Short Shoulders Workout

Midrack Pulls: 8 x 135, 225, 315, 5 x 405, 480 W/Chains @ 495
Cable Pulldowns: 8 x 150, 170, 190, 200, 4 x Pullups x bw
DB Military Press: 8 x 50, 2 x 6 x 60

Didn't have a whole lot of time. Did this in 40 minutes. Better than nothing I guess.

Lats are sore

Yesterday's workout was great for my upper lats. I don't recall my lats being this sore before. I guess it was those inclines that got me. Fantastic.

Today for lunch instead of lifting I played table tennis. I went in with an attitude of giving it my all and it paid off. Played very well. Looking forward to the Evanston Chinese New Year Tournament that I have attended every year for the past 8 years or so.

Good Chest workout

Flat Bench (Bottom half only): 4 x 8 x 225
Floor Presses: 3 x 6 x 275
Heavy 1 rep Bench: 3 x 1 x 315

Incline Press: 3 x 12 x 135, 3 x 6 x 185, 3 x 10 x 65 DB's
Flys: 4 x 6 x 45 (Slow and controlled)

The Floor Presses, 1 rep bench and 185 Inclines were the toughest. I remember back when I could do 5 of 315. I don't think I could do that now. I wonder why really. I have once done 365 without a shirt before and I would be surprised if I could do that now. I'm worried that I've lost some strength recently, but hoping that it is just one of those weeks. Pressing forward....

Biceps and Shoulders

Alternating DB Curls: 4 x 5 x 55
supersetted with Military DB Press: 4 x 5 x 65

Preacher Curls: 4 x 5 x 115
supersetted with DB Shrugs: 4 x 5 x 65

DB Concentration Curls: 4 x 5 x 45
supersetted with DB Lateral Raises: 4 x 5 x 45

Good workout. Hands are fried. Exceeded the prescribed plan.

Deadlift and core

Deadlift: 15 x 5 x 225
supersetted with....
Captain's Chair: 5 x 10
Crunches: 5 x 20
Seated CG Rows: 5 x 8 x 200

Good workout. Kept to the prescribed plan and that makes all the difference!

No go on new PR

Today I was hoping to get a new PR on Bench press. Last week I didn't lift at all to give the tricep tendon some rest. I was hoping the rest would also allow me to get a new PR today. Apparently I took too much rest.

Shirted Bench Press: 1 x 225, 1 x 315, 1 x 365, 0 x 385
Bench Press 5's: 5 x 5 x 275
15's (Lower end 5, top end 5, full: 3 x 15 x 185
5 second Pause Bench with speed press: 5 x 5 x 135

I was very surprised how heavy the 315 and 365 was. I didn't have a spotter, but had a rack setup as a back up in case I couldn't get something up. I was surprised it was the 385 that was the failing point. Ouch. Need to get serious again.

Shoulders

Shrugs: 8 x 135, 6 x 225, 4 x 315, 6 x 225, 8 x 135
Military Press: 5 x 8 x 135
Lateral Raises: 5 x 6 x 45

At this point I wasn't feeling much like lifting as I heard lots of table tennis going on in the next room so I played a few games. Wish Bala could play. His style is the kind I like to play best. Need to do arms tomorrow.

Deadlift work

Deadlift: 30 x 185 (50%) rested 5-20 seconds between reps
Close Grip Pulldowns: 4 x 8 x 170
Wide Grip Pullups: 4 x 0 x bw

On the deadlifts I tried using the mirror to see how far down my hips go and watch that my legs are doing the initial part of the lift. Hard to tell. Before I went down I did a google search for "perfect deadlift form video" and got this link as the second hit. The thing I got out of that thread is that there are many different opinions on what is "perfect" form. Personally I would agree that you need to avoid rounding the back. I would also agree that I need to use my legs more. So I focused on that more today.

The pullups were pretty wide grip so I probably barely got half way up before I couldn't do it. Glad the gym I use is private. I'd be pretty embarrassed with how wimpy my pull ups are. Didn't have shoes/socks today and it felt weird to be in the gym in bare feet so I didn't do a full workout and I didn't really have a plan either. Not a great day in the gym.

Chest and Abs

Warm Up: 50 Pushups fast, 20 x 135 flat bench
Stump Presses: 2 x 8 x 135 + 50 lb DB hanging on each side and 30 lb chains (@265)
4 Blocks: 8 x 285, 6 x 295, 4 x 315, 2 x 335, 1 x 365
DB Presses (Speed): 4 x 10 x 65
DB Flys: 4 x 4 x 55
Four-count Flutter Kicks: 8 x 25 (200 total)
supersetted with Slow Crunches: 8 x 10 (80 total)

Was surprised that 50 pushups was as hard as it was. My all time best is 90 pushups, back when I was training for the physical test at Security. I'd love to do 100 in one sitting. I'll start doing these as a warm up and build up on them. I think my endurance has gone down.

Also surprised at how difficult the stump presses were. Those really make you keep control of the weight. The 365 four board was tough too. I'm wondering if I'm gonna be able to put up 365 at the virtual meet (which is raw). 365 raw is my PR right now, and I definitely want to at least match it. Overall it was a good workout and I started real early as yesterday I had to bag it.

Shoulders

Midrack Pulls: 8 x 135, 8 x 225, 6 x 315, 5 x 405, 0 x 480

The Rack was lower than normal. Two inches lower than normal. Couldn't bend my knees and keep my back straight. My back had to bend a little just to reach the weight. Thus the zero on the 480. I'll take it back up next time.

Close Grip Standing Rows: 12 x 95, 8 x 115, 8 x 125, 8 x 135
Lateral DB Raises: 3 x 8 x 40
Pullups: 2 x 4 x bw
Military Press 1 rep max: 1 x 185, 0 x 195

Felt good about this workout. Chest still sore from Wednesday, so I won't be lifting with Stump even though Cathi gave me the go ahead this afternoon. On Saturday's Stump, Moosie, Mike, and several others lift at the Gold's Gym in West Jordan.

That is usually their heavy day and since I'm still sore, I'm definitely not going. Cathi changed plans on me last minute or I would have held off on going heavy this week. Maybe next time.

Going to the club tonight with Austin and Jacob. Looking forward to playing hard and improving my game. The 989 rating makes me hungry.

Arms and Abs

Standing EZ bar curls (Speed): 5 x 8 x 75
superset with
Crunches (Slow): 4 x 25

Alt DB Curls: 5 x 6 x 55
superset with
4 count flutterkicks: 4 x 25

Concentration Curls: 8 x 35, 8 x 40, 2 x 8 x 45, 6 x 50
superset with
Knee Up Captains Chair: 4 x 25

Those captain chairs were tough. I was feeling a burn inside my inner hips not in my abs. Good workout.

Found out yesterday how bad the Las Vegas Tournament really was. I am rated 989 ( I was hoping for mid 1200 before I got sick).

Austin is rated 699 which is a little higher than I thought he would get. Looking forward to better that rating.

Inspiring Deadlift videos

Fellow blogger at Old School Strongman included the following videos in his blog. I am also including links. Very cool.

link 1
link 2
link 3

My chest and neck are sore from yesterday. I think my neck is mostly sore from the day before. That's great. Love being sore. Workout for today to follow....

New 225 Bench PR

I've wondered where my 225 rep is at. My best at 225 is 20 reps. Today I was going for 25. I ended up doing 24 and failing on the 25th. So my new PR for 225 is 24 reps. I'll probably do them again in another year to see where I'm at.

Flat Bench: 24 x 225
Decline Bench: 8 x 225, 6 x 275, 4 x 295, 2 x 315, 4 x 295, 8 x 225 (Speed)
Incline DB Press: 5 x 8 x 65
DB Flys: 3 x 8 x 50

Deadlift PR and setting goals for 2007

Deadlift:
4 x 275
2 x 315
1 x 365
12 x 225

Here is the video of the lifts.

The form on these looks more like SLDL. If anyone can give me pointers on how to make the lift easier that would be great.

The goals I have for 2007 are:

1) Get my Deadlift PR to match or exceed my Bench PR
2) By year end 2007 I would like to get my Bench PR up to 435 (which also means my Deadlift PR is at least 435)
3) Lift no less than three times per week, unless recovering from an injury or tapering.