Westside/PLing Training Thread

Training Powerlifting
5791

Monday 07/16/07

DE Upper

Warm-up: Shoulder rotations and light lateral raises

“Speed” bench w/ 2 sec pauses

Bar x a bunch
95 x some (maybe 8; who cares, it’s a w/u set)
135 x 5
185 x 2 x 3 close grip (added 1-board)
205 x 3 x 3 pinky on ring
225 x 3 x 3 middle finger on ring

Straight-bar extensions 135 x 5 x 8

Chest-supported rows
3 plates x 8
4 plates x 8
5 plates x 7 (hot, getting winded)

One-arm DB military press
40x15
50x15
60x10 (sweaty palms, started losing grip)

Rope pushdowns 2 x 15

Hammer-strength grip machine
One-handed closes 2 x 10 (no pause)
Two-handed closes 2 x ? w/ 3 second holds (arms on fire)

Notes: My shoulders were aching quite a bit from the high band tension on squats yesterday, so I decided to slow the negative down a little then pause for a 2 count on all 3 reps and down to a 1-board. Every set except for the last one had great concentric bar speed, and the last one wasn’t bad just a little slower. I chalked it up to slight fatigue because I cut my rest down to 30-45 instead of the usual 60 secs, and the fact that it felt like it was as hot in the gym as it was outside (locker room was real gamy today, with a hint of swamp ass).

Extensions were easy-just wanted to feel a little burn in the tris. I know OH DB presses aren’t the best Rx for a sore shoulder, but I maintained a fairly neutral grip to keep the stress down. Doing these seated but without a back support was a nice tester of core stability. By this point I was sucking air like a big fattie walking around at the state fair.

Finished up with some light rope pushdowns and grip work to alleviate a tinge of elbow pain. Pretty good workout today, and by the time workout was over, shoulders (especially right one) were feeling better. No significant weight moved or PRs set today. A bit of a back-off day, saving some for Friday as hopefully I’ll be working some heavy triples in my shirt for the first time in several weeks.

5792

ME Lower

Back Squat
bar x 5
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 1
345 x 1 (belt on)
365 x miss
365 x miss

Comments:
Well this sucked. Did not feel all that great today but went in and was feeling okay in the warmup. Working up though, the weight didn’t feel great. 225 x 5 was harder than it should’ve been and 345 was pretty slow. Then I missed 365 which sucked because I was very sure I was going to get it. Last week I hit 345 x 3 and 355 x 2 so I figured for sure I’d get at least 365 and in fact was thinking maybe even 375. So I went for it again and sure enough hit a wall about 3 or 4 inches out of the bottom and just could not grind through it. After this I was too pissed off to do anything else and figured after two grinding misses I wasn’t going to get much accomplished so I just went home. I will just try to let this one roll off me and hope that one bad session does not turn into 2 or 3 in a row or else I will have to make some adjustments.

5793

2007-7-16
ME upper Cycle 3
Bottom’s up bench (from the chest)
135x10
185x5
225x1
245x1
250x1 (PR)
255x0
245x1

OH press
95x8
145x3
165x1
175x1
185x0

Bottom’s up OH lockouts (eye level)
185x1,1,1

Bench lockouts
275x1,1
225x3,3 (close grip)

1 arm OH triceps ext
40 1x8
55x4

Notes: Done. This sucked. I feel generally crappy but at least got a PR. Glad it’s deload week cycle next.

5794

Nice work Philly! Keep kickin ass.

7/16/07- Monday- Upper Body Strength

A1)DB Flat Bench
(70x5 90x11) 100x4 110x4 100x6

A2)Pullups (narrow grip)
(BWx4 +25x4) +50x4 x4 x4

B1)BB Military Press
135x7 (PR-1 rep) 140x6 (PR-5lb)
150x4 150x5 (PR-15lb)

B2)DB 3 Point Row
120x8 x8 x10

Notes: Kept the carbs up a little higher today than usual, and it felt like a smart move. Nice to set some PRs while dieting. This is my second time doing military presses in about 2 years since my shoulder surgery, I’m curious to see if they may actually help my bench out as well.

Currently my split looks like this;

Monday- Upper Body Strength Maint
Tues- Lactic Acid Full Body + Low intensity
Wed- Off
Thurs- Lower Body Strength Maint
Fri- Off
Sat- Lactic Acid Full Body + low intensity
Sun- Off

I wonder if my strength on lower body would be better if I did this instead

Monday- Upper Body Strength
Tuesday- Off
Wed- Lower Body Strength
Thur- Lactic Acid + low intensity
Fri- Off
Sat- Lactic Acid + low intensity

Anyone have any suggestions on how to place these workouts in order to have the least fatigue on my strength days?

Got my kettlebell today…hope to have some fun with it tomorrow.

-Matt

5795

wow, to many people making good progress, good job everyone! Atleast someone isn’t sleeping through training time, supposed to be DE Upper today but My shoulder could use the rest.

ME Lower tommaorw, I picked up 3 kegs on Sunday, 2 empty and 1 full of what I imagine is very old stale beer and was told it weighs 160lbs.

Well i carried that damn 160lb keg to my truck which was a good 300-400 or more ft away by myself! My hamstrings where BURNING!

plan for ME Lower is box squats followed by a puke inducing keg carry and load, try to mimic the event I have coming up in Idaho in 3 weeks. 8 kegs from 20ft away, full of water or beer picked up and loaded into a truck bed.

I plan to do atleast 10 trips of 20ft with the keg a filled up full with water today. If I can get more than 10 trips in a row without rest I will go for more, 15-20 would be nice.

I won’t have the freshest legs after doing ME box squats but I won’t either in the comp since it is probaly the 3rd or 4th event, after log press, farmers, truck pull, etc. So might as well try to get used to it.

5796

Damn fine work meat/. Crazy how sometimes we just got turn shit off and just lift the damn thing. You Knoqw what your doing just GET THAT SHIT!! Nice work 480 x 3 is insane bro

Fucker have a blast bro, and stay safe, watch the idiots on the road.

Phill

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
ME bench
“Stella got her groove back!!” or something like that. I think I have finally found my groove again on the bench.

Bench (paused)
0x10
135x6
225x4
315x2
405x1
480- 3x3x3 this was butta. I finally just stopped thinking about it and it came back to me. sounds so simple but I"m a simpleton.

decline (paused)
495x1
565x1

incline dumbell
140’s x 12
140’s x 12
140’s x 10 paused

tricep pushdowns
100x10
150x10
180x5

that’s it… I have my confidence back on bench. I’m going to continue with the 3x3 for another month and then test the bench. I’m hoping for 530.

this was my last training session until nest tuesday. I’m taking the harley on a trip with a buddy. we have no idea were we are going (except for maybe a titty bar or two).

meat[/quote]

5797

[quote]Matt McGorry wrote:
Nice work Philly! Keep kickin ass.

7/16/07- Monday- Upper Body Strength

A1)DB Flat Bench
(70x5 90x11) 100x4 110x4 100x6

A2)Pullups (narrow grip)
(BWx4 +25x4) +50x4 x4 x4

B1)BB Military Press
135x7 (PR-1 rep) 140x6 (PR-5lb)
150x4 150x5 (PR-15lb)

B2)DB 3 Point Row
120x8 x8 x10

Notes: Kept the carbs up a little higher today than usual, and it felt like a smart move. Nice to set some PRs while dieting. This is my second time doing military presses in about 2 years since my shoulder surgery, I’m curious to see if they may actually help my bench out as well.

Currently my split looks like this;

Monday- Upper Body Strength Maint
Tues- Lactic Acid Full Body + Low intensity
Wed- Off
Thurs- Lower Body Strength Maint
Fri- Off
Sat- Lactic Acid Full Body + low intensity
Sun- Off

I wonder if my strength on lower body would be better if I did this instead

Monday- Upper Body Strength
Tuesday- Off
Wed- Lower Body Strength
Thur- Lactic Acid + low intensity
Fri- Off
Sat- Lactic Acid + low intensity

Anyone have any suggestions on how to place these workouts in order to have the least fatigue on my strength days?

Got my kettlebell today…hope to have some fun with it tomorrow.

-Matt[/quote]

Nice work bro.

I think the first option is best IMO with the time off between the heavy Upper and lower

Phill

5798

[quote]Kalle wrote:
wow, to many people making good progress, good job everyone! Atleast someone isn’t sleeping through training time, supposed to be DE Upper today but My shoulder could use the rest.

ME Lower tommaorw, I picked up 3 kegs on Sunday, 2 empty and 1 full of what I imagine is very old stale beer and was told it weighs 160lbs.

Well i carried that damn 160lb keg to my truck which was a good 300-400 or more ft away by myself! My hamstrings where BURNING!

plan for ME Lower is box squats followed by a puke inducing keg carry and load, try to mimic the event I have coming up in Idaho in 3 weeks. 8 kegs from 20ft away, full of water or beer picked up and loaded into a truck bed.

I plan to do atleast 10 trips of 20ft with the keg a filled up full with water today. If I can get more than 10 trips in a row without rest I will go for more, 15-20 would be nice.

I won’t have the freshest legs after doing ME box squats but I won’t either in the comp since it is probaly the 3rd or 4th event, after log press, farmers, truck pull, etc. So might as well try to get used to it.[/quote]

Hey good plan bro. Ill tell you IMO it would prob be fastest to clean that keg and shoulder it and RUN 160 should be no prob if youve cleaned kegs before then youd all ready have it high to load as well.

Have a blast need to get me a few more kegs as well arm cant handle the 300 I have yet want a few between it and the 200 anyway

Phill

5799

Morning’

Sorry Phill, I see that my post was somewhat cryptic.

What I meant to say was the placement of the bar (lower down, in PL fashion) usually did not give me the sensation of the bar was going to “roll” down. However, when purposely really arching my back and pulling my elbows forward, it did feel a bit as if the bar would roll down.

Not having particularly flexible wrists also meant that afterwards they were killing!

However, thanks for your advice. Will try to “wrap the bar around me”.

I’ll try to get a vid up by the end of the week and if you have the time you could check my form!?

Cheers,

Swiss

p.s. very nice work on the deck Modi!

EDIT: What kind of ab work are we talking about? I hardly do any…

5800

No prob bro it was kind of bouncing back and forth it seemed

Of course I think meat has you set in the right direction with his advice Id follow what he say s for damn sure working on getting those elbows forward etc… I do think without seeing your video maybe moving those hand WAY in and wrapping that bar around you will help. Man I know it did wonders for me and saves my shoulders as well.

Abs Like all else hit them damn things hard and heavy, Just a few sets even. I like decline sit ups with a GOOD load keep it high on shoulder or near head. Leg raises, ab wheel and cable abs. You wont need a ton they get worked in the squat etc but hitting them direct and getting them strng will help. mix it up go heavy, moderate light just do em mainly I do them last 3 - 4 sets

At one point they were really lagging I hit them extra hard for a month or so and it really helped me stay more upright not fold over

Phill

[quote]swissrugby67 wrote:
Morning’

Sorry Phill, I see that my post was somewhat cryptic.

What I meant to say was the placement of the bar (lower down, in PL fashion) usually did not give me the sensation of the bar was going to “roll” down. However, when purposely really arching my back and pulling my elbows forward, it did feel a bit as if the bar would roll down.

Not having particularly flexible wrists also meant that afterwards they were killing!

However, thanks for your advice. Will try to “wrap the bar around me”.

I’ll try to get a vid up by the end of the week and if you have the time you could check my form!?

Cheers,

Swiss

p.s. very nice work on the deck Modi!

EDIT: What kind of ab work are we talking about? I hardly do any…[/quote]

5801

Thanks for the advice Phill. I’ll be getting right on it.

Cheers.

5802

[quote]novaeer wrote:
Pemdas wrote:
ME Lower

Back Squat

45x??
95x5
135x3
185x3
225x3
265x1
295x1
330x1
350x1
370x0 -First time I ever missed half way up.
315x2x1

I had someone watch me today. I have a really bad forward lean. I basically bend over and then drop my hips to depth. I need to work on staying more upright…maybe not sit back so far. I also have a problem pulling my hips through, which is probably related. I am also not pulling my elbow forward. Grrrr…my squat is a mess. At least my knees don’t come in.

I am going to stay away from these for a while and work with a box.

GM 185x4x4

Pull-throughs 170x10x4

Ab-pull downs 90x10x4

Looks like you’ve identified the problem on your own. Elbows down is an easily overlooked thing and will always result in the samsonite effect (i.e. folding over like a closing suitcase). Sitting back isn’t a problem per se unless you find yourself losing leverage on the lift or falling backward, which may explain why you’re leaning forward (or feel you’re leaning) too much.

Abs also come to mind. Do you wear a belt? If so how tight? Unless I’m going heavy-heavy, I’ll keep it a little looser, which will let me tense and push the belly out and allowing me to stay more upright. On the hips, you’ll probably want to look like you’re humping the air to bring the hips through and finish the lift. So, sit back on the box then hump away. Finally, if possible, hook up with an experienced lifter and have him/her coach you through the lift. That helped me more than anything.

That’s my $0.019999 worth and take it for what it is. Anyway, you’ve already done a good job by assessing the problem and coming up with a plan. Good luck.[/quote]

Thanks man. I have a question. When I stay more upright and pull my elbow forward and bar into my back, I feel that the load shifts to my arms and tends to feel heavier. I feel like my elbows are getting a beating from bearing the weight. I think part of reason I tilt forward is because the weight feels lighter when I do it. Is this a sign of some specific weakness or do I just need to get used to this new position.

5803

[quote]Pemdas wrote:

Thanks man. I have a question. When I stay more upright and pull my elbow forward and bar into my back, I feel that the load shifts to my arms and tends to feel heavier. I feel like my elbows are getting a beating from bearing the weight. I think part of reason I tilt forward is because the weight feels lighter when I do it. Is this a sign of some specific weakness or do I just need to get used to this new position.
[/quote]

You might be trying to “press” the weight off of your shoulders when you move your elbows. Try to just think about keeping your elbows pointed to the ground (and imagine breaking the bar on your traps) instead of forcing the elbows so far forward that they start to bear the weight.

In the meantime, applying some liniment before lifting and using Rehband elbow sleeves will alleviate the pain. Also, move your hands out on the bar a little bit, but not so far that you lose upper back tightness. It takes practice to find the sweet spot, e.g. try moving index finger to power ring.

The leaning part can be tricky. If you carry a low bar position, you are naturally going to lean forward somewhat. If you’re leaning forward “a lot”, my guess would be your abs are the weakness or you are losing core tightness on the descent. It could also be linked to your elbow thing, and even your head positioning.

Without seeing a video, it’s a little hard to diagnose, but those are my guesses. If possible, video yourself during a squat session and post in this thread. None of us here claim to be perfect, but there’s enough “under the bar” experience in this thread that you’ll get good advice.

And if anyone flames, they’ll have to smell Phil’s socks and undies right after he finishes an events day in that 90+ degree Kansas summer heat.

5804

Ha finally went and got an accurate scale the old spring sucker I had would vary 5-10 lbs if you moved a friggin 1/4 inch forward or backward LOL

Well Post op PR 242.5lbs is what the new one reads and OF course it has the BF% tester put it on athlete mode and by god the thing is crazy sure my arms and legs are pretty lean but carrying quite the insulation for protection of course on the mid section. Damn thing made me feel good though said im at 7% LOL 66% hydrated :slight_smile:

Oh and talked to Pitbull strongman equipment. Im going to pick up my new steel log friday SWEET. decided to not make this one my self the time cost just much easier buying one built to specs

Phill

5805

[quote]Phill wrote:
Ha finally went and got an accurate scale the old spring sucker I had would vary 5-10 lbs if you moved a friggin 1/4 inch forward or backward LOL

Well Post op PR 242.5lbs is what the new one reads and OF course it has the BF% tester put it on athlete mode and by god the thing is crazy sure my arms and legs are pretty lean but carrying quite the insulation for protection of course on the mid section. Damn thing made me feel good though said im at 7% LOL 66% hydrated :slight_smile:

Oh and talked to Pitbull strongman equipment. Im going to pick up my new steel log friday SWEET. decided to not make this one my self the time cost just much easier buying one built to specs

Phill[/quote]

Fuck your scale!! Mine says I am 25%…

12" log, right? I very happy with mine. Next toy for me is some stone molds for sure 18" and 20" and maybe pitbulls adjustable stone platform, due to space reasons. Hey if you go pick your log up check out the stone platform for me if they have any laying around and let me know what you think.

5806

[quote]novaeer wrote:
Pemdas wrote:

Thanks man. I have a question. When I stay more upright and pull my elbow forward and bar into my back, I feel that the load shifts to my arms and tends to feel heavier. I feel like my elbows are getting a beating from bearing the weight. I think part of reason I tilt forward is because the weight feels lighter when I do it. Is this a sign of some specific weakness or do I just need to get used to this new position.

You might be trying to “press” the weight off of your shoulders when you move your elbows. Try to just think about keeping your elbows pointed to the ground (and imagine breaking the bar on your traps) instead of forcing the elbows so far forward that they start to bear the weight.

In the meantime, applying some liniment before lifting and using Rehband elbow sleeves will alleviate the pain. Also, move your hands out on the bar a little bit, but not so far that you lose upper back tightness. It takes practice to find the sweet spot, e.g. try moving index finger to power ring.

The leaning part can be tricky. If you carry a low bar position, you are naturally going to lean forward somewhat. If you’re leaning forward “a lot”, my guess would be your abs are the weakness or you are losing core tightness on the descent. It could also be linked to your elbow thing, and even your head positioning.

Without seeing a video, it’s a little hard to diagnose, but those are my guesses. If possible, video yourself during a squat session and post in this thread. None of us here claim to be perfect, but there’s enough “under the bar” experience in this thread that you’ll get good advice.

And if anyone flames, they’ll have to smell Phil’s socks and undies right after he finishes an events day in that 90+ degree Kansas summer heat.[/quote]

This sounds like good advice to me. Out of the bottom of the squat i always pull the bar hard into my traps. Seems a bit strange seen as though your trying to send the bar upwards, but it keeps every thing tight.

Elliot

5807

Holy friggin’ suckfest.

07/17/07 - Squat (ME)

A) Back Squat
barx15
135x12
225x8
315x3
365x1
405x1
445xmiss
365x3
225x20 (rep PR) & punishment

B) Cybex Hack Squat
90x12
180x8
180x8
180x8

C) Pullups (wide overhand)
12
12
10

D) Kneeling Rope Lat Pulldown
80x10
110x10
130x10
150x15 (PR +7reps)

I was feeling a little tired/weak going into this session, but I wasn’t going to let it get me down.

Squats were going OK, but when I stepped out with 445, which would have been a 10lb PR, it just felt heavy. I had difficulty getting my feet set, and the whole attempt sucked. I decended very slowly, got maybe 1/3 or 1/2 way up and had nothing in the tank, absolutely got buried under this load.

Dropped the weight to 365 to work my way back up and that felt heavy too, so that’s when I decided a 20 rep set was just what I needed to wake myself up…we all know how well that works.

The only high point was doing rope lat pulldowns which I haven’t done since December and going from 150x8 to 150x15.

I weighed in after the workout at 241.2, down more than 7lbs since last Thursday. I’m chugging the water right now, as I’m dehydrated as all hell. I wish I could blame the squats on the sunburn pain, but in the end, I just think the sun drained me and left me shriveled up like a raisin.

Phill, you are officially ahead of me in bodyweight. Hopefully that doesn’t last more than 24 hours. I figure I’m atleast a gallon short on water right now.

Fucking pathetic day in the gym.

5808

Just started a bit of powerlifting training and testing maxes. I very, very rarely squat but after a couple of sessions i manged to squat 140kg for three reps. The first two reps seemed real easy but lost concentration on the third.

My deadlift is down but i pulled 150kgs, i haven’t deadlifted for months, haved pulled 167.5kgs before. My biggest weakness is my grip.

Benched only 95kgs for one slow rep, used to be able to get 5 easy reps with this. So much weaker than 4-6 months ago.

Haven’t been training hard or smart, flirting with a bit of bodybuilding, POOR diet, and too much work, but i’ll be building back up again. I want to do this first because i’m thinking of starting a little steroid cycle.

Already purchased, shock horror, some m1t.

5809

[quote]Kalle wrote:
Phill wrote:
Ha finally went and got an accurate scale the old spring sucker I had would vary 5-10 lbs if you moved a friggin 1/4 inch forward or backward LOL

Well Post op PR 242.5lbs is what the new one reads and OF course it has the BF% tester put it on athlete mode and by god the thing is crazy sure my arms and legs are pretty lean but carrying quite the insulation for protection of course on the mid section. Damn thing made me feel good though said im at 7% LOL 66% hydrated :slight_smile:

Oh and talked to Pitbull strongman equipment. Im going to pick up my new steel log friday SWEET. decided to not make this one my self the time cost just much easier buying one built to specs

Phill

Fuck your scale!! Mine says I am 25%…

12" log, right? I very happy with mine. Next toy for me is some stone molds for sure 18" and 20" and maybe pitbulls adjustable stone platform, due to space reasons. Hey if you go pick your log up check out the stone platform for me if they have any laying around and let me know what you think.[/quote]

Will do on that stone platform but If I were you id find just some warehouse racking you can usually find it cheap as shit hell tons usually laying out back of walmart and place like Lowes the same racks they use thats what the comps around here use they are wide can load a ton of stones on them adjustable and cheap.

Ill check it out though

Ha on the scale tried it on regular person more and Im 28.55 hell of a variance ther 7 or 28.5 id say im in the middle mid to high teens 17-18 fuck who give a shit LOL

Phill

5810

[quote]elliotnewman1 wrote:
novaeer wrote:
Pemdas wrote:

Thanks man. I have a question. When I stay more upright and pull my elbow forward and bar into my back, I feel that the load shifts to my arms and tends to feel heavier. I feel like my elbows are getting a beating from bearing the weight. I think part of reason I tilt forward is because the weight feels lighter when I do it. Is this a sign of some specific weakness or do I just need to get used to this new position.

You might be trying to “press” the weight off of your shoulders when you move your elbows. Try to just think about keeping your elbows pointed to the ground (and imagine breaking the bar on your traps) instead of forcing the elbows so far forward that they start to bear the weight.

In the meantime, applying some liniment before lifting and using Rehband elbow sleeves will alleviate the pain. Also, move your hands out on the bar a little bit, but not so far that you lose upper back tightness. It takes practice to find the sweet spot, e.g. try moving index finger to power ring.

The leaning part can be tricky. If you carry a low bar position, you are naturally going to lean forward somewhat. If you’re leaning forward “a lot”, my guess would be your abs are the weakness or you are losing core tightness on the descent. It could also be linked to your elbow thing, and even your head positioning.

Without seeing a video, it’s a little hard to diagnose, but those are my guesses. If possible, video yourself during a squat session and post in this thread. None of us here claim to be perfect, but there’s enough “under the bar” experience in this thread that you’ll get good advice.

And if anyone flames, they’ll have to smell Phil’s socks and undies right after he finishes an events day in that 90+ degree Kansas summer heat.

This sounds like good advice to me. Out of the bottom of the squat i always pull the bar hard into my traps. Seems a bit strange seen as though your trying to send the bar upwards, but it keeps every thing tight.[/quote]

Thanks for the tips guys. I was thinking about doing some (reverse squats) - starting with bar in the hole(on the pins) - to try and teach myself to push the bar back first. I believe that my hips are coming up first and that I am shifting the weight from my heals to the balls of my feet a little. Plus, I need more explosiveness out the hole. I know that box squat will help this, but want to be able mess around with my feet and bar position while in the hole until I find the perfect spot.