Started with my official TWBS warmup. Then tried to move some heavy weights:
- Squat
- Weighted Chinups
- 3 x 120lb
- 2 x 130lb
- 1 x 140lb
- 1 x 150lb
- Man-Makers
- 15 x 25lb
- 10 x 30lb
- 5 x 35lb
I only got one set of the squats at my work weight. During the warmup I felt a little twinge in my back, but decided to soldier on. Dumb. I lost it on my second set at 315. Had to use the safety bars in the cage to bail me out. Frustrating, but I think I need to take some time to let my back heal up before I squat again. I took out some of my frustrations on the pullup bar. My gym only has dumbbells up to 150, so I stopped there.
Started with my patent-pending warmup of 15 burpees/15 sec samson stretch on each leg, repeated 3x.
Heavy day:
- Squat
- Push Press
- Deadlift
- Simple pair, repeat 3x:
- One Arm DB Row (100lb) x 3
- Decline DB Bench Press (75lb) x 3
Total time: 60 min. Nothing really came easy except the deadlifts, but I felt pretty good. The original plan was to use the 100lb DB for the One Arm DB Bench Press as well, but it wasn’t happening on my left side. At all.
Spreadsheet of my entire program »
Heavy day:
- Squat
- Press
- 4 x 3 x 150lb *FAIL* (3, 3, 2, 1)
- Deadlift
- Weighted Dips
- Weighted Chinups
Total time: 45 min. Damn, I think I started too heavy on the presses for this program. I also think I’m crazy to do heavy pullups after deadlifts. I may need to make some adjustments, but I felt good overall.
Spreadsheet of my entire program »
Started with my patent-pending warmup of 15 burpees/15 sec samson stretch on each leg, repeated 3x.
Heavy day:
- Squat
- Push Press
- Deadlift
- Simple pair, repeat 3x:
- One Arm DB Row (90lb) x 5
- One Arm DB Bench Press (90lb) x 5
Total time: 55 min. Everything felt pretty good today, but the last two sets of squats were slow going. I’ll keep working on em.
Spreadsheet of my entire program »
Started with my patent-pending warmup of 15 burpees/15 sec samson stretch on each leg, repeated 3x. This is the first official strength day of my new program, which is based on the one outlined in Infinite Intensity. I’ll be working on a 2-day split where day 1 is max strength/heavy day and day 2 is explosive/speed strength day.
Heavy day:
- Squat
- Press
- Deadlift
- Weighted Pullups
- Weighted Dips
Total time: 50 min. Cruddy day, I had a hard time with pretty much everything. I originally intended to do 2 sets of 3 on the deadlift, but my back didn’t feel so good on my first work set so I cut it short. I think I may have started a little too heavy on some of these numbers and may have to adjust em. Maybe I didn’t allow enough time for recovery from Friday’s session. Maybe it was just an off day.
Spreadsheet of my entire program »
Heavy strength day.
- Turkish Get Ups
- 3 x 55lb
- 1 x 90lb
- 3 x 80lb
- 1 Arm DB Snatch*
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 1 Arm DB Clean & Press
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 90lb
- Simple pair, repeat 4x:
- Weighted Pullups (90lb) - 5, 4, 5, 4
- DB Bench Press - 4 x 90lb, 5 x 80lb, 5 x 80lb, 5 x 80lb
- Simple pair, repeat
4x 3x:
- Weighted One Legged Squats (45lb) - 5, 5, 4
- Glute-Ham Raises - 5, 5, 5
Started a week-long free membership to the 5th Ave Gym here in Park Slope today. It’s a no-nonsense, rusty, basement gym with heavy weights (DBs go up to 150lb here) and big dudes. Didn’t feel my best today and I think my torn up right hand was holding me back mentally. If I do join up here (only $40/mo) I’m really going to focus on max strength for a few months and see how heavy I can go with those big boy dumbbells.
* The guy working at the gym said I had “beautiful technique” on my snatch. Flattery will get you everywhere, my boy!
Heavy strength day.
- Turkish Get Ups
- 3 x 55lb
- 2 x 70lb
- 1 x 90lb (PR)
- 1 x 90lb
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 1 Arm DB Clean & Press
- 3 x 90lb
- 10 x 45lb (bar)
- 10 x 45lb (bar)
- Simple pair, repeat 4x:
- Weighted Pullups (100lb) - 5, 5, 5, 5
- Bench Press (225lb) - 4, 4, 4, 4
- Simple pair, repeat 4:
- Weighted One Legged Squats (45lb) - 5, 5, 5, 5
- Glute-Ham Raises - 5, 5, 5, 5
That 100lb TGU is getting close. 90lb felt really good today - the trick is not to tire myself out too much with the first few sets. I switched things up a bit today and tried to hit 3 reps for every set of the snatch, so I didn’t go for a PR in weight. I also performed one rep with the left, then one with the right for each set instead of the usual 3x left followed by 3x right. Didn’t go too heavy with the pullups because I wanted to spare my tender little hips until I get a better belt. I had no one to spot me on the bench, so I had to play it safe and quit after 4 reps even though I had a few more in me. A good day in the weight room.
Heavy strength day.
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- 3 x 80lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 2 x 100lb
- 2 x 100lb
- 1 Arm DB Clean and Press
- Turkish Get Ups
- 3 x 50lb
- 2 x 70lb
- 1 x 85lb (PR)
- Simple pair, repeat 4x:
- Weighted Pullups - 5 x 90lb, 2 x 135lb, 1 x 145lb, 3 x 100lb
- Weighted Dips - 8 x 45lb, 4 x 90lb, 3 x 100lb, 2 x 100lb
- Finisher: DB Swings
I tried doing the snatches before the C&P since they’re such similar movements and I usually do it in the reverse order. Sure enough, I was stronger on the snatch than the C&P this time. Also hit another PR with TGU. Failed at my first attempt on the left, but gave myself a minute and got the full rep. Those weighted pulls tore up my hips. It’s definitely time for a new weight belt.
Heavy strength day.
- Turkish Get Ups
- 3 x 55lb
- 3 x 65lb
- 2 x 75lb
- 2 x 80lb (PR)
- 1 Arm DB Clean and Press
- 3 x 80lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 2 x 100lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Simple pair, repeat 4x:
- One Arm Bench Press (90lb) - 5, 4, 4, 4
- Bent-over DB Row (100lb) - 5, 5, 5, 5
- Simple pair, repeat 4x:
- Double DB Front Squat (60lb) - 5, 5, 5, 5
- Double DB Deadlift (60lb) - 8, 8, 8, 8
Did this workout at the Chelsea Rec Center because Carmine Street was surprisingly closed without warning again. Someone needs to burn that place to the ground. The setup was different at Chelsea (no place to do weighted pullups or GHRs) so I had to modify things on the fly. I am happy with the TGUs though. 80lb felt easy!
Heavy strength day.
- Turkish Get Ups
- 1 Arm DB Clean and Press
- 3 x 85lb
- 3 x 95lb
- 2 x 95lb
- 2 x 100lb
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Simple pair, repeat 4x:
- Weighted Pullups - 5 x 90lb, 3 x 135lb, 2 x 135lb, 5 x 90lb
- Bench Press (225lb) - 7, 7, 8, 3
- Simple pair, repeat 4x (alternate A and B, no rest between A & B):
- Weighted One Legged Squats (45lb) - 5, 5, 4, 4
- Glute-Ham Raises - 5, 5, 5, 5
Did this one with Dave at the Metropolitan Rec Center in Williamsburg. Finished with some light OHS (just the bar), some HSPU practice, and a few proper bar muscle-ups in the park. The TGUs were kinda rusty and I wasn’t feeling good with the heavy snatches on my left side. It’s been tough to keep it up with no access to my weight room for a while. I opted for the 225lb bench press instead of weighted dips because Dave was there to spot me. I felt really good with my numbers on that one.
- Weighted Pullups (Princely Pullups)
- 5 x 90lb
- 3 x 135lb
- 2 x 155lb (PR)
- 0 x 160lb (f)
- 3 x 95lb
- 5 x 95lb
- Pullups - 10, 10, 10, 10 (grip variations)
- Preacher Curls
- 10 x 45lb
- 10 x 45lb
- 10 x 55lb
- 10 x 55lb
- 10 x 55lb
- One-Handed Cable Curls
- 10 x 25lb
- 10 x 30lb
- 10 x 35lb
- 10 x 40lb
- 10 x 45lb
- Simple pair, repeat 4x (alternate A and B, no rest between A & B):
- Reverse Curls - 10 x 45lb
- Wrist Curls - 25 x 45lb
- Back Extension
- 12 x bodyweight
- 8 x 45lb plate
- 8 x 45lb plate
- 8 x 45lb plate
I went to NYSC with Dave and followed his routine for the day. I haven’t done this much isolation work since college, but I was able to set a PR with weighted pulls (84% BW @ 185lb) since they have a much nicer weight belt than I do. I also learned that eating grapefruit will thin out the waist and bulk up the chest. Thanks Dave!
UPDATE: Those weighted pulls still bruised the hell out of my tiny little hips. I guess that belt wasn’t much better than mine. Looking into the Ironmind belt, which I’ve heard good things about.
- 1 Arm DB Clean & Press (from floor)
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 100lb
- 2 x 100lb
- Simple pair, repeat 4x (alternate A and B, no rest between A & B):
- Weighted Pullups - 5 x 90lb, 2 x 135lb, 2 x 145lb (PR), 5 x 90lb
- DB Bench Press (85lb) - 5, 5, 5, 5
- Simple pair, repeat 4x (alternate A and B, no rest between A & B):
- DB Step Ups - 12/side x 65lb (in each hand)
- Romanian Deadlift - 8 x 65lb (in each hand)
Finisher: 100 Med Ball Slams
It’s been said before, but that Step Up/RDL pair fries my grip like a child. I tried mixing up the workout today by removing the snatches after the C&P. I thought that I was front-loading the heavy stuff too much and that was costing me on the later exercises (namely the weighted pullups). I did set a PR with 2 reps of 145lb pullups, but didn’t really feel much different. In fact, when I got to the end I was too pooped (mostly in my grip) to add the snatches back in, so I finished with the med ball slams. That’ll teach me for messing with Ross’s plan - he’s tried it and he knows what works.
Heavy strength day.
- Turkish Get Ups
- 5 x 35lb
- 3 x 60lb
- 2 x 75lb (PR)
- 1 Arm DB Clean and Press (from floor)
- 3 x 85lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 100lb (ties PR)
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Simple pair, repeat 4x:
- Weighted Pullups - 5 x 90lb, 3 x 135lb, 3 x 90lb, 5 x 90lb
- Weighted Dips - 10 x 45lb, 6 x 90lb, 4 x 90lb, 5 x 90lb
- Overhead Squats
- 10 x 45lb
- 8 x 100lb
- 4 x 100lb
- 10 x 45lb
Mixed in some core training with strength today. New PR on TGU and tied PRs on C&P and Snatch. The 100lb snatch was really ugly on my left side though. I don’t know how I developed an imbalance, but I’ll need to fix that. I was aiming for a lot more OHS reps at 100lb at the end, but I just didn’t have the stability today and my tank was pretty empty. Running on empty. Forrest Gump.
Heavy strength day.
- Turkish Get Ups
- 5 x 50lb
- 2 x 60lb
- 1 x 70lb (PR - MILESTONE)
- 1 Arm DB Clean and Press (from floor)
- 3 x 75lb
- 3 x 85lb
- 3 x 90lb
- 3 x 95lb
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Simple pair, repeat 4x:
- Weighted One Legged Squats (45lb) - 5, 5, 4, 4
- Glute-Ham Raises - 5, 5, 5, 5
- Simple pair, repeat 4x:
- Weighted Pullups - 5 x 90lb, 4 x 90lb, 2 x 135lb, 5 x 90lb
- Weighted Dips - 10 x 45lb, 10 x 45lb, 5 x 90lb, 10 x 45lb
Finisher: 100 Medicine Ball Slams
I was chuffed to hit my goal of performing a turkish get up with 70lb on each side. I suppose my next short-term goal is 85lb (still working towards the ultimate goal of 100lb with both sides). I was also feeling really good and stable on the clean and press and the snatch and I have to chalk that up to all the TGU work I’ve been doing. Gotta keep working it.
Heavy strength day.
- 2 DB Push Press
- 3 x 65lb
- 3 x 65lb
- 3 x 75lb
- 3 x 75lb
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Simple pair, repeat 4x:
- Weighted Pullups - 5 x 90lb, 2 x 135lb, 4 x 90, 3 x 90lb
- Weighted Dips - 10 x 45lb, 4 x 90lb, 6 x 45lb, 6 x 45lb
- Simple pair, repeat 4x (alternate A and B, no rest between A & B):
- Weighted One Legged Squats - 5 x 25lb, 5 x 25lb, 5 x 35lb, 5 x 45lb
- Glute-Ham Raises - 5, 5, 5, 5
Was still feeling sore today from Thursday’s Crossfit workout, despite taking a rest day yesterday. Pushed through it, but couldn’t go as heavy as I would have liked on the first two exercises. Decided to go really heavy on pullups and dips though and tied a PR of 2 pullups with 135lb (75% bw).
