I’ve just started a blog, not entirely sure where I’m going to go with it but feel free to check it out.
Sun 4th March
Deadlift & Press - 3x3
BW back extensions
Hip flexor stretches
Deadlift
60kg 2x3
80kg x3
100kg x3
115kg x3
130kg x3
147.5kg x5 - PR. These were much faster off the floor - I think the rest day on the Saturday helps my pulling on the Sunday, as I’m not so tired from squatting.
Rack pulls, just below knee
160kg x1
170kg x1, just. Probably shouldn’t have bothered with these, as I blew my figurative load on the PR.
Press
bar 2x5
30kg x3
40kg x3
50kg x3
57.5kg x6 - PR. These are really coming along nicely.
Face pulls
100 reps in minimum time.
Another top notch training session.
Wed 7th March
Conditioning - Hill sprints
Dragged out a partner, who is training to join the Royal Marines, so his recovery time was better than mine between sprints. However I was quicker getting up the hill due to my leg strength. My limiting factor is my cardio, whereas his is his leg strength.
Anyway, what we did was this:
Short (30m)
Medium (50m)
Long (80-90m)
For three times round.
This absolutely raped me, especially having a partner to keep up with. I was holding back the puke at the end. The long ones were especially brutal. Anyway I’m through it, and now am currently trying to avoid calf cramps.
Tues 13th March
After not lifting in 9 days, and with a birthday on March 10th, everything aches for no reason. I needed to do something, so I did.
Dips
Sets of 8-10 with about 20 sec rests, probably ended up doing 80 reps total.
Rows
Worked up to stack (27.5kg) plus 2x26kg DBs + 12kg DB. So whatever that was, 3x8,8,12.
Stretching to finish.
Conditioning
Hill sprints
15 x short (30-40m) hills.
Thursday 15th March
Leg Press - close to mimic deadlift start, very short rest periods
190kg
3x3 @ Seat height 3
3x3 @ seat height 2
3x3 @ seat height 1 - these were actually pretty murderous.
Machine Leg Curls, short rest periods
Worked up to 3 top sets of 10, which were: 52.5kg, 57.5kg and 62.5kg. These were actually brutal.
Hammer Curlz
16kg DBs, 3x10
Dammit, another week of life and work getting in the way.
Session today was a back/bicep day. No legs today as I’m squatting tomorrow.
Chins - 5 x max reps
Straight arm cable pulldowns - 5 x i don’t even know
Close grip cable rows
supersetted with
Wide grip standing cable rows
Hammer Curlz
Saturday 24th March
Squat - 5/3/1
102.5kg x5
117.5kg x3
135kg x1 - 2.5kg PR. This was meant to be 130kg for 1, but I wanted the PR, and I got it. Fairly slow as I semi-deliberately stalled halfway up to maintain balance, but it was good. My squat is definitely going up!
ATG oly squats
100kg, 20 total reps. Ended up doing 2x3, 7x2. I had very short rest periods (<30 secs) - I was in the zone and just kept hammering them out.
Press - 5/3/1
47.5kg x5
55kg x3
60kg x3 - PR
Squat lockouts - from pin 6
140kg x3
160kg x3
180kg x3
200kg x3
Absolutely fantastic day training, but dear god I’m sore today.
Just a quick session. I’m still sore from Saturday’s squatting - I could barely walk yesterday. I haven’t been this sore in a very long time.
1 arm DB overhead Press, short rest
26kg 5x5
BW Dips, short rest
6x10
2 mins on the bike to get blood into my legs, but to no avail.
Deadlift - 5/3/1
122.5kg x5
140kg x3
155kg x2 - Probably a PR. 2nd rep was slow, but most likely because I was taking short rests.
140kg 3x2 - I’ve decided to try a few sets of doubles after my main sets. I call this assistance scheme “Boring But Strong” (BBS).
Done in 20 mins.
Monday 2nd April
Squat
80kg x2
90kg x2
100kg x2
110kg x1
120kg x1
125kg x1
Bench - 5/3/1 week
75kg x5
85kg x3
95kg x3 - PR. Last rep was probably the slowest rep I have ever performed in my entire lifting career, it probably took at the very least 10 seconds from chest to lockout, possibly longer. So a grinder but a decent PR.
80kg x2
85kg 4 or 5x2 - My Boring but Strong template
Pull ups
So, so, so many pull ups… at least 50 minimum though I wasn’t really counting.
Another decent session. I’ve now broke up for Easter, so I have 3 good weeks of training ahead of me, ready for a meet on the 22nd. Targets are a 140kg squat, 105kg bench and 170kg pull.
Tues 3rd April
Press
40kg x2
50kg x2
55kg x2
60kg 10x1 - Tried out the ol’ ten singles approach, it’s pretty cool
Oly Squat
80kg x3
100kg x3
110kg x2
100kg x3
A slightly easier session today - I plan to squat at least every workout, and may even toy with some form of squatting every day now that I have the option to. Meet is just under 3 weeks away.
Deadlift
80kg x3
100kg x3
120kg 2x1
140kg x1
150kg x1
160kg x miss at knees
160kg x1 - got a bit angrier. Actually quite pleased with pulling this today, as this is only 5kg off my best conv pull, and I’m not deloaded for a meet.
This missed at the knees deadlift has finally brought me to the realisation of something I’ve kinda ignored for a long time - my hamstrings simply aren’t up to par. This has been a big lesson - my weak points must be trained harder than everything else. I’ve resolved to train my hamstrings in some form at least every session. Moral of the story: DO THE STUFF YOU SUCK AT; it will come back to bite you… it’s bitten me.
I haven’t improved my deadlift in a FUCKING YEAR - I’m getting really REALLY pissed off. After this meet, my training will consist of high frequency squats, heavy deadlifts, overhead work and lots of hamstring work.
Countless stiff-leg DLs and rack pulls from below knees.
Natural GHRs - I’ve chucked these back in for extra hammy work, plus I used to be doing these as my pull went up. Can’t hurt.
Lots to failure.
Oly Squat
60kg x5
80kg x3
100kg x3 - These are coming along nicely - doing an easy triple in a very fatigued state probably shows my squat is improving.
I have a couple of things to think about after this session, and I will improve my training as a result.
BTW, I’m actually about 2.5 weeks out from a meet, but I’m not going to do a typical peaking cycle - being the mad scientist I am, I’m just going to keep up my normal sessions until about 5 days out. Then keep training but with much lighter loads, so I basically don’t forget how to squat.
If you pulled 147.5x5, you should be good for ~170 IMO.
Could it be that you just had a bad day?
GL @ dat meet breh.
Well, I suppose if this was over a shorter time-frame I could just put it down to a bad day, etc. but I’m not sure that I can after this long. The fact of the matter is that my pull simply should be bigger than it is now.
It’s just that after a year, I would have hoped to have actually improved it a bit. It’s just a big kick in the balls, but my own fault for not training it hard or smart enough.
Cheers for showing concern! At least one person reads my posts lol.
Anyway:
Bench off 1-board
80kg x3
90kg x3
95kg x2
100kg x1
2-board: 107.5kg x1. This is my target for the upcoming meet, and so I wanted it in my hands. It felt pretty good, especially off a 2-board.
Full range bench
90kg 3x2
PL form squats
60kg x3
80kg x3
100kg x3
110kg x1
120kg 10x1 - again, 10 singles. I didn’t know what to squat today, so I winged it. This was pretty fun, and went very well considering the state of fatigue I’m in. My squat definitely likes the higher frequency. But my lower back will really want words with me tomorrow morning.
Every day I’m walking around with ankle weights on, doing loads of ham curls through the day. I wonder if this will help my ham strength, or maybe the recovery rate.
Mon 9th April
Squat
80kg x3
100kg x2
100kg x5
107.5kg x4
115kg x3
122.5kg x2
130kg x1
137.5kg x1 - PR!!! Easy… what can I say, my squat loves high frequency!
Press
60kg 5x3 - these are getting stronger by the week, along with the squat
Chins
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, done in about 15 mins.
Another great session, I should have taken 140kg for the three plate squat. Oh well, that will fall on friday.
Wed 11th April
Deadlift
80kg x3
100kg x3
120kg x1
140kg x1
160kg x1
162.5kg x1 - slow at the knees, maybe hitched a tiny bit
140kg 3x2
Rack pulls
plenty from just below knee
Natural GHRs
lots to failure
Squats
70kg x3
90kg x1
100kg x1
105kg x1
110kg x1
115kg x1
120kg x1
125kg x1
130kg x1
Pleased with working up to 130kg after all the pulling.
following
Cheers man.
Thursday 12th April (forgot to update)
Jerk
50kg 3x1
60kg 2x1
65kg x1
70kg x1
75kg x1
80kg x1
85kg 2x1 - 5kg PR
Push press
60kg 3x3
70kg x1
75kg x1 - probably a PR
Face pulls
100 reps in min time
THE BIG ONE - 3 PLATE SQUAT HAS FALLEN.
Sunday 15th April
Squat
60kg 2x2
80kg 2x1
100kg x1
120kg x1
130kg x1
140kg x1 - PR. Was kinda slow as I stalled halfway up, but it has been done, and plenty of depth to boot. This has been one of my goals from when I first started lifting over 2 years ago. It shouldn’t have taken this long, but onwards and upwards. Bodyweight was 80.7kg (177.5 lbs).
120kg 5 or 6 x 2 - I lost count so I did a couple extra sets.
BW back extensions x20.
Time to eat.