Moving blog

For anybody who cares, I'm moving this blog to bigtallox.blogspot.com.

Tuesday night strongman training in AF

We did the yoke walk.  I did 350-ish EASY, then did 480-ish pretty EASY, and then tried 603, here's the video...

Man, pretty hard, but they all said it was really good for my first time trying.  

I could only stay for doing the farmers walk once with what I think was about 140 pounds on each side.  Piece of cake.  Russ said I had good technique and would not change anything.  Wow, a lot different than benching, lol.

Tuesday DE bench

DE bench in AF

12 sets x 3 with only purple bands.

Tricep rope push downs/face pulls.

A guy there was asking about my bands and wanted to try it to see what it felt like.  I've seen him there before, he can bench 315.  He asked how much "weight" were the bands, and I said it was about 125 per band at the top ( top for me ).  He wanted to try it, I said i'd spot him because it will feel really unstable.  I told him.  I lifted off for him, the bar wobbled all over and basically went right down to his chest.  It didn't just fall, I mean he was pressing it, so he wasn't going to get hurt but I think it really surprised him.  I said I liked how bands kind of mix it up and keeps you from adapting.  I think he got the benefit of it, he asked me where to buy some bands.

ME squats

ME squats with reverse bands

warm up ( straight weight )

bar x 8

bar x 8

135 x 6

reverse bands

315 x 3

405 x 2

495 x 1

585 x 1

The point was for me to get used to just holding the weight, ie I didn't care all that much about hitting parallel.  Anyway, the weight felt light.  Here's the 585

More grip work.  I got 180 pounds on the rolling thunder on my right hand.  Very cool.

OK, one more sill video, measuring my hand span

Measuring my handspan since a 7'5" friend on youtube says his is 12", so I had to know how I compared.  I guess it's kind of related to my grip training.  I've read average for a man is about 8".

Another silly video

I was frustrated with being too big for my truck, so I made this video to convince the wife that I need a bigger on.

Height check, ie too BIG for front door.

6'8" ( actually a little over ) 330 pounds and time to get a bigger/taller door/house.

DE deads and grip work

DE deadlifts with doubled over mini bands

8 sets of 2 with weight ranging from 185 to 205 plus about 200 in band tension at the top.  I was feeling pretty good with these.  I know I don't look fast, but I've got a long way to move the weight too.  I think my hips are staying down slightly longer, which is what I want, so I'm happy.

A few sets of pull throughs.  I think these are helping.

Grip work:

Rolling thunder just barely missed 180

Grip machine with 4 plates

Wrist roller

And then I tried plate hub pinch lifts.  I hadn't tried these before, but I could a 45 pound plate, woo hooo!  Very cool.

I think it's getting better

DE bench in AF. I'm continuing my experiement with doing only bands, no weight.

12 sets of purple bands only x 3

These felt really good today, even after squatting yesterday. My grip/forearm training must be working. The jury is still out about doing bands only for DE bench, but I did feel unusually explosive today.

Tricep rope presses. Several sets with entire stack + 45 pound plate.

Face pulls. Several sets with entire stack.

I felt really really good today, explosive and strong.

Monday Skiing in the morning, Squatting in the evening

Skiing

Today was the last day Mineral Basin is going to be open, and since yesterday was raining but today was pretty clear and sunny, I had to go up to ski in the morning.  It was decent, I could still ski to the bottom of the tram, but I'm guessing this will be the last weekend that's possible.  Mineral Basin was really good, lots of snow, I'm wondering why they're closing it down.  Even with SPF 50, it looks like I got yet another sunburn though. 

Training at Golds on 13th

Squats:

bar x 7

135 x 6

225 x 6

315 x 4

405 x 2

495 x 1

This was by far the easiest I've done 495 raw.  The weight felt really light tonight.

Rack pulls a few inches below the knee:

315 x 8

405 x 5

495 x 3

545 x 1

585 x 0.5 miss.  I pulled a callous off my hand, URG

495 x 3

Dumbell rows

125 x 8

125 x 8

125 x 8

125 x 8

Man these felt REALLY light tonight.

Body weight's at 335, but I'm not sure how accurate their scale is.  Usually I weigh myself at ripped.

2 PR's Thursday night at Ripped

SSB + rack pulls

135 bottom 145 top x 6

225 bottom 145 top x 5

315 bottom 145 top x 3

365 bottom 145 top x 2 (PR)

365 bottom 145 top x 1

365 bottom 165 top miss

365 bottom 145 top x 1

One arm deads with rolling thunder grip

105 x 3 right and left

145 x 3 right and left

170 x 2 right ( PR )

145 x 2 right and left

Few sets on the wrist roller 

Driving range during lunch

I decided to go to the driving range during lunch and see how it felt to swing a club again ( there's one right down the street from Omniture ). Not too bad, I've lost some flexibility which I'm sure will be easy to get back if I work on it. After warming up, I could hook and slice , but couldn't control how much, and pretty much hit one straight when I wanted to. It looked like my longest drive was in the 260-275 yard range. Not bad for not having touched a club for about 2 years, and for a club that's too short for me. My right forearm/elbow is a little sore, but I think that may be more from my grip training than the driver.

Captains of Crush #2

I got my CoC #2 and #2.5 gripper yesterday. I closed #2 after 3 tries, but then couldn't do it again. I didn't try the #2.5. So, I now know where I'm at and have the right ones to train with. I'm curious how long it will take to close the 2.5.

DE bench

Warmup:

bar x 8
bar x 8

DE benching ( urg, my usual bench is broken, the one I had to use was SHORT )

mini's only x 3
mini's only x 3
mini's only x 3
6 sets of purple only x 3

Since I wasn't feeling I was making any progress with becoming explosive by what I was doing, I decided to do bands only, no weight. As long as my joints don't feel stressed, I'm going to do this for the next few DE sessions to see how it goes. But it felt good today, and I think even with the purple bands I was prettty quick and getting close to explosive.

Tricep rope press downs, 5 sets with whole stack + 35 pounds.

Dumbell rows
125 x 8
140 x 5
140 x 5

face pulls, 5 sets of 12 with whole stack.

Body weight back down to 322, time to eat a ton of food, lol.

I felt really strong today, probably partially because I slept better than usual last night.

Monday night DE squats

DE box squats, straight weight

bar x 8

135 x 3

135 x 3

225 x 3

275 x 2

275 x 2

275 x 2

315 x 2

315 x 2

275 x 2

225 x 2

Based on how things felt tonight, I think my max squat is probably around 530.

A few sets on leg curl machine.

Wrist roller, and grip machine.

I then maxed out on the one hand deadlift with rotating grip, the rolling thunder grip. I got 168 pounds on my right hand and 152 pounds on the left ( I think my crooked left thumb from being broken may limit me on this with my left hand, maybe not ). Cool, I know where I'm at, and it's considerably more than the first time I tried it on a saturday a while ago when Brad said "hey Brian try to pick this up". Only another hundred pounds and I'll be close to a record, lol. Actually I can eventually getting there.

My body weight was at 327 pounds, and it's not fat ( mostly ).

Beyond spring skiing

I was able to make it up to Snowbird Sunday to enjoy the warm temps, sunny skies and slushy snow. I would say it was spring skiing, but it's beyond that now. Skiing down to the bottom of the tram is now considered back country. The bridge is now completely snowless, and now there's just barely enough snow to ski to where I like to park. I'm guessing there's may be one more weekend of being able to ski back down, after that it's riding the tram back down. The skiing was great today though.

The antics on the tram were fun (as always). My second ride up, I guess people were being unusually slow and the tram operator was telling people to hurry up ( not me though, he knows I'm always last ). Then this guy goes, "there's the enforcer ( talking about me, LOL ), he'll get everybody pushed back into the tram". Just to be clear, I'm NEVER a jerk getting on the tram, but I do like being last on ( it's my spot ), and I do make sure people move back ( as they're supposed to), but now I'm known as the enforcer, lol. OK, yes I kind of like it.

While riding up, this guy next to me started asking me tons of questions: You don't see big guys like you up here on the ski hill ( he's right it seems most skiers are little skinny guys ), you ever break your bindings off your skis? I'm surprised you float in the powder on those, ( I replied that although they're powder skis ( my 105mm's ) they aren't *my* powder skis, my powder skis are 140 mm under foot. ) "How much do you weigh? (330) What team did you play for?" ( I played golf in high school, although I'm pretty sure he wasn't asking about high school. )... LOL.

In talking to him though, I did have a thought, I bet with my added muscle mass and strength I could drive the crap out of a golf ball, but I bet with the right driver ( which I don't have, my clubs are too short ) I could really drive one FAR. I may have to try sometime.

Max effort benching at Ripped

Flat bench straight weight:

bar x 8

85 x 6

135 x 6

185 x 5

225 x 5

275 x 3

315 x 1

put shirt on

365 3 boards x 1

385 4 boards x 1

405 4 boards x 1 miss

405 4 boards x 1 less of a miss

405 4 boards x 1

Although I didn't get all the 405 attempts, I'm feeling much more confortable holding the weight. I'm still super slow on the way down, but I'm seriously wondering if that hurts me that much, especially since when I try to let it come down faster I loose strength.

More grip work, grip machine and wrist roller. Tricep press downs.

some videos

Last raw warmup set, benching 315 x 1. I know, I know I'm not explosive, I'm starting to wonder if I should care, or it's just how all 6'8" guys would bench ( if there were any others, lol). I know my technique is nowhere near perfect, but although I lift my left toes off the ground, I can see my leg drive now, which used to be non existent.

Loading up the grip machine ( I'm liking all the grip work lately )

Deadlifts

Deadlifts:


135 x 6 225 x 5
315 x 3
405 x 1
495 x 1
535 x .75 ( maybe about 5 - 6" from locking it out )
535 x .5 ( urg, it seems like with deads I never get a missed 1st attempt on the second attempt )

I'm not happy with my deadlifts. It seems from talking to others, my deadlift technique is closer to right than my bench technique ( I'm not really sure I agree ), but benching is progressing and deadlifting is not. I think part of it is that my technique is never going to look like other people because I'm taller than most ( if not all ) powerlifters an my arms are probably a foot longer than most powerlifters. Oh well.



Dumbell rows
130 x 6
150 x 4
130 x 6
These felt really light, I think mostly because the grip work I've been doing. I used to have a hard time keeping a good hold on the 150's, that wasn't an issue in the slightest today.

Couple sets of CGM with the SSB
Couple sets of pull throughs.


I got my Captains of Crush #1 gripper. It's pretty easy to close, even after heavy deads. Here's a video...

DE bench and some more grip fun stuff

Warmup:
bar x 8
bar x 8

DE bench:
3 sets mini's only x 3
3 sets 135 + mini's x 3
3 sets 135 x 3

I don't know if I'm anymore explosive, but I'm trying. Hopefully I'll get there someday.

Supersets of triceps, face pulls, and standing pulldowns in from with arms straight ( whatever that's called, ie the exercise stump showed me a while ago ).

Then on to some more grip work. I can pick up pinched 35's, at least I could today. I'm liking this grip strength stuff.

Max effort squats and some grip work

Squats with reverse bands

225 x 6

315 x 5

405 x 3

495 x 1

575 x 1

Wow, that's the first time I've had that much weight on my back.  It wasn't all that bad, taxing but it felt really good.

Grip roller, worked up to a TON of weight, LOL.  Like 5 plates.  Pretty much maxed out on the other grip thingy that I need to learn what to call it.  I'm really enjoying this grip work, and my forearms feel perfect even after holding 575 on my back ( which before I started doing the grip work anything over 445 or so would bother my forearms ).

Sunday spring skiing

More spring skiing on Sunday at Snowbird.  There's still lots of snow, judging on how things went last year I'd say there's enough snow to stay open at least until the beginning of June.

Benching with Stump and Jeff at Golds

For a change of pace, I decided to bench with Stump and Jeff at Golds, and had a great time.

Flat bench:

bar x 8

bar x 8

135 x 7

135 x 7

225 x 5

275 x 3

(shirt on )

350 4 brd x 4

365 4 brd x 3

405 4 brd x 1

I was happy with my benching especially since I didn't want to go 100% today, and I didn't but am still making gains, ie I've never done 405 except when doing rack lockouts and it felt relatively easy, easier than the 395 last week.  I like lifting with both Stump and Jeff they're good guys and gave me some good advice today.

Accessory work

Tricep stuff, face pulls, nothing special.  I actually felt pretty strong today, surprising since I felt like poop yesterday.

Spring skiing at Snowbird.

After benching and lunch, I went up to snowbird to enjoy the snow and warm weather.  I love this time of year in Utah, warm temps but still lots of snow in the mountains.  It was close to 60 at 10,000 feet, and with all that snow on the ground it makes it feel like 100.  I skied in my westside tank top to work on my tan, lol. 

DE deads at ripped

warmup
135 x 7
135 x 7

Speed deadlifts:
8 sets with 135 + mini bands doubled over x 3

More grip/forearm work.

The workout was much harder than it should have been, and I'm not feeling the best today (friday). I hope I'm not getting sick.

DE bench in AF

flat bench

bar x 8
bar x 8
9 sets of 135 x 3

Today I really focused on trying to arch more, sticking my belly up, and starting the press off my chest first with driving my heals into the floor ( something which I don't do very well ). I think all of these things will increase my max bench, especially when shirted.

Dumbell rows
115 x 8
125 x 7
140 x 6

Superset of tricep presses/face pulls.

URG, even with all the eating I've done, the skiing on sunday and squatting on monday has dropped my body weight down to 320. Im starting to think that I'll never stay above 320, as I'm not going to stop doing any non powerlifting activities to just keep my weight up. Maybe I'm worrying about the bodyweight too much, but in the past there's been a pretty good correlation between my body weight increase and my lifts increasing.

Sunday and Monday night at ripped fitness

Sunday:

Spring skiing up at snowbird. Gadzoom & Peruvian are closed so now I can ride the tram again. I love riding the tram. It was pretty much cloudy, but in May it doesn't take sunshine for spring skiing snow. But at 18 until 350 I'm much to heavy for my 105mm under foot skis.

Monday night at ripped:

SSB DE box squats, I wanted to stay rather light

bar x 3
bar x 3
145 x 3
145 x 3
195 x 3
195 x 3
235 x 3
235 x 3
235 x 3
235 x 3
145 + mini x 3
145 + mini x 3

supersets of leg curl machine and leg extension machine

I've been doing lots of grip/forearm work on squat days because apparently my forearms are a weak spot for squatting. But today was the first time I really maxed out on any of these. I put 3 plates and a quarter on the wrist roller thing, and about the same on the other grip thingy that I don't know the name of.

Saturday night weighing

Holy crap, I got on the scale tonight ( because for some reason I didn't this morning ), 325 pounds on my scale that weighs a good 10 pounds lighter than the one at ripped 0r golds.  OMG!  Maybe it's time to start cutting...?  LOL, no way.

Getting close to 400 pound bench

Benching at rippped

bar x 6

bar x 6

95 x 6

135 x 6

185 x 3

225 x 3

275 x 1

315 3brd x 1

365 3brd x 1

385 3brd x 1

395 3brd x 1  ( cj put his hand on the bar because mike dumped one right before this he said he didn't help ).

Here's the video of the 395

I was pretty taxed after this, so nothing else today.  Wow, two decent ME bench sessions in a row.

couple pictures

Me at 320 pounds

SSB workout

SSB work.  Worked up to the above.

Then supersets of dumbell rows, grip roller, and the other grip thingy at ripped.

DE bench in AF

DE benching

Bar x 3
mini + bar x 3
mini + bar x 3
6 sets 135 + mini x 3

I stopped because my bicep tendon was hurting from the mishap yesterday.

Supersets of face pulls/tricep press downs with rope.

Lat pulldowns in front

Monday night squatting

Wrist roller, several sets with more weight than I've ever done before ( not sure how much though )

Squats:

bar x 8
135 x 7
135 x 7
225 x 4
315 x 3
405 x 1
495 x 1

Although it's not a PR, the 495 felt easier than it ever has before, and Lance verified that it was below parallel.  ( He also gave me a really nice complement saying something like I'm the strongest tall guy around. ) I should have been videoing my 495 squat. I probably could have gone up to 545 and given that a try, but I wanted to make sure my forearms didn't hurt afterward. But I think all the forearm/grip work I've been doing has made a difference, as well as squatting with wrist wraps. Next heavy squat session hopefully I'll try 545.


Finished up with several sets on leg curl machine.

ME benching

ME benching at Ripped Fitness.  We did flat bench with monster mini bands.  Scott estimated that the bands add about 150 ( for me ) at the top.  ( I'm guessing it maybe slightly more than that ).

Benching went like this ( from memory )

bar x 8

bar x 8

bands only x 5

85 + bands x 5

135 + bands x 5

185 + bands x 3

225 + bands x 1 ( didn't get it, but close )

225 + bands x 1 ( closer yet )

225 + bands x 1 ( basically got it.  Mike touched the bar, but IMHO he didn't need to )

225 + bands 5 boards x 4

245 + bands 5 boards x 3

245 + bands 5 boards x 3

255 + bands 5 boards x 2 but mike helped a lot

Here's a video of one of my 245 + bands 5 boards x 3...

Pin press lockouts:

315 x 5

405 x 3

425 x 1

455 x 0 ( crap, sooooo close!  I think this would have been a PR. )

Here's a video of my 425 x 1

Finished up with some tricep work.

Overall a much, much better bench session than last week.  The monster mini bands can kind of take you by surprise in a way.  They look so small, but man they added a lot, a lot more than my mini bands do.

Deadlift workout

Deadlifting at Ripped. It was a long day at work today so I just took my time working up to 495 and stopped. I probably should have done a DE workout instead, as this wasn't really max effort either.

My hips were still a little sore from squatting on monday. Hmm, maybe it's time for another chiro adjustment.

Dumbell rows
110 x 7
140 x 4
130 x 6
120 x 7

A few sets on the wrist roller and a few pulldowns ( bar in front ).

Body weight is at 320 pounds. Hmm, I didn't feel like I was gaining

Tuesady DE benching in AF

It felt a little weird lifting at golds in AF again. I hadn't lifted there since the layoff email from Move Networks.

It was a pretty typical DE bench workout...

3 sets of 135 x 3
6 sets of 135 + mini bands doubled x 3


A few sets of tricep press downs with the rope and face pulls.

Sunday and Monday

Spring Skiing Sunday.

It was probably 60F up at 9000 feet on sunday. Skiing was great, but on the way home, they were stopping cars in the canyon and telling them to go back up the hill. They said the hill was unstable and it was going to be closed until temps cooled off. I bought some potato chips at general grits and sat on my tail gate and started eating them enjoying the sunshine, when these guys across the street said "hey you want a hambuger?" I said sure and walked over. The one guy said "hey, I know you, you're the guy with the flaming hat ( my westside barbell hat ), I saw you skiing little cloud on thursday" and he handed me a PBR. LOL, I'm famous. I ended up hanging out with them until the road opened, it was pretty fun, I hope I see them up there again sometime.

Monday.
My first day at Omniture. Spent the majority of the day orientation.

Squat training at Ripped Fitness.

I wanted to give my forearms a break so I decided to do SSB box squats. I still dont understand why my forearms hurt after squatting heavy. Pulling even heavier doesn't bother them. Go figure...

SSB box squats
bar x 7
bar x 7
145 x 6
145 x 6
195 x 4
235 x 3
285 x 2
315 x 1
315 x 1
335 x 1
335 x 1

The SSB kicks my butt and is much harder than normal back squats, but then again I did ski yesterday. Actually, I just looked back in my log and this was 20 pounds more than I did last time I tried them, so I guess I'm not doing SO bad.

A few sets on the leg extension and leg curl machine.

Deadlift workout at Ripped

Scott showed me these ( not sure what to call them )

They went like this..

135 top 135 bottom x 5

135 top 225 bottom x 4

145 top 225 bottom x 3

145 top 275 bottom x 2

145 top 315 bottom x 1

145 top 315 bottom x 1

Stopped here because it was the first time I've done them and didn't want to over do it.]

5 sets of pull throughs

dumbell rows

100 x 8

120 x 7

140 x 7

Thursday morning powder

Snowbird got 2 feet of snow in the last two days, so I decided to go up first thing in the morning and track it up.  It was really really good and could be the last powder day of the season.

Some videos of my lifts at AAPF nationals, April 6 2009

Squatting 465

Benching 368

Deadlifting 530

Squatting after skiing this morning

Box squats..

bar + green bands x 3

135 + green bands x 3

185 + green bands x 3

225 + green bands x 3

275 + green bands x 2

315 + green bands x 1

365 + green bands x 1

365 + green bands x 1

275 + green bands x 3

275 + green bands x 3

The green bands add at least 140 pounds at the top of my squat, so that's 505 at the top.  Not bad after skiing earlier today.

A few sets on leg curl machine and lots of grip work on wrist roller ( which seems to make my forearms feel better after squatting ).

Thursday, Saturday and Monday morning

Last Thursday...  Deadlift/core work.  Concentric good mornings with SSB.  Pull throughs, etc.

Saturday... ME bench.  I now realize the importance of having the same person help with the shirt.  I never quite got it feeling right and kind of had a crappy bench session.  The sleeve slipped a little when doing 365 and it felt horrible.

Monday morning... Spring skiing at the bird.  I skied on my racing skis because last time I went up my powder skis were too dull for the hard groomed.  Today, off trail in mineral basin looked really good, but my racing skis sucked in it.  I love my fat powder skis, but I really need to find an all around good ski since my fat powder skis really suck on the groomed ( and they bother my hips skiing on them on the groomed, getting old sucks ).

Job Offer

This morning I had my last interview with Omniture.  A few hours after I got home, the HR guy called and said that they wanted to make me a job offer.  Very cool, it seems like a great company and all the guys I interviewed with seemed like really good software engineers.  I'm very excited to start, which looks like will be either next monday or the monday after that.

Monday spring skiing in Mineral basin

Snowbird has gotten 12 feet of snow in the last 12 days.  The season total is up to 577" so it looks like they'll have enough to stay open through May, hopefully longer.

I went up Monday, all the powder had turned in to pretty crappy stiff/crusty cement, but in Mineral basin the south facing groomed runs was a really nice soft slush, perfect for my powder skis.  I didn't ski much because I was pretty drained from the meet, but it was awesome to be up in the mountains with all that snow, sunshine and warm temps.

AAPF National in Idaho Falls

I wasn't really expecting too much at this meet, since I've been pretty stressed out lately, and I didn't sleep much at all the 3 nights before the meet since Josh doesn't sleep well when we're away from home )

Squat 210 kilos ( they were red lighting everybody on squats )

Bench 160 kilos ( 368 pounds, pretty much smoked it, probably could have done 15-20 pounds more )

Dead 240 kilos ( 529 pounds,  4 pound PR)

Total 610 kilos = 1345 pounds

Light speed bench workout

I did a light speed bench workout at Ripped fitness today.

10 sets of flat bench 135 x 3

A few sets of tricep push downs

I'm not really feeling all that prepaired for the meet.  The job hunt/interviews are pretty stressful and it's been affecting my training.  Perhaps after 5 days of rest, I'll be ready for the meet.

I had another interview with the local company yesterday.  I met with 5 different people 30-45 minutes each.  Lots of technical questions, some involving writing code on the white board, some solving logic questions.  It ended with meeting with one of the VP's.  The HR person said this would probably be the last interview.  I felt like it went pretty good.  One of the engineers said he really liked my answers and that I had though of some things that nobody else had mentioned when answering his standard interview question.  The VP guy also said "good answer" to a few of my responses.  The other people where harder to read, I had a small bug in my code for one of the questions, but IMHO this is kind of expected writing things out on the white board, I doubt he thought it was much of an issue as it was obvious I knew the answer to his question.  They said that I should hear from them in the next couple days.  I really hope it works out it seems like a great place to work, and I feel I'm a really good fit for the job.

Monday Morning

Waist deep powder up at Snowbird.

Last heavy benching before the meet

I left for Charleston, SC Thursday, I didn't get there until midnight, and had an interview at 8AM and flew back to SLC friday afternoon, arriving home well after midnight.  So, I wasn't sure how the benching would go after being pretty tired from sitting in a little plane for so long, but it wasn't a bad bench session.

We did reverse bands, but could only find one blue band, so we did green bands with purple bands.  I believe it was slightly less tension than the blue bands.  

I should add that when I do these with the group, the bands are set pretty low for me, as they completely deload about half way up my press.  I guess it's good for working my lockout, but the bands help me much less than other people.

From memory the benching went like this...

135 x 10

225 x 8

275 x 5

315 x 3

365 x 1

405 x 0 miss

385 x 1  russ touched the bar, but not much

385 x 1  russ touched the bar, but I think even less than the first time

385 x 1  same thing, but it didn't help much ( I probably should have said don't touch it )

365 x 1

315 x 6

I then did some tricep accessory work.

Last time we did reverse bands, I got 405, but I think the blue bands helped more than the bands we used today.  I could be wrong, I hope not.  I don't feel like I'm getting weaker, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised with all this job hunting/interviewing stress.

About the job hunt.  The company in Charleston didn't make me an offer while I was there, however I think they will.  I got the feeling from the contractor guy who interviewed me that it was just a formality.  I didn't really get much of a feeling from the government guy, he was harder to read, he didn't want to eat lunch with us, and I gave him a copy of my resume and he gave it back to me at the end of the interview (I've never had anybody do that before, and I'm not sure if there's any meaning behind it or not).  I have another round of interviews at Omniture on Monday.  I'm meeting with 5 more people.  They seem to take pride in the fact that they are thorough in their interview process. 

Deload squat session

Squats

Bar x 8

Bar x 7

135 x 7

225 x 6

135 + green bands x 3

225 + green bands x 3

275 + green bands x 2

275 + green bands x 3

275 + green bands x 3

225 + green bands x 3

225 + green bands x 3

225 + green bands x 3

A few sets on the leg curl machine.

Not the best bench session

I've been pretty stressed out about the job search, so I'm not too surprised that I felt weak today.

Flat bench with Mike

bar x 10

135 x 8

185 x 8

225 x 5

275 x 3

(put shirt on)

345 x 1

345 x 1

355 x 1 not sure how much Mike helped

365 x 1 miss

Overall, I felt like crap today.  But it seems that 2 weeks out from a meet I always feel like crap.

I thought about doing some pin press lockouts, but I didn't see the point.  My body clearly wasn't wanting to bench press to day.

I did a few sets of tricep cable presses.

I'm going to Charleston this week for an interview with the company that I used to work for.  Life is confusing lately.

Thursday thoughts

I went skiing today.  I often feel like I'm the luckiest man alive when I go skiing.  Today wasn't different in that respect, but I couldn't help feeling like I'm the luckiest man alive, AND even in this horrible time of unemployment, I couldn't help but feel thankful for everything.  I'm thankful for my old skiing buddies who taught me to ski ( Todd, Corry, Mike, and later Danno ).  I'm thankful for the experiences that I've had, and the things I've been able to learn that has enabled me to be able to write software and support my family.  I'm thankful to Chris and Jody who very indirectly helped me to become a really, really, really good c++ programmer.  I'm thankful for everybody I've meet powerlifting ( Stump, Mike, Kyle, Russ, C.J,  Brad, Scott ) because for some reason, not completely clear to me, I feel that powerlifting is something I need to be doing, and they've all helped me out a lot.  I'm thankful to my wife Becky, because she completes me and has made me a better person.  I'm thankful to God for letting me experience everything I have.

On the needing to powerlift comment....  Today, while up on the ski hill, I couldn't help but feel that its because powerlifting needs to become a replacement for skiing, because my job search is going to take me away from Utah.  Although I don't want to move away, I've had only a couple local companies seem interested in my skills, but today my previous employer in Charleston called me about a couple of jobs they have open, and I must say, it felt right.  I loved my job back there, and always did even when my wife and I decided to move to Utah.   And I think for some reason the whole powerlifting thing was revealed to me last year as a replacement for skiing for when I eventually have to move away from Utah ( which I'm feeling might have to happen ).  Even as much as I love skiing, today on the ski hill I realized I'm fine with it.  I love skiing, and always will, and Snowbird without a doubt has the best powder skiing and terrain in the country, and I've had some incredible days up there skiing in amazingly deep snow on some incredible terrain, but for the most part I end up doing it alone.  I love it, but it's also very isolating.  Powerlifting is obviously an individual sport, but I've met some great people doing it, and I never feel alone ( even at the meet in Arizona ).  I haven't met many people skiing ( well, just one really ) and quite honestly, I'm kind of tired of the attitude of most skiers up at Snowbird.   Anyway, I don't want to move, but maybe it's time to move on.  I love powerlifting with all my heart, and even though I'll miss the people I've met here, I can do powerlifting anywhere.

Wednesday night deadlifting

Deads,

135 x 8

225 x 6

315 x 4

405 x 1

495 x 1

( Got it easy but felt really tired, not recovered from squatting monday night, so... )

405 x 2

315 x 3

done.

I was hoping for more, but I was done.  Everybody says I'm built to pull, but why is my dead stalling and my squat increasing?

dumbell rows

120 x 5

120 x 5

120 x 5

(obviously I'm not myself today, the 120's were hard )

Various grip work

Another DL workout that wasn't what I was hoping for, URG.

Monday night heavy squatting

Squats

bar x 8

bar x 7

135 x 6

225 x 6

315 x 2

tried squatting in my DL suit

405 x 1 hated it

put squat suit on

455 x 1

495 x 1

( Boy seeing it written down make it seem soo easy, but tonight was pretty taxing, although with my new grip, my forearms feel great. )

3 sets on Leg curl

3 sets of pull throughs

I had an interview today.  One of the guys who got laid off in the first round recommended me to his current company.  They called me on friday and I had an interview today.  The interview was with the HR Technical Recruiter and consisted of a few logic questions, which I answered correctly, and then we talked about the position and my background.  It sounds like an awesome job and I'm a great fit.  I have a second interview this friday!!

Saturday shirt benching

Flat benching, straight weight with Mike

bar x 10

135 x 8

185 x 6

225 x 7

275 x 2

(put shirt on)

315 x 1 ( way high, the shirt wasn't on right )

335 x 1 3 boards

345 x 1 3 boards

345 x 1 2 boards

365 x 1 no boards  barely touched, I brought it down slightly low to force it to touch. I was slow to lock out but I think with less volume/more rest before this attempt I would have easily gotten it.

rack lockouts 

315 x 10

405 x 5

405 x 5

flat bench with chains and 35's hanging from bands

set of 8

set of 4 

it was obvious I was finished for today

ME deads

Well, I was feeling tired from all the job hunting stress, so I wasn't sure how things would go.  I guess it wasn't all that bad, but not what I was hoping for....

Deadlifts

135 x 8

135 x 8

225 x 7

315 x 5

365 x 2

401 x 1

455 x 1

495 x 1

545 x 0 miss ( being stupid I didn't have my hands even, the weight was lopsided which threw me off so I missed it. STUPID! )

545 x 0 miss ( URG, this should be easy weight, but I think I was too quick with my setup, raised my hips too soon, and missed it.  CRAP! )

545 x 0 miss ( my body clearly had enough volume.  Shoot, I should have gotten both the first and second attempt, but I was being stupid and at this point I was just plain done.  URG, kind of disappointing. )

Bumbbell rows

120 x 9

( nick has the 140's.. )

130 x 7

130 x 6

130 x 6

Wrist roller thingy I don't know the weight

4 sets

2" handle one arm deadlifts

150x 1

150x1

150x1

Russ suggested that I do some deads with the bar where you stand inside with the weight out to the side ( not sure what you call it )

265 x 5

265 x 5

265 x 5

I really like these in that it feels like deadlifts but it's different enough so I can see my body not adapting to it.  I'll definitely do these for max effort some time.

The grip builder machine ( that I don't know what to call )

3 sets of 25 not sure of the weight but I think there was 4 35's on it.

It was a great workout, other than missing attempts that I should have gotten.  Man Russ is the pulling machine, and a great workout partner.  

I hope I don't have to move away from Utah to find a job.  I seem to be getting much more response from companies outside of Utah, unfortunately.  It's very sad because I love living here and don't want to move.  The companies around here have told me that I have too much experience ( even though they also said I was a perfect fit for the job ).  I've also been told from another company that I was a perfect fit, but they wouldn't hire me because Move Networks was paying me more money.  URG, you've got to be kidding me.  I took a risk with a start up company ( Move Networks ), so they paid me more because their benefits weren't all that great, and I get dinged for it.  I don't get it.  But I've been talking to companies in Huntsville, AL,  Las Vegas, New Jersey, Wisconson, Iowa, New York,... and they all seem very interested in my background.  But most of the companies around here either say I'm over qualified ( I don't understand why they don't view this as that they're getting more than what they're paying for ) or that they're looking for 10 specific things and I only have 9 ( and they don't value somebody's ability to learn new technology, which is something I have a proven track record of being really good at ). 

I had another local company tell me that they wouldn't consider me because I didn't have the background they were looking for, but I've had over 10 years experience with everything they listed on their job listing.

Another local company told me that they wouldn't consider me because they were looking for somebody with experience writing video processing code.  But that's exactly what I've been doing at my previous 2 positions for the last 4 years, and it's what I've done in developing my own software and creating a profitable business out of in my free time.  URG, are they stupid!

Overall my feeling is, crap, I'm going to have to move.  

DE Squats

Squats:

Bar x 10

Bar x 10

Bar + mini bands x 3

145 + mini bands x 3

235 + mini bands x 2

285 + mini bands x 2

285 + mini bands x 2

325 + mini bands x 2

325 + mini bands x 2

325 + mini bands x 2

325 + mini bands x 2

285 + mini bands x 2

235 + mini bands x 2

235 + mini bands x 2

3 sets on leg press machine

3 sets on leg curl machine

3 sets on seated calf machine.

Shirt experimentation

Today I did some experimentation with shirts.  The benching went as follows:

Reverse bands ( top of my ROM was way above the bands, so I'm lifting 100% at the top, actually it was probably 100% of the weight at about half way up. )

135 x 10

185 x 6

225 x 5

275 x 3

315 x 2

365 x 2

405 x 1  

( titan fury size 54 )

455 x 1

455 x 1

( people said the shirt is a little big, Brad had the same shirt in size 52, so I tried it )

455 x 1

455 x 1

( Brad said that the katana might be a better shirt for me and he had an old that he used that could try size 54 )

405 x 1

455 x 1 2 boards

455 x 1 no boards

Wow, I definitely like the katana the best.  The fury would squeeze my upper body in a way that didn't give me much of a pop off the bottom, it kind of made it hard to press.  With the katana the 455 with no boards was really really tight at the bottom but it didn't really squeeze my whole upper body like the fury, but it really helped me off the bottom.  I think I found the right shirt for me.  It was great having all the help from everybody especially Brad, Russ, Tom, CJ.  It was an awesome bench session.

Given that I know I can lock out 455 ( since I was above the bands with it ), and that 365 should touch with the katana without the bands, I think it's reasonable that I'll bench in the 365-375 range with the shirt by the time of the meet next month.  ( Right now I'm thinking I'll bench my opener raw so I get a good lift in, and then really go for it with the shirt. ) Given how I squatted last monday, I think I could put 100 pounds more on my total from the meet in Feb.  That would be pretty cool.

Deadlift accessory workout

Bent knee concentric goodmornings with safety squat bar.

bar x 8

145 x 6

195 x 5

235 x 5

285 x 2

325 x 1

325 x 1

325 x 1

235 x 3

here's a video:

Barbell rows ( kept the weight light to let my forearms rest )

100 x 8

100 x 8

100 x 8

100 x 8

5 sets of pull throughs

Laid back DE bench workout

I met Stump for a DE bench session at golds on 7th.  After still being really drained from squatting last night, I took it really easy today with my DE bench workout.  Stump gave me some advice about why I'm not keeping my back tight on my first rep benching.

I could still slightly feel my forearms aching after 5-6 sets of benching, nothing major but I could feel it.  I would have never believed that my forearms would be my weak part when squatting 500 pounds.

DE bench

Bar x 10

Bar x 8

8 sets of 135 x 3

Not very speedy today, but given the squat session last night, I didn't worry or care too much.

Overhead pin presses.  Pins about even with the top of my head

bar x 8

135 x 8

185 x 4

185 x 7

185 x 7

I didn't want to push it too much today, so I stayed relatively light with these.

Tricep cable push downs

probably 5 sets, working up to whole stack + 25#

Face pulls, various weights up to 150-ish, probably 6 sets.

All and all a nice easy laid back workout.

Squat PR

A really good monday night squat session with Russ, CJ, Kevin and myself.

Squats

Bar x 8
135 x 7
225 x 6
315 x 3
365 x 2
(Put suit on)
405 x 1
455 x 1
495 x 1
500 x 1 (PR)

4 sets on leg curl machine.

I was using a different laptop for video capture and had some technical difficulties so I don't have a video. But I had a great time tonight. Kevin, Russ, and I were all in squat suits, and CJ had his Metal briefs, and we all were squatting 500+. I think if Ripped had a monolift, I would have squatted 550 tonight.

Saturday benching

I was pretty sick yesterday, I lost 9 pounds in one day.  So I wasn't expecting too much from this bench session, but I actually felt fairly strong.

Flat bench ( this is from memory, maybe be off slightly )

Bar x 10

95 x 8

135 x 6

185 x 3

225 x 3

275 x 3

315 x 1

335 x 4  4 boards

335 x 4  4 boards

335 x 4  4 boards

Chains with 35's hanging from bands

set of 6

set of 8

set of 4

Tricep cable presses, 4 sets weight doesn't really matter to me

Thursday DE deads

Deadlift warmup

135 x 10

225 x 7

315 x 5

Deads with mini bands doubled over twice ( it adds about 250 at the top )

135 x 3

135 x 3

135 x 3

185 x 3

185 x 3

185 x 3

135 x 3

Dumbell rows

100 x 8

130 x 5

140 x 5

140 x 5

130 x 5

100 x 8

Pull throughs, 5 sets don't remember the weight

Back at it training at Ripped

After not really being able to train at the Golds in Scottsdale ( what a joke that place was ), I was glad to be back home and training at Ripped again.  

Max effort concentric goodmorning with safety squat bar ( bar weighs about 55 pounds )

bar x 10

145 x 8

235 x 5

255 x 4

285 x 3

295 x 2 (PR for reps)

325 x 1 (PR)

325 x 1 (probably should have tried for another PR)

I should probably clarify, I really think I should call these concentric goodmorning-squats.  I do them starting with my knees bent, kind of similar to how I start a deadlift.  I view them as a deadlift builder ( and they have been ), but not having to hold the weight with my arms ( which were still kind of stressed from deadlifting at the meet ).  However, this is exactly how the guys in the westside barbell DVD's do them too.  I really love the SSB, I think it really builds your core and I need to use it more often ( as should everybody ).

Box squats with SSB, box above parallel maybe by an inch or two

bar x 8

145 x 7

235 x 5

255 x 5

295 x 3

295 x 3

325 x 3

325 x 2

Leg curl machine, probably 4 sets don't really remember the weight

Body weight was 315 after the workout.  

It was a good workout.  CJ, Russ and Kevin were there.  I'm thankful to have people to squat ( kind of ) with.  ( the kind of part is because unfortunately I'm never going to be able to squat with other guys because I need to have the bar up so high in the rack.  It sure would be nice if Ripped got a monolift, and Monday night turned into the squat equilivent of Saturday morning. )

Sunday speed day

After being in Arizona and missing what looked like a couple good storms up at Snowbird, I was kind of anxious to ski again.  The problem was with the warmer temps and how the mountains looked from my house, I knew the powder was going to be crap.  Usually I wouldn't have even gone up to the hill, but because of my little skiing break I decided to bring my racing skis up and see how fast I can go on the groomed with my added mass.  This is pretty much out of character, I usually consider myself the anti-racer, but I actually think I figured out my racing skis ( bought on eBay for $10, lol ).  With the added weight, on the racing skis, I FLY on the groomed.  In 20+ years of skiing I don't think I've ever gone that fast on skis before.  I'm never going to be a racer, but it was kind of fun.  I wouldn't want to do that all the time though, and skiing off trail in deep powder is still MUCH more fun.

APF/AAPF meet in Peoria, AZ

I completed my first full power meet today, the APF/AAPF meet in Peoria Az. My numbers were, 475 squat 325 bench ( raw ) and 525 deadlift. Here's a video of my squat opener..

OK, maybe not the thing to do

Snowbird got 18" of snow Monday night and 12" before that on Sunday night, so I decided to go up and take a few runs tuesday morning.  I kept it to an absolute minimum though.  I was up there early and I made some fresh tracks in the powder on my favorite parts of the mountain and I was back home before 11AM.  The hips feel fine today (wednesday) and my legs aren't even sore.  I have 3 days of nothing but rest before the meet, so I think Ill be fine.  The skiing was really good.

Monday at the gym

I didn't do my normal monday workout because the meet's coming up I didn't want to do any powerlift but I did want to workout mostly as a break from work.

Dumbbell rows

100 x 10

120 x 9

120 x 8

140 x 4

140 x 4

120 x 7

100 x 8

Tricep press downs with rope

5 sets with whole stack + 25 pounds

3 sets on Leg curl machine

BW 315 pounds.  Last workout until meet.

Thursday and Saturday

Thursday Deads

Working up to opener

135 x 10

225 x 6

315 x 3

405 x 1

445 x 1

I think my opener will be 445.

Speed deads 

8 sets of 135 + mini bands doubled over twice

Lat pull downs

4 sets ( didn't keep track of the weight )

4 sets of pull throughs.

The deadlifts felt good, my hips felt strong.

Saturday Benching.

Warm up 

bar x 10

bar x 10

Reverse bands ( bands were lower than in the past when Mike, CJ and I did them )

225 x 10

315 x 5

315 x 5

365 x 4

405 x 1

405 x 1

405 x 1

365 x 4

315 x 7

1 set flat bench with chains and 35's hanging on bands.

4 sets of tricep cable pushdowns

4 sets of face pulls

No skiing either Saturday or Sunday.  Spent most of the weekend resting, playing with Sarah and Josh, and watching TV.

DE bench on Tuesday

I was pretty sore from squatting monday night, so I took it kind of easy.

DE Benching

10 sets 135 x 3 no bands

Overhead pin press lockouts, pins just above my head

135 x 8

185 x 5

225 x 4

245 x 1

225 x 5

This is the first real overhead pressing I've done since I bruised my sternum in November, it felt good to be able to start working these again.

Tricep cable push downs.  I forget how many sets, probably 5 with the stack + 25 pounds.

Squat opener

ME squats to try to determine my opener at the meet..

365

405

445

Sunday skiing

No new powder up at the Bird.  Off trail wasn't the best, it would have been good if it was 10 degrees warmer.  With my added mass, the groomed really SUCKS, impossible to carve a turn, nothing but sliding.  It was beautiful though, so I just kind of took it easy with the skiing and enjoyed the sunshine.  This will probably be my last day of skiing before the meet.

Good ME bench session

Benching with Russ, Kevin, CJ, Tommy, Brad, Scott at Ripped Fitness

Warm up

Bar x 10

Bar x 10

Flat bench with chains ( apparently the chains weighed about 130# and I pretty much lift them off the ground at the top )

95 + chains x 8

135 + chains x 7

135 + chains x 6

185 + chains x 4

225 + chains x 2

245 + chains 3 boards x 3

225 + chains 3 boards x 3

225 + chains 4 boards x 5

245 + chains 4 boards x 4

Rack lockouts

315 x 10

405 x 5

455 x 2

2 sets of flat bench with chains and 35's hanging from bands off the bar

5 sets of tricep cable presses

Body weight at 312 pounds after the workout.  Its two weeks out from the meet, I felt strong today, hopefully that continues.

80% max effort deadlift session

Deadlifts at Ripped.  I'm two weeks out from the meet, so I kind of went easy.

Deads:

135 x 10

225 x 8

315 x 5

405 x 3

455 x 1

495 x 1

In a meet environment I'm hoping to pull 530-ish.  We'll see in 2 weeks I guess.

Dumbell rows

120 x 8

140 x 3

120 x 8

120 x 8

4 sets of pull throughs, didn't keep track of the weight

4 sets of seated pulldown in front with straight bar.

Some grip work ( Man, my hands and forearms were pumped up huge when done )

My hips are feeling much better than a week ago.  I'm continuing to stretch all the time, now that I'm in alignment the stretching actually helps ( before my adjustment I think stretching just caused more problems ).

Tuesday morning Powder

I was able to take a few hours of vacation time and enjoy the blue skies and fresh powder up at Snowbird.  It was amazingly beautiful and the skiing was great.  To the left is a picture I took where I parked on the road above the cliffs lodge.

DE Squats in AF

DE box squats with the "box" 1.5" lower than I used to do..

bar x 7

bar x 7

135 x 3

135 x 3

135 + mini bands x 2

135 + mini bands x 2

225 + mini bands x 2

275 + mini bands x 2

315 + mini bands x 2

315 + mini bands x 2

225 + mini bands x 2

225 x 2

225 x 2

The hips felt SOOOO much better even with the lower "box".

Rack pulls

5 set of 6 with 315 ( tried to concentrate about the "wedge" that Pavel talks about in his dvd )

Dumbell rows

100 x 8

120 x 8

120 x 8

4 sets on leg curl machine.

I weighed 309 pounds at the end of my workout.  Its again going in the right direction.

Sunday powder

Sooo much better Sunday than Saturday.  It still wasn't dry powder like Utah is known for, but it wasn't wet and sloppy like yesterday either.  ( Yesterday, it was like Skiing at on mount hood when I lived in Oregon ).  I can tell when I'm skiing that my weight is up again ( pushing 310 as of sunday night ), it hurts my skiing endurance a little, but I don't care, I love weighing 310, I wish I could get up to 340+.

Saturday

ME benching at Ripped Fitness

My body basically told me I needed a deload week, so I didn't push it very hard.  The benching went like this

3 sets of bar x 10

135 x 10

225 x 8

225 x 7

275 x 5

315 x 1

Rack lockouts

315 x 10

365 x 8

365 x 8

365 x 7

Wow, I felt really weak on these today.

5 sets Tricep cable push downs

4 sets of face pulls

4 sets on shoulder press machine.

I can still feel the sternum bruise when pressing overhead, but much less than 2 weeks ago.  Weird that I don't feel it at all benching raw.  I think it's going to be a few months before pressure from a shirt isn't going to bother it though.

Saturday Skiing.

Yuck, crappy western Oregon like powder.  Thick, wet and sloppy.  Falling snow flakes would hit you and explode into water filled slush.  One trip up Gad II and I was completely wet.  The skiing on the top 2/3rd of Gad II was actually decent, but not being able to see and the bottom 1/3 made it completely not worth expending engery.  I went home and rested.

Chiropractor appointment

I went to the chiropractor this morning.  He said my left hip was rotated backward, in effect making my left leg shorter than my right.  He adjusted it and, wow I feel straight again.  Hopefully I'll stay that way for a while.

Deload deadlift session

My body didn't feel ready to deadlift heavy today, so I deloaded doing lighter weight, higher reps ( not a DE workout ) and focused on technique ( which I'm still not really getting right ).

The deadlifts went something like this.

135 x 10

225 x 7

315 x 5

355 x 3

355 x 3 ( Lance was lifting with me so he set this weight to here, I went along with it eventhough it's my light workout )

225 x 6

225 x 6

225 x 6

255 x 6

I think the Pavel DVD makes since when he talks about the wedge, but I'm not quite getting it yet in practice.  I think it's improving though.

4 Supersets of dumbbell rows with 120# x 7, wrist roller, and other grip thingy.

4 sets of seated one arm cable rows with 2" handle ( very hard after the grip work )

4 sets on the lat pulldown in front.

My hips are sore today, maybe I over did the stretching yesterday, I don't know.  Maybe my diet is missing something, I haven't skied since sunday.

Wednesday DE bench

Wow another good DE bench session

bar x 10

bar + mini x 3

4 sets of 135 + mini bands x 3

3 sets of 155 + mini bands x 3

135 + mini bands x 3

2 sets of 135 x 3

5 Supersets of face pulls and tricep cable extensions with the rope handle.

Short but sweet workout.  I felt strong today, something which I haven't really felt in a while.  My weights back up too, 305#.  Very nice I'm happy.

Monday night box squats

"Box" squats at Ripped Fitness, ( hips were sore from skiing yesterday )

Bar x 8

135 x 3

135 x 3

135 + mini bands x 3

135 + mini bands x 3

225 + mini bands x 3

225 + mini bands x 3

225 + purple bands x 3

225 + purple bands x 3

225 x 3

4 sets on leg press machine

4 sets on calf machine

ME benching at Ripped Fitness

I did flat bench with mini bands with the group, Russ, Mike, Mike, Kevin, Brad, Brent,Tom,Scott, probably forgetting a couple.  This is from memory because I didn't take any notes, I know the weights are right though...

135 x 10

135 x 10

135x 10

135 + mini's x 10

185 + mini's x 8

225 + mini's x 3, 3 boards

245 + mini's x 3, 3 boards

265 + mini's x 3, 3 boards

245 + mini's x 3, 3 boards

265 + mini's x 5, 4 boards

275 + mini's x 3, 4 boards

225 + mini's x 3, 4 boards

I'm still finding that the first rep I either go down super slow, or I loose tightness.  The first one's also much harder than the second/third.   A couple times Russ had to help on the first rep, but then I was fine to do the rest ( and felt like I could do more than 3 ).   Not sure if this means anything other than I have mental problems.

Rack lockouts ( solo because the group puts the pins so low )

315 x 8

405 x 6

405 x 6

405 x 6

Then a couple tricep accessory exercises.

Benching felt good today, I feel that I'm continuing to get stronger.  I believe with the mini's the 275 felt about like 375 at the top.

SSB Concentric Goodmornings at Ripped

SSB concentric goodmornings ( off pins in the power rack set to about waist high ) 

The weights below once again assume the bar weighs 45 pounds, which is doesn't...

Bar x 6

135 x 5

185 x 4

225 x 3

255 x 2

275 x 1

295 x 0 ( crap!  should have gotten this! )

275 x 2

225 x 3

Man, those are hard!

Then 4 supersets of dumbbell rows, the grip roller, and the other grip thingy at ripped that I don't know what to call it, lol.

Then seated cable rows.

DE Bench in AF

It's been a while since I did a DE bench session, especially in American Fork.  

Flat bench warm up

bar x 10

bar x 10

Dynamic effort flat bench

2 x 135 x 3

6 x 135 + mini bands x 3

3 x 155 + mini bands x 3

I actually felt explosive even with the 155 + minis. 

5 sets of face pulls

5 sets of tricep cable pushes with the rope handle.

It kind of felt weird lifting at Golds again, especially in AF at 5PM.  I feel like everybody gives me weird looks when I take out my bands.  Maybe it wasn't the bands, LOL. 

ME squats with safety squat bar

I decided to mix it up a little and squat with the SSB ( man, it kicks my butt )

Raw squats, ie no suit, with SSB ( here I'm assuming the bar weighs 45 pounds which it does NOT )

Bar x 10

Bar x 10

135 x 6

225 x 3

275 x 2

275 x 1

295 x 1

315 x 1

275 x 1

225 x 1

I then did 3 sets with the SSB with chains.  I'm kind of too tall for the chains, and I need more weight at the bottom to get down, lol.  Not sure if these were useful or not.

4 sets on leg press machine

4 sets of pull throughs.

Overall not a bad workout.  Even though the SSB is HARD, I think I'm getting to parallel ( or at least a whole lot closer than last week ).  I think last week, I just skied too much the day before and it effected my flexibility.  The video below wasn't my best rep ( my computer died and couldn't video all my sets )

I'd rate it a 3

I went up skiing Sunday morning.  It kind of sucked.  From the bottom of little cloud, it didn't look THAT bad so I decided to go up little cloud.  At the top it was probably 50 MPH winds and I could barely see my skis, completely white everywhere else.  Peruvian wasn't a whole lot better.  I went home after an hour to try to save energy for something more fun.

43 must be the new 23

I wasn't sure if i'd ski on my new boards or not today, but I decided to when I got up to the hill and from the parking lot could still see untracked in the trees even off Gadzoom where everybody skis.

This morning, I benched more than I thought was possible a couple months ago, and I'm skiing better now than I was 20 years ago.  Life is good, for the most part.

ME Benching at Ripped

Flat Bench:

Bar x 10

Bar x 10

Bar x 10

135 x 10

225 x 6

275 x 2

315 x 1

Board presses, 6 boards

335 x 4

345 x 4

355 x 3

I'm finding that the first rep is hard, but after that they're easier.  I'm getting stronger though, 3 months ago I couldn't do 315 with 6 boards.

Rack lockouts

315 x 8

365 x 4

405 x 2

435 x 1

445 x 1

455 x 0

Super sets of tricep cable extensions, face pulls

The other group was doing reverse bands so I jumped in and did one set with 405 I got it pretty easily but I realized that I was finished for the day.

Overall a good workout.  The 315 went up pretty strong, but i'm still wasting too much energy on the way down.

Thursday night ME deadlifts

Deads:

135x8

135x8

225x5

315x3

405x1

495x1

495x1

Russ suggested doing reverse bands, so that's what I did with blue bands set to be zero at my lockout

315x5

405x3

495x2

585x1 ( didn't lock it out )

585x1 ( slightly worse )

585x1 ( crap, I should have gotten the first one.  I'm dead )

Dumbbell rows:

100 x 8

120 x 8

120 x 8

120 x 8

3 supersets of pull throughs and one handed seated cable rows with the 2" handle.

Not a bad workout considering how hard I skied on wednesday.

I'm one very happy man

30" at snowbird in the last two days, big fat powder skis, mostly clear skies, and a vacation day.  What did I do to deserve this?

Oh my God this morning was incredible up at snowbird.  The wind was blowing hard at the top ( but nowhere else ), so they closed little cloud and mineral basin never opened, but there was tons of deep untracked powder all over Gad II.  People on the lift were whining about the thin windblown layer on top in some spots.  No thin layer of anything is going to stop me on my new fat boards, they're like skis on steroids.  I'm skiing in the powder better than ever before, and making perfect tracks on the hardest terrain up at Snowbird.  I skied longer than I probably should have today, and I'm sure it's going to hurt deadlifting this week, but that's OK it was well worth it.  It looks like the storms are going to stop for a while starting this weekend, so I'll get back to deadlifting heavy when the powder's gone.

ME squats at Ripped fitness on Monday

I actually felt pretty recovered from skiing on Sunday so I decided to do max effort squats at Ripped fitness on Monday night.  The squats went as follows:

Bar x 8

Bar x 8

135 x 5

135 x 5

225 x 3

315 x 3

365 x 1

405 x 1

405 x 1

315 x 1

I video-ed my squats, and I'm noticing that without a mirror to see myself I'm *always* missing parallel ( some of this is probably because I skied yesterday ).  I'm not sure what to do.  Stump says that when you feel your hips turn, that means parallel.  I clearly get to parallel when I'm squatting in front of a mirror, but I think I have better form without the mirror, but I don't feel any difference between that and my squats yesterday.  I could have sworn that I was getting to parallel, but when I played the video I wasn't.  I guess I just need to start going to what I think is WAY below parallel.

The good thing is that I was squatting with my toes to the rack ( ie wider ) and this makes my shins more perpendicular to the floor at the bottom of the squat ( and which is probably what I was higher than I thought I was ).

I then did 4 sets on the leg press machine with my feet as wide as possible.  This leg press machine is strange, if I try to let it go down until my knees are 90 degrees, it hurts my knees.  But if I go down to what would be probably a quarter squat, I really can feel my hips and glutes working, so that's what I did.  I think hip strength is my limiting weakness on squats.

Still lots of untracked 3 days after the storm

I was suprisingly still able to find quite a bit of untracked powder  today.  I hardly ever ski over there, because it's mostly beginner terrain, but to the skier's left of the green runs on the baldy chair, there's a gate and beyond that it was moderately steep, completely untracked and above my knees.   The first real untracked powder I've skied on the fat boards.  I had to hike back up to get to the bottom of the lift, but it was VERY worth it.  WOW, I can't express how good the fat boards are in the powder.  I absolutely love them.  I'm even getting used to them on the groomed.

Powderpig heaven with the new fat boards.

HOLLY CRAP!  I love my new fat powder skis.  Snowbird got 12" of new friday night and there was plenty left to track up by the time I could get up there after ME benching.  I feel like my new skis are made for me, they're big strong and incredible in the powder.  They're worth their weight in gold.

Good ME bench session

I benched with CJ and Aaron.  I didn't take good notes but I worked up to 330 x 1, which is a PR.

Next we did board presses with chains.  I think 4-5 sets.  I finished up with cable tricep presses, face pulls, and tricep extensions with bands with Russ, Tom, Brad and others.

Overall a really good workout.  

Fat boards on Thursday

I finally got my fat powder skis ( Fat-ypus A-lotta 140 mm under foot ) mounted, so eventhough there wasn't any powder I had to take them up to the bird and try them out on the groomed.  Wow, they're very strange, but not horrible on the groomed.  I found a little wind blown crud snow up on little cloud and they seemed to do pretty good in that.  I can't wait until a real powder day, I'm sure they'll be lots of fun.