Chris McClinch's Training Log

2003-12-26T08:12:00.001-08:00

12/26/03 DE Squat/Deadlift

Fueled by way too much ham, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, fruit salad, etc. from last night, I hit the gym to do battle with the weights today. This workout was a joy in no small part because I seem to peak physically around mid-morning. In college and grad school, I used to try and arrange my class schedule so I could train around 10 AM. It's when I'm strongest, most energetic, and most enthusiastic. Unfortunately, with a real job, training at 10 AM isn't really an option very often. I try and make the most of the opportunity when it arises, though. Today was one of the days when it arose....

Box Squats - 10x2x225
Speed Deads - 8x2x205, 205x1 (forgot to rack the bar after the final set of two)
Glute-Ham Raises - 4x6
Good Mornings - 5x8x190
Bent-Over Rows - 5x5x190
Front Squats - 3x10x135
Pulldown Abs - 5x15x110

On a more normal day, I wouldn't have done the front squats for my token quad-dominant exercise (my concession to still considering myself somewhat of a physique athlete). After all the preceding leg and lower back work, I would typically do something saner--most likely involving a machine to isolate the quads and take the already taxed areas out of the lift. Today, however, I was training heavily fueled up, at my preferred time of day, and in a gym where the only people there were the type of person who goes to the gym at 10 AM the day after Christmas--the truly dedicated. The atmosphere was perfect for doing something more difficult than I would typically do, and the front squats were a wonderful, nauseating, walk-right-up-to-the-edge-of-potential-overtraining joy. Hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

2003-12-24T11:07:00.000-08:00

12/24/03 ME Bench Press

Training has been sporadic and kind of catch-as-catch-can leading up to Christmas. I finally finished my shopping today, though, so I celebrated with a trip to the gym to do some pressing. I've been intrigued by the possibilities of the overhead press as a max effort bench movement lately, so I decided to try it out today. I like the movement because it's full range of motion (I've only benched raw so far), it hammers the triceps and shoulders, it includes a difficult lockout, and it forces you to generate speed right from the bottom. I'm also intrigued by the movement because of the very impressive bench press numbers many of the old Olympic lifters were able to put up without directly training the lift. I weighed the idea of supersetting them with handstand push-ups, but that's an idea for another workout.

Clean and Press - 45x3, 70x3, 95x3, 115x3, 135x3, 160x1, 185x1, 195x1!, 205x1!
JM Press - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 255x3, 255x3
Skullcrushers - 95x10, 5x10x100
Medium Grip Chins - 5x5x25
Lateral/Rear Raise Compound Set - 3x10x25
Incline Curls - 3x10x25

This workout should have ended with ab work--5x10 hanging leg raises would have been appropriate--but I was rushing to see my girlfriend before heading out with my family for dinner and Christmas Eve service at my church.

Merry Christmas to anyone reading this!

2003-12-13T10:11:00.000-08:00

12/13/03 DE Bench Press

Bench Press - 10x3x185
Close-Grip Incline Bench - 45x3, 70x3, 95x3, 115x3, 135x3, 160x3, 185x3, 205x3, 205x3
One-Arm Overhead Triceps Extension - 4x10x40
Dips - 10x3x45 (30 seconds rest between sets)
Seated Dumbbell Clean - 4x8x40
Hammer Curl - 3x10x35
Pulldown Abs - 5x10x110

This workout was an absolute joy. It was exactly the right mix of speed, heavy weight, and pumping work for today.

2003-12-12T14:27:00.000-08:00

Joy in the Gym

I've been devoting a lot of thought to training styles lately. Specifically, I've been spending time questioning what constitutes the ideal way to train. Back when I was competing as a bodybuilder, I was constantly in search of the perfect diet or the perfect training routine that would yield perfect results. Needless to say, I never discovered either because neither exists.

What I did discover is a secret that should be fundamental for everyone but frequently seems hidden even from advanced lifters. The ideal workout is the one that you can't wait to get into the gym to do. This is true even if you run across a study or an article suggesting that another training methodology might produce better results. If you're not eager to get into the gym and do the workout, you're not going to get top results, period. If you find yourself dreading workouts, making excuses to skip certain exercises, or letting life keep you from working out, you're following the wrong workout plan. The one true essential is that you learn to find joy in the gym.

Finding joy in the gym doesn't necessarily mean having fun the whole time you're working out. Sets of heavy squats or good mornings aren't much fun in a conventional sense. They take a lot of focus and energy. They hurt. Most people in commercial gyms don't do them, and they don't understand why you do. Still, most advanced lifters--and many beginners--know how to find a deep and abiding joy in these difficult lifts. It's the joy of strength, of movement, and of accomplishing something that the average person will never will himself to do. This is an important distinction because it explains why so few people who do easy, fun workouts ever find true joy in wrestling with the iron. Joy is something that's earned. It comes once you've paid your dues, taken your lumps, and come to understand yourself in relation to exercise.

2003-12-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

12/11/03 DE Squat/Deadlift

I think I'm officially a Westside convert. I just wasn't having as much fun with other training methods during my hiatus from Westside, so I'm back. I'll likely be lifting Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday and updating accordingly. It was good to get back into the gym and do a dynamic effort workout again.

Box Squats - 10x2x225
Speed Deads - 8x2x205
GHRs - 4x6xBW
Good Mornings - 5x8x185
Bent-Over Rows - 4x5x185
Hanging Leg Raises - 5x10xBW
Leg Extensions - 3x10x150

The leg extensions don't exactly fit into the Westside protocol, but this is an area where my bodybuilding roots come to the forefront. Westsiders try to take the emphasis off the quads in the squat because the glutes, hamstrings, and lower back will move more weight than the quads. I'm all in favor of moving more weight, but I want to keep up the appearance of my quads as well.

2003-12-03T09:50:00.000-08:00

12/2/03 Donning the White Belt

I went to my first session at Maguilla's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy & Combat Club last night. I've wanted to take up a martial art for a while now and finally overcame my inertia on the subject last night. I generally consider myself a pretty fit guy. I can bench over 300, squat and deadlift over 400, and see my abs. Last night was a humbling experience, though.

We started off running to warm up our bodies. We did a few laps of the gym just jogging, then started to add arm circles, reaches for the sky, high knees, butt kickers, etc. Back when I wrestled in high school (a mere nine years ago), I set the pace for these warm-ups. Now I found myself glad when we stopped. We did some stretching (which was relaxing), some calisthenics (which weren't relaxing), and some hip mobility drills (which were embarrassing). I discovered that I'm a little tight through my right hip and very tight through my left. This tightness in the left hip would come back to frustrate me later in the evening. More frustrating was discovering that my strength endurance in my neck and abs is all but gone. I couldn't hold my neck bridges for the full amount of time, and I had to take short rests to complete my full sit-ups (done after my crunches). Clearly, I need to make conditioning and hip flexibility top priorities.

After our warm-up, we hit the mats to roll. I was partnered with a guy about my size who had been training BJJ for about two and a half years. Coincidentally, he was also named Chris. For the next hour, he would serve as my teacher and tormentor. We started out with a quick drill: throw two jabs and one roundhouse kick at a circling opponent, then have your opponent do the same with you. Chris had to correct my form on both the jabs and the kick, but I eventually got it. We then switched to two jabs and an elbow strike. Again, it took some instruction, but I got it down. Troublingly, though, I was already breathing hard by the time we were done with this, and we had yet to roll.

When we hit the mats, I started out on my back in the position made famous in the UFC and Pride competitions. Chris was on his knees with one hand on my throat, and he was to stand up as if to punch me. I was supposed to trap the arm he was using to grasp my throat, then use my legs to keep him off-balance and attack. There's no denying that this defense is effective, but the idea that being on my back is a good thing is going to take some getting used to. I also found that keeping my head up in that position really tired my neck out. That's an area where I'm going to need some real work. When we switched positions, I got an even better idea of how effective this defensive position could be. Chris told me to make an earnest effort to get into position to attack him, and he effortlessly kept me off-balance and exposed, forcing me to tap out a couple of times.

We then worked on throwing a leg over the trapped arm for a submission hold. This was where my hip inflexibility reared its ugly head again. Going to my right was fairly fluid, but going to my left, I had real difficulty opening up my hips enough to clear his head with my leg. This is basic stuff, but I've got to get my hip flexibility way up before it feels comfortable. Having it done against me, I got a good feeling for how fast, fluid, and effective it can be. For learning some of the basics, it was great being paired up with someone who has considerable experience.

We next moved into having the person on his back defend while the person on top tried to hit his face. Chris had a pretty easy time neutralizing me from the bottom, while I had a much tougher time tying up his head and arm. It was here that my lack of conditioning really started catching up with me. I was having trouble catching my breath, as well as struggling to keep my head up while on the bottom. From this point on, I was fighting total exhaustion.

We then worked on a switch from the bottom: pin one arm, then lever over the opposite leg. Here, too, my lack of hip mobility caused real problems. I just wasn't flexible enough to easily get my leg into position. I understand it conceptually, but I'd be lying if I told you I ever got it down to where it was smooth.

Finally, we free-rolled. When you're a beginner, free-rolling is synonymous with "resisting ineffectually until your partner forces you to tap out." Any time it took him more than 20 seconds to tap me out, I felt quite proud.

Overall, it was a humbling experience, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. I'm going back tonight to take my lumps and start improving my conditioning.

I'll be starting back up with the Westside-style workouts this week--I've become a heavy weights convert. Traditional hypertrophy training just isn't as much fun as it used to be.

2003-11-19T18:45:00.000-08:00

11/19/03 Back to Basics, Continued

I want to start this off with a comment on my results from my Westside experiment. I hit PRs in all three powerlifts, and I definitely feel as though my speed, form, and stability improved. Just as exciting, I had three people in the gym today imply that I must be using steroids. For someone whose primary goal is still physique--and who vividly remembers wrestling at 125 pounds--it's impossible to overstate how cool such comments are. My decision to move away from Westside-style training right now had nothing to do with the protocol's ineffectiveness and everything to do with the fact that it's not a good fit for a time when I'm both sick and busy. I'm definitely planning on returning to Westside after a cycle or two of back-to-basics training.

I'm still tweaking how I'm going to cycle intensity with my back-to-basics training. I'm doing whole-body training 2-3 times a week, and I don't want to go with the simplistic easy day, medium day, hard day. The easy days would be too easy, and the hard days would be absolute killers. What I'm looking at right now is something like this:

Monday: Hard upper, easy lower
Wednesday: Easy upper, moderate lower
Friday: Moderate upper, hard lower

Friday will be the toughest day of the week, but I'll have the most time to recover from it. I'm still feeling this one out, though, so all of this may be scrapped without warning. Caveat lector. :-)

On to today's workout:

Press behind neck - 2x12x75
Bent-over row - 3x15x115
Bench press - 3x12x165
Curl - 1x10x75
Breathing squat* - 2x15x225
Dumbbell pullover** - 2x20x30
Stiff-legged deadlift - 1x15x185

* On the breathing squats, take three deep breaths between reps. This will feel awkward on the first few reps and necessary on the last few. These should be done ass to grass. A set of 15 breathing squats with 225 feels more difficult--at least to me--than a normal set of 15 with 225.

** The dumbbell pullovers are supersetted with the breathing squats. A short period of sitting on the floor trying not to gag may be necessary between the first and second set.

2003-11-18T07:42:00.000-08:00

11/17/03 A Detour

Since the weather started to change, I've been sick on and off with flulike symptoms that I just can't seem to shake. I've been drained, and I've found myself missing too many workouts to follow a protocol as rigidly structured as Westside-style powerlifting training. Therefore, I've switched to a back-to-basics approach adapted from John McCallum's Keys to Progress series. Right now, I'm looking at doing full-body training 2-3 times a week.

Press Behind the Neck - 2x12x95
Bent-Over Row - 3x15x155
Bench Press - 3x12x205

I was supposed to go on to curls, squats, pullovers, stiff-legged deadlifts, and leg raises, but I found myself feeling lightheaded after the benches, so I bagged the workout and went home. It's taken me years, but I've finally learned that when I train while feeling lightheaded, I'm sick for days afterward. I feel fine this morning, so I seem to have nipped things in the bud.

2003-10-30T06:43:00.000-08:00

10/29/03 Maximal Effort Bench Press

Medium Grip 2-board Press - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 250x3, 275x1, 300x1, 325x1, 345xMiss
Incline Close-Grip Bench Press - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 200x3, 200x3
Seated DB Cleans - 3x10x40
Bent-Over Row - 200x5, 210x5, 225x5
Hanging Leg Raises - 5x15xBW

The miss on 345 was a narrow miss, at least according to my spotter. He says he gave me less than 5 pounds at the start, and I can attest that the weight shot right up after that.

2003-10-27T16:46:00.000-08:00

10/27/03 Maximal Effort Squat/Deadlift

Deadlift - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 275x3, 315x3, 365x1, 405x1 !, 425xMiss, 425xMiss
Glute Ham Raise - 5x5x10
Front Squat - 135x10, 145x10, 155x10, 165x10
Good Morning - 185x8, 195x8, 205x8
Pulldown Abs - 5x15x105

On the two misses on the deadlift, the bar stalled just a couple of inches off the floor. The deadlift has always been my worst lift, though, so I'm pretty excited about hitting 405, pathetic as that might be.

2003-10-27T07:08:00.000-08:00

10/26/03 Dynamic Effort Bench Press

Bench Press - 10x3x185, 225x2, 250x2, 275x2, 300x2
Decline Dumbbell Triceps Extensions - 4x6x40
Reverse-Grip Pressdowns - 3x15x80
Front/Side/Rear Laterals* - 1x20x20, 1x10x20, 2x5x20
Pulldown Abs - 5x10x120
Hammer Curl - 3x10x40

* The front/side/rear laterals are done as a giant set to improve strength endurance and stability in the shoulders. Hence, 20 reps to the front, 20 to the sides, and 20 bent-over rear laterals before you put down the dumbbells. My goal was two sets of twenty. After the first set of twenty, though, there were tears in my eyes, breakfast in my throat, and the pain of fatigue in my shoulders. I had to cut my reps in half for the next set and in half again for the subsequent set to get through it. It's amazing how heavy a 20-pound dumbbell can come to feel.

2003-10-27T07:02:00.000-08:00

10/24/03 Dynamic Effort Squat/Deadlift

Box Squat - 10x2x215, 225x2, 275x2, 315x2, 340x2, 365x2, 385x2, 405x2 !
Romanian Deadlift - 3x8x185
Pull-ups - 3x8xBW*
Glute-Ham Raises - 4x15xBW**

* I vary my grips when I do pull-ups because I feel the movement differently with different grips. The first set I did with a wide pronated grip. The second set was with a shoulder-width pronated grip, and the third set was with a shoulder-width supinated grip. This moves from a position of minimal mechanical advantage to positions of greater mechanical advantage on each set.

** I typically do these as a low-rep exercise, and I got a reminder of why. Wow, these hurt. I wanted to shock my hamstrings with something unaccustomed, though, and this definitely did it. It's something I'll keep in the tool chest, but it's not one to be brought out unless you're really looking to shake things up.

2003-10-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

10/22/03 Maximal Effort Bench Press

Medium Grip One-Board Press - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 250x3, 275x1, 295x1, 315x1, 335x1 !
Seated DB Shoulder Press - 5x10x50
Incline Triceps Extension - 5x6x95
Face Pulls - 5x15x100

I finally feel like I'm generating enough speed off my chest on the presses. 315 absolutely flew up, and while 335 was a struggle, it was a weight I hadn't even planned on attempting this workout.

2003-10-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

10/20/03 Maximal Effort Squat/Deadlift

I'm back, baby! After a weekend of excess and a week of paying for it with a mild case of the flu, I finally worked out again last night for the first time in a week and a half. I'm paying for missing a week and a half of workouts today, though. On to the workout:

Good Morning Squats* - 45x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 250x1, 275x1, 295x1, 315x1, 335x1
Glute Ham Raises - 5x5xBW
Barbell Lunges - 4x10x135
Pull-Throughs - 3x8x150
Pulldown Abs - 5x15x100

* To do a Good Morning Squat, do a Good Morning down until your upper body is parallel to the ground. From there, squat down to rock bottom, get your hips back under the bar and your upper body upright while still at the bottom, and squat back up. This one's a bear, and you'll know you've done it properly if your calves, quads, glutes, hamstrings, lower back, upper back, neck, and possibly ears feel thoroughly smoked.

Louie Simmons recommends the Good Morning Squat as what he calls "chaos training." Most competition squats are lost when the bar comes forward and the lifter bends at the hips. The Good Morning Squat is designed to teach you to recover from that awkward position, as well as to give you the core strength to resist having it happen in the first place.

On a subjective note, I've absolutely fallen in love with the Good Morning Squat. It may be the most fun I've ever had with a max effort squat movement. The lunges were definitely a pain in the butt afterward, though.

2003-10-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

I'm a slacker

Friday was supposed to be dynamic effort squat/deadlift, and Sunday was supposed to be dynamic effort bench press, but one of my best friends was in town from Germany for the weekend. No training and plenty of beer drinking this weekend, instead. Some things are more important than getting in your speed work for the week.

Today's max effort squat/deadlift, though, and I'm getting right back on track after work.

2003-10-09T06:11:00.000-07:00

10/8/03 Maximal Effort Bench Press

Floor Press - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 250x3, 275x1, 300x1, 325x1 !
JM Press - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 255x3, 255x3 !
Incline DB Press - 2x10x80
Seated DB Clean - 4x8x35
Hanging Leg Raises - 5x15

I finally hit that 325 floor press! Man, it's tough to get any real speed going on these.

The pain in the forearms was still there on the pressing movements, but it felt more bearable. I think doing my GHRs with my hands behind my back Monday really helped reduce the pounding they'd been taking.

Barney, the PR on the JM presses is dedicated to you.

2003-10-07T06:11:00.000-07:00

10/6/03 Maximal Effort Squat/Deadlift

Low Box Squat - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 275x3, 315x3, 365x1, 405x1, 420x1, 435x1 !
Glute Ham Raise - 5x5xBW
Dimel Deadlift - 2x20x175, 1x20x135*
Pull-Through - 3x8x150
Pulldown Abs - 5x15x90
Leg Extension - 3x10x175

*I wasn't fast or explosive enough with 175, so I dropped the weight to really get it rocketing up. This movement is more about explosiveness and power than about the amount of weight you're moving.

2003-10-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

10/5/03 Dynamic Effort Bench Press

Bench Press - 10x3x185, 225x1, 250x1, 275x1, 295x1, 315x1
Close-Grip Bench Press - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 250x3
One-Arm DB Extension - 3x10x40 !
Plate Raise - 3x10x45
Hammer Curl - 3x10x40

This was one of those workouts that just wasn't fun. My forearms are a little painful from a bad habit I picked up on my glute-ham raises: I touch my fingertips to the floor at the bottom, and if I'm not careful, I find myself giving a small fingertip push when I start back up. This not only takes work away from my glutes and hamstrings; it also makes pressing work painful. My presses were disappointing today, and it was all due to pain in the undersides of my forearms.

The pain limited my explosiveness on my speed benches, and it limited the weight I could use on the close-grip benches. It also made this the toughest workout I've done in a while, psychologically. Very tempting to just bag it. It got better once I was done with the presses, though.

2003-10-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

10/3/03: Dynamic Effort Squat/Deadlift

Box Squat - 10x2x200
Speed Deadlift - 8x2x225
Good Mornings - 5x8x195
Hammer Hi Row - 4x8x255
Glute Ham Raise - 3x6xBW
Pulldown Abs - 5x10x100

I would have done leg extensions as well, but I was fighting through yesterday's workout with a sinus headache and wasn't about to add extra work just to make my quads look pretty. :-)

2003-10-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

10/01/03: Maximal Effort Bench Press

Floor Press - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 250x3, 275x1, 295x1, 325xmiss*
JM Press - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 250x3, 250x3
Incline DB Press - 2x10x75
Seated DB Cleans - 4x8x35
Vertical Bench Leg Raises - 5x15
Bent-Over DB Lateral Raise - 3x10x35

*I hit 315 last week, but in retrospect, the jump from 295 to 325 may have been too high. Next time, I'll try a rep at 310 before going for a PR at 325.

2003-10-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

9/29/03: Maximal Effort Squat/Deadlift

Low Box Squat - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 275x3, 315x3, 365x1, 405x1, 425x1 !
Glute-Ham Raises - 5x5xBW
Dimel Deadlifts - 3x20x155
Good Mornings - 3x8x185
Pulldown Abs - 5x15x85
Leg Extensions - 3x10x150

2003-10-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

9/28/03: Dynamic Effort Bench Press

Bench Press - 10x3x185 (Done explosively)
Close-Grip Bench Press - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 255x3, 255x3
One-Arm Triceps Extensions - 3x10x35
Plate Raise - 3x10x45
Hammer Curls - 2x10x35, 1x10x40

2003-10-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

How to read my training log:

Everyone writes down their reps, sets, weights, and tempos differently. Any weights I list will be in pounds. My standard notation looks like this:

10x3x185

or like this:

185x3.

In the first example, it's sets, reps, weight, or 10 sets of 3 with 185 pounds. In the second example, it's weight, reps for one set. So it's a single set of 3 with 185 pounds.

You may also see something like this:

425x1 !

The "!" indicates that it's a personal record--a weight I've never done before. I'm hoping you become very familiar with that one. :-)

2003-10-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone, and welcome to my on-line training log. Right now, my training philosophy is based on the Westside Barbell template, albeit tweaked a bit for physique reasons. I'll be posting my workouts here as they happen, as well as occasional thoughts about my philosophy of training as it changes. I welcome your questions and any feedback about anything you see here. Feel free at any time to e-mail me at christopher.mcclinch@ngc.com.