TRAINING LOG: Ray McSiochowicz

Ok so I figured it is about time I started doing this, especially with Jay asking.  Plus I am hoping this will help me keep more consistant.  Some background info to start.  I have never been much of a lifter in the past and the brief periods in the past I did I did not really know what I was doing.  I have been lifting more seriously now for the last 2-3 years.

My main athletic background has been Martial Arts, I was a full time teacher for about seven years until about 2004 and then started training a new style after that but have scaled it down the last couple of years to focus more on throwing and lifting.

I work in Construction which is where the consistency issue comes from.  Alot of days I am pretty bagged from all the lifting and work I do at work and end up missing workouts. 

My goal is to make it to the gym twice a week and throw on the weekends.  My plan is pretty simple right now, day one is front squat and strict overhead press and day 2 is deadlift and incline bench.  I will throw in some olympic lifts as warmups and transition more to them closer to the season.  I have also just received my Power Factor and am going to start mixing it in on my major lifts.

Thanks Craig and Thanks Jay, I have learned so much from yours and other throwers logs.  Now lets see if I can implements some of it.

Oh just in case all weight is listed in pounds not kilo's.  I know now they just look pathetic.

Hey Sean,

Thanks for the questions.  My plan right now with the power factor is to commit to it for the next four weeks and then test my maxes.  If everything is going up and my recovery is good then I may stick with the power factor or if not I will go back heavy.  I am hoping that as John Gallagher mentioned training with power factor or tendo unit will be easier on my body but still increase my max lifts.

As for the rehab/prehab stuff I will mix in some stuff such as Peterson step ups, TKE's and that exercise where your back is against the wall and you squat down and hold.  Mostly structured around my knee's as that is where I have had my problems in the past.  My thought right now though is I want to keep it as simple and light (less exercises) as possible because I do so much lifting and such at work.  In the past I have tried doing a bunch of accessory lifts and doing more days but found I would over train real fast and end up missing time.

Let me know what you think, as I said I am still pretty new to this and know that I have a lot to learn.

Thanks Sean, I appreciate that and will read the article when I get a moment.

Sean wrote: Overall, I think you have it right. There are some things that are time consuming but don't cost you recovery that you can do after work, though. Especially for the knees. I've been pimping this article lately, but that's because my knees are a disaster and this has been helping a ton: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/stra ightforward_knee_rehab Foam rolling and stretching are your friends. Ugly, painful friends but friends none the less.

Thanks again Sean for the article, it was informative.  Reinforced a couple of things I am already doing and learned some new tools as well.

bigirish01 wrote: Keep up the Good work! With your work schedule and what you do every day it has to be a grind in the gym!

Thanks Jay, work can be hard some days, I will just have to wait until you win the lottery and buy your vacation home up here.

Friday Dec 16/11

Power factor ran out of juice and I forgot to plug it in after Wed so rather then fake it I decided to go heavy today.

Warm up

Foam roller, cable work and hammer winds with kettle bell


Incline Bench

Warm up with bar, 3x135, 3x155, 3x175, 2x195, 1x205


Deadlift

3x155, 3x245, 3x335, 3x380, 2x405


Felt pretty good today, both major lifts were very close to PR level without trying for it.  I think I should be good for PR's when I test for them in January.

bigirish01 wrote: Lookin good! Wehn the PF is out of juice, thats God saying its time to go Heavy!

Amen brother Jay, Amen.  Plus it just feels good to lift heavy!

Thanks Sean, I think after this training cycle I am going to start incorporating heavy days and speed days.  I find using just the power factor I miss lifting heavy.  I am thinking either lift heavy during the week and adding a speed day on the weekend or alternate weeks (i.e. Week 1 heavy, Week 2 speed, rinse and repeat).  What do you think?

Sean wrote: The PF (or at least the awareness of needing speed work) is working for you, at least for the time being. I might be more tempted to try something out like speed work every week, but every second week, you add in a few heavy singles.   You had said recovery is an issue with your job, etc, so I think sticking with the speed work is good but I think everyone needs, physically and mentally, that feel of the heavy stuff regularly. So like week 2, 4, etc, you do maybe 2 less sets of speed work, but add 3-6 singles working up to some heavy weight, but with no compromise on form and technique.   YMMV, but I think it'd work.

Thanks again Sean.

Lookn good.. what speeds are you attaining with the PF?

i still use the equation....  watts divided by 1.0335 divided by weight...

I math it out, I like to see the Watts. 

From my How to use the Power Factor thread wrote: But how do I determine bar velocity from just the watts? A very simple formula can be used to back out your velocity from the power: Watts/1.3558/bar weight =  ft/s So for example, if you performed a deadlift with 225lbs and the Watts were 1000W, we then: 1000/1.3558/225 = 3.28 ft/s  (or 1 m/s) If you’re extremely lazy, Matt Thompson made a Google Doc with the calculations already done: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Anr1DYa 32qGPdDN1SWFGRzBlN2RWeXdiTXg2ZE5sWGc&hl=en_US#gid=0