Benanything's Training Log

Training Training Logs
41

[quote]MarkKO wrote:

[quote]Benanything wrote:
6/6/15

Paused Bench 20kgs x5
Paused Bench 40kgs x5
Paused Bench 60kgs x3
Paused Bench 70kgs x5
Paused Bench 75kgs x3
Bench 80kgs x2
Deadlift 60kgs x5
Deadlift 100kgs x3
Deadlift 140kgs x2x1
Deadlift 150kgs x1
Deadlift 152.5kgs x1 (failed)
Seated Cable Rows x a bunch of sets x a bunch of reps
Barbell Row x a bunch of sets x a bunch of reps
Practiced some set ups/walk outs with 100kgs squats and 60kgs bench presses

My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
Wow, I got pretty close to my 1rm deadlift and I wasn’t even prepping for it. Maybe the time off actually helped more than I thought. Starting to feel pretty good in the gym. Granted, personal life ain’t exactly fine, girls and shit. Shit will come and shit will go but 200lbs will always be 200lbs. Ok, that made completely no sense. Speaking of which, ran into some bodybuilder type guy and had a lil chat with him. How is it that he looks like he’s almost 90kgs and yet he’s only 78kgs (only 2kgs heavier than me). I read something about sarcoplasmic muscle and myrofibrillar muscles. Turns out, sarcoplasmic muscle generally takes up more space or something like that, fluids etc etc. Anyone knows anything bout this?[/quote]

I think you’re referring to sarcoplasmic vs myofibrillar hypertrophy. BB sees more sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which included a fair degree of plasma (ie liquid) in the muscle whereas myofibrillar hypertrophy is seen in strength athletes and relates to the myofibrils themselves (which combine to make muscle fibres), which are the one of the main contractile elements of the muscle.

The combination increases the muscle’s cross-section, which increased the area it contracts over so BOTH contribute to strength gains as far as I understand it, but the difference between the two is that (I think) myofibrillar hypertrophy will have greater effects on strength as opposed to muscle size increases while sarcoplasmic hypertrophy will do more to enlarge the muscle but less to increase its strength.

The of course you can go into adaptations at the neuromuscular junction, which have a huge effect on strength as that relates to how well the nervous system recruits muscle fibres in the muscle - the more muscle fibres recruited by the nervous system, the stronger the contraction.[/quote]

Yup, I’ve kinda read what you’re talking about. How is that that even though powerlifters generally have hypertrophy/accumulation/volume phase yet we never get to that sort of bulk? Yeah sure, I would much rather lift heavier weights than go pose around in thongs but damn, why not both. Like hell, this one time I was squatting 315 (most people dont squat) in my school gym and this guy came up to me and said “Bro, why are your arms so small?”. What the fuck, ahahahaha. Still kinda hard for me to comprehend though. Someone who’s 2kgs heavier than you looking like he’s 15kgs bigger than you. On a side note, how much of a factor is bone structure/frame? I would consider my frame to be on the smaller side, small bones and all.

42

Well, for one not all powerlifters have exactly that training structure that I know of. Its common, but by no means universal.

Also, look at the end goal of all powerlifting programs: to get stronger in the big three. Any hypertrophy work done is going to be done purely to further that goal, so hypertrophy itself isn’t a goal as such. It seems to be more a matter of needing to get a bit bigger to lift more weight that just to get as big as possible. Also, remember that with weight classes there is always going to be the issue of balancing increased size with performance compared to others of the same size.

So, a powerlifter will always prioritise getting stronger over getting bigger. If a powerlifter does any work to get bigger, it will be based on the knowledge that getting stronger requires a bit more size. Once sufficient size has been gained, it would make no sense to waste training time getting even bigger because the goal is to get stronger.

Further, bodybuilders tend to train solely for hypertrophy, so almost all their training time is devoted to getting bigger. When a bodybuilder trains for strength, the situation will be analogous to a powerlifter training for hypertrophy: it is just another means to an end, and the bodybuilder will stop training for strength once they are strong enough to go back to focussing on just getting bigger.

Then the sacroplasmic vs myofibrillar hypertrophy matter comes into play, because the way powerlifters train results primarlily in the latter while bodybuilders tend to show the former. That’s the look element you wonder about. Basically, it boils down to the other guy’s muscles being a bunch fuller of liquid than yours. You’ve also got to bear in mind subjectivity. You might think he looks a bunch bigger than you, but for someone else they may simply see two guys of pretty similar size with one a little bigger.

It is possible to tread the fine line between the two and get bigger and stronger at the same time; but like in most cases of doing more than one thing at once, neither thing done is done to its fullest capacity; so, training for size and strength simultaneously will not generally result in maximal gains in either size or strength. Granted, for the non-competitor this is arguably the best way to go, and will still result in above ‘average’ size and strength. But for the competitiive powerlifter or bodybuilder, it simply isn’t efficient in most cases.

There’s a reason very few elite powerlifters are at the same time equally successful bodybuilders. Stan Efferding is one of the very few that immediately spring to mind and IMO he has achieved this by working incredibly hard and also being genetically gifted (like most elites at any level of any sport).

Structure and frame are a funny one, especially since bone mass changes - the more load a bone bears, the bigger it gets, so your bones will grow with your muscle. From your photo, you don’t look small, and also quite muscular. At a pinch, I’d have estimated your weight in the mid 80’s - and if I was at your bodyfat percentage I’d probably look a lot like you even though I’d weigh about 10 kg more than you do.

Hope that makes sense/helps.

43

[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Well, for one not all powerlifters have exactly that training structure that I know of. Its common, but by no means universal.

Also, look at the end goal of all powerlifting programs: to get stronger in the big three. Any hypertrophy work done is going to be done purely to further that goal, so hypertrophy itself isn’t a goal as such. It seems to be more a matter of needing to get a bit bigger to lift more weight that just to get as big as possible. Also, remember that with weight classes there is always going to be the issue of balancing increased size with performance compared to others of the same size.

So, a powerlifter will always prioritise getting stronger over getting bigger. If a powerlifter does any work to get bigger, it will be based on the knowledge that getting stronger requires a bit more size. Once sufficient size has been gained, it would make no sense to waste training time getting even bigger because the goal is to get stronger.

Further, bodybuilders tend to train solely for hypertrophy, so almost all their training time is devoted to getting bigger. When a bodybuilder trains for strength, the situation will be analogous to a powerlifter training for hypertrophy: it is just another means to an end, and the bodybuilder will stop training for strength once they are strong enough to go back to focussing on just getting bigger.

Then the sacroplasmic vs myofibrillar hypertrophy matter comes into play, because the way powerlifters train results primarlily in the latter while bodybuilders tend to show the former. That’s the look element you wonder about. Basically, it boils down to the other guy’s muscles being a bunch fuller of liquid than yours. You’ve also got to bear in mind subjectivity. You might think he looks a bunch bigger than you, but for someone else they may simply see two guys of pretty similar size with one a little bigger.

It is possible to tread the fine line between the two and get bigger and stronger at the same time; but like in most cases of doing more than one thing at once, neither thing done is done to its fullest capacity; so, training for size and strength simultaneously will not generally result in maximal gains in either size or strength. Granted, for the non-competitor this is arguably the best way to go, and will still result in above ‘average’ size and strength. But for the competitiive powerlifter or bodybuilder, it simply isn’t efficient in most cases.

There’s a reason very few elite powerlifters are at the same time equally successful bodybuilders. Stan Efferding is one of the very few that immediately spring to mind and IMO he has achieved this by working incredibly hard and also being genetically gifted (like most elites at any level of any sport).

Structure and frame are a funny one, especially since bone mass changes - the more load a bone bears, the bigger it gets, so your bones will grow with your muscle. From your photo, you don’t look small, and also quite muscular. At a pinch, I’d have estimated your weight in the mid 80’s - and if I was at your bodyfat percentage I’d probably look a lot like you even though I’d weigh about 10 kg more than you do.

Hope that makes sense/helps. [/quote]

I actually weighed 72kgs in that photo haha. Well, I guess its true after all, the day you start lifting is the day you become “forever small”.

44

I think at its most basic it is a matter of figuring out what really matters to you to get out of your training. I’d like to go down to 10ish per cent body fat and have a bit more definition, and I’d like to stay below 90 kg/198 lbs to compete but for me the absolute bottom line is that I want to get as strong as I can. That makes life easier for me: I keep an eye on BF, I keep an eye on my weight but until I’m within shouting distance of totalling elite or setting some Australian records neither of those matter much at all if the weight on the bar keeps going up.

In short, don’t sweat the small stuff. The hard part is figuring out what the small stuff is.

45

8/6/15

Squat 60kgs x5
Squat 100kgs x3
Squat 115kgs x5
Squat 130kgs x3
Squat 140kgs x2
Squat 150kgs x2x1
Squat 140kgs x1
Squat 120kgs x1
Paused Bench 20kgs x5
Paused Bench 50kgs x5
Paused Bench 60kgs x5
Paused Bench 70kgs x3
Bench 75kgs x5
Bench 60kgs 3x5

Prepared to leave but ran into a friend so decided to do some shoulders.

Press a bunch of weight x bunch of reps
Press 52.5kgs x4
Machine Press a bunch of weight x bunch of reps

My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
Pretty fucking awesome. Today is a good day. Strength is coming back. Feeling good, feeling kick ass.

46

10/6/15

Deadlift 60kgs x5
Deadlift 80kgs x3
Deadlift 100kgs x3
Deadlift 120kgs x5
Paused Bench 20kgs x5
Paused Bench 40kgs x5
Paused Bench 60kgs x5
Paused Bench 70kgs x5
Press 45kgs x5
Seated Cable Row x bunch of reps

My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
Maybe training with limited amounts of sleep and food ain’t such a good idea after all. Everything felt hella heavy but still do-able.

47

[quote]Benanything wrote:
10/6/15

Deadlift 60kgs x5
Deadlift 80kgs x3
Deadlift 100kgs x3
Deadlift 120kgs x5
Paused Bench 20kgs x5
Paused Bench 40kgs x5
Paused Bench 60kgs x5
Paused Bench 70kgs x5
Press 45kgs x5
Seated Cable Row x bunch of reps

My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
Maybe training with limited amounts of sleep and food ain’t such a good idea after all. Everything felt hella heavy but still do-able. [/quote]

Nope, not optimal. IMO food is the bigger issue, because I don’t get a ton of sleep and it doesn’t affect my training much. Miss both and you’re going to have problems though.

48

[quote]MarkKO wrote:

[quote]Benanything wrote:
10/6/15

Deadlift 60kgs x5
Deadlift 80kgs x3
Deadlift 100kgs x3
Deadlift 120kgs x5
Paused Bench 20kgs x5
Paused Bench 40kgs x5
Paused Bench 60kgs x5
Paused Bench 70kgs x5
Press 45kgs x5
Seated Cable Row x bunch of reps

My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
Maybe training with limited amounts of sleep and food ain’t such a good idea after all. Everything felt hella heavy but still do-able. [/quote]

Nope, not optimal. IMO food is the bigger issue, because I don’t get a ton of sleep and it doesn’t affect my training much. Miss both and you’re going to have problems though. [/quote]

By lack of sleep, its more like… 6 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours? So maybe when its of that extent, sleep might be a slightly bigger issue.

49

[quote]Benanything wrote:
By lack of sleep, its more like… 6 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours? So maybe when its of that extent, sleep might be a slightly bigger issue.
[/quote]

In a situation like that, a little extra food may help. Last week was my final week of Smolov Base and I had 16.5 hours of sleep over 4 days because of a final project. I still trained and had to back off on some sets for the 3rd training day of the week but surprisingly I finished the final session (which is the day after) with more energy than expected and not having to back off.

The night before I got +2000 cals over expenditure and slept 11 hours. That’s not sustainable long term but that much excess food does help short term with minimal impact on body composition (gonna have to strip some fat off soon).

50

12/6/15
Deadlift 60kgs x5
Deadlift 100kgs x3
Deadlift 140kgs x1
Deadlift 150kgs x1
Deadlift 155kgs x1 (failed)
Bench 40kgs x5
Bench 60kgs x5
Paused Bench 70kgs x3
Bench 80kgs x3
Slingshot Bench 80kgs x3x5
Tried to do some front squats but ended up tearing my pants.

My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
Meh. Basically that’s all, nothing particularly special bout today. I honestly do feel that the only thing holding me back is me deadlift form.

150kgs x1

155kgs x1 (failed)

51

15/6/15

Squat 60kgs x5
Squat 100kgs x3
Squat 120kgs x5
Squat 140kgs x3
Squat 150kgs x1 (failed)
Bench 20kgs x5
Bench 60kgs x5
Bench 70kgs 3x3

My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
Actually did more shit than this but I was kinda fucking around so I didn’t bother taking note. Probably did a bunch of single squats with anywhere from 100kgs-120kgs and some cleans. Pretty pissed I failed my 150kgs squat, I totally had it. And training in different gyms sure take some getting used to, some racks be kinda hard to unrack and shitz.

52

At a pinch I’d say the issue with technique is that you don’t pull with your back so much as push up with your legs while keeping your back steady until about midway. That leaves a lot of engine out of the lift IMO. I start the pull with my back: I raise my shoulders/chest and the legs followand then the back completes the lift so the sequence goes back/legs/back. That may or may not work for you, but I’d say its worth a try. At the moment the way you pull reminds me more of an Oly lifter at the start of the jerk.

That’s the issue I have with low hips at the start of a conventional pull - I figure it makes it harder to use your back to shift the weight, but I guess I feel that way because my back is the driver for a lot of my lifts. Pulling sumo has helped heaps in terms of getting me to lift with my glutes and hams as well.

53

17/6/15

Press 47.5 x5
Deadlift 60kgs x5
Deadlift 80kgs x5
Deadlift 100kgs x3
Deadlift 120kgs x2
Deadlift 122.5kgs x5
Deadlift 130kgs x3x1
Deadlift 140kgs x3x1
Deadlift 150kgs x1
Complex of 40kgs clean, front squat, overhead press, back squat, behind the neck press x 50
Paused Bench 30kgs x5
Paused Bench 60kgs x2x2

My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
The complex was pretty messed up.

54

19/6/15

Paused Bench 20kgs x5
Paused Bench 40kgs x5
Paused Bench 60kgs x5
Paused Bench 72.5kgs x3 (was supposed to get 3)
Deadlift 60kgs x5
Deadlift 100kgs x3
Deadlift 140kgs x5x1
Dumbell Row 25kgs x10

My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
Still worn out from the 17/6 workout and me semi-recovering from my fever sure ain’t helping.

55

Couple of questions:

  1. What exactly is the purpose of the 17/6?

  2. Why the high DL volume at heavy loads (your max is around 160 kg right?)?

Be careful with the volume of heavy load work you do in a relatively short time.

56

[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Couple of questions:

  1. What exactly is the purpose of the 17/6?

  2. Why the high DL volume at heavy loads (your max is around 160 kg right?)?

Be careful with the volume of heavy load work you do in a relatively short time.

[/quote]

  1. I was supposed to get my 125kgs deadlift for 5 but I guess I kinda overdid it. Joined in a couple of workouts with some of the other guys at the gym. Pretty much fucking around I guess.

  2. I guess it felt like a good day. I’ll keep in mind. Feeling a lil sore now, haha.

57

Sore isn’t the issue - that just means you’re growing/didn’t eat enough. If my own experience is anything to go by, its CNS fatigue (not sure if that’s exactly the right term) that you need to watch out for; and that you don’t feel until one day you try to lift something you normally could and it feels 50 kg heavier. For DL it won’t do much beyond glue the weight to the floor, but for squat or bench it could be an issue if you fail right in the hole/on the chest.

58

BTW, nothing wrong with joining in with your mates - just be aware of where you’re at in terms of energy in the tank and recovery capacity as well as what you need to be doing the next few training sessions. In other words, don’t spend training energy you don’t have or will need for other stuff.

59

[quote]MarkKO wrote:
BTW, nothing wrong with joining in with your mates - just be aware of where you’re at in terms of energy in the tank and recovery capacity as well as what you need to be doing the next few training sessions. In other words, don’t spend training energy you don’t have or will need for other stuff. [/quote]

I agree. There should be a balance between doing well in a single training session and doing well throughout the entire training cycle. It does take mistakes to learn what your body is capable of and impacts on recovery. Take notes on these things so you can notice patterns over time and prevent making the same mistakes.

60

22/6/15

Farmer’s Walk 80kgs (40kgs per side) x800m
Squat 60kgs x5
Squat 60kgs x5
Squat 100kgs x3
Squat 110kgs x2
Squat 125kgs x5 (hella out of breath after 3rd rep)
Squat 130kgs x1
Squat 140kgs x2
Squat 140kgs x1
Paused Bench 20kgs x5
Paused Bench 40kgs x5
Paused Bench 60kgs x5
Paused Bench 70kgs x3
Paused Bench 72.5kgs x3 (was supposed to get 5)

My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
The farmers were pretty painful…