Benching Week 2 for Relentless 9/8/14

Last night was a little rough.  Not 100% sure why but both my biceps were hurting pretty bad.  And it took forever for my elbows to warm up...  I wanted to call it a couple of times but pushed on through.  I was supposed to go for 395 3x2, but that wasn't happening.  So i went to 375 for 3x2 unequipped.  All three sets sucked and hurt like hell.  Then it was 2x3 with the slingshot.  Lat week I had done 425 for 2x2 and wanted to hit more but thought since it was triples I better be conservative considering my elbows and biceps.  I put the slingshot on and the first set was nothing and there was very little pain...  So I decided to go up and did a very ease triple with 445, see video:

I was pretty much done and ended the night with some very light pressdowns.  I'm going to ice down and see how things go.  I think that the issue may be the added day of shoulders/back/arms.  It may take me a few weeks to get my recovery in order for the extra work.  But, its nothing I cant push thru...

Don't forget our meet on September 27th!

Week 2 Squats & Deads

Week 2 training for Relentless. Felt really good coming off last week. Body weight is around 295.  I have had a terrible time fitting in my briefs so I got a pair of briefs from Chad Walker and had the sides taken in a little bit. I wore them for the first time today. Fit pretty good. 

Unequipped up to 435x2

Briefs up to 615x2

Started pulling and ended up at 605x1

Really enjoying training these days and have an awesome crew to train with. We are having a small push/pull meet at The Weight Pile on September 27th. Hope to see you there. 

Week 1 Squat/Dead and Bench Training.

I started my training for Relentless Sunday with a whole new program and split for my training. Sunday was squats and deads. I worked up to 425 for 3 raw then in briefs went to 600 x 3. Nothing spectacular just feeling things out. On deads I worked up to 520 for a double. Finished the day with weighted abs. I'm looking to help increase my endurance and also work my dead weekly by pulling on squat day. 

Bench was pretty good. Feeling out the numbers. Did 375 for 3 x 3 raw then 425 for 2 x 2 in a slingshot. Here's a link to the last set of 375:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10204504367108901&id=100002724564405

Here is the last double with 425:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10204504377109151&id=100002724564405

Did some incline barbell presses for the first time in awhile and I'm a little sore. Nothing heavy but it's something I'll do for awhile. 

Treasure Coast Classic 2014

I have needed to start keeping a training log again.  I got out of the habit and now I can’t look back at what had been going on in my training over the last few months… 

I just competed at the Treasure Coast Classic in Pt. St. Lucie on August 24^th.  I had planned on making the meet an indicator of where I was at heading into Relentless.  The training cycle started very well and I felt strong up until about week 5.  That week I doubled a meet squat PR of 815 lbs.  After week 5 all of my lifts except the deadlift felt heavy and very slow.  I was hoping that it was the beginning of overtraining and as I got closer and the training backed off a bit I would get a good bounce and peak well at the meet. 

Mindy, her training partner Kathleen, my training partner Matt, and myself were all doing the meet.  We all got there Saturday morning for early weigh-ins.  We all made weight easily.  We went and ate and except for feeling really tired which I had chalked up to an early morning car ride things felt pretty good.  We went to the hotel and took a little nap and then went back at 4PM to set up our monolift in the warm-up room.  Supper was at Sonny’s BBQ and we all got our fill.  On the way up the flight of stairs to our room I thought to myself that my legs really felt fatigued.  But I didn’t dwell on it too much.

We were awake and headed to the Civic Center by 7:30AM Sunday morning.  Mindy and Kathleen were competing in the AM meet and Matt and I in the PM.  I had never done this before and learned that I will never do it again…  The meet started at around 10 and was moving along well.  Mindy and Kathleen were having a good day.  Mindy was taking it easy on squats and hit 352 on her second then passed to save a little for her bench.  Bench went just as planned for Mindy who hit a very easy 248.  April Mathis and I both wanted to take more on her third but she wouldn’t let us…  The deadlift was really fun to watch.  Mindy had wanted to go over 400 and she killed 429 on her third attempt and totaled somewhere around 1030, meet was in kilos and I don’t have all the decimals…  She had wanted to total over 1000 before getting into some gear and she did that easily.  I’m excited to see how this training cycle will go for her in multiply leading into Relentless.  Then it will be back to raw for RUM VIII!

The PM session started around6:30PM and I am ready for bed already…  I really wanted to just back out and not do the meet at all.  But, I had trained for it and thought I would see how I could do under these conditions.  I started warming up for squats and they didn’t feel horrible I was just sluggish and slow.  I had planned on opening with 750 but dropped it to 716 so I could easily make it.   I had also decided that I would take an opener, go for a PR on my second attempt then pass on the thirds.  I hit 716 just like I should have.  Took 815 on my second and let my back get loose, ass shot up and I lost it falling forward.  I just wasn’t into it mentally or physically.  I opened with 600 on my bench and it was OK, a little slow at lockout and it shouldn’t have been.  Took 628 on my third, an 18 lbs PR and grinded it out.  Passed on my third.  The deadlift has been beating my ass for a long time and this training cycle it had been close to perfect.  I opened with 628 and it went smooth.  I did the math and even with a screwed up squat if I pulled 716 I could PR my total and I had planned to take 700 on my second…  So, of course I took 716 and missed it at my knees just like always.  I have got to figure out what I’m missing that is causing me to miss my dead right above the knees.  As sore as my glutes are I’m thinking they could be the culprit.

So that’s my meet in a nut shell.  Nothing impressive happened at all but I do see some weaknesses that I need to address.  I’m going straight into training for Relentless which is 10 weeks away.  I’m excited to begin a new training program with Jayson McNett helping me along the way.  It’s going to be a big change from what I’ve been doing and I’m going to have to adjust to the workload but I need it. 

I want to say thank you to some people.  Patrick Hayden with Warhammer Gym Gear, warhammergymgear.com for supplying with awesome apparel, Peter Dorobis with Beast Sports Nutrition for all the supplements to keep me going even while I’m deadlifting in a meet at 1AM!!!, and Al McDonough of CaptainJacked who is an awesome person and always there supporting his team (family) of lifters.  THANKS GUYS!  And I also want to thank my Weigh Pile Team, without all of you we couldn’t get it done.  Mindy, thank you especially for putting up with my crap and knowing how to handle me, I Love You!

November 18, 2013 Benching

Tonight the plan was to work up to a good and heavy double.  I was looking forward to this because i had been doing more than 3 reps, which is what i consider high reps and i don't like that...  Warm ups felt really good and smooth.  They went like this - 135x5x2, 185x5, 225x2, 275x2, 315x2, 355x2, 380x2 which moved really nice and smooth.  So much so that i thought 405 was a shot for a double...  I went for it but only got one grinder of a rep.  Here is a link to the video:
405 Bench Press Video

I had been wondering about where i was on a raw max and i found out.  Now lets get into the shirt and see what has happened with that over the last few weeks.  After the presses i did some skull crushers, push downs and flys.  Normal stuff.
I am looking forward to getting back into the meet prep.  That is my favorite part of training.  We decided to go with a 6 week prep for this meet and its almost time start up...

November 16, 2013 Squats

Not to bad of a day today. The plan was some heavy doubles. That went prett y good and did a top set at 510. I'm still breaking in my new briefs so I threw them on to hit a few more doubles.  One of my training partners Chris starting talking crap so I went a little further...  I ended up hitting 700 for a single. It was OK, a little slower than I would have liked but not terrible. After that we did some front squats.  They pretty much suck and I can't ever keep the bar from rolling down my front delt. Some parking lot lunges were up next then finished off with some extensions and some core work. Just a couple more weeks of this raw crap and then I can start getting ready for the RPS Nationals. Looking forward to New Jersey in January...

November 13, 2013 Playing Catch Up

I have totally sucked at keeping my log up to date. But raw training sucks and it's hard to get excited about writing what's been going on. My volume has been in the three-five range the last few weeks on the lifts. Bodybuilding type accessory volume. Wow. Exciting stuff. I have been playing around with pulling conventional though. I borrowed a Metal King Pro from Chad Walker and I want to see how it feels in gear. Tonight I pulled sumo raw, which always worries me some because I've strained my hip flexor more than once doing it. It felt pretty good tonight though and my top set of five was at 455. 

Brian decided to try a short meet prep since I'm coming off a meet. So I'll only be doing a six week prep. I'll do better at logging my training once I'm back in gear...