It's been a minute, eh? I have been a busy feller of late with work, etc, so get set for a long one.
That's what he said.
Despite being a busy, busy bee I HAVE manged to get into the jamesnasium on at least a semiregular basis, still hitting my desired 3x minimum with some random band work on off days- mostly sets of pull aparts with some rehab/PT movements thrown in for good measure.
Monday and Wednesday were short days, too much talky not enough lifty.
Here's what occurred de la Monday:
- Stretch, warm up - 5 min
- Bench - 5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 10x155lbs
- Deathlift de la Sumo - 5x135lbs, 5x225lbs, 5x245lbs, 5x275lbs, 10x315lbs
- OHP, strict - 10xbar, 3x5x95lbs, 5x115lbs
Video of the last deathlift set-
Yay for me.
I actually screwed up the programming/prescribed weight my last set of bench- should have been 160lbs, did 155lbs by mistake. Got ten on a five day. Yay.
Deathlifts were good as well, ten on a prescribed five as well. It was an odd set- the first few reps felt kind of rough, then ended up finding stride and getting going. Didn't look rough, just felt that way I guess.
Not bad.
Did a little military press after, which were subpar, but as expected. Talked with Jason, one of the guys up at the gym that also happens to do physical therapy and chiro work, about my whole back/shoulder deal. He agreed that yes, there is definitely dysfunction there (not a surprise, right?), that my previous rehab was good, just needed to keep it going regularly. I need to get up and see him one of the Saturday he is up there and get his input/work done in an official capacity- apparently missed him this past Saturday.
Next, Wednesday's skeewatts.
Absolute poo.
I was getting warmed up, etc, and just could not get my hips and back loosened up. What occurred, you may ask? Well I will tell you:
- Warm up/stretch/mobility - about 15min
- Squat - 2x5xbar with pauses, 3x145lbs, 3x195lbs, 3x235lbs, 3x260lbs, 3x300lbs, 3x335lbs
- More squat - 5x5x205lbs
- Leg press - 3x10x495lbs
Along about that set of 260lbs, I still wasn't feeling my hips opening up enough, so I had Austin do me.
A video of my depth. Meh. Poo. Both it and the set at 335 were high, the 335 worse. Come on, dude.
3x300lbs -
3x335lbs-
About an inch or two high on the last set, fo shizzle. I could feel the high hip, pissed me off and I decided not to push that last set past the prescribed three. Did a 5x5 at around 50%, paused and with a little active stretch at the bottom, then leg pressed it and called it a day.
That's about all there is to say about that.
Fast forward a few days (during which I actually got to spend some decent time with my lovely family), and we bench and deadlift again, this time for threes. Yeah, this is a repeat of a sesh last week, but it's all good, doggie dog. You ain't gotsta worry none.
I went into this one with the idea that I was going to get a bit more than the last time I did it, and I was going to get all my scheduled accessory work in, gosh dern it.
Here's what occurred:
- Stretch/warm up/traction - 15min
- Bench - 5xbar, 3x95lbs, 3x115lbs, 3x135lbs, 3x155lbs, 8x170lbs
- Sumo deathlift - 5x135lbs, 5x185lbs, 5x225lbs, 3x265lbs, 3x300lbs, 7x335lbs
- Back to bench - 3x12x135lbs
- Tbar row, paused, 3x8x55lbs
- Revers hypers, heels in toes out - 3x10x95lbs
- Shoulder series - x2 w/EliteFTS moderate Onyx Band
So still not super exciting (it'll be a while so cool your jets, hoser) but everything was feeling pretty good overall. Bench was a little loose - I know because I hit the safety arm on the right side twice in that last working set - but overall felt good, probably one of the better "feeling" bench sessions since starting rehab back in earnest on it.
Deathlifts were good overall, mechanically still not anywhere near perfect but they felt plenty fast, lumbar felt like it stayed in pretty good position, etc, AND I achieved my goal of pulling one more rep than last time I did this training sesh. Maybe could have even squeaked out one more but my right pinky was catching the inside of my knee and started slowly opening my grip up and I am apparently too stubborn now to reset a rep set of deathlifts.
Also, watching the video now I have no idea what the hip reset is all about, but that should probably kept minimal to nonexistent. Need to work a little more on getting that lumbar arched and locked out. Read through some of the suggested queues, etc. in EliteFTS's recently posted FREE deadlift manual that I found interesting and want to give a shot next deathlift sesh. And as always - hips, hips, hips.
By the way, em effers, if you didn't catch that, the manual is FLIPPING FREE. FREE, damn it. That's part of what makes EliteFTS (let's go ahead and say it) the best company in powerlifting. Good products, good people, and a great business philosophy.
DEW IT.
Speaking of good stuff from good companies, recently got in a new preworkout from Al McDonough at captainjacked.com. Note that the website is not fully up and running yet, but if ye are to visit that link and submit your email address, you will get on the mailing list for launch, etc. Al hasn't been running Captain Jacked for long, but he has been around in the business for a minute and has already garnered a handful of very good lifters and figure/bodybuilding athletes (and just good people) in the Captain Jacked family, and the company is built on a lot of the same principles that make companies like EliteFTS and NBS Fitness great - they all offer good products and service, stand behind it, and support good people and good causes.
I had seen CaptainJacked.com being touted by various powerlifters I follow on the ol' FaceSpace, started following Al's posts, and decided to send him a message enquiring on some of his products after running into the aforementioned "mailing list only" version of his site. What transpired was some good conversation on the products and life in general, a little motivation, and finally, an order.
I am sad to say that Magnum Nutraceuticals, the product line offered by Captain Jacked, currently only has vanilla and chocolate flavored proteins, I have somehow become a primadonna with protein flavors, having gotten pretty well burnt out on straight chocolate and never really having trusted anyone's vanilla.
We went back and forth a little on preworkouts and settled on Magnum's Serum, for which I placed an order along with the pictured lovely hat. A Florida powerlifting meet and a few days later I had my product in hand (Al is currently covering shipping on his products, and it was only about two days from shipping notice to a box on my doorstep). Even had a small order mix up, which Al took care of promptly. Good customer service is important, too, eh.
For contrast, I ordered some protein from a company who shall not be named (but it rhymes with True Nutrition Dot Com), and despite ordering a standard offering, will take approximately a week to get to me. Ordered last Saturday, supposed to be on my doorstep this Saturday.
Wah wah wah waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
And of course, while I was writing this blog post up, Elite released this article, a big part of which discusses supporting those that support the sport. Boom.
Not to mention that Al has a sweet beard.
And it's a curly beard, not a straight beard. Those of you amongst our ranks know of what I speak.
CURLY BEARDS UNITE!
Overall approved, and I would like to try some of their other products - Rocket Science and Opus come to mind immediately. If Magnum expands their flavor selection a bit, I would be interested in their protein as well. I have heard good things about it, but as I said, flavors matter to me when there are a plethora of options out there. Hell, I'd even be tempted to try strawberry.
So there you have it. Overall decent training. Good products. Good people. Good times.
I might even have last night's squat session written up before next week.
Might.
Go forth and destroy.
Oh, and metal.
No comments:
Post a Comment