a Westside n00b's journey

[Ben Moore]

nice work dude,

I would consider benching in a power rack if possible. With only having 1 spotter, an out of control bench can happen really quickly and come right back on your face. I only say this because its happened to me

I have some great bridge work because of something like this

[lil' power]

I would consider benching in a power rack if possible. With only having 1 spotter, an out of control bench can happen really quickly and come right back on your face. I only say this because its happened to me

Very good point...you're only going up in weight, we need to round up some more spotters for those heavy days

Somehow I manage with that song, and a bunch of pink in those videos.

pffft....watch it youngin' !!!

I have some great bridge work because of something like this

Yea, I don't think his mom would appreciate the extra dental bills either...

[Donnajo]

Somehow I manage with that song, and a bunch of pink in those videos.

And our talking...LOL

[Lones Green]

DE Bench

Speed bench, various grips:
bar x a lot
135 x 3
135 x 3
135 x 3
155 x 3
155 x 3
165 x 3
185 x 3

RE effort bench:
135 x 12
155 x 12

One arm KB tricep extension:
18 lber x 10
20 lber x 2 x 10

Panora pressdowns:
90 x 10
100 x 10
130 x 10

BB row:
95 x 10
185 x 10
205 x 10

Pulldowns:
90 x 10
100 x 10
120 x 10

Reverse pec dec:
50 x 10
70 x 10
100 x 10

Prowler pushes:
empty sled x 2 trips
2 plates x 2 trips
3 plates x 2 trips
4 plates x 2 trips


Tried out a new gym today, thats why the volume was down a bit. Foreign place, not a lot of equipment, but had some different stuff. With some better equipment and a stereo it'd be a pretty nice gym. Plus its free. Thinking I'd like to do reverse band deads there not this week but the next. They had one of those ridiculous 9 foot legend racks that are extremely narrow.

[Lones Green]

ME Squat/dl

Sit-ups:
BW x 10
+20 lb KB x 10
+40 lb DB x 10

Reverse MM band squats, closer than normal stance, parallel box:
135 x 5
225 x 3
315 x 3
*belt*
365 x 3
*briefs*
405 x 3
455 x 1
495 x 1
545 x 1
*suit bottoms*
585 x 1

Bands kept pulling me forward and the change in stances messed me up. The weight was no problem but I called it anyway. Gonna have to stick to doing straight weight squats walked out with my regular stance and deadlift variations when I'm at home. Since it wasn't my best squat session I've ever had I decided to drop the hammer...

Rack pulls below knee, conventional, quad mini's around all 3 band pegs:
bar x 5
135 x 3
225 x 3
*belt*
275 x 1
315 x 1
*straps*
365 x no thank you
*straps off*
315 x 1
135 x 5 beltless, hook grip

Probably could have grinded 365 out but my back was about shot, didn't want to risk an injury...tension was insane

GHR's, (After duct taping the pad back onto the machine)
BW x 4 x 10

Brand new purple band abduction, quaded, 3 x 10 held apart for 2 seconds

Brand new blue band hangman abs, 3 x 10

Goofy farmers walk implement:
315 x 4 short trips


Workout was done at the newer gym. They had brand new bands with the powder still on them, needless to say I'm hitting the shower soon. GHR pad ripped off on my first rep, guess thats the price you pay for being big. I probably could have made a more sturdy GHR outta wood, LOL

Rack pulls felt good, I think my deadlift has gone up after all the GM/glute/low back/lockout work I've been doing.

Supposed to be at Cell Block today but Brent was out of town, so I'll be there next week

[Travis Bell]

Very respectable pulling there Lones.

haha this weekend at the seminar, Lou and Chris pulled 5 plates off the second pin....plus quaded monster minis. Chris may have ground out 545 bar weight, I can't remember. I was running the mono and getting in trouble for turning around to watch them pull

[Lones Green]

Very respectable pulling there Lones.

haha this weekend at the seminar, Lou and Chris pulled 5 plates off the second pin....plus quaded monster minis. Chris may have ground out 545 bar weight, I can't remember. I was running the mono and getting in trouble for turning around to watch them pull

LOL. It was some good tension for sure. I would have gone a bit lower with the pins, but it was that goofy 12 foot legend rack. The lowest pin was a few inches below my knee. Had 3 band pegs on each side, those came in handy!

[Lones Green]

extra workout @ school*done a few hours before squatting

DB bench:
30's x 15
40's x 15
50's x 15

Panora pressdowns:
40 x 10
70 x 10
100 x 10

Pec dec:
100 x 10
120 x 10
150 x 10

Reverse pec dec:
40 x 10
60 x 10
80 x 10

Cable rows:
stack x 3 x 12


For the final for this class we do the body comp/measurements again. I'm sitting at about 308.7 right now, so we'll see how much of that is muscle...LOL

[Lones Green]

ME Bench

Reverse green band bench, ring finger on the ring:
135 x 8
225 x 3
275 x 1
295 x 1
315 x 1
335 x 1
345 x 1
315 x 1 (closer grip)
315 x 1 (wider grip)
315 x 1 (wider grip)

DB press:
70's x 6
75's x 6
80's x 6
85's x 6

Tate press:
35's x 10
40's x 10
45's x 10

JM press:
85 x 10 touching chin
95 x 10
135 x 10

1 arm DB row:
80's x 15
90's x 8
120's x 8

Cable row w/quad purple through handle:
100 x 15
120 x 15
140 x 15

DB shrugs:
70's x 15
90's x 15
100's x 15

Reverse pec dec:
60 x 10
90 x 10
135 x 10
135 x 10
135 x 10


Gotta find somewhere else to do reverse band bench, the way I have to set em up is just not working. I touch pretty low when benching raw so it'll have some carry over to my shirted bench. The bands want to pull the bar back toward my face, so when the weights get heavy they all come back towards my back at the top. I like benching straight up after touching, so this messes my groove all up.

Planned on pulling the sled later but its pretty crappy outside today.

[jbrin0tk]

Good work, Lones. I have a question about your accessory work, if you don't mind. I've noticed lately that you are really adding a lot more accessory volume, especially on bench days. Is what you are doing high intensity as well? Or are you going for more accumulation of sets and reps on various exercises for the various bodyparts? How do you feel it is working for you? I've always had more of a "pick 2-3 accessory exercises and hit them hard" mentality, so I'm just curious as to how this works for you. Not trying to insinuate that it doesn't or anything. Just trying to gain perspective on it, is all. Thanks, bud.

[Lones Green]

Good work, Lones. I have a question about your accessory work, if you don't mind. I've noticed lately that you are really adding a lot more accessory volume, especially on bench days. Is what you are doing high intensity as well? Or are you going for more accumulation of sets and reps on various exercises for the various bodyparts? How do you feel it is working for you? I've always had more of a "pick 2-3 accessory exercises and hit them hard" mentality, so I'm just curious as to how this works for you. Not trying to insinuate that it doesn't or anything. Just trying to gain perspective on it, is all. Thanks, bud.

I've been upping my volume a lot, you're right. Travis was the first one to tell me to add more volume in, so I tried it. For awhile I was doing 2 ME movements, and I will probably start that again soon. Saw a lot of success with it. I feel like I can lockout anything. (a lot of my volume on bench days consists of tricep work) Its also helped me gain some weight, since I've been really hitting it hard with the volume on the assistance work I've really packed on the pounds. I went from around mid 290's to 308. Little changed in my diet. I haven't seen those kind of gains since I first started!

Does it work for everyone? probably not. It works for me though. I need to be sitting around a 500 bench by next spring so I've really been focused on putting in a lot of time and work into my bench.

Its improved my GPP as well, I do move pretty quickly with my assistance work. I think Lou told Travis to try that and it worked pretty well for him.

Travis might have some more to add to this, he's really been coaching me through my bench work the last little while.

[jbrin0tk]

I've been upping my volume a lot, you're right. Travis was the first one to tell me to add more volume in, so I tried it. For awhile I was doing 2 ME movements, and I will probably start that again soon. Saw a lot of success with it. I feel like I can lockout anything. (a lot of my volume on bench days consists of tricep work) Its also helped me gain some weight, since I've been really hitting it hard with the volume on the assistance work I've really packed on the pounds. I went from around mid 290's to 308. Little changed in my diet. I haven't seen those kind of gains since I first started!

Does it work for everyone? probably not. It works for me though. I need to be sitting around a 500 bench by next spring so I've really been focused on putting in a lot of time and work into my bench.

Its improved my GPP as well, I do move pretty quickly with my assistance work. I think Lou told Travis to try that and it worked pretty well for him.

Travis might have some more to add to this, he's really been coaching me through my bench work the last little while.

Right on, man. Thanks for the reply. How hard are the sets you are doing in terms of intensity? Are they all out efforts, or somewhere inbetween? Thanks for answering my question, Lones.

[Lones Green]

Right on, man. Thanks for the reply. How hard are the sets you are doing in terms of intensity? Are they all out efforts, or somewhere inbetween? Thanks for answering my question, Lones.

I never do my assistance work THAT heavy, but its all done pretty quickly. I'd say somewhere in between.

[Travis Bell]

Well the volume thing is pretty general, I could just tell from your workouts in relation to your size that you weren't getting enough volume in so I suggested the increase.

People often forget that your overall conditioning will greatly effect the available strength.

Gathering the needed motivation and concentration to pursue that conditioning is difficult though and you've been doing a very good job with it.

What Lou worked with me on was the intensity within my DE bench days. He'd have me pick two ascessory exercises and do the first one with a set of about 12 reps, second exercise with a set of around 10 and just go back and fourth until I'd done about 4 sets of each. It's a real ball buster

[Lones Green]

DE Squat/dl

Speed squats, 14 in box, greens & MM bands choked around dumbbell & rack:
*loose briefs*
bands x 3
135 x 2
135 x 2
*belt*
185 x 2
225 x 2
225 x 2
245 x 2
245 x 2

Speed pulls:
185 x 3
275 x 1
275 x 1
275 x 1
325 x 1
325 x 1
325 x 1

Weight were weird because I had a 25 plate on the bar before the 45, so I wouldn't smash my toes

Arched back GM's, deep, no belt:
bar x 10 (close)
135 x 8 (close)
135 x 8 (wide)
135 x 8 (close)
135 x 8 (wide)

These killed me

Reverse hypers:
1 plate x 10
2 plates x 10
3 plates x 10

Band leg curls, green, 3 x 15

Sit ups:
bw x 10
+25 x 10
+45 x 10

*supersetted with*

Calf raises:
stack x 3 x 10


Went ahead and got my 2nd stretching session of the day outta the way. My back and hams were smoked from those GM's, not sure my legs remember what anything over 5 reps is.

Lifted with a raw PLer, really nice guy. He trains in the morning most of the time so I don't see him much. I showed him some stuff, he showed me some stuff. Good times.

[Lones Green]

*Taken from an EFS article

Last year’s hit film 300 was in many ways a movie that depicted what lifters are all about. The Spartans were in the minority—a group of fit, strong individuals opposing a much larger, vast society of weaker, malicious people. While the film ultimately led to Google searches like “300 workout” and “Spartan training” provided by scores of 18–22-year-old boys desperately trying to uncover the holy grail of training that every actor in the film “found” (and here I was thinking it was the airbrush), there were several subtle lessons that I found rather applicable to the strength training community. Although I don’t deem it possible that many lifters could have possibly missed this movie, I will briefly summarize one scene that provides such a lesson.

Midway through the film, the Spartans have strategically locked themselves into a battle position to wield off the invading Persians. The night before a major battle, Ephialtes, a four-foot tall deformed Spartan who had sneakily followed the army to the battlefield, begs King Leonidas, leader of the Spartan force, to accept him into the army. After watching a fairly decent spear thrust, Leonidas asks Ephialtes to lift his shield as high as he can. Struggling mightily, Ephialtes struggles to raise the mighty shield to Leonidas’ hip. At this point, Leonidas denies Ephialtes’ request, saying that in the Spartan Army formation—the phalanx—you had to protect the man to your left and right from thigh to chest. While this denial ultimately led to Ephialtes’ betrayal and the Spartan defeat, I couldn’t help but ponder how relevant this was to our strength training circle.

Where do you train? Gold’s Gym? Planet Fitness? Look around you, and you will see Ephialtes’ reading a book on the Stairmaster, noisily slurping a 7-11 Coke (yes, I have seen that). Oh no wait, there he is over there, exclusively performing the infamous “bench press, dumbbell curl” superset. No, no, I’m sorry. There he is over on the Nautilus line, dutifully performing leg extension after leg extension, ad nauseum. Do you see what I’m getting at? Right now, Ephialtes is to your left in this battle that you are waging to convince your body to change. And right now, he is really holding you back.

To truly amp up your workouts, you need a change, and you need it now! But where can you find an environment that will help induce gains in the weight room and make you feel like a beginner all over again? Look no farther than the wild.

[Travis Bell]

Wow Lones!!

I must say I'm impressed. Just when I was beginning to think I was too tired to head down to the gym, I look in and see that workout haha. Guess I'll get my lazy butt down there

[Lones Green]

Wow Lones!!

I must say I'm impressed. Just when I was beginning to think I was too tired to head down to the gym, I look in and see that workout haha. Guess I'll get my lazy butt down there

I inspired YOU for once, it must be opposite day, LOL

I'm determined to get where I need to be...

[Lones Green]

One of my "goals" in weightlifting was to be a full 308...we get our body composition done again tomorrow, so it looks like I'm drinking and eating a bunch tonight and tomorrow to ensure I get 100 points for that goal

[jbrin0tk]

Awesome goal, man! By the way, I took your advice and did close stance GM's with a light weight (135) and really focused hard on pushing my hips back, etc. Let's just say it worked, haha! Thanks again, man. I appreciate your help.

[Lones Green]

Awesome goal, man! By the way, I took your advice and did close stance GM's with a light weight (135) and really focused hard on pushing my hips back, etc. Let's just say it worked, haha! Thanks again, man. I appreciate your help.

Haha, nice. My hamstrings are a wreck today. It doesn't take much weight at all!!!

[Lones Green]

Some pics from the Ironman I stole off facebook:

Brent from Cell Block, think it was 660 or so



AJ pulling in my excuse for a singlet, you can see me if you look hard



Panora

[Lones Green]

DE Bench

Speed bench, straight weight, various grips:
bar x a lot
135 x 3
135 x 3
135 x 3
155 x 3
155 x 3
155 x 3
185 x 3
185 x 3

DB bench:
50's x 20
60's x 20

Rolling DB ext:
35's x 10
45's x 10
50's x 10

Panora pressdown:
50 x 10
60 x 10
70 x 10

Pulldowns:
140 x 10
160 x 10
180 x 10

CSR:
1 plate x 15
2 plates x 10
2.5 plates x 10
2 plates x 10 held @ lockout for 2 seconds each rep

Face pulls, holding @ lockout for 2 seconds each rep:
50 x 10
60 x 10
80 x 10

H-rolls:
25's x 2 x 12

Rear delt raise:
25's x 2 x 12

Hammer curls:
35's x 12
45's x 12
55's x 12

CoC # 1, closed 2 sets of 5 w/each hand


Had a Waxy maize + Nitrean shake on the way home, sun was peeking out so I did this when I got home

*all in wet grass *

Sled pulls:
3 plates x 6 trips

Walking tricep extensions:
2 plates x 4 trips

High rows:
3 plates x 4 trips

Low rows:
3 plates x 4 trips


Took about 30 sec-1 min rest between all of those, took me about 15 minutes. You'd think I ran a 10k. Had another Nitrean shake with oatmeal and some almonds.


BW on 1/27/09: 294
BW today: 308.2

Neck: 18 1/2 in, 19 in
Chest: 50 in, 52 in
Waist: 49 in, 48 1/2 in (how I pulled that off I have no idea)
Hips: 49 in, 51 in
Thighs: 29 in, 30 in
Calves: 18 1/2 in, 19 in
Arms: 16 in, 17 in
Forearms: 14 1/2 in, 15 1/2 in

Just ate a fortune cookie that said, "Your respect for others will be your ticket to success"

ONE MORE FINAL!

[lil' power]

oh my.....I'm glad I went by myself today!!! That's a ***t load of work, did you take 5 nitors or something????

Congrats on the body comp and weight

[Lones Green]

oh my.....I'm glad I went by myself today!!! That's a ***t load of work, did you take 5 nitors or something????

Congrats on the body comp and weight

actually didn't have anything, I even forgot my bounce back and had to stick with water.

Think I've been bit by the powerlifting bug, I just keep reminding myself of my goals whenever I feel like stopping