14-4-17
Lower
Stretch / foam roll
Squat 20kg 2x8, 60kg x8, 100kg x5
Deadlift 120kg x1, 160kg x1, 200kg x1, 230kg x1
Power Rows 100kg x5, 110kg x5, 120kg 2x5
WG Pulldowns 12 playes 3x15
Paused Leg Press 200kg x10, 240kg x10, 280kg x10, 320kg x10
Calf Raise 8 plates 3x25
17-4-17
Bench
Stretch shoulders / pecs, band pullaparts
Bench 20kg 2x8, 60kg x10, 80kg x10, 100kg x5, 130kg x3, 145kg x2
DB Inc Bench 35kg x10, 42.5kg x10, 50kg x8, 30kg x15
DB Flys 15kg x20, 17.5kg x20, 20, 16
Military Press 40kg + chains 4x10
Seated DB Side Laterals 7.5kg 4x20
BB Curls ss Straight Bar Pressdowns 20kg / 4 plates 4x25
Very happy today, 145kg moved really well. Was supposed to be for a single, but the first rep felt really good so decided to do an extra rep.
Bench is feeling really food lately!
18-4-17
Lower
Stretch / leg swings / hip thrusts
Dead Stop SSB squats with chains 30kg 2x5, 50kg x5, 70kg x3, 90kg x3, 110kg x3, 130kg x3, 150kg x3
Deadlift 100kg x3, 140kg x3, 180kg x3, 200kg x1, 225kg x3
CG Pulldowns 13 plates 4x10
Power Rows 100kg 3x7
Leg Press close stance 200kg x10, 240kg x10, 280kg x10, 320kg x10, 360kg x10
Felt good to get some weight on my back again!! Hips feeling really good, all seems to be back to normal now, fingers crossed!!
After I’d done what I needed to do, I decided to give Sumo a try. I’ve been a bit bummed out recently that my Deadlift has hardly made any progress for quite a while, I think my 1rm has gone up maybe 10kg in 12 months or so! My form needs a lot of work, but it did feel really comfortable. A friend was deadlifting so I just worked up with him, and hit singles to see how they moved. Started at 100kg, and went all the way up to 200kg, stopped there as I didn’t want to push too hard with bad form.
I’ve decided I’ll do a little extra sumo work every Lower day until after my meet in 10 weeks, then I’ll be putting 8-10 weeks into purely Sumo pulling to see how I get on! Recorded a video of my 200kg pull, @MarkKO @Vincepac1500 mind taking a look, see what you think? A few of the guys seemed to think I had the leverages for it.
Heres a Video of my SSB and Conventional work from today:
A bit hard to tell from the angle but you might be able to open your hips more and try to sit back more, setting up with less than 225lb the weight comes off the ground for me. My ideal position, if fall back unless I’m holding a barbell.
I could maybe get them open a bit more, i plan to spend quite a bit of my time at home sat back on my knees with my hips open to try get a bit more mobility in them! Iv got 10 weeks so I’m hopeful I can get a bit more by the time I transition over!
What angles would you prefer mate, I can sort some more videos out next time I’m doing lower.
The same angle as the main pic for these second video and one from the front of to the side as well. Just don’t go crazy with it until you know how your body will take it. I pulled semi sumo for almost a year before switching to sumo. I also had tightness in my right hamstring when starting sumo but rolling a lacrosse ball fixed that in about 2weeks time.
One more thing if you end up making the switch (numbers game brought me over to sumo ) look into getting hook grip down. I feel it puts you in a much better position for pulling sumo.
Thanks for the advice mate! Its very much appreciated!
Im not planning to go crazy, just figure some form work, light singles, practice getting into position and getting tight, see how comfortable I can make it. I’ll sort some out later this week.
@Vincepac1500 pretty much covered it. Semi sumo is definitely an excellent option too. I’d say the biggest thing to me that I have to remember for sumo is to absolutely always keep my shoulders well behind the bar. Unlike conventional, there is no room for error in that respect.
20-4-17
Bench
Stretch hips / chest, band pullaparts
Bench 20kg x8, 40kg x8, 60kg x5, 80kg x5, 125kg x8, 8, 7
DB Floor Press 35kg x7, 42.5kg x7, 50kg x7
Inc Machine Press 20kg x25, 25, 25, 22
Side Laterals 5kg 2x20, 7.5kg 2x20
Rope Pressdowns 4x AMRAP 33, 32, 29, 25
Got a spot on the bench from a random gym goer because none of the usual guys were in, first 2 sets were fine, 3rd set he unracked it over my belly button and the bar just dropped onto my stomach! Wasnt impressed! Took a few mins to get my head back into it, and hit my final set for 7 reps.
21-4-17
Lower
Stretch, hip thrusts, leg swings, babd dislocations
Squat 20kg 2x5, 60kg x5, 100kg x5, 140kg x3, 180kg x3, 200kg 2x1 (1x beltless, 1x belted)
Deadlift 120kg x3, 140kg x3, 160kg x3, 180kg x3, 200kg x1,
Deload set 220kg to 120kg in 20kg drops for singles
T Bar Rows 45kg x10, 55kg x10, 65kg x10, 75kg x10
DB Shrugs 37.5kg 4x15
WG Pulldowns 14 plates 3x12
Leg Press close stance 240kg x10, 280kg x10, 320kg x10, 360kg x10, 400kg x10
Sumo from blocks, just below knee. Triples at 100kg
Everything felt good today, it was great to squat again!! Feeling positive!
Did some Sumo work from blocks to get used to moving the bar with the adductors and taking position out of the equation for now.
Hers some of my Sumo practice off of blocks:
Positioning looks good on the sumo maybe slowly lower the blocks over the next few months focusing on keeping the setup solid
Thats the plan bud, using blocks with 2 plates under, so im going to lower by 1 plate every 3 weeks, then have just the blocks for the last 4 weeks before my meet, start from the floor after if I can keep position
Update: got weighed on waking today, 96.4kg, not that I’m really trying to gain but I have noticed some size gain around my shoulders, arms and chest.
Just spent 10 minutes in the tactical frog, going to hit it again later for another 5-10 minutes! Lets get those hips opened up!!!
24-4-17
Bench
Band pullaparts between warmups
Bench 20kg 2x10, 60kg x10, 80kg x10, 100kg x5, 120kg x1, 135kg 3x3
Smith Inc Bench 80kg x15, 15, 12
DB Flys 17.5kg 2x12
Side Laterals 7.5kg x25, 25, 25, 25, 22
OHP 50kg 4x7
Cable Curls SS Pressdowns 4 plates / 6 plates 4x20
Felt a little off today, wasn’t feeling my usual self when I got ro the gym, but I managed to get done what I needed to! First and Last set at 135kg recorded below.
24-4-17
Lower
Leg swings / glute bridges / stretch
SSB Squat 30kg 2x8, 60kg x5, 80kg x5, 100kg x5, 120kg x5, 140kg x3, 160kg x3, 180kg x1
Deadlift + chains 120kg x1, 160kg x1, 190kg x1, 215kg x1, 230kg x1
T Bar Rows 70kg 4x10
WG Pulldowns 13 plates 4x12
Leg Press close stance 260kg x10, 340kg x10, 420kg x8
Shrugs 110lg 3x10
Sumo Practice, pull from just below knee, 90kg 8x3
Sumo Practice, from floor, 90kg 2x1 (testing positioning)
Sumo is feeling really good, I think I’m gdtting the hang of the setup a little, and it just feels so much more natural than conventional! Going to keep going with the block work, 2 more weeks until I lower then to blocks + 1 bumper plate.
My positioning from the floor doesn’t look bad in my opinion, hips still need opening up more though (work in progress)
Squat and Deadlift video:
Sumo Practice video:
Hey been following along for a while, great log. I know you’ve had a few problems with your hips and I found this and thought it might help you out.
8 Daily Hip Mobility Exercises to Fix Your Tight Hips - YouTube
Also are you from Yorkshire by any chance? I’ve heard a few accents in some of your videos and been trying to figure out since haha.
Thanks for following along man!! Thats pretty similar to what I was doing to rehab my hip, good video though! I’m currently focusing a lot on the frog to get my adductores stretched out so i can get my hips open more, everything else I throw in every now and again!
Haha yea, South Yorkshire bud, town called Barnsley (not sure how well you know the area?)
No way, I was going to say around Barnsley way but thought there was no way I could tell that well from an accent lol. I live about an hour away near York but I used to play football in a Barnsley league so I was there basically every fortnight.
Funniest thing is the guy who owns your gym has come up on my instagram suggestions before and I checked it out and was thinking of driving down in summer. I knew I recognised all that green! Small world haha, good to know someone so near by.
Thats a good ear you got haha!! I was up York the other month when that viking type festival was on!!
Get yourself down for a session man, its a great little gym and everybodies always more than happy to help out with spots n stuff if needed!
Robs a cool guy, hes gone quiet on social media at the moment though, hes got a comp coming up I think.