I’m kind of stuck at what to do with my DE day. I did 5 weeks of bench from 155 ending at 170 (4 reps 8-10 sets). I noticed that as I got to 170 I was able to keep speed for maybe 4-5 sets but then it went downhill. Today I went lighter and it was cake. Maybe I should get some mini bands, or use chains? [/quote]
I believe that the minis would be too much band tension for you right now. If you feel like you speed is doing pretty good, just do some rep work. 4x6 4x8 whatever. Just start on the light side and add 5lbs each week. Give it a go for next 8 weeks or so.
That sounds like a plan, what kind of percentage should I start with? If I did 60% that would be 145 and I’m pretty sure 4x6/4x8 of that would be less than challenging based on what I’ve done so far. So I go closer to 75% to start?
Platform Snatch Grip Deadlift (standing on 25kg bumper plate)
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x3 (PR) (pronated grip ^^^^^)
295x1 (PR) (alternated grip vvvv)
315x0 (had the bar at mid thigh level when it stalled)
305x1 (PR)
305 is my conventional deadlift max from December. Would it be a stretch to think that I could pull 355 in a sumo stance right now, assuming my grip holds?
Bulgarian Split Squats
4x8x57.5 (ez bar)
Back Extensions
4x8x67.5
Full Contact Twists
4x8x60
While making 305 felt great, I really wanted to get the three wheels up. It looked really good on the bar, but it didn’t want to move past my thighs.
[quote]AshyLarry wrote:
That sounds like a plan, what kind of percentage should I start with? If I did 60% that would be 145 and I’m pretty sure 4x6/4x8 of that would be less than challenging based on what I’ve done so far. So I go closer to 75% to start?[/quote]
When I did a cycle of rep work I started around 75%. I made constant progress for about 5 weeks before I started missing reps.
I did 5x8. I kept going as long as I could get at least 6 on every set and then I when back to speed work. Just watch your form. Half the point of doing this is to ingrain good form into your head. If can’t keep good form then just stop for the day.
Notes: Super easy of course. The deadlifts felt like I could have cleaned the weight (although there’s no way I could have, haha). Need to start that ass a little lower.
I’m hoping to survive this week with a minimum of disturbed nights of sleep, but it is midterm week and I’m already behind, so we’ll see how that goes.
Debating whether to go from 90% to the new PRs or from 90% to 95% then to the PRs on the test day.
Debating whether to go from 90% to the new PRs or from 90% to 95% then to the PRs on the test day.
-Matt[/quote]
Matt, you might approach you lifts like you would in a meet. I know I don’t like to make jumps greater than 10%. Many times for me 7-8% seems just right. Some people like to make larger jumps. If it were me, I would probably go 85%x1, 95%x1, 102-3%x1 then decide how much more I was good for.
Good luck, I’m excited to hear how it goes for you.
Debating whether to go from 90% to the new PRs or from 90% to 95% then to the PRs on the test day.
-Matt
Matt, you might approach you lifts like you would in a meet. I know I don’t like to make jumps greater than 10%. Many times for me 7-8% seems just right. Some people like to make larger jumps. If it were me, I would probably go 85%x1, 95%x1, 102-3%x1 then decide how much more I was good for.
Good luck, I’m excited to hear how it goes for you.
[/quote]
Thanks for the thoughts and support.
I’ll of course turn it over in my mind a few thousand times before I make a decision, haha.
Last monday de-load upper body lots of upper back and some dumbbell presses
last wend de lower
low box squats with average band
last thursday de upper with mini bands doubled ended up with 185 for my sets
Sunday ME Lower
Made the trip to North Georgia Barbell trained with Jon Groves and all his crew it was one hell of a training session. It is not every day that you get to work out with lifters like Jon Groves, Steve Goggins even showed up it was pretty damn awesome.
They really helped me on my squat form and it was good for me to be nearly the weakest guy there. I was also glad to get and use the mono lift because the next meet I am doing will be using a mono lift.
I worked up to 672 and had them call depth, the same guy called depth that was judging the last APF meet i did. This was the first real heavy full gear work out I have done in along time it was great. weight moved very fast.
Sunday was one of the best training experiences I have had. I am very thankful to Jon Glen Tyler and the rest of the crew for helping me out so much.
Mon ME UPPER
To beat up from sunday should have just spotted worked up to 405 raw elbows and shoulders were killing me so I just shut it down and iced everything down.
[quote]Matt McG wrote:
Seattle_Lifter wrote:
Matt McG wrote:
Debating whether to go from 90% to the new PRs or from 90% to 95% then to the PRs on the test day.
-Matt
Matt, you might approach you lifts like you would in a meet. I know I don’t like to make jumps greater than 10%. Many times for me 7-8% seems just right. Some people like to make larger jumps. If it were me, I would probably go 85%x1, 95%x1, 102-3%x1 then decide how much more I was good for.
Good luck, I’m excited to hear how it goes for you.
Thanks for the thoughts and support.
I’ll of course turn it over in my mind a few thousand times before I make a decision, haha.
-Matt
[/quote]
I made up my mind and I’m sticking to it. I will work up to 90%, 95%, and then go for new PRs. If I hit my first PR attempts, I will add 5-10lbs until I fail.
If I was working with real 95% weights, I’d probably prefer to skip them, but the weights should actually be closer to 92-93% of my new maxes given the PRs. And making a 7-8% jump seems a lot smarter than a 12-13% jump that high.
Now I need to put this out of my mind and get to work on my papers.
Sun 3/2/08
D.E Upper
week 2 band cycle
8x3@205+mini per side
afterwards did some light work up sets with the bands still on
2x5 on 4 board press close grip 365, 405
Reverse incline chest supported row with cambered bench bar
4x6, worked up to 235 for last set…I liked these, will definitely do them next week also
Halbert press 5x3, finished with 155, which is remarkable only because the first time I tried these at westside I could barely do 95 lbs for 3 reps
thats it
Mon 3/3/08
D.E Lower
week 2 speed strength cycle
5x2 box sq with 235 in bar weight plus 3 blue bands per side…set 4 and 5 did 285 in bar weight
Speed pulls 5x1@365+40 lbs chain
messed around with new zercher squat harness for 3x10 just squatting with 225, these are hard like heavy reverse hypers are where you just cant breath and an unhealthy amount of metal is digging into your hips
Surprised at how well the two week cycle of speed strength went, thought it would be a lot harder…guess I am right where I need to be…next week lactic acid training and then I start circa max the week after
[quote]Mountainman2007 wrote:
Does any one know where i can buy a knee wrap roller?[/quote]
I know Titan sells one, but it is really expensive…if you are serious about getting something like that try some athletic training supply websites and look for ace bandage rollers…same thing and probably a lot cheaper
A. Box Squat
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 1
315 x 0
285 x 0
135 x 8
Today’s session sucked big time. I don’t know why but I felt tired, even though I had sufficient sleep and ate enough. Even during warm-ups the weight felt heavy. I also felt like I was a little bit out of my groove. Then, I pulled a bone-head move by convincing myself that I should try for a PR anyway, and bombed out fabulous doing that. After failing my PR attempt, I figured I’d at least get a lift at 90%, and I failed that too. Even the back-off set of 135s felt heavy and was a struggle.
I was contemplating doing some leg presses but thought better of it. I just wasn’t physically up to the task today.
What should I take away from a session like this? I feel like I wasted my time.
Looking back at my training log, it doesn’t seem like I’ve been making as much progress as I had at the end of last year. My lifts have stalled in general. Sure, there’s a small PR here and there, but they are few and far between. I don’t think it’s a case of over-training since I don’t get enough time/volume in the gym as is. Is it simply because I’m hitting a plateau and I need to bust through it? Is this a good time to start tinkering with my template right now and try something different?
My son who is 15 and has been weight training for about 1 year, started WS4SB III about 2 weeks ago. I have read thru DeFranco’s article on this program and website a few times and had a couple of questions.
In DeFranco’s template for both upper body days he requires shrugs… is this really necessary or on one day could I work a different muscle group and what muscle group would you suggest??
As he stops making progress in a particular lift(whether it is a max effort lift or a supplemental lift) my plan is to substitute another lift based on DeFranco’s template. Is that a resonable approach or should I swap out lifts while he is still making progress(as DeFranco suggests every 2-3 weeks for max effort lifts)??