This week

I've been lifting but not posting. Oops.

Sunday - 1/03/10

Ice skating @ Boston Common : ~1.5 hours

Easy. I didn't fall once, and seemed to get my grove going eventually, despite crappy rental skates that were making my right foot cramp painfully. Called it early due to that, but fun.

Monday - 1/04/10

Board Presses:

6?x45, 2x5x65, 4?x85, 4x95

4x115, 4x135, 2x3x155, 2x2x155

So, it looks like my lockout is not my limiting factor in bench. :P

While my pre-season fitness hasn't been the most hardcore, my bench is getting awesome!

Military press:

45x8, 65x8x3

Practice makes perfect.

Cable rows:

60x8, 80x8, 100x6x4?

Tuesday: 1/05/10

Wrestling practice: 2 hours

OH GOD. After about an hour of instruction from Elena, we drilled for a while then just wrestled, in 3 10-minute bouts, with a water break in between. I eventually got to the point where I could actually give the fight to her for a bit, before she pinned me. Then another 5-10 minutes of intense repetition drilling, in which I got to practice just standing tackles for a bit. Exhausting in the good way, but not going to be another sport for me. Might hit the harvard practices on sundays (more instructional) if I want to continue, the 5-7 schedule @MIT conflicts with my normal work hours.

Good mornings:

45x10, 65x8x3

Front squat:

45x8, 95x5x3

Some quad assistance. Light, as I was suffering after practice.

Back hyperextension:

3x10xbw+25

I love these.

Thursday - 1/07/10

Interval running: 35mins

Good. Was doing ~4min fast intervals for a while before I actually start following the treadmill program.

V-ups, bicycle crunches +10lbs

TPS tonight? I need to skwat.

Brian - Chest Triples

Went to wrestling practice on Wednesday. Started practice @ body weight 166.5, finished 2 hours later at 162.1. Went home and felt really sore, beat down, and dehydrated. It's hard to get back into intense practices mid-season after being out of it for so many years.

My tiredness carried into yesterday. I was considering taking the day off of lifting but decided to suck it up and just do whatever I could. Looking back on it, I had an ok day.

Bench w/ pause;
Warmup - 45x5, 95x5, 135x3, 135x3
Working - 160x3 @7, 185x3 @8, 205x3 @10 (PR replicate), 195x3 @9

Closegrip w/ black pad w/ pause;
Working - 185x3 @7, 225x3 @8.5, 245xfail, 225x3 @9

Military press;
Warmup - 45x10
Working - 95x8 @9, 95x8 @9, 95x8 @9, 95x5 @10

Last set I changed my form and wasted a lot of time hanging out w/ the bar on my chest. Killed any chance I had at getting 8 reps.

After practice on Wed the coach told me he really wanted me to go out for the team and compete at 157... starting this weekend with a few dual meets in Maine. I told him I didn't have any interest in dropping weight again... did it for so many years and I'm done with it. I could wrestle off @165 but they're mid season and I'm way out of shape compared to the kids on the team - it would take a few weeks or months to get back into competition shape. I decided I'm not going to go out and compete this year given where they are in the season and the fact that I can't devote that much time while studying for quals. But, I'll still workout with them on random off-lifting days. The plan is to join up next fall and compete the whole season.

Assuming I pass my quals in 2 weeks, I'll be here for a few more years w/ 4 years of wrestling eligibility. Could be fun to make a run @ it again. Who knows, maybe I could even get good and make it a goal to become an NCWA all-american.

I'm doing the AAU lifting meet in Feb. I won't be very competitive for my weight-class (165) but by then hitting 240 bench, 300+ squat, and 400+ deadlift seem like really good but still attainable goals. Will be awesome to compete with the MIT crew in a meet. I think everyone should do it.

That's all for now.

Brian - Max Squat Triples (1/05)

Hey all! I haven't posted in a little while due to the craziness of end-of-semester + some holiday volunteering that took up 12 hours of every day + being away from my computer during vacation for 2 weeks.

But that doesn't mean I haven't been lifting! I worked volume with PBJ+Kik before leaving and at home I lifted with the wrestling team. I tried to keep things on schedule w/ our volume training but I also ended up doing some of their stuff (olympic lifts, 5x5 workouts, and tons of awful awful awful cardio intensity workouts).

Yesterday was the first day back to normal schedule. Max effort triples.

Squats;
Warmup - 45x5, 135x5, 135x5
Working - 185x3 @6, 225x3 @7.5, 245x3 @8.5, 260x1, 260x3 @10 (3 rep PR)

First set at 260 failed pretty hard on rep 2. I think I'm not completely used to grinding out multiple heavy squats yet, but I'm getting better. On the second set I convinced myself that it was light enough to get it and the first 2 reps were solid. #3 was a bit ugly but I gutted it out. Felt nice to do multiple reps on the edge. Was a big mental step for me.

Rack Pulls, first peg;
Warmup - 135x5, 225x5
Working - 315x3 @6, 405x3 @7, 455x3 @8, 500x2 @10

Back fatigue on rep 3 of 500. I've never done rack pulls over 405 so getting something with a 5 in front of it was nice.

Pause Squats (3 count pause);
Working - 135x6, 165x6, 185x6

The 185 set was so satisfying. This was my best leg day maybe in forever. I think the 1 week break prior to starting back up really helped.

Today I'm going to the MIT wrestling club workouts for the first time. I'm a little worried about going at it with a really really tired lower back, but oh well. I might start working out with them Monday, Wednesday, and Friday if I like their practices. This will help me get ready for tournament season in march and it's great for endurance strength, power, and cardio.

Brian - Waste of Time

In between Intensity and Volume cycles. Yesterday was supposed to be a cardio day but I decided to do random waste of time exercises instead. I tried to keep the weight very light as well.

Military press: 45x10, 95x5, 115x5, 115x5
Lat pulldowns: 110x10, 110x15, 110x15
Seated lawnmowers w/pause: 90x10, 90x10, 90x10
Power cleans: 50kg x5, 70kg x 3, 70kg x3
Tricep extensions w/ rope: 50x10, 50x10, 50x10
Curls w/ straight bar: 60x10, 70x10
Curls w/ dumbell standing: 30x10 (each arm), 30x10
Reverse flies: 10x20, 10x20
Dips: bodyweight x 10

Starting volume on Tuesday, then off to Pennsylvania for the rest of the week. I'll be resuming my position as assistant-coach-that's-never-around-because-he's-always-at-school for the wrestling team.

I will be lifting with them for the week. They basically do lots of low/medium weight, high rep, horsing weight around with tons of cardio and ass-kicking in between. Hopefully I come back injury free with lots of stories about reliving the glory days.