Not a great day today. The bench presses felt heavy at 225, and I was glad to be able to beat 5 reps at 242. I should have gotten more though. The irritated wrist does affect my benching strength a little bit, so that might be part of it.
I went up in weight for dumbbell benches for the same reason that I went up for close-grip benches. My reps didn't seem to be getting anywhere, so I might as well increase the weight! The reps turned out to be no worse than a bad-workout day, and since today wasn't great to begin with, I wasn't particularly surprised.
The back squats were more like 6+1 instead of 7 because I took a 10-second or so rest between the sixth and seventh reps. The sixth and seventh reps were also uglier than my first five since I good-morning them a bit. Still, the rest felt pretty solid.
Deadlifts were solid as usual. The last rep was a bit of a grinder, so this is probably close to my true max.
I felt pretty strong today and managed to set a couple rep-maxes or increase the weight on several of my lifts. The speed benches were also very speedy, though I didn't have anyone around to check my form. I'm not sure what was different. I guess I should just chalk it up to good luck!
I played golf at a company outing today before training. I've never played golf before, and I found that holding the club made some muscles on my left forearm really sore. Weird.
Speed squats were disappointingly non-speedy. The second clean at 100kg should have been a power clean, but I caught it too low. My left wrist is still bothering me a bit, and I lost the last rep of overhead squats when I lost tension in my shoulder. It's amazing how much a little pain can screw you up, especially on a sensitive lift like that one.
I just looked back at some of my older entries, and it seems that I am getting stronger, so yay.
I tried a different grip on face pulls today, which made them feel a lot easier. I used to grip the rope thing by the bulbous end bits (sorry for the inaccurate wording...I have no idea what the proper terminology is). That is, I would hold the rubber portions at the end the same way you would hold a tennis ball. I switched to holding the rope right before the end after seeing some videos on YouTube. I'm still not sure what the proper form is, but I do face pulls for prehab anyway, so it doesn't concern me too much.
My back squats are really annoying me. The first three reps of my heavy set were fine. The fourth rep was terrible. I basically good-morninged it after I got half way up. One of the more experienced people I train with suggested that I move my elbows forward a bit to keep myself from caving over.
Deadlifts were strong. The fifth felt easy, but I couldn't get the sixth off the floor.
Barbell rollouts were done with feet slightly closer together this week, making the leverage more to my disadvantage. I figure I will continue moving my feet together until they touch while keeping arms shoulder width. I'll start working on reps after that.
Light Upper (1-rep week)
Speed Bench: 8x3@145
Close-Grip Bench: 8, 7, 5 @ 225
Pullup: 4x8@55
Military Press: 8, 8, 5 @ 150
EZ Bar Preacher Curl: 2x8@85
I was touching the bar a little too low on my chest during speed bench. Otherwise, they felt pretty good.
I think I have a small knot in my left lat. I could feel an uncomfortable pull right about where my lat meets my spine toward the bottom of my back. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find it unless I'm doing pullups, so I'll just have to roll around the area with a tennis ball and hope it goes away.
My wrist was bothering me a bit on military presses. I think I was tilting strangely at the lockout because I can't fully extend my left arm without pain. It's better than last week, though, so hopefully it's getting better.
Light Lower (1-rep week)
Speed Squat: 8x3@205
Power Clean: 2@70, 80, 90, 100
Clean: 2@110, 3@115
Front Squat: 2x8@225
Oly Squat: 2x6@265
Ab Pulldowns: 3x15@190
Woodchoppers: 3x15@70
I didn't realize that speed squats were usually done in doubles. I wasn't moving very quickly either. One of my friends jokingly called my speed squats "slow speed squat doubles for three." Ah well. Next time.
I felt pretty good on the cleans at 110, so decided to go to 115. I actually have more trouble standing up from the deep front squat position than racking the bar.
My wrist was bothering me a bit, so I subbed front squats for overhead squats. As before, I felt a little pull in my left lower back on front squats. However, if I focused on keeping my upper back tight and not leaning forward, I was able to minimize any tweaks-of-almost-pain. I need to keep doing work to loosen my hips.
Deep olympic squats should have been easy, but I think my quads were fried from cleans and front squats. I usually do overhead squats with much less weight, which is less taxing muscularly.
Sorry for the lack of updates. My main gym was closed, and most of the other gyms in the area had unreasonable hours on at least Saturday, so I decided to take the weekend off. Tuesday is going to be the big 1-rep day. I am going to test my actual maxes for the squat, bench, and deadlift that evening. The week to follow will be deload week, which is good because I'm going to be out of town over the next weekend, so it will be another few days of light calisthenics for me.
My fist post mentioned that I was going to do a powerlifting meet in June. Obviously, that didn't happen because I was worried about the injury I received in the middle of June. Instead, I plan to compete in a meet in Connecticut on August 22, where I will be competing raw. Since this is my first meet, I don't think I'm going to over-plan for it. I'm not going to cut weight, so I will probably be competing in the 181 class, nor am I going to change my training up by much. I have committed to going along with several of my friends, so I'll look like a huge tool if I pull out of this one.
So, Tuesday it is. I'm aiming for a 405 squat, 295 bench, and 515 deadlift. I will probably realistically do 385, 285, 495, but we'll see.
your right on target, just try to get as strong as possible. Weight classes really don't matter in powerlifting unless you are at the highest level anyway.
The 365 was easy, but I got stuck for a little under a second at the very bottom inch. After I got it above that, I was able to power through it very quickly. I was stuck at that exact bottom inch for the two 385s. I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to beat my old PR, but at least I now know what I need to work on. I'm nor sure what exactly I need to do yet, but I'm sure I'll be able to find out. Any suggestions?
Finally, a 5-plate deadlift! And then a 500 pound deadlift! Those have been goals of mine for a while, and it feels good to finally hit them.
My back rounded just a tad at the 495 and quite significantly at 505. My friends couldn't tell my back was rounding at 495, but I could feel the lower back muscles working more than they should have. For 505, the rounding was obvious. I'm going to pay for this tomorrow. I was still able to lock out both with ease.
So, 365+285+505=1155, which puts me just barely in Class I at 181, and comfortably within Class I at 165. I weighed 173 right before I started lifting today. I intend to gain weight rather than lose it because I'm already quite lean, but I haven't been putting in very much effort in the kitchen.
The rest of this week is deload week/general goofing off, then it's back to the usual next Tuesday.
There is a very good article about Wendler's 5/3/1 on T-Nation today, by the way. It shows, for one thing, that I'm doing everything completely wrong. I knew that, of course, since I'm really doing my own thing, sort of based on Westside for Skinny Bastards, but with a month-long periodization scheme for the max-effort lift. Still, interesting reading.
your right on target, just try to get as strong as possible. Weight classes really don't matter in powerlifting unless you are at the highest level anyway.
Yeah, I'm just planning on going to see what it's like. Also, it'll be nice to hang around a lot of people who are much stronger than I am, since it will give me a chance to learn. As for weight, I'm planning on lifting at 181, and I doubt I'll be able to gain 8 pounds of lean mass in such a short time anyway.
Deload Day
Close-Grip Bench: 3x4@225
Pullup: 4x4@55
Military Press: 3x4@150
Oly Squat: 3x10@135
Back Extension: 3x10
Barbell Rollouts: 4x2
Some other stuff that I don't remember.
Today was just some general dicking around before I leave for the weekend. I didn't realize how beaten up my body was until I tried moving some weights. Hopefully, a few days of only light calisthenics and stretching will allow me to come back at full force next Tuesday.
Light Lower (5-rep week)
Speed Squat: 8x2@205
Power Clean: 2@70, 80, 90, 100
Clean: 2@110
Front Squat: 2x8@225
Oly Squat: 2x4@265
I got the gym really late today because I was signing a lease for a new apartment, so I didn't have enough time to finish my full workout. Also, I was feeling a little "off" today in technique, so I didn't push myself very much for any of the lifts. I'm not quite sure what was wrong. Part of it was partly because I came late, so I was hungry and more tired than usual. It's always been times like these when I've injured myself, but luckily I escaped that today.
I think I flared my elbows too much on the bench press. Plus, I tend to lose my arch after a couple reps. I need to practice either keeping my arch or learn how to reset properly.
I think that 110 may be too heavy for dumbbell bench, but 100 is not quite enough, and my gym doesn't have 105s, so I guess that's what I'll have to settle for.
For cable row, I couldn't get more than 7 reps on the final set for some reason (too tired? too full?). I rested for about 10 seconds then finished the last three reps, so it wasn't a straight set of 10.
I don't know what it was. Maybe I didn't get enough sleep or didn't eat enough or something. Hopefully this is a temporary thing and I'm not actually getting weaker.
Upper body work was bleh. I've felt better, and I've definitely felt worse. I think I'm sleeping poorly because of the heat/humidity around here, especially during the past few days. It'll be cooler for a bit, so hopefully that will help.
I've decided to do box squats to help my back squats since they are supposed to help with strength in the hole. I will be using light weights to practice my form every workout with heavy (relatively) speed sets on Thursday. I will probably still be doing free squats on Sundays. I'll keep this up for a while and see how it goes.
Light Lower (3-rep week)
Box Squat: (8 and change)x2@205
Power Clean: 2@70, 80, 90, 5@100
Front Squat: 2x8@225
Oly Squat: 2x7@265
Ab Pulldowns: 3x15@190
Woodchoppers: 3x15@60
I decided not to do heavy cleans because, well, this is supposed to be a light day, and I'd like to focus more on the big three. I definitely did more than 8 doubles for box squats as well, since I was working on form, but this is light for me anyway.
I'll be gone again over this weekend. I'll see if I can find a gym to lift in, but if not, I'll have to stick to basic calisthenics and get back on track next Tuesday.
Back squats back squats back squats. One of my friends says I just need to stop obsessing over them. I think I may just need to learn humility and back down to a weight where I can get in a decent amount of volume. Since the meet is one month out, I doubt I'm going to switch anything up, but I'll see how I do then and think hard about how to adjust it so I can finally see some gains.
I may need to do the same with benching. For some reason, they felt very heavy. I almost got a fourth at 260, but I couldn't quite lock it out.
Deadlifts were fine. I probably could have pulled a fifth, but decided against it. I'll save my intensity for my weaker lifts.
One of my friends started a blog at mitstrength.blogspot.com, so I think I will be posting my workouts there. I'll still drop by this forum from time to time though to see what's up. Thanks for everyone who dropped by and offered advice and encouragement!
Whoa, so I fully intended to double post, but I missed the boat the first few times and then work/life made visiting this site totally slip my mind. My bad. Back to posting.
First, a brief report. I went to the IPA CT States Meet on August 22. My lifts were:
Squat: 365
Bench: 290
Deadlift: 520 (whee)
Yeah, my squat sucks. I'm working on that. This was all completely raw, by the way, so no belt. I recently ordered an Inzer Forever 10mm single pronged belt. I had borrowed a friend's belt a couple times, and using it made a HUGE difference in how it felt to squat. I will be squatting belted for most of my heavy sets going forward, though I do plan to train beltless occasionally.
I won't go into too much detail about what I was doing in the interim. I dropped 5/3/1 after the meet and tried Smolov for about two weeks, which almost killed me. I then did a simple 5x5 linear progression scheme until about a week ago, when I started RTS on the suggestion of some of the more experienced lifters I know.
Here's today's workout.
Walked/jogged to the Z.
"Board" Press (using the little blue cubes, ~4", 2 board?)
5x255 @ 8
5x255 @ 8
5x255 @ 8
5x260 @ 9
5x260 @ 9.5 These felt pretty good. I actually find that not going all the way down is much easier on my elbow, which sometimes gives me problems on the bench.
Floor Press
4x225 @ 8
4x225 @ 8
4x230 @ 8
4x230 @ 9
4x230 @ 9
4x230 @ 9 Nothing much to report. I think I'm finally getting used to these.
Pullups: 4x8@45
Dips: 4x8@45
Walked/jogged back home.All in all, an above-average workout. Feels good to finally have one of these.
Back Squat
5x325 @ 8
5x325 @ 8
5x325 @ 9
5x325 @ 9
5x325 @ 10
I'm having some trouble hitting depth with a belt. I tend to judge my depth by two things: (1) how far above the safety bars the bar is (my bad, my bad), and (2) how tight my hips are at the bottom, with most of my attention on (2). The belt has thrown my ability to judge hip tightness out the window. I think that only 60-80% of the squats in the above sets hit depth.
Deficit Deadlifts (Red and Green, roughly 4")
5x412 @ 8
5x412 @ 8
5x412 @ 9
5x412 @ 9
5x412 @ 10
I started getting really tired toward the last few sets and hitched just a tad on my very last rep. Everything else felt pretty solid.
Pistols: 2x8
Ab Wheel: 6, 5, 5
11/1: RTS Volume, Bench
Bench Press
5x245 @ 9
5x245 @ 10
5x240 @ 9
5x240 @ 10
5x235 @ 10
Didn't feel great going to the gym, so basically every set was a struggle, but at least I hit every rep, though I had to adjust the weight. My left elbow is still giving me problems. I'll be taking lots of fish oil tonight.
Pause Dumbbell Bench
4x95 @ 8
4x95 @ 8
4x95 @ 10
4x95 @ 8
4x95 @ 9
4x95 @ 9 Felt solid except for the third set, when the dumbbell fell out of its normal path.
Cable Row: 4x8@190
Military Press: 6, 6, 6, 5 @ 145 I decided to go for fewer reps and slightly higher weight on the military press because high reps kill me.
Deadlift
5x425 @ 8
5x425 @ 9
5x425 @ 9
5x425 @ 9.5
5x425 @ 10 The first set wasn't too hard, but the last set was a clear 10. I'm glad next week is deload week, and after that, intensity.
Pause Squats (3-count...roughly 2 seconds)
4x225 @ 8
4x225 @ 8
4x235 @ 9
4x235 @ 9
4x235 @ 10
4x235 @ 10 I don't know if the last two sets were truly 10, but they felt tough and were very slow.
RTS looks like a solid training methodology. Where did you buy it?
nice job on the meet. sorry to hear about smolov, its a really nasty program which has given me some kind of injury each time I have ran it.. but the gains continue to make it so tempting.
I've been feeling a little beaten up, so I thought a deload week between the volume and intensity cycles would be a good idea.
Squat: 6x295 No belt, though I brought mine to the gym. This was surprisingly hard, and all the reps were slow. I'm sure I could have gotten a few more, though, not that I wanted to.
Deficit Deadlifts: 6x365 Again, these felt harder than they should have. I almost lost 365 on the second rep. Ah well.
Pistols: 3x4
Ab Rollout: 3x3
I remember now why my workouts used to be so short. If you're only doing one real work set per exercise, the entire thing takes no time at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank.S
RTS looks like a solid training methodology. Where did you buy it?
nice job on the meet. sorry to hear about smolov, its a really nasty program which has given me some kind of injury each time I have ran it.. but the gains continue to make it so tempting.
Thanks! Yeah, Smolov was a mistake. I didn't plan it well enough and didn't take any advice, so it was clearly a disaster waiting to happen. Lesson learned.
RTS stands for Reactive Training System (http://www.reactivetrainingsystems.com/ WFS). I just ordered the manual last Monday, so it should be arriving anytime, but I've been using a friend's notes in the meantime. If people here are interested, I can post a brief review/summary when I get it and finish reading it.
Linear Mode
