Stealth's Workout Journal

Pretty nice workout today. Speed work went well – 335 was flying. My upper body is just a wreck from the overheads on Monday and slingshot work on Wednesday – made for some interesting front squats. Regardless, I hit 355 for a triple, which is only 10lbs off my best, but I think I was not hitting depth like this back then. Humbling weight, but the strength will come. Inclines felt really rugged, but hit some not-to-tough sets with 275; pleased with that. Tried a set of seated DB presses but my shoulders emphatically said “no”, so I switched to neutral grip db floor presses. Really nice tricep blaster there.

DE ATG Squat:
225x2x1
275x2x1
315x2x1
315x2x1
335x2x1
335x2x1
335x2x1
335x2x1

Front Squat:
225x5x1
315x3x1
335x3x1
355x3x1
315x5x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x5x1
255x5x1
275x5x1
275x5x1
275x5x1

Seated DB Press:
70x8x1

Paused Neutral-grip DB Floor Press:
70x8x1
80x8x1
90x8x1
90x10x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
purple x20x1
purple x20x1

Band Face Pulls:
purple x30x1
purple x30x1

Duration: 90 minutes

Pretty tough, but good workout. Lots of shoulder and upper back soreness from all the overhead presses on Monday so I did not expect much from bench, but it went better than expected. Did 5 singles @ ~90%+ on paused bench, where my pauses are getting longer and longer, without too much trouble. Moved on to Slingshot bench and worked up to 415 for a triple (pr), a pretty solid 425 single, then back down to 405 to call it good. My forearms were completely fried and I could barely grip the bar for the 425 set. That presented a but of a struggled with deads, as a loose grip means loose traps, etc. Conventionals went OK – better than two weeks ago, but were very fatigued. The Slingshot and those heavy workloads really take a lot out of my core since I always bench with an arch. No real assistance work today, the heavy stuff was enough.

Paused Bench Press:
135x12x1
195x5x1
235x4x1
275x3x1
315x1x1
335x1x1
320x1x1
320x1x1
320x1x1

Slingshot Bench Press:
320x2x1
350x2x1
385x2x1
415x3x1 (PR)
425x1x1
405x2x1

Conventional Deadlift:
225x3x1
315x3x1
405x3x1
495x2x1
545x1x1
575x1x1
575x1x1
495x3x1

Duration: 90 minutes

This session absolutely wrecked me. Still working up gradually on push presses using ‘proper form’, where I hit pretty easy doubles at 265 and 275. I was feeling pretty good so I decided to do some BTN push presses, where I ended up hitting a big PR of 305. Went for 315 and just barely missed it -talk about frustrating. So close, but I know I would have hit it if I had jumped to it straight from 285, or at least had not done all of the regular push presses first. Moved on to squats, but I was just exhausted already. Ground out 5 reps @ 90%+ at least to keep the session productive. Kept inclines light for the 5 sets of 8, then did a huge drop set for curls to end it.

Push Press:
135x10x1
185x5x1
210x4x1
235x3x1
265x2x1
275x2x1

BTN Push Press:
225x3x1
255x2x1
285x2x1
305x1x1 (PR)
315x0.9x1

Wide-stance Squat (single-ply briefs):
315x3x1
405x3x1
475x2x1
545x1x1
565x1x1
525x3x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x8x1
225x8x1
225x8x1
225x8x1
225x8x1

DB Hammer Curls (all sets done in one big dropset):
50x10x1
40x10x1
30x10x1
60x8x1
50x8x1
40x8x1
30x8x1
70x5x1
60x5x1
50x5x1
40x10x1
30x15x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
purple x50x1
purple x50x1
purple x50x1

Duration: 120 minutes

Good workout despite having just benched a bunch yesterday. I figured my bench would be crap today but it ended up going really well. Gaining confidence there for sure. Squats were exhausting. Front squats were bothering my hip so I did not push them too hard – still too beat up from those deads yesterday. Kept inclines light.

Paused Bench Press:
135x10x1
200x5x1
235x4x1
275x3x1
315x2x1
315x2x1
315x2x1
315x2x1
315x2x1

DE ATG Squat:
225x2x1
225+180 band tensionx2x1
225+320 band tensionx2x1
225+420 band tensionx2x1
225+420 band tensionx2x1
225+420 band tensionx2x1
225+420 band tensionx2x1
225+420 band tensionx2x1

Front Squat:
225x3x1
275x3x1
275x3x1
275x3x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x5x1
225x5x1
225x5x1
225x5x1
225x5x1

CG Pulldowns:
150x8x1
150x8x1
150x8x1
150x8x1
150x8x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
purple x30x1
purple x30x1
purple x30x1

Duration: 120 minutes

Had to push the session from yesterday to today. This was a real fun session. Paused bench went smooth, hitting 5 nice singles with long pauses, then I moved on to using the Slingshot again. Figured since I maxed it out on Sunday with a real grinder @ 425 I would just do triples with it today. Of course I got excited to go heavy and ended up crushing 415 for a double, then 430 and 440 for singles. Real pleased with how things felt today. Definitely more in the tank, too; just did not want to push the shoulders too much. That is a big increase in workload for them to be handling. Moved on to deads and I was just toasted. Barely got 675 for a single and 635 and 600 for doubles. First world problems. Incline went surprisingly smooth, but I did not push it too hard, either. Forearms, triceps, front delts, and traps are blasted. Finished with some light flyes and band work.

Paused Bench Press:
135x10x1
200x5x1
235x4x1
275x3x1
295x2x1
315x1x1
335x1x1
340x1x1
340x1x1
330x1x1
330x1x1

Bench Press w/ Slingshot:
315x2x1
345x2x1
375x2x1
405x2x1
415x2x1 (PR)
430x1x1
440x1x1 (PR)
405x3x1 (PR)

Deadlift:
225x3x1
315x3x1
405x3x1
495x1x1
585x1x1
675x1x1
635x2x1
600x2x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x5x1
255x5x1
265x5x1
265x5x1
225x5x1

Flat DB Flyes:
55x8x1
55x8x1
55x8x1
55x8x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
purple x30x1
purple x30x1

Single-arm Band Rows:
purple x30x1
purple x30x1

Duration: 120 minutes

Good session today. Started out with some light push presses, really focusing on form. The reason they aggravate my back lately is because I tend to push my torso back, finishing the press in an almost slight incline position, rather than pushing my head through as I lock out. Working on that. 255 didn’t feel heavy but it felt weird doing this. Moved on to ATG squats where I just did not have much peak strength – my core was feeling pretty tired today – probably from the benching yesterday. Hit some quality singles @ 575, then hit a paused ATG squat PR @ 550, which I was happy with. Hard rep that was. Inclines were kept light, and really focused on the pauses on flat neutral grip DB presses. Good stuff.

Push Press:
135x10x1
175x5x1
205x4x1
225x3x1
255x3x1
225x3x1

ATG Squat:
225x5x1
315x3x1
405x2x1
475x1x1
525x1x1
575x1x1
575x1x1

Paused ATG Squat:
550x1x1 (PR)
525x2x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x8x1
225x8x1
225x8x1
225x12x1

Paused Neutral Grip Flat DB Bench:
80x8x1
80x8x1
80x8x1
80x8x1

Seated Curl Machine (one huge drop set/mega set):
75x10x1
62x10x1
50x10x1
87x6x1
75x6x1
62x6x1
50x6x1
100x3x1
87x3x1
75x3x1
62x3x1
50x6x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
purple x30x1
purple x30x1

Band External Rotations:
purple x25x1
purple x30x1

Duration: 120 minutes

An impromptu bench workout. Was at a friend’s house and decided to play around with his Slingshot ( http://www.howmuchyabench.net/sling-shots/maddog-sling-shot.html ) on bench and ended up turning it into a max effort workout.

Bench Press w/ Slingshot:
225x1x1
275x1x1
315x1x1
355x1x1
385x1x1
405x1x1
425x1x1 (PR)
405x2x1

Bench Press (touch and go):
315x3x1

Paused Bench Press (long pause):
315x1x1

Duration: 45 minutes

Pretty great workout. This has, overall, been a real solid week of lifting. Started the session today with bench – again feeling really sore and tight, but everything was pretty easy and fast so I focused on ridiculously long pauses for each rep. Still had no problems with any of the doubles. Moved on to incline, which felt strong, and did some good paused neutral grip db presses. Those really destroy the tris. Light BTN overheads again, which I still have mixed feelings about. I might just go down to using only the bar every workout as a recovery/cooldown movement, like I do with the bands. Hit the DE squats and I really could not have moved 315 any faster. It might as well have been 135 on the bar, so I think those band DE squats are working. More of those next week. ATG squats are still a glaring weakness, but I am enjoying tackling them head on. 315 for 2 solid triples, without a belt this week. They did not shred my abs like they did last time, and a bit more confidence was there. Knees-locked strict GMs absolutely rip your hamstrings apart – they started seizing up on me after the second set, but I pushed through it and stretched them out well.

Paused Bench Press:
135x10x1
200x5x1
235x4x1
275x3x1
295x2x1
295x2x1
295x2x1
305x2x1
305x2x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x8x1
265x8x1
245x8x1
245x8x1

Neutral Grip Paused DB Presses:
75x8x1
75x8x1
75x8x1
75x8x1
75x8x1
75x15x1

BTN Overhead Press:
95x8x1
95x8x1
95x8x1
95x8x1

DE ATG Squat:
225x2x1
275x2x1
315x2x1
315x2x1
315x2x1
315x2x1
315x2x1
315x2x1

ATG Front Squat:
225x3x1
275x3x1
315x3x1
315x3x1
225x5x1

Knees-locked Strict GMs:
135x8x1
135x8x1
135x8x1
135x8x1

Rope Face Pulls:
80x10x1
80x10x1
80x10x1
80x10x1
80x10x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
purple x30x1
purple x30x1
purple x30x1

Duration: 100 minutes

Pretty great workout. Started out with bench just to get it over with. Very sore and tight from two sessions in a row with heavy benching so I did not expect much today. Regardless, I ended up hitting a pretty smooth 350 paused single. Only 5lbs off from my best and very fatigued – I count that as progress. Hit 325 for a paused double, which is a PR. Moved on to conventional deads and worked up to an OK feeling 575. Finished with a pretty easy set of 6 @ 525. Inclines felt pretty good, albeit tired feeling. Finished with some good assistance work. The BTN presses are for mobility, and they hurt – I have not figured out if its a good hurt to keep working with, or a bad hurt. Time will tell.

Paused Bench Press:
135x10x1
200x5x1
235x4x1
275x3x1
295x2x1
315x1x1
335x1x1
350x1x1
325x2x1 (PR)

Conventional Deadlift:
225x3x1
315x3x1
405x3x1
475x1x1
525x1x1
550x1x1
575x1x1
525x6x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x4x1
275x4x1
275x4x1
275x4x1
275x4x1

Flat Neutral Grip DB Bench:
70x8x1
70x8x1
70x8x1
70x8x1
70x10x1

BTN Overhead Press:
95x8x1
95x8x1
95x8x1
95x8x1

Single-arm Flye Machine:
80x8x1
80x8x1
80x8x1
80x8x1
80x8x1

Pull-Aparts:
purple x30x1
purple x30x1
purple x30x1

Duration: 120 minutes

I was pretty excited to start this cycle as I am implementing a few new changes: wide stance squats in loose single-ply briefs alternating every week with ATG squats, and sumo deads alternated with conventionals every week.

I did some light overheads to start things out and then moved on to wide-stance squats. These felt terrible to start, but I got into a good groove as I worked my way up. I paused all reps to emphasize depth and stretch my hips out, and ended up hitting a single-ply briefs PR already. Paused bench felt pretty solid, inclines went real smooth, and declines were easy. I had very little energy overall today so this workout really dragged out, but the strength was there.

Push Press:
135x10x1
210x4x1
235x3x1

BTN Push Press:
210x5x1
235x5x1

Paused Wide-stance Squats (single-ply briefs):
235x5x1
315x3x1
315x3x1
405x3x1
465x2x1
495x2x1
535x1x1
565x1x1
585x1x1 (PR)
535x1x1

Paused Bench Press:
200x5x1
235x4x1
275x3x1
295x2x1
295x2x1
295x2x1
295x2x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x8x1
255x8x1
235x8x1
235x8x1

Decline Bench Press:
235x4x1
275x4x1
275x4x1
275x4x1
275x6x1

45-degree Hypers:
bw x10x1
bw x10x1
bw x10x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
purple x30x1
purple x30x1
purple x30x1

Duration: 120 minutes