MarkKO's Training Log

Training Training Logs
201

Still riding what I think is the progress wave, so very pleased to train today. Ran into my PL buddy Justin (165 class) too which was cool. He’s behind me in the video.

Today’s training:

SSB squat to box
4x5 @ 330 lbs around 7 RPE
1x13 @ 330 lbs around 8-9 RPE - so those ‘7’ RPE 5s were probably more like 5 to 6. This wasn’t planned, but the squats felt so nice I had to try for some reps. Belt was loose throughout.

3x12 144 lbs SSB lunges - my quads/hips are going to need some PVC pipe

2x5 @ 7 RPE, 1x7 @ 8-9 RPE 209 lbs bench press - again the last set wasn’t planned but I want to take advantage of this progress wave and I figure more reps at the set weight is probably better at the moment than adding load. I’m also getting used to the Elite FTS benches at the gym. They’re actually really good, but they punish poor setup. Hardly surprising in a product made my Dave Tate.

Alternating GHR/weighted dips with 44 lbs chain
3 sets for 20/8, 17/7, 17/7

Hammer curls 3 sets @ 30 lbs/arm for 12/12, 10/10, 10/10 - used the cues I came across in a Christian Thibaudeau article about arm training and felt my biceps a ton more this way.

26 band pull aparts

202

My Brahma belt arrived, along with the second set of Slingshot knee wraps.

The belt looks and feels amazing. By some fluke the lever was set to where I need it which I’m taking as a sign.

I can see why Brahmas are so popular. My 10 mm Inzer Forever double prong is a fantastic belt but the Titan seems a cut above.

Very excited to test it out deadlifting tomorrow.

EDIT I should also mention that the service from Mike at LiftingLarge.com was every bit as good as his reputation. The freight to Australia was very reasonable compared to other retailers and I got the package in eight days. Had I ordered domestically I’d have probably waited at least two weeks IF the belt and wraps were in stock.

203

Well, the progress wave, such as it was, is pretty definitely over. Hardly unexpected, and if everything goes according to plan the next one will coincide with my next meet.

Today’s training:

4x1, 1x3 253 lbs bench press, all around 8-9 RPE - went for a fourth on the last set and lost tension off the chest. Next time I’m pretty sure I’ll get four. The belt helps, but also seems to make my midsection work a ton harder.

Deadlift clusters at 528 lbs all around 9-10 RPE with 40ish second breaks. Further to my comments about a tired midsection, I can no longer bench and deadlift heavy on the same day. On the plus side, this means my bench has gone up enough to make this happen. On the minus side, I had to slightly readjust my program but all it took was a little thought.

For the first time ever, I had the bar drift way forward (second single). The positive I’m taking from this a) I’m strong enough to have wrestled it back in and b) my lower back can cope with a small amount of accidental rounding with no adverse reaction.

Of course I freaked out slightly because of all this, but to my credit I was (I think) reasonably sensible. I decided to see if it was just the 95% load that made my technique a bit iffy, so I pulled a beltless 440 lb single.

I’m pretty happy with this.

All that being said, I’m very glad from mid December I’ll be focusing on lower loads (70-80%) across all lifts for about a month because that will let me really work on my technique.

Reverse hyper 3 sets with 352 lbs for 37, 25 and 27 or something

Three sets alternating DB incline press/chest supported rows with 60 lbs/arm, 12/12 across

10 L/10 R 30 lbs hammer curls

23 band pull aparts

The Brahma belt is awesome.

204

Early morning session today.

Today’s training:

SSB squat to box vs chains
8x2 @ 264 lbs + 66 lbs chains all 6 6RPE or more completed in around 9 minutes - squatting to a box is paying dividends I think

Bench press
3x5 @ 209 lbs, all at 8 RPE

Alternating weights dips with 44 lbs chain/GHR
8/21 and 7/18

One set standing Kroc rows at 100 lbs left 20 and right 14

26 band pull aparts

205

Looking good, focus on driving those hips. Dimel/rdl/good morning/reverse hypers are all good for that, hip thrusts too (although weird as fuck looking). Pretty much anything that focuses on the glutes/hamstrings without your hamstrings being in a super stretched position will work as far as assistance work goes.

206

[quote]Destrength wrote:
Looking good, focus on driving those hips. Dimel/rdl/good morning/reverse hypers are all good for that, hip thrusts too (although weird as fuck looking). Pretty much anything that focuses on the glutes/hamstrings without your hamstrings being in a super stretched position will work as far as assistance work goes.[/quote]

I think I’ve been doing my GHR wrong by the by: kind of starts like a back extension so I’m going to need to watch that. Reverse hypers feel great though.

I’m looking forward to hitting some good mornings as well soon.

207

[quote]MarkKO wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:
Looking good, focus on driving those hips. Dimel/rdl/good morning/reverse hypers are all good for that, hip thrusts too (although weird as fuck looking). Pretty much anything that focuses on the glutes/hamstrings without your hamstrings being in a super stretched position will work as far as assistance work goes.[/quote]

I think I’ve been doing my GHR wrong by the by: kind of starts like a back extension so I’m going to need to watch that. Reverse hypers feel great though.

I’m looking forward to hitting some good mornings as well soon. [/quote]
Cool, good mornings are amazing for the deadlift. I need to start doing more good mornings, my favorite two things to do good mornings for are high volume goodmornings at like 5X10 after ME work, or even going for heavy singles, doubles or triples from pins/chains with the pins set so that I could pull from that position.

Also for the GHR, you are normally only supposed to go down until you body is about parallel to the floor. It hits your hamstrings better doing that, although there is a hyper extension-GHR exercise floating around where you start out as a back extension and go into a GHR, I am not sure why those are done, maybe as a progression into a normal GHR.

I am about to test my deadlift since I am prepping for a push and pull (couldn’t do the full meet :frowning: ). I tested my bench on a bad bench with a bar bar like an idiot and did less than my close grip and floor press maxes (wut)so I need to retest with my own equipment in a few weeks. Probably looking at 330-ish.

208

[quote]Destrength wrote:

[quote]MarkKO wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:
Looking good, focus on driving those hips. Dimel/rdl/good morning/reverse hypers are all good for that, hip thrusts too (although weird as fuck looking). Pretty much anything that focuses on the glutes/hamstrings without your hamstrings being in a super stretched position will work as far as assistance work goes.[/quote]

I think I’ve been doing my GHR wrong by the by: kind of starts like a back extension so I’m going to need to watch that. Reverse hypers feel great though.

I’m looking forward to hitting some good mornings as well soon. [/quote]
Cool, good mornings are amazing for the deadlift. I need to start doing more good mornings, my favorite two things to do good mornings for are high volume goodmornings at like 5X10 after ME work, or even going for heavy singles, doubles or triples from pins/chains with the pins set so that I could pull from that position.

Also for the GHR, you are normally only supposed to go down until you body is about parallel to the floor. It hits your hamstrings better doing that, although there is a hyper extension-GHR exercise floating around where you start out as a back extension and go into a GHR, I am not sure why those are done, maybe as a progression into a normal GHR.

I am about to test my deadlift since I am prepping for a push and pull (couldn’t do the full meet :frowning: ). I tested my bench on a bad bench with a bar bar like an idiot and did less than my close grip and floor press maxes (wut)so I need to retest with my own equipment in a few weeks. Probably looking at 330-ish. [/quote]

I figured. Feeling a bit silly now, but even as I was doing it wrong I sure as hell felt it in my hammies so it wasn’t a complete waste of time.

My good mornings are going to be on the higher rep side for a while, I’ll start them after the push pull. At the moment its GHR and reverse hyper.

Shame you couldn’t make the full power but a push pull will be fun. Different equipment can have an effect, for sure. I’m still working on cracking 300 lbs but now it feels like just a matter of time until since I seem to have found how to grow my bench.

You already know this but don’t test your deadlift too close to the meet.

209

Heading into microcycle two now. Not much is changing except on speed days bar weight stays the same but more chains are added. I might add light bands to squats and bench too, depending how I feel.

Also implementing the changed timing for heavy bench: NOT before heavy deadlifts, but instead before speed deadlifts. This will hopefully work better. The speed bench is getting swapped to heavy DL day but AFTER pulling.

Serendipitously the gym’s supplement store was selling Titan bars at 2 AUD and I was hungry. They usually sell for 5 AUD. Enjoy the little things.

Today’s training:

4x2, 1x4 253 lbs bench press, all the doubles sitting around 8-9 RPE and the plus set at 9-10 RPE for a rep PR at that weight - very pleased, also I think my arch and overall bench press technique is improving.

8x2 341 lbs sumo deadlift vs chains with chains adding about 110 lbs at the top, started at 7+ RPE but the last two around 8 RPE. Took about 10 minutes and wore my belt because 451 or so lbs at the top isn’t super light by my standards. Still felt quite fast locking out though.

Reverse hyper 3 sets at 396 lbs for 25, 20, 21

Alternating db incline press/chest supported rows at 60 lbs/arm for 12/12, 12/12, 12/12 - I could go up to 65 lbs but I’ll leave that for next mesocycle, after the push pull.

26 light band pull aparts

Good session, all in all.

210

[quote]MarkKO wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:

[quote]MarkKO wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:
Looking good, focus on driving those hips. Dimel/rdl/good morning/reverse hypers are all good for that, hip thrusts too (although weird as fuck looking). Pretty much anything that focuses on the glutes/hamstrings without your hamstrings being in a super stretched position will work as far as assistance work goes.[/quote]

I think I’ve been doing my GHR wrong by the by: kind of starts like a back extension so I’m going to need to watch that. Reverse hypers feel great though.

I’m looking forward to hitting some good mornings as well soon. [/quote]
Cool, good mornings are amazing for the deadlift. I need to start doing more good mornings, my favorite two things to do good mornings for are high volume goodmornings at like 5X10 after ME work, or even going for heavy singles, doubles or triples from pins/chains with the pins set so that I could pull from that position.

Also for the GHR, you are normally only supposed to go down until you body is about parallel to the floor. It hits your hamstrings better doing that, although there is a hyper extension-GHR exercise floating around where you start out as a back extension and go into a GHR, I am not sure why those are done, maybe as a progression into a normal GHR.

I am about to test my deadlift since I am prepping for a push and pull (couldn’t do the full meet :frowning: ). I tested my bench on a bad bench with a bar bar like an idiot and did less than my close grip and floor press maxes (wut)so I need to retest with my own equipment in a few weeks. Probably looking at 330-ish. [/quote]

I figured. Feeling a bit silly now, but even as I was doing it wrong I sure as hell felt it in my hammies so it wasn’t a complete waste of time.

My good mornings are going to be on the higher rep side for a while, I’ll start them after the push pull. At the moment its GHR and reverse hyper.

Shame you couldn’t make the full power but a push pull will be fun. Different equipment can have an effect, for sure. I’m still working on cracking 300 lbs but now it feels like just a matter of time until since I seem to have found how to grow my bench.

You already know this but don’t test your deadlift too close to the meet. [/quote]
Of course, I just tested the deadlift today and won’t be conventional deadlifting to a max again until the push and pull. Got a 10 pound PR which is nice. I’ll probably just do some close grip work next week and add about 15-20 pounds to that to find what I should do DE work with.

Keep hammering away, bud. And yeah, you probably didn’t waste your time doing the hyper-GHR hybrid, it gets recommended after all (for some reason that I’d have to look into).

211

[quote]Destrength wrote:

[quote]MarkKO wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:

[quote]MarkKO wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:
Looking good, focus on driving those hips. Dimel/rdl/good morning/reverse hypers are all good for that, hip thrusts too (although weird as fuck looking). Pretty much anything that focuses on the glutes/hamstrings without your hamstrings being in a super stretched position will work as far as assistance work goes.[/quote]

I think I’ve been doing my GHR wrong by the by: kind of starts like a back extension so I’m going to need to watch that. Reverse hypers feel great though.

I’m looking forward to hitting some good mornings as well soon. [/quote]
Cool, good mornings are amazing for the deadlift. I need to start doing more good mornings, my favorite two things to do good mornings for are high volume goodmornings at like 5X10 after ME work, or even going for heavy singles, doubles or triples from pins/chains with the pins set so that I could pull from that position.

Also for the GHR, you are normally only supposed to go down until you body is about parallel to the floor. It hits your hamstrings better doing that, although there is a hyper extension-GHR exercise floating around where you start out as a back extension and go into a GHR, I am not sure why those are done, maybe as a progression into a normal GHR.

I am about to test my deadlift since I am prepping for a push and pull (couldn’t do the full meet :frowning: ). I tested my bench on a bad bench with a bar bar like an idiot and did less than my close grip and floor press maxes (wut)so I need to retest with my own equipment in a few weeks. Probably looking at 330-ish. [/quote]

I figured. Feeling a bit silly now, but even as I was doing it wrong I sure as hell felt it in my hammies so it wasn’t a complete waste of time.

My good mornings are going to be on the higher rep side for a while, I’ll start them after the push pull. At the moment its GHR and reverse hyper.

Shame you couldn’t make the full power but a push pull will be fun. Different equipment can have an effect, for sure. I’m still working on cracking 300 lbs but now it feels like just a matter of time until since I seem to have found how to grow my bench.

You already know this but don’t test your deadlift too close to the meet. [/quote]
Of course, I just tested the deadlift today and won’t be conventional deadlifting to a max again until the push and pull. Got a 10 pound PR which is nice. I’ll probably just do some close grip work next week and add about 15-20 pounds to that to find what I should do DE work with.

Keep hammering away, bud. And yeah, you probably didn’t waste your time doing the hyper-GHR hybrid, it gets recommended after all (for some reason that I’d have to look into). [/quote]

Nice. That bodes well for the meet.

I did GHR today the proper way, feel it a bit more in my hammies but didn’t seem to make it significantly harder.

212

Today’s training:

4x5, 1x10 352 lbs SSB squats to box, first four sets around 7 RPE and last set around 8-9 RPE - I’m really pleased with how these are going. Using my 10 mm belt quite loose. Tried gripping on the canmber this time, seems a decent way to transition back to straight bar squats.

Leg press rest/pause set 264 lbs for 64 reps - used this as a time saving replacement for three sets of lunges

2x5, 1x7 220 lbs bench press, first two sets 7-8 RPE and third 9 RPE - I’m really pleased with how bench is coming along right now.

Three sets GHR, properly this time for 21, 20, 14

Alternating weighted dips with 44 lbs chain and hammer curls with 30 lbs/arm three sets for 8/10 per arm, 8/10 per arm and 7/10 per arm.

24 light band pull aparts

213

Note to self:

For straight bar squatting, using a three finger grip the idea is to angle the wrist to avoid cocking it. Do this by gripping not with the three fingers flat on the bar, but with the ring finger flat on the bar and the middle and index finger slightly raised and angled away from the bar. The wrist and outer edge of the hand should point diagonally downwards in line with the forearm to the elbow.

214

Good work on here man

215

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
Good work on here man[/quote]

Thanks. Last meet was a real wake up call and big learning experience. Glad it happened now rather than later.

Got another two weeks of training, then push/pull, then my 12 week cycle leading to qualifiers. I’m heaps excited for that.

216

Worked an extra shift so short training today. Was meant to do squats to box vs chains but it was busy so squatted in with my buddy Justin and his training partner. That was a fun change.

Squat to box
1x363 lbs, 2x374 lbs all around 6-7 RPE - first set I misloaded 11 lbs too light. First time straight bar squatting since the meet. Gripped wider and seem to have managed to control my wrist cocking. These felt awesome. Used my Brahma belt. It really seems like the SSB squats yo box have a good carryover yo straight bar. Remains to be seen how things go without the box.

Bench press
3x5 220 lbs first two sets 7 RPE, third set 8-9 because my setup was sloppy - honestly, I was surprised. They felt super light even though I was rushing and my setup wasn’t the best I’m capable of. I take this as an indication of progress, or at least increased strength.

Kroc rows, 100 lbs 18 left, 21 right

22 light band pull aparts

217

Given how good everything felt yesterday I thought I would slightly alter my deadlift work today. I decided that if I felt good during the warm up I’d work up to a heavy single instead of doing clusters. This is what happened.

Today’s training:

Deadlift
Worked to a 572 lbs single - it went up happily, feeling not so different to the 528 lbs single that preceded it. I barely stalled at the knees. This is a sort of big deal for me because that was the weight I missed twice at the last meet and is my planned third attempt for the push/pull in just over two weeks. I’m not changing that, but it is very comforting to know that what I need to do is replicate this.

Here it is

Reverse hyper three sets at 386 lbs for 22, 25 and 20

Bench press 154 lbs vs chains adding about 22 lbs at the top
8x2 all at 6 or more RPE - took about 9 minutes

Alternating db incline press/chest supported rows three sets at 60 lbs/arm for 12/12, 12/12, 12/12

EZ bar curls, three sets at 60 lbs for 10, 10, 10 - these are around a gazillion times harder than hammer curls.

27 light band pull aparts.

Everything above my sternum feels like it is about to burst. Some pump.

218

[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Given how good everything felt yesterday I thought I would slightly alter my deadlift work today. I decided that if I felt good during the warm up I’d work up to a heavy single instead of doing clusters. This is what happened.

Today’s training:

Deadlift
Worked to a 572 lbs single - it went up happily, feeling not so different to the 528 lbs single that preceded it. I barely stalled at the knees. This is a sort of big deal for me because that was the weight I missed twice at the last meet and is my planned third attempt for the push/pull in just over two weeks. I’m not changing that, but it is very comforting to know that what I need to do is replicate this.

Here it is

Reverse hyper three sets at 386 lbs for 22, 25 and 20

Bench press 154 lbs vs chains adding about 22 lbs at the top
8x2 all at 6 or more RPE - took about 9 minutes

Alternating db incline press/chest supported rows three sets at 60 lbs/arm for 12/12, 12/12, 12/12

EZ bar curls, three sets at 60 lbs for 10, 10, 10 - these are around a gazillion times harder than hammer curls.

27 light band pull aparts.

Everything above my sternum feels like it is about to burst. Some pump.[/quote]
Fucking nice PR, man.

219

[quote]Destrength wrote:

[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Given how good everything felt yesterday I thought I would slightly alter my deadlift work today. I decided that if I felt good during the warm up I’d work up to a heavy single instead of doing clusters. This is what happened.

Today’s training:

Deadlift
Worked to a 572 lbs single - it went up happily, feeling not so different to the 528 lbs single that preceded it. I barely stalled at the knees. This is a sort of big deal for me because that was the weight I missed twice at the last meet and is my planned third attempt for the push/pull in just over two weeks. I’m not changing that, but it is very comforting to know that what I need to do is replicate this.

Here it is

Reverse hyper three sets at 386 lbs for 22, 25 and 20

Bench press 154 lbs vs chains adding about 22 lbs at the top
8x2 all at 6 or more RPE - took about 9 minutes

Alternating db incline press/chest supported rows three sets at 60 lbs/arm for 12/12, 12/12, 12/12

EZ bar curls, three sets at 60 lbs for 10, 10, 10 - these are around a gazillion times harder than hammer curls.

27 light band pull aparts.

Everything above my sternum feels like it is about to burst. Some pump.[/quote]
Fucking nice PR, man.[/quote]

Thanks! Made me feel good about my DL again. Looking forward to the push/pull.

220

Man that’s a nice looking PR. It’ll be an easy pull at the meet.