My Mom called and asked me to go grocery shopping just when I was about to squat 500 lb.
I said sure! Finished my set @500 and went shopping.
Came back almost an hour later, did some hip circles to get myself warmed up again, jumped right into a 550 lb reverse band squat and then proceeded to complete my workout.
500 lb: 1
Low Bar Squat - Reverse Bands
550 lb: 1
Black bands. About 80 lb of assistance at the bottom, so the weight throughout the entire range of motion is roughly 470-550 lb.
Low Bar Squat
412.5 lb: 3,3,3
+2.5 lb from last week.
High Bar Squat
412.5 lb: 3,3,3
+2.5 lb from last week.
Low Bar Squat
372.5 lb: 5
+2.5 lb from last week.
High Bar Squat
372.5 lb: 5
+2.5 lb from last week.
Left knee feels weird, so decided to cut it off at 5. Normally 8 or so.
Face Pulls
70 lb: 12
90 lb: 10
Reverse Grip Bench Press
Paused until work sets.
45 lb: 10
140 lb: 5
230 lb: 3
320 lb: 1
370 lb: 1
Reverse Band Reverse Grip Bench Press
410 lb: 1
Black bands
About 55 lb of resistance (assistance?) at the bottom. So the the weight ranges from ~360 lb at the bottom to 410 lb at the top.
Reverse Grip Bench Press
315 lb: 5,5,3
+2.5 lb from last week.
3 sets instead of 5.
Thought I would get all 5 reps for the last set, then during the 4th rep my back (left side, low back) cramped up. Missed. Blah.
Feeling hard. Might switch to sets of 3 soon, or a mix of 3s and 5s.
Started off the week with a PR on a MONDAY. I don't think I've done that before.
Heavy Bag: Right Kicks
Hitting the heavy bag is probably my favorite form of cardio/conditioning while training alone. I particularly like kicking the bag with my shins.
It's functional in a sense that kicking the bag at full power will train you to get better at kicking stuff at full power. It also allows me to practice a skill (Muay Thai round kicks in this case), pretty exhausting yet fun.
I think I'll throw in some hands later on.
Heavy Bag: Left Kicks
I think my left kicks aren't too bad. They feel faster and harder compared to my right, but that's probably because I'm stepping into the kick with my right leg instead of just throwing it from where I'm standing.
Almost like a running start before throwing the kick.
Low Bar Squat: 500 lb x 3 (3RM with Knee Wraps)
During my warm up on Friday I was thinking, "why don't I try to squat 500 lb for a set of 5...with knee wraps". So I tried. Stopped at 3 because the 2nd and 3rd rep felt tough.
Reverse Grip Bench Press: 395 lb x 1 (1RM)
Last week I didn't complete my planned bench press workout. That meant that I had a little bit of extra rest for this week. I felt fresh and didn't feel sore at all, so I decided to try for a 1RM.
Nailed it!
It felt surprisingly easy and if you watch the video, you'll see that I look confused after the rep and looked at the plates at the end. I wanted to make sure that I loaded the bar correctly. I felt confident I could bench press 400 lb right after, but I missed.
400 lb bench press...
New Bench Press Set Up
I'm experimenting with a different bench press set up.
Normally, I lay down on the bench, grip the bar, and then lift my upper body up and push myself down into an arch while hoping that my traps and upper back lands in the right area.
Well, I've been having issues slipping on the bench, and I've tried applying a variety of stuff on the bench to prevent from slipping, with the latest solution being skateboard grip tape. I still occasionally slip even with this sandpaper on the bench, so I'm thinking now that the problem (and solution) isn't about my bench at all, but how I set my body up for the bench press.
I've read and heard about getting the pressure onto the traps during the bench press in order to keep the body tight. I've also noticed from doing dragon flags, that a lot of the weight seems to be on the traps throughout the movement, on an area that I think the pressure needs to be during the bench press.
I've seen some videos of other people placing their feet on the bench first, pushing their hips up (almost looks like a dragon flag, but with the feet on the bench) and wedging their upper backs/traps into the bench before lowering their hips and putting each foot down on the floor.
I tried this setup myself, and so far, so good! I didn't notice any sort of slipping at all during the bench press, and my body feels consistently tighter during the movement.
I'm thinking that the reason why I'm not slipping on the bench (at least, not yet) with this setup is that when I'm up on my traps and holding the bar in my hands, the pressure on the bench is on a smaller surface area compared to if I had my traps, upper and mid back on the bench. This small surface area (my traps/upper back) will dig deeper into the bench compared to a larger surface area (traps + upper + middle back), better anchoring me in place and preventing me from slipping.
That's my guess.
Poor Man's Big Mac
I seriously wish I discovered this a long time ago, because I would have saved a few thousand dollars (maybe) by now.
Normally I order a Big Mac whenever I eat at McDonalds, but not too long ago I learned about the McDouble (which is the cheapest and most nutritious food in human history apparently), which is basically a double patty cheeseburger and way cheaper than a Big Mac.
I recently learned that you can actually order Big Mac sauce on the side, which comes in little packets. Even more recently, I learned that you can ask them to put the Big Mac sauce into the McDouble for you! And via some Google searching, apparently you can ask for lettuce added into the McDouble as well at an additional cost.
This past week has been relatively crappy kind of OK as far as training goes.
Monday was alright. Did all my prescribed sets for squats. I added reverse banded bench press to my "over warm up" at 410 lb before moving onto the work sets. Didn't get 5x5 on the bench press though (only 3 sets of 5).
Tuesday I did a neck workout prior to hitting up Mongolian (AKA STRONGolian) Grill. I like to train before going out to eat, so whatever I am eating becomes my post workout meal:
Couldn't hit my usual over warm up front squat at 370 lb for whatever reason on Wednesday, and on Friday my entire body was achey and tired, and I didn't complete my typical warm up sets!
I was thinking about taking the weekend off just to rest, but figured that I might be able to hit a high bar squat PR on Saturday because I didn't do my full training session the day before. Turns out I was right!
High Bar Squat: 505 lb
I tried squatting this weight last week and missed, and I got pinned on the first attempt at 505 this Saturday.
I think I didn't get it the first time because I tried to cut the rep short and didn't plow down all the way to the bottom to bounce out of the hole, or I wasn't prepared to fight during the sticking point when coming up.
In any case, the second time I made sure to bury the squat and bounce out of the bottom, and mentally prepared myself for a potentially ugly-ass grinder.
Well, I got it!
This is a +5 lb PR.
I find that high bar squats are easier than low bar squat up to around 90-95% of 1RM. After that, it feels SIGNIFICANTLY harder than low bar squats because there's a certain sticking point that's difficult to overcome when ascending out of the hole.
Ab Wheel Rollouts x 6
I always feel like I'm one of the Transformers while doing these...transforming into some sort of crappy 1 wheeled, 2 legged vehicle or something.
I've been doing these along with dragon flags and L-sit chin ups at the beginning of my workout (during "warm up") just to get it out of the way. Lately, my core has been feeling a little harder. Very nice.
