My Road to Elite

Week 10, Day 1

Squat
1x3x225 (50%)
2x3x270 (60%)
2x3x315 (70%)
4x2x360 (80%) [belted]

Bench (paused)
1x3x135
1x2x165
8x1x185

Squat (belted)
1x3x250 (55%)
2x3x295 (65%)
4x3x340 (75%)

T-bar rows (25’s)
1x8x50
1x8x75
1x8x100@10
1x7x105@10 (misload, meant to load 80, haha)

Band Pulldowns
1x12xmonster-mini
3x8xlight

Side-lying concentric eccentric
2x12x4lbs

DB lateral raise (scapular plane)
2x15x10

Standing band rows (retract and depress scapulae)
3x12xlight

Squats were pretty hard today, but that was to be expected since I squatted 4 times last week.

Weighed 200.8 this morning, have a couple of pounds to drop yet.

How dare you? your 200 and want to drop weight??? i hate you ;).

Hey man i got a quick and kinda dumb question, when you unrack the bar for squat, how do you set your feet? i mean how do you know when they are aligned?.

I have the issue that i have to look and set them in place (i lose a lot of energy doing this when i’m going above 90percent of my max.

[quote]tuchavito wrote:
How dare you? your 200 and want to drop weight??? i hate you ;).

Hey man i got a quick and kinda dumb question, when you unrack the bar for squat, how do you set your feet? i mean how do you know when they are aligned?.

I have the issue that i have to look and set them in place (i lose a lot of energy doing this when i’m going above 90percent of my max.[/quote]

The weight class is 198, not a damn thing I can do about that, haha.

Look up Wade Hooper on youtube, that is what I try to model. One step straight back, step back and out with the other foot, then a slight adjustment with the foot which moved first. The more you practice it the more comfortable it will become, and looking down at your feet is a bad habit, they can be a little off and you’ll be fine. You can practice it a bunch with 135 pounds on the bar.

Week 10, Day 2 (15 days out)

Bench (paused)
1x3x135
1x2x165
1x1x195
add 44 F6
1x1x245 (no touch)
1x1x265
1x1x275
1x1x285
2x1x275

Deadlift
3x5x135
1x3x225
1x2x315
1x1x405
add 50 Viking
5x1x440 (80%)

Leg lowering
2x12

Good technique session. Really like the idea of pulling some singles at 80% 2 weeks out from the meat. I think I’ll do something very similar next time. 4 weeks out 4x1x90%, 3 weeks out 1x~90-92%, 1x95-97%, 2 weeks out 5x1x80%.

One of the coolest damn exercises I have ever seen, the “upper back good morning” from an old Dave Tate article: Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION

Week 10, Day 3 (13 days from meet; morning bw: 198.2)

Squat (belted)
1x3x225 (50%)
2x3x270 (60%)
2x3x315 (70%)
3x3x360 (80%) [supposed to be 6x3x80%]
3x3x340 (75%)

Bench (paused, technique drilling)
3x5x135

Close grip pin press (#13, 2 in. from smooth)
3x135
3x165
3x195
3x225
3x245
3x265@9
2x280@10
8x225@9.5

Lat Pulldowns (V-bar)
10x80
10x100
10x120
8x140

DB Triceps Extensions
10x20
10x25
10x30
8x35 (max)
8x30 (max)

Tate Press
8x25
8x30
11x35 (max)
11x30 (max)

Shoulder Band traction
(light band)

Chest-supported rows (last set parallel grip)
6x25
6x50
6x75
8x100 (near max)
13x80 (parallel)

Sumo Goodmornings (beltless)
4x5x185

Band retraction/depression
3x12xlight

Hammer Curls
2x10x30

DB Flyes
1x10x15
2x10x20

Squats were pretty vicious today. After the workout I reviewed my notes from this session last cycle and I had noted that it was hard as hell. I think I could have gutted it out today also, but I really didn’t feel the need. I know I’ve gotten a lot stronger from this cycle, time to recover completely. I’ll likely back off about 5% on the last few sessions on squat from the Sheiko cycle I am following.

Pin presses were a lot of fun.

I was trying out a some accessory work for the next cycle. I will cut accessory work severely next week.

My shoulder wasn’t loving the pin presses but I will be a lot nicer to my shoulder for the 2 weeks leading into the meet. I figured I knew how far I could push it and was careful enough.

The hard work has been put in, time to recover and realize the gains.

Good luck man. 198 and you’re going to be killing it.

Expecting to see you with a big trophy

[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:
Good luck man. 198 and you’re going to be killing it.

Expecting to see you with a big trophy[/quote]

Thanks. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the 2008 IPF 198 pound world champion Dan Williams competes in the 181’s as he has done his last two meets, lol.

Week 11, Day 1 (10 days from meet; morning bodyweight: 199.6)

Squat (belted)
1x3x225 (50%)
1x3x270 (60%)
2x2x315 (70%)
5x2x340 (75%)

Bench (paused, technique drilling)
5x3x135

Shoulder traction
purple band

Side-lying concentric-eccentric
2x12x4

Standing band rows
2x15xpurple

DB Laterals
1x15x10
1x12x15
1x12x12.5

DB Rear Laterals
1x12x15
1x10x20
1x10x17.5

Diagonal chest stretch
15xleft side

Good session. Working on a few things on bench that are going well. I backed off the squat 5% today, even though it was difficult for me to do. But at this point recovery is more important than anything so no need to push squats. I didn’t need any rest at all between sets, felt very good although not all that fast.

I think you should work up to 95% of your max on squat, bench and deadlift the day before the meet. I read on the back of a cereal box that this primes the CNS for heavy loads. You can’t argue with science.

[quote]novaeer wrote:
I think you should work up to 95% of your max on squat, bench and deadlift the day before the meet. I read on the back of a cereal box that this primes the CNS for heavy loads. You can’t argue with science.[/quote]

It is lucky you included the source otherwise I may very well have not taken it seriously.

There’s a guy at the gym I frequent who for years would max out 3 days before a meet and could not figure out why in the hell his openers were so damn hard. Truth is, he probably should have done it 1 day before the meet to prime his nervous system.

I was wondering, could you give me an outline to what you are doing on Sheiko hybrid. I see that you aren’t doing like “Deadlifts to knees” or “Deadlift from boxes” and would kinda like to see how you are doing it.

I appreciate it again. One more time, you’re going to kick ass at that comp, everything looked solid in your Youtube videos

[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:
I was wondering, could you give me an outline to what you are doing on Sheiko hybrid. I see that you aren’t doing like “Deadlifts to knees” or “Deadlift from boxes” and would kinda like to see how you are doing it.

I appreciate it again. One more time, you’re going to kick ass at that comp, everything looked solid in your Youtube videos[/quote]

Thanks man!

For deadlift my thinking was that I was recovering too fast in following the Dave Bate’s program in “Sheiko Shakes up Powerlifting” based on Sheiko programs 29-37-32. The program has a lot of work at 75% for the top sets. In week 10 you do triples at 80% for the first time in the program and it was at that point I realized I needed to do work at a higher intensity. When training with heavier weights I realized that I had to be more aggressive in order to ensure I would complete all my sets. Also, I felt that the partial lifts were getting in the way of me developing a strong sumo deadlift motor program. So I wanted to practice the complete lift, every time, and no partial movements. Maybe I’ll consider partial lifts once I am at 650+.

So with all that in mind, and the fact I needed a lot of work in the deadlift suit (every other week during the volume blocks, weeks 1-4 and 5-8), I came up with a plan. I looked at the number of sets at top work weights Sheiko had for each week and from there came up with a general plan that I was willing to modify if it seemed like it was too much. Further, I was willing to cut back on my squat volume if need be.

Week 1-4 530 max, deadlift suit max +10 pounds (540)

Week 5-12 540 max, deadlift suit max +10 pounds (550)

Week 1
8x2x80%

Week 2 (suit)
2x2x80% (raw)
add suit
2x1x88%
1x1x85%
3x1x88%

Week 3
7x3x80%

Week 4 (suit)
1x1x85%
1x1x88%
1x1x92.5%
2x1x95%
1x1x90%

Week 5
9x2x80%

Week 6 (some suited, thought I was going to have to do the meet raw)
1x1x85%
2x1x88%
subtract suit
1x2x80%
1x1x90%
1x1x93.5%
1x1x96%

Week 7
7x4x80%

Week 8 (suit)
4x1x90%

Week 9 (suit)
1x94.5%
1x98%

Week 10 (suit)
5x1x80%

Week 11 (suit)
6x1x75%

Week 12
probably some singles at 70% or something, 4 days from meet

A note: I always start warm-ups with 2-3 sets at 135, then go up to 225, then usually 50% of max. I usually take 10% jumps in working up to my work sets.

I had a general idea of what I wanted to do, but I played it by ear. Example, in week 1 I had planned on doing 6x2x80% but it was too easy so I did 2 more sets which seemed like it was enough. On week 7 I planned on doing 8x3x80%, but when the first 2 reps felt extremely easy in the first set I made up my mind to do sets of 4 until it was really hard, Ended up getting 7x4x80%. Some problems with deadlift suits also altered my plans slightly, but I had an idea of the number of sets I wanted to do, the number of reps per set, and the overall intensity.

One other point is that I wanted to do more volume in week 5, than in week 1. And more volume in week 7 than in week 3, this was very important to me.

One other point, I don’t plan on following anything quite like this again. I will probably do less suited work now that I am getting better in the suit, or at least do sets of 2-4 reps in the suit more often. I do know that my next deadlift cycle will not have any partial deadlifts, and will likely include a fair number of snatch grip deadlifts along with the sumo deadlifts early in the cycle. Later in the cycle I will probably do a 4 week block of all suited deadlifting, rather than alternating each week.

Hope that helps, any questions let me know.

Week 11, Day 2 (8 days to meet; morning bodyweight: 197.6)

Bench (paused)
1x3x135
1x2x165
1x1x195
add 44 F6
1x1x245 (TOUCHED!)
1x1x275 (opener)

Deadlift
2x4x135
1x3x225
1x2x315
1x1x365
add 50 Viking
6x1x415 (75%)

That be it!

The roster was posted today, no Dan Williams.

[quote]mrodock wrote:

The roster was posted today, no Dan Williams.[/quote]

Nice!

Are you competing at the Raw unity meet?

[quote]BlackLabel wrote:

[quote]mrodock wrote:

The roster was posted today, no Dan Williams.[/quote]

Nice!

Are you competing at the Raw unity meet? [/quote]

No, I’m a few hundred pounds away from being able to qualify for that. I’m lifting in the USAPL Wisconsin State Open.

[quote]mrodock wrote:
One of the coolest damn exercises I have ever seen, the “upper back good morning” from an old Dave Tate article: Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION

After reading this, I’m very glad I checked out your log mrodock. I agree, this looks like one of the coolest exercises I have ever seen! Good luck in your meet.

[quote]mrodock wrote:

[quote]BlackLabel wrote:

[quote]mrodock wrote:

The roster was posted today, no Dan Williams.[/quote]

Nice!

Are you competing at the Raw unity meet? [/quote]

No, I’m a few hundred pounds away from being able to qualify for that. I’m lifting in the USAPL Wisconsin State Open.[/quote]

Oh, my apologies sir. Good luck!

[quote]Element_26 wrote:

[quote]mrodock wrote:
One of the coolest damn exercises I have ever seen, the “upper back good morning” from an old Dave Tate article: Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION

After reading this, I’m very glad I checked out your log mrodock. I agree, this looks like one of the coolest exercises I have ever seen! Good luck in your meet.[/quote]

Thanks, appreciate it! Hope the exercise works well for you, let me know how you get on with it.

[quote]BlackLabel wrote:

[quote]mrodock wrote:

[quote]BlackLabel wrote:

[quote]mrodock wrote:

The roster was posted today, no Dan Williams.[/quote]

Nice!

Are you competing at the Raw unity meet? [/quote]

No, I’m a few hundred pounds away from being able to qualify for that. I’m lifting in the USAPL Wisconsin State Open.[/quote]

Oh, my apologies sir. Good luck!
[/quote]

Thanks and quite alright