You’re already there dude. I said it before; you’re a presser that can deadlift. Seriously dangerous, haha. Great stuff!
I still gotta get it conventional! Plus I’m like 40lbs heavier than you. Someday.
God damn, that PR. Why’d you make such a big jump though?
585-655? or 585-675?
585-655. I know 585-675 is just six plates.
I just kind of bit the bullet and went for it man. 585 felt easier than ever before even when I doubled 635 so I knew I could do something big. I tend to do that a lot with maxes.
Oh, okay. Though you’ve already doubled 635, so wasn’t it in the cards already (unless you did 635 tng then it is kinda iffy)? I was thinking that you hit a 70 pound PR. lol
@Destrength Deadlifts for me have always been hell. I was stuck at 500lbs for 2 years with crippling hip and back problems. So going from a dreadfully slow 585 sumo pull with straps to a conservative 655 with hook grip in a year is really a big deal for me. Also, without even training my conventional, and from sumo training alone, my conventional went up about 50lbs. Pretty crazy!
8/6/16 - Welp, partially pulled my pec doing floor press, so I guess benching is out for a while. Oh well, I didn’t like you anyway bench press.
Floor Press
135x8
225x3
275x3
335x…just felt a huge amount of pressure on my right pec (the one I tore 2 years ago) and just let it fall to the mats. Sucks.
Axle Clean and Press (double overhand)
180x3,3
215x3
265x5 wow I fucking toyed with this weight. The only thing stopping me from doing 10 reps was the grip factor on the double overhands.
Tried to push jerkr out of the rack but the eccentric was botheriing my pec so I could not do those. Sucks.
Pull Ups
+45lbs x 8, x8 , x7
bwx12
bwx10
bwx10
Did some conditioning with a tire and hammer and called it.
8/8/16 - Super tough day for conditioning. I wasn’t expecting an easy day but I didn’t expect 3 reps alone to make me want to die. Anyway.
Beltless Pause Front Squat SS w/ Log Viper Press (2 minute rest between each set, agony)
185x3/160x3
225x3/215x3 holy crap SHITTY one motions, need to work on it
275x3/215x3
275x3/215x3
275x3/215x3
275x3/215x3
275x3/215x3
Okay, so I found a new combination of exercises to make you want to hate your life. The beltless pause fronts make it so you literally cannot breathe at all so when you go to viper press you feel your brain starting to shut down. It’s really awesome!
On a serious note, the one motions got better in the face of fatigue, somehow. I think there’s a certain level of awareness that you must grasp when you’re trying to one motion any strange object. I noticed when I try to muscle the log over my head it won’t budge, but when I really try to extend my body completely toward the top end of the extension it finishes out the rep easily.
Some abs and done.
8/10/16 - Hardest training day I’ve had in a long time. No words really.
Farmers: One minute rest periods with 260 per hand for 50 feet with a drop and repick at halfway. Oh my god…hello death. Did 10 total sets. The walks were actually really easy, but the picks by the end were so brutal. I just had nothing left in my quads.
Bent Row
225x10
225x10
225x10
225x10
Lying Leg Raise SS w/ Oblique Crunch
x15/x15
x15/x15
x15/x15
8/12/16 - Have to really work on my stability with log. Part of it is due to the resurgence into full strongman training, so the carrying events, especially given the heavy ones done a few days ago, have really put a hurt on my recovery. Nevertheless, I still got a greedy PR.
Log (out of rack)
110x5,3
200x3
230x1
255x1
280x6 PR by one really shitty rep. Keep in mind I did 300 for 4 AFTER multiple singles a month ago, so clearly my strength was siphoned a bit. No problem.
Strict Log w/ band suspended weights
110x3,3
110+50lbs x 3
160+50lbs x 5 ties a PR but this was more difficult than what I did a year ago because the band was hanging 1 1/2 feet from the sleeves of the log and considered the work I had done before.
Face Pull
x20
x20
x20
x20
8/14/16
Pause Front Squats w/ bands
135+110lbs bands x 3
185+110lbs bands x 3
185+190lbs bands x 3
235+190lbs bands x 3
315+190lbs bands x 6, could not pause the last rep, super heavy at the top
Paused Tire Flips: basically, break the tire off the ground like 8-10 inches, pause for a second, and explode up. Did this on the grass so it was very hard.
700x5
700x5
700x5
700x5
700x5
Oh, okay, that makes it a lot more impressive. i was just having trouble scaling it in my head. Also damn, nice progress in a year. I think your deadlift went up as much as my squat (more or less) this past year. I know there was a time that I’d kill for a squat PR, really stalled lifts are the more frustrating part about any strength sport.
@Destrength Yeah, I read about what you said about how it’s hard to get all three lifts to go up at once, and I feel that was how it was for me for like 4 years and I’m only now finding a way to slowly bump all three (not bench, but overhead) up at once. I’ve been trying to cycle stuff by training different variables for like 4 week long cycles, then training a new set of variables and then shooting for PR’s. Part of it is building confidence by just increasing the weight slightly and stuff like that. It’s kind of nice. I think everyone is in a different phase of their lifting though. I definitely had a paradigm shift not long ago and I’m fortunate for that.
8/16/16 - Feeling like I might be getting sick. Not good!
Deadlifts (sumo, hook grip)
135x5,5
225x3
315x3 felt weird
315x3 better…
405x1
495x14 three rep PR, fuckin wow. My thumbs have grown indestructible. I have no idea how the bone and nail is still intact.
I’m definitely way stronger on reps with deadlifts than I am heavier with low reps. Sounds presumptuous, but I could have kept going to like 15-16 with 495. I have a disgustingly strong lockout for deads and sumo just gets rid of my weak link that exists in conventional pulls, so I just feel no struggle pulling lighter weights.
Yoke
450x75ft, 9.5s
450x75ft, 8.93s
450x75ft, 9.17s
450x75ft, 9.20s
Hm, that seems interesting. Could you give an example?
Part of my issue is that I run conjugate, which requires you to find weaknesses/something to address (being small is a weakness for example, just like having a lockout issue on the bench is a weakness) to drive your lifts. You need a minimum amount of focus to address it adequately, and the squat and deadlift don’t always have the same issue you need to address (unless you have something horrifically deficient, or your two lifts draw on a lot of the same muscles at around the same amounts), and you aren’t always right on what needs to be addressed. Then there are minor injuries/overuse, mental factors, recovery (each of the three lifts take from your recovery, and if hit the lower body lifts really hard your upper body lifts need to be dialed back and vice versa), etc that pile on top of it which makes it messy. When you get it right it’s glorious though.
@Destrength I’d train AMRAPs with moderate weights for a week on lifts to keep a PR testing buffer in my training without having to actually max out. Then I’d train perhaps 5x5, 7x3, 6x1, or variables akin to that, which each set/rep scheme designated to each week, and those three things, or 4 (usually 4), would stretch out for a 4 week cycle. Then I’d attack some variations of each main lift for 4 weeks. Then I’d maybe go back to AMRAPs, then try to beat my old 5x5, 7x3, 6x1 PR’s. Not sure what you would call that. I mean it is based off how I feel, so that’s just your skeleton for how I train.
8/18/16 - Kinda hurt my bicep. Sleep hasn’t been the best and I got overzealous today and trained something I should not have so soon after deadlifts and not being fully recovered. Kinda pissed off but it is what it is.
Strict Log
110x3,3
160x3
210x2
250x1 felt pretty meh so I just stopped here, plus it was bothering my pec.
Log Viper Press/Axle Continental Clean and Press Circuit
160x3/180x3
210x3/215x3 the axle is literally completely covered in sweat and i’m not any drier. I just cannot clean it without awkwardness.
210x3/215x3
210x3/215x3
Felt a weird click/pull in my right bicep during a really stupid fool hardy clean of the axle. It was double overhand but I got really frustrated at the sweating dilemma so I pulled on it way too hard with my arms and it just did not feel pleasant. Feels like a very minor tear, but it feels fine, just slight weird feelings when I flex the bicep.
SOHP
135x20
135x20
135x20
Anyway, what I SHOULD have done, was some lighter strict log work. I should have not picked anything up off the floor. My lower body was pretty trashed from deadlifts. First my pec, now my bicep. Though both are very minor, clearly very eye opening as well. Need to calm the fuck down.
Looks like you and I are in a race now, haha. I’m the same as you with reps vs max weight. It’s a different skill.
Also, as tough as it is, good on you for knowing when it’s time to slow it down. It’s the sucky part about getting smarter, but as the saying goes “sometimes it’s easy to be hard and hard to be smart”.
You’re still killing it dude. Good work.
Thanks man. I’m slightly discouraged but it’s all good. I did see you toying with 495 too in your log. Your rebound is beastly.
Sometimes, when you hit rock bottom hard enough, you bounce really high, haha.
Hahaha, the poetry.
Also, while we’re at it, I love the intentionally banal reusing of that picture of that dude squatting 135 on a medicine ball in your blog. I…didn’t know where else to give that compliment but it’s fucking hilarious the more I see it hahahaha.
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