Rooks - Tracking the Daily Grind...

[Rooks]

With regards to the "every one who is any one" point in bigger faster stronger.  It's not as wide spread as you would think, and a lot of the people you'd think are on gear are just genetic freaks.  I have however seen a surge in divisional level athletes taking things that are either banned or pretty risky.  IMO it's not worth it.  You'd get caught and end up looking like a bit of a fanny as you were taking gear to get to the top of divisional level. 

I used to get asked on an almost daily basis if I honestly thought the majority of the GB team were clean, and if I honestly thought the same about some very prominant current lifters.

Then there's poor Sarah Robles.  She really had grounds for that TUE and although it resulted in her ban it was the best move for her own health an well being.  You can google the articles around this but this is one of the reasons we need more female coach so coaches are aware of weird and wonderful womens' hormonal issues.

 

I mean you would know probably better than I as you are least around people who are competitive.  It's just a little disheartening to hear people like Louie Simmons who is basically an icon in powerlifting say stuff like that.  But I have to imagine stuff is possible.  And really since I know I never will be competitive at a major level, it's more about what I can get done. 

 

I think the bigger problem I'm having is that I no longer see the validity in a line.  I mean is the point to test people based on their "natural" ability.  Ok, so if I'm taking Creatine, am I still natural?  It's been proven to help grow muscle, so how is it any different than a steroid?  Who decides what's not allowable and what is? 

 

Daily notes:  Weighed in at 219.4 today.  Doing a sort of mini-cut in the month of March.  I'm going to be dialling my beer consumption way back (limited to one per day with the exception of March 28th).  And yes... 1 per day is cutting way back for me.  I was easily averaging 2.5 per day for about the last 3 months.  Also, going to try and up my water consumption (probably happening naturally with less beer involved).  Other than that, just try not to get hurt.  Going to take form checks on my DL the next time I do it, as I'm 99% sure on I'm doing something wrong. 

[Rooks]

3/6/2015

Total time:  60 Minutes

 

Overhead Press

• 5 @ 45lbs
• 5 @ 65lbs
• 5 @ 95lbs
• 5 @ 125lbs
• 3 @ 140lbs
• 3 @ 155lbs

Notes:  Widened my grip by about 1/4" on each side and I felt a lot more powerful.  Not sure if partially because of the long layoff I've had or if it was actually just a better grip to press from. 

 

Seated DB Military Press

• 10 @ 35lb DBs
• 10 @ 50lb DBs
• 10 @ 60lb DBs
• 9 @ 60lb DBs

Notes:  Haven't done these in forever, but needed a DB exercise since the barbell was in use. 

 

Brett Gibbs Rows

• 12 @ 30lb DB
• 12 @ 30lb DB
• 12 @ 30lb DB

Notes:  So Brett Gibbs talked about these in one of his recent videos where instead of going straight up, he goes backwards more to hit the lat a bit more.  Video here.   I've always felt that my back didn't fire enough with DB rows so thought I'd give it a shot and they did seem to work things a bit more.  Probably stick with these. 

 

Olympic Work

Notes:  Played around with more Olympic work.  Did a 2 sets of 2 at 65lbs for couple reps for Hang Snatch.  Then 2 sets of 2 at 95lbs for Hang Cleans.  Then 2 sets of 3 at 65lbs for Squat Jerks.  Definitely had some misses, but Cleans actually felt like I was catching something for the first time.  I'll be posting a video about this later in my Form Check thread.

[Rooks]

Fun fun... so I might be on the shelf again as far as lower body stuff.  I got through the Oly work yesterday without really any pain, but my right knee has felt like junk since Wednesday.  No idea what I did to aggravate it, but my best guess is Patellar Tendonitis right now (or Jumper's Knee), as all the pain in concentrated right below my kneecap.  It only really HURTS when I kneel on that knee.  Otherwise, it's just sort of a super mild nagging pain that is there most of the time.  So yeah... not sure what I'm going to do now.  I guess just keep working on my Bench and OHP and see if I can find some basic lower body movements to keep stuff moving while everything heals up.  

 

Also, not sure on whether a doctor should be considered or not.  We'll see if things improve at all on their own in the next few days.  

[The Most Loathed]

I hate nagging injuries like that. Hang in there, keep working. See the doc if it doesn't improve or gets much worse.

[Rooks]

 
3/9/2015
Workout Time:  80 minutes
 
In honor of the weather getting warmer here in MN (and because my knee still feels like poop), did a total bro day.  Basically did e3mom with super sets of triceps - biceps, then alternated to biceps - triceps super sets.  Did I think around 15 sets, no rep counts, just went until muscles started feeling it.  Alternated between heavy stuff and light stuff.  After the upper arms felt nice and good, moved to some Farmer's Walk with 70lb DBs, then did some shrugs with the same 70lb DBs, then moved to barbell shrugs with 225.  Overall... the arms were en fuego.
 
Finished up with 10 minutes on the treadmill.  Since the knee felt like junk didn't want to push the speed, but put the incline to max (setting of 15, not sure if that's degrees or not) at 2.5 MPH.

[Rooks]

So I've been in a pretty severe funk for the last week and half.  No idea why.  Probably a combination of factors I suppose.  My knee feeling like shit, just feeling rundown as a parent, been feeling pretty inadequate at work lately, on a ever so slight cut so I'm sure the modification in calories is affecting my mood and a complete lack of lower body workouts.  

 

Knee is starting to feel better.  Walking around I hardly ever even notice it anymore (which is an improvement).  It'll give a slight pain when I hit parallel in a squat or when if I forcefully try to lock my knee out, which I think is what caused this whole thing to begin with.  After watching some of my squat videos, when the weight gets heavy, I have a tendency to forcibly lock my knees out with a violent flex of my glutes.  I think that's been been putting a ton of extra strain on my knees.  At least that's my current working theory.   Scheduled an appointment with a doctor to get some idea on what is going on.  I'm pretty convinced it's my patellar tendon, and oddly enough when doing this, it doesn't seem to hurt and feels a bit better.  Been trying to do it most days.  Also, it's given me a bit of an idea what squatting with wraps is like. 

 

In some good news... new barbell and new bumpers have arrived!  No pictures yet, but picked up a v2 Bomba bar and 370lbs of colored bumpers from FringeSport.  Will do a review once I get some time under my the bar with them.  Might get a workout today.  We'll see...   

[matty_mcfly]

For shame!  You could never really be a "bro".

 

But the funks come and go.  Just put your hand down and push through. Something random and unforeseen will get you out of it. 

[Tankweazel]

Every one gets niggles and we do what we can to get through.

On the brightside, you've still got your legs.

On the less bright side, maybe you'll get so good at bench that still having legs is seen as a damn shame from a particular section of the population.

[The Most Loathed]

I'm jealous of your new equipment. My bumpers are feeling kinda sad this year.

[Rooks]

Finally, got around to snapping some photos of the new gear.  Still haven't used any of it due to my knee and just not having much time lately.  

• 3 pairs of 45lb Bumpers
• 1 pair of 25lb Bumpers
• 1 pair of 15lb Bumpers
• 1 pair of 10lb Bumpers
• OFW Strap Collars
• Bomba v2 Bar

First impressions are it's nice stuff.  I was surprised at how much skinnier the new barbell is.  I feel like I might actually be able to legitimately do a hook grip on this one.  I'm going to be making up some PVC bumper stands soon (hopefully).  Like I said, once I get some time using this stuff, I'll do a full write-up in the gear review.

 

 

Random shot of the knurling.  Outer knurls are basically perfect for my snatch grip.  

[The Most Loathed]

Awesome. I'm coveting your new plates. I'm trying to not go hog wild ordering new bumpers this year but man, new stuff is nice.

 

While your knee recovers, make sure NES in the background sees a few reps.

[El Exorcisto]

Look at Rooks Rockefeller over here with his fancy colored bumpers that he paid full retail for!

 

Enjoy the new gear, bro. Having a quality barbell was the best thing I've put in my gym besides the rack. The bumpers are really handy too. My wife uses 15kg bumpers to start on deadlifts and warming up with 10kg bumpers when I do get around to snatching feels better than starting from the hang with wee plates.

[Rooks]

Awesome. I'm coveting your new plates. I'm trying to not go hog wild ordering new bumpers this year but man, new stuff is nice.

 

While your knee recovers, make sure NES in the background sees a few reps.

Sadly, it hasn't been fired up in awhile. Maybe some day soon.

Look at Rooks Rockefeller over here with his fancy colored bumpers that he paid full retail for!

 

Enjoy the new gear, bro. Having a quality barbell was the best thing I've put in my gym besides the rack. The bumpers are really handy too. My wife uses 15kg bumpers to start on deadlifts and warming up with 10kg bumpers when I do get around to snatching feels better than starting from the hang with wee plates.

 

Oddly enough it was my wife who wanted to "upgrade" to get the colored versions.  I was fine with all black and saving some moolah, but she really wanted the colored ones.  Haha... and yes.  We got a nice tax refund that went into this purchase. And it wasn't full retail. We got Fringe to lower the price a bit by asking some questions through e-mail.

[El Exorcisto]

 

We got Fringe to lower the price a bit by asking some questions through e-mail.

 

Attaboy

[Rooks]

Ahh... felt great to get back to a workout.  Life has been chaotic lately.  Wife was really sick Wednesday through Friday last week, then baby girl decided to start throwing up Sunday night.  Still throwing up today but doctor says it's nothing to worry about and she should be back to normal in a few days.  So yeah.. finally found a way to get into the gym today and pump out a solid upper body routine. Also, Doctor's appointment about my knee is Thursday morning.  Knee is feeling much better.  Pain is all but gone now, but figure I'll still get an expert opinion about my plan of action going forward.  

Also, just an FYI, I'm going to stop posting my none-working sets.  It's just too much clutter and who really cares how many warm-ups sets I'm doing (although I'm going to be doing more as I'm starting to see a huge discrepancy from days I get a solid warm-up versus days I don't).

 

3/24/2015

Total Time:  45 Minutes

 

Comp Bench

• 3 @ 205lbs
• 3 @ 220lbs
• 1 @ 230lbs

Notes:  E3MOM.  Trying the timing strategy again after reading through Gainsdalf's log.  3 minutes was too quick for me.  Was originally going to go for 3 on the last set, but damn did it feel heavy.  Next time I'll do E4MOM for my primary movement, at least for upper body stuff.

 

Spoto Bench

• 5 @ 185lbs
• 5 @ 185lbs
• 5 @ 185lbs

Notes:  E3MOM.  Originally though I went down too light with these, but it started getting rough towards the last set.  Found that I had a very hard time stopping at the same point above my chest on each rep.  There was a ton of variation.

 

Close Grip Bench

• 5 @ 185lbs
• 5 @ 185lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs

Notes:  E2MOM.  Sped these up and damn did the triceps get going.  Not sure I've ever done Close Grip this heavy and it felt great.  Dropped the weight for the 3rd set and still could only manage 5.  I attempted some dips after this and could only manage 2 when I can normally pump out sets of 10+.

[matty_mcfly]

Feeling those same feelz with getting back in the gym. The lady was away from Friday to this afternoon so I couldn't get to the gym with it just being me and the kid. I asked if I could go tonight (yes I asked permission and I usually only go at 6am) she said yes, so I was out of the house immediately before she changed her mind!

Happy to here that the knee. When are you going to be able to hit a lower body workout?

[Rooks]

I was planning on working up to a moderate load in Deadlift today as that's a little less knee dominant to see how it goes (and to make sure my back feels fine since that also was hurting the last time I did anything).  Probably only get up to around 315 unless things feel great.  We'll see.  

[Rooks]

3/24/2015

Total Time:  60 Minutes

 

Deadlift

• 3 @ 225lbs (DOH Grip, Regular)
  
• 3 @ 225lbs (Switch Grip, Sumo)
  
• 3 @ 275lbs (DOH Grip, Regular)
  
• 3 @ 275lbs (Switch Grip, Sumo)
  
• 1 @ 315lbs (Switch Grip, Regular)
  
• 1 @ 315lbs (Switch Grip, Sumo)
  
• 1 @ 365lbs (Switch Grip, Regular)
  
• 0 @ 365lbs (Switch Grip, Sumo)
  
• 1 @ 405lbs (Switch Grip, Regular)
  
• 3 @ 315lbs (Switch Grip, Regular)
  
• 3 @ 315lbs (Switch Grip, Regular)
  

Notes:  So this was going to be an experimental workout to make sure the back and knee were feeling good.  They were.  I decided to try sumo pulls for the first time ever.  At light weights it felt amazing.  It felt like I was going to pull 500lbs with it.  Then suddenly with the 315 set, it felt heavy.  It hit the inside of my hamstrings a lot more than I'm used to with the conventional pulls.  Either way, it was fun experiment, but damn did I hit a wall fast with it.  365 just wouldn't move.  Otherwise, did this whole workout beltless.  Back felt great the whole time.  Knee never even twinged.  Great workout.  405 moved pretty easy even though I wasn't betled.  Went over and did ~10 minutes of light cardio just to get the blood pumping a bit more and make sure the hamstrings didn't get super tight on me right afterwards.  

 

Unrelated to the workout, I happened upon this thread today... and I'm seriously considering signing up and doing a meet.  I've been considering it for awhile.  I think I could drop down to 205 without too much issue.  And if I can do it and somehow manage to gain 25lbs on my 3 lifts, I'd actually qualify for Nationals.  Never realized I was that close.  

 

Quickly looking through upcoming meets, I see two possibilities.

1. Minneapolis Meet on August 22nd - http://www.usapowerlifting.com/event/twin-cities-open-mn-2015-03/
   
2. Meet in Eastern WI on June 13th - http://www.usapowerlifting.com/event/badger-open-wi-2015-05/
   

Obviously, I think my preference will be the August 22nd meet to give myself a bit more time, plus I wouldn't have to travel at all.  I'd also need to get some new equipment like a new belt, a singlet, wrist wraps, and knee sleeves.  Was honestly getting wraps and sleeves regardless of any competition, so not that much more stuff.  And I've got a bit of extra funding right now thanks to my birthday.  So no real issues.  

 

So yeah... I'm 95% of the way to say "Let's do it!" with the Minneapolis meet.  I'm going to talk with the wife tonight about our schedule as I know we might have been planning a vacation around that time.  So that could be interesting.  But damn if I wasn't thinking about how exciting it would be do a meet my whole workout today.  

[matty_mcfly]

If your scheduled allows for it AND your body doesn't say "haha, yea fuck you" you need to just sign up and do it.

 

I almost guarantee that you'll get stronger with a meet in mind than you would waiting around trying to get stronger just to sign up for one.

 

Do it!

[El Exorcisto]

Just do that shit, bro. Having a contest on the calendar brings a whole new level to training.

[The Most Loathed]

Do it!

I'd say do them both if you can swing it but let Wisconsin be a practice run, just to get over the experience of a meet them kick ass in august.

[Rooks]

So saw the doc this morning.  Actually seemed like a pretty competent guy (which given my luck with doctors lately was a welcome surprise).  Looked over my knee and said he couldn't find any evidence of tearing, so thought my prognosis of Patellar Tendonitis was spot on.  

 

Showed me this video:

 

 

Said I should work up to 2 sets of 30 before beginning barbell training again.  So yeah... good news for sure that.  I'll setup something tonight and give these a shot.  So probably another 2 weeks without squat days.  

 

That said, the doctor hadn't heard anything of MobilityWOD or K-Star so when I told him I was doing some stuff I found there he was pretty surprised.  I'm constantly amazed that people haven't heard of him.  I mean the guy's a sports doctor and I feel like K-Star is pretty prominent with any realm of athletics at this point.  Not saying it makes him a bad doctor, but just always a bit surprising to me.  

 

Another thing that I thought of this morning was that I hadn't ever had issues until I started squatting with my weightlifting shoes.  That said, I was also never going nearly as heavy as I was when the injury happened.  So who knows if that had any effect.  Might give a shot at some point.  Maybe do Low Bar for a few weeks in my Vibrams, then High Bar for a few weeks in my Romaleos.  

[El Exorcisto]

Or low bar squat in your weightlifting shoes and get the best of both worlds...

[Rooks]

Or low bar squat in your weightlifting shoes and get the best of both worlds...

 

Probably what I'll end up doing since I highly doubt this was caused by the shoes.  

 

3/27/2015

Time:  75 minutes

 

Paused Incline Press 

• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 135lbs
• 5 @ 185lbs

Notes:  Doing this just to get a rep count for a heavy set.  

 

TNG Incline Press

• 8 @ 135lbs (for 5 sets)

Notes:  Just getting the upper body fired up a bit.

 

Standing EZ Bar Curl - Rope Tricep Pulldown Superset

• 10 - 10 (for 5 sets)

Notes:  Wee!  Bro-life!

 

Shrugs

• 10 @ 135lbs
• 8 @ 225lbs
• 8 @ 225lbs
• 8 @ 225lbs

Notes:  Didn't feel this in the traps as much as I'd like to have.  But we'll see how I feel tomorrow

 

Overall Notes:  Finished up with 6 minutes of cardio.  Was going to attempt a light jog for 1 mile, but damn.  My hamstrings started tightening up something fierce at about 1/4 mile.  Slowed down to 5 MPH to see how things felt and it was better but not much.  Scrapped the idea at 0.5 mile.  Going to need work on getting the hamstrings much looser.  I don't want to lose the ability to run and balls, I haven't done it in forever.  

[Rooks]

Morning weigh-in:  221.6

 

And so it begins...

 

Well this weekend was a great weekend to "finish" on.  Friday, drove down to watch Relentless 2015.  Due to having to work a bit late, only got there for an hour.  Saw 2 flights of deadlifts.  Think there was about 10 guys above 600 and even saw a few 700 pulls.  That said, probably the most impressive was this super young girl.  Honestly, I would guess 12, but she pulled 160.  Was pretty awesome.  Even had the full getup on (singlet, weight belt that was about 1/4 of her torso).   Was sort of intersesting, but I would have liked to see some Squats or Benchs more.  

 

Saturday, dropped the kiddo off at Grandma's for her first night awawy from home and the wife and I went to a pretty sweet beer festival here in the Twin Cities called the Northern Lights Rare Beer Fest.  Bunch of great breweries with a bunch of beers that you probably can't really get anywhere else (either that they are super rare or aged and have long since gone off shelves).  Sort of beer snobby, but it's so delicious.  Anyway, ended up drinking more than I should have and was pretty worthless Sunday, but it was worth it.  My favorite beers of the night were Bent Paddle's Double Shot Double Black and Goose Island's Bourbon County Brand Vanilla Rye (2014).  Pretty darn amazing beers although most of the beers I had were well above average that night.  

 

Like I said, Sunday, I was pretty worthless.  Didn't get out of the hotel until around 11am and didn't leave Grandma's place until nearly 1pm.  So yeah...

 

Anyway, what begins you might be asking yourself?  My quest for Nationals.  Recently, Gains posted up a thread about forming an NF Powerlifting team that could attempt to compete annually in Nationals.  I hadn't ever really thought I was that good at this stuff yet, mainly because so many people just on this forum are way ahead of me.  That said, I'm very close to qualifying for Nationals at the 205 weight class.

 

So today marks the start of my full-on attempt to get this.  Not saying that I will even go to Nationals this year if I do qualify, but wouldn't it be a nice thing to know I could. 

 

So... as I stated a few posts back, August 22nd is USAPL meet right here in the Twin Cities.  That's the meet I'm aiming for.  That gives me just over 20 weeks to do 3 things.

• Lose 17 pounds.
  
• Gain 50 pounds between all 3 of my lifts (was at a 1042, I need a 1067 and I want to hit 1067 if I hit all 3 of 2nd attempts).  I figure 50 will give me more then enough leeway even if the day is a "bad" day.
  
• Don't get injured.
  

I think I'm going to try and cut quite a bit this month with the hopes of getting down to 210 by May and then try and re-comp the rest (if not just sit at 210 and do water manipulation for the last 5lbs closer to the meet).  

 

Plan for weights is to stick with 5/3/1 with a couple modifications.  First, OHP day is getting dropped for Incline Bench.  Talked with a few people and EE specifically recommended Incline.  After last Friday's test session, I would agree, it hits the chest plenty.  Anyway, goal of that is to just get more chest volume.  I'd like get a 275 Bench at the meet.

 

For squat, it's going to be interesting.  My knee is still feeling a bit wonky and I've been working on rehabbing it gradually.  I think I'm still 2 weeks out at best from starting to get under a barbell again and that's still a best case scenario.  I have a feeling with knee sleeves and giving it plenty of time to rest, I should be fine, but it's also been giving me grief for 2 of the first 3 months of this year.  Also, I'm going to start training almost exclusively low bar once I get back under the bar.  I want to see if this does indeed help me move more weight.  If after a cycle of 5/3/1 I don't feel it's working as well as I want, I can switch back to high bar.

 

Also, I'm going to start trying to get 20 minutes+ of mobility work per night.  I'm realizing how much this really will help my health aspect of this as I'm starting to get injured more and more as I keep getting up there more in the weights.

 

I think that about sums it up.  Hold me accountable, NF peeps.  Hold me accountable.  T-minus 144 days...