Andy Awad's Training Log

Challenge accepted.

10/10 will challenge again

I have the strangest feeling that I am going to lose our race to 375...

Fuck it, race to 500. We're playing the long game here.

I like that idealized

7/17/14

Paused squat - short pauses

245 x 4 x 10

Back is feeling much better since I started seeing Cody.  These felt pretty good despite being stressed and tired from sitting down studying for a test for pretty much two days.  First three sets were a little high, and I was coming forward at the bottom.  On the 3rd set, Brian Collins noticed and pointed it out to me.  The last set I was able to correct for this pretty well, and my bar path was very straight.  Even after watching my footage from the previous sets, I didn't realize what I was doing.  I'm happy he was there to watch the sets and point it out to me.  Here's my last set.  The first 5 reps or so are a little iffy, but I felt like they got a lot better for the last half of the set.  I realize these are very slow, but that is intentional.  For now, I want to keep things slow until I am confident in my back not acting up again.  I'm going to keep the progression with weight slow here.

Notes:  I've been able to find my heels in the oly shoes, and squatting feels pretty good in 'em.



7/18/14

Bench

warmups
305 x 1
335 x 1
365 x 1 (PR)



It was a long week, and I only got about 4-5 hours of sleep the previous 2 nights.  I was also still feeling Tuesday's benching session a little bit.  Needless to say I wasn't feeling as weel as I'd like to going into a heavy bench session.  After last Friday, I was thinking 365 would be a pretty easy PR for me.  However I wasn't feeling the greatest.  Still, I really wanted it and was determined to go for it instead of taking a smaller PR.  It was one of those things that I knew I could do, but I knew it wasn't going to be easy.  It gave me a good gauge of what I could do if I were rested and coming off of a de-load week.  I'm thinking at the state fair I'm going to go for 375.  I'll have a good idea after training competition pausing over the next few weeks if this is feasible.

Walking dumbbell overhead press

4 sets

banded triceps ssw/band pulls and hammer curls.

4 sets

Notes:  triceps are getting stronger.  I'm now using the green bands pretty easily.  I could barely do them when I started doing these.  Also, I am liking the walking ohp.  Keeps me from bringing the weight in fornt and I feel it in my traps and upper back.  After the state fair I'm going to start barbel ohp again.  I still want that 200.

7/21/14

Paused squats

225 x 4
265 x 5
265 x 5
285 x 5
285 x 5

Plan was to do four sets of 12 at 225 today. I put 225 on the bar and, despite feeling pretty tired, it felt like 12 was going to be pretty easy (my back is feeling pretty good). I was too tired to think about doing all those reps though, so I decided to see how some heavier weight felt. 285 felt like it was a little heavier than I am totally comfortable working with right now, but not so much that I felt like I was going to hurt my back again. 265 felt just fine though. Reps felt good today. I had some sets where my form was really really good (for me). Second set at 265 was the best probably, first one at 285 was pretty good too. Depth maybe wasn't 100% there on all of the reps, but I'll take what I can get for now. Thursday I will take my volume day at 225. It will probably work out better for me to have Thursdays be lighter squat days anyhow since Fridays are heavy bench days right now.



Some back

3 sets bent over rows

3 sets lat pull down with triangle bar

Back work was good today. Felt everything in my upper mid back, which is a focus of mine right now. I feel like it needs to be a little tighter and stronger to help support my squats and bench press.

7/22/14

competition pause bench

185 x 15
185 x 14
185 x 13
185 x 12

I did what I felt like were competition pauses on every rep, even warmups. Some observations: First off, it is (obviously) harder than tng benching for these high rep sets. I greatly overestimated the number of reps I was going to get (I was thinking 5 sets of 15+), and ended up cutting each set a rep shorter than the previous set. Recognizing that I would be more fatigued than I'd like to be I cut the session a set short. Second, I feel stronger when I puase. When I focus on pausing at the bottom, it does something to help me stay tight on the way down. Also, despite it being light weight, I made an effort to treat every rep like it was heavy weight.

walking ohp ss w/leg raises

4 sets

banded triceps, hammer curls, banded pulls

4 sets

7/24/14

Paused squats
295 x 5
295 x 5
315 x 3
335 x 2

These felt pretty bad. Possibly in part from the bike riding i did the day before. It was my first time really doing anything like that all summer.

7/25/14

Paused bench press (with press command)
300 x 3
300 x 3
310 x 3
310 x 3



Felt really good and the weight moved really well for the most part on these. First set I didn't do a very good job of staying tight, but I pulled it together for the rest of the sets.

Seated dumbbell ohp

4 sets

banded tris, banded pulls, hammer curlz

4sets

Triceps were a little tired

7/26/14

Deadlift

315 x 3
315 x 8
365 x 8
385 x 7

Deadlifts felt good despite neglecting them recently.

Pullups
2 sets of 8

lat pulldowns
2sets

some rear delts, ghr, and abs

wide grip behind the neck press
4 sets with bar.  Just wanted to try these out.

7/29/14

Paused bench press.

225 x 8,7,7,7

no pause
225 x 16

What a terrible day. I had an exam on Monday and then drank heavily afterwards instead of squatting and was hungover all day. I'm not the young man I used to be. I tried to treat 225 like it was heavy weight. I brought it down really slowly (probably too slowly) and did long pauses. It was quite exhausting. Needless to say my paused rep work is no where near my tng rep work.

Some ohp that also sucked

Didn't get to bis, tris, or band pulls like I have been doing.

7/31/14

Squat

275 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
335 x 3

I took my stance a little narrower. Back is feeling really good right now, and the narrower stance took a lot of the stress off of my hips. Took these squats well below parallel. Feeling good enough that I'm going to start programming them again after the fair. until then, squat and deadlifting will be just kind of by feel. I'm just glad my back is feeling good.

8/01/14

Paused bench with press command

325 x 2
335 x 2
335 x 2

tng w/slingshot

335 x 8



All things considered, this was a good bench session for me. I was going on a pretty big (stress induced) sleep deficit for the previous 2 nights, so I was really happy with how everything felt.

seated db ohp

4 sets

triceps, band pulls and hammer curls

4 sets

8/02/14

the sleep deficit continues

deadlift

385 x 8
385 x 4

paused at knees
275 x 4

Some back work

I was really fatigued. After the first set I just had no gas left in the tank, cut the second set way short and decided to call it good. I'm just happy right now to be deadlifting again. I'm going to start with some pretty basic deadlifting programming after the fair. It will start out light and intensity will pick up. I'll probably just do once a week.

Squats (no belt)

315 x 2
355 x 3
385 x 2
225 x 10



4 sets of pullups

355 felt phenomenal. Watching footage, my bar path stayed very straight. So phenomenal in fact that I decided to really push the weight up to 385. This was probably not the best idea as I ended up coming forward and felt my back strain a little on the very ugly second rep. Bar path wasn't as good as 355. First rep didn't look the prettiest, but it sure did feel good. Nonetheless, I have made great progress with my back working with Cody. I may have taken a small step back today, but that is how you learn your body's limits I guess....over and over and over again. I wish I wouldn't have gotten greedy and just took another set at 355. 355 was already the heaviest I've gone in quite some time, and 385 is the heaviest I've gone in a really long time. Also, I think 385 x 2 might be a pr. Definitely a beltless PR and a full depth PR.

Some good things though: I like the narrower stance and the oly shoes a lot. It took quite some time to get used to the shoes, but they are an asset. Not a waste of $200.

8/05/14

Paused bench press
255 x 6
255 x 6
255 x 6
255 x 7

tng

255 x 13

Did last set tng because I get so discouraged by the paused numbers.  I've been doing long pauses as if in a meet situation.  Turns out it almost cuts my reps in half.  My light days recently have been kind of meh.  Had a tough time staying tight under the bar - possibly from squatting heavier than I have in ages the day before.  Upper back was feeling tight.

seated dbb ohp

4 sets
last set was 70's (75's?) x 9.  Getting better at these.  Looking forward to starting standing ohp again after the fair.  wonder if I could get 2 plates by my 29th birthday.  I'll see how training goes and determine a birthday goal by Mid septemeber to october.

band pulls, tris, hammer curls, leg lifts

4 sets

Notes:  Back felt pretty good.  Today is feeling very good.  Saw Cody yesterday morning.

Also, I have a friend who will be visiting from Germany from sept 8th to 29th. I'm going to have to figure out how I will manage my training while he's here. I don't think 5 days a week is gonna happen (it doesn't even happen now). I think I'm going to shoot for 3. Probably will do something like pair squat with bench and deadlift with ohp and just alternate workouts everytime I get to the gym. Who knows, maybe I'll still be able to get in regularly. Worst part is I'll probably be training at the CRWC most of that time in order to save time...

Introduce German friend to powerlifting, problem solved. 

And sorry about that bench spot...

He was a student here last year, and I did get him started working out with me. But back then I didn't know what I was doing and I taught him the 300 workout.

And don't worry about the spot. I've since regained full vision in my right eye, so it's ok.

8/7/14

Squats

315 some singles
315 x 4 x 5

Despite having to do these at the CRWC, these felt pretty good.  Back held up really well for these.

Some really light RDLs

8/8/14

Paused bench press w/ command

315 x 1
335 x 1
355 x 1 (paused PR)

w/slingshot

375 x 2

It was a rough day for a heavy bench day as I had both my final exams earlier in the day, but I decided to take three attempts, and work up to about what my second attempt will be next saturday (might do 350).  355 moved alright, but I misgrooved on my way down at about 3 inches off my chest.  It's pretty easy to see in the video; all of a sudden the decent speeds up and I ended up touching a little low.  It still went up alright.  I have some ideas as to why this is, and I'll do my best to address them Tuesday with some very light benching.  I think a large part of it was just due to fatigue.  Benching is ready for a deload. Despite being tired, I decided to try something heavy with the slingshot. I figured it was 8 days until the fair and it might be a good thing to feel something heavier than I have before.



seated dbb ohp

4 sets

band pulls, bis, tris

I've been thinking about what to do with my bench training.  It's feeling fatigued right now, and I am looking forward to resting it after the fair.  While I enjoy the recent slingshot work, I'm not sure it's exactly what my bench needs right now.  I struggle at about 2 to 3 inches off of my chest, which is pretty much the opposite range of what the slingshot helps with.  A friend suggested "dead benching", or benching off of pins.  I think I might try this.  I also might just do more paused benching - this has helped me with this in the past.  Benching off of pins has the appeal of being something new and interesting to try though.  I do know that I will begin with a high volume phase and get back to standing ohp.  I emphasized both of those things early on last cycle and they had a positive impact on my bench.  I'm also thinking about incorporating dips and dumbbell flies.  Dalton has suggested that flies could help with getting the weight off my chest.

8/9/14

Deadlift

365 x 3
405 x 2
335 x 8
335 x 8
335 x 10

One set of 12 pullups plus a few kipping pullups for a demonstration.

Best deadlifting in a long time. Just wanted to do 4 plates for a double to give myself a little confidence pulling. It felt good. The sets at 335 were very, very good compared to what things have felt like. I'm looking forward to accumulating some volume with my deadlift over the next few weeks and then finally start hitting some pulls in the upper 400's and low 500's in some training sessions again. If things feel good, I think I can get a nice deadlift PR in November.

8/11/14

Squats

365 x 1
385 x 1
405 x 1
425 x 2 (PR)



I couldn't resist the urge to push squats yesterday. I don't think I messed up anything for the fair, but if I had more restraint I would've either done something light or just not squatted at all. My back is feeling better and better. 425 was my previous PR (intramural meet), and I believe it was fairly high. The second rep yesterday was high. My hips stopped moving but my torso didn't, which is not what someone getting over a back injury wants to do. Nonetheless, I was really happy with things. If things continue going as well as they are, 450 by November should be a done deal.

I feel like if things keep going the way they are you'll hit 450 before November no problem. The first rep with 425 looked great and the second rep still looked okay, even if it was a little high. Keep it up!

Thanks, Lorenzo! It's encouraging to hear that man. I think as long as I'm taking care of my back and doing the things I need to do you are right. Maybe 450 will be a second attempt by November instead of a third.

It is about time to update my training log...

So, I will start with a state fair recap. First off, here's the vid. My recap is kind of lengthy, and it was written mostly for me to be able to look back on. So if anyone isn't interested in reading through it I completely understand.



Tuesday I went in for my usual light bench day, but with the plan of making it a super light bench day. Just wanted to stretch the muscles out and get some blood in them after the last intense session I had. The plan was just to do 135 x 10, and 185 x 10. I started warming up (if it can even be called that since basically the workout was just my warmup) and I noticed that the intense squatting from the previous day had aggravated some bicep tendinitis that hadn't flared up since last winter. This was a huge mind fuck for me. I immediately lost all hopes of getting something good at the fair, and was even thinking about just bailing on the bench competition. I started taking ibuprofen, but it did little good. The day before Dalton and I left, we stopped by Magni to borrow Brian Wilingham's belt. Brain Collins and Cody were there getting ready for a workout, and Brian gave me his absorbine, which is intended for horses. I don't know what they put in that shit, but it works. I started icing as well as applying that routinely over the next 24 hrs and I was feeling better, not great, but better.

We arrived Friday night and I weighed in at 212 with my cargo shorts and a polo on. This was encouraging, as I was hydrated and had been eating regularly throughout the day. I've lost about 6 lbs this summer by cleaning up my diet and drinking less. If I continue to get things cleaner and introduce some conditioning, I think I should be comfortably about 205 walking around by November. When we weighed in, they also asked for our first attempt weight. I hadn't thought about it, so I told the guy 330. I later thought that was a little bit higher than what I wanted to go, but I was stuck with it. We met my friend Nick and had a delicious Thai dinner and then I went back to Nick's place. Fortunately I actually slept about 6 hrs that night, which I wasn't expecting. I woke up feeling pretty good about things.

My warmups all felt really good, and the pain in my biceps was very minimal. I was feeling fairly confident that 330 was going to be an easy first attempt. And it was. After I watched the video (after the competition), I was pretty shocked by how fast it moved. It felt great, but it looked even better. Based on how it felt, I decided to take 355 as my second attempt. I knew I could get it, and I was going to decided on my third attempt based on how it felt. The previous week I paused 355, and it was a struggle for me, but that was also after taking two final exams and teaching a piano lesson. I chose it for my second attempt because this time I wanted to destroy it for the confidence boost. It moved really well, and I decided to go for broke on my third attempt and told the gut 375. 375 wasn't easy, and it was a little slow off of my chest, but I went up with no hitches along the way.

This marked a big point in my lifting career for me. It's still a non-sanctioned competition, but this is the first thing I've done where I had to pay money and travel to compete against a large group of talented lifters. It was a lot of fun, but more importantly it showed me that I have the ability to plan an intelligent and manageable training split and set realistic expectations for myself and then achieve them. I realize that it may not always end up this way (setting a very satisfying PR) but it's good to know I can do it. At the beginning of this bench cycle, I had a tng gym PR of 350, and at the end of it I peaked at a puased bench of 375. As long as I stay healthy, I hope to hit a 400 lb bench press in the not-too-far-off future. Time to get my squat and deadlift to a point that I feel decently good about too. Squat is getting there. Deadlift has been neglected for some time, and has a ways to go.

Your bench is ridiculous man. I remember several fortnights ago there was a challenge to get to 350, and now you're doing a paused 375. Hope your back is getting back to 100% so that you'll just be an all-round beast mode jack daddy thunder house

SSchwartsenator wrote:

Your bench is ridiculous man. I remember several fortnights ago there was a challenge to get to 350, and now you're doing a paused 375. Hope your back is getting back to 100% so that you'll just be an all-round beast mode jack daddy thunder house

Thanks man! Your words are very encouraging, Sam. I have high hopes that my back will be back at 100% soon enough. As of now, it's not quite there, but I can still do stuff up to about maximal effort, if that makes sense. It's a matter of mostly making sure that I'm stabilized and braced to ensure that I don't re-injure it. It feels touchy at times, but I wonder if this may be as much a metnal/confidence thing that is associated with an injury as a physical reality. I remember a few years ago (when I was 21) I pulled my hamstring pretty bad (running....). For years after that it would always feel like it was on the verge of being re-injured just about anytime I did anything. It was a mental battle to convince myself that it was in fact ok and I could engage in my regular activities again. I do think I still have physical recovery ahead of me before I'm completely confident under the bar again, but I think the mental setback is going to be the bigger battle ahead of me in the coming months.

To finish catching up my log,

8/18/14

tried to come in to do some squats, but things just felt terrible. Tendinitis was flaring up and I just felt too tired and fried to focus on stabilizing. Decided to take things off until Thursday.

8/21/14

Squats

warmups
365 x 3
365 x 4 (PR)
365 x 3 w/wraps

My new training cycle hadn't fully started yet, So I decided to do some heavish work just to focus on stabilizing my spine. Things felt really good. Decided to give wraps a try for the first time. I'm sure I wrapped them up like dog shit, but I was just in the mood to try them. They felt, interesting. It is not the magical secret I was hoping it would be to adding a million pounds to my squat. I can see how they are a trick in themselves to learn. I don't think I'll try them again for several months.

8/22/14

Feet up bench press

175 x 18
175 x 18
175 x 18
175 x 18
175 x 14

This was the unofficial beginning of my new bench cycle, I guess. Mos of these sets were somewhere between tng and a pause, if that makes sense. I guess I would say a "stop" I'm going to run a volume phase very similar to the one I ran last time, only this time I'm doing it with my feet up. This intent is to work on speed off of my chest by taking out the leg drive and reducing some of my arch. I will see how it treats me. These sets were all pretty easy, and the weight moved really well for all of the sets. The last set I messed around with bar speed and pausing a few reps, and I got to 14 and almost got stuck under the bar...Other than that, good bench session. Big pec pump and good lord my chest is still a little sore.

8/23/14

Deadlift

hook grip

365 x 1 hook grip
405 x 1 hook grip
455 x 3 w/straps
455 x 4 over under grip

1 inch deficit

225 x 10
225 x 10

Tried out the hook grip. I don't think I've gone over 315 with it before, and now I know why - it hurts. also, I'm not as strong with straps as I am with a mixed grip. I think it's that my left (supinated) arm just isn't used to being in the neutral position and hasn't built up enough strength like that to feel entire stable. Nonetheless, those sets at 455 were difficult. I had a busy day moving my friend into his new apartment and I didn't get to Magni until after 8 o'clock, but it is clear that my deadlift has regressed. I think I have a good training plan for it for the coming months that should hopefully get me back up to around where I was. Also, this was my first time pulling from a deficit since before I hurt my back. I kept the weight low and the deficit small to ensure that I wasn't putting myself in a compromising situation.

That sums up the past week. I'm working on something right now to hopefully prepare me for competition come November. Still not 100% in, but I'm leaning that way. Gonna try to get the cycle worked out and I'll post it on here.