Back in Black (first day back after Toronto)

Well after 4 days of drinking too much and not sleeping enough I feel like crap.  Gained three pounds in four days in Toronto on a steady diet of salt and Scotch.  Sitting at 204 this morning.

CNS tap test was 10% below baseline last night, so I need to get some rest.

In other news my Thyroid levels are too high which explains my 80-90BPM resting heart rate and insomnia.

This mornings workout was a quick squat session.

It was supposed to be 3x5 at 305 as top sets by instead I worked up using the cambered bar for fun then did 315x3, 305x3 then 205x17 (not to failure) and 225/10 (not to failure).   Squatting is feeling very alien to me right now due to my quad strains and lack of practice.

Finished off with leg extensions for 5 sets for a pump and one set of light goblet squats.  Going to come back after work to do some bench work.

Chains for the gains, Sheiko week 2 day 6

"My Mom brushed my teeth until I was 12" - James P

I was in an excellent mood for lifting today.  The Magnum Opus, while stimulant free, seemed to be giving me a burst of energy or perhaps it was the Bonnie Tyler uplifting music?

Big shout out to Coach P for hitting 230/1 blue slingshot bench today.  Gotta work on that lockout though!

Military press 4x4@135lbs (decided to go heavier and less reps).  I made this Sheiko program up anyway since T was supposed to be bench today so who cares).

Dumbell Press (again just added into program for shots and giggles).  Did 80x8 for 3 sets.  Forgot to do the 4th and 5th since the bar I wanted was free for deadlifts. 

Deadlifts with chains - I love this shit!  Added an extra chain for the singles at the end because I can.  So three chains per side (total chain weight around 120lbs at the top?). Still pretty easy weight as expected for a day 6 workout.

Epic skinny legs:  200lbs.  http://youtu.be/i1RT2tDWrXQ

Squats in depth are always fun, but a bit silly, possibly not the best choice of shorts today?:

Reverse hypers were done against ared band with limited range of motion on a GHD.

Quick couple of sets of curls at the end then I made up for the lost set of dumbell

Bench press with three sets of push-ups feet elevated and 80lbs of chain on my back.  

Shirted bench and squat test

"Mirrors are for queers" - Louis Simmons.

Tried my quad and bicep out today with some squatting.  First time in around ten days.

135/5

225/5

275/3

315/2

Left knee felt a little funny, so I quit while I was ahead.

bad headache, felt like crap and barely slept last night due to heart palpitations.

Then tried out my F6 Titan bench shirt out with Shawn M.  Worked up to a 1-board 315/1, pretty easy with minimal bruising.  However, I need a lot more work on form.  Weight felt light above my face and zero bicep pain.

Mischief Managed.

The Morning After the Night Before

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink, wen they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they are going to feel all day." - Frank Sinatra

So I got too drunk on Saturday night.  After phoning my wife to apologize, I left the house and crawled to the gym.  Did some lat work (which made me stiff as hell the next day).  Then I went home and slept until 2pm.

Chin ups with a partner.  I do one rep, he does one rep, I do two reps, he does two reps.  No rest, you get the idea!

Lat pulldown, 100lbs super set three different grips (3 sets).  

Seated row 120lbs squeeze at the top 3 sets.

Face pulls 3 sets.

Mischief Managed.  

Sheiko week 2 day 5

"Whiskey is zero calories" - Coach V

Saw the excellent athletic therapist (Meagan) at acceleration performance yesterday.  She jacked my quad, IT band and biceps up real nice with the FAT tool.

 Here is the bruising today.  One the plus side my quad feels amazing(ish) and biceps feel real solid.

So I went through my Sheiko session in one go.

Exceptions were that I did not do dips since I have been hammeringn the triceps all week, but I did so some cable work.  I also skipped GMs having done a set of 5 GHR with the purple band and the hammy wasn't up for much today.  

Like the giant douche nozzle I am, I decided to deadlift 335 with zero warm up no belt and running shoes when ai arrived at the gym (since I was the nearest loaded weight).  My hamstring told me to stop being stupid!

For bench (instead of board press) I was feeling saucy, so I did one single at 245, one at 255 and one at 265 (tng).  Very fast, link:http://youtu.be/78Pp8h_g3Lg

Kyle talked me into 280 which just didn't budge and pinned me about 3 inches off my chest.

Did the front squats, first Time I squatted in six days!  Felt fine.

The Secret Society of Muscle Heads or Sheiko day 3 week 2

Milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer" - Arnold 

Schwarzenegger. Pumping Iron.

Today's workout was done in two parts.  I quite like it this way and it let's me give a little more to the accesory work.

AM session:

Dumbell Bench 50/10, 70/10, 80/7

Fat bar bench press 110/15, 130/12 150/10

(This was all done in lieu of bench press due to my bicep strain)

I then hit 5 sets of my shoulder super set (front raise/lat raise/rear raise) 8 reps with 20s.

Finished up with rope press down (not scheduled but I love it).  Started on 42.5 and did 10 reps and kept going up by 5lbs until I hit ten reps of 67.5lbs (5 sets).

PM session, is bought to you by Dr Jeckyll.  After and excellent lunch with James Poirier I hit the gym.  Around half of the Secret Society of Muscle Heads were present.  Deadlifts with pause 5cm below knee went as scheduled except I skipped the last set, since I was sharing a bar with Scotty D and it would have been a pain to deload it.  So I did 4 doubles at 370 not 5.  For extra credit and since so felt like it I did a double at 405 and a single at 455. Both went up easy.  I am a firm believer that the Sheiko workout as written should be the minimum I do on days I feel bad.

Hit the GHR in lieu of squats in depth, since I am still resting the quad and added a mini band for added tension.  2 sets of 5, then tried 10lb then 20lb dumbbells behind the head and finally in a demonstration of hamstring badassery I used the mini band and the 20lb dumbell for a set of 5.  Now let's consider for a moment I couldn't do a single rep in FebruaryAnd had to use band assistance.  

My deadlift was also 100lbs lower then (correlation?)

Did six sets of abs rather than five (ab wheel, standing cable crunch, stir the pot) and thus Sheiko was done.

Then I joined Scotty in some whimsical fuckery doing weighted push-ups.  We did four chains, then we did it with feet on a bench.  Couple of sets with a plate in the back and finally with a purple band for tension.  The pump was quite serious from this, I must start doing this more often!

Finished off with bicep curls.

Sacroiliac Joint or The Dangers of 4am Cookies

"Nom Nom Nom, me love cookies" - the Cookie Monster.

So I woke up at 4am for a glass of water. This turned into a slice of Coach V's favourite organic cheese and an organic cookie and some organic milk to wash it down.  Then walking to the kitchen sink my SI joint locked solid.  Not cool!

So at 4am I was having to try all my old SI joint tricks to reseat it, with reasonable success.  I am going to go see Dr Hippy my chiropractor as soon as he opens.

EDIT: lunch time and my back feels amazing, good old Dr Hippy!

Rest day at the Gym AKA sheiko week 2 day 1

"Never go full retard" - Robert Downy Jr.  Tropic Thunder.

So I went full retard today.  Rest day's are for pussies after all.  Since I can't work my quads I thought two days off would be too much and jumped forward a day.  I guess yesterday wasn't a rest day either now I come to think of it.  I picked up some Magnum Opus (buy one get one free at Popeyes) and could not wait to try it out.  I have a strong feeling it is the Agmatine in the Dr Jeckyll which is interfering with my Wellbutrin and making me feel like I am going to die (so I may shelve this stuff for a while).

(Dr Jeckyll ingredients)

 

When I explained to Scotty D I couldn't squat all week he looked at me and laughed saying "oh yeah cool, just bodybuilding stuff eh?  Leg extension and leg press, cool!" He then winked and went off to curl some 70lb'ers

Anyhow, did some close grip benching.  Was supposed to have five doubles at 205lbs but I took the fifth to 225lbs and then did a heavy single at 245lbs.  The power off the chest is pretty kickass with a narrow grip, could be that Ben Downs is on to something?  I don't seem to have the uneven descent and lockout with a close grip either.  I only got a little bit of bicep pain and only on the last two sets on the left side.  Even for a thumbs up from James who is a pretty stern critic of my bench press uneven form. (Note to self, am using thumbs to knurling or plus one inch).  

Most of Poirier's Warriors were at the gym tonight and since Monday is global bench press day the one bench was in pretty high demand.  

Reception for my super tight pants was favourable as always and I got the usual compliments about my balerina legs.  Coach Vic ain't got nothing on my tight pant and short shorts game.

Hit some Tricep rope press downs instead of the French Press (which is how I make my coffee).

I have been hitting these pretty hard and hit a new PR of 82.5lbs for 5.  I am fairly sure I was pussing around with 42.5 not very long ago.  

Skipped the flies since I did a pile of pec deck yesterday when I should have been resting.  Wanged out two set of 20 GHR like A boss.

Finally three sets of 8 on the world's wobbliest hyperextenaion machine.  Used a black band and a 25 then worked up to a 35lb behind the head with no band.  I love this exercise, nothing gives my erector spinae wood like these.

Tomorrow is a rest day, hopefully I can actually sleep tonight.  But first I need to get some work done tonight. 

Rest day, insomnia and quad rehab

"Robert!  Put some tiger balm on it and go see the Hilot" - Vida Venzon

So my quads are literally dying.  I can't get out of bed or off the can without wincing.  Since I will try any kind of Gypsy Monkey Magic bullshit remedy, I am currently wearing kinesiology tape (in fact this was the reason I wasn't working out in short the other day to avoid being laughed at).  Going to try the hot/cold ice pack rotation today and see if this helps. Bottom line - no quad work this week.  

In other news my Seasonal Affective Dissorder meds don't seem to like my pre-workout and I spent a miserable evening last night jerking awake every five minutes with heart palpitations.  Perhaps I will go down to just one scoop of Dr Jeckyll?  To cut a long story short I ended up at McDonalds at 2am eating Poutine, McFlurry and a McDouble.  Let's hope I get some McGains out of this!

Dips have been hurting my shoulders so I plan to reintroduce weighted ring dips, these are killers (is that hair on her quads?)

Found some interesting reading today on a Reddit link of people accusing Rich Froning of using PEDs: (pretty surprising how quickly some of these clear the system).  Reminds me of something Mark Bell said recently - "there are drug tested federations, but this doesn't mean they are drug free".

 

Sheiko four day prep look ahead to week 2

“You are a lion in a field of lions, all hunting the same elusive prey with a desperate starvation that say's "victory is the only thing that can keep you alive!"" - Nike inspirational commercial narrator guy.

Here is the plan for week 2

The probability of me doing a French press or indeed any excersise with the word "French" in it is pretty low, so I will probably just end up doing some cable work.  Military press on day 6 may end up also being dumbell bench press.

Day 5 looks great, my bicep tendon is already softly weeping at the prospect of a 90% board press.  There seems to basically be crap all squatting this week and the front squats are super easy.  All good though, I am sure I will be squatting enough to have an ass like Jennifer Lawrence pretty soon when my normal program kicks back in.

Sheiko 4 day prep weekly roundup week 1

"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that being shredded was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘shredded’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life."  - John Lennon 

I managed to drag myself away from the leaked photo's of Jennifer Lawrence's titties long enough to start the new Sheiko four day routine on Tuesday this week. I have quad strains on both legs as well as a bicep/brachialis strain on my left arm, so this seemed like an easy transition for three weeks prior to my week in Toronto with no access to a gym.  I subbed in safety squats for squats (to let my arm heal) and there are already a lot of front squats.  Weights are light so this isn't going to be too hard.  For bench I have gone close grip and knocked 5% off and I am doing 10x5 dumbell bench press on some days instead of bench.  Goal: heal the arm and quad and don't lose any strength.  

Maxes have been set for the three weeks at 405, 270 and 490.  I will then run the four day universal appropriate (with no changes) with 405, 275 and 505 as my maxes for ten weeks to take me up to November's meet.

So how did it go?  Well I wanged in a pile of bicep, tricep, shoulder work and this was awesome until about Friday (day 5).  Fuelled by my new favourite thing in the world (Dr Jeckyll) I have been getting a pretty solid pump most days.  I also went a little apeshit on the tire/hammer thing wanging out 40 hard which made my forearms hurt like balls by Saturday morning.  

Saturday morning sucked.  I went in and did my deadlifts (except for the top set which my forearms hurt too much to hold), tried some dips with a wheel then a half (no dice due to bicep pain), managed one weak assed set of incline dumbbell bench with 65s and went home.

Took some painkillers, realized I was a total pussy and went back for to the gym at lunch.  Managed abs, hypers, rev hypers (Sherwin we need a proper Rev Hyper) hammered the GHR for probably 7 sets including a 20 with hands on head, did some triceps with the rope thingy and finished off with some box jumps.  Managed a 42in standing box jump and failed a 48 twice. Pretty pleased with this, since I was struggling with ~34 inches back in late Spring.  Basically everything I should have done except the squats in depth and bench work.

Oh, and I got acupuncture this week.  Hurt like balls on the left leg when they turned up the juice.  Seemed to help for a day or two until I was stupid enough to do squats with a pause at half way which was a totally bad idea since this is exactly what hurts my legs.

Sunday went in with Kyle and did the Sunday swell.  Cable tricep four way superset.  Run the rack on chest press, fly, shoulder press, lat raise and did a bit of the Scotty machine.  Not sure what the fuck I was doing this week but something has seriously worked my rear delts.  I should really write this accessory stuff down.  

Pretty sad moment was had this week doing my quad measurements.  They don't seem to have budged since March and I have put on ~7lbs since then.  Currently sitting at 199lbs, ~21.5% Bodyfat (156lbs LBM which doesn't seem to be moving at all).  Either need to stick to 195-205 and recomp or cut down since I look like a bit of a slob at the moment.

Anyway, rest day Monday, will probably go do something gym related though.

Current goals for November meet:

Squat 420, paused bench 275, deadlift 520 @ 195.

Goals for August 2015:

Squat 495, paused bench 315, deadlift 600 @ 205 (not looking like a sack of shit

ideally).

Finally talked James into doing some much needed accessory work for some hypertrophy.