Pat's Training Log

[jvance]

2 hours ago, patrickmeniru said:

Umm, two parts to my answer 

First - my recovery consists of trying to eat well and sleep well - especially after a heavy session. I also make sure that I use a roller/lacrosse ball on my quads and stretch right after the session and the next day too. I try to do at least 20 mins of stretching every day, more on weekends and also I try to spend some time every day just squatting down to get used to it (for example I might try squatting down for a few minutes while watching a youtube video, or sometimes when I'm on the phone at home). Other than that I try to squat with good form, and do some glute activation before I squat (usually with bands) to help the knees track properly. So that's the recovery bit! Oh and i wear neoprene knee sleeves for my heavy sets, which has definitely helped knee pain together with the other stuff.

Second part - although it looks like a lot of volume, I only did 33 working reps, it's just the way I record all my warm up sets that makes it look like a lot I guess! I suppose 33 is still quite a few, even accounting for that, but I only squat once a week and I'm still young (25). Another big factor I think is that because of my history in track and field as well as soccer and then some crossfit, I have quite a good cardio/endurance base for a bigger guy so having a little more volume tends to feel okay. I think the final factor is that I'm still quite weak at squatting, I guess as I (hopefully) get stronger, I'll have to do less volume.

Thanks for posting, hope that answers your question!


 

It sure does, thanks. Lots of good stuff in your log for sure.

[patrickmeniru]

15/03/2017

Nothing much to report other than my legs are still sore from Mondays squats(!). Did some soft tissue work and a few very light front squats 5 x 5 w/40kg to try and aid recovery before deadlifts tomorrow. Also worked on my ankle mobility and did some weighted standing pike stretches w/40kg, definitely helped so will try and do some more of these.

Also did a little skipping and a few double unders, just to make sure I don't lose the skill.

Measured my ankle ROM and I have about 16cm of forward knee travel when fully warmed up and after ankle mobility work. I would like to get to a point where I can get this much travel without more than a general warm-up.

Edited March 16, 2017 by patrickmeniru

[patrickmeniru]

16/03/2017

Very disappointing session today, not really sure what went wrong - although it has been a month since I properly trained either of the movements, still very surprised at how poorly I performed because sleep/nutrition etc. have all been reasonably consistent.

Deadlift:
1 x 5 w/70kg
1 x 5 w/120kg
1 x 5 w/150kg
1 x 5 w/170kg
1 x 5 w/196kg (DO PR, this was very comfortable, which is pleasing)
1 x 8 w/222kg (this wasn't an absolute max effort, but the last three reps were a grind and this is very disappointing given that my last AMRAP at this weight was 12 reps)
4 x 5 w/170kg from 1.5" deficit

OHP:
1 x 5 w/20kg
1 x 5 w/40kg
1 x 5 w/50kg
1 x 5 w/54kg
1 x 5 w/64kg
1 x 5(1) w/71kg - again very disappointing, I think my best effort is 8 reps at this weight.
3 x 5 w/60kg

Finished with a little handstand practice and a few bodyweight single leg calf raises on a step.

Edited March 17, 2017 by patrickmeniru

[patrickmeniru]

18/03/2017

Yoga followed by some messing around and bench.

Bench:
1 x 5 w/20kg
1 x 5 w/60kg
1 x 5 w/80kg
1 x 5 w/88kg
1 x 5 w/101kg
1 x 6 w/115kg (paused)
3 x 8 w/88kg

Other:
Managed a box jump to 51" which I think is a PR, had a few narrow misses at 54", think I might be able to get it when fresh (was still fatigued from deadlift). Did some other jumping, broad jump was down by around 20cm on my best, which is one reason I think I can get 54" box on a better day.

 

19/03/2017

Lots of stretching and yoga, worked on my handstand without much success, but did finally manage to get my head to the ground while in a standing straddle!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BR3XulgD_1O/

Edited March 21, 2017 by patrickmeniru

[patrickmeniru]

20/03/2017

Squats - was a bit apprehensive about week 2 of this cycle given how week 1 went, but this session was actually pretty decent.

Warmed up thoroughly because I didn't feel limber at all, hips were also quite sore after some straddle stretching yesterday but managed to get myself to a point where I felt reasonably good going into my warm-up reps, although I didn't feel as explosive as the previous week, the bar speed was actually not bad when I reviewed the video of my top set, and form was good too, although still getting the hang of balancing over my feet and riding the bounce, while keeping my hips and knees forward out of the hole.
(Again, all reps as explosive as possible)
2 x 6 w/20kg
1 x 5 w/60kg
1 x 5 w/100kg
1 x 3 w/126kg
1 x 3 w/144kg
1 x 6 w/162kg - I stopped at 6 because I felt that the bar was moving quite slowly and on the 6th rep I felt like I reverted slightly to loading the posterior chain out of the hole, but the video looked okay both in terms of form and speed so quite happy with this.
1 x 5 w/100kg
1 x 3 w/120kg
1 x 3 w/130kg
1 x 3 w/140kg (these felt a bit slow so went back down)
3 x 3 w/130kg
3 x 3 jumping squats w/60kg

Finished with some split bounces, a little core work and a couple of handstands. ROMWOD before bed.

[patrickmeniru]

21/03/2017

OHP:
2 x 5 w/20kg
1 x 5 w/35kg
1 x 5 w/40kg
1 x 5 w/50kg
1 x 3 w/58kg
1 x 3 w/67kg
1 x 4(1) w/75kg
6 x 3 w/60kg

Pull-ups:
4 x 10

[patrickmeniru]

23/03/2017

Another day, another disappointing deadlift session - strength feels way down on my last cycle, hopefully it's just a case of a deload at the wrong time and for too long. May redo this cycle with the same weights rather than going up for all lifts other than squats. Have also hurt my right shoulder, not sure exactly why but it's sore after OHP, something rotator cuff related. I did take a heavy fall on it snowboarding, which may have been the cause.

Deadlift - experimented with a more dynamic warm up (some skipping, spring drills and glute activation and not much static stretching/foam rolling):
1 x 5 w/70kg
1 x 5 w/120kg
1 x 5 w/160kg
1 x 3 w/185kg
1 x 3 w/210kg (had to hook these)
1 x 5 w/235kg - these reps did not feel good at all, and form was poor on the last two.
2 x 2 w/205kg DO from 1.5" deficit
5 x 2 w/200kg mix of DO and hook from 1.5" deficit, also used some bands pulling the bar in front to try and work on lat engagement, struggling a bit with my right lat, may be linked to shoulder issue.

Still leg deadlifts (not touching ground between reps):
1 x 5 w/100kg
1 x 5 w/130kg
2 x 5 w/150kg

Finished up by messing around with some single leg deadlifts (got an easy 120kg each side, but struggled with balance on my right leg, which I need to work on generally) and suitcase deadlifts (managed 110kg DO just about and 120kg with straps, although found it very hard to fully lock out).

Did some grip work (just one and two arm bar hangs), some wrist work and finished up with a miniscule amount of ab work and ROMWOD.

[Chez]

I hate when bad sessions happen. I just had my worst deadlift session in months yesterday. Really pissed me off. I had no energy. I hope we both bounce back buddy. 

[patrickmeniru]

On 3/24/2017 at 1:08 PM, Chez said:

I hate when bad sessions happen. I just had my worst deadlift session in months yesterday. Really pissed me off. I had no energy. I hope we both bounce back buddy. 

Thanks Chez! I'm sure we will, I guess it's not realistic to expect a linear progression so I just have to keep positive that the overall trend will be upwards! I'm sure we'll both get there with persistence.

25/03/2017

Yoga in the morning, followed by some cleans from improvised high blocks (just above the knee), I worked up to a few triples with 90kg. Did a few sets of 5 front squats with 70kg afterwards focussing on speed and also on making sure that my hips stayed closed to my ankles (in terms of horizontal displacement) through the whole movement and that my bounce out of the hole didn't result in my hips moving backwards (which would cause my chest to collapse forwards).

Finished with some skipping, did 10 mins of single unders and a set of 20 double unders. Managed to hurt my achilles doing this, felt a popping sensation right at the end and think I have suffered a very minor tear - very frustrating, but shouldn't keep me out for more than a week or two.

Finally, had a go at the 'bring sally up' pushup challenge and crushed it for the first time, actually felt harder on my abs than my arms/chest and did another 5 pushups after the music stopped. I don't think I'd ever made it past the 3 minute mark before this, so I'm happy about that.

27/03/2017

A few pullups, pushups and dips and then 30 lengths of the office pool (20m). Also did some walking in the pool as it's painful for me to walk normally at the moment, but it feels good when I'm deloaded in the water.

[patrickmeniru]

28/03/2017

Lots of pull-ups and dips, mostly supersetted, together with some rotator cuff work and abs.

Pull-ups:
Warmed up with a pull-up challenge, hang 5 seconds, 1 rep, hang 5 seconds, 2 reps, etc. got up to 6 reps on the set of 7 before my grip started to give out, probably could have got to 7 but didn't want to completely ruin myself in the warm-up - and this was still a solid 27 total reps and 35 seconds deadhanging.
5 x 10 various grips
5 x 5 various grips
1 x 10 w/10kg

Dips:
1 x 30
3 x 10 w/25kg (first 5 reps with 2 sec pause)
1 x 10 w/25kg
2 x 20

Pushups:
3 x 10 clapping

Horizontal rows:
2 x 15

Face pulls:
3 x 15 w/17.5kg, felt a good contraction in my lower traps.

Single arm dumbbell press (focus on keeping core alignment):
1 x 8 w/20kg
1 x 8 w/22kg

Abs:
Various but nothing particularly intense or high volume.

[patrickmeniru]

29/03/2017

Nothing much to report, achilles still sore, did some handstand practice.

30/03/2017

Achilles feeling much better today, still not fully normal but able to walk much more comfortably and put a little pressure through the ball of my foot. Did a few sets of 5 front squats w/60kg and then worked up to a clean pull with 230kg.

Forearms and wrists feeling a bit worse for wear after the upper body work lately, shows that I've been slacking in that department over the past months!

[patrickmeniru]

31/03/2017

Swam 40 lengths of the office pool (20m pool).

01/04/2017

Yoga for an hour as usual, front squats up to an easy 140kg and two misses at 150kg, achilles felt fine, happy with misses in the sense that form didn't break down and front rack position stayed solid, just couldn't stand the weight up. Also did some pull-ups and lots of grip work, wrist roller, grippers (up to a few #3 MMS closes) and some fatgripz (up to 135kg deadlift attempts, got the bar to around my knees twice but couldn't hang on, left hand letting me down).

02/04/2017

Chin ups:
1 x 35 (rep PR, although these weren't strict - they weren't crossfit kipping either, but not strict IMO)
Did a lot of other pull and chin ups through the session.

Rack pulls up to 290kg for 8 but stopped here because achilles was a bit sore.

Four rounds of:
5 adv-tuck FL pulls with static hold on eccentric of last rep
8 single arm cable rows w/42.5kg
10 HSPU - in two sets of 5
10 dips with leg raise between reps.

Did a 7 min abs routine I saw on Nile Wilson's YouTube channel, was nice, not too taxing but did some movements I wouldn't normally train.

ROMWOD before bed.

[patrickmeniru]

04/04/2017

Got to the gym late, only had 45 mins before closing. Didn't have time for my normal warm up so decided to do something a little different with front squats. Started with some rack position mobility work for a couple of mins.

Front squats:
1 x 10
1 x 10 w/20kg
1 x 10 w/40kg
1 x 10 w/50kg
1 x 10 w/60kg
1 x 10w/70kg
1 x 10 w/80kg
1 x 10 w/90kg
1 x 8 w/100kg (was going to do 10 but was getting fatigued and feeling some pain in my right lower back so stopped at 8)
1 x 10 w/90kg
1 x 10 w/80kg
1 x 10 w/70kg
1 x 10 w/60kg
1 x 10 w/50kg
1 x 10 w/40kg
1 x 10 w/20kg
1 x 10

I had to try and work around the pain from 100kg downwards, I think that it was due to having some anterior pelvic tilt. Felt much better when I focussed on keeping my ribs down and my abs contracted rather than just trying to keep elbows high. Quads felt pretty fatigued after this as the rest intervals were quite short (90 - 120 seconds). But rack position felt fine.

Did some soft tissue work on my quads and ROMWOD before bed.

[patrickmeniru]

06/04/2017

Did some bodyweight pull-ups, can't remember what else, but focussed on form.

 

08/04/2017

Yoga, felt like I had a good session, some weeks it feel like quite hard work but this session was comfortable and was able to focus on my breathing and positions without getting too hot/incomfortable.

Deadlifts - worked up to a paused single with 220kg and then a single with 230kg and a missed rep at 240kg (didn't break the floor, indicative of how far my deadlift has regressed, given that I was very disappointed to 'only' get 7 reps with 238kg a little while back! But I'm sure it will come back with time and hard work.

30 second row - decided to give this another go to try and get on top of the leaderboard at the gym, managed 196m, which is a 3m improvement and good enough for number 1 but I feel that there is a lot more in the tank if I can sort out my technique so I don't feel like I'm falling off the erg.

Bench:
1 x 5 w/20kg
1 x 5 w/50kg
1 x 5 w/70kg
1 x 3 w/90kg
1 x 3 w/110kg
1 x 2 w/120kg
1 x 1 w/130kg
1 x 1 w/135kg
1 x 1 w/140kg
1 x 3 w/130kg

Weighted chin ups:
1 x 2
1 x 1 w/15kg
1 x 1 w/25kg
1 x 1 w/35kg
1 x 1 w/45kg
1 x 1 w/55kg
1 x 1 w/65kg (this moved really well and felt very solid)
1 x 0 w/70kg - still can't quite get this!
1 x 4 w/50kg
1 x 3 w/50kg

09/04/2017

Went bouldering for 2 hours, had a lot of fun, managed to complete a few more green routes (V2-4), which was pleasing, but hands and forearms are suffering the next day! Shows I need to do more finger work and endurance with my grip. Finished the session with some work in the training room, a few sets shown below:

Did a few handstands in the park later. Right shoulder feeling pretty funky so definitely need to get back on the re-hab/pre-hab and soft tissue work now that I'm doing more pull-up work again (because of achilles preventing lower body lifting past weeks).

[patrickmeniru]

10/04/2017

Very after not getting a good night's sleep for a few days so didn't go to the gym. Did a few pull ups:
2 x 10 w/5kg
1 x 20

Then did 1 x 20 leg raises from support and 50 mins of ROMWOD before bed.

[patrickmeniru]

11/04/2017

Went for a swim did 20 lengths (4 breaststroke, 2 backstroke, 4 front crawl, 2 backstroke, 4 breaststroke, 2 backstroke, 4 front crawl) then a break, then 6 more. No ROMWOD or yoga because had a very long day at work so just went to bed.

[patrickmeniru]

13/04/2017

Couldn't make it to my normal gym because I was very busy at work, so joined a couple of the guys from catering for their 'arm day'. This was a bad idea because I had agonising DOMS for 4 full days afterwards in my biceps and brachioradialis.
5 rounds of:
21s with 25kg straight barbell
21s with 20kg straight barbell
5 chin ups with controlled eccentric

3 rounds of:
8 tricep rope pull-downs w/35kg
8 single arm cable push downs palms up w/15kg
8 single arm cable push downs w/15kg

14/04/2017

Did some light front squats, a few pull ups and some stretching.

15/04/2017

Jogged (very very slowly)/walked 4 miles. Happy with this as my achilles didn't get sore, which is a good step.

16/04/2017

Trained with a friend in a different gym, which had some strongman type equipment.

Squats:
1 x 10 w/20kg
1 x 5 w/60kg
1 x 5 w/80kg
1 x 5 w/100kg
1 x 5 w/120kg
3 x 5 w/140kg

Axle deadlifts:
1 x 3 w/60kg
1 x 2 w/80kg
1 x 1 w/100kg
1 x 1 w/120kg
1 x 1 w/130kg
1 x 1 w/135kg (PR)
1 x 1 w/140kg (PR) - pleased and surprised to hit this, especially given that my forearms were pretty jacked up, 10kg PR.

Box jumps up to a few reps at 48" and a couple of attempts at 50".

Snatch grip deadlifts (hook grip):
1 x 3 w/60kg
1 x 1 w/100kg
1 x 1 w/140kg
1 x 1 w/160kg
1 x 1 w/180kg
1 x 1 w/200kg
1 x 1 w/210kg

Regular deadlifts:
1 x 3 w/210kg (rep PR for DO)
1 x 0 triple pause rep (missed during third pause, hands gave up!)

50 second freestanding handstand, which I think is a PR for not walking, although form was not great.

Did some med ball throws to finish.

17/04/2017

Did some stretching and mobility to start with.

Front squat:
2 x 5 w/20kg
1 x 5 w/40kg
1 x 5 w/60kg
1 x 5 w/80kg
1 x 5 w/100kg (lower back felt really weird and unstable here so stopped)
1 x 5 w/80kg

Dips:
1 x 5
1 x 1 w/25kg
1 x 1 w/50kg
1 x 1 w/70kg
1 x 1 w/80kg
1 x 1 w/90kg PR - video below.
1 x 0 w/95kg - agonisingly close, just failed to lock my triceps out, this would have been a +bodyweight rep, I think I would probably have gotten it if I'd taken my lifting shoes off, that's how close it was.

Went bouldering for 2 hours.

18/04/2017

Did a bunch of upper back, rear delts and rotator cuff work, band pull aparts, cuban rotations, external cable rotations, scapular pull ups etc. Finished with some abs work.

 

[patrickmeniru]

20/04/2017

Squats - worked up to 3 x 5 w/140kg

Deadlifts - worked up to 12 singles on the minute with 200kg from 1.5" deficit.

22/04/2017

Yoga for an hour.

Practiced handstands, experimented with some uneven handstands with one arm on a raised box, discovered by that right arm is really weak.

Single leg squats, single legs squats with bar in front rack and with 25kg (just lots of singles).

Front squats:
1 x 9 w/110kg (had to break after 6 reps to re-grip)
2 x 5 w/110kg

Practiced some snatch pulls and power cleans up to 100kg.

Single leg leg press with left leg:
1 x 5 w/35kg
1 x 5 w/55kg
1 x 5 w/75kg
1 x 5 w/95kg
1 x 5 w/115kg
1 x 5 w/135kg

Finished with a few abs exercises.

23/04/2017

Played a little football, practiced a few flags, handstands, pull ups and did a lot of walking.

[patrickmeniru]

24/04/2017

Squats:
2 x 10 w/20kg
1 x 10 w/60kg
1 x 10 w/80kg
1 x 10 w/100kg
1 x 10 w/120kg
2 x 5 w/120kg (5-3-1-0 tempo)

Managed to tweak my back slightly - same right side issue, probably due to loss of tightness during paused rep.

26/04/2017

Flew to Amsterdam to see friends did a lot of exercise, will probably not recall all of it.

Front squats:
Warmed up and then did 5 min EMOM 10 reps with 90kg

Weighted pull-ups (3 x 40kg narrow grip) and seated dumbell press (8 x 25kg) for 5 rounds.

3 rounds of 30 GHD situps and 8 good mornings w/100kg.

Strongman conditioning - 25 sled pushes 100kg for 10m, 25 70kg sandbag clean and shoulder carries.

WOD:
3 rm front squat - worked up to 120kg and missed 130kg.

20 wall balls
15 situps
10 burpees

10 min AMRAP, managed 5 rounds plus 2 reps.

28/04/2017

Deadlifts:
2 x 5 w/70kg
1 x 3 w/120kg
1 x 3 w/170kg
1 x 2 w/200kg
1 x 1 w/220kg (DO PR)
1 x 1 w/230kg
5 x 1 w/230kg 1.5" deficit (on the minute)
4 x 3 w/170kg 1.5" deficit

WOD:
50 pull-ups (40+10+2 no reps)
75 pushups (25+20+10+5+5+5+5)
100 situps
125 air squats
Finished in 9:50, which was less than half the time cap (20 mins) so was pleased about that.

29/04/2017

Did the Tiglon competition, didn't really feel like I managed to produce my best effort but it was fun and I played around afterwards and managed my first forward rolls on the rings (vid below).

WOD1
2 rounds of 8 snatches w/40kg and 8 ring pull ups
2 rounds of 8 snatches w/50kg and 8 rings pull ups
2 rounds of 8 snatches w/60kg and 8 rings pull ups - only managed 4 reps of my second set of pull ups before hitting 8 min time cap. Could have gone way faster, but couldn't suss a good technique for the pull-ups as have never had to do high reps on rings before.

WOD2:
2RM hang squat clean in 4 mins - managed 110kg, missed a second rep at 115kg due to missing the re-grip.
2RM jerk in 4 mins (have to clean the weight from the floor first) - only 105kg here, jerk was really easy but I didn't have the strength to clean 120kg, which was my next weight up.

WOD3:
60 cal row
50 burpees over the rower
40 deadlifts w/70kg
30 cleans w/70kg
Finished in 11:22

Also practiced my handstands a bit across the week.

Edited May 3, 2017 by patrickmeniru

[patrickmeniru]

04/05/2017

Deadlifts:
1 x 5 w/70kg (snatch grip)
1 x 3 w/120kg (wide grip)
1 x 2 w/170kg (wide grip)
1 x 1 w/194kg
1 x 1 w/210kg
1 x 1 w/222kg (PR) - no video, felt very solid, able to control and hold at the top.
1 x 1(?) w/225kg - to be honest I don't think I locked this out, but it was very close and I'm happy with the attempt given that I wasn't feeling particularly fresh or strong. Video shown below if you click the arrow on the right.

Sumo (just to try and open up my hips):
2 x 6 w/70kg
2 x 6 w/120kg

Squats:
1 x 10 w/20kg
1 x 10 w/40kg
1 x 10 w/60kg
1 x 10 w/80kg
3 x 10 w/100kg

Lunges:
3 x 10 steps w/35kg

Right knee feeling pretty ropey, think it's because I've been skimping on soft tissue and ROMWOD. Also still having problems sorting out my sequencing and bracing in my squat.

[patrickmeniru]

05/05/2017

Did some grip work with my left hand (TNS closes up to my #2.5, although could only get one(!) and a few reps with lighter grippers as well as some finger strength work on both hands (single finger cable rows working up to 5 with 15kg for all fingers).

06/05/2017

Yoga for an hour then worked on my handstands and finally got a really solid 1 minute hold with no 'walking' (actually 1 min 2 seconds) practiced some overhead squats, working up to a few 5s with 70kg. These did not feel very solid at all, so need to get back to working on them more regularly. Did a few front lever variations (finding it really hard to hold a solid single leg lever with good hip alignment for more then a few (3-5) seconds).

07/05/2017

Ran Tough Mudder (London West), it was shorter this year at about 10.5 miles compared to 13 last year, and we ran at a slower pace because one of the three of us wasn't particularly fit, although he did well to chug along and we finished in a respectable 2h 7mins. Thankfully it was another sunny day and because we walked up most of the hills my achilles survived and I didn't even get any cramp during the run, and only a tiny bit afterwards - I drank a mix of ribena, salt and water beforehand which might have helped.

Did some ROMWOD and soft tissue work in the evening.

[patrickmeniru]

08/05/2017

Saw a sports physio about my achilles, have been given some isometrics (8 x 3 top holds) to do before another session on Friday.

Time to get back on my grind and start training consistently again. Decided to start 5/3/1 again, have picked some fairly arbitrary 'max' numbers for bench (145kg), OHP (80kg) and deadlift (280kg) had no idea what to do for squat so did a quick test by working up to a heavy single (170kg) which was hard so decided to swallow some pride and use a max of 175kg as a base for the first cycle. For context the last 5/3/1 cycle I started (a couple of months ago) was based on 155kg bench, 92.5kg OHP, 300kg deadlift and 200kg squat. So taking some steps back to go forward.

Have also decided to incorporate some of Cal Dietz's triphasic thinking into my training, so will be doing one 5/3/1 cycle with an eccentric focus for the backdown sets, then the next cycle will have an isometric focus, and the following cycle will focus on concentric. The main 5/3/1 lifts will not be changed (just backdowns) because I don't want to mess with the programme.

Squat:
1 x 5 w/20kg
2 x 5 w/60kg
1 x 3 w/100kg
1 x 1 w/120kg
1 x 1 w/140kg
1 x 1 w/160kg
1 x 1 w/170kg
1 x 5 w/110kg
1 x 5 w/118kg
1 x 7 w/134kg (this was the AMRAP, had reps left in the tank but want to focus on speed and quality)
3 x 5 w/90kg (3 second eccentric - intended 5 but think I went too fast)

Bench (all paused):
1 x 5 w/40kg
1 x 5 w/60kg
1 x 5 w/85kg
1 x 5 w/100kg
1 x 7 w/111kg (AMRAP set).
3 x 5 w/80kg (5 second eccentric)

Isometric calf-raise holds (top position):
3 x 8 left leg only
 

Edited May 9, 2017 by patrickmeniru

[patrickmeniru]

09/05/2017

Decided to start doing 5/3/1 on pull-ups as a way of reminding myself to actually train weighted pull ups regularly and progressively. I started with a 1rm of 175kg (i.e. total weight rather than just weight on the belt, because otherwise you end up with lots of volume in the 80-90% range because bodyweight isn't accounted for). All sets that require less than 95kg (i.e. bodyweight) will just be done as bodyweight reps.

Warmed up with some shoulder work.

Chin ups:
2 x 5 pull-ups (planning to do all the unweighted reps pronated)
1 x 5 w/5kg
1 x 5 w/20kg
1 x 5 w/35kg
5 x 10 various grips

Did some handstand work, including 5 x 10m handstand walks. Finished with 3 x 10 hanging leg raises and my calf work (3 x 8 isometric holds (5 seconds) in top position of calf raise, left leg only).

10/05/2017

In the work gym did a quick session with some of the guys:

Rowed 5 mins at 1:52 22 s/m

Smith machine bench:
1 x 5 w/60kg
1 x 3 w/110kg
3 x 3 w/120kg
1 x 3 w/130kg

Cable chest press (5 reps down, 5 reps middle, 5 reps up, into 5 chest flys) w/21kg each side for 3 rounds

Smith machine bench drop set:
130kg x 3, 110kg x 3, 60kg x 17

Pull ups, slow eccentric:
2 x 6

Pushups:
30 diamond, 10 wide, 10 normal, 10 diamond. Broke the first set up into a 20 and a 10.

Did some stretching afterwards.

 

Evening session:

Shoulder work (external rotations, hangs, scapular pushups and retraction movements etc.) and then Goblet squats holding a plate, focus on upright torso and external rotation at hip without letting feet splay too much:
1 x 10
1 x 10 w/10kg
1 x 10 w/15kg
1 x 10 w/20kg
2 x 10 w/25kg

ROMWOD before bed, also getting back into ROMWOD in the mornings too right after I roll out of bed.

[patrickmeniru]

11/05/2017

Deadlifts:
1 x 6 w/70kg
1 x 5 w/120kg
1 x 5 w/164kg
1 x 5 w/190kg
1 x 7 w/214kg (AMRAP set, focus was on being explosive, need to work on dialing in technique whilst also being explosive as a couple of reps were a bit dodgy - stopped as soon as it because a slight grind to lockout, had reps in the tank - although not as many as I would have liked)
5 x 6 w/170kg from 1.5" deficit, focus on keeping hips a little lower in start position.
1 x 10 w/70kg with fatgripz
2 x 5 w/100kg
2 x max length holds just off the floor w/100kg (approx 20 secs)

Finished with some dumbbell suitcase carries w/50kg.

[patrickmeniru]

13/05/2017

Yoga for an hour.

Overhead squats:
1 x 5 w/20kg
1 x 5 w/40kg
1 x 5 w/60kg
3 x 5 w/80kg

Practiced some clean technique

Pushups:
1 x 60 (PR)
1 x 40

Tested vertical jump using a light trap, rules were to have hands on waist at takeoff and keep legs straight once in the air. Managed to peak at 50.4cm after a few attempts, which I'm pretty pleased with.

Grip work - did a couple of AMRAP TNS sets with my #2 left hand only. Managed 22 reps the first try, which I think is a PR and 19 reps the second time around.

14/05/2017

Went to my first adult gymnastics class, was having a great time and learned to do a front handspring after a lot of failed attempts, but managed to hurt my knee on landing (left patella) so had to stop unfortunately (missed the last 15 mins of class). The following day both knees and my left achilles are very sore, which is disheartening.