Malice Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 December 2011 in review Here's the last review of 2011. Overall it was a great month since I set a PR every workout with the exception of a couple the last week of the month. Technically one of them could be considered a PR since I was using the axle for overhead presses. December highlights Grippers 174# 3.5 choked to 1" x 8 singles 183# Rich 3.5 choked to 3/4" x 3 singles IMTUG 6 x 4 singles righty, 2 singles lefty GHP Level 7 MMS Thick bar DO Axle Deadlifts (sumo)-352# DO Axle Deadlifts (sumo)-360# DO Axle Deadlifts (sumo)-305x9 Oly bar deadlifts DO Conventional-225x26 Squats 310x9 Bench Press 135x40 Axle OH Press 205x1 150x12 Feats of Strength Tore a deck of cards Reverse bent 17/64 x 7 drill rod to about 25 degrees-sore right wrist was the limiting factor here My left shoulder has been feeling better this month and light benching hasn't been bothering it so I'll start adding a little weight and work on getting bench stronger. I'm also now at the point where all squat workouts have to be done at the gym since my cheap "power" rack isn't safe for over 300 lbs. I've been doing all deadlifting lately with the axle and axle deads are getting strong but I noticed that my overall strength when pulling with the olympic bar is down due to not pulling much weight so I will focus on heavy deads again with a goal of pulling 550 conventional in 2012. I'm also getting back into bending again, slowly. Right now my right wrist is messed up pretty badly from going crazy on grippers in December so I have to take it easy bending but I need to work on technique anyway so it's ok. I will not be doing any grippers right handed until my wrist is healed because even squeezing the Trainer causes it to hurt. I'll continue grippers with the left hand in the meantime to bring it closer to where the right is and I'll work on strengthening my wrists a lot. That will have a positive impact on all lifts pretty much. To start the year off I'm going to focus more on accessory exercises in a 8-12 rep range with only the first/main lift of the workout being in a lower rep range. I feel I need to work on developing some muscle and strengthening some weak points before going real hard on the main lifts to avoid injuries and improve mobility and flexibility. Fat loss will also be a big focus the first part of the year so working with slightly lighter weight will reduce the risk of injuries. The strength goals for my 40th birthday are coming along pretty nicely and I'll continue working hard toward exceeding them this year. I think I can accomplish the majority of them in 2012 and will be working hard on conditioning so it's no longer a limiting factor for the 40 rep goals. The only real concern I have is reaching the bench goals because until my left shoulder is healed I can't really bench much but I'll continue increasing weight for 40 reps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malice Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 1/3/12 Since my right wrist is really messed up I'm going to stop doing grippers right handed and just focus on left hand grippers while rehabbing the right. Hopefully it'll catch back up to the right strength wise. Grippers-lefty only Warm-up (CCS) Trainer x10 #1.5x5 GHP L5x1 GHP Level 6 (MMS) explosive singles with 2 second overcrush 5x1 IMTUG's-lefty only #5x5-warm-up IMTUG 6 5x1-no closes. Last time I used this I got 2 closes lefty but for some reason I couldn't seem to get a decent enough set to get any closes with it. IMTUG 5-explosive singles with 2 second overcrush 5x1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strongman2332 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Russ, in reference to your IMTUG post, I am including them in my recovery workouts for a few sets... I came to find that my left (weaker of the two) is much stronger at closing the little guys. Look forward to your posts and followed sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malice Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 I want to start off 2012 by improving my conditioning, mobility and flexibility as well as add some lean muscle while cutting fat. I also really need to give my connective tissues a break from all the heavy lifting so I'm going to do a basic beginner style bodybuilding routine that works the whole body on 3 non-consecutive days a week. The routine will last 5 weeks and will use the same weight for each exercise for the whole program. The way it progresses is by starting at 8 reps and each week adding one more rep until week 5 when I'm doing 12 reps. There is a built in deload each week as the first workout is with 100% of the working weight, the second workout is with 90% of the working weight and the third workout is with 80% of the working weight so basically it's a heavy, medium. light protocol. I got the basis of the workout from bodybuilding.com and adjusted the exercises slightly to work around some minor injuries I'm trying to rehab. This weeks workouts are basically just finding the correct working weights for the program and next week I'll start the actual program. The first 1-2 sets are warm-ups with only enough time to switch weight for rest and the last 2 sets are with the same working weight with a max of 60 seconds rest between. Here are the exercises I'll be doing for the routine: Squats Incline Bench Deadlifts (day 1 only) Good Mornings (days 2-3) Axle Bent-over Rows Axle Overhead Press DB Hammer Curls (if the wrist will handle it. I'll try it out next workout) JM Press I'll add grip and wrist work as well as iso's where needed 1/4/12 Squats 135x8 225x8 290x6 275x8-290 will be too heavy by the time I hit higher reps so I'm going to start with 275 and see how it goes. Incline Bench 45x8 135x8 185x8 185x8-The first set with 185 was easy but the second set was HARD. I'll drop to 155 for the workout. Axle Bent-over Rows 105x8 155x8 155x8-The weight felt fine but my right wrist was a little sore so I'll keep the weight here. Axle Curls Can't do these because of wrist pain JM Press 45x8 95x8 95x8-This is a completely new exercise so I'll keep the weight at 95 to get form down and to reduce strain on the wrist. This hits the triceps hard and hopefully will help with all pressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malice Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 1/9/12 This was perhaps one of the most humbling and eye opening workouts of my life. I started my beginners workout routine today, which I've done in the past and the first week or two is always easy. Well, not so this time. I couldn't even finish the workout! My work capacity is in the toilet after the last year or so of low rep strength training. I'm going to have to re-evaluate my program and either split it into a push/pull or just spend a month or so working on increasing work capacity. I'll spend the next day or so working on programming to include conditioning work and GPP. Anyway, here's the pitiful excuse for a workout: PL Squats 135x8 225x8 275x8 275x2-completely gassed out and couldn't keep form Incline Bench 95x8 135x8 155x8 155x8-these felt real good/light and my shoulders gave no problems at all Deadlift 135x5 225x5 315x5 315x5-these weren't any tougher than expected but I was completely gassed by this point and had to take about 10 minutes to recover and finish throwing up before setting up for the next exercise. Axle Bent-over Rows 65x8 155x8 155x8- I only did one warm-up set because I was already pretty well warmed up Axle Overhead Press 65x8 105x8 160x4-I had nothing left in the tank to finish the set or the following set JM Press I didn't even set up for this exercise because I couldn't continue the workout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malice Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 1/16/12 Building a Bigger Rack I'm not completely over the flu yet but I finally have some energy again so it's time to start getting swole again. After the eye opener of last weeks hideous workout I decided to go back to a bodybuilder type split but use the first exercise for power building using a 5x5 protocol and increasing weight each workout. The remaining exercises will be done using a 5x10-12 protocol for hypertrophy and endurance/work capacity. All in all it was a good workout and I had a great pump in the rack by the end...especially from the incline fly's at the end. As you can tell I'm focusing primarily on upper chest hypertrophy to make the chest more rounded. Bench-5x5 45x10 95x10 135x5 185x5 225x5-felt great and no shoulder pain Incline Bench-5x10 45x10 95x10 135x10 155x10 185x7+1-had to do rest/pause because my triceps gassed out DB Incline-5x10 60x10 60x7 50x10 50x7 40x10 Again my triceps were gassing out so I had to keep dropping the weight. Once I can get all 5 sets with 60 I'll go up in weight. Incline Fly's-3x12 20x12 20x12 20x12-will up the weight on the next workout I may do grippers at work tonight and if I do I'll add it when I get home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malice Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 1/16/12 Grippers-lefty only (MMS) Warm-up Tx20 1.5x10 GHP5x5 GHP6x1 GHP7 (MMS) 5x1-4 closes (PR) I'm very happy with this since not only was it the first time trying this gripper lefty but it was the first real gripper workout in a while. IMTUG's-lefty only (ring/pinkie) #5 (warm-up) 5 singles with no rest #6 5x1-3 closes (PR) I'm actually disappointed in this even though it's a PR because at first the set was perfect but for some reason I couldn't get a good set on the last 2 attempts. Overall this was a great gripper workout! My right wrist is still too sore for even light grippers so I'll just keep working them lefty. I think with more TUGGY work I'll be more consistent with the set and maybe even get a double with the #6 soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strongman2332 Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 12/28/11 Wanna split the deck? Daniel Reinard is hosting a grip comp in February in California and part of the medley is card tearing. Since I've never tried it before I decided it was time to start training for it so I bought a bunch of cheap dollar store decks. I didn't think I'd get through a full deck first try but figured I'd give it a shot...jokers and all. I was surprised how easy it actually was. Probably the toughest part was keeping them from slipping all over the place once I started the tear. In this video I actually end up just twisting the final part but the first time I did it it was an actual tear. I don't really have any technique, just grip and rip but it'll get cleaner as I practice it more. Anyway, here's the video: damn that was ridiculously easy... I cant card tear to save my life lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strongman2332 Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 1/16/12 Grippers-lefty only (MMS) Warm-up Tx20 1.5x10 GHP5x5 GHP6x1 GHP7 (MMS) 5x1-4 closes (PR) I'm very happy with this since not only was it the first time trying this gripper lefty but it was the first real gripper workout in a while. IMTUG's-lefty only (ring/pinkie) #5 (warm-up) 5 singles with no rest #6 5x1-3 closes (PR) I'm actually disappointed in this even though it's a PR because at first the set was perfect but for some reason I couldn't get a good set on the last 2 attempts. Overall this was a great gripper workout! My right wrist is still too sore for even light grippers so I'll just keep working them lefty. I think with more TUGGY work I'll be more consistent with the set and maybe even get a double with the #6 soon. Jealous of the fact that you have the GHP 5,6,7... I need to pick some of these up! Im slacking... hope the wrist recovers man.. my right arm is acting up a bit as well. Damn injuries! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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