My Road to Elite

[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:
Great job on all of that shit. I don’t see how you do all that volume. I guess that’s why you’re stronger than I…
[/quote]

He doesn’t actually do all that stuff. He watched someone else in the gym do it then he took all the credit for it. Here’s how his training session actually went:

Squat: empty bar x 10
-got tired so I sat down and watched a spin class for 10 minutes

Good mornings (AKA, bending over to tie my shoes from a standing position)
2 sets
-I counted doing my left shoe as 1 set and the right shoe as another

Curls in the squat rack
5 sets of 10

You get the picture…

[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:
Great job on all of that shit. I don’t see how you do all that volume. I guess that’s why you’re stronger than I…

Good luck with the face pulls and rows. I know you’re ready for that shoulder to heal up[/quote]

Most of the exercises I do aren’t particularly difficult, especially at my current poundages! I was telling my wife this morning, the way my powerlifting training is organized: I squat, deadlift, and do a shit load of exercises that I’m either terrible at, I hate, or both.

There are a lot of different ways to get stronger! I do a lot of different exercises because my upper body is pretty jacked up. I don’t do many exercises for the lower body at all.

I started doing scapular wall slides and forearm wall slides (a Shirley Sahrmann special). Shoulder is feeling pretty good, I might be out of the woods now (knock on wood, wait, shit, is that bad luck?).

[quote]novaeer wrote:
ALKoHoLiK wrote:
Great job on all of that shit. I don’t see how you do all that volume. I guess that’s why you’re stronger than I…

He doesn’t actually do all that stuff. He watched someone else in the gym do it then he took all the credit for it. Here’s how his training session actually went:

Squat: empty bar x 10
-got tired so I sat down and watched a spin class for 10 minutes

Good mornings (AKA, bending over to tie my shoes from a standing position)
2 sets
-I counted doing my left shoe as 1 set and the right shoe as another

Curls in the squat rack
5 sets of 10

You get the picture…[/quote]

Oh shit, this is remarkably close to my workout. Let me make a couple of corrections.

Zercher squat (EZ bar)
2x5

you got the good mornings exactly correct

Fat bar squats (to work my grip)
1x5 (hands got tired)

Stone looks
5x5 (looked menacingly at strongman atlas stones.

Tricep kickbacks on deadlift platform
1x8xdandelion
1x6xdandelion
1x2xdandelion
3x0xdandelion (couldn’t budge the fucker)

I’m not an idiot, I know triceps are the key to a big bench, not biceps!

Week 3, Day 2 (transition block) [Friday]

Deadlift
2x3x265 (50%)
2x3x320 (60%)
2x2x370 (70%)
3x2x400 (75%)
add suit
5x1x475 (88%)

DB Incline Bench (paused, neutral grip)
1x10x37.5
1x10x47.5
1x10x57.5

DC Chest Stretch
45 pounds

Tire Flips (650 pounds)
1x5
1x4
2x3

Tate Press
1x10x20
1x10x25
1x10x30
1x10x35
2x10x40
4x10x32.5

Seated Low Row
3x10x70

1-arm cable tows
10x8x60

Alkoholik, if you are reading STOP HERE!!!

Hex DB Holds
2x25 lbs (15 sec)
1x25 lbs (12 sec)

Tricep Pushdowns (monster-mini band)
1x63, 35, 20 (118 reps)

Leg Lowering (abs)
4x8

I felt as though i accomplished a lot in this session. First and foremost i ripped up my hands deadlifting for the first time in about 8 weeks, awesome! Also, i got some good suit work in, and learned i don’t need 500+ on the bar to learn something. Just trying to make each rep as textbook as i am capable. Each rep was progressively cleaner.

The tire was fun, i plan to do these every other week. They really smoke the hamstrings, glutes, erectors, upper back, chest, and CV system.

Looking forward to squats on Sunday.

Week 3, Day 3 (end of transition block)

Squat
1x5x220 (50%)
2x3x265 (60%)
2x2x310 (70%)
4x2x330 (75%) [belted]

DB Tricep Extensions
1x10x20
1x10x25
1x8x30
1x10x22.5

Straight Bar Tricep Extensions
1x10x40
1x10x60
1x10x70
1x8x80

Sumo Good Mornings (beltless)
4x5x185

Pendlay Rows
3x12x110

Band Pull-throughs
1x20xpurple band
3x15xpurple bands (2)

Face Pulls
4x12x70

Leg lowering (abs)
3x8

Band Hip Abduction (monster mini band)
3x12

1-arm cable rows
2x10x70
1x10x60

Seated Low Rows
3x8x70

Band Pushdowns (monster mini-band)
1x34, 16, 16, 16, 18 (100 total reps)

Band Pull-aparts
1x28, 15, 12 (55 total reps)

Fat bar deadlifts (conventional stance)
1x5x150 (double overhand)
1x5x200
1x5x250

Plate Pinches (2 ten pound plates)
1x46 sec.
1x43 sec.
1x35 sec.

DB Curls
2x8x25

Wasn’t really feeling it today. Squats were really bothering my hip, so I was really glad to get through them.

The fat bar deadlifts were kind of cool.

Holy shit.

That is a lot of weight being moved a lot of the time.

Great job, how the fuck do you recover?

[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:
Holy shit.

That is a lot of weight being moved a lot of the time.

Great job, how the fuck do you recover?[/quote]

I eat a lot . . . I was dragging ass on Sunday though, I think it was the combination of suited deadlifts and tire flips on Friday.

How the hell do you not gain weight.

I fucking drink water and I gain a lot of weight. Weighed in at 191 today… that’s 11lbs in 3 weeks

[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:
How the hell do you not gain weight.

I fucking drink water and I gain a lot of weight. Weighed in at 191 today… that’s 11lbs in 3 weeks[/quote]

Oh but I am gaining weight, granted, not at the clip you are gaining weight, holy shit!

Well not all of it is muscle granted… I can see the outline to my four pack but it isn’t define (:

Keep hittin those weights hard man.

Just out of curiosity, how long are you in the gym for?

[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:
Well not all of it is muscle granted… I can see the outline to my four pack but it isn’t define (:[/quote]

Neither is mine! When I was 150 pounds the largest part of my waist was 31.5", now it is 36" and I am 200 pounds. I don’t think I want to go much above 36" though. I don’t need Type 2 Diabetes in the name of powerlifting. I know, I know, I lack committment!

[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
Keep hittin those weights hard man.

Just out of curiosity, how long are you in the gym for?[/quote]

Thanks fella, will do!

Usually 3 hours not including pre-workout warm-up. Honestly, I never liked rushing much of anything, especially things I like.

Week 1, Day 1

Bench
1x8x100
1x8x120
1x8x140
1x8x160
1x7x180

Squat
1x5x220 (50%)
2x5x265 (60%)
4x5x310 (70%) [belted]

Pendlay Rows
1x10x110
1x10x130
1x10x145

Floor Skullcrushers
1x8x45
1x8x55
1x8x65
1x8x75
1x8x80
2x8x65

Lat Pulldowns (V-Bar)
1x15x80
1x15x100
1x10x120

Sumo Good Mornings (beltless)
5x5x185

Band Pushdowns (monster mini-band)
1x22, 20, 15, 10, 12, 12, 12 (103 total reps)

Good session. Squats started out pretty easy, first reps were very fast. But I wore out pretty quick. I wasn’t sure whether I would do 4 sets of 5 or 5 sets of 5, but when the 4th set was really damn difficult I called it.

Hip is starting to feel better, some really damn good stuff in “Assess and Correct” from Cressey, Hartman and Robertson.

Shoulder felt funky on bench, particularly on the set @ 160. I massaged it a bit and decided to do all my intended sets. It feels fine now. I think the soreness I feel when I bench is just because it is weak AND lacks endurance.

Week 1, Day 2

Deadlift
1x3x265 (50%)
2x3x320 (60%)
2x3x370 (70%)
8x2x425 (80%)

Seated Low Row (V-bar)
1x10x60
1x10x70
1x10x80
1x10x90
1x10x80
1x10x70
3x10x60

1-arm cable row
1x8x60
1x8x55
4x8x50

Tate Press
1x10x20
1x10x25
1x10x30
1x10x35
1x10x40
1x10x42.5
2x10x35

DC Lat Stretch

And that’s all she wrote. I wanted to get more exercise variety into the 3 week transition block, now it will be a little less varied.

I like this approach better for seated rows. I get more volume, and hit higher weights.

Deadlifts were sort of weird. I had intended on doing 5 sets of 2 @ 80%. But each set felt relatively difficult but wasn’t difficult enough to justify stopping. So the eighth set was pretty difficult so I cut it there.

I got some help from a really good deadlifter today, 700 @ 220. Anyway he was telling me that my grip isn’t in the palm like it should be. So he got me to really screw my hands into the bar if that makes sense. I also started really squeezing with my thumbs which I noticed I wasn’t really doing before. My grip felt so stable today, I think I am improving.

I’m kind of figuring out my approach to deadlift programming for the next 12 weeks as I go. I’m getting it solidified now though!

I wanted to get this down for my reference. Here is the plan of attack for deadlift leading up to the meet at the end of January:

Week 1
6-8x2x80%

Week 2
2x2x80%
6x1x88% (suited)

Week 3
2x2x80%
4-6x1x85%

Week 4
1x1x75%
1x1x85% (suit)
5x1x88-92.5% (suit)

Weeks 5-8
-add 10 pounds to raw and suited max, repeat weeks 1-4, add volume if practical

Week 9
-Skills eval, work up to 1-2 singles at 515, maybe heavier??

Weeks 10-12
Taper, top sets at 75-80%

So my thinking is that in the next 12 weeks I might be able to squeeze 20 pounds out of my squat, maybe 30. In the deadlift I feel I have 40-60 pounds that are just waiting to be realized. So I really want to attack the deadlift, and if my volume drops slightly for squats, I’m not too concerned.

I probably will only get in my squat suit 1 time before the meet and work up to my projected opener, 570. But I will be in the deadlift suit 5 times before the meet. I was thinking of doing rack pulls, tire flips, shit like that but have decided against it. I’ll put all that energy into deadlifting. I was really concerned about my grip but thanks to some really good recent advice I think I have that figured out.

Now I just have to get my shoulder 100%.

Week 1, Day 3

Squat (cambered bar)
1x5x220 (50%)
2x3x265 (60%)
2x3x310 (70%)
4x3x330 (75%) [last 3 sets belted]

DB Incline Bench (paused, neutral grip)
1x10x30
1x10x40
1x10x50
1x10x60

DB Triceps Extensions
1x10x20
1x10x25
1x10x30
3x10x22.5

Lat Pulldowns (V-bar)
1x10x80
1x10x90
3x10x100

Sumo Goodmornings (beltless, cambered bar)
5x5x205

1-arm cable row
10x10x50

Band Pullthroughs
1x15xpurple band
3x15xpurple bands (2)

Hammer Curls
1x8x30
1x6x30

Leg Lowering
5x8

Things went well. Was glad that squat went well after a pretty difficult deadlift session on Friday, this is a very good sign. Anohter good sign is I am doing the sorts of things I hate doing, pullthroughs, curls, abs, high volume shoulder rehab stuff. Can’t wait until Wednesday to hit squats again. Then next week Friday I intend to get some video of suit deadlifting.

[quote]mrodock wrote:

Anohter good sign is I am doing the sorts of things I hate doing, pullthroughs, curls, abs, high volume shoulder rehab stuff. Can’t wait until Wednesday to hit squats again. Then next week Friday I intend to get some video of suit deadlifting.[/quote]

the thing you hate the most are the most helpful.

Man you should be called “mrobeast”, man that’s some serious training volume.

so happy you already hit 200lbs, will meet you there ;).

[quote]tuchavito wrote:
mrodock wrote:

Anohter good sign is I am doing the sorts of things I hate doing, pullthroughs, curls, abs, high volume shoulder rehab stuff. Can’t wait until Wednesday to hit squats again. Then next week Friday I intend to get some video of suit deadlifting.

the thing you hate the most are the most helpful.

Man you should be called “mrobeast”, man that’s some serious training volume.

so happy you already hit 200lbs, will meet you there ;).

[/quote]

I always wonder if people read my name mr odock. it should be read m rodock, but anyways!

I hate the machines even more than any of the stuff I’m doing, haha.

Just trying to work hard Tuchavito, when I look in your log I always feel like a lazy ass.

Yes, I’m 200 and a bit chubby. Will start working on leaning out.

Week 2, Day 1

Bench
1x7x105
1x7x125
1x7x145
1x7x165
1x7x185 (~1 rep in tank)

Squat (cambered bar, beltless)
1x4x220 (50%)
1x4x265 (60%)
2x3x310 (70%)
4x2x350 (80%)

Lat Pulldowns (V-bar)
1x10x80
1x10x100
1x10x120
1x10x135

Floor Skullcrushers (EZ bar)
1x8x45
1x8x55
1x8x65
1x8x75
1x7x85
1x8x70

Pendlay Rows
1x5x110
1x5x130
1x5x150
1x5x160
1x5x170

Squat (cambered bar)
1x3x240 (55%)
1x3x285 (65%)
3x3x330 (75%) [belted]

Sumo Goodmornings (beltless)
5x5x205

I was really happy with this workout. For one, I was glad that I was able to do doubles at 80% without a belt, this is a really good sign, especially since I am not using a straight bar.

I think my wife used to be stronger than me on lat pulldowns, but that is changing now, YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I got her by 45 pounds now, she’ll never catch up!?

Shoulder felt pretty shitty on bench but this morning it feels great (I iced it after the workout). It is really odd but right around the anterior deltoid hurts quite a bit in my warm-up sets. It almost feels like it is just really weak through the bench ROM. Not entirely sure though.

Deadlift day on Friday is going to be fun, I get in the suit and I got some new deadlift shoes–wrestling shoes. From Chuck Taylors (maybe the worst sumo deadlift shoes on the planet), to Addidas Sambas, to Addidas wrestling shoes, I’ve come a long way!