Thats sooo much volume I just threw up!

Awesome workout! Great to see the shoulder isn't holding you back

:-) You're freakin crazy!

What is your AM Routine like? What time do you wake up compared to gym time? Do you eat? Do you shower? these are all things that concern the CNS. If we figure it out it might help you with your AM lifting sesssion


For me I have to eat something. I would go with 2-3 granola bars. The weight room was only like 2 and a half minutes away for me, but this could be ideal pre workout drink time/coffee....I would get up and take a contrast shower.....Jump in when its cold stay under for some time and then turn it up hot repeat twice dry off go lift. The changes of hot and cold help increase blood flow to all extremeties etc.

Im sure others have some little tricks they use before they go to the gym

It's totally strange ... I can do flat bench and decline bench; but incline bench and shoulder presses/military presses effin kill. Go figure. I still need to see a doctor. Next week, I think I'll do 135 x 3 x 10 on a rack with boards. :-) Now ... where do I find boards. :-)

Oh sorry...I realized my last post could have been taken the wrong way but I meant I agreed with you and Dokk was crazy for doing that workout...

Honestly...I am not an AM person and even in the gym I tend to favor the machine in the AM versus free weights.
My routine is whatever BigFrank wrote out for me but it looks like it'll end up being Chest/ Tri/Biceps...Sets = 3 for chest but 2 for tri/bi and the number of reps depends on the week I am at.

I am usually up by 7 on weekdays and at the gym by 7pm..My usual weekend is reserved for long runs...I didn't eat Sunday till after except for a banana and no I didn't shower. I'm hoping to make the sunday AM workout a common thing but it depends on my running schedule. Honestly though I couldn't beleive how sore I got/am doing much lighter weights. The CNS made me feel like a girl.

For me, eating something --> :-)

I like your other tricks, though. I usually just get up about 1-1.5hr before I want to be lifting. I take an energy/NO supp about 15-30 minutes before lifting. The shower thing is one I might try. Hmmmm....

I used to workout early in the morning. It would go something like this.
Wake up
Eat Full Meal
Shower
Pre-workout Drink
Gym


Deload week for me. Well needed.

Back from the gym nothing special. Thinking about hitting a new gym later this week.
Also word is two big time powerlifters in my area, are planning on coming out of retirement ( couch potatos ) and training again. They have a full setup in one of the guy's garage, monolift, bands, chains, texas bar, deadlift mats u name it they got it. the works. If they did I would most likely be able to train with them. Hopefully they start to train again. If not, I will continue on. Downloaded the application for a meet in march. So far if all holds well I will compete.

done lifting:-) time to relax:-)

Awesome, Frank. I'd love to be able to train with someone else serious about lifting. You'd better post vids of your best contest lifts, Brother. If you come in every PR you break at the meet gets you one cigar (max 3 -- 1 per major lift). Come in 1st, and I'll throw in a couple more. All Habanos, of course. :-) :-) :-)

I guess that is a bet. If I do not compete this march this there is a big contest in early summer I could do too.
As for setting PRs in competition, its hard to say. I have only done 1 bench only local comp and normal meet,which was also very local. It was weird, I hit my bench numbers than bombed out hard going for new weights. For the deadlift I hit a 40 pound PR and the squat I bombed out on also.

I didn't mean to infer it would be easy. :-) :-)

Don't think of it as a bet ... think of it as motivation, a reward for a job well done. :-) And your doing well is motivation for *me* to try a little harder, too. :-)

Just back from a leg day. Things are a little cloudy right now, which is good I guess. :-) Was planning to rep out 225 again; but something came over me and I got curious. I just started back on squats a couple of weeks ago after a 2-2.5 month hiatus because of my shoulder injury. Before I got hurt, my 1RM was 315. So today went something like this (though I can't be positive about the details -- cloudy):

135 x 10
185 x 8
225 x 7
275 x 3
285 x 2
295 x 2
315 x F (dropped to my knees ... big crash :-))
315 x F (got under it, stood there, knew I just didn't have it ... the intensity wasn't there)

The first 315 attempt was *very* close. I think I can hit it soon. It's clear from this, though, that there are 2 things I need to work on:

1. Explosiveness out of the hole (that's where I barely failed out on attempt #1)
2. Core stability (315 is harder for me to just hold up than it used to be)

Followed the squats up with several sets of stiff-legged deadlifts. Went to do some leg presses and my energy was simply shot -- 8 pies was a struggle (and that's my warmup weight). It had been over an hour at this point; so I called it a day. I'll probably take tomorrow "off" (just cardio).

So Dave, Frank, Gerry, and Tom (and others): what are your two favorite support lifts for getting out of the hole? :-)

You ever have one of those nights where you come home from work and just crash? I fell asleep last night at about 9 and didn't wake till about 730 today...Dead tired..maybe the running + gym is catching up to me?


Dokk,
It looks like you had fun at the gym :-)

Yes ... it was fun. :-) :-)

I've totally had days like that, too. The body needs rest to repair from your workouts. If you're not getting enough, your body will eventually tell you to eff off :-) (like yours did last night). :-)

Box Squats. A lot of them. Also with the heavier weight your form tends to crap out first.
Putting 315 on your back is just as good as squatting it sometimes. I know when I start to get into the uncharted weight range I usually try to stand out of the rack with it a week or two before I actually try to squat it. That way I am less concerned about how heavy it feels and more concerned about squatting with proper form.
I would replace leg presses with box squats after squatting. Lighter weights focus more on explosiveness out on the bottom. And ditch any hamstring work on leg day.

I get like that a lot. If you feel like its catching up with you I would recommend a few things. 1-2 times per week try to have a high calorie day. With your new level of activity you are probably not taking in the amount of nutrients that you should be. This is the most common thing I always see. Guys take on a new routine or start pushing themselves but continue to eat next to nothing, or still practice poor nutrition. Or take a week off and rest. Also some extra sleep doesnt ever hurt. The thing to watch is how you feel in the gym. If you are getting stronger or performing better every week than you are fine. Watch for signs of overtraining.

note - it could be the weather too, personally during the winter I have trouble staying up past 8.

Here are some articles on overtraining.
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/o.../aa062499a.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/fawnia33.htm

:-)

Besides that fiasco Sunday AM...I'm getting stronger each week. My legs feel fine from the running/training too..maybe I just needed rest.

Yeah -- I was planning on both of those things. When you do box squats, do you do 65%? 75%? 85%? Below, at, or above parallel?

In terms of getting under the weight, one thing I was going to do was add standing smith machine calf raises back in. That gets me under 315+ in a working kind of way. The smith will take out some stabilizers, though; so maybe I should just get under it on the rack and lift off, step back, re-rack, and repeat. My calves don't really need to get any bigger, anyway. :-)

Rest and, like Frank said, consume more calories. :-)

Well I like this idea but my problem is making sure it's calories and not just fat! Oh how I love the fatty foods.

I do them right at parallel. I havent been using %'s when box squatting. Its usually 225-315-365-405. But I would work around 60-70%.

Eat out twice a week problem solved. Nothing better than on the way home from leg day to pop in taco bell!!! :-)