Full Workout Logs: Starting 3/7/07: Weeks 1-3

Full Workout Logs

Starting 3/7/07

These workout logs are continued from Full Workout Logs: Starting 2/12/07: Rotation VI.

Stats:
Age: 46
Weight class: 114s/ 123s.
Next contest: IPA PA States, September 22, in New Castle, PA.

My original plans were to enter IPA Worlds, June 23,24 in York, PA, most Likely competing raw. I was using an Eleven Week Cycle to prepare for this contest. However, at the end of Week Three, I came down with the flu and had to miss a couple of workouts. With being sick and loosing some bodyweight as a result, when I started back, I had to drop my weights down some. So that ended my plans to enter IPA Worlds. So most likely, my next contest will be as indicted above. But this will require changing this cycle. So I ended it at Week Three, and started a new count and new routine.

For details on this routine, see Training Routine Format - Basic Cycle.

All lifts done raw (not even a belt).
Warm-ups are in brackets. All weights are in pounds. Format: pounds/reps.
Workout time includes set-up, warm-up, lifting, stretching, and clean-up.

Week One

Squats, Week 1 of 11

Wednesday – 3/7/07

Squats with gear: [55/15, 145/10, try Titan briefs and Frantz suit: 240/--, remove briefs and Frantz suit, try old Crain suit: 240/2]

Raw Squats: [145/8, 195/8] 235/8, 245/8, 255/8

Low Squats: [145/8] 195/8, 195/8

Stretching: ~10 minutes

Workout Time: 2:00 (but meaningless)

See Full Workout Logs: Starting 2/12/07: Rotation VI; Week Three; Day Two for a discussion of this workout.

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Benches, Week 1 of 11

Friday – 3/9/07

Benches: [55/15, 95/10, 115/6] 135/8, 140/8, 145/8

DB Benches: [30s/8, 40s/8] 45s/8, 50s/8

Lat. Pulldowns (“V” grip): [45/8, 70/4] 85/8, 85/10

Curl Bar Curls: [45/8] 60/6, 55/8

Crunch/ Reverse Crunch Combo: 10/20, 10/20

Stretching: ~10 minutes

Workout Time: 1:

As with my raw squats on Wednesday, this was the first time I had done regular raw benches in quite a while. So as with squats, I started light and worked up. For squats, I wanted to be sure I was sinking them, and here, I wanted to be sure I paused every rep. With plans to compete raw, I really need to work on my strength off of the chest.

The DB benches are done alternating arms, holding the resting arm at the chest while the other arm presses and lowers the weight. This way, the resting arm is forced to pause extra long, again to work on the strength off of the chest.

With benching raw, the problem with my weaker right shoulder will be even more pronounced. So I will be using a lot of DB work to try to work on this problem.

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Deadlifts, Week 1 of 11

Monday – 3/12/07

Deadlifts: [55/15, 145/10, 200/6, 255/3] 285/8, 290/8, 295/6

SLDLs: [145/8, 210/4] 235/8, 245/7, 255/6

Stretching: ~ 10 minutes

Workout Time: 1:27

Been a long time since I did this many reps on DLs, and it was tough! That’s why I “died” and only did 6 reps on the last set. Then for SLDLs, I figured I’d go 8,7,6 instead. But even then, three works sets on both were just too much. I was really beat afterwards.

When I first started lifting again about five years ago, I always did just two works sets on the powerlifts and followed that up with two more work sets on one major assistance exercise. But in the last couple of years, I’ve been experimenting with doing more sets, and things haven’t gone as well as when I was doing just two sets each. So I think I will go back to that.

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Bench Assistance, Week 1 of 11

Wednesday – 3/14/07

Standing Overhead Press: [DBs: 10s/15, BB: 45/10, 60/6] 75/8, 75/8

DB Incline Bench: [30s/8, 40s/5] 45s/8, 45s/8

DB Rows (underhand grip): [25s/8, 35s/4], 40s/8, 40s/8

Reverse BB Curls: [50/8] 55/8, 55/8

Bicycle Abs (reps to each side): 30, 30

Stretching: ~10 minutes

Workout Time: 1:17

I decided to try something different here. To really work on my weak right shoulder, I’ll focus on overhead presses and inclines for my bench assistance day.

Week Two

Squats, Week 2 of 11, Calves question

Friday – 3/16/07

Squats: [55/15, 145/8, 195/6, 235/3] 265/8, 275/8

Reverse Band Squats (#4, average bands): [195/8, 265/4] 300/8, 310/8

BB Calves: [105/12] 125/6, rest skipped (see below)

Stretching: ~10 minutes

Workout Time: 1:13

I was wondering, how many here do calf raises? I’m asking as after my squats, my calves were already so pumped that I didn’t feel they were necessary. But I did my warm-up set anyway and then started my first work set, but my calves were feeling so sore I felt that to continue would just overtrain them. So I stopped halfway through the set.

Note: Responses I received to this post was that most of the powerlifters did not do specific calves works, but a few did.

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Benches, Week 2 of 11

Monday – 3/19/07

Benches: [55/15, 95/10, 115/6, 135/3] 150/8, 150/8

Reverse Band Benches (#3, light bands): [115/6, 145/3] 165/8, 170/8

Speed RB Benches: 115/8, 130/8, 125/8

Lat. Pulldowns (wide grip): [45/8, 70/4] 85/10, 85/10

DB Curls: [20s/8] 27s/10, 27s/8

Stretching: ~10 minutes

Workout Time: 1:18

With planning on competing raw, I was pausing all the bench reps. And let me say, it is a killer pausing that any reps. My chest was really pumped and sore afterwards. And it makes a big difference in how much I can bench. Without pausing, I’ve done as much as 165/8.

Note, even with competing raw, I still think I need to do “top end” work, hence the reverse band work. When I competed raw at a contest last year, I missed my third bench attempt a little over halfway up.

Specifically, I am using a program similar to what I did in my college lifting days. I’m doing the powerlifts each week, followed by one major assistance exercises. But I am using a two-week rotation on the assistance work. Week One I do an exercise designed to help the bottom end of the lift, and Week Two, the top end. In college, I’d do partial movements for the top-end work, but now, I prefer to use chains and bands.

Another reason for the chains and bands is as an overload. I have the reverse bands set so that there is no tension at the top. So I am handling the full weight. This way, when I do regular squats and benches, it will feel “light” at the beginning of the lift.

Also on squats, my next contest might be an IPA contest where there will be a monolift. But I am thinking of entering an ADAU contest in the fall, which does not use a monolift. So by walking out the heavier weight via the RB squats it will make walking the weight for regular squats seem easy.

And finally, just in case I do decide to use gear again, the RB and chain work will keep me used to handling heavier weights.

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Deadlifts, Week 2 of 11

Wednesday – 3/21/07

Deadlifts: [55/15, 145/10, 210/6, 265/3] 295/8, 295/8

Chain DLs (set-up weighs 90 pounds): [145/8] 185/8, 195/8

Speed Chain DLs: 145/8, 145/8

Stretching: ~ 10 minutes

Workout Time: 1:23

Using 145 for the speed chain DLs was a bit too heavy. When I did speed work after my squat and bench work sets in my previous two workouts, it seemed to help me recover, maybe the speed work helped to clear out toxins. But here, I was even more tired after them. But I couldn’t go lighter. With the way the chains bunch up under the bar, I need to have 45s on it. So next time, I’ll either do the speed DLs with straight bar weight or just skip it.

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Bench Assistance, Week 2 of 11

Friday – 3/23/07

Incline Bench: [45/15, 75/10, 95/6, 110/3] 127/8, 127/8

DB Presses: [10s/8, 20s/4] 25s/10, 25s/10

DB Rows (elbows out): [30/8, 40/4], 50/8, 50/8

Reverse DB Curls: [20s/8] 27s/8, 27s/8

Stretching: ~10 minutes

Workout Time: 1:18

The 127 (actually 127.5) for my incline bench work sets was not due to using my 1-1/4 pound plates. It was because there was a 2-1/2 on one side that wasn’t supposed to be there! I thought something felt awkward, but I thought it was due to my FID (flat, incline, decline) bench being somewhat warped. Oh well, so I ended up doing 2-1/2 pounds more than I planned on.

Week Three

Squats, Week 3 of 11/ PRs for 8 reps

Monday – 3/26/07

Squats: [145/8, 200/6, 255/3] 285/8, 290/8

Low Squats: [145/8, 180] 205/8, 215/7

Jump Squats: [45/8] 75/8, 75/8

Twisting Sit-ups (reps to each side): 13, 13

Stretching: ~10 minutes

Workout Time: 1:17

My previous best for 8 reps was 280/8. So both sets of squats were PRs. Thankfully, this was my last week for 8 reps. Doing 8 reps is just too much! Next week I’ll be dropping to 6 reps.

The pic is the set-up for my specialty “low squat” exercise. You insert two sets of safety bars in the rack, one set of bars below so you’re below parallel and the other set a few inches below lockout. You then place the bar on the bottom set of bars, squeeze down under it, then squat rapidly up and down tapping each set of bars, pausing but not resting between reps.

The idea of using the top set of bars is so the lifter can keep moving rapidly without locking out the knees. This exercise helps one get out of the bottom on the squat and can even help with a sticking point near the middle of the lift. It also really pumps up the legs and glutes.

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Benches, Week 3 of 11

Wednesday – 3/28/07

Benches: [55/15, 95/10, 120/6] 152/8, 152/8

DB Benches: [30s/8, 45s/8] 52s/8, 52s/7

Lat. Pulldowns (“V” grip): [45/8, 70/4] 90/8, 90/8

Curl Bar Curls: [45/8] 55/10, 55/8

Stretching: ~10 minutes

Workout Time: 1:18

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Deadlifts, Week 3 of 11

Friday – 3/30/07

Deadlifts: [55/15, 145/10, 210/6, 270/3] 300/7, 300/7

SLDLs: [165/6, 220/3] 245/8, 245/8

Jump Deadlifts: [45/8] 75/8, 75/8

Crunch/ Reverse Crunch Combo: 10/25, 10/25

Stretching: ~ 10 minutes

Workout Time: 1:19

This was my last week for 7-8 reps. My best DL for this range of reps is 315/8. But that was done using my older sumo stance. With my new conv. stance, it seems like I do much better on singles than on reps, so I’m not too concerned my weights are down from the last time I did this many reps.

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Bench Assistance

Good Friday – 4/6/07

Standing Overhead Press: [DBs: 10s/15, BB: 45/10, 55/6, 65/3] 75/6, 75/6

DB Incline Bench: [30s/6, 40s/4] 45s/6, 45s/6

DB Rows (underhand grip): [25s/8, 35s/4], 40s/6, 40s/6

Reverse BB Curls: 45/10, 45/10

Stretching: ~10 minutes

Workout Time: 1:12

It was after my previous workout that I came down with the flu and had to miss a couple of workouts. This workout, was to be my last day doing 7-8 reps, then my next workout I’d be dropping to 5-6 reps. But instead, since I was still dragging some from being sick, I used the same weights as I used for 8 reps the last time I did this workout but only did 6 reps. And that made for a rather easy workout.

I wasn’t sure if I should work out or not as I am not fully recovered from the flu. But I knew this would be an easy workout, and I felt okay doing it. I slept great last night for the first time in over a week, and I’m feeling pretty good now. So hopefully, I’ll be fully recovered by Monday’s workout.

For my new routine, see Full Workout Logs: Starting 4/8/07.

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