Not alot of room for any other lifts, thats for sure, and I’ll see how it works out with four moves on the same template, could get rough for a few weeks, but I really liked it on the incline. I love the volume, and you do build up to it, it’s the reason I went with my old fravorite of 1 on 1 off, upper lower, I always get strong on this split, lots of recovery. I also went really gental setting my maxes, just to take 6 weeks and see how it works. I know with the incline, I set the template up with a 275 true max, and ended up getting 300 at the end, can’t complain about 25lbs in 6 weeks, ands the incline is the slowest of the four lifts for me, so i’m kind of pumped to see what happens with setting up all four lifts like this. never know, it could blow up in my face, wouldn’t be the first time. I am hoping I don’t get so sore after every squat workout.
The other thing I’ve been noticing, and talking about with training friends, is all these raw PLing freaks comming out of Russia lately, like the young kid just broke the squat record, they’re basicaly only training they’re comp lifts, training 3 days a week, one day for each PLing move, tons of volume, and really no variety. Dan Green’s not far off this either, as guys get supper strong in raw lifting, we’re seeing a completely different kind of programing, than whats been working for years for the geared guys. It’s hard to say if any of this will work for an old worn out fuck like me, but I thought I’d give it a shot, and see what happen’s. As a trainer I’ve been giniue pigging myself for years anyway, trying different shit, to see what will work with my kids. Just for shits and giggles, here’s week 4, I’ll be doing in the squat in a couple weeks
Squat
365x10x3 ---- 85%
315x6x8 ----- 75%
That might be a tough one 
Latter
Been lurkin. Bad ass log!
If these 6 week program goes well for you I might steal it
Thanks Barbwire, Chobbs, I mentioned a few pages back, that I thought this 6 week Steel cycle would work well with 531, since it’s a 6 week program, and 531 is a 3 week program + deload, you could run this program on one lift, to try it, and just skip the deload, every other cycle, with the other 3 lifts. This would give you a chance atleast to see how your body handles the extra volume, before jumping in balls deep, on all 4 lifts like I did, either way it’s a nice short little cycle, thats what I like, so if it dosen’t work out well, it’s only 6 weeks, so in the scheme of things, not a big deal. Im off to bench, Latter
Hey Jake, its Andrew I finally made an account. Been following the log for a while now. Its awesome to see the progress you’re consistently making, helps to keep me inspired on constantly pushing my limits.
Goodstuff Drew, to bad we didn’t get a workout in over the holdays, but hopefully with any luck my legal mess will be over early in the year, so I can get back in my club, and we can get some workouts in there, insead of my freezing cold garage. Also now that your online, Chobbs is a lifter that visits my log, is a little ahead of where your at, same age as you, so if you check out his log, I think there’s alot there to learn as well. Latter, and goodluck !
Saturday, Jan 4, Bench workout 2, Steel cycle. 8x6@75% + 1x10@65%
bench-----face pull TRX–added new handles, that make TRX 10inches longer, and harder
135x10-----mex10
225x5------mex10
265x6------mex10
265x6------mex10
265x6------mex10
265x6------mex10
265x6------30x20, switched to hammer curl
265x6------30x20
265x6------30x20
265x6------25x20, switched to rear latteral, seated at the end of the bench
225x10----25x15 rear–10 side–10 arnold press, just to fry shoulder’s at the end
WOW, I’m cooked, 265 is an easy bench for me, but by the 6th set, it was starting to feel like 400 fucking pounds. I came in the house after the workout, and I was feeling hot, and sweaty + cold, and shivery all at the same time, thats the sign of a good workout. I can’t rember being this pumped, atleast for a long time, I could set beer mugs on top of my chest, anyway another one in the books, my left shoulder was feeling a bit beat up, I think from the incline workout the other day. I just finished 6 weeks on this program on my incline, then without even taking a day off, added 15lbs and started the cycle all over again, along with my other 3 lifts, so I might have to come up with somthing else to do, on my other upper body day. I have an old injury in my left shoulder ( unrelated to working out ) but it might be to much to ask, doing back to back cycle’s of incline. Landmine presses always make my left shoulder feel better, than pressing with a barbell, I’ll play it by year, anyway Latter
Monday Jan, 6 / 6 week, Steel cycle-- Squat workout 2
Squat
135x3x10
225x5
295x3
315x8x6
275x9
I’m fucking sick, I was up all night with this head cold/ flu what ever, it’s making me feel like shit, but I maned up and did this ridiculous workout, anyway it’s done, I’m going to knock the squat 1RM% down from 420 to 405, and probably knock incline press back to 275. Basicaly I’m making adjustments on the fly, turning this peaking program into a workout program, and I think pushing 2 of the lifts hard ( 1 upper, 1 lower) while I coast on the other two, is a more sane aproach, also I’m trying to get my squat and dead number’s, without a belt, number’s I’ve already gotten with a belt, just redoing a cycle without a belt, and to be honest my lower back was feeling tired today during warm-up, probably due to the 36 reps I did 4 days ago on the unbelted deads with 350lbs. I managed to get it done today, but as I get deeper into this program, it’s going to catch up with me, so 15lb drop is nothing, but I think it will make a huge difference. I’m going to have a nap. Latter
Tuesday Jan 7 / 6 week Steel cycle – incline workout 2
incline press------pull-up/chinup ( switch back exercises, every 5sets or so )
95x3x10------shoulder warmup stuff–This is new, I’m actually trying to do a real warm-up
135x10-------mex5+5–pullup+ chinup
185x5-------mex5+5
215x6------mex5+5
215x6-------mex5+5
215x6-------mex5+5
215x6-------90x10+10( I use the trap bar to do rev curls, followed by upright row, sort of like EZ curl bar)
215x6-------90x10+10
215x6--------90x10+10
215x5--------90x10+10
215x5-------90x10+10
185x8-------rear rotator rotations, a bunch with the band
135x12-------TRX face pull, a bunch and out the door I went
Tough workout, I’m still sick, but I have contractor’s comming this week, from the insurance company, and the ice storm, basement flooded, evestrough fell off, money to be made. Anyway I wanted to get this workout in today, I didn’t get 6 reps on all 8 sets, I got 5 reps the last 2 sets, i think it has more to do with my flu, and all the back volume I’m supersetting in. The rev curls, and upright rows with the trap bar, nuked my shoulder’s, and made it hard to keep pressing, but I know I could easily get all the sets if that was my main focus. I don’t superset anything in on my final workout, when I test my 1 RM’s, so thats what matter’s. Latter
oh on another note, I’m out of test, the pharmacy is on back order, a few weeks he told me yesterday, so either I wait, or get some from one of the guys at the gym. I was joking with my pharmacist that I could hook him up. See what happen’s if I have to go a few weeks, see if effects my strength, I really doubt it 200mgs a week is nothing, but today was a half shot so we’ll see. latter
I set up this program for myself, and I was thinking 1on, 1 off might be over kill. In fact the first couple of workouts it was killing me staying out of the gym every other day, especialy, since I anounced my intention to beat Csulli to 365 ( I train alone, need modivation) Anyway 1on, 1off upper/lower split, means 4 days of rest between workouts, I thought it was going to be to much, and I’d probably switch to 2on, 1off before to long.
Haha, tomorrow is deadlift day, workout 2, and I can hardly walk today, it’s been years since I’ve been this sore consistantly. I squatted 315 for 48 reps, 3 days ago, plus backoff set, plus warmup, and my hams are still nuked, deadlifts will be tough tomorrow – 48 reps with 350, so I’ll be fucked from that I’m sure. It’s not the weight with this program, the weights aren’t heavy, it’s the shear fucking volume, with weights you can just barely handle, thats the beauty of this program, it’s set up so it’s right on the money, as to what you can handle, atleast for me.
If I have 8sets of 6 reps with 315, the first 3 sets are solid work sets, tough but doable, then the next 3 sets, are alot of fucking work, and I barely get the last rep, then the last 2 sets, I basicaly have to cheat to get the last rep. Then to top it off, he has me, drop 10% and get 12reps as a back off set. To wrap it up, this program is beating the hell out of me, in a good way, and I’m loving it. latter
This is a pic of my incline set-up, I’ve mentioned that I’m getting a little scared handling around 300lbs, so I thought I’d throw up a pic of my set-up, to see what I’m talking about, I’ve started using a strap from the rafter;s to protect myself, in case somthing happen’s
Another close up
Also I bought a bunch of new equipment for the gym, and snagged a set of handles for my home gym, I put these on the end of my tow strap, that I use as a TRX set-up for my face pulls, anyways it gives me about 10inches of length, and this makes my face pulls alot harder, LoRez will understand, so after a year of doing sets of 20, adding these handles, has me back doing sets of 10. Latter
By the way, the above is the angle that I’ve been running my incline cycles on, I have no idea of knowing if it’s 45 degree’s or not, thats my closest guess, and the lowest angle I can use and still be able to reach up and lift the bar out of my hanging squat rack, and ya the bench dosen’t have a way to lift the lower part of the seat, so I jamb some extra plates in there. I guess I’m justifying the fact that I only got 295 on this set-up, and I counted it as 300
Thursday Jan 9, 6 week Steel cycle, Deadlift workout 2
Deadlift
135x10
225x5
295x3
345x4+2 bar was damp and slippery, chaulked the shit out of it, and my hands
345x6
345x6
345x6
345x6
345x6
345x5
345x4
345x4
295x10, fucking hell
BB row
225x3x8
DB curls----DB shrugs
30x3x20------90x3x15
All and all, a perfect workout, lots of volume on the main move, and some asistance afterwards, life’s good. I knew going into this, doing this 6 week cycle on all my moves at once would be tough, so I’m not going to bitch about it now I’m a guy that always finishes what I start, and the next couple weeks are going to be interesting, but what dosen’t kill you makes you stronger. I’m going to buy some straps to finish this cycle with, it’s been hard on my grip, and the extreme cold, followed by my heater, makes moisture on the bar, so thats why I lost the last couple of reps, I added an extra set of 4, to make up for the couple lost reps, my grip was really slipping, so I did what I could, and I’ll have some straps for next time. Latter
Fri Jan 10, 6 week steel cycle, bench workout, week 3
bench
warmup
285x12x4
250x9
supersetted in a bunch of pulls–facepulls, DB rows, shrugs
Young Andrew was over to go over his form and what not, so we went through his dead, and squat form, and after only 3mths of working out, he hit a 285 on the dead, with solid form, and he’s squating 200lbs, we spent some time on his squat form. Then I decided to do my bench workout, and let him work through it with me, so I did 12x4 with 285, and we’d strip the weight, and he did 12x4 with 155, in between my sets, showing him how I supersetted my pulling stuff, made for a long workout, but it was good. Taught him how to do DB rows unsupported, leaning your nonworking arm on your outer leg, and rowing with your other arm, it’s the way I like to do my DB rows, sort of like starting a lawn mower, no bench needed. Anyway good stuff, he’s been running a basic 5x5 type program, and he’s getting pretty strong for 170lb kid, I think he’s going to try the 6 week steel cycle on his squat, based on 200lbs so we’ll keep the log posted on how he does. I’m sure he’ll be sore as fuck tomorow, after doing 12 sets of bench, pretty outside the box for a kid thats been doing 5x5, probably a shock to the system 
crippled tomorrow, anyway Latter
Sunday jan 12— squat day----No cycle’s, No %
I got up this morning, and looked at my training journal, and it made me depressed, I just wasn’t up to 48 reps, of all rthe same weight, all the same sets and reps, to be honest it’s burning me out, mostly mentaly, so i erased everything on the page, and I wrote the word SQUAT at the top of the page, then I wrote 1-20 down the left side. So heading out to the garage all I knew was I was going to do 20 sets of some sort of squats, and this ment that I could superset in 4 different asistance exercises, at 5 sets each, but I didn’t know what I’d be doing. I will say that this is the most enjoyable workout I’ve had in months
SQUAT------supersetted with asistance exercises, changed every 5 sets
MTbarx50----------cuban press/shoulder rotations–bandx15
135x10--------bandx15
225x5---------bandx15
275x5--------bandx15
295x5--------bandx15
315x5--------mex10–leg raise ( added belt to squats as well)
345x5-------mex10
365x5-------mex10
405x1-------mex10 ( wasn’t feeling the heavy weight today, it felt like a ton, just unracking it)
365x5-------mex10 ( still felt heavy, so droped down for some volume, and to keep my spirits up)
315x5--------90x30–Db shrugs–10 right side, 10 left side, 10 togeather, holding weight the whole time)
315x5-------90x30
315x5--------90x30
315x5--------90x30
315x5-------90x30 ( alternating real wide, with real narrow, on these set of squats)
Front squats----Russian leg curls ( with ab wheel)
205x5--------mex20
205x5--------mex20
205x5-------mex20
205x5------mex20
205x5-------mex20 9 no belt on front squats, abs were burning, as well as quads)
This is the way I always used to workout, just the exercise, and the number of sets I wanted to do. I’m going to stick it out on the steel cycle, for the bench, and dead, but do my own thing for the squat, and overhead days. Mainly to keep me sane, I don’t want to be the guy that dreads going to the gym. I’m going to try my best to stay away from the weights, for at least a week, at the end of the steel cycle, since I came back to heavy lifting last April, I haven’t taken a deload, or a break. I keep saying I’m going to, but I end up going back to lifting after only a couple days. The fact that my strength hasn’t come back as fast as I’d hoped, has kind of driven me into a state of stupidity, and I need to start training a little smarter, going balls out is great, and it’s helped get me where I am, but I’m aware of feeling burnt out lately, so I need to rethink alittle, I have a cycle set up for March, as I had a plan to start dieting, and add in some gear then, but I was hoping to be further ahead, and to use the gear to keep my strength, while I dieted down to mabey 225. The plan was to be at 1500lb total within a year naturaly, then use some gear to maintain my strength while I get lean, and down to a competative weight, to do a meet. That way I’d feel like I still got the 1500 naturaly, and just used the juice to lean out, but it’s not looking like I’m going to get back to 1500 naturaly, atleast not within a year, mabey that was to much to ask of my old body. i don’t know, lots to think about. Latter
Lots of volume ,your’s and Csulli’s logs make me feel tired just reading it all. Good work man!
I’m currently trying to get fat and bench more new goal not all scientific but I’m sick of having a shit bench I think it’s lanky ass arms and bad shoulders.
Lots of volume, but lots of reps in the tank, you have to realize that none of these are ME sets, the two 365 sets were hard and heavy, but I wanted 405x5, but when I realized my body wasn’t feeling it today ( I’ve been fighting a flu, for a week or so) I droped back and put some work in at 315, probably 75% area, and on those sets, I could have got 10reps if I’d really tried. I think alot of young guys don’t grasp this fully, there’s no way I could get 20 sets if I was putting 100% into any of those sets. It’s hard to explain, over time you find your rythem I guess. Latter
Fun time of year for me in the gym buisness, buying new equipment, I do my taxes, and figure out how much money I made the previous year ( not much in the gym buisness) and what new equipment I want for the comming year. The best part of owning your own gym, for sure shopping for equipment, so I spent the day, today flipping through equipment books/sights. Last year was a big year, as I paid off all my initial loans, so we went back in debt a bit, and re-equiped, couple new tread mills, standing calf machine, plate loaded-curl / tri leverage machine, rack of KB’s, new trap bar, SS squat bar, and what not.
This year won’t be as much, as I did a new floor this summer already for 15 grand-rubber from front to back. Anyway, I’ve been looking at a TRX set-up, real name brand unit, a rack full of medicine balls ( been wanting this) and I’m going to set my gym up for PLing bands, this means ordering the bands, not a big deal, but also changing my two power racks over to be able to use them, have them drilled and fitted for pins. I’m hoping this year to be able to move to a bigger space to allow for some indoor sled use, and some real lifting platforms, as right now all lifting has to be done in the one of the racks. I don’t have room right now for anymore actual equipment, but once I move, we’ll finaly be getting a GHR, and a hack squat machine.
Anyway fun day, thought guys might want to here about what goes into a gym, and once my manager Brandon comes over, and we finalize our order this week, I’ll throw it up here. Hopefully I can actually step foot in my own gym eary this year when this legal shit is over with. Believe it or not, I haven’t even seen all the new equipment we bought last year yet, or my new floor, just pics, crazy world, but life goes on. If I hadn’t of gone through all this legal hassle’s, and time on house arrest, I might not have turned my coaching inward, and decided to get myself strong again, just kept myself busy coaching, running my gym, and staying weak, so there’s always an upside, just all in how you look at it. I haven’t had a big ramble like this in a while, feel’s good. Latter