Day Two, Week Three: Squats

Well I'm up a pound from a couple days ago, but that's ok. I'm still confident I'll make weight. Great squat workout today, third set of 3 squats at 460--20 pounds heavier than my second attempt in competition back in June!

Squat Day
Exercise	11/4 2010	11/11 2010	11/18 2010	Week Four
Squat	135x10	135x10	135x10
	185x8	185x8	185x8
	380x5	410x4	440x3
	385x5	415x4	450x3
	390x5	420x4	460x3
	395x6	425x4
Seated Row	140x12 (P)	160x12 (Y)	170x12 (P)
	160x12 (P)	170x12 (Y)	180x12 (P)
	180x11 (P)	180x12 (Y)	185x9 (P)
Hang Clean	115x12	115x12	115x12
	115x10	115x12	115x12
	115x10	115x10	115x10
Back Extensions	0x12	45x12*	85x12*
	25x12*	60x12*	90x12*
	45x12*	70x12*	90x10*
* Plate/dumbbell held to my chest (P) Machine used at the PRO Club (Y) Machine used at the YMCA

Day One, Week Three: Light Bench Press

Saturday morning I was just about 290; this morning I'm down to 282.6! I'm sure some of that is water weight, but having cut back considerably on calories and having increased my energy output via cardio exercise, I'm sure some of it is fat, too. Making weight at 275 in 2.5 weeks is looking increasingly plausible!

Speed Bench Day
Exercise	11/2 2010	11/9 2010	11/16 2010	Week Four
Bench Press (Explosive)	135x10	135x10	135x10
	185x5	185x5	185x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5
Seated Shoulder Press	45x12*	60x12*	60x12*
	50x12*	65x12*	65x12*
	55x12*	70x8*	70x9*
3-Board Press	275x5	285x5	295x5
	280x5	285x5	295x5
	285x5	285x5	295x5
Cable Triceps Extensions		120x12 (P)	130x12 (P)
		140x12 (P)	140x12 (P)
		140x10 (P)	145x9 (P)
* Weight is per arm (P) Machines used at the PRO club

Day Four, Week Two: Deadlifts

I reduced the number of working deadlifts by one, but the last lift at 535 was still pretty tough (I did make it, though). For the third and fourth week, where I intend to finish at 550 and 560, respectively, I'm going to reduce the number of working lifts by one again. The good news is, I'm confident I'll be successful at my second attempt in competition at 530.

When I got to work I again climbed the 650+ stairs to the top of my building and back down, and over the weekend I did a ton of cardio. Even more encouraging than my confidence that I'll lift more in competition than I did in June, the better news is that whereas a few days ago I was still at 290, this morning I was down to 284.8, which leaves me with just under 10 pounds to lose in about 19 days! This is VERY encouraging, and I'm beginning to think I might just be able to make it.

Deadlift Day
Exercise	11/8 2010	11/15 2010	Week Three	Week Four
Deadlift	135x5	135x5
	225x3	225x3
	315x2	315x2
	405x1	405x1
	440x1	455x1
	460x1	485x1
	480x1	515x1
	500x1	535x1
	520x1
One-Arm Row	70x12*	75x12*
	80x12*	80x12*
	80x11*	80x11*
Box Squats (Explosive)	245x3†	250x3†
	255x3†	260x3†
	265x3†	270x3†
	275x2†	280x2†
	285x2†	290x2†
Rear Delt Fly	20x12*	20x12*
	25x12*	25x12*
	25x10*	25x10*
* Weight is per arm † Used adjustable height box at lowest setting, rather then traditional bench, increasing difficulty

Day Three, Week Two: Heavy Bench Press

Had yet another very encouraging bench press workout the other day. Began at 315 intending to do four sets of four reps at that weight, but after the second set of four I increased the weight to 320 for the third set, and then to 325 for the fourth set and did five reps instead of four! At this time leading into my previous competition, just one rep at this weight was difficult. A record-breaking 358 lb. bench in competition is continuing to come into focus.

The bad news is that as of the morning I completed this workout, I was still at about 290 pounds. So with 3 weeks remaining before competition I still had about 15 pounds to lose to compete in my desired weight class. Fortunately, this morning revealed some encouraging news. For that, see my next post.

Squat Day
Exercise	11/5 2010	11/12 2010	Week Three	Week Four
Bench Press	135x10	135x10
	185x10	185x10
	285x5	315x4
	290x5	315x4
	295x5	320x4
	300x7	325x5
45° Smith Press	140x12*	140x12*
	150x11*	150x9*
	150x6*	150x9*
16" Floor Press	135x12	165x12
	155x12	175x12
	185x11	185x10
Triceps Pressdown	90x12 (P)	90x12 (P)
	95x9 (P)	95x9 (P)
	95x8 (P)	95x9 (P)
* Not counting weight of bar (P) Machine used at the PRO Club