[quote]gorillavanilla wrote:
Postponing tonight’s lifting until tomorrow for a more recovered, normal, and strong performance.[/quote]
I wish I could be this sensible.
I guess that’s how you get a 600lb+ squat, knowing when to go for broke and when to rein it in.
I believe it was a Kenny Rogers song that said something like ‘You got to know when to hold em’, know when to fold em’, know when to walk away, and know when to run…there’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done’
Know thy limitations. My young daughter has been ill and not sleeping hence my wife and I have not been sleeping until last night. I’m glad I took the night off yesterday because I feel much better and will be able to hook up a powerful lifting session tonight. Staying healthy to fight another day.
@FarmerBrett-I wish I had the mind to be more sensible with more decisions alas the case is not always so.
Glad I waited to lift until tonight because my performance went better than expected.
T-Handle Swings:
60 lbs x 50 reps
Incline Bench Press:
45lbs(Bar) x 25
135 x 10
185 x 5
230 x 10sets x 3reps
Parallel Box Squats:
135lbs x 10
225 x 5
315 x 5
405 x 2
460lbs x 12set x 2reps(No belt, no wraps, no gear-OH Yeah!)
Standing Crunches:
70lbs x 25
About an hour of lifting so the weight moved quickly and the work was intense. I experimented tonight with wearing no belt on the squats with 460lbs for 12 sets of 2 reps. I liked not wearing a belt although it’s usually my policy to wear a belt with any squatting 405lbs or heavier. My back seems to have handled the load well and I am not any worse for the wear right now. Hopefully, tomorrow morning my back will still agree that the heavy squats sans belt was a good idea.
Solid work, thats a ton of volume.
Heavy caffeine before lifting helps fuel the volume loading.
built me a t-handle and am adding them to some of my workouts. lower back sure felt it… great lifting in here…
Love me some T-Handle swings before every workout. Thinking of adding more T-Handle swings on my off days to add to conditioning and mobility strength.
Last night’s training was brutal and nearly killed me.
T-Handle Swings:
60lbs x 50 reps
Fat Gripz (Close Grip) High Incline Bench Press:
45lbs(Bar) x 25
135 x 10
180 x 6sets x 6reps
Squats:
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 5
405 x 3
460 x 4
525 x 3sets x 4
525lbs x 5
Standing Crunches:
70lbs x 25
I had not full recovered from Saturday’s lifting which was a day late. I think my heavy squat sets were a little high and I had great fatigue in my quads. Even the first sets of benching, though light, were rough work but the last few sets were explosive. Hopefully, tomorrow’s lifting will be a little better and stronger than Monday’s.
I keep thinking I’d like to see a video some of those big squats.
Keep grinding with the good work GV.
Oldman Powers-I have been having trouble with transferring video to T-Nation. As soon as I can get a video of a big squat to load I will post it so everyone can see me about to pop a blood vessel coming up with a 500+ squat.
In other news the squats on Monday strained muscle deep in the left side of my neck. I’ve been experiencing muscle spasms in my neck and back. The nerves and severe cramping extends from the left base of my neck down through my traps and spine and to a lesser extent in my lower back. I will be doing therapy from now until Friday when I will attempt to return to lifting.
This is a small set back and hopefully I will be able to return to the full numbers and continue on with the Smolov Intense Meso Cycle. The muscle cramping made working in the field a real bitch yesterday and today. I didn’t not feel the pain directly after my lifting but the next day wasn’t fun.
ok Gorilla beast…I did some dips to see where I was…lost some reps but feel ok overall.
Squats are improving like crazy. Will probably get a 75lb increase over 10 weeks of smolov.
here is the dips video…I will do a squat video saturday…Just to see if I really am going low as I think I am.
dips here with 100 lbs.
@steviebeast-Great Dips! Glad to see you’ll be gaining so much from Smolov.
The muscle cramping in my back has subsided except for my left trap and the left side of my neck. It’s fairly early this morning so I will be working and then doing some mobility work early this afternoon to see if I can get the tension out of my upper back. If I can feel reasonably good I will lift tonight however at this point I would say no. The day is long so things may change.
If I can not get back to feeling okay to be able to lift tonight I will consider reevaluating my lifting program and returning to a Westside type lifting program. Smolov is crazy intense but I will not risk further injury using this routine and I have not seen great improvement in my squatting strength using Smolov so it will be no big loss to go back to a Westside type template which has worked for me for years .
sorry the video didnt load right…I think it will now…squat video to follow…I dont think your 6000 lbs of squats will fit in the video!!
ok I must be retarded…it didnt show my video being posted so I did it again and then it comes up twice!! sorry…
My injury persists and I am now reconsidering my lifting routine. I haven’t been able to lift since Monday so Smolov for me is finished.
Injuries suck especially when you have that much time invested in a difficult program you want to finish. But they happen. Get healed up and then come back and kill it.
sorry to hear that gorilla…but really…you lift so heavy and so much weight already…Is it really that bad to not do smolov? 600lb squat!!! man…Try maybe another goal…something more fitness oriented so you dont keep the injury going? I did mostly fitness only for the last 10 yrs which is why the strength thing (at least with legs) is fun for me. I always did heavy dips and heavy chinups while I did my running. Now that I stopped the distance running I can do heavy squats which I love.
Do you think the injury is long term?
I don’t believe the injury is long term and I’m doing lot’s of rolling and stretching which seems to have a very slow, gradual mitigating effect on my back and neck. I’m going to return to lifting Westside style hopefully by Monday. Thank for the support.
@Steviebeast-I’m a powerlifter so I will be lifting heavier. I’ve been lifting since about 1991 as well as doing many other athletic activities like mixed martial arts, weightlifting, tennis, racquetball, volleyball, etc. Powerlifting is my passion. For a few years off of lifting during the last 20 years and more I did extensive work with bodyweight training including sprinting, medium distance running, biking, mountain hiking, and various other type calisthenic training. Even before 1991 I did some bodybuilding, high school wrestling, and various sports. I will recover quickly and move on to bigger weights.
I hate being injured and will beat this.
Smart move GV. Listening to your body will keep you in the game a lot longer.
@Oldman Powers and jjackkrash: I really appreciate the support and I will post video as soon as my dumb ass can figure out what is wrong with my Mac not accepting and transferring video files.