Mark MDs training log

Last night's workout:

Squats: 100kg x 20 in just over 4 mins
Pull overs: 10 with 14lb block weight

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I've incorporated 20 rep squats about once or twice a week since May when I started with 60kg at a bodyweight of about 140 lb. My current weight is 147 lb so I've made some gains in size, but not quite on the scale associated with 20 rep squats. I've clearly made gains in strength as back in May I was only doing 100kgx 5.

80kg x 20 had been a target, but I felt that I could carry on upping the weight without my form suffering, so 100kg became my new goal. Now I've reached that I'm going to knock the 20 rep cycle on the head for a while as I really suffered with 100kg (retching a fair bit while lifting) and if I go any higher my form will suffer.

Now looking forward to going back to regular 5x5 squats and bottom position squats. I didn't think I'd ever say that.
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20 rep Squats - niceee!

Nice work on the squats, i always find 4 weeks of high rep squat and progress seem to halt.

Cheers Aaron- I think I started well within my limits at 60kg and I was squatting deeper (buttocks to calves) with the lighter weights. Once I started really finding it tough I squatted to parallel and dropped the squats workouts to every 3rd or 4th workout. It'll be interesting to see if this has improved my regular squatting by much- I'll find out next week!

Tonight's training was a bit more varied-
Warm up- 12kg powerclub overhead rotations 2x10 each side, 10x 56lb blockweight swings (poor man's kettlebell!), alternating hands. I put the blockweight on the scales today and was gutted to find it's more like 46lb.

Military press (feet together) 5x40kg / 5x45kg /4x50kg + 1X push press
Push press 5x55kg / 5x60kg

Dinnie rings 45kg/60kg x4 alternating hands 66/80kg x2 alternating hands 90/115kg x1, R/H at rear 100/130 kg x1 L/H at rear- Barely cleared the ground with 130kg. All lifts were with the big ring to the rear. I was lifting outside for the first time and my slopy patio made it seem much harder.

One hand D/L- with loading pin and handle 3x50/ 3x70/ 3x90 each hand 1x110- 1x120 each hand, opposite hand bracing thigh
Then I started using both hands (over/over grip) 3x130/ 3x150/ 1x170/ 1x190/ 1x200 fail at 220

Chins -bodyweight 147lb
14 wide grip- fairly quick, full motion/ rest 1.5 mins / 8 front grip, hands parallel, fairly quick, full motion/ rest 1.5 mins/ 5 wide grip- cue to call it a night.

Strong workout and welldone with the 20 rep squats! 100kgx20 is well over the target of 1.5BWx20 (as mentioned in the super squats book) for you! Keep at it mate.

Warm up
Turkish get up- 2 each side @ 20 kg. Haven't done these for about a year and it was a stupid exercise to warm up with.

Squat Cleans
5x43, 5x53, 5x63

Power cleans
5x68, 5x73, fail at 83

I had only ever done power cleans until recently and I thought I would be able to lift more by using squat cleans, but at the moment it's the other way round, probably due to dodgy technique. I use two old wheels as bumpers and a 5' (14kg) bar which explains the odd ammounts of weight.

Then I had a brainwave- I wanted to do some incline rows, and rather than set my bench up, I "experimented" by creating a harness using an old weightlifting belt turned backwards, a carabina and the ropes from my daughter's old swing. I suspended myself from a bar on my squat rack at an angle of about 45 degrees, checked the pins on the rack would save me from the bar in case it decided to come off and started lifting using dumbells, taking it easy at first to test the apparatus.

5x13.5, 5x20, 5x26, 5x28
It all felt fine so far, even if I did feel like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. I even began to feel smug at my new idea. As I've bought most of my kit secondhand there are some gaps in my fixed dumbell collection, so I tried my 40kg bells and as I pulled..

http://i83.servimg.com/u/f83/14/03/69/44/belt_a10.jpg
http://i83.servimg.com/u/f83/14/03/69/44/belt_a11.jpg
My trusty belt that I bought at Argos about 10 yrs ago gave up the ghost and I stoved my face into the floor. I haven't used a lifting belt for a couple of years and it was probably the best thing for it. I got away with a grazed chin-probably because the weights hadn't even cleared the ground. Could've been a lot worse, but I bet it looked hilarious.

I still think there's mileage in this way of lifting- with the belt over my hips there were none of the breathing issues of lying chest down on a bench. I'll have to look into getting a climbing harness.

Following this I did 1 arm dumbell rows 4x40
side bends 6x40, 5x40
hanging leg raises 15, 13

I had planned on some grip work to wrap up, but I think I'll benefit more from a session devoted entirely to grip either tomorrow or Monday.

Recent training-
16/08- grip work-first proper grip workout in 6 weeks and it showed
Iron woody gripper (will order a vulcan soon!) 10 @1/3 10@1/5 8@1/7 6@1/8 COC#1 5,5,5,5 (not always fully closed- gaps of up to about 5mm) Iron woody 5@4/8 5@5/8 5@5/8
RT 5/20 5/30 3/40 R 1/ 45 (just) L 2/45 1/50(just) R 4/40 L 5/40
Plate pinch holds 2x5 30 sec 3x5 15 sec 4x5- lifted with both hands then held with one hand plus index/ thumb of other hand
2x10 7secs (R) 6secs (L)
wrist curls front: 3x10 @11.5kg rev: 9x9 7x9 7x8kg

Tonight's training was going to be squats, but I had an Indian for tea and decided against it.

Deadlifts (trap bar)
5/20, 3/60, 3/100, 3/140, 1/170, 1/200-new PR, bodyweight 66.5 kg so finally I have cleared 3xbodyweight! Not sure if my shoulders were right back though, will try to film it next time so I can check.
Bench 5/50, 5/60, 5/65, 5/70, 5/75- just made the very last rep.
Tried some RT lifts to finish but didn't get above 45 with either hand. Will try to get some more grip/wrist work in tomorrow.

Mark M-D wrote:Tonight's training was going to be squats, but I had an Indian for tea and decided against it.

Probably wise.

Well done on the PB on trap bar deads Mark, very good - especially at your bodyweight.

3x BW dead is impressive mate!

Cheers! It's always been a struggle for me to increase my bodyweight, but I guess being lighter has advantages sometimes.

Todays training

Overhead squat- 5/20 5/30 4/40- I'd forgotten how tough this can be
Front squat- 5/50, 5/60, 5/80
Front Hise shrug 8/80
Back Hise shrug 14/80

Back squat- 5/90, 5/100, 5/120
I caught the sun yesterday doing roofing work at my in laws and for the first time in years I had to pad the bar- still bloody sore though!

Rader chest pulls- 8

Good mornings- haven't done these for several years, so just trying to gauge what I should work with
5/14, 5/34, 5/40, 5/60
To be honest I couldn't really feel much until I used 60. I'll see how my back feels tomorrow and up it if I'm ok

Rader pulls- 15

Shrugs on 2" bar (scaffold pole)
10/30, 8/50, 5/60, 5/70, 5/80, 3+1/90 1/100 & failure

Mark M-D wrote:Cheers! It's always been a struggle for me to increase my bodyweight,

I hate you, you bastard.

Great work on the Trap bar Mark .I like the setup you have there.Do you use the club much

Twig wrote:

Mark M-D wrote:Cheers! It's always been a struggle for me to increase my bodyweight,

I hate you, you bastard.

Sorry, I forgot that tends to piss people off- but look at it this way- I have to train hard and eat till I feel sick in order to be able to lift a 1rm of the sort of weight big guys warm up with. I'm about as naturally suited to strength work as Paul Anderson was to being a jockey!

MarkR wrote:Great work on the Trap bar Mark .I like the setup you have there.Do you use the club much

Cheers mark. I got the club about a month ago because it was only about £30 from Wolverson. It's 12kg, which is too heavy for me to do much in the way of lever work, but I generally swing it about a bit outside for a warmup- it really gets the breathing and heart going. I've got a couple of homemade bits that I use for lever work- a pickaxe handle with a bar through the end and two spinlock dumbells stuck in a piece of 2" down pipe. If I had the money and space I'd get a full set of clubs because it does feel nice and well balanced, but given what they cost and how much I use it there's plenty of other kit I'd get first.