The bench shirt was pretty frustrating today. I don’t think I ever got it on properly and I was having an impossible time touching on the proper spot on the shirt–that is why the 255 double wouldn’t go. I just have to study Mike Tuchscherer’s video series again and figure out how to properly put on the shirt by myself (which is what I tried today).
[quote]undesired08 wrote:
How tight is your shirt? It used to take two of us quite a bit of effort to get one of our buddies shirt on. Just curious.[/quote]
Not all that tight, I’d say medium tightness. I just didn’t get it on my shoulders completely.
Upper back good morning (Safety squat bar)
1x15x65
3x15x95
Ab wheel (kneeling)
3x8
My first official RTS workout, fuck! This probably doesn’t look like much but boy was it hard.
The suited squats were great, I really think this type of squat without the knee wraps or belt is really addressing my weakness (weak out of the hole, lack stability on the ascent).
Deadlifts with chains really surprised me. They went from easy to extremely hard very quickly.
It turns out that 3 seconds is a long ass time to be sitting in the hole with weight on your back. My wife timed me to make sure I was staying true to my label.
Upper back good mornings sure are a cool exercise.
I sure am glad that I did Sheiko-style training before starting RTS, I have a lot of respect for what undesired and novaeer do.
Upper back good morning (Safety squat bar)
1x15x65
3x15x95
Ab wheel (kneeling)
3x8
My first official RTS workout, fuck! This probably doesn’t look like much but boy was it hard.
The suited squats were great, I really think this type of squat without the knee wraps or belt is really addressing my weakness (weak out of the hole, lack stability on the ascent).
Deadlifts with chains really surprised me. They went from easy to extremely hard very quickly.
It turns out that 3 seconds is a long ass time to be sitting in the hole with weight on your back. My wife timed me to make sure I was staying true to my label.
Upper back good mornings sure are a cool exercise.
I sure am glad that I did Sheiko-style training before starting RTS, I have a lot of respect for what undesired and novaeer do.[/quote]
Good stuff, man. It’s surprising how fast you have to dig into the reserves sometimes and on other days, you go in feeling sluggish and just keep banging away. I would put RTS a small step below Smolov, when done right.
Good stuff, man. It’s surprising how fast you have to dig into the reserves sometimes and on other days, you go in feeling sluggish and just keep banging away. I would put RTS a small step below Smolov, when done right.[/quote]
Yeah very odd how that works.
Wow, I’m surprised that you would put RTS so close to Smolov . . . probably a good thing to have in my mind at the outset. It really seems that this type of set-up will build meet toughness, if that makes sense. Mike T. is currently working on a program for me so we’ll see what he decides I’m worthy of!
I see why novaeer said to do my accessory work on separate days from the main work. I was planning on doing dumbbell laterals, rear laterals, and hammer curls. I quickly realized those should be done on an off day.
Good stuff, man. It’s surprising how fast you have to dig into the reserves sometimes and on other days, you go in feeling sluggish and just keep banging away. I would put RTS a small step below Smolov, when done right.[/quote]
Yeah very odd how that works.
Wow, I’m surprised that you would put RTS so close to Smolov . . . probably a good thing to have in my mind at the outset. It really seems that this type of set-up will build meet toughness, if that makes sense. Mike T. is currently working on a program for me so we’ll see what he decides I’m worthy of!
I see why novaeer said to do my accessory work on separate days from the main work. I was planning on doing dumbbell laterals, rear laterals, and hammer curls. I quickly realized those should be done on an off day.[/quote]
With Smolov, one does the reps and sets as they are written, just because Mr. Smolov says so. And, it’s a good incremental increase pattern. With RTS, you dig deep because you have the desire to get better and stronger. BUT, you have to run a fine line between intensity and volume. With Smolov, I had bad days, but never missed a rep. Over my first cycle, I think I fried myself 4-5 times. When you get fried, it will effect the following workouts.
I’m sure Mike T. will have a special hell created just for you. I think he is related to Pinhead.
[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:
So you’re planning on doing RTS? Good luck man. I have one of the basic books he put out on it and it’s something I’ve thought about.
Right now I might get into Sheiko if everything goes well. I also appreciate the help in my log. Thanks[/quote]
I am really glad I put some time into Sheiko before doing RTS. I think until technique on the competition exercises is good or very good, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to use all that much variation of the 3 lifts. Sheiko fits the bill for this perfectly. Now my form is pretty good, I need a lot more work in my equipment, and I have some glaring weaknesses. As a result I think RTS is a perfect fit, particularly for the next 19 weeks. I certainly have not ruled out Sheiko-style training if the circumstances seem right.
Something I read that was extremely interesting, I believe it was from one of the US world team coaches (for the IPF) said that the reason the Russians use such little variation in exercises is because they have nearly perfect leverages. Thus, if you have perfect squat leverages, why complicate things, just keep squatting and you’ll keep getting stronger on the squat. My conclusion then is that the worse your leverages, the more important it is to use exercise variations. My leverages are pretty good, even for bench so I feel some variation will help. My main problem on bench is I don’t have much in the way of upper body mass, something I am striving to correct.
As far as pulling yourself down with your hip flexors, if you have a band (the stronger the better) hook it up to the top of your power rack. Hold on to it while squatting down and pay attention to your hip flexors pulling yourself down against resistance. With the bar on your back you are pulling yourself down under tension so that the descent is somewhat gradual, controlled, and stores strength for you to come out of the hole with the proper torso inclination. As you get better at this you will probably be able to descend slightly faster, while still maintaining adequate tension and control.
Any other questions feel free to ask, I’m very glad to help.
With Smolov, one does the reps and sets as they are written, just because Mr. Smolov says so. And, it’s a good incremental increase pattern. With RTS, you dig deep because you have the desire to get better and stronger. BUT, you have to run a fine line between intensity and volume. With Smolov, I had bad days, but never missed a rep. Over my first cycle, I think I fried myself 4-5 times. When you get fried, it will effect the following workouts.
I’m sure Mike T. will have a special hell created just for you. I think he is related to Pinhead.
[/quote]
Fat bar incline press (mfor)
1x5x110@7
1x5x130@8.5
1x4x140@9.5
1x5x120@9
Overhead neutral grip press
3x6x35
1x6x30
1x6x25
DB Flyes
1x10x15
3x10x20
Lat Pulldowns (neutral/medium grip)
2x15x100
1x10x100
Pendlay Rows
4x8x110
Band Kelso shrugs (standing)
3x12xlight
What a weird session. The paused bench went pretty good, then I completely ran out of gas. My best guess is my pressing conditioning is terrible right now because I had been doing 2 pressing movements at the very most for the last 5 months since the shoulder injury. Hopefully the endurance will return soon so I can train harder/better.
For the sake of illustration, last week on the fat bar incline press I did a set of 4 at 170 pounds that was easier than the set of 4 at 140 pounds today. Also I have done 10 reps at 50 pounds before on the dumbbell overhead press. The 25’s on the last set honestly were heavy . . . looks like I will be doing high rep push-ups and overhead pressing type movements on off days.
Sounds like you are on a good program. Based on the program I’m seeing, I’m sure your upper body lifts will come up fast. Where did you feel the most fatigue yesterday?
Would love to know your thoughts. They should be here on Friday[/quote]
Looks like a good pair of shoes. They have a fairly high heel so you may find that a stance slightly wider than shoulder width where you force your knees out and not sit back quite as much will be strongest. These are just general suggestions though, only through experimentation will you figure out the best combination.
Good luck and I will be curious to hear how they work out.
By the way, if you have questions it might be easier for you to ask them here because a post I made in your log took two days to show up!
[quote]Oldman Powers wrote:
Sounds like you are on a good program. Based on the program I’m seeing, I’m sure your upper body lifts will come up fast. Where did you feel the most fatigue yesterday?[/quote]
That’s kind of difficult to ascertain because right after waking up I did some push-ups and overhead presses to try to get some of the cobwebs out of my pressing muscles. My best guess though would be chest.
I’m definitely optimistic. I had to really be cautious for a few months after the injury in regard to benching, but now I think I am ready to be fairly aggressive.
Romanian Deadlift (close stance, no belt)
1x6x225@7
1x6x255@8
1x6x285@9
1x6x275@8.5
1x6x265@9.5
Snatch grip shrugs (bent over ~20 degrees)
3x10x135
Hanging leg raises (ab straps)
2x5
1x4
Holy shit am I weak at hanging leg raises, wow! We’ll be doing a whole lot more of those!
I didn’t enjoy pulling in a suit for reps, today was my first time doing that, haha. I was fairly surprised I could squat pretty well after deadlifting. Learn new things about yourself doing new programs.
[quote]mrodock wrote:
Looks like a good pair of shoes. They have a fairly high heel so you may find that a stance slightly wider than shoulder width where you force your knees out and not sit back quite as much will be strongest. These are just general suggestions though, only through experimentation will you figure out the best combination.
Good luck and I will be curious to hear how they work out.[/quote]
So I won’t really be able to do Olympic style squats with these? What is a good hieght on heels?
I really would like to go ATG and I was hoping these would do it, given these measurements, is that not an option now?
[quote]mrodock wrote:
Looks like a good pair of shoes. They have a fairly high heel so you may find that a stance slightly wider than shoulder width where you force your knees out and not sit back quite as much will be strongest. These are just general suggestions though, only through experimentation will you figure out the best combination.
Good luck and I will be curious to hear how they work out.[/quote]
So I won’t really be able to do Olympic style squats with these? What is a good hieght on heels?
I really would like to go ATG and I was hoping these would do it, given these measurements, is that not an option now?[/quote]
I didn’t mean that at all . . . if you can’t go ATG with these shoes then your hips are just too damn tight.
My shoes have a heel of 0.75 inches. I think your’s are about 1.25 inches. You’ll just have to experiment a little to find what squat technique is strongest with the shoes. For a wide stance, sit way back squat I wouldn’t want any bigger heel than what I have though.
I’m thinking of using my quads more in my suited squat. Will do some experimenting this cycle.
[quote]mrodock wrote:
Looks like a good pair of shoes. They have a fairly high heel so you may find that a stance slightly wider than shoulder width where you force your knees out and not sit back quite as much will be strongest. These are just general suggestions though, only through experimentation will you figure out the best combination.[/quote]
Here is my form check with the new shoes.
I tried a few different stances, however I think I am way to tight in my hips/ankles to really benefit from these shoes. I can hardly do the third world squat in these things and that is with a substantial forward lean.
Tell you the truth, I noticed very little. I’ll let you decide from the video.