Nice pull wolf. It takes some mental fortitude for a heavy pull like that after a 5x5.
A very annoying, but productive, day of training today. Just your typical rampant BS of dealing with a commercial gym, but I was not in a good frame of mind to deal with it today. Overall, it was kind of opposite day. Lately, squats have been killer, presses pretty good, and pulls great. Today pulls were killer, presses same, and squats were great. No idea why.
Squat
45x5x2, 135x5, 225x3, 315x2, 375x1, 420x5x5
Notes: Squats were surprisingly solid today. I was still feeling quite beat up from my 20 hour day of traveling, loading, handing off, and coaching on Saturday. Shoulders, legs, and back were all still quite fatigued, so thought I might even not be able to complete 5x5 today. Pleasantly surprised. Especially since I had to use the rack I dislike at the gym.
Long story short: there are two racks at the gym: one is ok, the other pretty horrible. 5 inches between bar placement options, and due to the way it's constructed, you can't stand up with the bar, you have to stand up and back at the same time, which throws you off balance with heavy weights. I just missed getting the ok one today, because this old guy who's a regular afternoon gym rat got in before me. He used it for 45 minutes to do seated-on-a-stability-ball barbell presses with 65lbs for about 10 sets, with 3 minutes of sitting there doing nothing between sets. He spends 2-3 hours at the gym most afternoons, generally annoying people but not so annoying that they complain. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if he fell off a cliff.
Press
45x5, 95x5, 125x3, 155x2, 185x1, 207x5x3
Notes: Hard, but not so hard that there was any question if I'd get them. Also I bumped into a guy I went to summer camp in the 90's and then college with. He is doing PT in the gym, and saw me and came over. Haven't seen him since 2005 probably. We were never really close but were always friendly and kind of interesting to see an old acquaintance. We're the same age: He's a lawyer with three kids in the suburbs. I'm single and live in the city. Paths diverge quite a bit after college.
Deadlift
225x4, 365x2, 455x1, 520x5
Notes: I made the reps but there was nothing good about these. Maybe it was the squats and presses sapping my juice by this point. Maybe it was because I had to carry the bumper plates (a pair each of 45s and 25s) all the way across the gym, about 80 yards I'd guess, since last time I pulled off the floor, there was a litany of complaints about the noise from the retail store below. So I had to pull in a different place and carry the plates there and back. Maybe that tired me out. Maybe i didn't rest enough before the work set. Maybe it was all of the above.
Bottom line: these were ugly. I didn't get SQUOZE and there was some turtle rage. I also didn't pull the bar in and it got off my legs quite a bit. I'm still somewhat pleased to have pulled 520x5 after squatting 420x5x5 on the same day, but I'm going to need to tighten up my form A LOT to achieve that 650 pull I want to get this year.
Video of the ugliness:
Afterwards: Chipotle. Of course.
Last edited by Michael Wolf; 05-20-2013 at 04:25 PM.
Nice pull wolf. It takes some mental fortitude for a heavy pull like that after a 5x5.
Why don't you pull on Intensity day? It's better.
Walking with plates shouldn't be a bother. Squatting over 10,000 pounds before pulling definitely is.
Thanks John. I admit I never really thought of it that day, but as Kong said:Exactly that.
The way you're going with your consistency and hard work, you will be doing just that very soon.
It was my pleasure, Michael. Your squat was just a monster, awesome to see. Great meeting you as well.
Thanks Mac.
Don't wait til you start missing to make the switch. Ideally when you make this move the first workout or two of the singles across will be a little bit of a physical and mental break from what you have been doing. I'd like to see you get 6-8 weeks worth of singles once you switch. You may not make a run that long doing all singles across, but even if the last few weeks are just a top single that is fine. Remember, MORE weight on the bar for you.
Recovery Day.
Squat
45x5x2, 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x2
Notes: Less beat up than Weds of last week (got a massage yesterday), but still went light. My 80% is 335 at this point, but there's just no way I'm up for 335x5x2 on Wednesdays. I find taking Wednesday's squats as a "as light as I feel I need to" and being loose with the reps has been best for me.
Bench Press
45x5, 135x5, 195x3, 245x2, 290x5x3
Notes: 5 lb jump. I was guilty of being cocky here, and the first set was harder than I expected because I didn't take it seriously. Figured it is still 30lbs off my best 3x5 (320), but hell, it's 90%, and I'm coming back from a 5 month lay off. Got my shit together for sets 2 and 3 and pounded them out like a boss. No 4th heavier set, so I'm fresh for Friday's 5RM pressing.
Chins
6 - bothered my right elbow so went to
Pull-Downs (Chin Style)
200x10x3
Just want to say I really appreciate you keeping up with my log and for your always insightful advice. Really appreciate it. My plan was to run the doubles as far as I could, and when I fail the 2nd rep of a set, turn it into singles. So it would be a self regulating switch, i.e. this week I make my 490x2x3. Then next week I get 495x2,2,1 or even 495x2,1,1. That's it, the following week I go to 500 and do singles.
Does that make sense?
I know, I'm spoiled!
Hahaha awesome, love me some DY-NO-MYTE! He's got some sweet skills with a bow staff!
Pulldowns chin style = Chindowns