Just working the technique today. Feeling a bit the worse for wear but mainly positive. All the sets of squat were pretty clean and tight. Working on cleaning up the setup.
Smashed accessories; lots of hamstrings and abs. Quads are pretty fried too. Should hit some lower back, too, at some point.
Fatgripz chinup / close grip floor press
4x12@BW / 4x10@80 plus 5x1 rest pause
Band scarecrows
3x15
Felt good, arms are buggered. Seems like I’m going to weigh in about 89-90kg on an empty stomach, so I guess I’ll just practise getting hydrated. Riveting stuff.
Bulgarian split squat
Tabata, 12kg KBs on round 1 and 3
Cruisy, not too energetic today. Squats felt good, and Romanians didn’t bugger up my hips. Legs were pumped after accessories. The additional kettlebell round for Tabata split squats was a killer. However, I did spend more time stretching and rolling straight away; always seems to limit the amount of crappy tissue my quads accumulate, so I don’t know why I’m not more consistent. Feeling good about the final week.
FG fat man row / 3D shoulder raise thing
3x12@BW / 3x8@5s each way
Felt pretty good today, and happy with the session. Didn’t have a really long warmup, but it was pretty effective, and I felt pretty good moving on to the weights.
Hit the bench sets cleanly, with nice pauses. The cluster was an afterthought, but it seemed a good choice. I think this will be the last heavy-ish session before the competition. My flat-footed (IPF) setup is getting more natural, and feels a lot more solid.
After the cluster, the wee arms circuit and the rows, my arms feel like they’ve been steamrolled, and my shoulders aren’t much different.
Nothing much to report for the last few days, apart from lots of stretching, rolling and eating. Going to do some light (<30%) technique work tomorrow, and cruise into Sunday. Weigh-in is at 12pm, so I should be well-slept. Weight is hanging around 90-91; probably won’t even be that on the day until I start really hydrating.
Weighed in at 89.4, bummed around for a couple of hours rehydrating and watching the first group finish. Started around an hour late.
Squats: 150kg last warmup, then 160, 172.5 and got stuck coming up with 177.5. 12.5kg meet PR
Bench: 110kg last warmup, then 110, 117.5, 122.5 for a 12.5kg meet PR.
Deadlift: 220kg, then 240, 255 5kg meet PR. I was going to take 262.5 but the junior record was 265. It’s my last meet as a junior, so I went for 265.5 with a big hit of Nose Tork. Got it up a few inches and couldn’t go further.
550kg total was good enough for bronze in the 93s.
Paused leg extension / Standing calf raise
4x15@50 / 4x8@70
Had a decent week off. I’m not too sore except for in my hips, and a little bit of lower back tightness. A fair whack of stretching and rolling seems to have helped a lot. Didn’t feel really strong today, but it’ll come back. Technique was quite solid. Just need to bring up the volume and load, which leads me to:
The plan at the moment is to run the Smolov base mesocycle leading up to Christmas (including a massive Christmas re-feed before testing maxes). One of the other trainers where I work is keen to give it a shot; it’s been in the pipeline for a little while. Should be interesting.
In the week prior (next week), I’m going to run the first week of Sheiko #29. It’ll be good to get plenty of volume in and practise the competition lifts before the squat cycle. Now that uni’s finished up for the year, I have a bit more time to play with, so I might even do a few Sheiko cycles to see how I react to the different style.
Fatgripz fat man row / 2 way shoulder raise
4x12@BW / 8@7.5s
Pinwheel curl
10@25s
8@30
8@37.5
6@40
Another easy day getting back into things. Shoulders felt a little bit creaky, but everything went pretty smoothly. Definitely need an accessory day when I do Sheiko, just to keep things tight. My upper back needs some maintenance, not to mention a bunch of other weak links. Eating pretty hard, but I’ll up the calories a fair bit for Smolov so I don’t crash too hard.
26/11 Sheiko 29 W1D1 Motivation 3, energy 3, Bodyweight 88.5kg
Clap pushup 3x3
Bench press
10@20
5@40
5@60
2x4@75
2x3@90
5x3@95 5 reps last set
Squat
10@20
10@40
5@60
5@90
2x5@110
5x5@125 6 last set
Close grip bench press
5@60
5@75
4x4@90
DB fly / reverse fly
5x10@15s
Good morning
5x5@80
Well, that was exciting. Whole workout took 70 minutes and I was drenched afterwards (although it is pretty hot here). Benching was pretty good, but squats felt ridiculous. Need to build them back up pretty rapidly. Feeling pretty sore afterwards, but not too bad. It was good to get the good mornings in, to get some more direct lower back work in; I think I need it. Not sure about the flyes, but I’ll stick with them or try out some pec deck or even cables. All in all, a decent way to get back into training.
28/11 Sheiko 29 W1D3 Motivation 3, energy 3, Bodyweight 90.0kg
Deadlift to knees
5@60
3@100
3@130
3@155
2x3@180
5x3@195
Incline bench press
4@60
6x4@80
Dips
5x8@BW
Rack pull
4@145
4@140
2x4@195
4x3@220 5 on the last set
Bulgarian split squat
2x5@BW
5@16kg KBs
2x5@20s
Weighted plank
3x30sec@40kg
Into supine leg raises x10 after last set
Felt like a good session today, although I’m kind of still in tatters from Monday. I’ve been stretching and rolling, but to little effect. Hoping really hard that my quads and hamstrings calm down before Friday.
The deadlifts to knees were pretty cool; this is the heaviest I’ve done them. Did all reps double overhand (hook grip for later sets). The rack pulls were quite clean and snappy, despite my hamstring soreness.
Upper body-wise, inclines were alright. I think I picked a good starting weight. I used a wide grip so I didn’t get so much internal rotation, and my shoulders felt decent. Dips were rough: my chest is bloody sore after the flyes on Monday. Got a mate to ART them a bit, but I guess I just have to adapt to the work.
Eating pretty clean the past couple of days, but trying to up the volume.
Squat
6@20
6@60
5@90
4@110
2x3@125
5x3@135 4 on the last set
Good morning
5x5@80
Too freaking hot here. Had to move a heap of furniture this morning, and although it wasn’t a ton of work, I was sweating hard. I’m still sitting in a puddle typing this. Session was pretty good, considering the circumstances. I’m definitely glad I got all the soft tissue work in yesterday or I’d have been in all sorts of trouble. The form for bench and squats was pretty sweet today, although I’m feeling less strong than before the meet (how strange…:P). Hamstrings and quads are seemingly the main thing lagging on squats at the moment, but it’ll come.
Bench Sheiko style
10@20
5@40
5@60
4@75
2x2@90
5x3@100 5 on last set
Close grip floor press
20@70 plus 5 rest-pause singles
Felt pretty jacked after that. The squats were a little bit of a gut-check, but not like last time (mid 2011). Pretty smooth too. Bench is not top of my priorities list at the moment, but it went really well too. Really stretched out the warmup and drank heaps of water, but didn’t have any coffee or pre workout.
Moved house today and I feel absolutely buggered now. Going to throw some upper back and calves in tomorrow, amongst the recovery work.
Didn’t have a great deal of motivation today but it all came together OK. Started each set with a good groove, but started to fall forward a bit as I got past the fourth rep or so. Didn’t struggle too much with any of the reps, nor was it as rough as Monday. I am feeling a bit more tired, but less jacked up than I was on Monday. Not sure when I’ll start belting up once I get up to 140+kg, but I imagine it will make a decent difference. Knees are feeling pretty good, but I know they’re probably going to be the first thing to start niggling on this cycle. Plenty of tissue work, stretching and maybe some light pump sets of something will be in order.
The CG bench press was great, very fast for the weight and grip. I will need to pay close attention to my internal rotation mobility and upper back. While benching feels pretty good at the moment, I won’t have any issue with ditching it for a few weeks if my elbows/wrists/whatever start to hurt.
Just working the technique and pushing through. Still holding together, and no belt yet. It’s been good having a training partner. Quads are starting to feel a bit weathered.
Buggered. Grinding a bit today. Got through, anyway. I’m getting pretty sore above my knee-caps and it’s limiting my quad strength. Apart from keeping the recovery work up, I’m not sure what else is going to help.
Feeling quite fatigued all over. Need to not lose any weight; so more food I guess. Big carb cheat this afternoon and night, and maybe add another one mid-week. Going to try getting more olive oil in for calories since I have a lot of it.
Extra work
Leg extension 20@20, 3x20@30 In lieu of sled work Band biceps Some
Pretty good mentally, but quite fatigued physically. My quads feel like rocks, but benefited from a bit of hard stretching in the warmup. Hamstrings and lower back were really struggling to keep up, too. Technique-wise, it’s all going very well. Each rep is quite precise (for me, at least).
My left elbow was niggling a little on bench. I was also pretty much spent. Wasn’t too punchy as a result, but it wasn’t too bad.
Extra work
Band biceps supinated, pronated, and with isometrics at the top Band rows some
Did a bit of weird Ido Portal gymnastic stuff; spent some time on frog stance and bridges. No idea why, but it was fun. Lots of mobbing and rolling too.
Standing calf raise 6 rep sets from 10kg to 100kg, no more than 10 seconds rest between sets.
12/12 Smolov Day 6 Bodyweight 89.5kg
Squat
10@20
5@40
5@60
3@80
3@100
3@120
Added belt
5x7@140
Furiously sore in my lower back and right hip. All reps were pretty good, but I’m struggling with built-up muscular fatigue. Had a break to stretch out and rest.
Actually felt pretty good after I was done, or at least no worse than when I came in. My hips were a bit out, so I ripped the crap out of my glutes and QL, and although I got it fixed up I was bloody sore for the whole lot of squats. Seemed a lot better after the brief intermission, thank goodness. Bench felt fine, I was just tired. Form feels great, and the speed was there. My elbow wasn’t playing up, either. I’ll have to keep an eye on it, of course.
Eating hard now, should be heavier for Friday hopefully. Because it’s going to be a real fight.
