etothepii's HST adventure!!!

OK, being exhausted is hurting my military press. It is also going to hold me back on making strength gains, which I would like to do with bench, military press, dead lift, ans squat. So here's what I am going to do some time in the near future...

Workout A: (3x5 working, 2-3 drop sets)
Dead Lift
Rack Pulls (no drop sets)
Military Press
Rows

Workout B:(3x5 plus 2-3 drop sets)
Squat
Calves(since I'm all set up on squats anyway)
Bench
Pull Ups

I may do some isolations after, maybe not.

Pull Ups and Rows will not be strength trained -- no increasing the load. Just work. If somehow the regular load seems too light, I will do more reps, or increase the load a little.
 
Today:

Spent about 35 minutes on the tread mill, only 20 minutes of that jogging.

I hit the whirlpool, dry sauna, and steam room today to see if it could ease some muscle pain. Loosened the muscles up really nice for a couple hours.
 
Today:

Squat: 200#, 6x5
Bench: 160#, 4x5
155, 1x5
135, 1x5
Chins: body weight + 30#, 5x5 plus a 4+1 cluster set
Upright rows, 90#, 6x5
Skull Crushers, 85#, 2x5

A good day. I'm close to my formwer RM for squats, hit my former RM for bench, with signs of going higher, and am within 2 pounds of my rm for chins with plenty of strength to spare.
 
Nice chins, and I must say that those skull crushers look like fun. That has to be the best isolation exercise there is.
 
Today:
20 miles on the bike. Averaged 17.2 mph. Lower back pain really slowed me down. I have to tweak the bike a little for better fit.
 
Today:

Because I was pressed for time, and because the weights are getting heavy, I cut down to 3x5.

Deads:
Rather not talk about it. No strength. a set of 3 at 235 lbs. a set of 3 at 225.
Military press: 120#, 3x5
Rows: 130#, 3x5
Dips: bodyweight + 70#, 3x5
Close grip chins: bodyweight, 1x12

Did the chins instead of biceps curls, because of disappointment over the deads, I fealt I had to do another compound lift instead of an isolation.

About the dead lift: I think reaching so high on Monday, bicycling 20 miles yesterday with back pain, undereating yesterday, and a horrible night's sleep all contributed to the lack of performance.

My strategy now will be to do my 5rm of 225 again at my next workout, then some drop sets. The following workout will be a pyramid to a set of 3 to 5 reps at 235, just to see if it works.
 
e^pii -

Your legs and back have to be 110% fatigued after all that you did this week. I wouldn't be too upset about your deads. Your strategy for next week sounds solid - just watch out for fatiguing yourself too much.

Take care man.
 
Today:

Squat: 210#, 4x5
Bench: 160#, 3x5
165#, 3x5
Pull Ups: Body weight +35#, 3x5, plus 4+1 cluster set
Upright Rows; 95#, 6x5
Some triceps on a cable machine

I reached PRs on all lifts and felt up to doing more!!

Two days ago:
Ran 4.5 miles with some friends, then did a few sprints on the bike.

Yesterday:
Ran 2 miles, then hit the stair climber for 10 minutes.
 
<div>
(etothepii @ Aug. 06 2007,19:57)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">OK, being exhausted is hurting my military press. It is also going to hold me back on making strength gains, which I would like to do with bench, military press, dead lift, ans squat. So here's what I am going to do some time in the near future...

Workout A: (3x5 working, 2-3 drop sets)
Dead Lift
Rack Pulls (no drop sets)
Military Press
Rows

Workout B:(3x5 plus 2-3 drop sets)
Squat
Calves(since I'm all set up on squats anyway)
Bench
Pull Ups

I may do some isolations after, maybe not.

Pull Ups and Rows will not be strength trained -- no increasing the load. Just work. If somehow the regular load seems too light, I will do more reps, or increase the load a little.</div>
I think this will yeild good results for your military , have you ever played around with grip width?
smile.gif
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I think this will yeild good results for your military , have you ever played around with grip width?

</div>

Nothing with grip yet. I have done another of my regular workouts, just putting military press as the second exercise instead of the last, and that allowed me to hit 120 lbs for 3 sets of 5. I may do it again that way and increment it another 5 pounds.

In terms of grip, should I go a little wider?
 
<div>
(etothepii @ Aug. 14 2007,16:30)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"> <div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I think this will yeild good results for your military , have you ever played around with grip width?  

</div>

Nothing with grip yet. I have done another of my regular workouts, just putting military press as the second exercise instead of the last, and that allowed me to hit 120 lbs for 3 sets of 5. I may do it again that way and increment it another 5 pounds.

In terms of grip, should I go a little wider?</div>
I can't really answer that as I don't know where you're gripping now. I know for myself I played around a bit and found my own &quot;personal sweet spot&quot; - my brother in law finds his best mechanical advantage about 2-3 inches farther out than myself - it can be a small adjustment in inches but pay off in the lb. department. I think factors such as limb length , trap or delt dominant physique , and tricep/delt strength ratio have a lot to do with the fine tuning of it. Thats why I advocate &quot;playing around&quot; with grip width until you find your strongest spacing.
Also Push pressing (with 20-30 lbs. more than your military)can really help get the feel of heavier weight - so that mentally you don't &quot;short circuit&quot; yourself with weight you probably could do when attempting it military style.
If people put as much into &quot;finetuning&quot; thier overheads as they do deads and bench - well , you can imagine...
remember to keep EVERYTHING tight - Good luck!!!
smile.gif
 
Thanks for the good insights Russ.

Today:
My friend lent me a bike he owns -- a Giant OCR 2 with some upgrades. Sweet bike!!!! I rode 14 miles in 42 minutes. That's a 20 mph average!!! On a good day on my old Cannondale, I would average 18 mph on that ride.


I want to buy that bike!!!
 
Today:

I lifted at the Y. I think the air conditioning makes the workout go a little better. I suspect that the heat in my garage saps some of my strength. Also, I forgot my gloves, so I found myself dead lifting my 5 rm+ with bare hands -- actually, I think it may have helped although I'm in pain right now.

Dead Lift:
145#, 1x5
180#, 1x5
200#, 1x5
225#, 1x5
235#, 1x5, 1x3, and 1x1
Military press: 120#, 4x5
Pendlay Rows: 130#, 4x5
Dips: Body Weight + 75#, 4x5

VERY PLEASED with this workout. Ramping up to 235 on the DL with no gloves helped, I think. Putting military press second in the routine is the key for me in that lift. No problem moving dips to the end.
 
On the bike ride - very cool stuff, e^pii. 20 mph is a great prolonged/average speed!

On the workout - great lifting! You are progressing nicely!
 
This is the last workout of my cycle (eight weeks done, I'll still lift for a while before I SD again.)


Squat:
135#, 1x5
185#, 1x3
205#, 1x3
220#, 3x5
135#, 1x12
Bench: 170#, 4x5
Pull Ups: Body weight +40#, 2x5, plus 4+1 cluster set
Body weight only, 1x10
Upright Rows; 100#, 4x5
Triceps cable pull down, 3x5, 60# setting

Very psyched!!! My RMs have all gone up, and I'm talking about PRs, not just RMs for the cycle.

Dead Lift from 225 to 235
Squat from 210 to 220
Bench from 160 to 170, maybe 175 next time I lift.
Rows from 125 to 130
Military press from 120 to 125, possibly more,
 
I ate a lot of sugar and fat today, in the form of icing -- icing on graham crackers, icing on pretzels ... so as punishment, I ran 4 miles tonight. Took 42 minutes. I guess I'm starting to get used to running, as my chest aand shoulders no longer hurt while I run. I actually felt pretty good.
 
Today was supposed to be a rest day, but I ate so much junk celbrating my wife's birthday, I had to do something, so I did some sprints around the neighborhood on my borrowed bike. Imanagedto sprint up to 28.5 mph pnce, 26 - 28 mph the remainder of the sprints.
 
Godd workout last night:

Dead Lift:
235#, 2x5, plus 1x3+1+1 cluster set
205#, 2x5
Military Press: 120#, 6x5
Rows: 130#, 5x5
Dips: Bodyweight+75#, 5x5
 
Crappy workout last night, achey, tired, hot garage instead of air conditioned YMCA ... not worth posting.

Plans: go back and test RMs for 15s and 10s. I will spend 4 workouts on it. If I feel good, I'll hit the 5s again. If not, It will be time to SD again ... except that I have a 62 mile bike tour coming up, so it will ba an SD with cardio. -- I'll get some good rest after the tour and before lifting again, though.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Plans: go back and test RMs for 15s and 10s. I will spend 4 workouts on it. If I feel good, I'll hit the 5s again. If not, It will be time to SD again</div>

Interesting strategy, and SD'ing with cardio is no problem if you are between cuts.
 
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