yeah, I use mine for other spots too, but that shoulder blade area is hard to get at with anything else & the Thera Cane is awesome for that spot. Glad to hear you like it too!

I've been super busy with work the past several days, but have done a couple workouts and have a lot to say about what's going on. I figured this will take a while, so I've been putting off updating my log. I'll just get farther behind if I dont do it now, so I will be relatively brief.

10/2

I replaced side lying clams with x-band walks as part of my warm up.

DL
135*10, 225*8, 275*5, 315*3, 365*3, 405*3*2

DB flat bench press
50*10, 70*8, 90*6

pull ups (palms forward, no thumb grip)
8, 7, 6

Blast strap push ups
10, 10, 10

Standing cable rows
140*10, 170*10, 200*10

face pulls
85*10*3

Lat EQI
15lbs *45s

Flye EQI
15 45

Someone asked a while ago what these EQIs were good for. I've figured out one of the things they're good for is lower trap activation. Im sure there's lots of other good reasons to do them too.

10/4

squat
45*10, 135*10, 185*5, 225*3, 275*3, 315*3, 345*3, 315*3

RDL
135*10, 225*6, 275*5*2, 315*5, 365*5
I'll write some thoughts up about this later. Things have changed radically in my glutes the past few days, and this lift is affected significantly.

DB step ups
60*5, 70*5, 75*5

Lat EQI
15lbs *60s

Flye EQI
15 35

KB swings (8 per set with 30 secs of treadmill between sets)
44*2, 62*3
I wanted to be careful with my low back.

MB slams (15 slams per set with 30 secs of treadmill between sets)
5 sets

10/9

I had too many days between workouts. Busy at work, daughter's swimming meets, assembling a new treadmill and hanging a giant tv on the wall. I should have worked all day today instead of working out, but oh well, I needed this today.

I got a new toy - a big-ass, 80 lb. trap bar. I'd never done trap bar DLs before today. I've been reading a bit about them and they sound like a good exercise to alternate with conventional DLs.

Trap bar DLs
170*10, 260*8, 310*3, 350*3, 400*3, 450*3, <---(those were with no belt)
belted ----> 450*1, 500*1!!
I like these a lot. My back felt great when doing them with no belt. When I put the belt on, my low back seemed like it was sort of taken out of the movement, and my hips really got pumped. Vids:
260x8
310x3
350x3
450x3
500x1

bench press
45*15*2, 135*10, 185*5, 225*3, 255*3, 275*3 - 4th rep failed miserably.

dips
10
left delt has something going on - gotta have my chiro work on this next week. I'm sure I didnt screw anything up, but I think pushing dips to the limit had the potential to screw something up, so I quit after one set.

pull ups (palms forward, thumbless grip)
7, 7, 6

blast strap rows
10, 10

pnfd2 - 25 lbs * 10 * 2

tall kneeling cable lift - 25lbs * 10 * 2

flye eqi - 15 lbs * 60 sec
lat eqi - 15*45

New additions to the workout room:



Wife wanted a new treadmill she can run on, and a nicer tv. I decided to take some of my poker money and buy a new 65" plasma for the living room and took the 58" from the living room down to the workout room. Love my new trap bar too.

500 looked easy.

That's because it was really only 490, dammit I was talking to my wife while loading the plates and added wrong for the last two weights, so the 450 is really 440 and the 500 is really 490.

I'll probably do 500 or more next time. 490 was hard, but I definitely could have done more.

10/13

Too busy/not enough time to do adequate soft tissue stuff, so this didnt go very well. Due to knee soreness/stiffness, I cut the squat and step up sets short. I am pretty sure if I had spent more time on loosening up my quads, this would have gone better/heavier.

Squat
45*10, 35*8, 185*5, 225*3, 275*3, 315*3*2

RDL
45*10, 135*10, 225*5, 275*5, 315*5, 365*5*2

DB step ups
60*6

flye eqi - 15*60
lat eqi - 15*45

Shoulders were also tight & a bit sore during the lat eqis. Again, I need to spend more time on the soft tissue work.


KB swings
44*8*2, 62*8*3

MB slams
15*5

As usual, walked on the treadmill ~30 seconds between sets for MB & KB stuff.

10/15

I'm trying this:
http://tsampa.org/training/scripts/c...lipi_deadlift/
for trap bar DLs.

I'm doing straight bar for the "speed DLs". lol speed. I'm like a turtle with these. Because the trap bar DLs are definitely easier than the straight bar variety, I had initially planned on doing 95% of the suggested weight that the program spits out. I plugged in 490 as my current 1RM for the Trap DLs and 600 as what I'm shooting for. That put me at 360 for the speed DLs, and 95% of that is ~340, so thats what I did at first, but after doing a few sets, I think a more appropriate ratio is ~90%.

I started out with a workout similar to week 1, but went for a new 1RM instead. I'm calling this week zero, and I'll start with the suggested week 1 next week.

Trap bar DLs
170*10, 260*6, 310*3, 350*2, 400*2, 440*1, 490*1, 530*1 PR woot!

530x1 video


"speed (lol)" DLs
340*3*3, 310*3*5

Circuit - stiff legged DLs, bent over BB row, reverse grip lat pulldowns, arched back good mornings

90 second rest between sets & 2 - 3 minutes between circuits. This almost turns it into a hiit cardio workout, because I need lots of rest between sets to move heavy weights, so all of these are pretty light weights.

SLDL - 220*8*3
bent over row - 192*8, 162*8*2 (right bicep was very sore for the first set)
reverse grip lat pulldowns - 200*8*3
arched back GMs - 132*8*3 (I should be a lot better at these, considering half the time I squat >300 lbs, I wind up doing GMs, lol)

flye eqi - 15*45
lat eqi - 15*45

Thanks to kitaristi0 for posting the link to that program.

10/18

before my last workout, I weighed all my bars. My favorite bar is only ~40 lbs, not 45

squat
40*10, 130*8, 180*5, 220*3, 270*3, 310*3, 330*3, 310*3

KB swings (treadmill 60 secs between sets)
44*12*2, 62*12*4, 70*12*4

DB step ups
60*6, 70*5, 75*5 (I've just realized why 75 seems sort of hard - 75*2 pushing with one leg isn't that much different than squatting 300 with two legs)

lat EQI 15*45
flye EQI 15*45

blast strap fallouts
10 10

MB slams
10 sets * 15 slams with 30 seconds on treadmill between seats

This leg workout I didn't do RDLs for the first time in a long time. That new DL program I'm on calls for straight leg DLs, which are similar to RDLs. I decided I'll do RDLs instead of the stiff legged ones on DL day for now, and am substituting more reps of KB swings for my hams & glutes on leg day instead. I'll be focused on bringing my DL max up while maintaining a decent squat. We'll see how the bench goes. It had been going well for a long time, but the last couple times my shoulders were tight and the left one did not feel great after tonight's workout. I might be skipping the bench for a while, depending on how the shoulders feel.

10/20

DB flat bench press
50*10, 70*8, 85*8, 90*8, 95*8

superset chins/blast strap pushups
6/10/5/10/5/10
This was ~2 reps away from failure on the chins because I was just getting the blood flowing in the back - I didnt want to have DOMS two days later while doing a bazillion DLs.

Blast strap rows
8, 8
again, somewhat easy

tall kneeling PNF D2 Flexion
25*10*2

tall kneeling cable lift
25*10*2

lat EQI
15*45

flye EQI
15*45

10/22
This is week 1 from the 10 week program I'm trying.

Trap bar DLs
170*10, 260*6, 310*3, 350*3, 400*2, 450*2

"speed" DLs (conventional)
310*3 reps *8 sets

Circuit - RDLs, bent over BB row, reverse grip lat pulldowns, arched back good mornings

RDL - 270*8*3
bent over row - 172*8*3 (right bicep somewhat sore again during this, but not during anything else. hhhmmmm...)
reverse grip lat pulldowns - 200*8*3
arched back GMs - 132*8*3

flye eqi - 15*45
lat eqi - 15*45

10/25

squat
40*10, 130*8, 180*5, 220*3, 270*3, 310*3, 330*3, 330*3

KB swings (treadmill 60 secs between sets)
44*12*2, 62*12*3, 70*12*3, 80*12*2

DB step ups
60*6, 70*5, 80*5

lat EQI 15*45
flye EQI 15*45

blast strap fallouts
10 10

MB slams
10 sets * 15 slams with 30 seconds on treadmill between seats

Those blast strap exercises look pretty cool, think I'd like to incorporate some of them when I move to 5/3/1. Those I'm strong enough to do anyway...

And FYI I ordered the TheraCane. I love the kroc rows, but they're a bit harder on the back for muscle knots compared to Pendlay rows.

Yeah, I like my blast straps. And my Theracane. If you get tight in your upper back, there is nothing better than the Theracane imo. You'll probably find lots of other uses for it as well.

I havent really done kroc rows because my understanding of them is they're basically DB rows & you dont have strict form. Is that basically right? If so, with my back, I think they'd be an injury waiting to happen.

I have to be careful about twisting my low back because I have at least one disc that's too thin, so it slides out of place easily. Strict form DLs and RDLs really help stabilize it.

Yeah, you use the hips to initialize the movement and the back to power it up. so possibly not the best with a shady disc.

Hey Cha,

I have been doing the Buchberger 12 per your advice for my shoulder injury. I have noticed of all the exercises the modified empty can gives me the most discomfort. Would this indicate that my injury is a rotator cuff issue?

I'm not knowledgeable enough to diagnose something like that.

Read what it says on page 13 below the description of that exercise in the "Clinical adaptation" paragraph. Based on what that says, I would not do that particular exercise for the time being. Work on the prerequisites for a while before trying the modified empty can again. When you do try it, make sure you dont start out with too heavy of a weight. Go with 1 or 2 lb dumbells imo. You might have an issue that requires a medical professional.

10/28

Trap bar DLs
170*10, 260*6, 310*3, 350*3, 400*2, 440*2, 480*2

"speed" DLs (conventional)
340*3 reps *8 sets

Circuit - RDLs, bent over BB row, reverse grip lat pulldowns, arched back good mornings

RDL - 270*8*3
bent over row - 172*8*3
reverse grip lat pulldowns - 250*8*3
arched back GMs - 132*8*3

flye eqi - 15*60
lat eqi - 15*60

I've been meaning to make a post like this in here for a little while. I just posted it in Busto's log, so I figured I might as well cross post it here as well so I can find it easier later on and so you guys who read my log & not his can see it too:

I figured out a new thing to help with the hammies. Sit on a hard bottomed chair, or better yet, a table that will support all your weight and is high enough so that when you sit on the edge, your feet dangle and dont touch the ground. Take a lacrosse ball and stick it under your hammy and move it around until you find a sharp pain. Get it right into the spot where the sharp pain is and let your leg relax on it for a few minutes. When it feels like its going away, straighten your leg while keeping the leg pressed down onto the ball. This breaks up trigger points in a huge way if you have any. When you get up, your hammies will feel great & loose.

lol, I'm gonna have to buy lacrosse balls on ebay. No one plays it here, so gotta pay $23 for 6 balls. Nice deal.

Yeah, I have them all over the house. They are becoming my favorite thing to use pre-workout because they're so effective for so many different things.

Been busy since the last DL workout. I'm in Dallas for a (difficult) class with a tough test at the end. Done with the class today and going back home tomorrow. I hope I passed the damn test.

11/2

The hotel I'm at has some free weights and a bench, so I did some bench presses, but not much else besides some soft tissue stuff and various warmups. I dont know what the bar weighed for sure, but it seems similar to my ********* bar that weighs ~ 30 lbs, so I'll go with that. The knurling on the bar was pretty much non-existent and I had no chalk, so it was slippery as hell.

bench
warmups
230x5x2

That wasnt very difficult, but there wasnt much more weight, no safety rack, and the things to put the bar on are wobbly, so if I would have slammed the weight into them, it would have tipped over into the wall which was covered by a mirror. Not a great workout, but at least I got a little DOMS in my pecs.

Looking forward to getting home & doing a good DL workout Saturday.

As a neutral observer of Minnesota Viking football I have to say this season has been awesome as far as lolz and general entertainment value. I vote to keep Brad Childress for the rest of the season, for no other reason than the unintentional comedic entertainment he constantly provides.

lol vikings...AP and toby gerhart are sick but still lol vikings. Nice log btw...ur way stronger than me and Im only 24 .