Monday squat

knees weren't aching at all, so wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign, but as I got squatting they didn't feel so hot, then as I got heavier they felt pretty much fine. Pec still not happy. Calf is more or less fine again.

Warm up
-did the Paul warm up, hadn't done it for a while, and didn't feel too tight as I was doing it.
lat stretch
pec stretch

Squat with 45lbs chains
405 x 3 singles, 425x1 single, 445x3 reps
-was just planning on doing singles and stayng fresh for friday, but I felt like the workout was doing more harm then good. I planned on doing 10 singles with 405, but started going heavier as I was feeling the weights were too light for me to hit some smooth squats.

the 445 triple felt really good, felt like I left a couple reps in the hole, and I'm starting to feel like all the front squatting is paying off even if I didn't hit the numbers I was hoping for.

deadlift with 75lbs chains
- I've never been a big deadlifter before a meet, and I'd rather be fresh, then fully trained on pulls. I've done all my best deadlifting without deadlifting at all before the meet, then again, I've only done 2 meets where I trained it regularly.

405x1,495x1, 525x1 belt on

- pull felt good, just walked up and pulled it, kept my back flat and tight, but didn't worry about arching, so much as I worried about just pushing my feet thru the floor to get rid of my sticking point at my knees. this is a PR deadlift for me so far, I did 525 with 45 lbs chains with a tough lockout, and this was more with an easier lockout, and at that meet, I had 590 at my knees with no belt, so I'm hoping 600 is about to go down.

Saturday bench

pec still very tight, not quite sure how to rehab this one as I've never strained a pec, but I think time and not pushing it will work the best... I'd really prefer to be able to just train hard 6 nights a week, as I get frustrated when I can't train the way I'd like to.

bench
225 2x3

rack lockouts
275x5
-these were still a bad movement

close grip pulldowns
Face pulls
dumbell flys
side laterals
2 sets each

Friday heavy squat

Right knee is still pretty tender, but overall feeling ok. I don't feel it, or my calf as bad on back squats, probably just due to the lesser range of motion.

Warm up
foam roll IT band, biceps
barx30 front squat

Front squat - finally got the hang of hands crossed over my chest.
135x10x2 sets

Back squat
135,225,315,405, 445x5

-short and sweet, I was thinking about attempting a 2nd and 3rd set, but wasn't a good night for it. I was all over the place, and felt very uncomfortable and had to expend a lot more energy than I should have. I'm just trying to find the sweet spots, I'm more used to being very upright, so I find bending forward, even just the little bit I need to throws me off huge. The hole is also throwing me off, front squats I cn just go straight down, back squat I need to sit more between my feet, and slightly back, but not nearly as far back as I used to squat.

All in all, I was moderately frustrated, glad I could squat at all, happy I got my 5 reps without having to get psyched up, just walked up and did it.

Next week 470 for 4 reps, then 495x3 ... I'm really looking forward to 495, that will give me a good idea of where I'm going to be for the meet. All in all, I'm not making the major improvements I was hoping for numbers wise, and I may open my deadlift very light, but all in all, I'm happy with what I've learned from this prep, and I'm looking forward to using it in my next training cycle.

bench deload

knew I had to have a light workout, pec is borderline, so a couple light workouts right now could give it the chance to loosen up a bit.

Warm up
bike
hip, gh stretch

bench
225 for 5 sets of 3
- still feeling tight on most reps

circuit
face pulls, rope pressdown, dumbell flyes, lateral raises
x3

-Had a general sharp ache, all up and down my arms tonite. frustrated that I can't train regular, but it was probably a good idea for a slow night afer hitting 365, I haven't had that in my hands for a while.

wednesday squat

Knee was acting really weird, and it was a sharp pain, which is my general rule to cutting off training.

warm up
bike
bodyweight squats
step ups
leg extensions

front squat
up to 275x2

barx50

-tried to get some blood into the area, but it was still a sharp pain every rep. I'm going to just have to wait to see how long it takes to go away.

tuesday bench

went in just wanting to work up to something heavy, and see where I'm actually at.

warm up
back foot elevated hip stretch
gh stretch

bench
135, 185, 225,275,295, 315, 335, 355 (paused) 365 touch and go

-nothing spectacular, but it's a gym PR. It's always a good feeling getting the feedback that your training is working so far.

Monday squat

Was feeling under the weather, and I just went with what felt good. Definitely off plan, but I don't think it's that huge a deal, and was probably a good thing, even if it annoys me a bit.

Warm up
tiger balm - just a little on patellar tendons.
bak foot elevated hip stretch
lat stretch

front squat
135, 225, 315, 365, 395, 415, 435xf
- form looked fine, got out of the hole well, just hit a hard sticking point

Back squat - no belt
405,455,475, 495
- all the reps felt fine, my legs feel strong right now, felt like I could have gone up to 515 for sure, I just wanted to save it until I was feeling more comfortable in my form, this is still  giant beltless pr.

saturday bench

having to train smart is really annoying. Pec feels fairly ok, but a deload is good timing.

bench
225 5 sets of 2 275x3, 315x3,2
-worked up after a bit, things felt fine, but I was hesitant. May switch to chains for the next few weeks after the deload.

did some back assistance work after

Friday heavy squat

Warm up
-went in early in the day and warmed up to 225 for a few doubles, just until my knees stopped hurting. 2nd warm up went very easily.

Front squat
345x6,2
-had to take a break to get the 6th rep on the first set, and just stopped on the 2nd set.

Not freaking out, feeling extremely fatigued, called Willie after, he generally hits the wall around the same point, we talked about how to proceed for the next bit. Basically, instead of trying 365 for 5, we're going to do 6-10 doubles, then just keep going up to 425. I like this plan better. But still have to keep the sets as high as I can.

If I can do 10 doubles with 365 I'll be pretty happy.

http://youtu.be/4bl6to2fLqU

Thursay bench

Felt pretty rough heading into this, but got going with a spike shooter and Kraddy.

Bench
295x5,5,5,5,2
-was supposed to do 7 sets of 5, but on my 2nd rep of my 5th set something in my pec went pretty wonky and I'm going to wait and see if it's anything bad

wed light squat

Warm up
tiger balm on knees
bodyweight squats
late stretch
-besides knees aching, I got into position easily.

Front squat
345 6 sets of 2

-This was still really hard, weight felt very heavy, everyone told me they were moving quick. I was just still tired from Mondays squat, I'll be recovered by Friday and get my 6's.

tuesday bench

The gym was empty,and I was feeling fairly flat tonite, had a pretty good workout.

warm up
tiger balm
back foot elevated hip stretch

Bench
275x7,7,6,4,5

was supposed to do 5 sets of 7, so unless I get all my reps on all my next sets, I'll have to redo this week and try to get all the reps.

Monday squat

Life is fairly back to normal, had to help move my moms house to her new one today, I sweated a ton and was a few pounds under my training weight of 245, didn't get it put back on, I was very nervous and uncomfortable heading into tonite with how poorly my training went in calgary, 130kg front squat was feeling very heavy, but I let my training partners know I needed some help tonite, and wound up having my best front squat workout so far.

Warm up
tiger balm on knees and calf
2 mins on bike on high till my knees didn't hurt too much
bodyweight squats

front squat
345 5x5
sets 3,4,5 I did 4 reps, racked it, took 10 deep breaths and did my final rep. Keeping the bar on my shoulders and upright was very tough, but I feel this was pretty good, and this was a very tough workout.


In general, I'm pretty sure this means I should be doing them ona  rgular basis.

training in Calgary

Back from the CPU Nats in Calgary, had a very good time, got to watch some great lifters, was very impressed with the female lifters and raw malelifters, didn't get to see too many equipped males lift, but all the CPU guys are very high level, and generally better than me, lol.

Training didn't go so hot, I was fairly exhausted the entire trip,and I'm frustrated to say not having home field advantage threw me off. I've become much too reliant on the familiarity of certain racks, and when I compete in Waterloo I'm generally thrown for a loop. This is something I'm going to have to figure out, and get over. I guess I'm a bit of a head case.

Friday squat in Edmonton

warm up
tiger balm on knees
-got into position fairly easily, knees were aching, but that's pretty normal these days.

Front squat
130kg 7 sets of 2
- was supposed to do 155kg, and I was supposed to do it for 5 reps, but it just wasn't going to fly, I was pissed at the time, and threw a bit of a hissy fit that I had to apologize for later, but in hindsight, this was exactly what I needed, and trying to do my training sessions on the road like usual was a bad idea.

Saturday bench in Calgary
-this was a straight up commercial gym, I could feel my testicles curling up into my stomach the second I walked in the place. They had hammer strength gear, but the benches weren't as high as they needed to be, somy set ups were piss poor. the plates were a little suspect as well.

Bench
295 3x3
-this was supposed to be 10 sets of 3, but that wasn't going to fly. The weight didn't feel particularly heavy, I just got frustrated, and didn't see much point in training a movement that wasn't the actual movement, plus my motivation just sucked.

Thoughts on travelling on training.
-met up with Paul in the airport, and I saw his luggage, and his training bag filled with supplements was bigger than my suitcase. He travels a ton, and related to me that even he didn't feel his sessions went very well. Next time I need to be much much better prepared, and pick out my spots to train, and line up training partners well in advance.

All in all, missing a couple sessions will likely only help me.

Tuesday bench

warm up
gh stretch
tiger balm on shoulders

Bench
265 for 5 sets of 7
-felt good got all my reps, 285 for 5 on thursday, 305 for 3's on Saturday. If I get all my reps this week, I may just keep going an extra week, I'd like a week where I'm doing 275,295,315. Not too sure where my bench is at, but I think I'll get 350 without too much trouble. Just gotta keep whittling it down week by week until I'm at 400. Now that I'm not hurting my arm every 5 minutes, it'll be a matter of time. Won't be easy at all, but should be doable in 2012.

monday squat

Right knee took a bit to get to loosen up today, I think it compensated for my calf, so after I get that to loosen up, I should be back to relative pain free training. Calf is all better, minor twinge in the hole.

Warm up
bike
knee extension machine
tiger balm

Front squat
340 4 sets of 4

Was happy with my form tonite.

saturday birthday bench

Was greeted with a happy birthday song, had a ton of ppl wish me happy birthday today, feeling very blessed.

Warm up
back foot elevated hip stretch

bench
295 for 10 sets of 3
-this took a while, but got easier as I got going, took a little bit for me to loosen up.

skipped assistance, going out for sushi

Friday squat

warm up
back foot elevated hip stretch
tiger balm on knees

front squat
345 6 sets of 2
-I went in expecting this to be easy, and got woken up a bit. Not easy at all. I'm a little worried for reps of 4 and above, I know I'll get some 4's, and that'll help me to get 5, 6 reps will be hard, but if I can do it, then things should fall into place. Off the top of my head, if I miss any reps, I'll just have to add in sets and hope for the best.

I get to do 4's in Ottawa, then I'm off to Calgary wednesday morning, so I may be looking for a place to do my light front squat, then find a place to squat on Friday for 5's. Not looking forward to doing this in a crappy gym, so hopefully I'll find something good.

thursday bench

warm up
gh stretch
pain cave
tiger balm on elbows

Bench - heels down
275 for 7 sets of 5
-missed a rep on 5th and 6th set, then took a bit of a longer break and got it on 7th set.

Think I'm going to follow this for this week and next, then taper a couple sessions, then max out. I'd like to hit 350ish, I'd really like to hit 365, nice and clean, with a good pause, and maybe try to do a few singles with it. this would be the ideal situation. As long as I get 350 that's fine.

wed squat

warmed up well, but mostly just for my knees, all the squatting causes a fair bit of ache.

bike on high
leg extensions
lat stretch

that was all I needed to get into position tonite

front squat
345 4 sets of 3

-had to skip the last 2 sets, calf was bugging me quite a bit, but happy I got the 4 sets in, 3 reps felt easyish. Looking forward to getting to 4. My only concern with the high reps is just hanging onto the bar... I'm hoping this will force me to strain hard to keep technique, and that will translate very well to the lower reps.

monday squat tuesday bench

Monday
-didnt warm up enough, knees were aching. Calf held up until the very end.

Front squat
340 5 sets 2 reps

these weren't easy, but I made them hard by not being as smooth as usual due to my calf.

Tuesday

Bench
255 for 5 sets of 7 reps
- switched between flat foot and heels up, flat foot is starting to feel really good.
-265 next week. When I can do this with 275 good things should happen on my bench.