Lat-Pull Downs: 8x 125-Wide, Normal, Narrow, Behind the neck Normal
Back Raise BW x 8, 12, 15
Sled Pulls (clean motion)
First time in a while that I deadlifted with a set plan. I approached this session with a little bit of a different strategy. I did not rush my reps or my sets but rather I did a rep, took a couple of seconds to slow down my breathing and reset, then pulled again. After each set, I rested about 7-10 minutes The sets were much slower but when I got into the heavier sets, I had a lot more energy and focus. A couple of guys have noticed that I tend to round the middle of my back a little, I am not sure how to strengthen/fix that...?
The only consequence was that deadlifting took me about 75 minutes including warm up. I forgot that the collars together weighed 5lbs so that is why the numbers may seem bizarre. Lastly, the PR came at a price which was a torn callus.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Wed Jun 26, 2013 9:48 pm
I want to come down to 22nd St. one Sunday and deadlift. Make it happen, OP.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Wed Jun 26, 2013 10:06 pm
KKeough wrote:
I want to come down to 22nd St. one Sunday and deadlift. Make it happen, OP.
Let me know which Sunday and I will make it happen. I plan on lifting Saturday morning with the club so I shall inform Wes (the owner), Caroline, and a couple of others that have asked if I know you including a prospective 148-pounder.
Bee tee dub, bring a water bottle/jug because the place is literally a dungeon with no drinking fountain and a couple of make shift bathrooms.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Wed Jun 26, 2013 11:25 pm
Broceidon wrote:
KKeough wrote:
I want to come down to 22nd St. one Sunday and deadlift. Make it happen, OP.
Let me know which Sunday and I will make it happen. I plan on lifting Saturday morning with the club so I shall inform Wes (the owner), Caroline, and a couple of others that have asked if I know you including a prospective 148-pounder.
Bee tee dub, bring a water bottle/jug because the place is literally a dungeon with no drinking fountain and a couple of make shift bathrooms.
Any of you guys want to make a trip to 22nd Street on Sunday?
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Wed Jun 26, 2013 11:35 pm
C'mon, Seth Thompson.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:48 pm
June 29, 2013
Bench: 6x 95, 110, 135, 165, 195, 135, 110, 95
DB Incline Press: 8x 35, 45, 45
OHP (Half in front, half in back): 8x 95, 105, 115
DB Shoulder Raise (Thumbs up): 3x8 15-Anterior, Medial, Posterior
Face Pulls
Today was a rep/speed day. The rest time between sets was limited to the amount of time it took me to change the weights. I got into a pretty deep conversation with a guy about how he and a couple of guys at 22nd do body building type workouts so a few weeks at a time and how this has helped them throughout their careers. Long story short, with a decent amount of time before my next meet, I will start adding some more bodybuilding exercises into my sessions. I will keep doing what I am doing for the main 3, but the assistance work will be different.
Nathan Poage Master
Posts : 1912 Join date : 2011-10-31 Age : 32
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Sat Jun 29, 2013 2:14 pm
inb4 pose-offs in the house next year
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Sat Jun 29, 2013 2:29 pm
Nathan Poage wrote:
inb4 pose-offs in the house next year
working outside is giving me that nice tan too. strongest house on campus next year, with or without kellie
Nathan Poage Master
Posts : 1912 Join date : 2011-10-31 Age : 32
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Sat Jun 29, 2013 7:40 pm
Broceidon wrote:
Nathan Poage wrote:
inb4 pose-offs in the house next year
working outside is giving me that nice tan too. strongest house on campus next year, with or without kellie
I don't even know what "outside" is. 75 hour weeks are killing my melanin gains.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Benching was not too bad. I was not sure if I was off balance but the weight felt a little off center. Nonetheless, 4x245 is a PR or a tie for a PR. The weight was coming up pretty smoothly.
The gym was getting pretty crowded at that point and no one was squatting because Nick Weite would be squatting. I did not know which rack he would use or when he would get there so I scratched my squat session and watched him squat 880 instead. Many 'mazed 'mirers.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:26 am
I did not intend to go as heavy on deadlift but I was glad to tie my best overall PR. It was pretty fast and smooth until lockout but I squeezed da glutes and locked it out pretty easily. For the SLDLs, I tried a slightly different way. I kept my legs straight but relaxed/rounded my back. I definitely felt it in my upper hams and glutes as well as between my shoulder blades when I locked it out. The scoop on the keg tosses: we have a strongman in our and he wanted to go outside and throw/toss it around so a couple of us decided to join in and it was a blast. Many functionals were gained.
Breaking News: there was 1 strongman, 2 powerlifters, and 3 crossfitters when I was at the gym. However, the crossfitters were strength training and doing so with excellent form.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Thu Jul 04, 2013 11:22 am
I don't know how you resist the temptation to just put 465 on that bar.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Thu Jul 04, 2013 11:46 am
Also, I spoke to Wes on FB about training on Sunday, and they seem excited to have us come over. If anyone over there wants to know, we'll get there at 10, train until ~12, and stick around a bit to talk training if anyone wants to.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
I did not get the rep/volume work done yesterday so I figured I would go back and get it done today. This was a pretty slow and relaxed workout. I spent most of the time chatting with another 181 lifter and a older gentleman that powerlifts but does not compete.
The SLDLs were similar from yesterday but today I slowed down the eccentric portion a bit. Sumo pulls felt better today than yesterday. My weight felt more behind the bar and I could feel my hips spread open at the start of the lift. This felt like a true sumo pull: a little slow off the ground but a powerful lockout. It also saved some strain on my lower back too which was nice.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Sat Jul 06, 2013 1:57 pm
FAC Swole Superset: Skull crushers EZ bar curls Face Pulls
June 6, 2013
Squat: 5x 95, 135, 185 3x 200, 240, 280, 320, 360 2x 405 (w/ belt and wraps)
Front Squats: 3x6 135
SLDL: 2x5 135 Conventional 2x5 135 Sumo
Keg Tosses- a few
Yesterday, benched a bit and hit a PR. My spotter noticed I stick a couple of inches off my chest and he had the same problem for a while. He said he did invisible board presses and it helped him out quite a bit. Followed it up with some tricep accessory work.
Squat was different than expected. I had some DOMS while working up to my top set. On the 405-set, my wraps felt awkward. The left felt tight but was wrapped a little off while the right was wrapped correctly but felt loose. The first rep felt smooth but after I stood up, the guy accidentally locked the mono so I lost some of my tightness between reps and the second was harder than it should have been. Maybe had 1 more rep left in me but it would have been tough. Had a fun day lifting with Poage and showing him around. Looking forward to see Kyle pull tomorrow.
Nathan Poage Master
Posts : 1912 Join date : 2011-10-31 Age : 32
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Sat Jul 06, 2013 4:01 pm
It's really hard to mess up your squat like that when you just use the stands Â
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Sun Jul 07, 2013 2:10 pm
I was fortunate enough to lift with Kyle and Janis today and I must say that it was a learning experience. I am going to start widening my stance to an actual sumo width. I will slowly widen it over the next couple of weeks because my hips will not open that easily. So to widen my stance, I will be doing some external hip rotation mobility work to aid that transition.
Wes and Kyle were talking about foot position/angle during deadlifting and the pros and cons of various positions. Personally, I have always thought that my feet were too open because I feel like im doing a plye and as a consequence, I tend to fall forward on heavier weights causing me to drive my butt up. So during rack pulls, I spread my feet as wide as the bar.
Lastly, everyone was amazed by Janis's arch and pointed out how she straightens her arm during the unrack. This got me thinking and I realized that arms are slightly bent during unrack. Wes pointed out how this loads the triceps and the shoulders before the bench even starts. So I will try to work on unracking the weight with straighter arms just to make sure I am not making it harder than it should be.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Lat Pull Down: 3x12 50 (focused on squeezing at bottom; 1 min rest)
Banded Tri Pushdown 2x 50 (1 min rest)
DB Shoulder Shrugs 3x15 50 (1 min rest; kept tension on traps throughout)
Military Press: 3x 12 95 (1 min rest)
So many volumes on the first day of the cube. The volume definitely killed me because I had to do rest-pause sets on the flat bench and the military press in order to finish. I tried to keep the rest times minimal; almost to bodybuilding standards of 60ish seconds. Today definitely showed me how weak my triceps are and this has me wondering if it is really holding back my bench. So far so good and I am looking forward to following it up with explosive squats on Friday
David Petersen Class II
Posts : 378 Join date : 2013-06-25 Age : 33 Location : Iowa City
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Thu Jul 11, 2013 12:58 am
Broceidon wrote:
So many volumes on the first day of the cube.
The group that I know runs this really takes their time warming up, and also spends a decent amount of time after their session rolling...The volume smoked them pretty hard at the beginning. Some of the squat day volume is ridiculous.
Hopefully the spreadsheets in the file helped. Really excited to see what kind of progress you make running this.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Thu Jul 11, 2013 6:40 am
Allprocro wrote:
Broceidon wrote:
So many volumes on the first day of the cube.
The group that I know runs this really takes their time warming up, and also spends a decent amount of time after their session rolling...The volume smoked them pretty hard at the beginning. Some of the squat day volume is ridiculous.
Hopefully the spreadsheets in the file helped. Really excited to see what kind of progress you make running this.
I talked to some guys at the gym and ended getting an ebook copy from them. Oddly enough, I do roughly the same kind of warm-ups mentioned in the book; rolling, stretching, BW kinetics. I have been looking for something that would give me different kinds of work/volume for bench but not too much and I think this is a good start.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Sat Jul 13, 2013 4:18 am
i had to hustle in and hustle out of the gym today because I have district softball this weekend and did not want to be late. The ebook said treat every day like a max effort day so I sank the squats just slightly below parallel and tried to come up as fast as I could. The reverse banded squat felt weird because one band took off more weight than the other side. It is not a huge deal but something to remember for next time. Lastly, I was not sure which percentage to do for high-bar so I picked ~50% of my last high-bar max. I kept the speed as best as I could although the first set or two felt extremely weird with the narrower stance and higher bar placement.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Sat Jul 13, 2013 10:55 pm
Yeah, make sure the bands you use for reverse-band work are even. Sometimes, equal bands will be made unequal over time if one's used more than the other.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Back Raises- 50 Reps Various Banded Lat Pulldowns 4x15
I was definitely tired when I walked into the gym today so this made my workout go a little slower than normal. I tried to be as explosive as possible during the workout but I did forget during a couple of sets. The DL's were a true sumo stance and by that I mean feet spread apart to the plates. My hips were a little tight but they loosened up a bit once I started getting into the sets. Snatch grips were definitely the hardest part of this workout. I had to use straps because my hands were hamburger meat at this point plus the fatigue of my lower back. In the third set, I really started to drive with my legs/hips which saved my back a bit. The SSB set felt weird simply because I had to squat high-bar with a stance like keosawa but I kind of liked it. Something to keep in my back pocket.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
This workout started tough but became easier as it went along. After the incline sets, I focused on bodybuilding parameters aka squeezing at extension, keeping tension throughout, short rest intervals. This clearly blisters my muscles for a couple of days so I hope it will help. I have been noticing from these bench workouts that my shoulders and triceps are pretty weak and this has me wondering if these are the weak points in my bench..? On my bodybuilding day on the cube, I think I will definitely make sure to include shoulders and triceps just to get them up to par.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Sun Jul 21, 2013 12:42 pm
This was my max effort squat day that I was supposed to do Friday; some things came up so I could not do them and I had to move my apartment yesterday so I figured today would be best. I was also supposed to do Back Raises x60 but I had to be somewhere so I skipped them.
The weight for squat was fine but felt kind of heavy for the first set or two. I was really tight/stiff for the first 2 sets but I loosened up and found my stance plus my groove after that. Every exercise after squats I tried to keep rest intervals to 60 seconds or less and really focus on squeezing at lockout. Banded leg curls was the worst simply because there were soooo many.
I am supposed to do max effort deads tomorrow so I guess we will see how that one goes.
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log 
Wed Jun 26, 2013 8:12 pm
 
 
