explosive reversal. A relaxed pause with weight that's actually heavy could be potentially disastrous as far as my tendonitis is concerned, so I'm happy to take the ego hit for now. It'll pay dividends down the road when I'm the guy handling triples with the same relaxed pause in the 300's.

Triples @ 45, 95, 115, 135, 155, 185, 205, 225

5 x 3 @ 250

http://youtu.be/dwQ883VOF54

Body Rows on Smith Machine, Feet on Bench

5 x 10 chest to bar and pause

Dips

2 x 20

Segmented Lateral Raises - 10 Lower half ROM, 10 upper half, 10 full

5's, 10's, 15's, 20's

DeFranco 21's - 7 Zottman Curls, 7 Supinated Curls, 7 Hammer Curls in succession

5's, 15's, 25's

Swimming May 31

Drastic improvement tonight in the pool. I feel like I can chalk it up entirely to more of the technique coming back and clicking because as soon as I hit the water I felt different.

600m warm-up - 200 full freestyle, 200m kick only, 200m pull only

10 x 50 @ 1min

Basically this means I start a hard 50m freestyle every minute, on the minute. The faster I go, the more rest I get. It was the standard training format my coaches used. I try not to think too much about the fact that I used to do 50's on 40s intervals and go a lot faster. This is a process.

The first 50 was 32 seconds, the fastest I managed last time but most of the 50's averaged about 34, 35 seconds with the slowest being the last couple at 38 seconds. I noticed the biggest difference in my breathing. Proper breath control in swimming isn't just about managing oxygen and C02 for endurance purposes, it's also about ballast. Manage your air improperly, and your hips sink and wreak havoc on your hydrodynamics.

I'm feeling pretty good about this. I tried doing backstroke and breastroke in my cool down and the technique for those actually came back more readily than freestyle had. I'm afraid to try butterfly. It was my best stroke back in the day, and 200m butterfly was my highest national ranking event so it'll probably be where I see the true extent of my decline. I'll leave that until I've put some more time in. One psychological barrier at a time.

Friday, 30 May 2014

May 30's Steaming Pile of Kettlebell Pressing

So I woke up this morning pretty excited for my workout. The plan was to go to Arashi-Do and do some banded kettlebell pressing using the workout 180. I had a bit of breakfast and Assault at about 8 am, then headed off. Then I realized that I'd brought all my leashes and chains to the store when Brandon and I had meant to bring them to his garage gym. I need a leash as an extender for chains or bands when I use them for pressing so that the tension is displaced and timed properly. Not a huuuuuge deal though, I figured I'd just stop at Safeway and buy one. They're maybe ten dollars and Safeway is where I'd gotten my other ones. I walk around in Safeway, no leashes. Go to London Drugs, not open. Starting to get a bit frustrated, I figured I'd go to the sports and hunting place near Arashi-Do and check there. I get there, not open. Now a bit annoyed, I just decided the hell with it and went to Arashi-Do... only to discover when I arrived that I'd forgotten my other keyring and couldn't get in. By now it was 8:45 and the assault was kicking in but I was way the hell on the north side and locked out. Now wide open throttle pissed off I headed back to the south side and grabbed my keys. Now I had a choice - drive all the way back to Arashi-Do and press straight weight, or train at the store where I knew I had kettlebells and chains. I HATE training at the store. It's an awful atmosphere for training and you get awkwardly interrupted in the middle of sets by customers but thankfully I had a girl working this morning that could take care of it herself. I got to the store around 9:20, feeling dumped because of the now awfully timed assault but also the frustration.

Fives @ 8, 16, 20, 24, 32KG

5 @ 32KG + 4KG of chain
5 @ 32KG + 8KG of chain

This last set felt AWFUL. My new plan had been to do 3 sets of five with 32KG and 16KG of chain, which would've been very tough but doable I think. NO way that was happening. I decided instead to do kind of a West Side DE day by backing off to 32KG + 4KG, work on speed with short rest breaks to add up to enough volume in a short period of time to kill a horse. You know, if horses could press kettlebells and volume wasn't a big deal to them. I did ten sets of three per side with about 40-60 seconds of rest between sets. I filmed a couple of sets but setting up the phone, getting back to the kettlebell and setting up within the short rest break was annoying so I only did it twice and only one turned out well. This was my eighth or ninth set on my left arm.

http://videobam.com/pCAYD

I feel like it would've been a bit too easy on a good day but when I was done I felt like I'd made the right call to get the best possible work done this morning. Sometimes what's most important is just getting something in.

2 x 20 dips (all the assistance work I felt like doing)

Wednesday, 28 May 2014

Box Squats May 28

Solid workout this morning. Like the bench, I've cut my training max back in favour of better technique and explosiveness.

Triples @ 45, 95, 135, 225, 275, 295, 315

6 x 3 @ 330

Leg Press

20 @ 90, 180, 270, 380

20 @ 380 slow down, full second pause, explode up

20 @ 380 + 140lbs band tension, same thing

Swimming May 26

Of all things I didn't imagine myself doing Monday, or ever, it was getting in a pool and swimming laps for training. After swimming an estimated 9-10,000 hours over my career (Seriously, I added it up) I've had enough swimming for any ten lifetimes but my wife was in a world of hurt after her leg day, was going to the pool to sit in the hot tub and I didn't want to sit around the house without her when I hadn't seen her all day.

So after a visit to SwimCo (which was interesting because I was always very picky with my suits and goggles and I think I may have overwhelmed the poor girl with questions about spec comparisons to equipment that hasn't been around for over a decade) we went to the Terwilleger Rec Centre. Steph hobbled off to the hot tub and I got into the pool. After my first push-off, I felt pretty good. A few strokes later... not so good. Dear God was I inefficient. The technique felt right, but I'm much larger and apparently less mobile than I used to be, plus my swimming-specific fitness has clearly tanked. I was actually breathing hard after a "relaxed" 100m.

I had a general idea in my head that I would warm up with 200-400m and then do 8-10 hard 50-100m sprints. I decided that 100m was a good enough warm-up, then tried a hard 50. I did it in about 38 seconds. To put that in perspective, my best time when I was fifteen was about 27 seconds. Granted that was with a dive, but even assuming the dive would have taken off a few seconds it still felt like I was moving just a bit faster than the average glacier. A few hard 50's later I'd dialled it in a bit and managed 32 seconds from a push. That was okay, but still. As a teenager I could've held a 32 second pace for 15 50's in a row with 15-20 seconds rest. I honestly thought that being literally twice as strong in every measurable way than I was back then would have made up for the shaky technique, but it really didn't. I think overall I did maybe 600m total in the 20 minutes I was in the pool (we arrived at 9:40 PM) . I will do this again and I will make it as regular a thing as I have to in order to put up some respectable numbers. It's a matter of pride now.

Sunday, 25 May 2014

Why I Love Teaching Kids BJJ, and What I've Learned From It

About two years ago this past February, my good friend and instructor Andrew started his own Arashi-Do location on Whyte avenue, handing the reigns of both his No-Gi and Kids BJJ classes to me to continue at the North location. It was a big opportunity for me, as my previous experience had been teaching the beginners Gi class and the teens kickboxing. No Gi presented a chance to teach a more advanced group and the Kids class was a totally different age group than I was used to. I also had some big shoes to fill, as Andrew was well loved as an instructor by the regulars of both classes. In the time since, its grown to be one of the more rewarding experiences of my life, and I think every instructor at some point should leap at the opportunity to teach a group of kids if it comes their way, because it has made me a better instructor in general.

If you look at a school with classes of varying age groups, there are often some pretty huge differences in terms of how they're taught. With the tiny ones, most of the classes are games of some sort that are loosely based on martial arts. The adult classes are more solemn and disciplined, which logically makes sense. There are certain assumptions you can make about an adult student versus a four year old regarding goals, attention span and physical ability. The 8-13 age group that I teach is an enigmatic mix of both, especially those on the higher end of it.

A lot is going on in the mind of an eleven or twelve year old. They're still treated predominantly as a child by other people but they don't really feel like one anymore. They're already subconsciously trying to bounce their personality, values and beliefs off other people to form the adult they're going to become later, and carve out their place in the world; their own little sphere of influence. When it comes to BJJ, both physically and mentally a kid in this sort of range doesn't need a ton of hand-holding. They can drill, they can roll, they can compete, but they're still enough of a kid that there needs to be that undertone of fun to keep the energy up. What becomes very clear from teaching them and learning to maintain that balance is that adults aren't all that different.

It's not necessarily about the content of the class itself, it's about the energy of the instructor. Kids are very, very sensitive to the difference between an instructor who wants them to succeed and have fun, and an instructor who's just there to instruct because they're wearing the belt and that's what they do. That's a trap that I have admittedly fallen into at times while teaching adults, whether I was tired or grumpy from work or distracted by something else that was going on, etc. Adults may be more emotionally mature and more physically capable but they're still ultimately doing this because they enjoy it, and they want to feel that genuine joy of jiu-jitsu from their instructor. I firmly believe that the best instructors at the biggest schools aren't just in that position because of money, connections or skills, but also because they love jiu-jitsu and believe in its power to enrich life.

There's something really special about teaching a kids class when the kids really enjoy themselves and work hard. It brings me back to when I was their age, competing at a national level in swimming. It was incredibly hard work but I had some very special coaches that enjoyed what they did, believed in me and went above and beyond to bring out my potential. That made it fun, no matter how brutal it got. The way that affected my development as a person, and now striving to be that positive influence for the kids in my class can turn a really shitty day around, really quick when I come straight from a long day at work to start the class. Sometimes adults don't realize how much kids know, how much they understand and how strong they can be. When I was collecting donations for a seminar I was teaching in honour of my mother who passed away from breast cancer this year, one of the girls from my class gave $20 from her own piggy bank. That was a pretty serious tug on the heart strings and it's those kinds of things that get me thinking about this kind of stuff. Sometimes it can take me a few months or more between thinking about something and writing about it, but I'm glad I did today.

Heavy Bench May 25

Solid workout this morning. First workout back on Assault after about six months off the stuff and I'd forgotten the wierd tingly sensation of beta-alanine so that was wierd but I felt good. I'm working my numbers off of Prilepin's chart but cut my training max back a bit because I'm trying to get away from heavier touch-and-go work and really sink the bar at the bottom. Some of my reps I held today for 3 full seconds before exploding up. I think once I get some momentum going with this it'll translate to some sick long-term strength gains for the cost of a bit of ego now.

Fives @ 45, 95, 135, 185, 225

6 x 3 @ 240, sinking for at least two seconds at the bottom and firing it up like I'm trying to throw it through the ceiling. It felt really easy so I'm already getting a lot more powerful, assault is working really well or both. I did 3 x 2 @ 265 last week and it went just as well.

Dips - Loving these lately. I can always do a couple of solid sets of 20 deep reps with a minute of rest so the main event is what I can do after another minute or two in the third set. Today I got 13.

Hammer Strength Iso-Row

10 per side @ 45, 90, 135, 180, one arm at a time, vertical low handles with emphasis on lats

20 @ 90 per side, both arms at once, high horizontal handles with emphasis on rear delts

50 band tricep extensions, 50 band curls with monster mini. Burn baby burn.

Friday, 23 May 2014

Kettlebell Pressing May 22

I always bench heavy on sundays, and mid week I usually have what I call accessory upper body, relatively high volume (5-6 triples in the 70-82% range) and usually either close grip bench or floor press. Yesterday I was too busy in the morning so instead I got to Arashi Do early and did strict kb pressing instead. It wasn't too bad actually, considering it was unbelievably hot and it had already been a very long day at work.

KB strict press

Triples @ 8kg, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28

5 x 5 @ 32 (really focusing on lowering slowly, spooling up tension and firing it up fast. Felt a bit easier than I was hoping but solid. I'll use a 40 or add chains next time)

2 x 20 per arm @ 24kg long cycle strict press (relaxed drop into gs style rack after strict presses)

3 x 20 push-ups feet elevated superset with 3 x 20 band pull-aparts

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

Homeostasis, Earthquakes and Your Fitness Goals

Over the years I've written many programs for all walks of life, from elite athletes to the completely inexperienced middle-aged woman trying to better herself after 40+ years of complete self-neglect. Both present their own challenges. Athletes' programs need to be meticulously periodized and balanced with recovery and practice/competition of their sport, which isn't easy but on the bright side you know that motivation won't be a problem. If anything, most athletes need to be reigned in a bit when it comes to their supplemental strength and conditioning. For the average weight loss/general interest client though, the single biggest obstacle in my experience is consistency. Consistency is THE factor when it comes to achieving long-term goals. For that reason, many beginners are surprised when I hand them a program that prescribes only two training days a week, with a few basic compound movements covering the whole body on both days. Pushes, pulls, squats and mobility/recovery, often with bodyweight exercises. In this early stage of the process they've broken through a barrier of sorts that has inspired them to break into fitness in a big way and only two days a week will leave them yearning for more. They might feel like they should be training five, six, even seven days a week. The more the merrier. The problem is that when someone goes from doing nothing for years to training seven days a week, they'll probably keep that up for, well, one week. Why does this happen?

To understand what I'm getting at, you should familiarize yourself with a term called 'Homeostasis'. It's ancient Greek for "Standing Still" and basically refers to a self-governed state in which systems are in place to keep everything exactly as it is. Your thermostat does it, and so does your car when you use cruise control. There's compelling evidence that even our entire planet does it. We also know that the human body does it, and so does the mind. Essentially every single physiological process you have is designed to resist change. Your body has no autonomous view of what's going on in the outside world, so it operates under the notion of "Well I'm alive, so I must be doing something right". You sweat when you're too hot, shiver when you're too cold, you maintain blood glucose levels using insulin and glucagon, and the list goes on endlessly - all working to get back to zero. When an irritant is introduced to the system, the system corrects it. The bigger the irritant, the more efficient the response but the body doesn't actually make anything BETTER than it was before unless it absolutely has to. Now to bring this back to fitness, think about how the body views exercise. Yes, we understand consciously that exercise is good for us, but to our body it's nothing but another irritant; an attack on homeostasis that must be dealt with as efficiently as possible. This is where consistency comes into the equation.

Think of your workouts as natural disasters, like an earthquake. The city where the disaster occurs is your body. Now imagine an earthquake suddenly happens here in Edmonton, Alberta. Seems wierd, right? Alberta is relatively quiet as far as seismic movement, and we've never had a major earthquake in recorded history but now we've had one. So what does the response look like? Depends how bad the earthquake was, but there would definitely be rescue operations, evacuations, medical teams and eventually reconstruction of what was damaged. This is like your body's response to a workout. Synnovial fluid in the joints, lymphatic drainage to clear inflammation, a rush of satellite cells to repair the damaged muscle tissue etc. Think about what would happen next, though. Edmonton is now restored to its former self, but considering that this was a singular incident in what is otherwise a completely earthquake-free city, the chances are slim that we would do any more than that.

Now, we introduce the factor of consistency and take a look at a place like Los Angeles where earthquakes are relatively common. After their first few earthquakes, it must have occurred to the people of LA that simply restoring the city every time an earthquake devestated it would be wasteful and pointless. If they were going to have to deal with earthquakes on a regular basis, they would have to do better. Reinforced buildings, protocols for quick and efficient maintenance and repair, better early-warning technology etc. Consistency forced a shift of mentality from "Fix it" to "Build it better".

This is why quick fitness fixes DO NOT WORK. Do this cleanse and lose 20 pounds in a month! Do this routine and gain inches on your biceps in three weeks! Take these pills and eat whatever the hell you want, you'll still lose a leg worth of weight in four hours! None of it works. Not really, anyway. It is ALL bullshit because it betrays understanding of the very simple principle of homeostasis. Your body has no idea what a cleanse is. That cleanse is an attack. Your body will do its job and fend off the attack for a month, and when it realizes that the attack is over, it will do its job again and return you to the state you were in for five, ten, fifteen years before that month happened. If you train like a madman for seven days and then quit because you can't get out of bed on the eighth day, the same thing will happen. Your body viewed those seven days as an attack on your system, and it's going to do its job and get you through it so that you can get back to normal. The only way to break the chain is to CHANGE YOUR NORMAL. Two days a week, for a half hour with decent intensity is more than enough to see some real results so long as you hit those two workouts every single week. Once that routine is absolutely locked in, add a third day that you do when you can. Once that's locked in, you add a fourth. Make other changes too, like trying to go to bed a half hour earlier at night. Drink 2L of water a day. Cut back on processed sugar. Put together a mobility routine that takes ten minutes and do it before bed. Make changes at a pace you can handle WITH CONSISTENCY, and you will see some truly amazing results in the long term. If you try to change everything all at once and go from 0-Olympic Athlete overnight, your body and mind will resist it with an intensity equal to or greater than the changes you're making, and you will set yourself up for failure.

You have to accept the hard truth of life, that this shit can take YEARS. A balanced strength and conditioning routine, a balanced and healthy diet, drinking enough water and getting enough sleep are really the only scheme that ever works in the end, and everyone realizes it eventually after going through enough hyped up bullshit. You may have to start small, but what's more important than anything is that you keep going.

Box Squat Day May 21

I'm back! Hopefully I'll be able to settle right back into the routine of posting regularly. Today's workout almost didn't happen, if I'm honest. I woke up feeling awful but had to recite myself my favourite quote from Ross Enemait:

"Discipline is choosing between what you want now, and what you want most."

My literal self-monologue was as follows:

"So what do I want now?"
"Sleep"
"And what do you want most?"
"To be a %&^&#% beast."
"Damn it, beasts don't sleep in, do they."
"No Tyson, no they don't."

I'm glad I was open to my own considerable persuasion, because the workout went well despite the fact that I didn't have time for much assistance work.

Triples @ 45, 95, 135, 185, 225, 245, 275, 295, 315, 335, 355

Wrapped my knees

3 x 2 @ 365

I was already running late, so I figured I would just do a quick set of 10 with 225 and head out. I'll probably do some hill sprints in the morning so I'm kinda glad I didn't totally burn out my legs.