Cube Method Week 4

11/5/12
Deadlift:
Bar x 10
135×3
185×2
225×2
315×2
—
380x3x2 sets

2″ Block Pull w/snatch grip:
275×20

Oly Squat:
225x10x4 sets

Lunges:
4×10

Back Raise:
50

11/7/12
Board Press:
Bar x 10
95×5
Add 2-board
135×5
185×5
205×5
225×3
245×3
270×2 miss load
275×2
Add 3-board close grip
155x15x2 sets

Lat Pulldowns:
140x15x3 sets

Tricep Pushdowns:
50×15
40x15x3 sets

Standing DB Military Press:
40×10
45×10
50×10

11/9/12
Squat:
285x2x5 sets
305×1

Pause Squats:
185×5
195×5
200×5
205×5
215×5

Leg Press:
100+3PPSx12x4 sets

Band Good Morning:
3×12

DB Swings:
3×15

Bench day was another shit show. Tool White Blood 2 for the first time, and since it is stim free, I took the full dose. I had acid reflux, felt like I was going to puke, was light headed and sweating like crazy the whole time. My friend was supposed to load 265 for my second to last set of board presses, but he threw a 5 on one side and not the other, so it was 270 but not evenly loaded. Was going to take 285 as my final set but could tell this wouldn’t happen as I strained my back on the previous set. On my second set of 3 board, I forgot to use a close grip and then completely forgot there was supposed to be a third set. Should’ve gone heavier on the dumbbell military press. Skipped shrugs because I felt like shit. Squats went well. Been staying with oly squats and they’re feeling stronger. Strained my lateral hamstring tendon which I really need to try to heal because it is starting to negatively effect all my workouts. Tomorrow I will do some Poundstone curls, hang cleans, and French presses.

Cube Method Week 3

10/29/12
4″ Block Pull (actually pin pull):
Bar x 10
135×5
225×3
315×2
405×1
455×1
495×1
545×1
565×1

Stiff-legged Sumo Dead:
225x5x2 sets

DB Rows:
80×10
85×10
90×10

DB Shrugs:
80×15
85×15
90×15

Up and Down Planks:
50

10/30/12
Floor Press:
155x5x5 sets

Inline DB Press:
55x15x3 sets

Band Pushdowns:
100

Standing DB Military:
35x8x2 sets
40×8

Band Flys:
3×15

Crunches:
50

11/1/12:
Squat:
225x3x5 sets

Wide Stance Good Morning:
135x8x3 sets

DB Lunge:
3×15

Oly Squat:
135×50

Abs

Pulling went well. Wanted 585 but that pin height seems to be right around my sticking point so I was happy with 565. Think I should have pulled it conventional instead of modified sumo. I don’t have quite the hip strength or flexibility to do wide sumo, but after seeing some videos of myself pulling and watching other videos, I’ve identified some corrections I need to make when pulling conventional and when pulling sumo. But with sumo I can’t make one of those big corrections without going wider. I know with either I need to keep my arms in tight to my body so the bar doesn’t drift forward and I need to focus in pulling back and keeping the bar closer to my shins and thighs on the way up. Floor press is also right around my sticking point. Bench has always been my weakest of the three but it has felt extra week lately. Also speed work always hurts my elbows. For squatting it’s misleading that I labeled the set of 135 as oly because I did my other sets oly as well. Having pretty much always done low bar, I am toying with the idea of doing high bar simply because it feels better to me. Obviously moving the most weight is the biggest priority, but if I feel I can do this oly style and without the pain I experience in my shoulders, hips and back when low bar squatting, I will gladly switch to oly.

As per usual, I will get in some neck work, Poundstone curls, barbell rows, and overhead press this weekend.

Immortal Barbell Club

There’s a reason I titled this blog Immortal Barbell. It is the name of my non-existent barbell club. It is a reminder of my dream of having my own gym some day. Not a gym for profit, but a gym where like-minded individuals can go to do what they love without going to a commercial gym. Even if I only build it to the point of being a backyard or garage gym, even if it doesn’t end up in some kind of a legitimate space, if I can get enough equipment together and a handful of people who want to train together, then the dream will be realized. It’s a ways off, but it will happen, slowly but surely. Just as strength is built over time, so will this barbell club, and just as one’s accomplishment are immortal, so will be Immortal Barbell Club.

High Rep Assistance Work

I just want to touch on this. Back at my first meet in March of 2010, a lifter in my class recommended that I do assistance work with sets of 20-30 reps. I liked this idea, tried it for a week, then brushed it off because I like going “heavy,” always. In the past year or so, this idea has popped in my head again, and as I’ve learned more and trained more, it kept nagging at me, making a lot of sense, but I still never really gave it a fair shot. Fast forward to now and I have read a few things from Paul Carter that re-affirm what that lifter told me and my own thoughts, along with Paul’s brilliance. I’m not going to get into all of it here or take any credit for it- I highly suggest you check out Paul’s blog (www.lift-run-bang.com), as there is a wealth of information on there. It just makes so much sense- it’s assistance work. You want to flush the muscles with blood, help your joints, and cause hypertrophy. Progressive overload isn’t necessarily an option (or at least not always), but you want to be working the muscle you are trying to work, not just using body English to get the weight from point A to point B. Most of my assistance work now is being done in the 15+ rep range. Of course sometimes there will be lower reps, as I am following Brandon Lilly’s Cube Method. But for the most part my assistance work is being done with higher reps, and I really enjoy it and see the validity of it now. I highly recommend you read Paul’s blog and employ this high rep training into your own programming.

Cube Method Week 2

10/22/12

Speed Dead:

305x1x10 sets

 

4″ Block Pull w/Snatch Grip:

225×20

 

Oly Squat:

205×8

215×8

225×8

 

Band Pulldowns:

4×15

 

BB Shrug:

225x10x3 sets

 

10/24/12

Incline Bench:

195x3x3 sets

 

Incline DB Press:

45x20x2 sets

 

CG Bench:

195×5

205×3.5

205×2

205×2

 

Banded Flys:

3×15

 

Band Pushdowns:

100

 

10/26/12

Squat:

325×2

365×1

375×1

325×4

 

Good Morning:

135x8x3 sets

 

Leg Press:

3×20

 

Lunges:

3×12

 

Back Extensions:

60

 

 

 

Benching this week was horrible. I never do incline press- probably done it less than 10 times ever. Experimented with a suicide grip and was excite to hit some close grip. Nothing was going right thought. I don’t know if I was fatigued from the incline work, or my form was off (or needed to be changed slightly with the suicide grip), or what was going on, but close grip went terrible. I was getting no leg drive, my groove was off, my elbows were way too tucked. I went in thinking I’d hit at least 225. Maybe all the time off between meets and not having a full range bench workout in weeks had something to do with it? Who knows. All I know is I was frustrated and need to make sure the next bench session goes better. Squats went ok. Still having shoulder pain with low bar. Weight wasn’t too bad since its the first time going “heavy” since the meet. Sometimes I post the weights for my assistance work, sometimes not. Don’t feel it’s too important to list as long as I’m logging it in my notebook. Going to hit some OH press, curls, bent over rows, ab and neck work tomorrow.

Cube Method Week 1

So I started Brandon Lilly’s Cube Method. I’m using 405/260/505 as my training maxes. I will be logging the training weekly rather than each day. I probably will not log my fourth day, because it will stay pretty much the same- ab work, Poundstone curls, and conditioning. Feels weird using such sub-maximal weights, but I know it will pay off. I’m in the gym to get stronger, not to impress anyone.

 

10/15/12

Deadlift:

Bar x 8

135 x 5

225×3

275×3

315×1

—

355×3

 

Rack Pull:

380×3

 

Oly Squat:

185×8

205×8

215×8

 

GHR:

4×10

 

Back Raise:

50

 

10/17/12

Floor Press:

Bar x 10

95×5

135×5

185×3

205×3

225×1

245×1

255×1

265×0

260×1

155x15x2 sets

 

Lat Pulldowns:

3×12

 

Band Pressdown:

100

 

Military Press:

12,12,9

 

DB Shrug:

3×15

 

10/18/12

Squat:

245x3x3 sets

Add reverse band

295×1

325×2

 

Oly Squat:

205x5x5 sets

 

Leg Press:

2x100s per side x15x4 sets

 

DB Swing:

3×15

 

First week down. Been sick as hell all week- pretty much a liquid diet. Missed 265 on floor press which was stupid- I try not to miss reps. Grinded out 260 right after but don’t think my tri’s touched the floor so I’m counting 255. Speed squats were slow the first couple inches out of the whole but fast the rest of the way and faster by the third set. Should’ve wore my sleeves though- knees don’t like it when I don’t wear them. Hopefully by Monday I can really start eating again.

“The Strongest” @ Gold’s Gym Vacaville 10-13-12

So I did my first strongman comp today. It was non-sanctioned, held at a Gold’s gym in Vacaville. Let me preface this by saying that I only found out about this comp on Monday the 8th, a whole 5 days before. I did no training for this comp, haven’t been in the gym in two weeks (due to the week off prior to last week’s powerlifting meet and the week off after the meet), and I haven’t done any kind of conditioning in at least 3 weeks (even then it was once a week, and something simple like a barbell complex). So I didn’t do great, but that was expected. I weighed in at 225, which put me in the middleweight class, and my goal was simply to complete each event, but that didn’t happen (damn you, farmer’s carry!) and I completed 4 out of 5 of the events. On to the day:

 

1st Event:

Farmer’s Carry

Implements weighed 220lbs each, so it was basically like carrying myself in each hand. The distance was 60 yards (so for those of you bad at math, 180 feet). I’ve never really done farmer’s carries, minus a few times with lighter dumbbells or just carrying dumbbells around the gym. Surprisingly, it was not my core or cardio that was the problem, but my grip. I attribute this either to the fact that in powerlifting competition I am only pulling deadlifts for a single, so the grip endurance isn’t as tested, or that I’ve been using straps on my high rep deadlift sets as of late. Either way, I couldn’t do it. I did, however, screw myself, because when I felt my grip start to slip I dropped the implements, thinking it would save grip strength, rather than holding on for dear life and only dropping them when I absolutely couldn’t hold on any more. The latter would have been the better plan. Having not had any practice, and while it may seem obvious, I did not know this. We were allowed two drops, and I made a third drop probably ten feet from the finish.

 

2nd Event:

Tire Flip

Again, an event I have never tried. The tire was 400 lbs, and was pretty easy to flip. Distance was 60 yards. Knowing my conditioning wasn’t great, I simply wanted to finish this event, not try to be the fastest, so I pretty much took my time. The real problem I had was lactic acid build up, but the weird thing was it was only in my right leg near my shin. So I would have to pause sometimes to let that dissipate before I could do another flip.

 

3rd Event:

Truck Pull

I have no idea what this truck weighed. It was a big truck with someone in the driver’s seat and two people in the bed. I felt like I couldn’t get any “push” with my legs and rather that I was pulling myself the entire time with the rope. Then as I was getting to the end one of the event workers said “you’re there!” I took this to meant I was finished- I wasn’t. They then told me to keep going and so as you’ll see in the video I half-assedly tagged the truck because it was like “you already screwed my time by making me think I was done, who care now?”

 

4th Event:

75% of Body Weight Bench for Reps

My bench weight was 170. You had one minute. I haven’t repped out bench work in a long time. I thought I’d get 25-30, but as soon as I took that first rep, I knew it wasn’t happening. My body was fried and the while I had been staying hydrated the only things I ate all day were beef jerky and trail mix. Big mistake.

 

5th Event:

Body Weight Deadlift for Reps

Deadlift weight was 225. You had one minute. I wanted 40-45, but ended up with 38 or 39 (I don’t remember, count the video if you want). I made the mistake of taking a break and resting with the bar down too early on, when I should have kept going until I absolutely couldn’t.

 

I met some cool people today and it was fun, but very different from powerlifting. If I were to ever do this again, I would definitely train for 2-3 months prior (not like that was an option this time). I would work my conditioning and grip hard, and try to mimic some of the events as best I could. There were a lot of crossfitters out there, and while their endurance was better than mine, I have to say I didn’t do too bad compared to them considering other than my lackluster conditioning, I haven’t done any cardio in probably 6 years. Next time around I would also eat more and definitely make sure I get a lunch in. I was just worried I would end up puking or passing out, so I was hesitant on eating the food. One thing I did not like about this comp was the judging/lack of rule enforcement. It said on the flyer, and I was also told by the event promoter that noa ssistive gear (belts, wraps, straps, etc.) of any kind were permitted. Yet guys were wearing belts and wrist wraps. Also, they said all bench reps and deadlift reps had to be locked out. Well guess what? The people with the highest reps were not locking their shit out. So that was bullshit and kind of made it hard to enjoy when other people were getting away with illegitimate reps. I was going to do an NAS comp back in august in Reno in their novice division. I have to say I think I would have fared a lot better at that comp than this one based on the events, even had I had no training like this time. Will I do one again? Maybe, maybe not. I definitely enjoy powerlifting a lot more. And speaking of such, it’s back to that on Monday and trying to put on some more weight.

 

 

USPA Meet @ Wild Iron 10-7-12

Want to get back into blogging and logging my training, but am not a fan of being on forums and having to check other people’s logs and comment on them just to get mine read- I’d rather people read mine out of their own interest, same as I read others’. So, people may or not read this, but I will update it and link it on Facebook and Twitter every time I do. Onto the meet breakdown.

 

I had a meet back in May that was a total disaster. Totaled less than my meet last December, and only hit 4 out 9 lifts. I was looking to make a comeback this time around.

 

Training had been going well and I peaked just about right for this meet. I told myself going in that I wasn’t going to push squats- I knew I wanted around 420 (my previous best being 435 but hadn’t seen that since December), and I just wanted the squats deep and to get me in the game. My goals were to get a bench, deadlift, and total PR.

 

Squats

1st Attempt: 385, white lights

Found out I had previously been using 2.5m knee wraps, but ended up with 2.0m knee wraps this time. I didn’t realize this until I was wrapping for my first attempt and ran out of wrap. I had to re-roll my wrap and barely got my knees wrapped in time for the attempt. My knee cap ended up sticking out on all attempts because of how short the wrap was. Leaned a little far forward on this one as I was all flustered, but pulled it off.

 

2nd Attempt: 402, white lights

Easy and deep. Was told by Alan Aerts to throw some real weight on the bar because it looked like an easy opener.

 

3rd Attempt: 418, white lights

Felt a little harder than it looked on video, but either way it wasn’t that hard. I was really tempted to go for a grinder of a PR here, but had to remind myself of my original intent.

 

Bench

1st Attempt: 248, white lights

This was my third attempt weight back in May. I have always struggled with the bench- to the point that my best lift was 215 and it was stalled at that for a year, and it took me another 6 months after that to get to 225.

 

2nd Attempt: 260, 2 whites/one red

I was told by one of the judges that I heaved the bar. I’ve been using a slight sink technique lately, but I know the difference between a sink and a heave. Apparently they said after the press command I sunk farther and then heaved it up. I watched the video a few times and did not see this, but either way I knew they would be watching closely on my next attempt.

3rd Attempt: 270, white lights

I really wanted 275 and was probably good for 280, but after almost missing the previously lift I played it safe. I let the bar barely touch my chest and then pressed it after the command. It was a little harder this way but I made the lift.

 

Deadlift

1st Attempt: 490, white lights

I had been pulling conventional all year but after feeling sketch when taking my opener a couple weeks prior, I decided to go modified sumo. Hard to say if this was the better choice, and I will be going back to conventional during training, and may also play with wide sumo. Anyway, lift was fast and easy.

 

2nd Attempt: 523, white lights

I missed this lift in May and had missed 518 back in December, so I was determined to get this, and did. One of the announcers told me to go heavier after I told her it had been haunting me, but again I didn’t want to chance it.

 

3rd Attempt: 529, white lights

A little harder, but was probably good for 535 or 540. Hopefully I will pull more than that at the next one.

 

I ended the day 9 for 9 on my lifts with a 22 lb bench PR, 17 lb deadlift PR, and 44 lb total PR with a 1217 total.

 

While I didn’t go for any crazy lifts or really push myself, I did what I set out to do and was very happy with the day. I know it can be awesome to really go for that grinder and get a big PR, but I’m also a firm believer in making lifts and being a consistent lifter. This time I really listened to myself and was very calculated in my attempts. It was a great meet and I met some cool lifters. Looking forward to my next meet- I’m hoping in early 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what’s wrong with powerlifting (and other sports with weight classes)…

Having weight classes, and then having guys cut a ton of weight to fit into a weight class, defeats the purpose. It skews the numbers. Yes, you have guys that are going to be freakishly strong regardless of their weight class. But when you have guys that walk around at 240 but competing at 220, they’re putting up bigger numbers than a true 220 which throws off everything. I had someone argue that at what weight do they count the lift? Because maybe a person weighed 220 in the morning but then 222 come bench time and 225 come deadlift time. I guess whatever they weigh in at the morning of competition should count. But weighing in a day early at 20 pounds lighter than what you’ll actually be lifting at is bullshit and unfair. Saying you lifted x amount of weight at 220 or having a record recorded at 220 when you really weighed 240 when you lifted said weight or set said record is total bullshit and really demeans the value of others’ work. I understand cutting 5 pounds to squeeze into a class, especially to set a record. But cutting 20 pounds? That’s ridiculous. What’s the point of even having weight classes then?

7-24-11 SPF Meet@ Crossfit Pleasanton 1074 lbs. total

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDVoyj-ZeMI

Weighed in at 212 lbs. Went 8/9 lifts (369/231/474) for a total of 1074 lbs. 60 lb. meet total PR. Had more in me.