Chris Anderson's Training Log

3/6- lower ME intensification week one

Harness squats-
Warmups
245x1
265x1
285x1
295x1
305x1
315x1
335x1


RDL's- 225x5, 275x5, 315x6
Back raieses 5x10
Cable ab pulldowns: 3x10

Notes: I like the harness squats, but goddam does that harness dig into the neck/upper back. Got some weird looks from a lot of people, including a group of black people benching, who were giving me stares like I was a watermelon farmer during harvest.
I'm getting bored of back raises, I need to find a new low back movement.

3/7- upper ME intensification week one

Press-
160x1
170x1
180x1
190x1
210x0
210x1

DB bench- 3x5
Paused WG bench- 3x3
DB rows- 3x5

Notes: Pressing more than your bodyweight can be dangerous folks. 5lb PR, though.

3/9- Lower dynamic, intensification week 1

Speed squats: +mini and monster mini bands on all sets, ~100lb of tension at top
3x3@135
3x3@175
1x2@240

Speed deads: +doubled short monster mini on all sets, ~150lb at top
3x3@100
3x3@135
1x2@230

45* back raises 3x10+25lb

Notes: First week of intensification is in the books, feels great. I managed to not drop any weights today, I was pretty proud of myself.

3/11- Upper DE, intensification week 2

Speed bench: +monster mini bands on all sets
3x3@70
3x3@95
1x2@130

Dips 3x10
Barbell rows 3x5
Face pulls 5x10


Notes: I hate Power Lift equipment.

3/12

Wasn't a scheduled lifting day, but I got in to my high school weight room and did a few various things. Light box squats, chins, rows, face pulls, and some snatches. Did some sled dragging afterwards.

3/14- Upper ME, intensification week 2

Close grip bench:
warmups
225x1
240x1
250x1
260x1
275x1

DB bench 3x5@85's
Wide grip bench 3x3@180
DB rows 3x5@100's

Notes: 275 is a PR, hopefully it translates to a bigger competition bench. The most I've benched ever is 280 back in December. Everything else felt good.

I'm a bit behind, so here we are:

3/16- Lower DE, intensification week 2

Speed squats: +mini and monster mini bands on all sets
3x3@135
3x3@175
1x2@240

Speed deads: I had to deadlift in a rack at the gym I lifted at over break, and I couldn't get the bands set up the way I wanted to. So, I ended up just draping some bands over the bar and doing singles until it felt like I was slowing down. Ended up doing something like 15 singles, with the last two or so at 275+two mini and two monster mini bands.


3/19- Upper DE, intensification week 3

Speed bench: +doubled monster mini bands on all sets
3x3@75
3x3@100
2x2@135

Dips 3x10
Barbell rows 3x5@185
Face pulls 5x10

3/20- lower ME, intensification week 3

Deficit deadlifts- plus ~100lb of chains at top (weight listed is bar weight)
Warm ups
315x1
365x1
385x1
405x1
415x0x2

RDL's
275x5
330x6

45* back raises 4x10 +25lb

DB side bends 3x10@75

Notes: I think I somehow fucked up the chains when I was setting up for the sets of 415. I'd initiate the pull, and both times the left side felt way lighter than the other side, although I knew I had the plates loaded correctly. I didn't want to take the time and see what was fucked, though, so I called it a day.

I got distracted by a few very fine female specimens during my back raises and side bends, so I took a bit longer on those.

Gotta catch up a bit:
3/21- upper ME, intensification week 3

CG floor press- 265x1, 275x0
DB bench- 3x5@90's
WG paused bench- 3x3@190

Notes: I need to quite missing lifts for my max effort stuff. I also skipped DB rows.


3/23- lower DE, intensification week 3
Speed squats: +minis and monster minis on all sets
3x3@140
3x3@180
1x3@245

Speed deadlifts: +quadrupled minis on all sets
3x3@100
3x3@140
1x3@230

45* back raises: 3x10+25lb
DB side bends: 3x10@75'2

Notes: All the speed work felt pretty fast, especially the deads. Did a triple on the last set instead of the called-for double. Took me forever to figure out how to set up the bands in the rack, had to have Kyle help me out quite a bit, but I liked it once I got it going. I was going to throw in the rows that I missed earlier in the week, but I was already in there over 90 minutes. Hopefully I can get them in on an extra workout tomorrow or something.

3/25- Upper DE, intensification week four

Speed bench- +monster mini band
3x3@100
3x3@125
1x2@165

Dips 3x10
Barbell rows 3x5@190
Face pulls 5x10

Notes: Went full retard and forgot to bring both of my bands today, so I had to bench with only one. Because I had less tension, I decided to add some bar weight to all sets. It's not the same, but oh well. Everything else went fine.

Never go full retard.

3/27- Lower ME, intensification week 4

Good mornings to pins-
Warmups
225x1
245x1
260x1
270x1
280x1
290x1
300x1
315x0

RDL's
225x5
295x5
340x6

45* back raises 3x10+45lb
DB side bends 3x10@75

Notes: The crossfitters were crossfitting up a storm today. They looked pretty functional.

Chris Anderson wrote:

Notes: The crossfitters were crossfitting up a storm today. They looked pretty functional.

We have crossfitters? Yesterday I got asked if I do crossfit because I was wearing oly shoes to squat in. facepalm.jpg

Yeah, these two guys were doing some kettlebell/burpees/push press/box jump circuit thing behind me while I was in the rack. Then they started talking about WOD's, and some other guys came over and they talked about crossfit some. The guy who seemed to be the "leader" of the group actually had a pretty decent frame/muscular development to him.

3/28- Upper ME, intensification week 4

2-board press:
Warmups
225x1
245x1
265x1
275x1
285x1
295x1
305x1
315x0

DB bench- 3x5@100's
DB rows- 3x5@105's
WG paused bench- 3x3@200


Notes: Very first time benching over 300 (I know it's a board press, but I mean any variation of bench), so that's a big mental thing for me. Just having that much weight in my hands and knowing I can handle it will help come April.

3/30- Lower DE, intensification week four

Speed squats- +mini and monster mini bands
3x3@140
3x3@180
1x2@250

Speed deads- +quadrupled mini bands
3x3@105
3x3@145
1x2@235

45* back raises 3x10+25lb

Front squat holds
225x10 seconds
315x10 seconds
405x3x5 seconds

Notes: Felt a little slow today, but still stayed fairly fast. Today was a harder week from a max effort standpoint, so my CNS is probably a little drained, which would help explain why I felt slow.

4/1- Upper body DE, transformation week 1

Speed bench- 10x3@145
DB bench 3x10
Hammer curls 3x10
Face pulls 5x10

Notes: I'm running my transformation phase with no bands or chains, and squatting will be done without a box. All assistance work is pretty damn light, roughly 70% of what I do in my other blocks.

The transformation block is two weeks long for me. This first week, I'll still be maxing out on special exercises for my max effort days. Assistance work will be cut down on volume, but still fairly intense. In the second week, I'll be doing my competition lifts for the max effort days, but only working up to about 75%.

In the week of the meet, I'll basically be staying completely out of the gym, maybe going once or twice to do some sub-50% work to work on technique and commands. I'll also be focusing on cutting weight during that week, as I have about 5-6 pounds to cut off.

My cutting plan is basically to drink tons of water the first three days, and over the rest of the week, cut out pretty much all water intake and limit carbs/avoid all sodium. I plan on arriving at my hotel about an hour before weigh-ins on Friday, so I can check my weight on my own scale, and if I need to, take a hot bath and drop a pound or two of water.

I'll probably be going in a couple times just to do warm ups and some really sub-maximal stuff too if you want someone to do commands with. A week of no lifting makes me feel really stale when I get back into it.

Nathan Poage wrote:

I'll probably be going in a couple times just to do warm ups and some really sub-maximal stuff too if you want someone to do commands with. A week of no lifting makes me feel really stale when I get back into it.

Sounds good, I'll be in there probably once or twice during that week.


4/3- Lower ME, transformation week 1

Harness box squats-
Warmups
285x1
295x1
305x1
315x1

RDL's
225x5
315x5
335x1
365x1x5

Front squat holds
405x2x10 seconds

Notes: Transformation max effort is kind of boring. Then again, so will this entire block.

4/4- Upper ME, transformation week 1

Close grip bench-
warmups
225x1
240x1
250x1

Press-3x5@135
Barbell rows-3x5@145

Notes: Normally by the time this day comes around, I'm already feeling a bit of CNS breakdown. It's nice to have the intensity lowered a bit. Hopefully I can time this just right so I can have a nice supercompensation effect for the meet.

4/6- Lower DE, transformation week one

Speed squats- 8x2@250
Speed deads- 10x1@280
45* back raises 3x10+25lb

Notes: No bands or boxes. I also decided to do these without a belt, which was kind of dumb, in retrospect.

4/8- Upper DE, transformation week 2

Speed bench- 10x3@145

Dips 3x10
Band pull-aparts 3x10
Hammer curls 3x10

Notes: Bench felt fast. Technique felt great, I feel like my upper back arch/shoulder blade tightness is doing a lot better. Everything else was basically to get a decent pump going.

4/10- Lower ME, transformation phase week two

Squats
warmups
5x1@340

Deadlift
warmups
5x1@380

Front squat holds 405x3x5 seconds

Notes: I am so damn not used to competition squats. First few singles felt like shit, but got better as they went on. I did the last one with full gear just for the sake of more practice with the wraps, as I haven't used them since the first week of intensification.

Forgot to update this.


4/11- Upper ME, transformation phase, week 2

Bench
8x1@200

Press: 3x5@135
Barbell rows: 3x5@145
Band pull-aparts: 3x10

Notes: Felt good. Competition technique feels solid.


4/13- Lower DE, transformation phase, week 2

Speed squats- 8x2@250
Speed deads- 10x1@280

Back raises 5x10

Notes: No box/bands/chains. Remembered to bring my belt this time, everything felt better.


4/17- meet week workout

Basically a bunch of singles at around 30% of my 1rm on all the competition lifts. No equipment. Everything was done to simulate a meet set-up and preparation. Lots of mental reps to focus on commands, as well as "thinking" the commands in my head as I did each lift.

Weighed in at 202.5. This cut will be pretty easy. I think I'll push back my fast so my last meal is at like 5pm Thursday. This will still give me over 24 hours to shed water weight. I could probably get away with eating a small protein meal early Friday.

Because I can't do a full accumulation/intensification cycle and I don't have a meet to train for, I'm just doing a 5/3/1 split with high volume assistance until I'm off to basic.

4/23- 5/3/1 Press

Press:
125x5
145x5
160x5

Incline bench 5x10
Preacher curls 3x10
DB rows 3x10

Notes: I really should not be lifting this week. I am still far too beat up from the meet, but fuck it. I went pretty fucking light on everything, and only did the prescribed reps for the main lift, which will be what I do all this week.