Week 5: Day 5
Front Squat: 1x3- 140
6x3 130lbs
RDL: 2x10, 1x8- 155lbs
DB row: 3x12/arm 22kg
Preworkout: Feeling pretty good but a bit tired- it was very hot and humid. Legs were still feeling it a bit from Wednesday
Workout: Front squats were definitely a struggle. I wanted at least 4 reps at 140 but rep 3 was a total grinder and I was loosing tension. 6x5 at 130 was not happening at all, so I did 6x3 instead and even that took longer rests than usual. RDLs weren’t too bad on glutes and hamstrings, but my abs weren’t taking it.
Post workout: tired but felt accomplished and good for pushing through
I heard the same thing about kids being selected for sports at a young age in the USSR, I suppose it’s a communist thing. I would think that 17 isn’t too old to start weightlifting, supposedly you peak in WL at about 30 since you start to get slower after that. Of course it is more complicated than PL and would require more time and most likely your parents’ support, from what I have heard many Chinese WLers live in training camps and train almost all day 5-6 days a week, their training style is a combination of the Bulgarian and Russian systems. So maxing out all the time but doing a ton of volume as well. They must have some next level drugs over there.
So you plan to start competing in powerlifting once you move to the US?
I get the impression that your 1st squat workout this week wasn’t so great because you deadlifted first in the week. Seeing as reps are dropping off on just about everything, try making 10lb jumps on your deadlift top set for the next couple weeks to even things out. Once you get to the point where you are doing heavy doubles we can change things up and focus more on intensity with less volume for a bit, then start the whole thing over again. I would have had you deload somewhere around now if it wasn’t for your trip, we will see how long you an keep going before fatigue catches up.
Sounds good!
Yes, I definitely want to compete in college (only a year away!). The Chinese team is definitely on some next level drugs, but unlike the Russians, the world don’t hate them as much so they haven’t been banned as of yet.
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Bench Press: 3x12- 90lbs
DB Incline Bench:1x6,8,10-16kg Dbs
JM Press: 3x12-65lbs
3x(15Dumbbell Flyes-8kg DB w/5sec descents+15 rear delt flyes-8kg Db) w/1min rests
Preworkout: a bit tired but felt good, legs a bit sore but arms okay
Workout: everything went up pretty smoothly. the bench and JM presses killed arms and actually got a good sweat on.
Post Workout: arms pretty dead and felt good
Week 6: Day 1
Back Squat: 5x3-170lbs- I wanted to do 175lbs for at least 4 but failed, so I dropped down hoping to do 170 for 5. I failed the fourth rep. At this point, I got really frustrated and decided to do 5x3.
2x5-145w/pause
Lat Pulldown: 3x14-27kg
Preworkout: feeling pretty good and energized, nothing sore or tired
Workout: Very frustrating and disappointing. The weights didn’t feel heavy on my back but I strangely lost tension in the hole. Definitely one of the worse workouts ever. Everything else felt pretty good.
Postworkout: very disappointed and pretty tired. legs pretty dead
Week 6: Day 2
Bench: 1x2-110lbs paused
6x5-95lbs
Dips: 1x13,14,15 w/15lb DB
Face Pull: 3x20-21kg
HS technique
Preworkout: legs tired but upper body felt good, not tired but not too excited either
Workout: bench felt heavy and pretty disappointed at 1x2. This might just be a fluke though. 6x5 felt good and so did everything else
Postworkout: legs felt much better, triceps dead. otherwise felt good
It looks like it’s just about time to reset your numbers, maybe another week and then you can take a deload and start back with some heavy triples. Whatever you can do for a 5rm would be a good starting point.
Does it look like you are making progress? Any PRs? Do you feel like you could handle more volume?
I think I’ve made a fair amount of progress on everything but bench (I’m not used to paused bench)- up until last week. I hit 170 for 5 on squat and my work capacity on deadlifts have shot up.
I really don’t feel like I could handle more volume, especially on lower body.
By the way, I’m training at my school gym now, which has 3 platforms, dumbbells up to 40kg, multiple benches, but no machines except for a lat pull down and basic cable machine
Week 6: Day 3
Front Squat: 1x3-145lbs; 5x3-130lbs
RDL: 3x10-155lbs
DB Row: 1x13,14,15-22kg
Preworkout: legs tired and glutes tight and sore. Deadlift weren’t happening so I did frontsquats instead
Workout: Legs loosened up after warmup sets, felt surprisingly strong. Happy w/ 145x3; back off sets weren’t really going to happen though. RDLs felt much better- I actually felt it more in my hamstrings than abs
Postworkout: tired but actually felt better than preworkout.
If you’re not used to pausing your bench then it’s pretty much guaranteed that it will be weaker, maybe we started too heavy if numbers were based off touch and go. That would explain a few things.
What happened with front squats, you cut it after 3 sets of 5? If it’s getting too hard due to the weight then rest longer (if you’re currently resting 1 minute then increase to 90 sec. or even 2 min.) and the next step would be to change up the rep scheme. So rather than 5x5 you could do 5-6 sets of 4 or 6-8 sets of 3.
I get the impression that you are ready for a deload. How about next week we reduce the training load and then the week after we can start another training block with a bit more intensity and less volume?
Week 6: Day 4
Close grip bench: 3x10-80lbs
Ovh Press: 3x5-75lbs
Skullcrushers: 3x15-45lbs
Preworkout: felt pretty good and energized, upper back pretty tight and abs a bit sore.
Workout: Killed triceps, pretty happy w/ close grip bench and skullcrushers but really struggled with overhead press.
Postworkout: felt the same as preworkout but arms really tired and pretty pumped
So for next week we will try something like this:
-decrease weight on all exercises by 10% (you can make that 15% on bench since you only got a double this week)
-For the heavy top sets (squat, bench, deadlift. front squat) you can just do one set of 2. For everything else you will do half the reps, if you did sets of 10 then do sets of 5, where you did 5x5 you can do 3x4 (half the total volume). Don’t rush your rest periods, that won’t help you to recover, and try to do all reps as explosively as possible with perfect technique. The exception is isolation work like flys and skull crushers, don’t get too explosive with those.
-The week after, you will take your 5rm (or weight from your heaviest set of 5 even if it wasn’t a 5rm) for squat, bench, deadlift, and front squat and do a triple for the top set. Volume work will be 6 sets of 3, I would say to start around 75% of your estimated 1rm, I can help you figure out the numbers if necessary.
Basically, you will go a bit heavier on just about everything. I think you could use some more heavy benching so on the day where you do t&g bench you could start by working up to a heavy set of 5 and then drop about 10% for a few backdown sets. Just finish this week and we will sort out the small details.
Are there any exercises that you feel aren’t working for you? Now would be the time to switch things up, but if everything seems to be working then you could just stick with the same thing for the next few weeks. By the end of this block you should be doing heavy doubles, you aren’t training for a meet and seem to be doing well with rep work so I wouldn’t have you doing singles.
Sounds good!
Rear delt flyes aren’t really working and neither are the weighted dips- It’s hard to keep the dumbbell between my legs and my gym doesn’t have a dip belt.
Are there bands at your gym? You could do band pull aparts instead. Otherwise I would just keep doing the rear delt flys, not much an go wrong with those.
As for dips, without a dip belt it’s going to suck so better switch it to something else. I’m just not sure what at the moment, I would say close grip board press or slingshot but I’m guessing you can’t do either of those. No bands or chains either? I would switch it for some sort of tricep-focused pressing movement but it depends on what you have available. Can you do floor press?
I don’t think so. I’m not sure the school gym supervisor will allow it for safety reasons.
Week 6: Day 5
Deadlift: 1x4-240lbs; 5x4-220lbs
Split squats: 3x10/leg-40lb Dbs
Barbell Rows: 3x15-110lbs
Abs: 8x(20sec+10sec rest)- hollow holds
Preworkout: Felt pretty good and energized- slightly buzzed (had my coffee)
Workout: Very happy with 240x4, probably could have gone for another rep. back off sets felt heavy and hard- needed long rests and got pretty lightheaded after sets. Split squats killed legs and glutes and got heartrate up pretty good. Rows felt good. The hollow holds really burned but not as bad as expected
Postoworkout: Pretty tired mentally and physically
Family obligation today- can’t train. I’ll do today’s workout tomorrow
Won’t allow what? Floor press?
Anyway, the options at this point are either buying a dip belt or doing some sort of close grip variation (and you’re already doing regular close grip bench) to give you some more tricep volume. If you can’t use bands, chains, slingshot, or boards then the only remaining options are close grip incline or close grip floor press. Does this gym have an incline bench? Are you sure you can’t do floor press?
Maybe just skip that workout, otherwise you will end up training 7 days in a row and it sounds like you need to deload. Just follow the instructions I wrote previously (decrease weight by 10% and volume by 50%) and if you have any questions then let me know.
What about diamond pushups?