New direction.

[samuelNZ]

3/11/11 – Assistance

Rolling 10mins

Pull ups 3x10

Side and front raises 3x20

Rear delts 2x20

Had to go in today and try sort the back out. Lower back sorta feels like its all fused together down there and needs a good crack – have tried everything to get it to go but nothing works. Got the foam roller onto it and it loosened up a little. Still a bit sore, muscles arnt too bad just think I need some rest.

Wanted to get some medium grip pull ups in the mix as well so was just doing explosive 3 rep sets every few mins till I'd done 10.

[samuelNZ]

4/11/11 – Squats Bench

Bench 20x15 40x15 60x12x2 80x5 100x5 110x3x3

Squats 60x8x2 100x5 120x5 130x3 145x3 160x3 PB

CG floor press 60x10 80x5 100x3x3

Pushdowns stackx15x4

DB skullcrusher thingies 30x8 35x6x2

Bench was ok, not as fast as I would have liked. Second set was the best.

Squats were pretty good. Very tight and stiff lower back. Tried just about everything to loosen it up, even hanging from the gravity boots. Wasn't making any progress with it so just decided to get stuck in and get the squats done. 160 was my original PB from nationals and last few skills. 3 repped it today quite comfortably apparently so I'm over the moon.

[Phedder]

160 was my original PB from nationals and last few skills. 3 repped it today quite comfortably apparently so I'm over the moon.

:shock: That's a pretty good sign things are moving in the right direction. Stiff back = strong squat?

[samuelNZ]

:shock: That's a pretty good sign things are moving in the right direction. Stiff back = strong squat?

Haha I'd certainly hope its stronger, although this tender back better piss off pretty quickly. Gotta do my best to keep ahead of you bro.

[samuelNZ]

5/11/11 – Assistance

Bands to warm up – rotators & shoulders

Seated row 1/2stack x 15x2 3/4stack x12x3

DB row 60x15 80x12 110x6x2

DB shrugs 60x15 80x15 95x15x2

Barbell shrugs 60x15 100x15 120x15

Curls 5x12

Upperback and traps today. Felt pretty nice, volume was kept pretty low. Lower backs still tender, will do some decent rolling on Sunday.

[Phedder]

Gotta do my best to keep ahead of you bro.

You've got plenty of wiggle room there bud :oops:

[samuelNZ]

You've got plenty of wiggle room there bud

Haha not for long.

6/11/11 – Assistance

20mins rolling

Banded bench 20x8 40x8 60x5 80x3x4

Bench 100x1

Was just rolling and beast cruised in and we got involved in some banded bench, never tried it before. Was interested to see what it was like. First time even unracking the bar was strange. Felt incredibly wobbly, but seemed to get the hang of it by the 80k sets. 4 sets of some quick ass triples. Really enjoyed it. Not sure how much tension at the top but at least 100+.

Chucked on 100 after I was done just to see how it felt after doing explosive/speed stuff, brought the 100 down to the chest nice and quick and then nearly threw it out of my hands :pfft:

Think I've found my new favorite exercise (after squats).

[samuelNZ]

6/11/11 – Squats Bench

Bench 20x12 40x10 60x10 80x8 100x3 110x3 120x1 120x1(PBs)

Squats 20x8x2 60x5x2 100x5x2 120x5 add belt 140x3 160x3x3

Abs 8-10 x 5

Tricep extensions 4x10

Bench was meant to be 120x3. Was certain it wasn’t going to happen so opted for two paused singles. First one was best. Second was pretty slow and ugly, feel confident I can hit this at comp.

Squats were ugly. Wasn't in the grove at all, some reps I was cutting high, others I was bottoming out, then I'd roll onto my toes. All sorts. Was having a shocker. Feel as if 160 is a solid opener for me now. Having some horrible stomach pains during and after heavy squatting, hangs around for a good hour or two after I've finished my session. Almost feels like a bad stomach ache but its not.

[OnlyHuman]

6/11/11 – Squats Bench

Bench 120x1 120x1(PBs)

:clap: Good day in the office! :grin:

[samuelNZ]

Cheers bro

9/11/11 – Deads

Deads 70x5 110x5 150x5 180x1 200x1 215x0 215x0 150x1x6

Pull ups BWx5 +5x5x3

DB rows 60x10 80x10 110x10 140x8

Seated row half x20 3/4x15 full x6

LPD 2x8

DB shrugs 65x15 75x15 80x15 90x15

OH press 40x5 60x3x3

Deads weren't happening. Got the second attempt of the ground and could have ground it out but at this stage its just not worth it. Everything up to 180 felt good and quick, just went down hill from there. Everything from there onwards was slow off the floor – which is where I'm strongest. So I knew I wasn't gonna complete it. Not too worried. Just thinking I'm nearly ready to deload. Rest of the work was based on upper back.

[samuelNZ]

11/11/11 – Bench

Bench 20x10 60x12x2 80x8 100x3 107x1 115x3x3

Fatbar floor press w 20k chains 60x12 100x10 120x6 100x12 100x8

DB skullcrushers 30x12x3

Curls 4x8

Bench felt OK. Bit slow. Feeling confident with a 110-115 opener. Floor press was bloody good fun. Especially with the badass chains. Can't remember what else we did.

[samuelNZ]

12/11/11 – Squats

Squats 20x5 60x5x2 100x5 120x3 belt 140x1 155x1 170x1(+10kg PB)

Leg press 3x12

Crunches 4x20

Working up to a decent weight. Squats felt alright I guess. 170 was a bit wobbly coming down, not sure how depth was but it felt a bit marginal. Wasn't too much a grind but it def wasn't a walk in the park. Looking at that for hopefully a second attempt. I'm relatively happy with that PB, but it wasn't as cruisy as I hoped it would be. Wanting to see where the strength is at and get some confidence with that weight. Leg press was feeling ugly so gave up.

[samuelNZ]

13/11/11 – Bench

Bench paused 20x12x2 60x10x2 80x5 100x3 107.5x1 115x1

Flies 4x10

Wanted to get a feel for a good paused opener. Thought it must be around 115. Last 2 reps were good pauses and back up.

115 felt a bit slow, but not too bothered. Elbows are getting pretty damn sore so didn't get involved in any more pressing.

[samuelNZ]

15/11/11 – Squats

Squats 20x5 60x5 80x5 100x3 120x3 add belt 130x1 140x1 150x1

Leg press 2x12

Lunch time training. Just squats for a bit of fun. Focusing on speed in the squats and they felt really good. Squats were done to commands, just trying to build a bit of rhythm. First time I've actually made squats fast. 150 felt really comfortable. Have brought the feet in about another inch or so and feels pretty good. Bit more loading on my lower back but feel stronger and faster than the slightly wider style. Was gonna do more leg press but got caught up with something else.

15/11/11 – Power belly

Evening training

Standing abs 4x10

Landmines 5x10

DB side bends 4x10

Crunches 3x20

Hit abs hard. Was the goods. Gonna drop volume on compounds and pick up the assistance a little. Week and a bit to go.

[samuelNZ]

16/11/11 – Deads

Deads 70x5 120x5 add belt 170x3 200x1 200x1

Speed deads 100x3 140x1x6

Pull ups 10x5

LPD 3x15

Straight arm pulldowns 3x12

Seated row 3x10

DB shrugs 60x10 65x10 70x10 75x10 80x10 85x10 90x10 95x10

Curls 3x10

Worked up to a comfortable weight today on deads. Didn't want to push it too hard so left it at 200. Tried to make them as fast as possible. Speed today on all deadlifts was pretty good. 170 single and the 140s felt awesome. Rest of the training was just a bit of a stuff around. LPD, straight arm pulldowns and seated rows were all done together as a tri-set for fun. DB shrugs were pretty stupid, just ran the rack, started at one end and went to the other banging out 10 reps, about 30 seconds rest.

Happy with how the deadlifts felt today. Used a proper bar as well to reduce the whippy effect.Thinking I'll open on 210 and go for 15k jumps if it feels sweet. That will probably be the last of deadlifting until the comp unless I do some light speed deads next week.

[samuelNZ]

18/11/11 – Bench

CG bench 20x10 40x8 60x5 80x5 90x3 100x3 110x2 117.5x1 100x2x2

Floor press w/ 20k chains 60x8 80x8 100x3 80x12

Palms in DB press ss Rolling tri extn 60x28-25x10 60x15-25x10

Front raise ss lateral raise ss db press 10x15-15x15-40x5 10x15-15x15-15x15

Fatbar reverse curls ss curls ss drag curls 25x8-25x8-25x8 30x10-30x10-30x10

DB hammer curls 60x3 50x5 40x10 30x12 20x15

Cable 21s 100x21

The swole patrol came in today and shit got loose. Now recovering from the feed of the century with the help of swimming pool, sauna, supermarket and far too much chocolate.

[samuelNZ]

Lower back is feeling well screwed. Doing my best to sort it before Sunday.

21/11/11

Casual upper back work

22/11/11

40mins foam rolling and stretching

3x8 back extensions

If back is feeling better, will hopefully get some light squats and bench in tomorrow then thats the last resistance session till Sunday.

[teamfatboy]

Damn, that doesn't sound too optimistic... fingers crossed for a good train tonight.

[samuelNZ]

Damn, that doesn't sound too optimistic... fingers crossed for a good train tonight.

Its not really ideal :?

23/11/11

Bench 20x8 40x5 60x5 80x5 90x3 100x2x2

Squat 20s8 60x5 80x5 100x3 120x2x2

Palms in DB press 60lbx2x10

Feeling very average. Back starts to feel a tad better once the blood gets in there but is painful arching.

[samuelNZ]

27/11/11 Raw Nationals

BW 91.4kg

• Squat – belt
  165kg - w/w/w [+5kg Comp PB]
  172.5kg - w/w/w [+12.5kg PB]
  182.5kg – r/r/r – check comments
  
• Bench – wrist wraps
  110kg - w/w/w
  120kg - w/r/w [+2.5kg Comp PB] – pressed too early
  125kg – w/w/w [+7.5kg Comp PB]
  
• Deadlift - belt
  210kg – w/w/w
  227.5kg – w/w/w [=Comp PB]
  235kg – w/w/w [+7.5kg Comp PB]
  
• Total
  532.5kg [+27.5kg Comp PB]

Comments

• First of all big thanks to OB and Ruth for once again putting on an amazing comp/weekend. Thanks to everyone that came and helped out and supported, to name a few – Schwass, Zane, Trap, Tutua, PC and Beast, also can't forget all the help The Doc puts in so thank you. Plenty more but it'd take too long to type out.
  Didnt get a hell of a lot of sleep the night before and dieting for the last 4 days didn't do me any favours. Dropped down from 97.2 on Monday. Felt pretty horrible going into the comp still with a sore lower back but ohwell.
  
• Squats – warm ups felt ok, nothing out of the ordinary. First attempt was a 5kg comp PB but sunk it nice and low leaving no doubt for depth. Next was 172.5 and that was the same, just bottomed out and straight up for 3 more whites. Last attempt was the 400lb mark with 182.5 – never been near this weight so was feeling pretty different on my back. Dropped it down and struggled to get it out of the hole, it came up, but very slowly. As soon as I started to struggle my chest dropped down and my elbows flew up tipping me forward, trying to compensate I was trying to lean back to keep on balance, got to the top and locked it out, just before that rack call I took a step back to keep my balance, resulting in 3 reds and some uncontrollable cursing. Not really the kind of outcome I wanted from this. Really unhappy because I know I can do it, just like last comp, stupid things letting me down not the strength, dropping all of my squats way too low and its costing me in plates and its really starting to get to me. Got heaps to work on here.
  
• Bench – Big break in between squats and bench. Warm ups actually felt horrible with even 60 feeling slow. Dropped my opener to 110 just to be sure. Came up nice and easy. Next was a weight I'd hit in training 3 times but never in comp. Same with the 110, came up nice and securely. Apart from cramping in my back and hip, bench was feeling ok. Had a go at 125 and that came up, although pretty damn slow the entire time, it finally made its way up and got 3 whites. Guess I'm happy with these PBs, still a long way off anything half decent. Again, have plenty to work on.
  
• Deadlifts – Warm ups were slow. Started to worry a bit about grip as my hands started to give out on my last warm up but didn't seem to be a problem on the platform. All of my deadlifts were slow and ugly. Not really too much else to say. Last one was a Jnr Raw record so I'm happy with that. Didn't meet my 240 goal though.

Well done to everyone lifting today! Some huge raw numbers being moved and was a pleasure to be on the platform with some of these monsters. Absolutely crashed after the comp. Very sore and fatigued. Got a hell of a lot of work to do now.

Time for me now to take a break from logging and doing comps until Raw Nationals or Bbro 2012. Planning on just doing 1 qualifier and the raw comp as I've used up all my money competing this year and I've got a lot of work to do before I'll be happy competing again. Going to be getting stuck into some hard work and decent lifting to focus on moving the bodyweight up to 100-103 and hoping to pack on a bit of muscle. Am going to be working hard on bringing up my squat and bench. Hopefully the deadlift will follow but I'm half happy with where it is right now. Got a few injuries which will get some added attention over the next year or so. Start putting a lot more emphasis on form and taking better care of my body.

Can't thank OB and Ruth enough for the work they put in. Thanks to everyone that's helped out over the year, I've had an awesome year training and competing. Its been a pleasure to be a part of the Powerhouse crew, CDPA and last but not least, the swole patrol. Now its time for me to have a wee rest and sort these niggles out then hopefully come back bigger and a hell of a lot stronger next year.

[teamfatboy]

Wow. :shock:

Those are great results, even if the squat didn't finish the way you wanted it to.

Sounds like the Classic was a good comp - wish I could have been there.

Seems like you already know what to do - and after my experiences yesterday I have to agree that OB and the whole 'House clan will give you all the help and advice you need.

[Phedder]

Great results mate, especially considering the drastic weight loss :shock: Have to be happy with a raw record too

You've come so far since the start of the year, truly left me in the dust :clap: Bigger and better things to come in 2012, time to make a big impact :nod:

[samuelNZ]

Been a while since I've posted on here. Took a wee bit of time off to heal. Still in recovery mode but on the rise. Won't be logging my training here anymore I don't think because I've started a blog. Might decide to link new blog posts in my workout journal. Haven't decided yet but feel free to check it out and let me know what you think. www.lifterslife.blogspot.co.nz

Cheers

[samuelNZ]

Link to my newest post -Hakua Matata

[samuelNZ]

A small post regarding simplifying training and nutrition. If you've got a few mins give it a squiz.

http://lifterslife.blogspot.co.nz/2012/ ... plate.html

Look forward to any feedback.