Ader wrote:CGBP
Done again as I need to practice them - Don't feel comfortable at all. Started with hands touching in teh middle but had to move out as weights went up as was to unstable

I dont think there's any need to go so narrow mate, I take a grip about shoulder width & keep my elbows in - it still works the triceps well & there's minimal chest involvement. Its much more stable like that & you can shift a lot more weight than with your hands right in the middle of the bar. A bit like this, without the boards (I keep my elbows in a bit more)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=611iIySN_Wc

Thanks Richard - I had figured it was a bit narrow - Not sure I want to go as wide as teh vid' though - That's almost the width I do benches at! - Too wide and my shoulder moans, although it's getting less bad on a wider grip.

I was thinking I'd aim for slightly inside the 'grips' - I think a bit of trial and error wil get me tehre.

Deadlift oreintated day. Couldn't go to the gym as I had to drop off, pick up and drop off kids again - So trained at home.

My ass and ham's were still aching from the squat session and the glute/ham raises I did at the gym on Friday - I obviously need to do them more but not on my squat day methinks

Front squats - to warm up
20 x 10 x 2
70 x 5 x 1
100 x 5 x 3

Sumo deadlifts
100 x 3 x 1
120 x 3 x 1
140 x 3 x 1
160 x 2 x 4

Took kids to trampolining - 15 minutes later ...

Sumo rack lifts - below knee
160 x 2 x 3 - Various heights - first set was too low - ended up about 2/3" below knee
180 x 2 x 2
200 x 1 x 5
- Ripped my left hand just below the callous below ring finger after 2nd 200 - Weird it ripped there I must have been gripping teh bar different to normal.
- Admitedly on the Sumo's I am gripping slightly inside the grips - which is hard - but otherwise no difference
- Maybe it's because my bar at home has mor knurling on it than teh bars at teh gym so my hands have softened up?

Shrugs
160 x 5 x 5

Fetched kids from trampolining & took them to dance class ... 20 minutes later ...

Leg curls - Had wanted to glutes but need to go to gym for them
20 x 10 x 2
45 x 5 x 1
65 x 3 x 1 - Was cheating too much so dropped weight
45 x 5 x 1 - Stopped cheating by arching my back up
30 x 5 x 5

Total tonnage / reps 13,085 / 155
Intensity 84.42

A weird session - Pissed off at the ripped hand - But lucky the callous didn't come off too - That would've really hurt - but pleased overall - Not sure Sumo's suit me TBH, but will give it a few more weeks - I'll give this sess a

sometimes callous's tear when you pull heavy............... just one of those things, still it will heal stronger.

Fronts looking good Ader

ollie wrote:Fronts looking good Ader

Thanks Ollie

All that Oly lifting I did as a kid means I feel relatively (compared to other people) comfortable with fronts - It's only when I go really heavy I don't like them - so 120+ is not nice but up to 110 I'm quite happy.

One other thing I don't like with fronts though is doing lots of reps - Beacuse it is a hard exercise I reckon 5 reps at most - 3's even better

Craig wrote:sometimes callous's tear when you pull heavy............... just one of those things, still it will heal stronger.

Actually looking back, on one of the rack pulls, my right hand grip slipped slightly - had my hands too much on the shiny slippery bit in the middle! - So my left hand took a lot of strain for a moment before I reheld with the right - Bar was at a bit of an angle too - fingers ache this morning! - I suspect that's what did it

Ader wrote:One other thing I don't like with fronts though is doing lots of reps - Beacuse it is a hard exercise I reckon 5 reps at most - 3's even better

Agree with that to an extent. They really hammered my abs when I first started them. Core seems to have strengthened up now so I can train the quads more effectively with them.

Great exercise though in my view

Agreed Ollie - Great exercise - Have to say I find they work my core more than they work my quads a lot of the time though

ME upper day - Tried a new exercise, benching off boards to start getting used to heavier weights - interesting need more practice:

Bench press
40 x 10 x 2
70 x 5 x 1
80 x 3 x 1
90 x 3 x 3

Bench off 3 boards
90 x 3 x 1
100 x 2 x 1
100 x 3 x 1
100 x 2 x 1

CGBP
70 x 5 x 5

Wide grip pull downs
40 x 10 x 1
75 x 5 x 5

Push Press/Jerks
40 x 5 x 1
60 x 5 x 1
70 x 3 x 3

Cable tricep push downs
20 x 10 x 1
35 x 5 x 5

Front raises
5 x 10 x 1 - Actually 10lb DBs
9 x 5 x 1 - Actually 20lb DBs
11 x 5 x 5 - Actually 25lb DBs

Lat raises
5 x 10 x 1 - Actually 10lb DBs
9 x 10 x 1 - Actually 20lb DBs
11 x 5 x 5 - Actually 25lb DBs

Total tonnage / reps 10,214 / 246
Intensity 41.52

Happy with the way the benches went - I'm still a bit wobbly on them so still not used to moving the weights yet - Hopefully it'll come back soon. Benches off boards were interesting - A good way of making your triceps work I discovered - problem was I kept losing them forward a bit as not used to the movement - Practice practice practice!

Nice sess though - Arms & shoudlers feel pumped at the moment

Squat day again _ Went heavy and carried on with the boards to get used to bigger weights.

Slight danger factor today as I didn't have anyone I could trust to spot - Had to dump 190 behind me - Good to know I can still do it reasonably safely - If I'd had a spotter I might have tried harder but realised that dumping was the safe option - the guys doing DB lat raises nearly dumped too

Squats
70 x 5 x 2
120 x 4 x 1
160 x 3 x 1
180 x 1 x 1
185 x 1 x 1 - I think this is a PR - Woopee
190 x 0 x 1 - ie failed - this is the one I had to dump - Reckon I've got it in me though
180 x 1 x 1

Squats off bench - bench height means I'm just above // when I hit it
120 x 3 x 1
160 x 3 x 1

Squats off bench + 2 boards
180 x 2 x 1

Squats off bench + 4 boards
200 x 2 x 1

Squats off bench + 6 boards
210 x 2 x 3

Thought about going for 220 but with no decent spotter played safe
In fact some guys came in towards the end who could've helped but I was on my last set by then - And they did come & stand by so that helped the confidence on the last set - In fact the 210's really flew up - Really quick explosive reps, so 220 was probably what I should have done.

Intention next week is to do 180 off the bench, 200 off 2 boards, 220 off 4 boards and maybe 260 off 6

Power Snatch - just felt like doing something to warm down in between the leg raises sets
40 x 3 x 2
50 x 3 x 3

Leg raises
BW x 15 x 3

Total tonnage / reps 5755 / 51 Excluding snatches 5065 / 36
Intensity 112.84 Excluding snatches 140.69

This was very hard and intense - Legs feel shot now, but nice to get some big weights in

Well done on the squat PB mate. Bench appears to be improving too.

Richard wrote:Well done on the squat PB mate. Bench appears to be improving too.

Cheers Richard - I am pleased with bench progress - After not doing much for ages post op, it is suddenly moving very quickly in the last few weeks - Did bencehes today (next post) and they feel so much more comfortable- -Hopefully will be up over 100 again soon - Just have to be careful not to overdo it - I think the presses off boards are quite good for me as I can work my tits without over stressing teh shoulder so will keep them going

Light(ish) bench day - Not quite DE as I really need to get the feel of benching again (not sure I ever had it right beforeTBH) as I really struggled on Wednesday with controlling the bar. So went for this:

Bench
50 x 5 x 1
75 x 5 x 5 - Slow and controlled especially the negative - Trying to get the 'feel'

Pin presses - 1st hole
75 x 3 x 3
New exercise as an alternate to boards - Slightky less stressful on the shoulder than full ROM, but hard as its a standing start - Nice as it seems to make my pecs work quite hard

CGBP
60 x 5 x 5
Starting to feel more comfortable with these - So should be able to up the weights soon

Yates rows
60 x 5 x 1
100 x 5 x 1
120 x 5 x 5
My hand hurts where I ripped it earlier this week - Slightly more ripped now - think the callous is going to get ripped off when I do Deads on Monday - looking forward to that!

Shoulder press
50 x 5 x 5
Really struggle with doing any decent weights with these - Always have, probably always will - But again feeling a bit more comfortable so may go for 60 next week - Mind you the crap performance on these may be in part form doing snatches on Friday!

DB Hammer Curls
20 x 8 x 3

DB Tricep extension
15 x 8 x 3
Really don't like these - Makes my shoulder ache so impossible to go heavy at all - Quite a nice to finish off my triceps though

RC work including :
- External rotations with red woody bands
- Internal rotations with blue woody bands
- Front and Lat raises with red woody bands - These were really hard - Got the 'burn'
Woody bands are these: http://www.pullum-sports.co.uk/accessories/resistance-bands/41-inch-positive-resistance-bands-aka-woody-bands-/prod_27.html


Total tonnage / reps 10,190 / 172
Intensity 59.24

A nice session to end the week - Lats /subscap feeling it after the Yates and RC work - Delts too

Those yates rows are immense!

Started off mixing conventional and Sumo deadlifts - so eg first set was 5 conventionals and 5 sumos


Conventional Deadlift
70 x 5 x 1 - Conventional
70 x 5 x 1 - Sumo
110 x 2 x 1 - Conventional
110 x 2 x 1 - Sumo
140 x 2 x 1 - Conventional
140 x 2 x 1 - Sumo
160 x 1 x 1 - Conventional
160 x 1 x 1 - Sumo
180 x 1 x 1 - Conventional
180 x 1 x 1 - Sumo - PB
200 x 1 x 1 - Conventional
200 x 0 x 1 - Sumo - Got it off the floor but couldn't finish and lock out - Doh!
210 x 1 x 1 - Conventional - Not fully locked out to competition standard but will count this as achieved - a PB!

I was told I should concentrate on Sumo style so the above was OK but I should have not done conventionals - It is confusing for my body/brain to have to try to do both - Advice was that as an ex Oly lifter Sumo's will probably work better as it is so different from a clean pull I won't be doing something more akin to a slow clean pull, which is what I sort of do a bit now on conventionals - So I'll have to accpet smaller lifts for a while till I get Sumo's sorted but in the long run it should pay off.

I was also advised I really badly need to do DE work as this will improve my lock out - I am ripping them off the floor - Looks like I have 230 in me conventional style apparently, so presumably Sumo will follow soon - but I am slowing down such a lot and that is what's stopping me locking out - It's not strength it's speed I need - And who am I to argue with someone who squatted 285 last week!

So I was made to do a DE session conventional style:

DE Deadlift
170 x 3 x 1 - too heavy and not fast enough so dropped down
150 x 3 x 8
Absolutely totally knackered after this.

So next week I'll do Sumo's going up to heavy(ish) singles, then a drop set at 160 or there about for reps to reinforce the technique and then do a DE set conventional style to work on a fast lock out - Ouch that will hurt.

Leg curls/glute raises - Single leg
35 x 5 x 5
Glutes really felt this after the Dead's

Good mornings
70 x 5 x 1
105 x 5 x 1
120 x 5 x 5

Crunches
BW x 10 x 1
25 lb x 10 x 3


Total tonnage / reps 11650 / 111
Intensity 104.95

Really happy with this session - I am aching nicely - No doubt DOMS will hit tomorrow or Wednesday

Rilla wrote:Those yates rows are immense!

I'm not sure I do a full ROM - I stand fairly upright and sort of drag the weight up my legs plus squeeze the shoulder blades together - but it always kills my lats/back so must be doing some good - I find if bend over to much it's to stressful on my back so the upright stance works better - Also upright stance is closer to what I need for deadlifts so I feel it'; a better assitance exercise than a really bent over row - - Not fully convinced of the logic but it's a theory anyway

Really impressive work there. Whats the longer term goals?

Yates rows is one of the ones everyone needs to find their own groove. I'm also not far off dragging up my legs and pull into just above my belly button @ 60-70 deg

Rab wrote:Really impressive work there. Whats the longer term goals?

Hoping to do a PL comp later this year and one at the end of February - This year will be a trial run and I'll really go for the Feb one I think.

Am hoping for 200+ squat and 20/30Kg more on the DL - Not wholly convinced this is realistic but was thinking of squat opener of 180 - 200 on 2nd and maybe 210 3rd - Comp is end of November so a way to go yet - I'll have to see how it goes.

If I stick to Sumo I may end up doing a bigger squat tham a DL at the comp' this year

Bench is still crap because of my shoulder but am feeling much more confident at the moment - It's cleared up a lot the last few weeks - Maybe 110 this year if I'm lucky and 130+ next year - It all depends on my shoulder.

Initially looking to lift unequipped, but may migrate to equipped in time - One thing that attracts me to equipped is that I may find it easier on my dodgy shoulder

Bench / Upper day - Decied to copy Monday's format and do ME followed by DE - I think I'm going to ache tomorrow

Bench press
60 x 5 x 1
80 x 3 x 1
90 x 3 x 1 - Set 1 heavy
92.5 x 3 x 2 - sets 2 and 3 heavy
May go for 92.5 x 3 x 3 or even 95 x 3 x 3 next week

Bench off 3 boards
92.5 x 2 x 1
100 x 2 x 1 - This was hard but well within limits

Bench off 4 boards
105 x 2 x 1 - This felt soo heavy

Bench off 5 boards
110 x 1 x 2 - This was soo soo heavy- heaviest I've moved for so long - Really pleased even though I had to use teh boards - 110 off my chest in the not too distant future I hope is definately do=able
Wanted a third set but was in the gym on my own so no spotter - had benches on either side to catch teh bar but wasn't feeling like I fully trusted them so opted out of the third - the 2nd was so hard I wasn't sure- With a spotter I'd have gone for it - knowing they'd have encouraged me too - Decieded caution was the sensible thing - Bummer

DE Bench press
70 x 3 x 8 - Drop down after the ME stuff - Worked very fast - Yee har DOMs on the way

Shoulder press with EZ bar
30 x 5 x 1
50 x 5 x 1 - Was supposed to be 60 but forgot the EZ bar is 10 not 20Kg
60 x 3 x 5 - 5 x 5 next time!
Well decided to try these out and I think they work so will become part of the routine now.

Pec deck
15 x 8 x 1
30 x 5 x 1
45 x 5 x 5
Don't usually do these, but felt to tired after the benches to do flys or CGBP


Wide grip pull down
40 x 5 x 1
80 x 5 x 5 - ROM got gradullaly less and less toward the end - Barely got it to my nose at the end

Tricep cable push down
20 x 10 x 1
65 x 5 x 1
40 x 5 x 2
40 x 4 x 1 - Couldn't get the 5th- got 1/2 way and depsite teh shaking iot would not budge
40 x 2 x 2 - Ditto with the 3rd rep on each of these sets
30 x 5 x 1 - A light 5 to finish - had aimed to go for 8 or more but hit failure on the 6th
Really went to failure on these - I think I prefer them to CGBP as a tricep exercise- AN getting 1/2 way and shaking you just know you're pushing it.

Total tonnage / reps 10,150 / 180
Intensity 56.39


This was very hard and quite a long session but really like the format of heavy ME followed by DE on the becnh and them loads of assitance/upper bach work at 5 x 5 - this I suspect will become a regular thing

Squat session later today - Not sure what to go for.

Last week did singles on 180, 185, 190 fail and 180 then off bench/boards- 160 becnh, 180 2 boards, 200 4 boards and 210 off 6 boards.

Am thinking of 185 or 190 for singles -maybe only 1 single? - then 180 off bench, to 200 off 2 boards, 220 off 4 boards and 230 or 240 off 6 boards - but when I look at that in writing it looks so dam heavy - Maybe 10kg less would be more sensible - Hmm decisions decisions. Watch this space ...

Decided not to push too heavy in the end so did

Squats
70 x 3 x 2
120 x 3 x 2
160 x 2 x 1
175 x 1 x 1
180 x 1 x 1 - Parallel/below but only just!
180 x 1 x 1 - Didn't hit depth - an inch or so off so left it there
I think next week I'll drop down and do 160 for reps and work on depth - I've been too much heavy stuff the last few weeks and as a result not always getting depth right.

Squats off bench
120 x 3 x 1
160 x 3 x 1

Squats off bench + 2 boards
180 x 3 x 1

Squats off bench + 4 boards
200 x 3 x 1

Squats off bench + 6 boards
220 x 3 x 1
This was soooo heavy - Struggling to control it - but ok on the legs

DE Squat - ATG
Went for 140 but was too heavy to do these properly
120 x 3 x 3
130 x 3 x 3 - Went up as 120's were so fast
120 x 3 x 3 - Went back down to ensure I was staying fast
So 9 sets of 3 - all done in under 10 minutes - So pretty fast - Legs are now dead

Leg raises
10 x 5
Total tonnage / reps 7,965 / 59
Intensity 135.00

Nect week then I'll do 160 squqats for 3 x 3 I think and go very low, possibly even ATG - then do bench/board squats but off 1 less board and then some DE low stuff at 120/130 again

Really enjoyed that - I like the format of doing heavy stuff and then dropping down and doing DE straight away - hard but nice - Only problem is my legs are going to be killing me tomorrow/Sunday

Squats are looking good Ader. Which competition are you going to?

Good squatting mate

burningnun wrote:Squats are looking good Ader. Which competition are you going to?

Thanks BN - Squats are improving but depth is the problem for me - Not sure at the mo whether to push myself for a 200 at the competion or maybe aim for 190 - Also need to think about how to taper down - So long since I've done that - Going heavy every week like I've been doing probably doesn't work - It's nice for the ego to keep getting the big weights but not good for improving - I'll probably drop to 3 x 3 and drop over 3 weeks to single set of 3 then a double then some singles.

I'm hoping to do in the BWLA SE Power competition on November 30th - So not that much time - above 3 x 3 gradually going down may not work in time available - Oops - Need to work it out!