The Training of James Smith

[James Smith]

Started a 20 rep squat program today, just wanted to get used to the high volume so I started real light.

Banged out 3 sets of 20 with 210lbs, ass to floor, well below parallel.

Gonna wait till about an hour before my diner and jack the weight up to 310lbs and do 3 more sets of 20 followed by some band good mornings if I can still walk.

I am overcoming a injury to my left shoulder so I am hitting lower body and core as hard as I can without affecting the injury. Some exercises like Deads are out till the shoulder is back to 100%. I seem to be healing up fast now and I notice a difference every day.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what else I could do to work my core real hard that would not put massive strain on my shoulder. My injury was strained rotator cuff muscles along with bursitis and a inflamed AC joint. It is really a minor injury and will heal up no problem and did not require surgery but it is a major pain in the ass because I have to let it heal before I can train on it. Anyway your input would really help me out. I will post tonights workout as soon as I finish it.

[James Smith]

Just hit my second workout. I did 310lbs for 2 sets of 20 then hit the 310lbs of bar weight with doubled mini bands on the bar. I think that adds like 80 extra lbs at lockout or something like that. Anyway I did better than I thought I would for not doing 20 reppers in like 2 years. The weight was to light and I was able to get to 15 on my last set with virtually no resting, after 15 I took one 15 second or so break to get to 20 and finished with authority. Anyway I could hardly walk up the stairs to my room to type this. I am drinking a gatorade right now and my lower back is on fire. Also I forgot to mention, I am doing these 20 reppers totally raw as opposed to how I used to do them. I used to use a belt and maybe Knee wraps when I got up in the weight but I am going the raw route this time. I may add knee wraps when I get up into the 600+lb range but time will tell. Also when I get really heavy I have a feeling that this will turn into 1 set of 20 reps and not 3. I will still do more than one set but only one will be at max weight for the day. Any thoughts?

[James Smith]

Waited 72 hours since my last squat workout and hit it real hard today. Did smahed cats with 402lbs, only made it to set number 7. I think I could have squeezed out 10 sets but I had no spotter and my lower back was starting to pound with every beat of my heart so I decided to call it a day. I struggled up my basement stairs and collapsed on the floor. Jesse described it perfectly, you really do feel totally wrecked like a "Smashed Cat".

[James Smith]

Squated my body weight today for a set of 50. It was harder than I thougt it was gonna be, my goal is 100 reps with my bodyweight. I will make a video tape of it when I finally achieve the goal and send it in, I hope Jesse will host it. It is gonna be hell getting there but I will enjoy every minute of it. My legs and lower back feel like they are made out of solid rock right now and I bet I will have a lot of trouble walking in the morning, the sick thing is I will truely love the feeling because I will know it came from a huge set of squats. :EL:

[James Smith]

Oh I forgot to mention that all my inspiration for this feat is coming from Sarge and watching his squat video over and over, I would also like to say that Sarge's training routine for 20 reppers is helping me a great deal.

[Kÿle Vezeau]

James, that's a HUGE GOAL ! But you know that you should go for 101 right ? :T:

What's your BW at the moment ?

[Jesse Marunde]

James, looking good bro. Keep up the good work, and I will host any videos you send me.

Jesse

[James Smith]

Sorry for the lack of recent training posts guys, been real busy with training and school lately. This should bring you up to date.

This past Monday:

Lactic acid tolerance workout:

20 sets of 2 to a box with 365lbs

5 sets of 2 to a box with 415lbs

5 sets of 2 to a box with 465lbs

Really good workout, felt very tired at the end but really pumped and could have kept going a little longer. I took 1 minute between sets.

This Thursday:

Was not totally recovered by any means but wanted to try this plus it had been 72 hours since my last squat workout.

1 set of 80 reps with 235lbs (took around 7 minutes to complete)

Waited 1 minute and grunted out the last 20 reps, really took a big effort.

I definately need to condition myself for these giant sets more because I seem to burn out alot faster then if I do lots of sets of 2 with 1 minute of rest between sets. I expect that this is normal but I am not happy with the results.

Any advice from anyone, particularly Jesse or Sarge?

[James Smith]

By the way, my bodyweight at the moment is right at 320lbs.

[Jesse Marunde]

Sarge alternated multiple set box squats with 10x10s in prep for his big squat attempt. maybe hit more smashed cats???

[James Smith]

Thanks for the advice Jesse, I will hit smashed cats on Tuesday. I rigged up some band attachments on my squat rack today and I am stoked to start working in some heavy band tension. :M:

[James Smith]

Had a great workout today. Built a very low box over the weekend and used it today. The box is about 2" below parallel, I can add layers of rubber to make it higher but today I used it with none. Did 50 sets of 2 reps with 240lbs with only 1 minute of rest between sets. I used a bar with a huge camber in it so it really hit the lower back and hips hard. I am fried, tomorrow I have:

Band goodmornings
Band Pull Throughs
Outer Hip flexor work with bands
Sled pulls

My next squat workout is on friday, I am going to do chain suspended squats below parallel without the box with 300lbs, I hope to get 30 sets of 2.

[Mike Westerling]

50 sets of 2? You do some serious long workouts. Very inspirational. Can't wait to see the vid of your bodyweight for 100 reps. You must be a friggin monster! You should post your pic for your avatar.
-Mike

[James Smith]

I will try to get a pic tomorrow or friday during my next squat workout.

[James Smith]

Just got chains set up on my power rack to do Chain Suspended Squats and Goodmornings, etc. Friday me and my training partner are gonna do singles with the chain suspended squats, I have not determined what weight we are going to use yet, I am leaning towards around 335lbs or so for as many sets as we can possibly do, whoever quits first will be the loser.

[Dan Harrison]

Yes Mike, James "Shrug" Smith is a beast from hell.

Good to see you posting here, Shrug. Talk to you later, man.

[James Smith]

Hey Dan, I will call you tomorrow. I just got your message today.

[James Smith]

Yesterday's workout, worked up to 365lbs on concentric goodmornings with my cambered bar, could have done a little more but I was doing singles and working up to a max and I had done a lot of sets so I stopped at 365lbs. Did 3 sets of band goodmornings, the first 2 sets with a blue band and the last set with a blue and a purple band. That concluded the workout for the day, it was a quick one.

This morning I am going to do some more band goodmornings, then I am going to move to band pull throughs. After that I am going to hit my outer hip flexors as well as my innter hip flexors as well as some quad and hamstring work. I will finish this up with some ab work and call it a day. I will post exact sets and reps after the workout.

[James Smith]

Tonights workout:

Concentric Goodmornings - worked up to 380lbs for a strong tripple.

Band Goodmornings with the cambered bar - One strong band on each side for 2 sets of 20.

[James Smith]

Last night I did: Outer hip work, started with a mini band for sets or 20 and worked my way up to a light band for a set of 16.

Band curls for Hamstring work: 2 sets of 20 with a light band followed by 2 sets of 20 with a average band, I was about 4 feet away from the band which was choked around my DB rack.

Today I will do more hip and ham work along with some lower back and ab work. I will post the workout later. I will also pull sled if the weather is not to nasty.

[Bart Wolbers]

James, doing great! Have any updates? Very cool way of training, one of the few journals one can actually learn from

[James Smith]

Sorry it has been so long. I have just been very busy and have not had time to update the log in awhile. I will do my best to catch you up. I will post my last two workouts as that is all I can remember off hand at the moment.

Sled Pull for sets of 200 feet, pull elitefts double pulling sled loaded with one 45lb plate 100 feet rest 30 seconds then pull 100 feet back = 1 set

Add a plate after every set till you fail.

I ended up with around 430lbs on the sled for my last two trips and decided to call it a day, I could barely walk and literally laid on the group next to my sled for at least 5 minutes till I could get up. This was the entire workout for the day.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Concentric goodmornings with cambered bar: 1 set with bar for 3 reps, 1 set with 190lbs for 3 reps, 1 set with 240lbs for 3 reps, 1 set with 280lbs for 1 rep, 1 set with 330lbs for 1 rep, PR 1 set for a strong triple with 400lbs. I was very pleased with my PR, I was expecting to only get one rep but ended up hitting it for a triple. The first rep was by far the hardest due to the fact that there was no lowering phase, therefore I had no strecth reflex, making it much harder, the second two reps I did not pause when it hit the pins.

Band curls for hamstrings: 1 set of 20 with 1 purple band, 1 set of 20 with 1 purple band, 1 set of 20 with 1 green band, 1 set of 20 with 1 green band.

Pull Throughs: 1 set of 20 with 1 purple band, 1 set of 20 with 1 green band, PR one set of 20 with 1 Blue band.

Standing Abs: 2 sets of 20 with 1 purple band.

That concluded the day.

Tomorrow will include:

Sled pulls for GPP using a relatively light weight.

Band Good mornings with moderate resistance.

Standing Abs.

Inner and outer hip and oblique work.

Rotational hip work.

I will post exact numbers tomorrow after the workout, should be around 4:00.

[James Smith]

Did 5 sets of band goodmornings today over at school before my first class. Used 1 strong band for 5 sets of 20.

Rehab work on my shoulder:

Lion-Ox- 5 sets of 15 with 10lb DB's.

External rotator work- 3 sets of 20 with 15lb DB's

Internal rotator work- 3 sets of 20 with 1 mini band.

Very frustrated with this rehab, shoulder feels loosened up since training today but I am still mad as Hell. I gotta get this taken care of once and for all, I know it is getting better, it just is not happening fast enough to make me happy.

[Jay O'Neill]

looking good James... What are Lion-ox?
thanks.
Keep up the good rehab... slow and steady wins the race!

[James Smith]

Lion Ox are a great exercise and were invented by Chris "Ox" Mason, you can see him do them here, http://media.putfile.com/CHRISMASONBENCH665X3205


These are really helping my rehab a ton.

Today I hit some light band goodmornings just to loosen up, even light band tension felt hard today after thrashing my back on them the past two days. I did: 1 set of 20 with 1 purple band, 1 set of 20 with 1 green band and 1 set of 20 with 1 blue band. Then I did some face pulls for rehab, I did 1 set of 20 with 1 mini band, 1 set of 20 with 1 monster mini band, 1 set of 20 with 2 monster mini bands, and 1 set of 20 with 1 light band.

Called it a day at that, I need to recover now so tomorrow will be:

Sled Pull for GPP using my elite fts double pulling sled and 2 45lb plates - as many trips of 200 feet as I can get.

Standing ab work with the sled.

Stand ab and oblique work with bands.

Shoulder rehab (I will post exactly what I do for rehab tomorrow, I usually pick from a list as I go since it is not strenuous)

That will conclude the day. I will post exact numbers tomorrow.

[James Smith]

Decided to do a lactic acid tolerance workout today. I got really pissed off at school today and felt like training hard.

280lbs for 50 sets of 2 onto a 12" box. This is a PR for me and it went really easy, I had tons left in the tank, it felt great.

[Billy Wolt]

Yo Shrug,

didn't realize you were on this board?

How's it going? Keep this log updated man.