Getting Strong

[PeteM]

It’s time to start a new chapter, with new goals and new methods. I’ve spent the last 4 months getting my body fat down, leaning out, dropping some lbs and then maintaining that. Now it’s time to focus on some strength gains. As I’ve never trained specifically for strength this should be interesting and I can’t wait to see where my body goes.

Nutrition – Tuesday
1- eggs, beans, veggies, cheese, berries, oats
2- protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice – stir fry
WO and PWO shake
4 – rotisserie chicken, French fries, dinner roll
5 – protein shake

This is certainly more enjoyable with more cals in the diet now. The biggest change from the previous plan is the addition of some carbs as well as a protein shake between breakfast and lunch.

Training

1) Deadlift

2a) Stiff leg Romanian Deadlift from floor
2b) Lying leg curl

3a) Banded Barbell Curl
3b) Preacher Curl

4) Ab circuit

As I’m focusing on strength, I worked DL using 3 reps and would continually add weight to the bar after each set, up until I could no longer pull with good form. I toped out at 545x2, which I’m pretty happy with and I’ll use this as a ball park max to work from to gauge progress – predicts a max of aprox 575 – my goal will be to pull over 600 for an actual single at the end of 8 weeks.


My goals for this program are to significantly increase my DL, Bench and Squat. Hopefully I’ll be able to find a local meet to compete in around the end of September, as I’ve never done it before, so it would be great experience.

I’m also planning on staying in decent shape from a body comp perspective – keeping below 12%, ideally closer to 10%. I think that it is possible to significantly improve my strength without adopting a ‘see food’ diet and relegating myself to jogging pants and t-shirts. I guess time will tell.

[PeteM]

Today wasn’t much of an interesting day. Although, it had somewhat of an usual start. It involved me outside at 6:20 this morning, putting newspaper and mulch down in my front garden. My wife’s sister and her family are visiting in town from out of province and she wanted to make the front of the house look nice. So I got the beds weeded last night, and then after she finally got our youngest to sleep, went outside to put down the mulch, but by that time it was too dart and she couldn’t see what she was doing, so had to come inside and was quite frustrated. So she woke this morning to find that the mulching fairy had come by (it was a big fairy alright :) ). Needless to say, I made it into the good books for that one. It’s always good to have a few of those filed away for when you need them.

Nutrition
1 – eggs, berries, veggies, cheese
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies – stir fry
4 – ribs, corn, salad
5 – protein shake

So the biggest change from my previous plan to now is the addition of the morning shake. For now I’m going to be keeping most of my carbs to the days that I train, but I will adjust that if need be.

[jusstartn]

Pete what is your daily calorie count?

[Ulter]

Thanks PeteM. I learn a lot by reading your logs. You don't train or diet like anyone else and it's interesting to read something new.

[PeteM]

Pete what is your daily calorie count?

I actually have no idea how many cals - I really don't keep track. Previously I was eating with the goal of maitaining lower body fat. So if you compare my current plan to this plan you will see that I've added an extra shake during the day, and some extra carbs on some days. Now that my goal is strength gain, if I continue to gain strength then there won't be any need for adjustment in my diet. If my strength begins to plateau, or I feel that I'm not making adaquate progress, I'll adjust my diet - possibly add some more carb sources if I fell that I'm low on energy during training, or some more fat if my joints are getting sore, or more protein if I'm not gaining strength like I feel that I should. Conversly, if I feel like I'm getting too soft, I may sub out some carb sources and replace with either some fat, protein or both.

I don't count cals, as it really is a feutile effort- when you consider all the factors that influence what actually reaches your body from the food you ingest and how many possible metabolic fates nutrients have, at the very best, you simply guessing. Rather, let you body tell you what it needs and then make decsions based on relevant information.

[PeteM]

Thanks PeteM. I learn a lot by reading your logs. You don't train or diet like anyone else and it's interesting to read something new.

Thanks Ulter.

[PeteM]

This is day 2 of my sister in-law’s visit, along with here 3 kids. I’m not sure if I’m going to make it to Sunday. :) They are all a lot of fun, and both my girls love playing with them, but 5 kids in a house, plus 4 extra adults, and it becomes very exhausting very quickly. Fortunately they are staying at my in-laws house, but they all come to our place for the day and for dinner as we have more kid friendly back yard and a kitchen that can seat everyone. As my family will be in town Sunday to Monday, I’m thinking I may need to take vacation next week to recover. In all seriousness though, I’m quite grateful that not only do I have lots of good people on both sides of my family, but they all get along and group events are only stressful from a logistical standpoint, there is no pettiness or animosity between any of them.

As today was my young niece’s birthday, dietary intake for supper was less then ideal – but fortunately I’ve said my good byes to my abs, for now, and didn’t stress out over it.

Nutrition
1 – eggs, beans, veggies, cheese, berries, oats
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice
WO and PWO shakes
4 – Hamburger, hot dog, various salads, cake etc
5 – protein shake

Training

1) Barbell Bench Press

2a) pendlay Row
2b) Seated Row

3) Grip focus one arm DB row

4a) Banded Close Grip Bench Press
4b) Tricep push down

As with the other day, used a similar loading for my bench press, only managed to get to 305x3 – which isn’t bad, but not great. Pressing has always been my weak link, not sure if it’s just because I don’t do it enough, poor technique, poor genetics or a combination of all three plus some other factor.

I warmed up using the bands on the bench, this allowed me to focus on exploding the bar up, and helped to get the nervous system firing.

Exercise 3, was a grip focused DB row – essentially a Krock row, with a bit of a twist. First set, I put my fat gripz on a DB, then rowed as many reps as I could until my grip failed, at which point I picked up a heavier DB and continued rowing until my grip failed. Second time through I reversed the pattern – heavy DB no grip first, the lighter DB with the grip second. I’m not sure which I prefer, but I do know that I need to use heavier DBs next day.

For triceps, I used the band for the close grip BP, and used a technique from Louie Simmons. Over speed eccentrics. I let the band fire the bar down to my chest, and would explode it back up as quick as possible. Unlike a traditional lift, slow and controlled, this was very fast on both the decent and accent. I didn’t allow the bar to touch my chest however, and it was in complete control at all time. But the explosive movements provided a high level of stimulation with the goal of activating my largest motor units in my tris, at which point I went over to the tricep push down and focused on time under tension, with much slower and more controlled reps.

[Jrod5150]

Nice work Pete. I'm in on this log. Are you going to stick with the push/pull method throughout the next 8 weeks?

[PeteM]

Finally, I arrived home today to find only my immediate family here. Normally the two kids can be quit exhausting on their own, but tonight it seemed much more manageable. I think even my daughters were both a little worn out.

Nutrition
1 – eggs, beans, veggies, cheese, berries, oats
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice
WO and PWO shakes
4 – chicken, veggies, rice
5 – protein shake

Training

1) BB back squat

2a) Seated (floor) military press
2b) Banded Pull Ups

3) Ab Circuit

Squats went ok today, not as well as I hoped, stopped at 465x2, the third would have come up, but I’m not sure at how much expense to form. The second rep I could feel my body cave a little so I decided to stop there. Looking back in my log books, the last time I back squatted was March 9th (475x3) so my expectation is that this should improve fairly quickly to start. One more thing to note, I squat completely raw – no wraps or belt. As a result, I feel that my core strength plays a huge role in my ability to squat, and hence the focus of my ab work – all stability, isometric type of work right now.

If you have never tried a seated military press (on the floor, legs straight out), I encourage you to. It removes all body English from the lift, and allows your only to push with your shoulders and tris and forces you to keep the weight centred over you body though out. I anticipate that this will have great carry over to my standing OHP lift when I go back to it.

[PeteM]

Nice work Pete. I'm in on this log. Are you going to stick with the push/pull method throughout the next 8 weeks?

For the most part yes. I find this is the best way to keep a good strength balance between protagonist/antagonist which reduces injury possibility.

[P Bo]

I'm sorry, did I read 'meet' correctly????? Woooohoooo! Count me in!

[PeteM]

This just seemed like the weekend that wouldn’t end. I do love having my family around. As we live a distance apart I don’t get to see them often and it’s always nice to have some extra hands to watch / entertain the kids for bit to give my wife and I a bit of break. But when you have guests, you never really get a chance to truly relax. We’ve had people in our house since Wed last week, so it was getting exhausting.

Back to reality today

Nutrition
1- eggs, cheese, beans, veggies, berries, oats
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, rice, veggies
WO and PWO shakes
4 – chicken, veggies, rice
5 – protein shake

Nutrition was good today, but sadly can’t say the same for the weekend, couldn’t even lie with a straight face. Not a complete disaster, considering where my goals are right now, but not nearly enough. This is always my biggest challenge when in growth phase. The weekends kill me. You sleep a little later, do some unscheduled running around,
‘pick something up’ for a meal or two – and why not, it’s the weekend, you deserve a break right. To combat this, I’m going to start to focus on ensuring that I get my two protein shakes in at the very least during the weekends. They are fairly easy and can be made in the morning and taken to go, so really no excuse there. I’ll focus on this, and once that becomes the new normal, I’ll pick something else.

Training

1) Deadlifts

2a) Barbell Hip Bridge
2b) Stiff leg Romanian Dead Lift
2c) Lying Leg Curl

3a) Banded Barbell Curl
3b) Preacher Curl

4) Ab circuit

During my DL warm up sets, I mixed in some db swings to get my glutes activated and ready to fire. I think I may have done one set too many though as I felt a little bit of fatigue as I was walking over to the DL bar. Note for next time.

This week I was able to pull 3 reps of 525 with out any straps, so a definite improvement over last week. My top set was 545x3, up one rep from last week, so any progress is good and I’ll take it.

[PeteM]

I'm sorry, did I read 'meet' correctly????? Woooohoooo! Count me in!

yep, hoping to find one arround the end of Sept, but not having much luck yet....

[PeteM]

Yesterday was of off day – no training

Nutrition
1 – eggs, beans, veggies, berries, cheese
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies
4 – BBQ – rib competition at a friends house – yum!
5 – protein shake

Today

Nutrition
1 – eggs, beans, veggies, berries, cheese, oats
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice
4 – Chicken, veggies, sweet potato
5 – protein shake

Training

Today I decided to test my bench press to see what my true max is. As I’ve never been a very good presser, I was quite happy with my results

This is the protocol I followed

1 – 45x12
2 – 135x8
3 – 135+bands x 4
4 – 225x4
5 – 275x2
6 – 315x1
7 – 345x1

That is a PR for me as I’ve never actually pressed that amount of weight. I’ve always worked off of predicted a predicted max based on reps at a sub max level. It’s good to know what the actual number is and will help me gauge my progress over the next 2 months.

The rest of the workout

2a) Pendlay rows
2b) Seated Row

3) One arm DB rows

4a) Banded close grip bench press
4b) Tricep Push down.

[Jrod5150]

Good job Pete. Glad to hear you are making pr's. Are you planning on increasing the reps with this weight or increase the weight? Or both?

[PeteM]

J, I'm not sure what your question is. The focus of my program is to increase my max on the 3 core lifts. So that would be to increase weight. But I'll be using a variety of rep ranges / techniques to accomplish this.

[Jrod5150]

J, I'm not sure what your question is. The focus of my program is to increase my max on the 3 core lifts. So that would be to increase weight. But I'll be using a variety of rep ranges / techniques to accomplish this.

Lol. Sorry Pete. Let me give you an example.

For myself, when I reach a pr, I like to put a rep range on that specific amount of weight. My goal is always to "to rep it out" when it comes to a new max lift. So if my new max is 315lbs, I try to focus on making that one rep into 5-6 reps wrather than unwracking the weight and getting one good rep were as some folks use that "one rep" as their max.

Make better sense?

[PeteM]

That make a little more sense. The answer is no - for example next week I'll work in the 3 rep range again adding load and attempting to maintain bar speed as much as possible - no a speed type day, but explosive focus lifting. I'll also add in some focused speed days where I'll work with a lighter % of my max and focus on exploding the bar as fast as possbile. I'm also considering adding in some isometric work as well, but I'll have to see how I'm progressing. The purpose of my training right now is to increase my one rep max as much as possible.

[PeteM]

Nutrition
1 – eggs, beans, veggies, cheese, berries, oats
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice
WO & PWO shakes
4 – pizza
5 – protein shake

Friday night and my daughter wanted pizza, and neither my wife or I felt like cooking, so pizza it was. The bad part is, it wasn’t very good, oh well.

Training

1) Barbell Back Squats
Treated today as a speed day. The focus was to lift the bar as fast and explosively as possible from the bottom. So I did 3 groups of sets, one with bands, one with out bands around 65% and one with reverse bands.

Group 1 – 275 with green bands
3x3 slow down and explode up as fast a possible.

Group 2 – 325 no bands
3x3 – same tempo as the first set. On my very first rep I came up so fast that I actually lifted off the ground slightly, enough to hyper extend my knee a bit. Not enough to cause damage, I hope, but it was a little sore after that.

Group 3 – 375 reverse bands
3x3 – I had never done this before, and my expectation that it wouldn’t be all that different then the first group with the bands, but it was a totally different feel and I’m planning on using it for my both DLs and BP in the future

2a) Banded Pull Ups
2b) Seated (floor) Military Press

3) Ab circuit.

[CK]

:evil[1]::partydots:

[Jrod5150]

That make a little more sense. The answer is no - for example next week I'll work in the 3 rep range again adding load and attempting to maintain bar speed as much as possible - no a speed type day, but explosive focus lifting. I'll also add in some focused speed days where I'll work with a lighter % of my max and focus on exploding the bar as fast as possbile. I'm also considering adding in some isometric work as well, but I'll have to see how I'm progressing. The purpose of my training right now is to increase my one rep max as much as possible.

Great stuff Pete.

[PeteM]

I want to start off this post by saying just how incredibly proud I am of my wife. Like many women, there are some aspects of her physique that she’s sees as less then ideal, despite what the rest of the world sees. Living with me doesn’t make life any easier, and quite often adds extra pressure. So she got involved with an online coaching program in an attempt to make some changes. This alone was huge step. Committing to a plan is significant. One of the components of this program is to take objective measures to gauge progress – body measurements, skin folds and photographs. For most women this can be a disaster, and it’s something that I knew was incredibly tough for my wife, but she committed to it and did it and I’m incredibly proud. This is the second week of the program and she is kicking some serious but! It tough to express just how much she has impressed me.

Any ways, back to me….

Do you ever have on of those Mondays when you sit down and thing about what you did on the weekend and you mind goes blank – what did I do last weekend – I really have no idea. Hmmm, maybe I should see someone about this….

I do remember that I was better from a nutritional perspective. One of my greatest challenges, especially when in a building phase, is to get all the needed cals in. During the week, no problem, structure is in place and it happens. But weekends, when you eating a surplus, you eat based on time as opposed to hunger, so it’s far to easy to get distracted and ‘skip’ meals in a sense. So I made sure that I at least made my daily shake first thing in the morning so it was ready to go.

Now, while my memory is fresh I’ll write about today,

Nutrition
1 – eggs, beans, veggies, oats, berries
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice
WO and PWO shakes
4 – tex mex chicken bake – chicken, rice, veggies, cheese, spices
5 – protein shake

Training

1 deadlifts

2a) Barbell Hip Bridge
2b) Stiff leg RDL
2c) Leg Curl

3a) Banded BB Curl
3b) Preacher Curl

4) Ab circuit x2

I wanted to focus on speed for my DL today. I was at a complete loss as how to add bands to the bar – is there even a way to do this? I think that the only thing that would work would be chains. So what I ended up doing was working with lighter weight and just trying to be as explosive as I could. I used a 3/2 wave and worked though it 3 times.

[CT]

What kind of reps are you using as well as rest periods for the BB hip bridge, SLDL and the leg curl grouping?

[PeteM]

What kind of reps are you using as well as rest periods for the BB hip bridge, SLDL and the leg curl grouping?

Hip Bridge 10R 10s
SLDL 6R 10s
Leg Curl 15R 180s

[PeteM]

Didn’t train yesterday but got something huge accomplished – I got my entire desk cleaned off. It was an effort, and there are some areas of my office which are even more of a disaster now, but the point is my desk is completely clean. The only thing on it are my computers, phone, jar of pens and note pad. This is going to be my focus, keeping this damn thing clean. Every time I clean it, sure enough, before long something gets left on it, then another paper, then a book I’m not done with and before you know it, I’m digging though pile-o-stuff to get to the computer. Well this time, I’m going to focus on dealing with anything that hits my desk by the end of the day, so it ends clean every day. Once this becomes my new normal – I’ll move on to some other aspect of my office – one step at a time baby.

Nutrition yesterday
1 – eggs, beans, veggies, cheese, berries
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies
4 – chicken, veggies
5 – protein shake


Today

Nutrition
1 – eggs, beans, veggies, cheese, berries, oats
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice
WO and PWO shakes
4 – bruscheta chicken, veggies
5 – protein shake

Training

1) Bench Press

2a) pendlay Row
2b) Seated Row

3) one arm DB row

4a) Banded Close Grip Bench Press
4b) Tricep press down

Overall the workout was ok, didn’t perform as well as I wanted to on the bench. Last time my top set was 315x1, today it was 315x2, so that’s progress. On my second rep at the bottom as I went to push up, I felt my scapula release and immidiatley lost all the support that my back was giving me. Had I been able to keep it tight, I may have got the 3rd rep, something to focus on next day.

[PeteM]

For yesterday

Nutrition
1 – eggs, beans, veggies, cheese, berries
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies
4 – chicken, veggies, sweet potato home fries
5 – protein shake

One thing that I need to add is the DQ blizzard that I had as well. Yesterday DQ had a promotion that the proceeds from the sale of blizzards would go to support the Make a Wish Foundation – so after dinner, off we went to get some ice cream – after all it was for a good cause.

Where the DQ is here, right beside it is a big park where companies will come in the evening to launch hot air balloons. So during the summer, the area is often filled with families with young children there to have an ice cream and watch the balloons go up – the kids enjoy it and it’s better then sitting around watching TV.

Well last night, there were some storm clouds in the area, so no balloons were going up but it was a nice night so there were still quite a few families that had shown up. We got our ice cream and then out to the part to enjoy it. After my oldest (2) daughter was done, she looked around and saw some other young kids kicking a soccer ball with their parents and thought it looked like fun so she ran off to go join it. I thought, wow, isn’t this amazing – she has no fear of rejection, no knowledge of social convention, and as result, she had a great time running around and playing with these complete strangers (I keep close, just in case any one was wondering). It too bad that as adults, when we see a group that our initial assumption is one of exclusion as opposed to inclusion, when in reality, most people would choose inclusion, but often live with exclusion.

On with today,

Nutrition
1- eggs, beans, veggies, cheese, berries, oats
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice
WO and PWO shakes
4 – chicken, veggies, rice
5 – protein shake,

I went by the DQ again today, but alas, it was a one-day promotion, no good excuse today, so I left empty handed.

Training

Today I wanted to do a max effort lift on my squats,
I’ll lay out the entire set

1) Barbell back squats
1 – 45x15
2 – 135x10
3 – 225x8
4 – 315x6
5 – 405x4
6 – 455x2
7 – 585xhold 10s – post activation potentiation
8 – 315 x 3 – as explosive as I could
9 – 495 x 1 felt great
10 – 525xdrop. Didn’t feel right at the bottom, began to come to far forward so I let it go.

2a) Wide grip pull up
2b) Standing Military press

The squats were not where I wanted them to be, but based on how 495 felt, I’m fairly positive about what lies ahead. I also think I’m going to start using a belt for my top sets. I haven’t used a belt for along time, and it’s not that I’m absolutely against them, I just prefer not to use one, but with that said, I’ve never trained specifically for strength before, so it may make some sense. I’ll be pulling for ME deadlift next week so I think I’ll try it then.

I did get a little bit of back soreness tonight however, and it was because I dropped the 525 off at the bottom. I dropped it forward, as that was the direction I was heading in, and as I was lifting in a rack as opposed to a cage, the bars were a little low and so I got a little unexpected loading on my back. Nothing significant, but enough to give me the preverbal kick in the ass to get my butt in the house next time.

To add to things, tonight was one of the nights that my wife goes to train after dinner. She’ll go two nights a week after dinner, take the kids with her to the day care 2 days a week, and one morning a week I’ll stay home a little later and she’ll go in the morning, it’s a good schedule and works well for us. But as I said, tonight she was off after dinner, and our youngest (6 months), has a bit of a cold, so not feeling well. When she’s sick she doesn’t like to be put down or sit still – so this means that dad was walking around carrying her – all 18lbs for 1.5 hours tonight. I know 18 lbs doesn’t seem like much, but remember that 1lb on you front is 6lbs of stress on you back – which was sore already, admittedly due to my own stupidity so that just made it worse. Overall though it was a good night. I was able to keep my oldest entertained and my youngest somewhat calm. It’s great when you feel like you’re a good dad.

[PeteM]

Hmm, so where have I been? Took an extra day off, let the back recover a little bit more, was a little sore after the squats last week so I figured one more day of rest would be good as I was planning for ME deads today.

This weekend I decided to up my cal intake a bit as well, to keep things progressing. So to my typical meal pattern, I’ve added another shake between lunch and dinner on off days and lunch and training on workout days.

In an effort to keep things simple, in the morning, I simply will add 1.5 worth of ingredients to the blender in the morning, and then divide it out between two bottles to take with me. On non training days I’ll split in evenly, on training days I’ll put 2/3 in one bottle for the morning and 1/3 in another for the afternoon.

Today was a good day, as I accomplished two significant things today. First, I hit a new personal best in my deadlift and I’ll talk about that later. Second, as my wife went to the gym tonight after dinner and it was bath night, I bathed both my girls at the same time and we all survived. Now admittedly my 6 month old has a bit of a mark on her cheek where my fingernail scraped her as caught her on her way head first to into the edge of the tub, but that was it. I thought that maybe my wife wouldn’t notice but first thing she said when she got home.

Nutrition today
1- eggs, beans, veggies, berries, oats, cheese
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice
4 – protein shake
WO and PWO shakes
5 – chicken, veggies, rice
6 – protein shake

Training

1) deadlift

2a) Barbell Hip Bridge
2b) Barbell Stiff Leg Romanian Deadlift
2c) Lying leg curl

3a) Barbell Curl
3b) Preacher curl

4) Ab circuit

Pulling to day went quite well, despite the fact that my back was still a little tweaky from Friday. I wasn’t sure what would happen, but overall it felt ok though out. I had it videoed, but for some reason the card didn’t record at all. Oh well next time.

Here are my sets

1 45x8
2 135x6 double over hand with Fat Gripz
3 225x6 double over hand with Fat Gripz
4 315x4 double over hand – no straps
5 405x2 tried to go double overhand, and got it ½ way up. Switched to alternating grip
6 495 x 1 – came up quick, no problems
7 545 x 1 – felt very good
8 585 x 1 felt great, was surprised at how well it came up. Not blazing fast, but it was smooth
9 615 – got it over my knees and began to feel my back curl and grip started to give so I let it go.

Did all my sets without a belt. I was debating it, and was talking with a buddy of mine at the gym, and came to the conclusion that a belt doesn’t provide the same type of support in the dead as it does in the squat, due to the positioning of the load.

I was shocked at just how heavy 615 felt, it was only a 30lb jump, but the difference in feeling was tremendous. I could feel the weight pulling my arms down and the force against my hands was tremendous. My hands are sore tonight like they have never been. It was an awesome feeling – something I’ve never felt before. Possibly bordering on addictive….. :)

[PeteM]

Been quite busy the last couple of nights and as updating my log seems to fall to the bottom of the priority list, it just simply hasn’t gotten done, so I’ve got two days worth of updates to type out. (This is the problem with putting thing off, small tasks rapidly accumulate until such point that they become monumental and almost daunting – oh well.)

Now before I get to the important stuff, I’m going to take a moment and brag about my kids – it my log so I can do that.

Thursday afternoon, my wife has the TV on and my oldest daughter is playing with some toys. On the TV a commercial for some type of relief charity comes on. Well my daughter stops playing and begins to watch it. The scene is of a poor village and the announcer is narrating the struggles that the children in the village face as the camera follows a young boy around. At one point the narrator asks ‘What would you do to help this young boy?’ At this point, my daughter leaves the room and comes back with her shoes. She walks over to the TV, puts here shoes up to the TV and says, “ I give him my shoes.” I don’t know how she made that connection but it really made me proud of her. Even just typing it now, make me feel a little emotional.

On to the good stuff

Nutrition – Thursday
1- eggs, beans, veggies, berries, oats, cheese
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice
4 – protein shake
WO and PWO shakes
5 – chicken, veggies, rice
6 – protein shake

Nutrition – Friday
1- eggs, beans, veggies, berries, oats, cheese
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice
4 – protein shake
WO and PWO shakes
5 – pizza – out for dinner with the family. Ate a family sized pizza – thus no need for a pre-bed shake.

Training - Thursday

1) Bench Press

2a) Pendlay Rows
2b) Seated Row

3) One arm DB Rows

4) Close Grip BP

5) Tricep Push Down


Training – Friday

1) Barbell Front Squats

2a) Seated Military Press
2b) Chin Up

3) Ab circuit

Friday was surprisingly good. I decided that I was going to work some front squats and work singles that day. It had been a while since I front squatted so I wasn’t sure how it would go. Worked up to a single with 365 which felt great, so I decided to up to 385. Again, singles were feeling good, did 3 singles with 385. So up to 4 plates. 2 singles with 4 plates. Felt heavy as hell, unracking the bar, I could feel the weight just crushing down on my chest, but the squat felt great. So I was quite happy. I got a video of the 405 as well.

NmshXCsc3IY

[PeteM]

Nutrition for the past two days has been almost identical, with a little variation for dinner. ;)

1 – eggs, beans, veggies, cheese, oats, berries
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice
4 – protein shake
WO and PWO shakes
5 – Monday – all you can eat Beef Ribs – made it to 12
Tuesday – Chicken, veggies, pasta
6 – protein shake (skipped this on Monday as there was 1.5 lbs of beef sitting in my stomach at bed time still – I think there may still be some there as I type this)

Training – Monday

1) Trap Bar Deadlift

2a) Barbell Hip Bridge
2b) Stiff Leg RDL
2c) Lying Leg Curl

3a) Barbell Curl
3b) Preacher Curl

4) Ab circuit

deadlifts went great, I worked up to 605 for 3 singles. They were heavy and came up slow, but form was good and overall the load felt great.

Tuesday

1) Barbell Floor Press

2a) Pendlay Rows
2b) Seated Row

3) One arm DB Row

4a) Dips
4b) Tricep Push Down

Worked up to singles with the floor press. Did 4 singles @ 335, so again I was happy with that. It took a couple of sets before they felt comfortable. I’ve never done a regular floor press before, but had done close grip floor presses. After a couple of sets they felt great.

[PeteM]

Nutrition for the past two days has been fairly consistent

Wed
1 – eggs, beans, veggies, cheese, berries
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies
4 – protein shake
5 – meatloaf, veggies
6 – protein shake

Thursday
1 – eggs, beans, veggies, cheese, berries, oats
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies, rice
4 – protein shake
WO and PWO shakes
5 – salmon, veggies, salad
6 – protein shake

I was having a bit of a challenge in the mornings as I had to drop out my morning cup of coffee because it was just making me too full and made getting breakfast down a real challenge. But then I was missing the morning shot of caffeine – so solution – added a scoop of instant coffee to my protein shake – done.

Training

1 Box Squats 12” Box
405x2 – no belt
455x1x2 with belt
475x1x4 with belt

2a) Pull Ups
2b) Floor seated military press

It was a short session but a good one (was late getting to the gym and needed to get home in time). I was happy with my box squats. Paused each one at the bottom, sat back on the box for a moment then drove up as hard as I could. I have never done a box squat before and it was different feeling. I assume that I was sitting back more at the bottom and when I would start my drive up, was back further then I would be in a traditional squat as I could really feel my glutes activating and driving up.

If you’re a quad dominant squatter, working some of these into your routine would certainly help.

[jusstartn]

Pete thats awesome with your daughter and the shoes. If you could hook her up with a way to donate some of her extra stuff to needy kids or charities. We get kids involved through my unions charities and it is pretty awesome when kids get to help other kids. It stays with them forever. Oh and great work on the log, keep pushing that heavy ass wieght, your squat and dead #'s are inspiring me to get back in the power rack.

[PeteM]

Hello all, no I haven’t disappeared, just took a bit of break. Last week I took some of the week off work and had a mini vacation with the family. We went to go visit my parents so they could have a chance to see the kids, and do some fun activities with them. Overall it was a much needed break – both mentally and physically.

As for training, I didn’t train at all last week, and just lifted for the first time on Tuesday. I was supposed to train today but got hit with a brutal head cold last night so I figured it would be best to rest one more day, as it feels like I’m at the end of it and should be back 100% by tomorrow. I’ll update Tuesday’s training in another post.

During my time off I really relaxed my diet. Ate using some good guidelines and made good choices for the most part (got in veggies and good protein. Packed lunch when we went out to parks and attractions as opposed to burgers and fries), but at the same time, if a couple of hours went buy and I didn’t eat – oh well. Admittedly I also enjoyed a few evening drinks with my parents and sisters as they would drop in from time to time.

Got a bit of a shock when I returned home, some how my compute had died. Which a kick in the pants, as just before we left, for some reason, I decided that I would shut it down completely just to be safe. I never do this. When I got back, darn thing wouldn’t turn on. Finally replaced the power source and it seems to be working fine now, with the exception that my screed seems to have a blue haze?

Back at it, I will be logging again more regularly.

Here are a couple shots from last week.

[PeteM]

This week was a bit of a challenge. With the holiday on Monday, and catching a bit of a cold mid week, I only made it in to train 2x, but overall not bad.

I’ve adjusted my nutrition slightly, taking out some of my carbs and keeping things consistent between Training and Non-Training days. The only major variation is in my WO and PWO shakes. My body weight is where I want it at the moment. As I’m looking at a meet on the 23rd of October, I want to keep it as close to 242 as possible so I don’t have to drop much during that final week.


This is the nutritional template that I’ll be following for the next little while,
1 – eggs, beans, veggies, cheese berries
2 – protein shake
3 – chicken, veggies
4 – protein shake
WO / PWO shake
5 – protein source, veggies
6 – protein shake


All though I only made it in 2x, both sessions went well.

Tuesday

1) Deadlift

2a) Seated Good Morning
2b) GHR –ves

3) Alternate DB Curl

4) AB circuit

Not having pulled for over a week, I worked up to 5 or 6 singles @ 545. It felt heavy but the lifts went up smooth with no problems. I figure is was in the 90-95% range. During my warm up sets I was able to pull 405 with a double overhand grip and no straps for a double so that tells me my grip is certainly improving as well.


Friday

1) Bench Press

2a) Two arm DB Row
2b) Incline DB Bench Press
2c) Clavicle Row
3a) Dips
3b) Standing French Press

Same story with the bench press, worked up to 5 singles @ 335. Again, was heavy, but each rep went up very smooth with no problems.

[97mboi]

Enjoying the log, thanks for posting!

[PeteM]

It’s amazing how quickly time just creeps away and before you know it, it’s past. You sit down, answer a few emails, a post or two, read an article and suddenly, poof, it’s midnight.

So unfortunately, what’s been falling to the bottom of the to do list as of late has been updating my training log. You folks who maintain logs and blogs truly impress me, it’s not nearly as easy as it looks.

This past week was my first full week back. Last week I only got in 2x – skipping the squat day.

Nutrition this week was pretty good. Although I did have 2 customer lunches this week which caused me to have to deviate from my usual chicken and veggie stir fry, but over all, things went well. I’ve relaxed my cals a bit (in terms of total – the reduction primarily coming from carbs), as I’m still progressing in strength, but I don’t want to add any more body weight over the next couple of weeks.

Some highlights from this past week

Monday

Deficit deadlifts. I did them off an elevated platform, the bar was about 1.5” above the platform. I could really feel myself accelerating the bar through the point of where the normal start would be – so this was good. But the deficit was so great that it threw off my form too much and I felt much more loading in my back. Talking with Carter afterwards he suggested that I try off just a plate. Even though the deficit won’t be nearly as great, I can still accelerate though the typical start point and significantly reduce the risk of injury which was pretty high the way I was doing them.

Wed

Worked close grip bench for singles. Did 5 singles at 335 – which is the same as I benched last week, so this tells me that I may need some more direct pec work, which I am getting by using incline DB’s as an accessory this block and I may also need to improve my lifting technique in the bench press.

Fri

Singles with back squats, no it has been two weeks since I did anything from a squatting perspective, so I wasn’t sure how things would go. Did 5 singles at 525. The first couple felt very difficult, and I seriously debated calling it a day, but as I did more sets, things felt better and I got into better grove. I’m still setting my right foot slightly forward of my left for some reason, I need to be sure that they are even, as my right leg was more sore then my left. I think this goes back to when I had some problems with my left glute/hip biting at the bottom of lifts all the time and this was one way to work around it. But now I need to correct my correction.


I also worked sets of 3 on the push press with 245. So overall I’m certainly getting stronger which is a good thing.

Friday night was fun, I took my oldest daughter (2.5) to the local car races. I’m not sure if she really understood the concept, but thought that the big earmuffs were cool, enjoyed eating some pop corn and was quick to point out when one of the drives crashed that ‘he was ok, ‘cause he was wearing his seatbelt’.


I’ve chosen a meet date – Oct 23 in Kalamazoo Michigan – APF Wolverine Open.

[PeteM]

Wow – what a day today was. My dad used to ask me ever day when I was younger – what did you learn today? I had to tell him something otherwise the day was a waste, and they are just to valuable to waste – I had better learn 2 things the next day.

So what did I learn today. I learned just how tough it is to be stay at home mom. My wife had to be out of town for the day to day so I took the day off work to watch the kids – did I mention just how much I love my job?

It was non-stop, well that’s not entirely true, I was able to get the oldest into her room for ‘quiet’ time at the same time I got my youngest to fall asleep. But not the kind of sleep where you can put her down and get something done, I had to hold her the whole time, but at least it let me sit on the couch for a bit.

My wife works very hard, and to do it day in and day out, very impressive. Now I know how my dog feels as I kept looking out the front window at the sound of ever car driving by with great anticipation of seeing her pull into the driveway this evening.

So needless to say, I didn’t train today – but I’m exhausted all the same.

Yesterday I trained deadlift

1) Trap bar deadlifts
2 singles @ 585
2 singles @ 605
2 singles @ 635

2a) Seated Good Morning
2b) Negative GHR

3) Alternating DB curls

4) ab circuit

That’s a new PR for me in the trap bar DL. It came off the ground very slow but it was smooth and felt good though out. I did need to strap in for all sets, but did pull 315 with fat gripz on the bar for 3 reps so grip strength is certainly getting better.

[PeteM]

Good training day today, set a new PB on the floor press.

1) Barbell Floor Press
4 singles @ 355
Tried for 365, but got pinned on 2 attempts – guess that today the 10 extra lbs were just a little too much – next time.

2a) Bent over two arm DB rows
2b) Incline DB Bench Press
2c) Clavicle Row

3a) Dips
3b) Standing French Press

Nutrition has been following the same template as before, meal, shake, meal, shake, workout nutrition, meal, shake. So far body weight is where I want it to be and strength is still progressing so no needs for any adjustments.

I usually put my older daughter to bed most nights as her bed time occurs when it is time for my wife to be feeding my younger daughter. So at bedtime, after typical bedtime chores, we will read 3 stories before lights out. Tonight one of the books she picked out is a picture book that will ask ‘who is behind the bush’ and you lift up a flap and it’s a dog, and so on. Well usually I ask the question and as we have read the book a number of times she is beginning to remember what is under the flaps before we lift them. So when she remembers and then we lift the flap and she is right I will often say ‘good girl’. Well tonight we came to one flap and I asked her, she replied – ‘no you do it dad’, so I said what was under the flap, then when we lifted it, she patted me on the arm and said ‘good boy dad!’


h0a7-tJ-Xm4

[PeteM]

Training – Friday

Front Squats
405 x 1
435 x 1
435 x miss
405 x 1
435 x miss
415 x 1

2a) Chin Ups
2b) Push Press


On paper, it looks like a short one, in reality it took a while. The first attempt at 435 went up, but it was ugly. The second time, it was close, but the weight pulled me just a bit to far forward and I ended up dumping the bar. So I reset down to 405, a weight I knew I could get no problem. With 405 I though I realized what the problem was. When the weight is on my chest, and I step out with it, if I let my breath out, the bar is so heavy, that my muscles just aren’t strong enough to take a full breath back in again. So my chest is sitting about 1” lower then it would be if I had a full breath and that was what was making the difference at the bottom and why I dropped the weight.

So I had came up with a brilliant solution, I would simply take a deep breath before I unrack the bar and then hold it though out the squat. Good in theory, no so much in practice. 3rd attempt at 435, unracked, squatted down and next thing I knew the bar was on the rack – blacked out at the bottom and the body just shut right down. Only for a split second as I didn’t hit the floor, but enough that I knew what had happened. Felt a little light headed and shaky for a couple of minutes. Frustrated, I put 415 on the bar and there was no way that wasn’t going to go up. That’s a PB for me, so I’m still happy with the workout.

I also hit a personal best in the push press with 255x3.

s39ljHhjTP8

5DNOSH8c65U

[PeteM]

Tuesday I did some ME Dling, as seen in the video below. Pulled 585 for 2 singles and on the 3rd single, grip failed – right at the top of course, and so I made a few new friends in the gym. I then decided that I would put on some lifting straps and add a little more. It was at this point I learned something.

I had hit the wall, my body was right at the point of over training. I strapped into 615, a weight I had pulled before and I was barely able to get it off the ground. I tried again, but with the same result, it was at this point I finally decided to listen to what my body was telling me.

It’s no surprise really. I’ve been essentially training a ME lift 3d/wk for a few weeks in a row now. I fully expected it to happen, I just didn’t know when it would, now I do.

So how did I adjust my workout?

Well I kept the same exercises in – seated GM and lying leg curl, but dropped the reps down to just 5’s on both, cut the load almost in ½ and just went from one to the other, resting only as long at it took to move from one exercise to the next. Did this for 5 or 6 sets.

Kept mostly my same bicep training, as they are such small muscles, no big deal. And for abs, as opposed to my normal circuit, only did 2 sets of Swiss Ball planks.

For the rest of the week, (bench and squat day), I will do speed work. Today I did 3 grip position bench press, reps of 3, as explosive as possible, with bands (as a note, if your doing speed bench or squats, you must use bands – other wise don’t do speed work), 3 sets each position, about 30 sec rest in between.

Kept the rest of the workout the same but adjusted the load down to about 80%, kept the same reps, but cut total sets in ½ - essentially cutting volume in ½

Same pattern for squat day tomorrow, banded speed squats, OHP and Vertical Pull work – less load, less volume. And again for Monday with some lighter pulls and accessory work.

This should give me enough recovery to start back full steam on Wed next week and come in strong to the meet on the 23rd.

yQpf5-wWFho

[PeteM]

Took the second half of last week and the first workout this week as speed days and dropped down the load and volume on my accessory work as I was getting burned out.

Friday last week I did some speed squats, 8 sets of 3, as fast as I could with green bands, resting about 30-45s between sets. Started with 275 for 3 sets, but by the third I didn’t think I was getting enough pop out of the lift. Personally with speed work, I think there should always be a bit of a snap to the plates at the very top of the lift. Dropped down to 225 for a set, which was too light, then did the last two @ 245 which was just right – Goldi Locks was helping me pick weights.

Monday, was some speed deads. Now I know that before I said that I wasn’t sure if it made sense doing speed work on deads for various reasons. However after talking things over with Carter – a good friend of mine who I always defer to as he is a wealth of knowledge, and re-rereading some of the information that I was basing my thoughts on, realizing that it was referring to the pull of an Olympic lift and not of a deadlift, I understand why many incorporate them into their programming. Good for me, I leaned something.

I worked at 315 and again, pulled as fast as I could doing my best to ensure the drive was coming from my glutes and not my quads.

Today got back to some heavy work in prep for the 23rd.

1) Bench press
345x1
345x1
365x0
335x1
355x0
345x1

2a) Two Arm DB Row
2b) Incline DB Bench Press
2c) Clavicle Row

3a) Dips
3b) Standing French Press

Bench work went good. Last week when I did my speed bench, I worked 3 grip widths, closer, regular, and wider – adjusting either +/- ½ grip width. To my surprise I found that I was stronger then I expected with the slightly wider grip so that’s what I did tonight. Usually I have my pinky finger just touching the ring, but tonight I went with my ring finger on the ring. I think the right place may be with my ring finger just touching. Overall though this has been the strongest I have ever benched. My goal for the meet will be 350. I think I’ll open 335 ish, 350 for a second and depending on how that goes, 360-65 for a 3rd.



xdIWOocNOIg

[PeteM]

Trying to remember where I left off, but I can’t so I’ll just pick up with where I’m at.

I’ve been a little low key the last little while, the company I work for has been going through a merger, agonizingly slow, with the ever present prospect of job cuts, as is the norm in the ‘new’ economy of today. With two young kids and the primary income for the family, things have been a little stressful as of late. Fortunately I found out yesterday that I would be one of the people moving forward with the new company. Even though it was a relief, it was some what bittersweet as many of my colleagues were let go. But that is the way it is, and life goes on.

Last week, on Friday, worked some ME squat – worked up to 525 for singles, which felt good, but only managed 2, before form broke and I dumped the weight.

In talking with a friend of mine, I’ve determined that the knee pain that I’m feeling, coupled with the lateral hip pain is a direct result of two things. Tightness and imbalance.

As I’ve only been working bi-lateraly, and using loads that for the most part I’m not accustomed two, I’ve built up significant strength on the lateral aspect of my legs. This has also let to some very tight IT bands and TFL muscle. When I rolled on them the other day, I could feel the pull down in my knee and it was quite painful. After an aggressive rolling session and some focused stretching, my knees felt much better.

Second, I’ve created a muscle imbalance by not incorporating any type of uni-lateral work or focused vastus medialis work. When your pushing bi-lateraly, as you push towards the mid line – the push of one leg works in opposition to the other, and as system, your quite stable. However, if you move to a uni-lateral exercise, the medial aspect of your leg now has to fire / function as well to provide the needed stability. Always working bi-lateraly never provides this stimulation. So for this week, I’m planning for some Bulgarian split squats and then some focused vastus medialis work (lateral squats / lunges )

Training Monday

1) 1” Deficit Deadlift

2a) Seated Gm
2b) –ve GHR

3) Ab circuit

I was surprised with my strength on the deficit deads. Managed a 585 pull and held it at the top for a 5s count to ensure my grip was solid (if you saw my previous DL video, you’ll understand).

Training Today

1) Paused Bench Press

2a) 2 Arm DB row
2b) Incline DB Bench
2c) Clavicle Row

3a) Weighted Dips
3b) Standing French Press

First time I’ve every tried the paused reps on the bench. I worked sets of 3 until I could no longer get 3 reps. I can see how it would carry over to starting / turnaround strength. I found that my strength would drop off very quickly, with the first rep always being very easy, and the second a third rep much more difficult then a normal progression. It likely due to the impact of the static hold on the second. The first static hold would actually work to prime the MU for firing and this is why the first rep is quite easy, but come the second rep, the major MU were used on the concentric and are likely fatigued by the end of the second hold and therefore not able to generate the same amount of force.

[Shortstack]

Really interesting log here Pete. Like Ulter said, your thinking is a lot different to the norm. Two silly questions - What type of beans you eating, and is that brown or white rice? I like your thoughts on food, and not being able to precisely calculate how many cals you are really absorbing at the end of the day.

[PeteM]

Really interesting log here Pete. Like Ulter said, your thinking is a lot different to the norm. Two silly questions - What type of beans you eating, and is that brown or white rice? I like your thoughts on food, and not being able to precisely calculate how many cals you are really absorbing at the end of the day.

Hey SS - different when you contrast against what is considerd typical BB or PL training. But if you were to compare it to the way an athlete (football) would train, you may find some more similarities. (certainly not suggesting that BB and PL are not athletes, simply used for lack of a better term)

Beans are mixed, it's a 6 bean blend. I eat them mostly as a fibre source.

rice - brown

As for food, counting cals is pretty futile. Having said that you need to know what your taking in so you know how to adjust. But often people count calories in an effort to predict what is going to happen. If they focused on measuring what is happening and adjusted from there they would be much further ahead.

[P Bo]

Pete something that you may want to try for your VMO is TKE off a deck or platform and back sled drags keeping your toes pointed out. Backwards incline walking on the tred with toes out works too.

[PeteM]

All I can say about my first meet is WOW – what a total rush! It was a truly awesome experience. The whole room was just filled with so much energy and enthusiasm it was infectious. Everyone was there supporting one another and getting so excited to see lift made. Even though the feeling of competition was extreme, it was total internalized. I truly felt like everyone was just there to compete against their selves and looking only for personal bests. Regardless if a lifter was in your weight class or not, you wanted them to make the lift – just to see that bar go up.

I was able to make my weight class without any problems, 242. I weighed in at 237. I did a little water manipulation the day before as I was sitting around the 241 mark, and I wanted to be sure.

This is how my lifts went

Squat
478 – good
529 – good
550 – fail

Bench
330 – no lift – ass off the bench
330 – good
350 – fail

Deadlift
588.5 – good
611 – fail
611 – fail

Looking back, had I done a better job at setting my 1st and 2nd attempts I could have done better. The only one that I set well was my squat, and even then, I should have only added 10, maybe 15lbs to my third. Live and learn. My main goal from the outset was to get a clean lift in all three categories – which, when I missed my first bench, had me a little worried.

One of the things that I was worried about was that during training, I’m always facing a mirror when deadlifting and squatting and I thought that it may be strange and throw me off not to have that visual feedback. But it wasn’t until after I had completed my first squat attempt that I realized, that once the bar was on my back, I didn’t see or notice a thing – everything just disappeared, music and all. It felt no different then being back in the gym.

I do have to give a huge thank you to a guy by the name of Joel Weever and his wife Karen. I made the decision that because the meet was 5hours away and it would be night in a hotel and a long day in an unknown environment, it would be best if my kids (9mths & 2) stayed at home with my wife. In hindsight, I sure it was the right decision. However, once I posted up where the meet was going to be on one of my threads, Joel popped in and said that he would be interested in coming to watch and support me. I had never met or spoken to Joel with the exception of interaction on the discussion boards. But him and his wife arranged to have their kids looked after so they could drive all the way down (over and hour), hang out a meet all day, to support me. It was absolutely wonderful to have them there. As if that wasn’t enough, they even bought me dinner afterwards. Truly two amazing people. Thank you.

Thank you for all of those who followed along, I’m going to end this log, but look for me to start a new one soon – I’m just not sure what my next focus will be….

yqbu8JFDNHM

[P Bo]

GREAT work Pete! I'm so very proud of you for getting out there. Nice lack of wrist wraps and belt. LOL.