New Site

I've removed pretty much everyone (except for one person who I couldn't delete for some reason) as authors from this blog because the new site is (I think) ready to go.  You can access it here.  Use it if you want to continue being able to share workouts and progress with other strength athletes at MIT.

I guess if you want to continue MIT Strength you could just create a new blog at MIT Strength Jr. or MIT Powerlifting or something, but that would be lame.

I Dream of Steel
(Yes, the name is a bit bombastic, but I couldn't think of a better one.)

I'd disable comments on Blogger if I knew how to do that without hiding all comments, so I'll leave them up for now, but any comments about the new site should be posted there.

Vincent: 5/18 - 5/20

5/18:

BW: 185

Press: 

125 x 6 (accidentally loaded 5lb too much)

120 x 5 x 6

Face Pull:

55 x 5, 10, 3x12, 10, 3x12

Chins: 

225 (+40) x 3 x 5

Back Ext:

4x15

Curls:

45x8

70x3 (wrist pain)

5/20:

BW: 187.5

Chins:

277.5 (+90) x 5 @ 8.5

302.5 (+115) x 2 x 2 @ 9.5 each

Press:

125 x 7 x 5

Face Pulls:

70 x 2x5, 8x8

Back Ext:

4x15

Split Squat:

90 x 5 x 5

Comments:

Last week's heavy chins were heavy so I decided to stay at the same total weight this time. But it was too easy so I figured I'd do a couple sets of heavy doubles. I thought that all the focus on pressing would slow chinning progress but that was not the case. I believe I've maintained the ability to chin +135 through 10 lb of BW increase.

This week's pressing required some fairly long rest periods. For the last couple of sets for the 6x6 I needed to rest 10, then 15 minutes to ensure that I would not miss any reps. For 7x5 I managed to keep the rest periods to between 5 and 8 minutes.

I'm finding the split squats a lot harder on the grip than the legs right now. I guess my grip endurance isn't too great. Each set of 5 is really 10 reps and lasts about a minute or more by estimation.

5/20 I began the workout feeling kinda shitty and a bit nauseous but it went away about 15 minutes in during my chinning warmups, at which point I felt really good. This experience reinforces the idea that you can have good workouts even going in feeling terrible.

Frank (5/20): RTS, Volume 3, Squat

My glute is still just a tiny bit stiff, so I didn't want to push things too hard today.  Funnily enough, it was actually my adductors that were giving me the biggest problems.

After squats, I did a bunch of high rep work with the power runner and the abductor/adductor machines.

Why is it always my squat days that suck so hard?  Maybe it's just Sunday mornings.

Squat
5x45, 5x135, 5x185, 5x225, 3x275, 3x315, 1x365
2x395 @ 10-
2x395 @ 10
1x395 @ F
The first rep of the second set was my best rep.  For the others, I couldn't get any power off of the bottom, probably because I couldn't really use my glutes.  Lots of good mornings here.

JC (5/19) - Bench and Deadlift

Bench Press (kg)-
60 x 10
100 x 8
120 x 6

Paused bench (~1 second)-
130 (286 lbs) x 6
140 (308 lbs) x 4 
150 (330 lbs) x 2 
160 (352 lbs) x 1

Chest and tricep work.

Deadlift (kg)-
70 x 10
110  x 8
140 x 6
160 x 2
180 x 4
200 x 2 
210 x 1 
225 (495 lbs, PR) x 1
230 (506 lbs)- Got stuck an inch away from locking out

Back and shoulder work.

comment ca va, bitches

5/18/2012
sq: 5(45, 95, 135, 195, 245, 295b, 340b), 3(395b), 8(295)
refractory
be: 5(45, 95, 120, 145, 170, 205), 3(245), 8(175)
ro: 5(45, 95, 105, 130, 155, 180), 3(210), 8(155)
refractory
ass: guns: bbcurl: 2x8(95), 1x5(115), ropepulldowns 2x8(55) 1x8(70) 1x5(85), no energy, no dips

Frank (5/18): RTS, Volume 3, Bench

Bench
10x45, 10x95, 5x135, 5x185, 3x225, 1x255
3x285 @ 10-
3x285 @ 10
3x285 @ 9+
3x285 @ 10


Cable Row: 4x8 @ 220
Dumbbell Incline Bench: 4x8 @ 90
JM Press: 2x8 @ 95
Dumbbell Curl: 2x6 @ 50
Tricep Pushdown: 2x10 @ 80
Hercules Cable Curl: 2x10 @ 70
Yes: 2x20 @ 80
Yow, that's a lot of volume, but most of it was with fru-fru exercises, so it doesn't count.

Vincent (5/13 - 5/16)

5/13

BW: 185 (actually 183)

Chins: 277.5 (+92.5) x 5

Press: 115: 7x5

Face Pulls: 55: 8x8

Back Extension: 3x8

Split-Squat: 60, 5x5

Curls: 70: 10, 9, 8

5/15

BW: 187.5

Chins: 252.5 (+65), 5x5

Press: 125: 8x4

Face Pulls: 55: 6x10, 20

Back Extension: 3x10

5/16

Press: 130: 10x3

Face Pulls: 55: 10x12

Back Extension: 2x13

Split Squat: 80: 5x5

Curls: 70: 3x10

Comment:

The back pain+inflammation has subsided significantly. The pain is now fairly localized to my right SI joint. Hamstring flexibility is also coming back. There is not much pain in my daily life, just occasional stiffness, but I still can't get into certain positions painlessly.

I tried on 5/15 some really light deadlifting (95 lb) but I get pain in the start position, again right at the SI joint.

Today (5/16) I did a few bodyweight and light (20 lb) goblet squats. Those were almost pain-free, but the joint does twinge a bit at the bottom. I think in a couple of weeks I should be pretty much 100% to squat.

Smolov jr applied to pressing is going roughly as it did as when I did it for chins and bench. The first day was harder than I expected and each subsequent day got easier. Next week calls for +10 lb to each of these sets.

The face pulls are supersetted with the sets of pressing. Apparently this is good for the shoulders. Although I'm not trying to increase these in particular, they are getting much stronger than they were so I guess this will probably balance my shoulders or something. I'll hit sets of 15 or so then go up in weight.

Chins I will most likely keep at the same weight the next two weeks; the emphasis those weeks will be on pressing. I like the high volume. My shoulders right now feel pretty good and are handling the volume well.

I've been restricting the curl progress to about 5 lb per month at most in order to avoid tendonitis. This seems to have been working well. Long term I wanna curl a plate!

I think the split squats are good for patching up a weak point meaning my legs. Strangely I find these harder than the overestimated equivalent for back squats: 80lb split squats are harder for me than a 160 lb back squat. I also found these surprisingly hard on the grip.

Also eating a lot of meat, around 1-2 lb a day. Introduced a lot of veggies because I got a lot of them frozen at costco. I never really ate them much before because they are annoying to buy often if not frozen.

I recently had the idea for high-rep squatting milestones/challenges: 20 reps at some number of plates. So I might set 225x20 as a short term goal and 315x20 as a long term one.

Frank (5/16): RTS, Volume 2, Deadlift

Deadlift
5x135, 5x225, 5x315, 3x365, 3x405, 1x455, 1x495
2x545 @ 9
2x545 @ 9+
2x545 @ 9+
2x545 @ 10
2x545 @ 10
Paul said that this looked close to my max.  This made me sad.  My back was pretty round on the last two sets.

On one of the warmup sets (405, I think), I felt something cramp up in my right glute, so I basically did every subsequent set with one buttock.  I don't think it's a major injury as it's not painful, just a little sore and tight.  I did feel it when unracking the squats, though, so I passed on the work sets for those.  I'm going to go home and sit on an ice pack and hope it goes away in time for Sunday's squats.

Squat: 5x45, 5x135, 5x185, 5x225
Yes: 3x20 @ 80
This made my butt feel good.
No: 3x10 @ 150
Ab Rollout: 3x6

update

I have been doing Sheiko 29 for 3 weeks so far.  It has actually taken me more like 3 weeks and and a few days to get through those first 9 workouts.  I've been kinda busy with work, life, and also fishing and softball now that the weather is nice.  I'm enjoying the Sheiko program and it's not beating me up to much.  The right side of my lower back/butt has been bugging me for a few years now, and this program isn't bothering it too much.  Also, I'm pretty sure that all of the reps are helping my technique.  I'll finish the #29 cycle, take 7-10 days doing olympic lifting and then do the #29 program again.  I think I'll change the 1RM values used in the calculations as follows for the next cycle.

BP: 245>249
SQ: 305>310
DL: 365>375

Maybe I'll do one of the higher volume programs in the future, but I think I'll keep doing #29 until the volume seems easy.

JC (5/14) - Squat

I felt pretty unfocused coming in, and I think it reflected in my lifts. I just  want this semester to be over, MIT can be so goddamn stressful.

Squat- 

70 kg x 10 

120 kg x 6 

150 kg x 4 

170 kg (375 lbs) x 4 

180 kg (396 lbs) x 2 

190 kg (~420 lbs) x 2 

I failed on the 3rd rep 

190 kg (~420 lbs) x 3

200 kg (440 lbs) x 1 

Failed about halfway through on my second rep. 

170 kg (375lbs) x 4

Half squats- 

120 kg - 4x8 

YES - 3x10 

NO- 3x10 

Biceps 

Abs

The goal was to hit 420 for 4x4, but that clearly did not happen today. I don't think the strength is missing, just the mental focus. Also, my fucking belt is really painful to use. It digs into my hips to the point that it distracts me mid-lift. 

I got an offer to work at the Cambridge office of Microsoft, so I look forward to training over the summer with you peeps.

Frank (5/14): RTS, Volume 2, Lockout

I went to gymnastics from 7-9 then finished with some abbreviated lockout work.  Gymnastics isn't actually too hard on my muscles, but it really beats up on my joints.  Still, while it's fun, and I think I'm going to keep doing it (unless it starts to negatively affect my lifts), the squat rack is home.

I also tried to do some muscle-ups on the rings and failed miserably.  I think this is mostly because (1) I don't really know the proper technique and (2) I'm terrible at stabilizing the rings.  I don't think it's because I'm too weak, but since I am a powerlifter, I am a bit bottom-heavy, so that might be part of it.

Press
5x45, 5x95, 3x135, 1x165
2x190 @ 9
2x190 @ 9
2x190 @ 9+
2x190 @ 9+
2x190 @ 10-
2x190 @ 10

Close Grip Bench: 8, 8, 7 @ 230
Tricep Pushdown: 10x70, 10x80, 1x90

lame tits

kinda a disappointing day:(

squats: 135x5, 190x5, 245x5, 295x5, 340x5, 390x3 failed 4th
supposed to be a fiver today, but 390 for 3 albeit as low or lower than last fridays were terribly fought with a hideous lack of energy. last week i could have gone for 5, this time 3 was too much. so it's easy: eating a bag of chips and a couple hot pockets yesterday and going on an empty stomach today wont get it done, not dropping or deloading just yet, just have to get a few solid meals and see how 395 for 3 feels on friday. sleeping has been good, now it's a food issue lol. 

stared at the 390 on the floor for 10 minutes sad as fuck then flew through the rest of my workout cause i wasn't gonna let it stop me, although i was tempted.

bench: 135x5, 175x5, 210x5, 240x5 solid pissed off reps, it's all good

rows: 135x5, 165x5, 180x5, 205x5 solid pissed off reps, same shit

too tired to do any fucking dragonflags or hypers. time to eat and take a nice hot shower.

oh yeah side shit: so i would normally put on belt for 250+ but didn't for 295 and it just felt hard as tits, i mean again it could just be utter lack of energy, but 340 belted felt easier. tells me core is a problem, but something i'm working on. i feel it's much more than holding your breath, i need that shit tieeet. anyway, see yah foos. hope you got yo reps

Frank (5/13): RTS, Volume 2, Squat

Squat
5x45, 5x135, 5x185, 5x225, 3x275, 3x315, 1x365
2x385 @ 10-
2x385 @ 10
2x385 @ 9+
2x385 @ 9+
2x385 @ 9
These actually felt better the more I did.  

Power Runner: 2x8 @ 360, 2x8 @ 410
GHR: 4x10

JC (5/12) - Past week

Squat-
400x2
420x2
440x1
463x1
475x1 FAIL

Bench Press-
286x2
330x1
330x1
330x1

Deadlift-
Built up to 400 without belt.
430x4
430x4
430x4
430x4

Vincent 5/11

5/11

BW: ???

Press: 110, 6x6

Face Pulls: 55, 4x6 then 2x12

Chins: (+42.5), 3x5

Back Extension: BW x 5, 5, 8, 10, 10

Curls: 65, 3x10

70 x 6

Lots of hamstring stretching.

Comment:

Pressing was a bit harder than I thought it would be but not too bad. Did some bodyweight back extensions to test the waters and to get some blood flowing there as well as to get that area used to a bigger ROM. Hamstring stretching is also quite therapeutic. The strain took a foot off of my usual toe touch flexibility. Im doing other rehab stuff throughout the day also.

Next time for rehab will probably be empty bar conventional deadlifts. Maybe 75-95 lb if that feels good. I found last time that deadlifting was very helpful, strangely enough.

Even stranger is... the remnants of my old injury are gone. Maybe it took a reinjury to stimulate some healing or something... maybe chip off some scar tissue. Not that I'd recommend doing that on purpose. I might come out better than I started.

Looking to hit "strong" for chins (+100 x 10)  in maybe a year by the standard here: http://www.lift-run-bang.com/p/what-constitutes-strong.html. I think I can hit four right now, six if I were to drop about 10lb of bodyweight.

The other standards are kinda insane.

Frank (5/11): RTS, Volume 2, Bench

Bench
10x45, 10x95, 5x135, 5x185, 3x225, 1x255
2x285 @ 9
2x285 @ 9
2x285 @ 9+
2x285 @ 9+
2x285 @ 10-
2x285 @ 10-

Cable Row: 4x8 @ 220
Dumbbell Incline Bench: 4x8 @ 90
Dumbbell Curl: 2x7 @ 50
Hercules Cable Curl: 2x10 @ 70
Sprints: 8x55m

Gulps of fre$h Ass

Sup, crew. I believe I have a piece of cotton stuck deep somewhere in my auditory caverns. But that's neither here nor anywhere. I'll try to keep this shit short, but it seems every time I try, I end up writing a sequel to war and paz. So i work out:

on wednesday the fuck whatever day it was, just this past wednesday: light squats 135X5, 190X5, 240X5, 285X5, 285X5. just keeping it sexy. same narrow stance, nice depth. moving on.

press: 105X5, 125X5, 155X5, 165X5. So I was supposed to do 145 as my 155 but I fucked up the weights. Relatively easy either way. Getting back into this, one of my favor-tits

deadlifts: the big boy of the day. 135X5, 225X5, 265X5, 315X5 all those with double overhand grip trynna train that somehow. 370X5 belts, alternate grips felt hard as balls, but got it. I was like trynna mess with my form a bit, since i sometimes let me knees lock out way too early ahead of my hips. So in that regard, i accomplished making those lockouts close to one another. Feel i get my legs into it more and not solely rely on my thick back columns. 410X5. These were tremendously hard lemon tits. I had to do each one individually, which is kinda legit, but yeah about 20 seconds between 3 and 4 and 30 before the 5th haha. Although last one was lighter than 3 or 4. They were nice, white lights, no complaints. Maybe switch up the order later on in the program, but i havent really missed shit so i wont fuck wit it.

ABs, hardcore. Trying this new dragonflag shit i was reading about. trying to find out ab shit i can do without crunching. shit felt legit, will continue to do them or at least try.

Today fridays:

squats: 45X8, 95X5, 135X5, 190X5, 240X5, 285X5, 335X5, 390X3, 285X8, dem too much fucking squats.
I had no respect for anything outside of 390, paused 335 everytime, just sat down and thought about life and all the hot pieces of ass i'll get when they adjoin dick presses to the big three and i win all the medals. shit was too funny. i like when squats are funny. narrow stance low as can go, nuts embracing the floor. 390 was sweet too. almost lost my balance on the second one, but my fat ass was having none of it. fuck shit i can't seem to record a video right side up vertical. regardless I recorded this dumbside backwards, but it's for you to critique my form either way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BQf4KwUzUE&feature=g-upl

i almost fell asleep doing 285 for 8, too many reps bro.

i was seriously high off of a mix of creatine and nitrous shit and bronchial shit for those squats and crashed hard right after. so i slept through the rest of this shit but the program's been nice to me so i had to do it.

Bench: 45X5, 95X5, 115X5, 145X5, 175X5, 200X5, 235X3. all pretty easy. surprisingly
oh yeah 175X8 to finish it off

Row: 45X5, 100X5, 125X5, 150X5, 175X5, 205X3. solid titght back. loving these rows. 150X8

DIpss: 3 sets 0f 8. felt nice and no elbow pain, great shit.
pull rope down tricep shit @80 3 sets of 8
dumbs curls; 50 3 sets of 8. I was done!!! fuck i'm falling asleep just writing this crap. crashing hard my nigs. keep it tight,see yahs.

Frank (5/9): RTS, Volume 1, Deadlift

Deadlift
5x135, 5x225, 5x315, 3x365, 3x405, 1x455
4x505 @ 9
4x505 @ 9
4x505 @ 9+
4x505 @ 9+
4x505 @ 10-

Squat
5x45, 5x135, 5x185, 5x225, 3x275
5x315 @ 9+
5x315 @ 9+
5x315 @ 9+
I was supposed to do sets of 8 here, but I was pretty gassed after deadlifts.

Yes: 3x10 @ 130
No: 3x10 @ 150
Ab Rollout: 3x6

Cure for the Itch; Vincent (5/4 - 5/9)

5/4:

BW: 185

Handstands: 2,4,4,3,4

Deadlift (with warmups included):

135 x 5

225 x 3

315 x 2

360 x 2

385 x 1

415 x 1 (4 intended) (back popped)

5/9:

BW: 185 (really 183.5)

Press:

155 x 1

160 x F, F

135 x 4, 4

Chins:

250 (+65) x 5 x 5 @ 9

Split Squat (rear leg elevated, both legs each time)

BW x 5

20 x 3, 5

35 x 4, 5

50 x 6, 6, 9 @ 8

Face Pulls: 55, 7x12

Comments:

Long but I am really writing this down for myself.

Well shit my lower back popped. Surprising to me because it happened on the second rep with a weight far below my 2RM (I wanted to get 5 here). My back felt fairly straight during the rep too which actually worries me for future lifting risk. However, there were minor signs that this would happen; my lighter worksets (360 x 2, 385 x 1) felt harder than they should have, and on the single my lower back felt like I had a very very small pull (it felt kinda tight). However, I hadn't done lower body lifting for a week or so before this so I mistakenly thought that I should be good for the last set.

A similar thing happened last winter and set me back something like four months or so so it's pretty bad news. This time it was pretty painful the subsequent 48 hours or so but the pain has subsided somewhat now. It'll probably be a month or so before I feel okay with doing exercises which are heavy on the lower back, that is, back squats and (conventional) deadlifts. I might, in the future, switch to sumo since it seems like it would be less risky. The conventional setup never quite felt right to me, I believe due to short arms relative to torso length.

Medical told me I had a back strain (not a herniation which relieved me).

That day I decided to take at least 7 days off. In fact, for the next 48 hours post injury I was pretty demotivated (questions like: whats the point of lifting? What does it matter what numbers I have?). But today the itch came back: I will not throw away my progress thus far. I will not let obstacles block my path. I WILL be awesome.

The itch is a double edged sword. Because of it I haven't been able to, despite planning it counteless times, spend more than a week off of strength training since I started. But it gets me hurt if I don't control it.

On a less rambly note:

1RM tested my press for calculating a smolov jr routine. It is a lot less than I expected considering that I hit a 5RM of 150, but the 5RM used a liberal amount of stretch reflex. The press is a bastard of a lift.

Since it would be incredibly shortsighted to attempt squat/deadlifts right now, I am using split squats (rear leg elevated) as a lower body exercise. These were done holding a dumbell goblet style. It took a few sets to get used to the balance but they really let me focus on pushing with my legs, more so than a back squat. This seems to be the advantage with unilateral movements. I found a similar effect while training for the one arm chin.

My other injuries seemed to have subsided. In particular some remnants of the first back pop have disappeared shortly after the new one for some reason. Shoulder feels pretty healthy. Left knee is also a lot better. The few days of no training were good for the nagging stuff.

Squat, Press

Warm up cardio, incline crunches 3x15x25
Squats: 45x8, 95x5, 135x5, 175x3, 200x2
220x5
220x4
220x5
These weren't what I wanted. Started off well each set, but form went to hell on the last rep or two - leaning forward and my lower back crapping out. Didn't do a good enough job keeping my chest up. Will try this wight again on Friday or Saturday. I'm also debating trying a set or two w/o shoes. Watch this space.

Press: 45x8, 65x4, 85x3, 100x3
105x5
105x4
105x4
Not terrible. Was gassed after the squats, and was happy to get one set of 5. The 4 on the next one was disappointing, but the last one sort of made up for this.

I'm going to be pretty busy for the next two weeks with a final, a project, and significant research obligations. I expect to make it into the gym on my regular schedule, but one or two visits may have to be put off if 'shit gets real'. The good thing is come noon on May 21st, I will have 4 full months to focus on lifting alone, and can devote some more time to things I have been neglecting (learning power cleans, working on some assistance exercises, doing cardio, etc.)