Archives for workouts (page 14)

The last weekend of August is the traditional end of the summer cottage season here in Finland. Celebrated especially in Swedish speaking Ostrobothnia with bonfires, torches, fireworks and good food (often crabs), this is one festivity I rarely miss. The hour I had to spare before jumping on the northbound train with Sanna was spent in the school weight room.

Made the weight increase on the Bradford press despite not being quite convinced that I indeed got 4x6 last week. I barely got six reps on the first set with 55 kg/122 lbs (VIDEO 1.8MB) before the rest of the sets came sliding down one steep hill. In contrast, it was my third week with 50 kg/111 lbs on the JM press and 4x6 came easily. I cannot be anything but satisfied considering that even a single rep at this weight was hard two months ago. Didn’t have time for more than a few quick sets of pulldowns and curls before hitting the shower.

Despite my good intentions, my lower back turned tender on me after the light box squat/deadlift workout. Just wanted some blood in there so concentrated on hyperextensions with a pinch of ab work, rehab exercises and calf cranking. I felt like a new man when I left the gym. Hope it lasts.

An empty slot between teaching and a meeting proved a great opportunity for a first workout at the school’s gym. Located in the basement underneath the gymnasium, it is a basic gym equipped with a half rack, two adjustable benches, a pulldown station with a 100 kg/221 lbs stack, a cable crossover station with 70 kg/155 lbs stacks, dumbells up to 21 kg/46 lbs (I think), a small leg press, a 45 degree back raise, an ab board, a rowing machine and a barbell with plates. It has a decisive dungeon feeling to it owing to the narrowness of the room, the dim lights and the somewhat stuffy air.

Found a cd labeled ‘Iron Maiden and Metallica’ among all the light listening and pop records. The sound system proved excellent and I made the most of it as I was the only lifter present. With Bruce Dickinson aggressively bouncing between the walls, I embarked on the standard Blakley bench day routine while trying to pretend I wasn’t hungry. Did the usual singles with 90 kg/199 lbs and then continued with the rep work. The singles went well, but ended up losing a rep over the four work sets instead of making the usual gain. Heads must roll, but not mine. This time the scapegoats are… ehem… three hours of sleep and …badly calibrated weight plates that actually weigh way more than they should… and… and… lingering soreness from the accessory day combined with my sore back. Did some one-handed rowing and then took full advantage of the iron plates to do some pinch gripping. To my surprise pinch gripping two 10 kg/22 lbs plates smooth side out was fairly easy. Progress.

Despite the initial setback, I think I might just come here from time to time to enjoy the solitude.

The time is ripe to begin the climb back up to some real squat/deadlift workouts. Since I will be making the return very gradually, starting with ridiculously small weights, it feels natural to do both the box squats and the deadlifts as speed work on DE Squat/Dead day.

An empty bar felt needlessly light, so worked with a safe sounding 40 kg/88 lbs on both exercises. My master plan is to increase the weight on the box squat and the deadlift with 2.5 kg/6 lbs per week. This scheme would have me increase the weight by 10 kg/22 lbs a month meaning I would be up to some meaningful speed box squat poundages by the end of the year. This timetable corresponds fairly well with my back therapist’s assessment regarding my discs being back in shape by the end of the year. I might speed things up a bit later if there are no complications, especially for the deadlift, but for now I start with this conservative base plan.

I don’t plan to do much supplementary work on DE SQ/DL day save for some ab work, but will continue doing a heavy dose of rehab work. The action will be on ME SQ/DL day where I will continue doing exercises that I can go to failure with for reps, i.e. GHRs, makeshift reverse hypers and such. Once the weights start to climb on DE day, I will slowly start to do light pin pulls etc. as supplementary work. Squats without a box will also start to figure in this context a bit later once I’ve made sure that my back can handle the reversal without locking up.

No complaints from the back today, but noticed that it had tightened up a bit when I did hanging leg raises following the box squat and deadlift. Deep down I still fear that I might have something structurally broken in my back, but at this point I cannot do much more than go on with the plan and if I get into trouble head for a magnetic scan. For now, I am glad to be back squatting and deadlifting even if it is with puny weights.

It’s been another demanding week as you can probably tell from the somewhat irregular posting schedule. A cold Adrenalyn stack (still wondering about the name) helped me remain standing for long enough to break some more records, or more specifically adding four or five reps on the Bradford press (lost count on the last set) and four reps on the JM press. Finished with some grip work highlighted by the Rolling Thunder and then went home to pass out in peace.

 

GHRs, compound stiff-legged dumbell deadlifts… a very regular workout save for some unexpected coordination problems on the walk-outs.

After the workout I showed my newly acquired Rolling Thunder to the guy who recently embarked on a Westside program. I told him how little most people can pull with it upon which he wanted to try it himself. He pyramided up to a successful 50 kg/111 lbs lift. He defiantly gave 65 kg/144 lbs a go after I told him that he wouldn’t get it up. He had to agree that it doesn’t seem to matter that he can deadlift some 250 kg/552 lbs without straps.

While on my way back to the locker I ran into another power oriented guy I know. Couldn’t resist again unveiling the Rolling Thunder with the provocative question: “how much do you think you’d pull with this handle?”. “At least 90 kg (199 lbs)”, he responded and headed for the lifting platform. After a confident first lift at 50 kg/111 lbs he added another 20 kg/44 lbs plate. It budged, if ever so slightly. He did get 60 kg/133 lbs off the ground, but not high enough to lock it out.

Based on a survey of four male lifters (the two above, Måns’s 50 kg/111 lbs and my 47.5 kg/105 lbs) I conclude that the average lifter without thick bar training experience will probably fail at around the 55 kg/122 lbs mark give or take 5 kg/11 lbs.

Edit: This entry had corrupted comments, the problem is now fixed.

I postponed yesterday’s bench workout until today to clear up some lingering tricep soreness following Friday’s JM presses and Bradford presses. It was a wise move as the extra day of rest patched me up for another 3 rep improvement on the bench press sets. Incidentally, this was also the day I dragged yet another piece of strange equipment into the gym.

My Ironmind’s Rolling Thunder with loading pin has been waiting at the customs office since Thursday, but only now did I have time for the extensive walking required to take the declaration of the package from the mail terminal to the customs office for clearance and back. I got a good laugh at the customs when I heard that they had classified the package as ‘golf equipment’.

As I prepared to determine my Rolling Thunder max, I already knew that this is one deceptive piece of pipe. The current official world record for a single-handed deadlift using this handle plus the Ironmind 15″ loading pin is a “mere” 267 lbs/121 kg set by Estonian strongman Andrus Murumets in 2003 (here’s a picture of squat king Brent Mikesell going at it; a 192 lbs/87 kg lift gave him second place in the 2003 Northwest Rolling Thunder competition). The current women’s WR of 142 lbs/64 kg is held by none other than Becca Swanson. The sheer thickness of this handle, plus the fact that it revolves, makes this a lift a pure test of grip strength. I pyramided up in jumps of 10 kg/22 lbs and managed to get 50 kg/111 lbs off the ground with the right hand, but I had to drop down to 47.5 kg/105 lbs (VIDEO 0.5MB) to get a clean lift with both hands. Finished with some holds for time with 40 kg/88 lbs, which really drove the point home as to why a revolving handle makes this lift so much harder. Simply put, it wants to roll right out of your hand unless you hang on to it like a madman.

It’s amazing how hectic the start of a new school year can be. If I wasn’t so excited about seeing what kind of gains would come my way on the bradford and JM press, I would have been more than happy to call it a weekend.

Progress prevailed over tiredness and Friday 13th with an excellent start on the heavier weights for both exercises. My depleted energy stores would not last a full workout, so just capped off with some rotator cuff and bicep work. Then off to the summer cottage to enjoy August.

Summer vacation came to an abrupt end for many an elementary school student here in Finland today. It was my first day in the fifth grade… as a teacher. This will be my main occupation this year, but paychecks will also continue to drop in via my freelance activities including lecturing at the university and doing odd translation jobs more often than not related to city planning. The fun thing about teaching fifth graders is that you get to do the whole deal ranging from physical education to chemistry. Powerlifting is not an option in gym class, but the school does have a small gym that I will probably use now and then. Today I steered towards the regular gym.

Did mini-band assisted GHRs as the main exercise, but did not forget to honor my dual pledge to give the midsection and calves some more time in the limelight.

Also got some inspiration from Måns’s copy of Bill Pearl’s hefty tome Keys to the Inner Universe, probably the most extensive collection of exercises there is although it gets away with only two versions of the good morning (everybody knows there are in fact 360 variations…). Compound stiff-legged dumbell deadlifts are basically a normal stiff-legged deadlift, but you don’t just bend straight down but also alternately twist down with the dumbells toward the right and left foot. Going down once to the right, middle and left counts as one rep. First tried them directly following the GHRs, but had to abort quickly as I could not bend very far to the right before pain materialized on the left side. Once the back had been warmed up by some more work they felt fine. Bending down sideways with nearly straight legs is one of the more demanding things one can subject a low back to. I figure that if I can get to a point where these are pain-free I’m pretty much good to go. In the meantime, I will start to phase deadlifts and squats back in as going straight down no longer seems to hurt.

Second bench day of the Blakley program. Added a set to the singles for 3x1 @ 90 kg/199 lbs. On the actual work sets, I again setup too close to the uprights forcing me to readjust in the middle of the set without racking the bar. It is anybody’s guess why I would first setup correctly workout after workout and set after set, only to end up too close when benching for reps. “No need to dig in Balcony Bob, we are going for reps here”? Barely failed to lockout the sixth rep, but saved the day by gaining two reps on the last two sets. Increased the weight on many of the assistance exercises and rounded off with a pinch of forearm and grip work.

Speaking of repping, it is interesting to note just how much better my body has become at singles. Embarking on Westside over a year ago, I did 5x5 @ 70 kg/155 lbs, but could only muster a 75 kg/166 lbs single. Now I can only do about 4x5 @ 77.5 kg/171 lbs paused, but my max has jumped to 97.5 kg/216 lbs. The difference between my max and 5RM for sets has grown from 5 kg/11 lbs to 20 kg/44 lbs. That if anything is a real world example of a key difference between bodybuilders (good at reps, bad at max) and powerlifters (bad at reps, good at max). In an ironic twist, I now find myself trying to bridge the huge gap I’ve built between my rep max and my 1RM in an effort to get my max going again. In a perverted sort of way it might just work or, as they say, so far so good.