DE Upper Body

OHP:
45 x 10, 135 x 8, 185 x 5, 195 x 5, 205 x 5, 215 x 5, 225 x 5

Neutral Grip Dumbbell Bench:
90 x 10, 2 sets 80 x 10

Shoulder Raises:
3 sets 20 x 10

Lat Pulldowns:
7 x 190, 6 x 200, 6 x 210, 6 x 220

Standing Neutral Cable Rows:
3 sets 10 x 220

Reverse Flies:
3 sets 20 x 10

Hammer Curls:
3 sets 35 x 10

Tricep Pressdowns:
170 x 10, 190 x 10, 210 x 9


Training Strongman with Chuck in the afternoon showed me I have a long way to go before I am ready to compete. I decided to peel my sore ass off the couch and go into the gym later that night and do a DE upper body day. I chose two primary and one supplemental movement and one isolation movement and worked the exact opposition grooves for the same amount of reps as well. the workout was short, intense, and very productive. I think the combination of both workouts was incredibly effective because even two days later my entire body is incredibly sore.

DE Squat

Warmup:
Hamstring stretching, Ballistic toe touches, Goodmornings, Squat cleans, Zercher Leans, Explosive kicks, 45 degree raise

Box Squat:
W/O Bands: 10 x 45, 5 x 135, 5 x 45, 5 x 135
W/ Average Bands: 3 x 135, 8 sets 2 x 225

Zercher lift (from ground):
3 sets 2 x 95

45 Degree Calf:
5 sets 10 x 270

Seated Good Mornings:
5 sets 10 x 135

45 Degree Back raise:
5 sets 10 x bodyweight

Seated Calf Raise:
3 sets 10 x 185

Side Bend Abs:
15 x 180, 15 x 200, 15 x 220

Kneeling pulldown abs:
15 x 180, 15 x 200, 15 x 220

Bicep Rehab:
a few sets for the right arm with 10 pound dumbbells


Today went pretty well. I have decided that in order to get my back healthy and my hips looser I am going to change things up. I have decided to follow the Elite 12 week guide to box squatting with bands for my DE days. Now that I have 2 average bands and I am buying a second light band on the free shipping sale. I plan on making band squat and deadlift a staple in my DE lower body work. I will follow this progression on DE days and replace my ME work with volume for the next 4 weeks until my back is feeling better. On ME days I will do sumo deadlifts with bands once my bicep is feeling good. I decided to work my back a lot today and did 5 sets of good mornings seated which is very taxing on my hips and low back. These areas need a tremendous amount of work. They are very weak and prone to injury and soreness. I did more calf work today because quite frankly I am afraid of injuring them the same way I did with my bicep. I did some rehab for the bicep with just 10 pound dumbbells. It does not feel sore, but it feels tight which worries me that it could pop again. At the bottom of the curl it feels as though its on the verge of going out again. Tommorow will be 2 weeks since my injury so I am a little frustrated that it is taking so long, but I definitely do not want to re-injure it so I have to go slow and listen to my body. Box squat with average bands is very tough. They pull you down hard from the top and stick you to the box. There is about 115 pounds tension at the bottom so the start is slower than you'd think with just 225, but it gets up to about 190 at the top which makes you have to start fast. The lock out feels a lot like squatting in a suit and wraps in that the top 1/2 keeps getting heavier. I think this lift has a tremendous value to powerlifting, but I think more explosiveness is never bad in strongman. I will be interested to do some reverse band deadlifts once my bicep is feeling better, but I really don't want to risk it going out with up to 500 pounds in my hand and having to worry about what that might do to my back.

ME Back and Biceps

ME Pull

Dumbbell Cleans:
2 x 80, 2 x 85, 2 x 85, 2 x 90, 2 x 90, 2 x 95, 2 x 100, 2 x 105

Lat Pulldowns:
5 x 210, 5 x 220, 5 x 230, 5 x 240, 5 x 250

Dumbell Rows:
6 x 80, 6 x 85, 6 x 90, 6 x 95

Jump Shrugs:
10 x 315, 10 x 405

Olympic Curls:
5 x 135, 5 x 155

Standing Barbell Curls:
5 x 70, 5 x 90, 5 x 110, 5 x 100, 5 x 90, 5 x 80, 5 x 70

Hammer Curls:
10 x 40, 10 x 40, 5 x 50, 5 x 55, 5 x 60

Kneeling Pulldown Abs:
3 sets 15 x 210

Wrist Curls with EZ Curl Bar:
3 sets 12 x 60

Farmers Walk:
125 pound dumbbells. One trip down the length of the gym and back. The second trip four times the length of the weight room.

This workout went alright. My back and legs are a little tired from all the work yesterday so I didn't feel very explosive for the dumbbell cleans. They went well until the last set which was very sloppy. I don't know if this is due to fatigue, lack of explosion, or lack of lat and bicep strength. In any case I got it up so it'll have to do for now.

I decided to do low rep sets for Lats but to go really heavy. I have to get these bigger and stronger if I want to make big gains in the press. I have decided that my goal for the summer as it pertains to my Lats is to be able to do 3 sets of 8 pullups by the time classes start again. This may not seem like much but it would be huge for me and once I can do regular pullups I will be able to hit my Lats even harder.

I wanted to do jump shrugs because I feel like they hit my traps really well. I got through the first set just fine, but unracking the 405 proved a little rough on my back. I did the set anyway but I decided to play it smart and walk away after that. I felt like dumbell cleans, olympic curls, and farmers walk would give me enough extra trap work so I'd be fine.

I performed Olympic curls today which I know is totally gay and brotacular, but I feel like I can legitimately justify these in the context of strongman. These are an underhand clean essentially which is caught in a split stance, but from a physiological standpoint the movement is very similar to flipping a tire because you are trying to explode up while geting your knee out under it. In fact a lot of my training I am modifying to improve SPP for strongman. I am doing dumbell cleans and hammer curls so I am ready for the log. And I have been doing straight bar curls for the tire flip. And of course I got in some Farmers Walk.

The farmers walk went alright. My hands were all sanded and softened up for the lady friend so it basically blistered and ripped the shit out of them. I think I am really boned though when it comes to strongman with 260 in each hand. 125 practically gave me a heart attack going about 500 feet on the last carry. Plus my grip was really shitty, but I think a lot of that has to do with all the grip shit I did earlier.

DE Squat May 14

DE Squat

Warmed up with ballistic and dynamic movements. Did some toe touches with alternating hand rapidly, Lunges bringing elbow to knee (or at least trying to), snatch squats, zercher squat leans, squat cleans, lunges, and lying hip and back stretches.

Box Squat with Bands (Mini + Monster Mini):
2 sets 5 x 135, 2 sets 3 x 185, 2 sets 2 x 245 (according to the info on elite this probably added 70 pounds at the bottom and 130 pounds at the top.)

Barbell Back Squat:
5 x 135, 3 x 185, 20 x 225, 20 x 185, 20 x 135

Seated Good Mornings:
3 sets 10 x 135

45 Degree Back Raise:
5 sets 10 x bodyweight

Seated Calf:
3 sets 10 x 90

45 Degree Calf:
2 Sets 10 x 270 (explosively)

Standing Ab Hold With Band:
10 X Average, 8 x Average, 6 x Average (All held for 5 count)

Side Bend Press Downs:
15 x 190, 15 x 200, 15 x 210

Attempted Farmers Walk with Straight Curl Bar 180 pounds per side. Gave up after losing balance on each side. Will try again tommorow.

This was a good workout. I felt good through all of it. I didn't hurt my back or wrist today. In fact I didn't even wear wrist wraps for my squats. I did some band box squats because my speed out of the hole has been poor in my squats. This was not done as heavy as the last time I did them. These felt good and I was able to sit back really far on the box. I came up fast with all of these and I was not rocking off the box at the bottom which has been a problem in the past. I decided to do some 20 rep sets on squat because I want to get my CNS firing more effectively on squat and you can only coordinate these motor patterns with a lot of good reps. I have not been squatting a lot lately and I need to get back in to it. I decided not to do my speed dealifts today because I don't want to fuck up my back and I got a lot of volume with the legs already. Instead I did 45 degree raise and seated good mornings which worked my back a lot as well as my hips, glutes, and hamstrings. My back felt pretty solid throughout this workout. I even took my belt off for my last set of 20 on squat. I need to do this more in the future because I think the belt is keeping my back and abs weak. I went really deep on the 20 rep sets because I want to get more hip and hamstring flexibility and Shinya was squatting next to me going ass to the grass with 425 so I'd have felt like a pussy if I didn't. I saw "Back's not important" and his buddy working rows and I laughed. I hope this squat volume will help me improve my flexibility, coordination, conditioning, and make my legs grow. I will try to do 20 rep sets every other week on dynamic day, and I might start doing a "by the numbers" workout on ME days after the strongman contest. I hope this extra leg work will help bring up my GH and Testosterone levels. For my next ME squat workout I plan on doing the "Offroad Workout" (4 x 4 with 405) so we'll see how that goes. Gotta Eat More!