Training Sesh 2/22/14: In which we improve and discuss technique...

Decent little training day after not having been in the jamesnasium for a few days- missed a session due to... yes... work... but I think this may have been in order. The demands of the office still stand, as they always do, but I can still make it to the gym. And that is lovely.

As has been something of the norm lately, I was actually pumped to get into this sesh multiple days ahead of time- if fitting schedule, the sesh would have been on Thursday, but this one was pushed to Saturday- as I knew this was going to be the one to break 315 on the 5x squat. While I have been stronger than what that would portend before injury, neglect, etc, I don't think I have actually ever loaded that weight for that many reps before.

We would refer to that as "cardio".

Here is what occurred:

• Squat (w/Elite Mastodon bar)- 2x3xbar, 5x110lbs, 5x150lbs, 5x200lbs, 5x240lbs, 5x290lbs, 5x320lbs
• Bench - 5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x155lbs, 5x170lbs
• Wide stance barbell good mornings - 5x95lbs
• TBar row w/holds - 4x7x45lbs
• Standing cable crunch - 3x15x120lbs

Dig that. I thought the the bar was 65lbs going into the sesh and had planned on using it instead of the Texas squat bar, but asked Christian to verify my loading beforehand (programming is important, ya know?), and he thought it was 60lbs.

Crap.

Discrepancy. We don't like discrepancy, my precious.

To dispel the demons of doubt, I grabbed the not so trusty Nokia Lumia 925 (don't get me started) looked it up on Elite's site and it was indeed 60lbs. Come on, man. 60? Determined to not use 2.5lb plates to make my plate weight and not go short of the goal weight of 315lbs, went ahead and loaded to 320lbs.  Five pounds more than I had prescribed.

Awesome.

It was fun, too, because I got the lifting nerves kicking in- the ones that tell you this is going to be awesome or you're going to suck, one of the two.

Quoth Christian, "This is going to be awesome, shut up and get under it..."

You will notice that Christian stopped recording right as I was setting up for the celebratory air hump. That's okay, better coach than media manager.

Speaking of- if you are in the area and need a personal trainer, you might look the guy up, like maybe where I linked him above. For serious.

So that set wasn't too bad. Need to work more on getting down, but we know this. Working on some hip stretching and getting into position on off days, just need to keep it going and get them worked out more.

Apparently 36 year old office working hips don't like to get down. Who knew?

Working more on solidifying the squat hand placement and grip. Been playing a lot with wide overhand grip lately, ie hands entirely over and clamping the bar down instead of gripping the bar. Some of this is from the shoulder and tightness there, some of it is for stability and not carrying weight in my elbows- when I grip in and elbows down, I seem to support more weight in my hands than necessary. Oddly enough, a buddy on another forum posted this from ol' Mark Rippetoe a day or two previously:

Worked a bit on getting set as prescribed in the video as Rippetoe talks about in the video in on my sets as it seems to cater to my technique a little more, but I gotta say that isn't the easiest thing with that Mastodon bar. Might just take some getting used to, but I definitely prefer setting up on the Texas squat bar or a standard power bar over the Mastodon bar, definitely not used to the thickness of the Mastodon. Couldn't seem to get set correctly on any of my sets without the bar rolling a little on my back. Might try again later with more of a clamp/hands over grip.

And talk about knurling, holy shit snacks. Think I left a layer or two of wrist skin on the bar. Sorry, David.

Another fun thing- benched 5x170lbs, which I wasn't necessarily expecting after failing the 175lbs at third rep last week. Worked a bit more on some back tightness, can tell it's not there, but it seems to be getting better as well.  Also worked on tightness overall after reverting back to tucked feet position, and remembering leg drive. Durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Work, work, work. We get better everyday.

And just in case I need a reminder as to why...

Not pictured: One wedding ring...

Go forth and destroy.

Training sesh 2/18/14: In which we work on front squat technique and continue to improve

Decent little training sesh in the books last night, though I was a big meanie and didn't get any video. I even commented to my training partner about two sets out, asking if he could get video for me. Grr. This actually hurts me more than you, as I find it useful to see at least my last working sets and try to glean what I can from them as to technique fixes, observation of consistency, etc.

At any rate, here is what occurred:

• Front squat - 2x5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x165lbs, 5x195lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x245lbs
• Deathlift - 5x135lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x275lbs, 5x315lbs, 5x355lbs
• OHP, barbell, strict - 5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x115lbs, 5x125lbs
• Fat bar lat pulldown, slow w/3sec holds at bottom - 3x8x100lbs

So while this wasn't the training sesh in which we hang out with a bunch of gym bros and talk about weiners (though that didn't happen a little), twas a very informative gym sesh in which I got to fix a thing or two(ish) and check other technique. It also illustrated the usefulness of training with different folks that don't necessarily do what everyone else is doing.

Because I love being at work more than anything else, I got into the jamesnasium a little late, about 6:00PM, which is really about prime time for attendance. Though it was a Tuesday, there was a boot camp going on, group or two of powerlifters, and some client training going on, amongst other things. Racks being in high demand, I worked in with my buddy Scott, who just so happened to be front squatting as well.

Scott is a powerlifter, and does do the occasional meet, but to my knowledge does his own programming or gets it from outside of the gym. He's got some training under his belt and has been through similar injury as what I have going on with my shoulder. Coming from a little different perspective he has a different insight as to technique and all, so when I told him about some of my front squat issues, he had a little insight to add.

Amongst other things, one of the most bothersome aspects of my front squat currently is the fact that I seem to be carrying a lot of the weight in my hands/fingers instead of the deltoids, which causes a lot of strain on the wrists and elbows. The most obvious fix here is to keep the elbows up, which helps drive the chest up and keep the bar from rolling forward into the hand. HOWEVER, one of the other suggestions that Scott had to aid in this pursuit was to change my hand position and unrack slightly- previously, I had been in a fairly standard unrack position with my index and middle fingers under the bar, about an inch or so off the smooth. While this was okay, we changed my hand position so that I used my middle three fingers and centered them in the knurling, taking the ring finger out after the unrack. This seemed to work pretty well for alignment and I was able to still keep my elbows pretty well forward using this, even with my wrists wrapped.

This change, coupled with a little more mobility so that I could get the bar more in front of my clavicles and a little stronger back seemed to make my 5x245 this week better than my 5x235 last week- more reason why I wish had gotten a freaking video. Also getting over that fight or flight response kicking in- when 200+ pounds rolls into your adam's apple and wants to crush your windpipe, you get antsy BUT if you're front squatting, you get over that shizzle, reset your head so you can take a quick breath or two, and carry on.

Next we deathlift.

This one's for Austin. No singing in this one, eh...

Deadlifts weren't horrible, not great. Hit goal set of 5x355lbs, but the last few reps were freaking ugly- rounded upper back and all. Part of this was fatigue, part of it is relearning proper patterning. According to Scott, seems like I am rounding my back and not driving hips through at the right time. Rounded back equals loss of power transfer, not driving the hips through makes the deadlift a low back exercise and not optimal recruitment of all motors. I worked on this a bit on the early sets- flattening the back and pulling back as soon as the bar touches the shins, driving through the heels and pushing through the glutes when the bar is crossing the knee.

I know what I NEED to do, just need to reinforce it until it is second nature. Like the saying goes- amateurs practice until they get it right, pros practice until they can't get it wrong.

Additionally, I need to lose some gut- the extra man jiggles in front is partially preventing me from getting into proper position on the deathlift right out of the gate, and I feel like it is hindering my squat as well. There is one thing for size and girth for leverage, another entirely when it's useless.

It's the useful that must be increased, the useless that must be decreased.

Overhead press was decent, not awesome. I was just commenting to David how I felt like my upper body lifts were stalling and needed more accessory work when I go ahead and increase my press another five pounds. Again, not the most beautiful- there was definitely some English in the press in the form of some bounce reflex out of the hole, but still got them up and locked them out.

The left side is definitely not driving like it should, more work to be done there. Concensus (and I concur) is to add some high rep dumbbell pressing, so that will be coming up. For my rowing movements, I started adding holds at the full contraction to help optimize lat strength. Also need to add my external rotations back in and more than likely keep up with the flyes for chest work. Band work on "off" days should suffice there for now.

Didn't get my posterior chain work in before I had to take off for home, looks like some banded good mornings are in my future this evening.

That and a whole lotta roast beast. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm hmm.

Go forth and destroy.

Training Sesh 2/16/2104: In which we squat okay but bench horribly

Not an awesome training day, but certainly not the worst. Squat seems to be doing alright, progressing upward and technique is getting a little better. Still not consistently at or below parallel, but haven't really tested singles recently. Still need to work on hips and getting back a little better in the squat, need to work on my stability in the bench a WHOLE lot. 

Here's what occurred:

• Squat (w/ Texas Squat Bar) - 2x5xbar, 5x145lbs, 5x195lbs, 5x235lbs, 5x275lbs, 5x305lbs 
• Bench - 5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x155lbs, 2x170lbs (failed @ 3, shoulda been 5)
• Wide stance good mornings with EliteFTS SS Yoke bar - 3x10x125lbs
• Tbar row - 3x10x50lbs
• Standing cable crunch - 3x15x120lbs

Like I said, squats were okay, if not intermittently high, but it looks like 3 of 5 were decent, two definitely high. 

The biggest bummer was the bench work - just not staying tight enough through the set, got 170 for two, plan was for five after 165 for five last week.  Like Porter said, think the strength is there, but everything has to be perfect to press through it as the strength isn't there yet to power through being out of position. Think I will be adding more back and tricep work in to help this process along.

Not a ton else to report aside from the normal tomfoolery and silly business - quoth Swep- "Still cocktail hour?" and a bit of discussion on rehab and injuries in and around C5-C7, seems they are not a rarity.

But I digress. 

Or not.

That's actually pertinent to this blog.

Or better yet.

Tomfoolery.

Even if youtube does compress the bejeezus out of it.

Training sesh 2/13/14: In which we squat high and apply powerlifting logic to everyday health problems

Training sesh... training sesh... it's a mother lovin' happy truckin' training sesh...

First things first. Yes, this training sesh occurred a day late, which sucks my wee wee. Got caught up at work on the normal sesh day of Wotan's Day working on a swim lane diagram for a Lean Six Sigma project.

And you know how much we all enjoy swim lane diagrams.

Swim lane diagrams... not nearly as serene as this...

Yeah...

but that's life, and we adapt and move on...

In the new program, it was front squat and deathlift day. Overall reasonably happy with the day BUT going back and watching video, my last set of front squats were all high. So sad. 

Pay no attention to the boot campers in the background. Or do. Whatevs.

The video makes it look weird, because my videographer, Scott, is several inches taller than me, but yeah, averaging about 2" high. 

Hate.

But like Porter said the other day, "They're front squats, who cares? They're not competition lifts. Do the work!"

I agree to some extent, but it also just exposes/reinforces a problem- tight hips, hamstrings, etc. I could feel the reflex in the bottom of the squat, but apparently need to sink it a little more. Alles gut. We do work.

As to the entirety of the sesh, here is what occurred:

• Front squat - 5xbar, 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x235lbs
• Deathlift - 5x135lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x275lbs, 5x335lbs
• OHP, standing barbell, strict - 5xbar, 5x65lbs, 5x95lbs, 5x120lbs
• Reverse hyper - 3x10x100lbs
• Fat bar lat pulldown - 3x10x110lbs

Amongst the multitude of things that suck about not training consistently for months- lack of strength, getting soft, etc- the couple of things that suck the most, I think, are the diminishing capacity of the CNS and the forgotten physical mechanics. Being weak is one thing, but getting fatigued at weights and reps you can handle sucks. Having to take longer breaks between sets of rep work sucks. Having to concentrate on positions, etc, that were formerly second nature sucks. I can tell in the whole lack of parallel thing, and the fact that just yesterday did I leave the deathlift sesh with scraped shins. Having to queue to flatten my lower back and sit back. Having to remember to breathe into the belt.

Lame.

At any rate, work was done, and in the midst of it, somewhere Austin and I got to talking about how was bored with his diet, and butter and salt and soy sauce.

And that led to water retention

And that led to the application of powerlifting logic to blood pressure issues. Between Austin, another gym member who I have not formally met yet, and I, we came up with the conclusion that high blood pressure is actually healthy.

ergo

1) High blood pressure causes the heart to work harder

2) The heart working harder is cardio

3) Cardio is thought to be "healthy"

4) We all basically run a marathon every day, even while sleeping, due to high blood pressure.

5) We are all in tip top shape because of it.

BOOM

Logic.

Go forth and destroy.

Oh, yeah.

Metal.

Training Sesh 2/10/14 - more skwatz, more surprise, more belly... more work. Respect.

Pretty decent evening at the ol' jamesnasium tonight. Little bit of a full house but alles gut- waited a few minutes for a rack to open and spotted some fellers on the powerlifting team through some ME squats.

For myself, as you know, it is all ME. 

Sets of five. 

Eh.

For myself, here is what occurred:

• Squat - 5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x275lbs
• Bench - 5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x155lbs, 3x175lbs (fail @ 4th rep), 5x165lbs 
• Wide stance good mornings w/ gen 1 EliteFTS SS Yoke bar  - 10xbar, 3x10x132lbs
• TBar rows - 10x45lbs, 3x8x70lbs
• Standing cable crunch - 3x12x130lbs

I don't want to jinx myself, but after so many weeks of my squat feeling all jacked up, this didn't feel awful. Felt like I had a little more in the tank, looking back on it now, so I will have to push it more Friday, and as usual, need to work on getting the hips opened up and sitting back a little better. Bar path looked good for the early part of the set, but you can tell where I started leaning forward mid set and on.

Work, work, work.

I am surprised, though, at the bench numbers. Look to be coming up nicely, despite the time off of training. Last night I played with tucking my feet, as was my old style, and it seemed to work pretty well in the Romaleos. Upper back felt surprisingly decent, even on the injured side.

Only worry I have with the "program" as prescribed is the lack of upper body accessory work, with a view mainly to my rehab. Will just have to add supplementary movements and band work on days off or after the main program.

Here's my squat set of five at 275 - good, high, high, good, high. Also need to pop my hips in more at lock out. Work done, more work to be done..

Porter was good enough to film the set, and spot my later bench sets along with a set spotted by ol' Johnny Haterman, I mean Adelman.

Johnny refuses to buy a pair of white Romaleos so that we, along with Jordan (Media Manager, Hanselopolis, Inc. LLC) can be Team Squat Shoe America, but whatever. We can't all aspire to greatness, I guess.

Me in the red...

Haterman proposed in the white...

and Jordan already has the blue. Murrica.

At any rate, Porter and I talked about bench form for a bit and merits of feet tucked versus out front- sounds like we have both been independently working back to tucking recently. Shoes play a role in that it, it seems, I know I could NOT get the Romaleos to get grip out front on the mats we have under the power racks at the jamesnasium unless I really kicked the heels out- and half the time I think I was just catching on the inside of the rack uprights. Feet tucked also seem to take some of the strain off the hips, though it seemed to immediately transfer to the lower back. If I chose to stay tucked, need to work on getting everything locked back down well and get the hips stationary. Leg drive felt good, ass stayed down pretty well on all except the failed 175.

That number started with a one. Ugh. Shoulda been a two had I not gotten injured.

C'est la vie. I work.

And really, it was a pretty decent night all around at the gym. PRs were everywhere.

Porter got a squat PR, 410:

Buddy, Jon (fuck Nickelback), hit a 605 deathlift- video on his FB page if you're lucky enough to be friends with the man.

David (Yoda, gym owner) got his first 825 in a suit, amongst his other bidness even if he didn't PR in beardness:

Some other fun occurred, not sure if they were PRs or not, but Brian Mac hit a 610 squat and Housetown hit a 700 geared squat.

Also, Jordan almost removed different John's nipple for having a soda.

That all said, I am glad I train at NBS. The atmosphere is awesome, the equipment is top notch, the trainers are excellent, and most importantly, the people make it. While I would love it to be larger (who doesn't want more power racks?), by and large the folks that pay their dues and show up day in and day out are what make it the best gym in town. A lot of newcomers are intimidated by a powerlifting-centric gym, but really, you couldn't ask for a better group of people. The drive, the enthusiasm, the support, the sheer amount of give a shit.

I was reminded of all this, yet again, last night as Clint Darden has this to say on the matter:

Take nothing for granted, don't squander good resources.

Support each other.

Go forth and destroy.

Training Sesh 2/7/14 - The Beginnings of Greatness

First things first- you will notice that this post is titled "TrainingSesh", not "Bench Sesh" or " Squat Sesh". Long story short my last squat session (as detailed here), which was a dynamic squat session, sparked a little bit of debate on the ol' Facebooks on the importance and effectiveness of dynamic/speed work, Through 50 some odd comments and some side conversation, it was determined that I should change my programming.

Wisdom came down the mountain from David, the Yoda of NBS Fitness and EliteFTS contributor and athlete, flash forward a few days, and I am off of the conjugate method. The new program is simple and straightforward, similar to Starting Strength and utilizing linear progression. Ran the first session last night.

I won't detail it, per se, but here is what occurred:

• Front squat - 5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x205lbs, 4x225lbs
• Deathlift - 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x275lbs, 5x315lbs
• Standing barbell OHP (strict) - 5xbar, 5x65lbs, 5x85lbs, 5x95lbs, 5x115lbs
• Reverse hyper - 3x12x90lbs
• Wide handle lat pulldown - 3x10x110lbs

Some visual evidence for that derriere- thanks to Matt Livesay for recording:

5x205lbs

4x225lbs

So a couple of take aways from the sesh- 

1. My work capacity is way down from last year. This is a given  Lack of steady training for several months solid equals rapidly diminishing outputs. And me? Didn't train steadily for several months so there will be some adjustment. My deadlift sets should have continued for another weight jump or two, at least to 335/345lbs, but I was honestly just getting fried and form was breaking down, making more work than necessary..
2. Need to work on my front squat, obviously. Haven't done front squats in probably eight months. As David pointed out after watching the video of my 225 set, I need to work on presenting more with my chest up and keep my head more neutral as opposed to looking up as much. Can tell I am not supporting the bar quite right because my wrists started killing me- signs I am supporting and initiating movement more with my hands than my chest and shoulders as I should be.
3. Need to grow my "gym balls" back. There was no real reason for me to cut that set of front squats at four reps- should have gotten five on it. The weight was moving,  but a little forward movement (you'll see it on rep four) caused me to lose faith in the set, so I racked. 
4. Despite those few shortcomings and errors, I actually felt pretty decent about the work done. As mentioned, that was my first time front squatting in more than half a year and I managed to hit decent numbers from what I did last year. Also a little surprised at the numbers for the OHP- with my rehabbing shoulder/back I honestly didn't expect to get more than 85-95lbs for a set of five. I actually did one more set with 125lbs, but it ended up being more push press than strict OHP, and...

And now we recover. More food, more sleep, more foam rolling and stretching. 

LET'S DO THIS!

As an aside, as I was winding down the accessory work I started to notice the gym clearing out and pretty soon it was just me on my last few sets and Jon K, who is one of those guys that I share a past with even though we never really crossed paths. Similar circles, similar taste in music, and we both lift. We're both ex (and current) metal and punk kids that played music previously and we have several mutual friends. 

We also both like to bag on some of the music at the gym because as mentioned and despite his training knowledge and awesomeness and his status as a beardie, David insists on having things like Nickelback, Three Doors Down, and Trapt in heavy rotation on the gym playlist.

And that's okay. Because it unites us in hate. Typically if Jon and I are training anywhere near in the same vicinity and such offensive tunes hit the playlist, we reflexively look at each other and begin the chants of, "God damn it, what is this shit? Fucking hell" and all things similar.

Sometimes this results in PRs.

Jon and I got to talking about trying to find new, good music in an age of rampant bullshittery and all the shows that came through "back in the day" that we missed and wished we could have seen. There were lots of them, but we generally agree on some of the biggest ones being Helmet/Quicksand back in 94(ish?) and Snapcase right about the same time.

Bullshittery. You like that? I just made it up, but you can use it. After all, I did it for you.

You're welcome.

In honor of Jon and all 90s hardcore kids everywhere, I leave you with this.

Go forth and destroy.

Squat sesh 2/5/14 - all up in yo dynamics... ish...

Short one today, got to the jamesnasium late and shared a rack with some of the fellers again. No big deal, eh, little more break between sets and I got to discuss with ol' Johnny Adelman how neither of us are fast in the squat.

Yet some of the guys in that crew (including my newly appointed media manager, Jordan) are against speed work.

And that... is okay. I think speed work actually helped me on my first go round with the PL team early last year SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I will keep up with it for now.

Also got to play with bar position, hand placement, etc. I have been doing a fair amount of Klokov pressing lately, and in the unracking of the bar, I have been setting up a little differently from my squat. The Klokov press dictates a snatch width grip and, just by happenstance, I have been setting the bar lower than normal.

The result?

This was set three or four. Footage courtesy of Jordan Caroll, media manager

Not bad, I must say. Purposely went with lighter weight to play with the positioning and ran sets of three instead of two. Parallel felt good, staying upright felt pretty good, bar felt pretty well locked in place on the back once I figured out the grip- overhand with dropped pinkies seemed to win here.

As to the actual routine for the night (here's what occurred), realized early on that I was running short on time so instead of the normal eight sets of two for dynamic squatting, I did about 15 sets of three with 185 + two chains on the Texas Squat Bar and called it a night.

Even remembered to work in the Romaleos.

David just got a Mastodon bar in from Elite, should have used that. It's so purty.

Not that Mastodon.

This one.

Next time.

Metal.

BUT

Before leaving, I did remember that I had to grab some gym merch-

It's okay, you can admit it.

My gym is cooler than yours.

Bench sesh 2/1/14: Peanut butter belly time, a new weak point found, and pure and utter chaos...

Good bench sesh today with a surprise thrown in for good measure.

As promised... peanut butter belly time!

Here's what occurred:

• Dynamic bench - 8x3x95lbs + chain/side
• Wide ladder handle pulldown - 5x10x120lbs
• Klokov press - 15xbar, 10x65lbs, 2x10x75lbs, 10x65lbs, 12xbar
• Band pull aparts - 4x15 w/EliteFTS Intense Onyx band
• Fat bar pushdown - 4x15x100lbs
• Band external rotations (Ws) - 5x10 w/EliteFTS Orange Pro Micro Mini band
• Dumbbell flyes, flat bench - 2x10x20lbs, 2x10x15lbs
• Pec deck, left arm only - 3x10 @ 50lbs

SURPRISE! A new weakness found in the ol' shoulder injury I didn't expect - the dumbbell flyes. Another "no fucking wonder" why my bench is still shite. Decided to do them as I hadn't done them in forever and they seemed like a good addition into the routine to kind of shake things up a bit.  Grabbed the 20s to start a warm up set and holy crap with the left side. Left shoulder and pec having trouble stabilizing the weight through two complete sets, dropped to 15lbs bells with only slightly better result.

Not cool, brah.

So I went and hit up the pec deck with the left arm only for a few sets, looks like I need to keep working this and get it back up to par.

Wrapped up the jamesnasium session and headed to the Nutrishop Cordova, who sponsors our man Christian, and grabbed some peanut butter banana ForzaPro because it's delectable, and headed home. Upon my return, however it was time to report for the chaos.

A five year old's birthday party.

Amongst the stuffs:

Pure insanity.

Then today, this happens...

Don't worry, the hawk came off. Had to, started to feel like this guy...

And metal.