April 2004 archives

This was it. The heaviest regular bench session of the Prilepin bench program. Considering that it was only one percent heavier than week I, a whopping 1 kg/2.2 lbs difference, the reps were a little stiff. As usual, I got my act together by the third set, which was the best of them all (Video 1.5M). After that, it didn’t take more than a single rep of JM presses to reveal that my triceps were still fairly sore around the elbow from Monday’s close-grip bench session.

As Monday’s bench session was very light (6x3 @ 73%), the soreness can probably be blamed on the Tate presses. The Prilepin bench program recommends that assistance work is not done balls to the walls, especially the tricep exercises, to help avoid local overtraining on the weekly schedule. As I have infused some extra rest into this program by basing it on the Three-day rotating Westside split, I have generally gone to failure on all assistance exercises. If it turns out that I am getting overtrained, at least I know why. No major worries yet though.

In three weeks Sanna and I are heading for Tuscany to sample the local wine in the Italian spring. This means that I won’t quite be able to complete this cycle. Either I will just need to drop the last workout or then drop the whole last week and go for a new max before leaving. We will see how I feel. The trip is going to function as a much needed training break. After that I will probably go back to Westside benching again focusing on full range movements. Today I looked back at the power rack in a sudden flash of nostalgia: floor presses… hmmm…

Before heading home, I bought my second bottle of Eiselt’s Omega-3 capsules (29.90 euro for 300 capsule of 1000 mg - cheap for being in Finland). I have been popping 4000 mg split up into 2 servings daily for some time now. I can highly recommend this brand; the fish oil tastes so fresh and smooth that I like to explode them in my mouth before swallowing… yummy!

This was a good one. Skipped all fancy footwork and simply pyramided up on reverse-hypers, ball crunches and seated calf raises. Haven’t done reverse-hypers in a while, probably because I was pushing the limit on how much weight my dress belt could handle. Found a short piece of wire at the gym, which I used together with two ankle belts to wrap plates around my ankles. The only problem with this was that I twice managed to wrap them so thoroughly that it took me several minutes to unknot… Worked up to 30 kg/66 lbs doing them off a normal hyperextension/back raise, of course mounting it the “wrong” way (hands grabbing the feet support). Next week I might take a clip of these.

A really nice and back-friendly workout. Currently, reverse-hypers (even if not done on the real thing that allows the disks to open up at the bottom) and pull-throughs are my best recommendations for exercises to do when the back is not quite up to par. What they have in common is that both are heaviest at the top of the movement (legs in line with upper body). Compare this to good mornings, where the heaviest part is at the bottom (bent forward at the waist) where the lower back is at its most vulnerable. Both type of exercises have their place (force curves should be varied for optimal strength and stability), but when it comes to rehab I think it is wise to concentrate on those which are heaviest at the top, not the bottom. Just my 2 cents.

Horrible groove today, but zig-zagging these weights up was not too terribly difficult. Trained fairly fast today… or should I say, at least a little faster than the usual turtle’s pace. Had a nice dinner to catch at 5pm with Sanna at Kabuki, hands down the best Japanese restaurant in Helsinki. We had a few reasons to overstuff ourselves with sushi and tonkatsu as Sanna today became a published cartoonist in a Swedish-language magazine, Astra Nova, and I secured a full-time teaching job for the next school year.

Two weeks have elapsed since I had my spine mobilized by the osteopath. Although it did not remove the pain altogether, my back has started feeling quite good during the last few days. Sitting on the metro for my second appointment, I was, ironically enough, hoping that this visit would not destroy the status quo by upsetting my temperamental spine hound too much.

After again stripping down to my bare essentials, he had me bend left and then right. Left I could go really far, but I had considerably less mobility bending to the right. No pain, I was just feeling stiff in that direction. After stating the obvious, the therapist had me lay down on my sides and cracked my lower back in the same fashion as last time. This time it went easy and the pops were not as major. The upper back was another story. Lying on the back with his fists between me and the bench, I could both feel and hear a major part of my upper spine jumping into place over several vertebrae. All I could say was something akin to “holy camolie!!”. Six on the Richter scale.

Lying on my back with hands clasped behind my neck, he then cracked my upper back/neck by turning my upper body sideways. Nothing major, but quite enjoyable nonetheless. Massaging my gluteus, he concluded that my left one was considerably less tight than last time, but the right one was still somewhat stiff. My hamstrings were really tight, part of which is probably due to the reverse-hypers I did three days ago.

He approved of the tennis ball massage I have been doing several times daily, and said that I could do it for the hamstrings too. “Put two balls in a sock, and you will get a very effective massage tool”. Concluding the treatment, he said that things were starting to look quite good. Although my upper back had jumped out of alignment between treatments, the natural curvature of the upper spine had returned making it much less flat. The lower back was also in much better shape, and the gluteus trigger points much weaker. “I don’t think you need to come back, but if you feel you need it, you know where to find me. Close the door when you’re done dressing”.

Easter came and went. Ate some eggs and painted a few innocent ones with gangsta rabbits and acid chickens, while Sanna kept her artistic integrity keeping to witches and… wine labels. With a plane booked for Florence next week’s Wednesday, I decided that this would be the last workout of the Prilepin bench program (still three workouts short). I will take a full week off benching, and then go for a new max before resting on my laurels in rural Italy for ten days. After that it is back to Westside benching for the time being. The voices in my head thus told me that it would be ok to round today’s 5x3 @ 78 kg/172 lbs (80%) up to 80 kg/177 lbs. Also went a little heavier on the JMs. Was a good one considering my food and sleep overloaded state of being.

Almost forgot. Passed on the previous squat/dead workout to let my lower back adjust in peace after the mobilization. My back feels a lot better now, and I have to keep reminding myself that this is no time to start slacking on the trigger point massage. Free eggs for everyone!

Thought I would finally take a clip of my makeshift reverse hyper setup, but ran out of batteries. Reached for my spares, only to discover that I had needed them for my MiniDisc recorder. The last sparks could only provide me with a quick picture of how I attach the weights to my ankles. Next time perhaps.

Today was something of a public relations day as no less than three people were curious about the reverse hypers. I also met one of the few powerlifters who frequent this gym in the metro and we had an interesting albeit short talk on our respective progress. But best of all, the King of Squats himself, Brent Mikesell, agreed to help me with my squatting technique! This interchange will take place as soon as I feel ready to squat again (hopefully in May) and will be based on clips of my squatting sessions. I am both deeply honored and flattered by his enthusiastic willingness to help this squat novice for a very modest sum. Brent’s heart must be even bigger than his enormous world record squat of 1074.8 lbs/487.5 kg!

The workout itself was a slightly heavier re-run of the previous one. My lower back felt so great after it, that I decided to stick to it for now. Squats again soon…

Finnish law now prohibits talking in mobile phones without the use of hands free devices while driving. Hopefully hands will still be allowed while squatting, cause this clip of Marko Patteri squatting 200 kg/442 lbs hands free is plain insane. Imagine a skinny lifter trying this…

The ABB Adrenalin stack preworkout drink has reappeared on the gym shelves after having been sold out for a few weeks. I took this to be a good omen for today’s bench max attempt. It was then that I noticed that the color of the bottle was much darker than before… and it now read Adrenalyn stack. Don’t know what’s up with that. A faulty omen?

With my system fueled by the liquified omen of dubious nature, I went straight to business. After only a few sets, I could tell that my groove and bench touch were crap. Perhaps a sign of overtraining after all? Started feeling that I would be quite content with just finally breaking the 100 kg/221 lbs barrier that has eluded me since late December. It came up… but just a bit.

Determined to at least set some PR today, I continued with close-grip two-board presses. Did get 100 kg/221 lbs on these ones bettering my record from December with 5 kg/11 lbs. Yay, a little something to add to my progress chart that has seen little updates recently as my back has been raising trouble for my squat/dead exercises and the Prilepin bench program has had me bench sub-max weights for some seven weeks. Then did forward incline dumbell curls, which I also added to today’s video (2.9M).

This was the last workout before heading for Italian Tuscany on Wednesday. Preliminary, my next workout should be 3 May. Around those times we should find out if my bench still sucks after I have gotten some much needed rest. My assistance exercise results have consistently showed improvement on the Prilepin program, so at least something has grown stronger…