Okay, so couldn't get to the gym on Monday. But did today!
First though, a quick note - someone made the hills steeper. All of them. I did not appreciate this. Also, I need to rebuild my bike. Haven't even lubed the chain for mo... never mind. I got some SRAM red brifters off ebay, so I can strip my bike, put the 'borrowed' bits back on Melanie's bike, and clean, lube, grease, rebuild rear wheel... all that sort of stuff. In a minute. When I have time.
Anyway, back in the gym, and did a 'light' session to regrease my own wheels before going back in a couple of days for a volume session, then heavy again on Monday.
And then I realised that I thought today was Tuesday, and I'd do volume on Thursday. But it's Wednesday. And I can't get to the gym on Friday.
Stay tuned for whinging tomorrow about doing volume the day after even a 'light' session. Mental toughness. Or something.
S: 2x5x110
P: 3x5x45
D: 2x5x120
27 February 2013
18 February 2013
Dipthong
6 days of full-day seminaring coming up, so probably no gym until next Monday. Hoped to go out with a bang today, lots of volume, but it was just too hot. And smoky from nearby grassfire!
S: 5x5x140
P: 3x5x55, 1x4x55, 1x3x55
B: 1x1x75 (Was supposed to be 5x5, but... nup. Too tired and slippy bar from prodigious sweating.)
D: 1x5x120
Planning on riding most of the week except tomorrow, but not going to bother talking about that unless something particularly interesting happens.
S: 5x5x140
P: 3x5x55, 1x4x55, 1x3x55
B: 1x1x75 (Was supposed to be 5x5, but... nup. Too tired and slippy bar from prodigious sweating.)
D: 1x5x120
Planning on riding most of the week except tomorrow, but not going to bother talking about that unless something particularly interesting happens.
11 February 2013
Atonement
What better way to atone for a crappy session, than with 1RMs? There is none, absolutely correct!
So squats I was aiming for 180 - a 15kg PR. Well, actually, I amended that to 182.5, just because that would officially get me over the 400lb mark, for precisely as much as that matters!
So I worked my way up, singles at 140, 160, 170 before attempting 182.5kg. First attempt I rose maybe three inches out of the hole. Second attempt...
Better, if not exactly pretty. But I felt sure I could lift the weight, just had to control and stabilise. Not exactly minor issues, but I wasn't going to give in. But I took the 1.25kg plates off the end - even if just for the mental feeling that it was that tiny bit lighter (all of 1.4%!) and went at it again:
Again, not entirely pretty. But by Gads it went up, and produced a happy chappy at the end!
Bench... meh. 90kg again, felt heavy. Have to nail down my technique. Who cares, they're only chesticles!
Deadlift... goal here was 200kg, a 20kg PR. I'm nothing if not ambitious. Coming in to my final 'warmup' at 160kg, I thought 'unrealistic' as well. Went for double overhand, no chalk, no belt, and could hardly move it. Of course I'd had no rest, either. Switched to hook, got it above the knees but lost the grip. Ah well, continue on!
The next obvious step was to skip straight to my previous 1RM of 180kg. Belted up, chalked etc. got set... and it went up really fairly easily! I wasn't shocked - only 10kg more than my 5RM of a week ago. Still, it was pleasant.
So 190kg was the next cab to depart from the rank, only the first time, it didn't depart! Got it about an inch off the ground, just wouldn't come. I realised as I stood back up that I hadn't really done a valsalva - just a general sort of tightening. So I reapplied some chalk, got myself set, and ripped it up - felt damn good, nice speed, and locked it out solidly. Grip slipped a little on the left hand as I started setting it back down, and tore a little hole, a tiny speck of blood. I had been intending to leave it at that, partly because I was running a bit late, but the lure of 200kg was just too strong!
So I whacked a couple of 'half' plates to go with the 4 plates on each end, and took a quick breather. In the end, perhaps slightly too quick - but I couldn't hang around too long. I grabbed the bar, set myself, big breath, and pulled - damn solid. Sliding up the legs. Barely felt heavy (this may be a lie.) But then as I passed the knees, my left hand began to slip. I kept pulling... closer, closer... an inch or so from the top, just about to lock the knees out, and my left hand started giving way, and I had to take it back down so as not to completely drop it from the top (no bumpers, no platform!) Damnit! So close to a 200kg pull, but not quite any cigars on offer for this chappy. Just a ragged hole on my left thumb where the knurling had chewed away a bit of flesh as the bar slipped.
I wish I had video, but I someone was in the rack so I had to go elsewhere to dead, and there were no convenient camera-propping locations.
Still, quite pleased with the session - a total of 460kg - over 1000lb - and a bit of work on my bench would bring that to 500kg pretty easily. And there's still a ways to go on my squat and dead, without question.
And we won't mention my lack of racing at SSS R5. I'll be back! Much stronger, hopefully leaner, and with some of my bike-handling skills returned...
So squats I was aiming for 180 - a 15kg PR. Well, actually, I amended that to 182.5, just because that would officially get me over the 400lb mark, for precisely as much as that matters!
So I worked my way up, singles at 140, 160, 170 before attempting 182.5kg. First attempt I rose maybe three inches out of the hole. Second attempt...
Better, if not exactly pretty. But I felt sure I could lift the weight, just had to control and stabilise. Not exactly minor issues, but I wasn't going to give in. But I took the 1.25kg plates off the end - even if just for the mental feeling that it was that tiny bit lighter (all of 1.4%!) and went at it again:
Again, not entirely pretty. But by Gads it went up, and produced a happy chappy at the end!
Bench... meh. 90kg again, felt heavy. Have to nail down my technique. Who cares, they're only chesticles!
Deadlift... goal here was 200kg, a 20kg PR. I'm nothing if not ambitious. Coming in to my final 'warmup' at 160kg, I thought 'unrealistic' as well. Went for double overhand, no chalk, no belt, and could hardly move it. Of course I'd had no rest, either. Switched to hook, got it above the knees but lost the grip. Ah well, continue on!
The next obvious step was to skip straight to my previous 1RM of 180kg. Belted up, chalked etc. got set... and it went up really fairly easily! I wasn't shocked - only 10kg more than my 5RM of a week ago. Still, it was pleasant.
So 190kg was the next cab to depart from the rank, only the first time, it didn't depart! Got it about an inch off the ground, just wouldn't come. I realised as I stood back up that I hadn't really done a valsalva - just a general sort of tightening. So I reapplied some chalk, got myself set, and ripped it up - felt damn good, nice speed, and locked it out solidly. Grip slipped a little on the left hand as I started setting it back down, and tore a little hole, a tiny speck of blood. I had been intending to leave it at that, partly because I was running a bit late, but the lure of 200kg was just too strong!
So I whacked a couple of 'half' plates to go with the 4 plates on each end, and took a quick breather. In the end, perhaps slightly too quick - but I couldn't hang around too long. I grabbed the bar, set myself, big breath, and pulled - damn solid. Sliding up the legs. Barely felt heavy (this may be a lie.) But then as I passed the knees, my left hand began to slip. I kept pulling... closer, closer... an inch or so from the top, just about to lock the knees out, and my left hand started giving way, and I had to take it back down so as not to completely drop it from the top (no bumpers, no platform!) Damnit! So close to a 200kg pull, but not quite any cigars on offer for this chappy. Just a ragged hole on my left thumb where the knurling had chewed away a bit of flesh as the bar slipped.
I wish I had video, but I someone was in the rack so I had to go elsewhere to dead, and there were no convenient camera-propping locations.
Still, quite pleased with the session - a total of 460kg - over 1000lb - and a bit of work on my bench would bring that to 500kg pretty easily. And there's still a ways to go on my squat and dead, without question.
And we won't mention my lack of racing at SSS R5. I'll be back! Much stronger, hopefully leaner, and with some of my bike-handling skills returned...
08 February 2013
Tawdry volume
Sometimes you go to the gym and it doesn't work. Don't even really have any worksets to mention! Just didn't happen. Oh well.
04 February 2013
Grass
Took the camera to the gym today to video my squats and deads. Sadly the memory card ran out of space before I actually got to the deads (though it faithfully recorded for a minute and a half while I walked back to the rack, put the belt on, chalked up and so on.) Aside from general form, I wanted to recalibrate my depth perception; I felt sure that I was getting down below parallel, but it's sensible to check every now and then when you don't have a coach to keep an eye on such things.
Yeah, I reckon I about managed to get down below parallel there.
Good session except for bench - I even asked for a spot so that I could push for the second at 90kg - and needed the spotter. Bit annoying, that. Perhaps a legacy of the fact that my coach never really focussed on bench and I've not hit upon better form since? Or perhaps just not my strongest point and I've never really focussed on it either. It's getting to the point though where it's almost an imbalance, and imbalances are bad, mkay?
S: 1x5x157.5
B: 1x1x90
D: 1x4x170, 1x1x170 (Did 5 reps, but just missed locking out the 5th, so paused, re-chalked, and did an extra rep and held it at the top for a few seconds.)
Yeah, I reckon I about managed to get down below parallel there.
Good session except for bench - I even asked for a spot so that I could push for the second at 90kg - and needed the spotter. Bit annoying, that. Perhaps a legacy of the fact that my coach never really focussed on bench and I've not hit upon better form since? Or perhaps just not my strongest point and I've never really focussed on it either. It's getting to the point though where it's almost an imbalance, and imbalances are bad, mkay?
S: 1x5x157.5
B: 1x1x90
D: 1x4x170, 1x1x170 (Did 5 reps, but just missed locking out the 5th, so paused, re-chalked, and did an extra rep and held it at the top for a few seconds.)
01 February 2013
11 Tonnes
There's a reason they call this 'volume' day. Especially when you do more than you're supposed to do...
Squats at 137.5... hmm. They didn't feel too heavy, but my form wasn't quite dialled in. Again, it took until the third set or so before they really got in there. I think it's a matter of mental focus and engagement, rather than actual motor patterning, because I only do one set on 'heavy' day and I've been finding that usually, I can find the right form straight off - or at least, closer to it. I shouldn't need to go at it with full beast mode engaged at 88% of my 5RM. And to do so would be counter-productive; I'd probably burn out before rep 25. But clearly I need better focus.
Bench at 75... again, felt harder than they 'should' have, 83% of my 1RM. But bench is something that I've never perfected, form-wise, and I'm still working on it. So I'm not concerned, and I got through them. And of course it's the presses that I tend to skimp on volume-wise, because I haven't been doing the light day often enough. So hopefully improvement will continue...
Deads again, trying to get more volume in, partly for the mus-cles, mostly for form. It does feel like it's working, getting better at keeping my back flat and dragging the bar up the legs; not getting the shoulders too far in front is the main facet of that work.
And then I decided to do some rack pulls as a bit of grip work, since I feel that that's been lacking a bit lately, too. I couldn't quite remember how you were meant to do them, and started them too high, above the knees. The ROM was probably about right, but the starting position was quite poor. So I'll give these a bit more thought, investigate other ways of working on it. Needs to be something a bit more 'accessory'-ish, since 64% of 1RM for 25 reps is not going to do the job!
S: 5x5x137.5
B: 5x5x75
D: 5x5x115
Rack Pulls: 1x1x200
Squats at 137.5... hmm. They didn't feel too heavy, but my form wasn't quite dialled in. Again, it took until the third set or so before they really got in there. I think it's a matter of mental focus and engagement, rather than actual motor patterning, because I only do one set on 'heavy' day and I've been finding that usually, I can find the right form straight off - or at least, closer to it. I shouldn't need to go at it with full beast mode engaged at 88% of my 5RM. And to do so would be counter-productive; I'd probably burn out before rep 25. But clearly I need better focus.
Bench at 75... again, felt harder than they 'should' have, 83% of my 1RM. But bench is something that I've never perfected, form-wise, and I'm still working on it. So I'm not concerned, and I got through them. And of course it's the presses that I tend to skimp on volume-wise, because I haven't been doing the light day often enough. So hopefully improvement will continue...
Deads again, trying to get more volume in, partly for the mus-cles, mostly for form. It does feel like it's working, getting better at keeping my back flat and dragging the bar up the legs; not getting the shoulders too far in front is the main facet of that work.
And then I decided to do some rack pulls as a bit of grip work, since I feel that that's been lacking a bit lately, too. I couldn't quite remember how you were meant to do them, and started them too high, above the knees. The ROM was probably about right, but the starting position was quite poor. So I'll give these a bit more thought, investigate other ways of working on it. Needs to be something a bit more 'accessory'-ish, since 64% of 1RM for 25 reps is not going to do the job!
S: 5x5x137.5
B: 5x5x75
D: 5x5x115
Rack Pulls: 1x1x200
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