I’m back on the Texas Method after my powerlifting meet a few weeks ago, and it feels great. Running a Smolov base mesocycle really upped my strength—and recovery capacity. Four heavy squat workouts a week will beat you up, but teach your body to bounce back quickly.
Today was a Texas Method volume day (warm-up sets not listed):
Squat:
325, 5×5
Overhead press:
145, 5×5
Deadlift:
405, 1×5
Today a handful of my colleagues and I did this workout from Marianne Kane. I used a 24kg kettlebell for the whole thing.
After yesterday’s workout, it this was a brutal challenge. In all honesty: I was going to skip this workout, but my friends held me accountable and made me do it. It was big challenge from a conditioning standpoint, but I’m really glad I manned up got it done.
Here’s a video from Marianne’s blog of her performing the workout. She’s one tough Irish lass and her form is terrific.
Deadlift:
bar x 10ish
135 x 5
225 x 3
315 x 2
405 x 1
465 x 1
495+40lbs. chain x 0 (miss)
REALLY disappointed I missed that last big lift, but it’s only been five days since my 507 lbs. PR at my first powerlifting meet, and I realize I was a bit overeager to lift heavy again. I need to deload for at least another week, then ramp back up appropriately.
Swing (see video below):
155, 2×10
180 x 10
KB floor press:
40kg, 2 x 6
40kg x 8
Farmer’s carry:
48kg/hand x 50 yards x 3
Ab wheel rollout from knees:
3 x 10
Check out my 180lbs. swing. The t-handle (here’s how to make your own) weighs 5 pounds, and I piled 7 25lbs. plates onto it.
It’s been just over a week since I earned my RKC in Philadelphia. I still can’t sum it up properly. RKC is like giving birth or going to the moon. We might imagine the experience—but only those who’ve gone through it truly know what it’s like.
That lofty disclaimer notwithstanding, I will try to distill the experience in this blog post.
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My e-friend and fellow blogger Suzanne of Workout Nirvana totally called me out on my snarky blog post poking fun at BOSU/unstable training.
I’m not one of those lifters who thinks that people who do things differently than I do are automatically weak or misinformed.
I was wasting time on Facebook yesterday, updating my profile, and I saw something horrifying. If you list “Personal Training” as an interest, this is the photo that shows up: Continue reading
So you’ve decided to seek professional help—awesome. A trainer is no different than a plumber or financial adviser: an expert you hire to accomplish a goal you’re unlikely to reach on your own. But how do you choose a good one? Continue reading
Holed up all weekend by Hurricane Irene and always a fan of Tony Gentilcore’s “Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work” series, I decided to put together a quick list of “reads for a rainy day;” or, in my case, “reads to ward off cabin fever as your windows rattle from tropical storm-force wind and rain even though you live in New York City which is decidedly not tropical.”
Attitude is everything. Continue reading
This past weekend I went home to the suburbs of Philadelphia to celebrate my dad’s birthday. While there, I accompanied my mom to her gym—the infamous Planet Fitness—for a workout. With no barbells, and dumbbells that only go up to 60, how was I to accomplish the gut-wrenching workout I so craved?
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A few Saturdays ago I was lucky enough to attend a seminar by Robert Dos Remedios, a highly respected and sought-after strength and conditioning coach. The seminar, “Metabolic Strength Training,” completely changed the way I think about the relationship between strength training and cardio. Continue reading
