Chris_ottawa's Training Log

I’d love to hit a rep PR every sesh for my confidence but much much less is required to progress plenty sustainably. One or two hard productive sets is a lot for most people. Still working it out for myself because I can hit a lot of reps for a given % of my 1RM. Like 20 reps at 80% or someshit. Drops off at higher percentages but since a lot of work is done 60-80% makes it awkward.

On sumo deadlift or what lift? That’s a bit abnormal, I can do maybe 6 on squat and deadlift, 7-8 on bench.

Yeah it’s a bit off the usual. Is on sumo so partly skipping the eccentric and low ROM overall probably contributes. So it’s a bit hard to fit RPE/volume prescriptions to sumo.

I’m questioning if given I can hit like 20+ reps at 4 plates ez is my training apps prescription of a couple sets of 6 sufficient stimulus or should I bump the reps a bit to like 8-10 if it remain within the prescribed RPE (say 7 / 3-4 reps in the tank) because that’s a big range

I hear a lot of people who have good leverages for sumo say they can do a ton of reps. On anything else it’s supposedly a sign you have a high proportion of slow twitch muscles fibres or lack neural efficiency.

I would see what the Sheiko people say about that, it all depends. There is value in lower RPE work but you should have some more challenging sets too. I would think that putting more weight on the bar would be better than more reps, especially from a Sheiko point of view where it’s all about technique. Shieko has said that he allows lifters to add something like 5% more on the bar if it feels too easy, either do that more often or maybe adjust your maxes.

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Makes sense. I’m making gains anyways using some auto regulation on top of the apps. Bit dangerous because I like to YOLO and go big at times.

The app caps the bump in weight / set to like 10kg tho I can exceed that myself if I want. I guess in the medium intensity medium stimulus/RPE range is quite broad. At higher intensities it’s aight tho

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The bossman said bump intensity preferred over bump in volume. No more than 10% so works out like 20-25kg to work with

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Saturday, June 6 - 2nd bench day

Bench press
up to 375x1 - Good but nothing amazing. I was thinking of going up to 405 but it might have been a struggle so I didn’t.

Slingshot bench
440x2
400x5
Nothing too exciting, but it’s alright.

JM press
270x7, 6

W shoulder rotation
super mini x3 sets

Monday, June 8 - Squat day

Squat - wraps - kraits
535x3 - PR for Kraits, I squatted 545x3 in 2.5m super heavies and 555x3 in the 3m pair. Hard to gauge what’s what but I’m getting stronger.

Depth on the first two looks good, I cut it a bit higher on the 3rd. I got thrown forward on the 2nd rep and considered racking it for a moment but I knew what I did wrong (head back!) and I was sure I could manage another rep, so there it is.

Squat - sleeves
415x3x3 - Felt even better than last week.

Band bad girl
light band x22, 18

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Wednesday, June 10 - Main bench day

Bench press
360x3 - I wanted 4 but I was skeptical about another rep, the 3rd slowed a bit
325x6

Floor pause DB flys/DB floor press
75’s x15/3
65’s x12/5
I saw one of Josh Bryant’s video a while back where he had Rob Hall doing flys and then switching to dumbbell press, I think it was on a bench though (can’t remember). I thought it would be worth trying some day and it felt like time to switch up assistance work so here I am. I figured I would stop one rep short of failure on the flys but it turns out that it didn’t work too good on the first set and I could barely do 3 reps on floor press, my pecs were totally fried. So next set I stopped about 2-3 reps short and it went better, part of the problem might have to do with the fact that I have never done DB floor press and haven’t done any DB pressing in a long time anyway.

Arnold press
55’s x12, 9 - Pecs are done but my shoulders and triceps can still do more. I was getting bored with the front raises and side raises, plus after my back cramped on side raises a couple weeks ago I decided to change things up.

Friday, June 12 - Deadlift day - easy session

Sumo
485x5 singles - 1 min. rest - moved well

Conventional - straps/beltless
465x4 - Rather than go lighter I just decided to add 10lbs over next week since it didn’t seem like much and limit the number of reps. I figured 3-5 was good, the 4th felt like it took a bit of effort so that was it.

Chin ups - wide overhand
bw x10x2 sets

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It’s ok big fella I teach u deadlift lol

Teach me how to make my arms longer!

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Got u fam:

Then use mixed hook grip on top of that for an extra cm

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I don’t think it’s enough to make a difference, I need like 4 inches or more.

I just have to accept that I will never make it as a sumo cheater, as long as my pull is around the same as my squat I can’t complain too much.

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I haven’t seen a vid of your pull in a while but there’s always improvements to be made. Every little bit makes a difference when it comes to positioning.

Have u tried widening your stance a lot. I’ve pushed mine out recently and made PB

I have tried all kinds of things, if I go wider then immediately I’m weaker and it’s hard to break to floor. Some people just aren’t built well to deadlift. My technique is actually very similar to Dave Ricks, who squats (without wraps) more than he pulls. He is 60 and squatting over 700 at 93kg and has been competing for decades, I’m not trying to copy him or anything but at least I know I’m not the only one like this.

I see. If hip mobility isn’t that good then I guess u do t have much going for u as far as advantages on deadlift go. U ain’t as old as ricks so ur hip mobility could be improved substantially no?

I’m not really even limited by hip mobility, I can’t set up good with my toes at the plates but even just going a couple inches wider than my normal setup is worse. I set up with the outside of my ankles at the rings. Wider isn’t always better, for some people with the right proportions it can make it way easier but it’s not for everyone.

Just to give you an idea of why I’m hesitant to start fucking around with my technqiue, a couple years ago when I started using a deadlift bar my DL was down and I wasn’t really making any progress, I posted some videos on here looking for advice and the main thing people were saying is to put my hips lower. While that sounds like reasonable advice, it just wasn’t working at all and my technique was all fucked up, I spent several months fucking around and making no progress. I had a free Kabuki movement systems membership and I got a couple of their coaches to give their opinion, they said that due to my proportions (slightly short arms and long femurs) I would have to pull with my hips high, putting my hips too low meant that I couldn’t properly engage my hamstrings. Also they said that a wider stance might help and I mentioned that going much wider made it significantly harder, their response was if that is the case then going wider probably wouldn’t work for me, it should make the lift easier.

I barely made any progress on my deadlift during that training cycle and pulled 545 at the meet. A year later (last year) I pulled a couple pounds under 570 in a meet and 575 in training. In March this year I pulled 590 and if all this COVID shit didnt happen I should have been able to pull over 600 in the meet, and remember I fucked my back up and wasted a few months last summer. So while I’m not great at deadlifting, I’m making progress, and the times when I’m trying a bunch of new stuff it goes nowhere. I think if my lower back wasn’t an issue then I could pull more conventional, but I need to sort that out before I try anything.

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Saturday, June 13 - 2nd Bench day

Bench press
up to 375x1 - About the same as last week I think, smooth but not quite flying up.

Slingshot bench
445x2 - A bit of grinding on the 2nd rep
Edit: also did 405x4

JM press
275x6x2 sets

W external rotation
super mini band x3 sets

Question for OP and all that have contributed:

Where is your foot placement when pulling?

I’ve read so many different manuals, etc. and watched so many different videos it’s insane. I feel like I want to experiment when I can in two weeks. Dave Tate recommends this. Andy Bolton recommends this, etc. Shin directly against bar, shin directly over midfoot. Where do you find it to be optimal?