Results matching “Bird”

I've got to do something about my lack of hip drive - it's undoubtedly doing nothing for my squat and probably helping my deadlift by the same amount. Preceding tonights RDLs were a few sets of highly explosive Dimel Deadlifts; absent for a while but set to make a bit of a comeback.

Whilst searching for other exercises to assist me in my quest I came across the one-legged deadlift, which I had to try out. My balance isn't exactly good at the best of times, and just getting 60kg to lockout was a miniature workout (albeit a highly amusing one) in itself. If you decide to try this, make sure no-one's looking :)

Pull-through (band) 50@blue

Dimel Deadlift 4×12@60/132
RDL 4×6@100/220
One-legged deadlift a few@60/132
High step-up (side) 2×10@bw
Side bend (plate) 2×10@15/33, 2×10@20/44

I've discovered the reason for ignoring shoulder work for so long - it hurts. Not in a 'feel the burn' or 'I think I've snapped something' kind of way, but just in the 'strange. there's a bit of pain here' way. Very unusual.

Today's workout (which should've taken place yesterday, I just ran out of time) featured the shoulders/triceps combo which should be the main event in DE BENCH workouts for a while. Actually, the triceps work was cut short. May have to make amends for that if there's time this evening.

Shoulder press 10,8 @30/66
Bradford press 6,6,6,3 @20/44
Front plate raise 2×10@10/22, 7@15/33
Bench press (incline) 2@60/132, 7×3@50/110
Seated half press 2×10@30/66

Yesterday's squatting session was delayed until the heat of today's lunchtime. Despite the drop in weight (down again to 50%) and the high box (aka bench) it was a tiring session.

My squatting technique is still awful; just to give you an idea of what I'm up against, here's a bit of video (3MB, .wmv). You've been warned.

Box squat 10×2@50/110
Arched back GM 2×5@30/66, 5@40/88, 5@50/110, 2@60/132
Waiter's Bow 4×10@15/33
Hanging knee raise 4×10@bw

Tonight I stumbled across an exercise that will now form part of my upper body routines - the Seated Half Press. Although it looks like a shoulder exercise, it's actually for the lateral head of the triceps. And a new triceps movement is always welcome.

To perform the movement, put a bench in a power rack and set the pins just above head height (the bar should be touching your hair). With the bar directly overhead, take a shoulder-width grip and point your elbows out to the sides. Press, pause at the bottom and repeat.

Seated Half Press 10@20/44, 5@30/66, 5@35/77, 3@40/88

Chris' comment the other day following the Structural Balance test reminded me that I haven't done weighted chin-ups in a while. More importantly, I've put on quite a bit of weight since last time. Tonight I decided to check their current status.

After warming up with a few bodyweight chin-ups, I worked up to a new PR :

Chin-up (weighted) 2×3@bw+10/22, 3@bw+20/44, 1@bw+30/66

After noticing this morning that Kris recently tried a few Zercher squats off the floor, I decided to sample similar delights from the lowest pins in the rack - as far down as I can get at the moment. This puts the plates about 14cm/5.5" off the ground.

A few sets of these was enough to realise that my form fell apart as the weight increased, with my back doing a greater share of the work as things got heavier. By the second set at 60kg/132lb [video (3MB, .wmv)] I figured I'd better call it a day before I ended up doing Zercher good mornings.

Zercher squat (from lowest pins) 10@20/44, 5@40/88, 2×5@60/132
RDL (explosive) 6×3@80/176

As with nearly everyone else who read the Charles Poliquin article 'Achieving Structural Balance' that Alberto linked to recently, I was forced to find out my own current stats. As I rarely do the exercises listed (apart from the weighted chin-ups and the occasional close-grip bench) I decided to devote tonight's workout to finding out a few near-maxes.

The results :

Bench press (close grip) 10@20/44, 5@30/66, 5@40/88, 5@50/110, 3@60/132, 3@65/143, 3@70/154, 2@75/165
My usual grip is a little over 15", so I moved it in a bit for this workout. Felt pretty good - might keep the narrower grip.

Bench press (incline - 45deg) 5@40/88, 2@50/110
Target: 62.25/137
Haven't done this for months, and the last couple of times were only at a 15 degree angle. Looks like time to start working those shoulders nice and heavy.

Behind-the-Neck press 10@20/44, 5@30/66
Target: 48/106
Yep, definitely time to work those shoulders.

Preacher curl 10@20/44, 5@30/66, 2@40/88
Target: 34.5/76
Not bad, although I would like to get past 2 reps.

Reverse curl 5@20/44, 1@30/66
Target: 22.5/50
Another pass.

External rotation 5@6.5/14
Target: 6.75/15
Think I'll have to try a few of these when I'm fresh. Even so, I wasn't going to get all that much heavier.

Overall it looks as though shoulders are my weakness (at least according to this article). Expect to see a lot more shoulder hammering in future workouts.

Having spent the last couple of weeks re-learning the squat, it was great to at least see one plate on each end of the bar. Still nowhere near heavy (my form is still atrocious) but at least it's moving in the right direction. Getting faster.

One of the things I'm trying to be aware of when squatting is keeping the bar nice and low on the traps (it tends to come up whenever I stop thinking about it) and I noticed today that this also applies to the good mornings. I still only worked up to a triple at 60kg; however this felt much better than last week.

Having managed to acquire a bit of sunburn yesterday - particularly on the back of my neck - I'm all too aware about keeping the bar low.

Box squat 8×2@60kg/132lb
Arched back GM 10@20kg/44lb, 5@30kg/66lb, 5@40kg/88lb, 3@50kg/110lb, 3@60kg/132lb
Waiter's bow 4×12@10kg/22lb
Hanging leg raise 10,8@bw
Hanging knee raise 2×10@bw

The heat continues.

After spending the day walking around like John Wayne (courtesy of yesterday's zercher deads) I came in from the heat to find...more heat. The home gym setup is unfortunately in the hottest room in the flat; the bench itself basks in the afternoon sun at the first opportunity. Time for a bit of rearranging it seems.

I waited until 10pm in the hope that things'd cool down a bit; unfortunately they didn't. An hour of trying to stop sliding down the bench ensued.

Gorilla chin 2×10@bw
Bench press (close grip, paused) 2×10@40/88, 8×3@62.5/138
Overload (close grip) 3×10s@80/176

The triples of close-grips proved tiring - as a result of both upping the weight a bit and inserting a 1sec pause. After a few overloads I started doing lockouts, but quickly realised that I was expending more effort trying to grip the bar than the press itself. Let's hope things are a bit cooler in the morning.

It's been a while since I've done these. If you've never had the pleasure, it's just a deadlift with the bar held the same way as Zercher squats. The hard part is getting down low enough to start - even with the bar starting at the lowest setting on the rack (plates a few inches off the ground) and with a stance as wide as possible within the rack it was hard work. After a few sets I was drowning in a pool of sweat.

Warmup: plenty of ab work

Zercher deadlift 10@20/44, 5@30/66, 5@40/88, 5@50/110, 5@60/132
RDL 5×3@92.5/203.5
Pull-through (band) 50@blue

The warmup included a couple of sets of one-handed rack pulls. Video (3MB, .wmv) as requested.

NB: all weights written as kg/lb.