Raising The Bar

It was back to workout B today, this one almost didn't happen as I left my bag on the train this morning. Thankfully this happened to be the 1 time in 100 that someone handed it straight in; so lucky!

Anyway, I started the deads with 2x130kg (286lbs) but I didn't think my form was quite right so quickly dropped down to 120kg for the last 3 reps.
I also ripped a callus on my right hand which made it sensitive after that.
I dropped down to 100kg for the 8 and 12 reps in later cycles

I attracted a few looks today as I was sweating so bad I was literally dripping and my t-shirt was soaked through with just the exception of my collar, sexy :)

I'm finding the routine as a whole very tough on my lower body and very light on my upper so I'll have to wait and see how my upper body responds to this
 
For calluses use a pumice stone in the shower to rub them down. This, of course, won't get rid of them, but it will cause it so that it's not so raised up and readily to rip. In throwing, it's not uncommon to rip calluses like crazy; most of us have found that using the pumice stone is a great option as it keeps the calluses but cuts down immensely on ripping them off.
 
OK guys, I might need a few ideas from people. I'm off to see family in the country for a few days (Tue-Thu) so there's a chance I'll miss 1 or even 2 workouts this week as the place I'm staying only has about 100 houses and a couple of shops; no gym for many miles.
I am going into town a couple of times and might be able to get away then but there's a high chance that I'll end up missing out.

So here's what I need; an alternative weight free routine that will fit around my current plan. I've already thought of trying those handstand press ups that FF does which looks a similar movement to the military press and obviously I'll be able to find somewhere to do chins & dips in all the farms & fields.

Does anyone else have any ideas? I'm currently trying to remember all the training scenes from Rocky for inspiration :) I seem to remember him holding a huge plank of wood over his shoulders while doing some kind of walking squat.
 
CCR said:
I'm finding the routine as a whole very tough on my lower body and very light on my upper so I'll have to wait and see how my upper body responds to this
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tonymcclellan said:
Lower body is the key to overall growth ;)
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Damn right I'd say, I was back on workout A today or Squat day as I'm calling it now and although this is the first week for about a month where I haven't put on weight I've definitely gained strength.

I started the front squats and step ups (I always keep the bar the same so I can go straight from one to the next) with the bar at 90kg, that's 30kg up from my starting weight 7 days ago. The reps went

5x90kg
8x80
12x60

I thought I could've done 12x70 but I wanted to ensure correct form for all reps.

The rows I tried to get up to 112kg for the first 5, I think I got away with it but rep 5 was a bit iffy. I then dropped 7kg for each set that followed.

Here's the evidence of upper body strength gain;

At the end of the session I was still feeling like my hormone were through the roof and I needed to push myself a little more but my body couldn't cope with another big lift so I thought I'd add a few sets on the pectoral fly (please forgive me :)) and even though I was shattered the adrenaline took me through 3 sets of 8 at 112kg! This time a couple of weeks back I would have struggled to do 98 at the start of the routine.

And then I went on to do 3x8 dips while holding a 12kg dumbbell between my feet.

I think the amount of absolute stress that my body is going through is forcing my body to get stronger very fast.
 
One last thing, I noticed today that if I'm sweating a lot it's pretty hard to stop the bar from slipping on my shoulder. Is there any way of limiting bar slippage?
 
OK then first session back after my mini break; (all weight in KG)

Deads
6x130
8x110
10x110

MP
5x45
8x45
10x45

Static lunge
3x8 @ 56kg

Face pull
3x10 @60kg

Assisted pull up
3x8 @ 15kg (down from 20 last week)

I was pleased with the deads, last week I could only manage 2 lifts of 130kg before my form went and I had to drop weight. Today I manged 6 lifts at that weight and still had a bit in the tank to lift heavier (next week).
I'm getting more comfortable with the military press so will probably try and up the weight next week.
I'm feeling so much more comfortable with the pull ups that I think I wouldn't need to do them assisted if it wasn't for the fact that I'm shattered by the time I get to that point in the cycle.

For some reason todays session hit me harder than usual, I had to take a break before the face pulls on the last set or I'd have been sick.
I've also noticed that my weight has now stayed static since I started this routine, I think that the extra effort needed for such a grueling routine has caused equilibrium in my diet so I'll need to up my intake next week
 
One other thing, my hands are now killing me after those deads, I've got skin lifting in two places on my right hand; my hands are gonna turn into a giant pair of calluses soon! Would it look too wimpy for a guy to wear gloves when he's only lifting about 300lbs?
 
Meh, if I saw someone deadlift 300 pounds I'd be like "hey that guy is buff!" So I'd wear the gloves.

But if you dont' want to wear them you could always wrap tape around as well. You might have to do some weird criss cross crap for the fingers/palms so the tape doesn't roll down.

They also have some really heavy duty bandadges these days that are specially designed for the hand and what not.
 
AZN_Dave said:
Meh, if I saw someone deadlift 300 pounds I'd be like "hey that guy is buff!" So I'd wear the gloves.
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Lol, thanks, but for a guy my size a 300lb deadlift sucks, I want it up to about 400lb by the end of the year

What kind of tape do you use on hands?
 
Hmm.. I thought you know, just athletic tape. Like the kind of tape you use to wrap wrists, knees, and ankles. It's white, you can get it for 1.50 a roll at walmart. (may seem expensive but it's the cheapest I've found and if you are just wrapping the hands for grip you could probably get 5 wraps for each hand out of a roll, or more, I'm not good at estimating)

When it gets on your hands (I wrap my wrists and it goes through the hand) it also allows for a better grip even if you sweat profusely.
 
AZN_Dave said:
Hmm.. I thought you know, just athletic tape. Like the kind of tape you use to wrap wrists, knees, and ankles. It's white, you can get it for 1.50 a roll at walmart. (may seem expensive but it's the cheapest I've found and if you are just wrapping the hands for grip you could probably get 5 wraps for each hand out of a roll, or more, I'm not good at estimating)

When it gets on your hands (I wrap my wrists and it goes through the hand) it also allows for a better grip even if you sweat profusely.
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Cool, I've never seen or heard of athletic tape to be honest, but then again I'd never done a deadlift until a few months ago so I've not had the need to look, the other lifts make nothing like the impact on your hands
 
The break was pretty relaxing although it was all spent meeting up with with friends of girlfriend so nothing exciting. Being away from the gym was pretty hard and I got a bit restless without access to weights.

I'm back with workout A today, last week I was using 90kg for the squats so today I'll try and up that to 100kg. The pain in the arse is that my squating is improving faster than the step ups which might mean that I'll have to change the weight on the bar inbetween the exercises which will slow me down a lot.

Also, I use one of the Reebok steps at the gym, I'm sure it felt under strain last week, does anyone know how much weight they can hold?
 
Worst. workout. ever!

I was trying to start with a front squat of 100kg today and to say I was confident would be an understatement, I was positive it was well within me for at least 6 reps. Well, after 2 failed attempts at 6 reps (managed 4 and 3) I decided to drop down to 90, that was when I saw that I'd loaded the bar wrong! The bloody thing was heavier on the right which is why I couldn't balance it properly!

To be honest the whole workout after that was useless as they always are after I fail on a lift, I start to try lifting heavier to compensate for the previous failure only to fail at everything.

On a plus side though, I did 112kg on the cable row with no trouble this week.

Tonight I'm eating big and tomorrow I'm deadlifting 140kg x 6 (308lbs I think). Either that bar goes up or I'll be hospitalised trying!
 
Workout went a lot better today I managed to deadlift 140kg for 4 reps. I couldn't quite make the full 6 but I was confident my form was good which is the main thing and it's the first time I've had to add 6 20kg plates to the bar which is a little milestone.

I also upped the military press to 60kg for the 5 reps, up from 45 last week. The jump was dramatic in effect as I was sweating like crazy for the rest of the session. I was getting stared at a lot, I think people were waiting for the heart attack :)

scales up to 221 so pretty happy the weight is increasing again
 
Rest day today so not much to post - feel free to say hi in my 1,000th post thread though :)

Another question though, does anyone know how to test for Bicep tendonitis?
 
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