Killing the Shoulders at the soon to die Bubble

Today I worked straight through lunch and got off work at 3pm. I went to the Bubble on the way home. I have 3 more visits which I need to use before August 12th when they close the facility. Today I did shoulders:

10 minute Bike
Military Smith Press: 12 x 135, 3 x 6 x 185
Standing Reverse Cable Flys: 12 x 40, 10 x 60, 2 x 6 x 70
Standing Rows: 12 x 95, 8 x 115, 8 x 135, 6 x 135
Smith Shurgs: 8 x 185, 8 x 225, 2 x 6 x 275
Seated Close Grip Cable Rows: 10 x 190, 8 x 200, 2 x 8 x 210 (The whole stack)
DB Laterals: 4 x 8 x 40
Standing DB Military Press: 12 x 50, 6 x 60, 8 x 65, 6 x 70

Excellent workout. Took 1:30 to complete. Empty gym most of the time. Rocked out to Rammstein on my MP3 player. Plus I got to beat all the crappy traffic which was already to the south of me.

Arms at Brandon's

Preacher Curls: 12 x 95, 3 x 8 x 115
Lying Tricep Extensions: 4 x 10 x 115
supersetted with
Alternating DB Curls: 4 x 10 x 40
Standing Tricep Cable Extensions: 12 x 65, 10 x 75, 2 x 8 x 85
supersetted with
Standing Barbell Curls: 15 x 75, 3 x 12 x 75

Great workout, sweated a ton though and that room has no air flow so I'm sure the other guys were holding their breath. Brandon's birthday isn't until August, but I don't think I can wait that long to get him a decent fan for that room.

Chest

Flat Bench: 20 x 155, 8 x 275, 8 x 275, 7 x 275, 6 x 275, 15 x 225
Decline Smith Press: 3 x 8 x 255, 7 x 255
DB Flys, Supersetted with Tate Press/Flat Press: 10 x 40, 6 Tate/15 Flat
Pushups: 25, 25, 20, 13

Today I had good effort and I was wishing we could do more but pushed it hard enough to make it satisfactory today. This week I'll be at home all day with the kids. So I'll be lifting at Brandon's in the morning.

Heavy Triceps

CGBP: 3 x 5 x 225 (8" between hands)
Dips: 2 x 5 x (bw (240) + 45, 5 x bw + 55, 4 x bw + 90)
JM Presses: 5 x 95, 2 x 5 x 115
DB Tate Press: 5 x 45, 5 x 40, 5 x 45
Rope Pulldowns: 5 x 7 plates, 5 x 8 plates, 5 x 9 plates
Triangle Pushups: 15 high, 15 normal, 15 low
Crunches: 3 x 50

On the CGBP I felt some slight shoulder pain on the first set (should have warmed up with something), but each set progressively got better with less strain on my joints.

On the Dips I was psyched that I could do two x 45's 4 times. I was hoping to do it once, but stopped at 4. Next time I'm going for 3 plates for a one rep max.

Today was the first time I have ever done Tate Presses. The first time I was nervous with 45 since I wasn't sure I could handle it and didn't want to squish my face in. The form wasn't that great and it was difficult to keep my elbows flared out, so I went down to 40's and then the form was strict. After that I went back up to 45 as I felt more confident with the form and the weight and did just fine.


Triangle Pushups are just where you bring your hands closer together and form a triangle with your thumb and index fingers of each hand. I then placed the triangle at neck height for high, chest range for mid, and then stomach for low range. This works the triceps in different areas.

I was very pleased with today's workout. I felt strong and exceeded the plan.

Legs for the 2nd time this week

I went to Brandon's again early in the morning. I was not happy when I found out he was doing Legs, but I stuck around and did them anyway, (sort of)

Smith Squats: 4 x 8 x 185
Lunges: 2 x 95 (I skipped the rest of them as my left knee was having trouble)
Quad Extensions: 12 x 75, 3 x 8 x 100
Ham Curls: 4 x 8 x 40

I'm feeling tight in my calves today. Hopefully my Table Tennis play tonight won't be affected too much.

Duplicating the Roy workout from last week at Tomax

Today was Shoulders/Back:

DB Lateral Rows: 3 x 8 x 45
Military Press: 8 x 135, 8 x 140, 8 x 145, 8 x 150
Lat Pulldowns: 10 x 140, 8 x 170, 8 x 190, 8 x 200
Seated CG Cable Rows: 4 x 8 x 200
Mid Rack Pulls: 6 x 135, 6 x 225, 5 x 315, 4 x 405, 3 x 480 (All the weight in the entire Tomax Weightroom)

Crunches: 4 x 50 throughout the workout.

I was happy with this workout and the first time I've ever loaded all the weight in the room on a bar. I know it isn't much compared to what many guys can do, but it is a milestone nevertheless for me. Wouldn't it be awesome to have that much on a bar and bench it! One day.

Bench at Brandon's Basement

Flat Bench: 20 x 135
4 blocks: 2 x 8 x 300
2 blocks: 2 x 8 x 275
no blocks: 6 x 275, 8 x 265

Incline Smith: 2 x 10 x 185, 6 x 205, 8 x 185

DB Flat Bench Flys:
4 x 10 x 40 + 4 x 10 x 40 DB Presses fast.

Pushups: 25, 20, 15, 15

Could barely soap my pits this morning, I pushed it this morning although I wish I had another few exercises. I'll do more at lunchtime.

All out on Legs

Squats: 12 x 135, 8 x 185, 6 x 225
SLDL: 8 x 225, 6 x 250, 4 x 275
Leg Press: 3 x 10 x whole stack (@ 300)
Ham Curls: 12 x 45, 8 x 55, 6 x 70
Quad Extensions: 12 x 90, 8 x 135, 6 x 180

I felt a little pain just under my left knee cap during the squats, leg press, and quad extensions. It wasn't so bad that it prevented me from completing my prescribed sets/goal weights. Today's workout went much better than planned. Hoping to be sore tomorrow. My legs need alot of work.

Fully recovered from Roy... resume with Arms

After last Thursday's workout I was pretty sore for a few days throughout my entire upper body. So today was the first day back from that killer workout. I did arms:

Preacher Curls: 8 x 95 (inside grip), 8 x 105 (outside grip), 8 x 115 (inside grip), 5 x 125 (outside grip)
Standing French Presses: 8 x 115, 8 x 125, 5 x 135, 5 x 135
Alternating DB Curls: 2 x 8 x 50, 2 x 5 x 55
Dips: 12 x bw (235), 10 x bw + 25, 8 x bw + 35, 8 x bw + 45
DB Wrist Curls: 8 x 35, 3 x 6 x 45
Reverse One Arm Cable Curls: 10 x 1 plate, 3 x 10 x 2 plates

200 crunches total (4 x 50 between exercises)

This workout took 1:15 and I was moving pretty well through it. Felt really good today and I was pleased with the effort.

Lifting at the Roy Gold's Gym - Meeting David Edgell

This evening after scouts I rushed off to the Gold's Gym in Roy. I got there at 7:00 and didn't notice anybody huge or any group of people lifting together, so I figured I got there on their off day and started to do some benching:

Bench: 15 x 225, 8 x 275

I then noticed a couple huge guys gathering and figured I didn't miss them afterall. I went to the front desk and asked them if they knew David Edgell and they told me who it was and I went and introduced myself. David is one of the powerlifters in the state and he introduced me to Bill, another huge and strong guy who happens to live in Syracuse where I live. I also met Bryan, a marine who probably weighs close to what I do, but is nothing but muscle, so much stronger. Then there was Mickey who I think I overheard was 16 years old and the sone of another powerlifter in the area. So five of us in the group today.

David said today was back day so I joined in on the fun:

15 minute bike ride

Machine Lateral Raises:
12 x 160, 3 x 10 x 180

Rear Deltoid Machine:
12 x 100, 3 x 8 x 160

Pulldowns:
10 x 180
3 x 6 x 200

Seated Cable Rows: 4 x 8 x 200

Mid-rack pulls (Explode up, slow down, then hold weight at top for about 3-5 seconds at the top on the last rep):
5 x 135, 225, 315, 405
4 x 495
3 x 585

Curls (While Bill and David did some serious weight mid-rack pulls):
10 x 95, 6 x 115, 6 x 95, 8 x 95

Those Mid-rack pulls were fun! I've never heard of those before nor ever seen them done before. David provided spot and support for the last two sets. He told me to stop at 585 as it starts to get real heavy. David and Bill continued on to over 1000 pounds on their last couple sets (12 plates each side). These guys are huge!

The thing that suprised me with today's workout is that there was only one free weight exercise. I also was surprised at the use of wrist straps. I ended up using them definitely on the mid-rack pulls, and on the pulldowns. I was also impressed with the support the group had for each other. There were many key words used such as "Up", "Big" and "Strong". David told me that they discourage negative words and that the last word of a sentence or comment before a big lift should be positive.

David asked me if I had any medication for pain. I think he expects me to be seriously sore after this workout. I too expect to be sore, but not overly so.

I came home extremely happy with this experience and Cathi also was very supportive and said that as long as the other evenings that I'm in a good mood and helpful she wouldn't mind me going once a week. I was grateful for her thoughtfulness, but I'll try for once every other week for now. Gold's Gym isn't cheap, and I'm not sacrificing Friday's Table Tennis, so I can't expect Cathi to let me gone 2 nights a week every week. That's too much. So the next lift for me in Roy is Wednesday, July 26th where the guys will next do Bench.

Another Massage by Kristyn and the Tomax Summer Barbeque

Last Thursday may knot points flared up (two knots one just inside and below my shoulder blades on each side) so I called for an appointment with Kristyn. I was disappointed that I had to wait until Tuesday, and by that time the knots weren't bad. However I kept the appointment and man was I glad I did. At first it was painful, but after just a few passes, the knots were nearly completely gone.

This massage was much better than the last one in that I wasn't sore afterwards, but relaxed. Next time I get knots I'm calling in right away.

Today Tomax threw a barbeque from 11:30 - 1:30pm (with a softball game) for the employees. There were about 30 players among 2 teams so I only hit twice (double and single). No long bombs. Conservative hitting. There were a few who tried hitting it over the fence (none did though) and ended up getting caught well short. Remember I work with geeks and the average weight is probably 160 pounds with arms that are 10 inches in diameter. I had alot of fun and there were many guys from India who were trying to not play cricket. Great time overall.

Because of the barbeque I wasn't able to lift today. I called David Edgell and left a message to have him call me about when the next Bench day is at the Roy Gold's Gym. I sure hope its tomorrow, cause I've been saving my chest for working out with David and his posse. I'm sure he's going to make me suffer.

Shoulders and Tris fashioned after Stump's last blog

I've been following another Utahn lately: Steve Fredine (Stump)

Today's workout was fashioned after his latest Shoulders/Tricep workout

Standing Military Press:
1 x 5 x 135
1 x 5 x 145
1 x 5 x 155
1 x 5 x 165
1 x 10 x 135

Cheat Lateral Raises:
2 x 5 x 45
2 x 5 x 50

Dips: 5 x 12 x bw (235)

JM Presses:
1 x 10 x bar
1 x 5 x 95
1 x 5 x 100
1 x 5 x 105
1 x 5 x 110

Overhead High Pulley Rope Extensions:
2 x 5 x 8 plates

Overhead High Pulley Short Bar Tricep Extensions:
2 x 5 x 8 plates

The JM Presses were the first time for me. I tried to do them with a high level of control and strict movement. Felt good. The toughest was the 165 on military press. I ended up cheating on the last rep by dipping my knees to get a little momentum. The Rope Pulls were hard too, but the moving to the tricep bar made it much easier. Good workout today. Had it scheduled down to the very minute and kept within schedule. Workout done in 55 minutes.
Thanks Stump!

Helping Eric Move

Today I was planning on legs. I loaded up 185 and did 5 squats and it didn't feel great. I did 50 crunches and then did 8 reps of SLDL at 185 and they felt OK, but the motivation just wasn't there today. I remembered that I had to help Eric move today, so I figured it would be dumb to get all sore from lifting before doing something that would probably be just as good (especially all those little stabilizer muscles that I never use even when lifting).

So I bagged it after those two sets and played ping pong (which isn' a strain on anything) for the rest of my lunch break. Ping pong by the way on Friday at the WFTTC was awesome. I was 2 and 1. Not my best performance at the club, (3 and 0 is my best) but not too shabby either. I finally learned the name of the guy with one of the best forehands at the club. Besi usually comes with Tim and his son Jason. Besi has an awesome forehand shot, and I got a couple games on him, but he came through with the 4 games to win.

Today's lunch matches I played Bala and Gyan 3 times each. Beat Gyan 3 times, but Bala only once. Bala is a little more cautious in his shots than he used to, more chop than I remember.

Chest - before going to Lagoon

This morning I met at Brandon's to do another Chest workout:

Bench: 15 x 135, 12 x 250, 5 x 8 x 280
Incline Smith Press: 12 x 145, 2 x 8 x 195, 5 x 205
DB Flys: 4 x 12 x 40 (all we got)
Push ups: 25, 15, 15, 10 Less than 1 minute rest

This workout was pushing it for me. I haven't lifted in 5 days with the vacation. I did some ultimate frisbee with the family and man did that make me realize what a fat slug I am. I ate just about anything placed in front of me, but it sure was a fun time being with the family and doing cool activities. Lagoon was long and hot, but the kids had a total blast. This was the first family reunion week that hasn't made me crazy. I was actually sad to see it end.

Looking forward to getting serious with the lifting now.

Neck

Today I almost didn't lift. I was still sore all over from earlier this week. The only part that I could conceivably lift without hitting already sore areas was neck. So here is what I did (and I had to rush it as I had a 1:00 meeting):

Standing Preacher Bar Front Rows: 8 x 115, 3 x 6 x 135

Barbell Shrugs: 8 x 225, 3 x 6 x 245

Seated Close Grip Cable Rows: 8 x 170, 2 x 8 x 190, 8 x 200

Core work: In between sets I did 10 Captains Chairs(100 total)

Felt good about this workout even though I wish I had another 30 minutes for more.

Chest - focusing on feet placement and drive

Man my legs are probably the sorest they have ever been. Monday's workout was bare bones, but did it ever kick my butt! The good thing is, it won't take very much to improve in the legs and hopefully it will skyrocket. Hoping to be unsore enough on Friday to do another session.

Today's bench was to focus on feet placement and driving my heels into the mat.

Flat Bench: 10 x 225 warm up
4 x 4 x 225 - with bar pausing on my chest for seven seconds, then driving the weight up as powerfully as I can with my mind focusing on keeping my feet under my butt and driven into the ground.
2 x 8 x 275 with 4 blocks. These are touch and go, no pause.

Incline DB Press: 3 x 10 x 65 (The heaviest DB's we have. Wish I could afford heavier ones, but these will have to do.)

I did 50 crunches between exercises: 500 total.

I put a post up on the Utahpowerlifting forum and got several people offering to have me lift with them or get some tips. Very cool group of people. I called David Edgell and talked with him for a bit. Looks like he and a group of guys workout up at the Roy Gold's Gym at 7:00 a few days a week. I told him that I would call him in a couple weeks once I get back from vacation to find out what day the week of July 10th his group will be doing bench.

From the conversation, I get the feeling that I will definitely be thrown into the fire by working with these guys, but I think that would be good for me. I wish I had unlimited resources and time and then I would definitely join in full blast. I'll have to be satisfied with probably twice a month going up to the Roy Gold's gym. Hopefully I can take much of the methods learned there to the Tomax Gym and even get somebody at Tomax to really get excited about lifting too. There is a WABDL competition in Elko which David is interested in getting me to train for. I'd love another chance at 405 (with the proper technique and training this time) soon rather than waiting another six months. After I get back from the vacation I'll have to have a serious talk with Cathi to see if she is OK with me putting a little more priority on lifting.

First time doing legs in a long time

Squats: 12 x 135, 8 x 155, 6 x 175 - My legs were cramping up pretty good at this point. Reminding me to stretch before I do squats next time.
SLDL: 3 x 8 x 225 - These were tough to complete especially the 2nd and 3rd sets, but I did get them!
I figured I would be plenty sore tomorrow so I stopped here. My goal is to do legs twice a week which is a huge improvement over once every two weeks which was about what I was doing before.

Getting back to work

This morning I met Wayne and Brendon for some biceps:

Pullups (Rotating between lat/bicep grips): 4 x 7 x bw (240)
Standing Preacher Curls: 12 x 90, 12 x 85, 15 x 80, 15 x 75
Preacher Curls: 12 x 75, 3 x 10 x 95
21s: 3 sets

I got a good burn. My lower biceps are cramping up a little today so it was a great workout. We need a fan in that workout room badly! Dude I stink!

2006 Utah Summer Games - Bench Only Competition

Short Story –

1st attempt – 385 (success)
2nd attempt – 395 (fail)
3rd attempt – 395 (fail) My goal was 405 for 3rd if I got the 395 on the 2nd.

I was disappointed with my results in this meet, I had some surprises which threw me off, but next time I’ll be more prepared, not to mention stronger!

Here is a video of the lifts.

I did end up getting the gold medal in the open 235 and up weight category for the bench-only competition. So that was cool, but like I said when I started, it was the PR I wanted most, so getting the gold was bitter sweet.

Long Story -

Weigh in was at 8:00 am. I weighed in at 239. I was supposed to weigh under 235, so I was pushed into the heaviest category, 235 and up. I didn’t care too much as the only concern I had was with getting a new personal record, not what anyone else was doing.

At 9:00 they started squats. There were several guys squatting over 400 and a few at 500. I was in awe. They started with the youngest category moving to the open division and heavy categories. They didn’t start bench until around 11:00 or so. Then there were so many people doing bench only that it wasn’t until 1:30 that I did my lift. I was there drinking Gatorade and trying to get pumped for 4 hours and by the time I did my lift I was exhausted mentally.

About 15 minutes before my lift I did 275 twice with no shirt on, I was surprised at how heavy the weight felt. I knew though that the shirt and the pressure would give me that extra 100+ pounds.

As it turned out I was the last lifter for the day as I had the biggest opening lift (385 pounds). It was strange for me to see these really big guys lift and sometimes fail at weights that I have done. The heaviest weight benched to that point was 405 with the second best being 390! I had confidence that I could get the 385 and 395 since they were weights I had done before. At this point the gym had more people in it than the whole day. Here was the last bench of the day – talk about huge pressure and this was my first time doing a big lift outside of the Tomax basement!

My first lift did go up with some struggle, but it did go up. 385 down, 395 and 405 to go!

I had about 3 minutes until I had to lift 395. I was so anxious, it was hard for me to relax that whole time. I was angry earlier in the day that the lifters would take so much time (making me wait) so I felt self pressure to hurry up a little. What was most distressing was that it seemed as everyone was watching me. I hated that!

When I went for the 395 I couldn’t get it more than 3-4 inches off my chest before it stopped and started coming down. The spotters quickly grabbed it out of my grasp. What a bummer!!! My chance at 405 is gone! There is no way I’m going up in weight on my 3rd attempt if my 2nd wasn’t even close! So I had to at least tie my PR (395) on my third.

On the third I went further, but got stuck and couldn’t lock it out. I was upset that I didn’t meet my goals! However I was at least grateful I got 385. If I were to bomb out completely that would be the worst (and there were a few that did earlier in the day).

I was angry at myself because I have been struggling with my feet ever since I’ve started benching over 300. I have never had leg drive and my legs don’t give me any help at all. I talked with John, the master powerlifter who was the ref. He said I did need to work on my leg drive. He said to put 225 on the bar and let the bar sit on my chest for about 5-10 seconds (still pushing though so the weight isn’t resting on me) and then concentrate on my legs pushing my body up the bench so that they stay on the ground and help me get that weight up until the power transitions to my traps.

Lessons learned:
· focus on legs, not only for bench, but to get my squats and deadlifts to a respectable level.
· Next time I will not drink Gatorade all morning
· I will start major mental prep no more than 15 minutes before.
· Stay outside the gym until 10-15 minutes before my lift. Its too intense watching the others right before me.
· Make my opener smaller
· RELAX!!! Until its time to perform, and when it’s time do so with some RAGE! This meet I was unable to get some real rage as I was mentally exhausted by the time it was my turn.

Some things I thought were handled very well at the meet:
1. The organizers were good at judging. There were several people bouncing the weight off the chest, and they didn’t let that slide.
2. They were good at getting the crowd to cheer. When monumental lifts were being made they announced something that would cause the crowd to wake up a little and cheer.
3. They accommodated people who had music preferences and played their music during their lift.
4. John (the main judge) would give those who failed their lifts good direction on how to overcome their flaws and motivation to get the next attempts. But the fact is that without practice it’s hard to really adopt big changes unless those techniques are already mastered.
5. The gym was well cooled. It was probably 100 degrees outside (the doors were wide open too), but the gym stayed comfortable.

Some problems I had with the meet:
1. Two folding chairs. There was a lot of gym equipment, for spectators to sit on, but only two folding chairs! I was surprised at that! I had to sit in uncomfortable places for over 5 hours before my lift!
2. The water fountain was very wimpy and only had about a 1 inch arch. I was so sick of Gatorade by noon that I started drinking from the drinking fountain and I wasn’t impressed.
3. When I asked where the closest bathroom was, I was directed to a porta-potty about 50 yards away. I didn’t really think about this until I used it, but let’s say I take a dump in a portapotty with no facilities for cleaning up, and then go lift, my dirty hands are going on a bar that someone else is going to touch in the same place. I located a real bathroom where I could wash my hands but I don’t know if a porta-potty should be made available when a bathroom is twice as far, but people can wash their hands.

Thanks to everyone (Especially Cathi!) for supporting me in one of my passions in life!

Massage by Kristyn

Yesterday evening I got an hour long massage just on my upper body. It was awesome. There was a knot in my back just below each shoulder blade. It was quite painful to get them worked out, but they sure feel better than before. She did a fantastic job and was very professional. I'm definitely going back.

If you are interested in getting a good massage and live in North Davis County, Utah, give her a call at 644-5724. She's located at the Lifestyle Fitness Center in Layton at 1014 W. Gentile.