DrBdan Presents: Operation Bench Press (2013)

It's really more than meditation, it's the first step in the Way of Shambhala which is a secular branch of Buddhism. I've been studying it for a little over a year and have gone through their Monday night classes so now I'm taking some of their weekend courses. It meshes well with my own way of thinking and is a very realistic but still positive philosophy.
 
Wed Oct 23, 2013

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
255x1
285x1
315x1
345x1
375x1
405x1x6 (singles)

Added one more warm-up single which I doubt made much difference. The singles at 405 were solid. I wouldn't say they were fast but they were smooth.

- Cable rows
30x10
60x10
100x10
100x10
100x10

I'm assuming it's 100 since the cable stack says "10" but who knows. It made me work hard so there you go.
 
Fri Oct 25, 2013

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
165x5
195x5
225x5
250x5
285x3
225x8

These felt really good. 285x3 flew up and 225x8 felt good.

- Bench
45x10
55x8
65x6
75x5
95x5
115x5
135x5

These felt good, no shoulder pain. I'm thinking that I will keep the weight low for a while and do a bit more higher rep stuff. My shoulder still hurts from time to time. I think I need to get new pillows at home because the one I have right now is very flat and I think it causes me to sleep awkwardly on my shoulder sometimes.

-Cable Rows
30x10
60x10
100x10
100x10
100x12

All reps were pretty strict. Definitely less body english than when I do heavy DB rows.
 
Sun Oct 27, 2013

Hockey
Crazy game last night. Things got really chippy in the third period and for some reason the referee only targeted our team. Late in the 2nd period one of our guys crashed the yet and put a rebound in to give us a 3-2 lead. Their goalie was really pissed and told the ref that if one of our players went near his crease he was going to injure us. Apparently threatening physical harm was only worth a warning.

In the third the same guy on our team was cross-checked from behind into their goalie and the ref kicked our guy out of the game. He said it was due to safety reasons which was laughable. Later on one of their guys cross-checked our player into the cross bar and only received a 2 minute penalty, apparently that's not a safety concern.

At that point the game was tied 4-4. We played most of the latter half of the third period on the penalty kill and while we managed to kill them off it meant we couldn't mount much offense so the game ended 4-4.

My line had a good game but we only came away with one goal which was an unassisted goal by my left winger. We had a lot of chances and hit a couple posts but only got the one goal. I'm in a bit of a goal-scoring slump so far this year. While Ii have a bunch of assists I only have 2 goals in 6 games.
 
Mon Oct 28, 2013

Got to the gym late and it was surprisingly busy. Both squat racks were in use so I was only able to do bench and rows. I'll squat tomorrow I guess.

C2 rower, dynamic stretching, DCSW

- Bench
45x10
65x8
75x6
95x8
115x8
135x8

My form feels a bit rusty and I wasn't as tight as I should have been. Reps were easy at least.

- Cable rows
30x10
60x10
100x11
100x11
100x11

That's all for today.
 
Glad to see that your shoulder is behaving.
 
K, so Doc are you going back to regularly scheduled programming?
New goals?
 
Thanks Jaunty, I'm glad too. My shoulder felt fine at the gym but was a bit achy last night. It feels okay today. Hopefully if I slowly increase the volume and intensity I won't have any problems.

My schedule is currently:

- Monday
Squats ramping 5x5
Bench (some light sets)
rows

- Wednesday
Deadlifts (singles)
Something for upper back

- Friday
Squats ramping to top triple, backoff set of 8
Bench (heavier, lower rep)
Rows

I'm doing a bastardization of Madcow 5x5. I can't fit in squats and deadlifts on Wednesday so I'm only doing deadlifts. I'm also not doing the ramping 4x5 because I really like doing the singles. I've been doing 6 singles adding 10 lb/week but now that I'm at 405 I might dial it back to +5 lb/week. I considered doing the "train the deadlift" singles which waves the intensity and volume but I figured I'm progressing steadily with the 6 singles so I might as well keep it going.

Obviously the bench isn't following Madcow right now so really the only thing that resembles Madcow are the Mon/Fri squats. When my shoulder feels better I might do APRE for bench since I had success with it.

I also do high-rep rear flies and some external shoulder rotations at home. Some days I might only do one set of 20, other days multiple sets and closer to 200 reps total.

My goals for the end of the year (from the 2013 goals thread) are:

Squat: 355 (+15 PR)
Bench: 225 (+10 PR)
Deadlift: 475 (+20 PR)
Bodyweight: < 205 lb (need to drop 8-10 lb, probably won't happen due to Xmas)

I'll be happy if I can get my weight down under 210 and keep it there over the holidays. Last year I was down to 205 and put 3-4 lb over Xmas.

I'm also itching to add in some more conditioning because my hockey games have been really fast-paced this season but I'd like to put in a good run on lifting to finish out the year. That seems to be my M.O. lately. Some sort of conditioning/lifting hybrid earlier in the year (this year it was Muay Thai/benching) and then in the Fall I just focus on lifting and trying to hit PRs in December.

TL/DR: Shoulder feels okay, getting back into benching, Madcow-ish for squats, deadlift singles, APRE for bench, extra back work at home, hoping to hit some Big 3 PRs in December
 
Your goals are pretty much the same as mine.

By the time I step onto the platform at my meet I'd like to make an attempt at 495-500 DL and 235 on bench. My squat would be nice to be mid three's. We'll see!

Once I get my new 1 RM I plan on going back to Madcow. I hd my very best gains on that program.

Good luck broseph!
 
Thanks!

I think I should be able to exceed the squat and deadlift goals the way things have been going lately. I don't know about bench. Earlier in the year I was close to 225 but I'm sure I've lost strength since I've barely benched at all over the last 2 months.

Tues Oct 29, 2013

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

Squat racks were in use so I walked on the treadmill for 5 minutes to stay warm. I did a bit of extra dynamic stretching between the first couple squat sets to loosen up my hips.

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
165x5
195x5
225x5
255x5
285x5

Boom. Last rep had a bit of GM'ing but otherwise felt solid. I thought this equaled my 5RM from last year but I checked my old log and it was actually 280x5 so booyah, new 5RM.

I have to decide how I want the rest of the week to go, deadlifts tomorrow or Thursday? More squats on Friday of course.
 
Thurs Oct 31, 2013

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
255x1
285x1
315x1
345x1
375x1
415x1x6 (singles)

These were fairly tough. I took about 2 minutes rest between singles. The last one was a bit of a grind but no danger of failing. I'm going to switch to 5 lb jumps now.

- Cable Rows
40x10
60x10
80x10
100x10
120x8
140x4

Decided to do some heavier weights today.

Happy Hallowe'en!

1380213_10153384603515436_670735972_n.jpg
 
Fri Nov 1, 2013

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
165x5
195x5
225x5
255x5
290x3
225x8

Not bad. I let my weight get on my toes during the 2nd rep of 290 but managed to save it and then I smoked the third rep.

- Bench
45x10
65x8
95x5
115x5
135x3
155x3

My shoulder felt good but 155x3 was harder than it should have been. It should have been a breeze but obviously no benching = strength loss.

- Cable rows
30x10
60x10
100x19

Did an AMRAP set with some body english.

In case anyone missed this in the pub, I shaved my beard to do Movember:
1395404_10153402742920508_1211551488_n.jpg
 
Sun Nov 3, 2013

Hockey
We had a late game last night, 10:00pm, so a lot of people bailed leaving us with only 8 skaters, 5 forward, 3 defense. The other team had 12 skaters so we knew we were in for a tough game. As often happens when we're short guys we actually played a great game. Having the short bench means everyone gets a tonne of ice time which, while tiring, seems to help some of the guys get in the game better.

Our goalie had a fantastic game and was the biggest reason we won the game. The other team's goalie is really good so we needed our goalie to step up and he did. This was his best game of the year as he made numerous big saves to keep us in the game.

After a bunch of back and forth chances the other team scored late in the first period to make it 1-0. In the middle of the second period I attempted a wrap around which the goalie stopped. However their defenseman just stood there and watched as I took a number of wacks at the rebound and after putting a couple shots into the goalie's pads I finally got it passed him to tie the game at 1-1.

In the third period we continued to play hard but were obviously slowing down. The other team had some good chances but our goalie stood his ground and kept the game tied. With time running out our top scorer slowly carried the puck down the ice, deking a few guys. After he went over the blueline he put on a burst of speed to get around the defense before sliding the puck between the goalie's pads for the game winning goal with about 1 minute left.

It was crazy, we had no right to be in the game still but we kept battling and our goalie held us in it. After tying and losing a lot of close games this year it was incredibly satisfying to finally win one. We are now 3-2-2 on the season, tied for 2nd in the division.
 
Mon Nov 4, 2013

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
165x5
195x5
225x5
260x5
290x5

Solid.

- Bench
45x10
75x6
95x5
115x5
135x10

Not bad. Shoulder felt fine but reps are too slow.

- Cable rows
40x10
70x10
100x10
100x10
100x12

Done.
 
Race to threefiddy? Cam't imagine it will take you more than a few weeks. But I can push you!
 
Sure why not? I won't be testing my squat until mid to late December so if you can put 50 lb on your squat in a month and then test your PR before me you can win it :) I'd like to hit 315x5 before I test my squat and as long as I don't miss any reps I will do 315x5 on Dec 9.

I see that dexbot is viewing my log. What's up? Haven't seen you around too much.
 
Done. I hope to get 305X5 in about 2 months. LOL
 
Wed Nov 6, 2013

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
275x1
300x1
330x1
365x1
390x1
420x1x6 (singles)

Woo, these were tough. I took 2 minutes rest between singles, 3 minutes before the final one. The last couple were pretty slow. We'll see how next week goes but I think soon I'll have to stop the linear progression and go back to waving the number of singles.

- Facepulls: 5x20

Doneski.
 
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