whistle's training log

3 rep session #2

Warm up: shoulder rotations; stretch; resistance band complex: lateral raise, shoulder press, curls, flys; warm up sets of bench and deadlift

Bench Press - 160 lbs
Deadlift - 225 lbs
Shoulder Press - 115 lbs
DB Row - 160 lbs (total)

Metcon:

5 Rounds for time -
80 lb Push Press*10
35 lbs DB Swing*10
24" Box Jump*10

Time: 10:12

Cooldown: lots of stretching

That's all I've got for 3 reps on the deadlift and shoulder press. Hard.
 
whistledixie said:
3 rep session #2


Deadlift - 225 lbs

That's all I've got for 3 reps on the deadlift and shoulder press. Hard.
Click to expand...
Let's see:
"Deadlift last cycle - 170 lb max for 5 reps; this cycle - 200 lb max for 6 reps"
170x5 ~ 191
200x6 ~ 232
225x3 ~ 239

Looks like improvement to me...
And if you do a few weeks of triples, you'll see your maxes increase even more.
 
I didn't care for those yellow ties, Bruno...

From Saturday:

3 rep session #3 (final)

Warm up: shoulder rotations, stretch, warm up sets of bench, squat

Bench Press - 165 lbs
Back Squat - 190 lbs!!!

Testing max BW reps:
Strict Pullup - 25 reps
Dip - 34 reps

Cooldown: knee raises, rope climb, 2 mile walk

I guess it goes without saying that I hit some PBs.

The highlight was the squat. I hit my last cycle 1RM for 3 reps!

I set up a box to make sure I had enough depth. I didn't pause on the box, but just went low enough to touch it - the concern being that as I load up on weight I might lose ROM. I felt like I wasn't going quite as low as I do without the box, though.

I decided to go for 'max reps' on pullup and dip because 1) I like to test them at the end of a cycle; b) I didn't have time to throw in any metabolic stuff at the end on Saturday.

Last cycle I got 23 dips and 19 pullups, I think. So, pretty nice jump on those. And I might've had a couple more pullups in me too, but I felt a little something in my right shoulder and decided not to push it too far.
 
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whistledixie said:
I guess it goes without saying that I hit some PBs.

The highlight was the squat. I hit my last cycle 1RM for 3 reps!

I set up a box to make sure I had enough depth. I didn't pause on the box, but just went low enough to touch it - the concern being that as I load up on weight I might lose ROM. I felt like I wasn't going quite as low as I do without the box, though.
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An excellent finish to a successful cycle!

I do my squats in a power rack. I set the safety bars right at where my shoulders need to be for my butt to be past parallel. The I make sure I tap the safety bars each time. Your box technique probably works just as well.

Hitting a triple with your old 1RM...? I'd call that progress.
 
TunnelRat said:
An excellent finish to a successful cycle!

I do my squats in a power rack. I set the safety bars right at where my shoulders need to be for my butt to be past parallel. The I make sure I tap the safety bars each time. Your box technique probably works just as well.

Hitting a triple with your old 1RM...? I'd call that progress.
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I do similar to you TR except the safety bars are set lower for a Full Squat, but I had the same concern as Dix that I would start to shortchange my ROM if I didn’t have a guide.


Congrats on the PBs Dix, always seem more worthwhile when you can do something better after all that hard work.
 
iwealth said:
I'm 155 lbs too and I think I can on a good day pull off 11-12 BW pullups.

25 reps is awesome and something I hope to be able to do a year from now. Nice job.
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Thanks, man. You'll get there. They come quick with HST. I could barely get 15 in a row when I started doing HST last year. I think the progressive loading BW+additional weight is key.
 
TunnelRat said:
An excellent finish to a successful cycle!

I do my squats in a power rack. I set the safety bars right at where my shoulders need to be for my butt to be past parallel. The I make sure I tap the safety bars each time. Your box technique probably works just as well.

Hitting a triple with your old 1RM...? I'd call that progress.
Click to expand...

That's what I used to do at the globo-gym. I could do that with my hill-billy homemade power rack, but I was practicing box squats already earlier in the week and just left it in place. I'll be box squatting some during my next training cycle - whoopie!
 
grunt11 said:
Congrats on the PBs Dix, always seem more worthwhile when you can do something better after all that hard work.
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Thanks, Grunt! Tonight and Thursday will be the sessions I've been waiting for since the end of my last cycle - testing my new 1RM! I can't wait! I'm hoping for 250 lb dead, 205 lb squat - don't really care much what I hit on bench, but I predict 175 - 180 lbs (testing deadlift tonight, bench and squat Thurs). Inching ever closer to my goals of 1.5x bw squat, 2x bw dead... and to whatever new benchmarks I set after I reach those! :)
 
TESTING 1RM SESSION #1

Shoulder Press - 125 lbs
Deadlift - 250 lbs!!!
DB Row - 180 lbs (total) for 3 reps

Metcon
3 Rounds for time:
10 L-pullups
15 Knees-to-elbows
20 Burpees
400m run

Time: 14:28

Super heavy. I didn't go full ROM on the shoulder press. I read an article a while back denouncing the shoulder press, saying it leads to injuries - then I read where Pendlay said he thinks they are inferior to the push press. Both sources had a problem with the bottom portion of the lift. I started push pressing the bar in position over my head and lowering chin-level, then strict pressing back up to the top. I know many wouldn't count this, but I've been doing it this way for a while and making progress with that ROM - so whether it counts or not, I've gained 10 lbs on this 'partial' since last cycle. *I was called out for doing the lift this way at the gym

The deadlift was really hard. I tried 240 lbs first and my eyeballs were vibrating under the strain it took for me to pull it up. 250 lbs was very intimidating, but I got it! It was probably the slowest deadlift ever for me. It took me a good 3 seconds and I scrapped my shin pretty bad and ripped a callous on my left hand. Well worth it, though.

I didn't have DBs heavy enough to test my 1RM, so I grabbed the heaviest one (90 lbs) and lifted it 3 times. That was probably my 3RM, it was hard.

I had so much time left that I taped up and did this little metcon - it was alright, a good ab workout if nothing else.
 
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As in most things that are subjective, I think you can find solid arguments both for and against just about any lift out there, dub-d. Speaking from personal experience, I've been doing some form of the shoulder press (I prefer standing with a barbell now) for almost 12 years straight. I've never incurred an injury from the lift, and have yet to find any other movement that develops the shoulder cluster as effectively. Mind you, guys like Pendlay and Rippetoe are very, very good at what they do and know an abject ton about the human body and how to develop it. Thing is - you have to find what works for you, and that's not necessarily anything that a trainer who has never worked with you for a prolonged time could ever really evaluate. Look to resources online and in books as suggestions, and take what you know to work for you, given your goals, as truth.
 
whistledixie said:
The deadlift was really hard. I tried 240 lbs first and my eyeballs were vibrating under the strain it took for me to pull it up. 250 lbs was very intimidating, but I got it! It was probably the slowest deadlift ever for me. It took me a good 3 seconds and I scrapped my shin pretty bad and ripped a callous on my left hand. Well worth it, though.
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If there's no blood on the walls, you're in the wrong gym.

250 lbs is indeed intimidating -- and you got it! Congratulations. If it were easy, anybody could do it...
 
Congrats on the deadlift bro!

I've never really done push presses, so I can't give any advice/experience on those, but on my seated shoulder presses and standing shoulder presses, the bottom of my ROM is just below my chin, and the top is just before my elbows lock out. I've read about and seen bodybuilders that don't even press out as far as I do, and they have big, massive shoulders. It's my belief that as long as you are keeping constant resistance on the target muscles, you'll fatigue/damage the muscle efficiently.

I've had some shoulder injuries (sports related, not weight training), and going much below my chin puts unnecessary (IMO) pressure on my joints.

I'm no expert and don't claim to be by any means, but this range is more comfortable for me and I see strength and size gains as well (pre HST, so far).
 
Thanks everybody! I'm pretty proud of that DL. I was bragging about it to my wife, but she tends to be more inspired by 'form' than 'function'. :)

I got a good look at the training program I'm starting next week with my new trainer. It looks kind of like 5 - 3 - 1 mixed with WSBB. I'm not surprised since North Ga Barbell is pretty much Westside Barbell South. But after 4 weeks it transitions from a strength template to include more speed/power stuff - with power variations of clean & snatch and assistance work to prepare us for the oly lifts in the 3rd phase.

Looks pretty cool! I'm excited! I wish it was starting this week - but I still need to test my 1RM bench and squat and I'm sure a week's rest prior will be wise.
 
TESTING 1RM SESSION #2

Warm up: 3 mile bike ride, warm up sets of bench and squat

Bench Press - 180 lbs
Squat - 200 lbs
Pullup - BW+75 lbs
Dip - BW+55 lbs

Cooldown: 10 min mile, .25 mile walk

I got a little bit too ambitious with the bench. I warmed up, hit 175 and felt good about it; put 10 more on and failed 185 lbs. I rested, reset and managed to bring 180 lbs down and back up, but it wasn't the prettiest rep. I was sort of psyched out by then.

The squat felt pretty good. I kind of wanted to try pushing for 205 lbs, but I kept it at 200 lbs (my goal for this cycle) and I'm pretty happy with that.

The pullup felt good and I thought I might be able to do 80 lbs, but I was getting pretty beat at this point and I wanted to save some for the dip. I think my dip suffered from all the other heavy work I did. Or maybe I just can't go as heavy on the dip. I don't know. All I know is I hit every goal for this cycle and that's what matters most.

Now for a much needed week of rest!
 
Great cycle whistledixie!

Keep up the good work—after your well-earned rest! :)

Are you planning on increasing your bw over the next few cycles? I would have thought that a lean 175lb would be a good goal for someone of your height. Definitely doable but maybe you don't want to get that heavy?
 
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