[quote]mahwah wrote:
I guess I assumed that it was due to the decreased intensity overall in week 5.
With the decrease in percentages, a drop from 8 to 5 (week 4) to 3 sets of speed pulls. Also a drop in volume for the assistance exercises (96 total reps to 45).
It is a bit out of place looking at the program as a whole.
I’m sure I’ll be excited about it after the brutal week 4, aren’t you?[/quote]
My back is so torn up from yesterday’s session, that the only thing that will excite me is when I can wipe my ass without my right lat going into spasm.
D) Rear Delt Light Band Pullaparts (32" grip)
10x3
My back is still tight and sore from Thursday’s Deadlift session. I found it difficult to get a solid arch today, and I knew my recovery would be down a little. I cut out some of my accessory work today, and will spend the weekend eating and trying to get a couple of solid nights of sleep.
With that said, the Bench Press still felt good today. I never really keep a great arch on sets of 3 or more, so it probably didn’t effect me as much as it would have on an ME day. I had planned on going for 335x3 today, but I stopped after 2. I don’t know if I would have gotten the third with good form, so I’ll save it for another day.
Incline press is coming along nicely. I’ll bump this up to 225 next week…3 sets of 8 will be challenging based on today, but that’s the plan.
Hot as hell today. I was still a little dehydrated going into today. Even after a gallon of water before bed time last night, and then 4-16oz bottles of water this morning, I was still down 3lbs, but that’s a lot better than the 10lbs I was down last night.
A) Low(ish) Bar Squat
barx8
135x6
225x6
315x5 370x5x5 (PR +25lbs for 5x5)
B) 13" Box Squat w/Yoke Bar
225x5 300x8x3 (PR +25lbs)
C1) Neutral Grip Chinups
8x3
C2) Hanging Leg Raise
Rollupsx10
Knees to Elbowsx15
HLR’sx20
I really felt strong on the Squats today. I’ve been able to get the bar a little lower each week, and my shoulder isn’t acting up, which is great. I started to feel the heat by my 4th and 5th sets, so I slowed down the pace.
I was already gassed by the time I got to the Box Squats…the last set felt like a triple and then 5 singles with about 5-10 seconds between each rep. I laid down in front of the fan and let the hot air blow over my corpse for a few minutes after this one. I don’t function well in the heat and humidity, and today is the third day in a row of 95 degree weather, which is too hot for Boston.
All in all, still a very productive session. Two PR’s today, and the Squats were definitely deeper than my old PR from last summer.
C) Seated Shoulder Press from Pin #15
135x5
185x3
225x2
not from pins…
225x1
185x7 (miss counted) 185x8 (PR +2 reps)
D) Shoulder/Triceps Circuit (90sec b/w sets, 2-3 min b/w circuits)
D1) Manpon Press
315x6x3
D2) Plate Raise
90x8x3
D3) Rope Pushdown
70x12
80x12x2
My benching felt solid again today. The speed felt very good at 90%. It wasn’t fast at 97%, but two good singles after the triples was nice.
My shoulders suck…On top of that I forgot what weight I was supposed to be using. Today was supposed to be 210x6x3. Instead I loaded my Incline Press weight (225) and didn’t get much of anything. I decided not to press from the pins after the first set and see how it went. It just felt heavy, and I gave up after the first rep with 225. I dropped back to 185 for a couple of sets, and even miss counted on the first set. To say my shoulder pressing was a disaster today would be right on.
I’m going to make my Saturday lift a Shoulder focused day starting the first week of July. There is no way I’m going to be a 400+ presser with a 225 overhead press. This needs to become a priority for me.
Everything else felt great, but the shoulder pressing left a bitter taste in my mouth.
A) Deadlift (80%)
135x6
225x6
315x3
405x3 505x3x3 (PR +50lbs for 3x3)
B) Speed Deads
410x3x3
C) Power Shrugs
365x5x3 (ugly)
D) RDL
375x5x3
E) Bent Over Row 265x5x3 (PR +20lbs)
F) Reverse Grip Pulldowns
120x3
175x5x3
G) Arched Back GM’s
135x3
225x3
275x3x3
This was a long workout, and I was beginning to run out of letters of the alphabet for my log. Today was the first day of not circuiting the accessory work, and it also added in Power Shrugs. I’m fairly confident that I know what Power Shrugs are, but for some reason my body didn’t seem to want to cooperate. These were ugly.
505x3x3 was pretty heavy. It wasn’t as much of a break in weight as I had hoped it would be. Last week was 565x2, so I dropped 60lbs, but added a rep, and 2 extra sets.
Speed deads felt very good today. The difference between 475 and 410 is night and day.
Now that I’m not circuiting the weights, I was able to use the straight bar for the GM’s instead of my Yoke Bar. These felt heavy today as well. I really need to listen to my own advice and not kill myself on the accessory work, especially as I get into PR territory on the singles.
Good day today, but I’m pretty wiped right now. Time to refuel.
A) Flat Bench
…275x1
310x5x2 (85%)
335x3x2 (92%)
340x2 (93%)
B) Incline Press
135x3
185x3
225x8x3
C) Shoulder/Triceps Circuit
C1) 4 Board Medium Grip Press 315x8x3 (PR+15lbs)
C2) Rolling Triceps Extensions
EZ+100x8x3
C3) Mini Band Side Raise (pin #8)
12x3
C4) Light Band Rear Delts
12x3
I’ve decided that my bodyweight is a complete random event and has no correlation to my food intake, hydration status, or energy expenditure. Most likely it has something to do with the alignment of the stars or proximity of the moon and some other planet. Food has been great all week now that the kitchen is somewhat back in order. Plus we’ve been grilling a ton, all kinds of meats and veggies. Water intake has been solid all week as well, and I’m down 5+ lbs since my last weigh-in. WTF?
I wasn’t really amped up for today’s lift. Not sure why. I was able to get fired up for a few individual sets when I needed it, but otherwise I was pretty relaxed. Got 8+ hours of sleep. Ah well, I got all the intended reps, so I can’t really complain.
I’m happy with my progress on the Incline Press. Even as a second movement, these numbers have been steadily increasing. The second and third sets were a strain, but they all went up.
I used the bands for my side delts and rear delts, because I was too lazy to set up the adjustable DB’s.
A) Squat
barx8
135x6
225x6
315x3
365x3 405x5x6 (PR+35lbs & 1 extra set)
B) 13" Box Squat w/Yoke Bar
225x3
300x1 300+1 chainx8x3 (PR +25lbs)
C) Neutral Grip Chinups
10x3
D) Abs
A little for a lot
I had to work out a little frustration today. I hadn’t planned on hitting 405 for a couple more weeks, but I knew it was there today. To top things off, my camera ran out of memory on the third set, and since “if it isn’t on camera, it didn’t happen”, I added in a 6th set. I’m still getting used to a narrower stance, since my elbows don’t hit the outside of my knees at the bottom any more, I’m still figuring out depth. Some of the squats could have been deeper, but strength wasn’t the issue here.
300 felt like speed weight on the Box Squats today. I really felt tight on these.
B) Incline Press
135x5
185x3 235x8 (PR +10lbs)
235x7
235x6
C) JM Press
135x6x6
I’ve been working on doing a lot of reps over 85% of my max, even before I get to the heavier weights, with the expectation that when I drop the earlier sets, I’ll be able to handle the PR attempts that much easier. Unfortunately I was just a little too fatigued for the 375. It would have been a 5lb PR, and I think I would have had it if I hadn’t taken 335x3 twice before it. I dropped back to 365 (which is my meet PR) and took two singles. I’m going to rethink my strategy over the next few weeks, and probably just hit a single at 90% before going straight to my max attempt, then backing off and hitting the multiple sets afterwards. I’ll still continue with the same strategy for my RE day, but reps over 90% just take too much away from a PR attempt. I should be able to hit the 375 next week if I approach it a little smarter.
At least I was able to salvage the day with a PR on the Incline Press.
Today was my first time doing the JM Press, so I did a lot of sets just to work on form.
C) Power Shrugs
from the floor…
135x5
225x5
315x4
from pin #4…
395x5x3
D) RDL
385x5x3
E) Bent Over Row 275x5x3 (PR +10lbs or +3 reps)
F) Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown
120x5
180x5x3
G) Arched Back GM’s
275x5x5
Ok, Deadlifts didn’t feel great today. My legs and back are still a little sore from Monday’s Squat session. Monday was supposed to be a back off day, but instead I went for a big PR with 405x5x6. Following that up with Yoke Bar Box Squats w/chains was pretty taxing.
Next week I’m going to back off the Squats and take it easy. I think the only way to give this program an honest run is to put Squats into a maintenance mode for the next 4 weeks and focus on being fresh for DL. I wouldn’t say that I’m overtraining, or overreaching, or whatever, but I will use the term under recovering. Also a missed PR on Bench yesterday didn’t really help.
I’m happy that I got all the planned reps today, but they were as hard if not harder than 3 weeks ago when I pretty much did the same weights. I know what needs to be done to dig myself out of the hole, so I’m going to take it easy on Squat day until the end of this 10 week cycle, and then ramp them back up.
C) Medium Grip 5 Board Press 315x12 (PR +4 reps)
315x8x2
I cut the circuit out today. I’ve decided to decrease a the volume on the accessory work, and just try to nail my big sets right now.
I’m still planning on making Saturdays a shoulder focused day starting at the beginning of July. 185x6 felt solid today, but I ran out of gas when I moved up to 205. I thought I’d get 5 or 6, but stopped after 4 to avoid failure.
Nice little PR on the 5 Board. Interestingly, I felt fatigue in my pecs and nothing in my tri’s today with the 5 board. The first set was by far the best set.
I’ve been following your log w/ great interest. I’m considering doing this plan to try to break the 400 plateau on my DL.
Should I pick a new goal PR conservatively (390->425) or something more aggressive (390->455)? If I go aggressive, I would set PRs in weeks 4 & 8-10. I’ve been lifting just shy of 2 years.
[quote]Phydeaux wrote:
I’ve been following your log w/ great interest. I’m considering doing this plan to try to break the 400 plateau on my DL.
Should I pick a new goal PR conservatively (390->425) or something more aggressive (390->455)? If I go aggressive, I would set PRs in weeks 4 & 8-10. I’ve been lifting just shy of 2 years.[/quote]
Here’s my take on the program so far…It is great for developing low back strength, and if that’s your area of weakness, then you can probably expect very solid gains during the program. In which case you might want to be on the aggressive side when choosing your goal weight. If low back strength isn’t your issue, or if you are at more of an advanced stage in your training, I would be a little conservative.
I think 455 is probably on the high side. From the logs that I’ve read and the people I’ve spoken with, 400lb Deadlifters can expect closer to a 50lb gain, while 500lbers are getting around 35-40lb increase and those over 600 are in the 20-30lb range. There is no science behind those numbers, it’s simply what I have observed through reading as much as possible.
[quote]Stronghold wrote:
Might be giving this a try if it is as badass as it looks.[/quote]
If you aren’t used to pulling from the floor every week, it will be more taxing than what your body is used to.
Also, the speed deads, at least for me, aren’t very speedy as the program progresses. After pulling a near max double, the loads for the speed pulls turns them into regular deads, instead of anything truly approaching DE work.
Another factor is being on a clock. If you aren’t used to limiting your recovery time, this program will crank up your work capacity.
Basically the program is as badass as you want to make it. It really depends on how hard you push your accessory work. I’ve been cranking mine pretty hard, and I’m pretty wiped at the end of the day. I tend to push everything as hard as my body will let me.
[quote]Modi wrote:
Stronghold wrote:
Might be giving this a try if it is as badass as it looks.
If you aren’t used to pulling from the floor every week, it will be more taxing than what your body is used to.
Also, the speed deads, at least for me, aren’t very speedy as the program progresses. After pulling a near max double, the loads for the speed pulls turns them into regular deads, instead of anything truly approaching DE work.
Another factor is being on a clock. If you aren’t used to limiting your recovery time, this program will crank up your work capacity.
Basically the program is as badass as you want to make it. It really depends on how hard you push your accessory work. I’ve been cranking mine pretty hard, and I’m pretty wiped at the end of the day. I tend to push everything as hard as my body will let me.
Give it a try, it’s certainly no cake walk.
[/quote]
I dont think the frequent pulling will give me any troubles since I have been deadlifting fairly regularly for a while now. I am planning on letting the cycle take the place of all other back and ham work while I am running it so hopefully I will not be too worn out.
Quick question…sorry if its alredy been mentioned, but how aggressive should I be with laying it out…I was giong to shoot for a 40 lb pr by the end of the cycle…should I go with less or is more possible?
[quote]Modi wrote:
Phydeaux wrote:
I’ve been following your log w/ great interest. I’m considering doing this plan to try to break the 400 plateau on my DL.
Should I pick a new goal PR conservatively (390->425) or something more aggressive (390->455)? If I go aggressive, I would set PRs in weeks 4 & 8-10. I’ve been lifting just shy of 2 years.
Here’s my take on the program so far…It is great for developing low back strength, and if that’s your area of weakness, then you can probably expect very solid gains during the program. In which case you might want to be on the aggressive side when choosing your goal weight. If low back strength isn’t your issue, or if you are at more of an advanced stage in your training, I would be a little conservative.
I think 455 is probably on the high side. From the logs that I’ve read and the people I’ve spoken with, 400lb Deadlifters can expect closer to a 50lb gain, while 500lbers are getting around 35-40lb increase and those over 600 are in the 20-30lb range. There is no science behind those numbers, it’s simply what I have observed through reading as much as possible.
[/quote]
Thanks for the advice. I will go for the conservative goal.
I think my grip has been my weak link in my DL, so I’ve been working hard on db rows and farmer’s walks to improve it. At this point, it may now be my hams (not sure). I attempted RDLs Sat for the 1st time and tried to focus on form, as I’m not sure I’m really working the hams.
