05 Jan Brian Carroll -Training Bench, Squat and Deadlift stuffs

I’m back from a fantastic vacation in NC. I ate some really great food, had a full week completely checked out from work and got to spend quality time with my Wife Ria and the boys.

We left 2 weeks ago today and returned one week ago today, so even though I’ve been ‘back’ for a week, it ain’t easy coming back to reality.

The hard part was coming back and getting back into somewhat of a rhythm this week. New Year’s Day being Monday didn’t help, either. Nonetheless, I got some work done this week and got back to training.

Speaking of training, I walked the mountains a lot while on vacation and of course, I did my core work, but I didn’t train (anything to speak of aside pec/shoulder rehab) at all and came back super duper fat. I mean so bloated that my legs felt like they’d snap off.. but so worth it.

I got back to the gym Monday evening just in time for Florida to have a string of hard freezes in a row. We train in a metal building with good insulation that we added just a couple of years ago (and a drop down ceiling). Still, it’s quite cold inside the building when the temps approach the 20s.

This was the first week I tested my strained pec and it was a success. Previous training days consisted of doing push-ups, light band flyes, light DB presses and lots of overall volumes built up over the last couple of weeks. I think I ended up at 15×10 on the DB presses.

Back to Monday: first day with the barbell again on Floor press

Normal warm-up, especially these days:
Break a sweat
McGill 3
Band shoulder work/band flye
Empty bar

Floor press:
10 sets of 5, but really only 5 sets, as I added 20lbs each set starting with the bar.
Top set of 225×5

Incline DB press: 4×10
DB skulls: 6×10 with variants
Cable press-downs: 3×15
One Arm band triceps extension: 5×10
Stir the pot: 4×20 (killed me)

Felt great to press again! NO pain, no tightness. That BBC protocol is simply amazing. Do your research and be vigilant but know that it works for many, many people.

I really am looking forward to having a nice, interruption (almost) free offseason for a bit to accomplish/ work on a few things: 1 of them being my left arm has been wonky ever since a kinda/sorta botched surgery in 2008.

I had a tiny cyst removed from my triceps tendon and the process became complicated when I started to bleed out and everyone in the room got stiff and their body language suddenly changed. I knew something was badly wrong when the nurse started rubbing me on the back to keep me calm/distract me.

While they quickly patched me up, part of my elbow and lower triceps has since become numb, almost like my ulnar nerve is always turned on. It ended up being a thrombus and not just a cyst.

I also have 5 herniated discs in my neck which also negatively impacts my left arm some but not my right as much. Luckily, my big neck and being good to my body, while avoiding exercises like barbell shrugs and barbell rows has seemingly grisled up nicely. I don’t have pain, nor have I really other than my lat/rhomboid/subscap has tightened up at times which is childs play compared to what I’ve dealt with in the past.

I’m working on strengthening my triceps in this offseason quite a bit and will be updating that very soon as well as working in the SDP. More on this soon.

Wednesday was cold as well (hell) but I got in some very nice Squat/DL assistance work.

Normal warm-up

Lat pull-down: 8×10 – close and wide
DB row: 4×10 (these don’t hurt my neck)
DB shrug: 4×10
Belt squat piston squats: 4×10
One leg gm: 4×10
Stir the pot SS hammer curl/Arnold curl x a few rounds

Par for the course other than I felt slightly less fat than I did on Monday and much better condition-wise. On a random note, I don’t know why but I’m still pissed DD got to shake Arnold’s hand after a sweet pull at the 2017 XPC Finals. I really thought Arnold gave dap and associated with WINNERS. I’m not even going to share the video.

The following two tabs change content below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Brian Carroll

Owner and Founder at PowerRackStrength.com

Brian is a retired world-class powerlifter with over two decades of world-class powerlifting. From 1999 to 2020, Brian Carroll was a competitive powerlifter, one of the most accomplished lifters in the sport's history. Brian started off competing in bench press competitions 'raw,' then, shortly into the journey, he gravitated toward equipped lifting as there were no "raw" categories then. You only had to choose from single-ply (USPF) and Multi-ply (APF/WPC). Brian went on to total 2730 at 275 and 2651 at 242 with more than ten times his body weight in three different classes (220, 242, 275), and both bench pressed and deadlifted over 800 pounds in two other weight classes. He's totaled 2600 over 20 times in 2 different weight classes in his career. With 60 squats of 1000lbs or more officially, this is the most in powerlifting history, regardless of weight class or federation, by anyone not named David Hoff. Brian realized many ups and downs during his 20+ years competing. After ten years of high-level powerlifting competition and an all-time World Record squat at 220 with 1030, in 2009, Brian was competing for a Police academy scholarship. On a hot and humid July morning, Brian, hurdling over a barricade at 275lbs, landed on, fell, and hurt his back. After years of back pain and failed therapy, Brian met with world-renowned back specialist Prof McGill in 2013, which changed his trajectory more than he could have imagined. In 2017, Brian Carroll and Prof McGill authored the best-selling book about Brian's triumphant comeback to powerlifting in Gift of Injury. Most recently (10.3.20) -Brian set the highest squat of all time (regardless of weight class) with 1306 lbs – being the first man to break the 1300lb squat barrier at a bodyweight of 303 lbs.

Latest posts by Brian Carroll (see all)

• Brian Carroll Coaches the Birddog - April 24, 2024
• Protected: -Header Image Post Template 2024 - April 18, 2024
• Brian Carroll X Professor Stu McGill full interview 2024 - April 16, 2024