Chris_ottawa's Training Log

Training Training Logs
994

Thursday, October 10 - 2nd bench day

Bench press
385x1 - This was weird, it went up OK but I slid up the bench about 2 inches or so. In the middle of the lift the bar kind of wobbled a bit and then went up, no struggle at all and no problem locking it out though. I think I should look into getting a new bench because this sliding thing is a bit of a problem, but it’s worse when I do reps.

Slingshot bench
430x2 - I went for a third rep and failed it, the 2nd was a bit slow and I should have cut it there but I’m greedy for PRs and I can’t help myself sometimes.
390x6- I think this is a new 6rm, the most I did with 390 before is 5.
I’m going to go a bit lighter next week, like 395 for 2 sets

Military press
215x7 - Maybe I should have done another rep
195x10
I figured that low reps on this are probably not a major benefit, last week was a new 5rm and I don’t count on beating it today so I thought it would be better to lower the weight a bit.

JM press
230x10, 7, 6

Underhand band pull apart
super mini x29, 10 - shoulders died here, only 1 minute rest plus I was using a slightly closer grip on the band (more tension, but it’s hard to really quantify it).
Rested 2 minutes, wider grip: 18

Barbell curl
85x16, 12, 9

No money shoulder thing
20x3 - I was going to do 25x3 but my shoulders and arms were all pumped, I don’t think I could have even done 25 reps. I wasn’t sure I could even do this, but somehow I managed, it was way easier on Monday.

995

Have you done a phase where you did low bar and then for quads just used let’s say unilateral leg presses or bulgarian split squats?

Regarding the instagram post, interesting stuff. What activities guy said kinda resonated with that. I asked Activitiesguy a few days back what he thought of the statement that squats increase deadlift but not really the other way around. Here’s what he said

Also, some interesting stuff here since you’ve mentioned steroids at some point before

996

No, but I think I might start that next week with Bulgarian split squats. I think leg press or hack squats would probably be better since there is basically no technique or anything involved, but I don’t have those luxuries unfortunately.

I think that’s probably more true for people who pull sumo since it’s closer to a squat than a conventional deadlift is. Also his situation is sort of unique since he wasn’t squatting at all, and also his squat was so much weaker than his DL. In my case, whenever my squat goes up my DL does too but at other times I have made progress on the DL with none on my squat.

What Dave is saying at the end is kind of how I’m looking at things lately with my bench press, things I never would have considered like training the lift once a week now seem like realistic options because nothing else is really working. I’m making progress, but at a very slow rate and for the amount of time and effort I’m putting into it, it just doesn’t make sense. I think it took me something like a year to go from a 315 bench to 360, and then over 2 years to get to 390. I have tried high volume with high frequency, low-ish volume with high frequency, low-ish volume with training twice a week, and basically everything in between and right now it’s about as good as it’s been in that time. I have some ideas, maybe cutting back volume and replacing bench variations with higher rep assistance work might be better, or at least less fatiguing with the same results.

Last fall I was pushing my bench hard and got up to 390, which was a 10lb PR, but I got elbow tendinitis in the process. Leading up to my last meet I kept the volume low and I was doing even better, it just didn’t work out at the meet but nothing really went like I wanted, largely due to it being late in the evening. But the point is if you can get the same results with less, and not get overuse injuries in the process, then surely that would be better in the long run.

997

Great work chris

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998

Friday, October 11 - Light squat/heavy deadlift day

Squat - regular low bar straight barbell squat
315x2x6 - 45 sec. rest - Feels good, technique is on point. I’m not going to mess around with other variations for now and see how it goes.

Deadlift (sumo)
540x4 - This is a PR, it puts my estimated max at 611, previous best rep PR was 550x3. Also I think I might have been able to do another rep, it would have been ugly and wouldn’t be worth it but there was more in the tank.

Down set with straps:
485x4 - It felt hard but looked not so bad on video. I suck at pulling with straps.

Anyway, I’m barely doing any deadlift volume and I’m making progress, I thought it would be a couple months before I could get back to previous levels of strength but within a few sessions of switching back to sumo I’m setting PRs. I’m seriously sold on this low volume thing, in the past I would have done multiple work sets or a whole bunch of CAT work and then a couple sets of some other variation but progress was slow, here I’m barely doing anything and it’s working better. Next week will be a light session.

Barbell row
325x8x2 sets - This is starting to feel like something, 305 last week was too light. This is with straps and no belt, the belt is supposed to increase ab muscle recruitment but without that I guess your spinal erectors have to work harder and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Now I just need to figure out what to do for my bench, I think I’m going to replace floor press and incline on Monday with dumbbell pushups and flys. Do some work but keep total stress low and see how that goes.

3 Likes
999

Stuck with bulgarian split squats, then - which I think is not bad at all. Doesn’t have as much core demand from high bar squats but…I kinda have an inclination towards unilateral work after the main lift simply because playing sports is such an imbalanced thing. Who knows, maybe when you focus on unilateral work, your squat will go up because the imbalance between right and left will lessen.

Which kinda supports the point that there’s a difference between movement-related adaptation and muscle-related adaptation

Agreed. Training economy is such an important factor (well in my case, an important excuse for being lazy lol)

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1000

I don’t really see that as an issue. As I said before, the point of high bar squat is for some extra quad work and also theoretically for the movement-related adaptation of staying more upright, but as we see the latter might not have much basis in reality.
I don’t really feel like my quads are lagging, it’s just that they can definitely handle more than a couple work sets and it’s better to get that in a less taxing way (like Bulgarian split squats). When I switched back to low bar I was real weak out of the bottom but after doing pause squats for a bit I actually come up fast, it’s more in the middle of the lift where I need to push my hips under the bar where I’m having problems. So I was thinking about doing good mornings (for higher reps, focused on the muscles rather than the movement) right after squatting. Romanian deadlifts could work too but I can handle a lot more weight on those (more than my squat without wraps) so it’s much more fatiguing.

Well, I was doing split stance RDLs for a while and it seems to have helped with that. From what I can tell, my left side was using the adductors more and the right was using the glutes, I used to have hip flexor issues on the left side and apparently that can inhibit the glutes and cause the adductors to pick up the slack. Right now things appear to be fairly balanced, I also do a bit of that Copenhagen adduction thing before lower body sessions, just 2 sets of 8 on each side. So I suppose keeping some unilateral work can’t hurt, and working my quads at the same time is a bonus.

1001

Here’s a case for low or moderate volume:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu_DosOAKz8/

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1002

Wow, good stuff. Glad I’m doing something right with my training. Granted, the whole technical term of “CNS fatigue” was a huge debate in some thread here in the forums a while back, but for simplicity’s sake, I get the point of what Chris Beardsley is saying

1003

I wouldn’t worry about what some people in a forum believe about CNS fatigue. It’s an actual thing.

As for your training, I think if you were able to consistently train 3-4 days a week and worked on building some muscle (which will require a bit more volume) then you would see better results on the main lifts.

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1004

Yeah most, if not all, my accessory work are for 10-12 reps for 3 to 4 sets. Can’t wait to get back lifting 3 times a week

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1005

Monday, October 14 - Main bench day

Bench press
370x2 - This is a PR I guess, not really anything worth getting too excited over though. I could probably double another 5-10 lbs on a good day, but next week I’m going to back down the weights and work back up. Something like 340x5-6 sounds like a good starting point.

335x5, 4 - First set matches a 5rm, could likely do more if I didn’t do a heavy double before.

Neutral dumbbell pushups
bw x20 - I did a set of 5 for a warmup, it’s been a while and I was fatigued from benching so I thought I could probably do about 12-15 but I was wrong, it was too easy so I kept going
+super mini band x8 - Obviously the band makes it harder, plus I was fatigued.

Floor pause DB flys
55’s x14, 12, 10 - Floor pause because it limits ROM, too much stretch is no good for the shoulders. And yeah I could use lighter weight, but I don’t really see the use of doing 20+ reps.

Chin ups - close neutral grip
bw +45x8, 6
bw x13

So the idea here is to minimize stress, push comp lifts hard but assistance at RPE 8 or so, not a ton of volume either. It’s working for squat and deadlift, so why not for bench? We will see.

1006

Strong work chris keep it going

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1007

Tuesday, October 15 - Main squat day

Squat
455x3 - Technique felt decent today but I got thrown forward a bit on the 3rd rep here. I could have grinded out a 4th rep but all-out grinding every week is not really a good plan. First two reps moved well and warm ups were good too, I just need to work on maintaining technique while straining. I’m not really happy with this, but it didn’t totally suck either.

Squat with wraps (SBD)
505x2 - This was good, looks like depth is about right too. I think I could have done another 2 reps but that wasn’t the plan, I’m just trying to get a feel for the wrap again and also put some heavier weight on my back. These wraps don’t really stop you like some other wraps but they still give a good pop out of the hole, and squatting in the doesn’t feel as terrible as others. Compared to the Titan Sig Golds, they feel much worse to just have them on your knees but somehow squatting in them feels better and they don’t seem to change my technique at all. I think I like them. I also did zero warmups in wraps, just threw on another 50lbs and wrapped my knees, only one set last week too, and it feels alright.

Pause squat
365x6 - If I’m going to do a down set I might as well pause it, more speed out of the hole can’t hurt.

SSB good morning
225x10, 8 - I did the 2nd set a bit differently which made it harder. 1st set I was bending at the knees more and just pushing my hips back, 2nd set I was basically bending straight over. That should work the hamstrings and spinal erectors harder, and it feels harder, so that’s how I plan to do it.

Bulgarian split squat
20lb dumbells - trying to figure out technique, did a few sets and at the end managed a set of 7 on each leg. I always did these either holding a dumbbell in one hand and the rack with the other or kind of like Hatfield squats with a SSB and holding the rack, I figure there might be some benefit to improving single leg balance so I’m not holding anything except dumbbells but it’s hard. I sucked at split stance RDLs at first too but I got the hang of those, after a few weeks I should be able to manage something with these.

I don’t really have many options for quad work since I have no machines, the other option is Hatfield squats but they are pretty brutal, I’m still traumatized. If I do those again I won’t push until it’s a full body max effort thing, seeing as the weight is heavy enough most if not all reps should be stimulating some hypertrophy and recruiting large motor units and such.

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1008

Thursday, October 17 - 2nd bench day

Bench press
395x1 - I was originally planning to go for 390 but my warmups were moving real fast and I felt good so I threw another 5lbs on for a small PR. Only issue is I slid up the bench an inch or two which made the bar graze the hooks (see my head position in the video), normally I only have that problem when I do multiple reps but a slippery bench plus the fact that I’m not sweating so much now that it’s cold outside seem to be doing it. So I need to set up just a little lower on the bench, I didn’t have that problem on the following sets with the slingshot.

Right now I think I could manage another 15lbs or so. I’m going to aim to bench about 390-400 every week (except the occasional light session) until 400 is moving fast and then push past that. I know I’m talking about doing near max singles every week, but it’s a warmup for slingshot bench which feels significantly harder and more stressful so I’m not concerned at the moment.

Slingshot bench
395x6, 6 - Could probably squeeze out another rep on the first set, 2nd was RPE10.

Military press
220x7
200x9 - I’m staying a rep or two short of failure on assistance stuff (Slingshot is technically assistance but I’m pushing it still) because I get the feeling that the added stress and fatigue of going all out just isn’t worth it and it will affect progress on the main lifts, which is what actually matters here.

JM press
235x9, 7, 6

Underhand band pull apart
light band x23, 15, 12 - This band is way stronger than the super mini so I’m gripping it closer to the ends, it’s not easy to progressively overload stuff like this without doing stupidly high reps.

Barbell curl
85x19, 14, 12 - Got some bicep gains coming

This was a good session, can’t complain about anything. Tomorrow is an easy session for deadlift, just some light squats followed by a few DL singles and that’s it. The go for some more PRs next week.

1009

Friday, October 18 - Light squat/easy deadlift day

Squat
315x2x6 - 45 sec. rest - this felt very explosive today, like I was just launching the weight up out of the hole. It hasn’t felt like that in a long time.

Deadlift - easy session
490x5 singles - 1 min. rest - this weight feels like nothing, like I could do 15 reps with it. The point here is just to do a bit of technique work without causing any significant fatigue so that I don’t have to deload (or at least much less frequently) and then next week I should be well recovered and ready for some big PRs. I would say probably 80% of training related fatigue (for myself, and for powerlifting) is due to lower body workouts so this equals almost half a deload.

Nothing else, I see no point in doing rows at RPE3.

2 Likes
1010

Monday, October 21 - Main bench day

Bench press
340x5 - I wanted 6, but it wasn’t going to happen. This is still a PR, I’m just never satisfied.
310x8, 7

Neutral DB pushups
+super mini band x12, 9

Floor pause DB flys
60’s x14, 12, 10 - Nothing gets my pecs pumped up like these.

Chin ups - close neutral grip
bw +50x8, 4.5 - the 8th rep was a bit questionable, I should have held back a bit and saved something for the next set but sometimes I get carried away
Down set: bw x14 - my body feels weightless after taking off that 50lbs

A decent session, I just need to remember not to go crazy on chin ups.

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1011

Tuesday, October 22 - Main squat day

Squat
465x3 - Tipped forward a bit on the 3rd, maybe could have done another rep but not really worth it. If I can avoid technical errors like that then I could do a couple more reps. Depth is good here too. About 5 weeks ago I did 465x2 so I’m making some progress for sure, it’s just not as fast as I would like it to be.

Down set:
420x5 - Last rep was a bit grindy but I managed to maintain proper technique, right now I feel like sets that have me straining a bit will help the most because that is where I’m lacking.

No squats in wraps today

Pause squat
375x5 - 10lbs more than last week, I was only planning to go for 5 but I could still do 1-2 more. Seems like bottom end strength if pretty good right now, relatively speaking

SSB GM
235x8, 7

Bulgarian split squat
20lb dumbbells x4x4, 8 - I couldn’t manage more than 4 reps without falling over at first so I just did a few sets of 4, the last set didn’t feel too bad so I rested a couple minutes and tried to go for max reps. It will be a few weeks before these start to look like something.

Summary of my lifts at the moment:
Deadlift - obviously on steroids
Bench press - low T
Squat - overdosed on birth control

1012

Thursday, October 24 - 2nd bench day - easy session

Bench
365x1

Slingshot bench
385x3 - I could have gone lighter but it feels weird using the slingshot with light weight, plus this is easy anyway

No money external shoulder rotation
mini band x25x3

That’s it. Heavy deadlift tomorrow.

I like these easy sessions much more than a regular deload where you still do a bunch of work but it’s all easy and you drag yourself through it. Like this I just get it over with quick and move on with life.

1 Like
1013

Lookin forward to this pull

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