5/3/1 with Rest Pause

Since January, I’ve been doing the 5/3/1 Total Body Program.  In this program, I do Squats on Monday, Bench Press on Wednesday and  Military Press and Deadlifts on Friday.  For assistance work, I’ve been doing 3 sets of squats on Wednesday and Friday as well as pullups in between sets of everything.  I also do dips.  The pullups and dips are over 100 reps for the week.  Currently I’m in my 5th cycle and haven’t gotten “stuck” yet.  Starting with basing everything at 90% of the true one rep max, one builds a nice pattern of success.   The program works well, I’m not bored with it and hopefully can continue increasing.  I know, for sure that the military press is where I’m going to get stuck first.  I’m doing reps of 5 in the 130 and 135 range which are personal records in regard to reps at those weights.  Hopefully I can get through the 6th cycle.

I haven’t picked up a kettlebell since April 21.  I’ve been meaning to use them twice a week to increase volume.  One day I want to do military press, deadlifts and double swings.  The other day, I want to do TGU’s, snatches and double front squats with the 70′s.  The problem, is life is getting in the way.  I am basically head coaching a little league team.  We have games every Friday night at 7:30 (my liver is extremely happy about this), Saturday afternoon and practice on Sundays.  I love it.  Coaching basketball and baseball is a complete stress reliever for me.  Whatever I have on my mind is completely clear for those 2 hours.   On top of that, I had yard work to do.  Over the past two weekends, I’ve weeded and edged beds, weed whacked, put down 3 yards of mulch, mowed my lawn and planted 10 flowers and trees.  So needless to say with all the physical labor, I haven’t wanted to do kettlebells.  On top of this, my elbow acted up last Wednesday.  Thankfully, that problem has gone away.

Because I’ve only been able to lift 3 days a week, I decided to add the volume to my assistance work.  I’m doing this through rest pause training.  What is rest pause training?  It’s taking about 65% of your one rep and doing as many reps as possible.  Rest for 15 seconds or 15 breaths.  Grab the weight and rep out again.  Rack, rest, and do it once more.  I do this with the bench press and military press.  So today for the bench, I took 145 lbs, and did a set of 13, racked it and rested for 15 breaths and did 4 racked it and rested then, did 2.  I tried for 3, but it was complete failure.  For the military press, I’m using 95 lbs.    I am not doing rest pause for squats and deadlifts.  Instead, I’m doing one rep out set with 225 lbs.  I did 1 set of 20 squats on Monday which is a personal record!  For the deadift, I did 15 with 225.

I have done rest pause in a cluster fashion in the past with kettlebells and have had good luck with it.  After the rest pause set, I’m doing 5 sets of 10 with 50-60% of my 1 rep max.  On Monday, doing squats it ended up being 94 reps.  I was sore on Tuesday, but not crippled.  For today, it came out to 93 reps.  I’m not going to do the 5 sets for deadlifts.  Too much stress on the lower back.  Here’s my new view on assistance work.  If you want to get good at something, focus on it.  So if I want to improve my bench, then bench.  Dips might help, but not as much as benching.  Same with squatting.  Leg presses are nice, but they aren’t squats.

If I don’t get to the kettlebells, there is always de-load week in a fortnight.

Vacationing with a 35 lb Kettlebell

I spent 11 days in Naples, Florida visiting my parents.  April in Florida is awesome.  The winds have died down a little and the temperature is consistently in the high 80′s -low 90′s.  I love this type of weather.  Why I live in Massachusetts is a question I ask myself every time I’m down there.  Also, most of the snow birds have headed back north.   When I’m away, other than taking care of some deals at work, I literally “unplug.”  Limited internet, and no social media, meaning no Twitter or LinkedIn.   I don’t even log on.  Lots of time spent at the beach, pool, golf course, tennis courts, bars and restaurants.  I had three pieces of steak of over a lb. in 11 days!  Ate potato chips, drank beer, gin and scotch.  The best drink in the world is a gin and tonic coming off the beach.   Be careful with gin however, it tastes great but is liquid Satan.  It catches up with you in a hurry.  The whole world is your oyster and then WHAM you are knocked on your ass

When I left for vacation, I had finished cycle 4, week 2 of 5/3/1.  I decided to use my “de-load week’ as my 3rd week instead of 4th.  Usually when I’m down there, I just run.  However, last year I convinced my college buddy that he HAD to buy a 35 lb. kettlebell.  And he did!  For the past year it has sat in his garage collecting dust.  I went to his house the first night I was there to get a set of golf clubs because I was playing two days later.  I asked him, ‘where’s the bell?’  He said, “You’re not going to take it are you?”  Someone had to break it in so I took it with me back to the condo.  But not before my wife did a Turkish Getup on each side with it and then cleaned and push pressed it with each hand.  I promised him I’d show him how to use it.  It is a 35 lb. Troy bell, same brand as my 70 lb. bells.  I haven’t used a 35 in a while because I had mine on loan to my buddy in exchange for his 45.

First day there, I went out to the front of the garage in the parking lot and did 200 continuous snatches in sets of 10, and then went for a 2.5 mile run.  I loved the handle on it.  My 35 is a Body Solid and it is slick.  In Florida, where it’s humid, this is a problem.  The Troy had enough grit on it so it wouldn’t slip.   I used the bell five times.  What was nice was I did some stuff that I hadn’t for a while.  For example I did stacking for reps.  With stacking, you add an exercise to each set.  Here is what the first one looked like

Two hand swing x 20 reps rest 30 seconds

Two hand swing x 20, Goblet Squat x 10 rest 30 seconds

Two hand swing x 20, Goblet Squat x 10, Slingshot x 20 rest 30 seconds

Two hand swing x 20, Goblet Squat x 10, Slingshot x 20, Snatch to Press 10L, 10R rest 30 seconds

Two hand swing x 20, Goblet Squat x 10, Slingshot x 20, Snatch to Press 10L, 10R, 10 Pushups, rest 90 seconds.

I did 3 rounds of this.  Another day, I switched each round using snatches, lunges, one hand swings, cleans and press, pushups and did 4 rounds.

Another fun workout I did was the 300 workout.  I haven’t done this in at least 3 years.  You do 25 jack knifes, 50 two hand swings, 25 pushups, 50 snatches (25L, 25R), 50 burpees (this I have to break up into sets), 50 clean and presses (25L, 25R) and 25 Mountain Climbers.   Do for time.  I finished in a hair over 15 minutes.  The burpees, I had to break up into 5 sets of 10.  I was happy about being able to do 25 clean and presses before switching hands.  I followed this up with doing 10 sets of 10 swings alternating with laddered burpees up to 10.  This took 8 minutes and 31 seconds.    I also did the Helion workout and was able to go up the ladder to 10 without stopping and back down the ladder without stopping.

I ran 5 miles twice in the 90 degree heat.  Loved it!  The first time was Marathon Monday and then last Thursday.  I ate and drank too much at Shula’s the night before, took one look at the bell and said no.  I put my head phones in my earns, turned my Ipod on and hit the road.  The highlight of the run was the last two laps.  Good tunes going.  The 11 minute Venus and Mars/Rockshow/Jet medley from Paul McCartney’s 1976 Wings Over America album.  Out dated?  Yep, but it’s great 70′s arena rock, and his voice was never better.  Here’s the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIIzvjf9Cls  He is actually re-releasing the film and album.  I might have to pick that up.  He is coming to Fenway Park in July, I’m going to take a pass.  He can’t sing anymore.   Sometimes you should go out on top.  He hasn’t gotten the message.

That was followed up by Criminal and I Wanna Go by Britney Spears, Rock The Boat by the Hues Corporation and then the Travelling Riverside Blues by Led Zeppelin.  That’s a pretty eclectic mix if you ask me.  I also played a lot of tennis with my sons and nephew.  All 3 kicked my ass at one time or another.  I was the king of the unforced error.   I hit the ball well on the golf course, but my short game sucked.  It was the first time I had picked up a club since July.  Got two rounds in.

Finally, I returned my friend’s kettlebell the last day I was there.  I traded him a kettlebell lesson for a couple of professional profile photographs.  I borrowed his sport coat (both a 44 long) threw it over a shirt and tie, and had a bathing suit on.  He’s converted.  I’m receiving texts on his workouts.   Watching him huffing and puffing after 10 minutes brought a smile of satisfaction to my face.  Now it’s back to reality and work.

3/31/13 US Secret Service Snatch Test

Just like a village, every Easter has its idiot.  

I decided to put myself through some torture today and do the 10 minutes US Secret Service Snatch test.  To avoid frying my grip, I did mostly sets of 5 then switched hands.  I used a 55 lb bell which is 2.2 lbs heavier than the standard bell.  It also has a thicker/smoother handle which takes its toll toward the end.

10 minutes performed 152 snatches.  I rested as necessary.  I haven’t done it in 18 months.  Last time, it was 151.  I believe I have 160 in me right now.  I just need to knock off one rest time.

Cycle 3 Completed and a Fortnight Until Florida

I finished up the 3rd cycle of Wendler 5/3/1 and am currently in de-load week.    I finished my weak-assed bench press doing 185 for 6 on the last set.  Left one in the tank.  For military press, I got 135 for 3, which with a barbell is a personal rep. record.  For the Deadlift, I did 305 for 3, another personal rep. record.  I cranked out 140 pullups last week as well.   For de-load weeks I usually do kettlebells.  The dilemma I was having at the end of the last week was whether or not to blow off de-load and go to cycle 4.  Going down South in a couple of weeks and I was going to try to fit the 4th cycle, 9 workouts into 18 days.  I decided against it.  Why rush the process?  I’ll get done what I need to get done and use the vacation as a rest week.  Usually we go in March, but this year we can’t pull my son out of school, now that he’s in the 7th grade.  Not only will the workload that he’ll miss be too much, but he’s made the high school varsity tennis team!  Huge accomplishment and I’m proud.  We’re going during the April vacation and although I live 6 miles from the start of the Boston Marathon, I’ll miss the start of it for the 45th year in a row.

There was a time when I was a runner and doing 15-20 miles a week that I thought I might run it someday.  That thought passed after doing 13.5 miles one Sunday on 3 cups of coffee and a glass of water.  Not that I couldn’t do it, I know I could if I trained.  But why?  Long distance running makes you fat.  It’s not good on your body or joints.  And let’s face facts, training in the dead of winter sucks donkey balls.  We’ve had a lot of snow this year and the biggest problem is the wind.  It howls as you get closer to the water.  I can’t imagine few things worse  than running into a stiff 20 mph headwind for 26 miles.  One of my mentors at my firm is running for the 40th year in a row.  He’s 73 an swears to me this is the last one.  He’ll bang it out in just over 5 hours.  But he was telling me about the 22 mile run he did this weekend, taking a cab from Wellesley to Hopkinton, his sciatic nerve screaming going through Ashland/Framingham.  Getting to Wellesley having some water and a snack at his car and praying that his back would hold up going through the Newton Highlands.  Not to mention the chafed thighs, irritated nipples, sore feet etc.  Funk that.   We discussed a good formula.  You run 5 ten minute miles and walk 1 fifteen minute mile.  That’s an hour and five minutes.  Do that 4 times and you’re at 4:20 with a little over two miles left.  Bang those out and voila, you’ve finished in 4:40-4:45.  I went running Sunday and did 4.3 miles.  It was 40 degrees with a slight breeze.  My hips were a little tight afterward, but from a conditioning standpoint I was fine.  I plan on doing some running in FL as well as borrowing my friend’s 35 lb. kettlebell that he currently uses as a door stop.

Since Christmas, I’ve been in the low-mid 190′s for weight.  I was fine with it because I put it to good use doing 5/3/1.  But, I knew I needed to address it before going South.  My fighting weight is between 183-185.  Last week wasn’t a good week to start.  My sales year has been off to the best start in 11 years and I’ve had to take clients out.  Thursday I went into town to Abe & Louie’s and had the biggest piece of dead animal flesh on the menu, medium rare, washed it down with multiple Macallan’s and had cheesecake for dessert.   Saturday was veal night out with another client in Worcester (wis’ ter) is the correct pronunciation.  Sunday, with 17 days to go it was time to implement my health kick.  From 10 PM Saturday night, I didn’t eat until 6 PM on Sunday and pounded water.  I also went for a 4.3 run as stated above.  After the run, I did 200 snatches with a 55 lb. kettlebell in sets of 5L,5R rest to the top of each minute.  I later played tennis in the wind and lost 6-4 to my son.   I followed that up yesterday with a great eating day.  A 5 egg omelet, a protein shake and a salad with meat in it.  Got on the scale this morning, 189.8.  Lowest I’ve been this year.  Fasted for 24.5 hours from last night until tonight.  Yesterday and today, I did kettlebell complex workouts using a single or double 45 lb. bells.

Here’s my plan with 14 days left.

Workouts: 6 days a week.  Friday’s are off. due to soccer games Thursday nights.  Tomorrow and and Thursday, kettlebell complexes.  Saturday start the 4th cycle of 5/3/1 and do that every other day.  Other days continue the kettlebell complexes.  Overtraining?  Perhaps, but not for long.

Diet:  1. No alcohol until vacation.  2.  Fast twice a week for 24 hours.  Next fast is Good Friday.  3.  Lower carb intake.  limit starches to under 60g a day (a large baked potato), limit fruit to one a day which will be an apple in my protein shake, substitute baby carrots and other vegetables instead.   For protein, substitute hard boiled eggs for Greek Yogurt (a lot of sugar in yogurt).  Basically I’m going to limit as much sugar as possible.  4.  One cheat day, Easter which will help me keep my sanity.

For me the key is getting momentum and with 3 days down and 14 to go, I’m like butter….on a roll.  You can follow the workouts on Tumblr under Blackstone Valley Kettlebells.  Enjoy!

Cycle 3 5/3/1

Eagerly awaiting another 6-10 inches of snow tonight.  Right on the doorstep of spring.  The third Monday in March is when the sports teams in high school can have their first practice.  It was 38 degrees today for high school tennis and baseball tryouts.  My right shoulder hurts just thinking of throwing a baseball outdoors.  Or swinging a bat for that matter.  Every time you make contact you get the bee stings in your hands.  There is nothing worse than playing baseball in the cold.  My son is trying out for the high school tennis team as a 7th grader so he was out there today.  School will probably be cancelled for tomorrow and then the snow will be all melted by Thursday.

This week is my 3rd week of the 3rd cycle of 5/3/1.  I’ve been able to keep up with the increases on the percentages.  Last week, I didn’t rep out on squats and deadlifts.  Just wasn’t feeling it.  For example I was doing squats and just didn’t like the depth I was taking the weight, so I racked it.  Live to fight another day.  For military presses, I did 4 reps with 125, and might have had one more rep.  For bench I did 9 reps with 175.  I went for the 10th but only got it 1/2 way up.  The good news is on the pullups and dips.  I’m up to over 130 pullups a week and did 20 reps in one set for dips.

Today was a squat day.  Slightly hungover from St. Patrick’s Day, I did 275 x 5, 295 x 3 and then did 305 x 5.  I felt good, and had a pump in my legs.  After dips and rows, I did my treadmill sprints.  I’ve been doing 12 MPH with a 5.0 incline for 10 seconds, then rest for 15.  I was able to do 12.  Today, I decided to lower the incline to 3.0  I always thought that the treadmill speed maxed out at 12.  I was wrong, I got it up to 13.0.  With the lower incline I banged out 15 ten second sprints.

I  really like this program, because it consistently pushes you to do heavier weights, but the jumps are only 5 lbs each cycle for upper body movements and 10 lbs. for lower body movements.  It’s so simple that I’m always flabbergasted why people try to complicate it.   Wendler finally got smart and decided to have his own forum.  You can join for $19.99 a month.  I’ll take a pass, that’s more expensive than my gym.

I’m still doing kettlebells a couple of times a week and use them exclusively during de-load week. I’ve been doing military presses two times a week, just to get some volume in.  I did ladders yesterday with 55′s.  5 ladders of 2,3, 5 and then one arm swings with my 88.   Doing deadlifts has really improved the hip snap in my swings.  The bell is flying up to almost chest level.  Now I just have to clean up the diet for 2 or 3 weeks and we’ll be all set.

Sgt Pepper Review and Cycle 3 of 5/3/1 Week 1

A foot of snow was dropped on us overnight.  I thought it was coming Thursday, worked from home but it didn’t start accumulating until early this morning.  First there was a 2 hour delay for school, then, school was cancelled at 9.  Went outside with the snowblower and took care of everything.  Now it’s sleeting. Can you say heart attack snow?  If there is going to be snow, I work from home.  Not that I’m scared of driving in it.  In my humble opinion, I’m a fantastic driver in the snow.  Whether it be the 2 Hondas I owned, my Buick, TrailBlazer and now Explorer,  I feel I’m peerless.  It’s the other people driving I’m worried about.  I haven’t had a ticket since 1993 for speeding.  Was pulled over in Rhode Island, but explained it was a blind spot in the pouring rain and the only issues I’ve had with accidents is hitting a deer 6 years ago.   My last parking ticket was on Commonwealth Ave. over near Fenway 7 years ago.  My buddy Tommy Rambo and I went to a businessman’s special Red Sox game.  Rambo secured 4 free tickets 5 rows behind the Red Sox dugout.  Instead of paying $40 to park near the ballpark, we put a few quarters in the meter on the street and walked.  Lovely Rita Meter Maid showed up 15 minutes before we got back to the car.  $20 ticket vs. parking for $40?  No brainer, happily payed the ticket.

Moved up my percentages this week for cycle 3.  My max is now 195 for bench, 320 for squats and deadlifts, and 140 for the press.  Because of the snow, I didn’t get to press or deadlift at the gym today.  Instead, I did double 70 kettlebells.

Superset went like this.  Front Squat x 5, Deadlift x 10.  5 sets of that.  Followed up with this Superset.  Double Military Press/Double Rows.  5 ladders (1,2,3)  30 total reps.  Finished with Double Swing Outside the Knees 3 sets of 15 with :30 seconds rest between each set.

On Wednesday, I did bench and on the last set got 12 reps at 165.  Still doing a ton of pullups.  I’m up to sets of 5 with neutral grip and basically touching my collarbone to the bar.  Monday, was squat day and did 275 for 8.  Still making all the numbers.  Squatting is starting to get harder than deadlifting, which I knew would happen.  Next week is sets of 3.  I didn’t mind missing today because, I went heavier on the military press with the kettlebells.   I’m also still warming up jumping rope (that broke) back to Wal Mart to exchange and doing sprints on the treadmill.  I did 12 on Monday.

While driving to Providence Monday, I put my Sgt Pepper CD in the radio.  Released in 1967, it is considered the Holy Grail of all rock albums.  It revolutionized everything in pop and rock music.  I’m here to tell you that it is a FANTASTIC album.  However, it is not a rock album.  You can’t play it live in concert.  Heck the Beatles didn’t even play instruments on some of the tracks.

Sick of touring, the Beatles decided to have an alter ego of being Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  Paul was the catalyst behind the idea.  The opening starts with Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band.  Paul tells the story of them being together for 20 years using his Little Richard voice.  At the end they introduce the one and only Billy Shears.  The medley turns into With A Little Help From My Friends with Ringo Starr as Billy Shears.  It is an absolutely brilliant opening.  There is a drug reference, “get high with a little help from my friends.”  John, Paul and George singing questions to Ringo, and he answers them.  McCartney’s bass playing is fantastic on this song.  As a matter of fact, in my opinion, the greatest strengths of this album musician wise are McCartney’s bass and Ringo’s drumming.

Up next is the weird intro to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.  John Lennon who at this point had taken a thousand acid trips, swears that it’s not about LSD.  But listen to the lyrics.  John tells the tale that Lucy was a friend of his son Julian.  A couple of years ago, the real Lucy died of cancer.  The bass and drumming are top notch and the singing of the refrain is excellent with the harmonies.

It’s Getting Better ensues.  Paul sings about being optimistic, “I have to admit, it’s getting better, a little better, all the time…with John singing back, “it couldn’t get much worse.”  There you have the perfect yin/yang of the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team.  Light vs. dark.  Excellent song.  This is followed by Fixing a Hole.  Another solid tune.  I completely annoyed my wife after last year’s Super Bowl.  After the Patriots lost I dented the sheet rock on the bathroom wall with my knuckles.  She didn’t notice until 2 days later and fixed it.  I started singing the song and was told to cease immediately.

The next tune She’s Leaving Home, starts with a harp and Paul singing the story about a young woman running away from home to see the world.  For someone who in later years was heavily criticized for banal lyrics, on Sgt Pepper, his story telling is brilliant,.  Lennon plays the parents singing “what did we do what was wrong?”  It’s a great song, but it’s not rock.  There are harps and violins and that’s it.  No drums, bass or guitar.

John Lennon’s Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite about the circus finishes side 1.  Very cleverly written with a great organ in the middle of the song.  It’s incredibly, produced.  Changes of tempo, and the sounds of the song are amazing.  George Martin earns all the credit on this.  Is it their best song?  No, but it’s interesting how they came up with the middle.

The token Harrisong opens up the second side.  Within You Without You, which has an Indian theme with the sitar.  Although the Beatles used the sitar on previous songs, Norwegian Wood, and The Word on Rubber Soul and Love You To on Revolver, this is the first headfirst dive into Indian music.  The lyrics are cool, but the song is endless and doesn’t really belong on the album.  I just finished reading the biography Fab about Paul McCartney.  One of George Harrison’s biggest gripes was Paul and John didn’t respect his music.  And if he wondered why, look no further than this song.  Up next is When I”m 64, the song you hear at every wedding.  It’s a shout out to Paul’s father who was 64 when it was written.  As a former student of the clarinet, I dig the sound of the register key (anything higher than B flat) and like the song.  It’s clever, again the Beatles aren’t playing instruments on it.   Then Lovely Rita, Meter Maid.  Catchy ode to the parking ticket chick in London.  Not in the top 50 of Beatles songs, but a mediocre Beatle song is better than most songs.

Good Morning Good Morning, by John Lennon follows.  This song is interesting with the roosters, sound of fox hounds, bluesy saxophone (kind of a foreshadowing of the Savoy Truffle from the White Album).  They stuck a dog whistle at the end of the song, so if your dog barks you know why.  Lennon’s voice is in fine form and sings with conviction.

The album ends with Sgt Pepper reprise as a closing song and then morphs into A Day in the Life.  Considered by some the greatest rock song of all time.  Lennon sings about headlines he sees in the news, the bass and the drumming guide the song along, and then horns build up into a crescendo to an alarm clock ringing and McCartney singing about getting out of bed and being late.  There are great sound effects and it’s basically an unfinished song that they put into the bridge.  McCartney finishes with going into a dream and back to a Day in the Life with Lennon singing again.  Unbelievable transformation with the song finishing with another build up in the horns and the final piano note playing on for almost a minute.  WHEW, awesome ending.  Then they decide to get cute with the audience and make these backward tapes which are supposed to be what the grooves at the center of the record sound like as the needle goes to the center.

All in all a 5 star record.  Is it my favorite?  No.  Does it have a lot of hits on it?  No, they never released a single from it.  Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane were recorded in late 1966 and released as a double A side.  I always wondered why they didn’t put them on there.  They ended up sticking them on the Magical Mystery Tour which came out in late 1967.  But it’s mind blowing to listen to.  I give a ton of credit to George Martin in this.  I think he was the star of this show.

5/3/1 Heavy Week, Cycle 2 My 15 Fitness Mistakes

I turned 44 on Thursday.  Halfway to my favorite kettlebell  No biggie, I already accepted the fact that I was middle-aged when I turned 40.  Had a great birthday as a matter of fact.  My wife went to the Johnston and  Murphy outlet in Wrentham and bought me 4 pairs of shoes.  Buy 3 pair get another free.  They are the only shoes I’ll wear.  I used to own Bostonians, but as someone told me, “put your foot in this and  you’ll know where the extra $25 per shoe went.”  Great point and they last.  I received a Cross pen from my boys and on Thursday we ate Chinese food and I indulged in a couple of drinks.  Have to treat yourself wrong once in a while.

Wednesday was bench day for 5/3/1 and I had to do 5 at 85%, 3 at 90% and 1+ at 95%.  So after warmup it was 5 x 165, 3 x 170 and then I did 8 with 180 lbs.  That’s a personal record.  Friday I woke up early enough to go to the gym  Felt a little after effect of the Johnnie Walker Red and MSG from the Chinese food when I walked into the gym yesterday.  After warming up consisting of jumping rope, stretching and foam roller, it was standing military press time.  My sets were 5 x 115, 3 x 120 and then I got 5 x 130.  95% of 135 is 128, but we don’t truncate here in the Blackstone Valley.  We add another wheel to the bar and round-up.  5 x 130 on a barbell is a personal record.  I’ve pressed 5 x 140 with two 70 lb kettlebells, but never with a barbell.  Different lift.   I use a thumbless and narrow grip.  The width is basically the smooth part of the center of the bar.  I do not use a staggered stance.  Pullups were done in between sets as always.

After pressing, I did the deadlift.  I warmed up with 5 x 135, 5 x 185 and then 5 x 225 to warmup.  Then I did 5 x 265 with an overhand grip.  3 x 280 with an alternate grip.  Finally, I went to the locker room to chalk my hands (Workout World has a ban on chalk, but I sneak it in any way) and did 295 for 6.  That’s a personal record.  I then decided to see what I could do for singles.  Racked the barbell and threw 3 45lb wheels on each end, collared them and pulled 315 for 1.  Another PR, I’ve never tried it before.  It went up pretty easy to tell you the truth.  My weight was 192 the morning before so that’s a dead lift of over 1.5 body weight.  My goal is to get it to 2 times body weight.  I think I’m pretty close.  Then, I threw 25′s on each side to see if I could get 365.  Failed the attempt, it didn’t move and I could feel fatigue setting in my lower back.  Oh well.  I’ve only been deadlifting for about 3 months so, the progress has been excellent.  I rewarded myself by blowing off the treadmill sprints

Next week is a de-load week, which for me means kettlebells.  I’ve been thinking of experimenting with a thumbless grip doing military presses with kettlebells.  I did a couple of reps today after going for a hard 3 mile run this morning with a 45.  One of Jim Wendler’s recommendations to improving the press is to use a thumbless grip.  I’m going to try it just to see.  I’ve never heard it mentioned with kettlebells, so I figure why not be a guinea pig?

While driving to Providence yesterday, I was reflecting on all the things I did wrong in my training before I started doing kettlebells almost 4  years ago.  Here is what I came up with:

1.  Training in running shoes.   You should not squat, deadlift or do military presses in running shoes.  Your feet are not flat and they are cushioned.  Think of doing squats on your mattress.  It’s just not a stable surface.  Use flat soled shoes.  Chuck Taylor’s or Adidas shell toes.  When I’m home its bare foot city.

2.  Using straps for pulling movements.  Lose them.  Lower the weight and train your grip.  If you can’t hold a weight with your natural grip, it’s too heavy.  Leave your ego in the locker room.

3.  Doing upright rows.  They put your shoulders in a terrible position for injury.  You want big traps?  Deadlift, shrug and do farmer walks.  10 sets of 10 double swings with 70 lb. kettlebells will do the trick.

4.  The importance of your lat muscles when pressing.  Flexing your lats packs your shoulders and protects them by keeping them in your sockets.  The stronger your lats are, the stronger your press.

5.  Training your lats.  I used to hate training back.  HATED IT.  I’d do the bullshit lat pulldowns, seated cable rows with straps and assisted pullup machines thinking I was hitting them.  It was not until I discovered how sore the next day my lats and abs were by doing REAL PULLUPS that I started to take it seriously.

6.  Training your lats Part II.  Greasing the Groove to get volume.  Most people are horrible at pullups.  My max set is about 10 and believe me, when I was in high school, I could maybe do 3.  That doesn’t mean you can’t get better at them.   Think about it this way.  3 sets of 10 =30.  So does 10 sets of 3.  You’re better off doing 10 GREAT sets of 3 working on your form than you are doing 3 lousy sets of 10, than 7 than 5.  Just pick a volume number and get there.  Every time you get a drink between sets of squats, do a set of 3 pullups.  I’m up to 120-125 a week. and I do them with a neutral grip, palms facing one another.  It’s easier on my shoulders which get achy when I do wide grip.  Another great way to get better at pullups, lose weight.

7.  Tension.  You don’t want to be loosey goosey.  Crush grip the bar, flex those lasts, squeeze you ass hard. push those feet through the floor.   The tighter you are, the stronger you will be, as well as less chance to get injured.

8.  Form means everything.  I used to do deadlifts every once in a while.  It’s a miracle I didn’t end up in traction.  I would do sets of 10 with 225 and say to the resident body builder at the gym, my friend, Ernie “it’s a good day to grow.”  My back would kill the next day.  Why?  Because I was doing too much volume and not using my hips and hamstrings.  I was using my back.  Yesterday was the first day I have felt my back doing deadlifts the last 3 months.   Another example is squatting.  By dropping the hips back back back you can get below parallel.  And you won’t feel it in your knees.  Bench Press, those idiots with the feet in the air, plant them and see how strong you get.  It’s a total body movement.

9.  Doing a program, and sticking with it for at least a month.  How can you measure progress if you have fitness ADD?

10.  Keep a journal of your workouts.  You balance your checkbook, you account for your business, how do you know if you are progressing?

11.  Long sessions of cardio.  It’s all about the hormones.  You’re better off fast and furious for 15 minutes than an hour on the treadmill.  Sprints, Jump Rope, Tabata Protocol, Kettlebell Complexes, Circuit Training hack off fat and build muscle.  An hour on the elliptical or stairmaster or an 8 mile run don’t.

12.  Lift fast and explosively.  The less time under tension the easier it is to lift.  Not that there isn’t a place for negatives.  There absolutely is, but lift like an athlete, explode.

13.  Simple is good.  Stick with the basics.  Bench, Military Press, Squats, Deadlifts, Dips, Rows and Pullups.  What else do you need?  What about curls?  Rows and pullups hit your biceps quite nicely.  What about tri-extensions?  Presses and dips build your triceps.

14.  Rest.  I used to worry about taking days off and gaining weight.  Simple, learn how to control your diet and you will see how strong you get by resting.

15.  85% of the people don’t know what the heck they are doing.  I didn’t.  I was in shape, but was I improving? No.  Planet Fitness has a judgement free zone and that preys on the people who don’t know what they’re doing.  Look, if you are taking the steps to go to the gym and invest in your health, ask how to do things the right way and don’t be intimidated.  Woody Allen said success is 80% showing up.  Not learning is like getting in your car, filling it with gas and driving aimlessly.  Yes, you’ll get someplace, but is it where you want to be?  Set a goal, a destination.  Set the date you want to achieve it.  Ask for direction in how to get there.   FOLLOW THROUGH.

I’m sure more will come to mind, but this was my list of 15 fitness fuckups.