Westside/PLing Training Thread

Training Powerlifting
3251

4/4/07- Wednesday- ME SQ

Foam rolling, dynamic hamstring stretch

A)Wide Stance Low Bar Squats (12" box touch and go for depth)(no belt but wrist wraps)
185x4
225x3
265x2
315x1
340x2
325x2
325x2
325x1 (hit rack on way down decided not to go for 2)
295x4

B1)Snatch Grip Deadlifts (w/wraps- *first 3 fingers on the bar, pinky on the wrap works best)
(275x2)
325x3
335x3
345x1+3 (grip)
355x3 (continuous set PR+ 10lb PR)
370x2 (25lb PR)- grip/body failed on 3rd
355x4 (took small breaks for resetting wraps)

B2)Front Squat
225x2 (decided to abort)

Foam rolling

Notes: Man, squats for any kind of reps had me a bit fucked up. Form might have been a bit off, I felt like my chest was practically on my thighs at the bottom. I’m going to stretch the hamstrings a little bit more, I was looking in the mirror and my tail kept tucking under when I was doing BW squats to reg depth.

Excellent PRs on the Snatch Grip Deads. The back started rounding over a little bit, but oh well. Grip seems to work better with the first 3 fingers off the wraps. I might even try BB holds tomorrow without index and/or middle finger on the bar.

Also, I’m going to make a conscious effort to lower my weights when I’m doing a given set/rep scheme- particularly for UB. Too often I’ll go into something like a 3x5 DB bench and try to hit a 5RM instead of working with my 7RM the whole time. I think this will allow my CNS to stay more fresh and allow for faster recovery.

-Matt

3252

[quote]Phill wrote:
A slice of Heaven right across the …

oh dirt cheap as well, no contracts $25 month[/quote]

Awesome news. When you are down, it’s great to get these type of surprises.

3253

Hey Buckeye, where are you at in Ohio? What level of baseball do you coach? Nice job on the lifts.

[quote]buckeye75 wrote:
Today marked my return to heavy lifting. I have been taking a few weeks to do higher rep work and a week off completely (baseball spring break in Florida, coaching has its benifts,lol). It deffiently did me some good too. Anyway, here is what I did. (note: workouts are still total body and low volume because baseball practice makes it tough to get in)

1)DB Reverse Lunge: BWx5, 30x5, 40x5x2
2)Two Board Press: Barx10, 95x10, 135x5, 185x5 (all full range) (boards here ->) 225x5, 245x5, 265x6, 275x5
3)Neutral Grip Seated Row: 100x10x2, 160x10, 170x8x3
4)Ab Pulldowns + Reverse Crunches

The 275 is a huge 5RM P.R. Last time I did Two Boards I only got 280 as a 3RM. I think I might be getting stronger.

Also, weight is down to 238 which makes me quite happy. [/quote]

3254

ME Bench

One Board Press
Warmups

Full range
135 x 5
175 x 5
205 x 3
Add board
225 x 1
235 x 1
245 x 1 these last 2 flew up
255 x 1 hard
205 x 5

Straight bar skullcrushers
85 x 8, 8,
95 x 8, 8

Chest supported Flite Machine Rows Pronated grip supersetted with rear DB laterals
140 x 8 x 5 sets + 25# DBs x 8 x 5 sets

Hammer curls super w/ Reverse Bar curls
50# Dbs x 8, 45# x 8, 9 +75 x 8, 65 x 8, 10

I really need to bring my forearms up. I’ve really neglected them and I think it’s holding my bench back. One of these days I am going to get pissed enough and get to a 300 bench.

3255

Back in the saddle…

I’ve decided to follow a more “traditional” Westside program until my next comp. in August.

For this week I’m not going to push it, so everything was done for no less than 5 reps.

ME Bench

0x10
135x5
225x5
315x5
added the two board
405x5
495x5
495x5

dumbell floor press
120’s x 10
140’s x 10

seated row
260 x 12
stack x 12
stack x 12

face pulls

100x20
120x20

false grip reverse dumbell preacher curls supersetted with false grip hammer dumbell preacher curls (one arm at a time)

40 x 20 - 40 x 20
40 x 30 - 40 x 30

elbows out (10 sec negative on each one)

It’s good to be back,
meat
40’s x 15

3256

[quote]buckeye75 wrote:
Today marked my return to heavy lifting. I have been taking a few weeks to do higher rep work and a week off completely (baseball spring break in Florida, coaching has its benifts,lol). It deffiently did me some good too. Anyway, here is what I did. (note: workouts are still total body and low volume because baseball practice makes it tough to get in)

1)DB Reverse Lunge: BWx5, 30x5, 40x5x2
2)Two Board Press: Barx10, 95x10, 135x5, 185x5 (all full range) (boards here ->) 225x5, 245x5, 265x6, 275x5
3)Neutral Grip Seated Row: 100x10x2, 160x10, 170x8x3
4)Ab Pulldowns + Reverse Crunches

The 275 is a huge 5RM P.R. Last time I did Two Boards I only got 280 as a 3RM. I think I might be getting stronger.

Also, weight is down to 238 which makes me quite happy. [/quote]

Nice solid PR, keep it up
Phill

3257

[quote]4est wrote:
Phill wrote:
A slice of Heaven right across the …

oh dirt cheap as well, no contracts $25 month

Awesome news. When you are down, it’s great to get these type of surprises.

[/quote]
Hell yes interested to feel the place out tomorrow and the weeks to come

Phill

3258

[quote]Matt McGorry wrote:
4/4/07- Wednesday- ME SQ

B1)Snatch Grip Deadlifts (w/wraps- *first 3 fingers on the bar, pinky on the wrap works best)
(275x2)
325x3
335x3
345x1+3 (grip)
355x3 (continuous set PR+ 10lb PR)
370x2 (25lb PR)- grip/body failed on 3rd
355x4 (took small breaks for resetting wraps)

-Matt

[/quote]
nice work and seems your really starting to catch on to possibly what you need
Phill

3259

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
Back in the saddle…

I’ve decided to follow a more “traditional” Westside program until my next comp. in August.

For this week I’m not going to push it, so everything was done for no less than 5 reps.

ME Bench

0x10
135x5
225x5
315x5
added the two board
405x5
495x5
495x5

dumbell floor press
120’s x 10
140’s x 10

seated row
260 x 12
stack x 12
stack x 12

face pulls

100x20
120x20

false grip reverse dumbell preacher curls supersetted with false grip hammer dumbell preacher curls (one arm at a time)

40 x 20 - 40 x 20
40 x 30 - 40 x 30

elbows out (10 sec negative on each one)

It’s good to be back,
meat
40’s x 15[/quote]

And hes back racing me for the volume title

nice work,
Phill

3260

[quote]Phill wrote:
Matt McGorry wrote:
4/4/07- Wednesday- ME SQ

B1)Snatch Grip Deadlifts (w/wraps- *first 3 fingers on the bar, pinky on the wrap works best)
(275x2)
325x3
335x3
345x1+3 (grip)
355x3 (continuous set PR+ 10lb PR)
370x2 (25lb PR)- grip/body failed on 3rd
355x4 (took small breaks for resetting wraps)

-Matt

nice work and seems your really starting to catch on to possibly what you need
Phill[/quote]

Thanks, bud.

Yea, what I think I need is to be as lazy as possible on lower body work. 2 movements seem to be doing me well with a little bit of “core” assistance on a second day. At least in respect to the DL.

-Matt

3261

Anyone else read this raw benching template on Elite? I think it has alot of good ideas in it. I might give it a try soon.
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=47909&tid=94

I also was making weekly progress on 10 x 3 full range. I was adding 5 -10lbs every week and still completing my sets with 1 minute rests. I got bored with it though and went back to true ME days. I thought if I never pushed myself to near 100% weights I wouldn’t up my bench. Maybe I was wrong.

3262

[quote]Dre Cappa wrote:
Anyone else read this raw benching template on Elite? I think it has alot of good ideas in it. I might give it a try soon.
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=47909&tid=94

I also was making weekly progress on 10 x 3 full range. I was adding 5 -10lbs every week and still completing my sets with 1 minute rests. I got bored with it though and went back to true ME days. I thought if I never pushed myself to near 100% weights I wouldn’t up my bench. Maybe I was wrong.[/quote]

hmmmm… I may give that a try too.

3263

[quote]4est wrote:
Dre Cappa wrote:
Anyone else read this raw benching template on Elite? I think it has alot of good ideas in it. I might give it a try soon.
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=47909&tid=94

I also was making weekly progress on 10 x 3 full range. I was adding 5 -10lbs every week and still completing my sets with 1 minute rests. I got bored with it though and went back to true ME days. I thought if I never pushed myself to near 100% weights I wouldn’t up my bench. Maybe I was wrong.

hmmmm… I may give that a try too.[/quote]

Hey guys, if you give this a try, let me know how it works out. I’ve tried holding myself back before and only accomplished getting weaker. However, I know that it works for a lot of people, so I’d be interested to see how your gains are.

Personally I find that I need to be pushing 95-100% or doing multiple rep sets close to failure to keep making progress. I also find that I need to deload every 5th week or so, otherwise my body starts to reject it.

3264

[quote]Modi wrote:
Hey guys, if you give this a try, let me know how it works out. I’ve tried holding myself back before and only accomplished getting weaker. However, I know that it works for a lot of people, so I’d be interested to see how your gains are.

Personally I find that I need to be pushing 95-100% or doing multiple rep sets close to failure to keep making progress. I also find that I need to deload every 5th week or so, otherwise my body starts to reject it.[/quote]

Speaking of deloading…

According to “Waterbury Rules”: http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1379910

"7. Do the Over-Under Everyday

If you can’t touch your fingers together with the over-under test (shown below), I want you to immediately stop all upper body training except for the exercises in rule #5. Yes, that’s right, all upper body training.

You probably don’t want to hear that, right? At the very least, stop all horizontal pressing and vertical pulling until you can pass the over-under test."

To fix that, Chad Waterbury recommended, “Stop all horizontal pressing/vertical pulling; do the stretch throughout the day; do the mobility drills in phase I of 8 Weeks to Monster Shoulders.” http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=818555

Now, I can’t bring myself to stop my workout. However I’m thinking of making deload weeks into these shoulder prehab/rehab workouts with a little pressing/pulling still in place.

Thoughts?

3265

[quote]Modi wrote:
Hey guys, if you give this a try, let me know how it works out. I’ve tried holding myself back before and only accomplished getting weaker. However, I know that it works for a lot of people, so I’d be interested to see how your gains are.

Personally I find that I need to be pushing 95-100% or doing multiple rep sets close to failure to keep making progress. I also find that I need to deload every 5th week or so, otherwise my body starts to reject it.[/quote]

Oh, I forgot to address this earlier. I understand your view. In the past I used a lot of breakdown/drop sets or rest/pause sets. With the rest/pause sets, if I had scheduled myself to do X lbs for Y sets I MADE SURE to do every rep and set. Otherwise, I just lifted weights and made little progress.

I may try alternating cycles of 1RM type workouts with the lower %max workouts, doing each for a few weeks before hitting a deload week. However, perhaps the lower %max would supply a kind of “deload” in themselves… hmmmm. Makes me wonder if where the magic combo is.

3266

[quote]4est wrote:
Modi wrote:
…I also find that I need to deload every 5th week or so, otherwise my body starts to reject it.

Speaking of deloading…

According to “Waterbury Rules”: http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1379910

"7. Do the Over-Under Everyday

If you can’t touch your fingers together with the over-under test (shown below), I want you to immediately stop all upper body training except for the exercises in rule #5. Yes, that’s right, all upper body training.

You probably don’t want to hear that, right? At the very least, stop all horizontal pressing and vertical pulling until you can pass the over-under test."

To fix that, Chad Waterbury recommended, “Stop all horizontal pressing/vertical pulling; do the stretch throughout the day; do the mobility drills in phase I of 8 Weeks to Monster Shoulders.” http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=818555

Now, I can’t bring myself to stop my workout. However I’m thinking of making deload weeks into these shoulder prehab/rehab workouts with a little pressing/pulling still in place.

Thoughts?
[/quote]

4est,

My thoughts on dropping all horizontal pressing and vertical pulling until I can accomplish the over under test:

[sarcasm]
I have only entered one PL meet, and have another one coming up May 19th. From what I remember, it was set up as Squat first, then Bench Press, then Deadlift. I don’t recall their being an over under reach for distance competition![/sarcasm]

Sorry, just being a wiseass. Actually I can touch pretty well with my left hand under, but not my right. I threw the javelin for 4 years HS, 4 years college, and 2 years post college, and my right scapula is somewhat permanently rotated. I do use the over under stretch a few times per week, but I think I’m looking at years, not months to fix the problem!

My deloading week is low frequency(for me)/low volume/low intensity…and it’s coming up after next week, none too soon.

3267

[quote]4est wrote:
I may try alternating cycles of 1RM type workouts with the lower %max workouts, doing each for a few weeks before hitting a deload week. However, perhaps the lower %max would supply a kind of “deload” in themselves… hmmmm. Makes me wonder if where the magic combo is.
[/quote]

This is fairly similar to what I’m trying right now. I’m using the May 19 meet to see how it’s working. If I have good progress, then my next 4 cycles after the meet will follow that sequence(5x5,1-3,5x5,1-3). Right now it looks like:

weeks 1-4 (ME) = 5x5 starting at 75%-80% of 1RM and adding 5-10lbs/week if I hit all 5x5.

week 5 deload

weeks 6-9 (ME) = 1-3reps
wk6 - heavy triples and doubles
wk7 - heavy doubles and singles
wk8 & wk9 heavy singles, crushing all previous PR’s (sounds good on paper anyways, haha).

week 10 deload

3268

[quote]Phill wrote:
c. wrote;

withdrawing that challenge. realized it could get ugly around here…

trying to figure out if your insulting meat, yourself or a combo lol.
[/quote]

i’ll let you ponder that one…

[quote]Modi wrote:
Those numbers don’t sound all that bad, but if they piss you off, that’s good. Bottle it up and save it for the day of the meet. You’ll smoke those numbers when you are competing, the adrenaline rush alone is worth an extra 5-10% on your lifts.
[/quote]

Thx. I’ve been told that but didn’t know if it was just a line they use on me. It’s not right? And if I can get an extra 5-10% on adrenaline, I’m thinking another 5% on fear :slight_smile:

Great article on that raw bench template by Elite. (forgot who mentioned it, sorry) May have to try that next training cycle.

c.

3269

[quote]c. wrote:
Thx. I’ve been told that but didn’t know if it was just a line they use on me. It’s not right? And if I can get an extra 5-10% on adrenaline, I’m thinking another 5% on fear :slight_smile:

c.
[/quote]

I think most people experience this. My best DL before my last meet was 500lbs and I pulled off a 1" mat (so I didn’t make too much noise at my gym!). The day of the meet, I was just hoping to pull 500 from the floor, but ended up hitting 525 on my last lift.

3270

[quote]Dre Cappa wrote:
Anyone else read this raw benching template on Elite? I think it has alot of good ideas in it. I might give it a try soon.
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=47909&tid=94

I also was making weekly progress on 10 x 3 full range. I was adding 5 -10lbs every week and still completing my sets with 1 minute rests. I got bored with it though and went back to true ME days. I thought if I never pushed myself to near 100% weights I wouldn’t up my bench. Maybe I was wrong.[/quote]

I tried this for a couple weeks and it brought my bench down. It looks good on paper, but for me, it just didn’t do it.

Some may have different experiences with it.

-Matt