SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Well Kyleb asked for it so here you go.

Went to the gym today after taking Sat-Mon off. Had been making PR's pretty much every week for the past month and was over trained, felt really tired, had some nagging tendinitis so I needed the break to let my body recover a bit. Of course I wanted to take a full week but couldn't stand it.

Warm up:
500m row on the C2 at 5resistance. 1:47 at 20 strokes per minute.
Barbell power snatches and overhead squats
Samson Stretch and hamstring stretch

Snatch:
PR'd with the power version last week at 140lbs but have yet to be able to actually catch the bar in a good deep squat.
Worked on form and managed to get the full squat snatch near the end of the session.
5x95lbs
5x95lbs
3x105lbs
3x115lbs
1x125lbs
1x125lbs
3x1x130lbs
bunch of fails at 135.

Clean and Jerk:
Worked up to a single at 195 (pr 205)
Two fails at 205, technique is a bit off plan to do 5 heavy singles before the end of the week and go for a new pr on saturday or sunday.

Front Squat:
2x205lbs
2x225lbs
1x255lbs (former PR 240lbs)

Front Squat pr felt great. Will try and max out back squat later in the week.

Food for the day:
Breakfast: 5 eggs, 5strips of bacon, glass of orange juice, 2 slices whole wheat toast
Meal 2: Tri-o-plex bar (400 calories 50% carbs, 30% protein, 20% fat), double whey protein shake, apple
Meal 3: Grilled Chicken, green peppers, broccolli pasta
Meal 4: double serving of oat bran hot cereal with whole milk, double whey protein shake, few handfuls of sunflower seeds

I'll try and update tomorrow with more of a background of what I'm doing, progress so far and goals for the future.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Pretty beastly front squat. I'm just starting to substitute it for back squats once a week or so to give my legs a break, and it's looking pretty pathetic right now for me.

Height/weight/BF estimation? Also, did you receive coaching/training to learn the Olympic lifts?

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

[ QUOTE ]

Height/weight/BF estimation? Also, did you receive coaching/training to learn the Olympic lifts?

[/ QUOTE ]

6' 175-180
BF is probably around 10-12, I have good abdominal definition but am getting love handles as I try and stuff myself with food every 2 hours.

There is a strength and conditioning coach at my college who has helped me out a couple times with things, but mostly I'm self taught. I've also uploaded a few videos at crossfit.com and have received some great advice there. Having a coach would have been awesome though, but even so I think anyone can learn them given enough time and practice. Simply browsing youtube or weightliftingexchange.com and watching clip after clip of olympians lifting and internalizing the movement is enough.

Here is me C&J'ing 165 this January, I started doing the o-lifts in november last year so my technique is still terrible at this point.

video

[ QUOTE ]
Pretty beastly front squat.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks!

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Seeing clips like that one makes me want to learn somemore powerlifting lifts. I always wuss out and just do squats [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

[ QUOTE ]
Seeing clips like that one makes me want to learn somemore powerlifting lifts. I always wuss out and just do squats [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

If this is how you 'wuss out', you're doing alright [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

look forward to reading it smiley. when can i come back for another lesson, tomorrow? i am doing that stuff you taught me, i feel weird doing it because i am unsure of how it works exaclty and i am the only one in my gym that does that type of stuff. i kind of hurt my shoulder, sucks guess i have to take a couple dyas off

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

[ QUOTE ]
Seeing clips like that one makes me want to learn somemore Olympic lifts.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Just got out of the gym for the day.

Warmup:
500m row 1:47 at 21spm
8pullups
15 back extensions
15 incline situps
stretching

Weighted Dips:
10 unweighted
5x40lbs
5x45lbs
5x45lbs
5x45lbs
4x45lbs

Deadlift:
Warmup with 45lb power snatches and overhead squats
8x135
5x225
3x315
3x315
2x315
3x315 (with belt)
3x315
2x315

Hopefully I'll try for 7x3 at 315 again in a couple weeks with the goal of hitting every rep.

Food:

Breakfast: 5 eggs, 4 strips of bacon, 1.5slices whole wheat, glass of orange juice
meal 1: apple, small bag of peanuts - would have liked to eat more but wasnt hugnry at all
meal 2 pwo: double whey protein shake, tri-o-plex bar

Going to all you can eat bbq for dinner and probably have some oatmeal and a protein shake for bed.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

hey smiley,

when you do sets of deads, are you doing the kind where you don't go all the way down to a static bar (romanian?) or are you setting the bar to a stop on the ground each time?

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Also since I didn't have time before going to bed last night here is a history of where I've come from strength/fitness wise and where I want to get.

Started college at 6' and ~155lbs, so pretty much weak and skinny as [censored]. I posted a picture of myself last fall from sophmore year-I weighed 165 in it and several posters were making fun of me I was so skinny, you can imagine what I looked like a year before.

Started going to the gym right away doing completely retarded [censored]: up and down the lines of machines basically doing everything. After a month or so a guy that was into bodybuilding showed me around and got me away from most of the machines (straight to the preacher curl bench lol).

Lifted for a total of 2 months maybe and I obviously thought I was (and looked like) a god. Got bored and drifted away. This essentially repeated itself for the next 2 years. I would lift hard for a few months, then do nothing for 6. About this time last year I think I hit rock bottom when it came to my physical health. I had been living in Europe for 3 months getting almost no physical activity, sleeping during the day and eating absolute [censored] for food. Just before I came back to north america I came down with a horrible intestinal infection. [censored] blood for about 2 weeks and pretty much unable to eat, by the time I got back home I was probably back to 155-160lbs.

Since then I've been pretty much dedicated to strength and fitness training. My diet is excellent compared to what it was and I'm extremely proud of the strength gains I've made. I give most of the credit to www.crossfit.com, although I don't do the workout of the day anymore its philosophy of constantly varied activity, power and olympic lifting, and gymnastics have kept me enthusiastic about going to the gym. I did my first deadlift in August of last year and struggled to get 200lbs up - 2 weeks ago I clean and jerked that same weight.

Right now I am focusing on improving my olympic lifts and deadlift. By the end of the year I would like to snatch 200lbs, C&J over 250, and deadlift 405 for reps. Also, over the summer I plan to get back on crossfit style met-con workouts and improve my times.

Here are my PRs to date, hopefully I can keep breaking them throughout the year.

Back Squat (ass to ankles): 260 (not sure)
Front Squat (a2a): 255
Overhead Squat (a2a): 175
Dead Lift: 365
Bench: 185 (not sure)
Snatch: 140
C&J: 205
Pullup: BW + 75lbs
Dip: BW + 65lbs

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Smiley, I just made a connection. You were the guy in the Canadian costume with the cape that everyone was poking fun at? Awesome.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

[ QUOTE ]
Smiley, I just made a connection. You were the guy in the Canadian costume with the cape that everyone was poking fun at? Awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

Haha yeah. I wish I had saved that picture, Halloween 2004 vs. 2006 would have made a great comparison.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

[ QUOTE ]
Haha yeah. I wish I had saved that picture, Halloween 2004 vs. 2006 would have made a great comparison.

[/ QUOTE ]
Clark Kent, eh -> Superman, eh.

How many times a week are you lifting? I'm pretty ignorant about the Crossfit stuff (although kind of intrigued), so I'm just wondering what the frequency is like and the intensity as well.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Haha yeah. I wish I had saved that picture, Halloween 2004 vs. 2006 would have made a great comparison.

[/ QUOTE ]
Clark Kent, eh -> Superman, eh.

How many times a week are you lifting? I'm pretty ignorant about the Crossfit stuff (although kind of intrigued), so I'm just wondering what the frequency is like and the intensity as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not doing crossfit really these days, although I do something like the crossfit or burgener warmup everytime I'm in the gym. I probably average 5 days a week although my schedule moves around a lot because I find it hard to stick to a set schedule. Intensity wise I am constantly trying to set new pr's - probably to my detriment - so it is always pretty high. My light days are usually where I work on o-lift technique or do power cleans/snatches.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

[ QUOTE ]
hey smiley,

when you do sets of deads, are you doing the kind where you don't go all the way down to a static bar (romanian?) or are you setting the bar to a stop on the ground each time?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry didn't see this post earlier. I am doing full ROM deadlifts so full stop on the ground each rep. A romanian dead lift is where you start with your hips higher than a convential lift. I think my default dl form is romanian because of weak hamstrings but I'm not sure. The style you are referring to I think is partial deadlifts - used mostly for getting past sticking points higher in the lift and gripwork. Neither are problems for me right now so I only do regular dls.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Smiley,

Usually they call partials: rack pulls.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Mar. 15

Warmup:
500m row 1:46 @20
10 dips
10 pullups (kipping)
15 back extensions
15 incline situps
6 hand stand pushups
stretching
power snatches + OHS

Pullup Ladder:
Start a stopwatch, 1 pullup in 1st minute, 2 in 2nd minute, 3 in 3rd etc. until failure
made it to the 12th minute before part of my palm peeled off [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. Could have gone for a coulpe more rounds. Total pullups (kipping): ~70

Back Squats:
8x135
3x225
3x235
3x245
3x255
2x265
3x255
3x255

Would have liked the squats to be easier although my lower back was still sore from deadlifts yesterday. Guessing my max is around 280-290.

Inlince Situps:
12 with 15lb medicine ball above head
6 more of the same

Food: Slept in until noon missing my morning class.
Breakfast: suprise! eggs bacon etc.
meal 1/pwo: tri-o-plex bar, double whey protein shake
will need to eat a lot this evening

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Smiley,

Why kip?

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Here's one of many discussions on the crossfit boards concerning the dead hang vs. kipping debate. Personally next time I do a ladder I will probably just do deadhang so it is not my skin blistering that limits me.

The thread begins because the video posted that day was of a guy doing max dead hang pullups to failure as quickly as possible, then resting and doing the same number kipping - he was able to do them about twice as fast so his "power" output doubled. The OP took issue.

kipping v. deadhang

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

[ QUOTE ]
so his "power" output doubled.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, my general feeling toward it is the same. I think what most people benefit from is:

1) Increased TUT, ergo they increase their strength
2) They "buy in" to it and it has a placebo effect

I see the main con being that its similar to cheat curls, but more effective. You can use it to alter rep ranges. From what I gather I could likely be able to do 4x12 or some other range that is now unattainable by dead hangs which gives me more flexibility than dead hangs.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

What do you mean by "TUT"?

The thing with pullups is that within the crossfit framework most people quickly get to the point of their max reps of either far beyond what one would do for strength/hypertrophy training. When I want to train upper body pulling strength I'll either do weighted pullups or L-pullups. Doing 3 sets of 12 deadhangs would be kind of pointless for me and my strength endurance is still nothing compared to the guys doing 50-60 kipping and 25+ deadhang.

Also I wouldnt compare them to cheat curls. I think a better analogy is split jerks vs. shoulder press. Both exercises' limit strength is shoudlers, but split jerks incorporate more muscle groups, a skill element and most of all are done explosively.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Time under tension.

I like your comp better. And I agree. I do think it becomes pointless for guys who can do ~20+ dead hang pullups unless they have that goal. I think kipping presents the most benefits for people who reach failure in <10 dead hang.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

[ QUOTE ]
Start a stopwatch, 1 pullup in 1st minute, 2 in 2nd minute, 3 in 3rd etc. until failure
made it to the 12th minute before part of my palm peeled off . Could have gone for a coulpe more rounds. Total pullups (kipping): ~70


[/ QUOTE ]

Please explain this better, I am confused.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

You just start a stop watch. You have until it hits 1:00 to do 1 pullup, then until 2:00 to do 2 more, then until 3:00 3 more etc. So in the 10th minute you have to do 10 pullups in that minute. I was able to finish the 12th minute's pullups so I did 12 + 11 + 10 etc = 78 total.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

ahh ok, so you just do 1 pullup for the 1st minute then rest the other 58 seconds until you start the 2nd set?

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

[ QUOTE ]
ahh ok, so you just do 1 pullup for the 1st minute then rest the other 58 seconds until you start the 2nd set?

[/ QUOTE ]

yup, sounds easy but it gets hard fast.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

I can imagine, I will give it a try sometime.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Smiley,

Is the Amherst gym open tomorrow and is it possible for me to walk in there without an ID? (Guessing not, but I haven't had a problem doing so at Smith/Hampshire/MHC)

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

burdz,

where do you go to school (im at umass)

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

[ QUOTE ]
Smiley,

Is the Amherst gym open tomorrow and is it possible for me to walk in there without an ID? (Guessing not, but I haven't had a problem doing so at Smith/Hampshire/MHC)

[/ QUOTE ]

Not supposed to let non-amherst students/faculty/employees in unless with a guest. I'll probably be going at 230ish tomorrow if youw ant me to let you in. Going to bed now so PM me.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

rest day today. back is sore plus my hand is [censored]. Hopefully can figure out some way to tape it up for tomorrow.

Food:
breakfast: protein shake + bagel with butter from dd
meal 2: grilled chicken burrito
meal 3: chicken, broccolli and peppers with pasta
meal 4: protein shake and oatmeal

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

[ QUOTE ]
burdz,

where do you go to school (im at umass)

[/ QUOTE ]

ORLY no WAI nice avy

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Worked on Full squat snatch and C&J form. Hand is still [censored] so I tried to tape it up with a little success.

Food:
A whole ton of crap topped of with 4 beers before bed. Cheat day wooo!

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Maxing out on Snatch and C&J today.

Worked up to a new PR of 135 in snatch by way of lots of triples and doubles. Technique still sucks.

Matched PR of 205 in C&J but pressed out the jerk. Couldn't improve though and I was really dissapointed. My friend took a bunch of video of me yesterday and I still have a lot of work today on keeping the bar close to my body in the 2nd pull and getting under the bar quicker.

Food:
Breakfast: 5 eggs, 4 peices of bacon, toast, coffee
pre/post wo: banana, protein shake, bbq chicken burrito
snack: 2 peices of rye
snack 2: bowl of raisin bran & protein shake
dinner: chicken and pepper tomatoe sauce with pasta

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Warm up:
2 min. bike
power snatches + OHS
stretching

Back Squat:
8 x 135
10 x 180
10 x 195
8 x 210
8 x 225

Front Squat:
5 x 135
3 x 185
3 x 200
2 x 215
2 x 225
2 x 235 x 2

DBell Bench Press:
8 x 50
5 x 70
5 x 75 x 4

DBell Decline:
5 x 75
2 x 75

L-Pull Ups
8, 7, 7, 6

Worked in some broad/box jumps (jumping to 20inch box from 5ish feet away) with the bench press and pullups
plyos on stairs: jump 4 steps + 4 steps + 4 steps fast as possible. did a few sets

Finally started to take a notebook to the gym to keep track of stuff better.

Food:
Breakfast: raisin bran, protein shake
breakfast 2: 5 eggs, 4 strips of bacon
pwo: protein shake, 6" spicy italian sub from subway - all vegetables no sauce, fountain coke, small bag of chips
dinner: 2 chicken breasts, peppers, rice

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Warm up:
500m row 1:44 @ 21
10 dips
5 pullups
15 back extensions and incline situps
power snatches + OHS
stretching

Overhead Squat (1rm 175)
8 x 95
8 x 115
5 x 135
5 x 135
5 x 145
3 x 150
4 x 150

Crossfit Workout "Diane"
21-15-9 reps each of 225lb deadlift and hand stand pushups
Time: 13:30

Deadlifts were way easier than I thought. First two rounds in 2 sets each, and final round in one set. HSPU's were awful, but I think my shoulders were already really fatigued from the overhead squats. Going to have to work on some grease the groove type stuff with my hspu's - i'd like to be able to do 10 solid reps with forehead touching.

My new post workout protein shake arrived today, looking forward to see how the 5g of creatine in it affects me over the next month.

Food:
Breakfast: 5 eggs, 4strips bacon, toast, oj
breakfast 2/pre wo: bowl of raisin bran cup of coffee
pwo: optimum nutrition after max protein shake
dinner: libyan beef/tomatoe soup my friend made
dinner 2: homemade beef stew

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Rest day today. Legs are really sore which is great. I think I had become used to volume in the 6-8 set 2-6 rep range so the last squat day plust deadlifts yesterday really killed me. Probably do a similar squat day on friday.

Food:
Just snacked a bunch all day, not particularly good and probably not enough food but wasn't feeling 100%. Drinking a forty tonight :/.

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Crappy day in the gym today. Hungover this morning and ended up spending most of the day driving my friend to look at trucks - got back home at 7ish and went to the gym.

500m row 1;44 @ 21
stretching
power snatchs + ohs

Snatch:
3x95x3
started failing at higher weights and quit

C&J:
3x135
3x155
1x165x2
1x175
1x175 fail jerk
1x175x2
1x175 fail jerk

Awful awful lifts: combination of drinking/getting high night before, eating crap during the day, messed up schedule by working out so late and plus some nagging weakness in shoulders from Diane on Tuesday. I havent failed jerks at 175 in a month, but meh. . . always going to be [censored] days in the gym.

One of my biggest problems with the o-lifts especially is not having the mental focus everyday. All these failed lifts (especially in the snatch) have started to psych me out. It takes a certain level of fearlessness to jump underneath a bar with x pounds on it overhead. When I'm confident that I can lock out and stand up then my form is much much better, but when I start to worry about dropping it my form goes to [censored] and I end up of course failing the lift. Not sure what to do but to keep at it, maybe do a lot more volume at lower weights.

Food:
5eggs, 2 chicken sausage, toast, OJ
pepperonni pizza
aftermax protein shake
T-bone steak, salad

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

Warm up:
2 min stationary bike
10 dips, pullups
15 back extensions, incline situps
stretching
OHS and power snatches

Back Squat (1rm = 280ish):
8x135
10x195(70%)
10x210(75%)
8x225(80%)
6x240(85%)

Weighted Pullups:
8 unweighted
3x40
3x45
3x50
3x55 x 4

Front Squat (255 1rm)
5x135
2x200 x 5

1hour of 2x2 basketball (pretty embarassing)

Back squat workout was very tough. Estimating my max at 280 gives the 210, 225, and 240 sets as max reps for that weight. Felt like I might have one or two more reps in each set though. I'm trying to be more systematic with my periodization (as you can see by my last squat workout). On monday or tuesday will do same rep regime but scaled back weights, while front squat will probably go higher than this past tuesday. Next thursday will start cutting back the volume on backsquat.

Front squats today were light but kept rest bw sets <1.5mins to keep it interesting.

Also my left knee is feeling a little weird. Some tightness along the back of it and on the outside edge, hopefully is nothing.

Food:
eggs, bacon etc.
beef stew
banana + coffee pre workout
After Max shake pwo
enchilades, rice, beans, two IPA's
protein shake

Re: SmileyEH\'s Log
 

smiley, since you're doing all those oly lifts I'm assuming you do the front squats olympic style.

if so, any tips for improving flexibility in the wrist flexors? i have a lot of trouble getting the bar 'racked' properly and it seems to be due to my lack of flexibility in my forearms/wrists.

those weighted pullups are pretty sick too.

actually: any advice at all on the olympic lifts would be greatly appreciated. i enjoy them (to the extent i can) but my form is atrocious. i clean like a high school football player (halfway between grinding with the bar and an upright row). and my snatch looks like 3 distinct movements. i can oh squat a full rom so i should theoretically be able to do those perfectly.

got a bit tangential there, but if you can help at all please do.