3/22/08 me lower
Today was my last challenging deadlift session and it went well everything felt lined up and smooth
405 suit bottoms on
495x1 585x1 straps up and loose
635x1 straps tight but not jacked, 665x1 straps tight.
i could have went heavier but I will save 700 for platform.
Reverse hyper for 5x8 finishing at 110
Db side bends 3x8 @130
3/23: DE Upper
Bench:
Warmup
185x5x4
Floor Press:
135x8x5
DB Overhead:
65x8,7,6
DB Row:
100x8x2
Face Pull (seated):
100x8x2
85x8x2
Curls
Ok day, lower back still bothering me though…
3/24
ME Squat/DL
Below Knee Rack pull
Barx5
70x5
105x5
130x5
155x3
180x3
205x3
230x1
250x1
265x0 (My back started irritating me when I started pulling so i called it quits)
Bulgarian Squat
60x6 each leg 45s rest between legs
60x10 each leg 45s rest between legs
70x10 each leg 45s rest between legs
Pull Through
80x12 90s
80x10 90s
80x8 90s
(I lost reps because I didn’t want to work through my low back pain)
Shrugs
135x10 60s
135x5 60s
Wood Chops
42.5x8 each side 30s rest between sides
42.5x8 each side 30s rest between sides
Does anyone have any suggestions what to do about my back, it’s been over a week since I hurt it and it’s still irritating me.
BTW the injury was a strain to my lower right spinal erector while deadlifting.
3/24: ME Lower
Box Squat:
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x3
315x3
365x2
405x1
430x0
Rack Pull:
315x3
365x1
tweaked the lower right side of my back so I stopped.
Ab Pulldown:
95x8
100x8
105x3
85x8
Today ended shitty, not feeling 100%, my lower back has been bothering me for almost 2 weeks now. I’m not sure what to do now to keep from injuring it more. Also, my left arm starts to go numb when I get heavier on my squats and I have no idea why.
[quote]AshyLarry wrote:
3/24: ME Lower
Box Squat:
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x3
315x3
365x2
405x1
430x0
Rack Pull:
315x3
365x1
tweaked the lower right side of my back so I stopped.
Ab Pulldown:
95x8
100x8
105x3
85x8
Today ended shitty, not feeling 100%, my lower back has been bothering me for almost 2 weeks now. I’m not sure what to do now to keep from injuring it more. Also, my left arm starts to go numb when I get heavier on my squats and I have no idea why. [/quote]
The answer to this is pretty simple. STOP loading it. You said your back hurt and then you go and do rack pulls. That’s not the smartest choice in the world. Just take a break. Layoff the lower back intensive stuff except for maybe some high rep extensions. Do the leg press for a week…just lay off the back.
Why did you do a 5x4 on your RE upper day? 5 reps sets are too heavy on top of ME work. If you can’t get at least 6 on all your sets then it is too heavy. This heavy shit seems to be a reoccurring theme in your workouts. Here is something to think about. Progressive overload is good!! It works. That is one of reason you should wave load on DE squat cycles. But you can’t do it indefinitely. This “part” of the reason you start the wave all over on the DE squat cycles. You should apply this same reasoning to accessory work. I think that you worry too much about the weight your are using and not enough about just getting some work done.
Who cares if you did 5 sets of 10 with 80lbs and it was easy. Next week do 85. After 4-5 weeks, I guarantee that your progress will slow down. At this point you should wave back down or switch movements, but when you come back to a movement you shouldn’t just start at the weight you left of at. You should start lower and work your way back up and try to beat your old record. Not only will you be able to get more work in, but when you wave back down it is like little a mini deload.
Lower
Squats
315x3x2
Pull
315x2x1
Ab-PullDowns
130x2x10
DONE!! 6 days out. Everything felt really light and fast.
Sheiko#37- W2 D1- Monday- 2/24/08
(7 weeks out)
2 Hours
1)Squats (All done in Nike Frees)
(50%)195x5
(60%)235x4 x4
(70%)275(belt)x3 x3
(80%)310x2 x2 x2 x2 x2
2)Bench Press (paused)
(50%)150x5
(60%)175x4
(70%)205x3 x3
(80%)235x2 x2 x2 x2 x2 x2
3)Flat Dumbell Flys
20x10 x10 x10 x10 x10
4)Pushups
BWx10 x10 x10 x10 x10
5)Squat
(55%)215x3
(65%)255x3
(75%)295(belt)x3 x3 x3 x3
6)Good Mornings
125x5 x5 x5 x5 x5
Notes: Today’s squatting felt really good. I decided to try the Nike Frees to squat in for a little bit of a heel. I’m quite sure it allowed me to stay more upright. My knees ached a little, but I think they would have been aching a tad anyhow. I may consider some O-lifting shoes depending on how this feels.
Bench wasn’t too fast. There was some clicking in the AC joint…no pain, but worried me a little.
Skipped the recovery shower because the workout didn’t feel like it needed one.
I’m probably going to order a pair of knee and elbow sleeves.
-Matt
3/24/08
DE Upper
Circa max Week 2
47.5% with mini and 2 chains per side for 6x3
this was decently tough
ez curl skull crushers
4 chains on each side for 5, add 10lbs per side x5, add another 2.5 per side x5
bent over rear delt flyes 3x10@45
03/24/08
ME Upper
Weigh in at 177 (still)
Reverse Band Bench Press with minis
135x5
185x3
225x0
225x0
205x1
Felt very shitty in the gym today during benching.
Bent Over Row (hands supinated)
4x5x140
Sots Press
3x5x25s
Diamond Push Ups (legs on bench)
10, 10, 8
After the benching everything went fine, dunno what happened. I hit 225 last week.
ME Bench
Floor Press:
Barx5
80x5
95x5
110x3
125x3
140x3
150x1
155x1 (PR)
160x1(PR)
Cable Row:
120x8
120x10
120x8
(Originally planned BB Row but didn’t want to stress my back)
Face Pull:
65x8
50x12
55x12
Preacher Curl:
50x8
40x10
40x10
(haven’t done a curl for months)
I have the Westside Semindar DVD’s up on ebay…if anyone is interested, PM me.
Hi All,
Just wanted to let you know that I’m now going to be keeping my logs on http://mattmcgpowerlifting.blogspot.com/
instead of on here and on “My T-Nation” blog.
I’ll be checking back in for sure.
Thanks!
-Matt
03/25/08
DE Lower
Box squats with minis
10x2x125
Suitcase Deadlifts
3x4x135 each side
RDLs
8x155
8x175
8x185
Calf Raises on the hack squat
5 plates per side
3x20
3/25/08 DE Lower
3 and a half weeks out
Circa Max week 2
work up to 4x2@470 bar weight+blue and green band per side
these were miserable, I put my suit straps up, but did the velcro so loose so that they didnt do anything at all, just so I could get the feel for the straps on my back. I struggled with dialing in form on the first three sets but my fourth set was awesome.
Roman chair situps with barbell behind back 3x8@45lbs
That was it, Im about to do some glute ham raises and pull the sled right now. Isnt someone on here training for a meet coming up in the next week or two? I thought that I read that. If so, how are things going?
3/26: ME upper
Bench:
warmup
135x3
185x3
2 board
210x3
225x3 PR really easy
255x1
275x0
245x2
I’ve hit 275 before, this time I noticed that my elbows went out for that rep and the weight went down higher up on my chest. Not sure why, it happened again on the 245, I figured that for an easy triple. The good thing is that my arms were a lot more even up until the miss.
DB Incline:
75x8x4
Cable Row:
205x8x3
Underhand Pullups:
+25x4,3,3
Planks:
+90x30 sec x2
+90 x15 sec
Had to make it quick, I have a shit ton of work due today and test later. I’m about 90% sure I’m starting Vdiet next week so I’ll be taking a 4-6 week break from westside in favor of complexes, should be a good break and give me a chance to “relax”(not!). I’ll know as soon as I figure out if I can afford it…
[quote]harbinjc wrote:
3/25/08 DE Lower
3 and a half weeks out
Circa Max week 2
work up to 4x2@470 bar weight+blue and green band per side
these were miserable, I put my suit straps up, but did the velcro so loose so that they didnt do anything at all, just so I could get the feel for the straps on my back. I struggled with dialing in form on the first three sets but my fourth set was awesome.
Roman chair situps with barbell behind back 3x8@45lbs
That was it, Im about to do some glute ham raises and pull the sled right now. Isnt someone on here training for a meet coming up in the next week or two? I thought that I read that. If so, how are things going?[/quote]
harb,
I see that you’re doing CM on both upper and lower days. How are you feeling so far after these? It looks like you’re planning on squatting in about what, the upper 800s at a meet. I would assume you’re squatting out of a monolift, otherwise something like this sounds like it would not be feasible. What kind of equipment are you wearing for this cycle?
Sorry for all of the questions, just trying to get a feel for how your building up to meet day. I’m trying a scaled-back version of a CM squat cycle for a change of pace as I usually stick with straight weight.
[quote]novaeer wrote:
harbinjc wrote:
3/25/08 DE Lower
3 and a half weeks out
Circa Max week 2
work up to 4x2@470 bar weight+blue and green band per side
these were miserable, I put my suit straps up, but did the velcro so loose so that they didnt do anything at all, just so I could get the feel for the straps on my back. I struggled with dialing in form on the first three sets but my fourth set was awesome.
Roman chair situps with barbell behind back 3x8@45lbs
That was it, Im about to do some glute ham raises and pull the sled right now. Isnt someone on here training for a meet coming up in the next week or two? I thought that I read that. If so, how are things going?
harb,
I see that you’re doing CM on both upper and lower days. How are you feeling so far after these? It looks like you’re planning on squatting in about what, the upper 800s at a meet. I would assume you’re squatting out of a monolift, otherwise something like this sounds like it would not be feasible. What kind of equipment are you wearing for this cycle?
Sorry for all of the questions, just trying to get a feel for how your building up to meet day. I’m trying a scaled-back version of a CM squat cycle for a change of pace as I usually stick with straight weight.[/quote]
Hey man, no problem, I only get on here so that maybe I can help others answer questions and so I can get questions answered. As a little background info, this is what my training has looked like for the past few months:
DE Lower
Lactic acid tolerance training week 13 (20x2@405 with safety bar, 15 seconds rest)
Chain cycle with safety bar 12, 11, 10 weeks out
Lactic acid tolerance training week 9
speed strength cycle 8, 7 weeks out (6x2@190+3 blue bands per side, 6x2@235+3 blue bands per side)
off week 6 weeks out
Circa Max 5, 4, 3 weeks out
(450, 470, 490 in bar weight for 5x2, 4x2, 3x2 with blue and green per side respectively. Next week I will do my 3x2 and then work up to max single. I am not doing speed pulls during CM but a heavy ab movement and a lighter rack pull if I feel like it, I didnt feel like it yesterday) Doing a lot more accessory work during sled workouts and on ME day.
Deload 2, 1 weeks out 2 weeks out I will do 450 and chains, 1 week out, just straight weight 415 for 5 or 6 singles. Probably some lighter speed pulls also.
DE Upper
13, 12, 11 If I remember correctly, I would have to check log, but I think it was a chain cycle with 2 chains per side
week 10 Repetition Effort day
weeks 9, 8, 7 were straight weight 8x3@190, 205, 230
Floor press speed bench 6x3@whatever i wrote down (probably around 190 6 weeks out
Circa max 5, 4, 3 weeks out 6x3@190, 200, 210 with mini band per side +1, 2, 3 chains per side respectively)
Deload 2, 1 weeks out 6x3@190+1 chain per side, 6x1@190 OR this might be some light shirt work depending on if I need to (hopefully not)
The biggest change I have made to my dynamic days in the past 6 months has been that I have upped the percentages for bar weight on upper body days. I think I was going too light, or more so I could go heavier and recieve better stimulus and not overtrain. I base my bar weight numbers off of a 425 raw bench, although I have done 440 before. so 190 is 45%…etc In the past I have never gone heavier than 185 on speed days, not sure why, I think I just got talked into it because there are some guys a lot stronger than me that never go heavier than 205. For whatever physiological reason I think this heavier range has helped me.
For lower body I havent changed a whole lot, just keep working on my technique. When I was down at westside a few months ago I was talking to Lou about plyom,etrics and speed sauats and he had a great point about technique saying that your goal should be to get to the point where every rep of all your sets are exactly the same, that is hard as hell to do, but thats what I try to think of. As far as how I feel, I feel pretty good, I am only now today starting to feel some overreaching and fatigue, but its manageable and I just have to really really take care of the nutritional details and stay up on recovery orkouts and recovery modalities.
I have only 6 days left of circa max, so I feel very optimistic about the next three and a half weeks. I will be opening with 910 to 920 on squat, 565 on bench, and 650 on deadlift. My best lifts in competition are 876 squat, 575 bench, and 645 deadlift last May. i have come a long way on squat and dead so I will be gunning for 1000 and 700, as for bench I would like to hit a small pr, I have just had a ton of trouble with my shirt. I hope this gives you some info for your question. Feel free to ask more if you have anything else. Take it easy bro.
03/27/08
DE Upper
Speed Bench 3 grips
9x3x125
DB lying tricep extension
4x5 with mini band
25s
Standing Press
3x8x105
4x105
DB Row
3x12x65 each arm, some curls between sets.
3/28: DE Lower
Squat:
warmup
185x2
Chains (~40lbs per side)
225x2x5
275x1
315x1
345x1
365x1 (+40 PR)
Felt really good squatting, the 365 wasn’t even that difficult, the hardest part was unracking it cause the rack only has a too low setting and a too high setting for me…
Speed Pulls against bands:
225x1x3
stopped early cause I was pretty beat from squats and not feeling so hot all day.
Kneeling Squats:
315x8x3
Ab Pulldown:
85x15x3
03/29/08
ME Lower
Sumo Rack Pulls
135x5
225x5
315x3
365x2
385x1 (PR+10)
395x1 (PR+20)
Clean and Jerk
4x3x65kg
Overhead Squat
4x6x105
Janda Sit Ups
3 sets max reps