The 1400 or Bust Log

Holy crap, I've taken way too much time to update this. Crib notes from the last few days:

On Wednesday, I came in and did some volume benching and (I think) managed a really tough 240x11 for a paused rep PR.

On Friday, I did some wrapless squatting and worked up with some doubles. I never really felt strong and finished with a 405-lb. single. I also had reinforced to me the fact that I need a LOT of work down the road on my near-max attempts for my wrapless squat; 405 was a much harder single than it should have been. I finished with two sets of ten at 315 for some volume and was rather sore the next day.

On Saturday, I did some triples on benching, working up to a new PR triple of 280x3. This matches my best touch-and-go triple and was decidedly easier, though not so easy that I thought I had a fourth rep.

On Sunday, I pulled 425x5 from a 4" deficit, plus monster-mini bands (so, figure ~500 lbs. at the very top). That's 88% of my recent 1RM with this setup, so it's a great set. I'll be doing more banded deficit work for higher reps next week, and that'll be my last heavy pulling session before the meet.

Today, I came in and just floor pressed. This week, I worked without my slingshot and did the following:

Barx20
95x5
135x3
185x1
235x1
265x1
295x1 (+5 PR)
305x1 (+15 PR)
235x5
235x5
235x5
235x5

295 was about the easiest single PR I've hit in a long time; I crushed it. 305 was the opposite; I knocked myself out of my groove at bottom and almost lost it, but instead managed to (barely) grind it out. Still, I learned that my floor press is just about on par with my bench press, which might mean that I'll reinvest in more bench pressing after this upcoming meet.

Overall, a very good training week. Beyond one poor squat session, everything came together nicely. My penultimate training week is off to a good start, too. I'll be back to full logging starting tomorrow, when I think I'll take my squat opener and go for a rep max with it.

From yesterday. I did:

Modified Agile 8

Squats (w/ wraps)
95x10
135x5
225x3
315x3
375x3
425x3
465x3 (PR)

(no belt, no wraps)
235x10
285x10
285x10
285x10

From today:

Paused Bench Press (two-second pauses)
Barx20
95x5
135x5
185x1
225x3
250x3
250x6
185x8
185x8
185x8

External Rotations, three sets

Tricep Pushdowns w/ band, lots of sets

Neutral Grip Pulldowns, four sets

Okay, a few things:

1.) I either lost my camera, or I had it stolen while at the gym. Either way, I'm out one camera right now, and unless it miraculously appears tomorrow, I'm probably going to have to replace it. This at least came at a good time, but obviously I wish I still had it.

2.) My performance this week has been so-so. I've had some solid sessions (squatting a PR last week, pulling on Sunday, hitting a big floor press on Monday), some average ones (hitting a small three-rep squat PR on Tuesday), and some rather lousy ones (last week's unwrapped squatting, some recent bench sessions).

Some days, I feel pretty lethargic, and I couldn't tell you what the matter is. I don't know if it's training-related, diet-related, rest-related, or just psychological. I might just be sick of training and ready for the meet at this point. Regardless, I feel like I'm sort of dragging myself through this week of training. This has happened in the past, and I'm just trying to hit my numbers while not letting myself take my foot off the gas too much. I admit that my accessory work has been goddamn lackluster this last week.

It could also just be a temporary thing, and I could wake up feeling fine tomorrow. Physically, I still feel much better than I did towards the end of my volume training, and most of my little aches and pains are completely gone. So, that's good. I am, however, still occasionally getting sick to my stomach after eating, and this worries me--I'm not sure what the problem here is. Originally, I cut out the use of all cooking oil, and that did the trick for a time, but my stomach still doesn't seem to improve of my lunch and, sometimes, my dinner. So, I might be in for a dietary overhaul after this meet.

Anyway, I could be writing this out of frustration--who knows, I might feel fine tomorrow. I'll rest up and go back to training on Friday and (hopefully) do a little better. The hay is (almost) in the barn.

Dat dere CNS burnout.

Chris Anderson wrote:

Dat dere CNS burnout.

Fuck the CNS.

Modified Agile 8

Squats
95x8
145x5
195x5
245x5
295x5
345x5
345x5
345x5 (adductor strain)
295x3 (adductor strain worsens)

Speed Pulls
275x2x6

Leg Curls
BWx300

Back Extensions, three sets

Hip Abductors w/ band, three sets

I strained my left adductor (as opposed to my right one, which was an issue throughout this cycle) squatting yesterday, and the pain got worse as I trained, so I ultimately called it early. I should be fine, but the numerous minor injury setbacks are getting annoying. That, plus a string of bad squat sessions, has me rethinking, again, my squat attempts at the meet. I'm just trying to keep it together for this final week at this point.

My benching from yesterday, since I never logged it:

Paused Bench Press
Barx20
Barx20
95x8
135x5
185x2
225x2
255x2
265x2
275x2
285x3 (+5 PR)
295x2 (+5 PR)

285x3 was about a 9.5 RPE; 295x2 was an absolute 10, and the last rep was a brutal grind. Still, I was happy to hit a three- and a two-rep PR in a row. These also break my all-time best touch and go PRs (280x3 and 290x2), which is pretty cool.

My bench again felt awful during warm-ups--I'm just not generating much speed with sub-max weights--but I turned it on for the work sets and got some good numbers out of it.

2.5" Deficit Deadlits
(w/ monster-mini bands for all warm-ups)
135x3
135x3
225x1
275x1
325x1
375x1
425x1
(without bands)
450x8

Barbell Hip Thrusts
235x8
325x8
325x8

Back Extensions
BWx15
+36x15
+52x15

Banded Face Pulls, three sets

Banded External Rotations, two sets

Pull speed felt lousy today all the way up to--and including--my first work set. I grabbed a badly bent bar by mistake, and I almost lost my grip with 425 after it rolled on me. When that happened, I decided just to strap up, lose the bands, and pull for as long a set as I could. 450 didn't fly off the ground, but the good news was that I felt very strong through lockout.

And so ends my last heavy pull day before the meet. I'll do some speed pulling next Saturday, but otherwise, I'm done deadlifting until April 20th.

What is this agile 8 defranco functional crossfitting business


Y u do dis?

hey brah did you ever post that weight cutting protocol?

Logan Joseph wrote:

hey brah did you ever post that weight cutting protocol?

I lost my camera, but my new one came in today, so I will do it very soon.

can you just tell me how far out from weigh in day I need to cut creatine/carbs/sodium?

Is there any reason you are backing off so early this meet?

If I remember correctly this is pretty early for you, right?

Logan Joseph wrote:

can you just tell me how far out from weigh in day I need to cut creatine/carbs/sodium?

Yep. Cut creatine now. Cut carbs/sodium on Monday. On Monday, drink a gallon and a half. On Tuesday and Wednesday, drink two gallons. On Thursday, drink a gallon and a half to two gallons up until 7pm. At that point, stop all fluid intake.

If you can, get yourself some dandelion root and take it regularly from the time you begin hydrating. Taking it with a little caffeine can help.

KevinAlvy wrote:

Is there any reason you are backing off so early this meet?

If I remember correctly this is pretty early for you, right?

Yes. The reason is because my leg is fucked.

On the second rep of 415, I felt a pop in the back of my knee. The area has been tender when I've wrapped up ever since I squatted 520, and I've been stiff in my calf for a couple of days after, but it's never been more than a little nagging thing. Well, it felt fine after squatting--I didn't notice much--but it's gradually gotten worse. Now I can barely walk or curl my leg. There's a little viscous swelling in the area, it's painful as shit to touch, and the stiffness and pain extends down into my calf. I'm hoping it's just a calf pull and not a burst Baker's cyst or, even worse, a blood clot. The cyst makes the most sense, since I've been experiencing arthritic symptoms in my left knee this entire training cycle.

I'm not going to evaluate my status for the meet at this time. Yesterday, I sent me entry form in. My plan is to do everything to try and get ready and compete if I can. But I'm going to go to sports medicine to get myself looked at first. I'm not looking to die here from a blood clot.

Anyway, I haven't trained since squatting since even walking to the gym is about out of the question right now. Maybe this will turn out to be nothing and I'll heal like a wolverine. We'll see.

Yikes man, I'm gutted to hear about that. Hoping that you get good news from Sports Medicine about it. When is your appointment?

Hope it turns out to be minor. Be careful with it

I went to student health; they saw me and sent me for an ultrasound to check for clotting/cysts. The ultrasound came up negative, and now I'm scheduled for an MRI. Apparently, the MRI section of the hospital is closed next week, so my appointment is on the 22nd. That's obviously going to do me no good, and unless this thing is serious and it's really bothering me still, I'll probably cancel that.

So, I have no idea what my status for the meet is yet. I'll go no matter what, but I might just be handling. I'm going to give myself until Monday morning to decide; if it's feeling better and I'm optimistic that it will be ready in time, I'll start the cutting process.

The problem will be that it's very likely to flare up again after squats at the meet. I'm still deciding whether or not I want to risk further injury by going through that.

Do you think it'd bother you on deads? Maybe push/pull if it's iffy

POWER SPORTS

For real dough, stay safe OP.

KevinAlvy wrote:

Do you think it'd bother you on deads? Maybe push/pull if it's iffy

You have been saying you want to be a push/pull lifter... really though I hope this all gets figured out man.

I would just amputate the motherfucker. You could easily make 132 and we could have a real competition then.

I've been thinking about push/pull. I think it would be fine deadlifting--it's squatting that has caused it to bother me. I don't think I'd do it though, because my one focus has been on a good three-lift total at this meet, and it would be pretty deflating to go in and just do push/pull and not log a total. At that point, I'd probably rather just assist with the meet.

But then again, powersports would give me a three-lift total...

But seriously though, I'm probably either going to squat or not compete at all. And if this thing doesn't get better, I will hack it off.

two knee wraps on one knee...

if it's a bakers cyst then you would have the "tennis ball" behind the knee thing going

Isn't there another MRI machine somewhere in Iowa City? Mercy Hospital? The Sports Med Clinic itself? Did you try calling sports med directly and explaining the situation with the meet? I bet if you were insistent about it and represented yourself as an Iowa athlete with a state competition coming up you would get in to be seen pretty quickly. Maybe they don't have an MRI there, but either way you'd probably benefit from seeing a proper sports med doctor asap.