Dude, is that a DB in your pants?

[GermaniaK]

24-May 2012
Wave 9, Week 4
Conditioning

Got pumped... we lacked defense and our shots just weren't dropping. Our first half was atrocious just letting them get too many second chance points. The 70 pts the other team scored actually wasn't as impressive as it seems. Their 2nd half was just lucky shots. Two of my four shots I should have made. A 12 ft jumper and a fast break contested layup that I fluffed ... with some stupid circus shot .... lol ... wasn't thinking. I was happy with the 5 rebounds and I didn't have too many pts dropped on me which was a bonus considering I was guarding two players at times.

Basketball
28 minutes
We lost 70 - 45

0 for 4 FGs
5 Rebounds
1 turnover

[GermaniaK]

26-May 2012
Wave 10, Week 1
Bench

Great to be back. Hyper extended finger from basketball on Thursday night. Some douche spiked the ball as I grabbed the rebound and my ring finger over extended. Holding the bar wasn't too much of a hassle but it did annoy me a little.

Bench Press
220 x 5, 242 x 5, 270 x 5
Great effort after an entire week off. Had more in me and my elbow was feeling great.

Pull Ups
BW x 5 x 2, BW + 11 x 11

Incline DB Bench
66 x 5, 83 x 5, 99 x 10

Hammer Curls
22 x 8, 33 x 8, 44 x 8, 55 x 8

Cardio
Elliptical 10 minutes
(Level 1)

[GermaniaK]

Hope your elbow heals up once and for all, bud.

I gotta bulk another 4 weeks, then I think I will take a week off to let my sore tendons and joints heal.

Hope you don't go too mad on your week away from the gym, we all need that time from time.

Good to know you can listen and respond to what your body is telling you. Cheers Gorilla

Cheers fellas. A week off isn't a big deal for me. I'm not the obsessed type worrying whether or not I'm going to lose any gains. Actually checking myself out tonight I looked a metric ass load bigger than last week. Was more vascular, thicker too. Elbow is feeling good as well but I am going to be very careful on it.

[woodswise]

Glad you're feeling better. I was forced to take the rest of this week off after Tuesday's Clean and Presses ruined my already tender elbows. They are feeling mostly better now, though I think I will take it easy on them next week. Hopefully they'll be good enough for more Clean and Presses by next Thursday.

[GermaniaK]

Glad you're feeling better. I was forced to take the rest of this week off after Tuesday's Clean and Presses ruined my already tender elbows. They are feeling mostly better now, though I think I will take it easy on them next week. Hopefully they'll be good enough for more Clean and Presses by next Thursday.

Yeah that exercise seems to be hard on the joints. It's definitely the speed at which you need to execute the lift that is to blame. I'm off them for a while. If you want a good substitute, give snatches a try either from the floor or from a hang. I prefer from a hang.

29-May 2012

Wave 10, Week 1
Squat

Only hitting the prescribed reps moving forward for my bench, squat and deadlift days.

ATG Squat
264 x 5, 297 x 5, 325 x 5
Piece of cake.

Box Squat
275 x 8

Romanian Deadlift
264 x 5 x 2

Back Extensions
22 x 10 x 4

[GermaniaK]

30-May 2012
Wave 10, Week 1
Press


Military Press
132 x 5, 149 x 5, 167 x 8 (Rep PR)

Dips
BW + 44 x 15

Face Pulls
90 x 15 x 2

Hang Snatch
132 x 3 x 2

Cardio (Elliptical)
10 minutes

[GermaniaK]

31-May 2012
Wave 10, Week 1
Conditioning

Good game despite my stats not reflecting it so much. Defensive awareness is returning and I'm starting to get my offensive form back. Nailed a contested off balance jump shot and damn near dropped a three with a guy in my face and nearly hit a floater. Both shots rimming out unfortunately. Had a further two or three opportunities where I should of drove straight to the basket but I deferred to team mates. Need to be a little more selfish on offense in those situations.

Contested a few rebounds which went my way, grabbed two and the others over shot the mark. Other positives were my hustle play (diving on loose balls and winning possession) and the fact that not a single point was dropped on me this week. Nearly pulled off a couple steals too.

Basketball
28 minutes
We won 49 - 42

1 for 3 FGs
2 Rebounds
1 turnover
1 assist

[GermaniaK]

1-June 2012
Wave 10, Week 1
Deadlift


Deadlift
330 x 5, 396 x 5, 446 x 5

Barbell Rows
215 x 10

Band Squats (Orange EFS)
220 x 3 x 2

Hanging Leg Raise (Dip Position)
BW x 15 x 3

[GermaniaK]

2-June 2012
Wave 10, Week 2
Bench



Bench Press
220 x 3, 264 x 3, 281 x 3

Pull Ups
BW + 33 x 9.5

Incline DB Bench
110 x 5

Hammer Curls
66 x 5

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

Wow man, strong stuff in here. Feels like you've made significant progress since I checked in last time?

Squat & deads are impressive as hell.

[GermaniaK]

5-June 2012

Wave 10, Week 2
Squat

Had another rep in me with a pause-rest style rep set. Very promising for me.

ATG Squat
264 x 3, 309 x 3, 341 x 3

Box Squat
286 x 6

Romanian Deadlift
309 x 5, 309 x 3

Back Extensions
33 x 10 x 5

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6-June 2012
Wave 10, Week 2
Press

Weak effort. I'm not happy with just 4.5 reps on the press as I wanted to hit a minimum of 5 reps.

Military Press
154 x 3, 165 x 3, 178 x 4.5

Dips
BW + 66 x 11

Face Pulls
110 x 10

Hang Snatch
154 x 1


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7-June 2012
Wave 10, Week 2
Conditioning

Nailed a three pointer going into the 2nd half. Filled the stat sheet as well. Good game I guess, but need to focus on some fitness aspect. Wasn't going for the rebounds like weeks passed, didn't really need to as my team was cleaning up and I was playing high post most of the game in a guard role. Will be running sprints over this long weekend, and also working on ball handling skills.

Basketball
28 minutes
We won 57 - 25

4 Pts
1 for 4 FGs
1 for 2 3PTs
1 for 4 FTs
1 Rebounds
1 turnover
1 assist
1 steal
1 block

-------------------------------------------------------------------------


8-June 2012
Wave 10, Week 2
Deadlift

Very good effort. Decided to refeed a little this week to get back some strength that seemed to be flailing a little. Hit an easy triple with 473 (215 kg). Not sure if I should switch to a sumo stance for the next wave. I think ultimately a sumo stance will carry over well to my squat.

Deadlift
374 x 3, 418 x 3, 473 x 3

Barbell Rows
226 x 9.5

Front Squats
220 x 5 x 3

Hanging Leg Raise (Dip Position)
BW x 15 x 3, BW x 10

[GermaniaK]

Wow man, strong stuff in here. Feels like you've made significant progress since I checked in last time?

Squat & deads are impressive as hell.

Cheers man. A little yeah. Not sure if its just the weights getting heavier but they are feeling harder to execute than a couple months back when these numbers were in my heavy week. The basketball is probably effecting my recovery to some point but I'm just going to have to push through that.

[GermaniaK]

9-June 2012
Wave 10, Week 3
Bench

New PR on pull ups. All done from an absolute dead hang. Benching 220 felt real good but 264 and 292 just weren't where I would like them to be.

Bench Press
220 x 5, 264 x 3, 292 x 2

Pull Ups
BW + 44 x 8

Incline DB Bench
110 x 5

Hammer Curls
50 x 8

[GermaniaK]

As I'm moving closer to my 1RM working weights, I'm realising a few things with the 5/3/1 setup:

• Training volume and intensity is excellent
• Working great for my OHP and my squat
• Not as good as I had hoped for my deadlift
• Hasn't really done anything for my bench press strength

To elaborate further on my deadlift ... yeah it has increased it from what I can tell however I'm not so sure whether this is just due to the actual programming or just the assistance work i.e. lower back and abdominal work that has had the biggest effect overall. As for my bench press, it is evident that I can bang out reps comfortably at around that 260 lb mark, however in the grander scheme of things my absolute strength has dropped (evident from training with 280+). Looking back on training past, the ME day setup (a la Westside BB) for benching has always been favourable to my absolute strength and I think it would be a wise move to go back to this for my bench days. This is pretty evident from the graph that I've kept logging to since wave 6.


Blue = Squat
Red = Bench
Green = Deadlift
Purple = OHP


I'm going to outline my wave 11 setup right now which will have a few changes made to the programming and volume.

Tuesday - 5/3/1 Squat
ATG Squat
Front Squat (5 x 3 setup)
Leg Curls

Wednesday - 5/3/1 OHP
Standing OHP
Pull Ups (50 to 100 reps)
Dips (50 to 100 reps)

Friday - 5/3/1 Deadlift
Deadlift (may switch to sumo)
Good Mornings
Ab Rollouts

Saturday - ME Bench
Bench Press
DB Rows (high rep)
Incline DB Bench

Despite my deadlift not responding like I thought it would, I'll keep the 5/3/1 progression scheme with it purely as I feel changing now would probably just set me back a month or two. I'm only adding 5 lbs a wave so I should have an easy 4 to 6 waves left on this. I think eventually I'll try a 5x5 setup with my deadlift starting at about 75% of my one rep max.

[woodswise]

Bud, I don't see how this little sample proves it isn't working for bench and deadlift. In every routine, some exercises go better over time than others, and sometimes it takes a little shaking things up to make a change.

Have you tried changing the day of the week you do bench and deadlifts? maybe move deadlifts to Monday and have the bench day after a rest day?