Currently training for a meet on June 30th. After that meet I’m planning on going to westside style training. Starting this log to document everything I do with Westside, and to see what people think. Right now I’ve been working on dropping to 181 from 198 for my meet. My lifts have gone up while I’ve been dropping weight, so I can’t really complain about progress. My last meet, which was my first, was in December at 198lbs. My lifts were …
Squat: 335
Bench: 250
Deadlift: 450
I should shatter all of those records at my next meet I’m hoping.
This log shall document my journey.
Currently dealing with a set back. I’m on a deload this week, so I won’t even bother starting my log until my first real lifting day back. I’ve got some sort of strain or something in my hip that hurts when I’m in the bottom part of a squat or deadlift in my competition stance, which is a closer stance.
I can do wide stance work with no pain, so I guess I’m going to have to train wide until the competition and hope that I don’t lose anything off of my competition stance and that it will be healed until then. Guess this is my chance to start working in some of the conjugate method, but I’ll probably stick with more of a 531 outline until after the competition, then I’ll start westside. Let’s see how this goes haha.
I’m pretty awful at sumo deadlifts. This was my first time trying to go heavy with them. They felt pretty comfortable, and I thought I could get pretty close to my conventional deadlift with them, but once the weight got higher it was too hard to break the weight off of the floor.
Sumo deadlifts
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 1
315 x 1
365 x 1
405 x fail
Freemotion deadlift machine (This feels pretty close to my regular deadlift stance, but has the angle right and my feet out just far enough to not hurt my hip) I just did the max weight on the machine for many many reps for a few sets.
Standing ab crunch machine with 150 lbs
5 sets of 10-12
hyperextensions
5 sets of 12 holding a 45lb plate.
Today is some PVC rolling and stretching. Getting ready for my workout tomorrow. Trying to stay optimistic about the upcoming meet. I’m hoping I don’t lose anything off of my lifts this month, and that I’ll be fully healed. Staying positive can be hard, but I need to keep my head straight if I’m going to make it there. Gotta bust my ass on these wide stance lifts and hope for some carryover.
I decided today that trying to run some sort of strange ugly version of 531 on different lifts not even knowing what my maxes on those lifts are isn’t going to end well. I decided to just make the jump to westside and hope for the best before my meet. I don’t like making that change right before a meet, but I don’t really have a choice. Workout today went well. I’ve been really looking forward to getting into westside, so this will be fun.
DE bench with doubled mini bands + 95lb bar weight - 8 X 3
Floor press
-135x5
-155x5
-185x5
-205x5
-225x3
Barbell row
185 x 10-12 for 5 sets
Cable tricep extensions with rope
-85lbs x 10-12 for 5 sets
Reverse monster mini band box squat (Feet a little past shoulder width)
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 3
345 x 1
365 x 1
385 x 1
405 x 1
Good mornings
185 x 10-12 for 5 sets
Suitcase deadlifts
135 x 5 for 5 sets
This was a really great workout, definetely felt like I had worked hard by the end of it. I felt like I could have gotten over 405 on the squat, but I called it at that weight to avoid the possibility of making my injury worse by doing more than I can handle since 405 was a pretty good strain. I wasn’t sure at all what kind of weight I would get up. Will defintetly beat that record in the future.
Bench press with 10lbs on each side hanging off the bar with a band to make it unstable.
95 + 20lbs hanging x 5
135 + 20lbs hanging x 5
155 + 20 lbs hanging x 3
185 + 20lbs hanging x 1
225 + 20lbs hanging x 1
235 + 20lbs hanging x 1
245 + 20lbs hanging x 1
Close grip bench
135 x 10-15 for 5 sets
Dumbell row
110 x 10-15 for 5 sets
Hammer curls
40 x 10 for 5 sets
Felt real dead after this workout, and didn’t even do any tricep extensions as I was planning. My main movement for the day took a real long time, because I had trouble finding people to spot me, so the long time may have contributed to my deadness. Was really happy with the way the bench went. Think I’ve got 275 in me for competition for sure.
Box squat (with a double choked light band giving about 70lbs tension at the top)
185 + light band for 12 sets of 2
Speed pulls
Reverse band with 315 and a doubled up monster mini (taking 45lbs off the top of the lift)
6 sets of 1
Good morning from pins
135 x5
185 x 5
225 x 5
265 x 5
Dimel deadlifts
225 for 15, 12, 10, 10, and 10
Roman chair leg raises with some planks for some reps that I didn’t care to count.
This was a good workout. I felt like I worked my back really good. I would have liked to work my legs a little harder, but I’m still working on what combinations of excercises to use to work everything I want to effectively. I’ll probably focus on the legs a little harder on my ME day since this was more of a back day. I’m really loving westside so far though. On my squats I did some warmups with free squats and my hip seems to be doing a little better. I’m considering going for some reverse band squats with competition form soon on my ME day. The reverse band would help lighten the load at the bottom to put less strain on my hip where it hurts at the bottom.
Reverse Monster Mini Free squat (Taking around 50 lbs off the bottom and only 5 lbs if anything of the top)
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 1
365 x 1
385 x 1(I could have gotten more, but didn’t want to make my injury worse doing too heavy on a free squat)
Reverse doubled mini band conventional deadlift
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 3
405 x 3
425 x 3
445 x 3
Hack squat
225 x 9
225 x 7
225 x 10
Was running short on time at this point so I cut out abs, I’ll work them into an extra workout tomorrow with tons of PVC rolling and stretching. My hip is doing much better but defintely is not at 100%. I still could notice a little pain, but it wasn’t as bad. Hoping for good things at the meet. Using the reverse bands helped a lot to let me squat and deadlift with competition form without potentially making my injury worse. I still have a month to heal, and with the progress so far I should be fine I hope.
Bench press from pins set at chest level
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 1
235 x fail (These are damn hard!)
Doing a bench from a dead stop at the bottom is pretty much the hardest thing ever haha
Illegal wides
135 x 6
185 x 6
205 x 3
215 x 3
Skullcrushers
70lbs x 10,10,9,9,8
Inverted Row/Barbell row superset (These are really great for hitting my back. Do a set of inverted rows until you can’t get another rep, then immediately do barbell rows using the bar that you were using for the inverted row)
5 sets for a bunch of reps
Hammer curls (didn’t do many sets because the row superset had killed my arms
35lbs x 10,8
Box squat 195 lbs + Double choked light band
12 x 2
Speed pulls Reverse light band (loose at the top) 275lbs
6 x 1
Rack pulls from just below knee
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 5
405 x 3
Squat to safety pins with 1 second relaxed rest at bottom
155 for 5x10
Prone bridges
3 x time
The squats felt much more explosive and faster then last week, and I was using more weight. I can tell that the speed work is doing it’s job. The squats to pins did a great job of finishing my legs, and I’ll probably be sore tomorrow. I find that I’m having trouble getting my ab work in at the end of my workouts because I’m usually quite dead, so I’m thinking of putting more abs into extra workouts during the week, which the extra workouts are also something I have to dedicate myself to doing more. Overall a great workout though.