15 February 2018 - Snatch
Snatch 90kg x 1, 3x1 80kg, 3x2 72.5kg
Straight Arm Snatch Pull 2x5 80kg, 3x3 90kg
Face Pulls 3x15 42.5lbs
Box Jumps 3x5
Hanging Leg Raises 3x7 + random core work
Hella Band Walks + Clams
1/2 mile run (~3.5 minutes)
Notes
This is the most athletic I’ve felt in like 2 years. Destroyed my old snatch PR and felt really comfortable getting a little lower to catch snatches which is a step in the right direction. My coach suggested straight arm snatch pulls after my snatches to help groove my timing. So it’s a liftoff and a hinge until the bar gets to my hips, then I hit my triple extension, focusing on keeping my center of gravity on my body, as opposed to on the bar. You’ll be able to see in my video that I pull myself to the bar, rather than pulling the bar to me. It’s not especially pronounced, but it is there.
I finally said enough is enough with this flab. I have no clue what my body fat % is at, but I can’t see any abs anymore so I did some ab work. And not surprisingly, direct ab work was extremely hard for me today. I haven’t directly hit my abs since early August. Hopefully that + running a little bit a few times a week will get me conditioned and burning some more calories. I’m currently at ~220-222lbs, and last time I ran I was about 195 so this felt very different. Hard.
Bench + deads day tomorrow (yay!) and I think I’ll go for something a little crazy. 225 amrap for bench, then my deadlifts, then I’ll finish off my chest and back. I’ve got a 325lb 5+ for deadlifts. I will use some touch n go magic and hopefully get 12-15 reps. Gonna use straps if the chalk isn’t there, but I really want to keep my 5+ sets in the mid-teens for as long as possible with deadlifts. Goal for bench will be 16 reps, but we’ll have to see. My best is 15, and I almost died on my 15th rep last time. So I’ll get a spotter, get some Rob Bailey goin, pop some ammonia, and go to town.
16 February 2018 - Bench & Deadlift
Barbell Bench 225x14
Deadlift (conv) 325x13 (5+)
DB Bench 5x8 90lbs
Prone Pullups (bodyweight) + Face Pulls (35lbs) SS - 3x10 each
Hanging Leg Raises 3x8
Band Walks
Trap Bar Deadlifts 315x5, 365x5, 385x5, 405x5, 455x1, 500x1, 405x8, 315x7, 275x5, 225x5
Military Press 135x8, 155x5, 185xfail (I push pressed it because I couldn’t get it strict)
Biceps Drop Set - 45lb - 40lb - 35lb DBs, all amrap
Notes
Wild day today. Did surprisingly well on bench with 225x14 and hitting every rep in my 5x8 DB bench with the 90s. Deadlift was alright, I wanted 15 but got 13. Touch n Go worked well and I was extra careful to not bounce the weight, just tap the floor with it very lightly. Controlling the weight all the way down had my back on fire in a good way, and my quads felt the burn around rep 10.
Decided to superset my back exercises to get them over with because I hate back. That’s all about that.
I lost my trap bar deadlift virginity today and it couldn’t have gone any better. I don’t know how well it carries over to regular deadlifts (sumo or conventional) but they sure are fun. Pulling 500 was an incredible feeling, even if it was with a trap bar.
Did hella band walks again as per the usual in order to bring my glutes back to life. I went down into a full squat and all I felt was slight discomfort and no real pain. We’re on track to be able to squat on Monday or Tuesday next week!! I used what energy I had left to do some hanging leg raises, military press, and biceps. No training on Saturday or Sunday this week aside from some basic core and band exercises at home. Band walks, clams, planks, and band pull aparts is all I have access to this weekend. Not complaining, I love coming back to the gym after 2-3 days of rest. It’s fantastic.
Here is me pulling 75lbs more than I’ve pulled sumo and 91lbs more than I’ve pulled conventional:
18 February 2018 - Rest
I’ve stayed true to what I said I was going to do. Before and after work yesterday I did some band work for my glutes, and this morning I did some more glute work + a couple sets of leg raises.
I went down into a full squat today and felt nothing in my hip flexor. I’m quite possibly the luckiest and happiest person on earth. 5 days ago, I thought I would be out for 2-4 weeks because of my hip, but religiously working on glutes every day has already gotten rid of the pain. At this point, I guess I’m transitioning from rehab to prehab. I don’t want that to happen again, so I’ll be doing band work 3-4x each week and some sort of loaded glute isolation work every time I squat (hip thrusts, bulgarian split squats, etc).
The 500lb trap bar deadlift really got to me. Two days later I’m still feeling it in my lats and forearms lol. Hammering the water and chicken today. Slept for about 10 hours last night and I’m aiming to sleep for another 9-10 tonight! After I’ve finished half of my homework, I’m going to go do some more band work (glutes + pull aparts).
Here’s the schedule for this week:
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Squat & Bench
Wednesday - Clean & Jerk + assistance
Thursday - Off
Friday - Deadlift & Bench
Saturday - Squat & Snatch + assistance
I like this because I’m getting plenty of work off the floor, plenty of explosive stuff, and I’m resuming my normal squat 2x/week frequency, PLUS I’m still getting my rest days in. I’ve also updated my goals for 2018. Last time I talked about this I kind of made a joke about it, but these are all serious goals:
Bench 225x20 and 345x1
Back Squat 365x10 and 455x1, Front Squat 315x1
Deadlift 385x10 and 475x1
Clean & Jerk 125kg (275lbs)
Snatch 100kg (220lbs)
I’m pretty far away from all of my desired 1RMs except for C&J. We’re only halfway through February, so I’ve got time, but I’m already feeling the pressure. Having goals in your head is one thing, but putting them in writing and setting a deadline for yourself is completely different. It’s nice to have goals for once
20 February 2018 - Squat & Bench
Bench 225x14
Back Squat 370x3 (1+)
Pause Barbell Bench 2x5 225
DB Bench 5x9 90lbs
Incline DB Bench 5x10 60lbs
T-Bar Rows 3x10 100lbs
Cable Tricep Extensions 5x15 30lbs
Pendlay Rows 3x5 135, 2x5 185
Hip Thrust Holds 5x5 (5 second holds on each rep, so 125 total seconds) 135
Hanging Leg Raises 2x8, max effort front & side planks
Notes
Normal bench day. Increased DB bench from 5x8 to 5x9, got all my reps, so I’ll move to 5x10 next time. Did some incline DB bench with lighter weight just to chase a pump. The pause bench was for fun; I took a video of that and it was moving much more quickly than I had thought it was. Hit plenty of back to balance all of that out, and I have C&J tomorrow which I’ll supplement with more glute work + back work.
Squats were disappointing today. 370x3 when I wanted 5-7. My hip flexor wasn’t helping me at all, and while it wasn’t as bad as it was last week, it was still causing me a good amount of pain. I got a video of this as well, and again, the weight was moving pretty well, but I just couldn’t keep it together for any more reps with my hip flexor in the condition that it was in. My hip wasn’t in any extreme pain during the squats (moreso in between sets), but I just felt weak all-around, because (what I believe) my body was shifting the load to parts of my body to keep pressure off my hip. AKA muscles and motor patterns that I have never used for squatting before. Overall, pretty pissed off right now. Will check in tomorrow.
Not bad buddy. As of late, my right hip flexor has been giving me trouble, but overall it’s all good. I’ve switched to a hypertrophy phase for bench, I’m starting to use front squats as my primary leg exercise (as of today), and I’m still caught in the never-ending moral dilemma between pulling sumo and being a woman or pulling conventional and deadlifting less weight.
21 February 2018 - Squat & Jerk
Hip Thrusts 3x10 225
Band Walks for a while
Front Squat 245x3, 275x2, 295x1, 305x1, 315x1, 325x1, 335x1
Split Jerks 80kg x 3 , 90kg x 2, 100kg x 2, 90kg x 3, 80kg x 3
Face Pulls 3x20 42.5lbs
Hip Abductor Machine 3x20, 1xAMRAP 115lbs
Hammer Curls 4x8 50lbs
Notes
Hip flexor felt amazing today. No pain whatsoever from any movement. I read an article somewhere yesterday that talked about the benefit of pre-fatiguing the glutes and/or getting them firing hard before hitting squats. I tried it, it worked. I will continue doing it. Hip thrusts are similar to trap bar deadlifts in the sense that the RPE curve seems to increase unproportionally to the weight. a 385lb trap deadlift felt roughly the same as a 500lb trap deadlift, and a 135lb hip thrust felt almost identical to a 225lb hip thrust. I’ll get bold and try 275lb or 315lb next leg day.
Set a 60lb PR for front squat today which was pretty sweet. My belt helped a lot. 275 moved like butter so I jumped 20lbs which also moved easily. 305, 315, and 325 all flew up faster than I had anticipated. 335 caught me as I got tired and my upper back caved in. I’ll link both so you guys can see what I’m talking about.
Split jerks were hard because I went ape shit on the pressing volume yesterday and my legs just spent a solid 40 minutes in the squat rack, but I did what I could. Got some face pulls going to hit my upper back and balance out some of that pressing from yesterday, and I also used the hip abductor machine for the first time in my life–desperate times call for desperate measures. I don’t care if I look like a woman, I need a stronger ass. Hammer curls because my arms are flat. They used to be my strong suit, and now they make me look like I don’t even lift. That’s a problem.
P.S.: One of my buddies has invited me to try a 30 day challenge. I normally ignore those and leave them for people who don’t want to commit to actually doing hard exercise, but this is 200 crunches per day. I need to do some sort of core work, so I’m in on it. I’ve gotten about 60 so far and it’s 10pm. I’m screwed.
Thanks Duke! I’ll be doing some full C&J on Saturday morning. Going for 115-125kg. Been years since I’ve had 115 over my head, but if I do it, there’ll be a video!! Thanks for checking in on my log so frequently. It makes me feel loved in this cold TN world
Eventually I am, but not in the near future. Not for powerlifting anyways. Lately I’ve been doing whatever feels better in warmups for my + set, and then doing the other one for some moderate-high intensity singles just to stay sharp. It’s fun, if nothing else.
Good lookin’ out homie. I always thought leg raises were a little suspect since it’s easy to confuse a contracting hip flexor with a contracting lower abdominal if you don’t know what you’re feeling for
Edit: after watching the video, not sure how much it actually applies to me. I’m trying to add some additional core volume to get stronger, not to get a 6 pack. I really don’t care what I look like as long as I’m healthy. Any idea if crunches are decent strength builders?
24 February 2018 - Squat & Bench
Barbell Bench 275x4, 225x11
Snatch 40kg x 1, 60kg x 3, 70kg x 3, 75kg x 1, 80kg x 3, 85kg x 2, 90kg x 2 fails
Front Squat 6x2 270
DB Bench 2x8 90s
Notes
HUGE deadlift PRs. My rep max with 345 was 7 (last summer, conventional) and I doubled it with sumo on Friday. 14 reps, yeehaw. I was feeling fantastic with my belt and the straps, so I went hard. Ended up with 455 (a 30lb PR) and 415 for conventional, which is a 6lb PR. I’m sure my form is cringeworthy for both, but my back is not sore today like it normally is after a ton of conventional deads. RDLs were a major grind but I liked them.
I only got 6 hours of sleep last night and my breakfast was a 10g protein bar and a red bull with some water this morning, so it’s been a rough 12 hours. I wanted 5 reps with 275 and 13+ with 225, didn’t happen. Wanted 5x10 with the 90s, but I was out of gas. I just didn’t have the quickness to get under 90kg today for snatches, and my front squats were an absolute grind. Veryyyy difficult. I’m assuming my difficulties today are directly related to my lack of sleep and poor nutrition leading up to my workout. No worries. Tomorrow is an off day, so all I have to do is eat, sleep, and study. Easy money.
Edit: I found this video last night. My 56’4" shot put throw to qualify for the state meet in 2016. Nostalgia AF and definitely the peak of my life so far (kind of kidding but not really)
