Archives for workouts (page 4)

After two good squat PRs and a lot of heavy pressing, it was time to deload the spine. As per the correspondence with Michael Hope, I plan to do a deload every few weeks.

Wednesday, 11 January 2006: Deload squat

Did some speed box squats with the Westside camber bar, then went for a rep max on the GHR with Måns doing the counting. It was painful, but did 27 non-stop reps with decent form. Let’s just say that hamstrings have never been my weak point. Followed up with some leg extensions to counter the humongous hamstring pump.

Saturday, 14 January 2006: Deload bench

As I lay down on the stability ball with the 23.5 kg/52 lbs dumbells, I knew what I was aiming for. I buried the 24 reps I did in December with the 21.5 kg/48 lbs dumbells with a good 29 reps. Deload week is fun.

Friday, 6 January 2006: ME Squat

Still had a bit of residue low back stiffness from Wednesday’s accessory work. Takin’ it easy. Or so I thought. Once I had belted up and blasted up 90 kg/199 lbs, I felt ready for more, comfy manta ray and all. I was working with a close stance, going down all the way, trying to hit the quads hard. The 117.5 kg/260 lbs I put up on the 13″ box two weeks ago gave me confidence that I might hit something decent. Got 100 kg/221 lbs and loaded up 110 kg/243 lbs. It felt like an aeon, or an episode of Twin Peaks by the very least, as I struggled to straighten up. For a second, it felt like I was going to get my face buried in the floor, but then I got it. Couldn’t ask for more right now.

Here’s the video (1.8M), fully in color.

Sunday, 8 January 2006: ME Bench

Look at that guy… is he… Dear Lord! Well yes, he is. Attempted 107.5 kg/234 lbs on the floor press twice. The first time I managed to pin it, the second I actually got it all the way, but only after I lifted the back of a hip that forms one of the fleshy parts on which a person sits off the ground. Needless to say, this PR doesn’t count… or… wait… it was a decline PR!!

The dumbell bench went great though, got 5x5 on my first go at the 36 kg/80 lbs dumbells.

Monday, 2 January 2006: DE SQ

Moved up slightly in weight on the dynamic effort box work, but still going light. Went “light” on the GHR as well, but the puny 2.5 kg/6 lbs plate I adorned my forehead with turned out to be a bit too much and I could feel a bit of stiffness set in. Not a show stopper, but a clear warning. Heeded.

Wednesday, 4 January 2006: Bench accessory

As Måns, who has been blogging his bodybuilding adventures at Old School Iron since November, put it, I had a very good day on the incline today. It was a pinch, but I got my 5x5 @ 72.5 kg/160 lbs, a huge improvement over last time. We also did something interesting on the seated row by strapping ourselves to the machine with a belt. Well, Måns did. I had to use the dip belt to accomodate both my well-developed midsection and me…

Monday, 26 December 2005: ME squat

The lone squatter entered the gym followed by his spotter sidekick. Lightly brushing by the heavy bag hanging in the entrance, he stops to gaze fiercely upon the squat bar. The bar patrons are long gone, it is nearly midnight. “An empty bar…”, the sidekick can vividly see the speech bubble forming, “… this bar ain’t big enough for my old and new squat PR”. After removing his long johns, after all, it is winter, he straddles the box and rides off towards higher and higher weights. The belt goes on, no bullets this time. It doesn’t take a bald bandit to see that the bar is putty on his shoulders. After 105 kg/232 lbs forms a clear silhouette against the moon shining in through the side window, the lone squatter loads the bar to 117.5 kg/260 lbs. He breaks sweat, but it doesn’t challenge his manhood. The spotter sidekick rejoices, but the lone squatter remains calm as a dead chinchilla. He knows it was meant to be, although it took a good two years to hunt it down. The uneasiness he has felt for so long is starting to melt like butter under the red Mexican sun. The hope he had been given made his cause just, but the story is not yet a happy one. As long as there are more PRs to arrest, the lone squatter will be out there.

VIDEO (2.3MB), published with permission from Ano Turtiainen.

Wednesday, 28 December 2005: ME Bench

Even more amazing than the fact that I finally got a new squat PR after two years of back trouble must be the lack of subsequent back pain. Unheard of. Feeling good, I had no trouble arching in under the cambered bar. Put up a 5 kg/11 lbs PR by reaching 95 kg/210 lbs. Life, life, life is good.

Wednesday, 14 December 2005: Squat

Unlike for the bench, I don’t have much that I could call a “routine” for the squat work yet. If you scroll down you’ll probably see trends though involving GHRs, reverse hypers and calf raises. Now that I seem to be able to tolerate a bit heavier squatting again, I am putting the speed work back in. Started at a very moderate weight to ensure enough speed but kept the sets at a high twelve (basically a lightened old-school Westside cycle). Also went for a tad higher reps on the GHR with various stances. Fifteen reps was not hard for the first set, but very tight on the last one… Also found out that doing standing band crunches with two minibands gives quite the rebound…

Friday, 16 December 2005: ME bench

With a few hours to kill between my last class and the school Christmas show, I paid a now rare visit to the school gym. After yet another failed PR attempt on the incline, I did speed benching and followed up with an all-out 24 reps with 21.5 kg/48 lbs dumbells on the dumbell bench. There just wasn’t anything heavier to work with.

Thursday, 8 December 2005: Squat

The new rehab approach is starting to pay dividends. I felt good today and worked up to 105 kg/232 lbs on the 13″ box squat. Stopped short of going all out as the last thing I want to do is something trademarkedly stupid. The lower cable twists didn’t feel good in the back, but otherwise this was a very encouraging workout. Also did some seated band leg curls that I gleaned from the Westside Barbell Reactive Method tape. I picked that up together with the Special Strengths tape from Voimaharjoittelu.net on a sale at 19 euros each. I love sales like that.

Saturday, 10 Dec 2005: Bench accessory

Christmas is in the air. I don’t know about elsewhere, but at this time of the year most companies are celebrating something called pikkujoulut in Finnish. Literally “Little Christmas”, this usually consists of an evening out in a restaurant or Christmas snacks at the office. These events are notorious for sometimes being pretty wild affairs. Gyms also seem to arrange them. As Metal was closed for pikkujoulut and a club bench meet, I headed over to Töölö Gym for my bench work. I was greeted by candle light and the sweet scent of mulled wine. Politely declining the invitation, I rushed over to City Gym and crossed my fingers. Phew, only barbells in the air there. The incline work went miserably at the new weight of 72.5 kg/160 lbs, but otherwise a good workout. Christmas has its place, but gyms are not among them. In my humble opinion.

Tuesday, 29 November 2005: Accessory bench

Sanna’s brother, who has started bodybuilding, wanted me to give him some pointers on exercise form. Midnight training at Metal might not be everyones first choice of cuppa, hence we met at neutral ground at the largest gym in Helsinki, Töölö Gym. I moved up to 70 kg/155 lbs on the inclines… it was tough, but I did pull off 5x5. Sanna’s brother did even better posting a huge gain on his bench PR.

Saturday, 2 December 2005: Squat day

Sigh. As sweet November came and went, yours truly also had to report back at work. The month off with Rufus was great though, the highlight probably being our trip to Sweden together with my brother and his fiancée. After a few days at work, it is clear that there will not be room for a lot of sleep in the weeks to come… Good workout though. After the heavy bag work I did some box squats in one of the monolifts off Ano’s box, apparently a suitable 13″. Following Mike Hope’s instructions, I put the belt on for the “heavier” sets. Having something to push my abs into made a world of difference, I suspect one of the main reasons I tend to fall forward in the squat might have to do with me squatting without tensing the midsection… Luckily, a belt is commonly the only allowed piece of equipment in RAW meets, so not abandoning ship… Got a slight cramp at 80 kg/177 lbs, but the reps felt good and powerful.

Sunday, 3 December 2005: ME Bench

I’ve lamented over the increasingly common membership concept at health clubs (I hesitate to call them gyms for political reasons) before. The idea is simple: the price for a single session is raised to astronomical levels, or eliminated completely, in favor of some kind of day pass that gives you access to not only the gym but also the aerobics, spinning and whatnot yogic sessions. If you commit to becoming a member for a year or more, often after paying a substantial “membership fee” that can be upwards to 100 euros or even more, the prices drop sharply. The monthly fee is deducted from your bank account monthly. If you decide to quit before the year is up, they will charge you the difference between the yearly price and the “regular price” for the time you trained there. Simply put, they take your money hostage and execute it if you decide to quit. Furthermore, this whole scheme is usually hidden behind a whole lot of “special offers” and “tailored solutions” that a “sales representative” will take you through while waiving a lot of important looking documents. In a nutshell, this really sucks.

Take the new shiny health club that replaced the neighborhood gym just around the corner from our house. Some time ago, I marched in to inquire about prices and opening hours. Turned out they were open to 11pm, great for those days when I would not have time to journey all the way to Metal. Asked if I could look inside the gym and verified that they had what I’d need for some light accessory work. When I asked what the price for a single visit to the gym was, they told me there was no such thing. The closest thing was a day pass at 12 euros that, surprise surprise, included the aerobics too. Then came all the talk about membership. For once, I cut the lady short and explained that I lived nearby, generally trained at another gym, but would be interested to pop in maybe once or twice a month. I also made it quite clear that I wanted no aerobics and that 12 euros was a ridiculous amount to pay for an hour in the gym. As I was getting ready to leave, it was suggested that their sales representative might be able to come up with a tailor-made solution. I jotted down my e-mail and left. A few days later, yes, a few days, I got an e-mail from the sales rep that stated that “they generally only discuss their prices and operational model on location” and then went on to talk about “their membership”. No mention of my particular problem. Never set foot in there again.

The whole “shiny club” scheme was again unravelled before my own very wallet today as I joined Sanna’s brother for another session, this time at his gym. As was to be expected, the closest thing to a gym visit was the 12 euro daypass that entitled its happy bearer to all aerobics and all the three Blue Fitness gyms in Helsinki. As I did not show much interest in signing up for several months or a year, the skinny guy behind the counter told me he could give me a “special offer”. For a mere 8 euros, I would get the magnetic card fee waived and one week of unlimited training at all three gyms. Oh, and they would also take my personal information and my photograph for the customer registration. In retrospect, I should probably just have declined the honor of being pulled into their customer database, but I paid up and got on with it. A pretty nice basic gym otherwise, no power rack or specialty gear of course, but they did allow me to use chalk. Most health spas don’t.

As for the workout, got very close to putting up a new PR on the close-grip bench. Seems like I’m finally back to full strength after the unfortunate layoff.

Hell-bent on following Michael Hope’s rehab recommendations to a T, I dutifully pounded the heavy bag for fifteen minutes before today’s workout. This brought back many memories of my former life as an avid martial artist. I got interested in martial arts when my age was in the single digits. Back in those days of the colorful 1980s, Ninja movies were found in great quantities at any rental store, even when nothing more than a tiny video corner in a tiny neighborhood kiosk. With all respect to the American Ninja series, Sho Kosugi was the man who shook not only my world, but that of millions worldwide. I can no longer recall when I started watching those flicks together with a friend whose parents were of the permissive kind (not necessarily a good thing), but little by little we knew which brand of martial arts we wanted to get into. Meanwhile, we started practicing kicking and the so frequently seen nunchaku (homemade…) on our own. Flying kicks and jumps off high places, including the roof of my friend’s house (don’t attempt this at home), together with a lot of somersault training in the winter also played an integral part of our spare time. This picture taken of me flying off a huge rock at about age 12 is one of my most fond memories, it brings it all back to me.

To make a throwing star laden history short, shortly thereafter Måns appeared in my class at school. At age 14, we finally found a ninjutsu instructor who was willing to have us tag along for training (ironically, my childhood ninjabuddy never got around to it). As it turned out, the real deal, Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu, was nothing like the movies. A serious martial arts consisting of nine different schools, three of which are true ninja lineages, it quickly erased all traces of my dream world ninja childhood (haven’t touched a nunchaku since). The next thing I knew, I was training several times a day, sometimes at 6am in the woods before school together with Måns, in addition to attending formal training five to six times a week. All the hard work paid off as I got my black belt in 1993, just after I turned 18. The flip side of this borderline (?) fanaticism was that both of us slowly but surely started becoming burned out and losing our appetite. Måns got his black belt and we both taught for some time, but within a couple of years we found ourselves more and more at the gym and less and less in the dojo. Soon enough, less had dwindled to nothing. My interest for Asia remained strong however, and I started majoring in sinology (Chinese language and culture) at the University of Helsinki.

Taking a right off memory lane now, we are back at Metal Gym in November 2005. I felt like a white belt all over again as I drove my punches and kicks into the bag. The body dynamic I acquired during my martial arts days will probably accompany me all the way to the grave, but I felt a bit rusty, not the least in the flexibility arena - imagine that I used to be able to do front and side splits… cold. The movement pattern of Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu also doesn’t lend itself very well to a heavy bag with its odd strikes and kicks designed to hit specific targets of the human body that seldomly resemble a heavy bag. Bujinkan dakentaijutsu (striking and kicking) relies heavily on transfering the bodyweight into the target which in turn has more to do with the kness than the hips. Even on kicks, the bodyweight will be down on the supporting leg and the foot will remain put during the whole kick. Taijutsu kicks are generally close-range affairs of a stomping nature that will seldomly fully extend the knee and will often land with the heel. This is more akin to Wing Chun kicks than the long-range snap kicks of karate and taekwondo that leverage primarily hip torque to generate force which, especially on roundhouse and side kicks, allows the supporting leg to move against the ground. Ironic or not, I focused mostly on precisely the latter kind of kicks because they force the back to twist around and generally be more active. Wonder when I last attempted spinning back kicks…? In the same spirit, my punches were boxing like because the front foot or back foot pivots to allow maximal force to be generated from the hip. Probably time to dig out the old 80s Panther Productions tapes by legends Bill “Superfoot” Wallace and Benny “The Jet” Urquidez for some more ideas on how to get the back to twist along nicely. Rest assured that the bag will continue to receive its share of stomp kicks and finger knuckle strikes too though. Will also not use gloves. Never forget your roots, even for the sake of “rehabilitation”.

Wrapped up with some light flexion-free accessory work. The back pain is too acute for me to squat just yet. Will give it a rest and start squatting at the first opportunity. Cowabunga!

Monday, 21 November 2005: Squat

Man down. Did Manta Ray squats again, but had to call it quits at 70 kg/155 lbs. Small cramp again.

Wednesday, 23 November 2005: Max effort bench

There something fishy about the incline. The second time around, I easily, very easily, put up the current 80 kg/177 lbs PR, but then found 85 kg/188 lbs barely get off the chest. Hopefully all the heavy incline shelling on the accessory day will take care of that. This was the first max effort session on the new raw bench routine. Went very light on the speed bench to get a flying start and found the 31 kg/69 lbs bells very doable for 5x5 on the dumbell bench. A good start, save for the incline hazard.

…or a 5x5 / WSB hybrid with an old-school mentality. Call it what you will, here is my new bench program. This pulls together much of the things I hold dear. The full details are posted in the routines section. Almost forgot I had a routines section.

Max Effort Day

Accessory Day