COLOSSUS' Iron Journal

[AAAgent]

any suggestions for good ab workouts. advanced?

 

[Colossus]

I do hanging leg raises, heavy standing crunches with the lat tower, and weighted roman chairs. Heavy side bends with a dumbbell are good as well....but all of these are geared for strength.

 

[Colossus]

Bench, Mon

Bench with 120lbs heavy chain
bar x a bunch
135x15
185x10
225x5,5
275x3,2,2

Made a 20lb improvement on these from last week. My all time PR is 315 with 120lbs chain....getting there.

JM press w/ 120lbs chain
bar+chain x 15,15
add 20 lbs x 10,10,10

Hammer strength one-arm press
3 plates x 8,8,6
2 plates x reps, reps

Rear delt machine
4 sets

face pulls
2x20

Cable tricep extensions
3 sets high reps

 

[Colossus]

Deadlift, thurs

Pause deadlifts w/ monster minibands (3 sec pause at knees)
135x5
225x5
315x3
365x3
385x3
405x3

Set a PR on these today. I'm pretty confident they will carry-over to my regular deadlift. Unfortunately, my back is now acting up again because of two weeks of squatting and pulling. After standing for more than 5 or 10 minutes my sacrum just locks up. Recurring problem.

Standing hammer strength rows, one arm
3 plates x 10,20,20
4 plates x 10, 10

Floor GH raises
6 sets

-----------

Yesterday's workout is not even worth recording; just one of those days where I sucked. It only served to aggravate my back more.


AM weights: 240

 

[AAAgent]

so i hurt my shoulder really bad, may be permanent. i notice everytime i start to lift heavy and go into my later sets, it tends to get really soar. afterwards im sore only on my right shoulder for a day or two and have to wait for it to heal. Have you had this issue before? and if so we're you able to like strengthen it somehow?

 

[Fuglydude]

That's some pretty substantial volume to pause DLs considering the state of your back!

Lower back injuries are the bane of a power/strength athlete's existence. Have you thought about deloading/taking things easy for a bit around the holidays? I find that doing lower back stretches and working abs prior to a heavy pull really helps.

Not sure if you have finals coming up, but maybe try and chill out your routine while your study for finals? Make things less taxing on your nervous system as well as your musculoskeletal system. Still sticking to the diet? Sent you a PM as well.

 

[Colossus]

Well since I use the conjugate method now I have some deloading built-in to my training. Basically I dont do any one power exercise for more than two weeks at a time. I had rack pulls on the menu next but we'll see how I'm feeling next week.

I think squatting is just as much the culprit; but I love pulling more so I'd rather do leg presses and deload the spine than not train my deadlift in some manner. I find it's just hard to do both and stay pain-free.....I dont know how the elite-level guys stay strong in both lifts all the time.

Got your PM. I've stopped logging all my foods but I'm trying to stick with the same foods. So far so good, I just gotta throw in some bars to bring my calories up!

 

[Colossus]

Legs, sun

Back was still giving me problems yesterday so I opted to just do leg press in lieu of the pause squats.

Leg press
200x20
400x20
600x15
800x10
1000x10,10,10

Power squat
200x20
400x10,10

Shut these down early because my back was locking up.

Hanging leg curls using a bench
8 sets max reps

Adductor, abductor work

3 sets leg raises

 

[Colossus]

Bench, mon

Bench
bar x a bunch
135x20
225x8
275x3
315x3
365x2
385x1,1
365x3
95x75,50

Took a few singles today. Not as strong as I had hoped but I am slowly getting back up to 400. I think I just need to do more straight weight benching. Grease the groove. I'm going to try doing some moderate-weight volume work on DE day instead of speed benching.

Hammer strength dips
2 plates
3 plates
4 plates
4.5 plates/side

Heavy pressdowns
4 sets
Light pressdowns
3 sets

Standing abs
5 sets

 

[Colossus]

Pulls, thurs.

Warm up (treadmill, stretching, rolling)

Rack pulls from the knee
135x10
225x10
315x5
405x3
495x3
585x3
635x2
675x1
700 (miss x 2)

Tried for the 700 but I was just spent after the 675. On the bright side the 675 was a 50 lb PR for rack pulls. POW!

Power squat GMs
200x15
400x15,15,15,15

Seated DB press
55x25
70x15
85x15

Hammer curls
55x20
70x10
85x10

Wide-neutral grip chins
3x12 bw

---------------------

Bench/arms, today

Bench
bar x 20
135x15
225x10
275x15
295x10
315x5,5

Heavy pressdowns
4 sets

Tate presses
55x10
70x10,10,10

Hanging leg raises
3 sets 10

Machine curls
a few sets

Concentration curls (yeah)
35x3 sets

AM weight 243 lbs.

 

[Colossus]

So I'm thinking about doing a meet in Feb, depending on how busy school is. I've been toying with the idea of committing myself to being a push/pull lifter for a long time, and I think this is the direction I will be going. There are several reasons: 1) back problems. This is #1 really. While my low back pain can be relieved with rest or a deload, squatting is the main culprit. Concomitant squatting and pulling is really what kills me. I'll do it for a week or two then have to deload one or both lifts because my back gets so stiff I can barley bend over to brush my teeth in the morning. The net result is that it is stagnating BOTH of my lifts, which is unacceptable. 2) I care more about my deadlift. I'm better at it, I like it more. 3) Going with number 2, I do not consider myself a natural squatter. I have longer legs, a narrow waist and small rib cage. I'm not saying this to excuse my poor squat, it's just never been a good lift for me. I got up to some 505 raw singles last spring in training and this was the pinnacle of my squatting career, lol. I think breaking the 600 lb squat barrier is a bit of a stretch for me, and I would have to gain enough weight for the leverage that it wouldnt really be all that impressive or worth it. I can definitely break the 700 lb deadlift barrier, which I feel would be quite good for my genetics.

I know no one cares but I'm mostly writing this for myself so I have some record of my decisions and why I made them.

 

[AAAgent]

i care man haha. watching you continuously update your workout journal has inspired me to log and track my workouts for my own and outside critique. I am not a lifter but a swimmer. Since i quit swimming i have been trying to get a stronger, faster, and more aesthetic body. I usually a sporratic person. I go in do whatever, sometimes hard, sometimes light. I lack consistency which you have shown time and time again.

Great work. The journal helps toward consistency and improvement.

 

[Colossus]

Thanks man I appreciate it. Glad my journal is of some help!

--------------------

Legs, today

Warm up- treadmill, stretching, BW squats

Power squat
200x10
400x10
600x10
690x10
800x10
890x5

Front squat
135x5
225x5
275x5
315x1,3 (PR)

Havent done these in a while and they actually felt pretty good. Great for the quads without loading the spine.

45 degree back raises with a plate
5 sets max reps

Seated hamstring curls
6 sets 8-12


AM weight 244

 

[Fuglydude]

Nice numbers on the front... but I know you can do way more

Squatting and pulling heavy do a number on your lower back. Even w/ some nice AAS and diet on board, its tough to recover appropriately, especially when you're busy w/ school/work etc.

Do you compete in a open class cuz you're like 240-ish or do you have a weight class you're aiming for? I'm assuming you're talking powerlifting and not strong man. If you dropped some bodyfat and competed around 220 I think your totals would be awesome for that class. I don't think you'd lose a lot of muscle either if you did a nice high calorie diet and ran some gear, again assuming you're doing a non-tested meet.

I've talked about my issues w/ core stability and lower back problems in my competition journal. Although my deads are up in the mid-400s again, I'm not as strong as I was earlier this year. Furthermore, I can't squat low bar any more because it simply puts too much stress on my lower back. I've found that high bar squats have really been the answer as my legs have gotten stronger w/ my hypertrophy program. I know you're way more advanced than me on the squat, but have you considered using some high bar work to help take a load off the lower back? I know this goes against powerlifting doctrine, but hey if you're lower back is getting beat up you gotta do what you can to perform. Just a thought...

Again, keep up this journal man... its totally inspiring!

 

[Colossus]

Thanks man.

I have done high bar squatting, but the problem is I can't use as much weight, and they cause me to "knee squat" more instead of break at the hips, which is a powerlifting no-no. What ill probably do is keep them in my regular rotation of exercises. I follow a conjugate template so I never do any main exercise for more than 2 weeks. It really is one of the best methods to get strong, especially if you're on gear. And who knows, maybe all this deadlifting will help my squat!

I don't really care about making a certain weight class, I just do meets to set PRs and see how strong everyone else is. Right now I would be in the 275 class.

 

[Colossus]

Shoulders/cardio, Mon

Standing OHP
bar x a bunch
135x10
185x10
225x5
250x3
185x10

One-arm standing DB OHP
80x10,10
100x10,10

Shoulders felt like absolute crap after these. Time for a pressing deload.

Face pulls
3x20

Standing calves
5 heavy sets

Cardio
12% incline walking for 25 mins. (dont laugh this is cardio for me, lol)

 

[Colossus]

Not much to report for the past week. Went home for the holidays so lifting was minimal. I did go snowshoeing with my dad at 11,000 ft altitude and man was that tough!!! Especially for a fat powerlifter who does little cardio, lol.

Other than that I got in a light DB workout and 1 heavy session for back.

Rack pulls from the knee
135x10
225x5
315x5
405x3
495x3
585x3
675x2
700x1 (PR)

Barbell GMs
135x10
185x10
205x10,10

Close stance leg press
5 plates/side for 4 sets of 15

Hammer strength high row
4 sets

Wide grip pulldowns
5 sets slow reps

Hammer curls
70x10
80x10
90x10

Machine preachers
3 sets reps

I was flirting with 250 back home but today I weighed about 245. Go figure.

 

[Colossus]

Bench, today

My training partner is home for the holidays, hence I had no competent spotter. Did some moderate rep work.

Bench
warm ups to 315
345x5
335x5
325x5
315x5
305x5

Hammer Strength incline, single arm
2 plates x 10
3 plates x 5,6,6,
1.5 plates for rep work

Pressdowns--wide grip, straight bar
5 sets 10

Rolling DB extensions
55's x 2 sets 12

Tate presses
55's x 2 sets 15

 

[Twitch]

Never let people with gloves spot you, or bicep warriors. I usually get the best spots from girls to be honest. They don't have that machismo attitude of lifting the weight at all cost(to the point of helping). They are usually strong enough to take off 60-100lbs off benching if I get stapled.

Nice lifts. How long have you been in the iron game?

 

[Colossus]

Thanks man.

Ive been lifting consistently for over 8 years, serious about strength for about 2. I will NEVER let some gym clown spot me on any lift. If no one with demonstrated competence is there, I'll improvise. Ive had a couple random dudes give me lift offs on bench, and they freaking try to take the whole weight and then drop it into my hands. It's a scary feeling, let me tell you. That dumb sh!t could blow out a shoulder.