Bench: w/u with 6x60kg, 4x100kg, 1x120kg; 2, 3, x 130kg, 3 x 132.5kg, 3 x 135kg, 1 x 137.5kg, 13 total reps with 120kg (3, 4, 3, 3)
Stationary bike (steady pace to loosen legs, which were stiff after sprints on Sunday), about 5-10 mins
DB Lateral Raises: 12 x 12.5kg DBs, 2 x 8 x 17.5kg DBs
Bench felt pretty good. Still trying to rest and prepare for the next round of squats, and waiting for my upper back to recover (slight tweak of a muscle, feels tight) after the Smolov base cycle. Progress seems good overall.
Squat: w/u with 3x60kg, 3x100kg, 2x140kg; 1 x 170kg, 1 x 180kg, 1 x 190kg, 1 x 195kg, 2 x 175kg, 2 x 170kg
Hamstring Curls: 3 x 10 x 95kg
Weights handled well; I felt very comfortable with my technique and had easily enough strength to blast up weights up to 190kg - the 195kg / 430lbs was smooth and explosive too, but slower and more difficult than the others, so I left it there (not looking for a true max yet, though I guess it would be around 10-15 kg more, so about 205 / 210kg). Mission for base mesocycle completed - time to move on!
On a different note, upper back / shoulder blade area still feels off, just a minor pull but still annoying - this will have a chance to recover now before I begin the next phase of heavy work in a week or two. For this week, I’ll keep squats light and rest. Tiger balm (heat rub) helped.
Bench: w/u with 8x60kg, 5x100kg; 6 x 120kg, 4 x 130kg, 2 x 5 x 120kg, 4 x 120kg, 2 x 3 x 120kg
Overhead Press: 4 x 60kg, 2 x 6 x 60kg, 2 x 5 x 60kg, 2 x 3 x 60kg
Seated Overhead Tricep Press (DB): 10 x 22.5kg DBs, 2 x 8 x 25kg DBs, 6 x 25kg DBs
DB Row: 3 x 10 x 30kg (light due to upper back / shoulder blade area muscle strain)
DB Lateral Raise: 12 x 10kg DBs, 3 x 10 x 12.5kg DBs (May have been 15s, can’t remember as I was away and the dumbbells weren’t clearly labelled)
Good session. This should be the Smolov switching cycle, so I’m just changing things slightly for a couple of weeks to have a break.
22nd
Interval run session, with a mix of short (15-40m) sprints and longer stretches of continuous jogging with some walk recovery between them. 35mins.
Stat. Bike Intervals
Squat: w/u to 3x140kg, then:
Front Squat: 6 x 3 x 100kg
Front Squat from bottom pins: 2 x 1 x 100kg, 3 x 3 x 90kg, 3 x 3 x 80kg
Hamstring curls: 4 sets
24th
Stat. Bike Intervals
Bench: w/u to 4x110kg; 3 x 130kg, 3 x 132.5kg, 3 x 135kg, 2 x 137.5kg, 15 total reps of 120kg.
Stat. Bike Intervals
Sled: 8 lengths with two plates, sprint
Deadlift (conventional): w/u with 5x60kg, 5x110kg; 5 x 140kg, 3 x 160kg, 4 x 2 x 170kg (belt added for these sets only), 2 x 5 x 140kg
Hamstring Curls: 10 x 85kg, 8 x 105kg, 8 x 95kg, 10 x 85kg
First proper deadlift session in about 8-9 months. Felt good, weight easily manageable. Also not far off my best ever on conventional, as I always went sumo over 170. I think I’ll stick with conventional for now, possibly even in competition (although I might decide otherwise when I’ve had a chance to get over the 190 / 200kg mark and test both stances thoroughly). Feeling pretty strong overall, upper back tweak appears to have recovered and the week off from heavy squatting is nice after the Smolov Base.
Squat: w/u with 5x60kg, 5x100kg, 3x140kg; 3 x 170kg, 2 x 2 x 180kg, 4 x 2 x 170kg
Ab. Pulldown: 4 sets
Core / Stability Work: 20 mins
Reasonable session today. It felt too short to me (~1 hr) at the time, but I had to rush back to watch the rugby so left it there. Also, there’s the fact that I’m not supposed to be doing much heavy work during this pseudo- “switching phase” anyway; this was really an extra session.
Squats at 180kg (just under 400lbs) were challenging, but not maximal - the reps actually moved quite quickly, and depth was very good. Still, I didn’t quite feel at my best today, and I guess it could be due to the impromptu deadlift session in the week; deadlifts are always draining, especially after time off from them.
Stat. Bike: 8 mins
Bench: w/u with 5x60kg, 5x110kg; 4 x 120kg, 2 x 130kg, 2 x 135kg, 1 x 140kg, 2 x 140kg, 2 x 3 x 130kg
DB OHP (Standing): 7, 5, 5, 4, x 32.5kg DBs
Seated Machine Row: 10 x 55kg, 10 x 65kg, 3 x 10 x 75kg
Stat. Bike: high resistance sprints, 10-20 sec. work / 30-40 sec. slow cycling rest, x 5
Squat: w/u with 4x70kg, 4x120kg, 3x140kg; 3 x 4 x 165kg, 5 x 165kg
First day of Smolov intense cycle today. Went quite well, despite the fact that I misloaded the bar for the first heavy set and decided to stick with the 165kg (it should have been 162.5kg).
I may or may not stick strictly to a weekly schedule; it might make more sense to use a more flexible “week”, and have 1-3 days between squat sessions as needed - after all, I have just returned to heavy squatting after injury and I have no desire to push too far / too soon and have more enforced rest. Plus, I am training other lifts and energy systems / FM fitness on top of this, so I might have to allow for extra recovery on occasion. This training cycle should get me back on track properly, and will hopefully lead to some all-time PRs and a boost in confidence with heavier loads again.
Bench: w/u with 8x60kg, 5x100kg; 3 x 130kg, 3 x 135kg, 3 x 140kg, 4, 3, 3, x 130kg
Lateral Raises: 2 x 8 x 17.5kg DBs, 2 x 10 x 15kg DBs
Seated Machine Row: 4 sets of 8-10
Prowler Push: 10 lengths with 80kg at a sprint pace, with ~1 min. between each.
Sled work was tough. The bench went well, with 140kg feeling like a reasonable working weight rather than a near max triple, despite being a recent PR for 3 (haven’t hit a triple that heavy since August).
Squat: w/u with 4x60kg, 4x100kg, 4x140kg; 4 x 155kg, 3 x 3 x 170kg, 2 x 5 x 162.5kg
Hamstring Curls: 2 x 12, 1 x 10
Good session despite being tired (<4.5 hours sleep last night as I couldn’t get to sleep and had to get up early). Not much else to add; I might do some core work later, but we’ll see.
Bench: w/u with 8x60kg, 6x100kg, 3x130kg; (changed bar because it was really pissing me off - somehow it had been bent on just one side…?!) 3 x 135kg, 2 x 140kg, 2 x 142.5kg, 2, 3, 2, x 135kg, 2 x 3 x 130kg
DB OHP (standing): 10, 5, 5, x 27.5kg DBs (short rest, <1min.)
Seated Machine Row: 4 x 10 with increasing weights
I’ll do 30mins core work later. Bench went pretty well again - progress being made at the moment, pleased with that. Feeling strong overall.
Squat: w/u with 3x60kg, 3x100kg; 3 x 140kg, 5 x 4 x 152.5kg
Hamstring Curls: 3 x 10
Core Work: 25 mins
I felt pretty bad during this, I’ve been sick the last few days - having a cold and trying to perform squat reps is never enjoyable. That said, today was an easy session weight / rep wise, so I didn’t have any problems otherwise. Next week should be quite a bit harder, so game on I guess… !
Squat: w/u with 4x60kg, 4x100kg; 4 x 140kg, 3 x 170kg, 3 x 4 x 170kg
Hamstring Curls: 3 x 10
Stat. Bike: 5 mins to cool down etc.
Squats went well. Still sick so left it with a few sets of hamstring curls afterwards. Squats were beltless up to the 4 x 140kg, and that set felt surprisingly easy to be honest - it’s always a good sign when beltless warm-ups begin to feel easier, in my experience.
Bench: w/u with 8x70kg, 4x110kg; 2 x 130kg, 2 x 140kg, 2 x 142.5kg, 2 x 145kg, 1 x 140kg, 3, 2, x 135kg
Deadlift: w/u with 3x70kg, 3x110kg; 4 x 3 and 2 x 4 x 140kg (dynamic, short rest)
Seated Machine Row: 5 x 10
Stat. Bike: 6 mins
Nice heavier doubles on bench, strong session overall.
Squat: w/u with 4x60kg, 3x100kg, 3x140kg; 4 x 160kg, 3 x 3 x 170kg, 3 x 180kg
Stat. Bike: Power intervals, ~10 secs maximal speed followed by 45-60 secs slow active rest.
Pull-throughs: 95kg (full low cable stack) x 15, 10, 10 (rest very short, was alternating with someone doing pull-ups on the bar above the pulley attachment, so had ~45-60 secs rest)
Hamstring Curls: 3 x 10 x 75kg
Session went well. Squats were quite tough but not a problem, and other exercises seemed productive. Off to train for today soon, will report later…