A Small Guy's Quest for Greatness

Training Logs
1

I want to get stronger, faster, and better at my current sport which is brazilian jiu jitsu. I’m currently trying to get my deadlift up to 405, as well as progressing on my other lifts.

I’m 26 years old, played lacrosse/football my whole life, currently doing bjj and plan on competing in the spring. I’ve taken weight lifting much more seriously the past 2 years, I lifted on and off for the previous 6 (lifted for sports but never took it seriously).

I’ve had surgery on my right shoulder twice, rotator cuff/labrum so some exercises are a little sketchy and I stay away from what bothers me.
Should also say that I eat pretty clean, no grains (minus sushi 1x week), dairy (minus grass-fed whey), sugar, or legumes.

My stats
Height: 5’6
Weight 155lb
Bodyfat: 11% (skinfold)
Squat: 325 lbs
Front squat: 275 lbs
Bench: 245 lbs (don’t really bench as it bothers my shoulder)
Deadlift: 365 lbs
Overhead (push) press: 195 lbs
Clean and jerk: 185 lbs
Snatch: 135lbs

If anyone reads this, advice/feedback would be much appreciated. I am fairly new and am probably doing something wrong.

Monday 11/11
Warmup: hip/shoulder mobility (foam roll/band work), basic gymnastic flow movements
Deadlift: Barx8x2, 135x8, 200x8, 240x8, 290x8 310x8, 330x2
Weighted pullups: 25x5, 35x5, 40x5, 45x5
Conditioning: 5 rounds of 30 second battle rope waves, 15 kb swings (20kg)

Tuesday 11/12-BJJ practice, 45 min drills, 4x5min rounds

11/13
Warmup: hip mobility work, foam roll glutes/IT band, 1 min jumping jacks, 1 min burpees
Squat: barx8, 95x8, 165x8, 200x8, 240x8, 260x8, 300x1x1
Weighted dips: BWx8, 30x8, 40x8, 50x8, 60x8
Good mornings: 65x3x10
5 min AMRAP 20 wall balls, 20 pushups

11/14 BJJ

11/15 Rest

11/16
Warmup: hip/shoulder mobility, t spine mobility, 2x1min rounds of mountain climbers
Power clean: Barx10, 75x5, 135x5, 145x3, 155x3, 165x1x2
Rack pulls (just below knee): barx10, 135x5, 185x5, 235x5, 265x5, 285x5, 305x5, 325x2

11/17 Rest

2

11/18
Warmup: hip/shoulder mobility, foam oll lower body, 2x1 min rounds mountain climbers
Squat: Barx8, 95x8, 170x8, 205x8, 245x8, 265x8, 305x2
5 rounds of: 30 sec battle rope waves, 10 pullups, 10 kb swings (20kg)

11/19 BJJ

11/20
Warmup: foam roll glutes, hams, calves, it band, quads, 30 band pull aparts, 5x5 36in. box jumps
Deadlift: Barx8, 140x8, 205x8, 245x8, 295x8, 325x8, 335x2
8 rounds of: 5 db snatches R arm, 5 db snatches L arm (65 lbs), 10 toes to bar

11/21 BJJ

11/22
Warmup: Hold bottom squat position for 1 min x3, hip flexor mobility, shoulder mobility, 1 min mountain climbers
Front squat: Barx8, 95x8, 165x8, 195x8, 215x8, 235x8, 255x2
Overhead (push) press: Barx8, 75x8, 125x8, 140x8, 150x8, 160x8, 180x2

11/23 Rest

11/24 BJJ

3

Crazy week due to holiday/travel.

11/25- BJJ am-mostly drills, BJJ pm-mostly freerolling

11/26 BJJ-45 min drills, 4x5min rounds

11/27 Rest

11/28 150 burpees for time (7 min 36 sec)
Time to crush turkey/pumpkin pie

11/29 Rest-food coma…

11/30 BJJ

12/1 Rest

4

Back to normal routine
12/2
Warmup: Agile 8, going to try this warmup for a week and see how a feel, 2x10 Overhead MB slams (20lbs)
Deadlift: Barx5, 135x5, 185x5, 285x5x5
Overhead (push) press: barx6, 75x6, 145x6, 155x6, 165x8…got stuck halfway up on 9
7 min AMRAP 10 rollups, 5 db rows R arm, 5 db rows L arm (bar + 50lbs), 10 supine bridges…rows were done Meadows style.

12/3 BJJ

12/4
Warmup: Agile 8, broad jumps (roughly 6 feet) 3x5
Squat: Barx10, 135x10, 225x3, 255x3, 285x5…failed on 6th rep
Bench press: Barx5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5x5…forgot how much I hate benching
5 rounds of: 20 kb swings (20 kg), 10 clapping pullups

12/5 Rest

12/6 BJJ

12/7
Warmup: Agile 8, 25 burpees
Squat cleans (from floor): Barx5, 95x5, 135x5…mostly form work, my extension isn’t bad just need to get under the bar quicker.
SGHP: Barx5, 75x5, 95x5, 135x3x3…again mostly form work
Loaded carries (hex bar): 3x1 min rounds with 155lbs

12/8 Rest

5

12/9
Warmup: Agile 8, shoulder mobility
Squat: Barx10, 135x10, 250x5x5
Ring pushups: 5x10…need to work on externally rotating shoulders during extension
7 min AMRAP 25 wallballs, 40 kb pummels (speed work, 20lb each), 10 divebomber pushups

12/10 BJJ + muscle up practice on rings
Did 10 singles, then 5 doubles now my shoulders hate me.

Will try to film a few of my lifts over the next few days just to address breakdowns in form. Any advice/feedback/criticism is appreciated.

6

12/11
Agile 8 is a nice warmup but I find band work/mobility works better for me
Warmup: hip/shoulder/t-spine mobility, 10 minutes of dodgeball…adult dodgeball is vicious…
Deadlift: Barx10, 135x10, 225x3, 290x3, 320x3(mixed grip), 345x5(mixed grip)…felt fast had the 6th rep but grip failed around mid thigh.
Push press: Barx10, 95x5, 155x5x5…started to overextend in lumbar spine on the last 2 reps
40-30-20-10 Turkish getups (20 kg), burpees…this killed me, had to break up burpees into 10’s and 5’s for last 2 sets.

7

12/12
Warmup: lax ball/mobility work for shoulders, glutes, hams, IT band, calves. 1 min mountain climbers (feet outside hands)
Front Squat: Barx10, 135x5, 225x3, 250x3, 275x3…need to retest 1RM, a couple weeks of messing with technique has really paid off, all 3 reps were fairly quick.
Barbell row (double overhand): Barx10, 95x5, 185x5x5
5 rounds of: 20 KB swings (25kg), 10 ring dips…swings were fine, last 2 sets of dips sucked had to break into triples/doubles.

8

12/13 BJJ am-mostly drills, not much freerolling
Workout pm
Warmup-foam roll shoulders/lats, lower body, couple band pull aparts, couple hip circles
Squat cleans-technique work Barx10 (from above knee), 75x5 (from floor), 135x5x5 (from floor)
50 ring pullups
50 ring dips

Gym has been too crowded for me to film anything, people end up blocking the camera halfway through my rep. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some video tomorrow/sunday.

9

12/14 Rest

12/15 Rest…had to shovel snow for an hour or 2 thanks to mother nature so at least I burnt some calories

12/16
Warmup: Band work for hips/shoulders, fire hydrant circles, 20 wide step mountain climbers, 20 band pull aparts
Deadlift: Barx10, 135x5, 225x5, 295x5x5…first 3 sets were double overhand , last 2 were mixed grip
Push press: Barx10, 95x5, 150x5, 160x5, 170x5
7 min AMRAP: 10 front loaded squats (barbell, 95lbs), 10 toes to bar, 5 half catches?..dunno what they are really called, its basically a broad jump to handstand in 1 movement, pretty sure the goal is to catch in a full handstand but they sure as hell didn’t happen today.

Finally filmed a few lifts, here is my 4th set of deadlifts @ 295 with mixed grip

10

Here’s the push press, 150x5

11

12/17 Biotest goodies should are en route and should be here by friday…can’t wait
Warmup: Agile 8 + extra mobility stuff
Squat: Barx10, 135x5, 225x3, 260x3, 280x3, 315x3
DB Bench: 35x10, 50x5, 70x5, 80x5, 90x5
5 rounds of: 3 squat cleans (135), 3 rope to bar pullups, 3 broad jumps (6 feet)

Not the first time I’ve squatted 315 but it was the first time doing a full butt to ankles squat with it. 3rd rep was slow as molasses but I’m not terribly concerned about it. It did get me thinking though, do I keep increasing weight week to week and see where I fail or do I scale weight back and work on being faster/more explosive with the bar?

If anyone is knowledgable about this stuff feel free to chime in.

12

[quote]The Flying Fist wrote:

Not the first time I’ve squatted 315 but it was the first time doing a full butt to ankles squat with it. 3rd rep was slow as molasses but I’m not terribly concerned about it. It did get me thinking though, do I keep increasing weight week to week and see where I fail or do I scale weight back and work on being faster/more explosive with the bar?

If anyone is knowledgable about this stuff feel free to chime in.
[/quote]

To work on getting out of the hole quicker and easier I would look up Paused Squats on this site. They will help build your back for support, focus on not leaning over, and getting out of the whole.

If you are slow because you lack explosive power I would think about using reverse band squats or adding chains.

13

Thanks for the tip Grizzly, I’ll try some pause squats and see how they go

14

Hopefully someone more experienced than me will be able to tell, but I feel your hips are a bit too high in that DL video. Seems like you are pulling with your upperbody instead of posterior chain. Nice numbers though!

15

[quote]lcsilva wrote:
Hopefully someone more experienced than me will be able to tell, but I feel your hips are a bit too high in that DL video. Seems like you are pulling with your upperbody instead of posterior chain. Nice numbers though![/quote]

I agree. drops the hips a slight bit and keep the chest up.

16

Thanks for the advice guys, I did feel a little bit off last session and I bet it was because of my setup.

I’ve been reading some of Kelly Starrett’s stuff recently which has really helped a ton with my mobility issues, and I think I’ll try his setup advice for today’s deadlift session. I’ll get it filmed to see if my hips are in a better starting position.

17

12/18
Despite lifting later in the day (5pm) I felt pretty good heading into my lifting.
Warmup: Bunch of mobility stuff
Deadlift: Barx10, 135x5, 225x3, 315x3, 345x3, 365x1, 405x1 :slight_smile:
Weighted dips: BW + 65x5x5
5 rounds of: 20 kb swings (20 kg), 5 broad jumps, 5 handstand pushups

Here’s the 315x3…tried to keep hips lower

18

and for what its worth this is me pulling 405, I know my back is round as a basketball but the weight is off the ground…sorta kinda liftime goal, until i decided it would be fairly awesome if I could pull 500 at 155lbs…
Anyways, I’ve read so many article on T-Nation, and checked out so many awesome logs on here and it has really helped me get to where I’m at. With Biotest goodies arriving friday, I hope to really take my game to the next level.

19

12/19
Bjj in the morning, mostly drills though I did roll with legit brown belt for 2x5 min rounds…dude almost snapped my arm off lol
Conditioning pm- 2k row for time (8 min 8 seconds) 50 yard farmers walk with a deadsquat bar, 2k row for time (8 min 52 sec)

The deadsquat bar is awesome…haven’t done a ton of farmers walks with it but they feel great so far. Definitely going to start playing with this more, just need to figure out what exercises to do with the damn thing

20

12/20
Warmup: foam rolling/band work…tried to do some pullovers on rings, failed miserably
Paused front squats: barx10, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 250x5, 265x5
Barbell row: 95x10, 135x5, 185x5x5
5 rounds of: 20kb swings (25kg), 10 ring dips

Paused squats rock, going to start throwing those in regularly. The rings are getting a lot more comfortable as well, although I’ve tried to do some of the progressions from g-wod and they are ridiculously hard. I’m not sure how much this will benefit my weightlifting game but it’s great for martial arts.