FINALLY Wrapped Up My First Wave of Juggernaut

weet Jesus, it has finally happened. After much life, trials and tribulations, a holiday, and a stomach bug, I am FINALLY wrapping up my first wave of the Juggernaut Method AND I am getting to write about it. 

The most hardcore of the hardcore will tell you that training comes first, nothing should stand in the way of striving for powerlifting excellence, etc, but let's face it - ain't no meets paying my bills. Bruh gotta eat and a family gotta be taken care of EVERY so often. 

I dare say they actually like seeing me from time to time. 

Maybe.

I knew that I as going to take a little longer than the standard four weeks prescribed to complete a wave, but damn. First day on Juggernaut was way back on 10/28, just now hitting the first day of the next wave, "8s", as of 12/15. So basically what should have taken about five weeks (call it a nine or ten day week  how I have it programmed, as opposed to a seven day week as it is written) has taken about six. 

At any rate, nothing truly spectacular happened during this cycle or its last week, but I did add a little to every lift, so there is a little progress. If I can manage to stay on the wagon through this next wave we should see even more progress, gains will be reaped, glory will be had (not really), etc.

Just realized that I hadn't posted up on the second "week" of the wave.

Suffer.

In keeping with the format of block periodization, Smith has dubbed the second week "Transformation", then week three is "Realization", then a deload, Loosely speaking, the Transformation week work is for the same number of sets as in the Accumulation week, but for fewer reps- if Accumulation 10s was for ten sets of five reps, then Transformation 10s was ten sets of three reps at slightly increased weights, more reps on last sets. Keep in mind that I am following the "Inverse Juggernaut" pattern, so as the program was originally written Accumulation and Transformation weeks would be five sets of ten reps and three sets of ten reps (more reps on last sets), respectively. Realization is done in essentially a 5/3/1 pattern, with max reps for the last set, then training max for the next wave based on a calculation using those reps over the standard for the wave.

Confused? Go buy the book, as linked in the first paragraph of this post.

I even remembered my add reps on all sets for the Transformation week. Yay, me.

Quick last week wrap up:


10s wave, Realization 1: Squat Day

This was a short session, had to get in and out fairly quickly and everyone wanted to be all Talky Talkenstein.

• Warm up, stretch - about 10min
• Box jumps - 4s 5r
• Squat - worked up to a set of 11 @ 260lbs

Done

Did you know that dancing to Meshuggah is a thing? As in, there are a ton of videos on the intertubes where people have synced up dance performances to Meshuggah songs? It's bloody amazing, and now you will all suffer for it.

10s wave, Realization 2: Bench Day


Nice and straightforward day, got my work in and got out.

• Warm up, stretch - about 10min
• Bench - worked up to a set of 11 @ 150lbs
• Incline dumbbell bench - 5r @ 40lbs, 5r @ 50lbs, 5r @ 60lbs, 5r @ 65lbs
• Straight bar lat pulldown - 10r @ 100lbs, 8r @ 110lbs, 5r @ 120, 5r @ 140lbs, 5r @ 150lbs
• Straight fat bar press down - 5s 5r @ 150lbs
• Band pull aparts - 4s 15r w/ EliteFTS red mini Pro band

10s wave, Realization 3: Deadlift Day

• Warm up, stretch - about 10min
• Box jumps - 5s 5r
• Deadlift, sumo - worked up to a set of 12 @ 260lbs
• RDL a la Duffin - 10 @ 135lbs, 155, 175, 195
• Tbar row, slow - 4s 8r @ 45lbs

Not an awful day of deadlifting, though That shows I am still weaker than a few months ago. Think I did something similar with 300+ previously. Oh yeah, I did.

I am excited to see where I am with these in another few months of running this program. It seems I do better with volume in deadlifting and squats, so hopefully this is right where I need to run.

I even managed to remember a video. Shitty, shitty video:

10s wave, Realization 4: Press Day

This was another that felt pretty good when it all came down to it. I was honestly a little worried about making or exceeding goal on this one (10 reps +) as (1) I missed the press day on the previous week and (2) press has always been my weakest lift - especially after hurting my back/shoulder last year.

• Warm up, traction - about 10min
• Press - worked up to a set of 13 @ 100lbs
• Klokov press - 4s 8r @ 85lbs
• Tbar row, slow neutral grip - 4s 8r @ 45lbs
• Straight fat bar cable press down - 5s 5r @ 150lbs
• Band pull apart - 4s 15r w/ EliteFTS red mini Pro band

As one of the fellas at the gym said, I probably cheated by kipping off of my beard. Wish I had video of it, but alas, the phone is largely relegated to timer duties to keep me on track so I have not been doing much video.

There is always Meshuggah, though.

Followed those all up with a shorted deload and we're all wrapped up. All the work is feeling good, save for that first squat day in the wave- high quantity sets of five are absolutely killing my legs. As mentioned, I am squatting a little differently now, but sheeeeeeit. As mentioned, currently into the first week of the "8s" wave, and it is really no different, DOMS, wise. Legs are murdered for multiple days after the squat training sesh, points to need for improved recovery processes and more stretching before AND after needed.

Stay tuned and destroy.

First "Week" of Juggernaut Wrapped Up

uggernaut Accumulation phase numero uno is in the books.

Juggernaut is programmed as "waves" based on the prescribed base rep scheme for work sets. Each wave is then broken into phases. The four phases are Accumulation, Intensification, Realization, a la block periodization, followed by a deload phase. In a four day/week program, a phase would last a week. I am currently programming it as three days a week, or a roughly nine to ten day phase.

As mentioned previously, I decided to give The Juggernaut Method a try after analyzing my own issues with ever so briefly perusing its digital pages and reading some of the articles on their site, it looked like a well programmed way to apply some more volume to my training. While I heart the ol' block periodization, my previous programming protocol, I realized several weeks ago that I really wasn't ready for it. While I got a little better with the shoulder, etc, I lost way too much strength during that downtime- and that is not just with pressing. Everything suffered. Squats are crap, pulls are crap, conditioning and work capacity are crap. 

In short, I am not ready for a meet. 

Maybe meat, but not meet. 

And at least so far, Juggernaut feels like it will help quite a bit with restoring all of that stuff above.

Stuff. Yes, that's science.

So anyhoo, onto the work:



10s wave, Accumulation 1: Skeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewat Day

• warm up, about 10min
• Squat - warm up sets, working sets: 8s 5r, 1s 3r @ 210lbs (should have been 10s 5r) - 90 second rest periods
• X walks - 5s 10yds each direction w/ EliteFTS red mini Pro band, 90 second rest periods
• Seated hip abductions - 5s 10r w/ doubled over red band, 90 second rest periods

Good times. One thing you should notice is the sets/reps on this week- the prescribed work under standard Juggernaut method should be five sets of 10 repetitions at 60% of your training max (training max = 90% of your one rep max, a la 5/3/1) BUT I strained (popped?) something in my right quad on rep three of the ninth set just coming out of the hole and got put back down in the hole. I finished the rep, but the remainder of the set and all of the next set just weren't happening. Tried to roll it and stretch it out, but to no avail. Walked around for a bit to try to keep it warm, hit the accessory work, stretched a bit more, and called it a day. 

As mentioned in the previous post, my warm up apparently needs to be more thorough. Between the quad strain and the DOMS that followed for the next three to four days, it was no bueno. In memes, this translates to:

You get the point.

BUT I can say that the work itself felt good, and while one can obviously dictate rest periods themselves, having them built into the program is pretty great. As stated, one of my issues as a lifter in general is work capacity, and the built in short rest periods help that.

Sometimes, you just have to be told what to do.

10s wave, Accumulation 2: Bench Day

All work done with approximately 90 second rest periods between sets:

• warm up and band traction, about 10 min 
• Bench - worked up to 10s 5r @ 120lbs
• Incline dumbbell bench - 5s 10r @ 40lbs
• Lat pulldown, paused - 5s 10r @ 100lbs
• Band pull aparts - 5s 10r w/ EliteFTS red mini Pro band

Not much to report on this one. Good sesh, work felt good. I DID forget an important aspect of Juggernaut on this sesh and the following deadlift sesh - the idea that one should exceed the prescribed reps on the last set, leaving 2-3 in the tank on your first "week" of the wave, so I did just the prescribed reps.

Still, good times, and it felt good working at that repetition and feeling technique (bar path, touch point, etc) becoming more consistent.

Metal break.

10s wave, Accumulation 3: Deathlift Day

This one was a bit rushed, and I am still not 100% set on accessory work, so required work was about it for the day.

• Warm up, about 10min
• Box jumps - 5s 5r
• Deadlift, sumo - worked up to 5s 5r @ 215lbs, 5s 5r @ 220lbs, 90 second rest periods

One of the gym bros needed to work in, so we ran with his working weight for the last few sets. Past that, I honestly don't remember what I did for accessory work.

And as mentioned, forgot to get the "+" on the last set.

That said, another positive with this volume of work, especially at a consistent weight, is that you can really work on technique. Much as I got to work path and touch point on bench day, I worked on consistently setting up, opening my hips, and getting my pull point locked in. I have a tendency of slowly transitioning over to pulling with my back instead of my legs during high volume deadlift work, so I was working to actively counter that.

Quoth David, "Can you store a lot of water in that hump?"

Ha ha. You funny I forgot to raff.

OKAY, SO MAYBE MY FORM ISN'T PERFECT, BUT I'M NOT THE ONE LISTENING TO BOBAFLEX, DAVID!

ahem.

Yeah.

Just for that, I have to purge somehow.

Ah, yes.

I have the perfect remedy for Bobaflex.

Whew. All better.



10s wave, Accumulation 4: Press Day

Not much exciting here, just a press day. Press is my weakest comparative lift (even worse than my bench), so I am excited to have a day dedicated to it. Should be some good work happening here in the future.

• Warm up, stretch, traction - about 15min
• OHP, strict - 9s 5r @ 80lbs, 6r @ 80lbs
• Klokov press - 5s 10r @ 65lbs
• Tbar row, slow - 5s 10r @ 45lbs
• Band pull aparts - 4s 15r w/ EliteFTS red mini Pro band

All working and accessory sets done on 2 min cycle times

I remembered to get my extra work in on the last working set - only one extra rep. Ever since my upper back/shoulder injury and my subsequent lack of consistent rehab work I fatigue easily on overhead work. This is yet another area I hope to make strides on with this program as I know I need the improvement.

And who doesn't love overhead work?

Fascists and pedophiles, that's who.

And don't you forget it.

Go forth and press for freedom.

Ready to put in some work.

Alright, let's get reacquainted.

Firing it back up, time to get serious about the diet and get some good base training underway.

As to methods being used, I am perusing the Renaissance Diet and the Juggernaut Method. I don't claim to have the best, most thorough understanding of either as I am still reading through them, but I have culled what I believe are some of the general principles or the high level concepts. I am running with those for now and as I read more and gain a more thorough understanding of them, I will keep sharpening the axe, so to speak.

One of the biggest things I will be working on, from a diet standpoint, is honing the macro balance to more closely match the Renn Diet recommendations, as I know I am not currently in line with them and probably won't be for a minute. Current targets are 2700kcals/day on non lifting days, 3000kcals/day on lifting days. Macros are not set in stone yet, but it looks like around 225g/day protein (or more) with carbs and fat undecided, but trying to keep them relatively low.

At least as compared to the standard American diet.

Goals are pretty open at this point. Short term diet goal is to get under 220lbs bodyweight without letting the lifting suffer. No real time frame there except to try to get there in the next six months or so- want to hit it before next selected meet, which should be next spring.

Lifting goal is much broader than even that, currently only working on rebuilding my base strength and honing technique in the big three lifts. Juggernaut appears to be good for that with the higher rep work built in, so that's what we'll roll for right now.

Also trying to get back into the habit of early morning lifting. Yay.

As an aside, it's kind of funny that when you do a Google image search for "alarm clock" very few of them are shown as displaying a time earlier than 6:00AM

First morning in was last Tuesday, 28 October. This morning was a nice little "getting to know" session - early morning sesh + Juggernaut intro.

Woke up easy enough (for me), at about 4:30AM, brushed teeth and packed up, made a couple of brotein shakes and took a caffeine pill, and was out the door by a little after 5:00AM. Made the gym by 5:45AM and proceeded to warm up.

But apparently not enough.

The first few weeks of a Juggernaut cycle are the "10s wave", based on sets of 10 at a certain percentage. Because squats are special, the first day of a training week seems to always be squat day, and this was certainly no exception. I'll detail the programming coming up, but I can already tell I like the work, despite straining a quad or cramping it or whatever.

Point being, need more warm up and cool down, because I had DOMS in my quads and ass for the next four days solid.

This is going to be fun.

Your Dally Wisdom, 17 October 2014

NEVER STOP DEADLIFTING

T3 - Transmutation Week 3: Let's Go Ahead And Call It

o yeah, let's go ahead and call it.

November meet is off.

Transmutation Week 3 is in the books, and it has been very mixed. As we spoke about previously, there have been numerous issues with this training cycle, culminating in what I would like to call "let's forfeit this battle and work toward winning the war".

We'll get into some analysis of issues and the responses after the sesh report.

But first, everybody just calm down and let's all just sludge metal for a second...

And now is the time on Hanselopolis when we log...

T3A - ME Squat, 9/24/2014:

Short session, was up at work late and took FOREVER to get in and get going, so I only hit my working reps. Switched up to competition lift for double + revers grey bands, as such:

• 2x445lbs + reverse grey EliteFTS average Pro bands, 1x465lbs

Viddy this:

Looking back, I probably had another rep at 465 on that last set, felt a lot worse than it looked. Got a little tilted forward, transferred to the quads, and shot my ass back. Also, squatting in my Chucks, so my parallel is not exactly where I want it to be. Check out the Romaleo action coming up, the wave of the future...

T3B - ME Bench, 9/27/2014:

Much better sesh for time, if not performance. Like the squat, with this sesh we moved a little more from the NCL (non competition lift) to the CL (competition lift) with a reverse band close grip bench.

• Reverse band close grip bench - 2x275lbs, fail 285 @ rep 2 
• Close grip bench- 3x185, 5x175, 5x165, 7x155, 10x135  
• Bench grip bent over barbell rows - 5x5x175 
• Klokov press - 3x8x85lbs 
• External rotation  - 3x20/arm with doubled over orange band

So this is basically 10lbs under where I was prepping for the meet last year. That, obviously, sucks with curse words and descriptive phrase involving livestock, but I need to remind myself that this is still better than where I was last August.

Imagine if I had kept my rehab up and taken care of my shoulder, then this video




could have been taken six months ago instead of just a few days ago.

That, incidentally, is the first time I have been able to bench 225lbs since my injury last July.

Progress.

That said, it's not where I want to be. More work, more recovery, more rehab. We gon' make it a'righ', chil'.

Didn't get video of the programmed work sets, but c'est la vie. Actually got video of my failed set but the file was somehow corrupted by the time it came to upload to the ewe tubes.

Or is that yew tubes.

Whatever.

Wah.

T3C - DE Squat, 9/29/2014:


Another slight change up in movements - as opposed to the bar weight + chain, this sesh started in on bar weight + bands.

• Squat - 8x2x245lbs + EliteFTS Pro average grey band per side (okay they were green, but same tension)
• RDL - 5x7x235lbs

Ah, band tension when squatting. That shizzle is a mudder humper getting back into it- it's not necessarily that it is impossible to complete reps, it's just that shock of tension at lock out that is always surprising if you haven't squatted against bands in a while. It's dynamic work, so the bar weight is obviously much lighter than on heavy work, but you go from "YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" at the descent and in the hole to "OH MY GOD WHAT THE CRAP JUST HAPPENED ON ME?!" about a quarter of the way from lock out.

So many good times.

I didn't get video of all sets, but here is the first "test" set after throwing the bands on, checking depth, etc. I was pretty happy overall with the work.

That's more like where my depth needs to be.

Note to self: Squat in Romaleos.

Done.

Other part of the fun of this sesh was starting to actually be able to begin comprehending a technique from good ol' Chris Duffin.

No, I didn't get it directly from him and we don't hang out on weekends, but sometimes I feel like I do have direct access to some of the greatest minds in powerlifting because of elitefts.com. Seriously. If you have a question on just about anything powerlifting, bodybuilding, or even just general sports preparedness, Elite can get you sorted out 99.9% of the time. And it's freaking free.

Free fifty.

Gratis.

No charge, sirs and madames.

Free.

At any rate, Capitan Duffin, if anything, is a technician. He is brutally strong, and in addition his technique is spot on and you can tell he has thought about it on more than one occasion. He did a video series on T spine stabilization and the squat, part one of which is below

One of the things he talks about is properly utilizing your core muscles in order to help brace and align the T spine in the squat. Conceptually, I think this is rather simple, but once working weights are on the shoulders, I have found it difficult to activate properly. Whenever I unrack and go to tighten the core, it feels like the only way to properly do it is to contract the abs in such a manner as to cause some anterior pelvic tilt, which seems to fly in the face of most squat technique. HOWEVER, it seems that when done properly and NOT overly exaggerated, it's just freaking fine.

Also note that if you have not attempted this technique before then please, for the love of Odin, watch the entire video series, maybe get with a coach, practice with light weights, etc, before you start trying to throw 2x your max on the bar and start tucking your pelvis. Again, this is not the most difficult technique in the world to grasp, but if you don't know what you're doing, don't just tuck your pelvis and blame me when you blow a disc.

Ya big dummy.


T3D - DE Bench, 10/1/2014:

Again with the change up, this somewhat uneventful sesh was brought you by the letter "Y".

As in, Y do I happen to be one of only three or four people in the gym available to spot or board for the geared benchers or squatters whenever I am in my DE sets? Seems like whenever I am actually on a good roll, my DE sets always get interrupted by spot requests.

And while I don't want anyone at the gym dropping a bar on their throats or destroying a monolift, I gots work to do do, main.

This was also one of those days where you wait a half hour on a rack. This is not necessarily the worst thing in the world, but once you've popped a scoop and a half of Magnum Serum washed down with the full power of Mountain Dew (tee em), you pretty quickly want to go ahead and get to work.

Or you get extremely chatty while absentmindedly doing band pull aparts, either way.

• Band pull aparts - about 100 reps with EliteFTS Pro micro mini orange band whilst waiting for a rack
• Bench - total of 12x3x125lbs + EliteFTS Pro mini red band per side
• External rotations - 4x20 per arm w/doubled over micro mini band

Again with the no video, but the sesh felt pretty good, despite the interruption every few sets. Band tension was about right to slow the press down just a little to force the speed on follow through, but not so wicked as to make them all grinders. Good times.

/End sesh report.

...

Alright, so back to what you have all been chomping at the bit to delve back into, issues with the training cycle, the planned fixes, and plans going forward.

Let's recap a tetch:

1) The (less than) Almighty Shoulder Injury - this has been a rehab and rebuilding point since last year, and it has not gotten the attention it deserves. Mea culpa, completely.

There has been some progress made, but it still feels comparatively unstable and it has been reacting more adversely to strain than it needs to.

2) Squat technique - this was an area I didn't really expect to have issues with going into the training cycle. Part of this is mobility - along with the shoulder issues, my throacic spine has been pretty well locked up, and as always, my hips are generally shit. I have been going back and forth with Oly shoes and flats for squatting, and have had some work done by ol' Doc Martinez, so it is getting better, but again, not where it needs to be. I shouldn't have questions as to FREAKING SQUAT TECHNIQUE a few weeks out from a meet.

3) Missed and short training days - while this will tend to happen what with, you know, life, this certainly doesn't help matters. I need to get a little more consistent overall, and get more consistent with what happens on off days, as well.

So what the crap are we going to do to remedy all of these issues, you ask?

Long and short of it is that I need to get more consistent overall, but especially with regard to the rehab on the shoulder, and keep building a better strength base. I have numerous programs from which to pull and the means to do it, it's just all about consistency. I have kept up with some rehab/prehab over the last week or so, but a week a new shoulder does not make.

Next training sesh or two will probably be max tests for squat and deadlift, since I know where I stand on bench and I have had about a week of deload at this point. In the meantime I am going to be analyzing a few different programs and I have some reading material to get in and digested, so I am as of yet undecided as to exactly the method of training coming up.

Also need to determine a length of time for building the base up and check out meets on the horizon to determine the next training timeline or set of timelines.  This will determine how quickly I need to get back into a meet prep cycle but, as of right now, I don't think I am looking at anything before April or May of 2015.

Sounds like a long time out but as the saying goes, "it's a marathon, not a sprint". Better to take care of some needed business in the near term and get healthier for meet training and performance down the road.

Go forth and don't jack up your rotator cuffs.

T2 - Transmutation, Week 2: Stuff and stuff with things and more stuff

ransmutation week 2 is in the bag and week 3 is well under way. Sorry for the delay between updates, been a busy bee lately.

The creeping demon of doubt is starting to dig its filthy, dirty little claws into my program. I'll detail a little more in next post, but getting into some squat technique issues and the shoulder related base strength issues are starting to make November look like a "should not".

I am basically eight weeks out at this point, and while I knew full well that the shoulder would be an issue going into the training cycle, I'm not sure that enough progress has been made to participate in this meet.  

As mentioned, I am into T3 a bit at this point, should be benching soon and will test to gauge progress. Maybe we can stuff that mother trucker back in the closet where he belongs.

And as an aside, and I am sure I have posted this up before, but here is one of the finest pieces of heavy music in the last 30 years:

At any rate, time will tell and updates will come. Until then, here is the shizzle that went down in Transmutation, week 2...

T2A - ME Squat, 9/15/2014:

This was the last of two days of  max effort work on the Buffalo bar. Got the previous week beat, if not by what I wanted. 

• Buffalo bar squat - Worked up to 3x460lbs + reverse grey bands
• RDL - 20xbar, 10x135lbs, 10x185lbs, 5x8x225lbs

Again, not bad work, just didn't quite have it to kill more weights. Also not real happy with my depth, but there you go.

This shit's going to get boring quick if I don't feel like writing much.

T2B - ME Bench, 9/17/2014:

Hit this one late, so not a ton to it.

• Bench - worked up to 2x305lbs + reverse EliteFTS orange light Pro bands to 3 board, failed on second rep at 2x315lbs
• Bench grip bent over barbell rows - 5x8x155lbs
• Klokov press - 3x10x80lbs
• External rotation, arms down w/90° bend - 3x20/each arm w/ doubled over EliteFTS orange micro mini pro band

So I managed to beat last week's weight, but did fail with a little more greed. Check out the videos, pretty plain to see that I screwed up the bench by getting out of groove, need to get the triceps stronger and get the back more stable. With how I press, this should be a short, vertical press and not a "J" press

2x305-

Attempt at 2x315-

T2C - DE Squat, Missed:

That would be why there is no detail here.

I decided this night was better spent with family, as the schedule has been putting a strain on our relationship and causing disruption. So that's what I did.

Balance, homies and homettes.

I would normally put some metal right about here, but you are probably still listening to that Neurosis track, yes?

T2D - DE Bench, 9/22/2014:

Pretty decent feeling sesh, really, even if I should be pushing more weight. This one was:

• 9x3x135lbs w/two chains/side 
• Incline dumbbell press - 4x8x50lbs 
• Bench grip bent over barbell row - 4x10x135lbs  
• Klokov press - 10xbar, 10x65lbs, 10x85lbs, 8x75lbs, 10x65lbs 
• Standing side external rotation- alternate arm 3x20 w/EliteFTS orange micro mini Pro band
• Dumbbell shoulder rotation stretch - 20 internal/external each arm

No video, nothing crazy.

Just good ol' sesh work.

Go forth and stuff and things.

T1 - Transmutation Block, Week 1 for November 2014 Meet

ransmutation.

What a funny word.

transmutation

/ˌtrænz mjuːˈteɪ ʃən/

Noun

1. the act or process of transmuting.

2. the fact or state of being transmuted.

3. change into another nature, substance, form, or condition.

4. Biology. the transformation of one species into another.

So that's what this middle block is all about. 

To bring us back up to speed on the overarching program, I am running a block periodization style program. This consists of three waves, or "blocks". The first block, Accumulation, is about some hypertrophy and laying a base for the work to come. The second and current block, Transmutation, is about transforming what we have accumulated, molding that base from a general specificity toward sport specificity, until we finish out with the last block- Realization. This final block will be the most sport specific, where the focus will be on finalizing the power for our "power lifts". 

Generally, the main movements will be getting more specific toward the "big three" of squat, bench, and deadlift, and the accessory work is toning down in volume, to a degree, but will be more specific towards building the main movement.

Metal break, mainly for David: 

See, David? Soooooooooooooooooo much better than Nickelback. Or Five Finger Death Punch.

But I digress. Here's what occurred in T1... 


T1A - ME Squat, 9/4/2014:

• Warm up, stretch - about 10min
• Buffalo bar squat - Worked up to 3x450 + reverse EliteFTS average Pro bands, then 1x480 + same bands
• Lockouts w/buffalo bar - 5x1x10sec holds @ 500lbs
• Top range pin squats w/buffalo bar - 3x7x410lbs 

Did this sesh in the Oly shoes as I think I am leaning toward them so far for squatting. Screwed the pooch on what was supposed to be 3x475lbs- curved buffalo bar + tight left shoulder causing the right side to dip even more = right side JUST catching on the hook on the walk out. I'll have to remember to set the hooks a notch lower next time. Really wanted to get that 3x475 and go on to try 3x495, but I let it punk me out. 

Next time. 

Still beats last meet cycle's first transmutation week with a straight bar, so I guess I am reasonably content with that for now. 

You would think with the heavier bar weight that the backward pull of the bands would be lessened, but apparently that is not so. 

I lived. I learned. I will pass on.


T1B - ME Bench, 9/6/2014:


More reverse bands, more fun times.

• Warm up, shoulder traction - about 5min
• Bench to 3 board - worked up to 3x295lbs + reverse orange bands
• Pin bench press, pin @ about middle of press - 2x225lbs, 2x205lbs, 5x185lbs, 7x165lbs, 10x145lbs
• Barbell rows, bench grip width - 5x10x135lbs

The fun of this sesh was figuring out how to do this movement without a training partner. I got a suggestion or two from David, the owner of NBS and coach of the NBS powerlifting team, and eventually settled on setting the hooks at my normal height, safeties set right below that, then with the three board stuffed under my shirt.

Held alright.







Still a bit bummed that this work was not up to numbers level of last meet cycle more than a year ago, but it's coming along.


T1C - DE Squat, 9/8/2014:

This was a decent sesh, even if I did jack it up a little bit.

• Wait for a god damned bathroom to change in because Christian has to primp his damn mohawk and someone wanted to talk every time the other bathroom opened up - easily 30min
• Stretch, warm up - about 10min
• Dynamic squat business - 8x3x250lbs + two chains/side
• Seated upper back extension w/ EliteFTS SSB/yoke bar - 10xbar, 10x130lbs, 7x170lbs, 7x220lbs, 7x260lbs

So you will note that I did eight sets of three- as written, it should have been eight sets of two. Wondered why I was getting more fatigued than normal halfway through the sets. 

That and my conditioning sucks.

But that's not important right now.

Okay, so maybe it is. 

Moving on.

One of the big issues has been my left shoulder and its tightness, and the corresponding elbow/shoulder flare in my squatting. About halfway through this sesh I think I finally figured out how to keep my elbows down during the descent of the squat, need to figure it out a little better in the ascent. Should be a combination of cranking them down plus kicking the head back/chest up a bit at the beginning of the ascent to help keep the upright posture. More work on that and progress notes.

T1D - DE Bench, 9/10/2014:

• Warm up, band traction - about 10min
• Bench - 9x3x130lbs + 2 chains/side
• Dumbbell incline bench - 3x5x50lbs, 4x5x60lbs
• Bench grip width barbell row - 5x8x155lbs
• External rotations, rapid/short ROM - 5x10 per arm with doubled over EliteFTS orange pro micro mini band, no rest between sets
• Ministry video: 

So really a pretty decent sesh, if nothing really of note. Did work as written, got accessories in, including that last set of external rotations as recommended by the PT/chiro homey at the gym, Doc Jason Martinez. More on that in a minute...

Die Arbeit Video-

Bing bang bong.

In other news, I finally got together with Jason, not so resident chiro/PT bro, and went through a consult and started work on getting my tight shoulder and T spine worked on. Jason is a good dude, lifts, and does (so far) good work. We went over my injury history, symptoms, and issues and started into the deep tissue work and an adjustment, followed by dry needling across both traps and my upper back, shoulder, and upper arm on the left side. While it's definitely not the most pleasant process in the entire world, I think we have already started some good things working. By the time we got to dry needling, I was face down on the massage table thingy, second knuckles on my right hand touching the ground, and basically left fingertips touching the ground. After we were done, the left hand knuckles were touching the ground and I felt like I had been kicked by a horse a few times, but all was good.

Thank you, Google image search

That Friday, 9/12, was supposed to be the start of Transmutation, week 2, starting with ME squats as routine dictates, but as good as it felt having gotten all that work done on my back/shoulder/arm, there was no squatting to be had that night- my traps might have literally jumped off of me, slapped me about the face and neck, and walked out. I did test a few days later when I actually did the ME squat sesh (9/15) and all seemed good- left shoulder didn't have the typical pop up with the left elbow flaring back like it had been doing.

And in completely other news, diet is chugging along. As mentioned previously, shifting over to more whole foods, ~2800 kcal/day, 200g protein/day. Looks like 10 day average for caloric intake has been a little over 2700 kcals/day, protein sitting at about 190 g/day. At start of diet about a week ago, I was sitting at about 256lbs. Body weight was 254 this morning.

I also managed to resist most of the fair food at the Cooper Young Festival this past weekend, even if a trip to Schweinehaus almost got me off track.

IIFYM, right?

More on Schweinehaus some other time.

Go forth and laissez le bon temps rouler.

Mother trucker.

A4 - Accumulation Week 4: progress, metal, T-T-T-Tonka trucks

ell, here we are at the end of the first phase of training for the November meet, the Accumulation block. 

All in all, I think the block went well, despite some unexpected issues. 

The shoulder injury rehab is what it is- I think the progress has been good, but I know I need to step up the rehab and physical therapy game to maximize results. You'll see in the video for DE squats that the external rotation is nowhere where it needs to be- still very tight.

Need to focus more, also, on getting the bodyweight in line with what I want it to be. While I don't want to jeopardize recovery with some huge rapid weight loss, I also don't want to lift at 275- I am about 255 as of this morning. I think cutting down to 240 or so should be doable in the next two and a half months. 

More on that later.

Into the seshes.


A4A - ME Squat, 8/26/2014:

• Stretch, warm up - about 10min
• Cambered squat to high box - worked up to 330lbs + six chains/side

One of the constant themes through my training is that I always seem to run late with work and... you know... life. Weekday sessions lately have been in the neighborhood of two hours, and with my slow ass, that is not typically enough time to get a ton of accessory work in.

I know, I know

But there you have it.

This sesh was EVEN shorter, as I think it was 7:30 or 8:00PM getting to the gym, so after getting changed and warmed up, I only had about an hour, and that's about how long I take to get through the ten sets or what have you of main movement on max effort days, so that's about all we got in.

Good news, though, is that I toasted the previous sesh by doubling the chain weight, which should have amounted to about 80-100lbs over what I did last week.

Yay.


A4B - ME Bench, 8/28/2014:

Little mo' progress...

• Warm up, stretch, traction - about 10min
• Incline pin press - 3x5x175 + 1 chains/side 
• Barbell row - 5x10x135lbs 
• Dumbbell bench - 3x10x50lbs

Decent work, beat last week, got a little bit of accessory in. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh,,,

Still not technically as good same time last meet training cycle, but I was able to get more plate weight and keep the chains higher up on the loaders, and that is progress. And progress is good. 

It's also an album by Ultraspank, but that's not important right now.

Since that album is meh, here's some live Godflesh. Because you're worth it. 

A4C - DE Squat/Deadlift, 8/31/2014:

• Warm up, stretch - about 10min
• Squat to parallel-ish box (3rd hole) - 8x2x225 + 3 chains/side. First few sets I were triples because I... well... I forgot they were supposed to be doubles. Lolly.
• Deathlift in the sumo style - worked up to 3x275 + six chains 

Need to get a daily stretch and mobility routine going as this completely shredded my adductors and hips and made my poor little hiney sore. 

Not really sure, either, why I decided to use my Chucks for the squats on these, but I did. Starting to lean back to my Romaleos for the cheated hip mobility, will monitor on straight bar work going forward. 

Of course, if I would pay more attention to my hip mobility we wouldn't have these problems. 

Also, shoulder. I may just stop mentioning it. 

DAILY ROUTINE, DAMN YOU. QUIT MESSING AROUND AND DO IT.

• Skeewatz:

• Defliftz:

All that = completely shredded hips, etc, apparently.


A4D - DE Bench, 9/2/2014:


Bench keeps rolling, slowly but surely.

• Bench - 8x3x125 + 2 chains 
• barbell row - 5x10x135lbs 
• Incline dumbbell bench - 3x10, 8, 6 x 50lbs 
• Shoulder series x2 
• Cable triceps extension, rope handle - 5x8x60lbs

I did end up having to drop the second set of chains to the second link of the first set of chains, if that makes sense, to maintain some speed on these, so not quite back to olden times yet. Nonetheless, a little more progress, little more work. Keeping the incline dumbbell pressing in, got back to the cable triceps extensions. Huzzah.

So, yeah. Trucks. 

This big beautiful bastard was parked outside of one of the local Lowe's when I went in Saturday morn to pick up some stuff to fix both the of the commodes in the house.

I didn't get to check out what the door emblems said but they featured Confederate flags, and the decal across the hinged windshield (!) said "REDNECK NATION". 

That shit was TIGHT, yo!

Thanks, Jesse. 

So yeah, mentioned earlier (and probably more than once in previous posts) about cutting a little weight before the meet. I figure two and a half months or so should be enough time to cut down to hit 242. Long story short, plan is to keep calories at about 2800/day whilst maintaining a 200g/day protein intake (peaked after training, more than likely) and minimize the processed foods. I have been maintaining an account over at myfitnesspal.com and have a pretty good idea at this point what my body likes and doesn't like for calories and losing weight. The important thing, obviously, is lifting performance and recovery, so as mentioned, I refuse to cater diet toward rapid weight loss if my lifts start tanking. 

More on that as it develops.

In the meantime, metal.






Go forth and Ragnarok.

A3 - Accumulation, Week 3... A Short Week With a Whole Lot of Metal

s was previously mentioned in the last sesh report, this one was a shorter week due to missing a few days with getting caught back up with glorious work after the days off from it last week. 

Ah, life. Ye vicious cycle.

Anyhoo, short as it was, got to introduce a new movement and have a little fun with the skeeeeeewats.

Missing training days leading up to a meet is both (1) bad, and (2) kind of a bitch as you try to decide how to reenter your training cycle. Luckily, it is both (1) early in the training cycle, and (2) new movements week. How I am running the program (and I think how Louie, et al, run it), main movements on max effort days are generally changed every few weeks to help prevent adaptation and to encourage strength balance.

That said, I am no expert on block periodization, so I was unsure of where to pick up with the program after the break resulting from grandma's passing and the surrounding events. You will generally hear different philosophies on the matter, but conventional wisdom is to either pick up where you left off or to skip the days yous missed and truck forward as scheduled. With training being scheduled pretty tightly leading up to the meet, I decided to do a blend of both- I picked up where I left off, but skipped the dynamic effort days of the scheduled week so that my following week could start as scheduled.

As an aside, I have been listening to some ridiculous metal lately. Take Archspire, for instance...

Blagow.

A3A - ME Squat, 8/21/2014:

• Warm up, stretch - about 5min
• Cambered bar wide stance squat to high box - worked up to 5x330lbs + 3 chains/side
• Same movement - 5x330lbs, 4x10x240lbs

I haven't done cambered bar squats in forever and it took me a minute to get grooved into these, but they are good work. Also nice to give the hips a little break and do them to the high box.

I will say one thing, though- it is rough walking these out in a wide stance. Once the weight was getting up there, it was harder to get it unracked and step back in the same wide stance as earlier sets. Now that I have some reps under that bar I am an expert, of course, but getting used to it was just a barrel of monkeys.

Skeewatz -

Metal - 

Which is kind of funny because of how this week went.

But we'll talk about that in the next sesh report.


A3B - ME Bench, 8/24/2014:

• Warm up, band traction - about 10min
• Incline barbell pin press - 3x5x165 + 1 chains/side 
• barbell row - 4x10x145 
• Incline dumbbell bench - 4x10x50 
• Shoulder series + twist x 2 

Pretty straightforward sesh, bench still lagging and reintroducing the movement didn't help too much. Looking at last year's program notes, looks like I did the pin press for 3x5x155lbs + 3 chains/side. This time around, I went up a little in plate weight, but couldn't get the chain going as heavy as last time. In fact, I ended up having to move the chain down to the bottom on the last two sets as the shoulder and triceps on the left side were fatiguing quickly.

For accessories, moved to barbell rows as, honestly, people were hogging both the cable row and the T bar rows.  

Oh well. 

Barbells are good. Barbells are reliable. 

Also learned a little addition to David's shoulder series we have all grown to love so much. Homeboy Jason (PT/chiro) was in lifting with a buddy and recommended. Hard to explain, but is essentially a close grip, single band external rotation. To properly isolate the movement, you just about have to be on your knees and elbows. Hands close together, gripping a single section of band with pronated grip, externally rotate the hands by externally rotating the shoulders. It's a little bit of a rough mind/body movement connection to make, but when you do make the connection, it's a nice addition to the regular shoulder series. 

Boom. 

Go forth and metal it up a notch.