Powerlifting - Openers for the AWPC Worlds
Friday - 7/27/07

We did our openers for the AWPC Worlds that we're competing in this coming weekend, Aug 4-5 in Chicago. I'm opening my squat at 540lbs. I haven't totally decided where to go from there, but probably 600 for my second attempt, and above 625 for my third. For the bench I'm opening at 385lbs. I opened there at the nationals in April. I'm thinking 30lb jumps, so 415 for my 2nd and 445ish for my 3rd attempt. I should have a pretty good total going into the deadlift. I think I may open there around 500lbs. The next 2 attempts I haven't thought about much as of yet. I'll have more of an idea later on in the week.

Powerlifting - Speed Bench
Monday 7/23/07

Bench - warm up with bar, 95x12, 135x10, 135x6, 195x5, 235x5, 265x4, broke back down to 175x3x8 sets

Dumbell Incline #1 setting - 85x6, 90x6, 95x6

Shoulder press on Nautilus XP Load - 90x10, 180x6, 230x6, 230x6 (total weight, half for each arm)

Shrug - 90x10, 180x6, 230x6, 280x6

Rear delt hanging from pull up bar - 3 sets of 6

Tri pushdown's wide flat bar - 90x10x4, 100x10

Dragon flags - 3 sets of 5

Powerlifting - Heavy Squat/Dead
Friday - 7/20/07

We had a little time constraint since Rob had some family to attend to early in the evening. All that we got done Friday was Squat and Rack pulls from below the knee.

Squat - warm up with the bar, bottoms up front squat with the 55lb kettlebell x8x2, 145x8, 145x5, 235x5, 235x3, put on my briefs, 325x3, 415x2, put on my suit, not too tight with the straps, a light knee wrap 535x2. it felt heavy, the reps weren't bad, but i was up the day before for 20hrs, and that most certainly didn't help at all.

Rack Pulls - 225x3, 405x3, 455x2


Saturday - 7/21/07

Very rare for me to do this, but we haven't done a lot of back work on our heavy squat days, so i came in after work for some back

Lat Pulldown - 50x10, 110x10, 190x6, 200x6, 210x6x2

Low row the the D-handle attachment (the wider one so your hands are just about a foot apart) - 180x6, 190x6, 200x6

Kettlebell clean and press ladders - 55x1, 55x2, 55x3... i did that series 3 times. gets the heart racing

Preacher curls on the Nautilus Nitro machine - 80x10, 95x10x2, 110x8

One more week of training, and this thurs and fri we do our openers for the bench and squat. i'm still working the numbers out in my head as to where i will open. we take a week off and then fly into Chicago....

Powerlifting - Heavy Bench
Thursday - 7/20/07

I had a pretty long day... having to get up 2 hours earlier than normal for a pretty big job we had for a local HS. I felt pretty drained going into the gym from the day's work, and it wasn't a max day, since we did that last week... it was a heavy work day.

Bench - bar warm-up, 95x12, 135x10, 135x6, 185x5, 235x4, 285x2... put on my bench shirt, 385x2, 420x1... the 420 felt good, a little slow for me, but i'm content. i thought about a 2nd rep, but didn't want to push it. we're doing our openers for the meet next thursday.

Bench w/chains - 225+1 set of chains x2, 225+2 sets x2, 225+3 sets x2

close grip bench - 225x3, 245x3, 265x3

bent over dumbell rear delt - 20x8x3 sets

Tri pushdowns v-bar - 90x10x4, 100x10

i still feel pretty drained, but considering today's work schedule, the training was still good. one more week of training left, a week off and then i'm in chicago competing....

Powerlifting - Light/Speed Squat/Dead

Squat - Bar warm up, 135x8x2, 225x5, 225x3, 315x3

Box Squats - 225x2x4 sets

Conventional Dead - 135x3x3, 225x3x3

Hyper Extensions - body x10x3, body+25lb x10

Lat Pulldown - 190x6, 200x6, 210x6

One Arm Dumbell Rows - 80x6, 90x6, 100x6

Bicep Preacher machine - 95x8x4

nice short day for me. i'm hoping to get some good work in tomorrow on the bench... train heavy, and rest up

Powerlifting - Light/Speed Bench
Monday 7/16/07

Saturday's training took a lot out of us, so we cut down a little on the volume for monday so we could let our nervous system recoup a little faster.

Bench - bar warm-up, 95x12, 135x10, 135x6, 185x5, 225x3, 265x4 broke it back down to 165x3x4 sets.

Dumbell Incline - 85x6, 90x6x2

Kettlebell Clean and Press - 55x5x4 sets

Rear Delt hanging from chin bar - body weightx6x3 sets

Wide Tri Pushdowns - 80x10, 90x10x4 sets

Dragon Flags - 3 sets of 5

Powerlifting - Heavy Squat/Dead
Saturday - 7/14/05

Today was the 2 peak week in our cycle for this meet. so it was full gear max effort. My dead is still lacking, but a couple of factors different from a meet day - one being the whole environment/intensity, the other being that we deaded right after max squatting. More time during a meet to recoup a little, and the bench is thrown in the middle as well... anyway here we go.....

Squat - warm up with bar for a few sets, 145x8, 145x5, 235x5, 235x3, put on briefs, 325x3, 415x2, put on suit, 525x1 (light knee wrap), 575x1 Full gear, 625x1 Full Gear!!!! That is a NEW PR for me. I weigh around 162lbs right now. I was planning to go over 600 today, and wanted to best my third attempt that i missed at nationals.

Dead - 225x3, 405x1, 495x1, and i tried 565... i just got it to my knees and that was it. I felt fried. I picked it up easy, but couldn't pull my hips through once i got it there. i didn't lose my grip either. The dead is hard to work. it's very taxing and especially right after squatting with a fried back. it's just tough since it's a very taxing movement in itself.

I was pretty psyched about today. new PR in the squat for me, and i got over that 600lb hump. my numbers are looking good right now. 625 squat, 440 bench, and @550 deadlift= @1615. My goal is 1600+ total at this meet.

Powerlifting - Heavy Bench
Thursday - 7/12/07

Yesterday was, as it says above, heavy bench day... Seeing that we're at a peak week in the cycle, we kind of did a max effort yesterday. Tomorrow is a max effort in the squat. The bench yesterday felt great, and I made a new PR for myself. Still with 3 weeks to go until the AWPC Chicago.

Bench - warm up with bar, 95x12, 135x10, 135x6, 195x5, 235x4, 295x1... i had a long wait until i put my bench shirt on since i was spotting my partner while he did his shirt benches. Once he was done and i was ready to go with the shirt:
385x2, 440x1 ! New PR for me!!

3 Board Press - 385x2, 440x2, 455x2

Close Grip - 230x3, 245x1, 260x3

Side Raises - 15x25
Front Raises - 15x15, 15x10

Now for my rear delt, what i did was hang from the cross bar in the power cage, looked up, arched my back and pulled my shoulder blades together... keeping the arms straight. i did this for 3 sets of 6, nice and controlled and concentrating on the squeezing of the shoulder blades.

V-Bar Tricep Pushdowns - 80x10, 90x10x4 sets

Dragon Flags - 2 sets of 5

Heavy Squat/Dead Tomorrow... looking for new PR's!

Powerlifting - Speed Squat/Dead
Tuesday 7/10/07

Seeing that we're ending on a peak week this Friday, we took it a little easier on the squat and dead today, so we will be better rested for the heavy sessions.

Squat - warmed up with bar, 2 sets of bottoms up kettlebell squats to loosen the hips, 135x8, 135x5, 135x3, 225x5, 225x3, 315x3

Band Box Squats - here we used the blue bands, thicker than the green ones we used last week. 225 plus bands x2 x4sets

Band Deadlifts - 135x2 x4sets

Kettlebell swings - 55lbx10 both hands on bell, 2 sets with each arm individually, and the last set i did them with both hands on the bell

back extension machine - 125x10, 140x10, 155x10

Lat pulldown - 180x6, 190x6, 200x6

dumbell row - 75x6, 85x6, 95x6

bicep curl olympic straight bar - 65x6, 85x6, 105x6

dragon flags - 2 sets of 5

Heavy bench is next on the list...

Powerlifting - Speed Bench
Monday - 7/9/07

Bench - Warm up with the bar, 95x10, 135x10, 135x6, 195x7, 245x5... broke it back down to 135 with the blue bands for 8 sets, 3 reps, 20 count between sets

Dumbell Incline #1 - 80x6, 85x6, 90x6

Kettlebell Cleans - 55lbx10x4 sets

Wide Rear Delt (on Freedom Trainer) - 200x10, 215x10, 230x10, 245x10

Tricep pushdowns wide w/flat bar - 80x10x2, 90x10x3

Dragon Flags - 3 sets of 5

Side Bends - 55lb x 5x 2sets

Powerlifting - Heavy Squat
Friday 7/6/07

I'm coming off a pretty successful day in the gym yesterday... matching a PR on my bench in preparation for the AWPC World's. Today was just as good.

Squat - warmed up with the bar, did 2 sets of bottom's up KB squats (55lb). I highly recommend using that exercise to help loosen up your hips. it's amazing. 145x8, 145x5, 235x5, 235x3, put on my briefs, 325x3, 415x2, put on my suit and a light knee wrap 505x1, fully geared 555x2. then did a stand up with 625. felt good.

Chain Squats - just kept the suit on, but left the straps down. it's been humid, i've consumed a lot of salt and water, and my suit was tight, so i just left it on like last friday. base weight on the bar was 365 w/1 set of chains x2, 365+2sets x2, 365+3sets x2, 365+4setsx2, 365+5setsx2. last set was tough down, but i'm coming up nicely. again each set of chains is about 33lbs, so at the top of squat, there's roughly an extra 30lbs from each set, so with all 5 sets thats 150lbs. (i think when i was fully standing, there were maybe 3 links on the floor) 365+150 at the top =515 lbs.

Rack pulls from above the knee (took of the suit, just wearing my briefs now) - 225x3, 405x3, 495x3, and 585x1. we've been training this younger kid too.. he's 16, 220+, and 6'2" tall... he's pretty damn strong, and i did not want to let him beat me on the rack pulls. i'm 163ish, 5'5" tall. i've got a few more years under my belt powerlifting, but my racks have sucked lately. so i saw him fail 585 twice.. i had to get at least one, and i've never picked up that much weight and held it freely in my hands, which becomes an issue when deadlifting heavy. i got it and held it... it was slow, i had every muscle and vein popping, but i picked up that 585 from the knee. felt great and i called it a day. i'm zapped, need some rest. only 3 more weeks of training until we take off for the the AWPC Worlds. Have a great weekend, rest up, see you monday!

Powerlifting - Heavy Bench
Thursday 7/5/07

Ok, the day after the 4th... I wasn't feeling too great today. I was tired all day, tried a little cat nap at work, but still was extremely tired from my activities of drinking for most of the day July 4th! Hope everyone had a safe holiday.

Bench - warm up with bar, 95x12, 135x12, 135x6, 185x5, 235x5, 285x2, put on my shirt, 385x2, 430x1 matching my all time PR!

3 Board Press - 385x3, 430x2, 455x1

Flat Dumbell Press - 80x4, 85x4, 90x4

Close Grip Bench - 225x3, 240x3, 255x3

Rear Delt on one half of cable cross machine - 160x10, 180x10, 200x10, 220x10

Tricep Pushdowns with V-bar - 80x10x2, 90x10x3

That's it... I'm feeling really good about my training thus far. I have 3 more weeks of training, and the week following is the meet. I'm counting down to Chicago!

Powerlifting - Speed Squat/Dead
Tuesday - 7/3/07

Squat - warm up with bar, 135x10, 135x6, 225x5, 225x3, 315x3
Added Green bands and box squat - 225x2x8 sets

Deadlift with Green bands platform - 135x3x8 sets

D-handle Lat pulldown - 180x8, 190x8, 200x6

Chest Supported row - 80x6, 100x6, 120x6, 130x6

Seated calf raise - 90x12x10

Hammer DB curls - 35x6, 40x6, 45x6, 50x6

Powerlifting - Speed Bench
Monday - 7/2/07

Bench - warmed up with bar, 95x10, 135x12, 135x6, 185x8, 235x6, broke it back down to 135 and added green bands. 135 w/bandsx3x8 sets. 20sec count between sets

Dumbell Incline #1 - 80x6, 85x6x2

Kettlebell Clean and presses - 55lbx5x5

Dumbell shugs - 90x10, 100x10, 110x8

Rear Delt - 160x10, 180x10, 200x10, 220x10

Tricep Pressdown w/Flat wide bar - 80x10x3, 90x10x2

Dragon Flags - 3 sets of 5 reps... I need to add some different ab exercises.. cycle them in a little better, or hit them more often.... you need your core strength in powerlifinting. power moves with the abs are the way to go. forget the high reps with abs. spend the $10 for an ab wheel, and learn how to do them right. learn how to do the dragon flag. those 5 reps will tear you apart, but your core strength will skyrocket. i love doing them.

The shoulder felt awesome today.. I'm not really too worried about working with it right now. felt good on the bench and it felt good with the dumbells and kettlebell as well. i have more super cissus rx on the way. i really think this stuff works! tomorrow, speed squat/dead