Q 8/1/11 Texas Method w2d1

Squat:
45 x5x2, 95x5, 135 x5, 185 x3, 225 x3
250 x5 x5 @8 to 8+
Felt exhausting, but no set felt even close to failure.

Bench:
45 x5, 65 x5, 95 x5, 115 x3, 135 x3
165 x5 x5 @8 to 9+
Fairly fast other than the last set.

Deadlift:
135 x5, 185 x5, 225 x3, 275 x2, 315 x1
335 x1 @9-
355 x1 x4 @9
Pulling singles is much better than sets of 5 for me. I felt refreshed and clear-minded rather than dead after the training session. I also had much better speed and form on my singles at 355 than the 4th or 5th rep at 295. The reason for form decline in high rep deadlift is probably due to lack of quad endurance, which leads to failing off the floor and rounding of back before the pull starts.

Justin -5/3/1 with mongo assistance

Squats: 335x4
Bench 255x7

The weights are going up again. It's about damn time.

For assistance I did:

1x20 squat
3x10 front squats (these suck because I'm still working on wrist flexibility)
3x20 leg press

dips 12, 10, 10
3x20 bench

Yeah volume, going to ride this as long as I can.

Justin 5/3/1

Doing a 2/week split now because I think it will fit well with football. Also, I'm switching to mega volume on assistance now just to experiment.

Squat 300x6
Bench 230x10 (Just gotta triple the reps and I'd be ready to rock the combine :p )

Leg Press 3x15
Dips 12,10,10
Pullthrough 15,15,15 (really wish these could have been GHR's but no such luck)
Bench 15,15,15

Walked home forgetting to foam roll...going to feel it tomorrow

Brian - Volume Squats and Bench

--Tues 12/8--

Squats w/ gordon's belt;
Warmup - 45x10, 95x5, 135x5, 135x5, 160x5
Working - 185x4, 205x4, 205x4, 225x4, 230x3

Rackpulls (from first index);
Warmup - 135x5, 225x5
Working - 315x4, 365x4, 405x4

Pause squats;
Working - 135x6, 135x6, 155x6

--Thurs 12/10--

Bench w/ pause;
Warmup - 45x10, 95x5, 135x5, 160x5
Working - 185x4, 185x4, 195x4 @8, 195x4 @8, 195x4 @9

Close grip bench w/ black pad;
Working - 205x4, 225x4, 225x3

Military press;
Working - 95x5, 95x8, 95x8

Brian - Volume Deadlift and Bench

Was away on work travel Thursday so I missed that volume chest day. Both of these are from this weekend.

--12/5--

Deadlift;
Warmup - 133x10, 133x5
Working - 223x4, 273x4, 223x5, 223x4, 223x4 223x4, 223x4, 313x1, 223x4

I think deadlift form is the area where I need the most work so I was really looking forward to volume deadlifts. 223 is a pretty easy weight for me (6 or 7?) so I can crank tons of them out and really focus on adjusting my form. In the beginning I completely sucked. But Franks "extend your spine" visualization technique seemed to work for me. Kik told me to pull 313 one time with my new form to see how it felt... went up super fast. Used double overhand and form stayed true. Happy about that.

Squats;
Warmup - 135x10
Working - 185x4, 205x4, 225x4 @8

--12/6--

Bench (3 second pause on chest);
Warmup - 135x5, 135x5
Working - 165x4, 175x4, 175x4, 175x4, 175x4, 175x4

All 175's at 8-8.5

Medium bench grip w/ white pad;
Working - 185x4, 185x4, 185x4, 185x4

Narrow grip w/ black pad;
Working - 185x12 @9, 185x9 @10, 185x9 @10

Seated rows (pause at chest) - 90x10, 100x10
Lat pulldowns w/ rope handles (pause at chest) - 90x10, 90x10

Brian - Volume Squats

First day back on volume. Brought a camera so that we all could check our form. I have videos of Kik, Gordon, Rob, Pat, and Shankar... now I just need to figure out the best way to distribute them so they can post on here. Anyone have any ideas? I uploaded mine to youtube after rotating them in imovie. Should I do the same with the others? It would be nice if a program could do this in a batch.

Back to lifting.

Squats;
Warmup - 135x5, 135x5, 160x5
Working - 185x4 @6, 205x4 @7, 205x4 @7, 215x4 @8, 225x4 @8, 225x4 @8

My first attempt at using RPE's. I felt that 215 was in the 8ish rep range and 225 was in the 6-7 rep range for me, and I did 4, so I believe that makes them both an 8 (using chapter 2 RTS). I think this is my best squat day ever. Bar placement finally felt good. No elbow pain.

Rackpulls (from knees - first safety pin index);
Warmup - 135x5, 225x5
Working - 315x4 @7, 405x4 @8, 405x4 @8, 405x4 @8

Shankar noticed on the first set of 405 that I was jerking my upperbody quickly at the start. In the subsequent set I tried to pull in a much more controlled and smooth way ("pull like frank").

Pause Squats (2 second pause);
Working - 135x4 @6, 155x4 @7.5, 165x4 @8 (longer pauses)

Links go to a video for that specific set. Advice appreciated.

Brian - Deload Squats

Week between intensity and volume training.

Squats w/ Gordon's Belt;
Warmup - 45x10, 135x5
Working - 185x3, 185x3, 205x3, 205x3, 205x3, 205x3, 205x3

These were all really really easy sets. I tried to work the bar down lower on my back now that I'm working on technique. Before I was squatting with it pretty high on my neck. Now I'm holding it in the same place as Kik. At first it felt like I was holding a lot of the weight with my arms but after a few sets I kind of settled in and it felt way better that way than in the normal high position.

Gordon's favorite thing to do is give red lights on squats, so when he started telling me I was going too low I realized I must be about to sit on the ground. I adjusted the last few sets so that they were parallel. In this new bar position it seems that I'm subconsciously back to squeezing my knees in a bit, but I recognized it and had to consciously stop it.

Stair jumps - Did everything Kik did, except better. Made it up to 5 steps with feet at the railing post, and then did 4 sets of 2 step hops per leg, without any breaks.

Good mornings - 45x10, 95x10, 95x10, 135x6

All of them felt easy. I stopped because I got stomach pains for some reason.

Also, Danny, tell me what's wrong with this picture? You see what the gym has degraded to after you left? It's a shame, really.

Oh, one last thing. Someone (presumably) stole Jon's longboard from behind the desk today. It's really bad timing as someone literally just stole his bike the day before. I can't imagine someone stealing a longboard from behind the desk and walking all the way through the gym with it. It would be *incredibly* ballsy, and in my experience people don't really steal things there to being with, let alone something like that. Hopefully it was just misplaced during closing, but we checked behind the desk and at the main desk lost and found. If anyone has seen it or knows where it is please let me know.

Gordon: 9/24 & 9/27

9/24/09: Short speed day

Box Squats: 3x9@190 (fast)
Leg raises: 3x15

9/27/09: Volume day

Squats: 5x5@295 (slow)
Bench: 5x5@205 (medium)
Deadlift: sumo, 3x3@345 (slow)

Gordon: 9/20 Volume

Been kinda sick the past few days, so slept a lot and didn't eat too much. Down to 173 >:-| It almost seems like a bust to do a volume day while I'm sick, so I cut back on the workout.

Squats: 5x5@285 (slow) 1st set felt hardest, others were easier
Bench: 3,5,3,3,5@215 (slow)

Rene pointed out my bench form still needs a lot of work. I'm resting on my scapula, instead of my traps, when I make my arch. I need more stability for the harder reps too, since I'm off balance on the last couple reps.

Kik - Aug20 - Bench - Volume

After reading in the RTS manual once more, I had to learn that Tuchscherer does not suggest sets of 6 reps. Looks like my mind was a little too creative here, but I figured I will go with 6 reps this week and keep he weights low. This will be good for my tendons, joints, and ligaments. On top of that, I will eat like a madman and harvest bigger muscles due to hypertrophy.

Bench (wide grip, ring fingers on rings):

221x6 @9
221x6 @8
221x6 @8
221x6 @8.5

This was easy, yet awful. Doing more than 3 reps on bench kills my arch. Besides rebuilding the latter after every other rep, the set takes so long and makes my mind wander around.

Board Press (white foam roller)

221x6 @9
221x6 @8
221x3 @9
221x6 @8.5

I cut set #3 short, feeling totally drained. It seems that the extra short break between sets was too much to handle. Set #4 was ok again thanks to somewhat more rest.


SOP:

115x8x3 @8-9 I took it easy on my shoulders, giving some rest. They will be striking back during intensity in 4 weeks.

Back stuff...

Good training, I will see tomorrow how I feel after this.

Gordon: 8/16 & 8/18

8/16/09 - Accessory day, not much happening, just did some stuff that shouldn't take away from recovery.

Good morning: wide stance, 2x8@95; 3x5@135 (medium)
BB curl: 8@60, 70, 80 (slow)
Standing calf raise: 3x10@160
Incline sit up: 12@40, 45, 45

8/18/09 - Volume day, weight this morning was 179, on target for my bulk plan.

Squat: 5x5@295 (slow)
Bench: 5x5@195 (medium slow)
Deadlift: 5@353; 5+1@353 (slow)

Squats felt ok, starting to get tough to finish though. May just go up by 5lbs next week. Bench is recovering slowly from my brief hiatus. Deadlifts felt ok, except the 1st rep, which was REALLY SLOW, possibly from hips raising before pulling. After I finished the 2nd set, Nate told me to do another rep, so I had to do another one. Gym etiquette is weird like that.

My stupid velcro belt actually failed on me on the last rep of a set of squats at the bottom of the hole. I was lucky to finish that set, despite losing abdominal pressure all of a sudden. I need to order a new belt soon.

Kik - Aug18 - Squat - Volume

I realized today that I will probably not manage to make the meet next Sat. However, I don't count myself out yet, and Nate convinced me that I can still fit things. We will see. If anything, the meet prep has make me more focused and stronger.

Anyway, I started a new meso-cycle with RTS, my third. Next 3-4 weeks will be volume work. I stayed very conservative with RPEs of 8 tonight, never being on RPE 9 territory.

During the next days, I will have to figure out my exercise rotation. In terms of reps, I will do an easy week of 6 reps for around 4-5 sets, depending on fatigue. As for squat day, I will stay with regular squats and rackpulls, both have helped me so far:


Squat:

275x6 @8
275x6 @8
275x6 @8
275x6 @8

Rackpulls (1st pin, as always)

315x3 @7
365x6 @8
365x6 @8
365x6 @8
365x6 @8

Abs...

Gordon: 8/11 - Volume day

Weight this morning 178 lbs., target weight is over 200, my plan is to gain 5 lbs/month.

Squats: belt + wrist wrap at 235; 5x5@285 (medium-slow)
Bench: 5x5@185 (medium)
Deadlift: 2x5@343 (slow, slightly rounded)

Squats were fine, pretty much all reps were at or below parallel. Bench was done on the crappy narrow bench so I couldn't get a very stable base, but I'm still rehabbing my shoulder and went light anyway. Deads were ok, I'm still rounding more in the later reps, maybe I'll switch to sets of 3 instead of sets of 5.

Gordon: 8/4 - Volume day

High volume, medium intensity day. Weight this morning 177 lbs., still trying to gain weight.

Squat: 5x5@275 (medium)
Deadlift: 2x5@335 (slow)

The first set of squats had a few reps above parallel, but the sets after that were all below parallel. My lower back was straight for most of the deads, but was a little rounded for the last rep. I've been skipping bench/presses for a week now, my left shoulder is bothering me and I'm letting it rest. I'll start benching again on 8/6.