Another 24

[Jim Ouini]

Week 10 Day 2

Had to work late today so I went to the gym.

Clean Pull
1 x 10 (RDL)
135 x 8 (RDL)
135 x 3
225 x 2 x 3
275 x 1
315 x 1, x 3
335 x 2 x 3

Too heavy and had some hip twinge - couldn't pop my hips very well. Form no good, as a result.

CG Bench
Bar x 10
135 x 5
185 x 1
205 x 1
235 x 3 x 3

Good sets, I felt pretty strong and it was nice to lie down after pulling . Last rep I paused on my chest and had enough in the tank to explode up.

Next to me some guys were benching with 35's on each side - no biggie we all start somewhere but I overheard the ring leader tellling them that soon they'd be putting on 45's and 'that's the big pie - that's the big one'. Like it was the holy grail. I kinda chuckled a little, I'd never heard a plate called the 'big pie' before. I may use it.

BB row
Bar x 10
135 x 5
185 x 1
235 x 3 x 3

Back a little tired from clean pulls so these weren't as snappy as I'dve liked. Warmups were minimal so I didn't feel comfortable really until the last set.

Overall: Good CG bench, clean pull and rows were no good. Ah well.

 

[anotherbutters]

Watch the cals on those big pies bro

 

[Jim Ouini]

Week 10 Day 3

Couldn't work out yesterday so I had an extra days rest. Good thing

Worked out at home, weights in kg's. Warm out again and had to eat Chinese food last night - since I'm Chinese I guess it was just 'food' /Seinfeld - which isn't my favorite, especially the night before lifting.

No excuses, though, after all it was last day of this cycle.

Back Squat
Bar x 2 x 10 (FS/BS)
60 x 2 x 5
82 x 2 x 2
102 x 3
125 x 3 (hard)
152 x 2.5, x 1 (no belt 1 x 2.5 PR )

vid

Arrgh. I lost my focus on my last rep of 152 and had a stumble at the end. I felt fairly strong but I just didn't stay tight enough. I tried it again after a few minutes rest but didn't have it in me so I just dumped the bar on my 2nd rep. Oh well.

Incline Bench
Bar x 15
60 x 5
75 x 3
82 x 3
105 x 3 (PR I suppose)

vid

First time I've inclined at home with my new bench (craiglist rocks ) I think the incline might've been a notch lower than at the gym but when I raised it, it seemed high. I didn't want to take any chances with no spotter so I just left it as is. Moderately hard reps but never in doubt.

BB row
Bar x 8
60 x 5
80 x 3
105 x 3
125 x 3 (humped the bar)

105 was decent. I wanted to try 125 to see where my row was and suffice it to say it's dropped off a lot, as I was on a pogo stick doing these, even with straps

vid

Overall: Kicking myself on that last rep of squats but what can you do.

Final comment: Successful run, methinks. Set a couple PR's and emerged relatively unscathed healthwise. I may take an easy week and then start it all again subbing in Week 2 weights into Week 1. Pondering exercise subs this weekend.

Thanks for reading

 

[blut wump]

It's been a good ride and great to finish on a run of squat PRs.

That's one of the most distressing feelings when squatting. You know you have strength for the last rep but you just lose something as you get down and then there's no way you're coming back up.

Congrats on getting another cycle down.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Thank you sir

Funny thing about that 3rd rep, I was well out of the hole and pitched forward as I grinded past my sticking point. It's a good thing to remember for the next time.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Week 1 Day 1

Worked out at home, weights in kgs. Tough workout, too tough for Week 1. I overestimated myself, especially squatting.

Dip 'n dive drill
Bar x 5 x 5

I think I'll do these as my warmups each workout out from now on. Still too slow but foot stomp is coming along.

Squat
65 x 2 x 5
85 x 2
100 x 1
125 x 2 x 6
115 x 2 x 6

Yipes. I had thoughts that it was just getting used to this rep range, but on the other hand 125 was mid-volume phase weight from my last run so maybe it was just too heavy. Anyway, 125 was tough and the last rep on the 2nd set was a grinder. So I decided to step back to 115 and even those were kinda hard. Hips felt pretty tight, I never really felt comfortable coming out of the hole today. Oh well, maybe one of those days, I just laid around all day before working out.

Bench
Bar x 15
65 x 6
85 x 6
95 x 6
100 x 6

Used my new bench and didn't like it - too cushiony and I found out later it was a notch below flat so it was a very slight decline, which explains why I had problems unracking the bar. Weight itself wasn't that hard except the last rep at 100 I had to push.

Clean Pull
65 x 2 x 3
85 x 2 x 3
105 x 2 x 3

Enthusiasm waning by now. Got 'em over quick and called it a day.

Overall: Ugh. Not an ideal opening day what with overshooting my squat and messing up my bench angle. Will have to bounce back on Wed.

BTW, this 4 x 6 run will be:

M:
Squat 4 x 6
Bench 1 x 6
Clean Pull 2 x 3

W
Front Squat 3 sets of 5 adding weight each set, then 4 progressively heavy triples (per Biggt)
Trap Bar DL or RDL or SLDL 4 x 6
Incline Bench 4 x 6
Pullup 4 x 6

F
Squat 1 x 6
Bench 4 x 6
Clean Pull 6 x 3

Then deload/intensity, just like last time. Oh I was thinking of doing some bi's and tri's this time around. We'll see.

 

[Protobuilder]

Great to see a successful cycle end, and a new cycle begin. Sometimes that first day back is real tough and maybe you need a few more days off. I always want to jump right back in too but the body isn't always willing.

I like your set up. You're not going to row at least one day? I've tried doing clean pulls on 2 cycles and it never fails, I wind up doing rows by the end. LoL What are your goals this time? Same as always? Get stronger? Gain a few pounds?

Good luck, Jim.

 

[blut wump]

Good to see a new one under way. Stay healthy.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Yep yep PB that first day of going back to 'high reppers' is a killer. I think there was a real disconnect between where I thought I should be and where I was lol. Ah well.

As far as rows, I thought about it for awhile - I really want to get better at clean pulls and make sure I drill the form to eventually help my powerclean. OTOH, I like GP rows so it may make sense to sub it in for my pull on Wednesday's. We'll see.

Today I feel pretty sore, lower back is tight and glutes are somewhat fried. No conditioning...

 

[Jim Ouini]

Good to see a new one under way. Stay healthy.

Thanks BW - see my post mortem above. I already feel broke down and it's only Week 1 Day 1

 

[Protobuilder]

6 is pretty low but you've essentially doubled and even tripled your rep count so it'll take a few initial weeks of breaking in, I s'pose. Overall though, Day 1 shouldn't be so traumatic. LoL

Twice now, I've tried DL'ing on W and high pulls on M & F only to eventually drop one day of high pulls (swap for rows), and eventually dropping both days. It was a lower back thing for me, and some thigh conditioning as well. You might keep high pulls on your light volume squat day and go to rows on your high volume squat day. Leave W alone. Just a thought. Or maybe just throw in a set of heavy rows here and there so you don't lose the adaptation as severely. A cycle without rows is, well, incomplete to me. LoL

 

[Jim Ouini]

Overall though, Day 1 shouldn't be so traumatic. LoL

Hell no it shouldn't. That's exactly what I was thinking, I kept hearing MC2 in the back of my head that Week 1 should be a walk in the park. But for some reason I felt like I needed to get used to 'straining' more on my squats. No more tip-toeing around the weight. Guess I was wrong, as I almost buried myself yesterday.

I've subbed the rows once before for clean pulls- although my form back then was more deadlift into a polite shrug - and deaded on Wed. Not sure I could do that again since I've found I can't manage my workload very well with deads.

I may toss in some rows as you suggest, hell some of my rows are starting to look like clean pulls anyway

 

[Jim Ouini]

Week 1 Day 2

Pretty much working out at home unless otherwise noted. Tough workout, I forgot how these Wed volume workouts are.

Drop under bar drills
Bar x 5 x 5 (vid)

Felt maybe a wee bit faster today, especially last 2 sets.

Front Squat
60 x 5
65 x 5
70 x 5
75 x 3
80 x 3
85 x 3
90 x 3 (vid)

Hip was a little sore today, I felt it coming out of the hole. Weight wasn't too bad, tried to reign it in a little after Monday's disaster. I hit something on the way down on my first rep so I was lifting kind of careful last set.

Trap Bar DL
75 x 2 x 5
115 x 1
135 x 4 x 6 (vid) Certainly nothing exciting to look at, although I did want to see if this more 'rack pull-ish' as far a starting position. Weight was pretty easy but hip was feeling it off the floor.

Incline Bench
Bar x 15
60 x 5
80 x 4 x 6

A little tougher than I'dve liked. Pretty knackered by now.

Towel-ups/Chins
Green Band x 3 x 8

No enthusiasm by and these towel pullups are tough, I sure can't do more than 2 with BW. Switched to chins and they weren't much better.

Overall: Man I hope it's just the Week 1 blues, especially inclining. Yipes.

 

[carlsuen]

wow.. i love your layout man.. good luck on the new cycle!

 

[Jim Ouini]

Well thanks but it's just standard 5 x 5 template, basically

Anyway, I may drop the pullups and on Fri's I'll try to do 3 x 10 bicep curls and 3 x 10 lying db extensions or something

 

[petpre61]

I think the bar is supposed to meet the shoulders when you stomp your feet

 

[blut wump]

I watched the "drop under" vid. I think maybe you need to put a little more weight on the bar since it seemed to me that you were doing a reverse curl to grab a few extra inches in the process. Of course, I have little experience with these.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Thank you for the comments guy, much appreciated.

Yeah I'm still trying to dial everything in - lots to think about: speed, foot stomp and elbow whip are my main things. Sometimes I forget the elbow whip Just yesterday I was thinking of a way to have the bar meet my shoulders just as I stomped my feet.

As far as adding weight, the thought crossed my mind but I resisted as I'm hoping I can corret it mentally. We'll see.

 

[BiggT]

Nice last couple of workouts.....sometimes I am a little nervous the first week of a new cycle when things aren't a total joke, but usually it corrects itself with some conditioning, worst case scenario, you can just load hard for 2 weeks or even 3, then deload one week, and begin loading again......also, if you feel you're the type of trainee who does better with 2 week bursts of HEAVY loading, follwed with 1 week of unloading, it may be something to think about at this point......with me, I find that I don't need much reacclimation, maybe a week or so, then I adapt pretty quickly to the lifts I am training, so I might try that.

I can never view your vids at work on the CPU here for some reason, but I will check them out when I get home......you'll do well on the front squats, I think you're going to be an excellent squatter.....and no matter how taxing the fronts feel on Wed, they never contribute to much fatigue, soreness, or CNS issues because they are still lighter than back squats and not brutal on the posterior chain.

 

[carlsuen]

jim.. would u mind putting your vids on youtube? as i can't seem to view it on putfile.. i'm retarded..

i also need work on my cleans..

 

[silver_shadow]

i think you guys need a quicktime plugin

 

[carlsuen]

man i'm lazy to DL it..

will do so.. -_-"

 

[Jim Ouini]

OK guys I'll switch to Youtube and see if that works better

Nice last couple of workouts.....sometimes I am a little nervous the first week of a new cycle when things aren't a total joke, but usually it corrects itself with some conditioning, worst case scenario, you can just load hard for 2 weeks or even 3, then deload one week, and begin loading again......also, if you feel you're the type of trainee who does better with 2 week bursts of HEAVY loading, follwed with 1 week of unloading, it may be something to think about at this point......with me, I find that I don't need much reacclimation, maybe a week or so, then I adapt pretty quickly to the lifts I am training, so I might try that.

Thanks for the positive comments – I have to admit to having some anxiety about this week and just starting all over in a few days. The 2/3 week load also crossed my mind. Hell I was thinking of 1 week loading. But we’ll see how Friday goes and see if I can push through after a weekend of R&R.

As far as me becoming a good squatter – man, I really appreciate the comment but it’s my weak lift and I always have a lot of anxiety getting under the bar, no matter what the weight.

no matter how taxing the fronts feel on Wed, they never contribute to much fatigue, soreness, or CNS issues because they are still lighter than back squats and not brutal on the posterior chain.

Yep, that and Trap Bar DL hopefully to save the PC. I hope so.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Week 1 Day 3

Just typing that makes me shake my head. Week 1...

Fighting off a bit of a cold today and feeling run down. I hope that's a big contributer because I felt weak as shit today.

Drop under bar drills
bar x 5 x 5

Squat
Bar x 10
60 x 2 x 5
80 x 1
90 x 6
100 x 6
110 x 6
120 x 6

Hip really started to bother me at 90, I trudged through til my last set which was hard, my last rep was a grinder. Hip/glute really hurting coming out of the hole. Really strange as I felt great coming off my last run.

Bench
Bar x 2 x 15
60 x 5
80 x 1
100 x 4 x 6

WTF? I did these 'piston-like' 6 months ago or so and these were tough. Hell I was close-gripping these a few weeks ago.

Clean Pulls
100 x 1

Quit, way too slow and no pop whatsover

Overall: Crappy end to a crappy Week 1. I'll see how I feel tomorrow and finish up the CP's, maybe.

 

[The Shadow]

Hang in there - I had a crappy week last week.....it will come back

 

[Tweakle]

Jim have you seen a chiro or physio about the hip? Mine just has to touch my hip flexors and I'm squirming off her table, they get so tight that stretching and adjustment (and ART!) can make a big difference

 

[Jim Ouini]

Hang in there - I had a crappy week last week.....it will come back

Thanks Shadow, appreciate the encouragment. I feel a little better today.

Tweakle: I saw a chrio a few months ago and it seemed to help but I wasn't fond of the 'visit everyday for 10 weeks' program he laid out for me.

Anyway, the pain I'm feeling is one of extreme tightness in my glute/hip to the point of hurting and makes me compensate in other ways. This morning I woke up and it felt like a charlie horse in my medial glute/sid of my leg.

Maybe a chrio will indeed help.

 

[Protobuilder]

If you're catching a cold and feeling like dogcrap, you may need to back off for a 7-14 days. The rest may help you in the long run.

Also, you may look into triggerpoint therapy. It's called lots of other things too but a search for trigger point therapy should get your started. Some people swear by it and you can do it yourself. You mentioned having a really tight spot in a particular location . . . you may be able to work it out on your own and then keep working that point as maintenance and it might do the trick. PM me if you want more info.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Yeah I'm considering a full week off just to get better. Cold took a turn for the worse with body aches and the whole bit, although today is better.

Sorry for all the whining lately, btw

Is trigger point therapy anything like myofascial release? I have a foam roller I can use.

 

[BiggT]

Hope you get rested up....with a cold I can go either way, if I get nailed, some time off is what I need, if it is mild, I pop some Advil Cold and Sinus and ride the pseudoephedrine to a usually good workout, lol.....just use your head with it and don't be afraid of a 5-7 day layoff.

With Chiro's, they are either great or total clowns looking to make a buck (visit everyday for 10 weeks, lol)....do some homework on the ones in your area as the right one who is legit and knows their stuff can work wonders.