A normal week would be nice

Ohh to have a normal week for a change. I have been able to get in all the training this week but just not quite in the way I wanted. I got in the Squat workout on Tuesday with some Safety bar squats for 3 sets of 3 reps at 160 plus the No# 1 bands over the bar which is about and extra 40kg. I also used knee wraps for the first time since somewhere in July so that felt a little different but also so good. Felt a little slow on the way up but the rest of it was good. It is good to be able to change type of exercise with some of the different  relevant. Will keep this for the next couple weeks adding a bit more weight each week. Hope to add in some speed work soon as I feel I am missing out there for the being able to have some good speed with the reps.

Benchpress on Wednesday was okay as it was time to put on some more real weight. Wanted to use my No# 3 over my elbows a bit like a Titan Ram or Mark Bells Slingshot, but could not find them so used 2  No# 2 bands over the elbows. 3 sets of 2 reps with 1 set of 180kg with a stop on the bottom, second set of 2 reps at 200kg with a stop and a third set of 2 reps at 210kg with a stop. The first 2 sets were real good and had some good power to them but the last set could have been left at 200kg. Still happy with how it went and it shore felt good to have that much weight in my hands again.

Deadlifts on Friday went well. I was using the high bar on the trap bar so it worked a bit like having a 3" board under the weights which is perfect for where I am at in my training at this stage. I was able to get my 3 sets out with reasonable amount of weight. I do singles on deadlift day and got out 250kg (the trap bar weighs 30kg) for 3 singles. Good speed off the floor and a strong lockout already. Happy with this and again to be to have some heavy weight in my hands again felt good. Got a couple of photo's of the setup I had with the trap bar.

Last warm up weight 230kg. Trap bar weighs 30kg

My workout weight this week of 250kg. 3 singles

Also did some shoulder presses with something different. I used the strongman log to the front for a different way of doing things. 3 sets of 6 reps with the log weighing 56kg then I added 5kg a side for the 2nd set and 10kg a side for the 3rd set. Felt good and liked the variation. Got some pics as well.

Set 1 56kg

Set 2 56kg + 10

Set 3 56kg + 20kg

Also tried a different exercise for my shoulder using the buffalo bar. As this bar hangs a lot lower and is a lot fatter it also swings during the rep a lot more. I am hoping over time this will help strengthen and stabilize my shoulders which in turn will help me have a cleaner press on the bench. Got some pics of this with some light weight. I will increase the weight next time but as this was the first time I have done this I didn't want to go over board. The reps are done behind the neck.

Buffalo bar shoulder press with 10kg xtra weight.

What a screwed up week it has been

It has been a screwed up week for me and things have been done a little on a when I can get it done basis. So you are going to get a few days in one go.

Deadlifts last week went real well and I am now starting to feel like I need to lift some real heavy shit as they say. Speed off the ground and a strong finish at the moment and all this while I am lifting SUMO style. I normally lift with a normal stance, however since the weight is light I have been using the sumo to help strengthen up abductors and pelvic area. Started doing this last year and it helped my overall stability a lot. 3 sets of 3 reps @ 160kg

Shoulder press @ 60kg is again starting to get to light and they weight will need to go up. Strong press.

Pronated press, again weight is starting to get light and the reps are coming easily. 3 x 8 @ 35kg

Bentover lat raise, As above 3 x 10 @ 15kg with good control and speed on the downward part of this exercise. I do not believe in dropping the weight on this exercise.

Squats: Last week of the cycle. Good to be able to get out wide and stable to squat. A little slow on the way up but not to worried as I could feel my butt working hard. Other than my OLY shoes on all the reps for the last few weeks have been RAW. No belts, knee wraps or anything like that. 3 x2 @ 200kg. Next week on to a new exercise, Safety bar squats with the number 1 bands over the bar.

Front squats: 3 x 6 @ 140kg which felt good and I was able to use the 3 feet positions of narrow, medium and wide. Felt good and this was the first time I have enjoyed this exercise for a while. On to Zercher squats next week for a cycle.

Bent over rows: Felt good and strong on these and was able to get the reps out well even though they were only about 20kg behind my PB. Good control on the down part of the exercise. As I have said I do not like to drop weight when doing these sorts of things.

Benchpress: went in yesterday to see how I would go and I have to admit my benching went a lot better than it has over the last couple of weeks. My spotter was saying there was good speed off my chest and that reps looked a lot stronger and with more power. With the different bench here I am able to get my chest up more and I feel I am getting a better press overall. 2 x 2 @ 150kg and 1 x 3 @ 150kg. There is a IPF stop on the first rep always and on the last set of 3, I put in a stop on the first and third reps. Again raw as I have only been using my wrist wraps.

Incline benchpress was quite easy today with 3 sets of 6 reps @ 90kg, Will change to something else from next week on.

Close grip benchpress went well again this week as it has been doing over the last few weeks. Good power and speed off my chest and I have been able to lockout strong over the last few weeks as well. 3 x 6 @ 120kg.

Flat back dumbbells. have been getting some good results from these in this cycle and am already back up to within 5kg of a PB already. Helps when you are pain free in the elbow area. 3 x 8 @ 32.5kg

Tricep pressdowns. Good finisher for the day as I can concentrate on these and get a good feel of things.
3 x 10 @ 100.110.120 pounds.

Benchpresses

Got in to do benchpress today which went well.

Although the speed of the press was a little slow on the way out the reps were good and it felt good to have that sort of weight in my hands again. I will have to get in to do more speed work as this is what is slowing me down. Set up was good and I was pretty stable. 3 sets of 3 reps @ 140kg with a stop on my chest. all done raw except I use wrist wraps to protect my wrist when I am benching.

Incline benchpress: Found a new moving bench and put it in the power rack (we have 6 of them) tonight as it sets me up a lot better than what they have there. Felt strong off my chest today and I was able to set a lot better because of the different seating position. Was able to get my wrists and elbows/shoulders under the bar better so that ended in better presses. 3 sets of 6 @ 80kg.

Close grip Benchpress: Again these are going a lot better than I thought they would be at this stage. I am getting a good tuck on the elbows on the descent and a pretty decent return. Because I am using the suicide grip I am feeling a lot better and stronger contraction from the Triceps at the top of the press. Good control and I am touching my chest with ease at the moment. I have struggled with that part at times. 3 sets of 6 reps @ 100kg.

Flat back Dumbbell press: back up to the 30kg dumbbell already so I am pretty happy with that at this stage especially as this is only about 5-7.5kg lighter than what I had been doing. Working real hard at keeping my elbows tuck in so I can feel more on them during each rep. 3 sets of 8 reps @ 30kg.

Squats on time this week

Yeah, I was able to get in and do Squats on the day they are mean't to be done eg today.

The first set of 180kg felt a little to slow but I felt I had the power to get them done. A better mind set for the next 2 sets and the  reps went a lot better. Brought my feet in a little as I think I was starting to get to far wide at the moment. Will look at getting back out there as I get a bit stronger. The 2nd set felt like there was a lot more power in the reps and they came a lot better. On the 3rd set I got a person to just check my depth to make sure I was getting low enough and they said it look good. Also felt a lot stronger on the last 2 sets with more power from the bottom on the 3rd. Starting to feel better about these at the moment. It will be good to see how 200kg goes next week. At the moment all these reps are being done with only Ollie shoes on.

Front squats are coming along real well to. Varying my foot position from narrow to wide on each set  and it seems to be helping. Working hard at not letting my knees go to far forward while doing the reps which I feel makes my butt work harder. Good speed off the bottom. 3 sets of 6 reps @ 120kg.

Bentover rows were up next and slowly the power from my back is returning. Was able to get out 3 sets of 6 reps @ 100kg which is the first time I have been up here  for a while. Good pull with a controlled descent so not letting the weight drop to the floor. Next week should be interesting as I would be back at weights I was doing in Dunedin. Yea.

After this I had to finish as life got in the way but I am still happy that I was able to get this done.

2nd week of Deads

Finally got to get the power days done on Friday when I went in to do deadlifts,

Good reps today with a bit more power than last week. 160kg on the bar and they were coming off the ground well. Sets of 5 this week. This weight is light for me but not wanting to rush as I am still getting back into it from the no training/shifting thing. Happy with these and I seemed to have a better attitude today as I got a bit more sleep and was able to eat a bit better.

Shoulder presses were probably a little light but again I am in no rush at the moment. 3 good sets of 6 reps @ 50kg. Good control on the decent and a strong press.

Pronated D/bell press hits my shoulder from a slightly different angle and I feel more of the side of the shoulder working. Not sure if that is what is mean't to happen but that's what I feel. Weights are getting back up to where I left off in Dunedin.

Bentover Lat raise was a nice finisher for today with 3 sets of 10 reps @ 12.5kg. Plenty of control both ways of the lift.

Overall a good day was had and it is another piece in place. Won't be doing any speed work this week as I need some time to recover for squats on Monday and Saturday/Sunday should be fine. If it was around competition time then that would be another story.

Benchpress day

Again running a couple of days late but getting it down.

What was going on today as I made benchpress look hard for some reason. Good set up and everything but my racing snail had more speed than me. Just could not get it going although I was able to get my sets done. Still early days don't want to be the best right now. The speed and power will come I just have to be patience. Still pretty happy with how it is going.

Incline bench went okay although I think the weight is to low so I might have to find another way of doing these safely and being able to put more weight on the bar.

Close grip benchpress is good, in fact I think I am getting more out of these than hoped for at this stage. 3 sets of 8 reps @ 90kg and the felt good strong and fast. Can feel myself putting a lot of emphasis on my Tri's  while doing the reps. Hopefully this will build my tricep's back to what they were and to help me with my bigger benchpresses.

Flatback dumbbell presses. Again getting some good reps from these at the moment. Felt a lot stronger than last week and it felt like more power off the bottom of the rep.

Tricep pressdowns. Changed machine's today and got a lot better result out of the exercise. Weight felt like 100lbs should. Triceps felt in it a lot more and I could really feel my tri's at the end of each set and at the end of the 3rd set.

Another good day with nothing spectacular except for the benchpress, but got to take the good with the bad. On to deadlifts tomorrow.

A little late but I got them in

Work has been real tough over the last few days and I was not able to get in on the days I wanted to be able to train, so I had to put it back a couple of days. So what should have been done on Monday was done on Wednesday. Again I am just taking some time right now to bring my body back up to power and strength after having a few weeks off though moving to a different city.

Squats went pretty well today with 3 sets of 5 reps @ 160kg. I am liking Eastside in so far as they have wide power racks and you can set your feet out wide when getting ready to squat. The first set I found it a little hard to get down to depth as I was trying to bodybuild squat instead of powerlift. On the next 2 sets I changed that and was poking my butt out the back a lot better with better squats with a lot more power especially out of the bottom. Pretty happy with squats this week. I am still raw and at the moment I am not putting any aggression into any of the lifts or sets, so am happy with my results.

Front squats for 3 sets of 6 reps @ 100kg. Again that wider stance helps with doing these and also using the front squat harness (mine is from getstrength.com) allows for me to spend more time on thinking about getting the best out of this exercise than the bar falling off my shoulders. Just my opinion. Good sets and because of the position a lot of work though my butt.

Bentover rows are slowly coming back but no rush. Can feel my back working on these and yes I do need to bring my back strength and power up if I want that big bench. Weight is probably a little light but it will go up over the next few weeks.

Seated rows for 3 sets of 8 reps. Pretty good stuff today a good filler.

Dumbbell rows for 3 sets as well again the weight is slowly going back to where it was before I stopped training just before we shifted. Give me a few more weeks and I should be back up around the sort of weights I was doing (60kg)

Overall I am happy with where I am at,at this stage. A couple of more weeks then I will be on to another cycle but I have to get though this first.