Day Two, Week One: Squats

Day two of my new return-from-competition workout has me squatting again. I was worried my knee problems, which seem to have persisted—if not worsened—despite two weeks of break, would make it too painful to squat, particularly because I'm returning to a higher number of repitions per set. Fortunately that did not turn out to be the case, and I had no pain at all. However, the higher reps certainly taxed my cardio, and I was exhausted for pretty much the rest of the workout—so much so that I could not, as planned, do cardio intervals afterwards.

Squat Day
Exercise	7/15 2010	Week Two	Week Three	Week Four
Squat	135x10
	185x8
	275x6
	305x6
	325x6
	345x6
	355x6
	355x6
Romanian Deadlift	135x12
	185x12
	225x10
Seated Row	140x12 (P)
	160x12 (P)
	170x9 (P)
Single-leg Press	165x12*
	210x12*
	255x12*

* Weight is per leg, including sled weight
(P) Machine at the PRO Club

Day One, Week One: Heavy Bench Press

After two weeks of rest after my first ever powerlifting event, I returned to the gym with a new workout from my trainer, intending to compete next in the Columbia City Classic in October. I'm back to bench pressing without pausing on my chest.

Heavy Bench Day
Exercise	7/14 2010	Week Two	Week Three	Week Four
Bench (no pause on chest)	135x10
	185x10
	225x6
	245x6
	265x6
	275x6
	285x6
	285x6
Incline Dumbbell Press	65x12*
	80x11*
	85x8*
Reverse Grip Bench Press	135x12
	155x9
	155x6
Skullcrushers w/Triceps Bar	45x12**
	60x12**
	70x9**

* Weight is per arm
** Assuming triceps bar weighs 45 lbs.

Also, because I'm going to try and lose enough weight to compete in a lower weight class, my trainer has advised me to do some interval training after my workouts for 15 minutes or so--on the treadmill after bench days, on the elliptical or AMT after squat/deadlift days. After I lifted today, I did the following on the treadmill, and boy was I exhausted:

Sprint Intervals
Interval	Name	Time	Speed
0	Warmup	2:00	3.5 mph
1	Sprint	1:00	10 mph
	Rest	2:30	3.5 mph
2	Sprint	1:00	10 mph
	Rest	2:30	3.5 mph
3	Sprint	1:00	9 mph
	Rest	2:30	3.5 mph
4	Sprint	1:00	9 mph
	Rest	2:30	3.5 mph
5	Sprint	1:00	9 mph
	Rest	3:00	3.2 mph
	Cooldown	3:00	2-3 mph