Rich's Final Countdown to the WNBF Pro U.S. Cup

[rich55]

WRAPPING UP A GREAT WEEK OF TRAINING: 1 WEEK OUT!

Building the machine. I'm now one week out and here is a log of the past few days.

WEDNESDAY - CONDITIONING & ARMS

Mile run to warm-up
Yup, you read that. Miles stand alone are easy at this point. I'm glad to get my athlete mojo back.

Squat Snatch & Single-Unders
For time: 10-8-6-4-2 snatch @ 115 lbs & 100's on jump rope after each snatch set. I've done so much conditioning the last few days that I can't recall if this took about 12 or 15 minutes. What I do recall is what matters; on the 6-rep set I found my stride and began to do them unbroken, fast and feeling the movement. Jump rope is improving with 60, then 40 to pace each 100. I'm feeling double-unders coming soon.

Not focused on weights too much for arms with so much big chest & back movements this week. I went heavy and then high rep to blast every fiber.

Cable Pushdowns
Barbell Curls
Barbell Skullcrushers
Alternating Hammer Curls
Overhead Rope Extensions
Mid-line Hammer Curls
Prone DB Kickbacks
EZ Bar Reverse Curls
Leg Press Calf Raises

Hit up some Wednesday night church to get my mind and spirit on focus. God is good.

THURSDAY - CROSSFIT & BACK
Visited Fit Club, a local CrossFit affiliate, to visit, talk shop and check out the new gym with owner Mitch Potterf. He's a good dude who has been around the Cbus scene a while. Workout was multi-faceted and gymnasty which was perfect considering everything was sore.

Warm-Up
Missed out on various planks due to running mouth. Lunges, duck walks, lots and lots of somersaults. Adults need more gymnastics.

Rings Skill Work
4 rounds of 20 second holds at dip extension and dip bottom hold each with about a minute of rest in between each alternating. Good drill for beginners on rings.

Warm-up/Skill Work - Wall Walks
Wall walks to toes and nose on the wall with a great plank of mid-line stability. I was surprising good at this with my low body weight and new found shoulder mobility. 20 second holds and 40 second breaks for several rounds.

Conditioning - Bear Crawls and OH DB Walks
Note to self. More unilateral DB & KB work is needed. That and more mass to increase strength/stability haha. 4 or 5 rounds of 25 meter DB bear crawls & 25 meter DB overhead walks with a pair of DB's. DB's overhead after crawls were terribly difficult. Dug it. I had to break 3 times and take a 5-rep DB deadlift burpee penalty. I should have taken a break earlier to recover more. Took about 8 minutes.

Headed back to Beyond Limits after catching up with a few peeps and did some isolation back work for feel:

Straight-Arm Pulldowns
Low Pulley Cable Rows
Plate Loaded Rows
Band Pull Aparts

FRIDAY - CHEST, SHOULDERS & RUN WORK:

Incline Bench
Wrists were tired after the wall walks & miscellaneous work yesterday. Kept it lighter focusing on negatives, contractions & feel.
45 x 10
135 x 10
165 x 8
185 x 6
195 x 5
205 x 3 --> took a spot on #4

Cable Crossovers & Incline Bench Superset
A little pre-exhaust for even more upper chest. 4 x 12 on crossovers & 3 x 8 on incline bench with 145 lbs. Lots of negatives, burn and contractions.

Shoulder Press Standing
45 x 10
75 x 8
95 x 6
115 x 5
135 x 4
115 x 7
115 x 9 ---> push press
115 x 15 ----> push jerk

Hammer Wide Chest
4 or 5 sets

DB Lateral Raises
30's, 35's, 40's, 45's, 45's x 10-8 reps

Slammed some Purple Wraath (single scoop) & Purple Psyko (half scoop) with White Flood (additional 1/2 scoop) and 1-2 Tbsp blue gatorade.

7 rds x 400 m run every 3 minutes
Tough workout but doable. Ran first round at 1:40 to warm up, then kicked up to 1:30 for almost all of them, 1:27 on one, 1:33 on one and last one at 1:25.

Feeling like a machine. Leaned out from morning to evening. Feeling good.

"Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. Danger is very real, but fear is a choice."

[rich55]

Awe, hope she's feeling better.

Yes, she is MUCH better. Thanks Laurie! Good news is that it was just a 24 hour bug.

[bull.dogz]

Awe, hope she's feeling better.

[rich55]

LESS THAN 2 WEEKS OUT!

Sunday was a rough day as I dropped back down to 200 g of carbs and really was just worn out. My youngest daughter of 10 months Sophia was also projectile vomiting and very cranky, which was not fun. The poor little one is feeling better though. Monday was a tough one to push through and today I just chipped away at a monster of workout.

CHEST & BACK AT 12 DAYS:

Flat Bench
A little weaker than usual. Feels light out of the rack, but leverage and push isn't there as much. Oh well.
45 x 10
135 x 8
185 x 6
225 x 5
225 x 5
240 x 3
250 x 3
260 x 2
225 x 5

Incline DB Presses
Same story of leverage and lockout here.
65 x 10
85 x 10
95 x 6
95 x 6
80 x lots of reps

Wide Grip Pull-ups
Pull on these didn't feel as strong.
BW x 10
25 x 8
45 x 6
55 x 4
25 x 13

Incline DB Flys
55 x 10
65 x 10
75 x 6
75 x 6

1-Arm DB Rows
Kept form real strict on these.
100 x 8
120 x 8
130 x 8
130 x 8

Chain Pushups on DB's
BW x 20
19 lbs x 20
38 lbs x 14

Bent-Over DB Rows
Low, left lat developed a knot. Gone today.
65 x 10
75 x 10
85 x 6

Conditioning
3 rds for time:
500 m row
12 burpees
21 box jumps 24"
12:02. Last round was rough.

Crashed out early at midnight.

LAST HEAVY LEG DAY:
I'll push legs this Saturday a big, but nothing like this. This is perhaps the most work I've done in a single training session.

Back Squats
45 x 7
135 x 7
225 x 7
275 x 5
315 x 5
335 x 3
345 x 3

Romanian Deadlifts
135 x 10
225 x 8
315 x 8
365 x 5

Glute Ham Raises
BW x 10
25 x 8
35 x 6
BW x 15

Toe to Bar Max Reps
BW x 20 x 13 x 14

Walking Barbell Lunge
BW x 30 yards
155 x 100 yards with a break at 50 yards. Did first 30 yards non-stop, then survived.

Fight Gone Bad Conditioning
I've done "Hope" twice, but this one was nasty!
3 rds AMRAP:
1 minute wall ball 20 lbs
1 minute sumo hight pull 75 lbs
1 minute box jumps 20"
1 minute push press 75 lbs
1 minute row for cals

Scored a 294. Please with some elements and need work on others. Did a quick round of posing with the wifey, but will be stepping it up a bunch! Smoked and time to crash!

[rich55]

EARNING A BIG REFEED!

Today was a refeed day with 600 g of carbs, which at this point have all been eaten with much satisfaction haha. To earn those carbs, my workout today went a little something like this:

Plate Loaded Prone Rows
45 x 10
90 x 10
135 x 8
160 x 5

Smith Machine Shrugs
Keeping it strict and slow.
135 x 10
225 x 10
275 x 8
295 x 7

Some upper back work to round out Wednesday's killer effort. Kept is quite short and sweet knowing the work ahead...

"Glen" for time
30 clean & jerks 135 lbs
1 mile run
13 rope climbs to 12'
1 mile run
100 burpees

Time = 34:04. "Grace" is 30 C&J's and my split on that portion was 3:11 taking most of the remaining in singles due to lack of jerk/core strength being so skinny haha. Not too shabby as I have yet to crack 3 mins. First mile was and 8 minute split recovering a good chunk of the front half. Spent the rest of the workout in survival mode. 1st and last chunk of burpees in 20's, the rest divided in 10's. This was also my first time doing rope climbs. Wow, arm strength needed on these even with your feet! Tough, but fun. I'm pretty sure the rest of my competition is not training like this haha ^^^^. And the other 11 WNBF pros so far committed to the WNBF US Cup in 2 weeks!

Chris Applegate
Mitch Robinson
Jonathan Arnold
Tony Ruffin
Anthony Delgado
Sean Young
Gerry Ruck
Frederick Fleuimond
Rawle Greene
Ivor Brown
Casey Rice

[rich55]

LEG DAY TEST AT 2 WEEKS OUT!

Following the volume from this week's training, today was certainly a test. I didn't have the usually gas, but I did have the steam to finish. I know for a fact there is no one training for the US Cup similar to myself.

Oly - Conditioning
Did some warmers of snatches, OH squats & power snatches at 45, 75, 95 & 115 lbs. 2 rounds for time:
Overhead Squats 12 @ 135 lbs
Burpees 12
Power Snatches 9 @ 135 lbs
Burpee Box Jumps 9 @ 20 "
Full Snatches 6 @ 135 lbs
Burpee Chest to Bar Pullups 6

Deadlifts
Squat, Bent-Over Row, heavy KB swings in preceding days..why not do some deads today after a bunch of snatch pulls?
225 x 3
315 x 3
405 x 3
445 x 2

Walking Barbell Lunges
BW x 20 (10/leg)
135 x 20
185 x 20
215 x 20

Leg Press Calf Raises
5 sets of 10-15 reps as heavy as possible, then dropping for a rep out on the last set.

Conditioning above was 15:14. First round was in just over 6 minutes. 2nd round was quite broken.

[rich55]

LEG DAY TEST AT 2 WEEKS OUT!

Following the volume from this week's training, today was certainly a test. I didn't have the usually gas, but I did have the steam to finish. I know for a fact there is no one training for the US Cup similar to myself.

Oly - Conditioning
Did some warmers of snatches, OH squats & power snatches at 45, 75, 95 & 115 lbs. 2 rounds for time:
Overhead Squats 12 @ 135 lbs
Burpees 12
Power Snatches 9 @ 135 lbs
Burpee Box Jumps 9 @ 20 "
Full Snatches 6 @ 135 lbs
Burpee Chest to Bar Pullups 6

Deadlifts
Squat, Bent-Over Row, heavy KB swings in preceding days..why not do some deads today after a bunch of snatch pulls?
225 x 3
315 x 3
405 x 3
445 x 2

Walking Barbell Lunges
BW x 20 (10/leg)
135 x 20
185 x 20
215 x 20

Leg Press Calf Raises
5 sets of 10-15 reps as heavy as possible, then dropping for a rep out on the last set.

[rich55]

[size]PUSH #2 AT 15 DAYS OUT![/SIZE]

It's hard to believe that showtime is almost here. Two years and it's down to just two weeks. I have to keep pushing! Back wasn't too sore earlier today as I'm able to handle just a ton of volume at this point.

Incline Bench
45 x 10
135 x 8
175 x 8
200 x 5
210 x 3
220 x 2
230 x 1
240 x miss. Was feeling 235, but went for it.
185 x 7

Flat DB Presses
Chest felt real tight and fat free on the last set, so I called it a day on that movement.
65 x 15
85 x 10
100 x 7
100 x 7

Standing Shoulder Press
Strict on these presses. Wanted to do a drop set, but knew how many HSPU's were coming later.
45 x 8
95 x 8
125 x 5
145 x 3
150 x not moving today.

High Crossovers
4 sets x 12-15 reps

Cable Pushdowns
6 sets heavy and then high rep.

Conditioning - AMRAP 15 minutes:
6 handstand pushups
12 kettlebell swings
200 m run
7 rds plus 18 reps. HSPU's were easy at this weight.

Prone Triceps Kickbacks
4 sets of 15 reps.

Tomorrow is going to be a legendary leg day!

[rich55]

LEGS & BACK ATTACK!

Yesterday's leg day was focused on keep squats lighter and then really mixing it up. I have some heavier work to do later in the week, but knew I was going to kill back today. We did just that.

Squats
Tried to do straight 7's up, but just wore out. Legs felt good and will do 7 x 1 on front squats on Friday to counter the lighter load.
45 x 7
135 x 7
205 x 7
265 x 7
275 x 7
285 x 6
275 x 7 ---> Belted. Big difference.

Snatch Ladder
My snatch is pretty lousy, but I figured I'd give it a whirl.
45 x 3
75 x 3
95 x 2
115 x 1
To warm up. Each minute thereafter.
135, 140, 145, 150, 155 miss twice in the minute.
Rested 3 minutes.
125 x 3

Conditioning
5 rounds for time
5 Jerks 155 lbs
10 Box Jumps over the Box
Time = 5:44. Jerks were slow but unbroken after round 2. Need to gain weight, strength and rock these haha! Sub 5 for sure.

Leg Extensions, Leg Curls & Seated Calf Raises
3 sets of 10-15 reps in tri-set real quick to finish as I ran out of time.

Today, I that opportunity to blast back with a great pro natural bodybuilder in Ben Hartman. Ben is at the peak of his offseason in size and strength. The perfect guy to hit one with at your "skinniest" haha.

Bent-Over Bar Rows
45 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 8
225 x 6
255 x 4
255 x 4
275 x 3
275 x 3
225 x 8
185 x 17

Chinups
BW x 10
25 x 10
45 x 8
70 x 4
45 x 10
BW x 15 with wide grip pull-up

Face Pulls
4 sets x 15

Barbell Curls
Up to 95 lbs for reps

Seated Cable Rows
4 sets of 8-10 rows

Standing Hammer Curls
Midline hammers with 35's for 4 sets, then alternating sets working 35's for feel.

EZ Reverse Bar Curls
3 sets of 10-15 reps

Back & bis are pretty tired even though I had some steam left. Deads and traps for later in the week! Note: Ben Hartman is a beast!

[rich55]

LAST WEEK WRAP UP & STARTING THIS WEEK OFF RIGHT: 18 DAYS OUT!

18 days out!!! Wowza, it's getting close to showtime and I'm starting to feel like a machine.

FRIDAY - Conditioning, Snatch, Deads & Hams:
Felt great about this day!

Conditioning - "Helen"
3 rounds for time: Run 400 m, 21 KB Swings @ 53 lbs, 12 pullups each rd.
PR time = 8:16!

Full Snatch 2 RM - up to 155 for a double @ 90%. Missed at 160.
Deadlifts - 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 = up to 470 lbs @ 166 am weight

Glute Ham Raises
4 sets weighted up to 35 lb.

SATURDAY REFEED- Conditioning, Lunges & Quads:
Worked total carbs for the day up to just over 550 g and still felt very tight. That's tough to do low fat haha.

Conditioning - For time: 20 Power Snatches @ 115 lbs, 800 m row, 20 Power Snatches @ 115 lbs
Walking Barbell Lunges - 115, 155, 185, 205 x 10 steps/leg
Leg Extensions - 4 sets x 12-15 up to 230 lbs

Posing Practice
Started posing practice on Thursday with 20 second holds. Worked up to 25 second holds and a few extra shots with no breaks.

SUNDAY - Rest day aka Super Dad Day! Worked around the house.

MONDAY - PUSH & CONDITIONING 19 DAYS OUT:
Maxed at squats & deads last week, so why not bench today? Took the wrist one set at a time and it felt 98%.

Single Under Jump Rope Warm-up
200

Benchpress
Totals a 1110 skinny PR at 166 lbs. Totalled 1200 in early July in the high 170's. That's 92% and 90% off my best.
45 x 10
135 x 8
185 x 6
215 x 3
235 x 3
245 x 2
255 x 2
265 x 1
270 x 1

Incline DB Press
65 x 10
85 x 8
90 x 6
90 x 6
95 x 5
95 x 5

Neutral Grip Flat DB Dynamic Presses
55 x 20
65 x 20
75 x 16
75 x 13

Incline DB Flys
55 x 10
65 x 10
75 x 6
75 x 6

Rope Pushdowns
4 sets of 10-12 reps

6 min AMRAP Conditioning
6 OH Squats 135
9 Lateral Burpees over Barbell
12 Toe to Bar
---> finished 1 toe to bar shy of 3 rds, same as Erica who was WOD'ing with Mark & I.

Barbell Skullcrushers
45 x 10
65 x 10
85 x 10
95 x 9
95 x 7

Kneeling OH Rope Extensions
4 sets of 8-12 reps

Single Under Jump Rope Cool Down
200

[rich55]

BECOMING A WORK HORSE: 24 DAYS AWAY!

24 days out and at this point; I am a work horse. There is no such thing as too much. If I put in a good days work, I just need to refuel and rest afterwards to turn around and do it all over again. Why would I do anything less? I wouldn't because that is not how I roll in life.

Late last night, I did my first official posing practice timing quarter turns for 3 rds @ 20 seconds each and 2 rounds of mandatories @ 20 seconds each. I have to time the rounds to stay motivated to improve. It seems to be a trend in many things for me to gauge improved conditioning haha. Now for a little more PUSH & CONDITIONING:

Bench
First time under the bar since the wrist tweak last Friday. Felt weak with it, so I focused on just pushing 225 clean as that felt manageable on the wrist. Felt great on the chest & tris.
45 x 10
135 x 8
185 x 6
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5
185 x 18

Incline Bench
No barbell work earlier in the week, so I wanted to keep the trend going keeping it a little light to be on the safe side. I'd rather do more next week.
135 x 8
175 x 8
185 x 6
185 x 6
195 x 4
200 x 3 ---> tap on #4. Weak tris tired.

Standing BB Shoulder Press
Barbell again. Yes, please.
75 x 8
95 x 8
115 x 6
125 x 6
135 x 5

Incline DB Flys
Chest don't go away on this whole precontest thing. Pace picking up and volume dropping as time to train diminishes.
55 x 10
65 x 10
75 x 6
80 x 4

Pushdowns
These didn't feel too hot on the wrist, so grabbed some fat grips and kept it light with high reps to warm up the tris.

DB Skullcrushers
Beginning to wonder where my triceps went. Opted for DB version for wrist. Felt good, but no strength. 3 pressing movements may have impacted the tris a little haha. Oh well.
3 sets of 10-15 reps with 35's

DB Lateral Raises
I'm doing more of these next week. Felt great. Pace smoke me out pretty quick. Probably best.
30 x 10
40 x 10
45 x 8

Ate my chocolate, chocolate PROnom oatmeal. Then started sipping a little of my Purple Cocktail two hours later. WORK HORSE TIME!

[B]CONDITIONING:[B]

10 minute AMRAP
5 Power Cleans 135
10 Pushups
15 Air Squats

1 rep shy of a full 12 rounds! I was flying on this. Cleans actually felt very good and smooth! Legs felt spent on round 4 of air squats. The hams were tight coming off cleaning from the floor 135 and then burned on pushups till I used them on fast air squats. I love squatting weight, so air squats should be airplane fast.

Then worked on a half dose of skill work to watch the knees. Unbroken Box Jumps: 5 x 10. Did 30" as those have never been too fast for me at that height. I was able to rebound pretty good through sets 4, so I added a 25 lb bumper on top and was able to rebound at that height too. More work to do tomorrow! PEAKING!!

[rich55]

KEEP ON MOVING! BACK DAY 25 DAYS OUT:

Keep on moving is exactly what I needed to do today. Nothing crazy, just move. Move some weight.

Wide-Grip Pull-ups Strict
Felt awesome. Last 2 sets dynamic.
BW x 10
25 x 10
44 x 8
62 x 5
70 x 4
44 x 7
25 x 12

Alternating Hammer DB Curls
35 x 8
45 x 8
50 x 8
55 x 5
55 x 5

Mid-line Hammer Curls
2-second squeeze at top.
30 x 12
35 x 12
40 x 10

1-Arm DB Rows
These were tough today. Definitely hitting again next week.
100 x 8
120 x 8
142 x 6
130 x 6

Farmer Shrugs
123/hand x 10
143/hand x 10
163/hand x 9
123/hand x 22

Seated Zottman Curls
3 sets with the 35's up to 10 reps very strict.

Took a 30 minute break and had my Purple Cocktail of Purple PysyKO and Purple WrAAth with another 1/2 scoop of White Flood & 1 Tbsp of blue gatorade.

Then I did 4 sets of straight arms pulldowns super-setted with rope face pulls. i finished off with some seated low cable rows for 3 or 4 sets. Crashing out a little earlier today again to get some rest and stave off a cold.

[rich55]

Very true statement! I like your outlook!

Thanks Darren, just gotta keep pushing!

------------------------------

26 DAYS OUT: FIGHTING THROUGH!

Woke up with sore throat and tons of DOMS. The kiddos have had some colds recently, so I have to be careful with weakening my immune system after only 5 or so hours of sleep. Downed 10 g of glutamine, emergen-C & ibuprofen. Orange Triad & Orange Oximega Greens are essential during contest prep or rigorous training. I also make sure to drink Green Tea with my Reduction AM & White Flood preworkout as well. Considered taking a rest day, but opted for heavy squats instead:

Back Squats
Not too shabby for weighing 168 lbs tonight. Everything about this felt great. Opted for heavy with low volume to prevent breakdown.
45 x 6
135 x 6
185 x 6
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
335 x 1
355 x 1
370 x 1
375 x 1

Glute Ham Raises
BW x 10
25 x 8
35 x 7
35 x 6

Conditioning - "Jackie" - Reversed
For time:
30 Pullups (kipping)
50 Thrusters 45 lbs
1000m Row

8:34. I could have transitioned to the rower faster. Pullups unbroken with 2 adjustments for body position on our new 24' rig that includes 3 squat/press racks. Thrusters unbroken as well. Row sucked. Tired rowing is rough particularly when I'm still feeling the track work from 2 days ago full blown.

Kept it short and simple tonight. Squat heavy. Posterior chain work. Sprint conditioning.

[Ice Cold 8180]

Very true statement! I like your outlook!

[rich55]

CHEST & CONDITIONING 26 DAYS OUT!

26 days out! Wow, that just makes me a bit nervous after a two year break haha. Perhaps I should start working on posing conditioning. Later this week for sure! That doesn't make me feel too shabby weighing in at 169 lbs tonight. My wrist feels much better! God is good man!! I had to alter a typical heavy chest day to work around the wrist and let it heal. Wrapped it with a EFS heavy wrap.

Flat DB Press
50's x 20
70 x 15
90 x 10
110 x 5 ---> wrist instability made it tough. Just kept it strict and felt to drop it a bit.
100 x 8
90 x 12

Incline DB Flys
Usually hit 2 pressing movements first, but knew this would keep the wrist happy. It did. I need to keep pushing the incline db/bb work to keep strength up as I feel the leverage going.
55 x 10
65 x 10
75 x 5
75 x 5

DB Pullovers & Chain Fat Dips
Going for feel and reps for wrist friendly compound movements.
65 x 12 & BW x 12
85 x 12 & 19 x 12
85 x 12 & 19 x 12
85 x 12 & 38 x 8

Crossovers & Rope Pushdowns
Easy on the wrist. Good BB feel movements. 4 sets of 15-10 reps.

Overhead Rope Extensions
4-5 sets of 10. No skulls today due to wrist.

Overall, I'm just very happy to get a good amount of work on my chest & tris with the wrist. I should be able to hit some barbell work in 4 days.

INTRAWORKOUT NUTRITION:
Took a 1 hr & 45 minute break with only some Purple WrAAth, Purple PsyKo, 1 Tbsp blue gatorade & single rice cake in between. Then some conditioning:

12 MINUTE AMRAP:
12 Toe to Bar
12 Burpees
Toe to bar is pretty broken at this point with inability to efficiently. Abs are getting stronger though and I'm feeling the progression. Broke into 3 x 4's on set 3 and a burpee sprint each round. 83 T2B & 72 Burpees.

POSTWORKOUT NUTRITION:
Chocolate heaven...
1.5 scoops Pronom 23 chocolate cupcake batter
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
7 chocolate mini rice ***** aka Quakes