Yesterday
BW 93.4kg
High bar
5 warmups superset with back extension situps for 5s
DMs
130kg x 1
140kg x 1
150kg x 1
160kg x 1
170kg x 1 @ 8
180kg x 1 @ 8.5/9 - stronger than I expected. 5kg PR over last week.
187.5kg x F - didn’t have the strength out of the hole. Went for it for the double BW lift and honestly thought it was there. First lift I’ve missed in the last 8 weeks, bailed safely and nothing injured, so not too beat up about it.
Cgbp
4 warmups superset with pullups bw for 6s
DMs
90kg x 1
100kg x 1
110kg x 1 - RPE 8.5
115kg x F
Was really annoyed after the 115 fail. It should’ve been there based on how warmups felt. Only significant change was that I asked someone for a spot for the first time in 2 months and chose the most distracting person I could - I don’t need to be told how dangerous lifting looks throughout my setup, and he stood on the rack so that it didn’t move like a break bench which made the unrack more difficult. Basically spent an extra minute sitting back upright and correcting him repeatedly instead of thinking about nailing the lift.
My bad, will choose someone else next time/suck it up and be able to hit 115 distracted or not.
Today
Was honestly gonna hit a regular session but ended up pressed for time so maxed out lolz.
Cgbp
4 warmups superset with facepulls for 20s
DMs
90kg x 1
100kg x 1
110kg x 1 - RPE 8.5
115kg x spotter took it too early then dropped it on my face - RPE 9 if I’d been allowed to push it
115kg x the same result again
Both would’ve gone up so I’m a little annoyed that the spotters jumped in but that just comes with Tonga. Made up for it on pulls big time.
Pulls
80kg x 3
100kg x 1
120kg x 1
140kg x 1
160kg x 1
180kg x 1
200kg x 1
220kg x 1 - beltless PR from 105 days matched
227.5kg x 1 - 7.5kg beltless PR and first 500lbs pull since my time off
Dips
20,15,10
Ss/ Pullups
10,8,5
Incline curls
Some x 2 x 12
Ss/ Cable pushdowns
Some x 2 x 20
Vids of past couple of sessions
Max Smith on Instagram: "Closing out 6 weeks of daily maxing with a 180kg beltless high bar squat for a 5kg PR, two good pushes at 115kg on close grip bench to tie my PR (note to self, find a spotter who speaks English as a first language next time), and a return to the 500lbs club with a 227.5kg beltless deadlift for a 7.5kg PR. #powerlifting #93kg #Bulgarianforpowerlifting #squat #deadlift #bench #squateveryday #bencheveryday"
Thoughts on last 6 weeks.
Daily maxing so far has been a great experience. Good results in terms of strength. Technique feeling solid. No real sore spots. Excited to keep going. Maxing properly over the last couple of days was fun but now I need to find competition dates and get into a swing of conservative maxing building towards that.
Didn’t achieve all the goals I set out for myself this trip before switching to Bulgarian training - I wanted 10 reps at 60kg on ohp and have no idea if I’m anywhere near that to be honest. 5 sets of 10 on pullups, maybe on a good day. 5x5 at 100kg on cgbp - not a clue. One set of 5 is probably there but I’ve been holding off on back offs enough that I’ve not tried it.
180kg x 3 paused high bar was far too lofty a goal, I overestimated my starting point and am happy with how squats have come on.
End of the day, I’ve gotten stronger on the three main lifts I was working, as well as a bunch of BW accessories/fun tricks like handstands. Successful start to this training style.
Plan for next few months.
There will be a uni meet in the next few months so as soon as I’m back into training daily I’ll be moving back to low bar and comp grip bench as my daily max lifts. I’ll hold back the weight for a couple of weeks, but I’m sure I’ll be hitting similar weights to the past couple of months fairly quickly just cos my comp lifts are that much stronger.
I anticipate that the comp lifts will tax my lower back and shoulders more so will be lowering intensity on pulls and rotating in more friendly lifts as back off volume and infrequent daily maxes.
Gear wise, I’m going to add it back in slowly. Long term I’ll rotate gear in and out and track weekly averages of daily maxes with what gear was worn, mainly out of interest in how much it helps. If there’s no massive trend then I’ll l stop doing that. In all likelihood I’ll end up going full gear whore every day anyway.
There’ll be a new log coming soon probably and I’ll probably explain the plan again there. Will keep using this log until I’m back to daily maxing (on the off chance I find a gym on the way home).
