The Cube Boss aka The Cube Kingpin Log

Training Logs
1

The Cube Boss aka The Cube Kingpin

Personal Stats: 21y/o, 5’ 6", 160lbs.
Current PRs: Squat: 455lbs. Bench: 245lbs. Deadlift: 518.5

This will be my first time running The Cube Kingpin and I have great expectations after reading Brandon Lilly’s book. I highly recommend buying the book itself, not only to support Brandon Lilly who is one of the most highly respected powerlifters on the planet and one of my personal favorites, but also so that you have the hard copy on hand.

I will try to keep this log updated and occasionally include some pictures and videos. You can also follow me on Instagram @danmeskell because I upload a lot of videos from various workouts. My next meet is on the 10th of May and that fits perfectly with the Cube Kingpin’s 9 week cycle (the 10th week being a meet or mock meet).

I have some long term personal goals for my lifts (600/315/600) but my shorter term goals are rather simple, I just want to set PRs on meet day. I don’t personally care if each meet I increase my bests by 1lb at a time. Progress is progress.

2

I am running The Cube as outlined in this Google spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AmZGdkeV0WE_dHZ6c2VtY3dLTHIxYTdEZ1BLVmJlS1E&usp=sharing

If you don’t know already, The Cube is based off of the following cycle: Heavy Day, Rep Day and an Explosive Day and if you’d like to include a Bodybuilding Day at the end of the week you can.

Each primary lift (squat, bench and deadlift) gets 3 Heavy Days, 3 Rep Days and 3 Explosive Days throughout the 10 weeks (the 10th week being a meet). For example, if you squat heavy one day, the other two days that week will be a rep day and the other an explosive day. The following week you would either squat for reps or explosiveness and the other two lifts would cycle as well. The bodybuilding day is customizable to focus on your weaknesses.

All training is based off of 95% of PRs for the Big 3.

3

WEEK 1-DAY 1 - HEAVY DEADLIFT

First things first, The Pre-Workout. In The Cube Method Brandon Lilly stresses how important a good pre-workout routine is. He lays it out as a 3 Step process: The Mashup (foam rolling, lacrosse ball, IT bands), Stretching and Warming Up (push-ups, pull-downs, lunges, etc.).

Mashup: I started with foam rolling (I actually use a piece of PVC pipe because I like the durability and cheapness of it) my back, hamstrings, calves and quads. Then I used a baseball to roll out some tight spots in my upper back.

Stretching: hips, back, legs and shoulders. I use a stretching machine at my gym that is great for stretching out my back and shoulders.

Warmup: 4x10 push-ups, 4x10 body weight squats and 5 minutes on an oliptical to get my heart rate up. Starting off with deadlifts I did some warmup sets of 135x5, 225x4, 315x2 and 365x2

COMPETITION STANCE DEADLIFT: 5x2 - 395 (395x2x2, 405x3x2)
It was my first time deadlifting heavy since my last comp. which was a little over a week ago. The first 2 sets felt great so I upped the “suggested” weight and did my last 3 sets with 405. Keeping in mind that in his book Lilly constantly reminds you to not miss reps I didn’t want to pick a weight that’d be impossible but 395 just felt too lite (plus my ego wanted me to have 4 plates on each side of the bar rather than 3 and some change).

BLOCK PULLS: 2x3 - 420 (420x3, 420x5)
Not lucky enough to have blocks at my gym so I just did rack pulls, positioning the bar just below my knees to start. I am often reminded that you are only as strong as your hands and my hands failed me once again. I can hold that weight no problem I just get to the point where it feels like the bar is on fire and my calluses just won’t allow me to grasp the bar. It’s frustrating but I threw on my straps and finished out the sets hitting 5 on my second set. Lower back was feeling pretty tight at this point.

DEFICIT DEADLIFTS: 2x4-6 - 370 (370x5x2)
The Google spreadsheet I found that outlines this program says this lift should be “2’ Deficit Deadlifts.” That’s right, 2 FEET. I took that as a typo for inches and decided to meet the requirement halfway and used an 8" box. My hands were still unable to hold the bar so I again used straps, just so you know I am not a fan of straps, I think that if you can’t hold the bar without them then you shouldn’t be using that much weight. You can’t use them in competition so why would you use them in training? They did come in clutch for me today though. These sets were pretty brutal, with the last rep for each set being real grinders.

LAT PULLDOWN: 4x15 - 180
Using a Hammer Strength lat pull down machine, I did a warmup set with a plate on each side then jumped right into my working sets. Weight felt fine, I will probably up it a little next week.

SHRUGS: 3x10 - 225
Shrugs are one of my favorite exercises so these were fun. I super-set them with
PULL-UPS: AMRAP
I hadn’t done pull-ups in a few months. It’s amazing how quickly you lose your strength when you don’t perform these consistently. I went from being able to do a few sets of 10-12, to getting 3 sets of 5. This will definitely be something I will look to improve on in the following weeks.

HEAVY DUMBBELL CARRY: 30 seconds x 3 trips
I used two 50lb kettle bells for these. The weight felt good but not for 30 seconds. I did the first trip then increased the time to 1 minute. I’ll either do the same next time or just get a heavier dumbbell.

FINISH: Core, Cardio and Stretch
For core I did 5x10 of back extensions with a 45lb plate and superset those with weighted side bends. My back was already tight so I figured why not make it tighter and do some back extensions.
For cardio I just hopped on the oliptical again for another 5 minutes.
I always finish with a solid stretch. Not as long of a stretch as I do during my preworkout but still a good enough stretch to aid in recovery.

4

WEEK 1-DAY 2 - BENCH FOR REPS

Started with 20 minutes of stretching, mashing and warming up.
For a warmup I did 4x10 pushups, 4x10 self body weight squats, 3x5 curls and 3x5 tricep extensions.

REMEMBER, ALL PERCENTAGES ARE BASED OFF OF 95% OF YOUR 1RM

COMPETITION BENCH PRESS: 2-3 x 8-12 - 70% (165 x 9, 8, 8)
I am not accustomed to doing sets over 5 reps and it certainly showed here. Weight felt fine for 6-7 reps but after that the fatigued hit me quick.

CLOSE-GRIP BENCH PRESS: 2 x 6-8 - 75% (178 x 3, 155 x 6)
After doing 3 sets of high rep bench my arms were shot. I started with the suggested weight and had to lower it for my second set. This upcoming bodybuilding day I will be doing a lot of accessory bench work and triceps will most definitely be apart of it.

BENCH WITH PAUSE 1" OFF CHEST: 2-3 x 10-12 - 65% (154 x 2 x 10)
This was not as bad as I thought it would be after the first two lifts. Still didn’t feel as strong as I could have been but that leaves me with plenty of room for improvement.

LAT PULLDOWN: 4 x 15 (180 x 4 x 15)
My grip was a lot better than it was on Monday so these felt good except that my last were a little sore.

SIDE/FRONT RAISES: 3 x10 (20 x 3 x 10)
Alternating between side and front raises doing 10 reps for each. This felt great. I’ll look to increase the weight throughout the weeks. I got a great pump from doing these.

PULLUPS: 3 x AMRAP (3 x 6, 6, 5)
Surprisingly, these felt much easier than they did on Monday.

CORE AND CARDIO:
Ab roller 5 x 10 and Oblique Cable Twists 5 x 10
Oliptical Machine for 5 minutes

I finished with a 15 minute stretch and mashup. The day felt ok. Not a good bench day by any means but it got better throughout the day. My bench needs much improvement but the other assistance lifts felt really strong. Next week will be a heavy bench day so I need to go into it expecting absolute hell considering how difficult the benching was today.

5

WEEK 1- DAY 3 - EXPLOSIVE SQUAT

I’ve been enjoying the warmup, stretching and mashing before lifting.
I stretched for 10 minutes, rolled for 5 and did a warmup of 5x10 push-ups and self-bodyweight squats.

COMPETITION STANCE SQUAT- 8x3 - 65% (based off of 95% of 1RM) 285x8x3
These felt great. It was my first time squatting since my comp on February 23rd but I felt great. Didn’t feel like I lost any strength or stamina in my legs and these 8 sets actually felt a little lite.

FRONT SQUAT- 2x5 - 70% - 305 (305x5, 275x3)
You have the option to do either Olympic Stance Squats or front squats and I chose front squats because I hadn’t done them in a while. The suggested weight wasn’t too heavy for my legs, but stabilizing the bar on my shoulders was the hard part. I got the first set of 5 with some help from my spotter but the second set wasn’t gonna happen. I figured I’d rather lower the weight and get the reps on my own and even after lowering the weight I still dropped the bar. I couldn’t stabilize the bar in front of me and it is certainly something I’ll look to strengthen because I understand the importance of front squats.

PAUSE SQUATS- 2-3x8 - 60% - 265 (265x3x8)
In a competition you won’t have a bench under your ass so why would you train with one? If you use a bench to help practice your explosion out of the hole then take a video of it and watch how much your mechanics change. For these pause squats I hit my mark (1-2" below parallel), paused for 1-2 seconds and exploded out of the hole. Some sets felt better than others but I am really looking forward to doing these in the future. For me, if I fail on a squat it’s in the hole. These are great for practicing that explosiveness and I’m sure they will pay off next meet.

LEG CURL / GLUTE HAM RAISES- 3x15
Rather than choosing between the two of these I decided to make it interesting and make up for the previous set of front squats by super setting these two. Rather than walking back and forth I decided to do self body weight lunges to and from both machines. By the second sets I was hurting. I loved it.

BACK EXTENSIONS- 4x12
My back was still somewhat tight from the back extensions I did earlier this week but these went well. Got a great back pump and using a 25lb plate was perfect. Got a great back stretch and extension.

PULL-UPS- 3xAMRAP - (3x6,6,5)
-superset with-
DUMBBELL WALK- 3 trips x 60 seconds

I finished using the ab roller and hanging leg raises doing both 5x10
Then I did my normal 5 minutes on the oliptical and then a 10-15 minute stretch