Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Squat Training

Went into a new training phase. Decided against truly max out, but getting close to 90% and above in my poundages.

Squat: Top sets were 420/3, 460/1

The 460 felt really good and fast despite a messed up setup and even i was surprised a bit I would've went up to 500, but I decided to shut it down. Next time I'll make an attempt hopefully. I wasn't at my best because I was dealing with some stress and had a pounding headache and was moving a bit slower throughout the workout. I didn't make excuses though and decided to squat hard and roll out the gym.

I am of the realization now that I have to get to the gym earlier so I'm not late for class. I can see the finish line here and I don't want to mess up any chances i have of getting into either Iowa or Nebraska.

Come to think of it, i have a pretty focused schedule going on that won't allow for much BS'ing like last summer. Even though I had summer school and work, that ended pretty quickly. I have the Nationals in July, I graduate in May, and I start back work on Friday. And when Nationals is over, I have to get ready to go wherever I'm going. And saving money is a must, so the late nights will come, but i have to afford it in my budget first. Plus I have an idea for another training cycle after Nationals, and i still don't know what type of gym I'm dealing with when I get to my University. But the primary goal of the next training cycle is to put on some solid size and obviously gain more strength.

Here is a link to the program I'm following. It's a variation of 5/3/1 that has weeks 2 and week 1 switched around. it's called "5/3/1 for Powerlifters" in the article.





Me and my training partner Mike made tremendous progress with the original 5/3/1 which is available here......





Thats it from me. Going to try for a 405 bench. I need to get to that big weight, and I havent had to press 405 in awhile, so lets see where it goes.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Stuff

This is the post of stuff. A little bit of life, a little bit of training, a little bit of commentary. So enjoy my stuff

Training: It's coming along good. I'm not sure if those are pr's I have hit so I would have to look back on my logs to see if I have hit either weight or rep pr's in the squat and deadlift, but offhand, I'm going to say no. I don't think I have set any significant weight or rep pr's. While I am making progress, it's just slow progress. And I'm alright with that seeing as that i want to be in this for the long haul and stay competitive. However, I'm going to have to give a bit more of myself on the gym floor. Do any of us ever give enough of ourselves to the gym in regards to improving. No, but we all come close. Our bodies quit before we do.

One thing I need to do is to leave the outside of the gym on the outside. Once I step inside, there should be nothing else going on. No phone calls, no texts, no bullshit. Just me, my partners, the weight and violence. Thats it! While the Nationals are in July and it's only late March, thats not a lot of time. So focus and intensity is of the utmost importance.

I'm making a contract with myself from here on out. Once I step in the gym, the outside ceases to exist until the last rep of the last exercise. No phone, no texts, no nothing. I just want weight. I'm leaving my problems at the door. They aren't going anywhere so they can wait a few.

Life: School is going. Spanish and business law are works in progress but I'm plugging at them nonetheless. Not really a whole bunch to say about school as if you are a student or have been at any point in your life, you know what I'm talking about.

I will say that I am going to embrace the night a bit more for studying. I function better at night as far as school goes and thats when my purest thinking comes. So these 3-4 am mornings will start to be commonplace for the remainder of the semester. As long as I have soe music and food, I can do work

Thats it on my end for right now. I just want to keep rolling and finish this semester off to go on the other academic pastures.

Persistence is nothing more than consistency with a few rough patches.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Deadlifts

Top set only

Deadlifts
420/3,3,3,3,3

Reverse Hypers: 200/12

Cardio: About 20 minutes


Bringing the camera out next week and it will be mainly for technique check. I hope it's all up to snuff.

Military press tomorrow. I've went against the template a bit and just doing my own thing on that.

3's wave, Intensification, Bench

Bench Press: 250/3,3,3,3,3

Suppersetted chest supported rows and neutral grip lat pulldowns. Hammered out some pressdowns and left. Bicep didn't hurt as much as last week while pressing so I think the warmup helped quite a bit.

Picked up the Metroflex Powerbuilding book of methods and there are ton's of routines inside of the book. Not one for the meek either. Big eating, big resting and big training is what the book is about. You can get the book at www.elitefts.com.You don't have to be a man to reap the benefits of the book. Please ladies, quit going for a lot of gimmicks. Fellas included.


Other than that. Not much. Keep Japan and everyone else that is effected by the earthquake in your prayers. Not a very good time right now. We often forget how blessed we are. Never forget people, at all.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Training and life update

I have not made a substantial post in a little bit so I figured I would make one today. Honestly, there just hasn't been much going on. I'm finishing up the Juggernaut program and I will not lie, it is a rough program. You have to be in shape to do this program. If you come into the program extremely out of shape, your'e screwed.

I'm in my intensification wave of the 3's phase which is the last phase of the program.

Monday: Squats:370 with seven sets of three.

I bench later in the afternoon before class today.

School is going although I do have to focus harder. I graduate May 11th and it's already March. 9th, so I have about 8 weeks. Not a long time, but enough to make improvements in Business Law and Spanish. I'll have a better idea of Spanish after today as we get our second exams back.

Applied to the University of Nebraska and Iowa last week and will be sending off transcripts to them today. So hopefully I 'll hear something soon.

Bench workout later today.