Briks' Log

[hamboni]

8/25/10
Bodyweight- 199.8

Squats- 175x5x10 (2 min rest)
Presses- 142.5x5x2
142.5x4x1
Rehab Deadlifts-55x20x1
75x12x1
95x8x1
Cheat Shrugs- 315x5x3

Well, this was a great workout. No knee problems at all on the squats, which was great. The jump to 175 was tough, since it had been a full week since I did 160 (Friday off and Monday only got one full set of 170 done). It wasn't absolutely horrible yet though. I am probably another 10-20 pounds away from it becoming brutal.

Failed on my 15th rep of presses. I was actually still happy with this performance though because I hadn't pressed in 9 days (vacation and then rain-out), and I still decided to move up 2.5 pounds and see what happened. I am convinced I would have gotten it no problem on normal rest. So I am going to still go to 145 next time despite the fail. If I don't get 3x5 there, I will consider a de-load. But I am confident I will get it.

I did some more rehab deadlifts which really seem to be helping. My back isn't back to normal yet, but its definitely improving faster than it was before I started these light deadlifts. I will do these again tonight.

Cheat shrugs are simply shrugs where you kinda set the bar on your thighs to start and use a little hip thrust to get it moving along with pulling hard with your traps. I have read that traps respond best to very heavy weights, and 315 is actually really light for this type of exercise. It felt heavy to me though and my traps are already sore today. I think I am going to continue doing these on my press day, since big strong traps are both functionally and aesthetically awesome.

I am going to miss tomorrow's workout for a wedding, so I will be squatting and benching Monday. However, in the meantime, I will do a few more days of Rehab Deadlifts.

Also, after an embarrasing performance in my first time playing basketball in a while a few weeks back, and then last night when I was breathing way too heavy from doing 20 light deadlifts, I have decided to include some conditioning into my program. I am going to use barbell complexes as described by Justin and Gant on yesterday's 70sbig.com post. I plan on doing these on Tuesdays and Saturdays usually, so this saturday I will try my first one. I have created 2 of them (one is the Bear, but with 7 reps of each motion before moving to the next instead of 1 of each 7 times). I am going to start very light and see where I stand. I tend to get horribly winded when I am not in shape, worse than someone with my build should. Hopefully the complexes will help me improve in that area while also maybe even building a little mass. And I know this means INDTP, but think my recovery capabilities are good enough where I can still make gains in my strength while doing this. If I can't, I will re-evaluate.

My Tuesday complex (no squats since I will be squatting Wed):
13 deadlifts, 6 hang cleans, 6 push presses, 6 barbell rows, 6 cheat curls

My Saturday complex:
7 front squats, 7 push presses, 7 back squats, 7 push presses, 7 hang cleans

Curious to see how these work out for you--are you adding these after training (I believe as they suggested in the post yesterday), or are Tue and Sat "off" days? I'm kind of in the same boat--making good progress on the lifts, but my conditioning has gone to shit such that when I play pick up games I'm getting dusted. Good luck!

[Briks42]

These are "off" days for me as I am on a Mon-Wed-Fri schedule. I just don't think I will have it in me to do the 3-5 sets of the complexes at the end of some already grueling workouts. But I go to the gym those days anyway to train a buddy so I am going to give it a shot.

[Briks42]

8/26/10
Bodyweight- 200.6 (PR)

Rehab Deadlifts- 75x20x1
95x12x1
115x8x1

Just a rehab day for me. Lower back is feeling A LOT better with the help of the light Deads. I am still going to finish Pins into Pillars (9 more sessions), and keep on increasing my deadlift amounts during this rehab period. Then in Mid-September I will go back to normal linear progression on Squats, Deadlifts, and Powercleans again.

Also last night, my mom (I've been training her for about a month or 2 using SS, but she used to lift a little recreationally. Age 53, weight 125) hit 3 pr's: Squat 107.5x5x3, Press 52.5x5x3, Deadlift 115x5x1. She also did 95x5x3 on the bench on Tuesday night so its been a huge PR week for her, which makes me happy.

Off tonight for a wedding, then tomorrow I will try my first set of complexes for conditioning, and do more rehab deadlift work.

[gamedog]

GOOD GOOD!! I'm glad to hear your lower back is getting better! Keep going like this and you'll be good to go once you're back on linear progression. You'll probably have a leg-up on it, too. Shit, when I started I had a lower back ache for a month LOL Nice.

That's great news about your mom as well. Good on her for getting in there and making it happen and good on you for helping train her. That kicks ass.

Have fun at the wedding tonight. Eat a ton and PWN the open bar!

[Briks42]

8/28/10
Bodyweight- 199.4

Complex: 7 front squats, 7 push presses, 7 back squats, 7 push presses, 7 hang powercleans.

3 minutes rest between sets:

1st set- 45 pounds (1:08)
2nd set- 55 pounds (1:18)
3rd set- 65 pounds (1:21)

These were interesting. They definitely gave my lungs and heart a good workout. As you can see, I was pretty conservative with the amount of weight used, but I figured its better to do that than to go too high. I had some pretty wicked heartburn before and during my workout, which made it a lot rougher than it should have been I think. Also, I was pretty surprised how tired my shoulders got during these. Then I realized that even though the weight was pretty light and I was push pressing instead of pressing, I was still doing some high rep stuff that hit the shoulder, 14 total push presses and then the 7 hang cleans at the end.

I am definitely going to continue doing these and I will hopefully be ramping up the weight a lot as I get used to them. I will also vary the rep scheme and rest time as well. The other complex I designed is more back oriented than this one, with deadlifts and rows, so I am hoping that alternating them will serve me well.

[gamedog]

That workout would probably have given me a stroke LOL nice work!

[slowjoe]

8/28/10
Bodyweight- 199.4

Complex: 7 front squats, 7 push presses, 7 back squats, 7 push presses, 7 hang powercleans.

3 minutes rest between sets:

1st set- 45 pounds (1:08)
2nd set- 55 pounds (1:18)
3rd set- 65 pounds (1:21)

These were interesting. They definitely gave my lungs and heart a good workout. As you can see, I was pretty conservative with the amount of weight used, but I figured its better to do that than to go too high. I had some pretty wicked heartburn before and during my workout, which made it a lot rougher than it should have been I think. Also, I was pretty surprised how tired my shoulders got during these. Then I realized that even though the weight was pretty light and I was push pressing instead of pressing, I was still doing some high rep stuff that hit the shoulder, 14 total push presses and then the 7 hang cleans at the end.

I am definitely going to continue doing these and I will hopefully be ramping up the weight a lot as I get used to them. I will also vary the rep scheme and rest time as well. The other complex I designed is more back oriented than this one, with deadlifts and rows, so I am hoping that alternating them will serve me well.

Man, I have to try this with the toy weights at home. They go up to 65lbs (just...)

[Briks42]

That workout would probably have given me a stroke LOL nice work!

Yeah, it was tough, but more just because i am so out of shape i think. But as I get more in shape I will be adding weight, so it should never be easy.

[Briks42]

Man, I have to try this with the toy weights at home. They go up to 65lbs (just...)

Yeah, give it a shot. 65 pounds might be easier for you than it was for me if you are in any kind of cardiovascular shape whatsoever.

[Briks42]

8/30/10
Bodyweight- 198.0

Squats- 185x5x6 (2 minutes rest between sets) (had to quit during 7th set due to knee slipping out of place)

Bench Press- 250x5x2
250x4x1

Weighted Chins- 40x5x2
40x4x1

Rehab Deadlifts- 135x10x3

Had knee issues again, but at least this time it wasnt until the 6th and 7th sets so I got some work in. I am going to continue with the Pins into Pillars program as if I completed all 10 sets, since I assume I would have. That means 190x5x10 on Wednesday.

250 is my nemesis on the bench. This is the 3rd time in my lifting career I've tried to get 3x5 with it, and each time I've missed the 15th rep. Frustrating. But considering I ate barely anything all weekend and drank a ton of beers, I shouldn't have expected to PR. I will try this weight again on Friday and hopefully PR.

Chins were a little tougher than normal because I couldn't use my normal chinup bar. I had to pull a barbell on the top setting of a rack and use that to do them. Its basically the same thing, but since its not locked in place it felt a little harder.

Stepped the weight up and knocked the reps down a little on the deadlifts. My back handled it well. I realized doing these sets that I wasn't doing the valsalva on my deadlifts and that might have led to my injury. When I concentrated on the valsalva last night, everything felt so much tighter.

I will be trying my second complex workout tonight and there are deadlifts involved so I won't be doing the rehab deadlifts tonight.