W1D1 ME LB

week one, day one, max effort lower body:

Felt good to be lifting heavy again. Hit a new PR at 355 squat. I was surprised that I was even able to meet my last lift after not lifting heavy for months. The last heavy squat I did was June 8th at 295. I had to back off a bit on the lower-back lifts since I was pretty beat up after the set of squats.

squat: 135×6, 185×5, 225×3, 275×2, 315×1, 355×1
stiff-leg deadlift: 95×8 (three sets)
good mornings: 65×8 (three sets)
hanging leg raise: x8 (four sets)
leg press: 170×15, 210×12 (two sets)
close pulldown: 9×10, 11×10 (two sets)

August 31, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

recovery cycle

One last day for the recovery cycle, looking forward to getting back to lifting heavier weights. Instead of doing the hamster-wheel cardio work, I did a Cosgrove Complex along with shoulder work.

Complex: 6x | 5x | 4x (all lifts with 45lb barbell)
Deadlift
Romanian Deadlift
Bentover Row
Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Good Morning

Each lift is completed in order for one set with 90 seconds of rest between each set.

Recovery: each lift involves 6 repetitions with a 5 sec hold, three workouts a week
hip crossover: 20x
medicine ball rotation: 20x
zercher squat: 45
single-leg barbell deadlift: 45
dumbbell press: 45
dumbbell row: 65
dumbbell flies: 40
rear delts cable raise: 2
incline dumbbell curl: 30
french press: 60
wide grip cable row: 8
single-arm bench: 55
leg lifts: 6
hyper extension: 6

August 27, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

mbw6d3

Last day of the cycle. Feels good to reach my goals and now have two weeks to stretch and recover.

seated calf-raise: 45×15 (5 sec hold)
one-leg standing calf raise: 30×8
standing barbell calf raise: 45×10, 135×15
squats: 135×8, 185×18
overhead reverse barbell lunge: 45×5, 65×8
dumbbell curl: 30×8, 40×10
dumbbell shrug: 65×10, 75×10

August 15, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

MB Progress

Tossed a few lifts into excel to see what my progress has been over the last six weeks. Pretty happy that everything went up to stayed the same. The lifts that didn’t progress were pushing the limits the entire cycle. Strip sets on squat are just not going to progress quickly, hitting 30 reps without a rest is hard no matter what the weight is.

MB Phase

August 12, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

mbw6d2

close-grip bench: 135×7, 165×5, 185×10
overhead dumbbell extension: 55×7, 70×10
rope pressdown: 9×8, 11×8, 13×10
cable crossover: 5×7, 7×10
wide-grip pulldown: 9×8, 11×8, 13×8
dumbbell row: 90×6, 100×9
one-arm dumbbell press: [40x12, 30x12, 25x8] (strip set)
side raise: 25×11
bentover raise: 25×15
front plate raise: 45×15

August 12, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

mbw6d1

Start of the last week of this cycle. Looking forward to a couple weeks of recovery and then hitting a heavier cycle for a couple of months.

planks: 2×50 sec
barbell curl: 60×8, 70×8, 80×8
single-arm preacher curl: 25×12
cable curl: 3×6, 4×9
barbell curl (negative): 60×10 (5 sec)
front squat: 45×10, 95×15
leg press: 170×6, 210×8, 250×20
hammer curl: 30×8, 45×10
standing calf raise: 45×10, 95×19, 115×20

August 10, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

mbw5d3

Pretty good effort today, last time I’ll hit this workout. Looking back I’ve gone up at least 10 lbs in every lift from the start of the cycle. Pretty happy with that. One more week in this phase and then two weeks of recovery. I haven’t had more than a single week of recovery since surgery two years ago. It’s going to be more of a change mentally than physically.

chins: 4, 2
barbell row: 135×6, [175x10, 135x10] (strip set)
close-grip pulldown: 9×6, 11×6, 13×10
close-grip cable row: 10×6, 12×6, 14×8
dumbbell bench: 75×6, 85×6, 95×10
dumbbell front press: 40×6, 50×12
overhead triceps extension: 60×15
single-arm side raise: 20×12
front plate raise: 45×15

August 7, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

mbw5d2

Went up in leg exercises but was too wiped out to do much else. Nice to see that it’s the last time I’ll do this exact workout. One more week in the MB phase then a two-week recovery then back into strength training until nearly x-mas.

planks: 2×50 sec
leg raise: x12
leg press: [290x15, 250x15, 210x15] (strip set)
leg ext: 45×10, [95x18, 70x12, 45x12] (strip set)
squat: 135×6, [205x10, 165x10, 135x10] (strip set)
barbell curl: 60×8, 80×12

August 5, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

mbw5d1

Pretty good workout, I felt tired but pretty strong and was able to go up in most lifts.

planks: 2×50 sec
medicine ball rotation: 2×20
medicine ball sit-ups: 2×20
incline fly: 30×8, 40×6, 50×12
bench: 135×6, 185×6, [235x10, 185x10, 135x10] (strip set)
cable fly: 5×6, 7×11
incline bench: 135×6, 195×8
machine press: 100×6, [130x10, 115x10] (strip set)
chins: 4
dumbbell shoulder press: 55×8
single-arm cable triceps pressdown: 4×15

August 3, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off