Lol's New HST Log

Wed 08/06/11

Cheers Grunt. :) Yeah, not training for long periods is not good. I need the regularity. I have managed the occasional bodyweight workouts and the occasional short row, but I need to get back to lifting heavy stuff on a regular basis.

Did a few cleans and some deads yesterday. For deads, I worked up to a single set of 5 with 160kg (352lb). This was bound to feel heavy because I haven't lifted anything over my body weight for over a month.

I'm going to take things very slow and steadily for a couple of weeks. I have a ton of other jobs to do right now and I really don't fancy major DOMS at the same time. I am mildly sore all over today; deads really are an amazing exercise.

My bodyweight is down to 180lb, which is just under 13 stone—for those of you who deal in English money! That tells me I haven't been consuming enough cals to maintain my bodyweight over the past month. It should return quite quickly once I get back on track.
 
So, recently I've been away from base again and contracted a lovely virus that had me lose my voice and feel generally crappy over this last week. :/

Never mind. Just beforehand, I did manage a deadlift session where I lifted 182.5kg for a double and then failed at 185kg three times in a row! Evidently, the 182.5kg double took a lot out of me. 230kg is a way off!

I did some power cleans too, finishing with 5 x 1 x 90kg (~200lb inc. collars).

I've been lifting on my new concrete floor and it's been holding up well. No noticeable cracks so far, even throwing 90kg down on it. It's definitely a better base to lift on than the suspended timber floor that I used to use. 90kg power cleans seemed less of a problem than in the past—and I'm weaker than I was then!

My new Lock-Jaw collars are working out quite well, although they do still slip a bit after the bar is dropped multiple times. Very quick to operate though, which is a boon.

I should be able to get my rack back in my refurb'ed training room soon. The one issue is that it's a narrow room—made narrower still because I've had to increase the thickness of the walls with extra insulation. I think my best solution is to buy a 6' O-bar for rack work. I have found one that maintains the same internal width between the revolving sleeves as a regular 7' O-bar. It's here:

http://www.yorkfitness.com/products/162-bars-collars/1126-6-intl-hard-chrome-bar.aspx

I'm going to get a couple of Oly rubber bumper plates too. (Mine are very hard rubber so they still hammer the floor very hard when dropped.) I also have to get hold of some Tube Clamp tubing and fittings to rig up internal and external chinning bars etc. (ie. this: http://www.fhbrundle.co.uk/groups/16__Tube_Clamps) I plan on getting my rubber floor matting this Thursday. It'll all help to get me back to regular training.
 
Got my new gym floor mats last Thursday—6' x 4' x 20mm thick rubber! Nice. I have laid three down temporarily to test them out.

The York 6' O-bar arrived yesterday, along with two black York training bumper plates. These are about twice as wide as my green 10kg harder-rubber plates. It's a beaut of a bar: width between rotating collars is actually ~5mm wider than for my (cheaper) 7' O-bar. Only really obvious difference, apart from the colour and the length of the sleeves, is that there is no knurling in the centre of the bar as it's not designed for squatting.

Did a full-squat clean and front squat session last night with the new bar. Nothing heavy but lots of reps for form practice.

New bar felt excellent. The black bumper plates are more of a snug fit on the bar which means they are not as noisy when the loaded bar is dropped. Should all help to keep the neighbours happy over the ensuing months.

My legs were noticeably weaker than I would like as I haven't squatted in a while. I really need to get my rack installed in its new home.

I still need to get the Tube Clamp gear to make my pull-up bars and somewhere to hand my rings.
 
Sat 25/06/11

General Warmup
500m row @ ~ 1:50/500m pace
Lunges

Squat Cleans (using new 15kg, 6' O-bar)
10 x 35kg
5 x 55kg + some jerks
5 x 75kg + some jerks

Power Cleans
1 x 92.5kg - plus jerk
1 x 95kg - plus jerk
1 x 100kg (220lb) - no jerk; matched my PR
0 x 102.5kg (226lb) - let the head games begin!
0 x 102.5kg (226lb) - '' ''
1 x 102.5kg (226lb) *PR* - Oh yeah!

Finally, committed to racking the bar and it was a relatively straightforward lift. Not my best lift of the evening, technically speaking, so there is still more to come. Very pleased that I have finally pushed past 100kg.

(Full-Squat) Cleans
5 x 75kg (165lb) - a little too light
5 x 80kg (176lb) - much better

80kg is a good load for me to work on my form.

Chins
9 x bw+25kg (55lb) - tried for 10 reps but failed half-way through last rep.

Pendlay Row
5 x 80kg - quick demo for a friend; easy

Toes-to-Bar
10 x unweighted legs!

Chuffed that I got a new PR for my cleans tonight.

Here's a pic of my new bar loaded up:

View attachment 2033
 
Nice job on the PR. Did the new “toys” get you motivated?

Also, thanks for the detailed write-up of your UD2 experience. I read through all of it and found it very helpful.
 
Mon 27/06/11

Lateralus and grunt11: Thanks guys, PR's are few and far between these days and new toys always help! :) It's only a tiddler but it was good to be making any kind of improvement over my previous lifts. I am so much lighter now.

Wow, Grunt! You went back to my UD2 experiment. It got me in the best shape of my life but was not a particularly pleasant experience! :) Glad it was useful.

I think I'm only going to use the Tube Clamps outside; my little gym is already getting too crowded with stuff. I have a chinning bar as part of the rack so I can always use that indoors for basic stuff. An outdoor frame will allow me to have a higher bar and to rig my rings up. Finally, I'll be able to learn to do muscle-ups on rings.

=============

Moved my rack to my new tiny (unfinished) gym. Thankfully, the new 6' O-bar is fine in the rack (even with all the platerboard that I still have in the way). Here are a couple of pics with 185kg (408lb) easily fitting on the bar.

View attachment 2034 View attachment 2035

I think I could fit 4 x 25kg plates (the reds) each side with spring collars, for a total of >215kg (475lb). That's more than enough for my squat and bench efforts. For deads, if I ever get strong enough again, I can always use the 7' bar.

It would be great to leave the 6' bar in the rack and have another one for cleans etc. that would stay out of the rack. Bit of a luxury, but then I'll have three bars which will allow me to do some of the CrossFit WODs without having to mess with bar loadings during the workout. (Eg. the CF 'Linda' workout consists of benching, deads and cleans in a circuit.)
 
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27/06/11

Did a bit of benching last night for the first time in ages. Good to get back to this again. I am still hoping to hit 300lb this year.

Bench
w-u: 10 x 35kg, 10 x 55kg
10 x 75kg
10 x 75kg
10 x 85kg
10 x 90kg (198lb) @ RPE 9

Getting 10 reps with 90kg is a sign that I haven't lost too much strength while I've not been able to bench. I've tried to do some bw dipping and some push-ups fairly regularly. I need to get 10 reps with more than 100kg in order to hit my 300lb goal, so I have a way to go.

==========

Just checked back in my log: on 02/05/11, I managed to bench 10 x 100kg. That's about 7 or so weeks ago. Got to try to get back up to that again as soon as possible.
 
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03/07/11

General Warmup
500m C2 Row @ <2:00/500m pace

Front Squats
w-u: 10 x 45kg, 10 x 65kg
10 x 85kg (187lb)

Back Squat
10 x 100kg (220lb)

Haven't back squatted in ages; these were fairly hard; right shoulder felt tight.

Bench
w-u: 15 x 45kg, 10 x 65kg
11 x 90kg (198lb) @ RPE 9.5
3 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 10!

Uh-oh! I was pleased to get 11 x 90kg but it evidently took a lot out of me. Wanted 5 x 105kg but managed only 3!

Chins
These were performed as a bit of a metcon. I just did as many rounds as I needed to to beat the other two lads. :)

I had to do 6 reps per round and they had to do 4 and 5 each round, respectively. You were knocked out if you didn't manage all consecutive reps in any round.

It took me 17 rounds to win! That's 102 chins.
 
06/07/11

General Warmup
500m C2 Row ~ 1:44/500m pace

Cleans
w-u: 10 x 40kg, 5 x 60kg, 5 x 70kg
5 x 80kg (176lb)
5 x 80kg (176lb)
5 x 80kg (176lb)
5 x 80kg (176lb)
5 x 80kg (176lb)
5 x 80kg (176lb)

30 total reps; pretty tiring; all sorts of things started to hurt towards the end! :)

Front Squats
10 x 80kg (176lb)

Following final set of cleans, cleaned bar one more time and then 10 front squats

Bench
w-u: 10 x 45kg, 10 x 65kg, 10 x 75kg, 5 x 85kg
10 x 95kg (209lb) @ RPE 9
8 x 95kg (209lb) @ RPE 9
8 x 95kg (209lb) @ RPE 9

Bench is picking up again. Right shoulder is doing ok.
 
07/07/11

As I missed them out the previous day, I did a few weighted chins tonight.

Chins
w-u: 10 x bw
7 x bw+25kg (55lb)
5 x bw+27.5kg (60.5lb)
5 x bw+27.5kg (60.5lb)
6 x bw+27.5kg (60.5lb) @ RPE 9.5
 
08/07/11

Did a CrossFit WOD tonight (this was last Thursday's WOD). Didn't want to do anything else afterwards!

DT

Five rounds for time of:
155 pound Deadlift, 12 reps
155 pound Hang power clean, 9 reps
155 pound Push jerk, 6 reps

I actually had to use 156lb. Ha!

Round 1: 02:02.5
Round 2: 03:47.7
Round 3: 04:21.8
Round 4: 05:22.5
Round 5: 05:25.5

Total time 21 mins.

Not really bothered about the time; after the first three rounds I decided it was going to be hard enough just to complete the task. The deads were just to keep your heart rate up—easy to lift but served to make the hang p-cleans and push jerks harder. For the last two rounds I wandered about quite a bit and wished I was somewhere else!

Next time I do this I will definitely better 20 mins.

I actually did some OHS practice afterwards, as well as some bw chins and a few deads but they were trivial by comparison.

Oh, managed to split both my blue 20kg plates tonight as I dropped the bar from overhead directly onto concrete rather than a rubber mat. That sucks! I will retire them for benching and squatting and now have to invest in two more black rubber bumpers.
 
Last Monday I did a gym session away from home. Did a row, some cleans, front squats and chins. Job done!

It's great having a C2 at home because I can jump on a C2 anywhere else and know exactly how to quickly set it up for me. At some point, I will upgrade my machine to a newer model, or just upgrade the monitor to a PM3/PM4 instead of the PM2 that I use now.
 
Wed 13/07/11

General Warmup
500m C2 row @ 1:40/500m pace
Lunges

Cleans/Hang-cleans
Plenty of warmup reps including some jerks.
Worked up to 95kg for a single and then attempted 105kg. Missed the lift twice through my failure to commit. I know I will get this soon. More hang clean practice should help.

Bench Press
w-u: 10 x 40kg, 10 x 60kg, 5 x 80kg, 5 x 90kg
5 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 10
3 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 9
3 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 9

Metcon

5 rounds of 5 deadlifts @ 275lb and 5 burpees, for time.

Finished in 2:44

Last round of deads was tough going but I kept good form throughout.

This was a similar workout to one that was performed at the 2008 CF Games, the difference being that 10 burpees were performed each round and not 5.

Chris Spealler won the deadlift/burpee workout in a time of 2:47. So he did an extra 25 burpees in a time only 3 seconds longer than my time!! I'm not quite sure how he is able to move so fast?!! And it's got to be hard for him to deadlift 275lb as he weighs less than 150lb! Still, I will be happy with my sluggish effort; I only wasted a few seconds catching my breath each round. :)
 
Fri 15/07/11

In my quest to improve my cleans, I decided to do some accessory work tonight to help me with the movement.

General Warmup
4 x 500m C2 row @ 1:45/500m pace - ok, so this was a bit more rowing than I would normally do for a warmup.
uPVC-bar Dislocates and OHS's

Press
30 x 30kg
15 x 35kg
For shoulder warmup

Paused Front Squats
w-u: 10 x 45kg
5 x 65kg
5 x 75kg
5 x 85kg
Not heavy but needed practice coming out of the hole from a pause.

Clean Drops
These are like doing a front squat except you start with your feet in the jumping position for cleans instead of the wider landing position. You have to stay tight in your core and just drop down without any dip and drive. You have to get your feet from the jumping position to the landing position on the way down.
I worked up in weight slowly, finishing with 85kg.

Hang-squat-cleans
Plenty of warm-ups to get familiar with the movement. I started with a high-hang and then dropped a bit lower each time the load went higher.

Sets of 3 up to 80kg then
1 x 80kg
1 x 85kg
1 x 90kg
1 x 95kg (210lb) *PR*

Getting a PR is always nice. Definitely improved my technique tonight quite a bit. I know there is more left in the tank for next time. I think hang-squat-cleans help develop speed in getting under the bar. That's just what I need.

Weighted Chins
10 x bw+25kg (55lb) @ RPE 10
Had to re-grip the bar for the last rep.
 
Mon 18/07/11

General Warmup
500m C2 row @ 1:39/500m pace - bit quicker than usual for a warmup

Hang-squat-cleans
Triples up to 85kg then
2 x 90kg
1 x 95kg (210lb)
1 x 100kg (220lb) *PR*
0 x 105kg (231b) - just missed; had to drop the bar as I didn't quite get under it enough.
0 x 105kg (231b)
0 x 105kg (231b) - failed to commit for last two attempts.

Called it a day after three failures. Happy I got a 100kg PR though.

Deads
135kg (298lb) x 5
155kg (342lb) x 5
155kg (342lb) x 5 @ RPE 10!

Hook grip; oly shoes for all reps. Last two sets were a lot tougher than I would have liked. I have work to do.

Bench
w-u: 40 x 47.5kg (105lb) - this was for a bit of fun and because I had to stop there to make some imp. calls. Last 5 reps were beasties!

Tue 19/07/11

Bench Continued...
w-u: 10 x 52.5kg, 5 x 65kg, 5 x 85kg
5 x 95kg
3 x 105kg (232lb)
3 x 105kg (232lb) @ RPE 9
3 x 105kg (232lb) @ RPE 9.5

Very little sleep last night so went into these feeling v tired. Was hoping to get sets of 5 across with 105kg but no chance tonight.
 
Wed 20/07/11

General Warmup
500m C2 row @ 1:38/500m pace - bit of a sprint towards the finish for some extra fun!

Front Squats
w-u: 20 x 35kg, 5 x 55kg
5P x 70kg
5P x 90kg
5P x 100kg (220lb)

Chins
w-u: 10 x bw, 5 x bw+10kg
5 x bw+20kg
5 x bw+25kg (55lb)
5+2,1,1,1 x bw+25kg

Dips
w-u: 10 x bw, 15 x bw+25kg (55lb)
5 x bw+45kg (100lb)
5 x bw+45kg (100lb) @ RPE 9

No right or left AC joint pain doing these. I hope this remains the case.

Think I'm clawing back a little strength but there's still a long way to go.
 
Hey Lol - Nice work! You're definitely ticking up as far as volume goes from workout to workout. Out of curiosity, what is your BW currently?
 
Fri 22/07/11

Busy day and weekend ahead so training time will be reduced.

Warmup: 500m C2 row - sprinted last 100m

Chins
w-u: 10 x bw - slow and methodical
1 x bw+25kg
1 x bw+35kg
1 x bw+40kg
1 x bw+45kg
1 x bw+50kg
1 x bw+52.5kg (116lb)

Then I did a sequence of bodyweight chins and pull-ups:

15 x bw shoulder-width pull-ups immediately followed by…
4 x bw chins @ RPE 10
Short rest then…
12 x bw regular-width pull-ups (easier for me than closer grip)
10 x bw chins

Massive forearm pump after that.

@Tim: My bodyweight is currently 187lb. I've always wanted to be able to do a 2 x bw chin, so this I must also focus on. Tonight I did ~1.6 x bw. I'll need to be lean and not grow my legs too much. I still think it'll take a wee while. :)
 
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