Wolf's Log: From Cub to Direwolf

[medwards]

On the deads, I noticed every time the weights broke contact with the ground the bar jerked to your right. Might be the uneven floor you mentioned, might be something else, might be nothing. Thought I'd mention it just in case you found it helpful.

[Michael Wolf]

Woke up early to get to the gym, roll out a bit, and train before coaching today.

Paused CGBP
255x5x3

BW Chins
11,11,11

[Rob Israel]

Squatzzz! :-)

[Michael Wolf]

Squatzzz! :-)

SHKVATZ!!!!

I thought about my program over the weekend and decided to keep my main volume work increasing in weight while slightly reducing volume, while removing or reducing the volume of the back-off and assistance work I'm doing. I'd like to continue my weekly volume/intensity progression as long as I can, so I want to see if that slight volume reduction is enough to do so.

Bench Press
375x2x3 @ 9,9.5,9.75
Notes: First set was on point. Second and third got harder, but was no doubt about any of them. This was my top 3x2 weight back in Fall 2013, when I hit a 420 TnG bench in the gym. IIRC I was a bit tapered on volume at the time for the meet, but I have to check my log to be sure. All time PR double is 382.5x2. I see a TnG bench press PR in the near future.

Press
210x5x5 @ 8.5, 9, 9, 9.5, 10
Notes: Ties PR for 5x5. Had to really increase rest to finish these, starting at 3.5 mins, up to 6 by the last set. And last rep, the 25th total, was still a grind. I'll plan to move to 5 sets of 4 reps next week and up the weight to 213.5, methinks. Intensity on Thursday plan is 242.5x2x3, which I will stick to and not try to hit a PR single. It'll be a PR double anyway, my first real and actual PR (assuming I hit it for even one set) in ANYTHING since July. So I'm excited.



Weighted Chins
+40.3 x 5 x 5
Notes: Solid today.

HSPU
One set of two
Notes: Part of the overall volume reduction. Now that I think about it, I should have done two singles to get more inversion practice and not tire myself out as much.

Finished with TKEs and (a smaller amount of) KB presses and push press at 24 and 32kg (one set of 5 presses at each weight, one set of 3 push presses). Also did some armzzzzz (EZ Curl Bicep Curlz 76x7x2; EZ Curl Tri OH Extensions: 76x10).

[Michael Wolf]

Might have done too much too soon ramping back up my squats. I'm not terribly surprised, as I planned to go slower but got excited when the first few times felt OK. Knees felt less good 3 days in a row (Sat through Mon) than they have generally felt recently; not bad, but less good. And now after today's lift they're a bit crabby. So may scale back a bit.

Squat
45x5x2, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5, 325 walkout x 10 seconds
Notes: All easy. When I got to 275, knees still didn't hurt but it felt just the tiniest bit "not quite perfect" is the only way to put it. Extremely minor but something. A little achey afterwards. Not too bad, but I'm suspecting the squats might be too much too soon.

Snatch Grip DL
405x3 @6
445x3x2 @ 7,7
Notes: Really focused on getting squoze. Did that pretty well for both sets, but did let the bar get away from my shins right off the floor some, especially first set as I recall.



C2 Erg - 20/1:40 x 10
Paces: 1:55, 1:39, 1:31.7, 1:25.4, 1:24, 1:24, 1:23.3, 1:25.4, 1:29.2, 1:26.9
Notes: Kinda slow. Should've used the sled but I felt like rowing again today for some reason. My right erectors were zapped, fried, and on fire and I couldn't keep the intensity up very well.

[Michael Wolf]

Gym had a pipe burst the other day, so they couldn't run the A/C to counter the always-blasting NYC radiator heat, so it was about 90 with zero airflow in the gym this afternoon. Not pleasant but as Tuchscherer wrote: Strength doesn't care.

Press
242.5x2 @9.5 - PR
242.5x2 @10
242.5x1+f
Notes:First actual PR in 7 months for a rep range I've actually used and trained. Feels good. First set was hard but solid, second set was much harder because the second rep got away from me a bit. That rep was an all out, bone on bone grind and took about 7 seconds. I went down to 235 for the third double but after a few minutes, put 242.5 back on and sacked up. I hit the first rep so strong that I surprised myself, and got out of sorts and missed the second. It's OK. It's a legit press PR for a double and I got it for two sets.

Bench Press
330x5x5 @ 9,9,9,9.5,9.75
Notes: Rest went from 4 to 6 minutes. The heat had caught up with me by this point, along with the missed press rep, so these got really hard even though I was resting a lot. I've also moved back up in volume bench very quickly; 6 weeks ago today, I did 275x5x5 for volume and it felt hard. So this isn't altogether surprising or worrisome. This isn't quite my best bench 5x5 day, but I'm going to continue with the plan to reduce pressing volume while still adding weight to intensity day. I hope to milk that for at least a few weeks before upping the volume again and resetting ID back down to fives.

Chin-ups
7 min Density Block - 57 reps
Notes: 4 more than last time, and had 54 at the 6:30 mark - one more than last time. I'm just about done with my ability to increase this linearly. Still, 57 reps in traditional sets would be something like 12,12,12,11,10 and would take me about 18 minutes.

HSPU
1,1
Notes: The heat and volume of work really had me by this point; these two singles were hard. So even though I didn't do any press or bench back off work, I stopped after 2 singles. Did a bit more handstand hold practice, but just a bit.

Finished with the usual suspects, except no arms. TKEs and KB press and push press @ 24 and 32kg.

[Michael Wolf]

So. I didn't listen to myself this time. My knees felt GREAT today, and I gave in to the good feeling. Ended up squatting even heavier than the 295x5 I planned for today at the beginning of the week. So far, so good. Hopefully this wasn't a tactical mistake.

Squat
45x5x2, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 265x5, 295x5, 315x5 (last rep paused)
Notes: Felt so easy today. Thought about the belt for 315, since it's been so long since I've done it, but went without. Really just felt locked in.



Deadlift
495x5x3 @ 8, 8.5, 9
1.5" Deficit DL
425x5 @ 8.5
Notes: Used alternate grip for DLs today, to give my hook a rest. Left hand up felt very awkward two weeks ago, so tried right hand up today and it was way better. Did the first rep of set 3 with left hand up to try and keep some semblance of symmetry, but it was so awkward that I switched back for the next four reps.

The 425 deficit said was harder than I expected. Strapped in for that one, which I am finally good enough at to get a solid, secure grip for a regular DL (still a little behind on the snatch grips). Maybe I didn't get mentally prepared enough for that set, but had trouble keeping it close and it was just generally harder than expected.

Sled Push
Distances were a mish-mash today due to some other people's turf use for my first few rounds. I roughly did the equivalent of the usual high/low round trip every two minutes with emptyx1, 50x1, 70x8 on the sled. Close enough to not make a difference. Was easier than expected after the DLs got hard and hadn't pushed the sled in a week.

[Walter Palmer]

A lot of positive things going on there, Mr. Wolf. It is easy to tell from your prose that you are in good place mentally.

[John Petrizzo]

Happy to hear the knee is feeling good, Wolf!

[Dwayne_KONG_Wint]

Mike, you didn't ask but I love you and feel the need to protect you; so I need to give you my thoughts on what you did with the grip switch.

I think you should not do over/under grip to give your hook a break. I think you should use straps to give the hooks a break. My reasoning is that if you haven't been over/under'ing in a while, the stress placed on the biceps of your underhand is a risky stress. On lighter sets, its most likely not a problem. On heavier sets, it could be a problem. I say this because I have witnessed a lifter train hook all the way up to a meet, and then on meet day, he felt like his over/under grip was performing better than his hook. That was the day his bicep ruptured.

Let's keep it to nose bleeds and avoid the bicep rupturing please.