Week 35: High Frequency Deadlifts - Day 26
Deadlifts
120kg: 5x1
EMOM
Pull-Ups
BW: 3x5
One-Arm Push-Ups
BW: 5x1
Bodyweight: 96.8kg
My entire back is still completely smoked. 120kg felt light, but the whole time my erectors and even intercostals were screaming lol. I have my sights set on conventional deadlifting 200kg on the 26th, I’m really looking forward to that.
Week 35: High Frequency Deadlifts - Day 27
Deadlifts
140kg: 3x1
160kg: 1
180kg: 1
190kg: 1 - belt on, PR!
Crosstrainer
45min
This week has been crazy, this is my third PR! I was just going to do 5 sets with 140kg, but they felt good and I decided to push it. Fantastic stuff, I’m really happy.
Week 35: Summary
Bodyweight: 96.7kg
Training: Huge conventional and trap bar deadlift PRs this week, 5 total sessions.
Nutrition: A bit better this week.
Three great PRs this week - 185kg conventional deadlift, then 217.5kg trap bar deadlift and then 190kg conventional deadlift. Upper body stuff and cardio was pretty standard.
Week 36: High Frequency Deadlifts - Day 28
Deadlifts
140kg: 1 - mixed grip
160kg: 1 - belt on
180kg: 1
200kg: 1 - fancy that
Row Machine
55: 5x12
Back Extensions
BW: 5x20
Bodyweight: 97.0kg
Well who’d have thought? My longtime goal, 200kg, finally fell today, exactly 8 months after my injury. My right shoulder has been giving me some bother for a few days (I think due to mixed grip deadlifting), so I did higher volume back stuff after instead of pull-ups. Starting today I’m also completely dropping sugar/sweeteners from my diet, mostly as a health thing but also for a little fat-loss. Feeling good.
200kg Deadlift PR
Great stuff dude! That was a monster effort. Good grind.
Thanks a lot man! That was the big goal, I feel a little directionless now lol.
Week 36: Chest and Triceps
One-Arm Push-Ups
BW: 5x1
Chest Press Machine (Plates)
80kg: 10, 8
40kg: 12, 10, 10
Chest Press Machine (Pulley)
35: 4x12
Triceps Extension (Pulley)
13: 4x12
Bodyweight: 97.5kg
Just fancied doing something a bit different so did high rep chest and triceps stuff. I’m not sure exactly how I’m going to structure my training now. My main goal is to consolidate my deadlift gains - I really don’t want them to go the way of my post-Smolov bench. I think I’ll switch to deadlifting heavy twice a week, instead of light and frequently, along with unstructured upper body work.
So this isn’t really a comeback log anymore…
Nice stuff 
227.5 kg / 500 pounds is still waiting for you…
Congrats on the PR
Haha thanks man, although in most ways it still is. My right quad is much weaker than it was and I can’t run properly yet. Halfback.
Yes indeed! I definitely want to get much stronger on the deadlift, but it is no longer my singular focus so I’m not sure how to structure my training now. Thank you.
Week 36: Cardio
Crosstrainer
30min
Stationary Bike
20min
I didn’t have many options today - my upper body is pretty sore from all of the volume/new exercises and my hips feel pretty tight and uncomfortable. The cardio went a way to loosening things up but I’ll do some mobility stuff later on.
Congrats on the PR.
Im working on the 1 arm push-up at the moment. I can’t even do one. How did you manage to work up to your first full rep? Any tips on progression and how I should program this?
Thanks.
Uncle Bird.
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Thanks @theBird! To be completely honest I’m not a big believer in bodyweight progressions. Whenever I’ve mastered a new bodyweight exercise it’s been due to getting stronger with a barbell: my first pistol squat came after a phase of heavy barbell lunging and I’m sure my one-arm push-ups are a result of my bench press. Training the movements definitely makes you better at them once you can already do them, but until then I think you’re better off with a barbell.
Week 36: Cardio
Swimming
Some swimming
That’s all
Thanks for the reply.
Thats interesting. Im focusing on some serious strength progression at the moment so hopefully it helps.
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Week 36: Whole Body
Deadlifts
140kg: 1
160kg: 1 - mixed grip
180kg: F,F
180kg: 1,F - belt on
140kg: 1,1,1,F beltless
Well that was a fucking catastrophe.
Kettlebell Swings
28kg: 5x20
Push-Ups
BW: 5x20
Pull-Ups
BW: 4x5
I’m not sure what happened today. I went from not failing any deadlifts in this entire log to failing 4 in one session. It’s not like I felt tired or unwell or anything. I’m glad I gutted out one rep with 180kg, it would have felt terrible if I hadn’t managed any. The rest of the session went reasonably well. This was actually my first time doing kettlebell swings since week 29 (before I started high frequency deadlifts) and they felt extremely good - it really reminded me why they are my favourite exercise, and I need to get back to doing them regularly.
Week 36: Summary
Bodyweight: 97.3kg
Training: 200kg deadlift, can’t complain! 5 sessions.
Nutrition: Better this week.
Week 36 started with a pretty big success - I got a 200kg deadlift on Sunday. The other notable thing about this week is that I managed to tighten up my diet a bit - I avoided all sugar and sweeteners for 6 days and then had a cheat day today (although I didn’t particularly need it). It definitely seems to have worked - I was 95.8kg this morning - but as is tradition I haven’t included it as a non-training day bodyweight. Next week I’m going to tighten things up further and drop bread too.
I have a lot of DOMS in my traps and forearms as well as, interestingly, my anterior tibial muscles, which can only be due to the kettlebell swings. I’m really looking forward to getting back into regular kettlebell training.
Week 37: …
Kettlebell Swings
40kg: 3x10
E2MOM
Bodyweight: 97.0kg
This was terrible. When I woke up my neck was extremely stiff and painful and I had a thumping headache. I wondered if it was due to how I’d been sleeping, but it feels more likely that it was due to the kettlebells. My neck has been so much better for this entire log and it seems like too much of a coincidence for it to get messed up again now. I wanted to swing anyway - I was going to go for 10x10, but as soon as I started my neck became unbearable. This is so frustrating.
Week 37: Lower Body
Trap Bar Deadlift
167.5kg: 1 - beltless
Back Extension
BW: 4x25
Pistol Squats
BW: 8x1 (left leg - free standing)
BW: 4x10 (right leg - to 51cm box)
Bodyweight: 97.1kg
It doesn’t look like much but if anything this session felt better than the 200kg deadlift, because it has given me direction again. This was my first time managing any sort of pistol squat with my right leg (my attempt at a free standing one today lead to complete collapse). Once I can do a clean free standing pistol squat with my right leg I think I will consider myself fully back - it’s undoubtedly the exercise most affected by my injury, due to the deep knee flexion, quad dominance and lack of any assistance from the other leg. I’m very excited about this.
In other news the trap bar felt far heavier than it should have and after some intensive stretching last night my neck feels back to normal.
How long did it take for you to learn the pistol squat?
Any secret tips/cues that you use?
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