a_welch503 WORKOUT JOURNAL

[CF-OC_gal]

Glad to see you made it back to the gym and even felt better because of it ....yoga-man!

[.V.]

01-17-2007

Squat.............115, 125, 135, 145, 155
Row...............130, 140, 150, 160, 170
Bench.............130, 140, 150, 160, 170
Curl..............90x3x6 (need to repeat)
Skull Crusher.....90x3x6 (need to repeat)

I went back and did some re-reading since I'd forgotten what the "light day" consisted of. It appears my light days have been way too heavy by comparison to my heavy days. Perhaps this is holding me back some too. I see that I should be doing 4 sets of 5 on those days, sets 3 and 4 should be with 70% of "heavy" day. Maybe that's why I'm progressing, then regressing...Light, medium, and heavy days are all too close in weight.

Constantly re-evaluating. I know, "shut up, stop thinking, and lift." Not going to happen though. I noticed that my feet were sneaking a bit wider with the squats, moving closer to powersquats instead of olympic as the weight went up. Going too low for the wider stance I think is contrbuting to injuries so I'm keeping the weights lighter a bit longer to work on form, getting deep enough, and making sure that by back and hips are right. Today was "medium" day with squats and I stopped at 155 with good form. I don't know if next time "heavy" day will be at 155 or 165, I'll see how it goes and re-evaluate during the workout. Yeah, I'm benching and rowing more than I can squat for now. Sucks don't it?

Note: Used the velcro belt that is two sizes too big to give me something to push my belly out against and help with form. Seems to work pretty good, not truly raw...but not truly "belted" either.

Another Note: Firehawk, thanks for the warmup advice. So far, so good.

[.V.]

Off day.

Forgot to eat most of the day. Did my egg whites, grits, and lowfat ham for 12:00 breakfast. Now I'm doing chicken and dumplings to get some calories in.

I don't know how they'll turn out though. Whole wheat, Olive oil, Skim milk. The chicken breasts are cooked to shreds so that part will be good. The dumplings, we'll see how they turn out, I just put them in the pot.

[gcs118]

Sounds like a good meal. mmm. I like to make fancy delicious stuff for calories and protein. I made chicken quesadillas the other day, delicious and nutricious. Send me a couple of those dumplings.

[.V.]

01-19-2007

Squat.....125, 135, 145, 155, 165
Row............100, 110, 120, 120
Benc...........100, 110, 120, 120
Cable Crunch..............100x3x8

Actually had a decent workout today. Legs were somewhat cooperative, feet not stinging any worse than usual, no muscle faciculations at all which was a great change from most days. Even my diaphragm wasn't too weak and I didn't have to remind myself to breathe because it was forgetting to.

I thought that doing the "right" way with light days, doing 4 sets of five reps, with the last two being 70% of the previous heavy day would be kind of a joke and a colossal waste of time.

By the time I was finished, my chest and abs were absolutely on fire. I'm not looking forward to having to work tomorrow. Because of my SI limitations, my legs aren't really feeling it as much though, since I'm not really able to push them as far as I'd like.

Who'd have thought it. A real strength coach's plan, instead of something I've cobbled together from several different methodologies is actually working. Hmmmm, interesting...imagine that, Mr. Starr knew more about weight training than little, weak me.

Sorry Greg, all the dumplings were eaten. They were suprisingly good though. Who'd have thought whole wheat dumplings made with skim milk and olive oil would even be fit to eat. Maybe just because we haven't had them in so long, they were a pleasant change. Anyway, all gone.

[Maxgain]

Originally Posted by a_welch503

Who'd have thought it. A real strength coach's plan, instead of something I've cobbled together from several different methodologies is actually working. Hmmmm, interesting...imagine that, Mr. Starr knew more about weight training than little, weak me.

What plan are you training at the moment last i checked it was 5x5 I believe but your last few workouts dont seem to be that?

[.V.]

Yeah, Starr's 5x5. As my understanding of it improves, I move closer and closer to the original plan. And the last few were moving gently back into it because I'd managed to hurt myself again last week.

It works this way

Workout 1
Squat
Bench
Row
Situp (I do cable crunch instead)

Workout 2
Squat
Dead
OHP
P/U
Cable crunch

Workout 3
Squat
Row
Bench
Curl
Skull Crusher
(3 sets of 8-10 or 4-6 once it gets heavy of arm work once a week)

Squat every workout. Heavy, Light, Medium. Light day is 4 sets of 5 reps, the last two sets are the same weight 70% of what heavy day was. Medium day will be the previous heavy day's workload.

Bench and row follows the same pattern but are only done every other workout instead of for all of them.

Deadlift, overhead press, and pullups have replaced the olympic lifts that I don't know how to do.

If it seems to be changing that's because I'm doing it more correctly now than I was before. I think before I was doing too much and that was leading to injury.

Too much has to be taken into consideration now that my treatment has my body settled in at a "low normal" teststerone level for my age. High normal would be best, but without weekly TRT, it's just not going to happen. I'm happy with what I've got though because I'm not having to be injected every week (that stuff hurts like crazy) and am no longer having the wild swings from really high to nonexistant.

[.V.]

01-21-2007

Squat.........100, 110, 120, 120
Dead.....155, 165, 175, 185, 195
OHP.......................95x3x4
P/U.......................55x3x4
Cable Crunch.............100x3x9

Today being a "light done right" (I think) day, the squats kind of felt like a waste of time. I suppose this is to get the frequency and recovery benefits from it. Maybe something like the "extra workouts" some of the powerlifters do where they aren't really going all out. Deadlifts felt a bit heavy for the first 4 sets, then the last one was just easy. I'm looking forward to doing over 200 (finally at long last) again next week. 200+ for 5 isn't a big deal since I've done 275x3x6 before...but with how things have been recently it is good to be finally moving in the right direction again.

[gcs118]

Hey Andy, I'm glad to see you're making great progress back into old territory :

[.V.]

01-22-2007

Supposed to do brat today but my traps and lats are too sore from yesterday, I was afraid she'd hurt my back if I cheated on the dumbell swings.

My SI joint is pain free enough to get back to my MA workouts. Without properly functioning hips, strikes are useless and kicks are impossible.

Today was not too bad.

Striking drills (100 each)
punchout drill
hook drill
palm strike (face) drill
palm strike (heart) drill
hammer fist strike drill
reverse punch drill
inside circle strike
outside circle strike
---------
Kicking drills (only 40 each) out of gas after 900 strikes.
front kick
thrust kick
round kick
This took about 35 minutes.
----------
Then I did ****, a named workout using sansoo principals. I don't care to share the name at this time.
Palm strike (face)
Palm strike (heart)
Front kick (groin)
Hammerfist strike to either:
>pneumogastric nerve
>superiorganglion nerve
>open jaw, whichever presents itself.
Heel strike (trachea)

Usually I have my wife or daughter call out the target of opportunity for the hammerfist since I'm working on a bag, not a person. Today I was alone because my wife hates this workout and won't participate and my daughter was at school so I just alternated targets.

Do the last part full power, full speed, with real life fighting speed on target aquisition between strikes. Repeat without a break until can't continue. This took about 10 minutes.

[JDR3]

Good to see you striking again! Nice work.

That's a tough workout with lots of volume Andy. I'm sure it was a very anaerobic workout. Thanks for sharing.

[.V.]

Thanks guys.

It's similar to the others that I was doing. I have three named routines. The other stuff I always do to start out with. When not doing one of my three, I just mix up assorted things, making combinations based on how the body responds to being hit, and where it's hit...either concentrating on using more boxing skills or more SSKF type work. That's what's fun about how I train, it works well with any style because it has no style. When I have a partner to roll around with I can even throw in some of the JJJ that I'm very inept at... they can tap me pretty quickly if they are any good at all.

That's why I train to end fights quickly within seconds, no art, nothing pretty, just score KO nerve strikes or break the weak points. That's why I don't do kata and the KF forms are almost useless to me unless I'm hurt and can't do much else. I don't desire to achieve perfection, just to get to go home.

MR P, is that a crossfit back in your avatar?

[.V.]

01-23-2007

Squat.....125, 135, 145, 155, 165
Row.......130, 140, 150, 160, 170
Bench.....130, 140, 150, 160, 170
Curl.......................90x3x6
Skull Crusher..............90x3x6

Today was a medium day for all 3 lifts. It felt like a medium day for row and squat. Bench felt pretty heavy though. I forsee getting pinned in my near future. Probably Thursday under 180. Oh well, been there before and will just have to get past it. Better than when I got pinned under 150.

[gcs118]

You know that's a horrible mental attitude to take before your 180s lol. You'll get it, have some faith!