I have been officially married for one week! It has been great. We started off our marriage with some big purchases thanks to all of our generous friends and family. We were able to get a nice green love seat, a green and brown shag rug, and a sweet new tv. I don't want to come off as bragging or gloating about the cool things we now own, I'd rather have you see how generous and gracious the people that are in lives. We are very blessed for all the things we have and none of it would have been possible without the love from those of you who thought of us on our wedding day. Thanks you! Now...on to the training.
It has been rough. Its been purely inconsistency and motivation. These two things are very related too...a lack of motivation leads to inconsistency and inconsistency leads to a lack of motivation. It is truly a vicious circle.
As I have written before I am going through one of our athletic progressions. My first reason for doing this is so I didn't really have to think about what I was going to do next. My second reason is to learn what it feels like to be one of our athletes and feel how they feel and what they are feeling while we are coaching them through their workout. My third reason is to help analyze and critique, by going through the progression I can feel and know what works or what doesn't or what might be better.
So far I have worked through weeks 4 and 5, which has taken me more than 2 weeks (due to the inconsistency). This week is week 6 which ends this cycle. My goals for this week will be maxing out on front squats, bench, and sumo deadlifts. (Typically our athletes wouldn't be full out maxing) So...that's 3 workouts in 5 days totally do-able, I've done it before, I need to just suck it up and figure it out. So tomorrow morning will be front squatting, I'll be looking for something around the 275# mark. The same for my bench, which I think will be Tuesday or Wednesday. The sumo max I'm thinking should be just over 400. But I'm not sure...and we will find out! Until then.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
t-minus 5 days
This coming Saturday I will be getting married. I just had to put that out there.
My last post stated I was going to be doing an athletic progression, which I still plan on doing, and did for Thursday and Fridays workout.
Thursday I hg.cleaned 3x4,2x3 up to 190 and benched 5x5 up to 225 using a normal grip width for me. I also worked on some box jumps (39") acceleration sprints which wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
On Friday I did 3'' Snatch grip deadlifts 5x5 and worked up to 225ish. I did some lateral movement and finshed the workout with some lower body auxillary lifts like reverse hypers and hamstring curls. I thought my legs were going to be burning the next day but I was suprisingly fine.
On Monday I'm doing hg.snatch, front squat 5x5, and acceleration. I am looking forward to it - it'll be a good workout from a killer weekend.
My last post stated I was going to be doing an athletic progression, which I still plan on doing, and did for Thursday and Fridays workout.
Thursday I hg.cleaned 3x4,2x3 up to 190 and benched 5x5 up to 225 using a normal grip width for me. I also worked on some box jumps (39") acceleration sprints which wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
On Friday I did 3'' Snatch grip deadlifts 5x5 and worked up to 225ish. I did some lateral movement and finshed the workout with some lower body auxillary lifts like reverse hypers and hamstring curls. I thought my legs were going to be burning the next day but I was suprisingly fine.
On Monday I'm doing hg.snatch, front squat 5x5, and acceleration. I am looking forward to it - it'll be a good workout from a killer weekend.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Dropping the ball part 2
Its been forever and I don't have the greatest excuse - I could give reasons like I didn't have internet at home and I found it more important to find other things to help our gym out when I had down time then to blog about my lifts or what I was learning... but they are nothing but excuses for the fact that I didn't get the job done.
Here is the quick of it... I took 2nd in the NX Level Challenge. I lost 2-3lbs of fat mass in 8 weeks and gained 2.5lbs of Lean body mass in 8 weeks. Here is what I also accomplished during then...PR of 255lbs close grip bench with the possibility of a 260-265lbs attempt in the near future and a successful 275lbs front squat attempt with a 295lbs attempt easily in the future! My front squat strength was a big focus for me during this last 8 weeks and I definitely killed it on that. I don't think I ever made anything heavier than 225lbs on a front squat... ever... before this last training cycle and now I'm doing 250x3-4.
What I've decided recently is to go through more of an athletic phase to help overall speed and power development. I also want to go through our progression just to help get a better understanding of what our athletes are going through on a first hand experience. I think this is a useful tool as a trainer to do every now and then to get a better feel for what the athlete feels/thinks/hears/etc when they are working out. Even having the education and experience to coach someone else through a workout knowing the intricicies of it, it is important to really know what it feels likes to go through what your clients are doing.
My plan is to follow our program including everything it calls for including movment instruction. I will do everything the progression calls for plus the possibility of added sets and exercise.
4 days per week
12 week progression
Mobility
Activation
Tissue Quality
Olympic Lifting
Deceleration
Accelertaion
Lateral movement
Top End Speed
Multi-directional movement
Powerlifts
Accessory lifts
My diet is still under construction.
Here is the quick of it... I took 2nd in the NX Level Challenge. I lost 2-3lbs of fat mass in 8 weeks and gained 2.5lbs of Lean body mass in 8 weeks. Here is what I also accomplished during then...PR of 255lbs close grip bench with the possibility of a 260-265lbs attempt in the near future and a successful 275lbs front squat attempt with a 295lbs attempt easily in the future! My front squat strength was a big focus for me during this last 8 weeks and I definitely killed it on that. I don't think I ever made anything heavier than 225lbs on a front squat... ever... before this last training cycle and now I'm doing 250x3-4.
What I've decided recently is to go through more of an athletic phase to help overall speed and power development. I also want to go through our progression just to help get a better understanding of what our athletes are going through on a first hand experience. I think this is a useful tool as a trainer to do every now and then to get a better feel for what the athlete feels/thinks/hears/etc when they are working out. Even having the education and experience to coach someone else through a workout knowing the intricicies of it, it is important to really know what it feels likes to go through what your clients are doing.
My plan is to follow our program including everything it calls for including movment instruction. I will do everything the progression calls for plus the possibility of added sets and exercise.
4 days per week
12 week progression
Mobility
Activation
Tissue Quality
Olympic Lifting
Deceleration
Accelertaion
Lateral movement
Top End Speed
Multi-directional movement
Powerlifts
Accessory lifts
My diet is still under construction.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Welcome to the world of Tabata
Today I did a full warm-up starting with the ladder, dynamic movement, and some ground based hip mobility. After I got warm and all activated-up I proceeded with whats called Tabata. Its conditioning work where you are working for 20 seconds and then off for 10 seconds for a total of 4 minutes or 8 rounds.
Tabata Hg. Snatch
rest
Tabata Front Squat to press ... I cheated a couple of times with the pressing because my chest is so sore from yesterdays workout.
Candlesticks on the ab board...followed with some rolling out and Done.
I wanna puke.
Tabata Hg. Snatch
rest
Tabata Front Squat to press ... I cheated a couple of times with the pressing because my chest is so sore from yesterdays workout.
Candlesticks on the ab board...followed with some rolling out and Done.
I wanna puke.
Monday, March 29, 2010
NX Level Challenge
Now that the PL Meet is over and I have my wedding coming up I have decided to go lean...not green! Lean. Real heavy training is over and its higher reps with some cardio-strength type training. I'm still going to lift heavy but no more gear! Hopefully this will help my joints, cause they were taking a beating.
So due to this ... it has led Troy and I into a fun challenge. Whoever can lose the most body fat without sacrificing muscle mass is going to win the NX Level biggest loser challenge. Its 8 weeks long and started to with taking our body fat percentages. I weighed in at 224.2 (ps I was just 218 on friday!) my skinfold pinches put me at 22% with 49.3 pounds of fat and 174.9 pounds of lean body mass. We are also taking before and after shots...great! The rules go as such... 1 point for every %of body fat dropped, -1 point for every pound of LBM lost...that way we need to keep up our muscle mass and do this right. The loser, aka Troy, will have to pay for wings and drinks at Hooters. Let the game begin. So far, today, I worked out pretty hard and ate really well. I am going home to dinner right now so that will be chicken, veggies, milk, and probably some grapes.
Troy is using a carb-cycling diet, where I am trying to just eat clean... you can read about all his g/lb and %of carbs, fats, and pro on his blog. Mine is a lot more simple - if you can kill it, grow it, pick it, pluck it, you probably shouldn't eat. I'm not concerned with servings/portions, percentages, g/pound or kg... just eat simple. No fried foods, limit sugar...if this sounds familiar is the Paleo Diet aka the Caveman diet. One thing I am not going to follow is Milk, I love it and I think its a big staple and should be a staple of a diet - esp chocolate. Protein, carbs, some fats taste great mixes with things well! Love it. Nuff said.
Thats the competition - Day 1 is a success! I'll try and give more updates and pictures and numbers for weigh ins and lifts and supplements I'm taking but I want to get outta here!
So due to this ... it has led Troy and I into a fun challenge. Whoever can lose the most body fat without sacrificing muscle mass is going to win the NX Level biggest loser challenge. Its 8 weeks long and started to with taking our body fat percentages. I weighed in at 224.2 (ps I was just 218 on friday!) my skinfold pinches put me at 22% with 49.3 pounds of fat and 174.9 pounds of lean body mass. We are also taking before and after shots...great! The rules go as such... 1 point for every %of body fat dropped, -1 point for every pound of LBM lost...that way we need to keep up our muscle mass and do this right. The loser, aka Troy, will have to pay for wings and drinks at Hooters. Let the game begin. So far, today, I worked out pretty hard and ate really well. I am going home to dinner right now so that will be chicken, veggies, milk, and probably some grapes.
Troy is using a carb-cycling diet, where I am trying to just eat clean... you can read about all his g/lb and %of carbs, fats, and pro on his blog. Mine is a lot more simple - if you can kill it, grow it, pick it, pluck it, you probably shouldn't eat. I'm not concerned with servings/portions, percentages, g/pound or kg... just eat simple. No fried foods, limit sugar...if this sounds familiar is the Paleo Diet aka the Caveman diet. One thing I am not going to follow is Milk, I love it and I think its a big staple and should be a staple of a diet - esp chocolate. Protein, carbs, some fats taste great mixes with things well! Love it. Nuff said.
Thats the competition - Day 1 is a success! I'll try and give more updates and pictures and numbers for weigh ins and lifts and supplements I'm taking but I want to get outta here!
Iowa Midwest Champions Powerlifting Meet
So, the last 15 weeks or so has been devoted to training for my 1st geared powerlifting meet. As you may know, Troy and I did a meet in December in Chicago but that was raw. This meet I was able to use my gear which typically adds about a 100 pounds to my squat and deadlift and about 60-80 pounds on my bench.
I based my training off Westside Barbell principles, utilizing the Max Effort Method and Dynamic Effort methods. I would train the DE bench on Mondays, ME squat on Tuesdays, Wednesdays rest, ME Bench on Thursdays, Fridays rest, and Saturdays DE Squat.
The 1st 8 weeks of training were going great and I was seeing PRs all the time. By week 9 I wasn't just plateauing I was just flat out losing strength. My shoulders where killing me from the overload due to the shirt work. Things just started falling apart. I took a week to deload/recover and when I came back my bench was starting to get better and my deadlift was killing it but my squat never recovered and I just wasn't going where I wanted to with that. My bench though was blowing up and my deadlift was consistant. Throughout my training I ended up PR'ing through everything. Before the downward spiral I ended up pulling 515lbs, squating 515, and benching 345. Towards the end of it all things where different.
A few weeks out and my squat was still not where I thought it'd be and my there were a few times where I missed key lockouts on my deadlift. To say the least I thought I was done. There were numerous days where I did not even see the point of training, where I just wanted to stop trying ... everyone was going to be stronger than me, it was a waste of time and money... excuses where flying. To be honest a few times I missed my workouts - i found other things that appeared to have more relavancy. That brings me to my ah-ha moment, my grass-is-always-greener...
Jake and Troy have always preached consistancy and they are both great examples of the word. Sick as dogs or busy as H ... Jake and Troy will still put their wrench in the weight room. Its not just being in the room that will do the job, you still have to bust hump but getting in there and getting it done is by far the most important thing I learned. You only let yourself down more quitting and then everything turns into a negative feedback cycle. Your not training so you numbers go down, your numbers go down so you don't want to train. Getting into the gym, lifting hard, being consistant...disciplined that is what gets you PRs at meets - not 40-50 pounds under your best lifts.
Now, am I statisfied with myself and my efforts, heck ya. I complained and moaned and cut-out on some workouts and didn't watch my nutrition as well as I should have. But there were times where I did just say to myself, "self, suck it up! You wanted this... your in it... now commit!" When it came to game time - I was there - learning as I went. I squatted 69 pounds under my best, benched 30 pounds under my best, and deadlifted 30 pounds under my best. Would I like to have PRed, yup, woulda loved it, did it happen no...will it happen for sure! I just have to go back with the type of training exemplified before me everyday...consistancy/discipline. Having it will pave your path lacking it will cast shadows and you'll be lost. I learned that lesson but I'm still proud of what I did. I choose the hard way, but I feel I learned from it and all in all I still did pretty good. Towards the end of training 445 burried me and I came up with 446 and i couldn't lock ou 484 in my deadlift but I smoked 485 at the meet. So I am happy.
Total meet results
Weighed in at 218 ... after a 6-8 pound weight cut
Squatted 409, 429, 446
Benched 315, miss 349, miss 349
Deadlift 409, 440, 485
Finished 1st place in UPA division wt class 220, 1 of 1.
I based my training off Westside Barbell principles, utilizing the Max Effort Method and Dynamic Effort methods. I would train the DE bench on Mondays, ME squat on Tuesdays, Wednesdays rest, ME Bench on Thursdays, Fridays rest, and Saturdays DE Squat.
The 1st 8 weeks of training were going great and I was seeing PRs all the time. By week 9 I wasn't just plateauing I was just flat out losing strength. My shoulders where killing me from the overload due to the shirt work. Things just started falling apart. I took a week to deload/recover and when I came back my bench was starting to get better and my deadlift was killing it but my squat never recovered and I just wasn't going where I wanted to with that. My bench though was blowing up and my deadlift was consistant. Throughout my training I ended up PR'ing through everything. Before the downward spiral I ended up pulling 515lbs, squating 515, and benching 345. Towards the end of it all things where different.
A few weeks out and my squat was still not where I thought it'd be and my there were a few times where I missed key lockouts on my deadlift. To say the least I thought I was done. There were numerous days where I did not even see the point of training, where I just wanted to stop trying ... everyone was going to be stronger than me, it was a waste of time and money... excuses where flying. To be honest a few times I missed my workouts - i found other things that appeared to have more relavancy. That brings me to my ah-ha moment, my grass-is-always-greener...
Jake and Troy have always preached consistancy and they are both great examples of the word. Sick as dogs or busy as H ... Jake and Troy will still put their wrench in the weight room. Its not just being in the room that will do the job, you still have to bust hump but getting in there and getting it done is by far the most important thing I learned. You only let yourself down more quitting and then everything turns into a negative feedback cycle. Your not training so you numbers go down, your numbers go down so you don't want to train. Getting into the gym, lifting hard, being consistant...disciplined that is what gets you PRs at meets - not 40-50 pounds under your best lifts.
Now, am I statisfied with myself and my efforts, heck ya. I complained and moaned and cut-out on some workouts and didn't watch my nutrition as well as I should have. But there were times where I did just say to myself, "self, suck it up! You wanted this... your in it... now commit!" When it came to game time - I was there - learning as I went. I squatted 69 pounds under my best, benched 30 pounds under my best, and deadlifted 30 pounds under my best. Would I like to have PRed, yup, woulda loved it, did it happen no...will it happen for sure! I just have to go back with the type of training exemplified before me everyday...consistancy/discipline. Having it will pave your path lacking it will cast shadows and you'll be lost. I learned that lesson but I'm still proud of what I did. I choose the hard way, but I feel I learned from it and all in all I still did pretty good. Towards the end of training 445 burried me and I came up with 446 and i couldn't lock ou 484 in my deadlift but I smoked 485 at the meet. So I am happy.
Total meet results
Weighed in at 218 ... after a 6-8 pound weight cut
Squatted 409, 429, 446
Benched 315, miss 349, miss 349
Deadlift 409, 440, 485
Finished 1st place in UPA division wt class 220, 1 of 1.
Holy crap - i have failed everyone and anyone who has read my blog... my apologize for falling off the wagon but here i am back on. I'll give you all the skinny on the PL Comp. but right now i need to be concise.
Today - busted it up
Warm-up
Hg.Cleans 5x4 worked up to 198#
Close Grip Bench 531555+ finished at 205x8
Bench 5x10 at 135 + V-Grip pull ups 5x10 finished with Black/Purple band assistanct
Chest rows 3x15 w/35# + Red Band Pull Aparts 3x25
Face pulls 3x15 + Purple band pushdowns 3x25
Upper body is shot and still shaking...
I'll update tonight after work with the PL comp and the newest NX Level Challenege!
Today - busted it up
Warm-up
Hg.Cleans 5x4 worked up to 198#
Close Grip Bench 531555+ finished at 205x8
Bench 5x10 at 135 + V-Grip pull ups 5x10 finished with Black/Purple band assistanct
Chest rows 3x15 w/35# + Red Band Pull Aparts 3x25
Face pulls 3x15 + Purple band pushdowns 3x25
Upper body is shot and still shaking...
I'll update tonight after work with the PL comp and the newest NX Level Challenege!
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