You’re 565 “gym lift” squat is freakin STRONG! Hope the shoulder heals up.
[quote]whup wrote:
You’re 565 “gym lift” squat is freakin STRONG! Hope the shoulder heals up.[/quote]
Thanks whup. Felt pretty good about that squat and I’ll figure the shoulder out one way or another.
Week 13, Day 1 (a weird session)
Shoulder warm-up (L/Y/T/W 2x5)
Bench
1x3x95
1x3x115
1x3x135
1x1x165
add 44 F6 shirt
1x3x195 (didn’t touch)
2x3x215 (difficult to touch)
1x3x225@8.5
1x3x235@8 (PR +10 pounds)
1x3x250@9 (PR +25 pounds)
Squat (belt)
1x4x215 (50%)
1x3x260 (60%)
2x3x300 (70%)
4x2x345 (80%)
Face Pulls
4x15x60
Squat (belt)
1x3x235 (55%)
1x3x280 (65%)
4x3x325 (75%)
Vertical DB Flyes
1x15x8lbs
3x15x10lbs
Shoulder Horn
3x25x8lbs
Weird Session. Planned on doing 5x5x195 with the bench shirt. But I can’t come anywhere near touching 195 anymore in that shirt. That is probably a good thing, I’m getting bigger! So I kind of made it up as I went along. For awhile the sets kept feeling easier as I upped the weight. My shoulder felt fine in the shirt, but then when I took the shirt off I could tell I was somewhat sore. I guess my bench programming is going to be day-to-day for now.
I thought squats would feel really heavy yesterday after the heavy lifts last week. That was absolutely not the case. Everything felt super light, fast, and easy. Which is something that very seldom happens to me. I’ll be using the belt for all my squatting the next few weeks because I’m trying to keep the low back fatigue to a minimum as I am tapering to a peak on October 18 as it is currently planned.
Week 13, Day 2 (Friday, beach session)
Deadlift to knees
2x2x310 (60%)
2x2x340 (65%)
3x1x365 (70%)
Deadlift
1x3x260 (50%)
1x3x310 (60%)
2x3x365 (70%)
5x3x415 (80%)
Barbell Rows
1x10x110
1x10x130
1x10x140
1x10x150
Lat Pulldowns
1x10x70
1x10x90
1x10x110
1x7x130
W’s (w/external rotation)
2x20x5lbs
Cable Crossover Shrug (~2 sec. hold)
3x8x75
There are some things about Sheiko-style training that I really think are lost in translation. For instance, if the competition cycle that I am currently basing my training on was truly designed to go with the prep cycles I was basing my training on, then why in the hell would I never do 5x3x80% on deadlift until the competition cycle. The closest I came to this in the prep cycles was 5x3x75% or 4x4x75%. Which brings me to my next point, this was one of the most illuminating deadlift sessions I’ve had, and that was because I was actually lifting heavy enough for it to be a little bit of a challenge. The weight was enough to keep me honest. But let me backtrack just a bit first.
I don’t know what exactly is behind this but it is important to me for my work sets to feel relatively difficult. If not, I feel I’m not/can’t get stronger. So with the squat I got rid of the belt, went deeper, and kept adding 10 pounds each prep cycle. This has seemed to work pretty well. Some days on squat are harder, some days are easy, but my technique keeps getting better and I keep getting stronger. A near flawless system I figure. On deadlift that is absolutely not what is going on. I have subconsciously modified my technique for the worse in order to make my deadlifts feel more difficult. Here is the shit that I figured out I started doing: 1. As I start pulling my weight shifts a little bit toward my toes, necessitating 2. I pull until the bar is just about lockout height, THEN I get my hips through. If you pull this way, triples at 70% can feel relatively difficult. I had little or no idea I was doing this shit, but it all started to come together in my session today. First, during my deadlifts to the knees I pulled a 430 single for a technique check from a good puller in the gym. I was REALLY focusing on getting my hips through quicker because I could tell that was a huge problem in the suit. He said everything looked really good, EXCEPT I could probably be on my heels a little more. So I start my regular deadlifts shortly thereafter and on one of the sets I was focusing on getting my hips through faster but my weight had shifted more toward my toes and I noticed I had to WAIT to get my hips through. AHA, I cracked the problem. And it wouldn’t have happened without a decent amount of weight on the bar.
So now the question is how should I train the deadlift? My gut reaction is higher intensity, lower volume, fewer rep sets. But I have some thinking to do. I want to keep reinforcing positive technique changes. And I really feel if I can keep reinforcing proper technique I can be over 600 by June of next year (in the suit). As I was telling someone the other day when I deadlift it feels like it is me against: (1) the weight; (2) my suit; (3) my self. Pretty sure (2) and (3) should be to my advantage!
Oh, looks like I forgot to do my beach work. That’s what I get when I focus too damn much on sumo deadlift technique.
Week 13, Day 3
Squats (belted)
1x3x215 (50%)
2x3x260 (60%)
2x3x300 (70%)
6x3x345 (80%)
DB Vertical Flyes
4x12x8lbs
Shoulder Horn
3x25x8lbs
Face Pulls (foot on box)
1x20x80
1x15x80
2x12x70
Hammer Curls (alternating)
2x10x30
Tricep Pushdowns
1x100 (mini-band)
Shoulder traction
left shoulder (mini-band)
Sumo Goodmornings (beltless)
5x5x205
PNF Dynamic Broomstick stretch
3x10
It’s sort of funny how this went. I smoked the first set at 345 on squat. Then all the sudden my right elbow felt really sore, my left shoulder was already sore, my left hip started hurting, and my knees were throbbing (knee sleeves too tight?). So perhaps needless to say, the last 5 sets were pure will power. Once I was done with that I felt about ready to head home. But I started doing my silly shoulder exercises and felt ready to go on good mornings before too long. I actually had thought about doing a bunch of singles on deadlift at 315 or 365 after squatting to really work on technique. But I knew not too far into my squat session that was NOT going to be the case.
I think that PNF Broomstick stretch might be a big key to getting my shoulder back on track.
The 3 week taper starts now in earnest. I did not do this week of training leading up to the last meet because I was getting married. I was rather surprised how hard of a week I missed and didn’t seem to have any problem.
so how’s the road to obesity? i see you used the shoulder horn to fix the shoulder, are you doing it the way that one guy taught you to?
[quote]dropshot001 wrote:
so how’s the road to obesity? i see you used the shoulder horn to fix the shoulder, are you doing it the way that one guy taught you to? [/quote]
Got a little ways to go yet. Probably about 8 pounds until I reach the magical and dreaded 30 BMI.
I decided to NOT use the shoulder horn as an explosive exercise, even though that has seemingly fixed at least one person’s shoulders.
Week 14, Day 1
Squat (belted, cambered bar)
1x3x215 (50%)
1x3x260 (60%)
2x3x300 (70%)
5x2x345 (80%)
Shoulder Band Traction
2 sets, both shoulders
Shoulder Horn
3x20x10lbs
Face Pulls
1x30x50lbs
So the taper begins. This week will have some intensity, next week will be pretty easy, and the following week will be extremely easy and will lead me into my simulated 2 lift competition (equipped squat and equipped deadlift).
Shoulder seems to be pretty good and getting better. There is still some tightness and trigger points. I have been concentrating more on soft tissue work (self-administered) and band traction. Just experimenting with various methods to see what gets me healthiest the quickest. I have an appointment with a sports medicine doctor on Monday, hopefully I have it mostly if not completely figured out before then because I don’t put all that much faith in doctors as it relates to muskuloskeletal problems (some bad experiences).
I decided after benching in the shirt and irritating my shoulder (although it didn’t hurt while I had the shoulder on) that I would wait 2 weeks to bench regardless of how well my shoulder felt. I am 1 week into that 2 weeks forced off. Hopefully in the next few days it will keep feeling better.
Going to use the cambered bar for the next few squat sessions leading into the simulated meet. Hope my shoulder is ready for low bar squatting by then because it is getting it either way.
Week 14, Day 2 (new deadlift suit testing)
Deadlift
1x8x135
1x8x225
1x3x315
1x1x405
Add Titan Velocity deadlift suit
1x465
1x500
1x525 (24 pound PR)
Sumo Good mornings (beltless)
4x5x185
The suit feels awesome. Got it yesterday and my wife took in the straps 3.75 inches. Couldn’t believe how loose they were fresh out the box. Felt great today though. I wanted to keep plenty in the tank for testing 16 days from now; the 525 was relatively easy. Video to be posted sometime soon if my computer cooperates.
Here is the deadlifting from today:
Here is the deadlifting with the old suit 6 weeks ago:
NICE!
Those DL’s are looking really smooth man. I wouldnt be suprised if you can do 15-20 lbs. more.
[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
NICE!
Those DL’s are looking really smooth man. I wouldnt be suprised if you can do 15-20 lbs. more.[/quote]
Thanks a lot!
I felt I had 550 in me today but time will tell.
Week 14, Day 3 (14 days until test day)
Squat (belted, cambered bar)
1x3x215 (50%)
2x3x260 (60%)
2x2x300 (70%)
3x2x325 (75%)
Barbell Rows
1x10x115
1x10x135
1x10x145
V-Bar Low Rows
1x20x80
1x18x80
1x15x70
Shoulder traction
2 sets, purple band
Shoulder Horn
3x25x10lbs
Hammer Curls
1x10x30
1x9x30
DB Reverse Flyes
4x15x15lbs
Now the tough part, 2 weeks of easy workouts. Nothing above 75%, shit!
Shoulder is improving quite a bit. Starting to move a lot better.
Funny how exercises like low rows and face pulls became extremely difficult once I started using really strict form. Now I actually look forward to doing them because I think I can make some huge improvements. Which leads me to how much I hate DB Reverse Flyes, such an easy exercise to cheat they feel about worthless. I suppose I could do them with zero momentum, perhaps I’ll try that next time.
I did about 10 sets of sumo deadlifts with the weight I was using for barbell rows. Turns out I can learn a hell of a lot about my deadlift with 135 on the bar if I pay close enough attention. I really think the deadlift is primed to take off.
I want to get my hips through much more aggressively, kind of like this:
And Belyaev’s last pull is pure artistry: Andrew Belyaev RAW Deadlift (WPC/AWPC RAW Championships) - YouTube
Week 15, Day 1
SSB Squats (belted)
1x3x195
1x3x230
2x3x270
4x3x290
That’s it! When you are tapering and you can’t bench press and can’t do rows things are pretty quick. I decided to baby my shoulder a lot today and didn’t even go with the cambered bar. This was the first time I have done free squats with a safety squat bar and it was no fucking joke. My core was lit up, my hamstrings have never had to work that hard, and my glutes were firing harder than ever. I worked off a 385 max which seemed about right, thanks for the advice novaeer!
So I went to a sports medicine doctor on Monday and he diagnosed me with an aggravated biceps tendon in the A/C joint. He gave me an injection and told me to take it easy for a few weeks. It already is feeling pretty damn good. So hopefully in a week or two I can start doing some light bench and some light rowing and get back into things. Considering it is a biceps tendon issue it suddenly makes sense why a lot of that shoulder rehab bullshit I was doing wasn’t getting me any fucking where. In fact, if anything, it was just aggravating my injury. Anyway, I think I’ll be 100% pretty soon.
Hopefully I can get through the next 11 days without going crazy. I only have 2 exercises to deload! Will have to switch my mixed grip on deadlift.
Nice DL’s man, i think you had a lot more in you, and nice quadsss.
[quote]tuchavito wrote:
Nice DL’s man, i think you had a lot more in you, and nice quadsss.
[/quote]
Haha, thanks Tuchavito. Hopefully in 9 days I’ll show i had a lot more in the tank.
Week 15, Day 2 (9 days from test day)
Deadlift
1x3x260
2x3x310
2x3x365
4x2x390
SSB Sumo Goodmornings
4x5x165
Leg lowering (abs)
3x8
Deadlifts felt pretty weird with the other hand supinated. Sure hope this bicep thing heals soon, so damn hard to be patient.
Week 15, Day 3
Squat (belted, cambered bar)
1x3x215 (50%)
1x3x260 (60%)
2x2x300 (70%)
3x2x325 (75%)
The aggression is rising
[quote]mrodock wrote:
The aggression is rising [/quote]
Funny, you don’t look too angry in your picture.
[quote]novaeer wrote:
mrodock wrote:
The aggression is rising
Funny, you don’t look too angry in your picture.[/quote]
It was taken a few seasons ago.