Amounirl's Training Log

[amounirl]

Thanks Gaz!

[amounirl]

Good mornings are an amazing exercise, I'm pretty well convinced that they are the reason why I"m so damn sore in my hamstrings, and why over the last few days my thigh size at the largest point has increased from 26.25 inches to 27 inches. Just foam rolled it and I'm icing everything right now, then I'm going to take a warm shower, hopefully that will flush out most of the soreness so I can deadlift tomorrow. Oddly enough my left thumb is still numb from hook gripping those sumo deadlifts on tuesday, I must have killed a nerve in there. It's still as dextrous and strong as ever though, so I'm not worried about it, it just feels weird.

[amounirl]

5-4-12: C/J and Deadlifts

Light good mornings and hamstring curls to warm up

Power Clean and Jerk
5x95 with 3 jerks on the last clean
5x135
3x155
1x175 with 3 jerks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J8cmxGuVxE

Deadlift
3x225
3x275
3x315
3x365
1x405
2x455: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCZBz...endscreen&NR=1

Short Rest Low Box Squat
1x5x135
long rest
4x5x185 60 sec rest between sets
60 sec rest
1x5x235

Cooldown Abs

Today I was still feeling pretty sore from good mornings so I wasn't feeling too strong, I just did requisite reps on my power clean and repped the jerk for 3, even if I might have been able to do more. The deadlift went up super slowly due to soreness and fatigue, or maybe just the fact I haven't pulled heavy in over a month, but I figured since it's the last heavy lift of the month I might as well try for another one, and I managed to barely get it. My hook grip has atrophied immensely so these felt freaking terrible. Then for the box squats I finished all my working sets in less than 5 minutes, and my lower back was absolutely demolished at that point. It was so fatigued that I could barely put my stuff away, and when I was walking to class afterwards I had to set it down and just sit for a bit to rest. I felt like a major fatass, haha. Speaking of which my BW has been in the mid 205s when I go to bed and around 200-202 when I wake up. I'm going to have to eat a ton this weekend to solidify these gains.

[Coke]

No doubt the GMs likely took some thunder away from those deads, great job either way.

I'm sure you are aware that depending on how you perform GMs, they can work lower back on one hand, or the hams on the other. Basically it all depends on whether a narrow or wide stance is used, and whether stiff-legged or slightly bent (same as deads, of course).

[amounirl]

I didn't know that, but that makes sense, I do them with the same stance I use for the squat for maximum carryover to squatting. So a little bit outside my shoulder width. Then I bend my knees a little bit just for the flexibility, but not enough to turn it into a quad movement, just enough so I can get my torso parallel to the ground. I'll try to film it next time I do them.

[amounirl]

My bodyweight was 207.8 last night and was 206 in the middle of the night when I woke up, and 205 now in the morning. It's going up like crazy, even though I'm not eating a ton more than usual, and for the most part I'm eating whole foods. I'm partially attributing it to those good mornings, I've never hit my hamstrings like that, from a full stretch position before, so I made some crazy gains. I can also notice I look a little bit wider waisted in the mirror, which is probably partially fat gain and partially core muscle size gains.

[amounirl]

Strongman Sunday

Axle C/P
Worked up with a couple triples, then doubles, then singles with 3 presses, up to 200, the infamous number that raped me last time I went heavy. Went up like a dream, then I almost killed myself on the 2nd rep. Still a nice PR, I'm happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Upv...ature=youtu.be

Chain Yoke
Worked up to 455 for 80 ft. Fun stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r4xg...ature=youtu.be

Nice training session, I felt really strong today, but I'm looking forward to deloading next week. My lower back is trashed from today. Going to start doing strongman on Saturdays so my training is going to be Mon: Squat, Tues: Bench, Thurs: DL, Sat: Strongman.

However, next week I'm going to be doing Tues: Squat deload, Wed: Bench deload, Thurs, Deadlift deload, Sat: Strongman. Just cause it's a deload week.

[amounirl]

Funny thing just happened, my "backup" log on elitefitness.com just crashed and deleted the last 2 month's worth of posts, so I decided I'm going to open up a log on T nation and bodybuilding.com as my back ups as well, and abandon elitefitness altogether. I'll link the new logs once they're created if anybody is interested. Anyways, today was a great training session, I'm sore all over. Forgot to mention I went for a walk after dinner yesterday and did 9 chin ups and about 45 push ups.

[GazzyG]

Haha, impromptu post-dinner training, love it.

[amounirl]

Hahaha it's good stuff, makes me feel a little bit less fat after eating so much food

[amounirl]

5-8-12: Squat Deload

Squat
10x185
8x215
6x255

Good Mornings
5x135
3x8x145

Sumo DL
5x135
8x185
added belt
20x225

That's it for today. Didn't bring my camera because nothing was worth filming. I was running out of time at the end because I was teaching my buddy how to squat so instead of doing 3x10 with 225 and 2x10 with 275 on the Sumo DL, I just belted up and did 1 set of 20 with 225. More cardio, grip, and abductors than anything, that was hell. I'm hoping to progress in the sumo DL and up my work capacity by continuing to use 60-90 sec rest periods on them and gradually shifting my sets. So the first week I did 4x10x225 raw and 1x10x275 with a belt, next time I have time for all 5 sets I'll do 2 of the sets with 275, the next time 3, until I'm doing all 5 with 275. Then I'll remove the belt and start upping the weight by 10 every week. When I don't have time I'll just do 1 set of 20 with 10-20 lbs more than the previous time. I'll do the same thing with box squats except with lighter weights and lower reps. Hopefully that will work decently. Otherwise nothing really too notable, I'm going to be upping the good mornings by 10 lbs every week until I can good morning as much as I can front squat, then I'll start increasing by 5s. My goal of this all is to bring up my low back, hips and hamstrings to my quads' level and increase my work capacity.

[GazzyG]

Got a good lower back pump from that 20 repper, I bet?

[amounirl]

Oh yeah I got an obnoxious lower back pump, it was compressing my spine and everything haha.

5-9-12: Bench Deload

Bench
10x135
8x155
6x175

10 Pull ups
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6evNTdpRmbk

15 Dips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfL5q...2&feature=plcp

Pendlay Rows
3x5x120

Dumbbell Bench
10x50s
8x75s
6x100s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvKFL...hannel&list=UL

Nice little deload today, short 50 min workout, wasn't chasing failure or anything as you can see from my videos, but I still managed to get a DB Bench PR. If I really went for it I might be able to hit 20 dips or 8 reps with 100 lb dumbbells, I just didn't want to push too hard because it's a deload. Pull ups were max reps unfortunately. I suck at those, I need to work on them more often.

[Coke]

Superior drive and work ethic going on, steadily raising up.

[amounirl]

Thanks Coke, that means a lot!

[amounirl]

5-10-12: DL DL

Power Clean
some light weights that I don't even remember. I think I did 135 for 5.

DL
10x225
8x275
6x315

Chin Ups
BWx5,5,5,6,10

Box Squat with 60 sec rest
5x135
5x185
Added belt
5x235

I don't think I did anything else besides this. I'm very glad I'm deloading because I know I wouldn't have been able to use real weights today, I'm super sore all over. I've noticed that since I added all this hamstring and lower back volume (GMs, Sumo DLs, and Box Squats) up to the point of getting severe DOMS, and started doing yoke walks, my spinal erectors have gotten wayyy noticeably bigger in the mirror and my legs have grown a lot bigger, as measured by a device called "Orbitape". Now I just need to rest so I can stop being sore and tired all the time. I'm happy that now I'm deloading with weights I've stalled at, 315 on the deadlift. I need to start doing chin ups more often, I feel them strengthening my bicep tendons a lot which will have some carryover to bench pressing, as well as getting some nice upper body hypertrophy. A few minor tweaks to my routine:

Saturday: Strongman
Monday: 5/3/1 Squat, 3x8 Good Mornings (60 sec rest, add 10 lbs every week), 5x10 Sumo deadlifts (60 sec rest, 1 set of 20 if I'm running short on time, progression outlined above, but basically adding 10 lbs every week), weighted abs
Tuesday: 5/3/1 Bench (light face pulls in between sets), 5/3/1 Pendlay Row, 3-5x8 dips (60 sec rest, add 1 set every week till I reach 5 sets, then add 1 rep with 3 sets), rear delts. Pull ups at home on my tree with dip progression, starting with 3x5.
Thursday: 5/3/1 Power Clean and Jerk, 5/3/1 Deadlift (chin ups and shoulder work in between sets of DLs), 5x5 box squat (sumo DL progression).

I'll be following this for the next month, then I might do a Smolov Squat cycle and hard bulk once summer starts, and finally I'll start my cutting routine (which I'm working on) after that's over.

[GazzyG]

Wish I could churn out the chins like that! Good effort!

[amounirl]

Thanks Gaz

[amounirl]

5-12-12: Saturday Strongman


Axle C/P
Worked up to 180 with 1 clean and 3 presses. I've done 200 before but I wasn't feeling it today, I couldn't get it past my belly.

Chain Yoke for 80 feet
Worked up to a run with 385 and stopped there.

Axle Deadlift
Worked up to 440 for a decent single, then attempted 500 and got it off the ground, but my grip started slipping and I lost it just below my knees. Video coming soon.

[amounirl]

5-14-12: 3x3 Squat

Squat
warmups
5x225
3x275
3x315
1x335
1x355

Good Mornings
3x8x155

Front Squat
155x5,6,8

Light Hamstring Flexion and hanging leg raise

For some reason my squat has been terrible these last few weeks, even 2 weeks ago I was able to do 2x3x335, which at the time I felt sucked, but today each rep was a grinder, even with 315. I'm going to have to reduce my squat training max, which is 390 right now, to about 365 because I can't even hit 5/3/1 requisite reps anymore. I think it might be that since I added box squats to my program my form has started to come together and I've started to sit back more and use my quads less and my glutes/hams more, and stop buttwinking and bouncing off my spine (see any squat video on my youtube channel "Amounirl"), so I'm still getting used to the new motor pattern and I need to strengthen a new set of muscles. Either that or I'm fatigued from basically going to failure on my 500 deadlift attempt this weekend. Probably both.

Good mornings are still going up, 10 lbs heavier than last week, and I threw in some light front squats to get used to the movement again. I'm going to have to start doing front squats again because my sticking point on the squat has changed from right in the hole to about 6 inches out of the hole with the new adjustments on my form. I felt like the hip extension was the weak link, so front squats should improve that as well as my deadlift lockout, which is where my sticking point on the deadlift has become since I started strengthening my back, which translated to better power off the floor. I usually do a light set of lunges and hamstring curls to warm up for a low body session because it opens up my hips and gets the blood flowing through my legs, so I'll do some light hip thrusts/bridges in addition to those as well.

[amounirl]

5-15-12: Bench 3x3

Bench
4 warmup sets paused no arch
3x190 paused no arch
3x215
added wraps
5x245 3 rep/20 lb PR!!!!!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XStCl...ature=youtu.be
1x255 paused

Close Grip Bench
2x3x225 paused

Pendlay Rows
5x135
3x160
5x185
10x155

Incline Dumbbell Bench
65s(130)x10,10,8

Fat Bar Dumbbell Rows
2x10x50s

Light Rear Delt Flyes, Chest Flyes, and Face Pulls between sets

Today I had an absolutely phenomenal workout, one of the best workouts I've ever had. I blasted through a bench plateau I've been struggling with for 2-3 months, and I attribute it to 3 things, the fact I lifted in the evening instead of in the morning 1 hr after waking up, the fact I took a deload week for the first time in months on my bench (since I was doing a linear 6x3 routine for a while before switching back to 5/3/1 for PL), and the fact that I did dips and DB bench last week (hypertrophy). My form felt absolutely solid today. Bodyweight was about 207 last night and right now it's about 205. I also might add that it only took me 30 mins to warm up and do my set with 245, and the whole workout was only 1 hr 30 mins. I think the short rest periods on GMs, Front Squats, and Box Squats have brought up my work capacity a lot.

I threw in some close grips with a pause for a little more volume, because my bench responds well to volume, and I liked them, I think they'll probably help give me more power at my sticking point (about 6 inches off my chest, almost half way up), as well as allowing me to use heavier weight, compared to JM presses and other tricep exercises, to overload my weak triceps. Pendlays were all right, no new PRs or anything. I threw in some incline dumbbell bench for 2 reasons, one of them is simply cosmetic (dat upper chest), but the other is that I feel using dumbbells gives me a lot of stability on my bench, which is something I could definitely use more of (look at my 250x2 video from 2 weeks ago).

The last real exercise (the flyes and face pulls were really light) I did was incredibly painful. I wrapped 3 socks around a 50 lb dumbbell to make a fat bar that was about 2-2.5 inches in diameter, then did 1 arm DB rows with it. I did really short rest periods, as in, I started with my left arm, went straight to my right after the set, then went straight back to my left. It was almost like a quadruple super set. Because the weight was relatively light, I kept the form pretty strict, yet I still felt it a lot on my forearms, rear delts, and lats. Good stuff, I'll definitely keep it in my routine. I like the dips as well, so I'm going to do those along with my chin ups on deadlift day in between sets.

[amounirl]

Strongman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=4OQesTTbYBU

My 500 almost to the knees DL was at the end.

[Coke]

Pedal is to the metal dude!

Obviously you cut off the dreads, timed just right before the deep summer heat.

[amounirl]

Haha yup, my scalp has never felt so free

[amounirl]

5-17-12: 3x3 Deads/posterior chain+upper body assistance

Muscle Clean/Jerk
3x135
3x155
3x175 2 rep PR
2x185 1 rep/10 lb PR

Deadlifts
warmups
3x335
3x395
3x435 5 lb PR
2x465 10 lb PR!

Did a bunch of random stuff in between sets of deads, most notably:

Dips
2x8xBW (206-210)
2x8xBW+10 (216-220)
1x12xBW

More or Less "Sternum" Chin Ups
3x5xBW
1x5xBW+10
1x8xBW

BoxSquat (Posterior Chain Hell Style)
5x195 for 4 sets with 60 sec rest
rest 90 sec, added belt
6x245

Had a good day today, I was training alone so I managed to get a lot done in just under 2 hours, and with minimal psyching up so that I can pull that "ace card" in competition. Deadlift lockout is definitely my weak point now, I don't even feel it in my lower back or quads anymore, it's mostly in the glutes/hips, and a little in the hamstrings and lats, so I'm going to start doing weighted hip thrusts and front squats more seriously now to work on that lagging muscle group at lockout. I did this little thing at the top of 465 which wasn't quite hitching, but it was borderline so it's not ideal to train that way for competition. I also was doing this SPF type thing on 435 where my hips were pretty much locked out at the top, but not as locked out as possible. Hopefully hip thrusts will be my magic ticket to solve those problems, box squats and GMs have helped me immensely off the floor, which was a previous sticking point for me. 175, 185, 435, 465, and 245 are all up on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIpvnSJV0gk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Daf00...hannel&list=UL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX6gD...hannel&list=UL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GaU2...hannel&list=UL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcgPo7PVaMA

I tried doing sternum chin ups and didn't really have the flexibility to get the bar all the way to the sternum, but my chin was well above the bar, and I felt it a lot more than normal chin ups, everywhere in my upper body, with less reps.