December 18- Week 11, Day 3
Squat
1x3 205
2x3 245
2x2 285
3x2 305
Bench
1x3 150
1x3 180
2x3 210
4x2 225
Thats it! Quick and easy, everything felt light.
December 19- Week 11, Accessory Day
BB Row
5x5 245
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
4x6 175
BB Shrugs
3x10 315
Front Plate Raises
1x20 25
1x20 35
1x10 45
Preacher Curls
1x8 70
1x7 70
1x4 70
Dumbbell 21’s
3x21 20’s
Standing calf Raise
4x8 8 plates
Lotsa movements today. Still liking the barbell rows, the shrugs I have been doing the past month have made a noticeable difference in my upper trap development. I know everyone hates on preacher curls but I like the way they feel.
The dumbbell 21’s are done by doing 7 zottman curls, 7 supinated curls, and 7 hammer curls, all done with no rest with the same dumbbells. This was my first time doing them, my arms were blown up after this workout.
Nice liftin.
You mentioned you have the fat gripz, how do you like them? Im gettin myn real soon.
[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
Nice liftin.
You mentioned you have the fat gripz, how do you like them? Im gettin myn real soon.[/quote]
Thanks bud!
I haven’t used them for anything outside of several different curl variations, but for curls I love them. Barbell curls with the fat gripz are my favorite curl variation right now. I have fairly small hands for a guy who is 6’2" so my hands are pretty open when I hold on to them, I feel a TON on activation of the muscles in my hands and forearms so that is always good.
Once I am done with sheiko and switch to more conventional routine I will definitely be incorporating them into different parts of my training.
I am not going to log my workouts from Monday and Wednesday last week, just some light rep work for deload.
Test day today, not horribly happy.
Squat 405 PR +20 Less than expected, but good to break 400.
Bench 300 PR +25 Whoo! First 300 pound bench always exciting for everyone I think. It went up pretty well so I jumped for 3 plates, it wasn’t there.
Absolutely nothing to report on deadlift, still stuck at 405, I attempted 415 three times and each time I got it a little higher, but never got it to my knees. When I deadlift if it gets past my knees I am standing up with it right away, unfortunately it just wasn’t there today, huge disappointment.
Sheiko was fun, but it just didn’t do for me what I had hoped, so I am going to try something different. I plan on still lifting 4 days a week, a day for squats, a day for deadlifts, and a ME and a RE bench day.
Deadlift will be my main focus for the coming months, I have talked about doing Coan-Phillipi but for now I think I am just going to try going to the gym and pulling heavy weights with some different variations and I will just see what that does. Reps and volume have done very little for my deadlift in the past 6 months, so my logic is that maybe intensity will do what volume didn’t.
I plan on sticking with this thread, so keep on reading if you are interested.
You better keep posting in this thread. You, Blacklabel, Mrodock and Modi are the only logs in here I read
[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:
You better keep posting in this thread. You, Blacklabel, Mrodock and Modi are the only logs in here I read[/quote]
Add coffee’s log to your list, strong as shit and posts videos.
Viking, I wonder if the accessory deadlift day negatively affected the pull. Also one thing I didn’t like about that program was the amount of partial pulling, I think it got in the way of me mastering the pulling pattern. I am experimenting now and I think I have found a better way for me.
I honestly don’t feel that the accessory day affected my deadlift negatively at all. I don’t feel like my upper back is a weakness when it comes to pulling. I also think my upper back recovers quite well, because even though I was hitting it hard from a lot of angles on Saturday I felt like all of the fatigue was gone, if not by Monday than for sure by Wednesday.
Thanks for the advice, I am going to see what I can do to get this bastard child lift moving.
Hell of a nice job, Vikings!
It might be possible your having technique issues with your DL, maybe you could post a video?
[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
Hell of a nice job, Vikings!
It might be possible your having technique issues with your DL, maybe you could post a video?[/quote]
Yeah, I will work on getting a video because I know I am having technique problems. The more I work at it the more it seems like maybe my leverages wont allow me to get in to a proper position to set up a conventional deadlift, and I refuse to switch to sumo because I would like to compete in strongman one day and conventional deadlift is a must in that sport.
Where are you at? You taking a break?
I got back to work on Friday, I have been debating whether on not to start posting in this thread again or not but what the hell I will post my training from the past few days later, at least I have one reader.
New Years Day- RE Upper
DB Bench
1x10 80’s
1x5,3,4 100’s -These ended up being way heavier than I though, I will lower the weight for more reps next week.
Lat Pulldowns
3x8 Some, different machine than I usually use.
Plate Front raises
1x20 25
1x20 35
1x10 45
Barbell Shrugs
315 3x10
Standing EZ Bar Curls
Worked up to some reps with 95 I think.
Face Pulls
3x20 Some
You probably note that I’m not as precise with the weights as usual, thats because I was in a foreign land in a gym I have never been to and wont be back to for a while, so its not worth noting machine weights.
The gym I trained at was a little gym called BIG IRON GYM. The reason for finally venturing over there was because both of my gyms were closed for new years day (wtf?).
I walked in and saw two people there, a black guy toward the back packing up and a short brick house standing by the dumbbells who I was almost certain was the one and only Rick Hussey, but I had only ever seen a few pictures of him. I was intimidated as shit being there and talking to him, I asked if I could pay to come in for a single session, he said yes that it was 10 dollars, all I had was a 20 so I gave him that, he made no motion to give me change, I was far too afraid to ask for it.
I started off the workout by looking at all the things I had only seen on videos and never in person, things like monolifts, a reverse hyper, a glute ham raise, and 50 kg eleiko plates (like the ones Andy Bolton pulled 1003 with). I was alone in the weight room for most of the workout, which was extremely odd for me. Rick ended up coming out toward the end of my workout and using an eliptical right next to where I was lifting so I started talking to him, telling him I had a lot of respect for what he has done yada yada.
We talked training for a while, he told me why almost all his guys lift multiply, something I have no interest in, and he also told me quite a bit about the way they train and adjust their training leading up to meets, why they do 8 meets a year. I was so damn nervous and jittery the entire time I was there that my workout wasn’t very good, but at least it was fun.
Jan 2- Squats
Squats
1x5 135
1x5 185
1x5 225
1x5 275
1x5 315
1x1, fail on second 335
Walking DB lunges
4x16 Steps 50’s
Pull Throughs
3x10 Almost the stack
Iso Pallof Presses
3x30 Seconds /side
Squats didn’t go as well as hoped, I just got thrown off on 335, my lower back was still a bit sore from Monday. I will for sure get 5 reps with it next week.
Jan 4- ME Bench
Medium Grip Bench with Fat Gripz
1x3 135
1x3 155
1x3 185
1x3 225
1x3 245
1x3 265
1x1 275 -racked it after 1, I was planning on more but it moved slow, next week I will go for a triple.
Low incline DB Bench
3x10 70’s
BB Rows
5x5 245
Overhead Tricep Extensions With Tricep Bar
1x10 70
1x4 90 -Heavier than I wanted to go with this movement.
1x5 70
1x5 70
Started some fat gripz barbell curls but some forearm pain made me decide to stop. Deadlifting on Wednesday.
[quote]VikingsAD28 wrote:
New Years Day- RE Upper
DB Bench
1x10 80’s
1x5,3,4 100’s -These ended up being way heavier than I though, I will lower the weight for more reps next week.
Lat Pulldowns
3x8 Some, different machine than I usually use.
Plate Front raises
1x20 25
1x20 35
1x10 45
Barbell Shrugs
315 3x10
Standing EZ Bar Curls
Worked up to some reps with 95 I think.
Face Pulls
3x20 Some
You probably note that I’m not as precise with the weights as usual, thats because I was in a foreign land in a gym I have never been to and wont be back to for a while, so its not worth noting machine weights.
The gym I trained at was a little gym called BIG IRON GYM. The reason for finally venturing over there was because both of my gyms were closed for new years day (wtf?).
I walked in and saw two people there, a black guy toward the back packing up and a short brick house standing by the dumbbells who I was almost certain was the one and only Rick Hussey, but I had only ever seen a few pictures of him. I was intimidated as shit being there and talking to him, I asked if I could pay to come in for a single session, he said yes that it was 10 dollars, all I had was a 20 so I gave him that, he made no motion to give me change, I was far too afraid to ask for it.
I started off the workout by looking at all the things I had only seen on videos and never in person, things like monolifts, a reverse hyper, a glute ham raise, and 50 kg eleiko plates (like the ones Andy Bolton pulled 1003 with). I was alone in the weight room for most of the workout, which was extremely odd for me. Rick ended up coming out toward the end of my workout and using an eliptical right next to where I was lifting so I started talking to him, telling him I had a lot of respect for what he has done yada yada.
We talked training for a while, he told me why almost all his guys lift multiply, something I have no interest in, and he also told me quite a bit about the way they train and adjust their training leading up to meets, why they do 8 meets a year. I was so damn nervous and jittery the entire time I was there that my workout wasn’t very good, but at least it was fun.[/quote]
That sounds like a really damn cool experience. If you wanted to type up what you learned from talking to Rick I would certainly be interested in reading.
Oh, and why do most of his guys lift multiply?
First, he told me that none of his guys compete raw because with raw competitors you hear about them beating a record and then they are gone, because they are constantly getting hurt. He told me he has all of his guys lift multiply because they go for the biggest numbers first and then if the decide to tone it down as they get older or for whatever reason, they can step it down to lighter gear. They train in gear year round, because the groove is so much different for geared and raw lifts, he feels that when people only train in their gear for the weeks leading up to their meet they are setting themselves up for failure because they have been training differently than they compete.
He told me that he remembers all of his lifters numbers that they use for their sets and reps.
Further out from the meet, when their body weights are usually higher than they are in competition, their gear is too tight, so they squat high and bench to boards. As they get closer they get their body weights down, they lower the boards, lower the squats. Also, they hit assistance work hard and do some more typical “bodybuilding” type of work so that the whole body is strong. As they lower the boards, they tone down the assistance work because they are getting more work from doing the competition lifts.
He also talked about doing lots of meets because he feels it helps people progress more. He said some people will do 1 meet a year and they only add 20 pounds to their total from their last meet, they aren’t making much progress.
Jan 6- Deadlift
Deadlift
Worked up to a single with 365, couldn’t get 385. My hamstrings were still really sore and tight from my session on Saturday. I have no doubt it was from the assistance work because I feel my body has gotten really well conditioned to squatting and I have no problem recovering from them.
Lying leg curls
3x10,15,10 Just some pump sets, get some blood flowing in my sore muscles.
Seated row machine
3x15
Fucking deadlift… I am so damn frustrated with all of this shit, I know my poor performance was from the soreness but I honestly feel like my deadlift has gone down since the first time I pulled 405.
Thanks for posting the stuff about Rick, that was very interesting.
You might consider a program for deadlift like power to the people. Coffee has said he added 50 pounds to an already very strong deadlift with that program. It is outlined in Pavel Tsatsouline’s book (entitled Power to the People) but the basic idea is you take your max, 405, and multiply it by 67%. So that puts you at about 270. In your first session you will warm-up then take a set of 5 at 270, then multiply 270 by 90% and do another set of 5. Do 4 or 5 sessions a week, add 5 pounds to the main work set each time. So if you went Monday through Friday, I would do a squat session on Friday so you have a couple days to recover before you start back again. Once you get close to about 350 pounds, which is probably pretty close to your 5 rep max you could wave load or something.
Ex:
Week 1: 270, 275, 280, 285, 290
Week 2: 295, 300, 305, 310, 315
Week 3: 320, 325, 330, 335, 340
Week 4: 330, 335, 340, 345, 350
Week 5: 340, 345, 350, 355, 360
Just an idea.
Another idea is to try focusing on density as described in Christian Thibaudeau’s Canadian Bear Training.
Best of luck!
Thanks man, I will have to take a look at that, I am also looking into possibly doing the magnusson/ ortmayer deadlift routine. I don’t really want to do coan at the moment just because I am not a fan of how the assistance is set up, it would be really hard to do the circuit training in my university gym.