TCam's Log - The Road to Elite

Training Training Logs
541

Cornerstone Training - Week 14 - Day 3

Beltless 1.5" Deficit Deadlift - Straps:
4x3x475 - Height difference than usual due to standing on a different plate

Beltless Sumo Deadlift - Straps:
4x2x490 - Form is gettin’ there

Beltless Paused Squat - Paused at Parallel:
8x2x315 - 60-120 seconds rest

“Free Motion” Ab Machine:
4x12x120

Leg Extension:
3x20x70

Lying Leg Curl:
3x15x95

Some pec deck at 40 lbs for rehab

This was the first workout I’ve had in a long time that actually felt great during and I felt great after. All day I had been worrying about my back feeling shitty because I sit at a desk and my knees not liking the paused squats potentially. Well the lifting actually fixed my back issues and the knees felt completely fine. It was just a much more positive feeling than usual recently.

I used straps again because my hand is almost healed, but not quite closed. It just makes the conventional pulls harder for me. Definitely helps for sumo though. I was pulling with a stiff bar for conventional already, so I used it for sumo, and that makes it a lot tougher. I haven’t tried the Okie bar for sumo yet, but I think it will feel great.

Squats felt excellent today. Obviously it’s like 58% of my max, but there was no knee pain at all. I tried to stop above parallel to directly help my deadlifts, but I found that my parallel is still IPF legal ATG depth. See the video below. But seriously, it does feel good to try to stop a little short with lighter weights to help me learn control again. I think this could be a big part of returning to heavy squats.

https://instagram.com/p/7gz5wpF8JI/

542

Okay…better at logging weekends starting now…for real this time.

Saturday - Cornerstone Training - Week 14 - Day 4 - 5 WEEKS OUT

Paused Bench:
2x2x345
2x350
5x355 @ 9 - Match PR. I did fail the 6th rep, but it’s because I misgrooved, touched too high, and it made me second guess myself. By that point, I realized I had been paused for like 2 full seconds and I pressed but couldn’t get it. I really do think the strength was there for the 6th though.

Standing OHP:
3x5x185

One-Arm DB Row - Straps:
3x8/8x150 - No straps on the first set.

Lat Pulldown - Wide Neutral:
3x8x200

HS Low Row:
3x8x180

One-Arm Lat Pulldown:
3x8/8x70

My pec is still giving me issues, but I was able to match my PR on the AMRAP set, so I’m not really sure what to make of it. I could be playing with fire, but maybe it’s a controlled fire.

Sunday - Week 14 - Day 5

Deadlift w/ Belt - Okie Bar - Straps:
4x2x430 - Just form work basically, still need straps because of hand tear

Paused Bench:
3x3x325 - Pec still hurts

Triceps Pushdown:
3x10x80

Cable Curl:
3x10x80

DB Lateral Raise:
3x10x40s

Planks on Balance Board:
3x1x0:45

Sunday is kind of a technique/active recovery day now, it seems. I’m okay with this.

Monday: I went to the office gym and benched the bar for 4x30 and did some pec stretches.
Tuesday: Doing the same thing in a few minutes. Tonight is deadlift and bench…and paused squats…and good mornings.

543

Cornerstone Training - Week 15 - Day 1

Deadlift w/ Belt - Okie Bar - No Straps Finally:
2x530
2x535
5x540 @ 9.5 - e1RM: 636 - 5 lb. PR on 5RM - Used the George Leeman belt position for the first time. Could be a game changer if I tighten up the form.

Paused Bench:
2x2x340 - Still feeling the pec during the movement, but this felt light anyway.
6x315 @ 6.5 - Felt like I had 9-10 in me.

Beltless Paused Squat - Pause at Parallel:
5x2x365 - Maybe a bit much this early in trying these, but I’m happy with it.

Belted Good Morning:
6x275
2x6x315 - Same belt position as deadlift. Felt like my head was going to explode, but very good pressurization.

I’m very happy with how this workout went. The deadlift was definitely interesting with the new belt placement. I want to keep practicing it and hopefully use it in the meet, because the amount of intra-abdominal pressure I was able to get was insane. I just have to get it right and keep my hips down and bar slightly closer than usual. My IG video below shows one of my warm ups at 495 and it flew up. Maybe fastest I’ve ever moved that weight.

Bench was alright, I’m happy with how light it felt, but I’d like for this pec issue to just go away please. Going to keep up with the at-work bar work to help recovery between sessions.

Pausing at parallel (or at least before ATG) is really damn hard on everything, but I think it could help me a lot on squats and deadlift.

https://instagram.com/p/7rLeD9F8I_/

544

Cornerstone Training - Week 15 - Day 2

Paused SlingShot Bench:
2x345
2x2x375
2x1x385
1x395
1x405 - Was prescribed to stop at 395, but this moved like an RPE 7

Standing OHP:
3x185
3x3x205 - Felt very heavy today, but got it done.

HS Iso-Row - Standing - Paused:
3x6x230

Pull-Ups:
3x6 @ BW

Decline JM Press:
3x6x135

Cable Curl:
3x6x65

Bench:
2x50x45 - Pec rehab

So I think it would be best for us to move the bench from yesterday to today with SlingShot bench. The pec was feeling very nearly recovered yesterday, but I think the benching made it regress a bit. So coming in today it didn’t feel great. I think I would have been better off skipping it yesterday and feeling great today, ready to get both sets of volume in at once. I just need more recovery for it right now, so more days between benching should solve that.

Regardless of any pain, I ended up absolutely destroying 405. If I hit my groove perfectly and use leg drive like I need to, I think I can hit a pretty good PR at the meet. Also assuming the god damned pec is healthy.

Dat super low volume accessory work…lol

545

k I give up on being good at writing weekend logs til I’m back on 4 days per week.

Friday - Cornerstone - Week 15 - Day 3

1.5" Deficit Deadlift w/ Belt:
3x3x480 - Okie Bar - Not bad

Beltless Sumo Deadlift - Straps/Okie:
3x2x500 - This is around the weight that sumo starts to get difficult off the floor for me, otherwise it moved fast.

Beltless Paused Squat - Paused at Parallel:
5x2x315 - 60-120 seconds rest

“Free Motion” Ab Pulldown:
2x12x130
2x12x110

Step-Ups Backward and Forward:
3x10b/10f per side

This was a decent workout, nothing too difficult. I’m happy with how deficits are moving nowadays. My PR 3RM is 515, so doing a decently easy 3x3 at 35 lbs less seems like a good sign. My lower back was sore all week after using the higher belt position on Tuesday, I assume because I had to use it more with the belt not being there. I didn’t use that belt position for deficits because I couldn’t get to the bar in a remotely safe position like that.

Saturday - Week 15 - Day 4 - 4 WEEKS OUT (from push/pull, if you forgot)

Paused Bench:
2x335
2x350
2x355
5x360 @ 9.5 - 5 lb PR! Finally hit a new damn 5RM. Last rep was barely paused.
3x3x330 - Moved tomorrow’s work to today to reduce bench frequency for pec recovery. These moved much better than they would have tomorrow. OHP moved to then.

Pendlay Row:
3x8x245

Lat Pulldown - Straps:
3x8x220

Incline DB Row:
3x8x85s

One-Arm Lat Pulldown:
8/8x70
8/8x80
8/8x90

I’ve barely missed 365x5 a few times now and this was a step closer. Next week I have an AMRAP at 365, so maybe it will happen then. Not that it really matters for my meet, it would just be cool to finally see that happen.

Regardless, I’m thinking my pecs are going to feel a lot better on the reduced frequency. Tuesday’s work is being moved to after the SlingShot work on Wednesday and Saturday’s are as above. Going into the meet healthy (other than my knees obviously) would be awesome.

Sunday - Week 15 - Day 5

Deadlift w/ Belt - Stiff Bar:
4x2x435

Standing OHP:
3x5x195

Band Triceps Extension (JM Press Motion):
3x10 @ 2 Doubled Minis

Cable Curl:
3x10x65

DB Lateral Raise:
3x10x40s

Barbell Crunch:
4x12x95

Leg Extension w/ Single Leg Eccentric:
3x10/10x75

For the barbell crunch, see the recent SuperTraining vid with George Leeman on deadlift accessories. You hold the barbell above you in bench press position, then do a crunch, pushing the barbell toward the ceiling. I liked them with my feet up on the bench instead of the floor.

Yesterday was a super long day. We got to the gym around 8:30 and then went to the Alabama/Ole Miss game. If you didn’t see it, it was almost a 4.5 hour game (which we should have fucking won, but -5 on turnovers and some lucky shit on the Ole Miss side will do that) and we didn’t get home until about 2:30am. According to my phone, I walked about 6.5 miles.

So waking up today was difficult and I’m glad this workout is meant to be easy. Deadlifts moved well and the OHP is a PR at least at that weight. But I’ve done a 5x4+ at 190 that ended with a 9 rep AMRAP.

546

Cornerstone Training - Week 16 - Day 1

Deadlift w/ Belt - Straps all the way until 545 because of callous shit:
2x2x525
2x540
1x545 - Removed straps
4x555- New 4RM PR! Hard to judge RPE, my hands were slipping on the last rep so it slowed me down a lot.

Deadlift Stance Box Squat:
5x3x315 - Taken from George Leeman. Good stuff potentially.

Good Morning w/ Belt:
3x6x315

Standing OHP:
4x2x185 - First two sets were tough, then I accidentally slammed the back of my skull on the bar between sets and then the last two sets were like butter. Adrenaline…woo.

Band Facepull:
3x20

So this callous thing isn’t a big deal, it just peeled off during my last session, but it wasn’t raw underneath. I super glued the area above it and just used the straps to make sure it was fine. With the 545 set being my only “warm up” for my grip, I’m not surprised it was an issue on the AMRAP. Still happy though. 555x3 was a PR on the same day I hit my all time PR of 615x1, so adding a rep to that is pretty awesome. I was really happy with the 540 and 545 sets, those blew up like nothing.

Deadlift stance box squats seem like they could be useful. Very difficult on the core for some reason.

Lots of benchin tomorrow. C’mon pecs.

Video of 555x4 Tyler Campbell | FortitudeRx on Instagram: "New 4RM deadlift PR at 555. Last rep was sliding out of my hands the whole time. I think the reason was that I warmed up with straps today due to some callous issues and then took them off for this AMRAP. Still happy with it though. #powerlifting #deadlift #strength #strong #rpowerlifting #powerliftingmotivation #fitness #fitnessmotivation"

547

Well I’ve said a few things recently, like “I’m playing with fire”, regarding my pec and it finally strained tonight during my SlingShot work. I felt fine all day, no pain in any movements, for the first time in weeks. I was supposed to do a 2x2x385, 2x1x395, and 2x1x405 in the SlingShot. The first set of 385, I felt it pull on the first rep but I adjusted my groove for the second rep and I was fine.

I adjusted my grip out a bit and the first rep of the second set I came down, paused, pressed up and about 3/4 of the way up I felt it grab hard and move a lot under the skin, accompanied with pain obviously. Usually it happens at the bottom and it’s a sharp twinge, so I was worried I actually tore it this time. No bruising or swelling though yet. I tried to bench with the bar to feel it out and it’s a pretty big strain honestly.

I’ve started the 48 hour icing window and I had a contrast shower on it. Will start the Bill Starr rehab method in a couple of days once the pain dulls. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing at this meet, whether it’s just deadlift or if I’ll be recovered enough for bench. I doubt the latter, so I’m obviously quite disappointed (livid is a good word for right after it happened).

I’ll be sleeping on my future of competing over the next few weeks as well. Currently thinking I need a large rebuilding phase and to not worry about competing until I’m 100% healthy instead of “Okay, let’s see if I can fight my way to this meet”%.

548

Log Dump - Cornerstone Training - Days 3-5 - 3 Weeks Out

Still not sure about benching at the meet. I started the Bill Starr rehab method the day after straining my pec, luckily I have a gym at work that I can sneak off to, to do it. I’ve gotten up to 85x25 so far on that. I’m trying to make this an extended rehab and do the full method for 2 weeks and hope it’s 100%. My strength shouldn’t have disappeared by then honestly.

Friday

Deficit Deadlift - Belted - Okie Bar:
2x3x475
2x3x485 - Added straps just because my hand is still healing.

Sumo Deadlift - Belted/Straps - Okie Bar:
2x2x495
2x2x505

Beltless Paused Squat:
5x2x315

Band Ab Crunch:
4x12 @ 2 Light Bands

Pec rehab 3x25 at something around 55. I’m happy with how my deficits are feeling. Hopefully they are going to pay off when I try to pull a 1RM.

Saturday

Standing OHP:
4x1x225 - PR. This is my previous 1RM (230 now)
2x225 - +1 rep PR! Very big step
8x185

Barbell Row - Straps - Using some hip hinge:
8x275
3x8x315

High Rack Pull Holds for Grip - Stiff/Thick Bar:
5 ct @ 585
3x3 ct @ 640 - Lots of slipping. Not a great sign, but I’ve got 3 weeks to figure it out.
5 ct @ 585

Everything after this was gripped with minimal index finger and thumb involvement, to strengthen the grip on the last 3 fingers.

Lat Pulldown:
3x8x200

Cable Low Row:
3x8x200

Single Arm Lat Pulldown:
3x8/8x80

Cable Grip w/ Pause (Straight bar, open and close hand, still just 3 fingers):
3x12x65

Some band triceps and the pec rehab around 65 lbs. Despite not being able to bench, I got a pretty huge pressing PR, so I can’t be unhappy with this workout. OHP is a very slow moving lift for me, so hitting a 5x1+ at about 98% of my 1RM is awesome. Hitting that grip daily though, really don’t want to drop a deadlift at a meet again.

Sunday

Deadlift w/ Belt - Okie Bar:
3x2x445
3x1x455 - 10 sec holds at the top. Hands were so beat up at this point in the week. Just pain tolerance training with this bar.

Single Arm Chain Biceps Curl:
3x10/10x40 - 3 finger grip again.

Chain Lateral Raise:
3x10/10x20s

Band Triceps Kickback/Pushdown:
3x12 @ 2 minis

Pec rehab up to 85x25. I tried out the high belt position again and I think it’s actually a good way to do it if I can remember to breathe into the belt and push hard against it. The weight blows up when I do that, but it’s awful and my hips shoot up if I don’t.

Heading into tapering this week. Obviously this isn’t nearly as important to me as it was a few weeks ago, but I’d still like to at least hit a decent deadlift, so I’m going to keep working just as hard as my beat up body allows.

549

Cornerstone Training - Week 17 - Day 1

Deadlift w/ Belt - Okie Bar:
1x495
1x525
1x545
1x565
1x585 - Fuckin blew up
2x585 @ 9.5 - Impromptu AMRAP because the first rep was awesome again. I nearly got a 3rd rep, like just had to get my shoulders back, everything else was locked, but my hands were getting shredded and I had to drop it. Regardless, match PR and almost 10 lb 3RM PR.

Paused Squat w/ Belt:
5x1x405 - Big milestone for the recovery of the knees.

Standing OHP:
1x205
1x225
1x235 - 5 lb PR! First OHP over my body weight too!
3x2x205

Band Facepull-Apart:
3x15 @ 2 minis - Actively pulling the band apart as part of the facepull movement

Bench:
2x25x45
50x45

This morning I got 85, 95, and 115x25 as my pec rehab work. There was almost no pain for the first time since starting the protocol. May be able to bench at the meet after all. But I’m not going to force it if it’s not there.

Super excited about this workout though. I was meant to work up to 565 with the option of going higher if it was there for another heavy, but smooth, single. 565 wasn’t the best, but I wanted lmao6plate today. I seriously demolished 585, like it moved as well as the 525 a few sets earlier. I decided to cap myself with 585 to make sure I kept the lifts smooth and wanted to hit another single or two before moving on. Well I hit the next single so well that I just kept the set going and the 2nd rep was pretty much just as fast. The 3rd one I wasn’t able to reign in, but I definitely had the strength there. If I had been able to just hold on and get my shoulders back it would have come out to a 638 e1RM.

Also very happy with the squats and OHP today. My right knee is a little achey now, but I think I’ll be okay if I keep mobility up. OHP has been going great lately, likely because of the lack of benching allowing it to compensate from its own volume finally. I probably had 240-245 in me today, but didn’t need to try it for any reason.

550

Yesterday - Cornerstone Training - Week 17 - Day 2

Sumo Deadlift - Straps/Belt:
1x455
1x495 - Add belt here
2x495
2x505
2x525

Beltless Squat:
3x2x365 - Wanted to do 405, but my knees were iffy and I just stayed conservative.

Cable Low Row:
3x6x240

Triceps Pushdown - Reverse Grip:
3x6x60

Lat Pulldown:
3x6x200

Cable Curl - Single Arm:
3x6/6x35

Not the best or most exciting workout but I’m tapering at this point, so only 1 or 2 workouts per week should be really substantial. I looked at the wrong week on my plan and was thinking I was working up to 555x1 on sumo, but I looked again after my first set of 495 and realized it was supposed to be 2x2x490, 2x505, and 2x525. Just decided to do a double at 495 instead of going back down and then moved on. My form was pretty on point today I think. I didn’t really have to warm up my hips or anything.

Squat was okay, I think after the meet my plan is going to include front squats to force a reduction in weight, but keep the difficulty and box squats to take some pressure off my knees. Maybe those will help me recover finally.

edit: Just got done with my bench for the day for pec rehab. This was my 10th day of the Bill Starr protocol, which means the last day of 25 rep sets. I did 135, 155, and 175. Barely finished the 175 because my shoulders were dying, but my pec was fine. Tomorrow is 15s, then comes 10s, and then 5s and I’m done. Hopefully I’m good to go.

551

Saturday - Cornerstone Training - Week 17 - Day 3

Bench:
15x185
15x205
15x225 - No pec pain. Spoiler for Sunday: Didn’t go well.

Seated Overhead Press:
1x205
1x225
3x1x235 - PR
4x225 - +1 rep PR
2x4x185 - Paused
10x185 - +2 rep PR, but paused

Triceps Pushdown:
3x10x85+MIni

EZ Bar Spider Curl:
3x10x60

Lateral Raise:
3x10x35s

Barbell Curl Up:
4x12x95

Leg Extension w/ Single Leg Ecc:
3x10/10x70

Band Pull Apart:
2x50 @ Mini

Awesome overhead pressing day. Couldn’t be happier with that.

I was feeling decent about bench after this, but I still wasn’t getting my hopes up, and for good reason:

Sunday - Week 17 - Day 4

Bench:
5x185
5x225
10x245
8x260 - Started feeling weird from the first rep in my biceps area, thought I adjusted well enough but felt a small strain at the beginning of the 9th rep. More below.

Standing Overhead Press:
3x5x185 - Cool that I can do this casually now.

Pull-Ups:
3x8 @ BW

DB Incline Row - Straps:
3x8x130s - PR, I think

Lat Pulldown - Dual Handles:
3x8x160

HS Low (Yates) Row:
8x180
8x230
8x270

So this wasn’t a bad strain like the one 10 days ago or whatever, but it’s enough to make me go ahead and drop out of the meet other than deadlifting. I immediately did 25 reps with the bar and there was no pain, but did a couple push-ups later and confirmed that it was slightly pulled again. My level of apathy was pretty high, I’m not even disappointed really.

Like I said the day I strained it last, I was going to take some time to think about my future in competing. Basically I’ve decided that I am going to take an indefinite amount of time off so that I’m not worrying about the next meet every time I get done competing. I’d rather enjoy myself in the gym again. I’m still going to be training as a powerlifter and with powerlifting competitions in mind. I’m just wanting to increase my strength substantially before competing again. Maybe wishful thinking, but I’d like to go from my 1,549 total and skip over the 1,600s entirely and total 1,700 the next time I compete seriously. Maybe take a couple local practice meets between, but I want to take it to the national level the next time I get really into it. If I’m going to hit the numbers I want to hit, I need to get and stay healthy.

Regardless. Deadlift is still on for this meet and I’m ready.

552

Cornerstone Training - Week 18 - Day 1

Deadlift w/ Belt - Okie Bar:
1x495
1x545
1x585
2x1x600 - Not too bad at all. Used ammonia for practice, but barely any psyche up at all. First set was RPE 9.

Front Squat - Paused/3 Ct. Eccentric:
5x3x225

Bulgarian Split Squat:
2x20/20 @ BW

Band Seated Leg Curl:
2x20 @ Light

I haven’t pulled 600 since the meet when I lost my grip twice (last attempt was white lighted though), so I’m glad to be able to hit this pretty easily and then hold it at the top for a few seconds. Not hitting 97.5% often also means I have a tough time estimating what I can actually do past this weight. Somewhere between 620 and 635 I’m thinking, but that’s a pretty big gap of guessing. My attempts in 11 days hopefully will be something like 585 > 605-615 > 625-635. Would love to just skip over those 620s, but I’m not going to force it if it’s not there.

I fuckin hate front squats, but they’ll probably be part of my programming after the meet since they force a drop in weight. Yes, still have quad tendinosis.

553

Cornerstone Training - Week 18 - Day 2

Standing OHP:
1x205
1x225
1x235 - Match PR
4x2x205

HS Iso-Row:
3x8x320

One-Arm EZ Bar Curl:
8/8x30
10/10x30
12/12x30 - Liked these a lot. Just gripping an EZ bar in the middle and curling it like a dumbbell. Felt it a whole lot more in the biceps and made the forearms work way harder. Will be doing these a lot after the meet.

Cable Rear Delt Fly:
3x10/10x20

Cable Triceps Pushdown - Straight Bar:
3x12x75

I’m not really following any plan at this point other than deadlift programming since everything is so screwed up. I just made up this workout as I went and it was just fine. I’m happy with my OHP performance, even though my unracking and step out was off.

I don’t have a set plan of action at all for after the meet, but I do want to put some hypertrophy focus on my forearms, biceps, calves, and delts. Half and half joint health and vanity. But srs, I need my lifts to be safer and to get/stay healthy if I want to be great at this.

554

Friday - Cornerstone Training - Week 18 - Day 3

Sumo Deadlift - Belt/Straps:
2x455
2x505
1x525
1x540
1x555 - Match PR from 4/18/2012 when I was an exclusively (shitty) sumo puller. lol

Squat w/ Belt:
3x1x405 - Was going to do 5 singles, but had some weird medial knee pain on the right side, so I stopped. Haven’t felt anything since.

Cable Ab Pulldown:
3x12x80

I hate sumo. I’m good up to about 500 and then it gets tough as hell. Oh well, I’m not competing that way so IDGAFFFFF

Saturday - Week 18 - Day 4

Standing OHP:
3x4x185
9x185 - Barely missed the 10th rep

Machine Row:
4x8x205

Machine Incline Press:
3x15x150 - Never done these before. Actually could be good for getting back into benching for the pecs

Cable Fly:
3x15x15/side - Very light, 3 angles

Triceps Pushdown:
3x12x80

One-Arm EZ Bar Curl:
3x10/10x40

Cardio - Recumbent Bike:
10 mins - 75 rpm - level 10/25 or something

Probably forgot something since this was another fuckaround day. OHP was feeling heavy, but still almost got a PR on the AMRAP.

Only thing to do now is my opener on Monday of 580, 135 work on Wednesday, and perform the water cut of about 10 lbs. Here’s how I’m doing it:

Sunday - 1.5 gallons. Normal food.
Monday - 2 gallons. High sodium. Carbs lowered to 300g.
Tuesday - 2 gallons. High sodium. Carbs lowered to 200-250g.
Wednesday - 2 gallons, half distilled. No sodium. Carbs lowered to 100g.
Thursday - 1 gallon distilled before 2pm. No sodium. No carbs. Cut food at 12pm. 2-3 shots of liquor as last liquid around 5pm.
Friday - Weigh in at 9am.

Biggest difference is Thursday. I used to have a quart of water up to cutting it off. That didn’t really keep me pissing because the water cut off was practically Wednesday and that quart wasn’t enough to make me have to go. What I want to do instead is keep pounding the water right up until going cold turkey, that way it keeps pouring off. Liquor is for diuretic, which I would have right after cutting water at 2pm, but I’ll be at work.

555

Opener

Deadlift w/ Belt:
1x135
1x225
1x315
1x405
1x495 - Fastest I’ve ever moved this. Stupidly easy.
1x545 - Got much harder for some reason. My hands got torn up, so I think it threw me off.
1x575 - Didn’t want to, but I went with straps for this so I didn’t tear any callouses. Obviously that screwed my setup and it was slow, but my form stayed solid. Not the biggest confidence booster, but meet day is a different animal.

Banded KB Swing:
3x10x40+Mini

Band Pull-Apart:
3x25 @ mini

Band Pull-Over:
3x12 @ Mini

I’m not too disappointed with my 545 or 575 reps, since I’ve moved those weights very easily recently and all of the preceding sets were very fast.

Rest of the week is mostly rest and hand care. Need my grip to be ready for a big pull for once.

556

Hope you didn’t mess up your pec too much. Stay strong and good luck deadlifting

557

Thanks, VG! It’s not too messed up, I just need to take a longer time rehabbing it and figure out what’s causing the strains.

Yesterday - Week 18 - Day 2 - Last gym day before the meet

Deadlift w/ Belt:
3x1x365

Lat Pulldown:
4x15x100 - For glycogen depletion. Minimal eccentric stress.

Triceps Pushdown:
3x12x25 - Same as above

Leg Extension:
2x15x55 - Same as above

Deadlift felt fine. I just need to focus on setting my grip and pulling the slack out of the bar to really pull well on Saturday.

I’m currently about 4 hours from cutting off water. I woke up this morning in the 225-226 range, so I shouldn’t have any issues making weight.

I’ll be back in a few days with a new deadlift PR!

558

Battle of the Beasts II - Deadlift Only Meet

Despite being deadlift only, this is going to be long due to detailing the water cut and refeed, since it worked so well. I did deadlift only because I’ve had quad tendinosis for 5 months and my pec strained (again) about 3.5 weeks out.

Weight Cut

I used this meet as a practice for a larger weight cut than I’ve ever done. I’ve been sitting at 230 for a couple months now, so I needed to lose 10 lbs to get to the 220s. I’ve hit 7-8 lb cuts a couple times way too easily, so I wanted to push it a bit further since this was deadlift only. Here’s what I did:

Monday-Tuesday: 2 gallons of water, high sodium, 350-375g carbs - I was 238.4 on Monday night. Such bloat.
Wednesday: 2 gallons of water, 2nd of which was distilled, almost no sodium, <100g carbs
Thursday: 1 gallon of distilled water, cut water at 1:30pm, no sodium, cut food at 12:30pm, cashews/whey for breakfast and chicken/veggies/olive oil for lunch
Thursday evening: 2 shots of vodka, hot tub at 104 degrees for 3x12 minute cycles. Started at 225-226 and ended it at 222. Not sure if I recommend the shots+hot tub. No food or water makes you very drunk and the hot tub compounds the effect. Great for sweating though.
Friday: Woke up and drove 45 mins to weigh-ins in a hoody and the heat blasting. Weighed in at 100.2 kg (220.9 lbs) and then used mints to spit into a cup for about 30 mins. Weighed in again at 99.9 kg.

Refeed

I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be ashamed of this part or not. Here’s what happened:

Immediately after weigh-ins: Start slowly drinking 1 gallon of half and half Gatorade and water, and eat a Lunchables (seriously if you haven’t looked at the sodium, it’s awesome for this).
30 mins later: Chick-Fil-A chicken biscuit, hashbrowns, and Orange juice.
Lunch: Panda express. Orange chicken, teriyaki chicken, fried rice, chow mein, soy sauce, and 1/2 of my girlfriend’s honey sesame chicken.
Snacks: Things like cookies, pretzels, nutty bars, and chex mix
Dinner: Jim N’ Nicks BBQ. Pulled chicken, turkey, fries, baked beans, and cheese biscuits.

I was back to about 230 around 6 hours post weigh-in and 234 after that dinner. I was absolutely bloated AF. I gained sleep apnea for the night.

Nutrition:
Fat - 236g
Protein - 235g
Carbs - 793g
Fiber - 29g
Sodium - 15,338mg

Meet Day

Woke up and ate some overnight oats, since my glycogen obviously needed to be filled. Went to the meet venue and basically just handled my girlfriend’s meet up until about 2pm when I needed to start warming up for deadlifts. I wasn’t exactly resting the whole day since I was helping a few people. I was more nervous about all of that than I’ve felt during my own meets honestly. I think it helped me stay warm, but my mid back was getting tight after a while. Foam rolled it out as best I could though. I took a scoop of Mr. Hyde before warm-ups. Nutrition for the day was sugar.

Warm-ups went 135x5, 225x3, 315x2, and singles for 405, 455, 495, and 545. As you may know, grip has been my issue in the past 2 meets. It wasn’t a DL bar that we had to warm up with, so my grip confidence wasn’t great and I actually tore some skin away on a few places. I super glued those places and went out to wait. It took about 20 minutes to get to me, I think.

First Attempt - 262.5 kg / 578.7 lbs - Good lift. Though somewhat fast, it wasn’t a great pull relative to what I’ve done in training recently. Thought I felt my grip slipping a bit, but I figured I was just psyching myself out because that’s what my girlfriend told me, basically. She was right, so I just sat there tweaking out from the caffeine and listened to metal and visualized the next lift.

Second Attempt - 275 kg / 606.3 lbs - Good lift. 6 lb meet PR. No grip issues at all. Moved better than my opener, but I was a bit out of position and shook a bit.

Third Attempt - 282.5 / 622.8 lbs - Good lift! 22 lb meet PR / 7.7 lb all time PR! Pretty much lost my mind and killed this rep. I don’t remember anything but screaming before the lift and then looking down at it in my hands after it. Saved all my rage from the training cycle for this and it worked. We went with the conservative attempt we had selected prior to the meet. I think I had 630-640 in me but I’m very happy to hit this weight easily instead of possibly failing something higher and being pissed.

Conclusion

If I had done a full meet, I probably could have easily gone 475/385/623 despite my injuries and come in second place about 100 lbs above 3rd and like 325 lbs below first (Garrett GUNZ Griffin). There would be no point in risking further injury for that, so I know that I made the right decision in going with DL only. My plans for the future are to take a long time between now and the next meet and hopefully for it to be a national level meet. I’ve been too focused on when the next meet is happening and I end up pushing myself too hard. I need to clear up this tendinosis and fix my pec for good. It may be over a year before I compete again, but I basically want to be opening with my PRs the next time (540/408/623).

559

Transition/Deload - Day 1

Beltless Paused Squat w/ Oly Shoes:
5x3x315

Wide Grip Paused Bench - IPF Style (Heels/head down):
5x10x185

Banded KB Swings:
5x12@40+Mini

Band Wood Choppers:
4x12/12 @ Mini

First time in Oly shoes in a good while. I didn’t really have a reason to use them over the Reeboks other than curiosity. At 315, my knees felt fine with them. I think I’ll use a mix of the shoes when I get back into more squatting to maybe try and avoid overuse of the knees. Regardless, all of the paused squats were fast and easy.

I’ve never done IPF style benching, so it was definitely weird. No issues keeping my heels down, since that’s determined by my setup and I used the Oly shoes. The hard part was remembering to keep my head down. Such an arbitrary rule. It still felt pretty good in a mechanical way and my pec felt fine. The heels down didn’t really kill my arch like I thought it would, I just have to figure out leg drive this way. Again, this was mostly done for curiosity, but still with future plans in mind. The wide grip is something I will be moving towards for my competition bench. I was able to shorten my ROM by at least 1/3 with my ring fingers on the rings, so I think it will be very beneficial in the long run. It will just be a slow process of adding weight, because I need to get my pecs conditioned for it and I’ve always been a narrow bencher.

560

Transition/Deload - Day 2

DB Flat Bench:
4x8x100s - Some paused, some not, based on feel

DB Incline Bench:
3x12x75s - Same deal

Cable Pec Fly:
3x12x30s - High, middle, low

HS High Row:
3x10x230
2x10x230+2 Doubled Minis

Cable Triceps Pushdown:
12/12x50 - Reverse/Normal
10/10x50 - Same
8/8x50 - Same

Cable Curl:
2x15x50
8x50, 8x35, 8x25 - Drop set

This was the most bodybuilding-est day I’ve done in a long time. DB bench felt good for the most part, other than a few pec feels mixed in there. I haven’t really done flies regularly ever, so they will likely be included in the programming to help condition/heal my pecs.

I like the high rows with the bands. Makes the peak contraction harder, since it’s usually just floating with momentum at that point.