[quote]
Nice. I’d like to see how this all turns out for you. Did you do any strongman training prior or did you win it with strength alone? Impressive either way.[/quote]
No I trained strongman events like crazy 3 weeks out with coaching from my good friend and Pro lightweight strongman Zack Mccarley, and while I was the strongest one there (as far as static or gym strength is concerned) I really won it with my conditioning, by the time we got to the yoke, everyone else was pretty gassed, but I had been training so much volume that I was still solid and set a new PR time. putting me in an almost unreachable 1st going into to last event. plus I absolutely owned everyone on the Axle dead for reps ;)[/quote]
looks like you’ve got the whole package man[/quote]
Nah but I’m working toward it
Ben I don’t mean to pester incessantly with the questions but in terms of a program that you think would raise my big 3 as fast as possible at my current level, which do you think is the best? I’m not really that satisfied with my current program and would like your input.
[quote]Charles8675 wrote:
Ben I don’t mean to pester incessantly with the questions but in terms of a program that you think would raise my big 3 as fast as possible at my current level, which do you think is the best? I’m not really that satisfied with my current program and would like your input.
Stats:
6’0, 168
Squat: 265
Bench: 165
Dead: 300
[/quote]
It’s not pestering at all bud if there’s one topic I could talk about all day it’s this stuff. With the numbers I’m looking at right now I would say that it looks like you still have some gains that could be easily made on any program. I remember you saying that you only get 2 real compounds a week and you thought it may hinder your growth, I tend to agree with that philosophy. I tend to favor programs that are based around those core lifts specifically. This is why I would really lean towards a 5/3/1 set up. It lets you hit every lift each week and and the waves of high rep to low rep over the course of the cycle allows you to cover the spectrum of rep work and strength building sets. I would advise that you pay special attention to the accessories and add some extra volume too (5/3/1 is a little too short on volume imo) In all seriousness I still think you should have plenty of room to grow before program selection would hinder or accelerate your gains dramatically. I think the important thing for you will be to hit squat, bench, deadlift, military press, and Rows every week and to build those neuro-muscular connections. I also feel like if you start with more of a strength focus you will have an easier time transitioning to more size muscular development afterwords. That’s just my thoughts on the topic. I hope it helps give you some ideas but just remember that whatever program you’re on your consistency and commitment to it are more important, and patience is what separates the people who will make things happen in lifting and those who just burn out. Good luck!
Your videos are easy to watch because they are edited and have fun shit mixed in with the on-screen text.
Good work on that.
It’s hard to come by videos that are not boring.
At least when people’s programming videos are concerned anyway.
[quote]Simon Adebisi wrote:
Your videos are easy to watch because they are edited and have fun shit mixed in with the on-screen text.
Good work on that.
It’s hard to come by videos that are not boring.
At least when people’s programming videos are concerned anyway.[/quote]
thank you, I spend a lot of time trying to put out a good production of my sessions
Sheiko Master of sport Prep #2 W2/D5 BW:203 CGBP & Squats
stayed home yesterday for some hardcore resting that consisted of sitting, icing, stretching and eating. My lower back had tightened up to the point where I didn’t know if I would be able to make it through squats but after a thorough warm up and a lot of food I surprised myself and slayed today’s session.
Squats
135x3
225x3
295x5
355x4
410x3x2
475x3x5 (all these were solid and legit)
Close Grip Bench Press (decided to add in some paused singles today)
135x5
165x5
205x4
235x3x2
275x1
315x1 (paused and easy)
335x1 (butt came up so I can’t count it but the press was there and I think that I just paused for a little too long)
265x3x6
Dips
BWx5x6
Squats round 2
295x6
355x6
385x6x3
10 minutes of posing practice, I decided to save my 4 sets of back extensions for tomorrow so that I could join Benny and Robbie for some chicken and protein shakes at Robbies place. It was a good night.
Sheiko Master of sport Prep #2 W2/D6 BW:204 Paused Deads, inclines
Today had goods and bads I was lucky enough to have my training partner Ben Seath come hang out with me today on his off day, really helped me get through.
Paused deads (pause at knees then lockout the rep, much preferred to last weeks half deads)
135x3
225x3
315x3
355x5
425x5x2
500x4x4
Inclines
135x3
185x3
225x3x3
245x3
Seated Tricep extensions
80x10x3
90x10
80x13
Rack deads (ugh)
315x3
525x4x2
595x3x2
called it there due to me hating rack deads
Leg press
6PPsx5x5
Cleans (probably going to end up doing these instead of rack deads, sorry Boris I just hate them)
135x2x3
185x2
225x1
275x miss
drop the weight back down and add 2 front squats to every clean
135x1x3
185x1x2
225x1
245x1
265x1
275x1 (got it!)
285x miss… ugly miss, my elbow wasn’t high enough and came down on my knee while the weight came down on my wrist. My wrist was not a fan, and this little mishap seemed like a good time to end the session.
So far while I’ve been home I’ve been running an Ice and heat trade off for my wrist trying to get it to forgive me, it’s not an Ideal ending but there is no swelling so I’m not worried about a tear or break just a sprain. Tomorrow I’m going to be returning Benny’s favor by heading in to the gym to hang out with him during his session, depending on my wrist I may or may not do some snatches. I hope that I am up for them. Till then time rest up and eat like crazy.
Sheiko Master of sport Prep #2 Week 3 Day1 BW:204
close grip bench and squats today… Note to the lifting world don’t ever injure your wrists! it is the most annoying injury I have probably ever had. Stupid cleans haha I have spent the last 3 days icing my wrist, taking Ibuprofen to help with the inflammation, and being a lump to let it rest. today was actually the first day I could unscrew the top of a milk carton, stupid wrist. Anyway I decided to suck it up bring my wraps and hit my session and it went way better than it had any right to haha.
Close grip Bench (not ideal for a bum wrist but I wrapped it tight on every set and used a thumb less aka suicide grip to help relieve some of the pressure)
135x3
165x5
205x4
235x3x2
265x3x6 (still paused every final rep but the pauses weren’t as long as usual to cut down on stress time under tension for my owie)
Squats (these were actually pretty awkward too because of the wrist flexibility required to hold the bar for a low bar squat, the good news was that the pain in my wrist seemed to deflect any other pain I was feeling. I.E. everything that has been hurting during my last few squat sessions didn’t hurt at all and the squats themselves felt really easy)
135x3
225x3
295x5
355x4
410x3x2 (still beltless and really easy)
add belt
475x3x3
500x2
500x5 (I have decided to run with the idea I had on deads and turn the last set of my core lifts each day into a max rep)
Close Grip Bench (round 2)
185x5
205x4
250x3x3
250x11 (max rep butt floated a smidgen on rep 11 but it didn’t lift high enough to see with my shorts on, the set was pretty easy despite the strangeness of my wrist)
DB Fly
40x10x5 (bent my elbows more to take some pressure off, these still felt easy)
Rack squats (oly stance same height as last week)
225x5
315x5
405x5x3 (missed a 405 triple last week which means that all three of these sets were a 3 rep PR)
225x5
Back Extensions
BWx10x4
Felt really happy and completely shocked by the success of this session. I will continue to take care of my wrist and hopefully get it up to 80-90% in the next few days so that I can get back into some of the oly lifts on my recovery days and so that I can go back to my normal CGBP grip I really hate using a thumb less grip for flat bench but I have to take care of my body. As for the max rep addition I think that I am really going to like it, My body seems to be adjusting well to the level of volume in this program and I think hitting as many reps as possible at the end of each working block at whatever weight my work sets were at will be a good way to gauge how easy these weights are becoming to me. I had some really great progress using this method when I ran 5/3/1 and so I think that I will really like it in this new setting. I am looking forward to get back to 100% so that I can really test myself with every session. I will probably save my Axle clean and press workout for then which means tomorrow may be another total off day ( I hate those) but we shall see how I’m feeling in the morning and how creative I can feel by late afternoon. Until then It is time to rest up and eat clean food like crazy!
[quote]parsley wrote:
Strong bunch of people, seems like an awesome group to train with. Awesome work, sorry if i missed this but do you compete raw or geared?[/quote]
Both, My full meets are RAW my single lift deadlift meets are single ply. After I reach the total that I am pursuing RAW I may get back into some single ply stuff and start aiming at some different goals.
Hey Ben, Thanks so much for sharing your Sheiko safari. I hope you will have some thoughts on how all the close grip work seems to affect your BP when you get back to the normal lift as the program develops. Are you looking at unloading and retesting 1RMs after one meso, or going right into the next month?
My training partner and I were just chatting a few days ago about the lack of Plifters that incorporate olympic or modified olympic lifts into their programs. Then was surfing the forums today and stumbled across yours. Impressive training and lifts, looking real strong mann and by the looks of the video success is definitely earned.
[quote]cutbackcoach12 wrote:
Hey Ben, Thanks so much for sharing your Sheiko safari. I hope you will have some thoughts on how all the close grip work seems to affect your BP when you get back to the normal lift as the program develops. Are you looking at unloading and retesting 1RMs after one meso, or going right into the next month?[/quote]
glad to share my journey with all those who care to follow =) from how I feel right now my bench would definitely be much higher than it was before starting this program probably largely due to the fact that my shoulder isn’t constantly getting re injured by benching with the less healthy wide grip. After the first 4 weeks of this meso I will be going to Europe with my family for 3 weeks. I’ll be training as much as possible but Sheiko isn’t a reasonable training program to run while traveling… it’s just to time demanding. I will be running a stripped down and severely modified 5/3/1 in europe to try to get the most bang for my buck so to say while away from homw. When I get home I will hit the final 2 weeks of this meso (I’m hoping that three weeks with the different style won’t completely screw me up for getting back to sheiko but we shall see) after that I’ll be heading back to school so I’ll be reassessing what I have time to run with the time I have. I am really hoping that I can keep up this style because I am loving it and feeling amazing running it!
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
Awesome training vids and too bad about the wrists. What are the thoughts behind the deadlift paused at the knees? I would like to try those.[/quote]
Thanks brother, and it is what it is. So far I’ve been taking really good care of it and so the recovery is going well and I should be back to 100% soon. As for paused deadlifts they are terrible, awful, painful, and totally amazing for building your deadlift. I used to run paused deads where I stopped just off the floor but the pause at the knees lets me focus on pulling the bar off the deck quickly and then re accelerating through the lockout. Does wonders my friend!
[quote]hoop41 wrote:
My training partner and I were just chatting a few days ago about the lack of Plifters that incorporate olympic or modified olympic lifts into their programs. Then was surfing the forums today and stumbled across yours. Impressive training and lifts, looking real strong mann and by the looks of the video success is definitely earned. [/quote]
Thank you kindly, I am very much a proponent of the Bruce Lee style mantra use what works and reject what does not. I would never want to pigeonhole myself into 1 lifting style and not be able to take advantage of the benefits from the rest of the weightlifting world. Glad that you see what I’m thinking
I’ll have my full write up from today’s session up later tonight along with an epic video, but here’s a little snippet from what turned out to be an awesome workout. Last set of deads 605x7 RAW booyah!
Sheiko Week 3 Day 3 BW: 204
Started a nutrition log yesterday… First time that I have kept close track of my diet in years I am hoping that the attention to detail will help me be more accountable and keep me from missing chances to get some nutrients in between my sessions. i should have been doing this before but in all fairness it is quit a bit of work where going by feel has served me well in the past. Oh well I’ll try to keep up with it and see how it goes.
Pause deads (stopping at the knee and then locking out fast)
135x3
225x3
315x3
355x4
425x4
495x3x2
525x2x5
Close Grip Bench Press
135x5
165x6
205x5
235x4
250x3x2
265x2x2
285x1x2
265x2x2
250x3x2
235x4
215x5
205x6
185x7
165x27 (was a max rep but the hard part was dealing with lactic acid not the weight itself)
Deads (Boris called for box deads but I disagreed and decided to pull from the floor instead)
315x1
455x4
525x4
600x4x3
605x7 (PR… starting to think this max rep thing is a really good idea)
Leg press
6x6 3 plates for the 1st rep and then added a plate every set until I hit 8 plates per side for my final set felt good =)
Back extensions
BWx10x4
10 min posing practice
some strange feelings in the gym today, I won’t go into details but it definitely took a lot to gt my had right to finish benching and deads. Surprised myself by PR’ing on the final set beating my max rep from week 1 after a similar setup. only this time I did double the amount of reps leading up to the set, I didn’t use the actual deadlifting bar, I added weight to the last set, and I did an extra with less struggle… yeah I’d say it’s safe to say that I’m getting much stronger on this program. also I got my drug test back from my last meet. passed with ease and added that to the video. All in all a crazy day but a phenomenal workout. last thing is an update on my wrist, my strict recovery attention is paying off and I am getting better faster than I planned. I don’t wanna jump the gun but I have most of my ROM back now I’m just dealing with pain and weakness. Fingers are crossed hoping that I can pick up the olympic lifting again because I was really making some good progress on it.
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
Awesome training vids and too bad about the wrists. What are the thoughts behind the deadlift paused at the knees? I would like to try those.[/quote]
Thanks brother, and it is what it is. So far I’ve been taking really good care of it and so the recovery is going well and I should be back to 100% soon. As for paused deadlifts they are terrible, awful, painful, and totally amazing for building your deadlift. I used to run paused deads where I stopped just off the floor but the pause at the knees lets me focus on pulling the bar off the deck quickly and then re accelerating through the lockout. Does wonders my friend![/quote]
Great! I look forward to trying them.
Sheiko week 3 day 5 Crazy Squats and close grips BW: 203
Incredible session today!!! first round of squats felt amazing and the bench went great too. I upped my training maxes for those lifts but the reps still felt easier. My return to focused nutrition is definitely paying off!
Squats
135x3
225x3
295x5
365x4
425x3x2
485x3
add belt
485x3x4 (started pausing final reps of each set… because I love pain)
Close Grip Bench Press
135x5
175x5
205x4
240x3x2
275x3x5 (paused all third reps)
275x6 1 cheated rep but came up
DB Flys (a lot of arm bend to deload my wrist)
45x10x5 (still feeling good minus the excruciating pain in my right wrist)
Squats round 2… (gut check time)
225x3
325x4
395x4
455x4x3 (ugh)
455x9 (wanted 10 but didn’t have any spotters so was forced to play it safe… stupid self preservation reflex…)
Today was simple but brutal and awesome! I was really glad with how the squats were moving and I made sure to bury everything in the first round… second round was low enough, but depth was a bigger challenge the second time around. Heading to tacoma tomorrow morning with my training partners Big Cyal Christmas and Benny Seath, for a training session at our friend Stans gym. Stan won’t be there but he’s letting us use his gym for an Animal Barbell club event. Stan’s gym is a great facility and Stan (Efferding) himself is a phenomenal lifter and bodybuilder. Ought to be awesome!
