All She Can

Film that premiered at Sundance about a female high school powerlifter. :D

My WS4SBv3

For those that are interested, this is my personal version of WSFSBv3, the speed and strength variation. 

This is the original article. 

The strength and speed template is intended for athletes who want/need to incorporate speed training and conditioning into their program. In my version I've added extra conditioning finishers on upper body days, as I rarely get to do a pure conditioning day.   

Deirdre 8/14: Sprint Training

Warm-up:
1x200 jog, high knees, butt kicks, karaokes, agility drills, bw squats
ground-based mobility warmup
2x5sec wideouts

Sprints:
10x10y, 1min rest each
6x~22y, 2min rest each
4x40y, 4 min rest each

Cool down:
static stretching

Time: ~1hour

Deirdre 8/12: Squat + Conditioning

I've been training but not posting. 'Will post moar.'
Fall rugby has started so there is more conditioning and less PL/heavy lifting.


Warmup:
Stairs, hip flexor stretching, hamstring stretching

A: Squat:
2x8x45
5x95
4x115
3x135
3x145@8+
3x145@8

B: Box Jumps
6x3@~32"

I got the idea to superset jumps and heavy squats from DeFranco. They don't affect my strength on the heavy sets at all, which is fantastic, but I didn't go above 75% for squats because this is new. I think I used the second highest box I've jumped - I did notice that as the sets went on my jumping accuracy decreased (I hit the height but did not land balanced on top always.)

Conditioning:
Prowler+50lbs sprint 30m
Sprint back 30m
Frog jumps 30m
1min rest
x3

I like prowler+sprint sets, I am going to do them more. I think it helps translate the power work of the prowler to the actual acceleration of the sprint, but also reminds my body that the real sprint requires a longer stride once closer to top speed. The frog jumps were ridiculous, I would make it .5/.75 of the way back and my body would just refuse/forget to frog jump anymore. They seemed to get easier with practice, but I ran out of time.

I tend to go to TPS late (8pm+) during the week. If people want to go with I usually drive from the east Cambridge area.

Deirdre: deadlifts, prowler

@TPS

Deadlifts:
135x5?, 165x5?, 185x5?, 215x4, 225x3, 245x1@8, 265x1@8+

If I had more time I would have done 270/275, but just the fact that I can randomly go into the gym without doing deads for weeks and inconsistent training and pull 265 (88%) is nice.

Prowler:
+70lbs, 25m low grip down, high grip back, ~1min rest, x6

The last two had longer rests (~1.5min) because I was starting to feel nauseous (woo!) but did not boot.

Total time: 45 mins. Prowler: 10 mins.
It was difficult to walk downstairs after this. :P

Deirdre: Bench Volume 1, Test Day

Saturday 1/15: Test Day

Condensed 3rd week of intensity block, where I was going to test maxes for each lift on different days, into one test day.

Squat: 
45x?, 75x?, 95x5, 115x3, 135x1?, 155x1
175x1@9-
185x1@9-
195x1@10-
200xF
My all time PR is 198, at the meet last February, so I was pretty pleased with this. The 200 felt within reach but I went too low and failed.

Bench:
45x?, 65x5?, 85x4?, 95x?
115x1@8+
120x1@9+
125x1@9
130xF

120 was weird. I changed something on 125 and that felt better and was faster. 130 I touched too low and lost it. My meet PR is 130, I think I did a messy 135 at TPS one time, so this is pretty good.

Deadlift:
135x?, 165x?, 185x3?, 205x3?, 225x1, 245x1
265x1@9-
275x1@9
285x1@9+ 
295x1@10+ (+10 PR)


That was the longest deadlift I ever did. I got it 3/4 up, got stuck there for a while, then managed to lock it out, without hitching according to my judges Nathan and Rene. Since I want to hit 300 at the meet, this is very good. I did notice that as I was psyching myself up more, I forgot to 'spread the floor' at the start of the lift, which has definitely been helping me get off the floor faster. Have to drill that into me in these last few weeks.


Monday: Bench, Volume 1
I only have four weeks including the week of the meet, so we're turning a 6-week RTS mesocycle into a 4-week, two volume, two intensity.

Bench:
Warm up
95x5@8+
95x5@8+
95x5@9-
95x5@9-
95x5@9-

Military Press:
45x5@7
65x5@9+
65x5@8+
65x5@8+
65x5@9

Incline DB bench:
20'sx8, 25'sx8x3

My bad shoulder was not so happy on these. I hope this doesn't become a problem.

Deirdre: lockout bench, volume 1

Close grip bench: 45x6x2, 65x4, 85x4
95x4 @ 8
95x4 @ 8
95x4 @ 8.5
95x4 @ 8.5
95x4 @ 8.5
95x4 @ 8.5

If I let the bar touch too low, it was much harder, but keeping elbows in and keeping my grip aligned kept it easy.

Floor press: 45x5, 65x4
85x4 @ 8
85x4 @ 8
85x4 @ 8
85x4 @ 8
85x4 @ 8
85x4 @ 8

Tricep pushdown:
25x8x4

Deirdre: deadlift, volume 1

Sumo deadlift: 135x4x2, 165x4, 185x4, 205x4,
225x4 @ 9
205x4 @ 8
205x4 @ 8.5
205x4 @ 8.5
205x4 @ 8
205x4 @ 8

Got my hips closer to the bar on the last two. Still remembering my form.

Pause squats: 45x4, 75x4, 95x4
115x4 @ 7
115x4 @ 7
115x4 @ 8
115x4 @ 8
115x4 @ 8
115x4 @ 8

Hyperextensions:
3x10+25lbs, x16+25lbs

Deirdre: bench volume 1

A pretty good volume day.

Bench: 45x6x2, 65x4, 75x4, 85x4
95x4 @ 8
105x4 @ F
95x4 @ 8
95x4 @ 8
95x4 @ 8.5
95x4 @ 8.5

Incline bench: 45x6x2
65x4 @ 8.5
75x4 @ 9
65x4 @ 8.5
65x4 @ 8
65x4 @ 7.5
65x4 @ 7.5

Overhead DB press:
20sx8, 25sx8x4

Lat pulldown:
50x8, 70x8x2, 80x8

Deirdre: Testing the twitter feed

Right now we only send posts that contain 'deirdre' or 'nathan'. If people want their posts to go to the feed, wave your hands.

Or rather, if anyone doesn't want their posts to be linked on twitter (only a small description and url are being tweeted) tell me.

Deirdre: RTS volume 1, squat

Terrible day to start a new program.


Raw squat:
45x6, 95x4, 115x4, 135x3
155x4 @ 9
155x4 @ 9
155xF
145x4 @ 9
Fatigue Stop
My form was all over the place. I had forgotten how to squat, right here.


Conventional Deadlift Supplement:
135x5?
165x4 @ 8.5
165x4 @ 8.5
165x4 @ 8.5
165x4 @ 8
165x4 @ 8
These weren't really hard, but I was definitely not used to them. Back started to round in the last set.


Squat assistance:
95x6 @ 7
95x6 @ 7
95x6 @ 7
95x6 @ 7
95x6 @ 7
This was nice. Went back to classic wide stance and form.


Next time I'll eat more than 3 bagels for the whole day before doing this sort of thing.

2.5 Weeks of Sheiko

3rd week out twice, since the 4th week was a test week.

5/18:

Squats:
1x3x100(50%), 2x3x120(60%), 2x3x140(70%), 4x2x160(80%)

Bench:
1x3x65(50%), 1x3x80(60%), 2x3x90(70+%), 5x3x105(80%)

Cable flies:
5x10x30's

Squats:
1x3x110(55%), 2x3x130(65%), 4x3x150(75%)


5/20:

Deads to knees:
1x3x150(50%), 2x2x180(60%), 2x2x195(65%), 3x1x210(70%)

Bench:
1x3x65(50), 1x3x80(60%), 2x3x90(70%), 2x3x105(80%), 3x2x110(85%)

Cable flies:
5x10x30s

Deads:
1x3x150, 1x3x180, 2x3x210, 5x3x240(80%)

This was really tough, my back was rounding badly, but I got all of them. Back really needs work/discipline, but the rest of my DL feels strong.


5/22:

Bench:
1x3x65, 1x3x80, 2x3x90, 5x3x105(80%)

Squat:
1x3x100, 2x3x120, 2x3x140, 2x3x160(80%)

Squating's hard. This was a bad day all around, i bailed early. I did learn that squating and benching in my boots feels great.


5/26:

Squats:
1x3x100(50%), 2x3x120(60%), 2x3x140(70%), 4x2x160(80%)

Bench:
1x3x65(50%), 1x3x80(60%), 2x3x90(70+%), 5x3x105(80%)

Cable flies:
5x10x30's

Squats:
1x3x110(55%), 2x3x130(65%), 4x3x150(75%)


5/28:

Deads to knees:
1x3x150(50%), 2x2x180(60%), 2x2x195(65%), 3x1x210(70%)

Bench:
1x3x65(50), 1x3x80(60%), 2x3x90(70%), 2x3x105(80%), 3x2x110(85%)

Cable flies:
5x10x30s

Deads:
1x3x150, 1x3x180, 2x3x210, 4x3x240+Fx2x240(80%)

This was at a 24hour Fitness in Pasadena. No chalk. Horribly rough knurling on the bar, hex plates. I ended up buying straps to finish the set, which made my setup and back terrible. I failed on the second set because the bar swung out in front of me. Same horrible back. I hate, hate, hate straps.


5/30:

Bench:
1x3x65, 1x3x80, 2x3x90, 5x3x105(80%)

Squat:
1x3x100, 2x3x120, 2x3x140, 6x3x160(80%)

This was hard, but I finished all. I had problems going too low than going too high. I found that if I fired my quads more than my posterior chain at the bottom, I came out of the hole faster.

Bench:
1x4x65, 1x4x80, 4x4x95

Cable flies:
5x10x30s

Good Mornings:
5x5x55

My hams must have been so fried from squats that the GMs made my left one crap up hard for almost two days after this.

6/3:

Skipped the first day of this week due to flight problems.

Bench: 1x3x65, 1x3x80, 2x3x90,5x2x105(80%)

Not bad, not great.

Deadlift: 1x3x150, 2x3x185, 2x3x210, 5x2x225 (75%)

My setup felt better than the other recent DLs, including my back, but on the second rep it would start to deteriorate again. Leaning my ass back in the setup helps, and starting the drive as soon as I drop into position too. Back is still not perfect, but shows improvement.


So, I've decided not to compete in the AAU meet. I'm just not ready. I did not take any break between rugby season and sheiko (actually I had a game a week into Sheiko, which is why lifting the day after (5/22) was terrible), and my ~3 weeks of heavy lifting hasn't been going well. I'm going to look for a meet in late july/august that will give me time to recover from some nagging rugby injuries and prepare better. I will definitely be in Scituate to cheer and support MIT Strength. :)

Back on Sheiko...

... to prepare for the AAU meet in about 4 weeks.
I did almost the same thing for the last meet, so, hopefully I'll be ready.

I start 4 weeks out, so 9th week of the 12 week program.


Squat: 95x1x3, 110x1x3, 140x2x3, 150x3x2

Felt pretty good. I was most comfortable pushing my knees out and balanced on the middle/front, rather than my weight back on my heels (If I did, I had less power and speed). I think this may be the influence of doing lots of full cleans/front squats and speed work squats in the last few weeks.

Bench: 65x1x3, 75x1x3, 85x2x3, 95x3x2

Felt good, strong, fast, minimal hips-coming-off-bench.

Deirdre: 4/5-6

Monday:

On this new program designed for rugby players, loosely based on westside. This is the second week of a 3-week cycle, but I missed the upper day last week due to shifting practice times.

Power cleans:
~35kgx4, 40x6, 45x5, 50x4, 55x1x3
Last was supposed to be 55x3, but after the first rep I would fail, so it ended up being 3 singles instead.

Weighted jump squats:
45lbsx6, 95x2x8 (8 sets of 2)
Minimal rest between sets, 45-60seconds

Back Squat:
135x5, 145x4, 155x3
About 1-2 minutes rest. Felt good, my quads were definitely tired at the end of this.

Good mornings:
45x5, 95x5
My lower back was too trashed to hold these.

Makeshift hamstring curl/glute-ham raise:
(30lb counter weight)x8x3
Meh.

Back hyperextensions:
3x20, hold to fail, hold to fail +10lbs

&Superset with&

Abs:
raised leg crunches, bicycle, v-ups, +10lbs


Tuesday - Practice:

Indian run, 3 laps around the pitch.
Passing drills for ~15mins
Running through plays with multiple phases for ~45mins
Practiced back row plays with scrum
Unopposed phase play, ~20mins.
X-drill interval sprint training x 5 laps.

I felt my hamstrings cramping up during the x-drill. Need to do more sprint training on my own when legs are not already tired, will try to fit that in before my upper training, which is tonight.

Deirdre: 2/17

Sheiko starts to wind down this week. Today was a good day: I was well-fed, had a non-stressful day, and got in the gym at a ~decent time, so I was able to blow through this in less than an hour to go to dinner.

Squat:
3x95, 3x115, 2x3x135, 5x2x155(80%)

Felt good. My feet were a little weird/out of position, but lifts were easy. I noted my form changes to Nathan, and he remarked that my squats look way better than a few weeks ago on my test day. Depending on how I'm feeling on meet day, I may add 5lbs to my attempts.

Bench:
5x45, 3x65, 3x80,2x3x95, 3x2x105, 3x1x110(85%)

Shoulder still a little weird, but I was able to control it. Lifts felt very strong with pauses, even though the stupid benches in the power racks make it weird for me to set up.

DB alternating presses:
4x10x20s

Past two weeks of Sheiko

Since the 4th week out from the meet according to Sheiko is the deload and test week, which I did before my trip to Italy, and then the week after that I was recovering from a flu/cold, we decided to do the 3rd week out twice.

Tuesday:

Squats:
1x3x95(50%), 2x3x115(60%), 2x3x135(70%), 4x2x155(80%)

Bench:
1x3x65(50%), 1x3x85(60%), 2x3x95(70+%), 5x3x105(80%)

Cable flies:
5x10x30's

Squats:
1x3x105(55%), 2x3x125(65%), 4x3x145(75%)


Thursday:

Deads to knees:
1x3x135(50%), 2x2x165(60%), 2x2x180(65%), 3x1x195?(70%)

Bench:
1x3x65(50), 1x3x85(60+%, 2x3x95(70%+), 2x3x105(80%), 3x2x110(85%)

Cable flies:
5x10x30s

Deads:
1x3x135, 1x3x165, 2x3x195, 5x3x225(80%+)

The first week's deads were brutal on my hands, but not soul-crushingly hard like the last round of sheiko. Nathan suggested I spread my knees wider so that I'm starting closer and more over the bar, and I really think that has made things easier and allows me to keep my torso pretty much vertical the whole lift, reducing rounding. The second week was practically easy with this technique.


Saturday:

Bench:
1x3x65, 1x3x85, 2x3x95, 5x3x105(80%)

Squat:
1x3x95, 2x3x115, 2x3x135, 6x3x155(80%)

Some changes to squat form: instead of arching/'setting' my back before starting the squat, I am keeping my back basically neutral, taking a big breath and lifting my chest up (a bit), without arching my back or sticking out my butt/hips. Also, moved feet in a bit, so that my stance isn't as wide, and this does not trigger adductors at the bottom so much, has a more direct path upward, and is making coming out of the hole at 80% practically easy, compared to how it felt previously with the wider stance.

Bench:
1x4x65, 1x4x80, 4x4x95

Bad shoulder was bothering me this past saturday. I had to keep everything super-duper tight and controlled so that it wouldn't pop at the bottom and make my whole right arm weak. All other bench days have been feeling pretty awesome though. Just need to make sure my butt 'stays' on the bench.

Cable flies:
5x10x30s

Good Mornings:
5x5x95

Deirdre: Test day

1/16/10: Test day

Squat: 45x5, 95x5, 115x3?, 135x3?, 155x1, 175x1, 185xFAILx2

This was really frustrating. Form seemed ok, but I just haven't been squatting above 155 in months. Nathan also cited a lack of intensity, which is true. Need to lift heavy again. My goal for the meet is 200 (hit 195 last time), but I need to push myself to get back there.


Bench: 45x5, 65x5, 85x4, 95x1?, 115x1, 125x1, 135xFAIL

Alas! 130 was totally doable, 125 was easy, I definitely shouldn't have attempted a new PR without testing my previous PR. My bench has been getting way more attention lately than the other lifts, but I haven't been pausing as much, and my weakness is definitely at the bottom of the lift vs lockout. Considering these, I'm not disappointed, but definitely need to work on the pauses and power off the bottom to hit 135 at meet.


Sumo deadlift: 135x4, 165x4?, 185x3, 215x1?, 225x1, 245?x1, 255x1, 275xCouldn't lock out

So close! That 275 is my meet PR, and I got it all the way up, but my back was arched and just couldn't pull it through and lock it out. Considering that I got my PR up after weeks of not deadlifting, I'm satisfied with this. Gotta work on that lockout.


For this meet, my goals are not extreme, I basically want to hit my lifts from August with maybe a +5 on each. I have not been training in PL mode these past few months, so I'll be doing a quick and dirty PL run-up-to-meet this month, probably from the sheiko program I did last time. If I add +15 to my total, I will be more than satisfied.

In other news, I got a new belt, that actually fits me. It's named the Harbinger of Death. ^.^

Deirdre: 1/11/10

Power Cleans: 40kgx5x4, 50kgx4x3

Warmup sets done in <5mins. This was definitely a good warmup. Need to stop neglecting these.

Bench: 45x5, 65x5, 85x5, 95x5, 105x4, 105x4, 95x5x3

My biceps were feeling sore going into this, and I adjusted my setup to make sure I had heels on the floor. Not the easiest sets ever. Hurr.

DB Shoulder presses: 15sx10, 25sx8, 30sx8, 30sx7, 30sx6

Decline bench catch-toss medicine ball: 15lb ballx3tosses+fail, 5lbx20+tossesx3

Oh my quads and core. Good stuff.

A: Cable flies: 30sx10, 40sx8x3
A: Hammer curls to press: 20sx8x4?


Satisfying day.

Deirdre: heavy skwatting

So Nathan says I'm doing this meet. If I actually want a chance at matching my competition weights from August, I need to train heavy now. Bench is in good shape, I'm not worried about that, but squat and deadlift have been light this off-season. To warm up for a test day on Saturday, I did some heavy triples/doubles.

Warmup: Walking 15-20mins

Back squat: 45x5, 95x5, 115x5, 135x3, 155x3, 175x1+fail, 185xfail, 135x4x4

On the 175 fail, I pretty much gave up too early, that should have been a go.
On the 185 fail, I made it out of the hole and got stuck less than halfway up.
While not the best ever, failing within 10lbs of my competition 1RM on a day where I hadn't prepared well and a time where I haven't been training above 155 in months, is not bad.

Hyperextensions: bwx10, bw+25x10, bw+45x6, bw+45x8, bw+45x10x2?

+45 is finally challenging. I felt this in my upper hamstrings all weekend.

Abs: (Vups+10x10, bicycle crunches +10 x20) x 4


PL aside, I need to start thinking about rugby season. I found some better agility/speed drills for my cardio days, and if I have time closer to the season I may do a circuit training day once a week. We'll see.

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.