_tim's Log

Pause Squats: 190; 205 x 3; 215 x 6
Felt very strong - all low bar, all ATG.

Repetition Squats: 185, 175, 165, 155, 145 x 10
Man - these sacked me but good. My quads were on fire - and my hip flexors felt it too!

Abs:
"Power Crunch": +10 x 15

Regular Crunches: 33, 20
That power crunch thing is a waste of time. Completely forces bad form. The more contemporary crunches were done with constant tension. The pain at the end of the second set was gnarly to say the least.

Kind of interesting at the gym today - it was a mostly older crowd with one guy in particular who kept coming over by me while I did my squats. Saw him in the locker room, where he told me that squats were one of his favorite exercises, but that he couldn't do 'em anymore. He actually had a decent amount of emotion in his voice as he talked - kind of a big reminder at midday of our humanity. Enjoy the iron as much as you can, lads.
 
_tim said:
Pause Squats: 190; 205 x 3; 215 x 6
Felt very strong - all low bar, all ATG.

Repetition Squats: 185, 175, 165, 155, 145 x 10
Man - these sacked me but good. My quads were on fire - and my hip flexors felt it too!

Abs:
"Power Crunch": +10 x 15

Regular Crunches: 33, 20
That power crunch thing is a waste of time. Completely forces bad form. The more contemporary crunches were done with constant tension. The pain at the end of the second set was gnarly to say the least.

Kind of interesting at the gym today - it was a mostly older crowd with one guy in particular who kept coming over by me while I did my squats. Saw him in the locker room, where he told me that squats were one of his favorite exercises, but that he couldn't do 'em anymore. He actually had a decent amount of emotion in his voice as he talked - kind of a big reminder at midday of our humanity. Enjoy the iron as much as you can, lads.
Click to expand...

Nice work - I love squats too. I get a feeling from a good squat session that I don't really notice with other lifts.
 
Thanks, WhistleDixie.

Pause Standing Press: 110, 120 x 3; 125 x 5
These sets felt really good.

Repetition Standing Press: 95, 90, 85, 80, 75 x 10
Clusters: sets 3-5, 9-1, 7-3, 8-2 respectively.

Kroc Rows: 65 x 30
The pump afterward was INSANE. No clustering - moving to 70 on Friday.

Pulldowns: 120, 135 x 10; 150 x 4; 165 x 3; 180 x 2; 195 x 1; 210 x 1; 225 x .75
The game was simple - see how far tired bi's and lats could go.

Overall - very happy with the workout.
 
Pause Deads: 245, 260 x 3; 275 x 5
My brain never wavered from the thought of a tight core. DOH hook grip/socks throughout.

Repetition Deads: 215, 205, 195, 185, 175 x 8
Touch and go, as always.

Leg Raise Fun: Alternating between Toes to Bar, and Knees to Chest: 6/6, 5/5, 4/4
My grip was destroyed by the end of this effort.

Crunches: 51, 10 Static Tension Negatives (~3:00 set)
The goal was to abjectly destroy my abs. Mission accomplished.
 
Thanks TR - I owe it all to the power of the socks.

Treadmill: 2.3 miles, 20:00
I ran at a pace of 8.1 MPH until my hams started screaming. I got most of my distance in about 16:00, and then walked the rest. Felt pretty good about the pace and the time - I'm pretty sure with fresh legs I would have been able to get most, if not all of 30:00 @ 8.1 MPH.
 
Pause Bench: 185 x 5; 210 x 3; 235 x 2
I had a triple in me for the 235 set but no spotter. So - I did the smart thing for once.

Repetition Bench: 175, 165, 155, 145, 135 x 10
Sets 4 and 5 were clustered 8-2 and 6-3-1 respectively.

Kroc Rows: 70 x 25
No clustering, either arm. Tough - very tough in fact, but doable.

Pulldowns: 150 x 10; 165 x 7; 180 x 3; 195 x 2; 210 x 1; 225 x 1; 240 (miss)
I got almost 75% of the 240 rep.

One note about this cycle - whether it's the Krocs or something else, I'm experiencing a veritable ton of hypertrophy in both my back and arms. I'll post a pic or two at cycle end - but this is the biggest I've ever been by a mile.
 
Cardio Day...

Treadmill: 4.0 mile run (~26:30); total distance (warm up + cool down): 4.33 miles (30:00)
The pace felt very natural, and I'm happy that I could sustain it as long as I did. Next target is 5 miles in 30:00.
 
Pause Squats: 185 x 5; 205 x 3; 225 x 4
Controlled - ATG, low bar for all reps. That said, 225 for 4 is abjectly pathetic for me. I cannot believe how much strength I lost in my legs. That will be a driving force in MC4.

Repetition Squats: 175, 165, 155, 145, 135 x 10
Tiring - no more than a minute between sets.

Bench Abs (triple reps): 135 x 10
Third set was very, very hard.

Had to take a day off yesterday to rest my knees - I really had some odd pain in 'em after the run on Tuesday. Think I need some different shoes maybe. Not sure.
 
You know TR, I've considered running barefoot lately but am concerned about shin splints. I dunno - finding the right running shoe has proved elusive to me for a long time; the ones I have today were the same ones I used for my 10K early this year, and after the race I nearly ripped 'em up and burned 'em. It's time for a new pair - I'm about 98% sure that will fix my knee pain.
 
I've had shin splints before -- many (many!) years ago when I ran the 440 yard dash and low hurdles. It was surely a painful condition.

Have you seen the Vibram, five toe running shoes? I've been considering a pair of those to use while deadlifting. They're not quite so effeminate as the ballet slippers I've been using...
 
Def try the Vibram Fivefingers Tim if you can stretch your budget that far. They will force you to run differently—you will be much less inclined to heel strike and much more inclined to mid-foot strike which is a whole lot better for your knees. It does take some getting used to though esp. if you are used to squishy, high-cushioned trainers.

Tis might be interesting to you:

http://www.posetech.com/
 
Thanks guys - I really appreciate the suggestions. I'll get the Vibram Fivefingers soon - looks like a great product.

Pause Standing Press: 105 x 5; 120 x 3; 135 x 3
These reps felt solid. Happy with the progress - and that the 135 set wasn't a single.

Repetition Standing Press: 95, 90, 85, 80, 75 x 10
NO CLUSTERING. Progress!

Kroc Rows: 75 x 26
No clustering, either arm. The +1 was for pure spite. 2010 goal reached.

Hammer Strength Pulldowns: 180 x 10; 200 x 5; 220 x 2; 230 x 2
Very nice pump afterward!

Not sure how the rest of this week is going to play out lifting-wise. The one thing that is for sure is that I will not stretch deloads over more than a week - in the past, that has proven to really hamper progress. This workout was delayed by a day due to a pretty nasty finger injury on my left hand. I knew Krocs were on the menu for this workout, so I didn't want to risk making it worse. As it was, I lost my hook grip by rep 6 because of it. Made no matter - still got the reps in and hit my load target for the year - plus 1!
 
Hey TR - Thanks, my friend. Feel good about the accomplishment.

Hey Seeker - The pic is coming soon. Probably sometime next week.

An update! This is becoming something of a habit; on Thanksgiving, I started to get sick, and it turned into a sinus something or other that basically sacked me for the past 3 days. So - I'm going to formally declare MC3 dead and use the time off as an SD instead of doing a deload. I'm going to start MC4 on Monday most likely as this week is absolutely nuts. I'm still figuring out the assistance work, but it may very closely resemble MC3 with but a couple tweaks.

Hope all is going well for you guys, and that the holiday season is a great one this year. Can't believe 2010 is almost over - unreal.
 
Hi Tim, sorry if I’m late to the party on your running problem or covering old ground but a couple things to consider if you haven’t already.

Have you ever actually been properly fitted for a pair of running shoes? It really pays to have a someone who knows what you are doing watch you run and then fit you for a proper pair of shoes for how your foot strikes. Most big box stores can’t do this it’s the smaller shops that cater to enthusiasts that usually have better people. Local running clubs are a good source of info on where to find the right help.

Also, don’t make the assumption that you know how to run if you haven’t ever been coached. I was a remedial fitness instructor in the Marine Corps and universally found that the Marines who couldn't pass the run just weren’t running properly. People seem to assume that because they know how to walk that they know how to run, however most people run poorly. If you haven’t or if it’s been a while finding someone to watch you run and coach you on your technique could pay huge dividends.

As for finding the “right” running shoe, it’s a never ending search. Every year shoe companies change each style and what felt great last year fits like crap this year. Plus no two shoes even from the same lot# are exactly the same although they are usually close.

Once you do find a pair of shoes that work for you buy another pair and rotate them into your running. If the second pair also works out keep buying more and always have at least 3 pair in the rotation, a low, medium and high mileage pair more if you really put in the miles.

If you do go to a local store for help out of courtesy it’s nice to buy the first couple pair from them after that I usually find much better deals on Amazon, but really depends on how many shoes you go through.

Also keep in mind that putting on weight, even muscle will tax your frame when running. Adding 1lb of body weight over the course of a 10k with a one meter stride means 5k footfalls/foot at 1lb each which equates out to over 2 metric tonnes per leg. Don’t think you body doesn’t notice that.

Cheers,
Dean
 
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Thank you very much for the suggestion, Dean. I absolutely can attest to the extra stress from weight gain. I know of a running shop not too far away - I'll stop in and see what they have to say.
 
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