Training 1/5/15

Bench press - worked up to 225x1, then 185 for 5x8
Seated DB military press - 50's - 28, 16, 12 (2 mins b/w sets)
Band tricep pushdowns - orange - 1x100
Face pulls - 1x100

I've never understood the desire to be famous, especially to be famous for nothing. It's very clear that many people simply want to be well known. Doesn't matter what it's for - they just want people to know who they are. I really started thinking about this recently with Johnny Manziel. It's pretty clear the guy just wants to be a famous football player. He doesn't actually care about being good. Don't get me wrong, he wants to be good, I'm sure. But he doesn't care so much that he's going to devote himself to making sure he gets better. And that's what gets me. Why wouldn't you want to become the best you possibly can, and let the fame take care of itself? JJ Watt has pretty much taken that approach, and I'd say it's working out well for him.
Don't get me wrong, it'd be great to be well-known. But I'd like people to know who I am because of who I am. How I carry myself, my actions, my accomplishments. Not because I'm great at marketing myself or I've built up such an aura that people are mesmerized. Hopefully, at some point, people will stop falling for the sizzle and keep their eye out for steak.

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." -Zig Ziglar

I've also seen it put as something to the effect of "the great thing about goals is the person they force you to become to achieve them." 

Training 1/2

Bent-over row - sets of 10 w/ 1 second hold at top (95, 115, 135), then 4x8, no pause, using a bit of English the last couple sets - 155, 175, 185, 185
Neutral-grip chinups - 12, 10, 8, 6
A. DB shrugs - 75s - 5x20
B. Good morning - 95 - 4x10

Training 12/31

Felt pretty good going in, and it was a solid session. Granted, the weights were light, but they felt light and moved like it. I'll need to bump up the weights a bit next week for sure. The whole point is to be using (very) submaximal weights, but even this was a bit too low, at least on the squat.

Squat - worked up to 235x1, then 190x5x5
Deadlift - 245 - 5x3
RFESS - 2x20/leg

Also got some neck work in. On the squat, the goal is to get the 5x5 done in 15 minutes or less, moving every rep as explosively as possible. I got it done in about half that time. Probably bump it to 205 or so and see how that goes. Squatting and pulling on the same day was not as daunting as I thought, though again, I'm not exactly moving big weights.

Training 12/29

I've decided to change things slightly, basically adding a bit of volume and changing the "split" slightly to possibly allow for a bit more recovery. The 4th weekly session has been garbage, so I'm going to cut back to 3 for the time being, since my recovery is unlikely to get any better for now (i.e., I'm not going to start getting 8-9 solid hours of sleep every night). I've also switched to using Paul Carter's "Base Building" model for now. It's nothing groundbreaking or even particularly different from what I've done in the past, but it is a different setup. We'll see how training body parts 1x per week does in terms of strength, size, etc. I'm dubious, but the results will be what they are.

Close-grip bench - work up to 215x1, then 185 5x8
Incline DB flyes - 40s - 4x10
A. Hammer curls - 25s - 4x10
B. Band tricep pushdowns - gray - 4x10

Training 12/26

Finally felt like I could get a "normal" training session in - didn't have to worry about athletes coming in in the middle of it, I actually felt decent coming off being sick, just a decent day overall.

Military Press - 120x13
A. DB flyes - 60s 1st set, 50s last 4 - 5x10
B. T-bar row - 100 on bar - 5x12
A. Band pushdowns - gray - 5x10
B. Fat bar curls - 60 - 5x10

Like I said, a decent session. Nothing special, but decent enough.

The frustrating thing is, as I continue to try to learn and assimilate as much as I can, that it seems the more I learn and do in my own training, the answer to the best way to train/program is simply "train hard." At least until you get to a pretty high level. What you find is that a lot of different things work. And hell, even at the highest levels you'll find drastically different methods of attaining world-class performances. Steven Francis' methods are dramatically different from those used by Dan Pfaff and Charlie Francis. Certainly facilities, weather, culture, and more will dictate the specifics, but you would think physiology would be the final arbiter.
I say it's frustrating because it seems like there has to be a better way. Note that I'm not talking about shortcuts - hard work will always be a part of the equation - merely that there must be a way of organizing things such that your hard work will garner the optimal results. I'm sure there is, I just haven't found it. Ugh.

Training 12/23

Close grip bench - 100x5, 130x5, 155x3, 165x5, 190x5, 215x10
DB incline bench - 2 mins b/w sets - 70s - 22, 12, 9
Kroc row - 100 - 20 per arm
Lateral raises - 15s - 20; 7 breaths; 10; 10 breaths; 6
Poundstone curls - 70

Was a little disappointed in the 10 reps on the last set of bench, but oh well. I think the weight lost during being sick is at least partially to blame, as I was down to 192 Monday. Probably similar on the DB incline, although the weight just felt heavy as hell. Next week should be better on that.

Training 12/18 & 12/19

Whatever the hell I came down with was still wrecking me last week so training was thrown off a bit. That said, the training itself went decent.

Thursday
Power snatch - worked up to 190x1
Deadlift - worked up to 285x5, then 315x1 and 345x1; all double overhand
A. Glute ham raise - 5x14
B. Hanging leg raise - 5x10

Friday
Military press - worked up to 130x10
A. DB flyes - 3x12
B. T-bar row - had 100 on the bar - 3x12
A. Band pushdowns - gray - 3x12
B. Fat bar curls - 60 - 3x12