Of this and that.......

[Black Knight]

At the risk on incurring the wrath of the injury gremlin I've decided to keep a journal once more.
Ive no hard and fast rules about my training right now except that it should include some good old fashioned basics, a mixture of rep schemes and most of all something I enjoy doing.

Saturday 30/7
Over Head Squats ATG Barxlots, 40x6, 50x6, 60x6, 70x6, 75x6, 80x6 (well tough), 70x5, 60x8

SLDL 50x8, 80x8, 110x8, x 8

Lots of stretching

Monday 1/8

Front Squats ATG Bar x lots, 60x8, 80x8, 90x8, 100x6, 110x6-demanding but fairly comfortable

D/B Bench Press -shallow Incline 15x10, 25x8, 35x8, 40x8, 45x6, 50x6,x6 - ok

Chins x8, x8, x6 - crapola!

Dips x15, x15

E-Z curls (!) 25x8, 35x8, 45x8, x12 - well pumped :033:

[PikeKing]

sweet work big man, especially the OH Squats, flexibility must be quite good, you been working on that? You taking the bar from a rack?

nice to have you back

[Tricky]

Saturday 30/7
Over Head Squats ATG 80x6


KG ? That is VERY impressive IMO. Good arrows.
:025:

[Black Knight]

Thanks fellas. Ive worked at the OH Squats in the past (last year) and Ive got back into the groove pretty quickly.
The weight is kg and I perform a hang clean-push press to get the bar overhead then move my hands out to a wide/snatch position-its a hell of a workout for the shoulders to hold the weight in that position.

[DMPM]

Yeah, that's a beasty OH squat. Probably snap me half that would.

[Mark]

How much do you weigh?

[Black Knight]

How much do you weigh?
Approx 110 at 6"ish

[the block]

OHS are cool. i got as far as 57.5kg for 3x10 and i felt well strong but then my shoulders were getting too much work so i dropped them.

[PikeKing]

How wide is your grip on the OH Squat?

[Black Knight]

How wide is your grip on the OH Squat?
Wide; pinky about 5" from the collar.

[Black Knight]

Thursday 4/8

Bench
barxlots, 40x8, 50x8, 60x6, 80x6, 100x3, 120x3, 140x3,x3,x3. Good

Power clean & Push press
40x5,x5, 60x3, 70x3, 75x3, 80x3, 85x2,x3. Shoddy

Barbell Rows
60x8, 80x8, 100x8, 110x8, 112.5x6. Ok

Close-Grip Bench
Barx10, 60x10, 80x10, 100x8, 105x8. Good.

[666]

Very nice benching mate.

[Robert]

Thursday 4/8

Bench
barxlots, 40x8, 50x8, 60x6, 80x6, 100x3, 120x3, 140x3,x3,x3. Good

Power clean & Push press
40x5,x5, 60x3, 70x3, 75x3, 80x3, 85x2,x3. Shoddy

Barbell Rows
60x8, 80x8, 100x8, 110x8, 112.5x6. Ok

Close-Grip Bench
Barx10, 60x10, 80x10, 100x8, 105x8. Good.
Awesome..

[Tricky]

agreed. Your a strong dude BK. <buff>

[uk machine]

Great work!

[Black Knight]

Thanks fellas, your kind words are appreciated.
I'm really enjoying my training again at the moment having been pretty pissed off over the last few weeks or so. I went through a stage when everything felt sore and it seemed like too much trouble. It was a case of sticking with it and knowing that it would come god again.
These workouts are tough but I get a lot of satisfaction from them, which I suppose is why we all do it in the first place!

[666]

It was a case of sticking with it and knowing that it would come god again.

Look, you're strong, but not THAT strong :040:

[Black Knight]

Look, you're strong, but not THAT strong :040:
:046: fair enough :023: :044: :030:

[Hallsy]

Some hardcore training there - good stuff :)

[Black Knight]

Saturday 6/8

OH Squats
Bar x lots, 40x6, 50x6, 60x6, 70x6, 80x6, 70x8, 60x10 - shoulders & abs absolutely fried after that.

Romanian Deads
60x8, 80x8, 100x8, 120x8, 130x8- ok

Lots & lots of stretches

[Black Knight]

Monday 8/8

Front squats ATG
Barxlots, 60x6, 80x6, 100x6, 120x6, x6 - 'kin brutal, nearly puked!

Incline D/B Bench - v. sore shoulders so light weights, metro pumper stylee.
15x10, 25x10, 35 x10, x10, x10

Hammer-Machine metro rows- same reason as above
60x10, 80x10, 100x10, 120x10

Dips
x12, x12, x12

E-Z curls 'take me to a gay bar'
30x10, 45x10,x10,x10

[Black Knight]

Thursday 11/8

Bench, Barx10, 40x6, 60x6, 80x6, 100x3, 120x3, 140x4, x4, x3.
Getting better

D/B Clean+Press 20x5, 25x5, 27.5x5,x5, 30x5, x5. New to these, found the technique tuff.

Chins x8, x8, x6. Ran out of gas last set

Close grip bench 60x8, 80x8, 100x8, 107.5x6. Last set was hard.

[Icepick]

shithot

[PikeKing]

D/B Clean+Press 20x5, 25x5, 27.5x5,x5, 30x5, x5. New to these, found the technique tuff.



we had a bit of a discussion about these on the strength forum a while back.

how you doing them? holding DBs like you would a bar for a clean or like a hammer curl?

[Black Knight]

we had a bit of a discussion about these on the strength forum a while back.

how you doing them? holding DBs like you would a bar for a clean or like a hammer curl?
Holding them in the Hammer position but thrusting with hips and pulling with traps to perform a 'proper clean', if that makes sense?!
By the last couple of sets I was getting the hang of it more and would expect to go a little heavier next time.
Damn good exercise-recommend it to anyone :025:

[PikeKing]

yup thats how we reckon you should do them, great exercise

[Black Knight]

Monday 15/8

Front Squats Bar x lots, 60x6, 80x6, 90x3, 100x3, 110x3, 120x3, 130x2, 140x1 pb, 145xf (spilled it on the way up, seeing stars! :116: ), 60x10 (felt like an empty bar after the singles). Happy with that, though greedy on the 145 :018: . Should have gone 142.5 :o

D/B Incline Bench 25x8, 35x8, 42.5x6, 50x6, 52.5x5, x6. Pretty pleased with these. :)

Seated Cable Rows(!), 50x10, 80x10, 100x10, x10. Makes a change :047:

E-Z Curls 25x12, 50x12, x12, x12. Loads stronger on these. :025:

[666]

Nice front squat - congrats on PB.

[DMPM]

That's an awesome front squat and some big weights on the DB presses.

[Black Knight]

Friday 19/8
Rushed session cut short by me feeling poorly :mad:

Bench
Bar x lots, 50x8, 60x8, 80x8, 100x8, 120x8, 125x8, 130x8.

Home again, home again jiggedy jig.................

Will try again tomorrow :kinky:

[Black Knight]

Oh shit! Just tried on my best suit in preparation for a mates wedding tomorrow and I cant fasten the trousers without performing a stomach vacuum. :017:
I'm a fat tw@t! :045:
This will never do. I need to 'lean up'. I'm too cheap to buy a new suit.
Will cut out all crap food and do a bit on the heavy bag and X-trainer.

[Tricky]

haha! I hate the moment when you realise you're fat! You always think you're bulking but staying "about the same" bodyfat then you try some old kegs on and its like...nah...!

Quality front squat though...clean or fag grip?

[Black Knight]

Fag grip Im afraid. Ive tried proper clean grip but it hurts like **** and I end up dropping the bloody thing.

[uk machine]

how much u weigh knighty? good benching aswell.

[Black Knight]

how much u weigh knighty? good benching aswell.
Cheers, 110ish at 6'ish

[uk machine]

i wish i was 110kg :012:

[Black Knight]

Saturday 20/8

OH Squats
Barx6, x6, 40x6, 50x6, 60x6, 70x6, 80x5(F)-got a little over confident and lost balance on last rep :018: , 90x2(F) PB :040: Should have gotten a couple more but again lost the bar forward and decided to stop at that to prevent any nasty shoulder pulls.

Romanian Deads
60x8, 100x8, 140x8, x8

Lots of stretching :025:

[Black Knight]

Monday 22/8

Front Squats
Bar x lots, 60x6,x6, 80x6, 100x6, 120x6, 125x6, 100x8. Very tuff but very pleased :035:

D/B Incline Press 25x8, 35x8, 45x8, stopped due to right shoulder pain. :012:

Chins x8, x8, x8. These felt better tonight :D

D/B Curls 17.5x8, 22.5x8, 30x7, x6. Sh1te :confused:

[the block]

thats some brilliant OHS! nice front squats too. well done mate!

dont worry about the dumbbell curls

[Black Knight]

Thursday 25/8

Bench
Bar x lots, 50x6, x6, 60x6, 80x3, 100x3, 120x3, 140x4,x4,x4. Poor form-wobbly and couldnt set-up well for some unknown reason. :012: 100x15. Well pleased, aimed for an optomistic 12 but had more in reserve :025:

D/B Clean & Push-press
20x6, 25x6, 30x6, x6, x5. These have got to be one of the most draining exercises Ive ever done-absolutely fckued at the end :kinky:

Cable Rows
80x8, 100x8, x8, x8

Dips
x15, x15, x14 seized up on the last one badly :018:

Well that concludes my training for a little while. I will be braving the elements in Anglesey for a week or so :039: . The old joints can take a well earned rest :015:

[Narc]

sweet bench

[Black Knight]

Saturday 3/9
Having returned from the cultural experience that is Anglesey, I decided to have a light 'breaking in' session this afternoon in order to pump some blood through the old joints in preparation for the first proper session on monday.

I have decided to have another crack at Back Squats having gotten a little stale on Front Squats-also since I hit my short-term target of 140.

Squats Preceeded by a few minutes on the stationary bike. Bar x lots, 60x8, x8. 80x8, x8. 100x8, x8. In short, bloody awful! My form sucked big time, I couldnt hit 2 reps the same and my knees felt like shite. :012: :mad: Lets just hope it was down to being out of practise!

Romanian Deads 60x8, x8, 80x8, x8

Dips x12, x12, x12

Chins x8, x8

Is it just me or does everyone feel ****in awful on the first session back after a break? I was really looking forward to it, the mind was willing but the body certainly wasn't able! :018:

[GoldenArrow]

At your age :037: ......you may benefit from some movement prep/hip mobility/glute activation work before squatting, try it and see how you feel.

[Black Knight]

Yeah, you might have a point there. When I was squatting today it was though I was only using the quads immediateley above my knees-I felt nothing in the hips/glutes.

[Black Knight]

Monday 5/9

Back Squats
Bar x lots
40x6
60x6
100x6
120x6, x6
130x6
90x12

These are doing my 'ead in! I can front squat better than this! :012:
I can hit depth no problem-real low and some reps fly up easy as you like and others in the same set are a real slow gring-wtf is happening?
Must be technique issue.
Could do better, see teacher after class for proper bollocking :018:

D/B Incline Bench
22.5x6
36x6
45x6
50x6, x6
30x12

Not bad, reasonably happy.

Bentover Rows
60x6
80x6
100x6
110x6, x6

Tuff but good

E-Z Curls
25x10
50x12 x12

Lots of stretching and sweating.

[Black Knight]

Thursday 8/9

Bench
Barx6
50x6
60x6
90x6
110x6
130x6,x6
90x14

Absolute sh1te-not happy at all :012:

Deads
60x6,x6
100x6
120x6
140x6
160x3,x3

First deads in about 2 months-not rushing anything with these

Chins
x8, x8, x8

Struggled on last couple of reps

Dips
x15, x12

Not one of my better sessions. I think a combination of factors has affected performance. First week back at school, early morning get ups to walk new dog, poor sleep and using the heavy bag have taken their toll.

[uk machine]

evryone has bad days mate, suck it up and hit the gym with some venom next time

[Black Knight]

Sarurday 10/9

Tabata!!! :077:

Warmed up with some incline walking then proceeded to the squat rack...
Front Squats with 50kg, oh man, how ****ing hard is this madness? :119:

By the eigth and last set I could hardly keep the bar on my shoulders and my whole body was screaming at me to stop.

No idea about total reps but I think I did 12 or so on the first set and 5 or so on the last.

Could hardly walk down the stairs into the changing room. Absolute torture! :kinky:

[BFT]

qudos for the tabata effort. Esp if you had done it before and knew what to expect!

[666]

Aye, they're nasty bastards. Zerchers were my favourite exercise for them.

[Black Knight]

qudos for the tabata effort. Esp if you had done it before and knew what to expect!
Nah, I was a Tabata virgin till today.
I intend doing them once per week. :ninja:

[Tricky]

I intend doing them once per week. :ninja:
If you're anything like me, you wont.

EDIT - Powerclean and press :ninja:

[Black Knight]

If you're anything like me, you wont.

EDIT - Powerclean and press :ninja:
Sounds brutal

[Black Knight]

Monday 12/9

Squats
In order to improve my abysmal performances of the last week or so Ive decided to start box squatting in order to rediscover better form.
11" box which is below parallel for me at 6' ish. Strict and controlled descent, paused, release hip flexors and back up. I found this tough. I think my posterior chain is weak compared to my quads....
Bar xlots
60x6, x6
80x6
100x6
120x3, x3, x3, x3.

I'll stick with these for the foreseable future.

Weighted dips
b/w x8, x8
+10x8
+20x8, x8, x8

Rows
60x8
80x8
100x8
110x8

D/B Curls
20x8
25x8, x8

[Black Knight]

New routine, here (http://www.iron-city.net/showthread.php?t=1242)
Saturday 18/9

Back sqt
Lots of warm-ups, then
10x2x100
Very comfortable and form felt spot on for the first time since resuming back squats. The fact that I was having to re-rack and set up again frequently was helping.


D/B Clean & Push Press
15x6
20x6
30x3x6

Will work up to 30x4x6 before increasing weight

Chins
3x8

Last couple were a struggle. I won't be adding weight until they're spot on.

[666]

I take it you do the db clean and press with each arm?

[Black Knight]

I take it you do the db clean and press with each arm?
Correct, sir. Damn fine exercise it is too!

[the block]

Chins
3x8

Last couple were a struggle. I won't be adding weight until they're spot on.

i found 3x8 chins really difficult. i could get the first 2 sets with a little bit of effort but the last set - 6 at a real push. when i switched to 3x6 i did them really easy and even started adding some weight and doing 3x6.

[Black Knight]

i found 3x8 chins really difficult. i could get the first 2 sets with a little bit of effort but the last set - 6 at a real push. when i switched to 3x6 i did them really easy and even started adding some weight and doing 3x6.
I'll try that next time.

[Black Knight]

Monday 19/9

Squats
Warm up sets then:
8x3x130 Good, form lots better. Deep, and without leaning forward. well pleased.

Bench
Warm up sets then:
6x3x120. Spot on.

Rows
Upto 100x6 Nice and strict

Good session, enjoyed it lots!

[Narc]

Good stuff

[Icepick]

Liking the routinehttp://iron-city.net/images/smilies/newones/023.gif

[Black Knight]

Thursday 22/9

Front Squats

Warm up sets then:
3x8x80. Bonus points for clean grip rather than usual 'fag' crossed grip. :047:

Deads
Warm up sets then:
6x1x180. Should have done 8 but knee was twinging and I was a little rusty. There are those who claim to maintain their deads by squatting alone-I'm definitely not one of them. If I dont pull heavy on a regular basis my weights go down the pan........and they have now!

Dips
Warm up with bodyweight only, then:
4x6 (+20)

[uk machine]

Thursday 22/9

Front Squats

Warm up sets then:
3x8x80. Bonus points for clean grip rather than usual 'fag' crossed grip. :047:

Deads
Warm up sets then:
6x1x180. Should have done 8 but knee was twinging and I was a little rusty. There are those who claim to maintain their deads by squatting alone-I'm definitely not one of them. If I dont pull heavy on a regular basis my weights go down the pan........and they have now!

Dips
Warm up with bodyweight only, then:
4x6 (+20)
im the same knight, if i dont pull heavy weekly, i dont pull heabvy at all :022: allways feel out of groove if i dont

[Black Knight]

Saturday 24/9

Squats
Warm up sets & movement prep then:
10x2x105. Sweet

D/B Clean & Pushpress
Warm up then:
4x6x30. Tough

Chins
3x6. Nice

Lots of stretching............ :032:

[Icepick]

what are you using for prep and how do you find it

[Black Knight]

what are you using for prep and how do you find it
prone scorpions
fire hydrants and a couple of other PK type exercises I cant remember the name of!
I find it helps to fire up the glutes and hips and helps with my squat form.

[Black Knight]

Monday 26/9

Feeling pretty rough, think Ive caught the strain of Iron City man flu thats doing the rounds. Worst of it is that I cant sleep hence posting at this daft time in the morning.

Squats
Brief warm up, pretty stiff, then:
8(9) lost count and lost diaryx3x130. These got better the more I did. Last set or two I was blasting out of the hole. Must warm up better. Will increase weight next week.

Bench
warm up then:
6x3x122.5. Good

Rows
4x6 working up tp 110. ok

[Black Knight]

Question
The routine Im using right now involves calculating %'s of guestimated 1rm's. Im wondering about three possible scenarios over the next 4 weeks or so before deloading/remaxing:

1. I keep everything the same (sets/reps/weight)
2. I keep sets/reps fixed but increase the weight whenever possible.
3. I increase the weights every week but reduce number of sets

[666]

I say no.3, so you get yourself used to the heavier weights before maxing so it's not so psychologically heavy, especially as you've been doing reasonably high reps.

[Black Knight]

Yeah, thats what I was thinking. Cheers, Ian.

I should clarify that I'm talking about the Back Squats, Bench and Deads here, not the other lifts which I'll vary according to how I feel on the day.

Also, I'm wary of hammering myself on the deads at the same time as starting to squat much more often. So, I'll moderate the weights of the deads and concentrate more on pulling correctly with reasonable weights and trust that my pulling power should increase with squating.

[Tricky]

Yeah i agree with doing 3, but id do it intelligently, i.e give yourself a delaod week the week before maxing. Otherwise you might just find your CNS is fried from near-max work the weeks before your max attempt.

[Black Knight]

Yeah i agree with doing 3, but id do it intelligently, i.e give yourself a delaod week the week before maxing. Otherwise you might just find your CNS is fried from near-max work the weeks before your max attempt.
Wise words,mate! :)
Im feeling pretty fried now but thats the man flu taking effect :012:

[Black Knight]

Thursday 29/9
Feeling a lot better today but back a little stiff.

Front squats
Warmed up slow then:
3x6x90. Easy peasy, rock bottom, rock solid

Deads
Lots of warm ups then:
6x2x160. Sound, good form, kept a nice tight arch and hips down

Weighted dips
Warm ups then:
4x6 (+25) good, last couple were tough.

[666]

Quality session. :026:

[Black Knight]

Saturday 1/10
Thought I was over this man flu but I feel like sh1t today :022: (doesnt help that Ive spent several hours outside in the rain watching my boy training and then playing football-and hes got a rugby tournament tomorrow as well!) so Ive sacked the gym till monday when hopefully I will feel like a full member of the human race again. :036:

[Black Knight]

No, I've not died and I'm still training but the curse of the journal struck me down again. Ive been training around knee and hip problems in the last few weeks.
Please lock the journal mods and dont ever let me start one again!

[Narc]

Bugger, was wondering where you'd got to, thought maybe it had turned out to be avian flu!! Do you actuallly want it locked or was that sarcasm?

[Black Knight]

Yeah, lock it mate then I wont be tempted!

[PikeKing]

I'm posting in here because I can.

I would try and find a functional training specialist (this is a bosu expert) your knee and hip have probably come from the back, or vice versa, there must bea cause. A FTS will be able to work backwards and find the problem and prescribe something to fix it.