Merry Christmas man
Cheers mate you too, hope all is well for you!
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Goals for 2018
Had a bit of time to think about my goals for next year recently and this is what I came up with. I want to achieve all of these by the end of 2018. Where applicable first is what I achieved at the end of 2016, after a couple months of lifting, then the end of 2017, where I’m at now. The numbers already achieved are predicted 1RMs based on my best sets using the same calculator.
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Bench
2016: 77kg
2017: 87kg (+10)
2018 goal: 100kg (+13) -
Deadlift
2016: 120kg
2017: 135kg (+15)
2018 goal: 160kg (+25) -
Overhead press
2016: 48kg
2017: 53 kg (+5)
2018 goal: 60kg (+7) -
Squat
2016: 99kg
2017: 113kg (+14)
2018 goal: 25xBW which would probably require a 1RM of 130-140kg (+17-27) and a lot of conditioning
Also some other goals I want to achieve related to running are 400m in <75s and 1500m in <6:30 mins. Will probably lose access to a track in June so the running goals ideally will be done by then and I’ll just have the squat goal keeping me on top of conditioning.
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27/12/17
Very modified 531 full body full boring
Superset
Pause bench press (TM-70):
10x20, 5x40, 3x5x55
Dumbell rows:
6x22.5, 3x10x22.5
Squat (TM-80):
2x5x20, 5x40, 3x55, 3x65, 5x75
Superset
Deadlift (TM-100):
3x60, 1x80, 1x90, 1x100
Hanging leg raises:
2x5xBW
Finally back in the gym and started a cycle of the full body full boring I modified. After some trouble with squats in the past I’m building back up and trying a different technique- pushing my hips back before descending rather than dropping straight into the hole which seemed to load my posterior chain a lot more. Capped the plus set at five just while I’m getting used to things. Felt good so I’m looking forward to trying it some more. Had some pain in the front of my shoulder again benching so moved my grip in closer than usual which got rid of it.
The gym is currently being refurbished so things were a bit all over the place but amongst the piles of equipment I noticed a yoke and an axle. I’m very excited to try them but sad after the next two weeks I have to wait another ten to use this gym again. There was a lot of strong people in the gym today too, it’s a nice environment.
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29/12/17
Superset
Overhead press (TM-40):
2x5x20, 3x30, 3x35, 12x37.5 (PR)
Kettlebell shrugs:
4x10x20s
Superset
Pause squat (TM-80):
2x5x20, 5x40, 3x5x55
Side bends:
3x8x20
Superset
Pause deadlift (TM-100):
5x40, 3x60, 3x3x75
NG chins:
3x2xBW
Stretching and some press ups
Enjoyed this. Spent a lot of time between overhead press and squat sets taking to a guy I knew and still got through it all in about 45 minutes. Deadlifts were very fast, especially the last set. My TMs seem to be spot on so far.
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T-ransformation 2018 entry
I’ve decided to bite the bullet and enter the T-ransformation this year. These photos are a bit of a reality check, especially after a few weeks of eating whatever. Anyway, plans for training this coming year are in post 727 but I’ve definitely got some fat to lose.
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2/1/18
W1D3
Close grip bench press (TM-70):
10x20, 5x40, 3x50, 3x55, 14x62.5 (PR)
Superset with chest supported rows: 4x8x20
Pause squat (TM-80):
2x5x20, 5x40, 3x3x65
Deadlift (TM-100):
3x60, 3x70, 3x80, 8x90
Superset with ab wheel rollouts: 3x5
Great workout again to start the new year. Having some pain still in my right shoulder benching so I’m having to use a close grip which is painless. Old PR with my normal grip was 13. I normally would have stopped at about rep 11 today but the guy I talk to at the gym was spotting me and pushed me to keep going. Rep 14 was a huge grind but I’ve added reps and it’s a harder variation so I’ve gotten stronger. Squats were nice and fast and deadlift felt good too.
I think I’ve said before but I’m doing all deadlifts double overhand so my grip is a big limiting factor with them. With straps I’d expect to rep 90 into the high teens but here my grip was struggling around rep seven. I like how it works though- even rep eight still felt technically good and fast which means I won’t run myself down as much and it also brings up my grip which is weak.
Hamstrings, triceps, forearms and back are all feeling it now, I like it.
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I’m surprised you can’t double overhand your working sets.
I’ve always used double overhand and never had an issue. Do you do DB/BB rows?
I found that doing a lot of them, with chins and high rep DL (with FSL) really helped.
To be honest my grip strength is terrible, I can hook grip heavy singles but anything for 5+ reps over 100kg I’d probably have to strap up for. Part of my goal of this cycle is to help improve that. I’ve these deadlift plus sets which are limited by my grip and on day 1 I’m working up to my TM for a single and holding that at the top as well as rowing and shrugging. Bodyweight hangs seem to challenge my grip lots too so I’ll try to include those.
Have you never deadlifted hook, mixed grip or with straps then? You could probably add at least 10kg to your deadlift from it.
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Holding for like 20+sec your working sets would probably help a ton!
I haven’t tried any of these because I don’t need them yet. My last 6 months have been high reps or 5’s pro so my grip is fine. I expect that I will need to hookgrip soon, in my next anchor because I want to ramp up and test my 1RM in about a month and a half.
I don’t really like the idea of mixed gri but i’ll give it a try for sure.
I’d suggest trying out hook grip now on some of your lighter sets just to get used to it before trying it with really heavy weights.
Seems like your grip at the minute is great though, hopefully mine will be similar soon.
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Training plan update for 22/01/18- 01/04/18
OK, so the plan was to follow the LP template I mentioned but looking back through my log and at what I wrote in post 735 about what seems to have worked for me it seems like a smart idea to base my training on that. I’ve read that some of the more recent 531 templates have different supplemental work each week which seems like a great idea for me and decided to try that with what seems to have worked in the past for two cycles.
Here are the main and supplemental rep schemes I intend to use with the main lifts (week 1/week 2/week 3).
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Deadlift- PR sets, 5x3 FSL/ 5s PRO, 5x5 FSL/ PR sets, 3x5 FSL
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OHP- PR sets every week, BBB @FSL/ +set @FSL/ BBS@FSL
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Squat- PR sets, 5x5 FSL/ 5s pro, 5x5 SSL/ PR sets, widowmaker @FSL
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Bench- PR sets every week, +set @FSL/ BBS @SSL/ + set @FSL
Assistance wise I’ll go with triumvirate style with some abs or conditioning at the end of each day. First a variation of the opposite lift, i.e. an OHP variation on bench day for five sets, increasing reps each week and weight at the end of each cycle then some sort of pull for five sets. I’ll finish with three sets of abs on lower days and ten minutes of conditioning on upper days.
Lower assistance lifts are; good morning, barbell row, paused front squat and pin front squat. Upper assistance lifts are; pause bench, pause OHP, close grip bench and pin OHP.
Finally, I’ll still be doing athletics every Wednesday so to keep recovery in check I’ll workout three times a week so the full cycle takes four whole weeks. On the weeks where there’s two lower workouts I’ll throw and where there’s two upper I’ll sprint.
I am looking forward to trying it and hopefully while eating in a slight surplus I’ll get bigger and stronger.
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Another slight change of plan. Seen as though benching with anything but a close grip is hurting my shoulder it makes sense to overhead press twice a week and bench once instead of the other way round as I’m doing now. Day 1 will now be pause OHP 3x5 SSL, day 2 is bench 531 PR sets and day 3 is OHP 531 PR sets.
Why not bench with a close grip exclusively then?
I could do and it’s what I did last week but it seems most sensible to minimise how much I bench and give it chance to fix itself ahead of my next cycle where I’ll be benching more again.
I mean, why not do overhead press twice a week and close-grip bench once a week?
You don’t really need to bench to progress with it.
Alongside that, do a lot of back and rear delt work, pain is usually an indicator of bad form or muscle imbalances
Oh yeah that is what I’m going to do, I should have been clearer and said close grip when I wrote it up earlier.
I’ve started adding in pull aparts daily at home and I’ll make sure I’m doing lots of back work in the gym. Thank you for your advice mate.
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No problem man
4/1/17
W2D1
Pause OHP (TM-40):
2x5x20, 3x5x30
Superset with lat pulldowns: 3x10
Squat (TM-80):
2x5x30, 5x50, 5x60, 5x70
Superset with chest supported rows: 3x10
Deadlift (TM-100):
3x60, 1x80, 1x90, 1x100
Superset with hanging leg raises: 3x5
Kettlebell farmers walk (EMOM): 3x2x32s
Again everything moved well especially the overhead press. Farmers walks at the end were fun, the two means it was two lengths of the gym for my own future reference.
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Not sure if this is more a question for other onlookers of this log, but don’t slingshots work to minimise shoulder pain? Or are they to groove elbow position and overload the top range of a bench?