Monday, December 30, 2013

What day of the week is this?

Oh, 30 Dec 13

Continuing deload week - same as last day.  A little foam rolling yesterday and today to help loosen up my hips.  Work is set at 60% of 1rm.

Squats: 135x2x5, 225x3x5
Paused Bench: 135x2x5, 155x3x5
Deficit DL (3 3/4"): 225x5, 275x2x5

Nice and easy.  Done.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Deload week

Sat, 28 Dec 13

Feeling beat up and tired, so deload week. Took the past two days off for family visits and Advil. Bit of mulled wine drinking and two turkey dinners.   Work is set at 60% of 1rm.

Squats: 135x2x5, 225x3x5
Paused Bench: 135x2x5, 155x3x5
Deficit DL (3 3/4"): 225x5, 275x2x5

Nice and easy.  Done.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas, and a few squats.

Wed, 25 Dec 13

Merry Christmas Everyone!  Got snowed in, so a few squats today.

Warm ups: 135x2x5. 185x5, 225x3, 265x2
Work: 300x3x5, 340x1

My triceps are really killing me.  My legs are more than willing to squat but my arms really hurt getting back there.  I was going to 5x5, then decided 3x5 was enough, then thought I'd do some singles, then said the hell with it.
 
I think I'll do a deload week.  I really don't remember the last time I did.

New Christmas weightlifting shirts!

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Bench day redux.

Tues, 24 Dec 13

Bench day - second attempt

Warm ups: 135x2x5, 185x3, 205x2
Work: 225x5x5

What is with these frigging cramps?  Today, cramp in my right leg, but fortunately it wasn't until the second to last rep of the last set.  Then I went to pop my mouthguard out and got a cramp in the underside of my jaw!  Foam rolled the leg for a bit.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Bench stuff

Mon, 23 Dec 13

How the hell do you pull a muscle in your sternum?  Man that hurt!  It hit me again in the middle of my first set of heavy floor presses and I had to drop the bar behind me.  That was it for the day.

Floor presses: 135x10, 165x5, 185x3, 225xfail

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Squat accessory day

Sun, 22 Dec 13

Anderson Squats: 225x5, 315x5, 345x5, 395x5, 415x5 (1 foot depth)
Box Squats: 225x3x5 (10" box)
Squat Walkouts: 450x5

Decided to try my hand at some heavy work on the squat side of things.  Pounding the protein down and really trying to push myself in preparation for Feb's competition.  I went out yesterday and picked up some 4x4 and cut them up for blocks to use when doing various things - like box squatting.  Since a 4x4 really isn't 4x4 my pile worked up to a little over 10" high.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Heavy deadlift day, and a couple of PRs.

Fri, 20 Dec 13

Deadlifts

Warm ups: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 305x2 all done from 1 3/4" planks.
Work: 350x10 all done from 1 3/4" planks.

Felt strong, so I tossed the planks and tightened the belt.

More work bishes! 405x1, 425 PR, 450 PR!!!


The first felt good so I decided to try for my actual goal for the meet.  That means perhaps there's more to be found by then.

So here's the 425


and the 450.



Yeah, they're ugly.  The question is would they red light or white?

PS - I just watched the second one.  Looked like my wife decided to take a pic of the cat first.


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Not a planned heavy bench day, but hey, why not?

Wed, 18 Dec 13

Heavy Bench Presses

Warm ups: 135x5, 185x5, 205x5
Work: 225x5x5

It was initially supposed to be a light day, but I ended up taking a vacation day due to a passing snowstorm that hit right before the morning commute.  I cleaned up the mess in the morning, and it turned to a milder mess as they day went on.  I decided to do a heavy bench day since I had plenty of time and felt pretty good.  Once again, I used my wrist wraps, belt, etc.  Warm ups were all paused at the bottom for 2-3 seconds.  The work sets were pretty hard, but not hitching.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Heavy squats... are heavy.

Tues, 17 Dec 13

Warm ups: 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 265x2
Work: 300x5x5





Man, were my triceps ever tired after tonight's work out.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Heavy bench day and RWD in the snow.

Sat, 14 Dec 13

Warm ups: 135x5, 185x3, 205x2
Work: 215x5x5

Not too bad. Benches definitely felt heavy at first, but got lighter as it went on.

Drove the Bimmer for the first time in the snow last night.  The car is an 02 BMW 330i.  Rear wheel drive.  I put some snows on it, and it has a stability control system.  I stayed light on both brake and gas, because you can definitely feel the back end is loose.  That being said, I behaved, drove slowly and carefully and made it home without a problem.  One other nice thing about the car I wish more companies did, was to make a wiper fluid reservoir that's bigger than a bottle of wiper fluid.  You can pour an entire bottle once the low fluid light comes on, so you don't have fifth full bottles lying around the place.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Deadlift day avec video.

Deadlifts

Warm ups: 135x5, 185x5, 225x4, 275x3, 300x2
Work: 345x2x4

Deadlift day. I did two "sets" of 4 reps. Ignore the fancy shirt, I wanted my teacher to be able to see whether or not I was activating my lats. I think I was.


The teacher said the third rep was perfect. Yay me!

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Light bench day.

Wed, 11 Dec 13

Light Bench Work

Warm ups: 135x5, 185x5, 205x2
Work: 170x5x5

Had our work Christmas party today, played pool. I figured since I had deadlift class Mon, and heavy squats yesterday, and was deadlifting again tomorrow - I'd bench light today.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Deadlift class and heavy squat day.

Tues, 10 Dec 13

Squats

Warm ups: 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 255x2
Work: 295x5x5

Phew! Used my new wraps today (knee and wrist) and belt nice and tight.  My back was pretty fatigued by the last set.  I had to lay down and stretch it out a bit on the last two sets. 

Had deadlift class last night.  I think I picked up a couple of cues. 

1. Round back to set up. (not to lift)  Just bend over and set up.
2. Slack out of the upper body (I knew this one).
3. Drop the hips, roll the bar back.
4. Soon as it hits the shins drive the heels down and stand.
5. I should be working my DLs from a deficit almost all the time.

Did some sumo stuff as well.   

Also after doing some reading I think I'll stick to singles for DL day as well.  I'll do reps for my warm ups, but once I hit the work I'll do like 10 heavy duty singles from a deficit.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Phew! Light squat day done.

Wrapped, belted and sleeves on for today's practice.  Man, putting on those sleeves is like cardio.

Warm up: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 255x2
Work: 225x5x5

Concentrating on not going so deep.  The trick seems to be using a wider stance with the sleeves (and when I use knee wraps as well).  This seems to put more of the work on my hips and glutes.  I'm planning on a heavy squat day tomorrow.  I'll see if I can post up some video of the new gear.

 























Friday, December 6, 2013

Light Bench Press Day (well sort of)

I was actually scheduled to do light squats today, but everyone was hungry, so I had to decrease my time in the basement.  Swap out squats today for bench, do squats tomorrow.

Warm ups: 135x5, 185x5, 205x5
Work: 170x5x5 with 20 lbs chains

I decided to use the chains to get the weight heavier at lockout, and used my new wrist wraps and belt for the practice.  The wraps can REALLY get tight, but are quite comfortable as I mentioned in the past.  I think I'll have to see if anyone wants to buy a used belt around here because it's WAY too big for me.  I'm on the second last hole, so I have maybe three inches of waist loss before it won't be of any use.


































Thursday, December 5, 2013

Day of the Dead(lift)

Deadlifts:

135x5 sumo then conventional, with chair.
225x2 sumo then conventional, with chair.
275x2 sumo, then conventional.
315x1 sumo, then conventional.
245x1 sumo, then conventional.
395x1 conventional.
345x8x2 conventional.

To tell you the truth, my back was fried from the chair work. Eight sets of doubles, even at only 345, almost made my arms fall off.

Yay DEADLIFTS!

Enter powerlifting.

So.... having hit all my goals, and being pretty healthy for an old fella, I decided to press on.  (pun intended).

I knew bodybuilding wasn't in the cards.  I simply don't have the willpower to diet down to abs.  I've come close, but no abs.  Besides, I'm pretty furry, and that doesn't show abs well.

I started looking into the sport of powerlifting.  I realized looking at some Wilk's scores that I wasn't terribly far off from being a competitor. Wikipedia - Wilk's Coefficient  The basic gist of the Wilk's is that when you calculate in a lifter's weight, sex, and lifts you get a number.  You then compete in age brackets (or open if you're really strong despite your age) and whether you're equipped or non-equipped. (raw) 

I will be competing as a Master (ie - old guy) because I'm fairly strong in regards to the general population, but not compared to some of the super strong monsters in the sport.  I do feel like I'm on the low end of the Masters, but should have some room to grow.  Equipped status refers to whether or not you wear equipment other than a belt, wrist wraps and knee sleeves to help you lift.  There are special shirts and things that basically act like extra muscles and tendons and allow you to lift far more than you would "raw".

Anyhow, all that aside, I'm currently taking a powerlifting course at the Sackville Sports Stadium, being run by Lucas Hardy.  I may take part in a meet in February - not sure yet.

My Wilk's score is currently  303.83.  That's at a weight of 200 lbs with a combined lift total of 477.273 kg  (170 kg Squat, 118 kg Bench, and 188 kg Deadlift).  People at my age and class appear to be competing slightly higher than this.  To make that Wilk's better I have to lose weight, get stronger, or both.  Ideally I'd like to compete near 180 lbs and get my lifts to squat 400 lbs, bench 300 lbs, and deadlift 460 lbs.  This should put me in a 354 Wilk's - which is pretty competitive (I think) in my class.



First post!

A bit about myself.

History

I'm 47 years old. Always was a skinny guy growing up, then skinny fat as an adult. I never did any exercise except walking and biking. I could do either of those things forever. As time and life went on I eventually ballooned up to a whopping 5'9, 246 lbs at about 35% bf. In Christmas 2008 I made the decision to lose weight. I started crazy dieting and tons of cardio, lost the first 20 lbs fast. I realized that I had so little muscle that I would probably end up 135 lbs before I saw anything resembling an ab, so I changed gears.

I began lifting in Feb 2009. Initial numbers in pounds were:

Squat 3x5x115
Bench: 3x5x105
Deads: 1x5x135
OHP: 3x5x75
Cleans: 3x5x105

Over the next few years I suffered a number of setbacks. Injuries, sprains, a hernia, and a few other surgeries. My dieting slowed gains and I got into a cycle of gain and loss without ever hitting ab level. The best weight I hit was 171 lbs, and was about 17% bf.

I've done a ton of different programs, with varying degrees of success.

In August of 2012 I  managed to hit a few of my lifting goals.

I managed a 315 lb squat for 2 reps earlier this month. I managed a 225 lb bench for 3 reps as well. I'm still shooting for a 400 lb deadlift (current best is 380) and a body weight OHP. (current best is 170).

It was hard but I continued driving those numbers and pounding away, and this year hit all of my current goals.   In February I managed the 400 lb deadlift.  In July I managed a 260 lb bench press.  In August I hit a 375 lb squat.  I managed a 200 lb overhead press as well in August.  I hit the 400 lb deadlift for a double in August as well.  (I was recently unemployed and had the whole summer to lift, sleep and eat).  Recently I picked up some more 45's and managed a 415 lb deadlift.  My weight for these was about 190-210 lbs.

Having hit all those goals I had to figure out what to do next.