Bear Front Squats & Step-ups

Warm-up:

OHSx10 w/30kg (too loosen things up)

Front Squat x5 w/30kg
x5 w/50kg

Work sets:

1x5 w/66 kg (90%)
10x5 w/ 60kg (80%)

Rests on average between 1-2 mins

Step-ups w/30 kg

4x8

Bear Clean & Press

1 Clean, 5 Presses

Warm-up: 5x30kg

Work set:

1x5 w/ 42kg (90%)
6x5 w/ 38kg (80%)

5x5 Jandas

Bear Legs

Conventional Deadlifts:

Warmup (5x50kg, 3x70kg)

Work sets:

1x5 @ 108kg
10x5 @ 96 kg

Pullover with 20lb barbell:

2x5

Janda situps: 3x5

Notes: This felt really good. I'm going to stick with it for a while and see where this goes.

Bear Back

Bent-Over Rows

I started with too much weight, which lead me to execute more of a descending pyramid then a bear routine.

50kg x 3
46kg x 3
44kg x 1
40kg x 7

Rest Interval: 1-2 mins

Dips : 3 x 5 BW

Bear with me

Since I have had a hard time develloping any form of added mass the last couple of months, I have decided to choose an approach that can't fail. I decided to put all my money on the interesting (but very simple) program develloped by the Russian Special Forces to pack on mass aka The Bear. Pavel Tsatsouline discusses it in his great book 'Power to the People' (get it, it has some real good insights on training). Due to my heavy cycling (avg of about 2 hours a day), I also decided to spare my legs and train them on OFF days.
I also decided to make some changes in my diet - as we don't have lunch breaks at work - to be able to get enough protein AND carbs (when appropriate) no matter what. This means eggs and veggies in the morning, milk and fruit throughout the day and cottage cheese before bed. Let me show you what my workout of yesterday looked like - and most importantly, what's it's going to look like for the next month. That's right... no changing training methods for at least another month.

Upper Body Repetition Day

A. BW Dips for Max reps x 3 :5,4,3
B. Skull Crushers w/20kg BB: 4x6
C. Chin-ups w/16kg : 5,4,3,2,1
D: Shoulder Press w/16kg: 8,6,6
E: Barbell Reverse Curl 3x8 w/20kg
F: Jandas: 4x5

Max Effort Lower Body

Normally I'd do this workout Wednesday, but since I won't have a whole lot of time on Wednesday, I decided to do it today.

Front Squats

5@ 40kg
5@ 50kg
5@ 56kg
5@ 62kg
5@ 64kg

Step up with knee raise

4x8 w/30kg (will up weight next time)

Romanian Deadlift

4x6 w/ 78kg

Thick Dumbell Hold

3x max time (12 sec with 26kg, better time next time ;-)

Max Upper Body Day

Weighted Dips (work up to max of)

-5@ BW
-5@ BW+1kg
-3@ BW+3kg
-2@ BW+4kg
-2@ BW+3kg

Dumbell Floor Press

4x10 w/12 kg dumbbells

Bent-over Rows

4x10 w/40kg barbell

Bent-over Dumbell Rear Delt Flys

3x12 w/2kg dumbell

Hanging Knee Raises

4x15

Casual Fridays

Since I'm opting for muscle gain right now, 21 day itch isn't cutting it (with all the singles I'm gaining a lot of strength, but no size), so here's what I did today as a 'finisher':

Isometric Deadlifts from Blocks (shin height) 3x5 w/ 70kg
Power Cleans 3x5 w/50kg
1 Arm Renegade Rows with 1 pood kettlebell: 3x8
Bent over shrugs w/50kg 3x8

Finished off with 30 2 arm 2 pood kb swings.

Olympic Wednesdays II

Power Snatch w/ 46kg : 15x1
Power Clean & jerk w/ 58kg: 7x1

High Pull with Fat grip dumbbell of 22kg: 5,5,5,5,5

Mad Max Mondays

Front Squats w/74 kg: 15x1
Military Press w/46kg: 15x1 (the last rep was a real grinder, I'll up the weight next time)
High Pull with Fat Grip Dumbbell: 3,3,5,5,5
Side Lying External Rotation with 2kg: 2x8

Oh, and FYI, I have changed up my diet to meet the needs detailed in the book 'Scrawny to Brawny', which I just purchased recently. By doing this I hope to add some (+/-5kg) to my frame, over time, so I can ensure continuos gains in strength. Besides, I didn't feel like staying at my current weight of 70kg all the time. Time to smash some plateaus !

Another Strongman Saturday

Turkish Get-up w/24kg KB: 5x1
High Pull w/ 22kg Fat grip dumbbell: 5,4,5,4,3
32kg one arm swings : 40 total (20L+20R)

Supersets EDT Style

A1: Bent-Over Rows w/42kg : 13 sets of 5
A2: Floor Press w/42kg : 13 sets of 5

B1: Back Squats w/56kg : 7 sets of 5
B2: Romanian Deadlifts w/ 66kg: 7 sets of 5

Olympic Wednesdays

Power Snatch w/42 kg: 15x1 (about 30 seconds rest in between each rep, needless to say I will be upping the weight by 4kg next time)

Power Clean w/ 56kg: 15x1 (1 minute rest - or less - the last couple of reps were hard, but I will add 2kg to the bar next time)

High Pull with 20kg Fat Grip Dumbbell: 5,5,5,5,5 (these were pretty explosive and got the dumbell to chin level on almost every rep).
Power Snatch with 20kg Fat Grip Dumbell: 1L+1R.

I'll see how swings with the dumbell go on Friday.

Monday to the Max

Front Squats w/74 kg: 10x1 (5 more sets and I'll up the weight)
Military Press w/44 kg : 15x1 (next time I'll up the weight)

Mini High Pulls w/ 20kg Fat Grip Dumbbell : 5,5,5,5,5 (these felt a bit more explosive, and I got my pulls up to chest level, will keep using this weight until I can power snatch for 5 reps)

Strongman Saturdays

32kg Snatch x 1 (L,R)
Turkish Get-up w/24kg KB 3x1 (L,R)
Mini High Pull w/ 20kg Fat Grip Dumbbell: 5,5,5,5,5 (L,R)
32kg KB 1 Arm Swings x 30 (15L,15R)

BBing Fridays

Today is friday, which is bodybuilding day according to the '21 day itch'. This will allow me to do some bodybuilding work (as said before I'm not much of a bodybuilder, but I do enjoy the occasional 'pump ;-) For any of you who haven't tried EDT yet, I suggest you try it out, it's not as easy as it looks (with compounds movements that is)

A1: Rows w/40kg
A2: Incline Bench w/ 30kg (this was too light, will bring weight up next time)

Sets the timer to 15 minutes and got 10 sets of 5 for each exercise.

B1: Romanian Deadlift
B2: Back Squats (in retrospect I should have gone with Front squats)

Got 8 sets of 5 for each exercise in 15 minutes.

This went pretty well, I think next time will be more efficient, as I will change my exercise and weight selection to make it a bit more challenging (and so, induce a more appropriate response)

Power Snatch + Power Clean & Jerk

Power Snatch w/ 40kg: 15x1 (1 min rests)
Got 15 reps, will upping the weight next time

Power Clean & Jerk w/54 kg: 15x1 (1 min rests)
Same here, got all 15 reps, upping the weight next time

Mini High Pulls w/ 20kg Fat Grip Dumbbell: 3,4,5,5,5 (1 min rest)

The 21 Day Itch

Last week I posted that I was going to do '1 lift a day' a program by Dan John. But in the mean time I changed oppinions and decided to go with Charles Staley's new '21 day itch' program as it seemed to fit me like a glove. Why? Well I like heavy singles for one and I do like to alternate between powerlifting, olympic and strongman movements (and the very occasional bodybuilding). This program will allow me to do all those things, so I decided to jump in.

Here's what my workout for today looked like:

Front Squat w/ 74kg 5x1 (1 min RI)
Military Press w/ 44kg 10x1 (1 min RI)

Mini High Pulls (low height) with a 20kg fat grip dumbbell:
5 sets of 5,5,4,5,5 reps (1 min RI)

Rings and things

I finally received my power rings yesterday and started messing around with them right away. Woohoo ! Skin the cat(s), dips, pull-ups, muscle up attempts etc... Great fun, will be using them a lot.

Here's what I did today,

Front Squat (5 RM test):

5x30kg
5x50kg
50x60kg
50x66kg

Snatch Grip Deadlifts:

5x50kg
5x70kg (this felt really heavy, the lower position really taxes the posterior chain)

A dozen Glute Ham Raises (I didn't feel like counting,but I did a bunch)

6 sets of : 1 Power Clean / 2 Front Squats w/ 40kg (this felt pretty good, next time I'll up the weight and throw in another complex)

Followed by :

30 1 Arm Swings w/ 32kg KB (15L+15R)
30 2 Arm Swings w/ 32kg KB

Ending with :

20 rings dips

There ... this felt like a great workout.