Hanging out on the Westside

[Rodja]

8/28

Squats
Worked up to 505x2
405x5

Standing Cable Crunches
120x15x4

Got in some easy work since I was starting to get stir crazy. The weight felt really light even though I haven't been eating and resting like I should be right now.

[Rodja]

Still getting my feet back underneath me over the past few days and have been underloading for the past two sessions. Hit 405 on bench and 515x3 on both squat and sumo, but none of them were true ME. One thing that I can definitely say is that I need to pick up the conditioning as I'm having trouble keeping up my usual pace.

[Rodja]

9/4 RE Upper

Flat DB Press
80x15
90x12
100x9
100x8

T-Bar Rows
180x12x5

Dips/Neutral Pullups (BW)
15/8
15/8
15/8

Facepulls/Overhead Rope Extensions
70x15/70x15
70x15/70x15
70x15/70x15

DC Stretches

The goal for this day was to get in some solid work and I accomplished that. Chest and back strength is slightly down from where it was a couple of months ago, but that isn't too surprising considering I slightly backed off of the assistance work and really focused on the ME.

[Rodja]

9/5 DE Lower

Sumo (80# chain)
315x2x10

GM
235x10
255x8
285x7 (PR)

Hypers (BW)/Standing Band Crunches (Average)/Bulgarian Split Squats
15/15/15
15/15/15
15/15/15
15/15/15

Prowler (90#)
25Mx10 (5 horizontal, 5 vertical)

Felt absolutely amazing today; easily the best that I have felt in weeks. My speed on sumos never slowed and may have even improved slightly with each set as I really found a groove with my arch. After taking some time off from really hitting both assistance work and conditioning, this starts the beginning of reincorporating both of them into the routine. I feel like my CNS has adapted to the huge increase in weight from using gear as my sleep and mood have both improved recently.

[aceroni]

9/5 DE Lower

Sumo (80# chain)
315x2x10

GM
235x10
255x8
285x7 (PR)

Hypers (BW)/Standing Band Crunches (Average)/Bulgarian Split Squats
15/15/15
15/15/15
15/15/15
15/15/15

Prowler (90#)
25Mx10 (5 horizontal, 5 vertical)

Felt absolutely amazing today; easily the best that I have felt in weeks. My speed on sumos never slowed and may have even improved slightly with each set as I really found a groove with my arch. After taking some time off from really hitting both assistance work and conditioning, this starts the beginning of reincorporating both of them into the routine. I feel like my CNS has adapted to the huge increase in weight from using gear as my sleep and mood have both improved recently.

Good to hear brother. Glad you're back in the game.
Good friend of mine just opened a new strength training facility. Mono lift, power rack, deadlift platform, two competition benches, ghr, reverse hyper, prowler, sled, three dead bars, three eight foot squat bars, ssb, cambered squat bar, Swiss bar, three bench bars, dumbbells up to 150, even that funky bamboo stability bench bar, all sorts of chains, bands, etc.. he's even planning on getting another power rack, another mono, and another forza bench...
Sorry to hijack, i'm just excited and figured you guys would appreciate it..
Correction, Very excited. Time to get strong

[Rodja]

Good to hear brother. Glad you're back in the game.
Good friend of mine just opened a new strength training facility. Mono lift, power rack, deadlift platform, two competition benches, ghr, reverse hyper, prowler, sled, three dead bars, three eight foot squat bars, ssb, cambered squat bar, Swiss bar, three bench bars, dumbbells up to 150, even that funky bamboo stability bench bar, all sorts of chains, bands, etc.. he's even planning on getting another power rack, another mono, and another forza bench...
Sorry to hijack, i'm just excited and figured you guys would appreciate it..
Correction, Very excited. Time to get strong

I'm so jealous. I wish my gym had more bars as I know that I will need the variety pretty soon.

[aceroni]

I'm so jealous. I wish my gym had more bars as I know that I will need the variety pretty soon.

Yeah brother, the different bars are nice to keep squatting fresh and keep hitting it from different angles, also nice to avoid over use injuries

[Rodja]

9/7 ME Upper

Bench
405x3x4 (3-board)

HS Rows
135x15
160x10
160x10
180x8

Tate Presses/Side Laterals
35x15/35x15
50x10/35x15
55x8 (PR)/35x15

I changed the position and tightness of my shirt and wanted to play around with more rep work than working up to a PR. The scoop of the neck sits a lot lower on my chest now and forces me to bring the bar out lower on my chest, which hits my groove much since my arms are so damn long. The 405 moved so quickly that I was tempted to increase the weight, but I stayed disciplined and stuck with the plan.

On an unrelated note, my digestive system was giving me fits for a couple of weeks and was making life a bit miserable for me. My appetite was low, I was constantly bloated, and my sleep/energy quality was terrible. However, last weekend I reincorporated digestive enzymes into to my supplement regimen and they have made a HUGE difference. My appetite is back, the bloat is gone, and I've had some of the best training in recent memory. For those struggling to get kcals down to fuel sessions or gain mass, pick up a good digestive enzyme blend such as the NOW Super Digestive blend.

[Rodja]

9/9 ME Lower

Cambered Bar GM
135x5
185x5
225x3
275x3
315x3
335x3
365x1

Snatch-Grip Deads
315x5x4

Hanging Leg Raises
BWx15x5

Prowler Pushes
90#
25Mx8 (4 vertical, 4 horizontal)
180#
25x2 (horizontal)

First time that I've ever used a cambered bar for GM as I wanted to break up a little bit of monotony in my training and hit some new angles. After I was done with those, I really wanted to hit my upper back hard and seated GM would have been a little redundant, so I threw in another lift I have neglected lately: snatch-grip deads. I didn't have the intention of working up to anything ultra heavy as the leverage is terrible and it is an assistance lift. However, the feeling in the mid/lower traps and upper lats is very different from any other form of deads and I hope these carry over to my squat as I've been having difficulty supporting the weight and lifting it out of the mono.

[aceroni]

9/9 ME Lower

Cambered Bar GM
135x5
185x5
225x3
275x3
315x3
335x3
365x1

Snatch-Grip Deads
315x5x4

Hanging Leg Raises
BWx15x5

Prowler Pushes
90#
25Mx8 (4 vertical, 4 horizontal)
180#
25x2 (horizontal)

First time that I've ever used a cambered bar for GM as I wanted to break up a little bit of monotony in my training and hit some new angles. After I was done with those, I really wanted to hit my upper back hard and seated GM would have been a little redundant, so I threw in another lift I have neglected lately: snatch-grip deads. I didn't have the intention of working up to anything ultra heavy as the leverage is terrible and it is an assistance lift. However, the feeling in the mid/lower traps and upper lats is very different from any other form of deads and I hope these carry over to my squat as I've been having difficulty supporting the weight and lifting it out of the mono.

That's retarted strong good mornings. . I LOVE using cambered bars for it though

[Rodja]

9/11 RE Upper

Incline DB Press (30)
80x15
90x10
90x10
100x7

DB Rows
150x21 (PR)

JM Press
185x10
195x9
205x7
205x7

Hammer Curls/Band Ex Rotations (mini)
50x10/15
50x10/15

[Rodja]

9/12 DE Lower

Speed Pulls
315x1x12

Walking DB Lunges
55x12x4

Hypers/Hanging Leg Raises
BW+45x15/15
BW+90x15/15
BW+90x15/15

Standing Cable Crunches
100x15x4

Pretty grueling session. Speed pulls went very well (had to lift at school gym and didn't use a DL bar) and made sure to pull my hips under the bar before leaving the ground as I have a little bit of a habit of lifting my butt up when I'm focusing on maximum speed. I also made sure to really hit the abs hard today as I've somewhat slacked on them lately and I'm about to start trying to get a 700 squat before the end of the year, which would be ~50 lbs in 3 months.

[SweetLou321]

Could you share the dosage, extract, length of use ect of the rhodiala your using. Im curious about it as a training aid outside of the normal stuff.

[Rodja]

Could you share the dosage, extract, length of use ect of the rhodiala your using. Im curious about it as a training aid outside of the normal stuff.

This 2-3x/day for 6-8 weeks.

[SweetLou321]

This 2-3x/day for 6-8 weeks.

Any stimulants or the such to be avoid while using this?

[Rodja]

Any stimulants or the such to be avoid while using this?

I'll occasionally pop 1/2 a Bronkaid and 200mg caffeine.

[SweetLou321]

I'll occasionally pop 1/2 a Bronkaid and 200mg caffeine.

Well ive been enjoying craze lately and won a bottle of jack3d micro so id prob be using one or the other a couple times a week.

[Rodja]

Well ive been enjoying craze lately and won a bottle of jack3d micro so id prob be using one or the other a couple times a week.

Nothing wrong with that. I typically use them for DE/RE instead of ME since the pace is slower.

[Rodja]

9/15 ME Upper

Bench
Worked up to 335x1 (raw), 455x2 (3-board, shirted) PR

OHP
135x8x2
145x6x2

HS Rows (pronated, wide)
135x15
160x12
180x10
180x10

Rope Pressdowns/Facepulls
70x15x4/70x15x4

Getting in some really good work this week. Wanted to get some extra weight in my hands, which is why I went up to 455. The shirt provides so much support that I'm going to need to get used to holding at least 495 before I'll be able to really start to take advantage of the spring. The 455 came up quickly and I probably could have gone for a triple except my lower back cramped up.

[SweetLou321]

What benefits do you see from erase while on? Also nice bench PR, thats my goal at the meet in oct. Maybe I shoulda done a lot more shirt work to boost my raw numbers.