Herder's 2014 Log: All About the XPC Semi's

Rodja said:
It's been a long road to get some decent strength and mass for me. I started out struggling with 95.
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I started with a personal trainer who was junior national SHW bodybuilding champion. To this day the biggest delts I've seen. He got me off to a great start with no stone unturned.
 
jimbuick said:
Lol, I started with WS4SB. Too bad I ate like a bird and never got above 150 pounds BW.
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I wish I started with that. I was kinda fortunate in that I knew that I was clueless on how to eat, so I read up on that. Unfortunately, the book I chose was Weider's BB'ing encyclopedia.
 
Deadlift Day

Was planning on doing assistance stuff today, but I got into the heavy pulling mood.

Ton of mobility stuff

Sumo off 3" Blocks
Up to 405

Should have been doing these to build up my hips. Got into much better position and actually felt it in my hips.

Conv Deficit (3/4")
455X1

Floor
495x1
455x3x3

Video of all pulls: Invalid Link Removed

Decent. I kind of lost my form with the sumo cycle and the touch and go comp. Today I was focusing on getting my hips low and using quads to get the weight moving. Finally found the form again, but I think I need a lot more quads if I want to hit the numbers I need to hit.

Sissy Squats
3X10

BSS
BWx3x10

Legs were jelly from those three exercises. Still jelly now. I feel dumb that I hadn't diagnosed quad weakness for my squats and pulls. Two months behind where I could have been. They were a strong point for so long, I took it for granted.

No low bar squats just yet for this guy, belted high bar and fronts until South Carolina.
 
Ah - wish I would've caught this before I pulled today. Looked good (d@mn right it looked awesome compared to my vids...lol). I was really seeing the difference with hips low & driving off the floor - exactly my trouble lately.
 
Pulls looked good man very fast...

I think your going to like your run of front squatting it's really brought my squat up and my upper back feels much stronger and stable
 
Thanks, guys. I need to clean up my setup a little, which can be expected since I'm not totally in practice. But I'll improve.
 
Sloppy pulls somehow get pretty real fast after a Deload and meet prep. At least for me.
 
herderdude said:
Thanks, guys. I need to clean up my setup a little, which can be expected since I'm not totally in practice. But I'll improve.
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It just seems like you hesitate is all. You see some weird set ups at meets so that can just like be your move. Call it the fake out? haha
 
So today my gym held a push/pull supporting the local fire department. I judged AND competed. It was a lot of fun and we did the meet outside.

I benched 385 raw and deadlifted 535, missing 565 at my knees. Huge PR on bench, and a pretty good effort in the deadlift for pulling a couple days ago. It's almost a gym PR type thing, being an unsanctioned meet, judged by friends and training partners, but it was clean enough for me.

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Afterwards, I did events with one of my fellow competitors today and at the strongman competition two weeks ago.

Farmer's Holds
230X2x30s

Keg C&P
180X2x5

Log C&P
220x5 (one clean)
220X5 (all cleaned)

Hell of a fun day, and I found a place to train events fifteen minutes from my house, and a NAS Nationals qualified competitor to train with.
 
rob112 said:
Nice way to gut out that bench! Impressive man! Congrats on the PR
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If I'd have known it would be that hard, I would have picked a lighter third! Thanks, buddy.
 
Thanks guys, had a lot of fun, feels good to finally make real progress on my bench, and with a bodyweight in the 220s, no less.
jimbuick said:
Its always good finding other people to train events with.
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No doubt, it's not an easy thing to find. This guy built all his own implements and cuts my drive time for training with people who know what they're doing by 75%.
 
Recovery Day

Super D Hang
Super D Shoulder Routine
Couch Stretch
Band Distracted Ham Stretch
Piriformis Stretch

Tried to do some weights, but there was honestly nothing I could do that didn't hurt like hell, except for CURLS!! So I did:

Axle CURLS
75x20,15,12, add wrist wraps and straps (yeah, farmer's holds bit me), 10

I want to work up to 75x5x20, strong and healthy biceps and forearms will be important as I do strongman and as I transition back to low bar squats.

Taking it easy this week, then gearing up for the big push/pull Sept 6. I don't think it was strength that caused me to miss 565. It was timing and technique, I did a good job of getting leg drive, but I didn't pull back and it caused my hips to shoot up off the floor. Thinking about pulling with a band around my back and doing my block pulls with stiff legs in case I goof up again when I go heavy.
 
Man - way to grind that bench out - awesome! & hellz yeah - train events & have a partner - good deal right there!!
 
Today I trained with the strongman crew, deload overhead. Apparently Josh Thigpen really likes high rep deloads.

DB Incline
75X3x15

Band Pushdowns
4X12 two grips, 2s hold at contraction.

Delt Raise s/s
3x12/12

One Arm BB Overhead (Any which way)
115 each arm (snatch)
135 one arm (C&P)
150xF (grip)

That's everything. The one arm overhead was practice for an press medley in a comp in two weeks, which I probably won't be doing, I think. Pretty easy, but my pecs and tris are sore.
 
Sean1332 said:
One armed BB OHP sounds completely fûcked lol
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Oh, dude. So far beyond fúcked, I couldn't even remember what fücked looked like. Imagine having the bar resting on your front delt while using your chin to trap the bar there. It happened.
 
herderdude said:
Very carefully. ;)
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Yeah - wow, that would be quite interesting to see.

Before I learned about meadows rows & such - I thought when someone said they were doing 1-arm bb rows - that they were using it like a dumbbell
 
Alrighty, back by popular demand, low bar back squats! I'm hitting 5s today, brought ny blue arrows if I feel froggy. Pauses, GMs, GHR, KB swings, whatever it takes to strengthen my hams will be included at warp speed.
 
Rodja said:
I wonder what kind of sex dungeons you masochists have...
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Seriously. You guys are sick.

So today's lesson was that squatting was a whole lot more fun when I was 20 lbs heavier, and I think I've finally arrived upon a concrete plan.

Low Bar Squat
Work up
315X5 beltless, first one paused
365X1 paused rawww
405X2 rawness
425X1 belt
455X3x2 belt wraps

I was doing a godawful job of leading with my head out of the hole. That will improve with reps. Not up to the goal I set, but it easily could have been much worse.

Wide Stance Pauses
315X2x3

I found my hips today! It wasn't an extremely wide stance, but it was maybe 6in wider than normal, and I wasn't bound up in the hole like usual.

GMs (beltless high bar deadlift stance)
185x3x10

GHR (full blood flow, thank you vert much)
3X8

And I couldn't get the KB off the floor without cramping, let alone swing it.

I notice as I write it out that this is very familiar territory as far as exercise selection, and sometimes you have to do a lot of experimenting to realize the way you were doing it was the best way to begin with.
 
Oh yeah. Session took me 65 minutes. So it was pretty much cardio paced for a guy with my level of conditioning.
 
Duramaxhd said:
U know of any videos that show how to set it up right?
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It's pretty simple. I find the groove created by my posterior delts and then stay completely tight. You generally have a slightly wider stance as well, but that's not universal.
 
"so you think you can squat" on elitefts show it....right?
 
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