Decided to post a new log because I have grown a lot since my last one and in all honesty I’d prefer to not be associated with the person I used to be.
So here’s my fresh start:
Starting maxes:
Squat: 320, PR Best: 315 x 4
Pause bench: 275, PR Best: 290 x 1 paused, 185 x 18 touch and go
Sumo deads: 365, PR Best: 405 x 1, 315 x 8 conventional from 2.5 inch deficit
Wednesday - Day 1 - Bench
A. Bench
45 x 5 x 2
95 x 3 x 2
135 x 3
175 x 2
210 x 1
240 x 4.5/1 Paused (20 sec between sets)
205 x 10/2
B. Paused Bench 1" off Chest (Hold for 3 sec)
180 x 3
195 x 3
205 x 2.5
C1. DB Flyes - 25s x 15, 15 ,15
C2. Neutral-Grip Pull Ups - +20 x 8, 6, 4
D1. Pull Ups - bw x 8, 6, 4
D2. Incline DB Curls - 15s x 13, 10, 7
Pretty good day but I’ll get better…
Thursday - Day 2 - Squats
A. Paused Squats (Beltless, 1 sec below parrallel)
45 x 3 x 2
95 x 3
135 x 2
175 x 1
2 x 4 w. 205 (suppoed to do 6 sets here but had to sub in 5 sec pause squats)
B. 5-sec pause Squats
100 x 5
115 x 5
125 x 5, 3, 2
Decent day but lower back crapped out…kinda moved forward with what I could…
Monday - Squats
A. Low Pulls - 2 x 5 w. 135
B. Speed Pulls - 3 x 5 w. 175
C. Squats
135 x 5 (Beltless)
2 x 5 w. 165 (Beltless)
195 x 1
225 x 3
D. Low Box Squats - 2 x 6 w. 145 (beltess), 145 x 6
End day, all and all a good day back. I’m digging all the emphasis on speed.
Week 1 - Day 1 - Squats
A. High Bar Squats
45 x 6 x 2 (Beltless)
95 x 10 (Beltless)
125 x 10 (Beltless)
155 x 10 (Beltless)
185 x 10
B. High Bar Pause Squats - 145 x 3, 5
C. Around the World’s - 2 x 12 w. 25
D. Charles Bronson abs - 5 x 5 w. 25s (10 sec rest between sets)
E. Deficit RDLs (Beltless) - 135, 155, 175 x 8
Week 1 - Day 2 - Bench Assistance
A. Buffalo Bar Pause Bench
Worked up to:
165 x 9
155 x 9
145 x 9, 7
B. Close-Grip Bench (Last set AMRAP) - 175 x 5, 5, 6
C. Military Presses - 3 x 5 w. 110
D1. Db Flyes - 3 x 15 w. 25s
D2. Db Rows - 25s x 12, 10, 8
Week 1 - Day 3 - Front Squats and Deads
A. 7-sec Pause Front Squat (15 sec at lockout)
45 x 1
95 x 1
135 x 1
155 x 1
175 x 1
B. Double Pause Front Squat - 2 x 3 w. 145
C. Sumo Deads - 10 x 1 w. 185
D. 3.5" Deficit Conv Deads - 185 x 5, 205 x 5
E. Seated Cable Rows - 4 x 12 w. 70
F. Pull Ups - bw x 8, 8, 8
G. Hyper Extensions (feet straight, knees bent) - 2 x 12 w. bw
Overall great night. Finally figured out my front squat technique AND my sumo technique. There we go!
Week 1 - Day 4 - Bench
A. Pause Bench
Worked up to:
205 x 5, 5, 4
B. Speed Bench - 4 x 5 w. 175
C. Wide-Grip Pause Bench (1" inch off chest, 3 sec) - 155 x 5, 2 x 5 w. 135
D. Incline DB Press (last set AMRAP) - 50’s x 8, 8, 15
E. Chest-Supported rows (weights counted only) - 4 x 12 w. 55
F. Lateral Raises - 4 x 12 w. 10s
G. Skull Crushers - 3 x 12 w. 40
H. V-Bar Pushdowns - 2 x 12 w. 65
Great overall day but weird experience. I can’t really grind weights out anymore, the lactate just builds up and Im explosive all the way until my last rep than I will just fail. Thinking my triceps or upper chest isn’t strong enough or I am just more explosive than I am strong right now. Who knows.
All I know my pec is still pulled. God dammit…
Week 2 - Day 1
A. High Bar Pause Squats (no belt, no knee sleeves)
worked up to:
6 x 4 w. 135
B. Low Bar Pause Squats - 2 x 4 w. 135
C. Front Squats (7 sec pause, no belt) - 95, 125, 155, 185 x 1
D. Pause Bench - 3 x 5 w. 200
E. Bench Paused 1" off chest (3 sec) - 3 x 3 w. 165
F1. Db Flyes - 3 x 15 w. 15s
F2. Neutal-Grip Chin ups - 3 x 5
G1. Pull Ups - 3 x 5
G2. Incline Db curls - 15s x 15, 10, 7
Done. Combined a few days and boy did it tired me out lol
Week 2 - Day 3
A. Close-Grip Bench
Worked up to:
225 x 3
B. Close-Grip 3 Board Press - 185 x 5, 5, 8
C. Seated OHP - 95 x 10, 14
D. Rear Delt Machine - 3 x 12 w. 30
E. Face Pulls - 2 x 15 w. 42.5
F. Kaz Machine Press - 2 x 12 w. 80, 80 x 24
Done.
Week 2 - Day 4
A. Sumo Deads
135 x 3
185 x 2
225 x 1
265 x 1
295 x 1
225 x 8
B. Conv Deads - 3 x 5 w. 165
C. Squats - 185 x 4, 8, 6
D. Single-Leg Leg Curls (5 sec neg, neg only) - 3 x 4 w. 60
E. Single-Leg Leg Press - 3 x 12 w. platform only
F. Neutral-Grip Chins - 3 x 5
G. Chest-Supported Rows (alt between semi pro/close, and pro/med) - 4 x 5 w. 70
H. Suitcase Deads (knee level) - 2 x 3 w. 90, 90 x 10
I. Front Squat Holds - 135 x 15 sec, 2 x 15 sec w. 185
Today felt great, time to push the weights up!
Week 4 - Day 1
A. Pause Bench
45 x 3 x 2
95 x 3
135 x 2
175 x 1
200 x 5, 5, 5, 5, 4
B. Bench Paused 1" off chest (3 sec)
Bench set up - 165 x 3
2" closer, feet flat- 165 x 3
thumb away from smooth, feet up on bench - 165 x 2
Bench set sup - 165 x 3
C. Dead Bench - 200 x 6/1/1
D1. DB flyes - 3 x 15 w. 15s
D2. Neutral Grip Chins - 3 x 8
Week 4 - Day 2
A. Squats
45 x 3 x 2
95 x 3
135 x 2
175 x 1
210 x 1
245 x 1
B. High Bar Pause Squats - 7 x 5 w. 150
C. Single-Leg Leg Press - 3 x 16
D. Deficit RDLs - 265 x 4
E. Chest-Supported DB rows - 4 x 8 w. 45s
F. Neutral-Grip Chins - 2 x 7
G1. Pull Ups - 3 x 6
G2. Incline DB Curls - 20s x 11, 9, 7
Good feeling day, high bar squats are getting stronger…
Week 5 - Day 1
A. Bench
215 x 5 paused
215 x 4 touch and go
215 x 3 paused
215 x 2 touch and go
215 x 1 8 sec pause
B. Dead Bench
135 x 1
165 x 1
195 x 1
225 x 1
C. Seated Db Overhead Press - 50s x 12, 12, 13
D. Cable Overhead Extensions - 4 x 12 w. 30
E. Landmines - 4 x 12 w. 45 (12 per side)
F1. DB Flyes - 3 x 8 w. 30s
F2. Neutral-Grip Chins - 3 x 8 w. 2. 5
G. Hammer Curls - 3 x 8. 30s
H. Swiss Ball Stir the Pot - 3 x 6 per side
Just taking some time off to work on building some size and rehabbing my back…
Today (Monday) I did:
A. Leg Extensions
55 x 20 x 2 (2 sec squeeze)
55 x 20 x 1 (1 sec squeeze)
55 x 20 x 1 (split sec squeeze)
55 x 20 pumping
B. 5-Sec Pause Squats
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 5
C. Leg Press
As counted on a barbell
10 reps wide and high on platform, 10 lower and close
275 x 10 10
315 x 10 10
D. Standing Single-Leg Curls (3 sec neg)
empty x 12
10 x 12
20 x 12
Wednesday - Bench (supposed to be Tuesday)
A. Bench - 175 x 8
B. Spoto Board Presses
3 board: 210 x 6, 6
2 board: 195 x 5, 5
1 board: 175 x 4
C. Spoto Bottom End Drives
175 x 10- rest 20 secs- 3
145 x 15-4-1
115 x 20-10
D. Incline DB Flyes (first 6 reps 3-5 sec neg)
35s x 6/4
35s x 6/2
35s x 6
E. EZ Bar Extensions
70 x 8 (floor, paused)
70 x7, 7 (normal)
F. Rope Pushdowns
25 x 15
rest 20 sec
3 x 15 w. 20 (30 sec rest)
Less dark and evil now? Winning.
Still lurking, keep up the good work!
What type of program are you running? Do you always rotate assistance work? It seems like it would be difficult to keep track of volume.
[quote]raven78 wrote:
Less dark and evil now? Winning.
Still lurking, keep up the good work![/quote]
Haha yeaa had to chill out sooner or later…but we’ll see how in good spirits I am after this Front Squat cycle !
thanks man good to hear you’re still around!
[quote]lift206 wrote:
What type of program are you running? Do you always rotate assistance work? It seems like it would be difficult to keep track of volume.[/quote]
Right now I am running my own programming mixed with smolov. Up until the last two posts were me just playing around, not to sure what to do and just having fun with lifting. The high volume leg session posted was just me getting volume in for my legs pre-smolov while letting my back recover
I am doing smolov for my front squat with a looooow max. I can grind out and ugly 200-220 right now, but I am setting my max as 150 so I can hit all my work sets without having to go too hard the first few workouts so I can find my groove on front squats. I am also running it beltless for as long as possible.
If I find in the following weeks I need to bump up my max I will do so.
As for bench its pretty simple for this volume period.
I’ll lay it out for you:
A. Bench
wk 1: 180 x 8 (12-15RM)
Wk 2: 185 x 9
Wk 3: 190 x 10
Wk 4: 195 x 10
Wk 5: 200 x 10
B. Board Presses
3-board:
push up from 2 x 6 w. 210 to 2 x 10 w. 210
2-board:
push up from 2 x 5 w. 195 to 2 x 10 w. 195, then over time up to 2 x 10 w. 210
1-board:
up to 1 x 10 w. 175 than up to 195-200 if possible in appropriate time period
So basically 5 x 10 w. 200-210
C. Spoto Bottom end Drives
goal is to hit a certain rep range in one set before I add weight:
Goals:
175 x 10 (right now 7+3)
145 x 20 (15+4+1)
115 x 30 (20+10)
D. Incline DB Flyes - just double progression method here with intensity technique to touch up the upper chest
E. Standard Heavy Triceps exercise - standard double progresssion
F. Triceps pump exercise - intensity technique via chose progression
My second bench day will consist just of incline bench, db bench, and overhead Press, and another tricep exercise. But I’ll adjust this day if need be based on how I am recovering.
As far as leg assistance and back work, Ill add in some chins and rows on a few days through out the week. Nothing volume’ess, just enough to maintain strength and muscular balance during this period. leg work will be kept to leg curls and band bad girls as both a touch up and a pre-hab movement
If it’s not laid out clear, it’ll be easier to understand the flow of it a bit better.
And as far as assistance exercise rotation goes, I generally stick to a movement for 3-6 weeks. Sometimes I keep most exercises in my rotation permanently and just switch my intensity techniques. It doesn’t get confusing because I usually plan out what techniques I am going to run in each phase, basically use the first week as a test week, than go from there.