3 Likes
Week 4 - Day 3
DEADLIFT
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3
405 x 3
455 x 3
505 x 2
505 x 2
455 x 3
405 x 3
-SUPERSET- (well, for the 2 sets of deadsā¦)
DEFICIT DEADLIFTS (2.25")
315 x 6
315 x 6
1 ARM DB ROW
70 x 12
80 x 12
90 x 12
100 x 12
Not a bad little workout. Conventional deadlifts started feeling a bit better tonight. I re-watched Alphaās deadlift cue video and the āpushing the floor away from youā seemed to hit home tonight and made the bar move quicker than last week.
Kept my reps low so I didnāt accumulate any further fatigue. Look at me, not being stubborn and just sticking to the strict program? Listening to my body? Taking a mini deload when it wasnāt called for? Whoaā¦did I just bust into the āintermediate lifterā category? High five.
8 Likes
Week 4 - Day 4
Well kind of.
Itās supposed to be some heavy OHP, but Iām still taking this week as a semi-deload week. Time crunch for this as well since we are hosting our annual Halloween party and people will be showing up annnyyy minute now.
WARMUP
10 Band Pullaparts with Hold
100 Jump Rope
10 Band Pullaparts with Hold
100 Jump Rope
10 Band Pullaparts with Hold
100 Jump Rope
10 Band Pullaparts with Hold
Seated DB OHP
50 x 10
60 x 10
70 x 10
70 x 10
60 x 10
50 x 12
Front delts were feeeeling it.
Seated Lat Raises/Seated Bent Over Raises
25lbs x 10/10 ā I wasnāt as strict on these as I wanted to be so dropped down to 20ās.
20lbs x 10/10
20lbs x 10/10
Good quick session. Unfortunately, my costume does not show off my shoulder pump. Happy Halloween weekend yāall! Have fun, be safe. 
6 Likes
Well donāt hold out! What did you dress up as? Godzilla? Monopoly Man? Sexy Nurse?
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I was John Hammond from Jurassic Park and my wife went as a dinosaur!
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When I was younger and thought I was big I always went shirtless to Halloween. One year I painted myself green!
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damn that looks good
1 Like
Thanks man.
Meat 'n potatoes, hard to go wrong!
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Week 5 - Day 1
FRONT SQUAT
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 1
405 x 1 ā 25lb PR
425 x 1 ā 45lb PR
To be fair, Iāve never put much effort into the front squat until recently. This does make me pretty excited about getting the bar on my back again. If I can comfortably hit over 400lbs on the front squat I think Iām going to be in good shape when I go to retest my back squat max. It currently sits at 520lbs, Iād be very happy to put up 550lbs by the end of the year.
1 1/4 FRONT SQUATS
205 x 6
205 x 6
205 x 6
205 x 5
These werenāt too bad, they felt pretty light after holding 425lbs in the front rack.
1/2 FRONT SQUATS
315 x 6
315 x
315 x
315 x
These were tougher than I thought they would be. Reversing a front squat at the halfway point is easier said than done! Upper back was tiring out. Tough to keep the elbows up in the later sets here.
Finished with a little foam rolling and 5min cooldown on the AirDyne. Now cleaning the house/garage from the party on Saturday.
8 Likes
Hereās a vid of my 405lb and 425lb lifts. You can see I failed to really get my core tight before the lift. I need to flex my glutes before dropping into the squat. I think there are a few more lbs in me before year end for the front squat.
10 Likes
I hate you. Thatās awesome, I mean.
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Thanks man
2 Likes
nice job, thats a huge lift
Thanks man! I havenāt really front squatted much in my lifting career, so I really didnāt know if that would be considered good or not. (other than it felt really fricken heavy!)
I went and looked at the article about strength ratios and it noted that your front squat should be 85% of your back squat. This was ~82%, so I suppose it is close to where it āshouldā be (I know, leverages, etc).
Now I need to start digging through peopleās logs on here to find out where everyone is at on the front squat!
On a side note, I remember there being talk about starting a PR Thread for all the lifters on here. Even keeping track of the top 5 from each of the lifts (even with some bonus lifts) would definitely be beneficial to me at least to have numbers in mind to progress towards. It wasnāt until I saw a few others hit a 600lb deadlift that I had the guts to try it. It just provides that extra motivation that I usually need to push past mental boundaries.
/endrant
3 Likes
Youāve got a 100 pounds on me hahaā¦ even holding low 300ās in the front rack is super uncomfortable. I couldnt imagine over 4. keep up the good work man
1 Like
I know what you mean! Anything over 300lbs for me in the front rack sucks, but Iāve been putting some focus on front squatting and I was even doing some front rack holds a few months ago with Bradyās program so my upper back has definitely become more resilient for these.
I appreciate it man!
4 Likes
Week 5 - Day 2
So Iām kinda, not really following the program anymore. I mean, I look at what day the sheet is and sorta reflect it in my training, but I think Iāve sold myself on the Conjugate method when I get back to training. Iām away at the huntinā camp all next week (so 100% no training unfortunately, lots of bush wacking though) for the opening of deer season, then when I get back I think Iāll dive into the Conjugate method. I still think I have a LOT to learn about this method, but I think Iām starting to understand it a bit better. I think if I start using these methods, I can (hopefully) develop a program that works for me. I donāt feel Iāve gained a ton of strength over the past year (damn, that was a lot of work for not much strength gain), so I am wanting to put strength back at the forefront of my training. On a more positive note, I think my physique is in a better place ending the year off so at least that is good? My pressing definitely hasnāt improved, but I may have added a few lbs on my deadlift and squat, time will tell.
BENCH PRESS
45 x 10
135 x 8
185 x 6
225 x 4
275 x 3
315 x 2
355 x 1 ā UGLY rep. Got it, but it wasnāt pretty. 375lbs is previous 1RM.
315 x 2
315 x 2
315 x 2
Called for 315 x 3 x 3 here, but thatās clearly not what I didā¦
1/2 BENCH PRESS
225 x 6
225 x 6
225 x 6
225 x 6
JM PRESS
95 x 12
95 x 12
95 x 15
95 x 15
95 x 15
First time doing these on purpose. Still donāt think I really had the technique right, but Iāve been seeing them pop up a bit while looking into Westside programming so figured Iād give them a shot.
LYING FLOOR DB TRICEPS EXTENSIONS
25 x 10
25 x 10
25 x 10
25 x 10
COOLDOWN: AirDyne 5mins, 53Cals.
5 Likes
T3hpwnisher has a great blog post about his experience with conjugate, and Alpha has a video on his YouTube channel about programming thatās pretty sweet.
Iād like to give conjugate a fair shake someday, the freedom it affords you is pretty attractive. Still have a lot of strength to earn on other templates and more to learn about what works to build it before going there.
2 Likes
Start doing holds and quarter/half front squats with 120-150% of what you can normally do. Thatāll break that hurt. I like to start them in the power rack towards the front of it, quarter/half squat it up, and then walk it back like I would to squat, hold it for 2-3 seconds, walk back to the start, and squat back down to the pins. How that makes sense.
1 Like
Thanks for the tip, prob a good little tease on the CNS to help move some heavier weights in the future as well.