Pushing Tin - Paekakboyz Training Log

Paekakboyz

PT session tonight. Keeping up with the deadlifts with a focus on form.
 
After the last couple of deadlift sessions I'd had a lot of tightness in the lower back. Figured it was fatigue and/or some form issue. Knocked about on youtube and google and it sounded like insufficient hamstring tension. So while I kept my chest up I was still hinging more through my lower back.
 
Yarned with PT about it - exactly what he was wanting me to do. Find a point where your hip height triggers tension on your hamstrings. Pulling on the bar can help fire them too, but I had been sitting too low. Did a shed load of 5 rep sets at 60kg and then 100kg. Running through all the movements and triggers etc. Really dig a more technical session.
 
thinking went - deep breath, death grip on the bar, chest up and fire the hamstrings then push through your feet. Just hammered that again and again. I was stoked with how things went, that amount of volume would have had my back locking up with prior form. But sweet as tonight, although my hammies feel a bit tender! 
 
Finished with 10m reverse bear crawls into a 40 sec plank. 3 repeats.
 
Primo session yeow!

Paekakboyz

Had a mean morning workout today. Mixed it up with deads, squats, overhead press and bicep curl drop sets. 1.5hrs!
 
5min on the treadmill then I rolled out and stretched etc
 
Started with deads, working on those form tweaks from my PT. Higher hips and fire the hammies.
3 warm up sets at 65kg, 4 reps each
105kg4 for two sets
125kg3
145kg2
165kg2 was feeling good at this point. Bar speed up to my knees was cranking, and the lock out was all hips. No hitching the bar up at this stage.
185kg1
205kg1 this felt pretty good. Did feel heavy though! final part of the lockout was a bit slow. But she went up alright. 
 
No back soreness at all - mint!
 
We moved to overhead press next. Keeping it light and getting form right. Glutes firing and ducking your head as the bar travels up, flare the lats at the end.
30kg10, 35kg10, 35kg10
 
KB front squats
2 sets till failure with a 32kg KB. For that finishing pump to quads and upper back.
 
BB bicep curls - dropset.
30kg, 20kg, 15kg barbells. 2 sets through starting with 30kg and working down. Keeping the glutes firing to avoid that back arch and swing.
 
Managed 20 on the 30kg, 2020kg and 15*15kg.
My second set was 20, 15, 12 and an evil burn.
 
Had a primo all body pump afterwards. About to follow up with some work in the garden. Need to trim my shrubbery!

Paekakboyz

oh, and knee felt pretty sweet throughout. Thinking front squats might be the way to go as it's back squats that trigger the soreness.

MN5

solid paeks, solid. 
Do you use alternate grip on your DLs? 
As you allude to sometimes it is good to leave the ego at the door and focus on form and explosiveness and drop the weight considerably to iron out form.

Paekakboyz

Yeah bro, mixed grip all the way. Did flirt with double overhand for a bit but the bar shifts heaps. Meant I had to use straps once I got past 100kg. I can't out lift my grip at the moment so no straps needed.

MN5

An interesting train of thought is to try and treat the deadlift as a 'pushing' exercise ie you're driving with your legs. Like anyone else I look at it more as a 'pulling' exercise ( pulling haha ) but in a way it is kind of both working together to get those big numbers.

Paekakboyz

That's the mantra from my PT, concentrate on pushing through your feet and you can't help but engage the hammys, glutes etc. Much better than trying to muscle it up via your lower back :whistle:

JK

Yeah Ive always seen Deadlifts as a complete push/pull exercise. Push down hard against the floor to get the bar moving and then a pull through to lock out. 
 
I think a lot of people miss that initial push part and just try to lever it up

MN5

I found it tougher to coordinate than I thought the first couple of times but got the hang of it. It's a movement that starts with a quarter squat pretty much.

Paekakboyz

Pulling on the bar to get that tension helps a lot in my experience. But hip height is far more individual than I'd realised. So not always good to copy others who might actually have good form for their body shape but it won't suit your own! Which is kind of different for squats and even bench where there is more easily identified good form.
 
Barely any DOMS from the deads on Saturday although the guns are still burning! Hitting chest tonight with the lads so that'll be good times.

Paekakboyz

Short and sharp chest session.
 
DB bench press, decline BB and close grip bench to finish. 3 of us training tonight so a bit more shooting the shit etc.
 
DB bench
Warmed up on 20's and then a set of 30's. Working sets were 408, 408, 506, 506 light spot on the final rep of the last set. 
 
Decline bench
6010 to warm up then working sets. 806, 906, 1006, 1106 last 2 reps spotted.
 
Close grip bench
6010, 806, 6010
 
Arms are still a bit tapped out from sat, drop sets are fluffybunnys

Paekakboyz

Good session with the PT tonight. Front squats and deads. Was keen to test out the knee a bit and fronts don't seem to bother it much.
 
Had a good 40min warm up today. 15min on the treadmill then heaps of stretching and rolling out. 
 
Front squats to start. Mucking about with rack position to see if we can get a better bar position. Went a bit wider so I've got more room to drive my elbows up. Flare the lats and keep your chest up etc.
Started with 3 sets of 40kg and lifting each elbow to stretch and drive the bar up. Alternating hands and holding for 5sec or so.
Then we moved into 55 at 40kg with a 3 sec pause at the bottom of the squat. Focusing on sitting back on heels and driving chest up. No drama with my knee.
 
Didn't go heavy with deads - another 55 checking form and getting those triggers locked in.
Warmed up with two sets at 60kg. Then working sets of 60kg, 80kg, 80kg, 100kg, 100kg.
 
Feels like more of a challenge to have good form on lighter weights. You can't pull as hard on the bar to create that tension and because the bar flies up so fast it can get a bit loose! Fessed up that I'd hit 200kg over the weekend so PT had a laugh about taking things slow. Got another laugh when I flicked the 60kg bar up onto the rack like it weren't no thang... "all that focus on form today and you do that!" he goes. Dang bro, that's why I lift!!

MN5

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Paekakboyz" data-cid="516287" data-time="1442393050">
Good session with the PT tonight. Front squats and deads. Was keen to test out the knee a bit and fronts don't seem to bother it much. 
Had a good 40min warm up today. 15min on the treadmill then heaps of stretching and rolling out. 
Front squats to start. Mucking about with rack position to see if we can get a better bar position. Went a bit wider so I've got more room to drive my elbows up. Flare the lats and keep your chest up etc. 
Started with 3 sets of 40kg and lifting each elbow to stretch and drive the bar up. Alternating hands and holding for 5sec or so. 
Then we moved into 55 at 40kg with a 3 sec pause at the bottom of the squat. Focusing on sitting back on heels and driving chest up. No drama with my knee. 
Didn't go heavy with deads - another 55 checking form and getting those triggers locked in. 
Warmed up with two sets at 60kg. Then working sets of 60kg, 80kg, 80kg, 100kg, 100kg. 
Feels like more of a challenge to have good form on lighter weights. You can't pull as hard on the bar to create that tension and because the bar flies up so fast it can get a bit loose! Fessed up that I'd hit 200kg over the weekend so PT had a laugh about taking things slow. Got another laugh when I flicked the 60kg bar up onto the rack like it weren't no thang... "all that focus on form today and you do that!" he goes. Dang bro, that's why I lift!!</blockquote>
Not only that but nothing beats impressing a bunch of blokes, many of whom you've never met, on an interweb forum too aye bro

Paekakboyz

True dat bro!! have to admint that was a bit of trawl for a MN5 certificate for random feats of strength!!
 
Didn't actually think much about it at the time, bar needed to go on the rack so I just made that happen. If it'd been heavier I may have been telling a different tale!

MN5

It's always best to make it look easy in front of sons/hot chicks then keel over when no one is looking.....

Paekakboyz

mean workout to kick off RWC this morning. Fiji did pretty well, living off scraps. Managed to watch a bit before we started and there was a replay on at the gym.
 
Legs today. Building squats back up with a bit more weight today - but still keeping the reps range at 4+
 
Stretched and rolled out.
 
Started with low box squats - couple of sets at 60kg to warm up.
Working sets of 100kg6, 120kg6, 140kg6, 150kg6, 160kg4, 160kg4, 170kg4, 140kg6
 
Then we did two sets of 32kg KB front squats. Reps till failure. managed 23 first set and 15 second set. Nice burn to finish things up.
 
Knee felt primo today. Kept my form nice and tight and while the 170kg felt reasonably heavy I got good bar speed and depth. The front squats to finish were ass to grass and my knee was sweet as.
 
I'm getting into the habit of icing my knee after a squat session now. I think it helps a bit, even if it's only a placebo effect!

Paekakboyz

Gee'd up by the boys in black we hit chest tonight. 
 
BB Flat bench for a change and then some decline BB bench. Has been a while since we last did BB bench, always interesting to see how the DB strength transfers etc.
 
Warmed up on cables with some shoulder work. Something I'd been meaning to add into my programme but it gets hard to squeeze shoulders in when you are hitting back or chest. 
 
BB bench
60kg warm up on bench then the working sets
80kg8, 100kg6, 110kg4, 115kg3, 120kg2, 60kg20 to tap out. Only needed the lightest spot right at the end of the last 120kg rep - sweet! Reckon 125 or 130 would have been a goer but wanted to keep some gas in the tank for decline.
 
Decline bench
60kg warm up - 2 sets
80kg6, 100kg6, 110kg6, 120kg3 (last rep spotted). Then two sets of 60kg till failure. Both of us managed to hit 20 reps in each set.
 
Shoulder felt ok throughout - wondering if I'd tweaked it with upright KB rows - not really sore but just not tracking right in the socket. Didn't seem to slow things down today so no drama.
 
Core and arms tomorrow. Away for 10 days from saturday so keen to hit the gym every night this week.

Paekakboyz

Shoulder was a bit scratchy today. Bit sore so I flagged training last night. Legs were still pretty shot from squats in the weekend too. 
 
Warmed up and stretched, then we hit deads, planks and finished with swiss ball hip raises and hammy curls.
 
Tried out double overhand grip today - to take some pressure of my shoulder. Sets of 3 reps and then a 30 sec plank, interesting combo!
 
warmed up with 2 sets of 5 at 60kg. Then working sets of 80kg, then 5 rounds at 100kg. Didn't bother going heavier and just focused on getting good bar speed and dial in that form. Last few sets were pretty mint. Bar is just getting ripped off the ground yo! well, it was only a hundy! Planks were good, just added in that little bit of conditioning.
 
The double overhand grip worked out well. Next time I go heavy I'm doing to see how far I can push it. Previously I'd failed over 100 so was pretty pleased to have no grip issues today.
 
Finished with 4 rounds of swiss ball supersets. 12 hip lifts into 12 hammy curls. Man, my hammy's were burning.
 
On holiday for 10 days from sat, can't wait. Long overdue and probably a good time to give the shoulder a rest.

Paekakboyz

Cool workout tonight. Hit core and arms. Trained with a guy who works with my regular gym bro. I guess we are in a polygamous stage of our gym relationship now... he did have a child with another woman!! ha!
 
Rolled out a bit and did some stretching. Looks like we are doing legs on Friday so I was keen to do some work on hammys.
 
Core first
2*1min planks.
Cable extension. Stance like you were doing woodchops but you push out and try and stop the handle from pulling toward the machine. Have to prop on your inside leg and brace - even a bit of pec and bicep work! 3 sets of 12 each side.
Cable woodchops. 3 sets of 12 each side
 
Then we hit some bicep/tricep supersets.
Cable rope hammer curls and tricep push downs. 3 sets of failure at 30kg, 35kg, and 40kg 
One armed variant of the first exercise but the biceps were side on curls - where you anchor on the other side of the rack with your free arm. This was evil. Last reps on each set burned. 3 sets till failure at 20kg, 25kg, 30kg. You can go to some dark places on reps to failure!
 
Had a mean pump after all that. Legs are still a bit tired but I should be ok for legs tomorrow. Keen to get some volume in before we head away.

Paekakboyz

Mint little leg session tonight.
 
Had a manic day at work and was frothing as I walked to they gym. Was a bit late so only did limited warm up. The guys had started light so I kicked off with a 80kg warm up set.
 
Working sets (box squats - good 10 degrees below parallel) 
100kg6, 120kg6, 130kg6, 140kg6, 150kg6, 160kg4, 170kg4 weight was shifting real easy today. Need to start doing more volume around 160-180kg rather that trying to hit 190+ every leg session.
 
Worked back down with 
140kg6, 120kg*6
 
Then two KB front squat sets till failure. All I know is both sets were 15+ reps and they hurt!!
 
Still had mean DOMs in triceps and pecs were a bit sore too. Managed 5 workouts since last sat and have been feeling good. Trying to hit those JK levels of dedication!! Discipline over motivation yo!

The Silver Fern

Pushing Tin - Paekakboyz Training Log