The Blue Screen of Death and an Update

As you can probably work out we have had the blue screen of death happen to our computer and therefore it has been a little hard to do much on this front. However have got into the gym and done some work. Days are a little out as well as I have been doing stocktake at work on a couple of days (Monday and Wednesday). A couple of late night finishes. Read midnightish.
Anyway got in to do some benching on Thursday and this was the first time I have put the shirt on since the Commonwealths. Back then I was about 134 now I am somewhere around that 138 mark so the shirt was feeling a bit tighter than the last time I used it. Wasn't sure how things were going to go so it was a bit of a lets see night. Wow how things have changed. Down to a 3" board just to check and I had plenty of control and a lot of power and speed on the press. Man it felt good to have that much weight and a working shirt.

Benchpress 240 x 3 off 3" Board Set 1
240kg x 3 reps off 3" Board Set 1
The set up was good just needed to talk the liftoff out a bit. Found the board real well and had plenty of power on the drive. Even getting a strong lockout. Was a little surprised at how easy it felt and I felt that way though all 3 reps.

Benchpress 240 x 3 off 2" Board Set 2
240kg x 3 reps off 2" Board Set 2
Again another good set up and liftoff but this time down to a 2" board as the first set went so well. Felt strong on the first rep but then started wave around on the second and third reps a little. Still getting pretty good drive off the board and a reasonable lockout. Everything else felt good and I didn't think I was going to miss any of the reps.

Benchpress 240 x 2 off 2" Board Set 3
240kg x 2 reps off 2" Board Set 3
Good set up and liftoff. First and second reps felt good and strong. Went for a third and got stuck about 1/2 way up on it for some reason. Press off my chest and lockout were pretty good but both need a lot of work to make sure.

THINGS TO WORK ON.

• Probably a stronger setup before I start the rep
• More power off the board (can never be happy with that part)
• More speed though the whole rep
• Stronger lockouts. 

Overall I was happy with how things went. Wasn't to sure what was going to happen so was pleasantly surprised at how well things went. Will stay with 2" board next week but increase the weight. Gives me the confidence that I can go back into the big weights again and get them. 

As I have said new cycle so new exercises,

Decline Benchpress 3 x 6 @ 100kg 

Decline Benchpress 

Have not done these for a very long time, However it is now time to put them back in. Using them in the same way as the inclines from the last cycle. As you can see the bench makes for plenty of confidence for when you want to lift some big weight. It moves under you quite a bit so makes for some fun. 

Close Grip Floor Press 4 x 6 @ 120kg

Close Grip Floor Press 

Reasonably happy with these however could have been stronger and had a bit more power off the floor. Probably could have tucked my elbows a bit more. Will need to keep that in mind for next week.

Tricep Pressdowns 3 x 8 @ 48kg

Tricep Pressdowns 

Used a different machine to do these this time and because of only 2 pulley wheels the tension feels like there is a lot more weight on the bar. Trying to keep my elbows in tight and press though my triceps. Good strat to the cycle.

BTN Dumbbel Tricep Ext 3 x 10 @ 12.5kg

BTN Dumbbell Tricep Ext 

Nice little finisher for triceps. Haven't done these for a long time so just getting back into them. Need to keep my arm from swinging around and the extend with my triceps not drop the weight or throw the weight up on each rep. A work in progress.

Band Obliques 3 x 10 reps Blue Bands

Just keeping these in however this time using a different way of getting them done. Next week either a step out or a bigger band. 

Overall a good workout all things considered (work, different day and lack of sleep) pretty happy with ho the shirt and my benching went so can take that into next week.

 

Squats on a Tuesday Hmmmm.

Okay due to work things some of my training days are going to be a bit screwed up this week. Please bear with me. On to a new cycle which means that i am changing everything I do, So something different to look at and read about. Because the Canterbury Champs have been brought forward I am getting into my gear a bit early than I would have. I have added in a new exercise that I am going to trial for a while to see if it helps or not.

Squats are being done with a normal bar with 50kg of chain added this week. My goal for this week was to do 240kg + 50kg of chain for 3 reps/set. Suit on, Straps down with knee wraps on loose compare to how I will have them by comp time.

Set 1 240kg + 50kg of Chain 3 reps.
240kg + 50kg of Chain Set 1
Weight felt pretty good as I picked it up. Hit the rack on the step out which put me off a bit. Still need to work on the step put count. Real bad on all three sets. Reps are pretty good with a bit more speed than I thought I would have. Depth seemed pretty close although I could be a bit lower. Not to bad for not having my suit on for 8-9 weeks. Didn't throw me around as much as I thought it would.

Set 2 240kg + 50kg of Chain. 3 reps.
240kg + 50kg of Chain Set 2
Again hit the rack on the way out although I managed to get my feet out a bit wider. Knees came way to far forward on all the reps and while I got the reps done I was not to happy with this set. For all the  problems the reps were pretty good speed wise. As above Step out was crap.

Set 3 240kg + 50kg of Chain. 3 reps.
240kg +50kg of Chain Set 3
Again hit the rack on the way out (now you can see why I have racks in at competition time). Set up was a bit better and my feet were out probably the widest on this set. Knees stayed a bit more upright on this one however still came forward a bit to much. Might need to turn my feet a bit more. 3 good solid reps with a bit of speed on the first one.

Overall I am pretty happy with how it went today with it being the first day in a suit since the Commonwealths and that much actually on the bar. Speed was okay and the weight felt good. However,
Things I can work on.

• Not hitting the rack
• Counting my steps out 
• Getting my feet wider due to the count
• A bit more depth
• Sitting back a bit more

and knees over my toes.

Safety Pin Squats 320kg x 5reps
Not Shown
I have worked out that when I am standing up at the start of the squat I am level with the 23rd hole in the rack and at the bottom as I go to stand up I am at the 12th hole. What I want to try is to overload the body with a big weight and slowly work my way down and back up. So today I was on the 19th pin hole and I stepped out with the 320kg sank down in a squatting fashion to the pins the drove back up. Everything else is the same as a normal squat. Got 5 reps.

Zercher Squats 3 x 3 @ 105kg
Not Shown
Gone back to that number as it allows for some reps but you don't run out of breath. Good deep squats and power back up. Getting my feet out wider for this one as well. However not to worried about that one on this exercise.

Machine rows 3 x 6 @ 80/100kg
Not Shown
First set was a sighter as I didn't know how much weight I would need. The next 2 sets were at about the right weight and got a good feel out of it.

T/bar rows 3 x 8 @ 60kg
Not Shown
About the right weight for this week. Clean form and plenty of power. They have raised the front of the machine and now you don't feel like you are going to fall off the machine. GOOD MOVE.

Seated Safety Bar Good Mornings 3 x 10 @ 45kg
Not Shown
Trying something new here. Box was probably a bit low but was still able to keep a straight back and use my erectors. As it is a new exercise I thought I would not push it to far today. Next week I will find a bench to work off and see the difference.

Reverse Hypers 3 x 10 @ 70kg
Not Shown
I love this exercise as I find it stretch's my back out after the beating from the squats.It also seems to work my glute area as well. Great exercise, If you have access to one, USE IT.

Overall a reasonable workout with room for improvement around the squat area. Speed is good, However as listed above there is a few things to work on. Can't be perfect on the first day so can't be to worried about things.

Strongman/GPP for Week 3

Getting there slowly, On to Saturday and Strongman/GPP work. This has been going pretty good over this cycle. First week was tough but hey I got through it. Next week was better and I had a lot of power. Same thing with this in that I would do lots of it at the start of last year and then tapered off over the second half of the year. Love doing this stuff even though it can be hard at times. I think not having the ability to do it indoors during the winter didn't help. Trying to set it up that I can this year. I use this sort of training to help with my overall fitness and provide strength and power from a different position. I did 5 sets of everything today.

Hammer Hits 5 sets of 10 reps 6lb Hammer.
Hammer Hits
Felt a lot better doing this today. I was also trying to add in as much power and drive to each hit. Still need to get a heavier hammer though.

Tyre Flips 5 sets of 5 reps.
Tyre Flips
Not quite as much power and speed today as I had last week. Not sure why, however it could have been something to do with the extra weight on speed day. The tyre wasn't heavy, it just didn't have the same ping. Still got it done.

Log Press 5 sets of 5 reps
Log Press
Easy. really need to think about a heavier log. Speed on the exercise was good. However if I get to take everything into where I train I could use their steel log which is 70kg.

Tyre Pulls 5 x 1 25mtr pull.
Tyre Pulls
These are a bit like the tyre flips in that it did not quite have the same ping as last weekend. Got it all done but a bit tougher than I thought. Still i could feel my back by the time I was finished.

Tyre Drags 5 x 1 down the drive and back 80mtrs.
Tyre Drags from my point of view.
Good solid steps today and was able to keep up my pace there and back. Could feel all of the posterior chain working by the time I got back

Overall I am happy with how this went over the cycle. Can feel that I have better from a GPP standpoint. As it is a new cycle some of the exercises will change to keep my mind interested and to challenge me with new exercises. I WILL be pulling out the MONGREL from next week on and hope to keep it there unless I have to go inside.

Speed Work for the end of the cycle.

And now on to Speed work Friday. As this is the end of the cycle I am now doing 60% of what I did on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Does speed work I would say yes. My squats and benches are all quick especially my bench (it is the lockout I need to work on) however I think my deadlift is a little slower than what I would like it to be. That is why I do it.
Using the 60% for this week makes the weights as such,
Box squats          160kg
Benchpress         130kg
Deadlift               150kg

Safety Bar Box Squats     160kg No# 1 and 2 Bands 90kg of tension and bar weighs 25kg.
Safety Bar Box Squats Set 3
Safety Bar Box Squats Set 7
Safety Bar Box Squats Set 10
Set 3 Good set up in the first video, however a little to slow on the up part of the rep. Feet could have been out wider and knees stayed back a bit more. I appear a little high however I think that is either cause I am wearing shorts or the video makes it appear that way as it is a touch and go.
Set 7 A bit better speed on this and part of that is the wider stance. Also as I am changing from a stop to a touch and go every now and then my body just says stop. that is why that part happens. I stopped on the box for about 2 years and have only been doing touch and go for the last 3 weeks so it is going to take a little while to get use to that part.
Set 10 A lot better form and speed wise. Feet out wider and a good touch and go. Knees stay back a bit more. Also could feel myself keeping my knees out as well  Good speed off the box as well.

Overall a pretty good speed workout for box squats. There were/are things that I still have to work on and get sorted. I will have to think about the mat thing (1 or 2) and getting my feet out wider from the first set onwards.

Speed benchpress 130kg incl 60kg of Chain
Speed Bench 130kg with 60kg of Chain Set 3
Speed Bench 130kg with 60kg of Chain Set 7
Speed Bench 130kg with 60kg of Chain Set 10
 Set 3 Set up good and speed off my chest not as bad or slow as I thought. However had to remind myself to press through the whole movement and not slow down or stop to early. Didn't think this was quick enough.
Set 7 Set up was good and taking out strong, pretty quick off my chest and this time I was driving a lot further in the rep. Speed could have been a bit better. Also touch point a bit further down the body and a tighter tuck in the elbows should help my overall speed.
Set 10 A lot better pressing over this set and a better tuck. I think I might have been a little further down the body. Speed off my chest was good and as you can see I was pressing right through the rep. A lot happier with this set. Just need to start doing it on all sets.

My speed benching is coming along however if I want to hit my goals for this year or next year I will need to focus on this exercise a lot more while I am actually training speed bench in all it forms.

Speed Deads 150kg 2 Mats
Speed Deads 150kg off 2 Mats Set 3
Speed Deads 150kg off 2 Mats Set 7
Speed deads 150kg off 2 Mats Set 10
Set 3 Still doing the first 5 reps in the sumo style. Hips a little high. A good strong pull but not a quick as I would want it to be. Hips are coming through reasonably good at the moment.
Set 7 Back to my normal deadlifting style. Good speed off the mats and you can see me driving my hips through a lot better this time. Better concentration on what I want to do as well. By now the weight feels really light.
Set 10 Probably one of the best sets of the day. Quick off the floor and through the whole rep. In fact a bit more speed than I thought as you can see me have to correct the over balance.

Overall I am a lot happier with how my deadlifting is going at the moment. Both from a heavy day ((Read my previous blog post though) stand point and the speed work.

Over the 3 week cycle speed day has come along nicely and it give me something to build on. There is still plenty of work to do on Squats and Bench especially. I think to get the best out of this day I need to go into the gym with a lot better focus and think of it that way. Part of the reason that I might not be thinking and focussing properly on the day is because the weight is so much lighter (50% - 60%) and my thinking is "I can handle this". With big weight you have to be switched on or it not going to happen. Something for me to think about.    

End of Cycle Deadlifts

On to the next one. DEADLIFTS. Another one of those "last year started off good" things but then went backwards. At the start of last year my best competition deadlift was 285kg and with a goal of 300kg by the end of the year. That goal was achieved at the Canterbury Champs in April and even though I reset the goal to 310kg at the Commonwealths it just didn't happen and by the end of the year I would have been lucky to pull 290kg. WHAT WENT WRONG!. Not quite sure, could have been to much weight, not enough targeted variety, could have been an attitude thing. However that is the past and now I have to regroup and focus on this year. I have given my deadlift program a major overhaul in how I approach it.

With Wednesday being the last day of heavy deadlifts for this cycle it was to see where I am at and to set myself up for the next couple of cycles. Even though it was the last week I wanted to do doubles.

Set 1 220kg 2 reps
220kg Set 1 2 reps
Set up is pretty good and speed off the floor is okay. I could have dropped my hips a little at the start of the first rep. I like to put the weight on the ground and reset before doing another rep. It teaches me to pull off the floor and not to bounce. The second rep is a lot better as I get my hips down a lot more. The weight felt pretty good.

Set 2 240kg 2 reps
240kg Set 2 2 reps
Set 2 I increased the weight to 240kg. I was a little slow off the floor on both reps and could have got my hips down a bit more. I make the second rep look a lot harder than it really was. Speed on the rep was also a little slower than I would have liked.

Set 3 250kg 2 reps
Set 3 250kg 2 reps
This set was a lot better. I don't know why I have started to do the roll but whatever works at the moment. Just have to get the timing right otherwise it looks a bit like the second rep. Hips are still to  high but the speed off the floor and though the rep is good although the second rep is a little slow. Felt pretty good.

Happy with how these went and a reasonably good finish to the cycle for deadlifts. Could have gone to probably 260kg and still got a double.

Overall for the cycle I am pretty happy with my deadlifts however I will have to continue to push myself on these over the year. As for the other exercises I do on Wednesday it is a bit of a hit  and miss affair. Shoulder press and bentover rows went pretty well however I could have been a lot better on pronated dumbbell presses. Cable pull-throughs and any other form I will do them in are a wok in progress, however over the year my strength should come through in that area. Prowler pushes I am happy with especially being back up to 100kg on the prowler. They however have shorten the matting for it which is a bit of a shame.

Max Benchpress at end of cycle

On to Benchpress day. Last year was not a good year for me in terms of benchpress. I competed in 5 competitions that had a benchpress component in them and out of a possible 15 successful lifts I only got 6 successful reps. This is NOT acceptable from my standpoint. This is way less than a 50% success rate. I should be getting 12 to 15 successful attempts. I know nobody bats 1000 and if you are really pushing yourself in reality 12 to 14 successful competition reps is more realistic. To that end I have to do way more work on benchpress to be more successful at competition time. Again end of a cycle so time to see where I am at.

Set 1 220kg with Green bands 2 reps
Video (not shown) shows set up was pretty good and the handout solid. The first was clean on the way down and reasonably good off my chest with a tip to the left on the way up. This may have put me off a little as the 2nd rep was good on the way down and an okay hit but stalled about 1/2 way up. Needed a spotter to help to the top. Again I have access to some real good spotters and he never lifted it off me but just made the bar move slowly. Probably in reality a lack of tricep power at the moment is the main cause. I am working on that so it should get better over the next few weeks/months.  

Set 2 220kg with Green bands 2 reps
Again the video (not shown) shows a good set up and a lot better handout. The first rep was nice and strong and a quick press out from the chest. I actually come up pretty straight. The 2nd rep the same thing happens as in the first set. Just could not get my triceps under quick enough and with enough power. Once again the spotter only guides the weight up and does not lift it off me. Just the way I like it because it makes me have to keep pressing.

Set 3 220kg with Green bands 2 reps
Set 3 220kg with Green bands 2 Reps
As you can see from the video the set up is pretty good and the handout is good as well. Good first rep although I could have touch a little further down the body. I find I tend to touch high when I am not in a shirt. A good stop and press. The bar appears to come up straight as well. The 2nd rep I wimp out a bit by doing a touch and go however this time I have a bit more speed and am able to get under the bar a bit quicker and get the power of my triceps to work for me. While the second rep is not pretty I will take it.

Overall for this cycle I would have to say that I am a little behind where I would want to be, in so far as the reps aren't as clean as I would like them to be. Set up and all the technical stuff is pretty much there but things like speed off my chest and lockout need a LOT more work. Now that first cycle is out of the way I will need to focus on cleaner reps and being more positive about them. I do feel I need to get back some more of my Mongrel when doing bench. 250kg should be an easy opener for me and I was putting that up at the beginning of last year. I need it back.

For  the rest of the workout on Tuesday's, it is going to take a while to get back my incline benches. Close grip bench's could have got better although flat back dumbbells are about where I would want them. With the new cycle will come new exercises so I will have to push them a lot harder. By the end of the 3rd cycle I want to be pretty confident that I can open on 250kg and get it easily.

Overall this benchpress cycle and workout is okay however there is lots of room for improvement especially from benchpress, compound tricep movements and attitude towards benching.

Monday Squats Week 3 of Cycle

Okay I know this is running late but it has been one of those weeks. I did manage to get all my training in this week except for Strongman/GPP which is later on today. As with my last post I had some goals that I wanted for this week refer to this link as to what they were. What the Week Holds So to Monday

Monday was my Squat day and for this cycle I have been using the Safety squat bar with bands on it. Over the last 2 weeks I have added a band as I have become accustom training again. The Safety Squat bar I use weighs in at 25kg and the No# 1 band has 40kg of tension at the top with the No# 2 band having 50kg tension at the top. Yes I have measure both of them and was a little surprised at the No# 1 band being so close to the No# 2 band. however this gives me 90kg of tension from both bands.

Set 1 165 + 90kg of band tension 2 Reps
Video (not shown) was taken from the front and one thing I did notice was that my feet could have been out wider. The depth was pretty good and so was the power speed out of the bottom. Just using knee wraps with a band over my knees to teach me how to keep my knees out. It does appear that my knee to ankle stays pretty upright.

Set 2 175 +90kg of band tension 2 Reps.
Video (not shown) was taken from the side so could see a bit more. Again feet could have been out wider. A little bit of a wobble on the down part of the rep so will have to work on that. It appears that my knees stay out and I am also please that my knees do not come to far forward. Depth is hard to judge as I have shorts on but it looks ok from here. Speed on the way up is a little slower than what I would like but at no stage did I think I was going to miss. The pause at the top is just to reset myself.

Set 3 185 + 90kg of band tension. 1 Rep successful and missed 1 Rep.
Set 3 185 + 90kg of Band Tension C1W3
Video was taken from the other side and I felt pretty confident both reps were going to go. Feet were in a lot better place and I felt better set up. First one I could have been a bit high but I will take it. A little slow on the way up but got there. The second one, felt good all the way down but just not the power/activation on the way up although I did hold it until there was just a touch from the spotter. He did it right to in that he didn't lift me up but just helped get me going again and I was made to do the rest. Great spotting. I am not afraid of failing or missing reps every now and then. If you are not doing that are you really pushing yourself to the limit or not.

So to that end I achieved what I set out to do. Not to bad when you consider that I only went back to the gym 3 weeks ago after a 5 week layoff. There are things to work on and get better at (I would hate to be perfect right now) however overall I am pretty happy with how this cycle of squatting has gone. Next week I start a new cycle for squatting and will be using something different. As they have changed the day for the Canterbury Champs this year (12th April) I will have to get into my gear and start learning how to use it again so they weights will go up.

The rest of the workout went pretty well with front squats and lat pulldowns feeling real good. Bentover rows and Dumbbell rows being right on the money from a weight perspective. Reverse Hypers is coming along as well.

Overall the squat/back cycle has gone pretty close to plan. I feel I have achieved what I set out to do in this cycle or I have got pretty close to it. On to the 2nd cycle.