8/3

DL
225x5x2
315x3
405x2

suit
495x1
585x1
I felt weak and lacked energy.

Also, my low back and right hip have been bugging me since I golfed a week ago Saturday. This was the first time I have golfed in 8 years, since before I herniated the disc in my low back. Some of the same symptoms returned, but they were much milder and mostly have gone away now, but my low back still doesnt feel great, so I didnt push it. I decided to do some rehab type work.

Step ups up 16 stairs then back down with 20 lb ankle weights on both legs - 20 sets. The last 7 or so sets, I carried a KB in my left hand to activate my left obliques. This all felt pretty good.

8/5

Bench press – we lifted with Barzeen Vaziri today. For those who don’t know him, he has the #6 I think) bench press of all time in a meet (937 lbs in his last meet).

45x15
95x10
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x2

We did shirted work a little different today.
Size 54 Rage X
455x2 – 1st rep to a 2 board, 2nd rep to a 1 board
495x2 – 1st rep to a 1 board, 2nd rep touched
545x1 – 2 board
605 – failed off 2 board. Barzeen jacked up the collar of my shirt more than I have ever had it before. When I started bringing the weight down, the shirt was resisting in ways I wasn’t used to, so my body decided the way to touch the weight was to let my lats get loose. I had no pop out of the hole because of that. It went up about 1/3 of the way.

I was planning to do some raw board work at that point, but Barzeen twisted my arm into doing a high rep, low weight set in the shirt.

275x20 off 2 boards. Lolcardio

I did a set of lat pulldowns, then Barzeen set up a weird exercise with two bands pulling a barbell back towards the rack. Most of us, including Barzeen, did this with 135. He did 135x20 fast with one breath. It wasn’t too hard for me to do 20 reps, but I couldn’t do it with only one breath. I did 3 sets of 20 pretty easy, but it felt pretty good. I really makes you engage your lats when you bench. The rest of the team struggled and no one could do 20 reps. Barzeen did 50 reps for his last set, lol.

I did 3 sets of band face pulls.

This gym has a weird grip strength setup – baseballs hanging from chains from the top of the rack to do pullups on. I did one set of 5 good reps. No one topped that (Barzeen weighs about 340).

I’m pretty happy with the way the day went – I only had one shirted rep that wasn’t basically perfect form all day, and the weight moved easy on everything except the 605.

8/7

squat
155x5
245x5

briefs
335x3
425x2
515x1

suit & knee wraps
605x1
695x1
725x1
Everything moved good. I'm very happy with how all this went. I seem to finally have some energy back after the bronchitis ****.

As of right now, the plan is to squat 672/722/771 at worlds. I hope to get comfortable and consistent at squatting 725 so that I can crush my first two attempts. Last night was a great start to this plan.

This is the 725 from last night:


briefs only
475x2
I got wrapped up in everything else that was happening and cooled off a bit, so rather than continuing squatting, I decided to do assistance stuff.

reverse hypers
50x15
140x15x2

GHRs
vs green band x 15
vs green + black bands x 15

5 sets of 16 stairs with 20 lb ankle weights

Wow, that looked really smooth. Nice!

Thanks!

I got a new Super Duper Phenom (SDP)!!



It takes about six weeks to break this sucker in. I decided to start on speed day.

8/9

bench
45x15+
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2

SDP

315x3 off 5 boards - this felt awful. The chest needs to be stretched out and this weight was too light.
365x3 off 4 boards - not as bad
455x3 off 3 boards - this felt good
495x3 off 3 boards - this felt good

raw
315x3


single arm cable rows and face pulls

8/10

DL
225x5
315x3
405x2

suit
495x1
585x1
615x1
Everything in the suit felt ****ty. I loosened my belt, but that didnt help. Next week I will try readjusting the straps.

rack pulls from knees
625x3
675x3
715x3
765x1

walked up & down 16 stairs with 200 lb ankle weights
26 lb KB in left hand x 3 trips
62 lb KB in left hand x 2 trips

walked up & down 16 stairs with 200 lb ankle weights
26 lb KB in left hand x 3 trips
62 lb KB in left hand x 2 trips

That's some sick biz right there imo

I'd like to see a video of this.

Im assuming the 200 is a typo and is 20 and as that , still sick with KB work in there too

OOPS! yeah, 20 lb ankle weights lol.

There is a local meet three weeks after nationals. They have cash prizes for the top 3 finishers. Everyone competes against everyone else - there is a formula that combines raw, geared, tested, untested, age, weight, etc. Placing determined by Overall coefficient:
Total x Glossbrenner (weight/age) x gear coeff x drug coeff
Gear Coefficients: Multi-ply = 0.80, classic raw = 1.0, raw = 1.025
Drug Coefficient: Not tested = 0.92 (APF), tested = 1.0 (AAPF)

I lifted in this meet a couple years ago when my knee was starting to bother me and placed 4th overall. The knee affected me a little. The biggest thing was I couldnt lock out my 2nd or 3rd bench attempts, or I would have taken 3rd place.

I ran some numbers yesterday. I would need about a 1,956 total to beat the guy's numbers who won last year. I have a very realistic shot at that if my body can handle doing two meets only three weeks apart. I registered for it yesterday.

8/12

bench press
45x15
95x10
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1

SDP shirt
3 board press
455x3
495x3
545x3
605x2
I have high hopes for what I will be able to do once this shirt is broken in.


3 board press raw
315x3
365x3
405x1 - I felt out of gas and like something bad would happen if I continued, so I stopped.

TRX rows
18, 16

face pulls

8/14

squat
155x5
245x5

briefs
335x3
425x2
515x1

suit
605x1

knee wraps
695x1
725xf
725xf

I think the hips were pulled too tight in my suit for everything until the last 725 attempt. 605, 695 and the 1st 725, I could not get my hips back far enough, so my knees shot forward.

We loosened the hips for the last 725 attempt. I got a fairly low depth call and didnt react fast enough to it, so I sank about 2" deeper than I should have. I didnt have enough to recover from that. My coach told me I have 800 in me right now after watching those squats. It feels like that's a long ways away, but I think if I fine tune my suit tightness and focus on reacting quicker to the up command, I can get 771 in November and maybe more in December.

ssb box squats with chains
The box was a couple inches above parallel. The chains weigh about 15 lbs each.
315 + 4 chains x 3
315 + 6 chains x 3
315 + 8 chains x 3
315 + 10 chains x 3
315 + 12 chains x 3

GHRs
20 vs green band
16 vs green + black bands

8/15

speed bench
45x15
95x10
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x3
295x3
315x1
I felt kind of sore and beat up. Big squat workout the day before plus two shirted bench sessions last week including 605x2..... so I stopped

Cable rows
150x20
200x15

face pulls

8/17

DL
225x5
315x3
405x2

suit (straps looser than past couple weeks)
495x1
585x1
615x1
This felt better than the past couple weeks, but still not very good. I wonder if this food restrictive diet (long story) I am on has weakened me a bit.

6" block pulls
495x3
585x3
635x3
675x1

20 lb ankle weights - 10 trips up and down 16 stairs

8/19

bench press
95x10
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1

SDP shirt
3 board press
495x3

2 board press
585x2
635x2 - PR for any board press. I think it equals the most weight I have ever held over my chest and it is 20 lbs more than I have ever pressed. I am getting excited to see what I can press off my chest in this shirt.


I was pretty wiped out after that.

Pushups
10, 15x3

1 arm cable rows

face pulls

8/21

squat
155x5
245x5
335x3
425x2
515x1

suit
605x1

knee wraps
695x1 - smoked it
725x1 smoked it


reverse hypers
140x15x2

GHR vs bands
green band - 20
2 greens + one small red - 20

8/23

speed bench
45x15
95x10
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x3x5
I still felt beat up from pressing 635 on Sunday, so I cut it short.

TRX rows
face pulls
tricep rope extensions

8/24

DL
225x5
315x3
405x2

suit
495x1
585x1
635x1
Everything felt a little better than it has for a few weeks, but I dont feel great yet. I'd guess my max pull is ~20 lbs or so more than this right now.

rack pulls - ~3" below the bottom of the kneecap
515x2
605x2
655x2
715x1
535x5x2
These felt very good. My abs and obliques were very fired up. I feel like they aligned my mid & low back.

8/26

bench press
45x15
95x10
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1

This was supposed to be a deload day from using a shirt while breaking in my new shirt. I decided I did need a bit of a deload after doubling 635 last week, but I figured putting the Rage X on and doing my opener would be ok.

Rage X
2 boards - 455x2
off chest - 505x2
I plan on opening light (~502) in this shirt at worlds, so I wanted to make sure I could touch ok. The first rep was hard to touch, but easy to press, so I decided to double it. The second rep was easier to touch. Both went up easy.

2 board press raw
315x3
345x3
365x3
385x2 (left upper back felt bad, so I stopped)

TRX rows
20 - pr + 2
I decided to add some resistance. I did the next set with a 45 lb plate on my belly.
15

face pulls

8/28

squat
155x5
245x5

briefs
335x3
425x2
My knees, especially the right one, hurt during all these^.

515x1 - knees started feeling good.

suit
605x1

wraps
695x1
725xf - I got forward on the descent. I corrected it in the hole, but shot forward coming up.
725xf - I got just a little forward coming up

ssb box squats with chains - box at about parallel
345 + 4 chains x 3
345 + 6 chains x 3
345 + 8 chains x 3
345 + 10 chains x 3

8/30

speed bench
45x15
95x10
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x3x2
315x1x3

My left arm felt like ****. I got a lot of ART on it earlier in the day, and he really worked over some of the nerves. I figured it would be better to rest up for Sunday rather than pushing it.

I did some rows and face pulls and called it a day.

8/31

DL
225x5
315x3
405x2

suit
495x1
585x1 - slow
635x1 - a little forward

Something on the left side of my mid and upper back felt weird, so I decided to stop pulling from the floor.

rack pulls from the top of the knees
535x3
625x3
715x3
765x3
805x1

My stem cell / PRP doc was lifting with us. He said it sounded like I had a rib out. Another teammate who is a good chiropractor was also lifting with us. He found two ribs that were out and popped both of them back in. It felt better right away.