Decent heel game...

Deviated a little from the program today.  My heel felt pretty good, but we decided to do our speed pulls from the first pin on the power rack.  Other than that, was a pretty solid day.  Felt strong.  Only thing I don't like about the cold mornings is it takes about 3-4 working sets before I feel strong.  Anyway, numbers...


Speed rack pulls, first pin.  365  8x2
Cable side bends  100 3x15
Standing Cable Situps 100 3x15
Face pulls 100  3x12

Full boar...

Oddly enough, I'm talking about the Slingshot, usually any other time me or the people I associate with at the gym have used the term full boar, it's usually followed by something tremendously filthy.  So, today was my first day using the Full Boar Slingshot, so it was a bit of a learning process to figure out what weight my speed is good with, it was fun.  Everything felt well, kept my shoulder from hurting while benching so that was super nice too.  Good day all around which was needed.  Lots of numbers for bench today.

Speed Bench 8 sets of 2.  315x2, 335x2, 345x2, 365x1, 385x1.   The 365 moved very well, the 385 was good, but not as fast as I would have liked, next week I think I'll do my speed sets in the range of 355-365. 

One arm grenade tricep presses 35 pound 3x8.

Handle tricep pressdowns  4 sets of 15  47, 52, 57, 63.

Burn out on peck deck  130  1x38.

Miles of hugs...

So... awesome news.  My new Slingshot came in.  Spoke with them on the phone on Tuesday and the new one was here on Friday.  They were so helpful and quick about getting me my new one.  So once again, really looking forward to Monday's bench day. 

So... sad news.  Went to the gym this morning and Miles came in.  Probably gonna be the last time I see him before he moves to PA, so that's sad.  However a few awkward man hugs were had where I'm pretty sure one guy in there thought we were going to just full on kiss. 

So... bad news.  Heel was still hurting but I managed to do some squats anyway.  Way lighter that I'd like to post numbers of, but I will.  At least I've finally gotten to do squats this year, which was nice.  I did have to keep my shoes on, which sucked, really not used to squatting in shoes.


Squats   135, 145, 155, 165   all sets of 8
Leg Curls  140, 160, 180, 200   Sets of 8
Side Bends  100 4x15
Standing Situp  100 3x15

Landmines, it had to be landmines...

I've fallen in love with landmines, they're my favorite/primary shoulder exercise now.  They don't put a huge amount of stress on my shoulders which is nice plus I'm getting my rhythm down with them nicely and adding more weight each week.  It's also nice when you have two plates and a quarter on the bar when you rip it off the ground with enough force that your partner goes "Damn, you're gonna make an extra window in here if you don't calm down."  "There's another wall behind this one."  " YEAH I KNOW!"  So anyway, numbers time...


Landmines(2H) Plate/Quarter, 2 Plates, 2 Plates/Quarter, 3 Plates.  Sets of 8
V-bar pressdowns 70, 80, 90, 100   Sets of 15
Handle pressdowns  42 47 52 57  Sets of 15
Machine Lateral Raises  200, 205, 207.5  Sets of 15. 

I seem to be enjoying my accessory work a lot lately which is nice.

Damn heel...

Tried to pull on Tuesday, however, getting back on my heel to warm up was hurting too much.  So had to change it up and just did quad/hamstring work instead.  Thought about good mornings but I get back on my heels pretty hard for that too, so that was a no go.  It's felt pretty good the last couple of days which is nice, but seems anytime I think it's getting better, it flares up pretty badly.  Anyway, some numbers...


Leg Extensions 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200.  All sets of 8
Leg Curls  120, 140, 160, 180, 200  Sets of 8 each.
Standing situps, 100  4x15
Cable Side Bends 100  4x12
Face pulls 100  4x8

Those stitches popped!

So, a day late so this will be for yesterday.  Another good day aside from some shoulder pain and a minor gear issue.  I ordered a Full Boar Singshot, yesterday was going to be the first day using it, as I lowered the bar the entire right cuff came unstitched.  That was fun, I've contacted them, they make pretty great gear so I'm sure this will get taken care of quickly, I've had my Reactive Slingshot for about a year and a half and it's still amazing considering the use on it.  Anyway, shoulder wasn't too bad, so I'll just hit numbers.


Speed bench           315 8x2
Tricep Pressdowns 42/47/52   3x15
Pec Deck                130 3x15
Incline Machine      Plates each side 3x15

Meh...

Not feeling it today.  Good day at the gym this morning aside from that heel bruise seeming to be worse again, not terrible, just not as as the past few days.

Double arm shoulder landmines, 4x8  plate, plate/quarter, plate/plate, plate/plate/quarter

Tate presses 3x8   Shoulder was hurting on raising them so only used 50s.

Plate raises  3x8

Lateral Raises(machine) 3x12  200

Yeah, short today.  

Speed pulls... not bad...

Yesterday was pretty groovy, when I was almost done with my pulls I realized that the wonky hip/oblique pull hadn't really bothered me.  So that was a nice distraction.  Fortunately when I woke up, I realized my heel was well enough that I was able to deadlift without shoes, which made me happy.  I think I might have aggravated it a bit, but very little, so hopefully by next week won't be feeling the effects of it.  In other EXCITING news, my Full Boar Slingshot came in yesterday.  So I'll be doing some of my speed training overloaded a bit more.  That will  be fun.  Numbers shall we...


Speed Deadlift      315 8x2
Standing Situp      100 4x12
Cable Side Bends 100 3x12
Face Pulls             100 3x8


This is the end of the first three weeks, so next week there will be a bit of an increase for speed work. 

Oopsie, missed a couple of post...

Bah, they're not bench or deadlift post so they're not important anyway.  There, I said it.  Shoulder is feeling at about 60% which is better than it has, one of the reasons for all my bench being speedwork in my Slingshot.  The whole reason I got into bench shirts was to protect my shoulder anyway.  The Slingshot helps with that, plus I don't think putting on a Rage X to do 315 for speed would be very effective considering I have to be at about 425 before I can touch my chest in that thing.  The heel bruise is pretty decent now, I have to deadlift in the morning, which sucks because I'm thinking I might have to pull in my shoes, and I can't remember the last time I did that.  I'm thinking it was in the aughts.  Anyway, some numbers...


Speed Bench Slingshot 315  8x2
Tricep press downs    47, 52, 57  3x15
Cable flies          50 3x12, 3x12, 3x15

Had Spoto presses scheduled in, but my shoulder gave a hard no on that.  I'm not a fan of having to work around or drop stuff all together based on injuries, but it's a necessary evil sometimes.  Which is odd, I often find evil to be necessary.  Anyhoo... enough of my horseshit for the evening. 

Found a good sleeping position!

Managed to find a decent position to sleep in that my shoulder didn't hurt much.  I can't imagine it looks comfortable but at least I didn't wanna scream as I pushed myself up out of the bed this morning so that's a bonus.  Gym this morning was nice and smooth.  Speed deadlifts with no weird catches/hitches in my obliques/lower back.  Also another plus.  Finally got the results of my blood work back.  I get to have more done next week.  So yay.  I'm going to try not to think about that too much, but at least my thyroid function is excellent, so I got that going for me.   Anyway, numbers!

Speed deadlift 315 8x2, did a hold pause on the first rep.
    at around set 3 it turned into cardio when me and my training partner decide to see which of us            would blow up first so we were plate switching stupid fast and not doing any chatting between            sets, just trashtalking the other one during the sets.
Standing Situps  100   4x12   2 stances wide 2 stances narrow.
Cable Side Bend 100   3x12 
Short stroke behind the neck lat pull down.  3x8 150, 170, 200.  That's one I'm not sure if there's an       actual name for, but fuck if they don't tear up my upper back, so I do them and continue to love           them.


I feel like I'm getting some core strength back which is nice, apparently when you leave a job where you regularly load large appliances it means you miss a lot of core work.  Anyway, that's enough for today, I'm getting kinda wordy.

I want a new shoulder.

My shoulder hates me apparently, even on days it feels good going in.  Anyway, not gonna dwell on that, just gonna post numbers and shut up.

Speed bench Slingshot  8x2 Paused the first rep.  315
Reverse Grip Bench      3x8 135, 185(shoulder started hurting bad) 135
Pec Deck                       3x8 140, had to put it on notch 2 so it wouldn't stretch me too much(shoulder)
Tricep Presses Long handles 3x8  52, 57, 62.

I done goofed

So my 4th training day this week was supposed to be Friday, however due to having to get blood work done, while getting vampired I mention that I have trouble sleeping, so my doc gave me Vistaril, it's an antihistamine that is off branded for motion sickness, insomnia, and anxiety.  So I was going to go in Saturday morning.  I took one that night because I hardly slept the night before, then I wasn't sleepy at all Friday night, took it around 12:30AM.  My alarm went off at 7:45am.  Tried to get out of bed and that didn't work, just fell back over.  Sent a text to my training partner "Dude, can we make it 9:30 today?"  "Yeah no prob."  Figured I'd sleep till about 8:30, reset an alarm.  8:30 comes around, "Dude, I still don't think I can drive."  "It's cool, I'm pretty open today so just let me know."  About noon rolls around and I finally wake back up.  I still felt kinda groggy/hung over the rest of the day.  Apparently you get used to that, but this is one of those meds you only take when you need it.  So I think I'll do my best to reserve it for the nights before non-training days.  Should get my blood work results on Monday, it's nice having all weekend to stress over that.  Anyway, I guess that's all for now. 

Interesting day...

So, I just hit hour two without eating.  I have to have blood work done in the morning so I'm having to not eat 10 hours before it.  I always make my appointment as early as possible that way I can eat right after.  I don't think I'd be this hungry two hours after eating, but I'm sitting here thinking "Man, there's some cold pizza in the fridge that's calling to me."  Anyway... I'm going to attempt to stop thinking about food.  Anyway, on to today's lifting...

Double arm landmines, 3x8 2-45s, 2-45s/1-25, 3-45s.

Tate presses  3x8, 70s, 80s, 100s.  I hate the 90s and 100s at the gym, the bars are a bit too thick with no contouring, so it makes holding them for Tates a bitch.

Uppercuts 3x8  20s

Lateral Machine Raises 3x12 140

Normally I'd do my squat day tomorrow, but pushing that to Saturday because of the blood work.  

That's enough for today.

A little behind... already...

So, second day this week was okay, about half way though my speed deadlifts I started getting that annoying pull in my rear right obliques, sometimes makes me think I'm getting old, then again just makes me work around that area and try to train that area harder.  Day was pretty simple.

8x2 315 speed deadlifts
3x8 135 Bent over rows underhand grip.  Would have went heavier but that pull was bugging me.
3x15 Cable side bends 100 pounds each side.
3x15 straight arm pulldowns, dunno how much weigh, was on the 15 stack.

This one is going to be short because it's late. 

Here we go again...

Okay, set up my programs for the next several weeks, right now if all goes according to plan I'll be back to shirt benching 500+ in about 6 weeks.  Seems like I've been a bit more ahead of schedule than I had thought which is nice.  Working on a modified conjugate method at the moment with more of a focus on my speed work.  I still need to figure out what's going on with my back and odd spasms I've been getting in my lower back, like right at the base of my spinal erectors when I'm doing squats.  Not that I squat that heavy, but even light ones cause it, so going to have to focus on some core and lower back work.  Going to keep my deadlifts for speed at around 315-365 for the next 4-6 weeks.

Anyway, today was bench, it was fun.

Speed bench with SlingShot 315 8x2
Half bench(not sure what else to call it, press from the chest to half way up, basically working what the SlingShot doesn't work)  225 3x8
Triceps pressdowns 57.5 3x10
and finally cable flies with an upward motion to hit the upper chest a bit for some blood flow, 50 3x15.

Felt good, but I gotta tell ya, one thing that sucks is going to the gym when it's 14 degrees out.  I've never been one to change at the gym, plus I don't really like wearing sweats at the gym.  So a tshirt and hoodie for warmth, but those gym shorts with the baggy leg holes that flutter so carelessly in the breeze were not fun walking into the gym.  There's your mental image for the day.