Boatguy's DH/BFB/Juggernaut/Smolov Jr-Road back to 405FS

Training Training Logs
201

8 October 2018
Smolov 2-2
Juggernaut
3’s Accumulation

AM
Front Squat - 135 x 5, 5, 185 x 5, 225 x 3 / 270 x 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6;
(warm up sets) 175 x 3, 185 x 3, 195 x 3, 205 x 3;

PM
A. Pullup - BW x 10, 40 x 5, 50 x 3 / 60 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3;
B. OHP - 65 x 10, 85 x 5, 105 x 3 / 120 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3;
BBB Underhand Incline Cable Flye - 50 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10;
A. 1 Arm Pulldown - 90 x 8, 8, 105 x 8;
B. Lateral Raise - 30 x 10, 10, (drops)30x10-25x8-20x6-16x6;
Gironda 8x8 PD - 80 x 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8;

Not sure what happened this morning, but I got to the gym, started through my warm up routine and by the time I was ramped up to the work sets I was running short on time. Thought I got there early enough, but either I was wrong or I was dragging my feet and didn’t realize. Either way, had a good solid squat session, but had to cut out after that without doing calf/abs. Was going to only do 5 pound raises for this go round, but then I said screw it, where’s the fun in that? So ten pound increase this week, probably just 5 next week. Not sure if I’ll do another run after this one, thinking about testing and then getting back into a regular Juggernaut routine.

Afternoon, came back for pullup/OHP. Another good solid session, managed to get everything done (including the Gironda thing) in right at an hour - it’s been taking me closer to an hour fifteen when that’s factored in. Just felt good today, so I cranked through and got some work done.

Still haven’t been able to gain any weight and keep it - also, still haven’t gotten more than 3 pounds on before dropping. Went and bought a weight gainer product as an easy way to get some more calories in. Didn’t taste too bad when I drank it after the gym this afternoon. Supposed to be 2 scoops of gainer, I did one of that with a scoop of protein with whole milk. Estimating about 1000 calories in that one shake, with 50 grams of protein (plus the milk).

202

9 October 2018
Cardio
Bi/Tri

Elliptical - 30:00

A1. BB Curl - 95 x 8; Screw Curl - 45 x 10, 10, 10;
B1. Dip - BW x 10 / 70 x 10, 10, 10;
A2. Incline Curl - 35 x 8, 8, 10;
B2. Overhead Rope Extension - 100 x 10, 10, 10;

Did thirty minutes on the elliptical, watching a show on Netflix called The Horn - a real life docu-series about one of the alpine search and rescue companies in the Swiss Alps immediately near the Matterhorn. Pretty cool show.

Started doing arms, and was dragging ass a little. I haven’t done straight barbell curls in God knows how many years, so I figured I’d try it. Did one set, starting at 95 pounds, and 8 reps felt heavy. Rather than struggle to add weight to the bar, I switched back screw curls and figured I’d try barbell curls another day when I’m feeling a little fresher.

Felt like strength came back as I continued through curls and dips. Then I got to chatting with one of the trainers and another lifter, and lost track of time. Partially because (as I found out later) the clock on the wall is off by about 30 minutes. So it says 4PM, but in reality it was after 430. So about 90 minutes (give or take) to do 30 minutes on the elliptical and then a few supersets of arm training. Awesome.

203

10 October 2018
Smolov 2-2

AM
Front Squat - 135 x 5, 5, 185 x 5, 225 x 3 / 290 x 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5;
(warm up sets) Rack SGHP - 185 x 3, 195 x 3, 205 x 3, 215 x 3;
A. Seated Smith Calf Raise - 230 x 15, 15, 15;
B. Ab Wheel - 12, 12, 12;

Good training session. Cranked through the warm up and moby stuff, then jumped into the work sets. First set felt a little heavy (decent jump from 225 to 290), but got into a groove quicker than normal. Usually notice the ‘groove’ around the middle of the working sets, today it was within the first few sets, which was cool. By groove, I mean that point where the bar doesn’t necessarily feel light, but it doesn’t feel as heavy as the first couple sets, and the movement becomes almost ‘greased’ and a lot smoother.

Finished up, and had plenty of time so I hit ab wheel rollouts (for 12s this time) and seated calf raises - like those better with the additional height. We have some really wide (like 3+ inches) crushed rubber bumper 45s, so I put one of those under one end of the bench. Worked great.

Lower back has still been tight, so I’ve been skipping deadlifts - which means morning only today. After this Smolov block ends and I test out on front squats, I intend to go back into my standard Juggernaut template, at which point deadlifts will naturally go back into the rotation.

1 Like
204

11 October 2018
Juggernaut
3s Accumulation

A. BPA - 40, 30; MX Row - 87.5 x 8, 92.5 x 8, 97.5 x 8; 1Arm Cable Row - 67.5 x 8, 8, 8, 8;
B. Bench - 135 x 10, 185 x 5 / 240 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3;
BBB BTN Press - 75 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10;
A. Reverse Pec Deck - 90 x 10, 100 x 10, 10;
B. Underhand Incline Cable Flye - 60 x 8, 10, 10;
Gironda 8x8 Pressdown - 80 x 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8;

Bench and row day. Had a good session, but was a little surprised at how heavy 240 felt on the first few sets. Adjusted grip some, and between that and just getting fully ‘warm’ to the movement, I was able to settle in and crank it out with no issue (no issue to begin with, the bar just felt heavy initially and seemed to lighten after a few sets).

Shoulders are getting used to behind-the-necks again. Still a little tight, but if I focus I can keep the bar from touching the back of my head during the movement. Finished those, a little accessory work, a little tricep burnout, and GTFO.

1 Like
205

12 October 2018
Smolov 2-2
Arms

AM
Front Squat - 135 x 5, 5, 185 x 5, 225 x 3, 275 x 3 / 310 x 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4;
(no SGHP today)

PM
A1. Screw Curl - 30 x 10 / 60 x 5, 5, 55 x 6, 6;
B1. Decline Skullcrusher - 25 x 10 / 40 x 8, 8, 8, 8;
C1. Standing Calf Raise - BW x 20, 20, 20, 20;
A2. Incline Curl - 30 x 10, 10, 10;
B2. EOE - 40 x 10, 10, 10;
C2. Body Saw - 10, 10, 10;
Barbell Curl Down Ladder - 120x4-110x2-100x4-90x4-80x4-70x4-60x5-50x6;

Had a little trepidation going in today, wasn’t sure what to expect with 310 for sets of 4. Last warm up set at 275 didn’t help, as that bar felt heavy as fuck. Took a little bit longer rest between the warm up and the first work set, and that seemed to do the trick. 310 felt about the same as 275 (yes, I added weight), so after that set I reset my timer from 1:25 (which effectively gives me right at 1:30 rest periods - I stop it with 5 seconds left and start setting up under the bar) to 1:50. Stopping that one with 5 seconds left puts me pretty close to a 2:00 rest period by the time I have picked up the bar and am preparing to start (guessing, of course). At that heavier weight, the extra :30 was a Godsend. Probably extended my workout by a few minutes, but nothing too bad. I had misjudged my time to get up and go to the gym, so to err on the side of safety, I skipped the SGHP’s and left calf/ab work for the afternoon.

Came back after class to do arms, set everything up as giant sets again. Funny side note - I fucking hate doing traditional circuits (BFB circuits are anything but traditional) but I have to superset just about everything or I feel like I’m wasting time. Giant sets seem to fall into the same category as supersets for me - after all, it’s just one more set each time.

Started out curling 60’s which I haven’t done in years. 5 reps was doable, 6 would have been pushing failure so I stayed at 5. Then the second set, I was already stalling on the way up (and using a little leaning body English to keep it moving), so I dropped back to 55’s.

After I finished everything, I tracked down a bunch of 5 pounders and loaded up a barbell. Starting with a pair of 2.5’s before all the 5’s, I ended up at 120 total. Went back to write down what I had set up, and a pretty cute little blonde chick set up right in front of where I had the bar (yes, it was in the squat rack, no, there was no one waiting for it - there rarely is). So I stayed where I was and tried really hard not to stare at her while keeping her in my peripheral so I knew when she was done. She was facing a mirror with me behind her, so staring at her cute little butt would have been just a tad obvious.

She moved, I got in and started curling. And figured out I overestimated pretty quickly. Got to 4 reps, and could feel myself flirting with failure, so I racked it and stripped a pair of 5’s before going again. Went from 120 all the way down to finish at 50 pounds in 10 pound increments, taking just long enough between sets to strip a 5 off each side. Holy shit that sucked. Got a great pump though, with veins (more veins) standing out all over. Also saw that all the pressdowns have been paying off. When I was straining to curl the weight up, I could see the lateral head of both triceps popping out the side. It was kind of cool to see.

206

13 October 2018
Smolov 2-2

Front Squat - 135 x 5, 5, 185 x 5, 225 x 3, 275 x 3 / 325 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3;
(warm up sets) Rack SGHP - 175 x 3, 185 x 3, 195 x 3, 205 x 3;
A. Toe Press - 180 x 15, 15, 15;
B. Hanging Leg Raise - 12, 12, 12;

I was really not looking forward to today, especially with it being the second of back-to-back squat days. Still, we push through. Went through the warm up/mobility stuff and got under the bar. 275 felt ‘normal’ rather than heavy - ie, it felt like it should have felt in the normal progression of my warm up sets. Which definitely put my mind at ease, a little. Jumped to 325 for the work sets, and there it was: felt kind of heavy the first set or two, and then quickly went back to feeling ‘normal’. Middle third(ish) of sets, the bar was literally popping off the hooks when I unracked. Everything felt great, till the last couple sets. Suddenly the bar wanted to roll with every rep - eighth set, I pushed through and managed to keep it on my shoulders (it wasn’t rolling too bad yet, but I was expecting it to get worse). Ninth set - unracked and it started trying to roll as soon as I started taking up the weight. Did one rep, reracked and reset (rotated the shaft of the bar against the roll direction). Unracked, did two quick (well, as quick as one can perform with 325 on the ninth set) reps while fighting the roll. Reracked, and it dawned on me - it’s trying to roll one way, I keep rolling it in the opposite direction to reset. So basically, I’m reloading the roll each time. Before set ten, I rolled in the direction it’s trying to go, and that was the answer. Bar sat nice and solid in the delt crease, no rolling whatsoever.

Took a few minutes after that, then went and did toe press and hanging leg raises to finish up. Before I started the hanging leg raises, I tried doing a front lever - coming up from a vertical hang rather than inverted (as is apparently the proper way to do it). Did two, holding each one for a few seconds. Haven’t tried those in a while, was happy with them. Might do reps of those (or hold for time) in the future as an ab move to replace something else.

So, second week of second Smolov Jr is done (finally). Next week will be the third and final week, followed by a week off from squatting - or at least most of a week, followed by 1RM testing for the front squat. Interested to see where I end up after all this. I have noticed (doing front squats facing a mirror) that I feel more upright when squatting, which I think will help keep the heavier bar on my shoulders rather than trying to dump itself.

1 Like
207

Still around buddy…

208

Yeah, keep getting busy. Between school and helping a friend (he’s opening a second jewelry store in the next week or two), my schedule keeps filling up. Taking some getting used to, especially considering for the last few years my time at home has been my time - no checking in at the office, nothing. I guess this is how the other half lives? :wink:

I just finished the third week of my second Smolov Jr, I’m going to catch up on here later today. Middle to later part of this week I’ll test front squat again to see where I put myself, and then that will probably be my last post on this log.

1 Like
209

15 October 2018
Smolov 2-3
Juggernaut
3’s Intensification

AM
Front Squat - 135 x 5, 5, 185 x 5, 225 x 3 / 275 x 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6;
A. Standing Calf Machine Raise - 135 x 13, 13, 13;
B. Ab Wheel - 12, 12, 12;

PM
A. Pullup - BW x 10, 40 x 5, 50 x 3 / 55 x 1, 60 x 1, 65 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 3;
B. OHP - 65 x 10, 85 x 5, 105 x 3 / 115 x 1, 125 x 1, 135 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 3;
BBB Underhand Cable Incline Flye - 50 x 11, 11, 11, 11, 11;
A. 1 Arm Pulldown - 90 x 8, 8, 8;
B. Lateral Raise - 30 x 10, 10, (drop)30x10-25x8-20x8-15x8-10x8;
Gironda 8x8 Pressdown - 80 x 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8;

It’s been a busy week, and unfortunately I haven’t gotten a chance to update until today (Sunday, a full week after the fact), so I don’t really have much to say about these.

210

16 October 2018
Bi/Tri

A1. Screw Curl - 30 x 10 / 45 x 11, 11, 11;
B1. Dip - BW x 10 / 80 x 8, 8, 8;
A2. Incline Curl - 35 x 8, 10, 9;
B2. Overhead Extension - 100 x 10, 10, 10;
Reverse EZ Curl drop sets - 80x8-70x7-60x7-50x7-40x8-30x10;

211

17 October 2018
Smolov Jr 2-3

Front Squat - 135 x 5, 5, 185 x 5, 225 x 3 / 295 x 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5;
(warm up sets) Rack SGHP - 175 x 3, 185 x 3, 195 x 3, 205 x 3;
A. Seated Smith Calf Raise - 230 x 15, 15, 15;
B. Ab Wheel - 12, 12, 12;
C. DB Oblique Raise - 80 x 10, 10, 10;

212

18 October 2018
Juggernaut
3’s Intensification

A. Band Pull Apart - 30, 30; MX Row - 97.5 x 8, 8, 8; 1 Arm Cable Row - 67.5 x 8, 8, 8, 8;
B. Bench - 135 x 10, 185 x 5 / 225 x 1, 250 x 1, 265 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 3;
BBB BTN Press - 75 x 10, 80 x 10, 10, 10, 10;
A. Reverse Pec Deck - 90 x 10, 10, 10;
B. Underhand Cable Incline Flye - 60 x 10, 10, 10;

213

19 October 2018
Smolov Jr 2-3

AM
Front Squat - 135 x 5, 5, 185 x 5, 225 x 3, 275 x 3 / 315 x 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4;
(warm up sets) Rack SGHP - 175 x 3, 185 x 3, 195 x 3, 205 x 3;
A. Toe Press - 180 x 15, 15, 15;
B. Hanging Leg Raise - 10*, 12, 12; *first set preceded by 5x front levers

This squat session was a bit rough, definitely felt the weight on this one. Form seemed to hold though, no real issues. After this one, though, I was definitely not looking forward to Saturday’s 10x3 @ 330.

Turns out that wasn’t an issue. I had committed to helping a friend (pretty sure I’ve mentioned it), and Saturday turned into a full workday towards finishing the build-out for his second store. By the time I finished downtown and got home, I was a little tired (not too bad, just enough that I was really not looking forward to lifting) and hadn’t eaten much all day. Rather than phoning it in or pushing it right to Sunday (and screwing up my planned test schedule), I decided to just call Friday’s session the final.

Monday will start a normal lifting week, minus Smolov (of course). I’m thinking on Thursday afternoon I will test front squat and see how we did. Timing works great, because this is the last week of the Juggernaut 3 block. So this will allow me to test a legit front squat 1RM (aiming for 405 again), adjust for TM, and start the next Juggernaut block back on track. Build out is coming to an end as well, so getting back on normal Juggernaut track should be pretty smooth - would have been nice if I hadn’t had to deal with that for the last few weeks, but whatevs.

I may or may not update the Juggernaut sessions, but when I test front squat (whichever day that ends up being), I will definitely update with those results and end this log there.

1 Like
214

FINAL ENTRY

25 October 2018
Front Squat Test

Normal Mobility/warm up stuff

Front Squat - 135 x 5, 5, 185 x 3, 225 x 3, 275 x 2, 325 x 1, 345 x 1, 365 x 1, 385 x 1, (GOAL) 405 x 1, 415 x 1**;

As it says at the top of this post, this will be my last entry in this log. I keep log books (I’ve got log books going back to 99 or 98, no joke), and every now and then I get a wild hair and start a log on here - this is my third, I believe. Every time (including this one) it gets to a point where I get tired/bored of posting it on here. That point came about 2-3 weeks ago, but I figured I’d keep it running till I finished my second Smolov Jr and tested my front squat 1RM. So, today is that day.

Got in the gym a little later than I had wanted to, due to some errands taking longer than planned. Whatever, got ready and hit the gym to get see how all this work paid off.

Ran through my normal warm up/mobility stuff, tried doing a couple extra things but wasn’t really feeling them so I finished up and got under the bar. You’ll notice I drop reps very quickly when maxing out. Will an extra rep or two at 185 or 225 make an appreciable difference on my max? Probably not, but I figure I’ll save the energy for the heavy shit. Went through my normal big jumps till I got to 325 (first single), then went with 20 pound jumps and progressively longer rest periods. Was doing about 2 minute periods by the time I got to 325, increased it to 3 within a couple singles, and by the time I was going for 385 I was at 4 minute rest periods. I’ve always hated longer rest periods like that - it’s harder for me to keep my mind from wandering and stay engaged with the task at hand. My answer to that is to guide where it wanders, and pace like a caged beast. I’ve been told by guys I work with it’s annoying, and I’m pretty sure I was freaking out one of the young girls in the gym today (a little bit at least). Not now chief, I’m in the fucking zone.

385 felt a little heavy, but went up nice and smooth. 405 slowed down a little, but it was a nice solid rep. Before I even got to the gym, I had decided if I got 405 I was going higher. 4 minutes of pacing and scaring small children, and I hit a new best ever PR of 415. It felt a little sloppy (felt like my shoulders were rolling forward, but the bar didn’t move), I guess all that repetition and reinforcing proper form during the two Smolov Jr runs helped me fight the forward lean and stay upright. Regardless, I got 415 x 1 and was (am) happy as shit with it.

Thanks for reading this, feel free to comment if you want (I’ll still see the notifications obviously). I’m out.

3 Likes
215

Later dude!

216

Nice work man, see you around if you decide to start another log