Okay, a post to start this, and then my background and workouts will follow.
I’ve mainly done bodybuilding/hypertrophy style training for the past few years. Yes, strength was nice to get, but I didn’t get a whole lot of it. I’ve been reading Louie’s and Dave’s articles for a while, and just recently joined a “real” gym after tinkering around with some Westside principles by myself. I’d also like to thank everyone here for the help that I’ve gotten. I don’t want to list all of you for fear of leaving somebody out, but you know who you are.
I’ve found a group of guys to work out with, but only one of them is experienced with this stuff. The gym owner, an elite lifter, is typically around in the mornings (we get there at 5:15) to keep a check on what we’re doing. He’ll coach us through box squats and stuff like that. Very valuable help for free.
I’ve been there for 2 months with a 2 week hiatus in the middle where I was just confused. We’ll forget about that now. Anyway, my bench was at 315 before starting this Westside stuff. After three weeks, I nailed 335 in the gym. My deadlift has gone from an ugly 375 to 449 or more (I almost hit 479). It goes up every time I test it. My squat was just ugly. I don?t know if I could get out of the mid 300s with a legal squat. I did some cambered bar box squats for 475 recently.
I’m getting ready for my first meet (2/3 of one, anyway), a push/pull on October 11th. I’ll be benching raw due to shirt screwups (on my part mostly). I’ll just be pulling in a belt. I don’t know where my raw bench will be with a judged pause, so I’ll have fun figuring out my opener for that. Probably start at 300 or so, then 320ish, then go for broke. I have no idea really. For the deadlift, I’ll probably start around 400, then 450, then whatever I feel like. I’m getting stronger every week, so it’s hard to say. I may only get 475, and I may pull 500. No idea. That’s why I’m doing it.
I’m also thinking about doing a full meet in early December. If I can get the equipment together, then it?s on. If not, I’ll probably still head down there to help someone out.
yep…I’m waiting Jared…;o)
Here’s my training split:
Mon - DE Bench
Tues - ME Squat
Thurs - ME Bench
Fri - DE Squat
9/29 - DE Bench
Speed bench w/fat bar (I’ll assume a weight of 70lbs for the fat bar) - all sets with mini bands - 90x3x3, 130x3x3, 140x3x3
A1) Fat bar lockouts suspended from chains. Maybe 6" off the chest - 170x10, 220x9, 220x8, 220x6
A2) Band pressdowns - 4 sets of 15 with a light green band
Shoulder presses on a stability ball - 30x10, 35x10, 40x8, 45x6-8
Shrugs - 225x10, 315x8, 405x6
Cable rows with fat bar - 4 sets. Started at 150, ended in low 200s
V-grip pulldowns - didn’t even look at the weight. Just kept up with the strongest guy. Started with 10 reps, got down to 6 on the last set.
Not a bad day considering I felt like crap the day before. Good speed.
That’s a heavy-ass fat bar at 70lbs. I think ours only weighs 35lbs.
I’m still pissed you’ll be benching raw at this meet.
9/30 - ME Squat
Deadlifts on jump stretch platform w/minis - worked up to 279x1, 309xmiss, 309xreally wuss miss
H Squat machine - 2 plates x 10, 4 plates x 7, 6 plates x 4 (total plates - not per side; all done one leg at a time)
Reverse Hypers (340) supersetted with GHRs - 3 sets. I typically don’t count the number of reps on these.
Steve - you’re right. That fat bar is pretty damn heavy. 70lbs sounds about right. By feel, I would say it was more than that, but I’ll go with the 70 they say. It’s a pain moving that thing around setting up for exercises.
I’m pissed about going raw too. I think I’m going to give Karin a try for the bench shirt. There are some guys there that use Karin, so hopefully I can get some good help with the shirt.
Those deads on the jump stretch were easy until I got to my knees. Then they sucked.
Jared has a log now – coolness.
10/2 - ME Bench
Bench w/80lbs of weight releasers - worked up to 275x3, 295x1, 315x1. Took weight releasers off, went for reps - 225x14.
A1) Pushups on handles w/bands - 3x10ish
A2) Tricep extensions from floor on leg extension machine - 3x8-10
B2) Machine shoulder press - 4 sets, worked up in weight
B3) Face pulls - 60x10x3
Machine pullovers - 3x6-10
This was my first time with the weight releasers. I worked up to 395 with them. That was hard to slow down on the way down. Then one of the guys wanted to do some reps. So we through 225 on. One guy beat me by getting 16, but he went after me. It really killed my triceps and shoulders after the weight releasers.
“threw”. Not “through”. Nice one Jared. Nice.
A lot of shoulder in there Jared. No wonder your shoulders hurt.