COLOSSUS' Iron Journal

[Colossus]

Press, sat

Standing overhead
barx20
135x10
185x5
205x5
225x5
245x3
245xmiss
245x5

Machine press
2x20

Face pulls
2x10
2x20

Changed my grip from a false grip to a full grip on the press and it really made a difference in power. Will do that from now on.

 

[Quagmire911]

Strong stuff man.

When you say you find a full grip better for the press than false grip, is a false grip you're talking about a "sucide" grip?

Try and get that 600 on video, that will be sick.

I always find it entertaining when I see something like:

Bench 315x8- "Need to get passed the girl scout weight".

I think we are all guilty of this. I wonder at what point it ends. I think Bolton must be happy with his lifts, his site say's "strongest man on the planet". Maybe we all need to dead 1000 . Regardless, 315x8 is pretty good, I'd be thrilled to bench that.

Keep it up,

Quagmire

 

[Colossus]

Thanks Quag. I guess it's all relative. I look at guys whom I think are strong and compare my numbers, and I feel like my bench is nothing to write home about. I'm actually pretty happy with my deadlift, but then I see guys pull 700+ and it becomes average again. It's all about the pursuit of strength, I've learned. The joy and the puzzle of getting strong....one more level, one more level.

And yeah, the false grip is the same as a suicide grip.

Speaking of bench, today was bench day.


barx20
135x10
225x5
275x3
315x5
335x3
355x1
385x1
410xmiss

Barely missed the 410. My buddy gave me a wee bit of help and I completed the rep, but it was still an assisted lift. Next time I'll get 415. I'm going to deload from bench next week.

Incline
225x12
225x10
225x10

Incline DB tricep extensions
4 sets

Chins
bwx10
+20x10
+40x6
+40x5
(drop set) +40x3, 20x5, bwx5

 

[Quagmire911]

Interesting on the full grip making a difference, Wendler says's the opposite works for him.

I just switched to suicide recently and couldn't tell much difference.

Whatever works for the individual I guess...

 

[Colossus]

Bench, wed

barx20
135x10
225x5
275x5
315x3
365x1
395x1
275x15 (PR)
225x21

Hammer strength incline
3 sets 10

Hammer strength seated dips
4 sets 8-12

Roman chair weighted abs
4 sets

rope pressdowns
3 sets 20

Was going to deload bench this week but felt strong so decided to go for some singles. Oddly enough 395 went up kinda slow but 275 was like play weight. Maybe next week I'll try a 20 rep set on fresh arms.

 

[lorekeeper]

wow. 395.

I'm struggling with 3x8@185.

 

[Colossus]

Deadlift, Mon.

Rack pulls from mid-shin
135x10
+ 110 lbs chains
225x5
315x3
405x3
455x3
500x2

Chins
100 total reps, different grips

Hanging leg raise
10 sets

Felt great on the pulls till 5 plates, then tweaked my low back a bit. Been stiff since then. The chains give me ~600 at lockout so I felt good about the reps but I should have stuck with 455 and chain for that day. Oh well. Very confident I could pull in the low 600's on a fresh standard pull day. Will try to post a vid on youtube.


Accessory, Tues.

Muscle cleans (like a standard power clean except i dont drop and catch it, just use upper body strength to clean it)
135x10
185x5
225x5
245x3
245x3
275x1

Hammer curl/preacher curl super set
70,80,90 db
65 ez bar to failure

Machine curls
3 sets, rep out

Cardio
steady state, 15 min.

 

[Fuglydude]

Awesome pull numbers regardless... Good to see the high volume/weighted pull up work. I'm not sure where you're the weakest w/ your deads, but having a strong back will be beneficial regardless.

600 lbs is sick! I got close to 500, then down to the 450s w/ a bodyweight in the high 160s.

 

[Colossus]

Deadlift, today.

Rack pulls from mid-shin
All sets with 110 lbs chains

bar + chains
135x5
225x5
315x3
405x3
455x1
455x3

The 455 + chain (~565) felt heavy so I stopped there. I'm going to revamp my deadlift training, as this week-in and week-out heavy pulling is just frying my CNS. I think I may do an every other week thing.

Hammer strength rows
worked up to 4.5 plates per side for 3 sets

Chins w/ fatgripz
3 back-to-back sets

Leg curls
2 x 20

adductor machine
5 sets

preacher machine
5 sets

 

[Colossus]

Bench, today

135x10
225x5
275x3
315x2
365x1
395x1
420x1 (PR)
425x1 (PR!)

Hammer strength incline
3 x 10

Ped dec flyes
3 x 20

Hammer strength dips
5 sets 10

Pressdowns
1 set 35
1 set 20

Donkey calf raises
5 sets 10


Huge PR today on bench. The chains have really paid off. I stuck to a strict regimen of heavy triples w/ chains for 3 weeks, adding 10 lbs per week. 420 went up like gravy and 425 also without a hitch. Will try to post the vid on youtube tomorrow.

BW- 246 lbs.

 

[Kerpal]

Awesome.

 

[Colossus]

Deads, 7/28

135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 5
405 x 3
455 x 1
500 x 1
545 x 1
585 x 1

Stopped at 585 as it felt heavy and my form was less than pretty. No hitching, but it just didnt feel right.

Machine rows
100 total reps, alternating grips

Lat pulldowns
4 sets

Preacher curls
5 sets



Bench, 7/29

135 x 10
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 3
365 x 1
405 x 2
405 x 2

I think I had triples in me for 405, but I chose not to push it this time.

One arm DB incline
80 x 15
90 x 15,15,15

Chins
100 total reps with fatgripz

Tricep pressdowns
100 total reps, sets of 20



Squats, today

Decided to use the monolift today and ease back into free squatting. I've been doing strict box squats for about a month and dont want to regress as far as raw squat power.

Warmups---eliptical 10 min, stretching

bar x 10
145 x 10
235 x 10
325 x 10
415 x 10

Nothing special here, just a bit of volume, touch and go reps using the parallel box for depth only. Felt strong and the strict box squatting has really helped me sit back more.

Leg press

600 x 10
800 x 10,10,10

45 degree back raise (hams)

bw x 10
+25 x 10
+45 x 10,10,10,10

 

[Colossus]

Back, today

Treadmill--20 min

DB rows

55x10
75x10
100x10
140x10
170x10
185x10,10

Seated machine rows
20, 20

Peaced out early today because I felt like sh!t. Joints hurting, general weakness = time to shut it down.

BW 248 lbs

 

[EFFORT]

Back, today

Treadmill--20 min

DB rows

55x10
75x10
100x10
140x10
170x10
185x10,10

Seated machine rows
20, 20

Peaced out early today because I felt like sh!t. Joints hurting, general weakness = time to shut it down.

BW 248 lbs

Looks like your putting on some good size

 

[Colossus]

Yeah slowly but surely. I doesn't seem like much to me but I've put on almost 20 lbs since the beginning of the year, and my bodyfat (visibly) has stayed the same.

I'd like to get into the mid-250's and be able to hold that weight. I'm not sure I want to get much bigger than that; I'm not a bodybuilder or pro strongman so there's really no need for it.

My next big goals for lifts are a 700 deadlift, 500 bench, and a 550+ squat. I think I can hit the squat fairly soon, but the dead and bench will take some time; like 6 months to a year.

 

[Colossus]

Bench, today

Had to walk to the gym so that counted as my warm up.

135x10
225x5
275x3
335x5
325x5
315x5
305x5
295x5
285x10

Doing a variation of the 5x5 for my bench. 5 sets of 5 dropping 10 lbs each set, adding 10 to all sets each week.

Pec dec
3 sets 10-20

Hammer strength bench dips
5 sets 10

Donkey calf machine
6 sets 10-15

Reverse grip pressdowns
3 sets 20



BW- 248

 

[Colossus]

Press/shoulders, today

Seated DB overhead press
45x20
65x15
85x10
110x10
120x7
120x5

Lateral raises
3 sets 15

Face pulls
4 sets 15

Machine curls
2 sets 20

Shrugs
worked up to 585 x 12,12

 

[Colossus]

Deadlift/back, today

Eliptical- 10 minutes

Deadlift
135x10 sumo
225x8 sumo
315x5 sumo
405x5 conventional
455x3 sumo
500x9 (PR) conventional

Played around with sumo stance today. Havent done it in years. Felt ok but the weight moves MUCH slower off the floor. Lockout is a bit easier. Definitely stronger conventional, I just have to make it a point to drive my feet into the floor and not pop my legs up first.

Lat pulldowns
5 sets 10

Straight-arm lat pulldowns
4 sets 8-12

Inverted row
BW x 20,15,15,15

Calf raises on hack squat machine
20,15,12,12,12



BW- 247

 

[Colossus]

Bench, yesterday

135x10
225x8
275x5
315x3
345x5
335x5
325x5
315x5
305x5
295x10

Pec dec flyes
3 x 15-20

Chins, alternating between wide overhand and neutral grip
100 total reps

Wide grip pressdowns
2x20

 

[Colossus]

Squats/legs, yest.

Warm up- eliptical, lots of stretching

Speed box squats
barx10
145x5
235x5
275x3,3,3,3,3
235x3

Leg press
400x10
600x10
800x10
1000x10
1200x10
1200x2 (pulled groin)
1000x10

Felt a weird twinge in my groin with the heavier weight. I've actually felt it before with these but it has never resulted in injury. Didnt fully realize it was strained until later in the day. Gonna be careful with these from now on.

leg curls
100x10
150x10
200x12,10,8,8