Form Focus Fire

[Justin Randal]

Fellow Meat-heads,

Firstly I'd like to thank Chris Mason and AtLarge Nutrition for choosing to sponsor me. I'm honored to join the team!!

My name is Justin Randal and i've been a Powerlifter since march 2009. I have competed in multiply and raw competitions. I totaled 2200 @ 242 (MP) in march of 2011 where I tore my pec. Since then I have totaled 1910, and 1918 (@ 275) in raw comps over the last few months. My current goal is to break the 2000 barrier raw @ The WCO on the Oregon coast in december. I plan to get in at least 2 meets prior to this one.

I am currently recovering from an abdominal surgey and my first day back in the gym was today. I kept it nice and easy with 20 min on the treadmill, a few sets of DB overhead tricep extensions and walking reverse flies with the sled for 3 sets of 100 feet. Man I am out of shape. I almost threw up after the sled work!! I guess 2 weeks on a couch will do that to you.

Well, I'm excited to be back in the gym and look forward to getting to know the WBB peeps. Talk to you soon.


Success,
J

[Justin Randal]

Well after Mondays sled drags I was pretty sore for a couple days. I decided to hold off, give recovery another week and start back at it this Monday. So in the interim, here is vid of my last 2 meets. Hopefully I'll be back at it soon.

1910 raw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JACI...e_gdata_player

1918 raw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwsXA...e_gdata_player

Success
J

[J L S]

some pretty serious lifting there, cool vids too.. 500 bench was very nice!

be real interested to see how this develops! deadlift looks incredibly similar to mine in style too so i take some heart in the fact you have pulled over 700 haha!

[GazzyG]

Welcome, Justin - just watched your lifts on youtube, you're a beast.

[Justin Randal]

Thanks fellas. I'm excited to get back at it in the coming weeks. Just need to remember to train smart and pace myself.

[J L S]

justin, how have you trained your lifts in the past!? what sort of training system do you use for the big 3!? or what exercises etc do you like to do a lot of to get as strong as you have so far!?

[Justin Randal]

I typically run Westside/conjugate and occasionally run a 5/3/1 cycle. As far as specific exercises go I try too stick with the the usual suspects in each lift but tend to find ways of making the exercises harder (Increasing ROM, pausing each rep, adding bands etc..). As far as programming lifts I tend to spend a lot of time watching training film to pinpoint weaknesses and go after them. When addressing weakness I typically try to think of the thing I like doing least in the realm of the considered weakness and do that. As a general rule, I have found that the things I like doing least tend to benefit me the most. If you have more specific training questions feel free to ask.

Success
J

[Justin Randal]

Got in a light arm ( bi/tri) workout tonight. Abdomen still feels a bit tender so I will likely wait another week or 2 to start any of the big 3. For now I am going to stick with isolation movements that do not require much abdominal core stabilization. Here's how todays training went.

Cable triceps push downs
5x12-15

Cable curls
5x12-15

OH cable triceps extensions
3x15-20
1x25

1 handed cable curls.
4x10-12

Short and sweet. Though I have to say it felt great to get a real(ish) workout in. I just finished up about an hour ago and I feel amazing. I had forgotten how good training.g made me feel. I'm looking forward to doing some leg work tomorrow.

Success,
J

[J L S]

thanks for that insight into your crazy strong world justin! I like your view point on doing the thing you like the least!

i wish you a speedy recovery and hope to see some big weights lifted soon!

[Justin Randal]

thanks for that insight into your crazy strong world justin! I like your view point on doing the thing you like the least!

i wish you a speedy recovery and hope to see some big weights lifted soon!

Thanks homie. Just remember to do the thing you suck at to get stronger. It's the whole weakest link concept.


Well it looks like recovery is going to be a bit more lengthy than I originally anticipated. I woke up Tue with a bit of a fever and sharp stabbing pain in my bladder. The doc sent me in for a cat scan and found the the stitches on my bladder are intact but that it was severely inflamed and likely infected. I haven't been able to train or work for yet another week and I'm going crazy. Going to stick to treadmill cardio only til this Saturday when I finish up the antibiotics as the particular brand I am taking can cause tendon ruptures. Definitely feeling a bit caged at the moment. I need to put this shit behind me and move forward!

Success,
J

[Justin Randal]

Got in and did some mobility and blood flow work last night. Starting to feel normal again though it was strange being winded from such little output. Starting with light movements Saturday morning. I'm itching to get back to pushing myself but I just gotta take my time and listen to my body at this point. Gay but necessary.

Success,
J

[GazzyG]

Really hope you recover fast, Justin. I understand how frustrating it is to not get any training in due to injury.

[Justin Randal]

First official training day was yesterday. I decided to get in some speedy box squats. Everything felt shaky and a bit unstable but that is to be expected after a 5 weak break from training. Here's how it went.

Ssb speed squat to 14" box against blues.
Bar x8
Added blue bands
Bar x8
150x2x6
240x10x2

GHR's
4x12

Reverse hyper
3x12

Kept it short as my legs felt like jello and my conditioning definitely leaves something to be desired. Going to add more work over the coming weeks. Good to be back!

Success
J

[GazzyG]

Good work getting back at it, Justin.

[Justin Randal]

Well, I'm starting to feel normal again. So as I ease back into training, the short term plan is to get a bit more rep work to get the muscle working again. Once I feel that I'm back on track I plan to work on learning to strain again. You see I'm typically a very fast lifter but if the weight slows very much I tend to miss. The plan is to slow movements down a bit thus adding more time under tension. And that's really all I can think to do. If anyone has any other thoughts or ideas, I'm always open to suggestions.

Got in a solid session last night. I decided that I need to work a bit on conditioning, so a ran a 4 round circuit after the main exercise. It's good to be back but boy did I loathe this session. Here's how it went.

Floor press
Bar x some
135 x 2 x 10
225 x 8
275 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 3 x 5
Wanted to go up but chose to wait.

The next portion was done for 4 rounds with as little rest as possible with the last round of exercises all done to failure.
Banded pec flies (blue band) x 12
Banded triceps push downs (medium band) x 12
Face pulls x 12

Great workout but I don't plan to repeat it anytime soon. I'm pretty sore today. Glad to put that one behind me. Time to get hooooooge!!!

Success
J

[Justin Randal]

6/13 Squats

I spent 15 or so minutes stretching/working on mobility before this session.

Bar x 10
135 x 10
225 x 10
315 x 10
405 x 10
405 x 15
I plan to start reducing volume and increase load next week.

Leg press
3 x 12

Single leg hammy curls
4 x 15 (per side)

Sore as fu$k today!
Out.

[Justin Randal]

OHP
Bar x 2 x 10
135 x 2 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 2
275 x 3

Banded crunches.
4 x 16-20

Banded oblique crunches.
2 x 16-20 per side.

Front delta raises
3 x 12

Over head work was a challenge today as my core stability has suffered over the last 6 weeks. I was very unstable and walking all over the place with the heavier sets. Due to this I decided it was time go ahead start ab work again. Was planning to wait til next week but what's a few days? Didn't feel to bad. I'll be hammering them quite frequently for a while. Picking up speed..

Success,
J

[Justin Randal]

Did some recovery work and gpp yesterday.
20 min of stretching with bands
Foam roll IT bands and low back.
20 min of prowler push's
20 min on treadmill
Reverse hyper to stretch/traction lumbar 3x12-15

Air is getting a bit better..

[Justin Randal]

Bench night.

Bar x many
Added doubled mini's
Bar x 10
Added 100 chain
Bar x 10
Added another 100# chain
Bar x 6
All following sets were done against doubled mini's and 200# chain
135 x 5
185 x 2
225 x 2
275 x 2
Back down set
225 x 6

Rolling triceps extensions
3 x 12

Banded chest flies
3 x 12-15

Suspended single arm triceps extensions (mini band)
2 x 40-50 per side

DB flies
3 x 12

Solid session. Glad to finally get a good bit of volume without feeling like ass. Felt much stronger than I thought I would at this point. I plan to pull for the first time since surgery Friday or Saturday. This will be the hardest on my abdomen so ill likely keep it relatively light.

[Raw Power]

Good to see ya back Brother!!!!

James

-

[Justin Randal]

Had a good dead session tonight. Abdomen feels like ass pulling but it was tolerable.

135 x 10
Added quaded mini's
135 x 3
225 x 3
Tried to add a belt at this point but it hurt like an SOB to flex against it so I just went without..
315 x 3
405 x 2
495 x 1 (Rushed this a bit at the bottom)

Lat Pull downs
4 x 10-15

Banded crunches
4 x 15-20

Seated rows
4 x 10-15


Out!!

[Justin Randal]

DE Bench

Bar x many
Added mini bands
Bar x 10
135 x 10
225 x 8 x 3

DB press
85 x 8
125 x 8
150 x 2 x 8

Front delt raises
4 x 10-12

Out!

[J L S]

awesome to see you back justin

[Justin Randal]

Thanks JLS its great to be back!


Squats

Roll and stretch x 10 min

Bar x 10
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 5
Added belt
405 x 5
495 x 5
585 x 2 felt strong and smooth.

Leg extensions
4 x 12

Hammy curls
4 x 12-15

Great squat night. Left a bit in the tank for next round. Strength is on the rise!!

[Justin Randal]

Bench night

Light lat pulls and banded stretches to warm up.

Bar x many
135 x 10
225 x 10
315 x 5
365 x 5
405 x 5
I had initially planned to stop here as this was my first time over 400 in 2 months but the last set felt really easy so I decided I would take a single.
455 x 1 felt fairly easy but I decided I shouldn't stray to far from my plan.

Triceps pushdowns 4 x 15

DB front felt raises
Worked up to 55 x 12 per side

Cable chest flies
4 x 12