Saturday 5/30/09

Afternoon:

Elliptical machine - program 5

Tore and quartered 38 cheap cards (pr). Tore 35 cards x2

Bending - 8 5 1/2" 3/16" dia. crs bars, 6 5" 3/16" dia. crs bars in a mix of do and du styles, 2 grade 2 bolts

Blob style with an upside down 15 lb GoFit bell

8 lb sledge levering

That was the strongest I've felt with these cheap decks of cards. The 38 card tear and quarter was done without shedding any of the cards from falling apart. Grip held them together well.

Friday 5/29/09

Afternoon:

Squats - 65 lbs x10, 85 lbs x10, 110 lbs x5, 110 lbs x20

Pullups - 20 lbs around waist 5, 5, 4, 3, 2

Pressing - 20kg bell - 10 sets of 5/5

I'll see how far I can go with the 20 reps in the next few weeks. I'll add 10 lbs a workout for now.

Pullups were tough. I feel strong but I'm about 200 lbs now so reps are going down.

Pressese didn't feel like they were dominated at the last few sets.

Wednesday 5/27/09

Afternoon:

Good mornings - 1x65 lbs, 2x85 lbs, 1x95 lbs

Deadlift - 20x135 lbs

Press - 95 lbs 5x5

I'm experimenting a bit since heavier deadlifts are making my hip hurt. I know that doing the goodmornings And the deadlifts is more than I should be doing. I'll figure out how I want to do this but most likely I'll keep the one high rep set of light deadlifts once a week until I get my hip sorted out.

Tuesday 5/27/09

Afternoon:

Elliptical machine - program 5

Sledge levering

Pinch lever block with 12.5 lbs at the end 3x5

Bending - 6 5 1/2" 3/16" dia. crs bars, 6 green nails in a mix of do and du styles

Tore and quartered 36 cheap cards.

I'm going to do the elliptical machine just to get some form of cardio while my hip calms down. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to doing swings again. I tried 16kg snatches 7/7 today and they didn't feel bad. I should be able to hit Max VO2 again in a few weeks.

Monday 5/25/09

Afternoon:

Squats - 65 lbs 1x10, 100 lbs 3x10

Pullups - 16kg (35 lbs) bell around waist 10x2

3x3 20kg, 3x2 24kg, 3x1 28kg

The squats at this weight aren't bothering my hip. It was the heavy deadlifting the other day that made it feel pretty bad for this last week.

The pullups went pretty well. They felt pretty strong and my weight is still climbing up there. I'm around 196 or so right now.

The pressing went awesome! All reps of the 28kg were brought up by strength without a push or assist. They were ugly no doubt and I was definitely leaning but this is a big difference. My pressing is definitely paying off. Just have to keep at it patiently.

Saturday 5/23/09

Afternoon:

8 lb sledgehammer levering and tossing back and forth

Tore some cheap cards. Tore and quartered 35 cards.

Bending - 10 7" 3/16" dia. crs bars, 5 green nails in a mix of do and du styles

Friday 5/22/09

Afternoon:

Bending - 10 7" 3/16" dia. crs bars, 3 green nails

Squats - 65 lbs 1x10, 95 lbs 3x10

Press - 105 lbs 3x5

Pullups - 20 lbs 2x5, 5x3

I'm trying to find something light that won't hurt my all of a sudden gimped out hip. These lightweight squats like this seem to work better. The heavy deadlifts the other day have to be the culprit for really making me sore. I think I'll try lighter goodmornings instead of deadlifts this next week and see how that works.

Wednesday 5/20/09

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 5x275, 5x250, 6 sets of 5x220

Pressing - 20kg bell - 10 sets of 5/5

Good workout. Maybe doing my first ever bear type dl workout wasn't the best idea after getting home from driving to Visalia and back again for work today. I left home at 6:45 and it was about 3 hours and 20 minutes or so each way with a stop in the middle for me to submit drawings for plan check. So being in a car for almost 7 hours and then dl workout...brilliant! I have a pull in my back now. Should be something I can work through.

I met with a sports doctor the other day that took some x-rays of my hip and showed me that the blood flow in my damaged hip is not up to snuff and the bone is dying. He didn't have the x-rays from immediately after my surgery (4 years ago) to compare so he had no idea if this was recent or the same as it was then. He also ignored what I told him about possibly tearing or pulling a muscle in my groin a few months ago. He was a fancy doctor and they were busy. I'm thinking he brushed me off because he didn't want to deal with me.

He told me I should never lift heavy again!

I did make an appointment with the guy who did my surgery in a few weeks. He seemed to be a straight shooter and I'll talk over all options with him. I may need another surgery...

Instead of getting bummed (I'm lying...yesterday I was bummed) I will keep on what I'm doing right now and see what my hip surgeon has to say about options.

I'm getting bigger and I'm getting stronger. Lots of food and a half gallon of milk will do that along with three heavy days a week of training. Two other days are intended to be very light with grip work only and two days off. 32kg press here I come!

Monday 5/18/09

Evening:

Squats - 120 lbs 5x5

Press - 100 lbs 5x5

Pullups with 20 lbs - 3x5, 4, 3

Everything feels pretty good. I'm getting heavier but I hit more reps in my pullups than last workout. I'm getting stronger.

Friday 5/15/09

Afternoon:

Squats - 110 lbs 5x5

Pressing - 10x5/5 20kg, 10x5/5 16kg

Pullups with 20 lbs (supersetted with first 5 sets of presses) - 2x5, 4, 3, 3

It's really nice to be sqatting again.

My pressing is starting to feel more solid. I did 10 sets with the 20kg bell this time. I'll keep increasing the sets I do with that bell until I'm doing all 20 sets.

Pullups feel hard. I'm gaining weight and that in itself makes a big difference in how strong pullups feel. I'll just keep working the 20 lbs and using the weight I gain as a gauge as to how strong I'm getting. My other pullup day I'll probably work heavy singles and doubles to work on my 1 rm strength.

Wednesday 5/13/09

Evening:

Deadlift - 235 lbs 2x5, 255 lbs 2x3, 275 lbs 2x2

Press - 45 lbs 1x5, 65 lbs 1x5, 75 lbs 1x5, 95 lbs 1x5, 105 lbs 1x5

20kg two handed swings 5 sets of 20 on the minute

This was my first dl workout in over a month now. I'll see how I feel tomorrow but it didn't feel too bad.

This was my first time doing the standing two handed barbell press and I really like this exercise. I worked the progression as Mark Rippetoe mentions in Starting Strength. I'm thinking that this will give me more balance in my pressing and get my left side closer to my right.

Swings feel good. My wind is definitely not up to snuff right now and my left hip is pretty weird feeling. I'm going to start with the 20kg and work my way up while I'm on this strength/mass building phase I'm in.

Tuesday 5/12/09

Afternoon:

Pullups with 20lbs around waist - 26x3, bw pullups 4x3

Swings 20kg - 20, 4x10

Monday 5/11/09

Evening:

Squats - 100 lbs 5x5

Pressing - 3x3 20kg, 3x2 24kg, 1x1 28kg, 2x2 24kg
Jerks - 1x3 28kg

My knee is still a bit sore so I set the bars in my rack a little high. I'm good to about parallel right now. My left hip is messed up now. I have a new appointment with another sports doctor in about a week to have it looked at. The physical therapist for my knee is great though. She immediately took a look at the alignment of my hips and discovered my left side was a bit lower than my right when I lay on my back. She is happy with the stretches I've been doing.

Friday 5/8/09

Afternoon:

High intensity pressing - 3x3 20kg, 3x2 24kg, 3x1 28kg (2nd & 3rd left side were assisted presses)

Card tearing - 19 cards quartered, 35 cards halved (pr), 18 cards quartered, 18 cards quartered, 18 cards quartered (2 decks total)

Bending - 5 7" 3/16" dia. crs bars, 5 white nails, 3 green nails, 1 grade 2 bolt, 7" 1/4" dia. crs bar attempt

Pressing might have been just a touch stronger than last week. The first 28kg press on my left side is a pr. I did some leaning to the side to get it there but not too extreme.

I'm working on that initial "s" of the cards when I tear them. When I get it just right the first tear starts nice and clean.

Bending is ok...the 7" 1/4" crs bar got bent a little bit more than I could last attempt but still no kink.

Wednesday 5/6/09

Evening:

Pullups with 20lbs around waist - 30x3

The first 5 sets I did some supersets with sets of 5 bw dips

Monday 5/4/09

Evening:

Volume pressing - 20kg - 5x5/5, 16kg - 15x5/5

Zero momentum situps - 3x3

Felt good. Tried to concentrate on making each press a solid one. I'm eating a lot right now to help with recovery of my knee and any exercise I'm doing. It seems to be working well.

Sunday 5/3/09

Afternoon:

Tore 32 cards (pr) and quarted them. Tore 20 cards and quartered them.

Pullups (bw) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 5, 4
Dips (bw) - 5, 5, 4, 4, 5

8lb sledgehammer levering

Bent 10 white nails and 10 green nails as quickly as I could.

My hands and wrists were pretty tired after today. I'm getting a feel for the exercises and a routine.

Friday 5/1/09

Afternoon:

Bending - 10 white nails, 5 green nails, 1 6" 1/4" dia. hrs bar, 7" 1/4" dia. crs bar attempt

High intensity pressing - 3x3 20kg, 3x2 24kg, 3x1 28kg (all left side were assisted presses. 3rd right was an assisted press)

8lb sledgehammer levering - rear, front, rotations

Card tearing - 20 cards quartered, 15 cards quartered, 17 cards quartered

White nails are easy, green nails are getting easy. I bought some bar from Home Depot earlier today and cut it up into 3/16" crs 5" lengths, 1/4" hrs 6" lengths, 1/4" crs 7" lengths. The 1/4" hrs is WAY easier than the 1/4" crs bar. Maybe my wrists were just fatigued from the bending I did before it. I tried to move as quickly as I was able through the bends. The final 7" 1/4" dia. crs bar attempt was a no go as I got it to bend slightly but not kink.

Pressing went good. I can't wait to own the 28kg in presses because that means the 32kg will be right around the corner. I remember not being able to reliably press the 24kg on my left and now I can hit 3 sets of 2 military presses with it and my first attempt almost went up.

My hands were pretty smoked by the time I got to the card tearing.