Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

MadCow Week 6

bike/jump rope/pullups warmup
mobility drills

Squats
5x45 lbs slow
5x125
5x170
5x215
5x265
5x310

Bench
5x90
5x120
5x155
5x185
4x220 PB

BB Row
5x80
5x105
5x135
5x165
5x195

Sick with a cold today. Really annoying trying to lift with a cold but I didn't want to skip the day. Felt fine otherwise, but still a little off my game. Lost a couple lbs of BW since Friday as well. Lifts sucked today. Hit the squats but my depth was awful. Barely made parallel on them. I think it was my subconscious response to feeling shitty that I automatically stopped at where I felt safe from all my previous parallel squatting. Bench was going alright, but on the 185# set I wasn't feeling strong, and normally I can bang out that second to final set without pause. Had another decent spotter today, kept the hands completely off the bar until the 5th rep when I knew it wasn't going up and told him I needed the help. Still a personal best, though. I'll go for 4 reps of 220# on Friday and then try to hit 5x220# again next Monday. Rows were tough, but I got them. They were actually the easiest lift of the day.

Cold's gone.

MadCow Week 6

jump rope and pullups warmup
forgot to do mobility drills, dammit

Squat
the only rack was in use and I wasn't able to work in, and all the bench press barbells were also in use
used a fixed bar for 5x50 lbs slow squat warmups, then did a couple hack squat machine sets - 5x 4 plates, 5x 6 plates.

OHP, cleaned from floor on each set
5x85
5x105
5x130
5x150 PB

Deadlift
5x135, hook grip, slow for form
5x215, hook
5x275, hook
5x335, hook
5x395, switch, chalk, PB

Pissed about missing mobility drills and not starting off with some good squats to get me in the mood. I would have had to wait about 20 minutes to get into the squat rack, so I had to deal with it. Form was terrible in the hack squat machine. I don't think that thing is meant for full depth squatting; at least I couldn't figure it out. I got pissed and moved onto OHP.

At this point one of the benches opened up so I grabbed the bar. Cleaned all the sets from the floor. Surprised myself by completing 5x150 on my first go at it. My previous best was 4x150. I did have a bit of left-over momentum on the bar at the start of the first rep from the end of the clean movement, but it was minor. Actually, I think the last few weeks I've been cleaning the bar for OHP, and I think I like it. I'll probably keep doing so.

Deadlifts went well as expected. I've been getting a bit more touch-n-go that I should on the heavy sets, so I made sure to slow down the bar at the bottom, let the slack out of the bar when the plates hit the floor, then pull again (the way I used to do it). It wasn't as easy as last week's more touch-n-go set, but still no trouble. I had a hankering to try it with hook grip, as my thumbs were feeling OK, but decided against it. My hook grip is starting to feel a bit better.

At the rate I'm going, I'm going to hit most of my year-end (December 2013!) goals in about 2 months! Possibly also strict OHP 200 lbs!

Deadlifts are definately better being done as single reps rather than 'touch & go' IMHO. That's one way to develop greater strength from the start of the pull, where you need to break the inertia.

Good to hear your cold is gone. Much planned for the weekend?

Yeah, I know the way I should be doing them, but in the heat of the moment I sometimes forget what I should be doing and just zone in on getting all the reps as fast as I can.

My Mom's in town for the weekend, so just family stuff for me this weekend. Will be taking Monday off of work for a nice long weekend though. It will mess with my lifting schedule a bit, but that doesn't bother me.

Have a nice time with your Mum, sounds good.

MadCow Week 6

jump rope and pullups warmup
got distracted and forgot mobility drills AGAIN

Squat
8x45 lbs slow - took me a few extra reps to get the groove
5x125
5x175
5x220
5x270
3x315 PB
8x225

Bench
5x90
5x125
5x160
5x190
4x220
8x160

BB Row
5x80
5x110
5x140
5x170
3x200
9x140 - one extra for the hell of it

EDIT - Forgot to record farmers walks. 4x33m, normal walking pace (for me), 100# db each hand.

Good workout today - hit everything as planned. Form was good on the squats, got full depth.

Thinking about taking next week as a deload week, do some light power cleans and such, then come back to the gym full force the following Monday. I'm taking Monday off of work, and possibly Friday as well, which would give me a max of 2 days in the gym this week (Tues/Thurs) and throw off my schedule. Probably better just to do a deload week, but I'll see how I feel come next Tuesday.

Wow, congrats on your PB. 3PPS for a triple, solid!

How did they feel, you couldn't have got a 4th rep if you had someone stood shouting at you ?!

I probably could have finished 5 reps with serious effort, but I'm happy to go for 5 the next time.

Thanks for the PM btw, appreciate that. Completely agree with everything you said MF.

Today was not a deload day...

MadCow Week 7

jump rope and pullups
mobility drills

Squat
8x45# slow for form
5x125
5x175
5x220
5x270
5x315 PB

Bench
5x90
5x120
5x155
5x185
5x220 PB

BB Row
5x80
5x110
5x140
5x170
5x200

Looked back at my schedule and realized that I'm only 6 weeks in, and had a 1/2 week break when I was sick a couple weeks back, so I shouldn't need a deload just yet. I probably won't be able to hit the next 5 rep bench and row weights, but I might be able to power through the next 5 rep squat weight next Monday. I'll just shoot for 3 reps on bench and rows monday, then go for 4 on Friday, and finish with 5 reps on week 9 Monday.

Squats were heavy today. Took max effort to get out 5 reps. Form was OK, I only got parallel, but my knees tracked out over my toes a bit so there was more ankle flex than usual and my hams hit my calves before I pushed back up. If my shins were more vertical then it would have been well past parallel, but my leverage today was a bit off.

Happy to get bench finally. Looking forward to a triple 225# for my next set! Rows were tough, needed a bit of leg drive to finish the set. I'll see what happens next week.

MadCow Week 7

jump rope and pullups
mobility drills

Squat
5x45# slow for form
5x125
5x175
5x225 slow negative, explosive up
5x225 speed set

OHP
5x85
5x110
5x130
3x155 PB
2x155 push press, slow negative

Deadlift
5x135 hook, slow for form
5x220 hook
5x280 hook
5x340 hook
5x400 PB, switch, chalk

Terrible workout today. Had low energy, and actually started feeling hungry half way through it. I was so worn out after 3 presses at 150# that my form went to shit on the push presses. Similarly, my form was shit on deadlift, even though I managed the 5 reps. It was difficult, I was using my back too much, and my grip was shit, even with chalk (probably didn't use enough). Not even Misfits on full blast could help me stir up the energy for a good lift.

Great job on all the PB's! I miss Madcow when I was still making a solid PR every week, haha.

Terrible workout but you grinded out 2 PB's ?!

I need to start having some terrible workouts !!

Thanks

Well, my strength was mostly where it should have been, so the PB's were expected. However, judging by my recent lifts, I should have hit 4 on the OHP, and the 5 reps for deadlift should have been managable without too much strain. The terrible part is how I felt during the lifts, lackluster and low energy, terrible form.

Bleh - Going to be out of the gym for a week. The shitty workout I had on Thursday left me with an issue that I need to give a bit of time to resolve before I hit heavy squats and deadlifts again. I could probably lift as long as my form was super strict, but it's a chance that I don't want to take. Ate like shit over the weekend anyway, wouldn't be surprised if I dropped a few lbs as well. We'll see how it is on Friday and I might go in for a quick easy workout.