_tim's Log

1st Gym WO in 13 Days.....

Deads: 225, 275, 295, 315 x 6
Vibrams. 315 set was MG; all others DOH grip.

Leg Rapers: 135, 175 x 10

Shrugs: 245, 265 x 10

Pullups: BW x 5
Hands were absolutely destroyed after the bar work. Callouses are gone! Hands hurt bad enough that I had to limit the length of the single set to 5 measly reps.

K2C: 20, 20

Then.......

After a short drive to the park:

Hill Sprint x 4.75
The .75 sprint was due to a kid who wanted to race me. Didn't feel like crushing the spirit of a 5-year old, so I stopped maybe 75% up the hill and let him pass me.
 
Untrain-ED...

OHP: 85, 95, 115 x 10; 125 x 2
The 115 set was a 9-1 cluster.

Kroc Rows: 70 x 25

DB Rows: 80 x 10

DB Press: 60, 70 x 10

Cable Row: 150 x 10; 165 x 3

Dips: BW + 20 x 10, 7; BW x 4
The 7 set was done with a wider grip.

Medicine Ball Exchangers: 6 x 10

OK - so I've been running instead of training of late in preparation for a race next month. I haven't logged much of it - but that's where my focus has been. I need to balance things out a bit training-wise so hopefully I can get a few more sessions in.
 
Squats: 185, 205, 225 x 10; 245 x 5
I took these until form began to be compromised - very, very strict form throughout all reps. I did a couple light GM's as a cool down.

Medicine Ball Exchangers: 6 x 10, 3
Abs were not happy with the work - the 3 set was done slowly.

Pullups: 5; Chins: 5; Pullups: 3; Chins: 3
All BW, strict reps. Wasn't going for anything other than perfect pulls from a dead hang.

Hang TTB (toes to bar): 4
Grip and abs not happy.
 
Lunchtime Stuff...

1.5 mile jog/walk; hill "wave" running; step-ups on benches; jog (~.75 mile); sprint (~200+ meters)
...all on fresh squat legs. The wave thing was running in a wave pattern horizontally across (and up) the hill - picture drawing a sine wave across an arc-like hill and that was the run pattern. Hard to quantify the other stuff - it was a "push through" kind of session with little counting nor quantification.
 
8/29/2013

Bench: 175, 195 x 10; 205 x 4; 185 x 6
I had more in the tank at 205 but no spotter and just enough fatigue to question a 5th rep. Rebuilding is fun...

DB Row: 70, 90, 100, 105 x 6
I figured that Krocs nor insanely heavy work wouldn't make much sense, so I stuck to 6's. All SA, strict form - improvements made to overall torso position relative to the pull.

Medicine Ball Twist: 10 x 15, 15
Sit at end of bench. Hold medicine ball perpendicular to body. Raise feet off of the ground. Twist from side to side. Repeat.

Dips: BW x 15, 10
10 set was clustered 9-1; intent on showing triceps that I was mad at em.

Cable Row: 145 x 21
Short on time - just wanted to pull what I could at a moderate load and call it a day, and that's just what I did.
 
9/7/2013, AM...

Deads: 225, 275, 275, 225, 225, 225 x 6
I wanted to do enough work that would allow me to work form without destroying my back or CNS. So - 6x6 was the trick and fit the bill nicely. Grip was shot afterward, which dampened the rest of the WO.

Medicine Ball Exchange: 10 x 10; Medicine Ball Twist: 10 x 10

Pullups: BW x 5, 3
Grip was no help here.

Hill Sprint: 3, 30 second breaks between
I jogged to the hill (~.5 miles) and learned a fun lesson in the sprints themselves: Vibrams, dew and hills do not play nice together. I slipped at some part of each of the runs.

Me and my gal also did about 2 miles over hilly terrain yesterday (9/8/2013). "Race" is about 2 weeks away, so I'm going to be very mindful of that in terms of lower body workouts until the thing is in the books.
 
OHP: 105, 115, 125, 115, 105 x 6
Last set was clustered 5-1.

Kroc Rows: 75 x 25

Incline Bench: 135, 155 x 10
155 set was clustered 9-1 due to no-spotter wussiness.

Machine Rows: 145, 157.5, 165, 177.5 x 5

Dips: BW x 20, 8

I'm becoming a bit inspired to continue growing volume and see where that twisted road leads.
 
Midday Treadmill Fun...

Total Time: 40:00
Total Distance: 3.35 miles
Run Pace: 6.7 MPH (8:57 mile)
Walk Pace: 2.7 MPH

There were 3 run periods that followed an initial warmup walk of 1:00. The run segments were never shorter than 6:00 (the last one). Cool down was at the walking pace for the final 5:00. I had hit the 5K distance by 31:00 - almost exactly a 10:00 mile with the walk segments in the middle.

I do not look kindly on cardio, and especially not on running. I persist the view that the best means of fat loss/conditioning for a BB'er or a strength trainer is through the use of compounds. Good cardio to me is higher rep sets of deadlifts, extended to volumes appropriate for one to lose one's breath. The thing is - being prepared for a race requires one to train for it. I have aspirations to do at least 3 endurance races in 2014 (Tough Mudder and Spartan Races for sure) and in a week we're "running" a 5K in which time is not kept, and people on the sidelines throw bags of non-toxic colored dye at the participants. Yes, it is aptly named the "Color Run". So folks, I am not training to compete in two weeksish. I'm benchmarking for 2014, and I'm using this non-timed 5K as the motivation to start. Ultimately, I'd like to be consistently at a 7-8 minute mile for up to 5 or so miles. I'm going to change my strategy a bit in terms of my lifting schedule, and will be moving forward specifically training endurance in all forms with strength as a secondary undercurrent. Running will be a part of it because it has to be - but so too will compounds and much more volume.
 
Squats: 185, 225, 225, 225 x 10
Wanted to do sets across for a change. It makes some sense to me to change things a bit given some new goals.

GM: 135 x 6
Low back was mighty tight - I stopped when form wasn't as controlled as I would like.

Medicine Ball Exchangers: 10 x 10, 5

Chins: BW x 6 + 2NP; 5 NP
NP: Extended pause half-reps. Second set was crazy in terms of back pump.

So, the run went quite well - though untimed, I ran sub-10:00 miles; I finished in about 25 minutes (3.1 miles). The new goal as mentioned before is to generate more endurance for some gnarly obstacle races next year. So, I'm looking for a good mix of gym fun to get back to what I used to do a few years back. Bigger volume, and though strength is a piece of the result, max testing will be less frequent as the goal is not solely strength. I'm going to keep the lift rotation in place, but will be adaptive in terms of rep targets and set strategy.
 
Outdoor Activities!

2 Mile Jog
Hill Run x 6

My quads are sore as anything so sprinting was not in the cards. Instead, the hill runs were at a faster pace, and I alternated how the hill itself was approached; I did 4 straight up the hill, and two at extended diagonals across the hill. There was virtually no rest, though on each completion I walked a little before starting the next run. I pushed like crazy - I was done by run #4. The last 2 were crazy hard.
 
Lunchtime Frivolity

Bench: 165, 185, 205 x 10; 155 x 13; 135 x 6
The 205 and 155 sets were RP'd - 5 breaths between set and clusters. 205 was 8-1-1 and 155 was 10-2-1. The rest time between the drop sets was about 30 seconds - long enough to take the dimes off the bar.

Kroc Rows: 70 x 25

Unfortunately - that was the extent of my time. Yay crazy!
 
More Lunchtime Frivolity

Deadls: 188, 225, 275 x 12;
SLDL: 135 x 14

No belt, no chalk, Vibrams. The 275 set was clustered 10-2, and the SLDL's were done crazy slow. I picked 12's arbitrarily - 15 was too much and 10 wasn't enough. For lunchtime, the volume and effort were perfect.

Tucked NG Pullups: BW x 4, 2
I saw these on Hannibal 4 King's YouTube vids - essentially you tuck your knees to your chest and do pullups. Insanely hard - but a first step to a "piked" pullup with legs extended.

K2C: 15, 15

Pulldown: 145 x 12 (pronated); 1/2 reps (supinated) x 4

The last two lifts were to get more work that I could not do for the Tucked work.
 
Outdoor Frivolity!

1.? Mile jog

Extended Hill Run/Sprint x 2

Close-Hand, "Low-Belly" Pushups x 25

Plank: ~30 seconds

So the approach went kinda like this: jog went into the hill work, which easily doubled the total distance run. There was a sort-of rest-pause approach between all of the work done after the jog; I took 10 quick walking steps between hill work 1 & 2, maybe 10 seconds between the second hill run and the pushups, and no rest between the pushups and the plank. The hill approach today was different in that the overall pace was pushed; I sped up no matter what through the course of each run, especially through the topmost incline. That was a vast change as I have stopped immediately after completing the hills as opposed to pushing the pace well past the end of the incline. The difference from a cardio perspective was incredible for such a simple change.
 
OHP: 115 x 8, 8, 8
I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it - but all OHP work is done standing. Last set was clustered 4-2-2; rest times were shorter than normal. I knew this would be rough, as this is always a lift that I struggle to develop. And - triceps are still very untrained.

Kroc Rows: 75, 80 x 25
No rest between arms - which was a new change as Krocs go. The last few reps on the 80 set were clustered but I did not track from what point. I just know it was crazy hard and I got a total of 25 reps on both arms. That left me rather compromised, but I continued.

Dips: BW x 10, 8, 4
I did what I could to angle my body for the reps - planged if you will. It wasn't as severe as I used to do way back, but it was an angle nonetheless.

Cable Row: 145 x 6; 125 x 6

Hang K2C: 8, 8
 
Squats: 185, 225, 255, 275 x 6
|
NG Pullups: BW x 5, 5, 4, 4
This was the first ever superset of squats where I pushed the load to a point that was near the current RM for that rep range. My squats are done free of belts and for now, wraps. All reps were ATG. Interesting mix of lifts, but convenient on a rack that had pull handles on it.

GM: 135 x 7
Glutes of all things were insanely fatigued. Low back felt fine (thank you, Deadlifts)...

Medicine Ball Exchangers: 10 x 10

Plank: ~1:15

Time.

I'm beyond glad that I have gotten into this pattern (lunch WO's when time is against me at night); some work is certainly better than none, and the difference already in body composition is noticeable.
 
10/15/2013

RP Bench: 225 x 10; 245 x 3
The 225 set was sans-spotter and the time between reps was 5-6 breaths. The 245 set was more like true RP and I had spotter assistance (but didn't need it) - 2-3 breaths between reps. For the overall approach, I read some article that was both on T-Nation and BB.com but they guy prescribed to use your 3RM and keep the time between reps to up to a minute. I chose to use what I think is my 6-rep max and have the time steady at between 10 and 15 seconds. The 245 set was frosting - I was plenty fatigued after the 225 set (and the pump was unreal) and I haven't benched in that area load-wise since June.

Kroc Rows: 85 x 25
I tried like crazy to limit rest between arms; this time was at least half what I had done when north of 80, and as such the right arm was solid at 25 reps, but the left was clustered 19-3-3.

K2C: 30
Running out of time, so just did one big set.
 
Deads: 225, 275 x 8; 315 x 2
I used a thicker bar today to hit grip - and it worked. The 2 reps at 315 were followed by a full grip fail.

Leg Rapers: 135, 165 x 10; 185 x 9
185 set was clustered 8-1. Quads and glutes were destroyed. Thanks again, Mike.

Tucked Pullups: BW x 4, 1; Regular Pullups: 1
Unreal hard.

Ab Roller: 10, 5

Close, Neutral Grip Pulldown: 130 x 10; 145 x 6

Tank empty, grip cooked.
 
I've seen the term leg rapers mentioned here a few times. But I can't figure out what they are? And a Google search does not really help much... Specially with safe mode on...
 
Sorry TTL - It's a squat that is paused in the hole, but the eccentric part of the motion is not completed. So - unrack bar, go to hole. Pause. Rise 60% of the way up - just enough to really feel your quads contract, and return to the hole. Repeat 10 times, or until you vomit from the pain. :D
 
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