ME Lower-ME Upper

Friday-July 15-trained with Jack Daniels
Warm-up
Squat mornings (bar suspended from straps approx 36" from floor) safety squat bar worked up to 355x1
Split stance DB squat 5x6/side 50-85 and 50x12 (last one)
DB rows 3x10/100-120
Back raises against monster mini band 3x10
Reverse hyper-long strap wide feet-4x10/300-390-480-570
Leg raises w/ankle weights 5x10
OH crunches (long strap) 100x12, 120x12, 90x20 and 70x the length of a Dr Dre song

Saturday July 16-large group (Rollin, DD, Paul K., Andrew, Brain, Damon from Az.)
Warm-up incl. sled pulls w/DD 6-8 trips forwards and backwards 90# approx 150'
Floor press w/ Swiss bar-wide grip-225x3, 275x1, 295x1, 315 miss 245x8*Rollin hit 335 and Damon hit 365. Rollin missed 370 but came back to win the rep contest with 275x13, Paul K second w/ 11 at 225 and me third with 245x8.

Rollbacks 4x12/ 40, 45, 50, 60x8
One arm (light) band pushdowns 3x20/side and Band (average) face pulls 3x30

Bandbell bar overhead press 2x25/ 50 close/wide

Quote de jour
Andrew asked why is the Swiss bar called the Swiss bar. I said I did not know. Brain chimed in,"Uh maybe it's because the handles are neutral. You know, like Switzerland..."

Best explanation I heard.

Stay strong,
Ed T.

July 11-July 13

Monday
Lotsa mobility work then a tri-set of weighted OH crunches, Back raises and Face pulls repeated thrice
Kneeling jumps 25 total
Squat 275x4x6 sets
Rack pulls w/doubled light band @ pin 3 185x2, 225x2, 250x2x5 sets
Part 2
One-arm cable rows 3x12 and GHR (pin 3) w/monster mini band 3x6 supersetted w/ Reverse hyper 3x12/90, 140,160
Finished with abs: v-sit-ups 2x15 and Ab wheel rollouts 2x15

Tuesday-did an extra workout but don't remember what I did

Wednesday
Warm-up
Bench w/doubled mini bands 135x3x9 sets, 145x3, 155x3, 165x3 and Pull-aparts 4x20

4board press-index finger approx. one inch from edge of knurl 275x3, 315x3, 335x3

Band pushdowns (light) 4x20

Low cable rows H-bar 5x12/150-250 and Halbert raises 3x15/20-30 and Seated front plate raises and seated side raises (both light)

Kinda been out of it all week. My best friend's mom died. Known her for almost 30 years. Long week.

Stay strong,
Ed T.

ME Lower/ME Upper

Friday July 8
Mobility work
High box squat (about 1-2 inches above parallel) safety squat bar with light bands worked up to 410x1 (pr) then 445x1 and 390x3

Rack pulls w/doubled mini bands (pin 3-plates about 6 inches off floor) 335x1x8 sets

Lunges 40 reps/side and Lats-pulldowns w/DD handle 5x12/150, 160, 170, 180, 190x11

Band good mornings (average band) 5x15 and Hanging leg raises 3 sets

Saturday July 9
Quite the crowd for a Saturday morning; me, 4board, Andrew, Brain and Jack (Daniels) came straight from the bar(!).

Decline bench press-medium grip-355x1 (pr). 4Board got 385. Andrew and Brain both got 335. Jack got 365.
Low incline DB press 5x8/50-95 and Face pulls 4x15/30-50
Tate presses 8x8/several sets w/60's and CSRs w/underhand grip 5x10/75,100,120,145,170

Bandbell bar bench press 2x20, 16/50, 100
Hammer curls 3x10/40-60

All in all a good day(s)

Stay strong,
Ed T.

DE Upper and Stupid Thursday

Wednesday July 6
Warm-up-lotsa mobility work and Weighted OH crunches and back raises 4 sets
Bench press w/2 prs. of chain/side w/175 15 sets of 3 reps varying the grip every set
Pull-aparts 5x20

Suspended Lock-outs-CG-3x5/275, 315, 365x4 325x8 w/1-2 in the tank

Part 2
Mobility work again
Barbell rows 275x8, 315x8, 365x6
DB military press 4x10
DB side raise 4x10
Rear delt raise 4x10

Stoopid Thursday
RE was running 10 yard sprints in the parking lot. We had makeshift cones (i.e. water bottles) set up and I was the human finish line. She was running in an emptier part of the parking lot with not a lot of traffic. A car approached me from behind and RE said "look out". I saw it and we both watched in awe as the driver slid into the parking space inches behind me. Apparently we had masterd the secret of invisibility and were thus exposed to such hazards. She asked me if I was going to say anything and I said, nothing repeatable and we saw the three rejects from a "People of Walmart" outtake stagger out of the car. Between the three of them they had five arms and five legs and maybe one brain and that belonged to the ten year old in the backseat that they took into the bar with them...

RE was finishing with the Prowler challenge and because it was later in the day, my landlord was gone and I get along well with my neighbors, I asked the guy from the business next door if he minded that RE pushed the Prowler back and forth in front of our stores. He didn't and she went to work. So while she's toiling away in the heat a car slowly approaches her from behind. I told her and she got out of the way in plenty of time and we slid the Prowler aside. Then preceded to watch as the braindead driver squeezed her car into the fire lane where we had parked the Prowler in between the Prowler and the curb (no mean feat in and of itself) to let some other braindead lard%#$ out at the beauty shop! Absolutely incredible. Stunning.

RE and I were both mucho impressed with the decline of American intellect.

Musta been the heat,
Ed T.

Extra workout

Tuesday July 5 2011
a1. Face pulls 4x25/30
a2. OH crunches 4x20/65-95
a3. Band good mornings (light band) 3x20

In the spirit of summer, we invoked the image of David Lee Roth and people jumped! Rollin was hittin the drop ceiling (he was mad the ceiling tiles were back in place because he can't reach the rafters now). Brandon strapped on ankle weights and chased Rollin's leaps. RE worked up to an easy 33" box, just shy of her PR, with room to spare. AE hit 36.75", a two-and-one-half-inch PR. Then calmly announced to everyone that he had just weighed in at 282.

RE's training

After the warm-up and the sprints, hops and jumps

Hang clean 91x5, 96x5, 106x5 (w/bridge circut 3x)

Sumo deadlift 211x1 (w/TKE's 4x15)

Reverse lunge w/ front squat grip 3x10/67, 77, 87

Weighted GHR's (pin 3) 3x8/10,12,12

AE's training

After the sprints and the jumps

Low box squat w/safety squat bar 435x1 then 365x3

Static lunges 2x8/side and Bridge circut 3x

It was a good day,

Ed T.

The Marines have landed

Happy Independence Day!!!

My favorite holiday. Watched the classic "1776" in honor of this great country. The gym offered free Steve-weisers to some lucky members who came to train today. And Saturday we were graced with the presence of Sergeant Buckman who came to train while he's in town. Yea!

Saturday July 2, 2011
Floor press-medium grip 275x1, 315x1, 335x1, 280x5
Standing chest press 2x15/225 (close/wide grip)
CSR 6x12/90 (3), 135 (3) and Dips 100 reps-8 (?) sets
Bandbell bar overhead press 2x20, 15 or so/50, 70

Monday July 4, 2011
Mobility work
A. Overhead crunches 4x20/50-80 and Back raises 4x10
B. Sled 6x light all forwards
C. Chin-ups 5x6 reps w/average band and Face pulls 4x25 w/mini band
D. Gun show (what's more American than curls???)
*Back felt tender still so took it easy

Happy July Fourth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ed T.

Still here

Currently juggling clients. RE is home for the summer; AE is a thrower from Cedarville; AW is headed to Bluffton College to play football and I have the usual "normal" suspects to round out the line-up. IU from Stanford was home for a while and went back to take summer classes. Should see her again before the summer is out. So its been pretty exciting at the gym. 4Board and a couple other guys participated in the Ohio Police Olympics in the powerlifting segment. M4 set pr's all across the board and brought home the best lifter award. Don is a 90 kg lifter who only pulled and Brain is the same Brain who trains with our "group" and went 100 kg raw. Both brought home some hardware as well.

A week later, another group was at the SLP Ohio Bench press/ Deadlift Championship in Hamilton. Brookszinski set a state record with a 685 raw pull as a SHW. His nephew set a state record with a 420 bench press as an equipped 181-pounder. Newcomer Rollin pushed 350 and pulled 550 raw as a light 220. He just missed a state record 590 pull. Your humble scribe, moi, benched 430 and pulled 555, both pr's at 125 kg's. I left a little on the platform but was good with that. The press was made using my old Metal Viking single ply shirt and I (uncomfortably) pulled (conventional) in a Metal Pro Squatter (better suited for sumo pulls). I want to let the legs out on the suit a little so its not so tight and I think it will be plain bad-ass!

The week of the meet I usually do some light sled pulls, etcetera at least up until Wednesday. But this time around I had so much going on non-lifting wise that I was seriously worried about losing weight and not being "ready". So I decided to do things slightly different this time. I went into full bloat mode and tried to get plenty of sleep. I ended up weighing in at 251.9 dressed (shirt, shorts, shoes). After discussion with Brookszinski, I concluded that the extra weight (leverage) would help with the bench and literally, "let 'er eat!"

Anyway, I opened at 405 in the bench and got it easy. I took 430 next for a pr and brought it down a little high and it slowed at the lockout but I thought I had it but it was no go. Sympathetic on-lookers all said I had it but WTF the judges didn't think so, so I asked for it again and the third time was a charm.

I opened at 500 in the deadlift. Initially I had trouble getting to the bar. It took me a second to get set up but once I did the weight flew up. We figured I couldn't hold my air which was because my belt had been too tight. Next attempt I pulled an easy 535 for a pr. I conservatively took 555 and we estimate I left about 20 pounds on the platform. But the best part was everyone had a good time and we all went home in one piece. Thanks to 4board and Brandon W for helping out everyone at the meet. Greatly appreciated!

So how's my training been since...read on.

Monday June 27

Sled 6x30m 3 forwards/3 backwards 90 (2) and 135 (4)

Static lunges 2x15 and started cramping bad

Step-ups 2x10 side

Later that day...

Pulled sled 6x30m 90 3/3

Blue band good mornings 3x20 and OH crunches 3x15/80, 90, 100

Seated green band leg curl 2x30 (10 each way) and 2x15/ 90

Retract-row-rotate 2x30s (one set micro minis and one set minis)

Physically the worst thing I had going was my glutes were tight which tightened up my lower back. Did a lot of ham and piriformis stretches/ rolls and that helped tremendously.

Tuesday

Farmer walks 100-lbs 8x the length of the building with Indian Chuck

Wednesday

Trained with Rollin

Bench press 13x3 w/175 3 grips and Pull-aparts 5x20

DB floor press 90x15 and 100x14 and Neutral grip chin ups 6 sets of 7 reps (used blue band)

Tate presses 5x12/40, 45, 50, 55, 60 (10)

Bandbell bar overhead press 2x20/ 20, 40 and GHR 2x10

Friday July 1

Trained with M4 and Rollin

Zercher squat-we went up to 365x1 holding the bar in our arms. M4 and I tried 405 but couldn't hold it. then I remembered I had the WSBB Zercher harness and the 405 was pried form the clutch of the Invisible Welder. 405 begat 455 that begat 500 (a pr). I took 520 and M4 went to 545. I took 550 and he took 580. I took 585 and according to him, "got two reds" for my efforts, leaving him, "Zercher squat champion". Rollin learned how to use a belt and got 405 and was happy.

Front squats to a low box (12-inch) 4x6/ 135, 185, 205, 225

Reverse hyper 4x12/ 150, 300, 390, 480 and Lat pulldowns-wide grip-various bars 4x12/ 120, 140, 160, 170 and straight leg spread eagle sit-ups 2x12/ 25, 35 and OH band crunches 2x15/ side

Stay strong,

Ed T