Sumo Deadlifts

Yesterday's training session went really well.

AM Conditioning:
Jump Rope - 16 minutes

PM Strength Training:
1a) Sumo Deadlift - 275x2x3 (all time 3 rep PR), 245x5, 225x8

Note: I made damn sure that my feet were set perfectly this time. : )

1b) Bar Pushdown - 105x2x10, 95x12

2a) Reverse Lunge Front Squat Grip - 80x10, 70x12
2b) BB Curl - 55x2x9

3) SB Situp - 20x2x12

The volume was lower yesterday, and I didn't perform another posterior chain exercise like I normally do. Right now I'm playing around with lower volume workouts to see how that works.

Tomorrow I bench press with all the other meat heads.

Hill Sprints & Upper Body Training

Well, last week I said I was going to do my interval training on non-lifting days, but that's not what happened yesterday.

AM Conditioning Session:
Hill Sprints - 10x

The reason I did my interval/conditioning work yesterday morning about 6 hours before my strength training session was because I was scheduled to do an upper body session that evening. I'll probably do my conditioning work in the AM on days I train my upper body in the PM.

PM Strength Training Session:
1a) Medium Grip Pullup - 3x8
1b) BB Hang Clean and Press - 95x2x5 (all time PR), 85x8

2a) Weighted Pushup - 35x8, 25x10, 20x12
2b) Supinated (Palms Up) Inverted Row - 10x2x10, bodyweight x 14

3) Ab Wheel Rollout - 2x13

Today I'm going to spend some time with the jump rope. I'll either jump rope for 15 minutes or perform intervals with the jump rope.

Tomorrow . . . I deadlift.

Oh, and make sure you check out my new blog post at The Fat Solutions => Focus on Food Quality.

Training with My Mom

Today has been an amazing day. Yesterday I celebrated my 25th birthday with my family, and my Mom made an amazing dinner for me. It was perfect.

Today I got a nice surprise of getting to train with my Mom -- we haven't done this in several months.

She may get mad at me for saying this, but she turned 50 last month. That woman puts women and men half her age to absolute shame. She is damn strong and is incredibly hard working. Not to mention every time we go out people ask if we're sisters. : ) I love my Mom, and training with her today was a great treat.

Here's what I did a little while ago:

1a) Squats - 155x3x3 (new PR), 145x5, 130x9
1b) Cable Behind Head Extensions - 80x10, 75x10, 70x12

2a) BB Reverse Lunge - 85x2x10
2b) DB Hammer Curl - 25x2x10, 20x12

3a) Back Extensions - 70x2x12
3b) Hanging Leg Raises - 2x15

Excellent training day, and I was very pleased with my squats.

Conditioning, Bench, and Snatches

As I mentioned previously, I am performing my conditioning/interval workouts on non-lifting days.

Tuesday's Conditioning Workout:
1a) 1 Arm Kettlebell Swings - 5x20
1b) Burpees - 5x12
Rest 2 minutes between supersets

Yesterday's training session wasn't great. I started to gas out in the middle. I think I'm still recovering from Monday's 315 Deadlift PR. : )

And here is yesterday's workout:

AM Session:
Jump Rope x 15 minutes - nothing too tough; just wanted to get my blood moving

PM Strength Training Session:
1a) Bench Press - 135x3, 125x5, 115x8
1b) 1 Arm DB Row - 55x11, 60x8, 55x11

2a) 1 Arm Standing DB Overhead Press - 35x2x6, 30x10
2b) Pullup (I really gassed out on these) - 8/7/4

And finally . . .

This Mornings Conditioning Session:
1 Arm KB Snatch - 4x12, rest 75 seconds between sets

Tomorrow is squat day.

I Deadlifted 315!

Before I get to the 315 deadlift . . .

I mentioned last week that I was going to perform my interval training on non-lifting days. I'm going to do just that this week.

Here's yesterday's training session:

AM Conditioning:
Jump Rope 15 minutes -- this wasn't too tough but I wanted to do something

PM Strength Training Session:
1a) Sumo Deadlift - 315x1 (Check out the video and get the details here => My Road to a 315 Deadlift), 275x1, 215x10
1b) Bar Pushdown - 110x8, 100x12/10

2a) Reverse Lunge with Front Squat Grip - 75x2x10
2b) BB Curl - 50x10, 55x8/7

3a) Glute Bridge (I always get strange looks from this one) - 210x2x10
3b) SB Situp - 20x2x10

I finally deadlifted 315! You can watch the video HERE.

Upper Body Workout & Suicide Sprints

I didn't do my AM Conditioning session again today. Next week I'll probably do my conditioning workouts on my non-lifting days. That's the plan for now, but things could change.

Upper Body Strength Training Session:
1a) Weighted Chinup - 45x1, 35x2, 25x4, 10x8, bodyweight x 9
1b) Standing Military Press - 95x1, 85x6, 75x8, 65x10

2a) Weighted Inverted Row - 15x2x8, 5x12
2b) Weighted Pushups - 30x10, 35x6, 15x12

I was supposed to do an abdominal exercise but I decided to do suicide sprints instead.

Conditioning:
Suicide Sprints to 4 Lines - Rest 3 minutes, 2 sets total

Those were friggin ' brutal! I haven't run suicide sprints in a long time, and those thoroughly kicked my butt. After that workout I tore up some vegetable fajitas. ; )

Make sure you check out today's post at The Fat Solutions => Nutrition, Squats, and Weird Looks.

Have a great weekend.

Jump Rope & Squats

On Tuesday I jumped rope for 15 minutes. If you've never consistently used a jump rope for conditioning and fat loss workouts, I can't recommend it enough.

Yesterday I skipped the AM Conditioning session because I wanted to be fresh for squats.

Lower Body Strength Training Session:
1a) Squat - 155x1, 165x1, 175x1, 180x1 (all time PR!), 145x5, 130x8
1b) EZ Bar Extension - 40x12, 45x2x8

2a) Reverse Lunge off 4 Inch Step - 80x2x10
2b) DB Hammer Curl - 25x2x9

3a) Back Extension - 65x2x12
3b) Hanging Leg Raise - 15/12

Everything went very well yesterday, and I set several PRs.

Today I'll probably do some advanced burpee intervals.

Conditioning & Upper Body Training

Initially I planned on running hill sprints yesterday morning, but the rain changed that plan.

AM Conditioning Session:
1a) 1 Arm KB Swings - 4 x 20 each arm
1b) Burpees - 4 x 12

I did those back-to-back and rested for 2 minutes after each round. Once again - fast and effective.

PM Strength Training Session:
1a) Bench Press - 145x2x1, 130x4, 125x4, 105x12
1b) 1 Arm DB Row - 55x10, 60x7, 50x12

2a) Standing 1 Arm DB Overhead Press Neutral Grip - 30x10, 35x5, 30x10
2b) Medium Grip Pullup - 8/7/7

3) Band Resisted Ab Wheel Rollouts - 2x8

Everything felt great yesterday and I am making it a priority to finish my workouts (excluding warm-ups) within 50 minutes.

Make sure you check out Interview with The Glute Guy - Bret shares some excellent information when it comes to training and activating the glutes, along with some other great stuff.

Deadlifts

Yesterday's training session went well. However, I skipped the AM Conditioning session again.

1a) Deadlift - 265x1, 275x1, 245x3, 225x5, 195x10
Note: something I find interesting is that my performance with deadlifts on a 4 inch platform is consistently better than deadlifts on the floor. Must be a leverage thing . . .
1b) Triceps Pressdown - 100x12/10, 90x2x12

2a) Reverse Lunge w/ Front Squat Grip - 75x2x8
2b) BB Curl - 45x12, 50x8/7

3a) BB Glute Bridge w/ Back Elevated - 205x2x10
3b) SB Crunch - 15x2x13

The workout took 45 minutes, excluding warm-up.

For the next few weeks I am tweaking my program:
1) Decreased volume on lower body days - I am doing this because I want to continue perfoming sprints. Also, I'm going to focus on quality not quantity.
2) No more wave loading - I experimented with wave loading for the last few weeks, but I will no longer be using teh 5/1/5/1 wave load scheme.
3) Keep up the conditioning work - I may tweak things a little to keep fatigue in check. I'll give more details next week.

Hill sprints tomorrow . . .

Have a great weekend!

Hill Sprints & Upper Body Training Session

Today's workouts went well, but it's time to change things up a bit.

AM Conditioning Session:
Hill Sprints - 8 sprints in 14:28

PM Strength Training Session:
1a) Chinup with added weight - 25x5, 45x1, 27.5x5, 45x1
1b) Standing Military - 80x5, 95x1, 85x5, 95x1
I completely forgot to do my last high rep set for each exercise.

2a) Inverted Row with added weight - 10x11/10, Bodyweight x 15
2b) Weighted Pushups - 20x12, 30x8, 10x13

3a) Cable Abs - 110x20, 120x15
3b) Calf Weight with weight belt - 65x12, 85x8

That was it for today. I'm going to change up the first superset for each training day. Instead of using that wave load scheme, I'm going to do something different. I'll probably start out with heavy doubles or singles because I want to use the heaviest weight possible for those sets since I'm trying to increase my strength. After doing tough sets of 5 I know I'm not using the heaviest weights possible for the singles.

Lower Body Squat Session

I did some traveling over the weekend, and so I was trying to get back into the groove yesterday. Because of that I didn't do my usual AM Conditioning Session. I'll get back on track with that tomorrow.

Here's yesterday's strength training session:

1a) Squat - 140x5, 170x1, 145x5, 170x1, 125x11
1b) Rope Pushdowns - 65x12/11, 60x11, 55x14

2a) BB Reverse Lunge off Step - 75x10, 80x6
2b) DB Cross Body Hammer Curl - 25x9/8, 20x12

3a) Back Extension - 60x2x12
3b) Hanging Leg Raise - 13/12

Make sure you check out The Grain Debate over at The Fat Solutions. If you're one of the many people who is confused about eating grains and other starchy carbs, this should help you out.

Train hard, eat smart.