Thanks @simo74 and to you and your family
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Today’s training
A little tired (Mrs KO woke me around one am coming home needing to be let in, munchkin and I being party animals were easy asleep).
A bunch of leg extensions and hamstring curls at 55 lbs
Wrapped squats out of the mono
5xbar
5xplate+collars/154 lbs
5x2 plates+collars/242 lbs
5x3 plates+collars/330 lbs, wraps, 8 revolutions (5X1)
3x8x440 lbs, wraps, 9 revolutions (5X2) because I wasn’t paying attention, 7-8, 8, 9 RPE - fucked the pickup on the second set which threw me off a bit
Work sets took around 25 minutes including wrapping time - so probably around 17 minutes all up without wrapping. Not the best pace but I’ll take it.
Last set
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdYxnRmBM5o/
Dead stop SSB good mornings
10xbar
8xplate/154 lbs
3x8x2 plates/242 lbs - much better after some paying heed to @reed and his tips, these felt great
Second set
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdYxaz3hcc7/
Belt squat supersetted with reverse hyper
Squats 3x25x176 lbs - last set quads almost failed
Hypers 3x25x176 lbs
All up took around two hours including some gasbagging and helping a friend out.
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Stronk Mark, Stronk.
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I’m getting there. Mid 200s are definitely where my strength starys to pick up.
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Saw this on Insta. This is really impressive to me and LOL I am so bad at volume.
Happy New Year!!! I like the way your year is going to look.
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Soon mark’s going to be repping 500 pounds wtf 
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Thanks @BOTSLAYER happy new year to you too.
I’m a volume guy. It’s what gets me stronger. Heavy triples, doubles and singles beat me up more than anything else so I limit them to close to meet day now (at most six weeks out, preferably four or so).
Also, remember this was all wrapped out of the mono. That adds around 45 lbs. I could probably do 3x8 in sleeves and walked out at around 400 lbs.
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This is part of the plan, yes.
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Sooo when you competing in strongman 
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You sound like the anti sumo guys…but against your self hahaha
#beastmode
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I got no hate for any technique or equipment 
I’m just honest about how it impacts my performance.
Hell, the first three reps of a wrapped set like this and last week is me riding the wraps more than anything. All I do is stay stable and drive my hips through as I come up. The main thing I need to worry about until around midway of the set is making sure I get in the right position at the right time. Then after halfway it starts to be work each rep once the rebound only gets me to above parallel and then I need to push hard with the momentum to come through.
That’s why I do so much sleeve work despite competing in wraps. I need to be able to generate power out of the hole and keep my knees pushing out to get the most out of my wraps when I do use them. I know a few people who squat almost exclusively in wraps and their knees always come in pretty much no matter how much is on the bar, and I think that’s because they simply never learned or worked on driving out of the hole on their own steam.
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Shit, didn’t see this until now. I don’t know. I’m not really interested in strongman until I’ve achieved something in powerlifting, and that’ll take a while.
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Woke at 204.8 lbs, still looking decent. Maybe some slight low ab bloating but nothing overly noticeable.
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Also, fingers, especially on my left hand, are pumped up and poppy AF. That’s courtesy of knee wrapping yesterday.
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Woke at 204.2 lbs, looking decent. Time for numbers again.
Much better than last month. Also, coming up on 20 lbs since I started.
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Today’s training
Chest supported raises 20 lbs for a bunch
Smith machine seated press (pin 18 on grey bench)
10x’bar’
8x88 lbs
5x10x154 lbs, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9 RPE in eight minutes - definitely time to swap out, got through the weight on but shoulders about at their limit of tolerance for the Smith. I’ve only got next week so I might have a play with log press or something
Wide grip low rows supersetted with leanaway raises
Rows 5x12x143 lbs
Raises 5x12x20 lbs
Facepulls supersetted with Calgym pulldowns
Facepulls 3x15x69 lbs
Pulldowns 3x15x66 lbs
Hammer curls, slow eccentric
3x12x25 lbs
All up took 55 minutes
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Woke at 204.4 lbs, looking OK. Little bit bloated and soft which I’m blaming on wings and coleslaw for supper.
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Took a little sidestep. Signed up with Greg Panora on Train Heroic. I messaged him on IG to ask if he’d take me on, and his answer was that for 20 USD per month I had nothing to lose. I would tend to agree, especially since I’m 99 per cent sure he uses 5th Set for all the programming. I don’t expect much technique review or anything at that price, and TBH I’m paying for it because while it’s very much a cookie cutter program it takes the overthinking element out, which was starting to creep in.
I won’t outline too many details about percentages and stuff, because, well, I’m not going to give out Greg’s programming for free. It does use a training max (surprise, surprise), which is 92.5 per cent of your last meet max. Assistance is pretty standard higher volume stuff. It’s four days a week which lets me keep in that Wednesday I like for what I think is lagging and conditioning - probably will end up being some delts, pull-ups and conditioning.
Enough talk.
Today’s training
A bunch of 45 degree back raises and GHR sit-ups
Deadlift, stiff bar
4xplate
4x2 plates
4x3 plates
4x4x380 lbs, under 6 RPE hook, under 6 RPE hook, under 6 RPE mixed grip left hand under, 6 RPE mixed grip right hand under
11x380 lbs, 8-9 RPE straps
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdgpeIuhjQ5/
Work sets took 15 minutes. Heaviest I’ve pulled off the floor for around three months and it felt pretty good.
Deficit DL off 2.5 inches, beltless, straps
3x5x292 lbs
Split squats with DBs
4x10x40 lbs each hand - these really are an unpleasant exercise
Lat pulldowns, neutral grip bar
5x10x132 lbs
Including stretching done in an hour and 15 minutes
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It feels nice not to think sometimes. Be careful with what you are given if it’s percentage based, percentages can vary a lot person to person and just where you are in a training year.
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I get what you mean, but thr advantage of the TM is that whatever the percentages are, they’re likely lower than what you can do. The peaking phase is five weeks and a slightly separate program. Also, I think the reps you do on your fifth set has a role in determining your loads moving forward.
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