Training Sesh 3/30/14: revised "B", more sumo work, and a bit on blogging and honoring the fallen

Today was the first day of revised "B" session after throwing the "C" session in, and I have to say it felt like a decent bit of work. My hips are still feeling reasonably trashed from squatting the other day and, let's face it, bench days aren't exactly hip deloads.

Note to all you youngsters out there- don't ever get old.

Anyhoo, here's what occurred:

• Deadlift in the sumo style - 5x135lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x275lbs, 5x315lbs, 8x1x335lbs
• Front squat - 5xbar, 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x225lbs
• Wide handle lat pulldown w/ two count holds- 3x10x100lbs
• Wide stance good mornings - 3x10x110lbs
• Band hip abductions - 3x15 w/ doubled over EliteFTS Intense Onyx band 

As said earlier, it was a decent training session overall. Lower sets of sumo were feeling pretty good and I worked on set up and technique for the sumo with every rep- every rep was executed and then completely set back up for the following rep, ie, stepped away from the bar for every rep. Got a little advice from broham Porter, which resulted in this last rep (and the five or so before it)-

This was how my last five or so reps were executed, main difference being the set up- note from previous sesh:

Note that the newest set up allows me to keep my back much flatter, especially in the upper back- mechanically, this equates to better force transference and less loss of drive throughout the lift and reduces likelihood of injury. 

While it's harder to see because of the various angles of video, I also brought my feet in a little on these sets. Not sure yest if this is helping or hurting, as the reps are still very slow, but they are coming up. Need to work on the external rotation and "spreading the floor" to help rip the bar off the floor. As you can see, speed off the floor is terrible, but once it gets close to lockout there is no problem.

Glutes, baby, glutes.

Rest of the sesh was as expected, to some extent. Shut the front squats down at 225 as my right hip was trying to kill my face- that 185 set felt like it was all left side drive while the right side was stabbing me in the hip flexor. The rest was just working through and reintroducing the band hip abductions. 

Also got a reminder to warm up and stretch a little better- I'm sure this would have helped the hip as well, but my left shoulder started acting up during the good mornings as well. The Mastodon bar was already in one of the power racks (don't ask) so I decided to do my good mornings with it, which apparently was a mistake- even wide gripping it made my fingers tingle a little. Got some band traction and stretching in after, and all was alleviated. 

So old man pains aside, I think it went pretty well. Work done, work to do.

As much as I love Clint Eastwood, pretty sure his deadlift is shit. Conventional or sumo.

Get off my lawn. 

In other fun happenstances, got several compliments on this here blog during my time in the jamesnasium. I always love getting feedback and compliments on it, but it does make me think of things from time to time- but that's par for course as I tend to think about things too much. I'm an analyzer and an observer by nature, that matched with my slight philosophical bent make for some interesting internal dialogue sometimes. It's also interesting when you put all that together with writing for public consumption AND my general cynical outlook on society. It is both reaffirming and perplexing when people compliment or comment on the blog (one of the guys at the gym say he felt like a character in the blog) as on the one hand I don't think I necessarily have anything truly earth shattering to offer- I'm no expert on lifting, life, love, libation, etc, for sure- but on the other hand, I need some way to keep track of all this stuff and I have to admit to a love for entertaining on some level whilst I pass down the gold leafed, jewel encrusted nuggets of wisdom I have gleaned from my training partners and coaches. I also harbor an aversion to large groups (herds) of people and I think social media- more accurately, humanity's use of it- is eroding our souls. 

Lo, shalt thou bear witness to mine internal division.

BUT

A little editorial and documentation never hurt anyone. 

That's probably not true. I would be willing to bet people's careers and fortunes have been ruined over editorial and and documentation.

BUT

at the same time, I would be willing to bet that scads of folks' lives have been enriched by editorial and documentation. Heckfar, I would say that a little editorial and documentation have inspired some folks to greatness. 

Changed world views.

Saved lives. 

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm just a dude with a computer occasionally trying to make myself and my little corner of the world a little better, and then tell you about it. If you smile, cry, or fart, that's on you.

Like a wise man once said...

Don't you put that evil on me, general public!

God (Odin, Krishna, Steve, etc) bless Michael Clarke Duncan.

And while we're at it- and excuse me, sensitive atheist, for invoking again- bless our fallen soldiers. Like this man:

Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Daniel W. Clark. No, I didn't know the man. To my knowledge we never met. I found his name here: Honor The Fallen. CWO Clark was killed, along with CWO Christian Humphreys, when their helicopter went down 15 November 2008 in Mosul, Iraq.

From his page at the link:

CW3 Mike Eckhart’s hand trembled when he presented the flag to Jamie Clark. Eckhart was Clark’s wingman.

“He was absolutely fearless in support of his brothers in combat,” said Eckhart, who delivered the eulogy and told stories of a gregarious, talented, driven soldier who felt truly free in the sky and in the Alaskan wilderness.

His fellow soldiers called him “Genghis Don.” Eckhart referred to Clark as a real man and a world class soldier. He said Clark referred to himself as the “self-proclaimed emperor of Newton.”

Rev. David Willis read a letter Jamie Clark wrote for the service in which she said, “Don and I were the sweetest love story ever told. He was my hero. The sorrow I feel is immeasurable. Don loved his family, his friends, his comrades and his country.”

Read up on him and others at the link.

Then

Go forth and destroy.

Training Sesh 3/27/14: First sesh in the key of C, sharings by Craig, stanky gear

As intimated in the last sesh log, I had earlier contemplated the "C" sesh with the need to expand the rehab for the shoulder and get more work in on the bench. Squat is going well- calculated 1RM is now within 10lbs or so of previous actual gym PR. Deathlift is formative but progressing and as long as progress continues, good there.

The bench, however, she is sad. She is sad and stalled.

So, as described previously, I wrote up an additional day, labeled it "C", and today was its debut. A pretty straightforward sesh with minimal intrusion, and as there was no video taken of any super exciting sets, you get entertainment provided by Craig.

Boom. Definitely not safe for work, lest ye be the boss with impunity, work alone, like to keep your office door closed, etc.

Beer.

Here's what occurred:

• Bench - 2x5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x155lbs, 5x165lbs
• Tbar row w/two count holds - 4x8x45lbs
• OHP, strict - 10xbar, 3x8x95lbs
• Band pull aparts - 3x15 w/EliteFTS Intense Onyx Band
• Band external rotation - 3x15 w/EliteFTS Micro Mini Pro Band
• Cable pressdown wide grip w/fat straight bar - 30x60lbs, 20x80lbs, 12x100lbs
• Reverse hyper - 3x10x90lbs

More shoulder and triceps volume. More rehab goodness.

More bellies. Also courtesy of Craig.

So far so good. We will monitor the situation going forward.

Also, it has been decide that, despite the fact that Christian is going to shave (not sure why he would want to do that), I will not, in fact, disown him.

As long as he keeps the Pop Tart (tee em) supply flowing.

As an aside, I finally broke down and bought some Lysol (also tee em) to at least make my wraps and sleeves a little more wearable. You see, gear gets sweaty and funky and then it tends to sit in a bag for long periods of time away from things like fresh air and steeped in things like darkness, other nasty gear, shoes, etc. So thanks to a trip to Target and some pants hangers, soon my stuffs should be good as new.

Or at least not hazardous to the public health.

And I have five pounds of orange cream Matrix 5.0 in the pantry. Yummy stuffs for my gainses.

Yay.

Go forth and destroy.

Training Sesh 3/25/14: dat ass, squats, little bit of bench, little program analysis

So, ladies and Jim, I have to warn you, got a little bit of

coming up.

Overall not the most exciting training sesh, but got a little bit of good work in and pretty much decided on course of action going forward for the rehab and upper body stuffs.

But first, here is what occurred:

• Squat - 2x5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x275lbs, 5x315lbs, 5x345lbs
• Bench - 2x5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x155lbs, 3x8x135lbs

And that was it.

Simple as pie. Maybe more simple. Main lifts ran long, had to run to meet some family for dinner.

Even got you some video.

Remember that meme above? If you have already forgotten, here it is again:





You know, because the other one was so far away.

5x225lbs, checking form, et al, at an angle only Porter and Jim can appreciate:

Depth check good, blah blah blah.

Darrell was about training and was good enough to lend a hand spotting my last few sets, which leads us here:





The video angle is terrible but you can tell they were a bit high, but the work is there. Par usual, need to work on getting my hips opened up and sitting a little more back.

On to bench, which I honestly kind of rushed through, not focusing on pushing as much weight as I much as I was focused on getting to a good working point and then getting those last three sets of accessory work done. I also noted that, getting through these, some pain was flaring up in the shoulders and upper back on the left side- my injured side.

Which brings me to a point.

Despite my hips feeling fairly constantly beat up, my squat and deadlift are progressing. Bench, however, and the pain in the injured side, especially, is either stalled out or getting worse. With a view to get more rehab in for the injured side and continue the strength work there, while maintaining the trend in squat and deadlift, I am going to go ahead and add in a "C" day to this "A/B" routine while slightly modifying A and B.

Currently, the program looks something like this when I am getting all my proper work in:

A:

• Squat
• Bench
• Row accessory
• Posterior chain accessory
• Core accessory

B:

• Front squat
• Deadlift
• Overhead Press
• Vertical row accessory
• Posterior chain accessory

Given the need for rehab and additional work, the contemplation is to add a "C" day, to make the program A/C/B/C, etc. This will dial back the frequency of squatting, of course, but will actually end up allowing for more volume of accessory, I think, refocus some of the effort. 

Also, I'm not sure if it's the need for more recovery time between sets with the volume and weight, getting fried from volume and needing deload (shouldn't be), or just a lack of attention to the clock on my part, but my sessions lately have been 2hrs+ recently without typically getting all of the accessory work in.

Thinking the shifted program would look something like this:

A:

• Squat
• Overhead Press
• Posterior chain accessory
• Core accessory
• Band hip accessory - rotation

B:

• Deadlift
• Front squat
• Vertical row accessory
• Posterior chain accessory
• Band hip accessory - rotation

C:

• Bench
• Row accessory
• Triceps accessory
• Band rehab 1 - upper back/shoulder
• Band rehab 2 - shoulder rotation
• Posterior chain accessory

Seems pretty solid and gets in the extra shoulder and triceps work I think is necessary. Main movements will stay in a max 3-5 rep range, thought about switching the bench only to a 5/3/1 progression, calculating maxes, etc, but that is really over complicating what should be a simple enough progression for now. All accessory will be in the three sets in the 8-12 rep range with some of the band rotation work being done in the two to three sets of 20 range.

Yeah?

Yeah.

Go forth and destroy.

Oh, and

Training Sesh 3/23/14: You ain't got ta lie, Craig, more sumo work, and good bye, Scum Dog.

Just in case you don't get the "Craig" reference...

and if you don't know from what movie that that scene was pulled, may God have mercy on your soul.

Funny, though, for all the tomfoolery of the training sesh (like any training sesh, really), the most prevalent recollection of the day is the belly talk. Between my sitting around like Buddha after front squats (Craig noticed my majestic stance) and Craigory complaining about his O lineman's gut whilst trying to get into a dog hair covered pair of Bryan's ex-squat briefs and not realizing that Todd was even there until he staggered out from behind the great wall that hides the treadmill and the step mill, today was largely about bellies.

Don't hate us for this glamorous life we lead.

At any rate, here's what occurred:

• Front squat - 2x5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x205lbs, 5x225lbs, 3x245lbs
• Deathlifts (sumo, no belt) - 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 3x225lbs, 3x275lbs, 3x315lbs, 3x3x275lbs, 2x2x275lbs
• OHP - 7xbar, 7x95lbs, 5x115lbs
• Tbar row, two count at top - 4x8x45lbs
• Unilateral kettlebell OHP - 10x25lbs/side, 3x10x30lbs/side

I don't know if it's bad or good yet, but with my focus shifting toward increasing my squat and trying to nail down my sumo deathlift, I have just not put the emphasis or the care into my front squat and OHP. My front squat is feeling a little better, but still not quite back to "there", slowly starting to relegate these and OHP to accessory work as my focus shifts. I don't want to discount them at all, as I think they are good work, but when the tank starts getting low, I find myself saving the drive for other lifts. That said, if those two lifts do start shifting toward accessory work, I am going to need to up the set count at "working" weights if I hope to reap the benefit from them.

I think it is natural for powerlifters to discount those lifts, but I do think there is plenty of benefit from doing them BUT one still has to put in work. As long as there is benefit gained from doing the work, the work is worthwhile, and a lot of what I am doing right now is base building kind of work so I think these lifts are worth putting effort into. With my squat and deathlift going up or getting closer to "right", it is hard for me to argue against my last six or eight weeks of training, regardless of if it "feels good" or not.

Deathlifts went reasonably well, I think, and I went on after the working set at 315 to work on technique and get my posterior chain work in with some more sets at 275. I think it is coming together decently and I think I am finding my queues and grooves a little better still.

From last deathlift sesh:

to this sesh:

Some little improvements, and a little more speed. Talking and game taping with our man Christian, the puller and squatter of 605lbs at 187lbs bodyweight (much props, again), I am losing some hip tension in my secondary set up- you will see me set the hips, then loosen and set the back, then set the hips again- and probably focusing on too many queues at once. He noted in my 315 set (he and a client were working in with me during my sets as the Oly area was pretty well full) that when he would queue me for one thing, at times another would suffer, so my last few sets (the 3x3 and 2x2) I worked on setting up efficiently and "just pulling" versus trying to set up perfectly and getting fatigued or forgetting a queue because of it. I'll need to get video of it next time, but the pulls seemed to be speeding up and getting better set doing it.

Hell, the fact that I actually managed to get the 3x315 off the floor consistently without issue is evidence that my activation is better and I am pulling better. It's been an odd thing getting adjust to the opposite stance, but I think it is finally coming along enough to get those last few queues down and plow forward with it and get the strength up. Rep seems to work here so far.

Dem some big flexible boys.

Aside from that, need to work on getting my thoracic spine loosened up so I can get it better arched and locked into the pulling groove- feels very locked up with my upper back tight from injury and the erectors tight from work. Time to hit the electro stim and the foam roller some more.

Deathlifts done, I knocked out the OHP work, spotted Bryan in some more geared singles in the monolift, and got the rest of my accessory work knocked out between bouts of grab ass with Porter. Porter was in training with a couple of the new guys on the powerlifting team, tending to the long forgotten art of hypertrophy.

Which means they were using machines.

Weird.

At any rate, looks like I have some family time coming up (I actually do like hanging out with my family) so this week will be a little funky for training- and honestly, my hips could use an extra day's rest- but until then I will be working some band rehab and hip work and starting to tippity tap on some more WWCHNT and maybe even an overdue Biergartenopolis.

And with that, I am afraid I must leave you on little bit of a down note- Dave Brockie, who played the part of Oderus Urungus in the band GWAR, died this morning at the age of 50. Last I saw, they were saying an autopsy would be done, etc. GWAR had also recently suffered the loss of another band mate, Cory Smoot, from a heart attack. As I have said before, I hate to hold up the death of a "celebrity" as anything more important than the death of any other person, but one could hardly call these guys celebrities in the normal sense of the word. One has to acknowledge that in the world of music, these guys were on the fringe of shock entertainment and used their music as a mirror pointed back at society, pulling no punches and often crossing the boundaries of good taste and decency. There were plenty of things they did onstage and off that I either disagreed with, dismissed as merely shock for shock's sake, or was even morally repulsed by, but I think the world of music and free expression was ultimately bettered by their existence.

Go forth and destroy.

Training Sesh 3/20/14: Squats, shock therapy, and poor videographers

Not a bad sesh overall, needed to get more work in, but hey, at least it started with getting shocked.

With a cattle prod.

Yeah.

Thanks, Christian.

I walk in the door and am distracted with the classic "Todd thinks I'm sexy" maneuver annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd Christian tags me in the back of the arm. Hardy har har, hilarity ensues, Dave gets the prod from Christian and starts following me around with it.

Unsatisfied with NOT shocking me again, I let him shock me in the leg instead of the ding dong that he was aiming for originally.

Apparently, though, everyone is getting a turn getting tagged with it. There's already video up of another member getting tagged with it during some reverse crunches. One more can't hurt, right?

Sorry, Rylan.

Ah... dudes.

Here's what occurred:

• Squat - 5xbar, 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x275lbs, 5x315lbs, 5x335lbs
• Bench - 5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 155lbs, 5x165lbs
• Lat pulldown w/ 2 count pause - 3x10x100lbs

I haven't been real consistent with training recently so I was pretty happy about the squat set, really. I was lifting with Matt hanging out outside the rack, who informed me that they were all good for depth

HOWEVER

I neglected to tell Matt exactly how to operate the ol' Windows Phone camera (you know... tap the screen once to record) so the evidence that I would REALLY have loved to game tape, post, etc, didn't QUITE make it, or even get recorded at all, really.

I apparently need to bring Jordan Carroll, Media Manager, back in.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

You will just have to trust me that the first few reps were half decent (all reportedly sunk at or below parallel), the last several were a little rough but they all came up. Played with grip a little more- narrower grip, a la the "Rippetoe grip" I have been playing with, but with a full grip on the bar and wrist wraps. Even felt like I was able to get my elbows down a bit better.

Decent.

Vultan says, "yes". 

The bench portion lagged, obviously. Aside from spot increases in training seshes (a la last Saturday's bro man love sesh) I have not been getting adequate triceps and shoulder work in lately, completely my fault. One thing I have been contemplating here is changing my rep scheme for bench only to a 5/3/1 scheme, but as I conversed about with David, I need to get more consistent in this program first- don't want to be "that guy" and start program hopping if I haven't put in the proper effort in this one.

Admittedly, I could feel progress start to slow a few weeks ago, but additional intelligent accessory work could very well be the solution here, or switching to a 3x5 to add volume. This may actually be the better solution, as I know that from talking with Scott when he spots my bench sessions, it sounds like my patterning is off due to the bad side shoulder/upper back- I am bringing the bar down unevenly on heavier sets, so my press is off. Intelligent volume can help solve this problem- more good reps at lighter weight- with some added triceps and shoulder stability work.

In either regard, I think the same solution will more than likely happen with OHP as well, so we will approach with caution, so to speak.

Need to get back into the habit of doing work on off days, especially if I don't get all my accessory work in like the last few seshes. I have bands and bells at home, so the resources are there, just need to get it ingrained.

Go forth and destroy.

Fred Phelps, head of the Westboro Baptist Church, is dead

Fuck you, Fred.

Fred Phelps, disbarred lawyer, aspiring but failed politician, abusive father, all around hater, and one of the world's top 10 assholes, is today dead at the age of 84.

To think that he ever worked for civil rights is astonishing.

I fucking love irony.

And in an effort to avoid propagating any more hate, I'll just say congrats, dick, on doing something right and good by departing this world. I would be willing to bet that there are millions of people in this world that are just a little happier and a little more carefree because of it.

Wondering if there will be a picket line at his funeral? While I would giggle if it happened, I would be happier if we could spend literally no more time worrying about this asshole and any of his minions.

The end.

Training sesh 3/18/14: a little technique work

This one was a fairly light training sesh overall. Went into it with one goal in mind - work on getting my shit together.

Quite simply, here is what occurred:

• Front squat - 2x5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 2x3x225lbs
• Sumo deadlift - 3x135lbs, 3x185lbs, 3x225lbs, 3x2x275lbs with some random singles @ each weight to play with technique

First, the front skwatz. I've been noticing that I have been carrying the load in my hands and wrists lately for whatever reason. As in a lot of my front squat sessions, except for my sesh previous to this, it seems that I end up front squatting with one of the gym bros, Scott. Scott noticed pretty quickly that I was squatting really narrow, like feet not more than about 6-8" apart narrow, which is something I apparently was not picking up on. This was causing me to not be able to push my knees out, causing issues getting to parallel and making me pitch forward- well indicated by the weight sitting in my hands more. On my last set I got my feet out a little more, made sure my toes were pitched out a little better, and hit the set immediately noticing the lack of pain through the fingers and wrists.

Good stuffs. Now I just have to remember that and apply wider stance going forward.

Problem solved for the time being, moved on to deathlifts. Per previous seshes, I have been eager to get into and start working on sumo deadlifts. They were feeling better than normal during the Saturday bro man love sesh, so I was ready to get to them during this sesh.

By and large- here is the result of the sesh- last set @ 275. Purposely working without a belt to feel the lift a little better:

I wouldn't say that the weight is even really challenging there, it's just moving slow as shit. I can still lift more conventional (for now), but on the plus side my back feels better positioned- the lift overall feels fairly decent- and I think with my shorter legs and arms and longer torso, this is probably the better leveraged way for me to pull. On the negative side, still a few things to work on there, but that is to be expected. (1) need to work on the external rotation of the knees to get the hips more involved. I know that part of the issue here is (2) getting my feet positioned so that I can torque the knees out, but not lift on the edges of my feet. Another benefit of working the feet into proper position is so that I can (3) really work on "spreading the floor". With a little better (4) thoracic mobility/arch, this will help me be able to really rip the bar from the floor and hit that lock out better.

Once the technique locked down and everything is firing correctly, plus some strength added into my lagging hips, these should be fast as lightning.

Isn't that right, Mr Travolta?

Yup. Went there.

As an interesting aside, I threw in a few reps conventional between some of those 275lb sumo sets, and even those felt better than some previous seshes. During the deadlift sesh, I was lifting along side the Kunkle brothers (my apologies if I butchered the name), and they noted that my conventional set looked fine (for reals?) and it was about twice as fast as my sumo pull.

It should be noted that watching the Kunkel brothers lift is one of the more enriching experiences at the jamesnasium. These guys are very technical lifters and they work like machines. Good illustration of the benefits of establishing proper patterns and reinforcing these patterns through repetition. They take their time, do proper work, and are able to analyze and learn from their lifts. Everything they do in their routine seems to make sense. And they're decent guys, to boot.

Metal.

Anyhoo, I thought this observation on conventional vs. sumo to be very interesting, and then recalled that when I was doing the team thing a ring a ding, we pulled "opposite stance" in training when we worked them in before our first meet. Entirely possible that pulling sumo in training is helping to reinforce the proper positioning for conventional, which is fine. I plan to continue with sumo going forward, working the technique, and seeing how it progresses.

Oh, and Jim Sadler. Always with the Jim Sadler.

AND you should know that I purposely listened to classic rock on the way home from the jamesnasium last night and on the way to work this morning.

Go forth and destroy.

Training Sesh 3/15/14: Man Love Saturday

I'm sitting here as my wife is going through the bedtime ritual with Ilse, our five year old daughter, and I decide to throw on Pandora on the ol' Roku. Pull out the tablet and the keyboard and what should be the first song Pandora throws at me?

That's right, bitches. Flipping cham peens. How fortuitous.

Anyhoo, Mr. Mercury finished up, a David Bowie song came on, and I switched over to Meshuggah.

Sorry, Mr. Stardust.

I should also warn you now this will be a long post and that thanks to David at the gym, you will all be periodically enjoying autotuned interviews remixed as house/dance songs.

We'll go ahead and get into the swing of things now.

This was a long but fun sesh that had been anticipated for some time now- couple of friends I know from AR15.com came down to train. There is a group of us on there that hang out in a particular thread in the Self Defense and Fitness subforum that all train, or have at some point trained, using Jim Wendler's excellent 5/3/1 program. We gather on arfcom in that particular thread to share the trials and tribulations with training and in other threads to evangelize (harass?) on strength training, offer insights and experience, etc.

This being the modern age of the internet, however, few of us have actually met each other in real life. I have met one of the two gents that came down on numerous occasions, the other only online, but again we have all shared conversation for the past two and half years or so. The stars aligned for a handful of folks to be in the area this week, and we set it up a little while ago to meet at the lovely NBS Fitness to get a day of lifting in and go grab some BBQ after.

Thus it happened that Saturday I woke up and got to the gym about an hour ahead of our two intrepid travelers- we'll call them Dan and Jake to protect the innocent- to make sure we got into a rack and, since previous discussion sounded like we would be working mainly on bench and deathlifts as our main lifts, get some squatting in. As it would happen, though, most of the folks that I would have expected to be in the jamesnasium starting around 11:00 or so got in earlier, the racks were full and I got to foam roll and finish my Starbucks.

Round about the time I got into a rack and got it set up to start squatting, Dan and Jake walked in the door. We greet each other, the fellers filled out their waivers and got fees settled, got changed, and as it would happen, we all started squatting.

Here's what occurred (from my programming standpoint, anyway):

• Squat - 5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x245lbs, 5x275lbs, 5x320lbs, 1x335lbs, 1x365lbs
• Bench - 5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x155lbs, 4x170lbs, 3x8x135lbs
• Deadlift (sumo) - 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 3x225lbs, 3x275lbs, 1x315lbs
• Deadlift (conventional) - 1x365lbs, 1x405lbs
• TBar row w/ three count holds at the top - 3x10x45lbs
• Reverse hyper - 3x10x90lbs

As mentioned, we started off squatting. Turns out it was pretty much all of our days to squat, just from different parts of our programs. We got through it all with Jake and I hitting singles at 365 and Dan hitting one at 385. All of us have hit 405 in training previously, but as it turns out, our last singles were all kind of periodic PRs, the first time any of us have had those weights on our backs in a long while, for whatever reasons.

Also interesting- three different lifters, three different squatting styles. This makes some sense as all of us are raw lifters, but with some key differences. Most obviously, Jake is a former competitive CrossFitter that pretty much always squatted for strength and conditioning and does a lot more Oly lifting than either Dan or I do. Dan lifts according to 5/3/1, squats in Chucks, and is taller with longer limbs than either Jake or I. I lift in more of the powerlifting style, have shorter limbs than Dan, but squat in Oly shoes.

Didn't get video of any of mine from this sesh but, in general, this is mine- still playing with grip, but it is typically medium to wide grip, medium stance, low bar:

Dan, with a LOW bar, medium grip, wide stance:

and Jake with a high bar, narrow grip, narrow stance:

Just goes to show you- the same thing doesn't work for everyone. This spawned some good discussion on the appropriateness of squat technique to the individual and to what gear worked best for us, etc. I am still not convinced of any one hand positioning, so I think I alternated grips on each set.

Per one of Wendler's 5/3/1 templates, we did some Joker sets (singles after the working sets). I did singles at 335 and 365. The 365 was nasty- shot my hips up too soon so it ended up being the better part of a heavy good morning. Did this one wide grip, wondering if medium with a tighter upper back would have helped prevent it... hmmmm... Jake singled up to 365 and lost 385 about half way up, Dan got up to 385 and ground it out. Good work all around.

After this, we hit the competition bench for some working sets and technique work. Despite my rehabbing state, I feel that bench is most technically correct and understood lift (thanks again to David and my experience with the team), and the guys' least technical lift, so we had agreed beforehand to trade knowledge on- my bench for their deadlift. We ran through everyone's working sets and ran a mini seminar through accessory sets.

Not a lot had to be done, but we made some tweaks to everyone's bar path and hand and elbow positioning, getting the lats more involved, and worked on leg drive. The most immediate improvements came from hand positioning and getting the elbows inside the hands- again interesting as we all bench a little differently, but generally gravitated towards tucked feet and a narrow to medium hand position.

Some good work was done, and since we were all starting to get acclimated to each other from meeting for the first time, got some catching up and "life outside the gym" conversation in. Though I fully acknowledge I am no expert, I was hopefully able to help the gents a bit and offer some insight into the powerlifting style of bench press.

Also introduced the guys to JM presses. Win.

Bench work and some tricep accessory done, it was time to move on to the recent bane of my training life- the deathlifts.

And since I owe Tarbox...

This was also the point that all of us went ahead and hit some intraworkout nutrition- not sure what the gents had, but I think it was some sort of either aminos and/or preworkout. I had premixed some fruit punch Carnivor with two tablespoons regular ol' sugar. Not the sexiest thing, but it worked alright. Energy still on from the Starbucks earlier.

Having just deadlifted a few days prior, Jake rolled with some cleans and Dan and I deathlifted. I demonstrated mine for the gents at lightweight and they agreed I had some low back rounding. I didn't think it was that bad in lighter sets, but this is part of why you train with other folks from time to time- figuring out the things you don't even know you need to figure out. After a set or two conventional and realizing we had an Oly bar loaded up instead of a deadlift bar (lighter knurling), I switched over to sumo for technique work and reps as intimated in previous training seshes.

Queue the ever-helpful Christian, who gave me some pointers for hip placement, etc. I can't do the weight with sumo that I can with conventional, but they were feeling better positioned, etc, than my conventional. As soon as I can get all my queues down, I think this will be a good set up for me- getting the bar off the ground seems to be the roughest part of it, so I know more set up work will need to be done, but as soon as it is past about the knee it's just the hips seem to pop the lock out right in place. Figure this will also be good work for getting my hips worked into a wider squat, should I want to go there (which I think I do).

At any rate, I worked up to a single at 315, which was slower than dog shit ("You guys didn't call for pizza and have it delivered in while I was pulling that?") and took two attempts to get it off the ground properly, but felt pretty good. Still need to work on hip rotation and opening up while getting the hips set back properly. Switched over to conventional and followed Dan up to singles at 365 and an ugly 405. Dan went on to a single at 465.

Somewhere in there was also the moment that I realized that Dan has been around for all of my better pulls- my first 405 almost two years ago before I was on the team, my meet 465 last year, and my return to 405 (most I have pulled since at least August of last year) this training sesh.

Weird.

Wrapped the deathlifts and cleans up and we moved on to some quick accessory work. Reverse hypers and T bar rows for me, pull ups for the gents.

If you want to call them that.

Such tiny feet and quads. Sends chills down the spine, it does. 

Time to get changed, not shower, and head out for grub. Dan was the only one that thought to pack a clean shirt and any sort of deodorizing device, but men so screw it. Jake and I had clean(ish) pants.

Note: Dan is the one among us not married. Correlation = causation? Hmmmmmmmm...

This might be why, I having served as the dining trip driver in the mighty Subaru Crosstrek, this back and forth transpired betwixt my wife and I within minutes of her taking my car out for groceries a grocery run shortly after my return from the sesh:

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh... men.

The gents having agreed to BBQ for our refuel dining experience (because, really, it's Memphis and who can disagree with BBQ after lifting?), I selected the Summer Avenue location of the excellent Central BBQ for our destination. Of course, this selection ideal for numerous reasons- excellent BBQ, several good local beers available, and a good atmosphere in which to relax and shoot the proverbial shit for a while. We got some BBQ nachos to split, the "70% Paleo" Jake and I selected beef BBQ and the excellent Memphis Made "Lights Out", Dan got the pork plate and the also very good Yazoo Brewing "Hop Project". Jake got some pork rinds and was good enough to share- first time I have had them there, and they were pretty tasty.

And, of course, we all got cookies.

But we did forget ribs. Damn it. Next time. And there will be a next time.

Alas, all good things must come to an end, so after a good bit of conversation on manly topics and plentiful food it happened that we traveled back to the Dirty Dova to get the guys on their way back to their respective locations.

But not before coffee and a selfie.

Yeah, I said selfie. Because we're fabulous, bitches.

Go forth and destroy.

Training Sesh 3/12/14 - the Shit Show, Episode II: Attack of the Unicorn

In the long tradition (so far one other training sesh this cycle) of working backwards, I thought we would go ahead and have another shit training sesh last night.

Okay, really, it's not that bad AND one can't be too negative about a couple of bad training days, especially when one isn't training with proper frequency.

And as a bonus, Jim and I started my jamesnasium experience with a proper display of bearded burly man gym greeting, complete with bull hoof scuff, beard rubbing, and circling canine ass sniffing.

Yes, this is how we roll.

At any rate, here's what occurred:

• Front squat - 2x5xbar with some pauses to stretch, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5(6 or 7?)x225lbs, 3x245lbs
• OHP - 2x5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x115lbs, 5x125lbs
• Wide stance good morning 2/Mastodon bar - 3x10x110lbs
• Lat pulldown w/3 count pause at bottom - 3x10x100lbs

Few issues with the sesh-

1) Front squat - on that set at 225, I got overhyped and threw in an extra rep or two. Problem being in what would have been one more last rep, I let the bar roll into my throat and just about threw up half way up. I'm what I would call a violent puker, so I thought that ill advised and ditched the bar forward into the safeties.

Quoth David, "You should have just puked. That would have been awesome."

Think when I did that I tweaked my left wrist and right knee, so when I first lined up for 245 and unracked, it felt all kinds of fucked up and I reracked. I took a minute, walked around on the knee, grabbed some water, and came back for the set of three. Not excited about that as I got a really good set of five at 265 last front skwat sesh, but as mentioned previously, I am not that into being injured, so I called it there.

This morning the knee is still a little sore and I can't put much weight on the wrist without it hurting. Hmm.

Since I didn't get video of almost projectile vomitting all over the floor, here's the video from the last front squat sesh that actually went well, 5x265lbs in this video:

)

2) Normally this would have been a deadlift sesh as well, but I decided to hold off as I have the arfcom lifter bros coming in this weekend, and we have decided to barter training help- I am going to offer my bench advice and they have offered their deadlift advice. Having not felt awesome about my last few deadlift seshes, I am going to hold off till Saturday and see what we can get done.

3) OHP - weight number is down, but honestly the reps were cleaner than previous sesh. I know this and bench are going to take some time to redevelop, so I am okay with that. Tweaked wrist didn't feel too bad wrapped. Hopefully good there.

Moved on to discussing squat technique with good ol' Johnny Haterman, I mean Adelman, in which we discussed the benefits of narrow grip but debated elbow flare and discussed admiration for Olympic lifters, those silly athletes. If powerlifters were all as explosive as Olympic lifters, I am pretty sure we would just take over the world.

Also discussed with Jordan the joys of making Austin laugh, and Scott and Jordan discussed several apparently choice episodes of Tim and Eric's Awesome Show Good Job. (hint: I've never seen a full episode of that show).

So there you have it, not much else to report. Dudes in a room moving steel around and acting like douche bags to each other.

Oh, and there was a new lady in the jamsenasium as well, Barbie, who apparently also trains strongman. This is excellent, if for no other reason than there is a new person with whom to train and make slightly uncomfortable with our shenanigans.

She also brought a unicorn mask in. Because unicorn. Jon loved it.

Post by The Unicorn.

We may never sleep soundly again.

Go forth and destroy.

Training Sesh 3/9/14 - the rent is too damn high

So maybe it ain't the rent... Memphis has a reasonably low cost of living, after all... more like the demands of my Six Sigma project are too damn high.

Or the time I spend at work doing it. The demands are fine, just having to cram them into a short time frame on the front end.

Regardless.

It's been too long between training sessions.

Last time I was at the jamesnasium was the previous Saturday, so it had been over a week since I had been in last, and that was front skwatz, deathlift, etc. I wasn't real sure how this one would turn out but I was determined to make a go of it.

Here's what occurred:

• Squat - 5xbar, 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x275lbs, 5x315lbs, 3x335lbs
• Bench - 2x5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 5x155lbs, 3x170lbs (fail @ 4)
• Slow Tbar row w/3 count holds at top - 4x8x45lbs
• Reverse Hyper - 3x10x90lbs
• Standing cable crunch - 4x10x100lbs

First - trained by myself and I forgot to get video. Deal with it.

Second - Kinda felt like a bitch. Not going to lie. The 3x335lbs squat should have been at least four, but the confidence level wasn't there. Having missed my last several regularly scheduled days, I am a little surprised I got what I got- it was damn near two weeks since my last standard squat day, and more than a week since my last front squat day.

Still.

The goal was 5x335lbs and I just didn't have it. I was resolved to get under it, but apparently not to get it.

Grr poo wussy puff.

Third - Bench. Not a huge surprise, but a little frustrating as I had hit that weight and rep set before. The first few reps flowed pretty well, but the failed rep was failure- I lost my shoulder tightness and it pretty much collapsed. I didn't drop the bar on myself, but it wasn't going up, for sure. My buddy, Scott, was spotting me and was giving me a tuck command for that elbow, but now I am wondering if it shouldn't have been a lat and a flared elbow, his comment after was that I was essentially pulling the bar down offset, favoring the weak side.

Grr poo wussy puff.

Either way, need more work there still. Been slacking on the external rotation work and band pull aparts. Despite paused TBar rows I think these need to be added back in.

I commented to someone at the jamesnasium, think it was Adam, after he asked how the shoulder was doing. I went on to tell him how I was pretty sure the nerve damage was healed up but I was still in the rebuilding phase after having the left side triceps atrophy and weaken.

You know how you'll hear dudes describe the shape of the tricep as a horseshoe, ie, "Check out this horseshoe, brah".

Yeah, my left side is more like a My Little Pony slipper.

This is pretty much what is going on in my left shoulder and triceps.

Le sigh.

Oh, and this happened at work the other day.

Just something you're going to have to deal with.

Also Meshuggah.

And as a little sad, the team had a few lifters at the Knoxville SPF Pro/Am meet Saturday, and it sounded like mixed results. Three lifters went in, only two walked out.

With a total.

Porter, David, and Tee went up. Porter ended with a 1170 total (420 squat, 250 bench, 500 deadlift), David went up and lifted geared, hit a 825 squat, tweaked his upper back, and had to back out of the meet. Tee ended up not with a 1860 total at 242. I think he was shooting for a 1900 total. The man DID just squat at the Arnold and is at a hefty clip with meets.

Porter is making improvements, which is awesome, and Tee was strong as always, but I know he wants more. We all do. I am sure David was disappointed in having to back out of the meet, but it was the right thing to do- we train for the long haul and making a dumb decision can ensure you don't ever do another meet.

And as meets pass, I get itchy for my next one.

Must train. Must improve. I'll be back.

As an aside, as I was wrapping up the sesh Craig and Bryan, couple of other geared lifter bros, were starting to warm up. Craig made mention of being tagged in a previous post here and, jokingly, was afraid of saying something that would get him fired.

I am here to tell you...

Today is not that day.

Sleep well, Larson. Sleep well.

Go forth and destroy.

Training sesh 3/1/14: In which we front squat better and deadlift like an asshole

Kind of a mixed sesh this morning. Started off with some loaded ass oatmeal and some Starbucks, which was reasonably awesome but there were

repercussions

during squatting and deadlifting. ya know. Toots.

But I digress.

As you may have surmised, I haven't been into the jamesnasium in the better part of a week. I was curious to see how well this one would go. BUT fueled by a healthy (debatable) dose of caffeine, sugar, protein, and fats, didn't seem to miss a step too badly on this one.

Here's what occurred:

• Front squat - 5xbar, 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x265lbs
• Deathlift - 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x275lbs, 5x315lbs, 5x365lbs
• OHP, more like push press at last sets - 5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x115lbs, 5x135lbs, 2x3x135lbs
• Lat pulldown, paused wide handle - 3x10x100lbs
• Reverse hyper - 3x10x105lbsa

The front squats went pretty well, really. Still managed to get 20lbs on my front squat despite the week off. Still need to get stronger, obviously, but I was pleasantly surprised at this one. I think they even looked better. Only one of these was above parallel at all. Still need to work on getting the elbows up, but as the back gets stronger, the elbows will come up.

The bitch about it, though, was the deadlift. My deadlift is broken. Some of it is the lack of deadlifting for a long time, some of it is being weak, some of it is being too fat to get down to the bar the right way. Seems like to get down and get my back arched into it I either have to drop my ass down too low or I'm floating the bar out front, ie, not contacting the shins by SEVERAL inches. Got some pointers from Christian and Austin, but nothing was feeling "right".

I know I've mentioned it before, but not training consistently for a long period of time sucks.

It sucks bad.

I actually used to consider myself a fairly decent deadlifter, but apparently I have lost my mojo. The deathlift gods are frowning upon me.

I don't have any deadlift video from yesterday, but here's the video from my last good deadlift. Le sigh. The team video from my first meet in Blytheville , April of last year. My deadlift at 4:29, think it was 465. For some reason I can't do that anymore.

I need to get some video and get this ish figured out. It's annoying as hell. I know I'm not planning on doing a meet for a little while, but this is ridiculous.

Also, the 5x365 was more like five singles at 365. Gotta get it. This may be one of those things where I don't worry too much about adding weight in until I get my technique in check. Also thought about

gasp (and I'm sorry, Doyle)

trying sumo. Traditionally, I have been a crappy sumo deadlifter, but since everything sucks right now it might be a good time to give it a shot.

Of course, I might be overthinking it.

This was from a month or so ago, I think.

Not awful. Granted, light weight, but looks better. Need to work on flattening the back more. Maybe I just need to deathlift without a belt for a while.

Overthinking.

Stop it.

OHP has become push press, but some of that is to be expected with the injury/weakness. I need to get more shoulder/tricep work in, along with working in some more band good mornings, etc, on off days.

In other news, it's raining and the weather person is predicting an inch of ice and sub-freezing temps for the next day or two. Of course, it's Memphis so all the groceries are nuts with people panic buying and there probably won't be any snow.

There will, however, be roast beef and root vegetables. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh...

annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd Meshuggah...

This song is flipping lovely.

Go forth and destroy.