Strength Obsession

Worked up to:

265 3 x 10

265 2 x 5 (had to break it up because my back was too pumped up to finish.

My wife is out of town and the kids were going crazy, so it stopped there.

My new cycle will be a lot more volume and a little less intensity. It will be based of all raw numbers. I am borrowing part of it from Chad Wesley Smith, of Juggernaut Training Systems.  I am running a 10′s wave, then an 8′s wave, and then my final high volume phase will be a 6′s phase. I think this will add a lot of size to my base, and help boost my metabolism from the added muscle. My eating and rest periods will have to get a lot better for this to work correctly. I will be running the program as a block periodization with an Accumulation Phase, a Transmutation Phase, and finish with a Realization Phase.

Bar x 20

135 x 10

185 x 5

225 x 5

225 x 3

265 x 4 x 10

I was supposed to do 5 sets, but I was out of gas. I have to make sure I eat close enough to training to ensure energy late in the day.

Worked up to:

205 x 5 x 10

JM Press 4 x 6

Chins 4 x AMRAP

Plate Front Raise 4 x 10

I ate better and used super charge before training, so my energy stayed up the entire time.

Worked  up to

270 x 5

290 x 5

315 x 5

Hanging Leg Raises 3 x 10

Shoulder Rehab

As usual Tony and Christy put on a great meet. It was a little rushed at times because of a flood of last minute entries. This on had the largest field to date, and required two platforms to get everyone in. They hired Texas Strength Systems to do the warm up room set up, and it was great. Four separate areas, and more weights than necessary. With five flights, we started at 8:45 and got finished at about 3:30, with the awards ending about and hour later. There was some really great lifting and some very strong competition. There were numerous State and American records set in many different weight classes.

My meet ended up like this:

Squat- 611#

Bench-436#

DL- 551#

Not my best showing by far, but with my meet prep being crap, I wasn’t expecting to do great. I made some mental mistakes that cost me some weight. The bench was once again my Achilles heel, but I will get that fixed before the next meet.

Overall a good meet, and a chance to see some people I only see when the meets come around. Congrats to all on a solid day.

I have been in the last few weeks of meet prep. It laid out like this:

The last two bench sessions have been

65% x 3 x 2

85% x 3  x 2

65% x5–85% x3–95% x2

I have been using a lot of close grip and JM presses for my triceps. I also have been using weighted push ups at different angles to further stress the triceps.

The squat has been basically the same except I have been working up to a max single since it is safer to do so while training alone.

The accs here have been zercher squats from the bottom start position and rack pulls.

I have been using chins and pull ups on both days to make sure my upper back gets some good work. The meet is two weeks away, so we’ll see if the unorthodox training has paid off.

After the long weekend the weight felt heavy st the beginning but was better.

Worked up from 135 to

85% 4×2

Close Grip 3×10,12,12

Band Kick Backs 4 x 8

Chins 4xAMRAP

Straight Bar Skulls 1 x 10

Worked up to

65% 6×3

Close Grip Bench- 50% 3 x 20

Pull Ups- 3×6

Worked up to

65%- 6×3 (couldn’t hit depth because it was only 403lbs. but I’m not really worried about it until we get some more weight on the bar)

SLDL- 285 5×6

Bar x 10,10,10

135 x 10,10

265 x 6, 6

319 x 2, 2

385 x 4

425 x 1

451 x 1

475 x 1

495 x 1

517 x 1

DB bench w/80′s 3 x12

Shrugs w/ 195 3 x 12

My wife and I did the Austin Muddy Buddy race this past weekend. Contrary to my initial expectations, I Lived!! This is a far cry from the usual competitions I am used to coming from powerlifting. It is a bike-run buddy race, where one person starts on the bike and the other running. At the end of each mile (roughly), you go through an obstacle then switch .  The race was actually held just outside of Austin, between Henly and Johnson City. The race venue was great. They had the usual sponsor vendors, and mixed in some food vendors for last minute breakfasts. There were 900 teams. (1800 competitors!) They even had a last minute race the day before with 400 teams. Even with that many teams, everything went off without a hitch. That just goes show how much work these race directors put into getting everything just right. On our race day there were 7 waves. We were in the fifth wave, and I was the first biker since my wife is a much better runner.(The first biker rides three legs, and the first runner runs three legs) Well once we started, that turned out to not be the best strategy. Bike leg number one was considerably easy, but the second was very technical with most of it down hill over very rocky trails. My wife is a good rider, but she lacks trust in her riding skills. (she is better than she thinks) The course proved to be very challenging, with just about every racer having to dismount the bikes to walk them up and down hills. Four inches of rain in Austin helped make the race even more interesting. I found myself running uphill and having to walk downhill areas to stay on my feet. There was creativity put into the race trail. Each leg of the race had an area that made it different than the last. This was the most fun I have had at any competition in my adult life. There are Muddy Buddy races all over the U.S. and I suggest you find and buddy and get signed up. We will be doing the other race here in Texas in October in Dallas. Hope to see you there.

I want to finish by saying  Thank You to my wife. She is very competitive, but let that go so we could have fun. I wonder how a mix of endurance and powerlifting training will go?

135 x2x6

185 2 x 4

205 2 x 4

255 2 x 2

315 2 x 3

365 2 x 2

405 1 x 2

455 1 x1

1/2 mile run.

85% 6×3

RevBand 3 sets 4,3,1

Various Pull Ups

Curls 3×15

Scare Crows w/ Palms Out 3 x 15

315 for 6 sets of 3

That’s it. Down and Dirty

50% 2×8

floor press

275 1x 5

225 5×10

Bent Over Rows 4×10

pull ups- 2×6

Squat- 50% (270) 2×4 raw

Conv. Rack Pulls

225×8

315 3×8

all raw

TKE 4×15 w/bands

GM- 4×8

Adductor Ex. w/band- 4×15

Shrugs 4×15

A lot of volume, and it only took about 45 minuted w/ two of us.

Finally, a raw bench to be ok with.

All done with fat grips.

225x3x3

275x1x3

285x1x3

315x1x3

DB Roll Ups- 4×10

Dorian Row- 4×15

Face Pull- 3×15

Weighted Sit-ups- 4 x15

I have designed myself a new training program for the next 8 weeks. I will be using a max effort day, and a max reps day. I am using this in order to build back some size I lost from the bad shoulder. I think everything will be moving forward quickly. I am looking forward to what I can do over the next eight weeks.

Finally a bench session without ANY pain. I guess Dr. Helton knows his work.

135 x20

185×12

225×8

Not heavy, but the key was there was NO PAIN.

Acc:

Laying Tricep Ext- 4×8

Plate Raise- 4×10

Curls- 3×8