Alan H's 2012-2013 OFF-season log

**Alan H** · 24th January 13, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by Martin Roy

Way to go, Alan. Hard work does have its rewards.
(applause)

Thanks, Marty!

Yesterday was a bust. I was going to go in, but just at the perfectly wrong moment I had a faculty member show up in my office, needing software licensing help. This is a relatively rare occurrance, so I had to help him out. I will probably go in today and pull some light deadlifts, which will mean DL's two days in a row. That's not so great, but I won't go big, so should probably be OK.

**Alan H** · 24th January 13, 08:04 PM

I was busy *again* at lunchtime so had to go after work at 5:15...what a mob scene. I felt generally awful and just did the minimum I went in there for. Along the way, technically speaking, I got a rep PR...as in, deadlifting 3 x 345. Up until now I've just done singles when the weight goes 335+.

Stretch Cage ... easy
Stationary Bicycle... 4 minutes

good Morning to warm up the lower back.k.. 6 x 135 / 6 x 185
Deadlift ... 6 x 185 / 2 x 3 x 225 / 3 x 2 x 275 / 2 x 3 x 315 / 3 x 345 .. I was going for a lot of reps at 60-80% of 1RM. -> Not that this sequence makes much sense, but I wanted a lot of pulls at 315 and 335 or 345, so I got 'em..

Overhead Press... 6 x 135 / 6 x 155 / 4 x 155 .. got no mojo, low blood sugar?

curlz ... 2 x 6 x 90
upright rows ... 2 x 6 x 90

then some foam roller and stretch cage and called it a night.

**Alan H** · 25th January 13, 04:56 PM

Today is the last "Big Flat Bench" day of the strength phase of the offseason. I didn't expect much, as I'm pretty torn up from all the deadlifts, but *hey*.

walk over there
stretch cage...spent a long time in there. I foam rolled for about 20 minutes last night, too
Flat Bench Press ... 6 x 135 / 6 x 185 / 2 x 3 x 225 / 2 x 245 / 1 x 265 / 1 x 270 / 1 x 275 / 1 x 280 / fail @ 285

280 is a big PR. It's WAY more than I ever expected to get this offseason. I was hoping for 260, maybe 265

Then Donna the trainer took me to task for having tight shoulders. Well, she's right, but jeez.

Hang Cleans... 6 x 135 / 6 x 155 / 3 x 170, easy / 2 x 190...tried for 3, missed the last one and it wasn't even really all that close.

Farmers Walk .... 2 x 100 feet with the 105 pound dumbells in each hand. Those are the biggest dumbells in the gym, so that's about as high as I can go.
lat pulldowns ... 2 x 6 x 190 wussed out.
pec deck ... 2 x 6 x 205 / 5 x 205, just couldn't close that last one without bending my elbows and cheating.

As a complete aside, while I thought I would probably never do a powerlifting meet...and I still "probably" won't, my goal for the meet was to move 1,000 pounds at the meet. Well, my grip isn't up to holding on to what I can deadlift, so that will probably never happen. However, the next closest thing is to have the sum of my 1 rep maxes = 1,000 pounds.
well..........

325 squat + 280 flat bench = 385 deadift = 990 ... I'm *really* close.

**Alan H** · 28th January 13, 04:36 PM

The march continues. today marks a milestone. By pulling a 395 pound deadlift, I've now increased my max lifts to a total of exactly 1,000 pounds between 325 squat, 280 bench press and 395 deadlift.

walk over to Arillaga
easy short stretch cage
stationary bike, 4 min

warmup good mornings... 6 x 135 / 6 x 175

DL's 4 x 205 /4 x 225 / 4 x 275 / 3 x 315 / 2 x 355 / 1 x 375 / 1 x 395 ... an important PR on the route to the final big raw strength lifting goal of the offseason.

OHP ... 6 x 135 / 5 x 155 / 4 x 165 / 2 x 175 / 1 x 185

triceps pull downs .... 2 x 6 x 100 on the stack
seated cable rows/pulls ... 2 x 6 x 145

feeling swole. I am completely aware that if I pull a 395 deadlift or 405 deadlift, it's absolutely irrelevant to how far I can throw a 28 pound weight, but the numbers chase is a good motivator to get me in there. However, this last three weeks of hammering out one-rep-maxes is hard on the body and ends very soon. It's time to move on to speed and as Summer Pierson put it the other night at Burns Night..."three-dimensional lifts".

**o1d_dude** · 28th January 13, 10:50 PM

"Three dimensional lifts"...I like that.

Speed and power.

**Martin Roy** · 29th January 13, 10:36 AM

Which lifts are viewed as 3-D?

**Alan H** · 29th January 13, 11:59 AM

I should ask her what her workout plan is like, actually. I wish I could get her to throw at Ardenwood, but I'm not holding my breath. She seems pretty set on being "on leave" from the Games, and focusing on discus. Maybe she'll come out and pull tape and hang out with us.

3-D lifts... I think she means stuff where you don't just move the weight in a single plane. Like, a squat, the weight goes straight up and down. However, rotational stuff like Russian Twists or Landmines or cable pulls, the weight is very much NOT moving in a straight line. Ditto for those Romanian core blaster things. In Olympic lifts like snatches and cleans, the closer you can get the weight to move in a straight line, the better, so I think those don't count.

The Speed and 3-D phase will look something like this...

Monday
speed zercher squats
split squats
landmines
fast dumbell incline press
situps

Wednesday
hang cleans
accesssory shoulders 1
rotational cable pulls
lateral bosu squat jumps
accesssory shoulders 2

Friday
dumbell snatch
landmines
hungarian core blaster
fast dumbell incline press
accessory shoulders 1

all prefaced by "Donna's Combination Warmup" which is a good heart-rate pusher. Note that I took out the box jumps. We'll see how "speed zerchers" work out. I'm a bit concerned as I can see that it would be very easy to round my lower back and seriously prang it up. If I do them once and don't like them, then I'll alternate weeks....moderately heavy zerchers with speed back squats. We're only talking two weeks of each, here, because 2x a week throwing starts the first week in March.

Sonora is gonna be ugly. I'll be really strong, but will have had minimal technique practice. Ah, well!

**Martin Roy** · 29th January 13, 02:06 PM

I wouldn't be concerned about the Zerchers. When I was doing them last year I found that keeping my back straight was easier than with regular back squats. With the weight in front of you at mid-chest height, having a straight back was necessary for balance.

**o1d_dude** · 29th January 13, 07:03 PM

There is nothing pleasant about Zerchers.

**Alan H** · 30th January 13, 12:18 PM

Originally Posted by o1d_dude

There is nothing pleasant about Zerchers.

I completely agree! The only reason I do them is that they work the hips just a bit differently from back squats, and variety is good. I'd do front squats but I just plain, flat-out HATE them.