Early xmas present

Merry xmas everyone!! Hope you had a good day and enjoyed all the food etc.

x x x

I trained on xmas eve. Gym was closed but one of the guys had keys so we managed to get a sesh off anyway. I was training with my brother who has come back from uni for the hols so i decided to do something a bit different. It was supposed to be squat day and usually for me this means heavy etc. But i decided instead to do some speed work and have a go with my weight lifting chains.

Dynamic Effort
The basic essence behind speed work it to increase rate of force production. This basically means you can apply maximal force to the bar in as short time as possible. This helps your 1RM as it means that you spend less time building up the same amount of force before the bar actually starts moving. The basic rep/set scheme was 8 sets of 2 reps off about 2 minutes. We did it down to a bench as this gets rid of the 'stretch shortening cycle' and disconnects the concentric from the eccentric movement.

Right, enough of the science :S. We warmed up with hip thrusts then went straight into the dynamic effort stuff. Video time:



After the 8 sets we removed the bench and went up to a chain squat 1RM over a number of sets.



My previous 1RM was 260kg so with chains in the video above the weight was 272kg at the top of the rep and 240kg (roughly) at the bottom of the rep. This felt surprisingly good so i decided to go for an overall back squat 1RM (surprise surprise). After hitting some good numbers (and pb's) at every training session so far this week i thought id finish with the full monty.



So, new 1RM 280kg back squat. REALLY PLEASED WITH THIS!! The rep was slow but then i'd just done a whole session prior. The target is 300kg so within a couple of months i reckon i'll have it, especially if the weight gain goes to plan.


So that was my session. AGAIN i bailed on the hamstrings. Next week, which was supposed to be deload is now a full training week and i'll deload for my first week in Bangor as this will allow me to get settled in. From this week i am going to have to really try to make sure that my sessions arent cut short. I NEED to make sure i'm doing hamstring work regularly.

With that last 1rm squat attempt i managed to 'injure' my calf. It just felt a bit achey and sore. So as soon as i got home i took some ibuprofen and iced it:

Freezer bag with snow in it!! Surprisingly effective!

My calf is now fine, must have just been a slight muscle pull but its better to be safe then sorry, injuries are horrible. The ibuprofen is really quite good at getting the inflammation down and reducing how long the injury lasts. It also helps with pain but a bit of pain is good for you ;).

Now, for the last 2 days i've managed to get my bulk back on track after slacking for a couple of weeks. I decided to cut my losses and weigh myself to see how much weight i needed to gain to get to my target of 140kg by the end of next week and this was the result:

140.8kg - BOOM!

So my 'pseudo' bulk had worked and i've exceeded my target. Basically as ridiculous as it sounds, i'm taking the next week 'off' eating. I'm still going to eat my xmas food with no remorse and stuff it down as much as possible but EVEN THIS isnt 'enough' and i won't be forcing any food down so thats what i mean by taking a week off.

On a final note before i leave you to go make myself some turkey sandwiches, I got a really good xmas present: Practical Programming for Strength Training by Rippetoe and Kilgore. I havent read it yet but from flicking through it and knowing how much of a legend Rippetoe is, it's definitely a really really solid purchase for anyone looking to get into serious strength training. 

So thats it! Enjoy the rest of the holidays!

P.S: For anyone interested, Manowar are playing in Birmingham on the 27th of March 2011. This is their first UK date in about 16 years or something. If anyone ends up going, i'll see you there ;)