Monday, September 19, 2011

If you're reading this blog for amazing feats of strength...don't..

I'm getting the urge to brew again. Seeing fellow home brewers and their amazing setups on my Facebook news feed certainly doesn't help. I would like to get myself set up for all-grain brewing by my next batch, but I'd also like to keg the dortmunder that's currently lagering. Each project is equipment and time-intensive, so I need to make up my mind. First world problems.

Speaking of the dortmunder: Brewed it back on 8/21 and the session went very well. I pitched nearly double the yeast I would have for an ale just be sure. Original gravity was 1.060. Gave it a diacetyl rest from 8/31 to 9/2 then put it in secondary. Took another gravity reading and it showed 1.014. I am a little unsure on the temperature of each reading (dang it) but a conservative calculation puts this beer between 5-6% ABV already. Whoa. Tasted decent too. It's not clarifying as well as I would like at this stage, but dortmunders aren't supposed to be crystal clear. That's what I keep telling myself anyways.

In other beer news, I made my best buddy Aaron a wort chiller for his birthday. He flew in from Charlotte, North Carolina, so he had no way to transport the thing back. If he tried to stuff it in a suitcase...well...I can't imagine anything looking more like a bomb on an x-ray machine than this:



Guess I will ship it.

Took the weekend off from training to recuperate from my birthday extravaganza last week. Lots of beer, lots of awesome stuff Ashley did for me. Short version - I got a knife, some shirts, a big TV and a party. The response to the Guinness clone I bottled got a really good response from the party crowd. My theory is that we are friends with nothing but skillful liars. I'll take it.

Today was Max Effort upper body. Warmed up a lot more than usual. Foam roll, bands, etc. Took my time.

Floor Press
45x whatever
135x5
135x3
155x3
185x3
225x3
245x2
265x1 this is my old PR, and it felt very easy
275xf forgot I had a lower body

Frustrating. I felt strong enough, something just fell apart. Reviewing the video, I think the fact that I'm continuing to breathe after I've unracked is loosening me up too much.

Incline DB Press
80x6, 6, 8

DB Triceps Press (behind head)
60x10x4

Close Grip Pulldowns
3x15

Rope Pushdown
3x20

Weight - 205

On the upside, the failures on 275 exposed some weakness in my triceps. Gonna focus on them even more than I had previously.

My next meet is October 22 in Fort Worth, TX. My older brother, dad, and possibly my wife and son will be there. No pressure, right? I feel stronger than I have for previous meets, but that's not translating into numbers yet. Guess I gotta trust the programming.

2 comments:

  1. why floor press instead of bench press. I have other questions regarding your stated workout. Please Gchat at a convenient time. Thanks. - JB

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  2. Hi Jonny. You're neat.

    Floor press is a movement that emphasizes the triceps and the lockout portion of the bench. It's a popular max effort training movement for powerlifters. With smaller range of motion, such as that of floor press, lifters can "overload" and handle more weight than they could on a standard bench press.

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