Albany Strength Meet Recap

Hi everyone!!! So I had my FIRST EVER powerlifting meet this past weekend and it was such a great experience! I can't wait to do it again! But anyways, lets get right to it...so in my previous post I talked about being nervous about not making weight. Friday I pretty much fasted all day (and died) and Saturday morning I weighed in at 104! I was feeling really crappy though, even after I got gaterade and food in me. I felt that cutting weight definitely hurt me at this meet. I plan on moving up to the 114 weight class, which is where my weight normally is anyways so it should feel much more natural for me. Also, there was another person in the 105 weight class with me who happened to be the NY State champion, soooo....yeah that was a little intimidating. Obviously I was nowhere near her with my lifts. I also was the first person to lift and in the first flight so that was scary since I've never done a competition before. But once my first squat was done the nerves started going away. But anyways, lets get into it. I'll go lift by lift:

Squats:
I opened with a 105lb squat. Felt alright, kinda threw it a little too much in the bottom and almost got stuck (oops) but that weight is super light for me so I guess I got a little too excited haha.



My second attempt was 125. Also a light weight for me. I still felt a little shaky from not eating, but this one felt stronger and easier.


My third attempt was 135. This one got called for depth which was a surprise to me. I thought I got it. Looking back at the video after, I definitely think I hit depth but it is pretty close. I didn't have the dip at the bottom that I did with my first 2 squats. Steve thinks that because this squat looked different than the first two, it threw the judges off a little. What do you guys think? I think I got robbed here!

So I ended on a 125lb squat. Not what I was hoping for (I've hit 140 in the gym) but still pretty good for my first meet.

Bench:
Unfortunately I don't have any bench videos because Steve was doing my hand-offs. But I opened with 65 which was really easy. Second attempt was 75, which was also really easy. Third attempt was 80 which I should have smoked, but I touched it too far down on my chest and wasn't able to get it back up. One thing that threw me during benching was that they didn't get bench rack heights for anyone. It was either high or low. And low was still not low enough for me and they wouldn't let me lower it for some reason. My arms had to be completely straight to reach the bar and I had to make sure my butt stayed down. It was hard and obnoxious and Steve said he's never seen a meet where they didn't take bench rack heights before. I guess they were just trying to save time? Who knows. So I ended with a 75 bench. I was happy with that. I've only done 80 once in the gym and never with a pause, just touch and go, so 75 was a good place to be.

Deadlift:
So we had some issues with the deadlift. The only full video I have is of my second attempt, but I'm going to post the 2 second start of my first attempt just to illustrate what I'm about to explain. So usually at these meets, they are using bumper plates which are all the same size (the size of a normal 45lb plate). This meet wasn't using bumper plates. My deadlift opener was 115lbs. With normal plates, this weight uses the small plates. Plus at this meet, the clips weighed 5lbs each. So my first attempt deadlift was really low to the ground because they were using normal plates. This meant that I was lifting with a deficit, which makes it harder to pull the weight. When I do this at the gym, I usually put a platform under each end of the bar so the deficit is eliminated. Here's the (really quick) video just so you can see how low it is:

After I did this lift, Steve asked the head judge if there was anything we could do to fix the deficit. His response? "Well maybe she should lift more weight". OH. OK. I mean if I could, I would! Can you guys believe he said that?! How freakin rude. Steve was really, really mad about this. For my second attempt I did 130lbs. Luckily they used 35lb plates which are almost as big as the 45s, but not as quite. So I was still lifting from a deficit. Annoying, but I got it. Here's the full video of my second attempt:


Super easy. My third attempt was 145, something I should have been able to do easily, but I missed it. So I ended the day with 130 for deadlift. I was a little annoyed with myself because I know I can do it and all the confusion with the plates and lifting from a deficit and the head judge being mean just kinda threw me off. I know I'm making excuses but whatever.

So my first meet ended with a 330 total. Obviously that's still pretty good for a first timer. Not what I went in hoping to do, but I'm still happy with it. Like I said earlier, I plan on moving up a weight class so I can lift strogner and heavier and hopefully next meet I'll go in feeling good. I probably won't have to cut weight again, so that's definitely a plus! Thanks for all your support everyone! I can't wait till I get to do this again!!

Steve 10/24/12

Hey all,

   Sorry its been forever since my last blog post! I've been working so much doing PT and Group Ex that by the time I get home I don't really want to think about fitness anymore haha.

                 But anywho, my training has been going great. I'm currently running the Grosso Method that I outlined in my last blog post. This week is my PR week for all of my lifts. Monday was squat which didnt go the greatest. I hit 350 and made it look good last week but I missed 360 at the top this week. Its been difficult for my squat to progress since I cant squat for reps because of my hip. This coming wave I'm going to try working my squat in the 4-6 rep range and see how my hip holds up.

                  Bench was today. Traditionally bench has been a lift where I make very very slow progress but ever since I started lifting high volume my numbers have been shooting up. Today's workout went as follows:

Foam Roll
Dynamic Warm Up
Glute Activation

Bench: 45x5, 135x3, 165x2, 195x1, 220x1, 185x4, 185x4, 185x4

Here's my 220 from today:




    

This looks kind of slow in the video but I felt like I smoked it. And after being stuck at 205 since December this felt awesome. I'll have 2 plates on the bar very soon.

 After I benched I did:

3 x Dips: Bodyweight x 13 /  Inverted Rows w/ 25lb plate on my chest x 8
3 x Incline DB Bench  8 x 40's    /    Neutral Grip Chins x 8


Tomorrow is deadlift day and come hell or high water I'm pulling 440. My next meet is December 1st in King of Prussia PA and I'm going to be bringing the heat in the 148's. You heard it here first 
 

Pre-Meet Post

AHHHHHHHHHHH WE ARE SO BAD AT UPDATING THIS!!

Sooo sorry. Well, anyways, I have been working really hard training for the Albany Strength meet I'm doing this weekend! I've had a few setbacks but I think I'm finally ready. The hardest part is definitely cutting down to 105. This morning my scale at home said 107.3, and the scale at work said 104. So I'm not quite sure where I'm at, probably 107 though. I debated just going up to 114, but I've been working so hard dieting that it seems stupid to just throw that away. I still have a few days and I think that I can get down to 105. It's only 2 pounds at this point. Worst case scenario, I weigh in over 105 and compete at 114. Cutting weight is the absolute worst though. I cut out all carbs and dairy (my 2 favorite food groups) so I have been struggling. I've been doing well though. I want to take a moment to just apologize to Steve....over the course of the (almost!) year we have been dating, he's had to cut weight a couple times himself. At school I was totally inconsiderate and would eat in front of him and bring him to school events or out to the bar without giving it a second thought. Now that I know how hard it is to cut weight, I feel so bad for not being supportive of him while he was doing it. And let me tell you, having people eat whatever they want in front of you is painful. My family is Italian....enough said. So Steve, I'm sorry I paraded you around food when you were basically starving yourself. Now I know what its like and I HATE it. That being said.....anyone standing in between me and a gigantic cheeseburger (and fries) after the meet Saturday better be prepared to receive a roundhouse to the face (kidding.....maybe).

NOW onto my lifts! I mentioned setbacks earlier...many of you know I've had a knee problem ever since high school. As a senior I partially tore the lateral meniscus in my right knee and never had any surgery or anything to repair it. I just did PT and tried to have it heal on its own. PT didn't work, it just always hurt. After awhile I came to terms with the fact that my knee never would be back to normal and I learned to work around the pain at dance. So, as you might imagine, squats were rough when I first started lifting. For a few months now I've been doing Boyle's glute activation work before every workout. And guess what? No knee pain! My knees have been great for awhile now. Until 2 weeks ago, when I tweaked my right knee deadlifting. Now, this was weird because my knees are usually iffy on squats, not deadlifts. What happened was my knee kinda fell in when I was pulling. And it was on my warmup (95lbs) so that was a little scary. I stopped lifting after that. I didn't squat that week until Saturday. I rehabbed my knee all week then hit a squat PR (140lbs). I felt pretty good about that and thought my knee was fine again. However, its been kinda hurting ever since. I was still able to squat and deadlift last week, but I didn't go up to heavy weights and it hurt a lot afterwards. So this week, we decided I wasn't going to deadlift at all until the meet. I'm going light anyways this week. I squatted yesterday and felt alright, but I only went up to 85lbs. So I'm rehabbing all week again and I guess we'll see what happens Saturday. But I am pretty nervous about it. I just hope my knee holds up alright.

Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good about the meet! My bench feels WICKED tight. I started doing the same prep that Steve does, so I'm in a better, tighter position. That's actually the lift I feel most confident about, which is weird because bench has never been my best lift. But I am really excited to do this meet Saturday! My current PRs are:
Squat: 140
Bench: 80
Deadlift: 145

So I'm hoping to hit at least those and maybe go over! I've never done an 80lb bench with a hold, just a touch and go. So that's the goal for this weekend. I will update the blog after the meet! Thanks for all your support guys, I'm super pumped!! Also can't WAIT for carbs :)


Oh, one more thing. Any lifters out there reading this, what's your stance on knee sleeves for squats? I was thinking about using them but I tried them on in the store and it actually hurt my knee more. Thoughts? Advice?  Thanks!!

Stay Strong!

High Frequency Training for the Light Lifter

Steve Grosso, B.S., NSCA-CPT, CSCS 

             I train for and compete in powerlifting in the 132lb and 148lb classes with my most notable lift being a 3.2x bodyweight deadlift (407lbs weighing about 127lbs). You read that right, and, believe it or not, there are classes under 275+, and people compete in them  and train just as as the big dogs. The weights aren’t as heavy and the lights aren’t that bright, but it’s my bread and butter. Like you, I’ve tried just about every program out there: 5/3/1, Juggernaut, Westside, RTS, Sheiko, the Ed Coan Bench and Deadlift programs,Smolov Jr, and Mike Boyle’s Functional Training. I’ve liked each of these programs, but none of them seemed like the perfect program for me. After nearly eight years of consistent training and a whole lot of thinking, I finally realized why—they’re all created for the typical lifter. Considering I compete at a weight that is acceptable for most high school females, I’d say I’m not your typical lifter.

            While being lighter means I won’t be bending any bars, it does have its advantages. The most important one is the fact that smaller lifters have a lower absolute amount of muscle mass. This allows them to have a much higher recovery ability than our larger, beefier counterparts.

            For example, a 150lb lifter with 10% body fat will have 135lbs of lean mass, whereas a 200lb lifter with 10% body fat will carry 180lbs of lean mass (lean mass includes skeleton/organs/etc but it is still representative of the individuals overall muscle amount). The 200lb lifter’s 180lbs of lean mass will take significantly longer to recover than the 150lb lifter’s 135lbs of lean mass.

            Knowing this, I’ve created a high volume/high intensity training for myself that I feel could be advantageous for other small lifters.

The Program:

The program outlined below consists of 6 days per week of training. 2 Hip Dominant days, 2 Knee Dominant days, and 2 Press days. For the purpose of my own training, I consider squatting a hip dominant exercise because I am a low bar squatter, but squatting could easily be put into the knee dominant day. The program is in 4 week blocks with a deload every 4th week. For my main workouts on my big 3 lifts I work up to heavy singles weekly with Week 1 being 97.5% of my previous training max, Week 2 being 100% of my previous training max, and Week 3 shooting for a 5-10lb PR.

The daily workouts look as such:

Monday (hip dominant) - Main squat, bilateral hip dominant assistance such as GM’s, GHR’s, rack pulls, etc, lower body conditioning

Tuesday (knee dominant) - Unilateral knee dominant assistance (mainly Bulgarian Split Squats) and core work.

Wednesday (press): Main bench, unilateral push and pull variations such as single arm military presses and rows, upper body conditioning.

Thursday (hip dominant): Main deadlift, unilateral hip dominant assistance such as single leg hip lifts and single leg RDLs, lower body conditioning

Friday (knee dominant): Bilateral knee dominant assistance such as front squats, core

Saturday (press): Bilateral pushing and pulling variations such as incline bench, inverted rows, etc, upper body conditioning.

Sunday: rest

The beauty of this is that it gives you a huge amount of options to plug in movements that you enjoy/want to work on so long as they fall into the categories of movements listed. For my main lifts, I generally cycle though a month of 8-10 rep sets, followed by a month of 4-6 rep sets, followed by 1-3 rep sets.

Some things to note: I keep all of these workouts reasonably short. I pick 3 or 4 movements and hammer them and then leave the gym. These workouts should take 60 to 75 minutes max including conditioning. I also do not train if I don’t feel like I’m going to have a good lift, especially if its on a day where I’m doing a heavy single. Because of the high volume and high intensity of this program it is important to listen to your body and take the day off if you feel like you aren’t going to have your best lift. It’s better to live to train another day in those situations rather than get injured or burn out.

Also note that this program is probably only appropriate for lifters who are 165lbs and below or those who have an extraordinary work capacity.

Week 2 of 5s Wave

Hi everyone, sorry for the long delay in postings! So last week I started my 5s wave and it has been going pretttttty well. Last Tuesday I went to Boyle's to work out and deadlifted 110 for 6 sets of 5. I've never done that before so that was awesome. After that I did some conditioning work which included sled pushes. Here's a video of that:



Overall not that impressive but still cool and different from what I normally do. My other lifts last week included:
Bench:
4x5x60

Squat:
4x5x110
2x5x95

Military:
5x5x35
1x5x30

Now I'm on week 2 of my 5s wave, and heading into weights that I've never done for reps before. Today was deadlift day, and it was huge! I deadlifted 125 for 3 sets of 5. BIG PR! My last max test, I barely got 125 off the floor. It felt really good too! Here's a video of the lift:




This felt so great! So this week continues with squat and bench on Friday. I'll probably military press over the weekend, but my shoulder has been acting up lately so I'll playing it by ear....so thats all for now! Stay strong!!

p.s. if anyone can tell me what the guy is doing in the background of my deadlift video.....air humps? hmmmm....

I'm back.

Sorry for the huge lapse in blog posts guys. All the time I've spent at MBSC interning / weekend time I've spent personal training left me wanting to do non fitness related things while I'm at home. My training didnt slow down at all, just my will to write about it.

Now that I have all the free time in the world to write about my fitness adventures you're all in for a treat. I'm currently prepping for New Hampsire's Strongest Man. This means a few things for my training. My powerlifting training isnt changing much but I get to throw in lots of strongman-esque movements as conditioning. Also, I'm trying to eat my way up to 175lbs by Sept 22nd (I weighed in at 146 at USAPL NJ States). I'm currently up to about 160 and I feel strong as a damn ox even though I'm developing a sweet powerlifter gut.

Below are my workouts from the past 2 days:

8/27/12

Squat: 5x45, 5x135, 3x185, 1x225, 1x275, 1x315, 1x345, 1x360 (miss)

Cambered Bar Military / TRX Row

5x85x5 / BW x 10

Cambered Bar GM / RDL

3x95x8 / 185+60lbs chains

8/28/12

Bench: 5x45, 3x135, 1x165, 1x185, 1x200

Low Pin Press: 4x145x2

Cambered Bar RFE: 4x135x8 each leg

KB Swing: 3x10x80

Chin Ups: 3xBWx6

Sled pushes/Drags (~20 yards): 360, 450, 540, 740

I've been doing a TON of unstable work via the cambered bar/chains/etc. Below is a video of my RFE's:

 



The cambered bar may be my new favorite training tool. It adds a huge layer of instability to any lift and, more importantly, helps you get a lot more out of less weight.

Also, here's a video of me pushing 14 plates and my girlfriend on a sled:

 

#prowlerflu. There's gonna be more where all of this came from. Until next time.

Juggernaut Rep Test Week-8s wave

Hi everyone-sorry its been awhile since I've posted! So this past week I did my rep test week for the 8s wave of the Juggernaut program. Things have been going well with training and dieting. I'm at 110-111 lbs and need to get down to 105 for the meet in October. Should be pretty easy to do. Here are my numbers from rep test week:

Military Press: 35 for 12
Squat: 110 for 10
Bench: 60 for 2, then 55 for 2
Deadlift: 115 for 6

Overall it was a pretty good week. I was pumped about my squat, seeing as my current PR is 125. Deadlift i was a little disappointed-I definitely could have done at least 10 but the bar was slipping out of my hands so I put it down after 6. Bench was also not my best but 60 for 2 is still pretty good since my PR is 65. Here is a video of my deadlift:




I've also been doing conditioning workouts with Steve once a week. These have been brutal so far, but I always feel great after them. They usually consist of things like ropes, bike sprints, shoulder stabilization exercises, core work, and more. Here is a video from the last workout we did. These are split squats with a bar and kettlebells. The kettlebells hang from the bar on bands, which provides instability. These are rough! My legs were dead the next day.



So this week coming up is my deload week and then I start the 5s wave. So stay tuned! Only 2 months until my first meet! Its crunch time :)

NJ States Write Up

Hey guys,

     Sorry it took me a couple days to write this up, I was waiting to get the videos of my lifts. So here's how my meet went:


Squat: 

Warm ups felt good, everything was going well. I knew this lift was gonna go pretty well

1st attempt: 314, felt kinda shaky from my nerves but I got 3 whites easily
2nd attempt: 341, this one was a grinder but I still got 3 whites
3rd attempt: 347, should have went higher. This was easier than my 2nd attempt. 18lb USAPL PR for me though so I'm not complaining.


Unfortunately I dont have any videos from my squats


Bench:

Going into the bench I felt decent. I used a lot of steam on the squats so I tried to get some energy by drinking a bunch of caffeine and eating a ton of candy.

1st attempt: 175, smoked. 3 whites.
2nd attempt: 193, still felt good. Some doucher judge tried to call me on touching too low but I got it 2 to 1
3rd attempt: 198, Felt light in my hands but I got out of my groove and couldnt get it. 3 reds


After this I was feeling really dead. My legs felt like jell-o during my deadlift warm ups but I tried to will myself into thinking I was ready

Deadlift:
1st attempt: 397, felt how 397 always feels. 3 whites
2nd attempt: 424, felt fast off the ground but stalled out at my knees and I couldn't get my hips through. 3 reds
3rd attempt: Same thing


Overall I went 347, 193, 397 for a shitty 937 total. Not near where I wanted to be but unfortunately I have been working very long hours and not getting nearly enough sleep. I went into this meet feeling absolutely exhausted and it shows. I still won my weight class and I'm pretty sure I had the biggest raw total of the morning session so I can't complain. 

Below are some videos from my bench and deadlift:


https://www.dropbox.com/s/b4nn7s1juok52pk/2012-08-11%2011.25.18.mov

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ao36pwogh89tmgr/2012-08-11%2011.44.06.mov

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0jd97cjrja7fef1/2012-08-11%2012.01.02.mov

https://www.dropbox.com/s/86focvcvjgcgkzp/2012-08-11%2013.07.07.mov

https://www.dropbox.com/s/iel33qwi2hnnzr8/2012-08-11%2013.21.11.mov




Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me. Next stop is trying to gain 30lbs and competing at New Hampshires Strongest man. See you all back on the platform.

 

Chrissy: Juggernaut Rep Test Week

Hi everyone! So this past week was my rep test week. Monday was squats, Wednesday military press, Friday bench and deadlift, and today (Sunday) I did a cardio workout. Here are my results:

Squat:
20x85

Military Press:
25x20

Bench:
20x45

Deadlift:
20x85

So this brings my estimated maxes to 165 squat, 62.5 military, 110 bench, and 170 deadlift. Beeeeast.

My workout today was:

50 Jump Rope
30 sec ropes (alt and slams)
Farmers Walk
25 Band Pull-Aparts
Monster Walk
30 Steering Wheel
15 KB Swings
Tabata Bike

I repeated that 4 times, then died. My VO2 is sooooo bad. I have the worst cardio endurance, but I'm working on it! I start my 8s wave this week, so thats coming up! I'll leave you with a video of my deadlifts!

Chrissy 7/20/12 and 7/23/12

Woops....forgot to blog on Friday! So Friday was deadlift and military press. Normally I wouldn't do these on the same day but I could only work out 3 times last week so I had no choice. Here was my workout:


Dynamic warm-up and foam rolling


Deadlift:
1x5x45
1x5x65
5x5x75
5x5x95

1-leg squat
4x10 each

SLDL
4x10 each

Military Press
5x10x20

Bentover Row
4x10x20

Bicep Curl
4x10x8

Core (same as always)

My deadlift wasn't great-its been awhile since I've deadlifted and I definitely felt it. I was really shaky and barely could do 5 with 95 by the last set. Then my back was seized up all weekend-but thats what I get for not training for a month!

So today was squat day. I finally figured out out to use my juggernaut spreadsheet the right way (my bad) so I'm doing the weights I should be doing now. Here's my workout for today:

Dynamic warm-up and foam rolling

Squat:
1x5x45
1x5x65
1x5x70
3x10x80

Goodmorning:
4x10x55

Split Squat
4x10

Hip Thruster
4x15

Tabata Bike
:20/:10 for 4 min

Core (same as always)

My squat felt pretty good. Tabata biking nearly killed me but I survived. I'm feeling a lot better at the start of this week than I did last week-I'm feeling less shaky and like I have more energy. SO I'm feeling great! Until next time......stay strong

"Cardio and Abs"

This post is for the average gym goer out there that thinks "cardio and abs" is a legitimate workout. These workouts generally consist of a few miles on the stationary bike followed by a million spinal flexion exercises.

I hate to break it to all of you, but crunches aren't going to give you abs. Its impossible to remove fat from a singular part of your body with exercises. It blows my mind how many people think spot reduction exists and I'm even more blown away by the amount of people who refuse to accept it when I tell them it doesn't. Sorry folks, thats just the way things are. You want a six pack? Do table push aways. Think about it.

 Second on the agenda, distance cardio. I hate distance cardio (and dont think I havent tried it. I ran cross country and was a rower). Everyone thinks that in order to get in shape you need to go out and run for an hour. This couldn't be further from the truth. All that distance cardio leads too is overuse injuries, and in the case of field sport athletes, it leads to you getting slower. You can get the same amount of aerobic benefit (and some anaerobic benefit) with a good, hard interval session. Unfortunately, many people avoid intervals because of the fact that they are hard. It's much easier to hop on the elliptical, Gazelle, or whatever for 45 mins than it is to go out and run hill sprints. It may suck, but you're going to get a lot more out of 10 hill sprints than you are out of 45 mins going steady state.


So, with that said, here's a look at my conditioning and core training from today:


Cambered Bar Yoke carries: x95,135,185,225,275,275,275,275,275,225

 



These might be my new favorite conditioning activity. You can hear "contract your core" or "squeeze your glutes" all day but you never really feel it until you have weight on your back swinging all over on a cambered bar. You need to keep every inch of your body rigid or you're going to end up on your ass.



Next, sled pushes down, drags back: 90,180,270,260,450,450,360,270,180,90

 
These aren't rocket science and they're by no means anything new. Get a sled, push it. Your legs are gonna burn, your heartrate is gonna get cranked up, and you're gonna feel like a badass afterwards.


Finally, bear crawls: bodyweight, 20lb vest, 40, 60, add 45lbs with a dip belt, 90 w/ belt, 135 w/ belt.





We used to do these for punishment in lacrosse and they sucked so I figured I'd load them up and see if I could make them worse. I succeeded. I think I can sum these up with the conversation I had with Ben Bruno (who you should Google!) after I got done. He came up to me and asked "Steve what are those supposed to train?" and I responded "I don't know they're just really damn hard"



Now by all means I don't expect everyone to go out and do this stuff. This is an extreme example. I'm just saying next time you're thinking of hopping on the elliptical for 45 minutes of reading on your Kindle, try cranking up the intensity and doing 20 minutes of hard intervals instead and see which gives you better results.

Chrissy 7/17/12

Today was bench day, my worst lift. I felt pretty shaky today, not quite sure why. Maybe it was due to the fact I was the only female in the weight room surrounded by huge scary guys....? Nah, probably not that. :) So anyways, my workout went as follows:

Dynamic warm-up

Pushups
1x10xBW

Dumbbell Bench
1x10x15

Bench
5x10x45

Incline press
3x15x12

Bentover row
3x15x20

Fly
3x12x10

Tricep Ext
3x12x15

Band Pull-Apart
4x25

Core Workout:
30 crunches
20 bicycles
30 toe touches
20 reverse crunches
50 penguins
30 crunches
50 penguins
40 russian twists
30 bicycles
15 in and outs
20 reverse crunches
10 leg lifts


Stretching and foam rolling


I am DEAD from yesterday. My legs are killing me, every step I take hurts. Like I said....never taking this much time off again. That's it for today...tomorrow is deadlift day and I'm not looking forward to it....gonna be a rough one. Until next time...stay strong.

Steve 7/16/12

Hey guys. So I'm just under 4 weeks out from USAPL NJ states. I'm only going to be able to finish my 5's wave of Juggernaut before I have to deload and taper for the meet. Today wasn't my best lift ever but considering I took 6+ weeks off from squatting I'd say things are looking pretty good.

 
Today's workout went as follows:


Foam Roll
Dynamic warm up


Squat: 45x5, 135x5, ,185x3, 225x2, 255x1, 285x3, 285x3, 285x4, 285x3

Here's a video from my first squat set:

 

 All the time I've taken off has made it hard for me to find a comfortable stance again. I'm feeling strong but uncomfortable. I should have smoked these for 5's but I was feeling off balance

Next I deadlifted

135x3, 225x2, 315x1, 315x1, 355x4, 355x3, 355x3, 355x4

I'm going to blame the missed reps here on the fact that I killed myself squatting. Normally I don't squat and deadlift in the same day but with the ban on back squatting and straight bar deadlifting at MBSC I have to make due.

I ended the day with supersets of KB swings and body saws then some conditioning. My conditioning was 11x15s bike sprint with 40 yard light prowler pushes as my rest interval. Brutal.

 

It's Been Awhile...

Hi everyone! So it's been a long time since I've updated this....oops. It's been really hard for me to get back into a routine since I've been home. I had to find a gym to work out at, I've been getting used to my new job and schedule, and, the worst part is, Steve and I can't really work out together anymore. And I was in Italy for 2 weeks, so I lost a lot of time there. I didn't work out at all while I was there, so I decided to restart Juggernaut from the beginning. So today was the first day getting back to the grind, and getting back in the gym. And I have to say....I will never take that much time off again! I'm already hurting! This was also my first workout without my trusted workout buddy :( so sad! I am not looking forward to the day I have to ask strangers to spot me! Here is my workout from today:

Dynamic warm-up

Squat
5x45
5x55
5x10x65

Good Morning
3x10x55

Hip Ab/Adduction
4x10x55 (each)

Core Workout:
30 crunches
20 bicycles
30 toe touches
20 reverse crunches
50 penguins
30 crunches
50 penguins
40 russian twists
30 bicycles
15 in and outs
20 reverse crunches
10 leg lifts

Hip Thruster
3x15x15lb

Band Pull-Apart
3x20 green band

Stretching

So I joined the YMCA in my town and that's where I will be doing most of my workouts. I'm going to work with Steve to develop a program to help my right knee as well. I'll have Steve explain whats going on with that in his next blog-he understands it much better than I do! I have also been carb backloading. I started last week, and it was much harder than I imagined it would be. But. I've stuck with it, so hopefully I'll start seeing results from that. Basically, I don't eat carbs until after 7pm, except for around workouts. By doing this, your body becomes so starved for carbs that it uses them up right away instead of leaving them to sit in your body. I can eat whatever I want after 7....which is nice because I tend to be a night-eater. So I will keep you all updated on how that's going and if I'm getting results. No videos today.....I was too scared to ask someone I didn't know! Until next time...stay strong.

Training/Life update

Hey guys,

I just realized its been almost a month since my last post. Sorry! Things have been crazy in my life. Between my internship and job I've been doing 65-70 hour weeks with no days off. The 4th was a very welcome couple days off. 

In other news, MBSC is still the coolest place I've ever been in my life. 12 hour days there go by significantly faster than 8 hour days at my other job. I could easily see myself working there or at a similar facility for the rest of my life.


Training has also been going well. I've been doing the MBSC summer program but with my Juggernaut work sets, and deadlifting on the weekends. I also finally decided to do my next meet. I'll be doing USAPL NJ States in a little more than a month. I'm currently moving into my 5's wave of juggernaut and that should carry me into this meet.

My 8's wave ended pretty well. I hit 170x6 on bench on a very bad day and I pulled 350x11 which was a huge PR. I still haven't squatted since its forbidden at MBSC and I'm still resting my hip. I still feel very confident though, based on how my deadlift and single leg work is coming along. Unfortunately I dont have any recent videos but I plan to get some up this week. Promise!

I'm looking to do big things in this upcoming meet. My BW is sitting around 153ish and I feel stronger than I've ever felt. I'm looking to destroy some PRs in the 148 class.



Well, thats all I've got for now. I'll leave you all with this gem.

 



693 raw bench. Holy shit. At age 23. Watch out Scott Mendelson. Theres a bunch of guys comin for the raw bench record. It's just a matter of time.

Training update 6/17/2012

Hey guys. Sorry for the long lapse in updates, the past couple weeks have been hectic with me moving to Mass and getting set up at my internship and whatnot. I'm finally all settled into a regular schedule so hopefully I'll be able to pay more attention to this blog. But anyways, in other news, Chrissy is currently in Italy for 2 weeks so her training is on hold. My training is taking a drastic turn due to my internship at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning.

 At MBSC you are required to do the entire summer workout plan while interning. Their philosophy is that you need to be able to do a workout to coach it. Unfortunately for me, their program is centered around field sports and isn't conducive to powerlifting. The program is centered around a lot of unilateral limb work and stressing stabilizers and synergist muscles. Because of this, my training is sort of on hold. I'm using this time to heal up my hips and gain some balance in my upper body. On sunday's ill be doing the Bench/Deadlift/ and possibly military press work sets of Juggernaut to keep my training progressing and I'll try to post fitness tidbits on here as much as possible.


Here's how today's workout went:

Dynamic warm up

Deadlift: 135x5, 225x3, 285x8x5

Bench: 45x5, 115x5, 140x8x5

Military Press: 45x5, 80x8, 80x8


My shoulders were feeling dead so instead of continuing I called it quits after 2 work sets since I have 4 days in a row of working out at Boyles ahead of me.


Here's todays exercise of the day: X-Pulldowns

 

These are awesome for scap. stability and for improving the strength of your scap retractors (which everyone needs). Ideally these are done on a Kesier but any functional trainer will do. Just remember to keep your shoulders set and worry about form rather than weight.


Well thats all for today guys. Until next time.

Steve Juggernaut Test Week Part 2

Hey guys. Here's my write up for the end of my test week last week. Overall things went great. I made some HUGE rep PR's and I've put on a LOT of mass. I can't wait to start competing in the 148's this summer. This year's goals are a 400 squat and a 500 pull in the 148 class.


Thursday: Military Press

Military Press: 45x5, 60x5, 75x3, 85x1, 90x12

Slingshot bench: 185x2, 225x2, 225x2, 225x2 (with 25 band pull apart between sets)

Chest Fly/Hammer curl superset: 3x10x35/25

Tabata Push ups


I didnt get as many reps for this as I wanted but it was still a rep PR. I had to lift 4 days in a row this week due to other commitments so I attribute this to fatigue. Hitting 225 for 3 doubles in the SS was also a PR for me that felt good.


Friday: Deadlift

Dynamic Warm Up/Foam Roll

For this I did a VERY extended warm up because of how sore I am. Soon I am going to post a video of all my mobility work I do on my lower body days.


Deadlift: 5x135, 5x225, 3x255, 1x275, 20x295

Tabata Push ups

Tabata Isometric Back Extensions


Here's a video of my deadlifts:
s

I was blown away by the fact that I was able to pull 295 for 20. This has me feeling great going into my 8's wave of Juggernaut.


Now that I have all my rep maxes I'll be able to move up my theoretical maxes. For each rep that I got above 10 in my test week I'm moving my projected maxes (2.5lbs per rep for lower body lifts, 1.25lbs per rep for upper) to base my next wave off of. This week is my deload week. I'm real excited because my body is feeling absolutely burned out. Thats all for today folks. Until next time.

I'm Baaaack!

...kind of. So since graduation I have moved back into my parents house and done absolutely nothing except interview for various jobs. Like my mom likes to say, "job-hunting is a full-time job". Well, she's right. Every day since I came home a week ago (with the exception of a much-needed Memorial Day weekend on the Cape), I have been going to interviews and worrying so much about THAT that I've kind of fallen off my workout plan. Ok-totally fallen off. I'm an unemployed college grad, and I'm broke. I don't have the funds to pay for a gym membership, and why would I when I soon hope to be employed at a gym? I found out today that I can work out at my high school between 6-8pm for $1, so starting maybe tomorrow but definitely next week I'm going to be doing that. In the meantime, I did my own bodyweight workout today consisting of a lot of different exercises done Tabata-style. They were:

Squats
Push-ups
Curl-ups
Supermans
Planks
Russian Twists
Hip Thrusters
Leg Raises
Bird-Dogs

Obviously this isn't a "replacement" for my workout, just a temporary placeholder. I also found a cool iPhone tabata app that I downloaded and used. It's just a fancy timer, but it beeps twice after 20 seconds and once after 10 seconds so you know when to start and stop. This was useful because I could just hit start and not have to worry about keeping an eye on the timer. I think it will also be useful to use when I have clients.

Well that's all for today. I'm going to work on getting my butt into a real gym because I've lost a lot of time...my fault. Also if anyone knows of any fitness jobs in the greater Boston area...LET ME KNOW!! :) Until next time...

Steve Juggernaut Test Week part 1

So this week is my 10's wave rep test week. Things have been going awesome so far and I've crushed some of my old rep maxes. Here's how my first two workouts went.


Tuesday:

Dynamic Warm up/Foam Roll

Bench: 5x45, 3x115, 1x125, 17x135

Incline Bench/Bent Over row superset: 4x10@95lbs each

Facepulls: 4x25

This workout went awesome. My previous rep max for 135 was 12 so this was a 5 rep PR. My bench is feeling real solid for the first time in a while and I'm excited to be putting mass on my chest/shoulders.

Wednesday:

Dynamic warm up/ Foam Roll

3x seated box jump. 28", 28", 30"

3x Standing box jump: 30", 30", 32"

3x Kneeling jump: bodyweight, 45lbs, 45lbs

With my plyos I've been focusing a lot on my landing mechanics so I've been doing less height. I feel like adding jumps has definitely been making me more explosive so I'm going to continue them into my next training phase. 

Squat: 5x45, 5x155, 3x185, 1x215, 20x230

Conventional Deadlift: 8x185+ quaded mini band w/ 30s rest between reps

Tabata push ups


This was another huge rep PR for me. My previous 20 rep PR was 185lbs so I destroyed that. I also wanted to die for about 20 mins after that set haha. I took a phone video but the quality was awful so I'm not going to bother posting it.


In other news I got my MRI on my right hip yesterday. I don't have the results yet but I'm hoping there's no year in my labrum. Squatting super close stance has taken a lot of pressure off of it but I still need to take pain medication to make it through a full workout. I should have my results soon so we'll see.




Well thats all for today folks. Until next time.
 

Juggernaut week 2 part 2

Hey guys, I just finished week 2 of my 10's wave of JTS (intensification week). Below are my write ups for Friday and Sturday


Friday:


Dynamic Warm up

Deadlift: 5x135, 5x225, 5x245, 3x10 @ 265

Good Mornings: 4x15 @ 95lbs

Body rows/hip extensions 4x5 each leg

 
These are absolute MURDER on your posterior chain. They kill your glutes and hamstrings along with working your upper back. Not to mention it takes a good deal of core stability to do these.

Tabata Isometric Back Extensions



Saturday

Dynamic Warm up

Military Press: 5x45, 5x65, 5x75, 3x10@85

Close Grip Bench Press: 5x45, 5x135, 5x145, 5x145, 5x145

Pec Fly/Hammer Curl: 3x10

Tabata Push Ups

 5x100 yard Hill Sprint



So far everything is feeling good. I'm looking forward to going into next week and crushing some rep PR's. My weight is running real high right now (thanks senior week) so I'm starting to watch my carb intake and timing to help get back down to the 145-148 region which has historically been the weight where my training goes the best. I've noticed that with my weight gain, my work capacity is going down and its causing me to take excessive rest between sets so I'm throwing in some conditioning work. Thats all for today guys, until next time.
 

Chrissy Juggernaut

Hey guys! Its been super busy with senior week and graduation and everything and I've fallen waaay behind on my blogs. Sorry! Anyways, I started Juggernaut last week and so far its going well. Instead of recapping all the workouts I forgot to blog (my bad) I'll just start with this week.

Monday:
Deadlift 5x45, 5x65, 5x10x75
Military Press5x10x12.5
Good Morning 3x10x65
Hip Thrusters 3x15
Banded Monster Walks  4x20yd
Banded Lateral Walks 4x20yd
Core Circuit of plank, ball crunch, bird-dog 3x30sec
Tabata iso back ext

Tuesday:
Bench 5x45, 3x10x45
Bent-over Row 5x10x45
DB Fly 4x10x10
DB Skullcrusher 4x10x10
Core: incline sit-ups, oblique machine, roman chair leg-lifts

Here's a video of my deadlift from Monday:


Thats all for today! In other news....WE GRADUATED!!! :)

Steve Juggernaut week 2

Hey guys, I'm now in week 2 of Juggernaut. I'm still in the 10's wave. Here's my workouts for the past 2 days:


Monday:

Dynamic stretch/foam roll

Squat: 5x45, 5x135, 5x175, 5x195, 3x10@205

Here's a video of my squat:
 

Deadlift: 8x1 @ 185 + quaded mini




This was a little bit less than usual but I was feeling gassed so I figured I'd make them feel explosive rather than have to grind them out.

After this I did a core circuit of:
 3x
30s planks
30s bird dogs
30s pikes on stability ball 

then tabata Russian twists

Tuesday:

Dynamic Warm up

Bench: 5x45, 5x105, 5x115, 3x10@125

Slingshot bench: 2x185, 2x225, 2x225, 2x215

Here's a video of my slingshot bench:

  

Close Grip Incline bench: 4x10 @ 95

Bent Over Rows: 4x10 @ 95


Overall, things have been going well. My hip is getting progressively better and now that Senior Week is over I'm back into the swing of lifting so expect more updates. Until next time

Steve 5/16/12

Like I said in my last post, this has been a hectic week so I'm playing catch up with my blog posts. Here's yesterdays bench workout:


Dynamic Warm up/ Foam roll

Bench: 5x45, 5x95, 5x10 @ 115

Bent over rows: 5x10 @ 95

 Incline bench: 4x10 @ 95

Facepulls: 4x25 @ 80

Tabata push ups


I'm really liking this 10's wave of Juggernaut so far. This block is basically serving as a hypertrophy block for me, which is good considering I want to make the move up to 148. It's definitely a change of pace for me considering I havent done any high rep work in a long time but I think it could shouck my body into some solid gains.


Todays exercise of the day is: Monster Walks

 

These are absolute murder on your glutes and hamstrings. I especially love these for female athletes because they help to strengthen the hip abductors which can help to improve the knee valgus posture that is typical of young female athletes. These can be used as a part of a dynamic warm up or as a part of your full workout.


Well that's all for today guys. Until next time. 

Steve 5/15/12

Hey guys, its been sort of a hectic week with it being senior week and all so I haven't had much time to blog. This week I started Juggernaut Training Systems to bring me up to NJ states in August. This was also my first full squat workout since injuring my hip which is very exciting. My workout went as follows:


Dynamic Warm up/ Foam Roll

Squat: 5x45, 5x135, 5x10@185

Conventional deadlift: 8x1@ 225 + quaded mini band w/ 30 seconds rest

4 x 20 yard monster walk with band

4 x 20 yard lateral walk with band

Tabata Isometric back extension

Tabata push ups


Overall I think this workout went very well. I had very minimal hip pain because I switched to a very close stance so its taken a lot of pressure off my hip. I think I'll be back to full strength soon.

Chrissy Max Test Week

Sorry it's been awhile since I've blogged! Last week was my max test week. It didn't really go as well as I hoped, but I definitely don't work out as much as I should so I guess it makes sense. I also had to do all my max attempts in one day since I had so much other stuff going on last week. The end of the year has been totally crazy!! Anyways....my bench and deadlift didn't move, but my squat went up 15lbs to 125. I actually did PR on conventional deadlift at 130. I've hit 135 sumo and with a hex bar before though. So my PRs stand at:

Squat: 125
Deadlift: 135
Bench: 65

In other news....I passed my certification exam!!! I've been studying so much for it lately that I've been slacking so much on my workouts but it was worth it. I am now an ACSM Certified Health Fitness Specialist! :)

I start a new program Tuesday, so keep reading!! Happy lifting!

Steve 5/7/2012

Hey guys. So this is mine and Chrissy's test week. She was busy so she couldn't lift but today I did some lower body plyos and tested my bench and military press max.


Todays workout went as follows:

Dynamic warm up/foam roll

-I did a ton of hip mobility today. I'm still rehabbing my hip and hoping I can squat pretty heavy this week


Next I worked up to and tied  my box jump PR of 40 inches. I was pretty satisfied with this. It was a total of about 4 jumps.


Next I tried to establish a PR for kneeling jumps. I've never done these with weight so the form is still a bit rough around the edges. Here's a video:


 


This felt pretty good. I need to extend my hips farther but I definitely feel like I can go heavier.


My bench didn't go so hot. I did:

45x5, 135x2, 155x1, 175x1, 195x1, 205xmiss.

I'm not sure what's going on with my bench training but I havent been able to get it to budge. This is real frustrating considering I hit 205 at 132lbs and right now I'm in the high 140's.

On the plus side I hit a PR on my military press and got 135lbs. I'll take it as a small victory.

I should have some deadlift videos wednesday so stay tuned folks. Lookin for 440+. Until next time. 

Steve 5/4/2012 rehab

Today I took a much needed day off for some rehab work.


While covering my exciting floor shift at the wellness clinic I did:

Foam roll 10 rolls each:
hips
quads
glutes
lats
back

I then did some more mobility work by doing:
10 shoulder dislocations
10 each side each direction fire hydrant circles
10 FMS squats
10 Thread the Needles
10 Spidermans


I also did some static stretching of my hip flexors and pecs because those are extra tight.


Today's exercise of the day is: Shoulder Dislocations
 

I love these as an upper body warm up or as a mobility drill. The more flexible you are the closer together you will be able to put your hands. Throw in 10 of these with a wooden dowel as part of your dynamic warm up before any upper body work and you'll feel the difference.


Well thats all for today folks. Until next time. 

Chrissy 5/4/12

So, I hadn't planned on working out at all today, but the other day at my internship one of the other interns was doing reverse band squats with a trainer. Intrigued, I wanted to try it out myself. So today during some down time one of the trainers helped me do the band squats. I thought it was so fun. It really helps at the bottom of the squat to get that explosive power to come back up. I tend to get stuck at the bottom of my squat so this was helpful for me. Another thing it helped me with was my fear of big weights. My squat PR is 110, but today I was able to hit 185 for 3. Usually when I see 45lb plates I get a little freaked out and miss the lift, but I was able to do it today because the bands were there to help. I felt really good about it too. I probably could have gone up to 200, but my back was hurting a lot due to my weak low back muscles so I decided to just stay at 185. That's pretty good for a 105lb girl! I'm really happy I tried this out and I'm happy with the outcome. Video is below!



That's it for today! Don't forget to check out my NEW PrettyStrong profile!!
http://prettystrongpowerlifting.com/lifters/chrissy-giorgetti/

Steve 5/2//2012

So I slacked a bit on logging my workout from Wednesday but here it is!


 I use
Dynamic Warm up/foam roll


Incline bench: 45x5, 95x5, 120x5x7


Tabata push ups


Lateral raise: 25x10x4


Hammer Curl: 25x10x3


Barbell Curl 45x10x3






For those of you who don't know what a Tabata protocol is, it's when you do 20 seconds of an exercise, 10 seconds rest for a total of 4 minutes (8 rounds). You can use this with literally any exercise if you're looking for a quick workout. With my personal training clients I use it with biking, push ups, sit ups, russian twists, etc. I'm currently going to try and do Tabata push ups as a little extra help for my bench and conditioning.




Also, if you havent yet, check out m girlfriends PrettyStrong powerlifting page!
http://prettystrongpowerlifting.com/lifters/chrissy-giorgetti/


Thats all for today folks. May the 4th be with you!

Chrissy 5/1/12 and 5/2/12

Wow I am so bad at remembering to update this! Sorry guys :) So I'm going to post my workouts from yesterday and today since I forgot to last night. Oops :)

My main lift yesterday was squat. It's been awhile since I've squatted, we didn't really realize till the other day. My workout went as follows:

Squat
5x45, 5x75, 5x95, 4x105, 5x95

Good Morning
10x45, 10x55, 10x65, 10x65

Hip Thruster
10x20x4

Hip Ad/Abduction
3x15x55 each

I only had about an hour so my workout was pretty short. I was excited that I was able to hit 105 for 4 on my squats. That's only 5 pounds away from my previous max of 110! Here is a video of my squat (5x95)



I came a little close on depth a few times but I think I hit it every time.

Moving on to today!! This morning my main lift was bench again. I think it was my best bench workout so far! It went as follows:

Bench
5x35, 5x50, 5x55, 1x60, 5x50, 2x55, 15x45

Tabata Push-Ups
20:10, ~7-8 every time

DB OHP
4x10x6

DB Row
4x10x6

DB Lateral Raise
4x10x6

DB Curl
4x10x6

DB Tricep Ext
4x10x6

I've never hit 55 for 5 before, so that was a huge accomplishment. That's 10 away from my previous max of 65. Unfortunately that wiped me out so I didn't do that great on the other stuff I did, although I did hit 45 for 15. Tabata push-ups are my nightmare. Push-ups in general are, actually. But I know they'll help my bench so I might as well suck it up. For those of you that don't know, Tabata is a 4 minute workout where you do the exercise for 20 seconds, and rest for 10 for 4 minutes. So you do 8 rounds total of the exercise. You don't want to go hard the first round, because the lowest number you get is your score. My first round I got 12, then it was all downhill from there. I averaged at around 7 or 8 a cycle, but my lowest number was 6. It was definitely a tough workout this morning, I'm already sore!

Sorry for the long post guys. Had to make sure I fit everything in from these last 2 days! I'm taking a day off tomorrow (thank god) then hitting deadlifts on Friday. Happy lifting!

Chrissy 4/30/12

Hey guys! I'm so bad at this whole blogging thing! This weekend was a big one for me-it was my last dance show at IC! So sad! I had a show at 2pm and 8pm on Sunday, and I was in 6 dances so by Sunday night I was exhausted. They went well, though, and the senior dance was so much fun! I hope it wasn't my last time dancing ever, I'm really going to try to find a place to dance back home. BUT, you came here to read about my workouts not my dance show so lets get to it...
My main lift today was bench. Steve is making me bench 2 days a week now because my bench is so bad. I hate it but I know its good for me. My workout today went as follows:

Bench:
5x35, 5x45, 5x50, 2x55, 10x45

OHP/Upright Row:
10x27.5x4 each

Fly:
12x12.5x3

Hammer Curl:
10x6x4

Tricep Ext
10x12.5x4

Band-pull apart x25
Hip Thruster:
3x15

Here is a video of my bench:



And I'll leave you with a picture of the seniors from my dance show!

Happy lifting everyone!

Steve 5/1/2012 Deadlifts

Today's workout went decently. My deadlift has been feeling tight and didnt feel exactly on this morning but I'm going to attribute that to the fact that it was 8am and I lift like shit in the morning. I was also slightly rushed so I didn't get to do as much as I would have liked. Today's workout went as follows:




Dynamcic warm up/foam roll


Deadlift: 3x135, 2x225, 1x315, 1x315, 1x365, 2x405, 2x405, 1x405, 1x 405, 1x405


I wanted to hit 405 for 5 doubles but I just wasn't feeling 100%. Also, Moe's Monday reared its ugly head during my first set. Here's what I mean:



I dont know about you but I find me farting during deadlifts hilarious.






Anyway, I tried to squat after this but my lower back was so tired that it couldn't keep the pressure off of my hip so I stopped and finished the day with 4x15 KB swings @ 45lbs.






Today's exercise of the day is: Iron Crosses



Ignore the annoying dialogue. These are another good one for warming up the hips and I do them on a daily basis. Do 10 each leg as a part of your dynamic warm up. 




Well, that's all for today folks. Until next time, stay pissed.