Brian - 3/29 Back at it

Been away from the gym for a few weeks now. I spent 1 week in Harlem NY as a guest teacher at a public high school (awesome experience btw)... at times I realized why Danny says I need to be 250lbs. Then Jon and I (and 24 other ppl) went on a spring break cruise to Jamaica and Grand Cayman. In the Jamaica ghetto I again realized why I need to be 250 lbs.

On the last day of the trip I ended up getting a nasty head cold. I lost my apetite and felt like shit for about 5 days. Lost 10 lbs :(

Started up lifting again yesterday. Decided to do really light stuff to get back into it.

Pause Bench (3 second pause);
45x10, 95x5, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5

Close Grip Bench (w/ white half pad);
135x5, 135x5, 155x5, 165x5, 175x5

Military Press (elbows fwd);
45x8, 65x8, 95x8

Seated rows - 110x10x3
Lat Pulldowns (w/handles) - 80x10x3
Tricep Extensions (w/silver handle) - 45x10, 55x10, 55x10
Standing pec fly - 50x10x3
Curls - 30x10x3 each arm
Pullups - BWx10x2

Brian - 2/15 Volume Bench

Shortest session ever. Didn't realize the gym closed at 9, and then got distracted by Shanker's rage.

Bench w/ 3 second pause;
Warmup - 45x10, 95x5, 95x5, 135x4, 135x4
Working - 155x4 @7, 165x4 @7, 175x4 @8, 185x4 @8, 195x4 @10

Short breaks in between top sets. Went home and did:

100 pushups
40 diamond pushups
20 pause pushups
50 crunches
other nonsense + stretching

Signed up for AAU membership and the meet this weekend. Also got my new belt, which I will be trying tonight.

Brian - 2/12 Volume Bench

Bench w/ Pause;
Warmup - 45x10, 95x5, 135x4, 160x4
Working - 185x4, 195x4 @8, 200x4 @8, 200x4 @8, 200x4 @9, 205x3 @10

Trying out a new leg position and I really like it. I can keep my heels on the ground and still stay really tight without lifting my butt up. I think I'm seeing immediate improvement from this.

Narrow Grip w/ Black Pad;
205x4 @9, 225x3 @10, 205x4 @10, 205x4 @10

Wasn't quite sure where I was on these and I overshot the weight on the 2nd set.

Military Press;
95x6, 95x6, 95x6, 95x6

Today I'm ordering a belt like Dee's and signing up for the competition. Weight is approx 167, so I'll be going 165 for the meet.

Brian - (2/6 and 2/7) Volume

---(2/6)---

Deadlift;
Warmup - 5x133, 5x133, 5x183
Working - 4x225 @7, 4x273 @8, 4x273 @8, 4x273 @8, 4x273 @8

I feel like deficit deadlifts are helping me get off the ground faster, but I'm still a little poor on my setup. I feel like each set is starting from a different position. I really wish something would click :(

Squats;
Warmup - 5x135, 5x135, 4x185
Working - 4x225 @8, 4x235 @9, 4x235 @9, 4x235 @9, 4x245 @9.5

The 245 for 4 set is a huge "volume PR" for me if you want to call it that. None of the reps were grinders, and I still think I had about one in the tank. I feel like I'm making significant squat progress.

---(2/7)---

Pause Bench (3 count);
Warmup - 45x5, 95x5, 135x4, 135x4
Working - 165x4 @8, 165x4 @8, 165x4 @8, 175x4 @8, 175x4 @8, 185x4 @9

Middle grip Bench w/ White Pad w/ Pause;
185x4 @8, 195x4 @8, 195x4 @8.5

Nathan : 9/8 & 9/9

▼ 1. 9/9/09 - Wed - BENCH

Time: 2:00. Weight: 222 (after dinner). Happy that I did not lose weight on vacation.

  First day doing a full RTS-style template. It is my first day back in the gym after going to the ER with heart palpitations, so I decided to keep things light. This will continue until next Monday, when I will wear a 24-hr heart monitor to make sure that nothing funny is happening during workouts.

  Saw general practitioner and cardiologist today (same-day referral, awesome). Diagnosis is supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). This is a non-life-threatening condition where my heart rate suddenly increases or starts acting funny, in my case during exercise. It is apparently caused by a "short-circuit" in the nerves that control the heart muscle. There are treatment options available, but since my case is fairly mild, the side effects or potential side effects of those treatments are worse than the condition itself. So unless things change, the plan is to just deal with it.

  Also, since my "attacks" last only a couple minutes at worst, drugs that break the tachycardia are useless. I was shown a couple things to try that can possibly help by inducing reflexes that drop the heart rate. To help with prevention, I will do a semi-long warm-up (for me, at least) and make sure to stay very well hydrated. Ultimately, this is the diagnosis I was hoping for and there is really no way that it isn't good news.

  It was a big relief to be back in the gym. Nothing worrying happened at any point in the workout, and it was cool to see how concerned many of the people were.

  With all of that out of the way, it was a fairly easy workout except for the stupid stuff at the end. We'll see if RTS gives me results. I didn't exactly follow recommendations for RPE in RTS because I am keeping things light for the short term.

• Warm-up bike x 10 mins

• 2-sec pause bench 45x10x3, 135x5x2, 185x5x2, 205x5x5 @ 8

This is my main raw movement. A regular-grip bench press with a 2-second pause counted out by the spotter. Will move up weight on these.

• Close-grip bench 135x5, 185x3, 225x3x6 @ 8

Raw assistance movement with full ROM. I was surprised at how easy this was, but it felt a little awkward after not doing any close-grip presses for over a year.

• Dumbell military press 50x8,8,8,7

I can't believe how terrible I am at overhead pressing after the long lay-off. 50 was supposed to be a warm-up. I was sitting up without any support from a bench and my stabilizers were firing like crazy. That still doesn't explain how terrible this was, though.

• Pull-ups BWx8,8,6,5

Also disappointing.

▼ 2. 9/8/09 - Tue - CARDIO

• Bike 30 mins

• Flexibility - soleus, gastroc, adductor on leg press, hamstrings, hip flexors, seated groin

Not stretching for a week makes me really inflexible.