My birthday has come and gone. Sadly, life and work defined the week of my birthday, leaving rest, food, and training by the wayside. So, I suppose the bad news is that I very clearly did not meet the goals I set out to achieve. The good news is that, although the last week has been a little bump in the road, my training has never progressed better than it has this summer. I am becoming the physical specimen I want to become. Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said for my overall personality as I am still, quite generally, a gigantic piece of shit. Here is where the training is:
8-2-2010
squat: 260X5X3
press: 155X5X3
8-3-2010
deadlift: 295X5X1
20m stair sprints X 10
8-6-2010
squat: 265X5X3
Bench: 215X5X3 (shitty spotter ruined these sets. Can't count them.)
8-9-2010
squat: 270X5X3
Bench: 215X5X3
8-11-2010
squat:135X3X3
press: 160X1, 160X3, 160X4
deadlift: 305X5
8-13-2010
squat: 275X5X3
8-16-2010
squat: 280X5X3
press: 157.5X5X3
8-18-2010
deadlift: 315X5X3
8-20-2019
squat: 285X5X2
press: 160X5X3
8-25-2010
deadlift: 325X4
Here is a video of a lot of this training:
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
8-2-2010
Training last week was okay. Tuesday and Thursday were fine but I was exhausted on Saturday. Our house is being remodeled and we don't have a kitchen which has destroyed the consistency and quality of my food intake (food is a HUGE deal when doing a linear progression). Anyway, I didn't warm up properly and I squatted lazily. As a result I really aggravated the tendonitis (best guess) throughout both arms. This has happened to me a lot in the past and I definitely know better than to continue squatting when I feel like this... but I went ahead anyway. I'm a an idiot. It didn't last long and hopefully the Bikram yoga I did yesterday helped. I think I'll try training tonight and see how it goes. Maybe I'll try pressing first to see if that gets my arms and shoulders nicely lubed up for the squats. If not then I'll find a way to train around it for a while.
7-27-2010
Squat:245X5X3
Press: 152.5X5X3
deadlift: 285X5X3
7-29-2010
Squat:250X5X3
Bench:210X5X3 (PR)
3 X
20 back extensions
10 strict pullups
Time: 5:00 min
Note: Conditioning was stupid. Strict pullups were killing the intensity so I switched to kipping during the last round and a half. The kipping may have actually contributed to the onset of tendonitis on the following training day. I'll be smarter next conditioning session.
7-31-2010
Squat: 255X5X3
8-1-2010
Bikram yoga
7-27-2010
Squat:245X5X3
Press: 152.5X5X3
deadlift: 285X5X3
7-29-2010
Squat:250X5X3
Bench:210X5X3 (PR)
3 X
20 back extensions
10 strict pullups
Time: 5:00 min
Note: Conditioning was stupid. Strict pullups were killing the intensity so I switched to kipping during the last round and a half. The kipping may have actually contributed to the onset of tendonitis on the following training day. I'll be smarter next conditioning session.
7-31-2010
Squat: 255X5X3
8-1-2010
Bikram yoga
Monday, July 26, 2010
Starting Strength Seminar
I spent the week before last at a Starting Strength Seminar in Wichita Falls, Texas. I met Rip. He likes guns and whiskey.
The Starting Strength Seminar must be one of the best products in the fitness industry for aspiring strength coaches or just aspiring strength athletes. I cannot compare it to other seminars because I haven't gone to any, but it's hard to imagine any of them would be nearly as valuable. The information and practical skills we were taught could have easily been the subject matter of a full college level course, and it was all cogently presented with refined pedagogy. More than that, Rip and his colleagues are just good, fun people.
My training has been progressing okay. Pretty much everything is going well except for power cleans, which is odd since they have never really been a goat for me in the past. Given the fluctuations in my sleep and diet lately (I'm in the middle of moving), I suspect that the power clean problems will pass when I get food and sleep dialed in. Here's what I was up to last week:
7-19-2010
Squat: 230X5X3
Press: 150X5X3
Deadlift: 275X5X3
7-21-2010
Squat: 235X5X3
Prowler: 4X25m at 90 lbs
7-23-2010
Squat: 240X5X3
Bench: 205X5X3 (PR)
Power Clean: 5 X 3 X suck
Prowler: 2X25m at 180 lbs
Here's a video of most of this training:
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
7-7-2010
Not the greatest day in the gym. Squats were even softer in the bottom than usual. Presses were okay. Layback was a bit excessive on the last couple reps but they went up. Whatever, I was tired. I'll be in Wichita Falls for the next week so we'll see how that experience cleans things up.
Squat: 195X5X3
Press: 140X5X3
And here is a recent meal:
2 lbs of ground bison
4 pieces of bacon
Okay, it was two meals... out of 5.
Squat: 195X5X3
Press: 140X5X3
And here is a recent meal:
2 lbs of ground bison
4 pieces of bacon
Okay, it was two meals... out of 5.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Training 4-5-2010
Work-sets only
Squat: 190X5X3
Bench Press: 200X5X3
Power Clean: 170X4X3
Chins / Dips: 8/6, 4/4, 5/4
Squat: 190X5X3
Bench Press: 200X5X3
Power Clean: 170X4X3
Chins / Dips: 8/6, 4/4, 5/4
Sunday, July 4, 2010
4_2_2010
Training:
Work-sets only
Squat: 185X5X3
Press: 135X5X3
Deadlift:275X5X3
I have been working hard to improve my flexibility and and squat technique. This unfortunately means pretty light weight. My last time around I worked up to a squat of 275X5X3. They were of course pretty ugly and several inches high. Even so, 185 feels pretty light... yet it is still pretty much at the limit of what I can handle with good technique. It would be nice if my ego had an off switch.
These squats look AMAZING compared to what I was letting myself get away with before. There are, however, still some obvious problems. Most notably, my knees collapse a bit in the bottom, which is connected to the more general problem of losing tightness in the bottom. I need to improve flexibility so that my knees more naturally track out over my feet through the entire range of motion and I need to stop being such a sissy and try real hard to stay tight all the way down. In addition to this technique issue, it looks like a couple reps might be a little bit high. I believe this was on accident and does not represent a systematic flaw. I will, however, be paying very close attention to depth as I progress.
The presses looked pretty good. The grip is a bit wider than I am used to but it felt pretty good. My major problem is excessive layback under heavy load, which I think I did a decent job at avoiding on these sets.
The deadlifts look okay. I don't like lifting barefoot but the heel on my weightlifting shoes makes my back angle essentially horizontal if I wear them. I need to find some flat soled lifting shoes. I have mixed feelings about the belt. I feel like it gets in the way of taking full breaths. Maybe I'll try opening it up a notch. Aside from that, I just need to be patient in my start position and really be careful to squeeze my chest up on every rep.
Nutrition:
I've been eating well but drinking too much. I guess that's what I get for living with two ex-frat guys. I'm getting about 4000 calories and between 200-300 grams of protein per day. The weights are still light enough that I don't need to be putting away a gallon of milk a day to facilitate recovery but it might very well get there. Eating is so important to this type of training and I bet that I will need to get my calories up to 6000 per day with 300 g or more of protein. This is just my intuition of course. I'll ask John Schaeffer about it when I meet him at the upcoming Starting Strength Seminar at the Wichita Falls Athletic Club!!!
Work-sets only
Squat: 185X5X3
Press: 135X5X3
Deadlift:275X5X3
I have been working hard to improve my flexibility and and squat technique. This unfortunately means pretty light weight. My last time around I worked up to a squat of 275X5X3. They were of course pretty ugly and several inches high. Even so, 185 feels pretty light... yet it is still pretty much at the limit of what I can handle with good technique. It would be nice if my ego had an off switch.
These squats look AMAZING compared to what I was letting myself get away with before. There are, however, still some obvious problems. Most notably, my knees collapse a bit in the bottom, which is connected to the more general problem of losing tightness in the bottom. I need to improve flexibility so that my knees more naturally track out over my feet through the entire range of motion and I need to stop being such a sissy and try real hard to stay tight all the way down. In addition to this technique issue, it looks like a couple reps might be a little bit high. I believe this was on accident and does not represent a systematic flaw. I will, however, be paying very close attention to depth as I progress.
The presses looked pretty good. The grip is a bit wider than I am used to but it felt pretty good. My major problem is excessive layback under heavy load, which I think I did a decent job at avoiding on these sets.
The deadlifts look okay. I don't like lifting barefoot but the heel on my weightlifting shoes makes my back angle essentially horizontal if I wear them. I need to find some flat soled lifting shoes. I have mixed feelings about the belt. I feel like it gets in the way of taking full breaths. Maybe I'll try opening it up a notch. Aside from that, I just need to be patient in my start position and really be careful to squeeze my chest up on every rep.
Nutrition:
I've been eating well but drinking too much. I guess that's what I get for living with two ex-frat guys. I'm getting about 4000 calories and between 200-300 grams of protein per day. The weights are still light enough that I don't need to be putting away a gallon of milk a day to facilitate recovery but it might very well get there. Eating is so important to this type of training and I bet that I will need to get my calories up to 6000 per day with 300 g or more of protein. This is just my intuition of course. I'll ask John Schaeffer about it when I meet him at the upcoming Starting Strength Seminar at the Wichita Falls Athletic Club!!!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Statement of Intent
Birthday challenges are great ways to motivate yourself to do hard things. Two years ago I did the CrossFit benchmark workouts Linda, Helen, Fran, and Angie on my birthday. Results from those shenanigans are available here. Last year I didn't do anything because I fell back into my old habits of being generally poor at life. This year, however, I have my shit more together then I ever have... I'm also turning 30.. so it's about time.
My first inclination was to repeat the challenge from 2 years ago so that I could straightforwardly compare my performances. However, my interests these days revolve much less around CrossFit and much more around basic barbell training. I have made good progress (i.e., gained strength and body weight) over the last 6 months or so using a basic linear progrssion. However, I believe my strength gains have been hindered by at least 3 largely independent factors.
First, I have been going back and forth between months of pure strength training and months of CrossFit training. I have a strong tendency to return to CrossFit periodically because, frankly, it's pretty awesome. The trouble is that CrossFit isn't, in my experience, an extremely effective tool for mass and strength gain. This means that the months of CrossFit training, while causing tremendous increases in conditioning, didn't do much for my strength.
The second factor is my ego. My desire to lift heavier weights (thereby looking cooler in the weight room) led me to accept less than full-depth squats on my linear progression. I wasn't doing quarter or even half squats, but I was certainly a couple inches high on almost every rep. Here is an excerpt from Rip's Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training that nicely illustrates the importance of getting full range of motion.
"Strength development is extremely specific: muscles get strong in the positions they are made to get strong, and in preceisely the way they are trained. For instance, a quadriceps muscle worked through 30 degrees of it's range of motion on a leg extension machine will adapt to this work by improving it's ability to work in that 30 degrees of motion. It will not get much stronger anywhere else in its range."
The third factor is impatience. Part of not getting full depth on my squats came from lacking sufficient mobility to do so and using poor technique. Again, the allure of adding weight to the bar took over when I should have backed off and worked hard until I could do it right.
I intend to learn from my mistakes. I am going to commit myself almost entirely to strength training until I reach some modest strength goals, and I am going to do so using weights that I can handle using correct technique. So here is the formal statement of the physical feats component of my birthday challenge:
Back Squat: 315X5X3
Deadlift: 405X5X1
Press: 185X5X3
Bench press: 225X5X3
Power Clean: 225X3X5
My training over the next couple months will again be based on a linear progrssion. Success on this type of program is predicated on eating lots of good food, and doing whatever it takes to recover well. I intend to use this blog as a record of my training, nutrition, and sleeping habits. I will be training 3 times a week which gives me about 30 training days until the challenge. Lets make it happen.
My first inclination was to repeat the challenge from 2 years ago so that I could straightforwardly compare my performances. However, my interests these days revolve much less around CrossFit and much more around basic barbell training. I have made good progress (i.e., gained strength and body weight) over the last 6 months or so using a basic linear progrssion. However, I believe my strength gains have been hindered by at least 3 largely independent factors.
First, I have been going back and forth between months of pure strength training and months of CrossFit training. I have a strong tendency to return to CrossFit periodically because, frankly, it's pretty awesome. The trouble is that CrossFit isn't, in my experience, an extremely effective tool for mass and strength gain. This means that the months of CrossFit training, while causing tremendous increases in conditioning, didn't do much for my strength.
The second factor is my ego. My desire to lift heavier weights (thereby looking cooler in the weight room) led me to accept less than full-depth squats on my linear progression. I wasn't doing quarter or even half squats, but I was certainly a couple inches high on almost every rep. Here is an excerpt from Rip's Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training that nicely illustrates the importance of getting full range of motion.
"Strength development is extremely specific: muscles get strong in the positions they are made to get strong, and in preceisely the way they are trained. For instance, a quadriceps muscle worked through 30 degrees of it's range of motion on a leg extension machine will adapt to this work by improving it's ability to work in that 30 degrees of motion. It will not get much stronger anywhere else in its range."
The third factor is impatience. Part of not getting full depth on my squats came from lacking sufficient mobility to do so and using poor technique. Again, the allure of adding weight to the bar took over when I should have backed off and worked hard until I could do it right.
I intend to learn from my mistakes. I am going to commit myself almost entirely to strength training until I reach some modest strength goals, and I am going to do so using weights that I can handle using correct technique. So here is the formal statement of the physical feats component of my birthday challenge:
Back Squat: 315X5X3
Deadlift: 405X5X1
Press: 185X5X3
Bench press: 225X5X3
Power Clean: 225X3X5
My training over the next couple months will again be based on a linear progrssion. Success on this type of program is predicated on eating lots of good food, and doing whatever it takes to recover well. I intend to use this blog as a record of my training, nutrition, and sleeping habits. I will be training 3 times a week which gives me about 30 training days until the challenge. Lets make it happen.
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