Westside/PLing Training Thread

Training Powerlifting
7111

[quote]Matt McGorry wrote:
Yo Phill, excellent work pal. I like the pictures, you look like a badass.

9/10/07- ME Sq- Monday

A)High Bar Olympic Style Squats (heeled shoes/feet slightly outside shoulder width)
135x3
185x3
225x3
255x2
285x1
315x1 (PR?-30lbs) ???
335x1 (PR?-50lbs) ???
350x1 (PR?-75lbs) ???

B)Snatch Grip Deadlift
315x3 x3 x3 335x3

Notes: I’m kind of confused and not really sure what is a PR. I was definitely wearing heeled shoes, the bar was certainly higher than usual, and my stance was just slightly outside shoulder width I believe. I’m not 100% positive that it was the same stance that I had used in the previous sessions with the olympic style squat, but it probably wasn’t far from it.

I’m not going to hype myself up about it until I see how it pans out. I may be wrong in which case I don’t want to feel like an idiot.

-Matt[/quote]

Matt is doin’ some whoreing as well. great job with all the weight loss!!

meat

7112

[quote]novaeer wrote:
Did some light recovery-type assistance work today, consisting of 1 or 2 sets of a bunch of different exercises, nothing really worth detailing. I even did regular dumbbell curls for probably the the first time in six months, and calf raises for the first time in almost a year. More or less just an opportunity to keep the blood flowing as well as an excuse just to go to the gym. This is probably it in terms of lifting a barbell or dumbbell of any kind until the big day on Saturday.

Bodyweight is ~227 lb today, and since I’m not cutting weight to go down to the 220 class I have a little bit of wiggle room; read: I can eat like crap this week and not worry much about being bumped into a higher weight class.

[/quote]
i am definitely envious!! my next comp. will bring nothing but starvation. I have a feeling i will be cutting water and calories my last week:(

good luck,
meat

7113

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:

i am definitely envious!! my next comp. will bring nothing but starvation. I have a feeling i will be cutting water and calories my last week:(

good luck,
meat

[/quote]

What competition are you going to be doing in November?

7114

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
Phill wrote:
AlphaDragon wrote:
Kalle wrote:

Here is the Split I was doing before hurting my bicep, plan to go back to it soon.

Monday DE/RE UPPER
TUESDAY ME LOWER
Wednesday OFF
THURSDAY ME UPPER
DE/RE LOWER
SAT/SUNDAY REST

I like this as it would give me a free weekend or I could miss a day somewhere and just push everything back and get it done on the weekend.

Thanks. May I ask if it’s as effective having the RE Upper work before the ME Upper vs. ME Upper first then RE Upper a few days later?

IMO great question and shitty one at same.:slight_smile: The problem lies in ppl giving to much attention to the training week and not the big picture the training, I guess cycle.

No matter where you place the days at some point the RE/DE will always be before the ME and vise versa no matter how you lay it out.

for an example

Mon DE Upper
tue ME lower
wed
thurs
fri ME upper
sat DE Lower
sun

Even though it looks like a ton of separation the DE lower if not kept in check is prior to the ME lower by just two days in this plan. even though if you just look at the training week the DE follows the ME.

That clear??

In the end you gotta try things see how you recover from each training stimulus, which needs more or less for you. and dont be afraid like Kalle said to drop a DE/RE day if you need the rest. At the rate Im going LOL ill have dropped to a damn one day balls out a week program if Im not careful. BUT Im hitting PR’s so hey I guess its working, for me

Phill

Phill knows of what he speaks:) He hit the nail on the head!! I’ve tried pretty much every different way of doing it known to man… and i"m still changing things around to suit my training at that time. for example, I’ve been doing two ME’s a week, one upper and one lower followed by a RE day on saturday. I’m going to start training for a competition in November. To get ready for it, I’m going to drop the RE day and do three ME days- that looks like this-

monday -ME bench
tuesday-off
wendsday-ME squat
thursday-off
friday-off
saturday-ME dead
sunday-off

once the comp is over, i will go back to the RE day and I will rotate between squat and dead every week.

I can’t say it enough though… if you are really going balls to the wall on your ME days, you need lots of rest. if you are starting out i would do three days a week and that’s it. maybe some GPP on a fourth day but that is plenty.

good luck,
meat

[/quote]

Thanks to Phill and Meat for their answers.

Meat, only 3 days? I’ll admit that your advice to take today off hit right on the head. I took a 4 HOUR nap in the PM and still wanted more, I was so beat up.

It’s great!

i’m thinking ME lower, ME Upper, and RE Upper, if I’m only doing 3/week. Is there any kind of indicators I can look for to determine the best 3 to do? And for how long should it be 3/week with maybe a 4th day of GPP (I’m thinking “fun with sandbags”).

Thanks for the words and helping my noob questions.

AD

7115

[quote]novaeer wrote:
maraudermeat wrote:

i am definitely envious!! my next comp. will bring nothing but starvation. I have a feeling i will be cutting water and calories my last week:(

good luck,
meat

What competition are you going to be doing in November?[/quote]
i’m planning on doing the NOVA raw fed comp. november 10th in chantilly. I think I might try Matt K’s cutting weight system.

7116

[quote]AlphaDragon wrote:
maraudermeat wrote:
Phill wrote:
AlphaDragon wrote:
Kalle wrote:

Here is the Split I was doing before hurting my bicep, plan to go back to it soon.

Monday DE/RE UPPER
TUESDAY ME LOWER
Wednesday OFF
THURSDAY ME UPPER
DE/RE LOWER
SAT/SUNDAY REST

I like this as it would give me a free weekend or I could miss a day somewhere and just push everything back and get it done on the weekend.

Thanks. May I ask if it’s as effective having the RE Upper work before the ME Upper vs. ME Upper first then RE Upper a few days later?

IMO great question and shitty one at same.:slight_smile: The problem lies in ppl giving to much attention to the training week and not the big picture the training, I guess cycle.

No matter where you place the days at some point the RE/DE will always be before the ME and vise versa no matter how you lay it out.

for an example

Mon DE Upper
tue ME lower
wed
thurs
fri ME upper
sat DE Lower
sun

Even though it looks like a ton of separation the DE lower if not kept in check is prior to the ME lower by just two days in this plan. even though if you just look at the training week the DE follows the ME.

That clear??

In the end you gotta try things see how you recover from each training stimulus, which needs more or less for you. and dont be afraid like Kalle said to drop a DE/RE day if you need the rest. At the rate Im going LOL ill have dropped to a damn one day balls out a week program if Im not careful. BUT Im hitting PR’s so hey I guess its working, for me

Phill

Phill knows of what he speaks:) He hit the nail on the head!! I’ve tried pretty much every different way of doing it known to man… and i"m still changing things around to suit my training at that time. for example, I’ve been doing two ME’s a week, one upper and one lower followed by a RE day on saturday. I’m going to start training for a competition in November. To get ready for it, I’m going to drop the RE day and do three ME days- that looks like this-

monday -ME bench
tuesday-off
wendsday-ME squat
thursday-off
friday-off
saturday-ME dead
sunday-off

once the comp is over, i will go back to the RE day and I will rotate between squat and dead every week.

I can’t say it enough though… if you are really going balls to the wall on your ME days, you need lots of rest. if you are starting out i would do three days a week and that’s it. maybe some GPP on a fourth day but that is plenty.

good luck,
meat

Thanks to Phill and Meat for their answers.

Meat, only 3 days? I’ll admit that your advice to take today off hit right on the head. I took a 4 HOUR nap in the PM and still wanted more, I was so beat up.

It’s great!

i’m thinking ME lower, ME Upper, and RE Upper, if I’m only doing 3/week. Is there any kind of indicators I can look for to determine the best 3 to do? And for how long should it be 3/week with maybe a 4th day of GPP (I’m thinking “fun with sandbags”).

Thanks for the words and helping my noob questions.

AD[/quote]

i’m not sure what you are asking. what best three to do? are you talking about ME movements?

the ME lower, ME upper and RE upper is what i do. On RE day i rotate emphasis on shoulders and upper back every other week.

I’ve been doing the 3 a week with some GPP thrown in for about two years now. It is definitely what works for me.

meat

7117

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
novaeer wrote:
maraudermeat wrote:

i am definitely envious!! my next comp. will bring nothing but starvation. I have a feeling i will be cutting water and calories my last week:(

good luck,
meat

What competition are you going to be doing in November?
i’m planning on doing the NOVA raw fed comp. november 10th in chantilly. I think I might try Matt K’s cutting weight system.
[/quote]

Meat, how much weight do you have to cut? I’m assuming you will compete at 242?

7118

[quote]Phill wrote:

I agree on all that and DE work. really exploding with submaximal weights on a regular basis for me didnt do anything but beat the hell out of my joints. Some moves like plyos and my event work sure put pressing etc. Id limit it but hell some ppl seem to do great with it as well so…

Phill
[/quote]

Great timing here. I’ve been feeling like the DE work hasn’t been helping me lately, and my joints are a little beat up. Last week I switched Saturdays from DE to RE for my upper work to see how that works. However, I feel like I’ve gotten some benefit from my DE lower days, so they are staying for now.

The trick will be to walk that fine line on RE day, so as not to interfere with ME day.

7119

[quote]Modi wrote:
maraudermeat wrote:
novaeer wrote:
maraudermeat wrote:

i am definitely envious!! my next comp. will bring nothing but starvation. I have a feeling i will be cutting water and calories my last week:(

good luck,
meat

What competition are you going to be doing in November?
i’m planning on doing the NOVA raw fed comp. november 10th in chantilly. I think I might try Matt K’s cutting weight system.

Meat, how much weight do you have to cut? I’m assuming you will compete at 242?
[/quote]

i swing between 250-255 right now. i really don’t want to lose anymore. i think i will just sweat out the weight. if Kroc can lose 20+ pounds in a day, i can lose 10.

meat

7120

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
Modi wrote:
maraudermeat wrote:
novaeer wrote:
maraudermeat wrote:

i am definitely envious!! my next comp. will bring nothing but starvation. I have a feeling i will be cutting water and calories my last week:(

good luck,
meat

What competition are you going to be doing in November?
i’m planning on doing the NOVA raw fed comp. november 10th in chantilly. I think I might try Matt K’s cutting weight system.

Meat, how much weight do you have to cut? I’m assuming you will compete at 242?

i swing between 250-255 right now. i really don’t want to lose anymore. i think i will just sweat out the weight. if Kroc can lose 20+ pounds in a day, i can lose 10.

meat

[/quote]

That’s what I was thinking. I’d rather try to lose the weight early or wait till the last day and cut water, but drastically cutting calories the week of the meet could be very detrimental.

7121

[quote]Pemdas wrote:
Thanks Phill. I was wondering if I should work them 4 days a week. What do you mean by heavy. I have been doing 4 sets of 10-12. Should I up the weight and go for like 4-6 reps for 4-5 sets. I think that I get more out of hanging leg raises. Plus it sneaks a little grip work in there. I have never done side bend. I am assuming that you would hold a DB in one hand. [/quote]

Yup HEAVY bro they are just like any other muscle HEAVY. 4 - 6 would be great even heavy ass triples etc… Hell on the planks I think I worked up to 5 plates or some shit for 60 seconds GO HEAVY LOL

yhea heavy BB, db I even like the low cable machine and use the damn stack you can step away from it a bit and get a FULL ROM

Phill

7122

Tuesday, 9/11/2007: ME Squats

A. Box Squats
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 1
255 x 1
275 x 0
275 x 0
225 x 3

B. Good Morning
145 x 4 sets x 10 reps

C. Glute-Ham Raise
BW x 4 sets x 8 reps

D. Pull-Up
BW x 10
BW x 5
BW x 5
BW x 4

Today’s session sucked, which makes two bad sessions in a row. My sleep schedule is getting a little bit better but I’m not still adjusted to getting up so early. I failed twice at going for a new PR, which isn’t what I’d want to do. Maybe I should have quit after the first miss but I kept thinking that maybe I can get it. Oh well. Hopefully tomorrow’s off-day will do me some good and I’ll be hitting the overheads HARD on Thursday.

7123

[quote]jthsiao wrote:
Tuesday, 9/11/2007: ME Squats

A. Box Squats
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 1
255 x 1
275 x 0
275 x 0
225 x 3

B. Good Morning
145 x 4 sets x 10 reps

C. Glute-Ham Raise
BW x 4 sets x 8 reps

D. Pull-Up
BW x 10
BW x 5
BW x 5
BW x 4

Today’s session sucked, which makes two bad sessions in a row. My sleep schedule is getting a little bit better but I’m not still adjusted to getting up so early. I failed twice at going for a new PR, which isn’t what I’d want to do. Maybe I should have quit after the first miss but I kept thinking that maybe I can get it. Oh well. Hopefully tomorrow’s off-day will do me some good and I’ll be hitting the overheads HARD on Thursday.[/quote]

Try just going a bit above your last PR. 1 lb, 5 lbs, doesn’t matter. THEN go for a biggie if you feel it. That way you can say, I missed that one but I still got a PR rather than having repeated failures. If you succeed on the biggie, then you really have something to pat yourself on the back about.

If you miss an existing PR weight, then go for a rep PR at a lower weight. You’re training your motivation as well as your CNS and muscles. Success breeds more of the same. Make sure you succeed, otherwise you’re training to fail. That’s for bodybuilders…

7124

[quote]skidmark wrote:
jthsiao wrote:
Tuesday, 9/11/2007: ME Squats

A. Box Squats
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 1
255 x 1
275 x 0
275 x 0
225 x 3

otherwise you’re training to fail. That’s for bodybuilders…[/quote]

What is your max? Where are you failing?

Skidmark has you covered I just had to leave that quote in as it is awesome :slight_smile:

7125

Just assistance day lot of light shoulder, arms, legs for blood flow and low back etc. Feeling pretty good not beat up and back much better not right but gettng there

Phill

7126

[quote]Kalle wrote:
skidmark wrote:
jthsiao wrote:
Tuesday, 9/11/2007: ME Squats

A. Box Squats
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 1
255 x 1
275 x 0
275 x 0
225 x 3

otherwise you’re training to fail. That’s for bodybuilders…

What is your max? Where are you failing?

Skidmark has you covered I just had to leave that quote in as it is awesome :slight_smile:

[/quote]

Never underestimate the power of reps at 90%+. Assuming that your max is currently 270, you have one rep at 90%+(255) in this workout. I have found that to a have effective ME day, I need at least 2 reps 90%+. Three is better. The only time I do 1 is if I am going to max out on another exercise.

If you miss next time drop down to 90+ (245) and try to get at least two more singles. Even if you don’t miss, I would still aim for 3 in total. Then go for some reps if you feel like it.

7127

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:

i’m not sure what you are asking. what best three to do? are you talking about ME movements?

the ME lower, ME upper and RE upper is what i do. On RE day i rotate emphasis on shoulders and upper back every other week.

I’ve been doing the 3 a week with some GPP thrown in for about two years now. It is definitely what works for me.

meat

[/quote]

This answer is what I needed to hear. Thanks for your time.

AD

7128

[quote]Kalle wrote:
skidmark wrote:
jthsiao wrote:
Tuesday, 9/11/2007: ME Squats

A. Box Squats
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 1
255 x 1
275 x 0
275 x 0
225 x 3

otherwise you’re training to fail. That’s for bodybuilders…

What is your max? Where are you failing?

Skidmark has you covered I just had to leave that quote in as it is awesome :slight_smile:
[/quote]
My max was 265 so I figured I would go just past it. And, two plates and a quarter on each side just look so cool! But alas, things just wasn’t going well for me today. On my first attempt, I was able to budge it about an inch but then I start to lean forward a bit and got pinned. My second attempt was better as I was coming straighter up, but still stalled at the same place. For the first time, I actually felt my lower back being taxed on squats.

I’m not convinced that my back was the weakness at this point. I think it may be a technique thing (Chest up! Knees out!) and popping out of the hole. I distinctly felt less-tight than normal, even on the lift-off from the pins. I remember back when I hit my PR that the weight coming off of the pins felt really light, while it only got heavy when I’m near the bottom. Today, even the lift-off was slightly heavy and just didn’t “feel it” through the whole setup and lift.

I’m just chalking this up as a bad day and hopefully the rest of the week will be better. If I stall again next week at the same weight, then maybe I’ll switch exercises and come back to this later. I’ve been doing box squats for a few sessions in a row now and have made steady gains thus far. I just didn’t want to switch too soon and leave some PRs out there on the floor. :stuck_out_tongue:

7129

[quote]Pemdas wrote:
Never underestimate the power of reps at 90%+. Assuming that your max is currently 270, you have one rep at 90%+(255) in this workout. I have found that to a have effective ME day, I need at least 2 reps 90%+. Three is better. The only time I do 1 is if I am going to max out on another exercise.

If you miss next time drop down to 90+ (245) and try to get at least two more singles. Even if you don’t miss, I would still aim for 3 in total. Then go for some reps if you feel like it. [/quote]

Yes, I usually do a few in the 90% range before hitting my max. I altered it a bit today because I wanted to be fresher for my max attempt. I started to not be as focused after my second miss and just wanted to do some reps and get to the next exercise. I definitely should have done a few more at 90%+ to get my singles work in before my back-off set. I’ll keep that in mind next time. Thanks!

P.S. That’s what I love about this thread. Even after converting Westside for a few months, I still forget things. I’m glad people call me out on things to put me back on the right track. Thanks!

7130

Side note this High rep assistance day stuff is working. Im not fitting to well in my shirts any longer in a good way and really seems to aid recovery or keep joint health up between the ME full body and event day work.

Phill