Week 20 of 31

Block 5, Week 2

Day 1 (Wednesday, 11/10/10)

Pause Bench (max test)
3x135 (50%)
3x160 (60%)
2x185 (70%)
1x210 (80%)
1x230 (87%)
1x250 (95%)
1x265 (100%, estimated max I did cycle off)
1x275 (PR)

Squat (no belt)
1x5x240 (50%)
2x4x285 (60%)
2x3x335 (70%)
5x2x380 (80%) [hard]

NG Pull-ups
5x5
2x4

Ab wheel
4x8

Seated Cable Row
1x6x120
1x6x135
1x6x150
2x6x130

Prone Trap Raise
4x15x5

Comments: Before I start my shirt competition cycle I tested my raw max. The last time I tested my raw max was 9/9/09 and I pressed 245 then missed 255 and injured my shoulder in doing so. Shortly before starting my raw bench cycle I did a difficult touch and go double with 250. Well I made some progress in my quest to go from a shit bench to a crap bench. I could have had a bit more in me than my top weight, but for now the shirt bench is the competition exercise and I didn't think taking a chance on missing a weight made much sense.  Not sure why squats were difficult today, maybe bench testing took something out of me.  I decided to skip the second round of squats since the first round kicked my butt and I have 3 weeks in a row of breaking in my new squat suit upon me.



Day 2 (Friday, 11/12/10)

Deadlift
1x4x280 (50%)
1x4x335 (60%)
1x3x390 (70%)
1x3x445 (80%)
1x3x470 (85%)
1x3x445 (80%)

DB Bench
10x35
10x45
3x10x55

Suit Deadlift from 6" boxes
1x4x280 (50%)
1x4x335 (60%)
1x3x390 (70%)
*add suit
1x3x450 (80%)
1x1x510 (90%) [lost grip on 2nd]
2x3x510 (90%) [straps, tore callous on 2nd set couldn't continue]

Dragon Flags
5x10

BB Hip Thrusts
5x5x225

Zercher Rack Pull (#18)
5x160
3x5x210

Comment: My hands just couldn't handle box pulls today.  I had a callous that had pooled with blood before the heavy sets and my hands were hurting bad enough that I couldn't hold on to my 2nd rep with 510.  Even straps couldn't get me through the workout (wanted 4 or 5 triples with 510) after my callous tore.  I gripped the bar for another set and my hands just couldn't stay closed, not to mention my hand wouldn't stop bleeding.  Because of that I took mercy on myself and skipped Kroc rows.



Day 3 (Sunday, 11/14/10)

Squat (no belt)
1x4x240 (50%)
1x4x285 (60%)
2x3x335 (70%)
6x3x355 (75%)

NG Pullups
4x2x+15 (3 negatives after each set)

Squat (no belt)
1x3x260 (55%)
1x3x310 (65%)
4x2x355 (75%)

SLDL
3x6x60

Pendlay Rows
6x90
6x115
3x6x140

Reverse BB Curls
6x60
6x70
6x80

Comments: Squats felt really good today.  Looking forward to training in the shirt starting next week, the competition is starting to feel a lot closer.


Bench Raw Test:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlobM-YYzEs