Vincent Dizenzo Training Log

[vdizenzo]

Friday 6/1/12

Flamboyant five custom warmup
Close grip 2 board press w/doubled mini bands 140/230/320x3, 410/460/500/525x1, 530x0, 530x1
Dead bench 2 min RI 405/430/455/480/480x1
Tate presses 65 5x12

Close grip 2 board press of 525 w/doubled mini bands was a pr. Got greedy and went for 530 and missed. That was unacceptable. I could not live with the miss so I changed my setup, took it again, and f'n nailed it.

Dead presses sucked. I hate Josh Bryant! The last 480 was most definitely an RPE of 10.

Switched from incling Tate presses to flat. The inclined version irritates my shoulders. As I finished the last rep the dumbells crashed down to my chest. Yeah, I was toast.

[Travis Bell]

Geeze man. You are really getting stupid strong on this raw stuff. Hope the AC got fixed lol. I'm such a sissy in the heat when it comes to AC. If it's hot in my house at night I can't sleep worth a crap.

[vdizenzo]

Geeze man. You are really getting stupid strong on this raw stuff. Hope the AC got fixed lol. I'm such a sissy in the heat when it comes to AC. If it's hot in my house at night I can't sleep worth a crap.

AC is fixed and pumpin' my brother. Thanks for the compliment. Yeah my raw training is coming along.

[vdizenzo]

Saturday 6/2/12
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Treadmill 20 minutes LISS
Light stretching

Band assissted pullups 6x5
Face pulls 50 3x10
One arm dbl rows 75 3x10
Dbl concentration curl 20 3x10

Kept the rest periods to a minimum and got 'er done.

[vdizenzo]

Setting competition goals for me is very easy. Actually, for anyone involved in strength athletics goal setting can be as simple as stating, “I want to lift “X.”” Too bad staying on track isn’t quite as easy.

My present goal is simple. I want to bench 600 lbs raw in my third weight class. I have benched 605 as a superheavyweight and 600 at 308 lbs. Benching 600 in the 275 class seems like a logical and reasonable goal.

Now most would think the difficult part of reaching a goal would be the hard work that goes into accomplishing it. For me, it’s quite the contrary. I love the work. I love it so much that I am constantly trying to add and improve upon it. That’s when things start going sideways.

I’m hitting personal records nearly every week in training. That would be a good indicator that I am on my way to reaching my goal. However, that must not be good enough. Now in my head, I need to bench 600 raw in the 275 lb weight class at 15% body fat while being able to run seven minute miles.

My goal was set and now without even realizing it, I’m revising it in my head. Seriously, if my conditioning and nutrition has been leading to great training, why do I have this overwhelming urge to change things? Are my expectations too high? Am I afraid of failure or maybe even success? I don’t know. Perhaps these ulterior goals are being created by my subconscious for excuses down the road.

It is clear to me I have been on the right path to realize my goal. Writing this has been cathartic. Regardless of the reasons, these outside influences are a distraction, and I have to let them go. If setting the goal was easy, I should keep the process of achieving it easy as well.

[Coke]

Way to illustrate your thoughts so precisely, I agree with those sentiments.

[Tim K]

The temptation to tweak things is in a man's nature. No worries. You have the experience, knowledge, and access to other experienced and knowledgeable people to keep you on track. You know that is why you keep Tee Tee and Rhodes around...

[vdizenzo]

Thanks guys.

[vdizenzo]

Sunday 6/3/12

Treadmill 20 minutes LISS

Done as circuit 4x
Physio ball rev hyper x10
Crunches x10
Band stomps x10
Step ups x10
TKE's x10
Band leg curls x10

This was a deload, but I decided I needed a little more recovery. I took a ride to the beach for a little salt water therapy. To my surprise there were a good number of people on the beach, but nobody was in the water. It looked like a scene out of Jaws.

Well I sauntered onto the beach and gave everyone a show. I took off my shirt and dove right into the sound. It was definitely chilly. I have to say I was a little creeped out looking around being the only one in the water. I felt like there had to have either been some kind of offshore spill or a shark sighting. Regardless, the cold water was really refreshing.

As I made my way back to the sand a guy in a beach chair looked at me and said "I'm just glad you weren't committing suicide because I didn't want to go in after you." I mean come on, I know the water was cold, but it could not have been that cold. It's June afterall.

[Tim K]

Band stomps... it just sounds cool.

[vdizenzo]

Band stomps... it just sounds cool.

That's funny. They feel great for my hips.

[vdizenzo]

Monday
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Warmup
DE Bench 300 lbs w/4 chains and doubled mini bands, alt 3 grips 9x3
Close grip towel bench 405/425/445x5
Band pushdowns 2x25
Band flies 2x25
Band side laterals 2x25

Iced pecs/shoulders
Contrast shower

I was killed from this session. This was the heaviest of a three week wave of DE work. It looks a little better than it felt. Also pushed the towel bench heavier than I have before by a few lbs. Almost pushed it too heavy and got a chance to see how my safety pins work. I have never missed a rep training by myself, but it was close. Did a little band assistance afterwards.

[vdizenzo]

Tuesday and Wednesday

Assorted rolling
Some kind of cardio

Not always exciting, but still necessary.

[vdizenzo]

Friday - 6/8/12
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Scintillating six specialized warmup
Incline bench 135/185/225/275/315x3 405/455/495/550x1
Dead benches 405/430/460/485x1
Rolling dbl tri ext 60 4x15

I have been doing close grip inclines a few times over the past couple of years. I chose to stop doing them wide grip because I was in the 320 lb neighborhood when I did them. Psychologically it's hard to take the strength hit when you drop weight.

Well close grips have gone pretty well. However, I thought it was time to nut up and go after my wide grip pr of 545. I can't duck the numbers I did when I was heavier if I am chasing 600 raw at a lighter weight. I was 282 yesterday, around 40 lbs lighter, but I got my pr. I definitely rushed the lift and put it in a bad position, it was ugly, but I got it.

[Justin Randal]

Very strong incline!

[vdizenzo]

Saturday - 6/9/12
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Treadmill, 20 minutes interval, lowest setting
Quick band warmup
TBar row 140 3x10
Band assisted neutral grip pullups x 11/10/10
Standing dbl hang cleans 25 x 16/15/15
Isolated hammer band curls 3x10

Everything went well. I am being very cautious with my biceps. First, I have ruptured both so I need to be careful. In addition, swinging weight aggravates my shoulders. That is definitely not good for benching especially considering I train my biceps the day after ME bench. So I figured to isolate them and use bands would minimize damage and allow for albeit light, but necessary work.

[vdizenzo]

Sunday - 6/10/12
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Treadmill, 20 minutes low interval
Light warmup
Kneeling twisting band ab pulldowns 3x15
Physio ball rev hyper 3x10
SSB squats 155/245/335/365/415/470x5
Standing calf raises 3x15
TKE's 3x10

Squatting was off today. I have some kind of pain going on up in the inside part of my hip. I had to squat on my toes with my knees almost turned in. Fortunately I do not feel worse for wear.

Went back to the sound/ocean today for a little more cold water therapy. Once again there was nobody in the water. Jess came with me this time. She only got up to her waist and got out fairly quickly. It's clearly really cold because girlfriend contrasts regularly.

[vdizenzo]

Here's the vid from Friday's incline.

[Coke]

Impressive vid Vin!

[vdizenzo]

I am five weeks out from my meet. I have been working really hard and feel beat. Guess what, I should.

I was planned for a DE deload Monday. Well, all Sunday I told myself I feel great and I was just going to skip my deload and push forward with DE. Skip ahead to this morning and I felt like a bag of smashed a$$holes. So immediately in my head the deload was back on.

Guess what, I'm a powerlifter and should feel like crap. I spend most of my training time beating the heck out of myself. What do I think I am supposed to feel like?

It is highly unlikely that I am overtrained. So I need to keep pushing myself. I'll have time to rest before the meet. If I am going to get stronger, the time is now.

[vdizenzo]

Monday - 6/11/12
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Warmup upper and lower including light band work
Softball roll pec/shoulders
DE bench 315 9x3 w/3 grips
Close grip pin presses 455 3x5

To get good at things you have to embrace them even when you don't want to do them. My speed was ok, but I have a plan to combat this. With one month of training left I am dropping back to 3 days a week of training instead of 4. No separate back day. I will collapse that work into my bench days. I have been keeping the exercises at a minimum anyway. Also, I will only be using deload numbers for squats. I think these adjustments will let me push my bench work and allow for adequate recovery.

[vdizenzo]

Tuesday 6/12/12
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Treadmill, 20 minutes interval
Foam roll upper
Softball roll pecs/shoulders

[joey54]

Always enjoy the cerebral approach to training in here. And also like when you just decide to SFW like on that incline.

[vdizenzo]

Wednesday 6/13/12
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Treadmill, 20 minutes low interval setting
Foam roll upper and lower
Softball roll pecs/shoulders

Feeling good. If all goes as planned I can take tomorrow off entirely. I really like having a day off a week.

[GazzyG]

Love reading your log, Vin. Not only do I get a kick out of seeing the big numbers, but I like the insight into your mind.