Squat testing. I was really tired and quite sore but I really wanted to push for 8 reps. Daamn it was heavy but I made it. All time beltless PR, almost matches my belted PR. Belt usually gives me around 10 kg so I’m pleased.
=== deload ===
This is how you end a deload:
#1
Power clean
Ramp to 3 x 100 kg (220 lbs) that’s a depth power PR. Finally caught it in “don’t give a fuck” quarter-squat instead of fighting
Clean
3 x 105 kg (231 lbs) easy
3 x 110 kg (242 lbs) 5 kg PR!
Paused clean:
3 x 3 x 92,5 kg (204 lbs)
Sqwaats
4 x 3 x 127,5 kg (281 lbs)
Some pull ups and biceps
#2 no time, quick session. Decided to do some delt work
Squats again
3 x 2 x 135 kg (297 lbs)
Behind the neck push press - something new - I’ll try to ramp up to a heavish set of 5 once per week. Not messing with recovery
Ramp to 5 x 70 kg (154 lbs) that’s a good start, 85% of my old regular push press 5RM
Some lateral raises, half-rep seated DB presses
Half of the semester, really busy time. Basically short workouts, slow and steady.
Some highlights:
Still squatting 5x/week, speed pulls 4x, heavy bench 2x
Paused bench
5 x 115 kg (253 lbs) PR
BTN push press
5 x 72,5 kg (160 lbs) PR at RPE 7-8? I’ll make some real gains (2 plates?), provided that I prioritize that for some time. Maybe in the future.
So I finally decided to invest in some knee slevees for high-frequency squatting and straps for some more high-pulls and snatches (lol medals from next year’s Rio aren’t going to be won by themselves).
I’m going for a cheaper option from ABG: http://store.averagebroz.com/shop/apparel/sleeve-strap-combo/
…In hope that John Broz will bless me with gains
I’m testing AMRAP for 142,5 kg (314 lbs) squats on Sunday.
The Belt will be back (after 12 weeks beltless). Of course gains will be enormous.
Back to reality:
Clean PR
3 x 112,5 kg (248 lbs) - it was my belted 1RM in April - with shitty form, a lot of hype, screaming and (most importantly) a lot of luck. At that time my 1RM was closer to 105 kg but it was a lucky day.
Now… fairly calm, relaxed, with sore quads and beltless (and still shitty form):
Some bench PRs:
9 x 102,5 kg (226 lbs) after solid 4 heavy sets of 3-5
3 x 4 x 115 kg (253 lbs)
BTN push press
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint” - 5 x 75 kg (165 lbs) PR at RPE 7-8
Chin ups
Finally 3 x 10 x +15 kgs with full range of motion (well, months ago I could half-rep 2 plates for 5 reps…)
Yeah buddy
Lightweight baby
This is how I break mental barriers lifting to ultra-crappy music. My bud forced me to do this to unleash my inner superhero.
My best belted high-bar was made in July after about 12 weeks of serious Bulgarian work. It was 7 x 140 kg.
It took me more than 4 months to return to 3 plates per side. 2 months of f-ing around with low frequency approach and deadlift specialization (+20 kg on DLs at least, regression on squats).
And 2 months of squatting 4-5x/week beltless, breaking all beltless PRs.
And yesterday was time to do some cardio:
7 x 140 kg (308 lbs) —> 10 x 142,5 kg (314 lbs) PR
Of course with the most popular Polish word “kurwa” repeated 1000 times
Today is the day of cheat-stance gains 
I’d never supposed that it will be that easy:
SUMO DEADLIFT
8 x 185 kg (407 lbs) 5 kg PR
Some more highlights:
Bench press
8 x 110 kg (242 lbs) 1 rep PR - I did it after good oly lifts workout so it wasn’t “touch and go”. It was “dive-bomb, stretch reflex for 90% of the movement, lock-out last inch” style
Paused clean (knee-level)
3 x 105 kg (231 lbs) left a lot of room for progress. I’ve never maxed-out on them but well… it was technically 10 kg PR
Back to power snatches. I only did them with a bar as a warm-up for a while.
Started with not-really-exciting 50 kgs.
High-bar back squat -beltless speed squats day
3 x 1 x 147,5 kg (325 lbs) it’s prolly something between my 8-10 RM, but… technically it’s the heaviest weight I’ve ever squatted BELTLESS. So…PR
If it lasts under one minute it still counts as a one set… 
Power clean
Ramp to 3 x 105 kg (231 lbs) PR
Clean
Ramp to 3 x 115 kg (253 lbs)
don’t know why my clean recovery was that shitty. Probably timing was way off, poor stretch reflex and rounded thoracic spine. It’s still like 80% of my best beltless front squat.
But after all… PR
On the other session I hit paused clean for 3 x 107,5 kg (237 lbs) which was also a PR but was super easy.
Other highlights:
Bench!
2 x 125 kg (275 lbs) PR
Behind the neck push press
2 sets 5 x 77,5 kg (170 lbs) easy PR. 5 kg short of my best front push press 5rm. I expect to lift a lot more BTN soon.
Focusing on front squats a bit more - I realized that rounding upper back becomes my weakness.
Also… I did 15 sets of biceps instead of regular 3-4 on my last pull day. Deal with it. Life is to short not to have huge arms.
Just a quick update of PR city
Clean
…after shitty power cleans - I didn’t manage to do “power” 3 x 105 kg (231 lbs) which is my regular weight - got pinned down to full ATG position
…after not so good 115
…after realizing that 1,25 kg plates were used by my friend… for short rest bar complexes…
Fuck it, let’s load it to 120
It’s been a while… Super tough and busy week, seems like everyone wants to do everything at once before Christmas.
But well…
PR city is back.
How to be a true chef buff? How to be a typical bro? How to realize you are a lucky bastard?
I tried to do front squats 3/2/1 wave (no belt) with my friend.
Loaded it to 120 kg (264 lbs). 3 clean reps.
Up to 125 kg (275 lbs). 2 clean reps.
Let’s try 130 kg (286 lbs). It was the hardest squat I did in this year, what the hell happened?
I was pretty unhappy with that and moved to the next exercise… only to realize that I misloaded the bar and did 10 kgs more than I planned.
Ultimate random misloaded beltless front squat PR
1 x 140 kg (308 lbs)
That would mean that my belted max front is around 150 kgs, 80-85% of my high bar. Certainly not that shitty ratio as it used to be. 
=== PR city continues ===
BTN Push press 2 sets of 6 x 80 kg (176 lbs) - here I matched my all time front-rack push press PR with ease. 100 kg on the way
Paused clean
3 x 110 kg (242 lbs) lightweight baby
High-bar back squat
8 x 147,5 kg (325 lbs) RPE 9.5 with no longiiish rest-pausing
my camera unfortunately slipped off the window sill so I had only soundtrack of my grunting and swearing.
That brings my expected max to 4 wheels which is still like 80% of my deadlift max. A lot of work ahead of me.
Dude great progress! Awesome stuff.
Thanks!
Christmas.
Sleeping 11 hours.
Eating 4000-5000 calories.
Singing carols and laying on my face.
And maxing out on deads.
PREVIOUS PR: 8 REPS. 185 KGS. 407 POUNDS
10 pieces of cake later
That music.
A little less deadlift work in the next month. Working on snatch high pulls to get dem traps.
Start from blocks below the knee. Ramp to the 3RM high pull, then ramp to the heaviest weight I can pull around my navel for 3 reps. Then 3 clusters x 6 reps, 90% of high pull 3RM.
After 3 heavy SGHP workouts:
best legit high pull: ramped to 3 x 115 kg (253 lbs)
best low pull (navel): 3 x 145 kg (319 lbs)
On my way to 3-plate high pull and 4-plate dynamic low pull.
All work sets with straps but I won’t use them for warm-ups or any deadlifts. Grip is solid enough.
Still speed-squatting 5x/week. Test 150 kg AMRAP soon.
[quote]squats and milk wrote:
A little less deadlift work in the next month. Working on snatch high pulls to get dem traps.
Start from blocks below the knee. Ramp to the 3RM high pull, then ramp to the heaviest weight I can pull around my navel for 3 reps. Then 3 clusters x 6 reps, 90% of high pull 3RM.
After 3 heavy SGHP workouts:
best legit high pull: ramped to 3 x 115 kg (253 lbs)
best low pull (navel): 3 x 145 kg (319 lbs)
On my way to 3-plate high pull and 4-plate dynamic low pull.
All work sets with straps but I won’t use them for warm-ups or any deadlifts. Grip is solid enough.
Still speed-squatting 5x/week. Test 150 kg AMRAP soon.[/quote]
Nice set up man. Post some videos of your high pulls sometime, I would like to compare mine with yours. My form gets shitty at around 225 pounds and up.
Thank you. Pretty much exhausting set-up man. No way I can do anything (especially deadlifts) after those.
I’ll upload some for sure. Still trying to figure out form and timing. SGHP from the hang form still really sucks.
High-bar back squat, Average Broz sleeves + belt. No more raw 
8 x 150 kg (330 lbs)
Not a big deal, solid small PR.
Angle could be better but this time I had no place to put my phone and actually see depth. I’ll improve
This new forum is uber-fucked up. I tried to log in million times. I decided to create a new account. I typed a new login and other data… aaand I logged in on my old account…
nevermind
=== highlights ===
Deadlifting 4x/week got really hard in the long run. After Christmas’ maxing out I switched to high pulls exclusively but time to man up and deadlift once per week.
I started new template for deads from Greg Nuckols facebook wall. This guy’s programming never disappointed me. Super strong and super knowledgable guy, but that program is a little scary. Once again, time to man up.
Sumo deadlift
5 x 8 x 170 kg (374 lbs)
Around 25 minutes, no straps. 2 sets hook grip, 3 sets mixed. TOUGH.
Quick PR note
Behind the neck push press
3 x 8 x 80 kg (176 lbs)
+3 or 4 reps in 2 months 
=== Forum still sucks ===
4 weeks without benching and honestly I feel a lot better and more productive. No amping up, no wrist or elbow pain, waaay more volume tolerance and bigger pumps.
Bench will eventually be back but now it’s time for something else.
Current push routine goes like this:
A. BTN push press (occasionally OHP) 3-5 sets x 5-10 reps (pretty much random, keeping total reps between 15-30)
B. DB press on very slight incline 3-5 sets, 8-12 reps - depending on the mood
C. Suppa-set pre-exhaustion: triceps isolation + dips x 3 x 10-15
(D). If I don’t feel like pressing heavy I put a lot of lat raises here.
E. 4-8 sets of rear delt work. Anything above 15 reps
Repeat 2-3x/week
It serves mainly as an active recovery between deads and high pulls
Speed squats everyday as a warm up FTW
Yeah, I’m not digging the new forum either… I really just come in, update my log-- and leave. Rather than browsing several threads like I used to. Might need to find a new forum.
Same here Evolv. I browse just a few blogs and I try to occasionally check if anything interesting arrived on Thibadeau’s forum.
=== Snap city update ==
I hurt my right trap doing deads. Not a big deal. I don’t feel any nagging pain but it’s not totally OK either.
Trying not to go to snap city I decided to drop heavy low pulls. Aaand for the first time I did my SGHPs from the high hang or from the hip.
I’m not really sure about my positions but am quite pleased of my first pull. Finally no stiff-leggin’ bitch.
Sample random not strenuous pull workout:
Sqwaats
Snatch deadlift + power snatch from the hang
6 x 3 x 60 kg (132 lbs)
Hip SGHP, first rep off the floor (first pull SLOWLY)
5 x 5 x 110 kg (242 lbs)
Bent-over barbell row, wide…ish grip, hook grip
4 x 10 x 100 kg (220 lbs)
Curls for the girls x some
Deload week.
Oh, come on.
Fuck deloads, let’s do something cool.
Time to end this nonsense deload.
Shout-out to Supertraining (…theee strongest gym in the west) for unblushingly stolen soundtrack. Couldn’t resist, motivating as fuck
200 kg anytime soon?