Well, Saturday didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. I ended up hitting a tough 475, a lot tougher than the one from the previous Saturday session. Sunday was pretty solid though. I worked up to 472, hit a PR double with 452, then a double with 445, and 3 more doubles with 440. Monday I worked up to 465, and then hit 3 doubles with 445.
Today was great. I finally got some sleep last night for the first time in like 2 weeks wooo. I hit 480lbs for a 5lb PR. I then doubled 455 for a 2.5lb PR. I’m getting so close to 500 I can feel it. Just 20 more pounds.
Today marked the 39th consecutive day of squatting, and I have to say, I feel great.
Still squatting everyday. Today was day 50, in fact. I managed a pretty good 485lb squat today, for a 5lb PR. I followed this up with a 462 double, which is a 5lb PR. Then I did a triple with 452lbs, which is a 7lb PR. Then I did 452 for a double. Lastly, I finished squatting with a set of 440x4, which is like 15lbs more than my previous best set of 4. So, today I hit a PR single, double, triple, and set of 4 lol.
After this I did some power snatches. I couldn’t do broad jumps because it was raining. Worked up to 95kg - PR power snatch is 100kg from last summer, but bear in mind that I have not done a single snatch since last September, so my form was a little rough and I’m happy with 95kg for now.
After the snatches I finished with glute bridges because i just didn’t feel like doing RDL’s today. I did 480x10, 490x10, 500x10, 510x10, 520x10, 530x10. These felt really freaking good today. I was getting some awesome kind of glute action going on. I usually feel these in my glutes and get a solid glute pump, but today I just took it to another level, not really sure why actually lol.
Today was day 55. I didn’t feel like back squatting, so I did some front squats to break up the monotony a little. I worked up to 407lbs (185kg), which matches my PR from the last time I front squatted, something like 4-5 weeks ago. After that I did a shitload of presses and chins.
I’m not going to squat tomorrow or lift any weights. My daily squatting adventure is coming to an end, as I’m going away on vacation on the 17th and so I will just take that week as time to relax and recover. So I’m hoping a day of rest tomorrow will allow me to hit something big on Saturday. PR back squat is currently 485lbs, but it was really solid. If I can hit 490 or 495 on this coming Saturday, then I think if I “taper,” so to speak, during that final week that I may be able to peak with a 500lb squat on that final Saturday before I go. That would be freaking awesome. When I come back from vacation, I will re-implement the deadlift into my programming and make a run at 600 by the end of the year. But this will likely cause the squat to suffer, so I’m kind of putting all my eggs in one basket in that regard, in that if I don’t get 500 now, it might not happen for a while. Either way, you know I’m going to bust my ass trying.
8/17/13 - 64 days, and I believe it has been 62 squat sessions.
Hello friends. Today I squatted 495lbs for the first time. This was a 5lb PR, and my first time breaking the 5 plate barrier. I blacked out into auto pilot for this lift and it was damn solid. Afterwards, I squatted 472 for a double, which is a 5lb PR. Then I did doubles at 462 and 455. Didn’t feel like lifting anymore so I went out to the park and ran some 40 yard dashes with my friend. Topped out at 4.65 today (PR is 4.41), which isn’t bad, I’d say, considering how much mental energy I burned making that 495 squat.
I’ve still been squatting pretty much everyday, though my back squat has become somewhat stagnant. Nothing really good has happened since I hit that PR of 495 on the 17th. A such, I decided to switch to front squats for a little while. Yesterday was the first session back to front squatting and somehow I hit a 5kg PR lol. I managed a 190kg front squat (previous best was 185). Today I worked up to 185kg and hit multiple back off singles with 175 and 170. I’m thinking about adding a deadlft day back in starting next Saturday and cutting out 1 or 2 of the squat sessions, but I want to get that 500lb back squat so badly and I’m afraid the DL training will cause my squat to drop slightly. So I’m still not positive if I’m going to.
It looks like I haven’t updated my log in forever lol. Not much has changed since my last update anyway, so it’s no biggie. Actually, I failed in my run at squatting 500lbs over the summer, and I still haven’t quite made it. My 495 PR from August is the last back squat PR I’ve hit. After that lift my squat took a pretty big nosedive from Oct-Dec, stabilizing around the 440-450 range. I’ve since rebuilt it back to 475, but that’s the most I’ve done since the summer.
Lately, I’ve gotten bored as hell of doing back squats, so in the last week I’ve made the switch to front squats again. I hit 410 on Saturday, which is only 7.5lbs below my all time PR. My goal is to hit 430-440 on the front squat before switching back to back squats and going after 500 again. I’ll be sure to keep this thing updated from now on.
Here’s a solid 395lb front squat done beltless:
Also, I pulled a random 565lb DL at my buddy’s house without doing a single DL for 4 months. I think I’ll be able to pull 600 without really training the DL, and just focusing on the squat.
So I’ve been front squatting for a couple weeks now. I had 415 about 3/4 of the way up a few days ago, but my back just got too rounded and the weight slipped off my shoulders. I also sprained something in my left hip during that session and have not really been able to squat since, which is a real bummer. I’ve been doing some Box jumps the last few days and I might toy around with some deadlifts tomorrow. Hopefully with a few days off this thing will heal up because the only thing I really want to accomplish right now is to squat 500. Pulling 600 has taken a back seat to that.
The sprain in my hip doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and I still can’t squat pain free, so I’ve decided to begin a new deadlift cycle. I’ll be doing 3 different pulling sessions each week: one sumo deadlift, one conventional deadlift, and one block pull where I increase the rom each week. The goal is to deadlift 600lbs. Here’s the top set from my first session:
I’m into week 2 of my deadlift cycle. Yesterday’s workout had me go for max reps on sumo with 465lbs, which is triple bodyweight. I wanted to be able to match the 13 I got with 455 from last week, but disappointingly, I got a little sloppy and let the 13th rep drift away from me at lockout. At this point, I just didn’t have the energy left to bully the weight back into position. So I had to settle for 12, even though I think physically I was good for 13. Here’s the set:
You should be ashamed you only got 3x bodyweight for 12 instead of 13 reps!..lol Good strong work as usual man! Any plans on doing a meet in the future?
[quote]MightyMouse17 wrote:
You should be ashamed you only got 3x bodyweight for 12 instead of 13 reps!..lol Good strong work as usual man! Any plans on doing a meet in the future?[/quote]
Haha thanks man.
I actually did this informal push/pull today at a new gym in MD. I benched 265 and pulled 555 at 157. Took first place for a $300 prize and a free one year membership to the gym. It was a good time. I’ll post the video of my 555 deadlift in a bit.
So I put my deadlift cycle on pause for today (and probably the next few days) to do this push/pull at a new gym near me. It was somewhat informal so lifters were allowed to use straps on the deadlift, as you’ll see in my video. I weighed in at 157lbs and I benched 265lbs and pulled 555lbs. There were no weight classes. The winner was determined by taking the total of the 2 lifts and dividing by Bodyweight, which probably favored me immensely lol. This one guy who only weighed in at 200 benched 4 plates though, which I thought was pretty impressive.
Anyway, I ended up taking first place for a $300 prize and a free one year membership to the gym. It’s a good gym too, which is nice. And I had a great time. It was really fun deadlifting in front of the crowd that gathered over by me.
Now it’s time for me to focus on my program again and finally get my deadlift over the 600lb barrier.
I got in some pretty good training yesterday. I worked up to a 495lb conv. DL, and then hit a triple with 455.
Then I moved onto pause squats, which I can now do without aggravating my hip. I did a pretty easy 5x5 with 320. My plan is to use this as my main assistance exercise 3x a week. So I’ll repeat this same 5x5 with 320 two more times, maybe adding a rep here or there, and then next week I’ll go up to 330.
I finished with snatch pulls off low blocks, where I did 5x3 at 245lbs. I’ll continue to do this exercise once a week on Saturdays.
Monday I’ll be doing block pulls. I’ve been doing these every Monday for 3 weeks now by doing one all out set with 455lbs and increasing the ROM by about 2 inches each week. I like it so far.
Wednesday I’m gong to do a rep set of conv. DL from the floor with 405. My goal there will be to get 15 reps.
So I deadlifted yesterday. I got 405 for 13 reps. I was hoping for 15 but oh well, 13 is still pretty solid for the moment.
I also pause squatted 320 for 5 sets of 7 yesterday. These feel really good, and my hip isn’t bothering me at all. The positions also feel really good, probably because I’m controlling the movement so much and sitting in the hole for a second. Hopefully as I add weight to these the explosiveness will benefit my deadlift and the traction I gain will put me on track to hit a squat PR before the end of the year. We shall see. On Saturday I’ll be bumping the weight up to 330 and starting over with 5 sets of 5.
I did some deadlifts on Saturday. I slept terribly Friday night and felt like shit pretty much all day sat, so I’m pretty happy with how the workout went.
Deadlifts went like this
135x5, 225x3, 315x2, 365x1, 405x1, 455x1, 500x1, 460x4
Then I did pause squats. I moved up to 330 this week and started back over at 5x5. They felt good and easy.
I’m hoping to pull maybe 510 or 515 next Saturday, after I’ve actually gotten a reasonable amount of sleep. And then go for 465x5 as a back off set.
Had a pretty solid session yesterday. Did a deadlift set with 425 and cranked out 12 reps. This set felt pretty good, so I was satisfied with it. And I should be able to put in good work next week with 435. After this I tried double pause deadlifts for the first time ever. I did 3 sets of 5 with 265. This weight was very easy for me but I liked the way these felt. My plan is to do 3x5 twice a week with these and keep adding weight to it each week for the duration of my cycle. I think I will benefit from them.
Then I finished up with pause squats. Yesterday was 340 for 5 sets of 6. These are still pretty easy for me, which is fine. I’m gradually ramping the intensity back up on squats, but I’m more focused on the volume right now. My hip is starting to feel pretty good also, which I’m happy about, though it’s still not quite right yet. Anyway, I’ll be squatting 345 for 5x5 on Thursday, and then I’ll be starting up with 350 next week.
Cycle is starting to pick up a bit, which is exciting. I feel like my conventional deadlift is starting to become a lot smoother and a lot stronger, which means I should be loads stronger when I switch back to sumo. I’m also getting some weight onto the bar for my paused squats too. They still feel pretty easy though.
Yesterday I deadlifted 450lbs for a set of 10. Then I ditched the straps and did it for two sets of 5. After that I finished up with pause squats, where I did 5x5 @ 350. It was a solid all around session.
Good session today. I did deadlifts and pause squats.
My top deadlift set was 460x9. I kind of wanted 10 but that would’ve been a grinder from hell so I decided to call it at 9. Still Solid. After that set I ditched the straps and did 2 sets of 5 also with 460.
Now I should note that I was feeling pretty nauseous after my FIRST set of deadlifts. I literally just sat around fro 20 minutes before I got myself to do my second set, and then after the 3rd set I was just gassed. All this to say, the pause squats felt haaaaard today. I had done 355 for 5x5 on Wednesday after my block pulls and it felt easy as hell. Today I did 360 for 5x5 and I was dying. They felt so much harder. The deadlifts really seemed to take a toll today.
I’m going to bench tomorrow and then I’m hoping to be recovered for a lighter set of deadlifts on Monday and another session of pause squatting.