Change the grip…snatch, rev, fat grip, axle bar.
Chance the touch on the torso move it higher, get more/less lean.
Change the foot position…narrow, deadlift, wide. Toes straight, toes slightly out.
Lots of changes to be made in a row.
Substitute a rack pull for them…
Monday, February 11 - Main bench day
Bench press
340x4, 3 - This is a PR, not sure what my previous 4rm was but I know I never did 340 for more than a triple. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I was sick this weekend, I had a sore throat, sinus infection, and a bit of a fever, I would have called in sick to work yesterday but I woke up too late (they have a rule that you have to give 4 hours notice unless it’s an emergency) and in any case there was nobody to replace me. I felt better this morning but I’m still congested and my voice is a bit rough. Anyway, I’m happy with how this went, it felt like maybe 5 was there too but not worth the chance of failing. I was just glad to get that first set done and told myself I was going for 3 on the next one but I’m sure I could have squeezed out a 4th rep. Not sure if it would have been worth it since I still had the rest of the workout to get through, but my bench is looking good right now.
Floor press
320x5, 4
Close grip incline
240x8, 7, 6
Floor pause DB flys
55’s x15, 15, 12
Band pushdown
light band x13, 8, looped super mini x12, 9
Chin ups - wide overhand - slow eccentric
bw+10x10, 9, 7, 5 - I think I have had enough of the slow eccentrics. Whatever was going on with my left shoulder and lat is better now, I will go back to the normal style.
Training right after a flu. Dang, that’s some good discipline
Some of my best lifting is when sick.
Best PR I’ve ever hit was after some bad blue balls, went in to train with blue balls and could barely function, finally just took out the pent up frustration on the barbell.
Ended up doubling my previous best for 2 sets of 2. Lol.
Ok… definitely was not expecting that after the first line. Gave me a good laugh. Lol
I wasn’t that sick, and anyway if I had skipped a workout I would be real pissed off right now. Unless I really can’t lift I will still try.
I see why you were in such a great mood this weekend. (Sarcasm)
I’m glad you feel better.
Nice job on the PR.
Welcome back to the land of the living.
Tuesday, February 12 - Main squat day
Complete shit today
Squat w/ wraps
Supposed to be 510x3x3
Instead, failed 3rd rep on the first set. Not sure if I lost tightness or balance or both but I came up all wobbly and didn’t know which way to push it, the only thought in my head was “dump it!” so I dropped it forward onto the pins. The first two reps weren’t as fast as I would have hoped but there was no indication that I might fail the last rep.
I took the plates off and set everything up again and told myself I was going for a triple, I did a slow single and said fuck it, today is not my day. I feel better than I did the last couple days and the only thing bothering me is my sinuses are congested, but aside from that I don’t even feel tired or anything. I don’t know what the problem is, I did 500x3x3 last week so 510x3 should be easy. One thing I have noticed is that if I feel like shit for whatever reason I can usually still do some decent benching (like yesterday) but the same is not true for the squat and deadlift.
Next:
I figured there is no point in pushing it since I can’t do anything goo so I would do some lighter technique work. Recently I have heard a few people talking about how squats with a slow eccentric help to improve your descent and bottom position so I thought I would do a couple sets with 365, seeing as that is a fairly light weight for me. I did a single, it felt like a thousand pounds, that was it.
The way I feel right now I don’t see any use in trying to do some lighter work to get some volume in, it’s not going to make me any stronger and will probably fuck up the rest of this week. Better just take it easy today.
Take it easy man. You just came off from a sickness. It may not have felt that bad, but it could be that. Live to fight another day
Sometimes you don’t have much of a choice.
Fatigue Level 9 lol
To be honest, I didn’t even feel tired this morning, I thought I was going to have a good workout seeing as yesterday I felt like shit and still hit a PR. It’s more like performance level zero.
Depends how you rate fatigue I guess.
Thursday February 14 - Bench assistance day
I wasn’t sure what to expect today, I’m still a bit sick but it’s only the sinuses, I feel pressure inside of my head. Tuesday night and Wednesday morning was a massive snowstorm, when I opened my front door yesterday the snow was up to my knees. I had to do a whole bunch of shovelling, and then later I got stuck in a pile of snow in the parking lot beside my work so I had to dig myself out of that. My pecs actually felt sore in the evening and this morning, plus my upper back was a bit sore too so I feared for the worst.
Close grip bench
325x4, 4 - This was better than 320x4 last week, I was amazed. Pretty sure I could have done 5 on the first set. The 2nd set was harder, but my triceps seem to be quite a bit stronger these days.
Close grip slingshot
380x3, 3 - went for 4 on the first set and failed it, I think I must have made some kind of mistake because I did a triple on the next set no problem. Maybe my triceps were tired from the 2nd set of 325x4.
Military press
215x7, 6
195x8
Skull crusher
130x13, 10, 8, 7 - better than last week, and 10lbs more. Triceps are making some gains.
Face pulls
light band x25, 25, 23
Side raise
25lb plates x15, 12, 9 - didn’t match last week’s reps but I honestly don’t care. This is the least important exercise by far.
Bench seems to be doing well, I was planning to make a few changes in the next block but at this point I think I will just keep going with the same exercises and do a couple singles on comp. bench. I was thinking rack lockouts would help but all the tricep stuff I’m doing combined seems to be getting the job done. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Still mad about my shitty squat session on Tuesday. I can’t believe how bad that was. I almost wish next week wasn’t a deload because now I have to wait 2 weeks to make up for it.
Friday, February 15 - Light squat/main deadlift day
Another shitty day. Still have the sinus thing, not feeling terrible but just a general sense of shittiness.
1 1/4 squat
315x2x6 - 45 sec. rest - this was the only thing that went well today.
Deadlift
520x3, 2 - Seeing as yesterday’s session went well I had high hopes today and told myself I was going for 5 reps. Instead it took 2 sets to accomplish that. This was pretty much all I could manage. It sucked, but it wasn’t as bad as Tuesday’s squatting. This is 25lbs behind my best triple, and I should be stronger by now too.
Deficit deadlift
455x5, 1 - I don’t even know how I managed 5 reps on the first set. I went in with zero expectations, just telling myself to do what I can. It felt terrible and I couldn’t have done another rep, but I got it done. Nothing left for the 2nd set.
Barbell row
385x4 - That was all I had strength for. 345 for my warmup felt like a working weight.
The thing is that its not even like I feel tired, I don’t feel good and I’m choking on phlegm between sets but the main issue is that I can’t push myself like normal, I try but nothing is there. For some odd reason this only applies to squat and deadlift, bench is going great despite feeling worse on both bench days this week. Whatever, next week is a deload and then I have 9 weeks to go until the meet. 4 weeks - deload - 3 weeks - taper and compete. This week is just fucked up because I got sick, I should still be able to manage some decent lifts.
Monday, February 18 - Main bench day - deload
Bench press
310x2x2
Floor press
290x2x2
Close grip incline
220x5x2
Floor pause DB flys
50’s x11x2
Band pushdown
looped super mini x12x2
Chin ups - wide grip - slow eccentric
bw x6x3
Nothing too exciting. Looking forward to some serious training next week.
Strong training session Chris, Why did you choose the WPC over OPA?? You planning to do another meet soon?
P.S I am also another Ontario Canadian located in London
Because anything to do with the IPF is messed up, I would rather have nothing to do with them. Also it seems like OPA meets are often poorly run, one thing that pisses me off is how it’s not at all unusual for them to change around the order of the flights just before the meet starts. Like at my last OPA meet I was told I would be in the 2nd flight, then about 20 minutes before the first flight it was announced that my weight class would be in the first flight after all. It was also too late to change openers. Other people have told me this happened to them and they only got 2-3 warmup sets before their opener. It sounds like a good way to get injured.
If there was no other fed running meets around here then I would probably compete in OPA/CPU, but fortunately that isn’t the case.
Sorry to hear that, One reason I lifted in the OPA is because of the knee sleeves which I like. I went to one meet, where all the paused commands were sitting too long, so I can see where most of the situation comes from. Luckily I am a 120 Kg lifter, so I am usually in the 3rd flight which is nice.
You can wear knee sleeves in any federation.
I never had any issues with judging in any OPA meets except one time on my 3rd bench attempt I held the bar for a full 4 seconds before I got the start command. I have no idea why, I watched the video several times and my elbows were locked and the bar was held still. Not sure if I would have made that lift anyway but that certainly fucked me up.