My Road to Elite

Training Training Logs
421

Week 4, Day 2

Deadlift
1x3x250 (50%)
1x3x300 (60%)
2x3x350 (70%)
2x3x400 (80%)

add deadlift suit
1x1x455
3x0x475 (details below)

substract deadlift suit
3x1x455 (91%)

Bench (~4 sec. eccentric)
4x3x175

BB Reverse Lunges
5x5x115

3 Board Press
4x4x210

DB Bench
1x6x80
1x5x80

DB Flyes
3x10x30

Thursday

Recumbent Bike
1 minute on, 30 sec. off
7 intervals
(level 9, stay above 110 RPM during “high intensity” phases)

Oh equipped deadlifting . . . it isn’t going so well. So when I started with 455 it flew off the floor and about 1 inch from lockout the weight really stalled out and then I slowly managed to lock it out. I figured with 475 I just needed to focus harder on my form and it would work out.

Well not so much. So 475 felt almost exactly the same as 455, maybe it even came off the floor faster, but it stalled about an inch from lockout and I don’t think I quite locked it out. The next two reps I got the weight about knee high and knew I was completely out of position so I abandoned ship.

Thanks to some feedback from a very good suited deadlifter I learned that it isn’t my hips that are out of position, it is my shoulders. I tend to roll them forward in the suit and then I have such a difficult time locking out. I fucking knew the strength was there to do 475 suited, I just didn’t have the form.

The work I had been doing with lighter weights did not seem to help me out very much so I wanted to try something heavier. Well, in the end, I think I learned what is wrong and I am on my way. I was so fucking pissed though after all those missed deadlifts I was absolutely determined to nail the raw deadlifts at 455. They felt extremely solid.

Bench went well, I will be testing in about 3 weeks so we’ll see what has happened to my raw bench in the last ~18 weeks.

422

[quote]mrodock wrote:

Oh equipped deadlifting . . . it isn’t going so well. So when I started with 455 it flew off the floor and about 1 inch from lockout the weight really stalled out and then I slowly managed to lock it out. I figured with 475 I just needed to focus harder on my form and it would work out. Well not so much. So 475 felt almost exactly the same as 455, maybe it even came off the floor faster, but it stalled about an inch from lockout and I don’t think I quite locked it out. The next two reps I got the weight about knee high and knew I was completely out of position so I abandoned ship. Thanks to some feedback from a very good suited deadlifter I learned that it isn’t my hips that are out of position, it is my shoulders. I tend to roll them forward in the suit and then I have such a difficult time locking out. I fucking knew the strength was there to do 475 suited, I just didn’t have the form. The work I had been doing with lighter weights did not seem to help me out very much so I wanted to try something heavier. Well, in the end, I think I learned what is wrong and I am on my way. I was so fucking pissed though after all those missed deadlifts I was absolutely determined to nail the raw deadlifts at 455. They felt extremely solid.

Bench went well, I will be testing in about 3 weeks so we’ll see what has happened to my raw bench in the last ~18 weeks.[/quote]

Suited deadlifts can be a humbling experience. I wore a suit for conventional DLs, but I honestly think my carryover was at best 20 pounds. It is really crucial to get a good starting position or you will get stuck at lockout every time.

You should try wearing one of those tight Under Armour shirts that all the cool personal trainer guys with spiky hair always seem to be wearing. I’m not kidding about the Under Armour shirt part, as it helps your shoulders glide under the straps. When I started doing that, it made lockout (and pulling the straps up) much easier.

423

[quote]novaeer wrote:
mrodock wrote:

Oh equipped deadlifting . . . it isn’t going so well. So when I started with 455 it flew off the floor and about 1 inch from lockout the weight really stalled out and then I slowly managed to lock it out. I figured with 475 I just needed to focus harder on my form and it would work out. Well not so much.

So 475 felt almost exactly the same as 455, maybe it even came off the floor faster, but it stalled about an inch from lockout and I don’t think I quite locked it out. The next two reps I got the weight about knee high and knew I was completely out of position so I abandoned ship.

Thanks to some feedback from a very good suited deadlifter I learned that it isn’t my hips that are out of position, it is my shoulders. I tend to roll them forward in the suit and then I have such a difficult time locking out. I fucking knew the strength was there to do 475 suited, I just didn’t have the form.

The work I had been doing with lighter weights did not seem to help me out very much so I wanted to try something heavier. Well, in the end, I think I learned what is wrong and I am on my way. I was so fucking pissed though after all those missed deadlifts I was absolutely determined to nail the raw deadlifts at 455. They felt extremely solid.

Bench went well, I will be testing in about 3 weeks so we’ll see what has happened to my raw bench in the last ~18 weeks.

Suited deadlifts can be a humbling experience. I wore a suit for conventional DLs, but I honestly think my carryover was at best 20 pounds. It is really crucial to get a good starting position or you will get stuck at lockout every time.

You should try wearing one of those tight Under Armour shirts that all the cool personal trainer guys with spiky hair always seem to be wearing. I’m not kidding about the Under Armour shirt part, as it helps your shoulders glide under the straps. When I started doing that, it made lockout (and pulling the straps up) much easier.[/quote]

Thanks novaeer, I have one of those shirts and will give it a run next week. Hopefully that in combination with much more attention paid to the starting position will yield better results.

424

Week 4, Day 3

Squats (mostly beltless)
1x4x205 (50%)
1x3x245 (60%)
3x3x285 (70%)
5x3x330 (80%) [last two sets with a belt]

SSB Sumo Good Mornings
5x5x195

I had scheduled some shoulder prehab type bullshit between the squats and the squat supplement movement. I felt terrible after the first top set weight on squats. My legs and particularly my knees were throbbing and I had very little energy. So I got the squats in and decided with the way my knees and left hip felt that Zerchers were not the answer.

Therefore I decided to start with the movement I will be using as a squat supplement for my next prep cycle. I also decided I can do some shoulder prehab stuff tomorrow, no reason to try to use energy I didn’t have for exercises that aren’t that important to do today.

I will likely do at least a little back work tomorrow for my normal accessory day. But I will not push it because I think my deadlift day really kicked the shit out of me and recovery going into a harder volume block is most imperative.

425

just stopping in to check your progress. did you have fun doing your 295 set of squats? you should consider that no explode product you keep talking to me about, might help your lifting…or get you banned because its too powerful

426

[quote]dropshot001 wrote:
just stopping in to check your progress. did you have fun doing your 295 set of squats? you should consider that no explode product you keep talking to me about, might help your lifting…or get you banned because its too powerful[/quote]

Squats weren’t so great today; I probably overdosed on NO Explode.

427

NO Explode and I are not friends. We don’t hang out, we don’t talk or even acknowledge each other. NO Explode makes me have bad feelings inside.

428

Week 5, Day 1

Bench (~4 sec. eccentric)
4x5x160

Squats
1x5x210 (50%)
2x5x250 (60%)
5x5x295 (70%) [last 2 sets with belt]

3 Board Press
4x6x190

SSB Sumo Good Mornings
5x5x180

DB Bench
1x5x85
1x5x75

DB Flyes
3x12x30

I was very glad with the way things went on bench today. I managed to add 5 pounds to the 4 sets of 6 on board presses AND hit all the reps. I tried two separate times to hit 4x6x185 on 3 board presses and failed until today. Squats weren’t a whole lot of fun today. When the two sets at 250 felt about like work set weights I thought I might be in a little trouble. I actually had planned on doing 6 sets of 5 at 295 but my left hip was really tight after the fifth set and I barely managed that rep, and figured since I still felt a little burned out I was probably better off doing a little less rather than more.

One thing that was kind of funny: The gym owner thought I might have the Safety Squat Bar backwards on the rack. So we took the weight off, flipped it around, and lone behold it was no longer sliding off my back and onto my neck and the weight felt about 40 pounds lighter. So my first three sets were a lot tougher than my last two sets.

I’ll be holding off on the interval cardio on the exercise bike for awhile until I feel like I am ready to handle extra shit. I will be moving Friday’s session up a day because I’ll be celebrating my wife’s birthday (with her of course). So hopefully deadlifts go well tomorrow night. I will be taking a couple of weeks off of suited deadlifts to give my nervous system a little recovery time without heavy deadlift singles. I believe that is all for now.

Monday morning bodyweight: 188.8 pounds

429

[quote]bearshark wrote:
NO Explode and I are not friends. We don’t hang out, we don’t talk or even acknowledge each other. NO Explode makes me have bad feelings inside.[/quote]

I’ve never met a person named NO Explode but the supplement gives some wikkdid pumpz bro! By the way, nice work at the meet. Considering your travel circumstances right around the meet I think you did a great job. Hopefully the days leading up to your next meet will have a touch less travel.

430

[quote]mrodock wrote:

I’ve never met a person named NO Explode but the supplement gives some wikkdid pumpz bro! [/quote]

Me likes NO Explode. Makes me tingly all over.

431

[quote]Bagger wrote:
mrodock wrote:

I’ve never met a person named NO Explode but the supplement gives some wikkdid pumpz bro!

Me likes NO Explode. Makes me tingly all over.[/quote]

All I know is my Dad used to take that stuff.

432

[quote]mrodock wrote:

All I know is my Dad used to take that stuff.

[/quote]

Damn Straight! That’s what gives us “Old Man Powers”.

433

[quote]Bagger wrote:
mrodock wrote:

All I know is my Dad used to take that stuff.

Damn Straight! That’s what gives us “Old Man Powers”.[/quote]

Really damn funny

434

Week 5, Day 2 (1 day early)

Deadlift
1x5x255 (50%)
2x5x305 (60%)
3x4x355 (70%)
4x3x385 (75%)

Inverted Rows
3x8

Deadlift from bottom of knees
1x5x255 (50%)
2x5x305 (60%)
2x4x355 (70%)
5x3x410 (80%)

Reverse Lunges
5x5x95

Really glad today’s work is done. My back extensors felt on fire by my second set of deadlifts today. By my 8th set my entire body seemed sore. Now I’m off to a waterpark tomorrow! No I do not have kids; yes this is how my wife wants to celebrate her birthday. Truth is, I’m pretty damn into the whole waterpark thing too.

435

training looks great man, congrats on the weight gains. keep going

436

[quote]tuchavito wrote:
training looks great man, congrats on the weight gains. keep going[/quote]

thanks man, will do

437

Week 5, Day 3

Bench (~4 sec. eccentric)
4x4x170

Squat
1x5x210 (50%)
2x4x250 (60%)
3x3x295 (70%)
5x3x315 (75%) [belt for last set]

3 Board Press
4x5x210

SSB Sumo Good Mornings
5x5x195

DB Bench
1x5x80

Bench (paused, grip width experimentation)
2x1x185
2x1x205
1x1x225

This was a good and particularly productive session. I learned that I can move my stance in a little on raw squats and it is easier on my hips and I can still get the weights up. The board presses went really well which was particularly satisfying. Prior to testing my raw bench max in 1.5 weeks I thought it would be helpful to experiment a bit with the grip width I feel strongest with. When I use a grip where I am one finger width inside the rings that seems to be about the best width for my raw bench. This will require some more testing in the months to come but this little session gave me a better idea. For the record 225 felt as though it were about 95% of my max which considering the amount of work that I had done prior to that bench is probably a good sign overall. Not sure why i was weak on dumbbell bench today, but I decided to just cut it at one set.

438

solid benching there sir. are you more even with the different grip width?

439

[quote]dropshot001 wrote:
solid benching there sir. are you more even with the different grip width?[/quote]

Felt more solid but I will let you be the judge when I test my max. I will plan on bringing my video camera also. Anyone have thoughts on the most useful camera angle?

440

the visa sky cam angle where i swoop around the gym in a 360 as you bench? or maybe just a straight down shot?