Layering System and Powerlifting

Training
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Good afternoon CT,

Epic fail in my training session (Slight Decline Bench - From Pins) this morning. Sleep and nutrition all on track so not sure what happened; maybe it was the BIG lifts on Monday and Tuesday, not sure.

Last week I did a 1RM of 150. As I was ramping up I hit 115 and went to add ten on each side (like usual) to hit the 135. Could not even lift the 135 off the pins. Told myself, no worries, just take it back down and go with 120. Repeat…could not even move it off the pins. Told myself…okay, no worries I will just go with 115, so I took 90% of that (105lbs) so that I could start the clusters. Repeat…could not even move it off the pins. At this point decided I should probably stop. Obviously something was off.

Never had this happen before. My pre-work only consisted of some Plate Presses: 3 x 8 @ 5lbs and some light band work just to get the whole shoulder area activated. These are things I do each time before training.

Any recommendations? Should I pound the MAG-10 today and try the training session again this afternoon?

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I’m sure CT will add a more educated opinion, but last year I had a similar experience of massive PRs on the deadlift. I had never hit 140kg, then i hit 140kg and 150kg in one session. The next week I hit 160 and the week after 170kg absolute max. I found after this even though i felt fine my CNS was really drained and on exerices like bench press i was unusually unstable and weak. I think the harder you push the body the harder it pushes back.

I deloaded for a week and focused on neural charge and eating alot more and I recovered, but your on fire so im sure CT will have a better opinion! Awesome PRs btw!

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[quote]vegeta99 wrote:
I’m sure CT will add a more educated opinion, but last year I had a similar experience of massive PRs on the deadlift. I had never hit 140kg, then i hit 140kg and 150kg in one session. The next week I hit 160 and the week after 170kg absolute max. I found after this even though i felt fine my CNS was really drained and on exerices like bench press i was unusually unstable and weak. I think the harder you push the body the harder it pushes back.

I deloaded for a week and focused on neural charge and eating alot more and I recovered, but your on fire so im sure CT will have a better opinion! Awesome PRs btw![/quote]

Mahalo vegeta. Funny that you should mention my CNS because I honestly felt fine yesterday before the training session. True that I had a couple of big PR’s a couple of days ago and have had added 100lbs to my deadlift in just a couple of weeks. So yeah, maybe the CNS was fried. Because after the training session, like maybe 30 minutes after I was hit by pure exhaustion. I could barely keep my eyes open.

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Vege is right, you had huge improvements in your deadlift, which puts a lot of strain on the nervous system which can affect your pressing.

Furthermore press from pins are tricky, it doesn’t take much to be out of position and lose 20% of your strength.

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[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Vege is right, you had huge improvements in your deadlift, which puts a lot of strain on the nervous system which can affect your pressing.

Furthermore press from pins are tricky, it doesn’t take much to be out of position and lose 20% of your strength.[/quote]

Mahalo CT. I’ll let you know how it goes today. I have High Pulls from blocks. I will make sure to get my nap in today and maybe have a few extra carbs today. :slight_smile:

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Also, maybe placebo, but when I have contrast showers alternating hot and cold getting more extreme it really helps me recover. You could try it, but you have to push through the first 10 seconds of the cold. I’ve read it boosts the CNS, which maybe be bull but I definitely feel very energized from it!

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[quote]vegeta99 wrote:
Also, maybe placebo, but when I have contrast showers alternating hot and cold getting more extreme it really helps me recover. You could try it, but you have to push through the first 10 seconds of the cold. I’ve read it boosts the CNS, which maybe be bull but I definitely feel very energized from it! [/quote]

I all ready do the contrast thing, I use more cold water in my showers than anything. My system seems to over heat and I break out in hives, so I actually take a couple of cold showers a day. :slight_smile:

Mahalo for the suggestion though.

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Good morning CT.

Yesterday’s High Pulls went well. My 1RM stayed the same, 90lbs. However my 2RM increased by 5lbs and my 3RM increased by 10lbs. Finishing my session with 75lbs (vs. 60lbs last week) for the Clusters from 90% of the 3RM.

My Clusters from the 1RM were the same, but from the 2RM Clusters moved up to 1 x 10 and 1 x 9 (1 x 4 & 1 x 5 last week). My Cluster from the 3RM increased from 1 x 4 to 1 x 7.

I think the little extra rest and a few extra carbs yesterday helped out.

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[quote]HawaiiTunya wrote:
Good morning CT.

Yesterday’s High Pulls went well. My 1RM stayed the same, 90lbs. However my 2RM increased by 5lbs and my 3RM increased by 10lbs. Finishing my session with 75lbs (vs. 60lbs last week) for the Clusters from 90% of the 3RM.

My Clusters from the 1RM were the same, but from the 2RM Clusters moved up to 1 x 10 and 1 x 9 (1 x 4 & 1 x 5 last week). My Cluster from the 3RM increased from 1 x 4 to 1 x 7.

I think the little extra rest and a few extra carbs yesterday helped out.

[/quote]

I see a huge difference in my high pull performance when I get adequate rest and have enough carbs pre-WO (Finibars).

I was feeling a little beat-up this week so I actually took 2 days off instead of 1 and my Thurs WO was quite light - I only did clean grip low pulls, basically a conv deadlift with Oly shoes and exploding up, no arm action, just letting momentum of bar take it up to about waist level, maybe a bit higher.

That felt pretty good as I did singles then 3 clusters of 3 with 90% of max single, all from the floor, no HDL layer. Kinda felt like a speed DL WO.

So, arriving at today, I had tons of energy, hit 2 Finibars after Indigo-3G dose, then Plazma and it was ‘on’.

High pulls from the floor today just to vary and see where I was at. Used hook grip + chalk, no straps until 295 then used straps thereafter. The Schiek leather straps are awesome for high pulls, BTW. CT’s tip to tape the thumb all the way around helped a bunch.

Ending up with last clusters at 315, very explosive, the most I have ever felt at that weight. I had ramped up to snatch grip low pulls with 390. So when you back off to 315, even though it’s heavy, CNS is really charged up and, to me it felt like it really flew up.

I think we are all finding out just how powerful of a stimulus this layer system is. We were used to 7 days a week, HFS style. This is a new ballgame even with Plazma. I still don’t get sore, not much at least, but the CNS really needs time to rebuild.

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Aloha CT,

Just wanted you to see an update of where the Bench is at.

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[quote]HawaiiTunya wrote:
Aloha CT,

Just wanted you to see an update of where the Bench is at.[/quote]

If you add 10lbs per week, you will bench over 600lbs by the end of the year :slight_smile:

I didn’t think you could bench 150, better than I originally tought. a 200lbs bench with a 400lbs deadlift would be nice for your second contest.

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[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]HawaiiTunya wrote:
Aloha CT,

Just wanted you to see an update of where the Bench is at.[/quote]

If you add 10lbs per week, you will bench over 600lbs by the end of the year :slight_smile:

I didn’t think you could bench 150, better than I originally tought. a 200lbs bench with a 400lbs deadlift would be nice for your second contest.[/quote]

LOL bench 600lbs by the end of the year…I would absolutely love a 200 bench. :slight_smile:

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CNS Epic Comeback. Significant increase in weights from week 1 to week 3 even though I couldn’t lift last Thursday. Just wanted to share with you.

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Aloha CT,

Just wanted to share some crazy insane results from your layering system…INCREASED CRAZY SIZE…HUGE PUMP!

My business partner, Byron, decided he wants to switch over to Power Lifting and last Friday he finished his first week with the Snatch Grip High Pulls. We did our training together and had a lot of fun.

Here is a pic comparison for you: His back at natural look and his back on Sunday (two days after), still mega pumped from his Friday session. It was unreal. Now ALL the guys in the gym are going crazy and want to know what he is taking (only Anaconda, MAG-10 and Indigo). They ALL want to do the High Pulls now. LMAO. I keep trying to tell them its not just an exercise, it is a lifting system.

Like you have mentioned many times, your program has some insane results in both strength (like mine) and mass (like Byron’s).

Learning the Snatch Grip High Pull
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[quote]HawaiiTunya wrote:
CNS Epic Comeback. Significant increase in weights from week 1 to week 3 even though I couldn’t lift last Thursday. Just wanted to share with you.[/quote]

WOW! Seriously impressed with the improvements and way to bounce back after a hard week!

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[quote]HawaiiTunya wrote:
Aloha CT,

Just wanted to share some crazy insane results from your layering system…INCREASED CRAZY SIZE…HUGE PUMP!

My business partner, Byron, decided he wants to switch over to Power Lifting and last Friday he finished his first week with the Snatch Grip High Pulls. We did our training together and had a lot of fun.

Here is a pic comparison for you: His back at natural look and his back on Sunday (two days after), still mega pumped from his Friday session. It was unreal. Now ALL the guys in the gym are going crazy and want to know what he is taking (only Anaconda, MAG-10 and Indigo). They ALL want to do the High Pulls now. LMAO. I keep trying to tell them its not just an exercise, it is a lifting system.

Like you have mentioned many times, your program has some insane results in both strength (like mine) and mass (like Byron’s).[/quote]

That is simply amazing! But I’ll you one thing, from my experience the snatch-grip high pull is the only exercise that can change the way your physique look within one session if you do them right.

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[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]HawaiiTunya wrote:
Aloha CT,

Just wanted to share some crazy insane results from your layering system…INCREASED CRAZY SIZE…HUGE PUMP!

My business partner, Byron, decided he wants to switch over to Power Lifting and last Friday he finished his first week with the Snatch Grip High Pulls. We did our training together and had a lot of fun.

Here is a pic comparison for you: His back at natural look and his back on Sunday (two days after), still mega pumped from his Friday session. It was unreal. Now ALL the guys in the gym are going crazy and want to know what he is taking (only Anaconda, MAG-10 and Indigo). They ALL want to do the High Pulls now. LMAO. I keep trying to tell them its not just an exercise, it is a lifting system.

Like you have mentioned many times, your program has some insane results in both strength (like mine) and mass (like Byron’s).[/quote]

That is simply amazing! But I’ll you one thing, from my experience the snatch-grip high pull is the only exercise that can change the way your physique look within one session if you do them right.[/quote]

I think he did them right!

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Aloha CT,

I just wanted to give you a quick update after completing my first 4 weeks on your Layering System.

  1. Flat Bench has increased 15lbs over the 4 weeks.
  2. As you already know, the Deadlifts are now up to 325. Will do a couple more weeks of Rack Pulls to allow the whole hip/knee problem to balance out.
  3. The Slight Decline Bench has increased by 10lbs even with the one day where the CNS was fried.
  4. The pic shows the progress for my SG High Pulls; again that lift increased by 15lbs over the 4 weeks.

Mahalo.

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One question. Why diff. Tats on left arm in comparison pics…

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[quote]barbedwired wrote:
One question. Why diff. Tats on left arm in comparison pics…[/quote]

Not different - 2nd shot is taken in mirror, image flipped. Look at the right side in mirror, same tatt.