Chris_ottawa's Training Log

Training Training Logs
705

Friday, April 19 - Light squat/main deadlift day

Squat
365x6 singles - 1 min. rest

Deadlift
535x4 singles

I thought about it and decided to play it safe, I was thinking of going for 585 which would be a 10lb PR but it doesn’t seem like it’s worth it seeing as I’m 8 days out from the meet. I was just getting a bit carried away with all the PRs, I already got a 15lb squat PR and a 10lb bench 3rm PR this week. After the first single with 535 I was tempted to throw another 50lbs on since it was easy, but I stuck with the plan. This was 5lbs over my opener.

Barbell row
315x6x2 sets

So next week I just have a bit of squatting and benching on Tuesday and that’s it until next Saturday. For other meets I did a quick light session on the Thursday but I was always competing on Sunday, I don’t want to reduce time between workouts and it would basically be increasing frequency too so I’m skipping that this time. I’m also bigger, older, and stronger so in some cases less is more.

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706

Tuesday, April 23

Squat with wraps
525x1 (opener)

Squat overload
605 - walkout, set up, rack it.
660 - walkout, 10 sec. hold
605 feels alright on my back but 660 is a bit heavy.

Bench press
365x1 (10lbs over opener)

Slingshot bench (black slingshot)
405x1
440x1
This slingshot is pretty crazy, I think 440 felt easier than 365 raw. I’m guessing 80-100lbs of assistance.

I got the idea to do some overload stuff this week from Fred Hatfield, he said a few days out from a meet he would do some overload walkouts and bench holds to fire up the CNS. I have a slingshot so I figured I might as well use it, benching with it isn’t any harder than just holding the bar it seems.

Now I just take it easy the next few days, just a bit of stretching and stuff, then kill it at the meet on Saturday.

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707

Good luck on your meet! Tell us how it goes

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708

Yeah man, have a great meet! Give those weights Hell!

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709

Good luck at the meet!
What peak did you follow for this meet? Have you used this same one before?
I just signed up for the June 2nd CPF meet in Toronto, so I will be starting a peak before long as well and wondered if you had any suggestions. Right now I’m mapping out the peaking protocol from 5th Set (Cory Swede Burns).

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710

I have done approximately the same thing for my last few meets and it went well, except bench never seems to get a boost from peaking and tapering so I’m aiming for 400. Squat and deadlift I should be able to get 600 on both.

I aim to hit my heaviest squat and bench in the last week before the taper (1 week, this week), heaviest deadlift the week before that and some moderately heavy deadlifts the last week. I was just getting a bit carried away with all the PRs and thought I might pull a 10lb PR last Friday but I decided against it, not because I couldn’t do it but because I figured it just isn’t worth it.

In the past, I did the same thing with squat and bench openers at the start of the taper week and then a couple days later I worked up to 80% for a single, this is Mike Tuchscherer’s standard taper minus deadlifts (he would have you do the same thing plus DLs). I only pull once a week (seems to work best for me) so I should be fine with not pulling for 7 full days. Also, it seems like I normally end up competing on Sunday but this time it’s Saturday so rather than compressing things into a shorter timeframe I decided to just drop the 80% day.

Bench for me seems to not really respond to peaking the same way so I figured going a little heavier today might be better. Also Fred Hatfield’s idea with the overloads should pay off. When I squatted 570 I did a walkout/hold with 625 the week before and 570 didn’t feel like a big deal when it was time for that.

For squat and deadlift, I figure that whatever I can manage for a solid single in training is about 95% of what I should be able to do at the meet. I read this somewhere a long time ago and it seems pretty accurate for myself. This might not necessarily work for other people, but I have had good results in the past so I’m sticking with it. For bench, I think whatever I am realistically capable of in training should be there at the meet and 390 moved well so 400 is the plan. I have to squat first as well so I don’t want to overestimate my capabilities.

I don’t know what his peaking protocol looks like, I assume it’s something like Greg Panora’s that has you do very little in the last month other than some singles with the comp. lifts. I never did that, but I found that cutting too much volume didn’t work too well for me before, especially for bench, so that’s why I did what I did in this training cycle. Also I spoke to Josh Bryant about this and he was saying to keep assistance work in during your peak but keep volume and RPE fairly moderate so I gave that a shot, seems like it worked well so far.

If you think it will work for you then give it a shot, I just don’t see it working for myself. Cutting too much volume and intensity doesn’t work for me.

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711

As for that EPC meet, it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to make it. Another guy at work is on vacation at the same time already, plus my boss is gone until next week so even if I could get someone to replace me it might be too late to sign up by then. I should probably just look for something in the fall instead.

712

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I followed a peak from Botslayer for my last two meets which seemed to work well for squat and deadlift. I seem to be like you, in terms of my bench not getting much out of my peak.

I was thinking I would try something different, just because I enjoy experimenting, but it might be wise to keep my squat/DL peak similar (If it ain’t broke…) and possibly change up what I do for bench.

You are correct, the last month+ really drops volume. It (roughly) looks something like this:

image
image623×655 17.8 KB

Now that I have written it out, it doesn’t look like it would work for me either (unless I’m misinterpreting something from the book). HR WG Bench (High Rep Wide Grip Bench). 9day microcycle. @MarkKO
Last heavy squat session 16days out? Last heavy bench 18 days out? Hmmm…I must be missing something.

Also, the GPP was added by me. The program is 3days per week, so figured I’d use my 4th day at the gym for some light GPP/assistance/prehab work.

Ah, too bad.

I just received notice that I’m 10th on the waiting list for this meet…so it is likely that I won’t be going to this one either. I’m having tough luck finding a meet around here this Spring that fits the schedule.

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713

That’s the kind of peaking cycle that elite SHWs like JP Carroll would do well with. Some other guys might respond well (like MarkKO) but it seems unnecessary for the vast majority of people.

That would definitely not work well for me. If I take a light deload I feel weaker after and everything is heavy, what I do for deloads is drop intensity by 10% of the previous week and volume by 50% and I always come back feeling strong. I usually go 4 weeks +1week deload, this peaking block is only 3 weeks plus the taper and despite the intensity being slightly higher today (plus the overloads) the volume is way lower and it’s the only training day so I’m sure I will be fine. In regular training I push the intensity and volume and come back a couple days later at full strength, right now I’m more recovered than normal.

Mike Israetel has an article or two on peaking for PL on the JTS site, you could look at that for some ideas. If you already have something that works I wouldn’t recommend changing it unless you seriously think that something else will work better.

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714

Do you normally keep GPP work in your peaking blocks? It seems like that would be the time you would want to drop it, or at least go easier.

715

I typically don’t have GPP in my training at all! I typically work out 4 days per week and this specific one was only 3 days per week. So I figured a day of some light GPP wouldn’t hurt, but then again, this is why I shouldn’t be left to my own devices for programming.

I consider myself a good lifter, but a shitty coach.

EDIT:

Thanks for the article, I’ll definitely give this a read.

716

If you typically train 4 days a week then there is no need to reduce the frequency for a peaking block, you will already be reducing volume, right?

Don’t you have a coach already? I seem to recall you mentioning something along those lines. If you are doing Westside then something like a circa-max phase (not necessarily with accommodating resistance either) could work for squat and bench, just pull something around a 2nd attempt for deadlift so you know where you are and your should be fine. Matt Wenning has some info on peaking for a raw meet when you use the conjugate method, I don’t train like that so I never really looked into it but I remember him saying he does something like 95% for a single in the last few weeks, he does use the comp. lifts unlike Louie.

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717

Yep, I do. He uses the Conjugate Method to build strength in athletes (mostly high school athletes on scholarships to College/University). He actually has no experience with meets, so he tapped out and told me the peak would be up to me.

Thanks for the tips, I do have some Matt Wenning material that I should have a look through as well as the article you mentioned above.

Thanks man.

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718

Looks about right to me. Be careful adding things though. It’s set up as it is for a reason.

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719

I’d say I’m the exact same thing lol.

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720

Yeah, so I competed today. Not quite what I was hoping for but not too bad still. I made 6 attempts, scratched my 3rd squat and failed my 3rd bench and deadlift. 257.5-172.5-257.5, my brain is too fried to calculate the total right now. Some sort of obscure national records in bench, deadlift and total.

The meet moved slow, the morning session went later than it was supposed to and I was in the 3rd flight in the afternoon, I think our session started 30+minutes later than planned. I was taking my time warming up for squats, in the warmup room (which had a ton of racks and benches, I had my own for both) we couldn’t hear or see what was happening on the platform. I was walking back and forth now and then, in the middle of 3rd attempts in the 2nd flight I took my last squat attempt. What I didn’t realize is that between each round of attempts they were taking a 3-5 minute break but going straight from the end of one flight to the next.

So I was moving slowly, when I came through the door to where the platform was I heard that I was up next and I was not anywhere near ready, plus I was competing in wraps. I almost had a heart attack, I sat down to wrap my knees and dropped one wrap (some guy rolled it back up for me) and I don’t even know how I wrapped my knees, I think I had like 5 revolutions and it was loose as hell. I made my opener, fortunately I opened light (237.5kg), but it was kind of hard and going full panic mode is not really a good thing.

2nd attempt was 257.5kg, 2lbs and some change less than my training PR. I got it but it was a grinder (much worse than in training), funny because it didn’t actually feel heavy on my back but it was hard to squat it. I was going to go for 600 (272.5) but it didn’t look like it was happening, having a fucked up opener (which was my own fault) and grinding my 2nd was not a recipe for success.

1st and 2nd bench attempts were good, I don’t know what happened on the 3rd (182.5kg/400 and some change) but I missed it halfway. There is a bench-only meet at this gym in August, I think I might sign up for that because I’m past due for a 400+ bench.

The thing now was that this meet was going on forever, by the time it came to deadlifts it was about 8pm and I was there since just before 2. I drank an energy drink and had a little snack because I felt like I could take a nap at that point. I felt better and tried to focus on the lifting rather than fatigue, but you can only do so much. 1st and 2nd deadlifts were good, 257.5kg on the 2nd and felt like there was more so I went for 272.5 as planned. I got it a couple inches off the floor but I just didn’t have any gas left in the tank.

Right now I’m feeling all spaced out and tired but I’m not about to fall asleep either, I’m not used to drinking energy drinks at 8pm.

Overall, this was OK, not quite what I had hoped for but nothing to be too disappointed over. Squat issues were my own fault, other than that it probably would have gone better if I was competing in the morning but there’s not much that can be done about that. I hear about some world championship meets and such with a ton of people and sometimes there are flights that finish at like midnight, I can definitely see how that would be a major issue. I didn’t get out of there until after 9pm.

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721

Good write up. That kind of shit happens. You didn’t bomb, you didn’t get hurt. Good meet. It’s like a 690 odd total I think.

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722

I think it was like 2.5kg short of that, it’s a bit over 1500lbs. If everything went perfect I would have had 1600, but of course the odds of that happening are not in my favor. The thing I wanted most was that 600 squat, it’s a shame it went how it did. Oh well, I know I’m capable of more, none of those lifts beat my training PRs and as far as I’m concerned the peak was fine, just a rough start to a long day.

I forgot to mention, I also won a trophy for 2nd place in the men’s raw with wraps. The competition isn’t too stiff but I’m not doing too bad either. There’s always next time.

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723

Good job.

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724

Congrats on the meet, Chris!

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