10/19/2011

Squat 310 1x5 (barely, a dude at the gym jumped in and spotted me) 225 1x8
bench press 190 4,4,4
row 180 3x5
dips 17,12,10

Going to have to figure out what to do with the squat, it's hard to believe I was able to get 295 3x5 last week and I can't do 310 1x5 this week. Might need to deload and work back up. I felt like my abs and lower back took a beating on mondays' workout with the squat and deadlift and that gave out on the squat before my legs did.

10/16

Pretty good day today, everything is still slow moving but feels strong.

Squat: 260 1x5 265 1x5 270 1x5
OHP: 110 1x5 115 2x5 120 1x4
Deadlift: 320 1x5
Decline Press: 95 20x25x20
-B

10/13

I think I've been feeling some of that bug thats been going around because I've felt exhausted, so today at the gym had its ups and downs.  Squats are still feeling pretty good, inching my way along.  Bench also felt alittle better then the last couple of outings, but I noticed that the row was alittle tough and I wasn't able to do what I had been.  May be do to the bench and row being heavy and one of them may suffer and the other one excel on the same day.  remember boys: squats make you a real man.

Squats: 260 1x5 265 2x5 270 1x5
Row: 175 2x5 185 2x5
Bench: 200 3x5 205 1x5
Decline Flys: 25ers 15x20x10

-B

10/10

Had not been to the gym in a week, due to a busy schedule last 5 days, but today went pretty well.  I went alittle lower because I didn't want to push my limits to far.  everything felt relatively strong and I am looking forward to getting 3 days in again this week

Squats: 255 2x5 260 1x5
OHP: 110 2x5 115 2x4
Deadlifts: 315 1x5
Decline Press: 85 25x30x25x10

-B

10/5

Today was an okay day at the gym.  I went in the morning before work and there is no doubt that I don't get the same workout in.  My body just hasn't woken up or had enough time to process whatever I've eaten and it kills the workout.  I was still able to move up a little bit in Squats and Row but my bench has sort of hit a struggle point, which is sad because a month ago I was 5x5ing 200.  Keep it up guys and we will be the biggest beasts ever.

Squat: 2x5260 2x5265
Row: 185 4x5
Bench: 195 2x5 200 2x5
Decline flys: 25lbers 15x20

-B

10/1

Decent day at the gym again today.  Deadlift day so I kept my squats down to 3 sets but that went pretty well.  Again the OHP at 110 wasn't to bad, just trying to get better form down.  Deadlift was difficult but doable.  Keep it up boys!!

-Squat: 260 3x5
-OHP: 110 4x5
-Deadlift: 330 1x5
-Decline Bench: 85 20x30x25

-B

9/29

Decent day at the gym, I'm still slowly making gains with all the leg lifts, the rows went good but I had taken a week and half off since my last bench so I had to drop down to 195 but that wasn't to great of a struggle.  Keep it up!!!

Squat: 260 4x5
Row: 185 4x5
Bench: 195 4x5
-Bear

9/24/2011

missed a couple workouts.  Squat did not feel solid warming up so stopped at 275.  Could maybe have finished 5x5 on the bench but didn't have a spot.  I'll see if next week goes better. 

squat 275 3x5
bench 180 3x5,1x4,1x3
row 175 5x5
dips w/45 6,5,4
plank 1 min, 1.5 min.

going strong

Hey guys take a couple minutes to check out this site: old school trainer  pretty much sums a ton of shit I've read and been taught up into a page or two.  I take it as validation that ya'll is squatting more than 2/3's of the people at whatever gym you go to after only a couple months of stronglifts and Mikey Babs is lifting like 50% to 75% more than our other buddy who didn't stick with the program because he thought it would be better to do tons of shitty dips.   I took the last couple days off, time to get my slowly widening ass back to the squat rack and keep working to three plates.

- Ben

9/19/2011

So.....it took a 32 oz, espresso loaded, mcd's iced coffee to motivate me to get to the gym today.  Definetly feeling tired, but made it.  Pretty good day.  I decided that on deadlift day I would only go 4 sets on the squat to try and save some of my legs, but squats still felt good.  I'm having trouble keeping form when I get to my OHP set so I did 3 sets of 120 and noticed I was using alittle to much of my back on the last reps, so i did a few sets at 100 to try and correct it, I'll probably do the same thing on Friday because I don't want to get to far ahead of the technique.  Deadlifts were grueling and I don't think I can continue advancing by 10 lbs, so Friday I'll give 330 a try.  Keep killin' it boyzz.

Squat: 250 2x5 255 2x5
OHP: 120  3x5 100 2x7
Deadlift: 325 1x5
Pullups: 1x6 1x5
Decline Flys: 25lbers 13x14x16

-Bear

9/16/2011

Decent day at the gym, been able to get through my squats pretty quickly without loosing much form so thats good.  Rows are still going strong and I did 4 sets on the bench which was tough.  Besides that still beasting onnn!!  Conan it boys!

Squat: 250 5x5
Row: 180 5x5
Bench: 205 4x5
Decline Bench: 25x30x25

-Bear

9/14/2011

Squat 290 3x5
front squat 135 1x12
ovhd press 125 4x5+3
deadlift 335 1x5
pullups 10,8,5

important tip of the week: "never back down".  I backed down from trying to pull 365 for the third time on deadlifts; and am less of a man for it.

beast of the week:  Mikey B will deadlift 315 by Monday next week.  Holy shit Mike you went from never having deadlifted before in your life to 3 big boy plates in less than four months.  Congratulations and welcome to the glamorous realm of making sure you take a shit before you go to the gym on deadlift day.

Watch this video on deadlift technique; Rippetoe on deadlift setup

9/14/2011

Good day at the gym today, squats are still feeling pretty good, had a little break through with the overheadpress, and finally was able to get the technique down and get 4 sets in.  Deadlift is starting to get verryyyyy heavy and I'm hoping to get 325 before I have to deload.  Besides that just trying to recover for friday.  Keep it up boys!!

Squats: 245 5x5
OHP: 120 4x5
Deadlift: 305 1x5
Decline flys: 25lbers 13x17x16
Pullups: 1x6 1x4

-Bear B

9/12/2011

Surprisingly great day at the gym today.  I went in feeling alittle tired and sluggish, plus with plans in the evening I was short on time and had to rush alittle more then usual.  My squats felt really strong, and my backrows were a breeze.  I wasn't lifting with anyone so I stayed at 200 on the bench because of the lack of spotter, but that didn't feel to bad either.  Good start to the week, hoping that it keeps going smoothly.  I've really made a vow to eat more regardless of what it is, as long as I can take in alot of calories and I think that has really helped.  Keep lifting boys!!!

-Squats: 240 4x5
-Back Row: 175 5x5
-Bench Press: 200 4x5
-Decline Bench: 75 30x30x20

-Bear B

9/9/11

Decent workout today, squat and deadlift are still feeling okay, hopefully those wont have to deload again for a bit.  OHP is still difficult and I wasn't able to finish out all my sets with 120 today so I will try again next time.  Keep it up boys!!

Squat: 235 5x5
OHP: 120 5x5x3  115 1x6
Deadlift: 295 1x5
Decline flys: 25lbs 15x12x13
Pullups: 1x7

-Bear babs

9/7/11

Pretty good day today at the gym.  I can tell that all the extra sleep I've gotten the past few days from being off has helped to recover pretty fast.  We will see how Friday goes, hopefully I'll be able to finish this week out very strong.  I was having some soreness and aching in my elbow, so after talking to Ben we figured it would be best to take the rest of the week off from dips.  Hopefully it will help heal it.

Squat: 230 5x5
Row: 170 5x5
Bench Press: 200 5x5
Decline Press: 75lbs 25x30x20

-Bear Babs

9/6/2011

Much better day at the gym today then on Friday!  My legs were feeling stronger under my squats and I was able to continue with the deadlifts without any hinderance.  Over head press felt like it benefited from the long rest, which makes sense that my upper body recovered even though my legs were suffering.  Pullups still are my least favorite thing to do at the end of the workout, I can never seem to get passed 5 straight and am fully exhausted, but thats the reason I do them I guess.  All in all a good day.

Squat 225 4x5
Overhead press 115 3x5
Deadlift 285 1x5
Pullups 5x4x3
Decline flys(with 25lbers) 11x11x11

-Bear Babineau

9/2/2011

WOW!  So, first of all I want to shout out to Jsulli because he went extreme beast mode today.  Very strong and impressive boy.  Now onto my workout, ugh!  So, today was the first day in a week that I hit the gym because I was working a bunch on the hazard crew (as was Benny-beast).  So, I really felt a hit in my legs.  I went to 225lbs and wasn't able to finish 4 sets, very disappointing.  My bench and row were fine though so that wasn't a total lost.  Truthfully it propably wasn't bad to have a few days off to rest my legs, as they were getting pretty beat up, but now I know taking even just a week off will hurt the progress.  Well boys keep pumping!!

Beast of the week:  Smitt!!! already up to 220lbs squating, awesome Smitt keep it up baby!!!

Quote of the week: "Strong people are harder to kill then weak people and more useful in general."
                                                                                                              -Mark Rippetoe

Squat: 225 5x5x5x3
Bench Press: 195 5x5x5x5x4
Pendlay Row: 165 4x5
Dips: 11 regular and 5 with 25lb
Decline Bench: 75lbs 20x25

-Bear Babineau

8/26/2011

 Fuck me friday night deadlifts are tough.

Squat 285 3x5
ovhd press 130 4x4x3
deadlift 360 1x4+1
pullups 10x6x3


This is the third time I stalled at 130 on the ovhd press; so I'm going to deload it to 115 and work back up.  There is some voodoo about 135 lbs; the fifth rep just was never going to happen without push-pressing; which I take as hip or leg drive.  If you guys are wondering about deadlift technique; check out the starting strength or strong lifts website.

- Ben

8/24/11

Much better day at the gym today!!! I think the devastation to my quads was largely due all the basketball I played the day before.  Today I was able to continue make gains on my squats.  Back rows are getting pretty tough and I may have to deload that in the next week or 2 but we will see what monday brings.  Bench also felt a little heavy but I'm only taking around 1 minute breaks between sets so I think if I took alittle longer then it wouldn't be to hard.  I couldn't find the belt to add weight to my dips so I just did them regularly, but I could feel the strain that the bench had on them.  I've also been wanting to tighten up my chest alittle bit, so yesterday I spent some time researching Arnolds encyclopedia or body building and decided that decline bench and flys with light weight will help that without taking away much from my bench so today I did some of those.  All in all a good day!

Squat: 225 4x5
Row: 175 3x5
Bench Press: 190 5x5x6
Dips: 10x9x7
Decline Bench: 65 20x20x30

-Bear Babineau

8/22/11

Squat: 220 3x5
Over head press: 115 3x5
Deadlifts: 265 1x5
Pullups: 6x4x3

Okay day at the gym.  To start the squats felt extremely heavy.  I was hoping to be able to get through 230lbs 5x5 before I went down to 3x5 but today it wasn't going to happen.  I'm not sure if it was the couple hours of basketball yesterday or that the weight is just getting heavy, but it was tough.  So, hopefully I can get 5x5 on Wednesday.  I finally broke through my road block on the overhead press and was able to get 115 3x5 without much difficulty so that makes me ecstatic.  Then Deadlifts were heavy but still doable, I'm hoping I can break 300 without having to deload any weight.  Besides that pretty good day.

- I live, I love, I slay and am content!!!

-Mikeybabs

8/19/2011

Tough day at the gym, Fridays are easily my hardest and least productive days.  At the end of the work week and being out in the heat I feel drained and un-motivated, but gotta swell through all the bullshit if you want to get conan strong (first conan shout out on the blog, yeahhhh buddy!).  Squats are difficult but easily accomplishable with the right amount of time in between sets.  I'm taking around 4 minutes between sets now and I'm lifting with good strength levels each time, so thats good.  Ben and I have been trying to figure out the right technique with the pendlay rows, in order to not cheat ourselves to much but using our legs, so I think we have it figured out pretty good and can keep our backs straight across for all the reps.  Bench was alittle more difficult today but i still think I can get 200 without having to deload.  Have a good weekend!

Beast of the week:  Benny P, for his tremendous deadlift on Wednesday, keeping beasting Benny!!

Quote of the week: "You will sense it; you will be awed by it; and your fellow men will indeed, as he has done for thousands of years, pay you homage".


8/19/11
Squat: 215 5x5
Pendlay Row: 170 3x5
Bench Press: 185 2x5 1x8
Dips: 25lb 7x7


-MikeyBabs


8/19/11
Squat: 270 3x5
Pendlay Row: 150 5x5
Bench Press: 175 3x5 135x12
dips 45lb 6x5x5
GHD raise 12x15x15
reverse hyper-ext 20x12
double-unders 5x10x20x50x45x20
-Benny


I think keeping my legs wider and concentrating on driving up on the bench with a tight back helps, did 175 again bc I felt like crap last time I did it; was easier this time but if there was any question about carry over between dips and bench; I lost a couple reps per set on dips by doing those right after the lighter cool down set on bench.  Mike apparently decided to go nuts on the weighted dips and did 50; awesome man; consider how hard those were 2 months ago.  


If you guys are curious what them GHD and reverse hypers are check out this: http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/cfj-oct-2005/glute-ham-demo.wmv


and this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM4fcVP4hHo


I's kind of hard to describe but it will help your deadlift by strengthening your lower back and teaching your to use your hips to get your upper body up to nearly vertical; because, hips don't lie..
You know though; gold's gym doesn't have the right bench for this so forget all of this.

8/17/11

Pretty good day at the gym, squats are hard but definetly doable.  Deadlift also went well, still feeling pretty strong going up by 10 lbs so hopefully that continues.  OHP was very tough and I wasn't able to complete my original 3x5 weight, so I will have to modify and practice my technique in order to improve in that.

Squat 210 5x5
OHP 115 1x5 110 2x5
Deadlift 255 1x5
Pullups 5x4x4

-MikeyBabs


Squat 265 3x5
OHP 130 3x4x4
Deadlift 350 1x5
Pullups 10x7x5

-Ben

Andy Bolton training advice

http://www.mystronglifts5x5blog.com/

Heres Andy Boltons strength training blog (Andy Bolton has recorded over 1200 on the squat, 1000 deadlift and 750 on the bench).  There are some really good pointers on the major lifts so check it out!

-Mikeybabs
8/16/2011

Stonglifts 5x5

Great workout at the gym today.  I'm beginning to near 200 lbs on all the workouts besides the overhead press.  On wednesday I will be trying 115lbs 3x5 on the OHP and we will see how it goes.  I failed with the 5x5 and have seen my progress slow to a crawl, so instead of just deloading every week, switching to 3x5 seemed like the most logical answer.
-Mikeybabs
8/15/22

Squat 205 5x5
Pendlay Row 165 3x5
Bench Press 180 5x5
Dips w/25 7,6,6
15 mins, tire flip and drags
 ------------------------------------------------------------
Squat 260 3x5
Pendlay Row 145 5x5
Bench Press 175 3x5
Dips w/ 45 7,7,7
15 mins. tire flip and drags
- BenP
8/15/2011