9/28/09 Monday, Final week of the base phase!

Up at Ass O'clock
Half cup coffee
Nos
1.5G tyrosine
1.5 dose tylenol
400 mg ibuprofen
Head hurt

BW 232.5 little high, especially for the AM, but not too bad. I'm more concerned with overtraining than a half pound extra of weight gain at this point.

Bikex25 minutes meh
Dislocates
Foam rolling, lots of time on the lumber area as it was particularly hurty to roll out

SKWATZ!!!!1122oneeleventy!
barx9
oh god ow, right hip flexor and left knee NOT HAPPY
135x9 better
205x1
not a good idea but just sick of warming up
260x9 9 9 9
this took a good 40 minutes

2 Board
135x5
225x5
275x5 5
Woof, hard

Cold showerx5 minutes
Saunax10minutes, while in the sauna did
Calf raises
60+hold
30+hold
15+hold
7+hold
Did some bending the fire and then tried a vacuum and pulled a serratus muscle....Guess I should ease into this
Cold showerx10 minutes

Did the bare minimum. Just got to make it through the week.

4/26/09 Saturday

BW 232 on the nose

Beat the fuck up, tired, stiff, achy.

Bikex10 minutes
Foam rolling
Dislocates

Complexes with the bar

SKWATZ
155x3 3 3 3 3
205x3 3
240x3
280x3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 (10)
Did a few sets with a loose belt, Realized that I used more weight than I should have yesterday. Oh well.

Jumps
boxx1
Box+55x1
Box+55+55x1
Box+55x1 1 1 1 1
S'it

Axle curls
80x15 10

DB bench
75x12 12 12

Calf work
Iso
315x1 1 1
280xreps
150xlots of reps

KB alt press
24kgx16/16
Not bad

Frog kicks
15? something like that

Foam rolling
Contrast shower

9/25/09 Friday

BW 231 nice
Two Nos, 800 mgs ibuprofen

Seated bikex25 minutes

Dislocates

Power snatch+ohsq
115x1+5
135x1+5

SKWATZ
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5 5 5 5 5 5 5 (7)
Ow, again with the knee pain.Got them done and the pain got better with time.

Axle reverse curls
60x four or 5 triples
40x some high rep sets and holds


SPEED bench @~65%
135x3
185x3 3 3 3 3
225x1
245
265
285
305x1 5 lb All time PR! Sweet!
Best friend was at the gym and spotted me for this

Speed (split) jerks
155x3 3 3
Felt pretty good after the first set
205x1 1 1
....huh, these felt really good
245x1 Ugly as sin but a 5 lb PR none the less.

Some leg raises and called it done.

9/23/09 Wednesday

Woke up late so had to lift after work
BW 229
Hopefully that's just a low end measurement. Hoping to be ~232 by the end of the week

Bikex22 minutes

Foam roll
Dislocates

Pwr snatch+OHSQ
45x5+5
115x1+6
115x1+3

SQUAT
135x7
205x7
260x7 7 7 7 7
This was rough, form was off, felt stiff, knees hurt. Lots of stretching and ice tonight

Axle curls
100x5 5 5 5

OHP
115x5
135x5
150x4 4
Narrowed my grip for that first set just a 1/2", made a huge difference.
160x2

Standing calf machine
280x1 iso metric, just held it at the top for as long as I could
240x reps
210x reps
Sore leaving the gym, excellent

Slant board situpsx25

Decline triceps
12kg KBx20
16kgx12

Incline shrug
75xreps
Need to remember to do these

Rear delts
17.5x18 (palms down, Thumbs up, thumbs down) +2
Need to remember to keep the shoulder down on these. Much more effective that way
Front raise
17.5x20 (palms down, thumbs up)
Lateral raise
17.5x20( Palms down, thumbs down, thumbs up)+2
17.5x1 hold (thumbs up)

Done

Smolov Base Cycle Week 2 Abandon all hope!

BW 230.75 After a Big shake and a Nos (protein+sugar+caffeine)

Ellipticalx20 minutes

SKWATS!
135x9
205x9
250x9 9 9 9
Very mild knee problems, they're finally coming around. Stupid joints

Did some axle curls with 80 lbs in here4-7 sets of 5-7 reps

Axle sidebends
80x25

2 Boards
135x5
225x5
255x5 5 5
Easy

2 position power cleans @80%
190x1 1 1 1 1 (5)
Easy, focused on staying on the heels and not catching on the toes

Ab machine, 1 step below the 45lb mark(weights were unlabeled)x20

one legged calf raisex30/30

N pull up on ringsx3

Cold shower

Later
Myoplex (42g protein)
4 hardboiled eggs (24g protein)
2 Bananas

9/19/09 Last day of the easy week of the base cycle...

BW 231.5 High end of what I want, but to be expected since I had a fair amount of sugar yesterday

Lots of foam rolling

Bikex10 minutes just got my heart rate up to ~135

Box jumps
30.5"x1 1 1 1 1
+45x1
+45+45 x1
45+45+25(~40")x1 1 1 1 1
Not supposed to do dynamic stuff during the base cycle, but I just wanted to keep the groove on these.

Oly squats, Buffalo bar (60lbs)
155x3 3 3
240x3
260x3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 (10)
Woof

Axle reverse curls
50x four or five sets

Dumbell Benches
75x10 10 10
Called this just right, last rep of the last set was hard. The rest were good

3 position power snatches (70% of 165)
115x1 1 1 1 1
These felt surprisingly good. Not a ton of work, just enough to get a nice pump in the upper back.

Alternating KB presses
20kgx26
or 13 reps per side, not as nice as I was hoping. Rear delts and traps burned

Independent ab rollers (one per hand)
13 shoulders not abs

Pull ups on hangboard
1 2 3
DONE

Do some crunches, band pull aparts, supermans and stretches at home

9/18/09 Friday Smolov base cycle week 1

BW 229 hmm... a little low...maybe. We'll see tomorrow.

Ellipticalx15 minutes
Foam rolling

Power snatch+OHSQ
95x1+3
135x1+1
Felt like crap left knee hurting

Oly squat
135x5
185x5
225x5
255x5 5 5 5 5 5 5 (7 sets)
Felt good by the end

Ab sling, feet to rack+knees to elbows
6+7
3+5

Seated calves

Speed bench
135x3
200x3x8 sets this was supposed to be the workout for the end of the cycle....oh well

Foam rolling

Muscle milk and cold shower

9/16/09 Smolov base cycle day 2

BW 231
Foam rolling

Power snatch and OHSq
95x1+5
95x1+1
Left knee hurt, uncoordinated and stupid

Oly squat
135x7
205x7
235x7 7 7 7 7
Knee didn't stop hurting till set three, even with knee sleeves and bengay

OHP
105x6
125x5
140x2 2
150x2
155x2

Leg lift+incline crunch, slant board 2nd notch from the bottom
15

Precorx20 minutes

First work out of the base cycle 9/14/09

Put on Bengay and knee sleeves before the gym
BW 229
W/U with bar
Power snatch+OHSQ
95x1+8
135x1+5
135x1+3

Squat, oly squat, Oly bar
135x10
220x9 ...too light
225x9 9 9 Easy strength wise, but huffing and puffing because of low blood sugar I think

Sit ups on slant board

3 position Power cleans
185x1 1 1 1 1
Was supposed to be 165 but fuck it
35 second hold with 185

2 Board with 85% of CG Bench 1RM
135x6
240x6 6 6
Last set was semi difficult

Bent rear delt raises
12x~30(10 palms down, 10 thumbs up, 10 thumbs down)
Front raises
12x~30(15thumbs up, 15 thumbs down)
Lateral raises
12~30(10 thumbs down, 10 thumbs up, 10 palms down)
Karlsen crucifix
12x5(5second hold)5(5second hold)

these were all done rest pauseish and my shoulders were PUMPED

Calf raises
240x16
210x5
165x7
Super setted, trying not to psych up too much. Need to save it for squats

Seated hammer curls
25x10
Easy just through it in

20 minutes on the bike at setting 4
Muscle milk and then stretching at home

9/12/09

BW 228
Woke up and my back hurt, never happend before. Supermans,shoulder bridges and press ups

Power snatches up to 155

Squats up to
270x3 ass tacular

Standing jumps to 40.5"

More power snatches.

Home

9/09/09 Wednesday

BW 228

No bumpers so

Squats
135x5
225x3
265x3 3 3 3 3

Knees bothering me, left lower back is hurty. Take friday off and do lots of prehab

OHP
135x3
155
165
175
185x0

NG bench
up to 275 not bad

85%x5 and jumps

bw 234 this is what pizza and sugar do to you

Seated jumps up to ~40" (High box+55+25+25) from low box.
Power cleans up to 220 (failed at 225)
Power snatches up to 165(fail at 170)
Standing/step jumps up to 44.5"

Oly squats
135
225
255x3
270x5 1(paused
Low bar med stance Box squat, low box+pad
315x1
335x1
355x1

Some pull ups in there

OHP
135x1
145x1
155x1
165x1
175x1
did 180 on saturday after a clean but this was probably my best from the rack.

Introductory Microcycle Week 2

BW 229

worked up to
250x5
260x3

Along with box jumps up to ~40"
Deadlifts up to 455
And Power clean and jerk up to 215

Pretty easy, first day and I meet the requirements for the end of the week. Good start.

Enter the Smolov

I've been lifting fairly regularly since I was fourteen. I've gone from 150 lbs to ~225 lbs. I'm not the strongest guy around but I'm proud of my progress. My squat has always been my weak point, and recently after a forced lay off of about a month that still remains true.

So I've to fix that problem and spend my next year or so bringing my squat way up. First with the smolov program (http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/80/) and later with the Russian Squat Routine (http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/408/), probably for my front squat. This blog will be a recording of my journey.

At any rate, the plan is to gain about 15 lbs of relatively clean weight during this smolov cycle. After wards I'll try and clean up a bit before starting the RSR.
My current stats
229 lbs
~23% bodyfat as measured by calipers
Oly squat 315
Power squat 385
Waist 39.5"
Arm(flexed)16.5"
Neck 17.5"
Wrist 8"
Thigh 22.5"
Chest 48"
I've just completed the first week of the Introductory microcycle. One week more and I'll be in the thick of it for real. I'm focusing on an olympic style back squat this time round, and my knees are feeling a little beat up. Today though I think I finally found my form again.