Ryan's "Hope to compete again in 2014" log

[VeganEssentials]

Strong workout. Looking forward to watching you reclaim the VF squat crown

I predict a slide to fourth

 

Now you're just testing me, aren't you?

 

Barring any needs to slow down my training for a while, I'm aiming to bring that squat back up and hopefully re-take my proper place. I can handle 2nd, but 3rd, no way am I going to settle for that. 4th, well, that's preposterous to think I'll accept it!

[VeganEssentials]

Ugh...Windows movie maker program won't recognize the file type from my new camera, so it'll be a day or two before I get those clips online for squatting.

 

Easy upper back day today, in and out fast, still not feeling too enegetic but hopefully that'll change soon.

 

Weighted pull-ups -

Handful of bodyweight doubles, a single with 25 lbs. added to start

3x2 @ 55 lbs. added

Did not feel great on any of the sets. First rep would be decent, would rest about 10 seconds, then do the 2nd one which was a fight every time. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

 

Cable assisted pull-ups (about 30 lbs. reduced weight at bottom, normal bodyweight at top) -

3x10

Changed from parallel wide grip to wide overhand to angled chin up grip on last set.

 

Cheat pull-ups with feel slung over incline bench about 2' in front of me -

3x20 wide grip

All done explosively on every rep

 

Cable face pulls -

3x20 @ 125 lbs.

 

BB Hise shrugs -

3x25 @ 315, done slow and squeezed for a second at top of every rep

 

1-arm shrugs on Hammer Strength plate-loaded incline press -

1x25 @ 135 each arm

1x25 @ 180 " "

1x25 @ 205 " "

1x25 @ 225 " "

 

1-arm cable shrugs -

2x20 @ 200 lbs. each arm

 

That was it, nothing special for today, just getting in my back workout #2 so I can go skateboarding tomorrow night (and hopefully not destroy my wrist again as it's just STARTING to feel better from 2 weeks ago!) Will post video clips when I can from squat day!

[VeganEssentials]

Didn't get to train Friday or Saturday as I've been doing root extraction in our backyard for days, and after swinging a pickaxe and pulling 3" roots out of the ground, I've been so sore I could barely move. Only did about 90 minutes of manual labor today, though, so it was time to get that lower back workout in

 

Seated good mornings -

1x10 @ empty bar

1x10 @ 135

1x10 @ 225

1x10 @ 275

1x10 @ 285

1x10 @ 295

1x20 @ 225

 

Horizontal deadlift cable contraption (when I can convert my videos, I'll finally get a clip of this!) -

1x20 @ 300 from 2" above normal DL height

1x20 @ 300 from normal DL height

1x20 @ 300 from 2" below normal DL height

3x20 @ 300 from 4" below normal DL height, pulling off top of shoes for a big defeceit

 

Does some fine assistance work without the brutality of normal deadlifts, so that'll cover me for this week. Also did some shrugging and biceps work just to make the trip worthwhile.

 

1-arm shrugs on Smith machine w/strap (plate weight plus 15 lbs. for counterweighted bar) -

1x25 @ 135 each arm

1x25 @ 155 " "

1x25 @ 175 " "

1x20 @ 195 " "

 

Reverse shrugs on pulldown machine -

3x20 @ 220 lbs.

 

Bench shrugs (hold at lockout, shrug scauplua forward) -

1x20 @ 205

1x20 @ 225

1x20 @ 250

1x20 @ 205

 

Seated strict DB hammer curls -

2x12 @ 50s

1x12 @ 50s, followed by an immediate drop to 15 reps with 25s afterward

 

That was it for today, might get to lift tomorrow, Tuesday at latest!

[VeganEssentials]

Leg and shoulder day today!

 

Standing strict BB overhead presses -

1x10 @ 95

1x5 @ 135

1x1 @ 185

1x1 @ 225

Wrist is about 50% better, but warming up, I felt that I still needed to give it another week or two before doing barbell overhead work again, so I changed to -

 

Hammer Strength Plate-loaded shoulder press -

1x5 @ 230

1x5 @ 250

3x15 @ 180

1x25 @ 90

 

Alternated overhead stuff with squats (even though I didn't plan on doing squats, they felt necessary today )

 

*all sets done rock-bottom with a 2-4 second pause each rep*

1x5 @ 185

1x5 @ 225

1x3 @ 275

1x3 @ 315

1x3 @ 325

1x3 @ 335

3x3 @ 275

Felt good, hips were nice and loose to go deep, and while 335 felt brutally hard last week, a triple was fairly easy this time around. Going to keep working those deep paused squats for another month or two to get my form back down so I can start hitting 400+ again come fall once I find my groove again.

 

Drove to 24-hour gym 2 miles away to finish workout for light stuff -

 

Seated leg extension -

4x15 @ 150

 

Seated leg curl -

4x15 @ 140

 

Lean-away lateral raises on cable machine -

3x20 @ 30 lbs. each arm

 

In and out of gym #2 in 15 minutes, all done for the day!

 

Diet has been on the mark lately as well - doing lower carb on my non-lifting days (120g or less) and normal carb intake on training days. Yesterday was on the mark, ate 2700 cal. over the course of the day. Today, at about 2000 so far, another 1200 to go in the next 5 hours

 

Tomorrow will be yard work cardio day, skateboarding Thursday, then upper back and chest on Friday!

[VeganEssentials]

Did some yard work yesterday for cardio (root pulling is tough stuff! ), got about 90 minutes of skateboarding in tonight, but I'm going to pay for it. Came down with my full weight and landed on my thigh on a parking block, which is going to leave a nice bruise for what I expect to be about 2 weeks. Why did it seem to hurt less when I weighed 270ish than it does being 20 lbs. lighter now? Ah, the mysteries of getting older

 

Should be getting in the upper back/chest workout tomorrow, will post once done!

[zinzen]

Your just crazy man, crazy

[VeganEssentials]

Nah, not crazy, just trying to recapture the positive feelings that got lost with responsibility and getting older

 

Missed lifting yesterday - reconnected with someone I haven't seen in months, had to spend a few hours catching up with the chaos in his life and I was just too spent afterward to hit the gym at midnight. So, made up for it today instead with upper back and chest work -

 

Pull-ups -

5x8 @ bodyweight, alternating grip as follows each set - wide overhand, medium palms-in, narrow chin-up, wide overhand, medium palms-in

 

DB bench -

1x10 @ 50s

1x10 @ 75s

2x10, 1x12 @ 100s (threw in the extra 2 reps on the last set because I could )

 

Plate-loaded pulldowns, narrow to medium grip -

3x18 @ 300 lbs.

 

Close-grip BB flat bench -

3x10 @ 185 lbs.

1x20 @ 135 lbs.

 

Wide-grip pulldowns -

3x20 @ 200 lbs.

 

Plate-loaded incline bench machine -

2x15 @ 180 lbs.

 

Cable face pulls -

3x20 @ 140 lbs.

 

Incline DB flyes, neutral grip -

2x20 @ 30s

 

That was it for today - felt good, can see the diet is starting to work a bit better as musculature is starting to "pop" more after training, so that seems to tell me that fat is starting to come off a bit more. Aiming to stay on course for another 2.5 months, looking to shed another 10-12 lbs. of fat and gain any muscle possible. Weight hasn't budged in a week, but it could be that my plan of eating slightly over maintenance on training days and undereating slightly on rest days really is what's going to work well for me to keep balanced. So far, so good, will be getting bodyfat levels tested in the first week of August to see how things are coming along!

[vivalasvegans]

How long did that lifting take?

[VeganEssentials]

How long did that lifting take?

 

Hey, VLV! Took me about 90 minutes total, one of my longer workouts for the week but I made sure it all got done properly

 

Today was leg day -

 

Squats -

135x5 @ rock bottom, 5 second pause each rep

225x5 " "

315x2 " "

335x1 " "

10x1 @ 365 lbs. - would do a rep to slightly below parallel (no pause) rest 90 seconds, and repeat.

 

Plate-loaded squat machine -

1x5 @ 450

1x5 @ 540

1x5 @ 630

1x5 @ 720

1x5 @ 810

 

1-legged Romanian deadlift -

3x15 each leg @ 80 lb. DB

 

Tossed in some lightweight abductor/adductor machine work to loosen up, and that was it. Good leg day, felt confident on the squats, form is working out better each session! Should have had deadlift day today, but I do want to go skate again Thursday, and leg day before skateboarding is a no-go. So, I just switched the two around, will have upper back work Tuesday and lower back Wednesday!

[VeganEssentials]

Deadlift day today, went better than expected

 

I'm finding that by getting back into squatting more, it's having decent carryover to my deadlift. Before, I was feeling SUPER weak when I was avoiding squats for a while - it was feeling tough to even get 405 off the ground, but things are changing back now that I'm keeping up both the squats and deadlifts without making excuses that I can't do both well enough in the same routine. So, for today's "all lower back extravaganza", here's what went down -

 

Warm-up with a 4 sets of triples on power cleans with a light 135

 

Deadlift from floor, conventional stance -

1x3 @ 225

1x2 @ 315

1x1 @ 365

1x1 @ 385

1x1 @ 405

The 405 went up MUCH more easily than I'd expected - due to only a few DL sessions again after a long layoff, I expected the worst, but it moved quickly, without any slowdown or strain. May have been good for 30-40 lbs. more, but I'm not pushing things for a max until fall.

25x1 @ 365

Mega-singles day to hammer form back down. I suck with reps because I NEVER feel in place after the first one, and re-setting while squatting down only wastes my energy. Would do 1 rep, walk 40 seconds for a quick lap around the gym, spend 15-20 seconds re-setting up and repeat for all 25 singles, done in 25 minutes exactly. Thought about going to 50 singles, but rather than be tempted to keep the same thing up for too long, I changed to...

 

3" Defeceit deadlifts off of plastic stair step thing -

10x2 speed doubles @ 315, resting about 60 seconds between sets

Again, all reps super easy even with the defeceit, and like with my singles earlier, I would alternate my grip between mixed, double overhand hook grip and on the last few sets, double overhand with no hook to re-build my once-great grip. Thumbs took to the hook grip well enough after a long time of not doing it, usually they hurt like hell on the first few sessions.

 

Finally, alternated between sets of cable pull-throughs with a wide sumo stance for 4x20 @ 80 lbs. and my makeshift horizontal DL setup on the dual cable tower, but a shorter pull from about 2" below bottom of the kneecap to lockout -

2x25 @ 305

2x25 @ 325

1x25 @ 350

 

Felt refreshed afterward (a strange thing on a DL day), but that's a nice change of pace from being wiped out. Lower back is feeling good, going to keep squatting my ass off every week until it helps blow those DLs up to the 500 range again in due time. Getting that fire back to do well in my training, not planning on slowing down!

 

May get in some overhead pressing work tomorrow, skateboarding Thursday, then a rest day Friday!

[chewybaws]

i'm not even near deadlifting what you warm up with

 

Looking good, how's your eyes by the way?

[VeganEssentials]

i'm not even near deadlifting what you warm up with

 

Looking good, how's your eyes by the way?

 

Sad thing for me is, a few years back I would START my deadlift warm-up with 405 lbs. on some days. That's motivation to keep at it and get back in top form!

 

Eye is going well so far, still no sign of any issues coming back yet, so keeping fingers crossed that training a bit heavier again won't make anything worse!

 

Wednesday was rest day except for a 25 minute walk, yesterday was skateboarding for about 2 hours (well, about 1:15 total as nearly half was spent catching up with old friends at the park), SHOULD be hitting up some shoulders and upper back today, but I'm so run down, I can only hope to perk up later. This large coffee with 2 shots of espresso sitting next to me might just do the trick

[vivalasvegans]

Did it?

Might I suggest methamphetamine if the coffee doesn't work?

[VeganEssentials]

VLV - it did help make me feel more energetic, but I got stuck working on some things I'd been putting off for months, so the gym didn't go as planned. However, I did do 15 sets of 5 pull-ups in the warehouse in between griping and complaining about being stuck at work on a Friday night, so I still did a light upper back workout anyway

 

Skipping town today to take a much-needed day of "getting away from it all" due to being a bit stressed, tomorrow will be shoulders and leg work!

[VeganEssentials]

Ah, the fun of getting only 4 hours' sleep and driving 90 minutes hope the first thing when I wake up...not the best day for training, so I just had fun with what I could do today.

 

Wanted to squat, warmed up to 355 and felt queasy, decided legs weren't the way to go today. Started with shoulders afterward, 205 overhead felt REALLY tough, so I knew I was in trouble. Gave up on the usual stuff, had fun with other things -

 

Hammer Strength plate-loaded shoulder press -

5x10 @ 200 lbs.

 

Cable lateral raise lean-aways -

3x20 each arm @ 25 lbs.

 

Close-grip bench (didn't think I'd get any chest work in this week otherwise, since I leave for Vegas to look for new vegan shoes on Thursday) -

3x20 @ 135, most reps paused on chest for 1-2 seconds each

 

Incline DB flyes -

2x20 @ 35s

1x15 @ 45s, right into 15 more reps with 25s with no pause

 

That was it - just kept it light so as to not get frustrated (or lose my lunch!) and that was that. Should be getting in an upper or lower back workout tomorrow or Tuesday, then it'll be about 4-5 days off unless the hotel I'll be at has a decent gym, which it probably will. Will post any last workouts before I leave!

[vivalasvegans]

Oh you're headed off to Vegas, the vegan shoe mecca... or did you mean to say Vegan, the vegas shoe mecca?

 

I'm a firm believer that when you really and truly just don't have it in ya to go balls to the walls with your workout (or ovaries to the rotaries) then it's completely awesome to take it down a click and just have fun. You're awesome.

 

Hope you meet a lot of vegas black jack playing vegan shoe hippies while you're down there.

[VeganEssentials]

Oh you're headed off to Vegas, the vegan shoe mecca... or did you mean to say Vegan, the vegas shoe mecca?

 

I'm a firm believer that when you really and truly just don't have it in ya to go balls to the walls with your workout (or ovaries to the rotaries) then it's completely awesome to take it down a click and just have fun. You're awesome.

 

Hope you meet a lot of vegas black jack playing vegan shoe hippies while you're down there.

 

Hey, VLV!

 

Yep, the World Shoe Association expo comes up twice yearly, and after a few years of laying low on footwear additions, we're hoping to come back strong next year so we're scouting the spring 2010 stuff. WAYYYYY too much to see in only 2 real days of the exhibits (everyone always packs up early on Sunday, making it a pretty worthless day), but hopefully we'll find some good stuff to bring in next spring. I wish I could say that I'd have much time to let loose and gamble, see some shows, etc., but as I've discovered, after 8 hours of constant walking, scouting products and talking shop with vendors, I'm not good for much else by 6 PM

 

Yeah, workout today was simply about getting some time in and enjoying it as best I could. I WANTED to have a brutal workout day today, but sometimes you've got to know when to lay low. If I didn't, I'd have come home hurt and/or crabby, and that doesn't do me any good. Nor does it make my wife happy to have a sulky 250 lb. man moping around the house all night, acting like his life is over because he missed the last squat on his 5th working set

[VeganEssentials]

Quick upper/lower back day tonight as I don't think I'll have time to train before Vegas, so I had a quick go at it despite still being worn down -

 

Pull-ups, parallel grip -

1x3 @ bodyweight

1x1 w/ 25 lbs. added

1x1 w/ 50 lbs. added

1x1 w/ 60 lbs. added

1x1 w/ 70 lbs. added (total weight 320 lbs.)

1x6 w/ 25 lbs. added

5x6 @ bodyweight

 

Seated row, straight bar on cable machine -

3x20 @ 220 lbs.

 

Cable face pulls -

3x20 @ 110 lbs.

 

Seated good mornings to about 60 degree forward lean -

1x10 @ 135

1x10 @ 185

1x25 @ 225

1x25 @ 235

1x25 @ 245

 

That was it, pressed for time again, but a light maintenance workout before leaving Thursday morning was enough. Might get a walk in tomorrow, we'll see how things go!

[VeganEssentials]

No chance to train in Vegas, but got back in the swing of things tonight, even though I'm jet-lagged and drained of all but the last shred of energy.

 

Back and chest day -

 

Weighted pull-ups -

1x1 @ 10 lbs. added (total weight 260 lbs. - holding LOTS of water today )

1x1 @ 25 lbs. added (total weight 275 lbs.)

1x1 @ 50 lbs. added (total weight 300 lbs.)

4x5 @ 25 lbs. added, done as singles with 2-8 seconds rest between each rep as needed

 

Flat bench DB press -

5x12 @ 85s

 

Straight-bar seated row, bar set at neck height -

4x20 @ 180 lbs.

 

Incline DB press -

3x15 @ 70s

 

Rope handle rows, varying from mid-chest to low position each set -

4x25 @ 150

 

Ballistic bodyweight presses off of incline press machine handles, body about 40 degrees forward lean to nearly vertical at top of press-off -

3x25

 

That was it for today - just kept it light and had some fun, hope to be recovered in time for deadlifts on Wednesday!

[robert]

Hey Ryan!

 

Will I see you in Chi-Town this weekend?

 

I'm looking forward to another promo with you guys for VEGA! Thanks for all your continued support.

 

PS. NEW bars are available now and the VEGA Sport in the US in Sept!

 

NEW bars I'm sure you guys will have soon and do well with:

 

http://sequelnaturals.com/en/vega/products/whole-food-vibrance-bar/features-benefits

 

Vega Sport in Sept (I'm using it everyday and it's awesome!)

 

http://sequelnaturals.com/en/vega/products/vega-sport-performance-optimizer/features-benefits

 

Anyway,

 

Hope all is great! Not sure if I'll see you in Chicago this weekend, but you know how to reach me and know where I'll be

 

All the best!

 

-Robert

[VeganEssentials]

Hey, Robert!

 

Not looking great for this weekend - I forgot that Courtney's family reunion is Saturday, but if there's any chance of my making it Sunday, you'd better believe I'll be there!

 

Shoulder and lower back workout today -

 

Standing overhead BB press, strict -

1x20 @ empty bar

2x3 @ 135

1x5 @ 185

1x5 @ 190

1x3 @ 195

1x1 @ 205

1x1 @ 210

1x1 @ 215

1x1 @ 220

1x1 @ 225

3x12 @ 135

Still getting the feel for it again now that wrists are healed up (though I'll prbably screw 'em up skating tomorrow, knowing my luck lately ) Not bad, but felt heavy today.

 

Deadlift -

1x5 @ 225

1x3 @ 315

1x1 @ 365

1x1 @ 385

18x5 @ 315 - wanted 20 sets, but on that 18th, I nearly passed out on the last rep and was light-headed for a bit afterward, muscles told me to quit that crap and go home. Was doing shorter 1.5 to 2 min. max rest periods between sets, which probably fried me sooner than expected (got through those 18 sets in just about 40 minutes), tried to be thick-headed and get the 19th set after a 4 minute rest, but after the first rep on it I felt like dying and cut it there. No sense in trashing myself for those last 9 reps to hit the 100 rep target - live to fight another day, and all that stuff.

 

Feel much better now, going to get plenty of rest and skate tomorrow!

[xphilx]

where are the squat videos?

[VeganEssentials]

where are the squat videos?

 

Thanks for the reminder - I still need to try and figure out how to get them edited and what software will work, because at 250mg each, it might just take a while to get them done I'll try again today!

[robert]

"IF" you can make it on Sunday....I have a REALLY GOOD idea...I will PM you

 

Robert

[xphilx]

where are the squat videos?

 

Thanks for the reminder - I still need to try and figure out how to get them edited and what software will work, because at 250mg each, it might just take a while to get them done I'll try again today!

 

that would be so great! i#m looking forward to see the master of squatting in action.