6/25/12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYsN517tcPM&feature=youtu.be

Deadlift:
Tom: 315x10, think "reverse-squat", balls on bar, trying to drop into the pull real fast didn't work, take your time
Zach: 315x13, teach him to use belt, make sure he uses the same set-up every time
Ryan: 315x16, hips slightly too low
Jumbo: 315x17, make sure he uses the same set-up every time, he tries to SLDL
Sam: 355x9, remember to flip clip inside out
Mark: 355x11
Tim: 355x12
Shaq: 405x9, tries to SLDL, gotta get chest up
Nick: 455x10, remind him not to drop the bar before every single set

Press:
Tim: 125x11, making him mad works every time
Jumbo: 125x13, gotta motivate jumbo, peer pressure him
Ryan: 135x5, must fix push press habit
Nick: 142.5x9, great improvement, "think up not back"
Sam: 150x8
Shaq: 167.5x11, KEEP THE BAR CLOSE

6/20/12

Bench:
Zach: 165x2
Tim: 165x7
Jumbo: 195x6
Nick: 225x6
Tom: 232.5x5
Shaq: 257.5x5

Power Clean:
Zach: 135x5
Tim: 152.5x4
Nick: Inc.
Jumbo: 212.5x3
Shaq: 245x2

Chins/Dips Superset
Abs

6/18/12:

Deadlift:
Farmer: 275x14
Schwindt: 315x7
Hosler: 355x6
Jumbo: 365x4
Tom: 365x6
Mark: 375x7
Tim: 405x3
Shaq: 420x6
Kaylor: 500x6

Press:
Farmer: 110x6
Schwindt: 110x10
Tim: 135x6
Tom: 140x6
Kaylor: 147.5x7
Mark: 155x1
Hosler: 155x6
Shaq: 170x8

SSB Squat:
Schwindt: 145x6
Farmer: 255x4
Tim: 255x6
Shaq: 255x3
Jumbo: 305x1
Kaylor: 305x1
Tom: 305x1

6/15/12

Squats:
Jumbo: 260x8
Tony: 300x10
Tim: 300x11
Nick: 315x10
Shaq: 335x6
Mark: 345x8
Sam: 345x11
Tom: 405x7

Paused, Incline DB Bench:
Tom: 50x14x1
Tim: 55sx10x3
Tony: 55sx10x3
Nick: 75sx10x3
Shaq: 75sx10x3
Jumbo: 75sx10x3
Sam: 75sx12x1

DB Row:
Tom: 90sx14
Everyone else: ??

Prowler:
Crap

6/13/12

Bench:
Tim: 150x9
Zach: 165x9
Tony: 165x10
Jumbo: 165x12
Nick: 200x9
Tom: 225x7
Sam: 225x12
Shaq: 235x9

Cleans:
Tony: 115x3, 135x5, +20
Tim: 135x3, 150x1, easy +10
Zach: 145x3, 150x1, easy +10
Nick: 185x2, 200x1, hard, stay the same
Chris: 205x3, 225x1, +5
Shaq: 225x3, 245x1, hard, stay the same

6/11/12

6/11/12

Deadlift:
Tony: 300x8
Tom: 345x7
Mark: 345x10
Sam: 345x10
Tim: 345x11
Shaq: 375x10
Nick: 440x10

Press:
Tony: 100x12
Trevor: 120x10
Jumbo: 120x11
Tim: 120x12
Mark: 135x9
Nick: 135x11
Tom: 145x7
Sam: 145x10
Shaq: 145x14

SSB Squat:
Tony: 205x3
Nick: 255x5, 205x10, 205x10

Chins/Situps
Chris, Nick, Tony, Tim, Trevor

6/8/12

Bothell Barbell: 6/8/12
Squat Day

Squats:
Trevor: 185x15, all were high, work on depth next time at 225ish
Jumbo: 245x10
Alec: 245x12
Tim: 280x10
Nick: 300x10
Shaq: 300x12, if pins were lower, he would have gotten more
Mark: 325x10
Sam: 325x14
Tom: 395x8, should have done more

Incline DB Bench:
Tim: 50s
Jumbo: ?
Trevor: ?
Nick: 70s
Shaq: 80x8, do 70s next time

Kroc Row:
Tim: 50x19,16 right, left
Shaq: 90x30,20
Nick: 80x20,20
Trevor: 110x20,20
Jumbo: ?

Situps:
Tom: BWx10x3
Nick:  BWx20x2
Shaq: BWx20x2

6/6/12

Bothell Barbell:
6/6/12: Bench Day

Bench:
Tony: 167.5x6
Jumbo: 185x5
Trevor: 185x9
Nick: 192.5x9
Tom: 215x9
Shaq: 225x9

Power Cleans:
Tony: Volume, 125x3, 135x1
Nick: Volume, 185x3, 205x1
Trevor: Volume, 205x3
Chris: Volume, 225x3, 235x0
Shaq: Volume, 225x2, 245x1

Lots of Chins, Curls, and arm work that I didn't pay attention to.

5/9/12

5/9/12

Squats:
Tom: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 335x5, 390x5, 445x5
+5 next time. Depth is questionable. Work on depth in warmups. Knees out.

Zach: 200x5x3
180 next time. Overall reset needed. Fatigue setting in. Several reps were high.

Press:
Tom: 160x5x3
+2.5 next time. Must use aggression and think about bar speed.

Zach: 120x5, 120x4
107.5 next time. Part of the general reset.

Pendlay Rows:
Tom: 185x5x3
+5 next time. Belt up and use straps.

Deadlift:
Zach: 270x5
+5 next time. Very good set. Cue him to get hips all the way through. Starting too far away from bar.

Overall and in general:
I've decided to keep running my bastardized Madcow's setup. I'm going to go for 5x5 deadlift next Wednesday with 315x5 as my top set. I figure that when I eventually have to reset my squat, things will sort themselves out. Madcow's has worked for thousands and thousands of people. If my fatigued deadlift is going up, my real deadlift is going up. My situation is kind of weird, but I'm not a special snowflake. Everything will be okay if I'm patient. My idea is to eventually transition my way to Madcow's EXACT program.

5/7/12

Deadlift:
Tom: 95x5x3, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5, 325x5, 375x0
I filmed every set and my form was immaculate. It was leaps and bounds better than my max day last Wednesday. In my mind, the deadlift mystery is finally solved. I simply cannot pull within 48 hours of squatting. I just can't do it anymore. My squat is too heavy and I'm simply not recovered two days later. Don't tell me it is because I did too much volume, either. I know how 135 is supposed to feel and today it felt more like 225.

I really have two options:
1) Continue to progress my highly fatigued deadlift.

335 would be my next session. I would do this simply because my squat is going up effortlessly and consistently with this current setup. There is no guarantee that my progress would continue gracefully should I drastically change things.



2) Change my programming.

I'm leaning towards this because I HIGHLY dislike squatting to the detriment of everything else. I feel like I should be much stronger than I am, but I dedicate so much mental effort and so much of my recovery to squats, that everything else takes a massive hit. I'll discuss my programming ideas at the end.



Bench:
Tom: 232.5x5x3 (PR for 3x5)
Actually, this was pretty easy. I used wrist wraps. I'm forcing myself to get used to them. Even though this was relatively easy, as it should be, it should have been WAY easier. I'm still getting used to the wide-grip form. I need a lot of practice on this one. I may increase warm-up volume a bit for my next bench sessions so I can work on a variety of things.


Overall:
Everyone ditched me today so I came home and decided to take a nap before I lifted. This was probably a good idea because I felt great when I woke up. However, I did lift at a really weird time. I'm not sure it mattered at all.

As far as my programming goes, I think I've come to the end of the line for novice lower body programming.

Stuff I'm looking at:
1) Texas Method with deadlifts before squats on volume day
Pros: This is more or less a proven route
Cons: I don't really like Texas Method because you have a heavy barbell on your back only once per week. Volume day doesn't fit well with my personality. I fucking hate squat sets across.

2) Bill Starr HLM model
Monday:
Heavy Squat: 5x5 ramped to a top set PR
ex: 200x5, 250x5, 300x5, 350x5, 400x5
Medium Pull: Power Clean 8x3 ramped to a top set PR

Wednesday:
Light Squat: 4x5 ramped to 75% of Monday
ex: 200x5, 250x5, 300x5, 300x5
Light Pull: GHR/Back Extensions 3x10

Friday:
Heavy Pull: 1x5 Deadlift PR
Medium Squat: 4x5 ramped to 87.5% of Monday
ex: 200x5, 250x5, 300x5, 350x5

Pros: Higher chance to work than the split Madcow version where I try to squat really heavy after pulling a deadlift PR. I don't have to do sets across. I get to do some power cleans.
Cons: Might not be enough volume to progress my squats. I was able to go from 435-->440 after taking a week off of squatting, but the 440 was an extremely difficult set while 435 was a joke. That might not be sustainable.



3) Start using the Split Version of Madcow's that I posted for lower body only
It is a few posts back.

Pros: I like it the most and probably would be the most excited about doing it.
Cons: It has the highest probability of not actually working because the 4x5,1x3,1x8 day would come after deadlifting.



Basically, for now, I want to keep my upperbody stuff on basic LP because it seems to be working just fine. LP is obviously done for my lower body. I've been ignoring this fact because my squat seems to go up infinitely, but if my deadlift is going nowhere in the meantime it really doesn't mean shit. I got some stuff to think about.

5/5/12 Training

5/5/12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEpPaKSSkeg

Squats:
Tom: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 335x5, 385x5, 440x5
+5. Very tough set. Think big chest, knees out.

Zach: 195x5x3
+5, looking much better. Must stay tight and control depth. Divebombs may cost him a set in the future.

Press:
Tom: 160x5,5,4
Repeat, Horrible technique on the last set. Lost the first rep forward ruined the set. Must stay tighter, more focused for each press set.

Zach: 117.5x5x3
+2.5, still has a tendency to knee kick on the first rep. Makes the first rep the hardest. Last set was best.

Deadlift:
Zach: 300x5
Repeat, Last rep was hitched. He's just gotta learn to grind. He can handle the weight.

"Pendlay Rows"
Tom: 175x5x3
+10 next time. Remember to be aggressive.

5/2/12

Squats:
Tony: 265x5, 260x5x2
265x5x3 next time.

Zach: 190x5x3

Bench:
Tom: 245x4, 185x8 closegrip
232.5x5x3 next time with wrist wraps

Zach: 170x5x3
172.5x5x3 next time

Tony: 160x5x3
165x5x3 next time

Cleans:
Zach: 140x3x5
Remember: narrower stance, wider grip, let go of pinkies.

Tony: 95x3x5
105x3x5 next time

Deadlift:
Tom: 455x1
375x5 next Monday. Found out conventional form is stronger than sumo.

Chinups:
Zach: BWx5,5,8
Tony: BWx5,5,1

Pendlay Rows:
Tom: 165x5x3
Easy. 175x5x3 next time

4/27 and 4/30

4/30:

Squats:
Zach: 185x5x3

Press:
Tom: 165x5
Zach: 115x5x3

Deadlift:
Zach: 305x3,1,1
Not a continuous set. 300 next time.

4/27:
Squats:
Tom: 435x5
Tim: 295x5x2, 225x8
Tony: 255x5x3

Bench:
Tom: 245x4, 185x8 close grip
Repeat 245
Tim: 160x3, 165x3, 125x8
Repeat 160
Tony: 155x5x3


Pendlay Rows:
Tom: 155x5x3

RDL:
Tony: 155x8

Back Extensions:
Tim: BWx15x2

Chinups
Tony: 195x5,5,2 no bands
Tim: BWx5,5,2 /w grey band

Training: 4/25/12

Squats:
Zach: 180x5x3
As the weight gets heavier, he's going to need to continue to focus on staying tight. A lot of people seem to get into the habit of dropping into the hole for a bigger bounce, but it really doesn't help at all even though it feels like it does. My theory on this is that it is a welcome relief from having to stay so focused on technique. Regardless, 185x5x3 next week which should be body weight and a cool milestone all at the same time.

Pocholo: 205x5x3
Pocholo made his return today. This was an easy weight for him, but the past few times he's returned I've made the mistake of starting him a bit too heavy. Considering his application here is sports performance, I need him to have pretty much perfect technique on everything for maximum carryover.

Tom: 430x5
A fairly brutal set. I made a slight technique change. I raised my glance a bit and tried to sit back just a little more because I noticed that my knees always pulled back out of the hole anyway. This allowed me to keep a more consistent back angle and I actually was able to get deeper without feeling like I was going deeper. I'll probably keep doing this going forward.

Press:
Pocholo: 110x5x3
I don't mind starting a bit high on pressing stuff after a return. 105 might have been better, but he didn't miss this weight. Like everyone first learning the Oly Press, he has a tendency not to want to reach with his hips as far and as hard as he should. When you do that, it makes the start a lot easier.

Zach: 112.5x5x3
Only the very last rep was a challenge, but he got it. Good stuff. He's already at 115. I've learned so much about coaching and programming in the last 8 months and it is really paying off for all the people I'm luck enough to work with. It took me much longer to get this far.

Tom: 160x3, 165x3, 125x8
I need more Jack3d. I literally have nothing in the tank after squats without it. I didn't have enough energy to go for a PR today so I basically did a Madcow style volume workout: a triple plus a backoff set of 8. I didn't fail or anything, I just knew today was not going to be good for my presses.

Deadlifts:
Pocholo: 245x5
Again, very easy, but I wanted something where he could keep his back PERFECTLY flat. This was close enough, but it might have been even better to do 225.

Zach: 295x5
315 is right around the corner! The last rep was a bit sloppy, but the others looked good. He needs to stop letting go of the bar between reps. I talked with him, and Pocholo, about that and I'm sure it won't happen much anymore.

Chinups:
Tom: 240x8x2 /w 2 orange bands
Ya, I really had no energy so I just did this. Did I mention I need more jack3d? Should be here before Saturday's workout.

Pocholo: BWx5,5,Lots
I have Pocholo do pullups pretty much every time because they are incredibly important for an MMA fighter. They greatly help grip and upperbody pulling strength which are fundamental athletic attributes for a grappler.

Bothell Barbell Training: 4/23/12

Bothell Barbell: 4/23/12

Squats:
Tom: 315x5
Did some light squats today. I haven't done these in a while. Interestingly, these felt just as light as 315 always feels. I would have expected them to feel heavier because I'm not fully recovered from squats. Maybe I could be squatting heavy three days a week? Oh well. I'm not going to find out. My main focus was depth here. Basically, as long as I focus on knees out, I hit depth easily.

Zach: 175x5x3
He has a little looseness in the hole sometimes. It's just an overcompensation for when he's slightly high on the previous rep. As he practices more, he'll continue to improve.

Bench:
Tom: 240x5
As silly as it sounds, I really focused on mind-muscle connection with my right arm today. I've been having some right/left side strength discrepancy lately. I wish I could say there was zero of this today, but there wasn't. I certainly reduced the effect immensely, though. This was quite a tough set. I'm not sure I could have squeezed out a sixth rep. I'll have to decide if I want to go for 245 next Saturday. As long as I eat enough, I should be okay. I haven't gained weight in a while because I haven't been disciplined enough in the kitchen.

Zach: 167.5x5x3
Just absolutely brutal reps. The last set was amazing. I swear, every single rep was a grinder. Every single one. After the first rep, I thought there was no way he was going to get this set, but, hey, he did. Fucking awesome stuff.

Power Cleans:
Tom: 185x3
I ramped up to a triple. I had no JACK3D today and I really felt it. I was BURNED OUT by the time cleans came around. I had to summon up everything I had left to finish these cleans. I need my JACK3D, asap, lol. My PR triple is 190.

Zach: 135x3x5
Milestone! He tends to have slow elbows. So do I. These finally looked like some decently hard cleans for him. We'll keep pushing them up.

Chinups:
Zach: BWx5,5,10
I'm not sure how much Zach weighed today. We'll have him add 10lbs next time and use the same protocol. Once he can do eight or more, we'll add 5lbs to the belt.

Pretty solid day. No one missed any reps and several PRs were had.

4/21/12 - Training Log

Bothell Barbell: 4/21/12

Squats:
Tony: 275x5, 1 + 205x8
Tony hasn't lifted in quite some time, about ten days, and he has been dealing with some injuries. This was a little too ambitious of a starting weight. I had him do a back-off set just to get some good volume in. He'll do 265 next time.

Tim: 275x5x3
Tim has missed around 10 days as well due to the flu. These were okay. He has some issues with back angle.

Tom: 425x5
Each set is getting harder and harder. I wasn't really happy with my depth on this set. In fact, most were a bit high, I think. My shorts made it hard to tell. I need to focus on KNEES OUT on Wednesday for 430. I think I'm gonna do some light squats on Monday to get things dialed in form-wise. I've been skipping them.

Press:
Tony: 105x5,5,8
Wasn't sure how much he'd lost so we had him AMRAP the last set. He'll probably go back to 115 for the next workout.

Kevin: 105x5, 115x5,9
My friend Kevin was able to make it for the second half of the workout. He was doing push presses here.

Tim: 115x5,5,11
Same deal as Tony. This was a pretty awesome set.

Tom: 160x5,5,4
I lost this one because of the same reason as my bench. I don't know what's going on, but my right arm has somehow become weaker than my left. It started on my second set, my left arm was able to lockout it but my right arm wasn't. I think it is related to dips. I'm probably gonna cut those out.

Deadlifts:
Tony: 275x5
Might have to back off here. He can do this easily, but he's losing extension on every rep.

Kevin: 275x5

Power Cleans:
Tim: 135x3x5
Lots of things to work on. Tim is slow getting under the bar after the second pull. He needs to fix that and his cleans will be golden.

Tom: 170x3x1
I started doing these and I could just tell it was a bad idea. The reps were "easy", but I could feel bad things starting to set in after the set. For now, until I switch to intermediate programming, I'll probably do cleans/deadlifts alternated on Mondays (my Wednesdays).

Chinups:
Tom: 245x5x3 /w orange light band
Not much to say. This was +5 from last time.

4/18/12

4/18/12

Squats:
Tom: 420x5
This felt like the hardest set in recent memory. However, on video, the reps were faster than 415 and the technique was magnitudes better. I'll take it, I guess. At least I'm progressing on [i]something[/i].

Zach: 170x5x3
These reps all moved very fast. Technique was a bit inconsistent, but he was sore from playing softball yesterday. This weight is still "easy" for him. He just doesn't know it.

Bench:
Tom: 240x3
For whatever reason, my left side was much stronger than my right side today. I had the fourth rep locked out on the left but it had barely moved up at all on the right. I think it had to do with some kind of technique error as I recently went back to a more powerlifting style bench after using Rip's technique for quite some time. I'll go back to 232.5, start doing 3x5 again, and begin microloading.

Zach: 170x5, 170x4
Time to microload. No real technique problems. This was just too damn heavy.

Power Cleans:
Zach: 125x3x5
These were actually very good. I discovered he was doing the hook grip incorrectly. We'll fix that and it will only add efficiency. Like everyone else, a lot of these started with the hips too low. We'll continue to work on it.

Back Extensions:
Tom: 240x10x5
Bodyweight for five sets of ten. Rested about 60s between sets. Obviously this was very easy, but it produced a massive lower back pump. That's kind of the point, I guess.

Chinups:
Tom: 240x5x3 /w orange light band
Dead-hang, upper chest to bar. I'll keep this form. I'm going to do these twice a week from now on. DV convinced me that my lats were a big weakness and I know this is true because I've had a lot of trouble recently dragging my deadlifts up my shins. I'm using Rip's programming instead of Madcow's because I don't want to make a bunch of big changes.

Zach: 182.5x5,5,6
Chest to bar, using the stretch reflex. Zach has gained a lot of weight since we started.

Overall:
That leads me into this little bit. My progress has been sporadic lately and it is because I'm starting to fuck with everything too much again. I need to get back to objectivity and robotic programming for now. I'm doing everything I can recovery wise, outside of drugs, and I just have to let things fall into place. Worrying about every detail the way I have the last two weeks or so is making me so fucking incredibly pissed off that it is starting to carry over into other areas of my life. If you've read my posts lately, you can probably tell. For now, I'm going to go back to trying to post on forums as little as possible and I'm going to try to stop thinking about lifting and programming so much. If I can. I'm probably one of the few people that can want something so bad that my obsession literally prevents me from being successful in a given task. It took me a long time to learn that, but it has finally sunk in over the last few years. Anyways, I'm rambling. I'm looking forward to two days off and getting some much needed recovery.

To give an idea of how I'm planning to program:
4/21, Saturday's Workout:
Squats: 425x5
Press: 160x5x3
Power Cleans: 170x3x5 (my last successful 3x5 before I moved to ramped 8x3 was 165)
Chinups: 245x5x3 /w orange band, dead-hang+upper-chest-to-bar

4/23, Monday's Workout:
Squats: 325x5x2
Bench: 232.5x5x3, powerlifting technique
Back Extensions: 245x10x5

4/25, Wednesday's Workout:
Squats: 430x5
Press: 162.5x5x3
Deadlift: 356x5
Chinups: 250x5x3 /w orange band, dead-hang+upper-chest-to-bar

I'll move to 2.5# jumps on chins and 1# jumps on press as necessary.

Training Log: 4/16/12

4/16/12

Press:
Tom: 157.5x5x3
Don't care.

Zach: 110x5x3
Epic grinder on the last rep. Barely got it, but this was a beautiful PR. These are the types of sets that truly make you.

Deadlift:
Tom: 405x1
Fuck this. First instinct is to break something. Second instinct is that I'm overtrained on my deadlifts. Third instinct is to figure out what to do. I guess I'll have to reset 20% or something.

Probably the worst day of training of all-time.

Zach: 285x5
Great effort here from Zach. He had to grind out the last one a bit, but he got it.

Thanks for the 'grats on the cert, peeps.

4/14/12

Squats:
Tom: 415x5
Harder than last time, but this was never in doubt. The important thing is that I had zero hamstring pain. I felt some weird little click on the 4th rep, but there was no pain.

Bench:
Tom: 235x5
Stupid easy. I was going to do 240, but I had no spotters, I was using a new form (wide-grip, feet flat, big arch, high touch point), and I figured it didn't matter since this is still technically a PR, anyway.

Chinups:
Tom: 245x5 /w grey, 240x5 /w orange, 240x2 /w bodyweight
Zero energy after my main lifts today. My arms did not feel recovered from armathon last Wednesday. After bench, the thing I felt the most was my biceps. They were tired and pumped. After bench. I'm going to cut down my assistance to 2x8, I think.

Overall:
Normally, I don't like lifting alone, but today it was a real treat. No distractions. No coaching people. Pure focus. I'm trying to decide if I should go for 400x5 deadlift on Wednesday and go up by 5 from there or just try for 425 and see what the hell happens. I'll probably say that I'm going to reset and then end up doing 425. So maybe I'll just say I'm doing 425 and then I'll be reasonable when it comes time to deadlift.

Let me know how things go with that bar, f4.

4/11/12

4/11/12

Squats:
Tom: 410x5x1
These were pretty damn hard, but it was mostly because my body was trying to avoid using my right hamstring. This was the worst form I have had in quite some time. I was battling pain in my right hamstring from rep 2 on. I think I'm going to do a full deload next week and prepare to make my final LP run. I need to let this heal. I'm thinking something like 135x20x3 for squats and probably something similar RDL style. The hammy pull really isn't that bad as evidence by the fact I still got this set.

Tony: 285x2, 275x2
He deadlifted first and did a bunch of high intensity dance stuff for his band. We'll adjust next time.

Zach: 160x5x3
5lbs at a time, baby. Very good compared to when he started.

Press:
Tom: 155x5x3
I have watched a bunch of Ed Coan stuff lately. His lift preparation is really rubbing off on me. Pure unadulterated focus. Shit is beautiful. These were "easy" as far as PRs are concerned. I've really been on a run with this lift for quite some time. It's something good to distract me from my deadlift woes.

Tony: 105x5x3
Really, really easy. Still, a deload is necessary during a comeback.

Zach: 105x5x3
The sets got progressively easier. Sometimes, your body just needs to "learn" how to move a certain weight. Once he got it down, he SMOKED the last set.

Deadlifts:
Tony: 285x5x1
loleasy.

Zach: 275x5x1
Milestone! I'll be putting this video up shortly. Pretty solid form. A little jerking and some rounding, but, hey, I'll take it.

Tom: 275x3x1, Narrow Stance Sumo Pulls
I mostly just messing around here. This doesn't feel strong at all, but I expected that. I felt every single rep in my hamstring. Zero lowerback fatigue, though. That was a nice change from conventional deadlifts. Then again, this was 275. Again, probably going to deload next week.

My plan, which I'm sure all of you will think is just absolutely retarded, is to progress these in the EXACT manner that I progress squats:
1) 3x5, 3x/wk, +10lbs per session, no belt, when I fail roll back 5lbs
2) 3x5, 3x/wk, +5lbs per session, with a belt, when I fail reset 10%, add a light day in the middle of the week (BW back extensions 5x10 or something like that).
3) 3x5, 2x/wk, +5lbs per session, with a belt, when I fail switch to 5x5
4) 5x5, 2x/wk, +5lbs per session, with a belt, when I fail reset 10%, move to 1x/wk
5) 5x5, 1x/wk, +5lbs per session, with a belt, when I fail, switch to triples and keep going

Something like that.

DB Rows:
Tom: 10x5, 30x5, 50x5, 70x5, 90x5
Super easy on my right side, but pretty hard on my left so I stopped here. Plan was 110. I'll do 95 next week and rep out to determine my next jump.

Dips:
Tom: 240x5, 250x5, 260x5, 270x5, 280x5
The jumps are way narrow then what I should be doing. This is too much volume. I got carried away. I won't do that next week. I'll try to use bands or something.

Curls:
Tom: 45x5, 55x5, 65x5, 75x5, 85x5, 95x5
Forgot to rep out the last set. I'll do that with 100lbs next time.

Zach: 45x5, 55x5, 65x5, 75x5, 85x5, 95x2
He got 85x4 last time so progress is progress.

4/9/12

Squats:
Tony: 275x5x3
Back in the game. These looked pretty good. Said his rib hurt, but it was not incapacitating.

Bench:
Tony: 155x5,5,6
AMRAP'd the last set to see how much he lost. We'll do 160 next time.

Deadlift:
Tom: 415x1
Felt my hamstring ripping apart and decided to stop. Probably just made a 3-5 day injury into a 1-2 week injury. Real fucking smart. Terrible, terrible day.

Dips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1NEw1IEg_M
Tom: 280(BW+45)x5x3
I'll put the last set up since I guess 45 is technically a milestone. I couldn't bench because of my hamstring. Couldn't get any leg drive. Fucking awesome.

GHR:
Tony: BWx5x3 /w two orange light bands

Overall:
Fuck this shit. IDK what I'll do on Friday. I guess I'll try light squats or something. I might just do all upperbody. IDK yet. I'll have to get a clear head first.

4/7/12
http://youtu.be/KA2WfLNwIcM

Squats:
Tom: 405x5x1
Some of these are higher than I'd like, but I recognized that and buried the last one for good measure. This is not really the greatest angle for depth, either. I have a lot left in me. I just need to make sure I BURY the reps from now on (without flopping into the hole). Really, the form on this set just kinda sucked compared to 400. With 405 out of the way, I can go back to focusing on technique at 410. I need to get my toes out more to make sure I hit depth.

Tim: 280x5x3
Very, very good form. Some forward knee movement in the hole, but things are looking much better. Like everyone else, he just has to emphasize KNEES OUT.

Press:
Tom: 152.5x5x3
Pretty easy actually. Really focused on REACHING with my hips and it makes a big difference.

Tim: 122.5x5x3
Smoke show. Seriously looked like a warm-up.

Deadlift:
Tim: 335x1
It's time to move to deadlifting x1/wk. Tim has already done this weight in the past.

GHRs:
Tom: BWx5,5,1
I did these with no assistance and was pushing them HARD. On the last set, I tweaked my hamstring. I guess I'll never learn my lesson with these; DO NOT DO THEM WITH LOW REPS AND HEAVY WEIGHT. Assuming I'm healthy by Wednesday, I'll do these 3x10 with bands from now on and make sure no rep goes above an RPE of 8. Just not worth it. I've pulled my hammy three times doing these now.

Chins:
Tom:
235x5 /w grey average band: Dead-hang, lower chest to bar
250x5 /w grey average band: Dead-hang, lower chest to bar
235x5 /w orange light band: Dead-hang, upper chest to bar
235x5 /w pink mini band: Using the rebound, upper chest to bar
230x5 /w no assistance: Using the rebound, chin just over bar

I'll probably continue to do them like this from now on. I liked it.

Overall:
I'm worried about my hamstring but I can walk and stuff so it certainly isn't like last time when it put me out for 2+ weeks. It should be fine within the week. Lesson learned (I think).

4/4/12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXLHuwPsowM

Squats:
Tom: 400x5
IDK, check the video and you tell me? Squatted in .75" heels. Felt sooo much better and tighter. Maybe I should do some mobility work.

Zach: 155x5x3
Form is improving every session. These looked easy.

Bench:
Tom: 235x4x1
Of all places, I actually missed this at lockout. Really strange. That has NEVER happened before. I'm going to incorporate the stuff I talked to SR about. In fact, I started today. Going for 232.5x5x3 next time. I'll return to microloading. I've gotten all the 5lbs jumps I'm going to get.

Zach: 160x5x3
Last reps on a couple of the sets were really tough, but, hey, this was good stuff. Another PR in the bag.



Cleans:
Tom: 200x1x1
This was not that great of a day. I think this may have to do with deadlifts being on Wednesday, but who knows? I took a 10lbs jump. Obviously, my days of doing that are done. 195# next Wednesday.

Zach:
Cleans: 115x3x5
Smoked 'em. Zach's cleans are looking very good.

Wide-grip Pullups:
Tom:
235x5x2 /w orange light band, 235x2 with body weight
Has it really come to this? I suck at pullups/chins. I'll be doing them twice a week from now on. Chins on Saturday. Pullups/Curls on Wednesday.

Chinups:
Zach:
180x5x3
Tough sets, but he was able to get them, dead-hang. Pull height was upper chest.



Dips:
Tom: 240x5, 240x8
These were not hard, but they were harder than I expected. Triceps are definitely the weak links in my presses right now. 250 next Wednesday. I'm going to do them like this, 2x5, 1x5+. I'll stop at 8 no matter what. I have no desire to do a 15 rep set or something like that.

Curls:
Tom: 45x5, 55x5, 65x5, 75x5, 85x5
85 was embarrassingly hard. I will repeat 85 next time with 2x5, 1x5+. The bicep/forearm pump was pretty fun though.

Zach: 45x5, 55x5, 65x5, 75x5, 85x4
He did these with me because he has a like 4-5 days off of lifting due to softball. Curls 4 teh gurlz.

Bothell Barbell
4/2/12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B_qUYaQSOc

Squats:
Zach: 150x5x3
Beautiful. His best sets of squat yet. He's finally getting used to hitting depth and he's finally not as sore as he usually is.

Press:
Tom: 150x5x3
Easy. SMOKE. Seriously.

Drake: 150x5x2, 150x4
Seriously hit some epic grinders. He's not used to doing sets across, which is why he didn't get these. Awesome effort nonetheless and it was awesome to have Drake here.

Zach: 100x5x3
Zach smoked these. The form was very good. Like anyone else, he let some get out in front and the ones he kept close were much faster and more crisp.

Deadlift:
Tom: 405x3x1
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. Fuuuuuuuuuu. Missed at lockout. I think if I just thought about getting my hips through I would have got it. I'm actually super excited about this though because it means that my weakness off the ground was probably just an illusion. I miss off the ground because my hamstrings get blasted from low bar. Gotta think about what to do here.

Drake: 405x3x1
He pulled these sumo. It looks like he *might* have had four. Doesn't matter. He got his goal.

Zach: 265x5x1
Easy! Very good form too. It was awesome to see this from Zach.

GHRs:
Tony: BWx5x2, BWx6
Yeah buddy. He hurt his back or something. I don't know. We had him do body weight stuff.

Dips:
Tony: BWx5x2, BWx6
Same thing. Couldn't lay on bench. His back is tweaked.

Bothell Barbell Training Log, 4/1

Tim:
Squats: 265x5x3
Little relaxation in the hole in an effort to get depth. He was going deeper than he really needed to. He just needs to think KNEES OUT. KNEES OUT. These sets looked pretty easy, honestly.

Bench: 155x5x3
Finally got this fixed. Who knows what was wrong? All I can say is that when we upped his protein intake about 100g, his bench started moving. Also, he's going down holes in his belt. Winning.

Power Clean: 145x2, 135x2
Called it a day after he couldn't do 135. Everything looked okay. He still keeps picking up his chest first. It leads to hip extension before knee extension and the bar swings away from him. He does this on deadlifts too. Haven't found the right cue yet.

Chins: 2x5, 1x7 /w grey average band
Didn't see these. Body weight ~200lbs as usual.

Programming Changes

Programming Changes:

So, after stalling out on deadlifts again, and nearly doing so on bench, I'm going to make some important changes to my program. I wrote a post elsewhere that I'll copy here for anyone interested:

Okay, I think I've got some programming that I like.

I'm going to write this out as Monday, Wednesday, Friday for simplicity's sake, but my actual schedule is Sat/Mon/Wed.

Monday (in order):
1) Bench/Press 5x5 ramped, starting at 235 and 152.5 respectively
2) Deadlift, 531 programming, no deload week, starting at 355
3) Chinups 3x5+, full range of motion, rep out on the last set, if I get 8 or more then add 5lbs next week, starting at body weight
4) Squat 5x5 ramped, starting at 355

Wednesday (in order):
1) Bench/Press 5x5 ramped
2) GHR 3x5+, when I can get 8 or more on the last set then I will add 5lbs next week, starting at body weight with no assistance, I'm going to push these HARD
3) Power Snatch 7x2, sets across, starting at 40kg (90lbs)
4) ATG Front Squat 3x3, @ 75% of Monday's squat, starting at 265

Friday:
1) Bench/Press 5x5 ramped
2) Power Clean 8x3 ramped, starting at 200x3
3) Dips 3x5+, when I can get 8 or more on the last set I'll add 10lbs the next week, starting at body weight
4) Curls 3x5+, when I can get 8 or more on the last set I'll add 5lbs the next week, starting at 65lbs
5) Squats 5x5 ramped, starting at 355


Overall Thinking:
Pulls:
I wanted at least one "deadlift centric" workout. My squat has long dominated my other lifts and it is time to fix it. I like the 531 idea because my primary problem is getting the bar off the ground. Reps give me more opportunities to do that. Kind of similar to the reason haltings are done for 8, I suppose. When I have days where my deadlift is just complete shit, like today, I'll still probably be able to get the minimum reps. 531 takes advantage of the whole good day/bad day thing. I particularly like that for my deadlift because it seems to be effected so greatly by things.

Squats in general:
I want to keep trying to get PRs twice a week while I still can. I'm putting squats at the very end of each workout so that: A) they don't have the opportunity to sap me of energy for my other lagging lifts, B) don't take away my desire to do assistance, and C) I can get a consistent read on what my "fatigued" squat is. I'm resetting because my fatigued squat is obviously going to be less than my fresh squat and I have some latent form things to work on anyway. I figure that resetting deadlifts and squats at the same time is going to provide an awesome boost.

Upperbody stuff:
I didn't want some days where they were first and some days where they were second, which is why they are ahead of pulls everyday. As weak as my pulls are, my upperbody is even worse in comparison to my squat. As such, they get precedence. After getting some advice from SR, I'm going to start doing some serious assistance to balance out the discrepancy in workload between upper and lowerbody that exists in the basic SS/Advanced Novice template. I'm going to take things easy at first until I get acclimated, but I'm excited to give this a shot.

Changes will be implemented starting on Monday. As always, feel free to criticize and ask questions. I appreciate input and feedback.

Starting Strength, Workout B, 3/31/12

Squats:
Tom: 395x5x1
This wasn't even a hard set. I'd put it @8 RPE. I was going to post this video, but now I'm not. I missed my deadlifts and deflated/10 ensued.

Tony: 275x5x3
Finally fixed his tendonitis issue only for him to aggravate some kind of rib injury that he got while dancing. It was hurting for him to breathe so he didn't do anything else today.

Bench:
Tom: 230x5x3
Yay. I guess. I missed my deadlifts. Last rep was the grinder from hell. I feel that it is very unlikely I'll get 235x5x3, but we'll see what happens. If I miss, I'll move to 1x5 like my squats and press.

Deadlifts:
Tom: 405x0
What is this fucking madness? I haven't pulled in 10 days and, last time I did, I got 180kgx5 (396lbs). So, I went for the real 4 plates todays and got zero. I need to reevaluate my deadlift programming. There's a few of us for whom this style of programming just doesn't seem to work for. Everyone else has deadlifts that are +50lbs on their squats and now my squat has probably passed my deadlift. So tired of this shit.

Here's some of the things I'm considered:
1) I'm resetting to 365 and I'm going to work on my form as much as I can.

2) Next time I miss a squat set, I'm going to reset and squats are being moved to the end of my workout. I think this is pretty much set in stone as far as I'm concerned. I need to prioritize my deadlift. I'm tired of prioritizing squats when they're my least favorite lift and, at this point, pretty fucking overdeveloped compared to all my other lifts.

3) I'm probably going to move to 5x5 for Deadlift Madcow style. I don't think I will move it to the middle day of my cycle because I know I won't be able to squat for a PR on the last day if I do that. Maybe I need a little bit more volume.

4) I'm considering alternating between sumo and conventional on a weekly basis. A lot of short guys end up being at their best pulling sumo. I figure this will save my lower back a bit, still allow me to pull 1x/wk without doing halting/rack pulls (which I don't believe works very well), and possibly result in my sumo pull passing my deadlift.

That's all I got right now. This really sucks. What a buzzkill.

Oh yeah,
Chinups: 225x5x3 /w 1 orange band
Hey, at least I'm gaining weight again. These were terrible form. I was so frustrated that I didn't focus and the reps ended up being sloppy and stuff. Just chinups. Who cares?

Bothell Barbell, 3/30/12

Squats:
Pocholo: 240x5x3
I have a tough time judging the weight with Pocholo at times because he can usually do a lot more than he can with proper form. This is mostly due to inconsistent scheduling.

Zach: 145x5x3
He *ALMOST* missed the 5th rep in set two, but gutted it out even after going down a bit. Zach would really, really benefit from some squat shoes. His main issues stem from not staying tight in the hole. I've tinkered with his stance endlessly and I just can't get him hitting depth without a little rounding.

Press:
Pocholo: 120x4, 115x5x2
First set was a misload. I'll probably have him do 117.5 next time. These were good.

Bench:
Zach: 160x5,5,4
Barely, barely missed the last rep. Shitty. He'll just repeat this next time. He needs to gain more weight (obviously).

Deadlifts:
Pocholo: 285x5x1
He didn't hold position off the ground as well as I'd like to see, but this still wasn't that hard of a weight for him. Just gotta continue to work on positional awareness and isometric strength off the floor.

Cleans:
Zach: 100x3x5
Zach's cleans are starting to look really, really good. He's a bit of natural at these, form-wise.

Chins:
Zach: 175x5x2, 175xreps /w orange band
He wasn't getting as high as I'd like so we through in a band and a rep out set at the end.

Pocholo: BWx5x3
I'll probably have him do some sort of chins every workout considering how important they are for MMA.

Bothell Barbell, 3/28/12

Some lifts: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dD6rnd_u50

Overall:
First of all, this was an awesome day. I've had days where I've gotten more PRs or whatever, but the atmosphere today was just so much fun. I'm going to post a video of some of the best lifts from our group later, but just today alone we had Tony hitting a 315x5 deadlift, Nick hit a 405x5 deadlift, I squatted 390x5 and finally pressed 150x5 (thanks Matt), and our friend Mark made a guest appearance. He got to try GHRs for the first time which was cool. All in all, just had a blast today. On to the workout.

Squats:
Tom: 390x5
Not even that hard. I didn't deadlift this week though. So, we'll see how my change works next week. I'm hoping the extra day of recovery will allow this setup to keep working a while longer. I'm thinking that I probably won't max on April 7th after all. I'm on such a roll and I don't want to mess it up just to post a gym total. Ah! I don't know. I'm so conflicted about it.

Nick: 290x5x3
Tendonitis strikes another victim down. Nick will have to do the ibuprofen protocol. His rack was pretty effed from the beginning and we were working on it, but we had him go for PRs anyway (he wanted to). Probably should've waited till he had the rack right. The sad thing is that these were easier than 285. Low-bar makes you stronger real fast.

Mark: 275x5x1
Easy squats for Mark. Today was hit light day.

Tony: SSB, 260x5x3
Tendonitis and all that jazz. Sucks cuz he would've hit 300 today and that would have made today even more epic.



Zach: 140x5x3
Best worksets Zach has ever had. He's hitting depth consistently and things are looking better and better. He'll get 145 next time, no doubt.

Press:
Tom: 150x5,5,4
Fuuuuuuuuu. This was just too heavy. Everyone told me I didn't rest long enough on the last set and that may be true, but the reps were just super hard today. No way around it. I'm going to go to 5x5 press for a while and continue making 2.5lbs jumps. When I stall on 5x5 press, I'm going to reset 12.5% and do 3x5 with 1lbs jumps. When I stall with 3x5 on 1lbs jumps, I'll move to 5x5 1lbs jumps. I've also decided that I'm going back to 2.5lbs jumps on bench. So, 227.5 on Saturday not 230. I'm leaning towards not doing the max out thing at all. It doesn't seem like the best thing to do for my training.

Mark: 162.5x1
Mark benched yesterday and still tried to press today. Not the greatest idea, lol. This was still an awesome rep. I wish I had a vid because it was like a 10-15 second grinder. Awesome.

Zach: 95x5x3
Made these look so ridiculously easy.

Deadlift:
Nick: 405x5
The form is really quite awful, but the set was very entertaining and he absolutely smoked these. He wasn't setting his chest well enough before the pull and he wasn't maintaining a neutral spine when the bar came off the ground. He did these things during warmups easily. Too much hype for that work set, probably.

Tony: 315x5
These went up QUICK. He hasn't been squatting on deadlift days for quite some time now. Or, I should say he's been deadlifting first and then doing SSB squats afterwords. We'll have to see how he adjusts once he's fully healthy. Check the vid. No one seems to listen to my coaching on deadlifting. Music is too loud/10.

Zach: 255x5
A real tough set, but Zach did a great job and even listened to my cues. His technique was the best of the bench and he got his PR. He did this for 255x4 last time. Cool to see him keep pushing it up.

Cleans:
Tom: 90x3, 110x3, 135x3, 155x3, 165x3, 180x3, 190x3
Far from a 3RM to be honest. Things are kind of clicking with cleans lately. Obviously, they're not perfect, but I'm happy. I'll get 200x3 on film next week. My assault on skip continues.

GHRs:
Mark: BWx5x2 /w 2 orange bands, BWx5 with no assistance
After he got the hang of them and learned to use the bounce, he was able to crank out some good sets of GHRs. He said he hadn't felt anything hit his hamstrings this hard in months. Good stuff. Oh, he'd never done these previously.

Bothell Barbell, 3/26/12

Squats:
Tom: 295x5x2
Light day. Perfect form. What is there to say about light day?

Tony: 295x5x3
I told him to finish the week with SSB squats, but he wanted to get into the mix today. By the end, his elbow was hurting. With his new shoes, he's tending to go too deep. Gotta work on staying tighter to naturally cut the depth a bit. There's no need to relax ANYTHING.

Nick: 285x5x3
Nick is the starting kicker for PLU. He's a great dude and has been my friend as long as anyone. He's been high bar squatting all this time and we finally got him to get a decent low bar squat. There's work to do. I have him on Wednesday too. We'll see what we can do.

Brent: 155x5x3
Brent has awesome mechanics on pretty much all the lifts, but he needs to be a bit more aggressive and move a little faster. We'll keep working on it and it will happen naturally as stuff gets harder.

Zach: 145x5, 140x5, 140x4
Zach's squat is a bit messed up. If we get the form down, he'll get these. We need to reset a bit and we need him to eat more.

Bench:
Tom: 225x5x3, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSzc4j1vGJY
Last rep was really sloppy in the first set. The last rep was grindy in the last two sets. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to go up by 5. I haven't gained weight in over two weeks. I need to eat more somehow. I have to figure that part out.

Nick: 175x5x3
Way too easy. The changes we made will up his bench by an awesome amount.

Zach: 155x5x3
Brb benching more than you squat. lol, Zach's bench is looking great. We'll go by 5s from here.

Press:
Brent: 85x5x3
Great form. Pretty much perfect.

Deadlift:
Nick: 380x5x1
Fixed a LOT of technique issues. He was deadlifting with the bar over his toes like most do. He SMOKED 380. He looked good for 405x5. Easily, too. Still work to be done, but he's doing great.

Brent: 255x5x1
Little bit of upperback rounding and he wasn't keep the bar close enough. He needs some longer socks.








Chinups:
Tom: 220x5,5,6 /w 1 orange band
Perfect form. I'll go 225 next time.

Nick: 190x5x2 /w 1 orange band
Taught him proper chinup form, which means chest-to-bar.

GHRs:
Tom: 220x5 /w 2 pink minis, 220x5 /w no assistance, 220x5 /w 2 light orange bands
I realized I didn't need to push these hard on light day. My PR at body weight is 7, but I weighed 180 at the time.

Tony: 195x5x3 /w 2 orange bands
Cool beans. He should have cleaned but that would have been a disaster for his elbows.

Power Snatch: 75lbs x 2 x 7
Pretty easy, of course, but I am not finishing the second pull sometimes. My rack is slow. A lot of the same problems I have with clean. Some reps felt fucking awesome and during others I felt like a physical retard. I'll keep working on it. I'll do 40kg next week.

Starting Strength, 3/24/12, Workout A

Squats:
Tom: 390x2x1
I saw this coming. I might, *might*, have been able to do 3, but all throughout the warmups I felt like shit. My body didn't want to hit depth and I could actually feel a little soreness in my adductors and lower back. I'm going to repeat this weight on Wednesday. I'm moving deadlifts earlier in the cycle and I hope that three days off after heavy pulling will be enough to make it so I can squat by the end of my weekly cycle. If not, I'll probably reset and do something very similar to Madcows. I'm pretty much at the end of the road when it comes to Noviceish squat programming.

Tony: 255x5x3 SSB
Pretty much a smoke show and these were WAY below parallel. SSB squats are basically like super high bar squats.

Tim: 255x5x3
Didn't want to hit depth sometimes, but otherwise perfect. Yelling always works.



Press:
Tom: 147.5x5x3
Pretty hard. Not hard enough that I'm afraid I'll stall next workout or anything, but I'm closing in on that.

Tony: None
Tendinitis. NSAIDS treatment is almost complete. He'll be back soon.

Tim: 120x5x1, 117.5x5x2
First set looked like a 5rm so we went down a bit. Then it looked too easy. I think I pissed him off by lowering the weight, lol.

Deadlift:
Tony: 305x5x1
Easier than 295 because he did this before squats. Okay form. More rounding than I like.

Tim: 355x4x1
He barely missed this. Of all places, it got stuck right above the knee. He's resetting to 315. Once he gets back to 345, he'll go by 5s.

Cleans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbxM_C_pXFM
Tom: All 3x1: 90, 100, 115, 130, 140, 155, 165, 180

Bothell Barbell
Training Log: 3/22/12

Squats:
Pocholo: 235x5x3
Brent: 155x5x2, 145x5x1
20lbs jump was a little too ambitious

Bench:
Pocholo: 155x5x3
Brent: 115x5x2, 115x10x1

Deadlift:
Pocholo: 275x5x1
Brent: 245x5x1

Chins:
Pocholo: 155x5x3
Brent: 185x5x3
Dead-hang, chest-to-bar.

Bothell Barbell
Training Log: 3/21/12
Funny awesomeness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2KPdWXmAs8


I'm going to be lazy.

Squats:
Zach: 135x5x3
Alex: 145x5x3
Tim: 250x5x3
Tony: 290x5x1, SSB: 215x5, 215x11
Tom: 385x5x1
Sam: 385x5x1

Bench:
Zach: 145x5x3
Alex: 145x2, 140x5x2
Tim: 145x5x3
Tom: 220x5x3
Sam: 265x3x2, 265x2x1

GHR:
Tony: 3xBWx5 /w two orange light bands

Cleans:
Zach: 90x3x5
Tim: 130x3x5

Deadlift:
Tom: 395x5x1

Overall:
Really fun day. It was a bummer Mark couldn't make it. Tony's tendinitis ruined his workout. We'll have to be careful and address it before it gets worse than it already is. Super shitty considering how much of a roll he was on.

Bothell Barbell
Training Log: 3/19/12

Tom:
Squats: 285x5x2
Light day. The form was good, but the legs felt heavy. That tells me light day was definitely in order.

Press: 145x5x3
Hardest set of presses in a while. This ties my all-time PR, but last time I did it for a single set. My form wasn't perfect. I'll work on it.

GHR: BWx6x1, BWx2x10
Used two orange bands. Once I got the set-up good, these felt nice. Hammies definitely feel like they bear the brunt of the load in these.

Power Snatch: 65x2x7
These are hella fun. Glad I've added them in. I'll continue to do them like this and add 10lbs each session for as long as I can.

Tony:
Squats: 285x5x3
Tony's form is very good. I was not happy to hear him say that his elbow began to bother him during his last warmup. We'll have to monitor this very, very closely. Elbow tendinitis can really fuck up your training. All-time PR.

Press: 117.5x5x3
These were TOUGH, but he gutted them out like a champ. Solid work here for an all-time PR.

Deadlift: 295x5x1
Very sloppy. He is not patient with the set-up and is having trouble keeping the bar in contact with his legs. We must improve this before he goes for 305.



Tim:
Squats: 245x5x3
He doesn't get his knees forward at the start. His hamstrings relax in the hole a little too much. First set was beautiful, second set had the aforementioned problems, we got him to refocus on the third set, and everything was much improved. Good stuff. He's closing in on where he was before we reset for depth issues.

Press: 115x5x3
Fucking smoke show. For Tim, the presses are all about aggression. These literally flew up like the bar. I have a feeling he'll be progressing much faster on the presses from now on.

Deadlift: 345x5x1
Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Tim tends to try to jerk the bar off the floor and he dislodges his hips at the last second to do this. It looks super weird and I have NO IDEA how he does weights like this with those kind of errors. I yelled at him and we got the last two or three to look a bit better, but, still, there's work to be done. He is probably due for a reset soon. All in all though, he rapes deadlifts.

Power Snatch: 65x2x7
Tim did these with me for fun. He had some early arm bend and was knocking the bar away a bit. We worked on long straight elbows and keeping them rotated out for the most part. I don't know that he'll be doing these regularly yet.



Pocholo:
Squats: 225x5x3
Pocholo is super mobile and flexible as you might expect from a competitive grappler. He has trouble staying tight in the hole and often goes 4" below depth. We worked on getting him to slow down and control the descent. Things were looking better by the end, but we'll have to keep drilling this in as he gets back to PR weights.

Press: 110x5x3Pretty good weight selection here. Pocholo's press is textbook. Good aggression and torso movement.

Deadlift: 265x5x1
Not even remotely challenging. So light that the bar was leaving the ground forward of the mid-foot when the set-up was a bit off. He's going to be at 315 in no time.



Zach:
Squats: 115x5x3
Zach is pretty damn tall and the regular narrow stance makes it very hard to hit depth. We widened it out and everything looks much better. He'd really benefit from some squat shoes.

Press: 75x5x3
Textbook press. Smoke show. Looked like the bar.

Deadlift: 255x4
Bummer. He barely missed this at about mid-shin. He had some trouble maintaining position. We'll teach him to clean next workout and introduce the belt when he goes for 250 two workouts for now. Zach is a born deadlifter and these will fly up quickly.



Brent:
Squats: 135x5x3
This was quite easy for Brent, but it was his first day and this is about as much as you can ask for on a first day. His form was very, very good immediately.

Press: 75x5x3
Press took a bit more for Brent to learn, but he had a decent looking press by the end of things. He'll go up quickly.

Deadlift: 225x5x1
This was also easy. Brent has good leverages for the deadlifts and he'll probably shoot up very quickly on this lift.

Bothell Barbell
Training Log: 3/17/12

Squats:
Tom: 380x5x1
I would NOT have gotten this set without my buddies cheering me on.
Check it out here: http://youtu.be/5cDj_R5fcmI

I lost extension a bit on the last rep and I dropped into the hole on most of them, but, overall, I am happy with this set. This was a life time PR and I KNOW I have more in me. Just look at the bar speed.

Tony: 280x5x3
Tony just got a new belt (https://twitter.com/#!/BothellBarbell/status/180498580681920513/photo/1) so he doesn't have to use a crappy velcro one anymore. With a solid leather belt, he absolutely SMOKED these. Seriously, they were quick. As always, Tony's form was very good. He's a better model for form than I am.

Tim: 240x5x3
Best form Tim has ever had with a heavy weight. These were all to depth and all very solid. He has some troubles with keeping his knees out on the ascent, but most of us do. Overall, very nice.

Zach: 145x5x1, 105x5x2
Zach is capable of doing more, but right now we need him to nail down the form. That wasn't happening at 145 so we deloaded a bit and got him to produce a good looking squat at 105. He'll continue to improve with more coaching and exposure.

Bench:
Tom: 217.5x5x3
These were not as easy as they have been lately. The last rep on the last set was a bit of grinder. And the other 5th reps weren't exactly fast. I'll have to make sure I put in my fair of share of work in the kitchen if I want my presses to keep going up. I'm happy with this PR. I'm closing in on my life-time PR and I'm going to do it for sets across.

Tony: 165x5x3
Finally, I've got him going up by 5s. He had a few reps that were grindy, but they were actually earlier in the set. They kind of woke him up. With presses, you HAVE to be aggressive and push hard. Speed is very important in bench. Tony looks poised to continue to gain.

Tim: 140x5x3
Tim FINALLY got past this barrier. Tim has an odd problem of relaxing when he gets the bar to the chest. I think he's doing it to try and get a bigger bounce. He needs to stay as tight as possible so he can remain stable. He's got terrible stability and it holds him back. We got him to be more aggressive with this weight and he was able to smoke it. Good stuff. We all love Tim, but he badly needs to get this lift up. Who pulls 335x5 and benches 140? He's got more in him.

Zach: 135x5x3
Just working on technique here. Like most people, he's used to an extremely wide grip and a flat back on the bench. We got him using a few powerlifting techniques and 135 was pretty much a joke for Zach.

Power Cleans:
Tom: 165x3x5
Exhausting. This is not a hard weight for me, but it is extremely fatiguing for my back. I'm moving to 8x3 ramped up Madcow style. I'll be cleaning twice a week now. Should be good. I can clean way more than this.

Tim: 120x3x5
Tim's making strides with his cleans. Like lots of people, he wants to catch them with straight legs and use his arms to pull. Flying reverse curls suck. I won't allow them. He'll get it right. This weight is just a joke for him. Tim pulls 335x5. We're going up by 10s.

Tony: 100x3x1, 105x3x4
We misloaded his first set. He got the next four sets with a PR weight. Tony has some mental blocks on this one, but he'll get a stronger clean one workout at a time.

Deadlift:
Zach: 245x5
20lbs PR. No big deal. Zach had a little more rounding than I'd like to see and this may be a bit heavier than what we need from him. I might have him do 235 next time.

Chinups:
Tom: 215x5x3
I could have been more strict with these. Some of them were not really dead-hang. Oh well. I did 207.5 last time and I only wanted to move up by 2.5#s. I gained too much weight to make that realistic. I figure that makes up for the fact they weren't perfect reps. 7.5#s is a big jump.

Tony: 188x5x3
I don't know how he goes from 185x5,3 to smoking all of his reps at 188, but he did. He'll get 190 next time.


Zach: 170x3x5
These were tough reps and he had to grind them out, but, much respect, Zach got all of his sets. We'll have him do 175 next time.




Tim: 3x5 /w grey band
We didn't get him to weigh in because he usually lifts at school. He can't do body weight yet, but doesn't always have access to bands. He was able to get 3x5 which is a great improvement. He normally has to use the black strong band and add a bit of weight.

Bothell Barbell
Training: 3/16/12

Pocholo:

Squats: 205x5x3
Pocholo is coming back after a pretty significant layoff. We started light, for him anyways, and worked on a few form issues. He has a tendency to drop into the hole without any control. We got that fixed and his squat looks much better.

Press: 105x5x3
These were super easy for Pocholo, but it was the first time he'd done the Olympic version of the press. He was used to a more military, touch and go style. He'll ramp up quickly. He's done 120x5x1 before.

Deadlift: 245x5x1
Way too easy. He did them double overhand and very fast. He has done 295x5x1 before and I think he'll pass that easily this time.

Bothell Barbell
Training: 3/15/12

SS, Workout A, 3/15/12

Tim:
Squats: 235x5x3
Needs to do MUCH better with knees out. His squats are a bit of a mess. We have him hitting depth, but he's relaxing too many things to make it happen. He's on spring break so I'll have several consecutive sessions to iron stuff out.

Press: 105x4, 95x5x2
I honestly have NO IDEA what is wrong with his presses. Right now, I'm thinking it must be related to inadequate protein. He is now required to consume at least 100g of whey protein per day in addition to his normal diet. He's recently done 115x5x3. It makes no sense. He was playing handball frequently for a while and I suppose it could be related to that, but you'd think that would hurt his deadlift and squats more than his presses.

Deadlift: 335x5x1
He keeps making crazy progress on this lift. His form was shitty because he went to psycho mode and didn't listen to me during the set. There was a bunch of people watching (8 or so) so it must related to that. We'll work on it. Still. Crazy.

Training: 3/14/12

Training: 3/14/12
Milestone Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cieTWXQG8n8

Tom:
Squats: 375x5x1
Butter! I smoked these. I seriously contemplated doing 6, but I will save it for 380 on Saturday.

Press: 142.5x5x3
My presses have been going so well lately. I honestly haven't even had to try very hard to get these. Hopefully it continues to carryover to my bench.

Deadlift: 385x5x1
This ties a PR. These were a bit more rounded than I'd like, but I'm experimented with different starting positions to maximize my poundages in this lift. I'll continue to work on it. I'm looking forward to getting 4 plates soon.

Tony:
Squats: 275x5x3
Milestone! Great job by Tony on these. Form was near perfect and he gutted out some tough reps. Onward to 300x5x3.

Press: 115x5x3
Tony had to dig super deep to get the very last rep on set #3, but he did it. I foresee more PRs in the future.

Deadlift: 285x5x1
Super tough set. These were grinders, but he got the job done.

Zach:
Squats: 135x5x3
This was Zach's first time squatting in years and he took to low bar fairly well. Like most people just starting out, he has some issues with perceiving depth. It's nothing that a bit of yelling can't fix. Zach seems motivated to give this stuff his best shot and we're planning on lifting Saturday morning.

Press: 65x5x3
Zach easily could have done more here, but my garage ceiling is a little low and he had to feel out the form. Olympic presses can be extremely technical. He'll jump up soon.

Deadlift: 225x5x1
Tough set, but he got 'em. Zach is pretty much built to deadlift. He's well over 6' tall and less than 170lbs so the most important thing is that we get him to gain about 50lbs as soon as possible.

Overall:
Training is going great! Tony will continue on the basic Starting Strength novice program. I'm switching up my squat programming to more of a Madcow's 5x5 style. I'm going to do 5x5 on both Monday and Friday rather than just Monday. I think I have several 10lbs weeks ahead of me before I need to go to a true intermediate program. It was awesome having Zach in there and hopefully we can get him hooked as well. I'm looking forward to training with more and more people in the future. I can't wait to get this gym going full time.