Daily Undulating Periodization Experiment

My next two competitions are going to be interesting to say the least. I somehow qualified for two international powerlifting competitions… on the same weekend… on different days… at the same location. So, being a psychopath, I signed up and am good to go for both. With back to back days of competing and just being too busy to do/being bored with my routine, I really needed a change. I have the fortunate pleasure of being good friends with Dr. Zourdos. For those unfamiliar, he is this guy:

Along with being one of the smartest people on earth, he also shares my propensity towards being a total nutcase when it comes to training. With him being one of only a handful of people I would trust with my training, I am now completely in his hands and have turned all things training over to him. Below are my final 2 training sessions in this second week of his training. I end it with some thoughts on the training so far. Enjoy the form of my destructor:

Friday-12/27/13- Squats and murder my soul day.

Rushed again today. My schedule is an absolute soul rendering nightmare. Surprisingly enough, I work much more efficiently when I have a busy schedule. I find myself more stressed out when I don’t have a lot going on. It could be the schedule or it could be that training heavy and hard the last 8 straight days has completely destroyed whatever self preservation mechanism I had intact. It’s hard to let the world get you down when it feels like the Devil is pissing napalm directly into your spinal fluid.

Would probably still feel better than an Agent Orange shower. A, B, A, C, A, B, B.

Squats-

500x3x4<~~~ these felt great. Speed was awesome. I am getting much better at not caving my upper back out of the hole. I seriously think if I can improve my posture, I will be good for at least 670 at the Arnold.

515x2x3, Plus set-515×6<~~~ had more in the tank but form went to shit. I still have a lot to work on but the first 5 reps were a smoke show. The last one was a shit show.

DLs- All of these were fast and easy.

645x3x1<~~~ only used a belt on the first set.

605x2x1

Saturday-12/28/13-Bench and almost burned the gym to the ground…

So, I get to the gym (one of 4 different commercial gyms I train at right now due to schedule) and the only rack in the place is occupied. Usually, this would piss me off, but the rack was being used by a mid-30 year old women deadlifting 235 for reps. Instead of my normal rack intervention (which involves direct, unwavering eye contact, low decibel growling guttural noises, and standing uncomfortably close to the person performing the exercise) I just did a ton of shoulder traction and hip flexor stretches. I didn’t want to be gym douchebag guy and go help the girl with her form because it actually wasn’t that bad and most guys that put themselves in situations like that are just looking for a new naked snapchat friend. Since I am not a textual predator, I waited patiently. That is until the exact creepy gym bastard I just described came up to the poor girl and started completely spouting some of the worst bullshit I have ever heard. Whether it was incorrect foot positioning, or how she shouldn’t warm-up before squats because you want the muscles to be tight out of the hole, or how she should be looking straight up at the ceiling when she deadlifts, or how (insert whatever your wildest imagination can come up with here). I finally had to intervene before he killed this lady. I asked a non-threatening “I wasn’t eavesdropping or anything, but do either of you guys compete.” After a 10 minute diatribe of how this guy deadlifted 650 at 150lbs (bullshit) and how he hurt his shoulder (bullshit) and how he hurt his back (bullshit) and how he is currently just training to look good naked (a point he exclaimed while staring directly into the eyes of deadlift girl while doing that creepy “I love you so much that I want to wear your skin like a meat parka” wide eyed slow head nod) , I politely began to add my 2 cents. Once I started getting into how navicular drop can affect hip torque during the amortization phase of the squat, my gym dominance had been established and that guy packed up his fingerless gloves, headband(s), energy water, and left the area. After a little conversation, she realized I wasn’t trying to kidnap her, and she seemed genuinely interested in the powerlifts. So, I gave her some technique tips and some basic programming advice. This whole ordeal last about 45 minutes. I finally got to the rack and:

Bench-

305x3x4

315x2x3, Plus set-315×6<~~~ maybe had 7 or 8. Feeling pretty tired and I didn’t want to fail.

Push Press- 225x3x4

Weighted Chin-ups… ok, so I was really fired up to do this because I have always sucked at chin-ups (hands supinated) and have NEVER done a chin or a pull up with added weight before. I weighed 270 this morning so I knew this was going to suck.

BW-x4. Felt easy

+25lbsx2x4… PR! Will up the weight next week.

Things I have noticed so far with the first 2 weeks of DUP:

1. My legs don’t fit in my pants to the point of my girlfriend asking me “When the hell did you start wearing skinny jeans?”

2. My technique on squats and bench is getting better every session.

3. I think I have some deep weird ingrained drive for some kind of Neanderthal urge to completely destroy myself that is being satisfied by the high frequency of training.

4. The density of my shoulders and traps is NOTICABLY increasing. I might actually look like I lift by the Arnold.

5. Today is Sunday. Today is supposed to be an off day. I already feel guilty for not training so I am going to do an hour or two of:

-Voodoo band work on knees and elbows

-Lax ball problem areas

-Scrape problem areas (neck for some reason, left vastus medialis/patellar tendon)

-Static stretch hip flexors and hip internal rotators

-20-30 minute contrast shower.

As of right now, if I can stay healthy, I really think that I am going to wreck shit at the Arnold.

Sprint. Kill. Eat. Rest days and off seasons are for losers.