Rooks - Tracking the Daily Grind...

[matty_mcfly]

Just had my first day of fitting in both SmolovJr squats and 531 bench.  More power to you for banging out those reps even though you didn't hit 5/5/5.  I had no leg drive on any set, but especially the last one.  Decided to just call it quits at the 5.

[Rooks]

Merry Swolemas to all!

 

 

12/24/2014

Total time:  60 Minutes

 

Warm-up

• Leg Swings
• Hip Openers
• Hops

Squat

• 5 @ 45lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 185lbs
• 3 @ 225lbs
• 1 @ 275lbs (Belted)
• 9 @ 235lbs (Belted)
• 9 @ 235lbs (Belted)
• 9 @ 235lbs (Belted)
• 9 @ 235lbs (Belted)

Notes:  Week 1 Day 1 of Smolov Base Cycle.  Ended up skipping the entire 2nd week of Intro as I got a cold and finally felt well enough to get under the bar today.  That said, this was tough.  Going to be a fun 10 weeks. 

 

Bench

• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 190lbs
• 5 @ 205lbs
• 5 @ 215lbs

Notes:  Everything was touch and go today.  No paused reps. 

[wildross]

Nice work!

[Shortgorilla]

Happy swolemass!

[Rooks]

12/26/2014

First off, someone must have been a good boy this year because I got exactly what I wanted for Christmas.  And yes, I love being gaudy as hell with my neon flipping shoes.

 

 

Total time:  60 Minutes

 

Warm-up

• Leg Swings
• Hip Openers
• Hops

Squat

• 5 @ 45lbs
• 5 @ 95lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 185lbs
• 3 @ 225lbs
• 1 @ 275lbs (Belted)
• 7 @ 250lbs (Belted, For 5 Sets)

Notes:  Week 1 Day 2 of Smolov Base Cycle.  As for the new kicks, I can tell they are going to help me stay solid with form.  My feet feel just planted to the ground and I feel like it's almost impossible to go forward or backward with them. 

[jengetsit]

Haha, nice kicks! 

 

Whoa ... There is some serious squatting in this log. Good work!

[Rooks]

12/28/2014

Total time:  60 Minutes

 

Warm-up

• Leg Swings
• Hip Openers
• Hops

Squat

• 5 @ 45lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 185lbs
• 3 @ 225lbs
• 5 @ 270lbs (Belted, For 7 Sets)

Notes:  Week 1 Day 3 of Smolov Base Cycle. 

 

12/29/2014

Total time:  75 Minutes

 

Warm-up

• Leg Swings
• Hip Openers
• Hops

Squat

• 5 @ 45lbs
• 5 @ 95lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 185lbs
• 3 @ 225lbs
• 3 @ 285lbs (Belted, For 10 Sets)

Notes:  Week 1 Day 4 of Smolov Base Cycle.  The grind of Smolov has officially begun...

[Shortgorilla]

Mr. Squattin' all the time, squattin' all the time.

[matty_mcfly]

I know you use a belt but do you use knee sleeves or wrist wraps when you squat?

[Rooks]

I know you use a belt but do you use knee sleeves or wrist wraps when you squat?

 

Nope.  Just a belt. 

[Rooks]

1/1/2015

Total time:  60 Minutes

 

Warm-up

• Leg Swings
• Hip Openers
• Hops

Squat

• 5 @ 45lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 185lbs
• 9 @ 245lbs (Belted, For 4 Sets)

Notes:  Week 2 Day 1 of Smolov Base Cycle.  Was originally going to only do 5 pound increases each week of Base Cycle, but decided to be stupid and go with a 10 pound increase for the 2nd week.  Surprisingly, these sets felt great until the very last one.  On Rep 7, I damn near lost it coming forward.  Was super surprised, but caught it just in time mainly cause it was a lighter weight.  Anything up above 80% would have been trouble.  I'll have to keep on eye on form as the weight keeps going up.  Might even do some form check stuff next week.

 

Warm-up

• Super quick version of DeFranco's Simple Six (like 10 seconds on each part)

Bench

• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 2 @ 185lbs
• 3 @ 205lbs
• 3 @ 215lbs
• 3 @ 230lbs

Notes:  Touch'n'go again today.  Going to keep it that way until I get through Smolov just because it's more natural to me.  Will definitely have to work on the Competition Bench though at some point.  Stopping at the bottom is so counter-intuitive to me body, but I'd assume it's the same way for everyone.  All that said, I'm really glad I went back and re-worked my bench form before Smolov Jr.  I feel so much more stable now and I feel like my upper back is actually part of the exercise now.  Feels amazing. 

 

Now it's time for some coffee beer and some mobility work as my lower back is a bit torched and I might try getting in Day 2 tomorrow.  We'll see how I feel. 

[Rooks]

1/3/2015

Total time:  60 Minutes

 

Warm-up

• None... Bad Rooks!  Bad Bad Rooks!

Squat

• 5 @ 45lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 185lbs
• 3 @ 225lbs
• 7 @ 260lbs (Belted, For 5 Sets)

Notes:  No idea why I didn't do any sort of warm-up.  I'm going to pay for that tomorrow, but I'll try and do a bunch of mobility stuff today to compensate.  We'll see.  Weight didn't feel hard at all which is eerie.  Hopefully things keep progressing like this. 

[Rooks]

1/5/2015

Total time:  60 Minutes

 

Warm-up

• Leg Swings
• Bit of MFR Stuff with new SuperNova toy
• Air Squats

Squat

• 5 @ 45lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 185lbs
• 5 @ 225lbs
• 5 @ 280lbs (Belted, For 7 Sets)

Notes:  Worked out at a different time today (at the end of the day instead of the at lunch) and surprise surprise, there was a some new people at the office gym.  One gentleman had quite the trifecta....

• Tried to "spot" me while squatting by standing directly behind me and shouting "You got this" bro quotes, followed by me saying "Please don't stand behind me while I'm squatting because if I don't get a rep, I'm throwing this back off me directly where you were standing", and this gentleman still doing it in following sets.  Mind you, I never asked for a spot. 
• I let him work in with me between my final 2 sets since I was taking near 5 minute breaks at that point and after he had elliptical'ed pretty half-assed for about 10 minutes, he loaded up 185 and tried to bench it with zero warm-ups sets.  Clearly, 185 was damn near/above his 1RM as he got it about 2" off his chest before failing and he gave me the "Damn, you take 2 weeks off and you really lose all your strength" quotes after getting embarrassed.  I found out later he normally benches on the Smith Machine bar and he didn't seem to understand that the smith machine bar weighs damn near nothing compared to actual barbell.
• Finally, after me finishing my workout he damn near scolded me about not wearing knee braces since squatting that deep was guaranteed to destroy me knees.  I damn near lost it at this point, and almost went into a tirade about how not warming up at all and how that causes you to pulled muscles and he was lucky he didn't rip his pec in half followed by telling oh wait... you don't even have pec muscles to rip in half, etc. but figured since this guy's a director at my company it just wasn't worth it.  I politely informed him that all the information I'd read said otherwise, that lifting heavy encouraged better movement having stronger muscles supporting those joints, yada yada yada, as long as your form was proper, but he wasn't having it. 

Whatever... at this point, he left.  I just couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing because even if this destroys my knees, I'd rather be doing this then doing some half-assed elliptical shit that people like him call cardio. Fuck... at least go hard if you are going to do it.  Drives me nuts when people can't seem to understand that they don't see progress when they do nothing to try and progress!  

 

Either way, lesson learned.  Need to work out at lunch or just never take out my headphones next time. 

[matty_mcfly]

Hahaha he was spotting you the correct way, however, I would be slightly alarmed if a guy came up behind whilst I was squatting and started yelling at me.

Maybe, being a director he was trying to show off?

For the record I'm picturing a 60+ year old pasty white guy wearing a tank top (maybe even a stringer) and like grey sweats and a headband. If that's not true, don't ruin the image in my head

[El Exorcisto]

What are your current and hopeful PRs at the end of the block, Rooks?

[SpecialSundae]

Amazing rant! Love it!

Very weird spotting. I've never had that with squats. I'm starting to think Verdi's Dies Irae starts playing in the gym when I squat but I can't hear it so that's why they stay away (or it's the Benny Hill theme tune and they're watching my bum go up and down to the sound of one of those whistles).

[Rooks]

Hahaha he was spotting you the correct way, however, I would be slightly alarmed if a guy came up behind whilst I was squatting and started yelling at me.

Maybe, being a director he was trying to show off?

For the record I'm picturing a 60+ year old pasty white guy wearing a tank top (maybe even a stringer) and like grey sweats and a headband. If that's not true, don't ruin the image in my head

 

You are pretty close.  But younger.  40ish.  And I totally think the benching 185 thing was showing off.  And as for the spotting, I get that it's the proper way to spot a squat if you have any semblance of what your doing.  I just didn't get that vibe from this guy.  Plus as he was fairly scrawny and I really don't think he was going to do much with 280 if something did happen.  It was just strange that he decided I needed encouragement and a spot out of the blue. 

 

What are your current and hopeful PRs at the end of the block, Rooks?

 

I started the Intro and Base Cycle with a estimated 1RM of 335 which might have been pushing it, but as my weight is back up to around ~210, I figured it was doable.  Current thinking is that I'll hit 355 for the Base Cycle 1RM test, and 375 post Intense Cycle.

 

Back to spotter guy, the thing that bothered me the most was the comment about my knees.  Drives me insane that people are so caught up with the idea that working out heavy is a degenerative thing for your body. 

[Rooks]

1/6/2015

Total time:  85 Minutes

 

Warm-up

• Leg Swings
• Hops

Squat

• 5 @ 45lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 185lbs
• 3 @ 225lbs
• 3 @ 295lbs (Belted, For 10 Sets)

Notes:  Around set 6, felt a strange twinge in my knee after the set (not during).  Never hurt during a set, but felt a little wonky while walking around after the last 4 sets.  Don't feel like I need to worry about it right now, but something to keep an eye on.  Also, did a boatload (around 15 minutes) of hip, calf, quad, and hammie MFR stuff just to make sure everything was good.  We'll see how I feel on Thursday since that's my next scheduled workout. 

[Rooks]

Ahh... the sweet sweet irony of life.  A day after I go on a tirade about people telling me Squatting will destory my knees... I hurt my knee squatting. 

 

Still feels wonky today.  Only really hurts at all when my leg gets fully extended.  Jogging doesn't hurt, squatting doesn't hurt.  Strange to say the least.  Will probably do a Bench workout tomorrow and see where things are on Monday.  I know it's not anything serious, just probably need a few rest days.

[matty_mcfly]

Haha never wanna laugh at an injury, but that's a little funny.

 

And yea, that's what I did today, did a bench/upper body workout to give the legs a bit of a rest.

 

Hope everything feels better for squats on Monday.

[Rooks]

1/9/2015

Total time:  45Minutes

 

Warm-up

• DeFranco's Simple Six
• MFR on Lower Back

Bench

• 10 @ 45lbs
• 5 @ 95lbs
• 10 @ 135lbs
• 3 @ 185lbs (Paused)
• 5 @ 190lbs
• 3 @ 215lbs
• 1 @ 240lbs
• 1 @ 240lbs
• 1 @ 240lbs

Notes:  240 went up pretty easy.  Surprised myself as I was convinced I was only doing 1 rep (probably could have ground out 3).  Oh well... did 2 more singles and called it a day.  All Touch'N'Go stuff unless otherwise stated.  Finished up with about 20 minutes of voodoo flossing and MFR stuff.  My body is falling apart on me. 

[Rooks]

1/14/2015

Total time:  65 Minutes

 

Warm-up

• DeFranco's Simple Six

Bench

• 10 @ 45lbs
• 6 @ 95lbs
• 6 @ 135lbs
• 6 @ 177.5lbs
• 6 @ 177.5lbs
• 6 @ 177.5lbs
• 6 @ 177.5lbs
• 6 @ 177.5lbs
• 10 @ 177.5lbs

Notes:  Well... the knee still feels like junk.  Feeling better, but still get a small twinge right below the kneecap when I come out of the hole in an ATG Squat.  If I just go to parallel it doesn't seem to hurt, but given I've now been doing ATG Squats in training for at least a year, I don't feel comfortable enough with myself "knowing" when to stop at parallel.  I'll give it a few weeks off and see how goes.  So what's that mean?  Well, we are going to run Smolov Jr. with Bench again!  Day 1 Week 1.  Programmed with an estimated 1RM of 255.  Supposed to be 6x6 at 177.5.  Ended the last set with a flurry as it just didn't seem heavy at all. 

 

EMOM Pull-ups

• 4

Notes:  Going to try this for awhile.  Doing a Pull-up EMOM Pull-up to try and get a few more into the workouts.  Just felt sapped after #4 and barely moved on #5. 

 

Kroc Rows

• 20 @ 70lb DBs
• 20 @ 70lb DBs
• 20 @ 70lb DBs

Abs

• 0:30 Plank, 5 V-Ups, 20 Crunches, 30 second rest
• 0:30 Plank, 5 V-Ups, 20 Crunches, 30 second rest
• 0:30 Plank, 5 V-Ups, 20 Crunches, 30 second rest

Cardio

• 5:00 @ 2.5MPH w/ setting 10 on the incline
• 5:00 @ 3.0MPH w/ setting 10 on the incline

[Rooks]

1/16/2015

Total time:  30 Minutes

 

Warm-up

• DeFranco's Simple Six

Bench

• 5 @ 45lbs
• 5 @ 95lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 155lbs
• 5 @ 192.5lbs (for 7 sets)

Notes:  Smolov Jr., Day 2 Week 1.  Everything was TNG and felt good.  Still playing with different breathing patterns on this.  First couple sets were without taking a single breath (just 5 quick reps).  Did a few with a single breath at rep 3, and then last two I tried taking a breath between each rep.  Definitely felt stronger on the ones with a single breath but that might have been because I was fresher.  Who knows...

 

Outside of the workout, I'm realizing that I need to start doing a lot more accessory work.  Specifically with core work.   I get some crunches thrown in occasionally, but I think it's time to ramp up what I'm doing.  Found this informative from someone with a lot more strength than I. 

 

[matty_mcfly]

Core work...smh.  Fucking core work.  This week was supposed to be my transitional bullshit week with focuses on strongman, bodybuilding and of course, core.  Guess what didn't get done this week.  That's right. Core.  It always gets cut first when time becomes an issue.

[El Exorcisto]

Both of you need to spend $12 and buy a shitty Gold's Gym ab wheel from Wally World. It takes up no room, very little time, and tears your abs apart like Leatherface. FFS... crunches?