Monday, 19 October 2015

Axle Pressing Oct 19

6 @ 50lbs
6 @ 70lbs
6 @ 90lbs
6 @ 120
3 @ 150
3 @ 170
2 @ 190
13 @ 120
10 @ 120

I really wanted to bust 200 today at least for a single but this was only my second workout that I've done with the axle bar and the second strict rep with 190 was super grindy so I figured it was better to leave something in the tank. I still haven't decided whether I like this movement enough to make it a primary and work it off percentages or leave it as an accessory once I start the next training block in earnest.

Thursday, 15 October 2015

The Scientist and the Lawyer

“A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions--as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.”

Friedrich Nietzche



This sentiment has been echoed many times by many brilliant men, but I’m not sure I’ve read it better articulated than this and it speaks to something I feel like the fitness industry could use a lot more of – good science. If you think about it, being involved in fitness is one of the greatest responsibilities you could possibly bring on yourself. Regular exercise is one of the pillars that form your vitality – how you feel, how you move, and how long you’re going to stick around on this Earth. Even if that isn’t why someone starts training with you, is it really that much less important to help them to love how they look, to perform and stay injury-free while playing a sport that makes them happy, or experience the profound joy of achieving a goal? If someone has chosen this responsibility, I believe that they have also chosen the burden of continuous self-improvement.

Now, what does this have to do with lawyers and scientists?

For starters, it’s worth mentioning that I don’t have anything against lawyers. Their job is both noble and necessary in the context of the job itself, but I’ll get to that later. First, we’ll talk about scientists – specifically, how a scientist responds having been posed a question. Let’s say that question is something like: “What is the best program for improving strength?”

Step 1: Gather general data from previous experiments which are relevant to the question.

This one is pretty simple – read, watch, or talk to people that have asked the same question and performed experiments already. Use a variety of sources and look for similarities and differences. If there are large differences, try to understand why by looking closer at their experimentation. Findings from larger pools of data with more controlled conditions are generally more reliable, but a scientist understands that even the most conclusive findings can only be called “the most likely to be true”, not necessarily “the truth”. If there are different, but positive findings, look at the consistencies between them. These will form the foundation of what can be called a positive finding in your own experiment. In our case, it may be as simple as “Did most of the tested athletes become stronger in a safe, measurable way?”.

Step 2: Form a hypothesis.

Based on the best available data from previous experiments, what conditions do you believe will yield the most positive results? Essentially, this is an educated guess – emphasis on the education.

Step 3: Conduct an experiment to test your hypothesis.

This is where those under your instruction try the program, you do it yourself, or both. It’s also the part where new data is created that will benefit you and those that come after you on the same path.

Step 4: Analyze the results of the experiment to draw a conclusion.

Weigh the data against the hypothesis, and see how it matches up. If your findings are positive, fine tune as needed and continue the experiment. If not, go back to the research stage and start again with a new hypothesis. To a scientist, nothing is sacred but the truth.


Now, let’s take a look at the lawyer’s approach:

Step 1: Conclusion

As you can see, already a huge difference. The lawyer starts with a conclusion which is their client’s position. They don’t start with a question of what is right, true or correct, because that isn’t their job. Their job is to represent their client to the best of their ability and trust in the judge and jury to decide who is right. Lawyers in the movies that take it on themselves to gather evidence or dramatically roll over on their crooked clients in open court would in reality end up in a lot of trouble. That’s all well and good for the legal system, but if you’re having trouble seeing what this has to do with the fitness industry, think of it this way:

Lawyer = A coach, trainer or marketer

Client = Equipment, exercise technique, program etc. that the person has created themselves or otherwise aligned themselves with

Judge and Jury = The clients, athletes, peers, friends or anyone else who would be exposed to the information and possibly listen to it or pay for it

Now, let’s say hypothetically that a trainer with no kettlebell training or experience whatsoever decides they’re going to cash in on their growing popularity and make a kettlebell DVD or start offering classes. It’s far too easy to justify this kind of behaviour by blaming the people that signed up for the class or bought the DVD, because it’s up to them decide what’s right using their money. The fitness industry isn’t a courtroom, and if you call yourself a trainer then it IS your job to do what’s right, and strive to offer the best possible product even if it isn’t necessary in order to net clients. It isn’t their job to know the difference between one convincing trainer and another, that’s part of the reason they’re looking for one in the first place. The fact that someone has taken a step to seek out help from a trainer to achieve their goals is a precious, important thing in a time when anyone can flip through youtube videos for an hour and think they have it all figured out. Some trainers will reward them for taking that step, others will make them regret it.

Step 2: Gather Specific Data that Benefits the Conclusion

Working backwards from a conclusion, the next step is to gather data that at least appears credible to support the conclusion. If you happen to be the lawyer on the right side, that data will be much easier to find, but even if you aren’t, the unfortunate truth is that credible-looking data can be found to support just about anything. If you were looking for all general data that was relevant to the question, you still may have found that study or article but also overwhelming evidence against it. That would have forced you to further scrutinize it, and perhaps you would have found that the experiment was flawed, or inconclusive, or that the findings were changed to suit an agenda. There is nothing easier, however, than not finding these things when you’re choosing not to look for them. If it looks official enough and you sell it well, then it can do the job.

This is made even easier by rampant confirmation bias – something to which no human being is entirely immune. If someone knows someone that threw out their back doing squats, they’re more likely to nod and listen when someone starts shouting on the internet against overwhelming evidence that squats are a dangerous exercise that should be banned in all gyms. Take a closer look at the horrific form that led to that injury? Who has that kind of time?

Step 3: Create a Compelling Argument

Fitness would hardly be the first industry in which one side had conclusive, legitimate evidence but was overshadowed by an opponent that was more charismatic, engaging and marketable. Sometimes the evidence alone isn’t enough, and this is something the scientist types can learn from the lawyer types. It isn’t just about debates, it’s about teaching. One thing that all the world’s best teachers have in common is that they can articulate a very complicated topic in such a way that someone with much less education can understand it. It can be a long and difficult process to not only seek out the best information but then learn to articulate it well, but it’s necessary to take care of your clients.


***


Perhaps the biggest problem I have with this sequence of events is that once someone aligns themselves with a certain belief system in fitness, the analysis and experimentation is often lost and protecting the product becomes more sacred than the truth. A great example would be the argument of “hardstyle” kettlebell training versus GS. They are two entirely different training systems that happen to share a common piece of equipment and are often looking to achieve completely different goals. This is not a ‘right or wrong’ argument, and the fact that someone would be arguing that one is right and the other is wrong already tells me that they have not gone out of their way to gather general data and learn about the other side. It’s easier to deliberately choose ignorance on behalf of both themselves and their clients and protect the product you’ve aligned yourself with. The fitness industry needs more trainers with the scientist’s mentality. Educate yourself, gather data from a variety of credible sources, and hold the truth sacred. Challenge yourself to be open to change, if that’s what the evidence tells you. Your clients aren’t likely to up and leave you because you were making a mistake teaching them the kettlebell clean and want to correct it. They want - and deserve - a trainer that puts his clients’ safety first and genuinely wants them to achieve their goals, and sometimes change is part of that.

Thursday, 30 July 2015

The Contrast Method Part 1: Introduction to the Contrast Method

The contrast method, put simply is that the load of a given exercise changes at certain points or throughout the range of motion, as opposed to static or consistent resistance which would remain the same. The reasoning for why you would use the contrast method is fairly straight-forward, but when and how to apply it can be much more complicated. In this series of articles, I will explain the what, why, when and how of the contrast method and hopefully shine some light on how it can be used effectively to smash through plateaus!

First off, I should explain what "accomodation" means in the context of the contrast method. For every exercise, a strength curve exists. This refers to the difficulty by which a given load can be lifted through different parts of the ROM. At the beginning of an exercise, when the mechanical advantage of the joints is at its lowest and the muscles are stretched out and at their weakest, a given load would be much more difficult to move than near the end, Looking around a gym, it doesn't take long to notice the "quarter squatters" and "quarter benchers" loading on up to 150% of the weight they can actually take through a full range of motion, then only moving it a few inches. Obviously, this is not an effective way to build a strong, balanced body. However, static resistance taken through a full range of motion isn't necessarily perfect either, since the development of the entire movement is limited by how much can be handled in its weakest range. This poses the following potential issues:

1) The muscles responsible for finishing the lift can lag in development, since the weight that can be handled at the bottom isn't nearly so difficult once it passes the point where the mechanical advantage ticks over to positive contribution. This is why many raw powerlifters can actually find themselves weaker in the lockout of a bench press than in the initial drive off the chest, and must use board presses or rack lockouts to bring up their triceps.

2) Rate of Force Development, or RFD can suffer. RFD is extremely important not only in the success of maximal lifts but also in athletic carryover. To maximize neurological output in a lift, the lifter should be driving as explosively as possible against the resistance. Using static resistance, it's possible for a certain load to force the athlete to drive hard to get it moving, but then slow down once it has momentum and approaches lockout. This is inefficient, and will make strength progression slower and more difficult.

As with anything else in the strength world, there are many different ways to deal with these issues and not every athlete responds as well to the contrast method as others, but it gives intermediate to advanced athletes a tool which they can use to accomodate for this strength curve, by adding more resistance throughout the ROM. Two major tools can be used, bands and chains. The chains can be mounted either directly to the implement if the kinetic chain is short like in a floor press, or extended to start further away if it's longer like in a squat. There are commercially available chain extenders, but I like to use dog leashes. They're MUCH cheaper and do just as good a job. Bands must be anchored to the implement using band pegs, heavy dumbbells or whatever else you have available.

Using the example of a kettlebell press, it isn't uncommon for someone whose max press is 24KG to be able to push press 32KG, so their triceps are able to lock that weight out and the muscles of their shoulders and upper back are able to support it at the top. Push pressing heavier weight won't necessarily carry back over to the strict press, since the leg drive is too much of an unknown factor. However, adding an 8KG chain that is mostly coiled on the floor to start and is fully raised by lockout will allow the lifter to perform a strict press which maxes out both the weight they're able to drive out of the rack and the weight they're able to lock out, so all of the muscles involved in the lift from beginning to end are working to their potential. Also, the RFD will be improved since the lifter will be forced to drive explosively through the entire range of motion. If they slow down, they may fail to 'out-run' the resistance as it is added on. This will result in higher neurological efficiency and stronger lifts.

Hopefully this first part has helped you to understand the basic overall idea of the contrast method and why it can be an excellent tool for intermediate to advanced athletes. If you would like to know why I wouldn't typically recommend this method for beginners, how bands are VERY different than chains, and some ideas on how to program the contrast method, stay tuned for Part 2!

Saturday, 25 July 2015

Supplement Spotlight: Agatsu Recover-Me

So a few weeks ago I received my Recover-Me in the mail. I wanted to wait to post anything about it until I'd been through a few different kinds of training with and without it to see if I noticed a difference and if so, how much.

I was fairly confident just based on the source. I've actually always been a fan of supplements since I tried Gaspari Superpump 250 for the first time - I think I was maybe 16. I've tried a lot of crap over the years and picked up a few products along the way that have been really helpful and trustworthy but supplements have consistently been a part of my routine. The thing is, Shawn is not that guy. When he says that he had to create supplements in order to feel like it was worth taking them, it isn't just marketing hype, it's reality. The same obsessive pursuit of greatness that lead to the success of Agatsu's educational courses and equipment is definitely evident in this supplement.

Essentially, Recover-Me is designed to, well, help with recovery. I think the biggest difference I've noticed is not the amount of soreness but in the manageability of what soreness I do experience. If you're truly pushing yourself then nothing is magically going to eradicate all the discomfort that goes with that, but there's pain that you just have to wait out and then there's pain that with stretching, mobility and foam rolling can actually be dealt with. I find that since starting to take Recover-Me, I'm not only less sore in general but pretty much all of the soreness I do experience has been the latter, that through work I can deal with.

Since I've significantly ramped up my training as I prepare for the CBJJD worlds in Brazil, this has proven invaluable alongside diet, recovery work and hydration to help me get ready for the next training session. Get yours at:

http://www.agatsu.com/store/products/recover-me/

Monday, 13 July 2015

Slowly but Surely... Box Squats and Banded Leg Press July 6

Squats have been rough the last couple of months, and surprisingly not due to knee issues. Despite training camp and everything else my whole lower body has actually held together wonderfully. The trouble has been getting into position properly, as tightly under the bar as I should be for heavier lifts. I haven't had the same kind of shoulder mobility i'm used to. Last night though, I felt it again - that feeling of the bar being completely connected and nice and light out of the rack even with heavy weight.

Triples up to 315 w/o belt

Belt

335 x 3

Wraps

355 x 3, 365 x 5

365 x 5 wasn't in the plan but the plan is fluid right now. Honestly with how up and down everything has been injury-wise it would just be depressing trying to operate within the parameters of a program with set percentages. That'll have to wait till after Brazil, now when I lift it's about doing the best I can do that day. After the third rep at 365 I made a decision that heavier than this wasn't in the cards tonight, but I could squeeze out a couple more with this weight now that I had momentum. Felt really good as I'm fairly sure my best ever healthy set of 5 was around 375.

Leg Press - sets of 6 w/2 second pause at the bottom and 150lbs of band tension

90, 180, 270, 360, 450, 540

This felt good too. It had been a while since I'd done leg press in general but there's something about it with a pause and band tension that blows up my quads in a way nothing else does. I'm very glute and hamstring dominant when I box squat so it's a nice balance.



Friday, 10 July 2015

Why Get Certified?

Let me tell you a story about my first tattoo. It was around 2004 when I stepped into Bear's Skin Art on walk-in Saturday to have two kanji characters tattooed - "Good" and "Evil" on my upper back. I have two resounding memories from that day. One of them is Bear's stance on gun ownership - "An armed society is a polite society", he said - and the other was his reaction when I told him I wanted kanji done. As soon as I showed him the picture of the characters, he asked if I'd had it read by anyone other than the person that wrote it, and immediately added that if not, I should go and not bother coming back until I had. I'm a bit more liberal when it comes to gun control, but thankfully we saw eye to eye on the tattoos in foreign languages thing. I think as a society in general we all kind of cringe at the idea of the guy walking around with a tattoo that he thinks means "Heavenly Gates of Extreme Fighting Spirit" but actually translates to "Furnace. Women find me unsettling. Mayonnaise."

Why then would someone pay $80 an hour to train with someone who lists their credentials on their website as "Fitness Expert with 10 Years of Experience"?

"Fitness Expert", "Fitness Guru", "_______ years of training/experience/exposure" are all widely spread terms used to convey a sense that a person knows what they're doing, yet none of these terms in and of themselves mean anything at all. 10 years of experience could mean the person started walking on a treadmill ten years ago and decided they were good enough at it to tell their friends they were all doing it wrong, or it could mean they were heading up the strength and conditioning for the Miami Heat, or it could mean anything in between. If you're training with them then you're essentially gambling $80/h that it's at least closer to the latter than the former. Fortunately for me, I'm involved in martial arts as well so I get a double dose of this. I'm not sure there are enough legs on insects in the world to count the number of times someone has bravely strode onto a message board to say some variation of "belts don't matter bro, I'm not a black belt and I've tapped out lots of black belts". First of all, no he probably hasn't. Second of all, you know who you've never heard say belts don't matter in BJJ? Yeah, a black belt. The whole notion of belts (or certifications) not mattering at all is an entirely self-serving concept and it's often used by people who don't have accreditation simply to justify continuing to charge for their services without having to put time, energy or money into getting any.

Now, I know what some of you may be thinking and yes, you are absolutely correct. It is 100% possible for someone without a kettlebell certification to know what they're doing, just like it's possible that Tekken 5's unverified tattoo actually means what he thinks it does. It's also 100% possible that someone WITH a kettlebell certification could be a hack. Certifications aren't absolute like that. However, and here is what you should really take away from this whole article so I'm going to make it bigger and bold to ensure just that:

"Accreditation means that at one point in time, someone reputable other than the person themselves acknowledged that they had achieved a certain baseline of skill and understanding in a given field."

That's what it really boils down to. Accreditation is meant to establish a baseline. If you ask someone if they know what they're doing and they say yes but only they can verify it, then you can choose to believe them or choose not to but ultimately you just don't know. If at least, at some point, someone with a proven track record signed off on the fact that they know what they're doing, then you know that it's a safe bet they still do. Does that really seem like the craziest idea anyone ever had? Why would you fight against that?

Now what if I told you that as an added bonus to having your (possible) awesomeness verified officially, you could learn new things, open up new possibilities for your own training and form lifelong friendships? Wouldn't that be worth at least checking out the link below? I know I thought so when the website looked very different about ten years ago, and I have never, ever stopped being happy and thankful that I did.



Sunday, 21 June 2015

GS Circuit Wednesday, June 17

I was playing around more with the mini-pentathlon concept and decided I'd try doing 5 of each exercise per arm, in order, with each kettlebell size from 8KG to 28KG, without rest. I did kind of a 'rapid fire' transition from kettlebell to kettlebell - I lined all the kettlebells up in front of me and once I finished the last push press with my left arm, I'd do a downswing, put it to the side and at the same time get my hand on the next kettlebell to do the first clean.

The biggest challenge actually ended up being chalk. The whole process from beginning to finish was 22 minutes of straight work and because I wasn't taking breaks I couldn't re-chalk. My hands were pretty much completely un-chalked and sweaty by midway through my work with the 20kg bell, so I ended up having to grip the 24 and 28 really hard on the downswings so I wouldn't drop them. The snatches were particularly interesting. Overall the workout averaged out to about 5400KG of varied work in about 22 minutes, or roughly 245kg per minute. I wasn't trying for a particular pace since I had no idea what to expect. Next time I try it I think I'll allow a 10-20 second break between sizes just to re-chalk if needed.

Friday, 12 June 2015

Overhead Work June 12

Brandon joined me for some overhead work this morning using the workout 180 - nifty little contraption that acts as a retractable band platform.

Strict Kettlebell Press

Warm-ups - 5 per hand @ 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28KG

Triples on the Workout180:

16KG + 60lbs band tension
20KG + 60lbs band tension
24KG + 10lbs band tension
24KG + 30lbs band tension
24KG + 60lbs band tension

Back-off Sets of 10 per hand @ 28, 24, 20, 16KG, quick succession

Wednesday, 10 June 2015

Mini Pentathlon June 9

Normally the WKC pentathlon consists of five 6-minute rounds - cleans, long cycle strict press, jerk, half snatch, push press - with 5 mins rest between events. Within those rounds the kettlebell can't be put down but hand switches can be done any time. It's a great physical test, but I found that if you do the same events but 1-minute per event, per hand, and take out the rest breaks, it also makes a very nice little ten minute circuit!

I tried it out with a 24kg. Heavy weight is still too hard on the joints, I tried some long cycle work with 32 and 36kg last week and it didn't feel good at all. It might be time to invest in a 28kg competition bell, the jump to 32kg was never a big deal before but it is now and if I can work with a 28kg pain-free then it might be the key to a quicker overall recovery.

Video coming soon.

Tuesday, 9 June 2015

A New... Old Face - Celebrating ten years with Agatsu


Agatsu West is back! Agatsu West Athletic Development was a dream I had what seems like a long time ago, a dream that got sidetracked but that I'm happy to breathe life into once again. I've re-done the blog and there are great and exciting things on the way - not the least of which is a lot more video projects. It's coming up on the ten year anniversary of that fateful weekend in Calgary when I met Shawn Mozen for the first time and became part of Agatsu, Canada's gold standard for all things movement. It's pretty incredible to think about all the things that've happened in those ten years, but I'm much more excited about what's on the way in the next couple. No spoilers for now though, just enjoy the blog!

Wednesday, 3 June 2015

GS Training June 2

I'm back! I really never left, just got super frustrated by injuries and did most of my blogging on facebook instead of here for some reason. Anyway.

This was experiment number 2 of using GS as a way to introduce stability back into my shoulders and elbows that've been a nightmare ever since I started training for the worlds in Rio. I can still drill and roll but certain things - particularly takedowns - are a big hurdle right now. I get through 10, maybe 20 minutes of wrestling if I'm lucky before my arms are completely unusable. Barbell training has gone out the window almost entirely. I'm afraid to try deadlifting, and bench is okay but only on an incline with a swiss bar and relatively light weight. Even box squatting has suffered because I haven't been able to get as tight under the bar as I normally would. Yet... somehow GS feels otherworldly different. Of course I still have to be careful and I haven't tried anything heavy yet - limiting work to 24KG but I'm definitely taking the same joints through a full ROM and getting a lot more work done with a lot less pain. I can only surmise that it's the unique movement properties of the kettlebell, combined with the efficiency of the GS technique that allows this. I'm basically trying to look at this as a blessing in disguise.

Over the next few weeks I'm going to continue this sort of format - working for 10-20 minutes and playing with some shorter strongsport style rounds.


Friday, 24 April 2015

April 23rd Swiss Bar Bench

Today was actually planned to be a swiss bar cheat curl to strict press with chains day, but I got immunizations for Brazil done on Monday and my medial delts are still blown up from them. Front delts were okay though so I just decided to do an easy bench workout.

Swiss Bar CG Bench

Warmups up to 215, 3 x 10 @ 215

Swiss Bar Cheat Curls

10 @ 50, 80, 80,100

Tricep Pressdowns

Saturday, 4 April 2015

April Fools Box Squats

Every 6/5/4 squat day I feel like I'm not going to make it through but I just have to keep telling myself it's just six sets. Just get another one out of the way. Then it actually ends up being not too bad at all. Maybe I should do more warm-up sets.

Warm-ups up to 315

6 @ 330
5 @ 340
4 @ 355
X2

No time for assistance work today, had to get to my class

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Close Grip Bench Mar 28

This went pretty well, if not a bit too easy. The issue is that now that I've switched to close grip bench to save my shoulders and get more sport specific as I get closer to Brazil, there's a break-in period I haven't gotten out of yet. My endurance with sub-maximal weights is great but I have trouble going really heavy.

I originally calculated my max based off 225 x 10 and 265 x 5, both of which I've done. That projected about 305 which I knew would be high so I backed off a bit but was still able to hit 280 for one but not two reps. I've now set my training max at 275 to be safe, which seems to work out for the heavier days but my 9 in the 9/7/5 day was only 190 which is pretty light. I just cut my rest breaks down but maybe on endurance days i'll have to do max reps on the last set of the day to top off.

CG Bench

9 @ 190
7 @ 200
5 @ 210
X 2

Kroc Rows

10 @ 50, 70, 90, 110, 130, 150
Used straps for 150 cause I didn't have chalk

Dips 3 x 20

Barbell Curls 3 x 10 @ 80

Sunday, 29 March 2015

Box Squats March 28

This had all the makings of a terrible workout but it ended up not being too bad. I went after work, not having eaten since morning (car industry, hooray!) And I hate training hungry.

Box Squats

Warm-ups up to 315

320 x 7
340 x 5
365 x 3

X2

Low Squat Hops - 2 x 60

Saturday, 28 March 2015

March 25 DE Lower Body

Agh. I can't believe I haven't recorded a workout in two weeks. Am I really that busy? Anyway this was an interesting day. I was actually supposed to box squat but couldn't get out of my parking stall. Long angry story. So I dealt with that, went to Arashi-Do early before my class and trained there instead.

KB Swings - the king, the classic. I don't see a lot of kettlebell instructors doing these in their own workouts and I have no idea why. You don't outgrow this exercise, you just forget about it.

20 @ 16, 24, 32, 40KG

3 x 20 @ 48 KG

I wasn't doing these for endurance so much as making them as quick, snappy and aggressive as possible, actively engaging my lats to throw the kettlebell down more quickly.

Pre-Charged Seated Long Jumps for Distance

Great movement. Basically I sit onto a 9" box, explode up into a knee-tuck jump, sit right back onto the box, then explode forward into a jump for distance.

10 Attempts - I didn't have anything to measure actual distance with, I just marked and tried to beat the last one each time. Interestingly, my longest jump was my fourth.

Low Squat Hops - 3 x 2 lengths of the dojo or roughly 60 hops.

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Friday Mar 13 Box Squats

First squat workout back after the sick break and naturally I... jumped right back in and did the heavy day. Not the exact numbers - I didn't know about hitting 400 twice in the workout but I did work up to 405, which was awesome.

Warm-up

Triples @ 315, 335, 355, 375
Singles @ 385, 395, 405

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Close Grip Bench March 9

First workout back from being awfully sick for over a week.

CG Bench

Warm-ups up to 155

8 @ 185
8 @ 205
8 @ 225
8 @ 205
8 @ 185

Felt nice and strong which made me feel good. I was worried about whether or not I may have lost momentum from doing nothing for a week.

Power Laterals up to 10 @ 50lb dumbbells

Barbell Curls up to 8 @ 95lbs

Cut it off there for the day

Monday, 2 March 2015

Close-Grip Bench Feb 29

Tried something different and did close-grip bench today. Brandon wasn't around to spot me so I had a nice relaxing bodybuilding-style workout.

CG Bench

warm-ups up to 155

8 @ 185
8 @ 205
8 @ 225
22 @ 135

DB Incline Bench with long stretch and pause

3 x 10 @ 40, 50, 60

Barbell Curls

4 x 10 @ 45, 65, 75, 85

Tricep Pushdowns 1 x 50 @ 50lbs

Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Box Squats Feb 24

At least my legs haven't forsaken me. This was fast and solid.

Warm-ups up to 315

4 @ 340
3 @ 360
2 @ 380

X2

Tabata bodyweight squats - I don't go crazy with these cause I need to be fully functional for Jiu-Jitsu so i dial it back and do about 10 per interval. This time though I decided I would make them speed squats and get 10 done but as quickly as possible, then take the extra rest. Most rounds I was done in about 8 seconds.

Feb 22 Bench

This was awful. I've been shifting my weightlifting further a bit at a time as I've been preparing for the worlds in August but while I was expecting that, I didn't think it would make so much of difference that I would miss my numbers. My numbers are never based on the most I can possibly lift, they're based on the most I can lift quickly and cleanly. That way as a worst case scenario, the working sets are a bit grindy but at least they always get done. Not today, apparently.

Bench

Warmups up to 225

4 @ 250
3 @ 265
2 @ 280
4 @ 250
3 @ 265
1 @ 280
1 @ 280
1 @ 280
10 @ 200 close grip

On the very last set, what should have been an easy double and in fact WAS an easy double earlier in the workout became a mess. My first rep would feel nice and quick, then my second rep it felt like everything just shut off.

Kroc Rows - sets of 10 from 50 to 150

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

Feb 16 Box Squats

Wierd day. My wife and I did a valentines day movie marathon so I didn't get to the gym until 10 pm. I was a little worn out but for some reason my pre-workout seems to have a much more noticeable effect when I take it in the afternoon or evening than the morning so it kinda evened out.

6 @ 325
5 @ 340
4 @ 350
X2

Fast, strong, nothing of note to report

10 mins rowing - really just wanted to go home and eat but I figured i'd quickly get in some easy conditioning. Goal was to row for ten minutes while maintaining 225 average watts. Ended up going about 3000m.

Monday, 9 February 2015

Bench Feb 8

First endurance bench day, felt good

Warm-ups up to 205

9 @ 220
7 @ 230
5 @ 240
X2

Tabata Push-Ups on Reebok core board - 21 in my first round, thought i could keep count but i didn't. Last round was 11, think that was my worst one.

Tabata Machine Rows - 15-20 per round with 50lbs, using wide handles and keeping elbows high

30 rear lateral raises very slow with 5s

Lock-Offs - 5 x slow chinup, hold for 10 seconds at top, slow down

Monday, 2 February 2015

Box Squats Feb 2

Interesting day. I'm preparing for worlds in Brazil in August so i've added a lot more mat time and i'm adding a pure endurance day for each of the main lifts complete with tabata assistance. Same scheme except 9/7/5 without crossing over the 80% barrier where strength work takes place. That means I can safely take shorter rest breaks and keep my heart rate up. Didn't use knee wraps today at all either and that felt great.

9 @ 295
7 @ 305
5 @ 320
X2

Tabata Leg Press w/a plate each side - worst interval was 17, best was 24

Ab machine - 2 x 10 forward, 10 oblique right, 10 oblique left, 10 forward

Bench Feb 1

7 @ 235
5 @ 250
3 @ 265
7 @ 235
5 @ 250
2 @ 265
3 @ 265

Yes, you read that right. My setup was awful when i did 265 the second time and i tried to salvage the set anyway. Didn't work and I missed the third rep. The weight wasn't the problem though so I rested a couple minutes and hit it again. Not a little bit annoying but whatever.

Tabata Shoulder Press w/bar - didn't keep track of my numbers for this, damn it.

Tabata Machine Rows - did 21-23 reps in every round. Need to go heavier next time, i think it was at 50lbs. Thought the volume and speed would make it difficult but it didn't.

Hindu Push-ups - 3 x 10

Gorilla Curls - 4 x 10

Friday, 30 January 2015

Box Squats Jan 28

Tough day but tough the way it was supposed to be tough. This cycle I finally feel ready to add 5lbs to the training max and move on with my life.

Warmups up to 335

3 @ 355
2 @ 375
1 @ 395
X2

280 x 10 no belt

The backoff set was really the only disappointing part of the workout. Last time I did this session my tenth rep still felt pretty easy and I was disappointed to have stopped just cause i'd matched what i did on day 3 with 265. This time I was hoping to hit at least 12 but I guess my erectors and abs must have been tired cause on the tenth rep my hips shot off the box like a cannonball and left me to do the good old unexpected good morning to finish the lift.

Leg Press

2 x 100 reps starting with feet together and moving wider every 20 reps. First with no weight, then with a plate each side.

Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Bench Jan 26th

Back on track! Wow does time move fast in the car industry. Working at Fitness Depot I had 2-3 hours a day to devote to things like blogging. Anyway this was Day 6:

Warmups to 245

260 x 3
275 x 2
290 x 1
X2

These were okay but not great. I was honestly expecting more thinking back to how easy 285 felt six weeks ago but there are a lot of factors that can affect heavy singles. For some reason my left shoulder kept winging out and I had to center the weight while locking it out.

205 x 12 close grip - did this close grip to reign in the shoulder. Felt good.

Bent over dumbbell rows

20's, 40's, 60's, 80's x 10, 30's x 10 with long pauses and squeezes at the top

Rear delt machine 3 sets

Saturday, 10 January 2015

Military Press Jan 8

7 @ 120
5 @ 130
3 @ 140
X2

Felt nice and solid. It was after a long day at work and no preworkout so it was nice to get this done without any struggle with short rest breaks. The last two days of this cycle should be nice and clean.

Dips - only went up to +25 on these. Pecs were hurting and not in the good way, guess they weren't as warm as I thought they were.

Leaning side raises - 3 x 10 up to 30lbs

Deep, slow standing ez bar extensions - tried to keep my elbows pointing at the ceiling and get a deep stretch on these.

3 x 10 up to 60lbs

Rope pushdowns - sets of 10 up to stack

Thursday, 8 January 2015

Box Squats Jan 7

4 @ 335
3 @ 355
2 @ 375
X2

11 @ 265 without belt

Felt pretty good. Would have grinded out a few more reps on the backoff set but I was happy to beat what I did the first time I hit it and I was short on time.

Tuesday, 6 January 2015

Bench Jan 4

Doing heavy days without Brandon is always a bit stressful, but I have a lot of momentum and feeling strong lately so I wasn't too worried about it.

4 @ 245
3 @ 260
2 @ 275
X2

17 @ 190

I'll have to check if that's a PR but I don't think so. I want to say I did 195 or 200 for the same number but whatever, felt good.

Incline DB Press w/fat grips - pause at bottom

4 x 10 @ 25, 35, 55, 75

Slow Dips 2 x 10

Side Laterals leaning forward against a bench - these are brutal, saw kai greene doing them in a video and thought it might be interesting. My rear delts, rhomboids and upper traps were feeling it even at 15lb dbs.

3 x 10 @ 15, 25, 35

Monday, 5 January 2015

Box Squats Jan 2

6 @ 320
5 @ 335
4 @ 345
X2

These percentages made a LOT more sense. It was tough but doable just like the other days

Leg press - sets of 10 up to 720, then a back-off set of 100 with 90. Burn baby burn.

Friday, 2 January 2015

Military Press Dec 31

MP

Warmups up to 125
4 @ 130
3 @ 140
2 @ 145
X2

12 @ 105

Dips

Bw, +10, +25, + 50, bw

Lateral Raises - 3 x 10 up to 30's focusing on straight arms and no momentum

Hammer curls - 5 x 10 up to 50's

Blob curls - 3 x 10 @ 7.5s

Thursday, 1 January 2015

Dec 30 Box Squats

Awful. Just awful. Quit after the first pyramid cause everything felt like shit, didn't even bother with assistance work. I've concluded that at least for box squats and deads the 6/5/4 days are too much of a reach. I've scaled the average intensity down to 80 from 85, adhering more strictly to prilepin's chart. That should make a big difference when i make up this workout on friday.