Lunchtime Grip

November 30, 2012
Noon

Just a quick lunchtime grip workout.

1) Guillotine Gripper - Fast closes, 3 count at the close
50 x 10
75 x 3 x 10r

2a) Dan's Blobbin' - York 45#, Feels tougher than my Blob50 or regular 50# blob
Attempts x 2
Iso's x 2
Drags x 13/12, 8/7

2b) Band Curl Iso's - 15 reps at the top end
Avr x 3

3) 1HP Hops with the Euro
54 x 20, 25, 30

Rack Pulls

November 29

Noon

Today was good. Back was still pretty fatigued from Monday and the pulls from the floor felt slow. As soon as I went to the rack I threw on my straps and belt. I figured screw it, they could use a bit of a break from Mondays work and last nights arm wrestling. 

I'm pretty happy with the pulls. Last time I did rack pulls above the knee cap was at the beginning of August and my best set was 695 x 2.5 so today was a substantial jump in the right direction. Another thing I was thinking of was the whole effectiveness of pulling this high and for some people to get nothing or very little out of them. They're a great overall stressor to the body to just get used to having that much weight hanging off of your arms but I also think that they have better carryover for someone like me just because of my body type. Long torso. When I pull the bar is up and over my nads (painful) whereas a lot of the people built for pulls have long arms, short torsos or both so the ROM is even shorter for them whereas I still get a half decent stroke out of the movement. Just a thought anyways. 

I had to cut the assistance short as I had commitments that I had to attend to. Anyways, got the core work done and hard. 

1) Deadlift

135 x 5

225 x 2

315 x 1

405 x 1

475 x 1

2) Above Knee Rack Pulls - Pin 15 - Belt & Wraps

495 x 3

545 x 3

585 x 3

635 x 3

675 x 1

725 x 4

585 x 10

3a) Squat

45 x 5

135 x 3

3b) DB Bench w/Manus

40e x 20

3c) WG Pulldowns

125 x 20

Paused Squat PR's

November 26, 2012
Noon

Arm wrestling technique work.


Before Supper

1) Paused Squats - All Beltless
45 x 5, 3
135 x 3
225 x 1
315 x 1
365 x 1
405 x 1
435 x 1 - Where I expected to max. Felt super light. PR
455 x 1 - Boom! Nice, feel good rep without a grind. I could probably match my regular belted squat max of 465# that I did just a few weeks ago with a paused beltless I'm guessing. This is a 35# PR from a few weeks, plus I'm doing it without a belt whereas the previous PR was with one.

2) Paused Camber Bar GM's - No Belt
85 x 3
135 x 3
225 x 3
315 x 3
385 x 3 x 5r - Easy Peasy

Grip Work Done Between Core Work Sets

1) Thumbless 2" Dumbbell Pulls - All Past knees
105 x 3
125 x 3, 3, 5

2) Dan's Blobbin' w/Blob50
Attempts x 2 - Feeling light!
Iso's x 3
Drags x 3 - Doing something different this time. I'm using the same hand to go back and forth to failure plus a couple of extras before switching hands. Keeping a lot of tension in the hand for a longer period. Should help.

3) Guillotine Plate Load Gripper - All weight just plate
50 x 10
70 x 2 x 10r

I didn't bother with any upper body assistance as my arm was a little twinged, just a little but I didn't want to bugger with it.

Upper Body Saturday

November 24, 2012
Noonish

Feeling not to bad today. Took some ibu before the workout and it seemed to stave off those severe arm pains I was having plus keeping it easy on Thursdays workout seems to have helped a bunch. I also did some heavy hammer iso's during my bench warm-ups.

1) Seated BB Shoulder Press
45 x 10, 10
95 x 3
135 x 3
155 x 1
180 x 3 x 3r - Paused the hell out of all of them

2) Paused Bench Press - Wide Grip - Index on Ring
45 x 10
135 x 3
225 x 1
275 x 1
305 x M, 1 - Head wasn't right, paused pretty long, whatever but I couldn't lock it out the first time. Regripped with my regular grip and nailed it like it should be for the second rep.

2a) Bench Press
205 x 5 x 10r plus one more on the 5th set

2b) Low Cable Rows - Strict
125 x 15
175 x 15
200 x 3 x 15r - Fairly tough to keep the last couple of reps strict.

3) Band Curl/Backpressure Iso's on the Table - 10 second (Missisippi) holds
Avr x 3 x 2r

4a) Tricep Cable Ext.
50 x 25
75 x 20

4b) DB Hammer Curls w/Manus
40 x 15, 12

Rogue Westside Bar - Steel Durability

Gotta say I'm really impressed with the steel in my Rogue Westside Bar. The knurling has dug divots out of my J hooks without the slightest bit of damage or wear to the bar. Good stuff!

More Pulls and Upper Body Assistance

November 22, 2012
Before Supper

Well I'll start off by saying happy turkey day to my American friends. Hope you're all having a good feed.

So tonight on top of my low body work I decided to tame back my upper body assistance work a tad more and play bodybuilder and really feel each rep in the appropriate muscle bellies rather than just moving the weight. Wow what a pump! The main reason I did this is that I'm realizing I can't go in to heavy after arm wrestling practice or I just bugger my arms so I figured I'd just try and get a good pump going to get some good ol' recovery blood floating around in there.

Never wore a belt at all tonight and really focused on setting my low back more for the pulls.

1) CV Deadlift
135 x 3
225 x 2
315 x 2
405 x 1
475 x 1

2) CV Pulls off of 4" Blocks
495 x 3
515 x 3
535 x 3
545 x 4
435 x 10 - Freaking Cardio! Lol!

3a) Squat
45 x 5, 3
135 x 3
215 x 3 x 10r

3b) DB Bench Press
40e x 3 x 20r

3c) Wide Grip Pulldowns
100 x 3 x 20r

"Sweep The Leg" (Music Video) Based on the Karate Kid

More Beltless Low Body

November 19, 2012
Before Supper

Well tonight's pause squats felt good and I'm keeping the progression for just a 10# PR which should be very easy to hit, especially since the 420 I did was belted. I was supposed to rest the GM's reps and obviously I need someone yelling at me during my sets lol! Still feeling good without the belt though.

My right upper arm is still niggled and is really aggravated by chins and such so I think I may have to leave them for a bit and test some movements to see if there's anything I can do in their place for now. The pain was good enough to keep me from doing some bench assistance work tonight as well. Funny thing is that arm wrestling practice doesn't hurt it and I feel a bit better after.

1) Paused Squats - Beltless
45 x 5, 3
135 x 3
225 x 1
315 x 1
365 x 1
390 x 3 - Felt good

2a) Camber Bar Rested GM's - Beltless
85 x 3
135 x 3
225 x 3
315 x 3
375 x 3 x 5r

2b) Tubby Guy Ring Chins
BW (267#) x 4, 3, 3 - Buggered arm.....

Press Day

November 17, 2012
Noonish

Arms are still beat from arm wrestling. It's affecting my pressing so I did very minimal AW type training as I need to get healed up. I think it'll just be practicing the movement patterns with a little weight and keep the actual AW strength work to table practice for a while.

1) Seated BB Shoulder Press
45 x 10
95 x 5
135 x 3
155 x 1
175 x 3 x 3r

2) Bench Press - 3 Count Pauses on First Reps
45 x 10
135 x 3
225 x 1
275 x 1
300 x 1
205 x 10, 10, 10, 7+2+1 - Very minimal rest between sets. On the last set that I missed 10 straight through I used the DC, 3 breaths rest protocol and didn't bother with the 5th set after that.

Low Cable Rows - Strict - Done between pressing sets
100 x 20
150 x 4 x 20r

Some AW type work.

Whooped! Picking Things up and Setting them Down

November 15, 2012
Before Supper

Wow I'm beat to hell from last nights arm wrestling practice but at least it isn't injury type pain, just good ol' adaption! Definitely getting stronger and more confident at the table but I still need a bunch of work to keep honing in my technique. This stuff's a blast!

1) Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 3
315 x 1
405 x 1
475 x 1

18" Deadlifts - 2 Blocks
495 x 3
545 x 3
565 x 3
Add belt and straps. Arms are freaking sore from arm wrestling.
585 x 3
605 x 3
495 x 9 - Damn I wanted 10 but I freaking worked my guts out for 9 so I feel pretty damn good....then I noticed what was next..Fhaaak!

3) Squats - Beltless - Rock Bottom
45 x 5, 3
135 x 3
210 x 3 x 10r - Not to bad once the first couple of reps were gone but I'm bagged.

4) DB Bench
85 x 10 - That was enough. Arms are killing me so I didn't do any more of these or the chins.

Beltless Day ;) Squats, GM's, Some Light Bench and Stuff

November 12, 2012
Noonish

Well today starts a new training block. A little different than the last few and I'm looking forward to it. Down to 3 days per week plus and arm wrestling day. I decided I'm going to give 'er a while beltless as I don't think I really use one effectively anyways lol!

1a) Rolling Thunder
100 x 5
125 x 1
140 x 1 - Wow this was tough. Still not recouped from Saturday obviously so I decided to leave it alone.

1a) 4" HSS One Hand Pinch
46# x 3 x 8r

1b) Paused Squats - Beltless
I should mention before the bar gets on my back I do some stretching to get it there and some bodyweight squats to get the IT bands limbered up a bit.
45 x 5
135 x 3
225 x 1
345 x 5

2a) Paused GM's - Cambered Bar - Beltless
85 x 3
135 x 3
225 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 3 x 5r - Felt good

2b) Ring Chins
BW (267.4#) x 5 x 3r

3a) Bench - Medium Effort
45 x 10
135 x 5
205 x 3 x 10r

3b) Table Back Pressure/Curl Iso's
Avr Band x 2 x bunch

4) Wrist Rocker - 100r Each Way

Today's Arm Wresting Gym Training

Bench Deload and some AW Gym Training

November 10, 2012
Noonish

Bench Press - Paused
45 x 10, 10
135 x 3
185 x 2
225 x 1
275 x 1
305 x 1

2-3/8" DB Deads
109 x 5
124 x 3, 2, 3, 2

KB Rows - Thumbless
124# x 3 x 5r

Wrist Str. Hammer Curls - Top/Ew
12.5# x Bunch (20-30 reps each way)

Curls Iso's
70 x 2 x 1r

Hook Wrist Curls on the Table
50# x a bunch

Climber Ext Curls
10# x 2 x a bunch

I have a video uploading for Darrin as well. I would've done more iso's and table work but I niggled my arm a tad with my second iso.

Deload Deads

November 9, 2012
Noon

Just a quicky. Still a bit pooped from Wednesday's arm wrestling practice so I threw on the straps for this last set. Felt good as I wasn't overly fired up, just grinding them out.

Deadlifts - CV
135 x 5
225 x 3
315 x 1
405 x 1
505 x 3

Deloading the Shoulders

November 7, 2012
Noon

Some deload work for my shoulders and pressing girdle. Tried to move through this as quickly as possible.

1a) Ring Chins
BW x 5 x 3r

1b.1) Incline KB Press
24k ea x 20, 18, 15

1b.2) Climber Curl Ext.
10# x 2 x 30r

Tonight is some arm wrestling practice.

New Toy - Terminator Handle

I received a fun new training device from "Mighty Joe" Musselwhite a couple of days ago, a Terminator hand and forearm developer. I've played with it a couple of time now and it's awesome!

Deload Squats and Some Thick Bar

November 5, 2012
Noon

Taking this week to do some deloading and see if I can get some of my fire back. Not sure but I might have a bit of a cold too seeings as I'm full of snot. My right arm was killing me after doing those dumbbell lifts as well. Man I hope it clears up soon. I was going to do some chins but not with my arm acting up.

1a) Paused Squats - All Beltless
45 x 5
135 x 3
225 x 1
315 x 1
365 x 3 x 1r

1b) 2-3/8" Dumbbell Picks
80 x 5
100 x 1
120 x 1
130 x 1
140 x hops (actually it'd be about 143# by the scale)
138 x 1, hops

Bench and Some AW Training

November 3, 2012
Noonish

Upper arm is still feeling like crap and it kept me from my bench volume and I didn't feel like rows or chins with it feeling like this. I did some arm work though and probably should've left the bicep iso's alone for today.

1) Bench Press - All long pauses
45 x 5, 5
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 1
275 x 1
300 x 5 x 1r

2) Bench w/Slingshot
320 x 4.5 - Arm killed and I couldn't lockout my 5th.

3) 2-3/8" Thumbless/Cupped DB Pulls
80 x 3
100 x 1
120 x 3 x 1r - The first pick righty it popped out at the top, that's why the vid shows me starting with the left. I accidentally cut it out. Man that snap of the fingers when it popped out sure stung.

4) 2.5" Crusher Wrist Curls - Table Start
50 x 20
70 x 10

5) Curls Iso's
60 x 1
70 x 1 - Right just isn't up to it.

6) Wrist Rocker - Table Start
100r Each Way - Get some blood in there

Some Pulls Against Bands

November 2, 2012
Noon

Well I did some pulls against bands at lunch today. They went alright and would have me in around 565-575# beltless. Started doing my assistance work and I just couldn't get in there mentally plus my right arm was (is) bugging me again so I called 'er quits.

Gail also came back down and I had her work on some squats again. Big improvements. Had her do 3 x 5r of just body weight squats then to the bar. Any failure is just mental at this stage and I watched her go from not wanting to hold the bar on her back to doing 5 easy reps. It's coming and I think she'll really enjoy telling negative thoughts to f off and get those successes. Finished with 15 total reps of 24k kettlebell deadlifting (about 3-4 sets).

1) Deadlift against 12" IW mini-bands ~80-85#
135 x 5, 5
225 x 3
315 x 3
405 x 3, 5

2) Front Squat
45 x 3
135 x 3
230 x 3 - Just didn't feel good so I stopped.