Bench:
20x20 (44 lbs)
45x10 (99 lbs)
75x5 (165 lbs) all paused including and after this
90x4 (198 lbs)
105x3x2 (231 lbs)
117.5x3x4 (259 lbs)
117.5x5 (259 lbs) last rep not paused.
Good sets. Better than last cycle. The last set was 5 instead of 3 b/c I felt like I could do it. Sadly, the last rep was touch and go, not a pause.
Squats: Bottom position at parallel or just below, wide stance, raw, no belt
45x3
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x3
These are good. I think next time, I will do them with 250 lbs for 3x5. I might also try these w/ bands. This is a nice change of pace.
DB Press:
75’s x5
90’s x5
110’s x miss
No abs today, I will do some ab work tomorrow.
Just tired at this point. I should have been able to do the 110s. I set up with them wrong and just called it quits.
Not a bad session. Nothing to write home about. The bottom squats will be common in my routine now. They seem to help my bottom end quite a bit. DB press will also need work. At least I got through the heavy bench portion.
Decided to up the weight on the last set since the first 4 didn’t destroy me like usual. Hopefully, that’ll help a bit for next week when i have 195 kg (429 lbs) x2x3. 227.5 kg (501 lbs) looks doable at the end of this cycle.
CG Bench:
20x20 (44 lbs) no leg drive
45x10 (99 lbs)
70x5 (154 lbs)
85x4 (187 lbs)
97.5x3x2 (215 lbs)
105x3x5 (231 lbs) only used leg drive on these 5 sets.
I didn’t use wrist wraps on any of these sets. My wrist is starting to get stronger again.
Lunges:
75’s x5
75’'s x4
These were 150 lbs total and basically made my knees hurt. I decided to do these as a change of pace, but they just bother my knees. I’ll go back to the same ol’ next week.
Good workout overall. I felt like crap going into the workout. Not sick, just tired. I still managed to push everything through, despite the lack of energy.
Deadlift:
75x5 (165 lbs)
105x3 (231 lbs)
125x3 (275 lbs)
145x3 (319 lbs)
165x3 (363 lbs) no belt on any sets
Worked up to 80% of max, nothing really heavy. I have no been able to do reps with anything over 225 lbs in about 5 years do to my back injury. Maybe its stabilizing or I’m strong enough to deal with it. Big development.
Bench:
20x20 (44 lbs)
45x10 (99 lbs)
75x5 (165 lbs) all paused through last set
90x4 (198 lbs)
105x3x2 (231 lbs)
125x2x5 (275 lbs)
The second rep on the 4th set was bounced. I set up wrong and got stapled. I drove my butt off the bench and somehow got the bar moving enough to press it out.
Squat: start from bottom position, bar on catch bars
45x3
135x3
225x3
275x3
315x1 PR I couldn’t even get a 2nd rep
I am working on getting my back stronger via GMs. My hamstrings can take more, but my back can’t. I have to start really light, otherwise I will re-injure myself. Thats a lot of volume for my back honestly. I couldn’t have done that a year ago.
DB rows were good. I didn’t think 100 would go for 15, but I was wrong.
Squat snatches are just something I want to play around with. I’m trying to find other things that help my deadlift. As you can see, I really suck at these.
How are you handling the volume at this point ? Week three was always a beast as i remember it . And if you ever do month three os base prep work it is a real monster during week three . Do you have any meets you are planing on doing in the near future ?
I have changed up the routine quite a bit. Only 1 heavy squat day, one heavy bench day. I only pull twice a month, not 4 times. I also don’t bench on dead day. Just too much volume and it didn’t help me out.
Week 1 is usually a bitch for me. Always hard coming off a deload week, then going straight into week one.
Week 2 is like an off week. A little less volume.
Week 3 is usually as easy as week 2.
I’m following wade hooper’s routine, just altered.
Week 4 is just as easy, although i go over 90% on squats.
I’m following wade hooper’s routine, just altering it. I have been doing sheiko for almost 7 months now I believe. I think I am on my 6th cycle. I just do the 4 week cycle, 1 deload/off week and repeat w/ more weight. Its enough time that I don’t plateau and I can keep giong at 80% + all the time.
I plan on doing a meet in march and one in novemeber.
Sheiko isn’t too hard once you get the conditioning down.
Diet = eat food when I am hungry. Try to eat healthy if I give a damn, lol.
In all seriousness. My diet sucks. I need more veggies & fruits, and more protein in general. I work in a medical research lab as well as go full time to college. Eating is difficult. I need to start figuring out better ways to get in good quality foods. School offer crap they call food, not real food, sadly.
Supplements: I take whey protein when I can. Thats usually just two scoops after a workout. Not enough, I know. I have a lot of work to do in getting my supplementation and diet routine into decent shape.
I fail @ good healthy choices. I could never be a body builder, lol.
If given a chance to go to time would you still take the same path or would give Sheiko a go straight-on…
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If I could chime in here…
Sheiko works well for an absolute beginner. My girlfriend’s 60kg and has only started training in the last 5 months. One of those months (the 3rd or 4th one I think) was spent doing a Sheiko cycle. The biggest improvements were with her benching. As you probably all know it’s hard for light/thin people to bench well (she’s 5’10 ftr, my height and 40kg lighter!). After 5 months she’d pretty much bench 40kg. She’s already pulled 100kg (225lb @ 132) without a belt or straps.
I know the numbers might not sound huge, but keep in mind this is an untrained girl, with legs thinner than my arms.
I firmly believe Sheiko laid a great foundation and instilled a good work ethic for future gains.
Program wise, at this point, I had dropped all vestiges of Westside. For me, it was a waste. For other’s, it works, but I could never make gains on it.
I moved to a squat routine like this
275x5 (6 sets)
295x5x5
315x4x4
335x3x3
355x2x2
and cycle back.
I honestly don’t remember what I did for bench (it was slighly high volume, but tried to keep the weights heavy) and deadlift was always the same.
Even with the insane amount of volume and training only w/ a belt, sheiko utterly destroyed me at my first attempt using briefs and knee wraps trying to squat 365x3x5 (thats 3 reps x 5 sets). Once you can complete one cycle, you are golden. Your conditioning goes up insanely.
I honestly do not know how to train for pre-sheiko training. The volume is very high and the weight is higher. This is contextual. Now, I feel like I can do maybe 6 or 7 sets w/ 405x3. Before sheiko, this was impossible and my max was about 405 w/ briefs (440 w/ a metal single ply suit) and I’m hopefully going to break 500 in a week. a 60 lbs gain in about 6 months isn’t bad. My point is, sheiko will kick your ass and i have no idea how to prevent it from doing that, but the gains are incredible. DO DECIDE TO TRY IT. You might suprise yourself.
If I had a chance to start all over, I would do sheiko instead of the pyramid / westside / combination routine crap I’ve done in the past. Thats the bottom line with me and the gains I’ve seen from this routine.
Bench:
20x20 (44 lbs)
45x10 (99 lbs)
75x5 (165 lbs) this and the rest are paused
90x4 (198 lbs)
105x3x2 (231 lbs)
125x3x5 (275 lbs)
Squats: From bottom position
45x5
135x3
225x3
285x3
Stopped here. Figured I’d take it light since I squat heavy on Tuesday. My shoulders were fairly beat up from benching. I didn’t feel the DB presses would be productive today.