Frank (8/16): 70% Day (meet -1 week)

Back Squat: 6@135, 185, 225, 255
Bench Press: 6@135, 185, 205
Deadlift: 6@135, 225, 315, 345
Ab Pulldowns: 3x15@190

Just a light day to prep for the meet. Everything felt pretty good except some of the lighter squats, where I almost fell on my butt. My back feels OK. At the very least, I'll be able to break a four-digit total come Saturday.

Frank (8/13): Ultra-Light Lower (meet -2 weeks)

Box Squat (Speed): 8x2@185
Front Squat: 2x8@185
Deep Low Bar Squat: 2x8@225
Barbell Rollouts: 3x5
CoC #1: 3x7

Rehab Stuff:
Round-Back SLDLs: 3x15@50kg
Back Extensions: 3x15
Foam Rolling
Stretching

I think I'm good and healed up, but I avoided cleans or any pulling motions today just to be conservative. Of all things, the left side of my lower back, which is the side that usually bothers me, was bothering me again today. My right side, the one I pulled on Sunday, felt fine.

I rested a bit between some of the reps on the gripper, so it may not count as a legitimate 7. That probably explains why I can't close the #2 yet too.

I'm out of town Saturday but will be back Sunday with a light workout with the three big lifts (~60% or so) in preparation for the meet on 8/22.

Frank (8/11): Light Upper (meet -2 weeks)

Speed Bench: 8x3@145
Close-Grip Bench: 8, 8, 7 @ 225
Pullup: 4x8@60
Military Press: 8, 7, 6 @ 155
Barbell Curl: 7, 6 @ 95

Rehab Work:
Round-Back SLDLs: 3x15@95
Foam Rolling
Stretching

I actually felt pretty good! I think that whatever I did Sunday was very minor, though all of the ibuprofen and icing over the last two days probably helped. I felt some minor kinks in my lower back at the start of the workout, but after warming up, and especially after the rehab stuff, I actually feel 100%. I'm not actually going to try to lift anything heavy, of course, but at least I feel fine.

I even had an above-average workout. Fancy that. Some of the pullups were a little iffy at the top, but my chin did clear, so I counted them anyway.

And my curls suck. My biceps are weak and piddly little things. It could also be that they are tired from the pullups, but I definitely need more focus on my biceps. Biceps biceps biceps.

Frank (8/9): Heavy Lower DISASTER (meet -2 weeks)

Back Squat: 5@135, 3@185, 225, 1@275, 315, 345, (1, F)@345, 5@315, 2@315
Deadlift: 5@135, 3@225, 315, 1@365, 405, 455, F@475(!)

Squats were terrible. I wanted to double or triple my opener (345), but I didn't feel confident enough in the first set. For the second set at 345, I asked Gordon to count down (2, 1, up) as I approached parallel, but this made me start slowing down in the hole, where I'm the weakest, and I couldn't get the second rep. To make up for this I decided to do a few more reps at 315, but I lost pressure on the last rep of the 5-rep set and didn't feel good enough to do more than 2 on the second set.

I also managed to injure myself on the deadlifts. My back was already feeling a little tight from the squats, probably because I lost pressure on the 315s, which must have taxed my lower back muscles. The lighter weights felt fine. As I tried to pull the 475, I felt a sharp pain on the right side of my lower back, which convinced me to drop the bar and lie down for a bit. That was the end of that workout...

I'm at home icing it right now. I will probably continue on/off icing for the rest of the day and will take some ibuprofen as well. Hopefully this isn't a serious injury and I'll still be able to compete in two weeks. If it's just a minor strain, two weeks should be plenty of time to recover. If not, I suppose I can always just bench.

Frank (8/8): Heavy Upper (meet -2 weeks)

Bench Press: 5@135, 3@185, 1@225, 245, 3@275
Dumbbell Bench: 8, 8, 6 @ 110
Cable Row: 4x12@180
Face Pulls: 2x15@80
Rear Delt Flies: 2x12@90

Felt strong today and set a rep-PR on the bench. I think I'll feel comfortable opening at 275 come meet time.

I also sent in my entry form for the August 22 meet, so I'm committed now.

Frank (8/6): Light Lower (meet -3 weeks)

Semi-Speedy Box Squats: 8x2@205
Power Cleans: 2@70, 80, 90, 6@100
Front Squats: 2x8@225
Deep Squats: 2x5@275
Ab Pulldowns: 3x15@190
Woodchoppers: 3x15@60
CoC #1: 3x7

All lifts felt pretty good today. I just sent Gene Rychlak and email about late registration, and hopefully he'll still let me compete.

Frank (August 4): Light Upper (meet -3 weeks)

Speed Bench: 8x3@145
Close-Grip Bench: 7, 7, 5 @ 225
Pullup: 8, 8, 7, 7 @ 60
Military Press: 7, 7, 5 @ 155
Barbell Curl: 4@105, 6@95

Weighed in at 171 right before the workout today, which is at least 4 pounds less than I was a few months ago and a few pounds less than normal as of even a few weeks ago. Arg. I'm pretty sure I'm eating enough since my diet hasn't changed at all in the last few months. The loss of weight probably explains some of the sub-par lifting I did today as well.

I was surprised at how weak I was at barbell curls. I was also getting forearm splints during the middle of the set, which reminds me why I moved to EZ-bar curls many years ago. This was alleviated somewhat by making my grip a little narrower.

Frank (August 2): Heavy Lower (95% week)

Box Squat (slightly below parallel...5 steps + 25kg plate): 5@135, 3@185, 1@225, 275, 315, 335, F@365 (arg), 3@315, 2@315
Deadlift: 5@135, 3@225, 315, 1@365, 405, 455, 2@470
Pistols: 3x8
Barbell Rollouts: 5, 5, 4
Captains of Crush: 7, 7, 4 @ #1

I think I was a little too aggressive in pushing the box squats. I should have done at least two reps at 365 with free squats, but I've been using box squats for the past few weeks to practice using my posterior chain when squatting. At least I got in one heavy rep at 335, which is roughly 90% of my current true max (365).

Deadlifts were OK. My back rounded a bit on the first heavy rep and quite a bit on the second one. I also have to learn to shut up when I lift.

Next week is supposed to be deload week, but I think I'm going to skip that and go right into the 5-rep (85%) week instead because the meet is going to be in three weeks. That will leave me a 85% week, 90% week, a few rest days, and then the meet.

In other news, I'm about 1/8" away from closing the CoC#2...whoo. It's not important for anything, but maybe I can get my name on that list on the wall... I can also learn from Danny and start crushing the hands of annoying people.

Frank (August 1): Heavy Upper (95% week)

Bench Press: 5@135, 3@185, 1@225, 245, 2@275
Dumbbell Bench: 8, 7, 6 @ 110
Cable Row: 4x12@180
Face Pull: 2x15@80
Rear Delt Fly: 2x12@90

Nothing much to report. I actually felt decently strong today. I hope this is true for tomorrow's workout as well.

Frank: Light Lower Body Work (1-rep week)

Box Squat: 8x2@205
Power Clean (in kg): 2@70, 80, 90
Squat Clean: 1@100
Power Clean: 3@100
Squat clean: 1@100
Front Squat: 2x8@225
Deep Low-Bar Squat: 2x8@265

I think I'm getting the hang of the box squats. I'm definitely feeling it more in my glutes and hamstrings. Hopefully, this will carry over to my free squat.

The first clean at 100 should have been a power clean, but I must not have been focusing and didn't pull it high enough. For the last clean, I guess I just ran out of gas. My cleans are not what they should be, but I guess I'm not really focusing on them anyway. I'm considering dropping them altogether when I move to a new program.

Deep (hamstrings to calves) low-bar squats were fine, but I rested a bit between reps toward the end of each set.

Frank: Light Upper Body Work (1-rep week)

I went to the gym on a Wednesday this week (July 29), which is unusual, but that was because I skipped my weekend workouts and ended up doing my heavy lifts yesterday.

Notation is Sets x Reps @ Weight or Reps, Reps, etc. @ Weight. Weight is in pounds unless otherwise noted.

Speed Bench: 8x3@145
Close-Grip Bench: 8, 6, 4 @ 225
Pullups: 8, 8, 8, 4 @ 60
Military Press: 8, 5, 5 @ 155
EZ Bar Preacher Curl: 8, 5 @ 85

Overall workout was OK. My workouts have all been OK recently, which is bad, because I'd rather they be good. It's probably some combination of lack of sleep and not enough to eat. I think I also need to change up my routine since I'm stalling on 531 -- I probably started with weights that were a little too ambitious. I'll keep doing what I'm doing until the meet, then I'll see what to change afterward.

That reminds me that I need to buy a singlet. In fact, I'm going to do that right now.