Friday and Saturday

Thursday:

Axel Push Press/Jerk: Just did some triples and single on the push press and singles on the push jerk.  I was in the rack so I couldn't drop the bar so my weights stayed lower than what I'm capable of.  Bringing the bar back to my chest and then into the J-hooks was definitely the hardest part.

Glute Ham Raise: 5x5 with a band around my neck

DB Shrugs: 4x10

Conditioning stuff

Friday:

Squat: 4x10

Calf Raise: 3x12
w/
Chest Supported Rows: 3x15

Push Ups: 50

Going to be driving down to Chicago in a bit with a bunch of the guys from college for New Years Eve.  The bar we are going to has open bar from 8 pm to Close.  I'll take six Schlitz's...Aww fuck it whatever's free.  Have a fun and safe New Years everyone and I'll catch you in 2011.

Song of the Day:

“Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true" -Lord Alfred Tennyson

Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday:

Chain Squat: 15 singles

Calf Raises: 3x15
w/
Shrugs: 3x10

Fat Bar Curls: 3x8

Squats felt decent.  Better than OK but not great.  I was a little high on a few.  My heaviest was 455 in bar weight with the 80 lbs. of chains.  The chains are completely off the ground which also forces me to use a lot of energy just for stability.  This is something that I think I need to make my squat better.

Wednesday:

I did a circuit at the Schroeder Aquatic Center where I train some swimmers twice a week.  This kicked my ass and I was definitely not prepared for it to.  I did four rounds, all sets were ten reps at each exercise.

Single Leg Step Downs
Inverted Row
Leg Curls
Push Ups with Knee Drive to Chest
Med Ball Slams

I'm out of cardio shape.  But guess what?  I don't give a shit.  I could muscle my way through a 5k if I wanted to.  But guess what else?  I have no desire to unless I'm being chased by something that could kill/eat me.

If you have ever felt the urge to say that people who like metal/hardcore/punk hate their parents I present you this song.  I've use the cliche myself and take back every time I said it.  This song rules and sums up the way I feel about my parents.

Song of the Day:

"Anger: an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything it is poured on." -Seneca

Sunday and Monday

Sunday:

I worked out at the bastion of futility known as the YMCA.  Watching what goes on there just makes me cringe.  One example: I was squatting in the rack and next to me on the decline bench was a guy doing behind the back wrist curls.  He commented on my squatting 405 as "big boy weights."  He then went over to the leg press put a shitload of plates on and did a bunch of quarter reps.  He finished with one more set of BHB wrist curls.  I really wish I had brought my ipod.

Close Stance Squat: bunch of singles

Push Press: bunch of singles

Chins: 30

Dips: 3x10

After training was the Packer game.  It was definitely good to see them put a complete game together.  They took one step closer to making the playoffs.  They just need to beat those pieces of shit Bears and they are in.

Monday:

Bench: worked up to 290 for a fast single then 275x1x5

Prowler: 4 hi 4 lo

Didn't have a bunch of time so I just benched took the prowler for a walk and then got out.  Boom.

This band is a side project for the lead singer of some other band.  All of there songs are about Arnold Schwarzenegger movies.  They rock harder than any band on the radio right now.  I'm looking at you Jake.

Song of the Day:

"No matter how good you are at something, there's always about a million people better than you." -Homer Simpson

Training and Good News

Thursday:

Sumo Dead Lift: 10 singles

Keg Clean and Press: 6 singles on each side

Single Arm Row: 2x10

After the second set of rows my SI joint in my low back lit up like an Xmas tree.  It felt like I was being stabbed.  I think the musculature that stabilizes my low back was fatigued and my body was sending me pain signals as a warning to take it easy.  This is my theory due to the fact that when I braced my abs and/or my glutes the pain went away.  The presence of stability in that region dissipated the pain signals.  I'm just going to have to take it easy the next couple of days.  These aches and pains are just a part of lifting.  Most of the bigger injuries can be mitigated by not totally gotten rid of.

Friday:

Bench Press: 5x10

Calf Raises: 3x15
w/
Band Pull Downs: 3x20

Now the good news.  After training I had a third interview with a potential candidate for "Best Friend."  After the interview I pulled the proverbial trigger and decided to adopt a rescue dog.  You can see his pics here.  His name is Jake right now but I am going to change it to Saxon.  Saxon was in a shelter in Ohio where he was slated to be destroyed.  According to Saxon's foster mom Ohio has probably the cruelest way of destroying dogs besides whatever comes to Michael Vick's sick imagination.  They put them all in a big room and run a hose from the window to a car muffler killing them with the exhaust.  Just awful. 

Anyway, Jake is getting fixed later next week and will be able to come home in early January.  He is super mellow and just likes to sit by you and get petted.  He was a little timid at first when he was at my house but got comfortable after a bit and started to look around.  I'm so excited.  PetSmart is going to be getting a bunch of my money soon.

One last thing, MERRY CHRISTMAS!  Have a safe and fun holiday everyone and cherish the time you have with the ones you love.

Song of the Day:

"If you've never been hurt you probably suck." -American javelin thrower

Wednesday

Feeling a little beat up and sore today so I just took it easy and did some light Olympic work.  The last couple of weeks I've done the Bear comples but just wasn't feeling it today.  Monday's squats and yesterday's bench has me a little frazzled.  I want to get three more sessions in this week so laying off a bit will help me do that.

Power Snatch: up to 80 kilos for 4 singles

Clean and Jerk: up to 100 kilos for 4 singles

I'm thinking sumo deadlift tomorrow.  I haven't done this in a coon's age.  I also suck at it.  A lot  It should be fun.

Song of the Day:

There is no way I can follow that song with anything.

Tuesday

Bench Press: 10x2, 2x10
w/
Reverse Hypers: 6x5

DB Shoulder Press: 10,8,6,4,2
w/
Pull Ups: 10,8,6,4,2

Sgl Leg Calf Raise: 3x15
w/
Face Pulls: 3x12

Bench felt really strong today.  Finished with 275 for my last two doubles and 205 for my two sets of ten.  Everything went up fast.  I think I was more focused on my technique and staying tight in my entire body.  Next week I'll work up to some singles and see what I can do.

And now the most metal Christmas video of all time.  My favorite part is the baby crying.

Song of the Day:

"Next to a circus there ain't nothing that packs up and tears out any quicker than the Christmas spirit." -Kin Hubbard

Monday

Chain Squat: 10x2

Dips: 3x10
w/
Chain Squat: 2x10

Neck: 3x10
w/
Zottman Curls: 3x6

Squat felt really strong today.  My last set had 425 in bar weight and then the chains added about 80 lbs. at the top.  My knee still has some junk in it but didn't affect squatting at all.

I got my EFS neck harness in today and played around with it a bit.  Time to get a massive neck.  No more stack of dimes for this guy.

Song of the Day:

"It's often safer to be in chains than be free." -Franz Kafka

Sunday

Bench Press: 5x10

Bad Room Bent Row: 4x8
w/
Barbell Tricep Extensions: 3x10

Quick session down in Nitro's today.  My upper body pressing is by far the weakest link to getting to where I want to be power lifting wise.  The remedy: increased volume through increased frequency.  As much as I hat to admit it I need to bench press at least twice per week.  One day will be max effort work and the other day will be rep work.  This is not only going to make me stronger overall in the lift, but will reinforce my technique in the lift.  Technique is what I think is holding me back in progressing in the lift.  We'll see how it goes.

Last night I watched the Vince Lombardi special on HBO.  Very interesting.  The man is lionized by so many people it's kind of sad to see how his devotion and obsession to football came at the cost of many people close to him.  If you have a chance check it out.

Song of the Day:

"We only want winners." -Vince Lombardi

Friday and Saturday

Friday:

Single Arm Snatches: bunch of singles

Farmers Walk: 8 sets of 25 yards

After work Matt Cerra, Joe Flick and I went pn a bro-date for steaks at the Five O'Clock Club in Milwaukee.  They wanted to take me out as a Christmas/show their appreciation gift.  They couldn't have picked a better spot.  I had the medium Ribeye.  I can easily say this was the best cut of meat I've ever had.  It was grilled first then char-broiled so it had a nice crust to it.  It was so tender I could've cut it with a mental patient's pair Saf-T-Cut scissors.  It's the kind of steak that all other steaks will be measured against for the rest of my life.  Unless I'm eating at the Five O'Clock Club.  Thanks again guys.

Saturday:

Nitro St. Justice's Barbell Club and Gentleman's Lounge is now up and running.  All are welcome but you must be on a quest for maximum pumpitude.  No poofters that want to "get toned" are allowed.  There are only free weights, bars, squat stands, a jenky platform, squat stands, and a bench.  The floor is uneven, you can't press if you're standing up, it can get kind of cold, only punk, heavy metal, and certain classic rock is allowed to be played, it will be a tight squeeze for more than one person, if you are taller than 6'3" you might have trouble squatting, and there are no windows.  Is it perfect?  No.  Is it awesome?  Yes.  Is it going to be the place where I will leave my humanly form and pass on into oblivion?  Probably.  Is there a better way to go than being crushed while lifting something heavy?  I could think of a few.

                                         The Epicenter

                                         Formerly The Bad Room

After I got everything situated I did some training.

Close Grip Incline: 10x3
w/
Barbell Glute Extensions: 10x3

Calf Raises: 4x15
w/
Barbell Reverse Curls: 3x10

Now it's time for some wings, a beer or two, and some subpar college bowl games.

Song of the Day:

"Did you ever see the customers in health-food stores? They are pale, skinny people who look half dead. In a steak house, you see robust, ruddy people. They're dying, of course, but they look terrific." -Bill Cosby

Last Few

Been busy the last few days so here we go...

Monday:

Front Squat: 12x2
w/
Power Shrug: 10x3

Tuesday:

Bench: 15x1
w/
Pin RDL: 10x3

Wednesday:

Bear Complex: 5x5

Rope Tabata: 4 minutes

Thursday:

Olympic Squat: 15x1
w/
Chin Ups: 5,4,3,2,1,5,4,3,2,1

On Monday I tweaked my right knee just a bit and it's been a bit swollen since.  Nothing serious just a little inflammation.  Despite that I felt really strong today.  None of the chin up sets felt hard and my last set on squat was at 455 and didn't feel like anything too heavy.  My nutrition has been on point and I've been making it a priority to get to bed earlier each night.  Those two things are often what is missing from an effective training program.  Especially the sleep aspect.  I'm going to write up a post about the importance of sleep this weekend.  Stay tuned.

Song of the Day:

"As a day well spent brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death." Leondardo da Vinci

Saturday

Axel Push Press: 12x2
w/
Leg Curls: 10x3

Legs were feeling beat up so I took it easy on them.  Overhead pressing needs to get stronger.  This will carry over into my bench.  I've heard people say the best way to bench 400 is to press 300.  I'm a ways behind that but you get my point.

Saturday night was our Christmas party at Brad's house.  Him and his wife Stacy put on a great party.  Lot's of food, drinks, people, dogs, etc.  I easily won the John Daly Drunkest There Award.  That Jameson I tell ya.  Whiskey and water is my drink of choice and there was plenty to go around.  I had four down when we started playing Catchphrase and they all hit me at the same time.  My clues got progressively worse and worse until I was probably barely making words by the end.  My team more than likely hated me.  That's what happens when a bunch of type A competitive people get together and play meaningless board games though.  Oh well, I had fun as I'm sure everyone else did.  Can't wait til next year.

Song of the Day:

"They say some of my stars drink whiskey.  But I have found that the ones that drink milkshakes don't win many ball games."
-Casey Stengel

Last Few

Wednesday:

Bear Complex: Power Clean, Push Press, Front Squat, Push Press, Back Squat, Push Press

This complex is performed by doing one of each exercise listed in order.  Once done with last push press return the bar to the ground.  Rep one is thus completed.  I did 5 sets of 5.  I had fire in my lungs for a while afterwards.

Thursday:

Back Squat: 10x3

Good Mornings: 5x5

Prowler

Forearms and Curls

Friday:

Power Cleans: 15x1

Bench: 10x3

Inverted Rows and Pull Ups

Band Pull Aparts and Tri Push Downs

I'm feeling good lately.  In the past I would have never been able to handle this kind of volume.  That was all in my head though.  I still feel sore but being sore is not a very good contraindicator to exercise.  And I like to train.  Once I get going I'm in the zone and I get done what I need to get done.  Bam.

Tomorrow is the NX Level company Christmas Party.  My contribution is going to be bacon wrapped Lil' Smokies, Christmas cookies that my wonderful Grandma Donna, Aunt Patti, and mother Cindy made for me, and 1L of Jameson Irish Whiskey.  I'm going to eat so much food and maybe enjoy a few aperitifs.  That last statement is only 3/4 true.  I'm going to drink more than my fair share of that Jameson.  Last year we stayed up until 4 am and then I had to work at 7 am the next morning.  This year it's on a Saturday so there will be nothing holding me back.  I'm going for an eight to ten pound Sunday bloat.  I'll probably only drink coffee and cranberry juice to help get some water out.  Maybe some sweating down in Nitro St. Justice's Barbell Club & Gentleman's Lounge as well.  We'll play that one by ear.

Song of the Day:


"What whiskey will not cure, there is no cure for." -Irish Proverb

Last Two

Monday:

Back Squat to Behind the Neck Push Press: 7x3
w/
Dips: 7x3
w/
V-Grip Chins: 7x3

Prowler

Grip

Tuesday:

Log Clean and Press: 12x1
w/
Trap Bar DL: 10x3

Tricep Push Downs: 3x15
w/
Neck Flexion & Extension: 3x10
w/
Straight Bar Curl: 3x10

I hate deload weeks, so I'm not deloading.  Jumping right back in with both feet.  I'm going to slowly ramp up by training frequency (sessions/week) to somewhere around 9 or 10.  I'll have to do doubles on some days but that's ok.  I'm still thinking about how I'm going to go about this.  I'm thinking the morning sessions will be lighter rep sessions in the basement with the afternoon being for heavier stuff at NX Level. 

This brings me to another point.  West Allis Barbell closed for the season a while ago.  This week will mark the Grand Opening of Nitro St. Justice's Barbell Club & Gentleman's Lounge.  I'm going to move the squat stands, the bench, the bars, the weights, and Glute Ham into the middle room of the basement.  The front room is storage and laundry.  The back room is the Bad Room where I go to break bottles and cry.  But that's for another post altogether.

Song of the Day:

"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” -Emerson

Meet Recap

I left for Dubuque, IA Friday early afternoon and got there and checked in without a hitch.  From then up until I got to the meet on Saturday morning was an adventure to say the least.

Upon entering my room at the Motel 6 I tried not to think about the literally gallons of bodily fluids that were hiding out in random places in my room.  I checked out each towel before I used it which was a good thing.  The hand towel by the sink had a few stains from guests past.  I'm sure it had been cleaned but probably should have been retired a while ago.  By the look of it it was either used to clean up blood or it was used as a C-rag.  I've been a guy for 26 years and expressing that masculinity successfully for 13 or 14.  I know what it looks like and if not taken care of it can leave a stain.

On my way to weigh-ins which was five minutes from my hotel I got stuck in traffic.  There was a huge car fire about 200 yards in front of me.  A major thoroughfare in Dubuque was then closed for an hour while firefighters got the fire under control and cleaned up the scene.  While I was sitting in traffic it began to snow.  It wasn't a blizzard but it definitely made the rest of the trip interesting.  I narrowly missed weigh-ins by the skin of my ass.  I weighed-in at 214 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal.

After weigh-ins I went straight to a Chinese buffet about a mile away from my hotel to get my bloat on.  Two and a half plates of MSG laden food stuffs later I was ready to call it a night.

Saturday morning I woke up to about five inches of snow and an unpaved lot.  The way Motel 6's building was set up I had to drive down a fairly steep incline to get to park by my room.  My truck has rear-wheel drive (which is by far the dumbest invention ever.  I hope whoever invented it and decided it would go good on a truck has had a very unhappy life and dies alone and sad.) and does not do well in the snow.  I had to try five times getting a running start to get the truck up the hill.  I was not happy to say the least.

On to the meet.  Here's how it broke down.

Squat
518- good lift
540- no lift- depth
556- no lift- depth

I was kind of disappointed in the squat.  The second one I was high.  But the third I took video of and watched it and I really don't think I was high.  I'll admit it could have gone either way and it's up to me to leave no doubt but I saw some other squats that were high than mine and were given three whites.  I'm not a judge and I didn't see it from their perspective so I really have nothing to complain about.  I know I'm strong enough to handle the weight.  That gives me confidence moving forward.

Bench
264- good lift
286.5- good lift
292- no lift

Second attempt went up like nothing.  I stalled on 292 about half way up and couldn't fight through it.  I think I let it float out a bit and that's what did me in.  Moving on.

Dead lift
538- good lift
584- good lift
589.5- good lift- all-time PR

Not much to say here.  I was happy with the PR.  It was a struggle but I think 600 is not too far out of reach.

Total- 1393.5

All in all the meet was definitely a success.  I hit a PR and narrowly missed two others.  I also learned a lot about how to set up my training.  Here's a few nuggets of truth I stumbled upon.

1. I do better only dead lifting once every few weeks.
2. I need to bench more than once per week and do more pressing in general.
3. I'm going to start wearing my heavy knee sleeves again to keep my knees healthy.

Now it's time to rest, relax, and recover.  I'll be getting back at it tomorrow.  My long term goals are still not fulfilled and I fully intend on fulfilling them to their fullest.  Full.

Song of the Day:

"There is nothing so fatal to character as half finished tasks."
-David Loyd George