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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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