Thanks man.
15/07/11
Squats
Squats:
20x2x5
60x5
100x5
120x3
140x3
160x1
(Added Metal Ace briefs)
180x2
200x2
220x2
240x2
260x1 (PR)
Front Squats:
80x8
90x6
100x2x5
Glute/Ham Raises:
BWx15
BW 20x2x10
Ab Pulldowns:
3 sets
I ordered a bunch of industrial farm equipment (load slings, tow straps, D shackles etc) to fashion some kind of DIY monolift solution recently, and the goods finally arrived on Thursday. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Which meant squatting in gear, out of the rack. Again. Oh joy.
It was a familiar story: warm-ups were good, weight felt easy all the way up in the gear, still a few inches shy of parallel. I got as far as 260kg - the weight I missed at the British last year, tearing my MCL in the process, and have not been able to walk out, ever. I tried about 5 times, and still could not get my feet set. Arching the bar off the J-hooks: fine. Taking one step back with my right leg and planting my right foot perfectly in place: fine. Trying to then move my left: nope. Eventually, I convinced my two spotters to help lift the weight backwards - it was fucking dangerous really - and I finally managed to get my feet set in a good, wide stance. All that effort for what was a pretty easy squat in the end. PR!!! It may have been good depth as well - I can’t tell because one of my spotters stood right in the line of the camera.
16/07/11
Presses
Presses:
20x2x8
40x5
50x5
60x5
70x6
65x8
Pull-ups:
BWx6
BW 5x2x8
BWx3x8
Dips:
BWx8
BW 10x8
BW 15x8
BW 20x8
BW 15x8
BW 10x8
Kroc Rows:
50x20
Good session.
kit sounds awkward as hell man! Nice PR though 
Nice squat PR. If you’d like, I can PM you some suggestions on possibly solving your problems with the gear/walkout troubles.
Thanks fellas. Yeah it sure is awkward as hell in briefs and knee wraps; would hugely appreciate any advice you are able to give on this topic novaeer.
Did you get my last PM?
I did, but didn’t get a chance to reply until a moment ago. Thanks for the advice mate.
18/07/11
Deadlifts
Deadlifts:
60x2x5
(Added doubled mini bands)
70x1
90x1
110x1
130x1
140x1
150x1
160x1 (PR)
170x1 (PR)
Speed Deadlifts:
150x3x3
Good Mornings:
80x8
100x6
110x6
127.5x5
Reverse Hypers:
100x2x12
Pikes:
BWx2x8
Really enjoyed this tonight. I haven’t pulled against bands with a conventional stance for months now, and smashed my previous PR by 20kg. The 170kg effort was perhaps a little hitched, but it was locked out and that’s all I’m worried about in the gym. Feeling good right now.
Nice lift! What is that in pounds, like 243? LOL. What’s your best conventional DL, without the bands of course. I ask that because when my pull was at its best a couple of years ago (545 in Nov 2009 meet), I did that very same weight against the quad’ed minis. Maybe you should give conventional a shot?
Pounds? What are these ‘pounds’ you speak of? My best conventional pull is 235 good-old-metric-kilos, which, if we were to arbitrarily multiply by 2.2046, would equate to about 518 of those pound things. I did that when I was doing 5/3/1 though, and had already busted a gut doing a triple with 210kg on my '1 ’ AMRAP set that day. I reckon I could get 240-245kg if fresh, which would put me close to your best… Something to aim for after the comp.
And whilst we’re talking about pulling against bands, maybe you can clear something up that has confused me for a long time. In the above video, am I pulling against doubled or quadded mini bands? We set the bar up over the Jump Stretch Platform, get one band for each end of the bar, and fold each band in half so that there are two ‘loops’ to go over each peg on the platform. Probably a horrible explanation - the video might explain better. I’ve always referred to what we do as pulling against doubled mini bands, but some people seem to call a similar set-up pulling against quadded bands!
[quote]Element_26 wrote:
Pounds? What are these ‘pounds’ you speak of? My best conventional pull is 235 good-old-metric-kilos, which, if we were to arbitrarily multiply by 2.2046, would equate to about 518 of those pound things. I did that when I was doing 5/3/1 though, and had already busted a gut doing a triple with 210kg on my '1 ’ AMRAP set that day. I reckon I could get 240-245kg if fresh, which would put me close to your best… Something to aim for after the comp.
And whilst we’re talking about pulling against bands, maybe you can clear something up that has confused me for a long time. In the above video, am I pulling against doubled or quadded mini bands? We set the bar up over the Jump Stretch Platform, get one band for each end of the bar, and fold each band in half so that there are two ‘loops’ to go over each peg on the platform. Probably a horrible explanation - the video might explain better. I’ve always referred to what we do as pulling against doubled mini bands, but some people seem to call a similar set-up pulling against quadded bands![/quote]
You high and mighty metric system folk!!! Next thing you know you’ll be making fun of our currency and how it doesn’t have enough colors. LMAO.
FWIW, the 545 (or ~247kg) was my best contest DL raw, add a whopping 5 pounds and you’ll get my best ever suited pull, lol. At one point, I’m pretty positive my raw DL was around 2550-260 but I ended up overdoing the DL frequency and intensity (not a good thing) and I regressed 
As for the proper use of band terminology, your set up was quadded bands as there are four total points of contact between the band and the J/S platform. I think the total tension at the top is approximately 100kg.
Yeah we reckon that for us taller lifters (I’m 6’2’') the bands add about 100kg at the top of the movement when set up like this. And I’m delighted that I’ve automatically doubled the awesome of those deadlift sessions! Thanks for the clarification.
I’m aiming for somewhere in the region of 250-260kg for my deadlift in my competition (but this will be suited and sumo stance). After that I’ll probably spend a few weeks training raw and will get my conventional pull going again.
20/07/11
Bench Presses
Bench Presses:
20x2x8
60x5
80x3
100x3
120x3
(Added Metal Ace shirt)
140x3 (3-board)
160x3 (2-board)
180x1 (1-board - just missed the touch)
190xF (1-board)
(Removed shirt)
100x1
110x1
120x1
130x1
Wide Grip Bench Presses:
100x8
Pull-ups:
BWx50 (6 sets)
Dumbbell Curls:
2 sets
Not a great day. Didn’t feel particularly strong in the shirt; couldn’t touch the 1-board with 180 and missed 190. For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to do some singles raw afterwards. If anything, today was a stark reminder of the importance of planning your training in advance; something I’ll have to think about after the competition I think.
22/07/11
Squats
Squats:
20x5
60x5
100x3
120x3
140x3
160x1
(Added Metal Pro Squatter)
180x3
200x2
220x1
(Added knee wraps)
(Straps up)
240x1
Front Squats:
80x8
90x6
100x5
105x5
Glute/Ham Raises:
BWx15
BW 20x2x10
Ab Pulldowns:
120lbx12
130lbx2x8
I’ve done 240 in the suit before, but this effort felt deep and a bit smoother. I notice from the video that my knees shoot forward a little out of the hole (didn’t really engage the hamstrings early enough) but it wasn’t anything too scary.
24/07/11
Presses
Presses:
20x2x8
40x5
50x5
60x5
75x3
Pull-ups:
BWx6
BW 5x5
BW 10x5
BW 15x5
BW 20x4
BW 15x5
Dips:
BWx8
BW 15x5
BW 20x5
BW 25x5
BW 30x5
BW 15x5
Kroc Rows:
50x23 (PR)
Pretty poor pressing. Everything else was good.
Very, very busy week ahead, so I probably won’t have a lot of time to post updates. Anyway, here is yesterday’s session…
25/07/11
Deadlifts
Sumo Deadlifts:
60x2x5
100x5
140x3
160x3
180x1
200x1
(Added Metal Pro Squatter)
220x1
240x1
250x1 (PR)
Good Mornings:
80x8
100x6
115x5
130x3
Reverse Hypers:
105x2x10
Pikes:
BWx2x8
The single with 250kg was hard but I drove my hips through and just about locked out. Satisfying.
27/05/11
Bench Presses
Bench Presses:
20x2x8
60x5
80x3
100x3
120x3
(Added Metal Ace shirt)
140x2 (3-board)
160x3 (2-board)
180x2 (1-board)
190x2 (Missed touch)
Wide Grip Bench Presses:
(All sets performed to a 2-board)
100x8
110x5
120x5
Pull-ups:
BWx50 (6 sets)
Overhead Triceps Extentions:
80lbx3x10
Rear Delt Flyes:
25lbx3x12
I made some DIY adjustments to my Metal Ace shirt last weekend - I took some fabric scissors to the sleeves and cut them down about an inch. The shirt felt infinitely more comfortable during this session, and I was getting close to touching the chest with 190. More technique work still needed, but I feel like I’m slowly starting to get there!
I don’t know if I could ever have the patience to go through all that on the shirts!! tempting as it is to intstanly increase my max by 20% lol
Mate, you have no idea how much aggro sorting out the shirt is! I feel sorry for my training partners, as they all lift raw. That means that they get all the fun of the long training sessions and sore fingers from adjusting the kit, without the fun of boosted maxes.