Training Update, Videos, and Challenges

Monday

Fat Bar Push Press: 174x5, 160x5, 145x5x3

Wednesday

Body Weight (195) Front/Back Squat Challenge: 17/10, 10/10

Good Mornings: 5x5

Friday

Trap Bar Speed Dead Lift: 305x3x8

Gunz

Quarter Mile Farmers Walk: Hundies in each hand.  It took me 6:14 to complete.

High rep squats smoked me.  I was surprised at how many reps I did on the front squat and how few I did on the back squat.  When I made the switch and sat back into the first back squat I could feel my quads trying to do everything.  That was a weird feeling.  By rep 6 on the back squat I could feel my spinal erectors starting to go.  I stayed smart and shut it down there.  No point in getting injured.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I’m going to start adding in some quick workouts.  On Tuesday I did some single arm dead lifts and then prowlers with rope inverted rows.  Nothing too intense or time consuming.  It took me about 30 minutes total to complete.

I love spring.  It’s by-far my favorite season.  Even though we didn’t really get a winter I’m ready for it to be warm again.  The best part is that once it gets into the 50’s it feels like it’s 70.  I just hope it stays this way.  If it snows in April I’m going to be pissed.

I’m getting pretty excited for St. Patty’s Day this year.  Normally I prefer to keep it low key since it’s usually during the week and for the most part it’s amateur hour at the bars.  But this year a bunch of friends got a drink/food special in Chicago.  I’ve challenged Eric to a corned beef eating contest.  I know I’m going to lose; I just want to see what kind of damage he can do.  I hope they have Jameson at this thing too.

A couple of my clients hit dead lift PRs this week.  Shannon, who owns a kettlebell studio, pulled 223 (metrics and shit), Matt pulled 406, and Joe hoisted 508.  I was so proud.  They’ve been following a program that I wrote up for them and it seems to be going well.  There are a few tweaks that I’m going to make to it but for the most part that shit is bananas.

The Farmer’s Walk Challenge crushed me.  Carrying half your bodyweight in each hand for a quarter mile is a lot harder than it sounds.  My hands and forearms were pretty useless after this and I even used straps. Try it.  Let me know how it goes.

The more that I think about it, when it comes to training athletes, and even adults for that matter, the speed of movement is just as important as the weight on the bar.  There is a time and place for an athlete to strain against a weight and come out on top, but those times should be few and far between.  Most sports are played in a fast reactive manner and I think a majority of their work in the weight room should be the same.  Most will say that the intent to accelerate is just as good as actually accelerating it, but what population are we talking about?  Power lifters with a decade or more under the bar or 16 year-old kids with a very low training age? 

Those that have been training a long time know their bodies and can understand the biofeedback.  Those that don’t have a lot of under the bar experience don’t know the difference between slow and the intent to be fast.  They just know they stood up with the bar.  And more than likely those that haven’t built the muscle maturity that comes with years of training are going to lose some kind of posture when attempting to accelerate a heavy load because they think it needs to be fast, not just attempted fast.  I don’t know.  I’m more or less just thinking out loud.  On a computer. 


I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Training Update and Random Thoughts

Monday

Fat Bar Clean and Press: 154x5

Fat Bar Clean and Push Press: 184x5, 154x5x4

Wednesday

Med Ball Throws

Jumps

Trap Bar Speed Dead Lift: 275 x 8 sets of 3

Gun Show

Complex:

RDLx6, BTN Push Pressx6, Squat Jumpx6

Friday

Squat: 405x5, 365x5, 325x5x2

RDL: 308x5x3

Prowler

There wasn’t a training update last week due to the short week and me being in Wausau, which was awesome.  The Circle of Friends Winter Trips are always a great time.  The kids have a blast and I get to see some of the friends that I’ve made over the past four years of being in the program.  This year I’m going to step up my game and do my own little fundraiser for the trips.  What I’m planning on doing is a 500 pound Dead Lift Challenge.  I’m going to give myself 30 minutes to do as many dead lifts with 500 pounds as possible.  What I’m asking you dear reader is to get on board to donate $1 per successful lift.  I’m thinking about doing it in early June.  

The Dirty Birds

Knowing myself I’m probably going to be good for about 20 reps.  So if you commit yourself to donating no more than $30 dollars then you’ll be helping out a great cause.  I’ll be posting more info once I get the details smoothed out.  If you are interested you can email me at tdequaine@hotmail.com.  DO NOT make me guilt trip the hell out of you guys.  Because I’ll do it.

Squats felt awesome today.  405 felt the lightest it has in a long time.  I really think the med ball throws, jumps, and sprints are helping my strength out of the bottom.  I think I could have probably gone 425-445 for five today.  I gave it serious consideration but decided against it.  Got to think big picture.

I heard Marshall Tucker Band’s Can’t You See the other day on the radio. 





I haven’t heard this song in a long time but has been one of my favorite songs of all time.  The melody of the electric and acoustic guitars, the bass, the percussion, piano, and even the flute, along with the soulful, heartfelt lyrics make this an awesome southern blues rock staple.  It made me very sad for the state of the music industry today.  Very few bands are actually composed of good musicians.  There aren't any songs that have true meaning to the artist.  And because songs like this are now the most popular:

Sometimes I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.

Upping my calories has worked out pretty well so far.  I’m at about 195 right now with not a lot of fluff put back on.  I feel like I’ve filled out well and I think what could be considered fat is just a healthy layer of bloat.  Something that is essential to build muscle.  I hate to admit it but I think my hormone levels were a little depressed towards the end of the diet.  I've noticed I’m not as cold as I used to be, I get hungry even if I have eaten recently (metabolism is higher), and when I wake up in the morning my daily pee is a little more bent over than in the past couple weeks (fellas will know exactly what I'm talking about).  All good things.

I’m going to Texas Roadhouse tonight as part of my Valentine’s Day gift from my girlfriend, Amy.  It’s going to be tough to not look at the steak part of the menu and just say, “Yes.  I'll have that.  ALL OF IT IT!”  I loves me some steak.  And loaded sweet potatoes.  Aaaaand maybe a Shamrock Shake.

One thing I’ve been trying is having a “cheat” day on Saturday and then fasting Sunday with my first meal post cheat being my post workout meal on Monday.  I usually ate whatever I wanted and as much of it as I wanted until about 8 pm Saturday and then started the fast.  This worked ok but I felt like I didn’t have a lot of pop for the lift on Monday.  So I tried inserting a small meal with some protein and veggies right before I went to bed on Sunday night.  Last Sunday I had about 4 ounces of fish with a few cups of steamed broccoli.  No more than 250 calories but a huge difference to not eating.  This setup seemed to give me more energy for Monday’s lift without getting in the way of the benefits of the fast.

Speaking of fasting I’ve come across some interesting research on it.  I think I also saw Harper's has an article on the subject this month.  I’ll probably gather these up and put together another article on the research side of things.  There are some potentially awesome benefits to say the least.

NX Level has a few guys at the NFL Scouting Combine this weekend.  Wisconsin fullback Brady Ewing and cornerback Antonio Fenelus will be shopping their wares all over Indianapolis.  Both of them are great guys who have been busting their asses and both have legit shots at having great careers at the next level.  A couple other guys have pro days and other workout/tryouts coming up as well.  I’m wishing them all the best.

On Thursday night southern Wisconsin was supposed to get 1-3 inches of rain/snow mix and Chicago was going to get slammed.  Instead Chicago got rain and Wisconsin got 5 inches of snow.  Wish I could be extremely wrong when I give clients advice and still have a job.  Oh wait, Dr. Oz is still on TV spouting nonsense and misinformation every damn day?  Never mind.