The Deload that turned into a Reload

This is Mike Gallagher hitting some splits today between sets of bench.


3/31/2011

Still deloading but decided to do some heavy bench today, was feeling good. Rest of the training was kept easy. Had Mike and Jeff training today too which was fun. Getting quite a few meatheads out there with the alpacas and emus. I feel like this may be the next trend in fitness.

No time for static stretching. I was pimpin it at produce junction. Getting my nutrition on.

Dynamic Warmup

Bench Press - SS with Ring Dynos
95 x 10
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 3
245 x 3
265 x 3
280 x 1
295 x 1
300 x 3 - New Best baby. Back in the PRs with bench. Feels great.

Strict Pullups SS w/DB windmill 3 x 10 @60lbs
25lbs x 4
45lbs x 4
70lbs x 4
90lbs x 4

and done.

Eats.

8:00am
eggs
mushrooms
spinach
butter
coconut oil

1:00pm
Big salad (apples, walnuts, carrots, celery)
Oil and vinegar
Pemmican(lots)

4:00
Pemmican, lots

6:00 2 bananas + 20g BCAA and 1 liter h2o

7:45 - shake - 2 banana, 1 grapefruit, 2 oranges, strawberries, iguana eye balls

10:00pm
Salad with sweet potato
some type of meat I haven't cooked yet.

Goals

Alright, some goals and some time lines to achieve them by.

Axle Clean and Jerk - 290 on April 11th, 320 by fall 2011 current best 270 x 3
Log Clean and Jerk - 275 on May 2nd, 300 by fall 2011 current best 265
Deadlift - 550lbs on June 13th, 565 by Fall 2011 - current best 535
Bench Press - 350 x 1 Fall 2011 current best 330
Farmers 350lbs/hand x 50' by Fall 2011 current best 330/hand x 40'
Yoke 850lbs x 50' by Fall 2011 - No idea really I've taken 800ish for a few feet before.
Regulate my blood pressure - (Boooo!)

Thats pretty much it. The log, axle and dead lift are most important to me right now.

Tonight we dine... in HECK! (Or my parent's kitchen)

A wise man once said..

"Flow is so sweet, I eat angels for dinner, Call me what you want, I don't give a finger in the middle"

- Lil Wayne

Poetry in motion really. On the same level as my man Thoreau and Benny Franklin.

I think I got some training in today before my practical exam. My heart rate was sitting around 150beats per minute waiting for the exam to start. Even one year in I still can't control my nerves before these start!

Back to training. Today was fun. I'm deloading but I ended up going for some yoke work for speed. I've never felt so fast with these weights.

Static Stretch T-Spine/Ankles/Hips/Quads/Lats

Dynamic stretch (really gets me gassed!) 15 min.

Deadlifts
135 x 5
185 x 5
235 x 3
285 x 3 - all easy, back is feeling better. I'm working on getting tighter with my deadlift. Makes the weight almost want to pop off the floor. I'm so tight!

Supersetted the deadlifts with box jumps 3 x 3-5 @51" box jump(1 step) Got one from a stand still too

Yoke Walk
180lbs x 50'
360 x 50'
500 x 50'
600 x 50' in 10.1 seconds. New best 700 x 50' in 15.6 seconds. New best

Backwards Sled Drag SS w/band chops
205lbs x 100' (all sets had a turn around at 50')
255 x 100'
300 x 100'
350 x 100'
400 x 100' 450 x 100' Had to take 2 breathers near the end.

Really jacked up about the yoke. Didn't go in planning on going that heavy but everything was feeling put together and I felt great. Still not using a belt for anything. Excited to see the difference once I throw it on.

Eating good tonight!
10:00am - got some much needed sleep
Eggs
Mushrooms
Spinach
Butter
Olive Oil

2:00pm
1 apple w/almond butter
Lots of bone broth soup w/chicken and veggies, and some beef lard.... Can't seem to eat anything nowadays without beef fat in it.

5:00pm - post exam nutrition/preworkout nutrition
A whole bunch of raisins (pretty much tore up my stomach, don't think I'll eat as many in the future)

6-7:30pm - 30g BCAA and 1 liter water

8:00pm
4 oranges
2 grapefruit
2 bananas
strawberries
nothing new here

10:00pm - Feast! I love this part of the day.
Lots of sweet potatoes roasted in olive oil
Big Salad, lots of oil
Roast Beast

mmmmm...

3/27/2011

Deload week. I trained today(sunday) because I wanted to be able to study for my practical on tuesday. Felt pretty good. Sunny day but cold outside still.

Static Stretch Calves/Hips/Quads/T-spine

Dynamic Warmup

Flat Dumbbell Press SS w/Band fallouts (went easy on these, back is much much better but not 100% yet)
60lbs x 6
80 x 6
95 x 6
110 x 6
120 x 4
130 x 3 - Matched my best from way back in the day. This is a good sign. I was 210lbs back then.

Cable Face Pull 3 x 15 @50-60lbs

Axle Curls 3 x 9-12 @85-95lbs

10:00am (I know, late night on saturday)
Eggs
Bacon
Raw Sheeps milk cheese
Avocado
Mushrooms
Onions
Coffee w/creme and sugar (I'm so badass!)

2:00
Beer Battered cod
Green beans mushrooms and oil

3:00
Bone broth chicken vegetable soup

5-6:00 - 20g BCAA and water

6:30 - juice - 2 grapefruit, 4 oranges

Probably going to cook up some grass fed beef burgers tonight w/avocado mushrooms cheese, the works. Top it off with some home made sweet tater fries.

3/25/2011

This is your back on drugs...


F my back!

Should have known not to push too hard today but I went for it and my back isn't feeling great. Nothing big. Just really going to savor the deload week coming up.

Static stretch

Dynamic warmup

Power Hang Clean SS w/single leg box jumps
95 x 5
135 x 3
185 x 3, 3
205 x 3
225 x 3
245 x 1 - should have stopped here, felt my back a touch
225 x 15 - new best but I'm going to pay for it. I love lifting too much

Ab Saw 3 x 15 - called it! Work tomorrow I'm pumped!

7:30am
eggs
avocado
mushrooms
butter olive oil

11:00am
Pemmican

12:00pm - 4 lara bars

3:00p
4 lara bars
chicken and vegetable soup(bone broth)

5:00-6:00 - forgot my drink (not the usual pop today in the gym)

6:30 - 2 bananas, strawberries, 1 grapefruit, 1 orange (Im seeing a pattern here)

Whatever Steph's mom is making for din din.

Egg City

Dali really knew how to party. If only I had access to eggs like this, I'd be enormous

I am taking new steps into a bold new place in training. A place where I haven't been for over six months. This is the land of PRs. Basically this is a really complex way of saying I've been making some solid progress lately. Hit a new best on bench. Haven't gotten a new best on bench since 2007 back when I was a cheesy 210lbs. Now I'm lactose free. (Man is this blog making any sense today?) My back is feeling like it needs a rest. Deloading next week. I'm planning on my back cooperating in some strong hang cleans and tire work in tomorrow. We shall see!

Static stretch (T-spine/lats)

Dynamic warmup - feeling a bit lethargic from the farmers tuesday(which felt awesome by the way)

Bench a Press - SS w/Rope dynos
95 x 15
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 3
255 x 3
275 x 1
270 x 8 - Holy smokes, haven't hit a lift like this in far too long.
225 x 15 - done this before. Smoked from the 270.

Strict Pullup SS w/DB Windmill 2 x 15/side @90lbs
25lbs x 12
35 x 12
45 x 10 + 2 stragglers(they weren't sexy reps)

Done!

7:00am
Bone Broth chicken soup w/veggies

9:00 - 2 TBSP coconut oil

11:30 - Bone Broth chicken soup w/veggies

3:30 - 2 sweet potatoes w/butter and walnuts

4:30p - raisins

5:30-7:00p - 40g BCAA and water

7:30 - shake - 2 bananas, 2 oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, blueberries
Salad w/cheese and roast beef

10:30 - eggs w/avocado and veggies

4,700Kcal - been packing away food lately. Scale said 182 the other night. I'm so fly-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBjzAdpZzf0

Euphoria!

Well since spring break is over I definitely feel like school has done an excellent job of taking away any type of normal behavior in my life and replaced it with work so that's good. I haven't been able to write in this bad boy but I've still been working baby! Suck it UMDNJ!

Strength has been gaining steady. Lots of new bests recently. I'm competing at battle of the bad ass May 28th. Going to be the start of another great strongman season and God Willing another national championship. (Big guy is on my side, I'm feeling good)

3/22/11

Stretch Hips/Quads/Calves/T-spine

Dynamic warmup

Deads + 100lbs of chains(30lbs at the bottom 90 at the top)

135 x 5

225 x 5

315 x 5

405 x 5

435 x 2 and 2 more half reps (kept missing cause the chains pulled me forward, pretty lame)

Farmers

105/hand x 100ft + turn at 50

195 x 100ft + turn at 50

245 x 50'

295 x 50' - easiest this has ever felt

330 x 40' - Huge PR didn't even poop myself or anything

Car Push

3 x 100-150'ish for speed

In days past I hit

Bench 260 x 10, 285 x 4

DB Press

110s x 12

120s x 9

Hang Power Clean 240 x 10 (straps)

Medley of log/axle/log - 230/255/230 - log is feeling Nice and light. Axle felt like crud. Making that my new overhead lift next cycle.

Well, lets see whats new in Dan's curious house of not so tempting treats. I made some saurkraut tonight. Adds some great beneficial bacteria in your diet. Also brewing up some bone broth right now. Gotta get that natural glucosamine and chondroitin! I also ate a pteradactyl eye, just for fun.

7:00am - Steak and eggs + butter + olive oil

Apple and almond butter

12:00p

Salad + oil + sheep's milk cheese

Pemmican

3:30p

1 apple + almond butter

2 sweet potatoes w/butter and walnuts

5:00p

2 bananas

6:00-7:30 40g BCAA in 1 liter water

8:00 Smoothie w/4 oranges, 2 grapefruit, 2 bananas, strawberries

11:00

Salad + chicken + cheese + lotsa of oil dressing

2 sweet potato + butter.

Wow 5650 calories today. I'm a boss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NisCkxU544c

Hello brothers and sisters of the iron

Ya, that was a pretty lame title. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Anyway I spent most of my day writing a nifty article about back pain and it ended up turning into a bit of a novel. I'm going to proof read it a bit, add some references and toss it up here soon. Let me know what ya think when it comes out please.

Good Day at the gym. Matt, Greg and Maria came today. Maria is very strong! She benched 135 and also benched 95 x 10. very impressive. Big new best from Greg today too. Hit a new best at 145lbs. He started at around 90lbs being his best.

I was late so I skipped the static stretch

Dynamic warmup

Bench Press SS w/dyno pullups 3 x 3/side
Bar x 10
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 3
225 x 3
250 x 1
275 x 1
285 x 4 260 x 8 -These are new bests, not sure if I'm at my best yet but improving definitely.

Strict Pullups
45 x 6
55 x 6
70 x 6
65 x 6

Dumbbell Windmills
60 x 6/side
110 x 4/side
130 x 2(left) x 4(right) - definitely new bests haven't gone heavy on these in the past

Wow in retrospect this workout seemed more exciting then it was!

Food Stuffs

11:00am I slept approximately a billion hours last night
4-5 small eggs
2 strips bacon
1/4 onion
mushrooms
butter
olive oil
raw sheep's milk cheese

2:30pm
handful nuts

3:00pm
Big salad
lots of dressing
Quinoa and vegetables
1/2 coconut breaded chicken breast
Lots of pecans

7:00-8:30pm - 40g BCAA and water

9:00
Shake w/4 bananas, 1 orange, 1 grapefruit, strawberries
2 white potatos w/butter (raw organic, grass fed)
Lean pork chops (ran outta my own meat used some of Mom and Dad Pope's food.

11:00
Fish oil ZMA and vit. D
3 Chicken drumsticks
Pemmican (40% beef lard and and 60% deer jerky) I know I'm gross. If it makes you feel like I'm any more normal the pemmican is an excellent source of fat soluble vitamins, CLA and Omega 3 fatty acids.

Slacked a bit on the calories today - Maybe hit about 3800-4,000kcal. I want you guys to keep in mind the reason why I can eat so many calories is because of my activity levels, how much I train, my own metabolism and the types of foods that I eat (ie: lots of grains, starches and carbs will make you gain weight) John Berardi (First guy I ever learned about nutrition from, he's great) brought up a pretty cool term called energy flux. The more energy i can get into my body and utilize the more tissue turnover I'll have in my body. This leads to faster gains in musculature and strength. Hey not a bad trade off.

Sleep McGeep Happy St. Pat's

New Deadlift Best

Well hello, hello!

Worked on some renovations at team llama bash gym today in my backyard. Started putting up a gate to the park next door for easy access to the black top. Last time I did yoke i loaded 800lbs of weights onto a golf cart and drove 1/4 miles to to the park and then all the way back. I mean its awesome doing all that, but I decided it would be nicer to only have to walk 30 feet instead. First time doing Yoke in about 6 months. First time Matt and Greg ever tried the Yoke. Needless to say everyone's backs were feeling like got trampled by water buffalos in the Serengeti (are there water buffalos there? Did I spell that right?) Awesome day though, I'm planning on making myself a new dragging sled and filling up my kegs with sand and cement before the week is over.

Without further ado!

Static stretch - 20 minutes (Hips/quads/calves)

Dynamic warmup w/jump rope (15 min)

Deadlift SS w/Band Broad jump 5 x 3
135 x 5
225 x 3, 1
315 x 3
365 x 3
405 x 1
455 x 1
480 x 1
500 x 1
520 x 1 - No Belt or wraps, def a new best beltless. Alltime best is 530 belted and strapped. Had to hitch a bit to finish.

Yoke -ma-loke
360 x 50'
540 x 50'
610 x 50'
660 x 30'
710 x 30' - no belt, felt surprisingly light considering my lack of yoking lately. Must be all the yolks i eat (HA!)

Sled Reverse Drag
440lbs x 50'
380 x 50'

What am I eating now?

7:00am
1/2 cup Unicorn kneecaps

8:30am - eggs and sweet potatos (butter and coconut oil, yes)

12:00p
Coconut chicken
Handful of almonds

3:30p
Coconut chicken
sweet potatos butter

6:00-7:30 - 40g BCAA and water (I think the BCAAs are really helping)

8:00p
2 chicken breasts
1 baked potato + butter
tomato sauce

11:00p
Salad w/salad dressing
quinoa salad w/vegetables
ground turkey mexican salad w/vegetables

Ok, so I left my groceries at steph's so my diet is a little sub par. I'm working on it.

3/14/2011

Training

Static Stretch

Dynamic warmup

Log Clean and Press SS w/MB slam 4 x 5
90 x 5
140 x 5 (viper)
180 x 3 (viper)
200 x 1 (viper)
220 x 1
230 x 1
247 x 1 went up pretty easy, not too shabby

Dumbbell Press SS w/band fallout 2 x 12
62 x 10
92 x 10
112 x 10
122 x 6 - heavier then I thought it was gonna be. Glad we got more weight.

Axle Curl 3 x 8-12
Band Face Pullapart

Flag/lever work

Diet: Left most of my groceries at steph's house because I couldn't keep them fresh while at the club in atlantic city. Little sparse on the food

9:00am
Bone broth - lots

12:00pm
Liverwurst + mashed sweet potato w/butter

4:00pm
liverwurst
Smoothie - 1 grapefruit, 1 orange, coconut flakes, 2 bananas

8:00
roast beef
Mashed sweet potato w/butter

Really lacking greens here, They're all in north jersey, till tuesday night

10:00pm same as 8:00

3/11/2011

I'm in a bad place right now. Didn't feel like training, skipped most of the stuff I had planned

Hang Clean
250 x 5

550 tire flip 16 reps in 60 seconds.

Abs, Done

Quick post

2 midterms tomorrow, gotta make this quick

Static Stretch

Dynamic warmup w/ladder

Bench Press SS w/clap pullups 5 x 3
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 5
185 x 3
215 x 3
235 x 3
255 x 1
275 x 1
275 x 5
245 x 11 -Getting stronger

Strict weighted pullup
25lbs x 8
35 x 8
45 x 8
55 x 8

Dumbbell Windmill 3 x 8 - touch the floor
60 x 8
80 x 8
90 x 8

Diet was a more of the same. I made bone broth w/veggies and had a bunch of liverwurst today

Finished the day between 4500 and 5000kcal - big eating day. Weight still at 175

You know your gym is fantastic when you have Emu defecation on the floor.

3/8/2011 - Deadlifts for days

Static Stretch - hips flexors/quads, Hip lateral rotators, Soleus

Dynamic warmup w/jump rope

Deadlift SS w/band resisted broad jump 5 x 5
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3
365 x 1
415 x 1
460 x 4 - No Belt/straps, dead stop. New Best.

Farmer's walk 15' strip again
275/hand x 15' drop and repick. I got 5 trips in 60 seconds.

Band Chops 2 x 8/side

Human flag and front lever practice.

Food:

7:00am
Sweet potatos fried w/olive oil
2 chicken drumsticks
handful almonds

12:00
3 chicken drumsticks
sweet potato fried w/olive oil
Handful almonds

4:00 1/2 shake of
4 bananas
2 grapefruit
4 oranges - god i love cheap produce from produce junction

6-7:30 - 40g BCAA in water

8:00pm 1/2 shake

10:00pm
2 Chicken drumstick
5 small eggs with onions, mushrooms
Salad w/olive oil
Mashed sweet potato with butter
Raw sheep's milk cheese

Kcal: 4600.

Get your mind out of the gutter and pass the butter!

AHHHHH!!! Me and Matt showing functional training at its best.

3/7/2011 - Done deloading!

Static Stretch (3 minutes per stretch - hip flexors/quads, Soleus, Hip Lateral Rotators)

Dynamic Warmup - Made 4 new warm ups. Trying to get a video of each during spring break. Took me 15 minutes

Band No Moneys 2 x 25
Band Pullaparts 2 x 25

12" log clean and press (Clean each rep) SS w/ MB slam 4 x 5
90lbs x 5 + a few viper presses
140 x 3 + a few viper presses
170 x 3
190 x 3
205 x 3
220 x 3 - First time back and I'm almost at my all time bests, no belt. All felt light.

Dumbbell Press SS w/band fallout 2 x 12-15
60lbs x 5
80lbs x 5
100lbs x 20 - I need more weight, definitely a new best

Axle Reverse Curls / Band Face pullaparts

Eatskiggles

7:00a
Chicken noodle soup
Salad w/dressing
handful almonds raw organic

10;00am
6 eggs
raw sheep milk
pecans

2:00pm
Chicken salad w/vegetables
handful almonds

5:00pm
3 bananas

6:00-7:30 - 40g BCAA and water

8:00 - crap ton of raisins - organic

10;00
sweet tater fries w/olive oil
5 Chicken drumsticks

Total Kcal - 4500 heyooo! This has been normal for me lately. Weight around 175 still

3/4/11

Missed my posting this day so I'll put it here.

Dynamic warmup

Hang Clean
95 x 3
135 x 3
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 3
240 x 3
255 x 3
265 x 3 UGLY, pretty pumped with this though

Stone a lones
Couple warmups then
311 x miss
311 x miss
311 x 1 - misses were from tacky problems(its cold outside!)

back is feeling pretty jacked up!

droppin loads

Still the old boring deload.

Dynamic warmup - been adding in some cardio for the ticker.

Lots of L-seat/bubka/planche/lever work

Strict Pullup SS w/band dynamic stick chop (figure the one out) 4 x 5
25lbs x 6
35 x 4
45 x 2
35 x 6
50 x 4
70 x 2
50 x 6
70 x 4
90 x 2 - no swing

Band Facepullapart - double contract 2 x 12
DB Pronate/supinate curls 2 x 12/direction

Car Push 2 x 75steps uphill

Donezo

Still feeling sharty from all the stress from school. Three more exams next week and midterms are over. Hoping for a sick ass week coming up.

Eats.

9:00am
5 small eggs fried
1 onion
lotsa mushrooms
broccoli
olive oil
butter
coconut oil - get those fats in brother
Raw sheep milk locatelli
All fried together in a happy medley

Bone broth w/vegetables (lots of minerals, protein, glycoaminoglycans(like glutamine, for your joints!)

2:00pm (wasn't hungry for a long time after all that delicious for breakfast)
3 mashed sweet potatoes with butter
Salmon with chimichurri sauce (trader Joe's)

5:00 - 1/2 smoothie 3 bananas, 2 oranges, strawberries, 1 grapefruit

6-7:30 - 25g BCAA and h2o

8:00p - 1/2 smoothie

10:00 - sweet potato fries in olive oil and spices
Bone broth
Salad - romaine, carrots, tomato, celery this week.
Olive/walnut oil dressing
Salmon (same as earlier)

I keep it real. Pumped for my shoulder clinic tomorrow for class! Going to Philly to learn from a shoulder Physical therapy clinic.

Deload Week

heyooo!

Still deloading, feeling a bit better today. Had some solid sleep last night. Pitch black room, no electronics blinking I usually wake up before my alarm feeling nice and fresh.

Lets get to it.

Static Stretch - 15 minutes - spoke to Professor Butler, allstar physical therapist. He is pointing that people need about 15 minutes of end range stretching per day to get more flexible, so what do I do? Stretch my hips for 15 minutes

Dynamic warmup - I put some cutting edge cardio into my warmup (jump rope) between exercises. Adds about 5 minutes to the warmup. Every time I gain some weight my blood pressure ends up following suit(is that spelled correctly?). So I thought I'd add in a bit more cardio in hopes of saving my blood pump.
Band Bird dogs 2 x 15/side
Band X-walk 2 x 12/side

I just really played around a lot today. today is usually deadlift and farmers/yoke so I wasn't doing them. Instead I did human flags and handstand crap for a long time. I've got some new tricks up my sleeve, you may find me on america's got talent at some point(the gag reels).

Single Leg Deadlifts SS w/box jumps 4 x 5
95 x 5/leg
135 x 5/leg
185 x 3/leg
135 x 10/leg

Ring Absaw - 4 x 10-15

And that was pretty much it...

Goodeets

7:00am
Like 5 sweet potatoes in olive oil, I'm so fat
1 chicken drumstick

11:00
Sweet potato fries in olive oil maybe 2 potatoes?
2 chicken drumsticks

2:30
4 fried eggs
mushrooms
onions
olive oil
butta

5:00
2 chicken breasts
2 bananas

6-7:00p - 25g BCAA in H2O

8:00 - 2 oranges, 2 bananas, strawberries, 1 grapefruit
1 chicken breasts

10:00
Salad
3 mashed sweet potatoes with butter and walnuts
2 chicken drum sticks - I made so many of these!