Westside Barbell Style Training Log

Training Training Logs
61

23/05/09 (AM) - Dynamic / Repetition Lower Body

  • Band Box Squats

Now on the second week of the three week wave with green bands. Last week I had 120kg of bar weight for 12 sets of 2.

Increased the weight significantly this week. I was able to use 135kg for the first 6 doubles and then 140kg for the remaining 6 sets. Definitely hard, but I feel like I had a bit left and none of them were grinders. If I can get to 150kg with this next week I’ll be really pleased.

  • Extra Wide Sumo Deadlifts

My hips were pretty tired at this point, so these were harder than they might have been otherwise. Did sets of 5 on 60kg and 100kg to warm up. Then singles on 120kg and 140kg.

My working weight was 150kg for 8 singles as usual. The last couple were pretty slow, but I’m more focussed on working my hips with these than with speed. We have one more week of these and then we’re going to go back to some conventional speed work.

  • GHRs

With a monster mini band. 4 sets of 8.

  • Front Box Squats

These felt really difficult today, probably partly because I’ve been working my quads pretty hard recently and also because of the rest of this session. All sets of 5. Weights were:

60kg, 80kg, 90kg, 100kg.

Then I did a second set on 100kg but I was tired at this point and lost my hold on the bar (luckily I was saved by the power rack), so I left it here.

  • Trap Bar Shrugs

4 sets of 12 on 130kg.

  • Straight Leg Situps

On the GHR as usual. 3 sets of 15.

Finished off with rolling my whole back and doing some stretches for the bench.

62

25/05/09 (AM) - Dynamic Bench Press

Because my finals are coming up I am now training early in the morning so that I can spend the rest of the day working. My workouts are also substantially shorter than they have been in the past. I am looking at the next couple of weeks as a deload phase so that following my exams I can come back to training hard.

  • Band Bench Press

The same as last week. Doubled-up thin purple bands at either end of the bar. 9 sets of 3 in total with 3 different grips. Bar weight was 70kg.

This felt really fast this morning, which was a particular shock because I’m not used to training at this time of day.

  • Medium Grip 2-board press

Medium grip means thumbs-from-smooth. All sets of 3. Did sets on 60kg, 80kg and 100kg to warm up. Then 6 working sets of 3 on 115kg.

  • Pullups

Using the black band to help me as before. Reps were:

6, 5, 4, 5

  • Face Pulls

4 sets of 10 with the heaviest weight I could do with reasonable form (I can’t remember exactly what that was).

That was it for today. My log will also (unfortunately) have to be a little less detailed for a while as I need to make the most of all the time I have available to revise.

63

26/05/09 (AM) - Max Effort Lower Band

  • Conventional Band Deadlifts

With a band doubled up over the bar, then I stood on the band to hold it down. We actually started with two monster mini bands and then removed one band part way through.

Started on 60kg and 100kg for triples to warm up. Everything else was singles.

Made 20kg jumps to 180kg. This was surprisingly difficult and we removed one of the monster mini bands at this point and carried on.

Made 10kg jumps to 210kg. Then failed on 220kg.

I haven’t done this specific movement before, so I don’t have a previous max to compare this to. To be honest though it didn’t feel particularly strong today, it might still be the effect of the squats on Saturday.

  • GHRs

With weight. 4 sets of 8 holding a 5kg plate.

  • Box Jumps

Jumping onto an 18" box from a seated position and holding weight. These were surprisingly difficult and not something I’ve done often. All sets of 4, weights were:

10kg, 15kg, 15kg, 10kg.

  • Straight Leg Situps

On the GHR. 4 sets of 15 with bodyweight only.

Apologies for the lack of detail with my log, and for posting this so late. I’m going to try to get back on track a bit. The revision is now going pretty well so I think I should have more time.

64

28/05/09 (AM) - Max Effort Bench

  • Incline Bench Press

My previous max on this is 120kg for a triple. All my sets here were triples.

Started on 40kg and made 20kg jumps up to 100kg. Then did 110kg and 117.5kg.

Finally I tried 122.5kg to set a PR. I got the first two reps but failed on the third. This was really close, and I’m pretty happy with how it went even though I didn’t quite get that last rep. As long as I can maintain my strength during the build up to my finals I’ll be happy.

  • Tricep Pushdowns

Looped one of my new thin purple bands around the top of the cable machine. All sets of 8. I started on 30kg and then increased the weight by 5kg for each set up to 50kg. Maybe could have gone a little bit heavier but this was quite a few sets so I left it here.

  • Close Grip Pulldowns

4 sets of 6. Started on 60kg and then increased the weight to 80kg for the remaining sets.

  • Trap Bar Shrugs

All sets of 12. Weights were:

110kg, 130kg for 3 sets.

65

30/05/09 (AM) - Dynamic / Repetition Lower Body

  • Band Box Squats

The third week of this cycle with green bands. No real focus on speed this week, but more about getting heavier weight. Only doing 10 sets of 2. Last week I did 12 sets of 2 with 140kg and the same band tension. All sets were doubles.

Started on 60kg, 80kg, 100kg, 120kg and 140kg to warm up.

My first two working sets were with 150kg. Then I increased the weight to 155kg for 7 doubles. Some of these were real grinders, but I got the reps done. My final set I increased the weight to 157.5kg for a double. I think I probably would have been able to do 160kg for at least one set.

I’m really pleased with this weight, I only got 165kg 3 weeks ago with purple bands, so it’s definitely a reasonably improvement, since these bands provide much more tension than the purple ones. My aim is to do an in-gym competition in about 4 weeks time where I’ll be able to see what my squat is now (as well as my other lifts).

  • Speed Deadlifts

All singles. 8 reps on 180kg after warming up. These were really quick, I maybe should have gone a bit heavier, but after the heavy squats I didn’t want to push it too hard.

Again I’m really pleased here, my deadlifts really didn’t feel very strong on Tuesday but it seems like that was just a one-off and my strength is back.

  • GHRs

Declined the machine by raising the back end about 6". 4 sets of 8 with bodyweight only.

This was it for today, a very short workout so that I can get back to work. I think I’ll be able to maintain or even improve my strength over the next few weeks despite exams.

66

Hello everyone.

I’ve been away travelling for the last two months, which is why I haven’t been maintaining my log (or in fact training at all). I’m now back to training, and have joined a gym in Cambridge called Kelsey Kerridge. It seems like a pretty good place to train so far. I’m just about to post my first two workouts, and my log will be back to normal from now on.

67

28/09/09 - Dynamic Bench Press

  • Speed Band Bench (red band)

Rather than my usual setup, I looped a single band under the bench this time and put it over both ends of the bar. This gives a slightly different force curve but the principle of rapid force development is still there. I only used a single red band today because I know it would be far to easy to overdo the band tension and injur myself. I’ll increase the tension next week.

My warmup sets were:

The bar for 2 sets of 8.
30kg for a set of 5.
40kg, 45kg, 50kg and 55kg all for one set of 3.

Then my working sets were on 60kg. As is normal with dynamic work I did 9 sets of 3, with my three different grips (see previous posts). These all felt very fast and strong and I definitely need to increase either the band tension or the weight next week (or more likely a bit of both). That said I think this was a good decision not to go too heavy today, as it allowed me to focus on the movement and restore the motor patterns properly before I go heavy again.

  • Inclined Bench Press

All sets of 3. Not a max effort (I didn’t have a lift-off or spotters) but just to get some idea of where my strength is now.

Started on 40kg, then made 5kg jumps to 85kg. This was reasonably easy but at this point I’d done a lot of sets and left it. My chest feels pretty sore now (a couple of days later), so there’s been a more significant drop in my ability to recover from training than in the training itself.

  • Decline Neutral Grip Dumbbell Press

All sets of 6. This is a really good movement for building triceps in particular, and
I noticed there has been a significant drop in my tricep strength. Not the best news as far as my bench is concerned, I’ll see how badly it’s been affected when it comes to max effort work later in the week.

Anyway the weights were:

22.5kg, 30kg, 30kg, 30kg.

The last set I failed after the 4th rep, which is obviously a significant drop in strength. However I’m relatively confident that strength will return quickly as well.

  • Tricep Cable Pushdowns

An attempt to work my now feeble triceps. Simple cable pushdowns. I’m afraid at the moment I don’t know how much each plate in the cable stack weighs, but I will hopefully find out for my next post.

1 set of 8 on plate 5.
3 sets of 8 on plate 6 (last set was reasonably difficult).

  • T-Bar Rows

There is a T-bar row in this gym, which I’m very pleased about having not been able to use one regularly before. Having not done it before I can’t really compare this to previous workouts.

All sets of 6, weights were:

25kg, 35kg, 45kg for 3 sets.

  • Lat Pulldowns

I’m going to make an effort to ensure that as I return to strength my vertical pull is not left behind as it has been before. Again all sets of 6, weights were:

32kg, 41kg, 50kg for 3 sets.

  • Face Pulls

Standard face pulls with the rope attachment on the cables. All sets of 12. Again I don’t know how much each plate weighs at the moment.

Plate 2 for 1 set, followed by plate 3 for 3 sets.

That was it for todays workout, nothing too strenuous but just to get back into proper powerlifting training. It seems that there are going to be obvious body parts where I’ve lost significant amounts of strength (inevitable, those which were strongest before). I also expect to have lost more upper body than lower body strength, and I will see if that’s true with the max effort work to come later this week.

68

29/09/09 - Max Effort Lower Body

  • Reverse Band Conventional Deadlift

This is the first real test of strength that I’ve had since I got back from travelling. For comparison the last time I did this movement (the arrangement that I’m using now is basically identical) I hit 250kg (although my all time max is 260kg).

So the setup is to have green bands choked around the safety pins in a power rack just above head height.

Started with 70kg on the bar for a set of 5, and then 110kg for a set of 3, both to warm up. Everything else was singles.

Made 20kg jumps to 190kg, then made 10kg jumps to 230kg. Finally tried another 10kg jump to 240kg, which I got to just above my knees but failed on lockout.

Clearly I’ve lost a bit of strength, but given that I’ve just taken two months off training completely I don’t think that’s too bad. I must admit that on my heavier reps my form wasn’t great, I think because I’ve lost strength in my back it wasn’t so easy to keep it arched. Hopefully once my form returns I actually won’t be too far off my previous numbers.

  • 45 Degree Hyperextensions

Unfortunately my new gym doesn’t have a GHR, which is definitely going to have a negative effect on my training. I’m hoping to remedy this some time soon and if anyone knows a good place to get one please let me know.

Anyway, all sets of 6 here. First set was bodyweight only, then I held weight plates for the following sets. The weight for each set was:

20kg, 40kg, 40kg, 45kg, 45kg.

  • Leg Press

I did lose the GHR but this is one of the machines I’ve gained in exchange, which I plan to use for a couple of weeks and see what effect it has on my training. I didn’t really know where I’d be on this so I had to start relatively low and work up, so I did a lot more sets than I normally would. All sets of 5, weights were:

80kg, 120kg, 160kg, 180kg, 200kg, 220kg, 240kg.

The last set was pretty difficult, but I might have been able to go a little bit heavier if I hadn’t done so many sets beforehand.

  • Wide Stance Good Mornings

Again this is one that I’m a little bit worried about having been one of my best movements in the past. I didn’t try to go to heavy today (I might do this as a max effort movement soon to see where it actually is). All sets of 6, weights were:

60kg, 80kg, 100kg, 120kg.

The last set was a little bit harder than I would normally expect, but not too bad. I’ll be back to real weights soon.

  • Planks

I’m still avoiding any spine flexion having read Dr. Stuart McGill’s book, so this is going to be one of my main core movements. Just four 45 second holds.