sking's log

[sking1001]

Madcow Intermediate Week 10

I love Fridays. Something about hitting a PR and knowing that I only have to get a triple. Plus, I just seem to feel better on Fridays. Today, I took an opportunity to add some volume into my training on the backoff sets. The 12-rep squat set left me pretty winded, and I thought it might affect my bench, but I was able to recover nicely. I did 17 reps on my backoff CG bench set. You can see my form break down as I go, so I didn't want to push it too far.

On a sadder note, I had to run back to the office briefly after my 2nd warm-up set of squats. It only took a few minutes, but I'm pressed for time as it is. I also took a phone call before power cleans, and pretty much had to skip my assistance work since I was going past 2 hours. I nice side effect of this time crunch, however, was that instead of taking the time to drag weights and belts upstairs to do weighted dips, I decided to just do as many as I could and continue with the extra volume theme. The three sets I did were within 20 seconds of each other, and I got 46 total...nice feeling.

I feel like the power shrugs I did on Wednesday really helped my power cleans. However, I seem to have some sort of issue going on when I get to my work set. It didn't go very well, as you can see from the video. I don't know if it's mental or what, but I'll comment on what I was thinking below.

Squat (PR)
170x5, 210x5, 250x5, 295x5, 345x3, 250x12
Not proud of the 5th rep at 295.

16" Close Grip Bench Press
105x5, 130x5, 160x5, 185x5, 215x3, 160x17

Power Clean
70x3, 90x3, 105x3, 125x3, 145x3
After the first rep of my work set at 145, I was thinking that it was not explosive enough like the warm-ups were. For one, you can't hear the stomp. So on rep 2 I focused on that, but my footing was all messed up on landing. That was very frustrating. On the 3rd rep, the awkwardness continues, and my right hand comes out from under the bar after catching...things fall apart from there, of course. Advice is welcome.

Dips
30, 10, 6

...out of time :-(

Food Log:


I was doing well on the macro ratios until I decided to have a pancake snack. I love pancakes.

[sking1001]

[sking1001]

I changed to using MyPlate at livestrong.com instead of FitDay. I'm just fed up with the unresponsive server at fitday. Anyone else use FitDay and have problems with their site? Anyway, a big plus is that LiveStrong's food database is way better than FitDays's. However, LiveStrong doesn't really provide a compact enough view to post all the foods of each meal here:

[sking1001]

Madcow Intermediate Week 11

I love Fridays, but Mondays are hard. I'm thinking about the 5RM that I have to get all weekend. The warm-up weights are even more than Friday, making the 5 seem even more daunting by the time I get to it. I only got 2 reps at 345. My last warm-up was 300. 300 used to be a big psychological barrier for me, and the thought of doing it for my 4th ramping set is pretty cool, but also exhausting. I just didn't have enough in the tank for my 5th set. I was happy with how "easy" the 300 felt, but after the first rep at 345, I knew my strength had just left me.

Hopefully I'll get 345x5 in week 12. Had a bit of stress this morning, ran late for work and was also pressed for time during my training session. Those things don't help when trying to set a new PR.

Squat (STALL)
175x5, 215x5, 260x5, 300x5, 345x2

16" Close Grip Bench Press
110x5, 135x5, 160x5, 190x5, 215x5

Power Clean
75x3, 90x3, 110x3, 125x3, 145x3

Pressed for time, so assistance work suffers yet again...

[sking1001]

Madcow Intermediate Week 11

Squat (light)
170x5, 210x5, 250x5x2

Press
95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 155x5

Deadlift (STALL)
245x5, 295x5, 345x5, 395x3
I could have broken form and pulled my top set for 5. It really comes down to recovery. I didn't have the energy left in my legs to push. I'll get 5 next time.

Dumbbell Bench Press
50'sx10, 60'sx10, 70'sx10, 80'sx8, 85'sx9

Power Shrugs
135x5, 225x5, 315x5, 405x5, 495x5

[sking1001]

I had to edit my power shrugs. I did get the full 5 reps at 495...copy and paste error.

[sking1001]

My food log can now be seen here:
http://www.livestrong.com/thedailypl...who/sking1001/

[sking1001]

I could have broken form and pulled my top set for 5...

So here's a comparison of the 395 I pulled yesterday vs about a month ago on 10/5. I reset to fix my technique:

Old:


New:

[sking1001]

Madcow Intermediate Week 11

Feeling very drained today. I could tell from my first set of squats on. I may take a reset on squats, as I repeated last Friday's session due to the stall on Monday and stalled again today. My traps are still pretty sore from Wednesday's shrugs. My deadlifts were pretty heavy on Wednesday also, so I don't think I'm 100% recovered. After my backoff set of 8 squats, I could have just gone to bed.

Bench and power cleans are still easy. I almost skipped the accessory work again but wanted to at least get some weighted dips in.

Squat (STALL)
170x5, 210x5, 250x5, 295x5, 345x1, 250x8

16" Close Grip Bench Press
110x5, 135x5, 160x5, 190x5, 220x3, 160x8

Power Clean
70x3, 95x3, 100x3, 125x3, 145x3
I keep forgetting to set my back to start, but slowing down the first pull helped a lot. I was prepared to do 3 singles instead of a triple, but I felt okay with 3 reps. Maybe Motley Crue coming on the crappy 80's station helped. Probably going to start adding weight now.

Weighted Dips
+70x8, +70x5, +70x8

[Moving_Target]

I dunno, I like some crappy 80's rock. Not the Crue tho. I agree, they suck. I think "Uptown Girl" mighta thrown your mental concentration a little. Ha ha.

Anyway, strong work!