congratulations with fine results from the smolov jr. for bench. I’ve done it a few times myself. This time I am trying with half the volume to see how that goes. 
[quote]stallion wrote:
congratulations with fine results from the smolov jr. for bench. I’ve done it a few times myself. This time I am trying with half the volume to see how that goes. :)[/quote]
Thanks! It was pretty tough. My shoulders really started to bother me about half way through; though admittedly I could have tried even harder in utilizing recovery techniques.
What kind of techniques for recovery could you have used? Are there any techniques that is of any real use that you can think of?
[quote]stallion wrote:
What kind of techniques for recovery could you have used? Are there any techniques that is of any real use that you can think of?[/quote]
I had my significant other give me massages, and god bless her for doing it (this was a great psychological stress relief too! :)), but frankly her hands aren’t strong enough to really get deep into the muscle.
I also did shoulder dislocates for 30-50 reps maybe 4-5 times a week. These helped: you get a huge pump in your shoulder girdle.
I also, on the last week, discovered something: cuban presses help sooo much (I feel like a broken record saying this). I used only the bar and did a set or two to near failure on my training days (about 20 reps) - these also result in a huge pump, and it really relieved, almost immediately, my shoulder pain. It was so bad it kept me up at night, that went away nearly entirely with the cuban presses. I’ve done these before, but I was stupid & tried to add weight to them too quickly, resulting in me cheating it. I only now (6? 7? weeks later) do them with a 2.5lb plate on the bar.
Advil helped, too. 
I also stuffed my face.
Things I think I could have done that might have helped more: traditional stretching, a proper shoulder warmup/prehab routine (like diesal crew’s), contrast showers, foam rolling (I’ve got to start doing this!), get my honey to do some grip work.
Yes, massage can help a bit. My girlfriend also is not strong enough to give some real good massage. And because of that she almost never give me a massage, because she thinks it is not good enough.
Some shoulder flexibility work always helps, I do that myself.
I’ve done cuban presses before. But when on smolov jr. I think my shoulders get so much stress anyway, that I try not to add much extra exercises.
I just googled Advil as I didn’t know what it was. And I got the result: “Advil is a brand of ibuprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)”. I am no MD, but I’ve heard that NSAID’s can be catabolic? I’ve learned many lifters use these kind of medicines. I prefer not to use them, that’s my personal opinion. Pills and medicines I stay away from. I guess I am old fashioned in that regard.
Haha, stuffing your face as in eating, that surely helps!
I do some massage with a rubber ball myself, I think that helps. Do you really think contrast showers help? I’ve never tried it.
[quote]stallion wrote:
I do some massage with a rubber ball myself, I think that helps. Do you really think contrast showers help? I’ve never tried it.[/quote]
I never personally tried it either. I know Modi uses them, or was using them, during his run of smolov.
6-16-09, Press, Tuesday. Cycle 2.
Press:
65x8
85x3
115x5
130x5
150x11 PR! (Dug down deep for that last rep.)
DB Rows:
90x8
100x6
115x10
Incline DB Press:
65x10
75x10
85x8
Medicine Ball Diamond Pushups:
20
2x15
Straight Bar Cable Curls:
130x3x8
What a great way to start a new cycle!
6-18-09, Deadlift, Thursday, Cycle 2.
Deadlift:
135x8
225x5
285x5
325x5
370x8 (God these are hard, PR for 8 reps though!)
Dicked around trying out standing cable crunches, and pull throughs. Probably wont bother with pull throughs next week; I will try standing cable crunches again.
Leg Curl: (different machine, got a nicer range of motion.)
90x2x12
90x10
I suck at deadlifting. I think missing that one deadlift work out hurt me.
6-20, Bench Press, Saturday, Cycle 2.
Bench Press:
45x10
135x8
165x3
190x5
220x5
250x12 PR!
Neutral Grip Pullups:
7
7
6
Close Grip Incline Bench:
95x8
135x8
165x8
Hammer Curls:
50x6
Preacher Hammer Curls:
25x8
30x8
BB Shrugs:
135x10
225x10
315x8
365x8
Great workout. 220 actually felt “heavy”, but I think that was a combination of me being in the gym relatively early in the day and it being my first bench day back.
I’m going to try and progress on the pullups by adding weight this time, instead of reps.
6-23-09, Squat, Tuesday, Cycle 2.
Squat:
135x10
225x5
270x5
310x5
350x10 Definitely did NOT have any more in me. PR!
Bulgarian Split Squats:
95x3x8
Puking all over the toilet:
1x5
Note: Don’t drink a glass of milk with a fiber one bar, prior to squatting. I nearly yacked all over the squat rack.
The split squats felt so great. I felt a good stretch in my hips, ankle, knees. I really really felt it (muscular exhaustion) on my right leg, particularly in my ankle & knee. I’m hoping these will help with whatever knee issue I’ve been having. They were pretty difficult on my right leg.
6-25-09, Press, Thursday, Cycle 2.
Press:
45x10
75x10
100x3
120x3
140x3
160x10 PR!
DB Rows:
90x8
105x6
120x10
Incline DB Press:
65x8
75x8
90x8
Preacher Hammer Curls:
25x8
30x8
35x6
Medicine Ball Diamond Pushups:
2x18
Facepulls:
150x20
I never shook that bad trying to press. Ever. That last rep was a hell of a grinder.
My quads and ass are sore as shit from Tuesday. Unbelievably so. I don’t remember them EVER being this bad.
You seem to be doing very well with 5/3/1, keep it up man.
[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
You seem to be doing very well with 5/3/1, keep it up man.[/quote]
Thanks man.
Upper body progress has been fantastic. Lower body … well. Not so much. I blame my knee (or whatever the hell is wrong with me), missing crucial workouts, lack of general fitness, and doing really shitty assistance work. I’m hoping to have much better performance on the next 2 squat/deadlift days.
6-29-09, Monday, Deadlift, Cycle 2.
Deadlift:
135x8
225x6
275x1
305x3
350x3
395x9 PR!
BB Rows:
135x8
175x6
200x7
Standing cable crunches:
130x10
150x20
Whew, missed a couple days, but I got it in. Kicked some ass, too. My next weight to use is 415. If I get 7 reps out of that, I’ll be one happy fucking camper. If I get more than that(!?) I’m going to send flowers to Jim.
7-1-09, Wednesday, Bench, Cycle 2.
Bench:
135x10
185x3
210x3
235x3
265x10 PR! Hell yeah!
Neutral Grip Pullups:
bw + 5x3x7
Close Grip Incline:
105x10
145x7
175x10
Cable Curls:
120x8
140x6
160x8
BB Shrugs:
135x10
225x8
315x8
405x8 (ROM a bit questionable … )
Kicking. Ass. I know this doesn’t really mean shit, but 265x10 puts me, using one of those 1rm calculators, at a 345 max bench.
I’m planning on hitting a 1350 raw total, in 220 class, for the northeastern usapl regionals, in october, in King of Prussia PA. That’s my goal. That probably means I’m going to have start watching my weight, and being super careful with my knee. I have a feeling I’m creeping into 230+ territory.
7-4-09, Squat, Cycle 2.
Squat:
135x10
205x7
265x3
305x3
335x3
375x7 PR!
Was late to gym, and the lights turned off right after my squats. I’ll do split squats & ab work tomorrow, when I go to military press.
I really feel like I have great control in my descent: slow, steady, staying nice & tight, etc. In fact, that goes for my bench too.
7-5-09, Press, Cycle 2.
Press:
45x10
75x8
100x3
130x5
150x3
165x7 (Eh, I think it was 7. Maybe it was more. Not so great performance though…)
DB Rows:
90x8
105x6
125x8
Incline DB Press:
70x10
80x6
90x12
Preacher Hammer Curls:
25x10
30x8
35x8
Split Squats:
105x3x8
Ab Machine Thing:
150x3x8
7-8-09, Deadlift
Deadlift:
135x10
225x6
325x5
365x3
415x6 (no belt, left it in g/f’s car, oops. Had some grip issues (?!))
BB Rows:
155x10
185x6
205x7
Standing Cable Crunches:
plate 7x20
plate 8x15
plate 8x20
7-12-09, Bench
Uhm. Took a few days off.
Bench:
45x10
135x8
185x4
220x5
250x3
280x8 (Butt came up a bit for a little on the last rep.)
Neutral Grip Chinups:
bw + 10x8
bw + 10x7
bw + 10x8 (Uhm, last rep questionable… ;))
Close Grip Incline:
135x10
165x7
195x5
225x4
Cable Curls:
120x8
140x6
170x8
Shrugs:
135x10
225x10
315x8
415x8
Mmmmm. Extra days of rest == goodness.
7-13-09, Squat
Squat:
45x10
135x10
225x5
265x3
310x5
350x3
395x6 (Failed on the 7th rep. I gave it my all.)
Some light front squats.
Squat:
225x28 (Was aiming for 25. This is actually kinda low, I think.)
End of wave 2.
According to 1rm calculator at http://www.nsca-lift.org/fly%20solo%20program/onearm.asp My squat is up about 15 lbs since I’ve started. Bench is up 35 (HOWEVER, I have NOT been pausing my reps, and my max was a tested paused max). Military is up 10-15. Deadlift is up 25 (However, I started doing touch and go reps.) My accessory work (curls, chinups, rows, tricep work) has all progressed nicely.
I’ll take it.