[flak]

Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008

WHY DID ZERCHERS GO BETTER?

Went to PL club squat wortkout. Turned out everybody else was doing deadlifts. Whatever. I came to do squats, I'll do squats.

BACK BARBELL SQUATS, PL STYLE

Bare Oly bar (45 lbs.), 5 reps, 2 sets -- wasn't sitting back enough on my first set, per one of my oh-so-much-stronger pals, who watched me from across the room while doing DLs with enough weight to crush a garbage truck. Adjusted form accordingly.
95 lbs., 5 reps, 1 set
135 lbs., 5 reps, 1 set
185 lbs., 3 reps, 1 set
225 lbs., 2 reps, 1 set
245 lbs., single -- tried my Inzer belt for the first time, worked great. Was even comfortable. Weight went up easily, a fact that was no doubt helped by the fact the local rock radio station blasting in the weightroom was playing Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" at the time.

265 lbs., single -- barely -- and I mean just barely -- put this fucker up. Only 10 lbs. under my PR so I guess I shouldn't be surprised, 'specially since I've only squatted heavy twice in the past couple months. I used the belt.

Decided to take the hint and switch to Zerchers, to hit the ol' quads harder. Weak quads are a problem for me. Set the pins so I could do these fuckers looooow.

ZERCHER SQUATS

Bare Oly bar (45 lbs.), 5 reps, 1 set
95 lbs., 5 reps, 1 set
135 lbs., 5 reps, 1 set
185 lbs., 3 reps, 1 set -- a triple at 185 is my previous PR but it didn't seem so tough. I decided to bump up the weight and try to reclaim some of the lost manliness that resulted when that 265 was so heavy.
Put on the belt...
205 lbs., 3 reps, 1 set -- tough but doable
Fuck it, I want two plates.
225 lbs., 3 reps, 1 set -- seemed about the same as 205. What the hell.
Was it all a dream? I had to try again.
225 lbs., 3 reps, 1 set -- fought hard for the last two reps, but got 'em.

Note: Out of concern for muscle balance and general compulsive nature, I've gotten in the habit of switching off from "left hand grabs right wrist" on one Z-squat set, and "right hand grabs left wrist" on the next.

Ran out of time. So I walked away with a 40 lbs. Z-squat PR for the day, not bad. If only they'd put on more Hendrix, who knows what coulda happened....

[MatterOverMind]

Great job Flak. Thems were some nice Z. Squats!

Love the titles of your entries too.

[flak]

Thanks, Matter. Now I'm wondering if I should try for a 1 RM Z-squat next time. Hadn't really thought about it before.

Yeah, I try to come up with a snarky title for every post, just to start things out right.

[flak]

Monday, Jan. 14, 2008

CORE, BURPEES, REPEAT

At lunchtime did a core circuit.

Dropped off gear at the field by the football stadium, jogged a few hundred yards to the ROTC building.

BW hanging leg raises with knees bent, 20 reps, 2 sets -- raised knees up the middle, to waist level
BW hanging leg raises with knees bent, 20 reps, 2 sets, raised knees toward one shoulder, to waist level
BW hanging leg raises with legs straight for time -- sucked at this -- legs hung at about 45 degrees, did maybe 10 seconds each time

^^^ this stuff worked my forearms harder than my core -- might need to hold a dumbbell between my feet next time

Jogged back to the field

Neider presses with a 25 lbs. plate, 10 reps, 2 sets -- needed more weight

10 burpees

BW swimmers (lie on stomach, raise one arm and opposite-side leg), 50 reps, 1 set
Weighted Supermans with 12 lbs. dumbbell, 20 reps, 1 set -- barely got the weight off the ground

10 burpees

Weighted crunches with 25 lbs. plate held over my face, 10 reps, 2 sets
Weighted oblique crunches with 25 lbs. plate held over my face, 10 reps, 1 set each side

10 burpees

Saxon side bends with 25 lbs. plate, 20 reps, 1 set
BW Russian twists, 20 reps, 2 sets -- these killed me
BW windshield wipers, 20 reps, 2 sets

10 burpees

BW spear (lie on back, arms overhead on ground, raise head, raise legs, hold 'em up) -- 60 seconds, with four -- count 'em FOUR rest breaks, cause I suck

Done

[flak]

Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008

TAKE A PICTURE OF THAT 225

So this evening's powerlifting club workout was canceled, due to some silly event that's taking place tonight in the facility where the weightroom is located. That bullshit I knew about several days ago. Then this afternoon I found out the weightroom wouldn't even be open this afternoon for "recreational lift," due to this same stupid event. What, are they gonna close the entire building for the day because of this crap? I guess so.

Consequently, I was pissed off royally when I set off to use the student rec center around 1 p.m. This being mid-January in the early afternoon I thought the place would be swarming with lifters. Turned out it really wasn't. I got a power rack as soon as I walked in. Which was good, because today is suppsoed to be bench day and I need to make some damn progress if I have any hope of placing respectably in the 250 old dudes bench race, aka the "C.C. challenge."

So here's what happened...

BARBELL FLAT BENCH PRESS

Because the comp is touch-and-go, I did all this stuff touch-and-go, with a slightly-wider-than-shoulder-width grip on the bar. Tried to pull shoulder blades together, arch back, tighten lats, core and glutes and squeeze the crap out of the bar.

Bare Oly bar (45 lbs.), 20 reps, 1 set -- did 10 at moderate speed, 10 fast
95 lbs., 10 reps, 1 set
135 lbs., 5 reps, 1 set
185 lbs., single
205 lbs., single
225 lbs., single -- By far the best single I've done at 225. I don't think anybody would've complained about the form or speed.

Decided not to push my luck, especially since I still need to worry about my left front delt healing up.

205 lbs., 2 reps, 1 set -- ground out the second rep, and in the process twisted my left shoulder upward, something I often do when I'm having a tough time with a bench rep. This made my left front delt hurt and made me think this habit may be connected to my chronic pain there. I need to stop twistin', in other words.

205 lbs., single x 5 -- all went pretty well. Pain in left front delt subsided

BARBELL FLAT CLOSE-GRIP BENCH PRESS

Thumbs were about 8 inches apart

135 lbs., 5 reps, 1 set
155 lbs., 3 reps, 4 sets -- last rep of 3rd and 4th sets were tough

CUBAN PRESSES

Used 20 lbs. fixed-weight barbell

10 reps, 3 sets

Done

[flak]

Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008

THIT! THAT HURTH!

Went to the student rec center at lunchtime, planning to do some bears and posterior-chain stuff.

Place was busy as hell. Both power racks occupied, lotta people using the dumbbell/flat bench area, too.

Walked/ran on a treadmill for 10 minutes to warm up, pace went from 3.2 mph to 6.5 mph. Then get kicked off by a young woman who'd reserved the treadmill, so I jumped on a stationary bike for 5 minutes, worked up to level 14 at around 85 rpm.

BEARS

30 lbs., about 5 reps -- hit myself in the chin with the first push press of the first rep. Bit the tippity-tip of my tongue. Didn;t break the skin but I bruised it and it's numb now. Fucking brilliant.
50 lbs., about 10 reps

A power rack opened up, so...

ROMANIAN DEADLIFTS

Bare Oly bar (45 lbs.), 10 reps, 1 set
135 lbs., 10 reps, 1 set
185 lbs., 8 reps, 1 set
225 lbs., 3 reps, 2 sets (one set DOH, one set R/O and L/U)

Something in my right hip abductor started hurting during the 225 sets so I cut the Romanians short.

Tomorrow -- Power cleans (first time I've done 'em in a long while), good mornings, neck work before work, something at lunchtime

[flak]

Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008

POWER CLEANING AGAIN

Rode bike to work and home from work, about 8 miles round trip, moderate pace

My right elbow's been feeling pretty good the past couple of days so I decided it was time to resume work on my horrible power cleans. Way back when I was doing them regularly (like, July-August 2007), mschatz provided some helpful tips on form and I figured today was a good day to try to put them to use.

So I hit the student rec center about 7:10 a.m.

Both power racks were open, so I grabbed the bar off one and did this...

BARBELL POWER CLEANS

Bare Oly bar (45 lbs.), about 10 singles -- felt awkward. Not a good start.

65 lbs., about 5 singles, with a front squat after each single. (I figured "so long as I have the bar racked, why not?") -- felt better

85 lbs., about 5 singles with front squat -- working on the hip pop, sometimes the bar moves easier than others

95 lbs., about 5 singles with front squat -- in retrospect, a good working weight

115 lbs., about 5 singles with front squat -- again, a good working weight

135 lbs., 10 singles -- I stopped doing the front squats. Form was breaking down, partly because I was getting tired and partly because it's a lot of weight for me.

Overall, the good news was, I'm at least doing the rudiments of a good power clean. I'm getting some hip pop and shoulder shrug, and the rack is okay.

The bad news is, I'm having trouble coordinating the leg drive, hip pop and shoulder shrug, my elbows should be higher after the catch, and the whole darn thing still seems more awkward than it should.

I cut this session a little short because more and more people were coming into the rec center and some of them were using flat benches that were awfully close to me. I stopped altogether when two dudes parked themselves on the benches directly behind me. I figured they'd be a distraction, plus if I seriously botched a clean and moved/fell backward I might end up hurting one (or both) of them with the bar.

My right elbow is hurting a bit as I type this -- forgot to wear my new elbow brace. I think I showed some improvement but I need a lot more work. We need to buy a new video camera so I can post some form videos. So far it doesn't look like I have any options for learning Oly lifts in person here.

NECK WORK

The usual -- I got a plate, put a folded gym towel against it and held it to my head. Then I lay down on a flat bench and did reps face up, face down, right side up and left side up.

10 lbs., 20 reps each way, 1 set
20 lbs., 10 reps each way, 1 set

First time using 20 lbs. -- went okay, but I need to stick with this weight until I can easily do 20 reps.

Done

At lunchtime I may go for a walk -- forgot to bring a second set of gym clothes and that pretty well prevents me from doing a serious workout.

Edited to add -- went for a short walk at lunchtime -- straight to the pizza parlor. I've been super pissed off about some unfair bullshit going on at work, and today I dealt with it by overeating. Greeeeeeeat.

[flak]

Friday, Jan. 18, 2008

235

Rode bike to work and home, about 8 miles round trip, moderate pace

If you haven't been keeping up with my training log, there's been some bullshit going on at my office that's got me incensed. I was mad as hell most of yesterday and this morning it didn't take me long to get pissed off again.

My son had the day off from school, which meant I didn't have to drive him in this morning, which in turn meant I could lift before work. That seemed like a capital fucking idea.

As many of you know, I'm in a race to a 250 lbs. bench press with Bubble Boy, Old Man and Stonebreaker. Last night I decided that I should probably not go for 250 this morning, and instead try for 235, which is a 10 lbs. PR and seemed doable, especially if I was pissed off.

I got to the student rec center about 7:30. Both power racks were in use, so I did 10 reps at 20 lbs. on some cable chest-press machine, then did a few reps of BOR at 30 lbs. Before I got very far with that, the guy using one of the power racks got up and left. Didn't wipe the bench off either -- hair gel or sweat (probably the former) was there to greet me.

Thanks, and fuck you, gel boy.

So I did this...

BOR

65 lbs., 10 reps, 1 set -- did it in the power rack, straddling the bench. Got some funny looks.

BARBELL FLAT BENCH PRESS

65 lbs., 10 reps, 1 set
135 lbs., 5 reps, 1 set -- felt very light
175 lbs., 3 reps, 1 set
205 lbs., single

Okay, here we go...

Jumped off the bench, grabbed a 50 lbs. fixed-weight barbell from the rack next to the power rack, did 10 BORs. Got a drink of water. Threw away some old gym wipes that were in the power rack that were bothering me. Tsk, athletes and their silly rituals.

Back on the bench...

235 lbs., single -- went up nicely. Not picture-perfect but faster than I expected, with only a slight slowdown when I hit my sticking point about halfway up. Bar was almost flat, one side a smidge higher than the other.

Decided not to push my luck. Tuesday night is the PL club bench workout. I'll probably try for 250 then.

215 lbs., single x 5 -- these all went well

BARBELL CLOSE-GRIP BENCH PRESS

155 lbs., 5 reps, 1 set
175 lbs., 2 reps, 4 sets

Done.

Random observations -- I'm starting to use a little back arch when I bench, also trying to keep my wrists straight, as Mehdi (StrongLifts) recommends. Seems to help.

My inner elbows are sore today, presumably from the power cleans yesterday.

Tonight -- Maybe stretching

Tomorrow -- Not sure

[J Storm]

when i was having trouble with cleans i would concentrate on thinking that i wasn't trying to lift the weight up, but "whip" it up. also if you try to focus on throwing your elbows up and forward, the weight will come along for the ride.

[flak]

^^^ That's a good thought, thanks. Everything happens so fast in power cleans, it's kind of comical that I'm trying to monitor all the details as they happen.