Return of the King

BossArky

Thursday October 10th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x5
95kg - 1x3
110kg - 1x2
125kg - 3x5 ... fine. Quite easy actually considered it's last week of 5's.

Face Pulls
Setting 5 - 3x10
---
Squat
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 3x5

Chin Ups
3x6 ... quick supersets amongst Squats. easy
---
DB external rotation (L something, standing)
3kg - 2x10
5kg - 2x10

Bench (little finger on ring)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
92.5kg - 3x3 ... heavy, but winning as it was only supposed to be 3x2. Discovered that later when writing this log entry.

Bench (from pins) with slingshot (lol)
60kg - 1x5
100kg - 1x2 ... failed rep 3. Slingshot gave nothing from bottom when starting of pins
90kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x5

Machine Row (supinated grip)
40kg - 3x10 ... something light

DB Incline Press (standing)
20kg per arm - 3x10

Ham Curl
50kg - 3x12
---

Was awake most of the night before due to work. Didn't sleep/eat much so happy to get through that. Deadlift was good. Bench ok. Suprised that the slingshot is basically negated when starting bench off pins cos you cannot get enough stored energy into it. Happy enough that I got 2 reps in a row on 100kg... which hopefully means I'll make 102.5kg in comp paused.

BossArky

Saturday October 12th: noon

Surfing ~20-30 mins
---

Got smashed by endless powerful messy waves. Terrible conditions. Wanted to put my surf board on gumtree when hauling myself out of the water. Got a bit sunburnt. Fun nonetheless to be in the water & at the beach. Went with neighbour.

BossArky

Monday October 14th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 3x5

Face Pulls
Setting 5 - 3x10
---
Squat
60kg - 1x5
*belt*
100kg - 1x3
125kg - 3x5 ... fine
*overload i.e walk out & static hold - did these about one hour after main squat sets & at end of workout after bench*
60kg for ~10 seconds
100kg for ~10 seconds
120kg for ~10 seconds
142.5kg for ~10 seconds
152.5kg for ~10 seconds
162.5kg for ~10 seconds

Chin Ups
3x6
---
L external Rotation (standing)
3kg per arm - 2x10
5kg per arm - 2x10

Bench (little finger on ring)
20kg - 1x6
60kg - 1x5
80kg – 1x3
90kg – 1x1
95kg – 3x2
*slingshot*
100kg - 1x5
105kg - 1x5
110kg – 1x3 … fine. Left it at 3 instead of 5 as no spot

Seated Row
40kg - 3x10

One Arm DB Row
30kg - 3x6
---
Incline Press
20kg per arm - 3x10

BB Curl
20kg - 3x10 ... light stuff
---

Squats were up to 125 3x5 for last week of 5's. Handy enough. Not at 100%. Will do doubles next week on 130kg and then rest ahead of comp.

Bench was fine. First set of doubles on 95kg was easy. Got mildy harder for sets two and three, but again not at 100%.

Happy to get the slingshot bench up to 110kg x3. Didn't go for the usual 5 slingshot set reps as no one to spot me (i.e trainer beside me made a fuss last week). It was therefore satisfying smashing out the reps whilst him and his client watched on. It was awkward in a funny way. All 3 of us knew that this was the set was 2.5kg heavier than that I had asked for a spot on last week. Motivation++:pac:

Forgot about the Squat static holds until half way through the bench. Went back and did them in the end.

BossArky

Thursday October 17th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x5
90kg - 1x3
110kg - 1x2
130kg - 2x2 ... easy. Way too easy for doubles that are ending a cycle. Gotta build back up from somewhere. So easy that I supersetted the chins below with these back to back

Chin Ups
3x6
---
Squat
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 3x5

Face Pulls
setting 5 - 3x10
---
DB external rotation
3kg - 3x10 ... L something, standing
3kg - 3x10 ... lying on bench one arm at a time

Bench (little finger on ring)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 1x1
97.5kg - 2x2 ... easy & alright. Was slightly distracted trying to get a spotter.... who f**kcing made it seem like I was trying to steal his granny.
*add slingshot*
100kg - 1x3 PAUSED
102.5kg - 1x3 PAUSED
105kg - 1x1 PAUSED

Machine Row (supinated grip)
30kg - 3x10 ... something light

DB Shoulder Press (standing)
15kg - 3x10 ... something light

Ham Curl
40kg - 3x12 ... something light
---
Front Squat
30kg - 3x12

Barbell Curl
30kg - 3x10
---

What is it with these twats in my gym? Both guys I've requested a spot from in the past couple of weeks are personal trainers... but complete ass-holes. This guy today complained that he was in the middle of his sets. Dude... it was a double which took 15 secs. I didn't bother asking for a spot on the second set and made it fine. I was raging. On the first set I spent more energy hissing at him to get his hands away from the bar on both the lift off and the lift itself, even though I had explained this beforehand.

I was watching one of Mark Bells videos where he mentions that Brandon Lilly thinks that whatever you can bench paused for a singleshot triple is what you'll be capable of in a meet. Hence I did the 102.5kg x3 paused, as 102.5kg is the bench pb I'll be aiming for in the meet.

Deadlifts were amazingly easy. Numbers are low on paper, but gotta build up from somewhere and taking it conservatively since this is first sumo cycle. Sumo is starting to feel right. We'll see when weight gets heavier in future. edit - forgot to mention that bar slipped out of left hand whilst lowering back on last rep of 130 - 2x2. I'll put that done to a few things: not concentrating on grip, being half half on smooth/knurling... and no chalk/decent knurling.

Everything was fine. I'm adding in some front squats, starting from nothing and aiming to build up in the coming weeks and months. I've been watching a few Dan Greene videos recently on both sumo deads and front squat technique.

If anyone is interested I'd recommend checking out the following on youtube:

• Mark Bell Power Project (channel name is "supertraining06)" ... has some good stuff every now and again
• Brandon Lilly Q and A ... he posts a video every day or two answering powerlifting questions

BossArky

Monday October 21st:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x5
90kg - 3x5

Chin Ups
3x6
---
Squat
60kg - 1x5
*belt*
90kg - 1x3
120kg - 1x2
132.5kg - 2x2 ... alrighty

Face Pulls
Setting 5 - 3x10
---
External Rotation
3kg per arm - 3x10 ... standing, L ext rotation
3kg per arm - 1x10 ... lying on bench

Bench (little finger on ring)
20kg - 1x6
60kg - 1x5
80kg – 1x3
90kg – 1x1
95kg – 1x1
100kg - 2x2 ... pb
*slingshot*
100kg - 1x3 ... supposed to be PAUSED but forgot and just did touch and go!
102.5kg - 1x3 PAUSED
105kg – 1x1 … barely PAUSED

Seated Row
30kg - 3x10

One Arm DB Row
20kg - 3x6
---
Incline Press
12kg per arm - 3x10

DB Curl
10kg per arm - 3x5 ... light stuff
---
Shoulder Press (standing)
12kg per arm - 3x10 ... light stuff. Accidently did 10kg on second set

Ham Curl
40kg per arm - 3x10 ... light stuff

Front Squat
32.5kg - 3x12
---

Pretty happy with the bench pb. Finally got 2 wheels aside for reps!

Roped a guy from work into coming to the gym at the same time to spot me.

Usually I'd finish a bench cycle with paused doubles, however the complications with spotters etc make it easier to just go touch and go. I did add in a few paused triples with the slingshot.

Left shoulder is a bit sore/strained for the past months of heavy benching twice a week. Hopefully it'll be fine in time for Saturday's comp.

Squat doubles on 132.5 were fine. I actually had planned for 130 2x2 this cycle, but things are feeling easy recently so increased a tiny bit. Need to think about openers plus other attempts in the next day or two.

All the rest was light weight pumping.

Happy with that cycle. Got stronger on bench and Squat/Deadlift are building back up. Hope to hit 102.5kg bench in comp for a pb, and see if I get around the 150kg mark in Squat/Deadlift. May be able to go higher on deads. A heavy sumo is currently an unknown.

BossArky

Thursday October 24th: deload

YTWL (just the Y, incline bench) ...why?
3kg - 4x8

Bench Press
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 3x5
---
Squat
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 3x5
---

Deload ahead of Saturday comp.

Feeling slightly sore still in the left shoulder. Maybe strained it someone on the heavy Squat walkouts in the past few weeks.

Still undecided on competition attempts. Would like to go 9 for 9 i.e. take it easy as a come back comp... however at the back of my mind I wanna also go for broke.

Squat: want to hit a minimum of 150kg & even equal by pb of 152.5kg, but it may be a stretch as could be slightly undertrained for that. May go 140/147.5/152.5.

Bench: want to get a minimum bench of 100kg as well as the 102.5kg pb, so maybe 100/102.5/105.

Deadlift: Wanna total at least 400kg, so assuming I get 1st bench and at least 2nd squat my second dead has to be 152.5kg, then go higher and test sumo. Perhaps 140/152.5/160.

I actually went to the hassle of putting all my previous competition results (from 9 competitions to date) into an excel and working out what is the highest percentage of training doubles in last week of cycle that were successful attempts in comps. Ended up with 109% for Squat, 108% for Bench and 108% for Deadlift. That would give me 145/102.5/140. Hmm.

Bench going well this cycle, but need another few cycles to bring Squat and Deadlift back up. Let's see what happens on Saturday.

Hanley

G'luck today!!!

kevpants

Besta luck. Try get a vid. Be interesting to see your sumos under heavy load. The light ones look ridiculously good but everyone breaks down at some point when it gets real.

Been experimenting with a number of cues which change the look of the heavy ones. Be interesting to see another raw sumo-er.

BossArky

Saturday October 26th: Powerlifting competition – Assassin Open

So what happened?

Short version: I went 145/97.5/157.5 to total 400kg at exactly 83kg getting 8 of the 9 lifts. Mind bogglingly I managed to fail the 100kg bench, when that was a dead certainty based on training.

Long version: Read on.

Bodyweight was more or less ok in the days approaching the competition. I was around 83.5kg in the last week, so didn’t have to limit calories much / at all. Did the usual water loading (drinking a lot of water) trick, stopping all fluid intake at 6pm Friday night. This got me down to 82.8kg at around 8am on Saturday morning, the day of competition. I then had 100g of porridge and 100g of toast with peanut butter… which should have left me at a nice round 83kg (i.e. the upper limit of my bodyweight category). Oddly enough the weighing scales showed me as 83.2kg so I was cutting it fine, given that the weigh in was apparently at 10am, not 10:30am as originally planned.

Competition location was approx. 40km south of the city centre. First time I’d ever been down there, which meant I managed to get lost and arrive at the venue only at 10:50am, when the comp was scheduled to start at noon. Did a quick bench rack height, followed by stripping down to just boxers to weigh in exactly at 83kg (phew!) and then ate a banana, drank a few Gatorade, whilst munching on cheese sandwiches. Put in my openers to the scoring table. I was planning to open with Squat 140kg, Bench 100kg and Deadlift 140kg.

Did Squat rack height shortly after, before changing into my singlet and doing my usual warm-up (backward bends, lunges, hip mobility). Started Squat warm ups at 11:40am i.e. 20 mins before competition began. There were 2 flights: first one consisting of the women and up to 83kg men. Second flight was 93kg men upwards.

Warm ups:
Squat warm ups went as follows: 60kg x5, 90kg x3, 110kg x2, 127.5kg x1. The 127.5kg felt heavy so revised opener down from 140kg to 135kg. Warm up racks also felt dodgy and I wasn’t confident in wedging myself under the bar in my usual fashion of coiled fury.

Bench warm ups went like this: 60kg x5, 80kg x3, 90kg x1, 95kg x1 PAUSED. That paused 95kg felt like a 1 rep max attempt. It was a slow grinder to I had to revise opener down from 100kg to 95kg. I was kicking myself for expending so much energy in the warm up and shooting myself in the foot by wasting energy that should have been saved for the platform.

Sumo Deadlift warm ups went as follows: 60kg x5, 90kg x3, 110kg x2, 130kg x1. All felt easy.

Competition attempts went as follows:

Squat #1: 135kg … good lift
Squat #2: 140kg … good lift
Squat #3: 145kg … good lift

All Squats felt as heavy as each other. They didn’t feel like they got heavier after the 135kg… just all slow & bloodrushing to head. Apparently my technique looked good according to both head judge and certain under observers. Think I may have been pulled forward slightly as lower left back got a dose of sciatica in left buttock for the 3 days following comp. Didn’t hurt until late in the evening after competition.

Bench #1: 95kg … good lift
Bench #2: 97.5kg … good lift
Bench #3: 100kg … FAIL

Totally screwed up my bench by warming up to a paused 95kg which felt really heavy. I was too headstrong to listen to my body in the early warm up sets and kept going, thinking I could get by at heavier weights. After last warm up on 95kg I knew I’d have to revise opener down from 100kg to 95kg. Did 95kg as opener, followed by 97.5kg (as didn’t feel like I’d even make 100kg on the second attempt)… which meant I had already taken 3 lifts within a very close % of my 100kg attempt for the 3rd lift. Just didn’t feel strong on the day. If I was thinking clearly I would have finished warm ups on a paused 90kg, opened on 95kg and went straight to 100kg on the second, giving me the 3rd lift for a retake of the 100kg or a crack at the 102.5kg pb. Wasn’t thinking clearly. Lack of paused attempts in training got me.

Sumo Deadlift #1: 140kg … good lift
Sumo Deadlift #2: 150kg … good lift
Sumo Deadlift #3: 157.5kg … good lift

All deadlifts were easy. Wasn’t anywhere near to struggling. Could have went heavier on third attempt, but doing the maths in my head I knew that 157.5kg would give me a round figure total of 400kg and that was enough in a come back competition. Didn’t want to strain or get into a situation where I might hurt myself. So, probably left a few kgs on the platform on the deadlift.

Palms, upper back and knees got some serious raking from the sharp knurling on the proper Eleiko bars. It must be a year since I've used a proper Powerlifting bar. It was like holding a cheese grater.

Conclusion:
To be honest, that is the first competition where I felt embarrassed by my lifting. My technique was good based upon feedback from various people… but those lifts are pretty weak (not double bodyweight on either Squat or Dead… and not benching 100kg). I’m setting myself the goal for the next year to get my total from 400kg (C-grade total) up to 460kg (B-grade total, and the total I need to qualify for nationals). I can see my sumo deadlift increasing a lot. It just feels very easy. No strain on back like conventional. I’m confident I can deadlift 200kg in the future without killing myself. I’m also embarrassed not to have benched at least 100kg. It’s been over two years since I first hit 100kg in competition and I should now be doing that easily. I know I have it & more in me… but just didn’t get it out there on the platform.

I’ve planned out my next two training cycles. The first one will take me to the end of this year and see Squat up by 5kg and Deadlift up by 7.5kg. The second cycle will take me to mid March 2014 and see Squat up a further 2.5kg and Deadlift up another 5kg. Bench I’m still thinking about. Bench training went well, but I need that to translate to competition. Slow steady progress is what I want from here on. Aim is to stay injury free and build upon this 400kg. Have to start “somewhere”… and that measly 400kg total from last Saturday is now “somewhere”.

Aside:
That was my tenth powerlifting competition as a competitor. I was also referreing and later on acting as the deadlift loader for the second flight. This was slightly awkward as myself and another competition would swop in and out of the side judges chair depending on who was lifting. There were a lot of spectactors there from other federations. Following the competition there was much whining and bitching between federations about various refereeing calls. Some people weren’t too happy about their calls and didn’t understand the rules on Squat depth, the various commands or Deadlift lock-out/hitching. Pretty negative atmosphere unfortunately. Running a powerlifting competition is a volunteer activity and people could user their energy to get involved as a spotter/loader/general helper setting up/clearing down… versus taking potshots at what they see as rival federations.

BossArky

Hanley wrote: »

G'luck today!!!

kevpants wrote: »

Besta luck. Try get a vid. Be interesting to see your sumos under heavy load. The light ones look ridiculously good but everyone breaks down at some point when it gets real.

Been experimenting with a number of cues which change the look of the heavy ones. Be interesting to see another raw sumo-er.

Cheers both.

No videos unfortunatley. Was there alone. I'll make some towards the end of next Deadlift cycle in December and post for feedback.

BossArky

Thursday October 31st:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x10
75kg - 1x10

Bench (ring finger on ring)
20kg - 1x10 PAUSED
60kg - 3x10 PAUSED
---
Squat
60kg - 1x10
*belt*
65kg - 1x10

Machine Bench
50kg - 3x20
---
Front Squat
35kg - 3x10
---
Ham Curl
30kg - 3x20
---

First day back. High reps on everything. Felt great afterwards. Training is a drug.

Left shoulder/pec tie in still sore when I raise arm or do wide pressing. Have to watch it and allow recover.

Gonna pause all bench work from now on.

Gonna put more emphasise on lower body training going forwards which will pay off in bigger squat/deadlift increases over miniscule bench progress. Front squats are still a work in progress. Building them up gradually. Found that wrapping wrists allows me to get a good rack position and takes the strain off the wrist. Felt quite stable. Will see how this goes as weight increases. Would like to get up to front sqatting ~100kg for reps & sets. Probably gonna add 2.5kg per session, which will be 5kg per week. Initially keep the reps high (3x10 or 12) to build some quads and then taper down when up to a decent weight.

More motivated than ever.

kevpants

Well done on hitting 400kg. Powerlifting is all about plateaus and peaks, given your injury problems in the past if you stay health you'll probably be looking back from 500kg in a year thinking WTF?

BossArky wrote: »

Gonna pause all bench work from now on.

Good lad.

Front squats are still a work in progress. Building them up gradually. Found that wrapping wrists allows me to get a good rack position and takes the strain off the wrist. Felt quite stable. Will see how this goes as weight increases. Would like to get up to front sqatting ~100kg for reps & sets.

Don't worry about what you can front squat. My advice is to make them harder through technique, weight is immaterial. Lower slowly and descend directly down, no leaning forward. Pause at the bottom and push exclusively through the heels while staying ramrod straight and upright. I was doing 60kg for sets of 5 the other night. The quad and ab pump will be heralded throughout the ages.

For context I've front squatted 140kg fairly easily without being strict. You can really cheat with them and con yourself into thinking it's progress.

BossArky

Sunday November 2nd:

Cycle (outdoors) 13km with BabyArky in the bike trailer.

She's getting heavier (14kg). Combined with the trailer itself (12.5kg) it's a good workout pulling around the additional 26.5kg behind the bike, especially when the wind is in your face.

BossArky

Monday November 4th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x8
75kg - 3x8

Abz
Scissor Crunch & Press Up Leg up - 3x10 each ... no idea what these things are called but found the combo on Diesel Crew's youtube. I'll try to post the video later. Abs were on fire afterwards
---
Squat
60kg - 1x5
*belt*
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 3x8

One Arm DB Row
30kg per arm - 3x8
---
Front Squat
37.5kg - 3x10 ... very easy now that I've found a comfortable rack position

Inverted Row
3x10
---
Ham Curl
30kg - 3x20
---
Leg Press (one leg at a time)
7.5kg - 1x10
15kg - 1x10
22.5kg - 1x10
---
Calf Raise (frame)
frame + 50kg - 1x10
frame + 70kg - 2x10
---

Pumping sweat. Was 30 degrees by 9am this morning and probably as hot when I got into the gym this evening.

Lots of leg work today. Squats fine and front squats going well.

No bench or overhead press as still allowing shoulder to heal. Still feeling a bit niggly but seems to be feeling better than before.

Resurrected my fitday account. Suprisingly it dosen't allow me to alter my weight goal to increase from 83 to 85kg. It was built with the idea that people only wanna loose weight. Gonna watch what I eat and get on top of it for the 2 months up until end of year when I want to hit 85kg.

BossArky

kevpants wrote: »

Don't worry about what you can front squat. My advice is to make them harder through technique, weight is immaterial. Lower slowly and descend directly down, no leaning forward. Pause at the bottom and push exclusively through the heels while staying ramrod straight and upright. I was doing 60kg for sets of 5 the other night. The quad and ab pump will be heralded throughout the ages.

For context I've front squatted 140kg fairly easily without being strict. You can really cheat with them and con yourself into thinking it's progress.

Thanks for the input. I'll work on them and get a video in a few weeks.

chriity139

Well done on the 400kg in the comp man I wouldnt mind giving a power lifting competition a go in the future to see where I'm at. How would I go about finding out more information.

BossArky

Tuesday November 5th:

Decline Bench
20kg - 1x10
60kg - 1x10

DB Curlz (alternating)
12.5kg per arm - 1x10
15kg per arm - 1x10
17.5kg per arm - 1x10

Lat Pulldown
40 - 1x10
45 - 1x10
50 - 1x10
---
DB Tri Ext (standing)
12.5kg per arm - 3x5
---
Barbell Curlz
30kg - 3x10

Tri Pushdown (cable)
setting 12 - 3x10
---

As mentioned previously, I've been paying more attention to diet the past few days & tracking it via fitday.com. Been taking in a lot (more than usual anyway) of cals the past few days. Trained an extra day to ensure the training stimulus is there for muscle growth.

Monday: ~3300 cals (24% Fat overall & 10% saturated/ 42% Carbs / 34% Protein)
Tuesday: ~3300 cals (32% Fat overall & 16% saturated / 35% Carbs / 33% Protein)

I'm gonna track like this for a while. Aim is to get the saturated fats down as much as possible whilst keep everything else up. Main difference between the Monday and Tuesday is light milk vs. full fat, as you can see by the fat content.

Did some maths the other day and on training days I'd estimate I burn off around 1000 cals per day (300 cals walking 5km roundtrip to work & 700 cals over the course of ~2 hours in gym).

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) .... hmmm, used a number of different online calculators and came back with estimates from 1600 to 2200 as BMR without factoring in exercise. For the sake of arguement I'm going to assume my BMR is 2400 (a number I can up with whilst doodling on a notebook the other day).

Days in week: 7 @ BMR 2400
Days I walk to work: 5 = extra 300cals per day burned off walking 5km
Days I don't walk to work: 2
Days I weight train: 2 = extra 700cals per day burned off

= (7 x 2400) + (5 x 300) + (2 x 700)
= 16800 + 1500 + 1400
= 19700

19700 spread out over 7 days = 2814

Calories in daily = ~3300
Calories out daily = ~2800
Calorie surplus daily = ~500
Calorie surplus weekly = ~3500

Given that 3500 calories make up 1 lb of fat... and the ratio of cals required between protein & fat are 4:9, this could mean that ~1555 cals are required to gain 1 lb of muscle (i.e. 3500 x (4/9). This is discounting the energy required to actually carry out the process.

So, in a best case scenario I would put on ~2lbs of muscle (given the right training stimulus: 2 x 1555 = 3110... plus some change to make up 3500) per week.

Worst case scenario I would put on 50/50 muscle/fat... giving me 1lb of muscle per week. Hence why I'm trying to eat clean so I don't have heaps of crappy saturated fats when comsuming 3300 cals per day.

My cals above are pretty rough. By writing these out I'm hoping to pay more attention and brush up on areas which I've been neglecting e.g. quality of diet. Will consult Anita Bean's Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition later this evening to brush up on the science behind all the above.

Tip of the day: a boiled egg has approx 70 cals with 5g fat & 5g protein. That's what the internet reckons.

Are my maths way off?

BossArky

chriity139 wrote: »

Well done on the 400kg in the comp man I wouldnt mind giving a power lifting competition a go in the future to see where I'm at. How would I go about finding out more information.

Cheers.

I'm in Australia. Best bet for info on the Irish powerlifting scene is to have a look at the Strength & Strength Sports forum here.

Here are a couple of threads which may help you:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057065045

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057062114

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057039621

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056915665

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057042783

Try and find a powerlifting gym where you can get initial advice on form & program creation, etc. Also beneficial if you can train with a group of powerlifters in and around your own level. You can do it alone, just friendly rivalry can help spur you on. It's a great sport & I'd highly recommend you get stuck in! I'm sure the likes of COH, Hanley, KevPants, Podge, etc can give you tips on the Irish powerlifting scene. Most of those guys have active logs in the strength sports logs forum here.

BossArky

Thursday November 7th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x8
80kg - 1x5
90kg - 3x8

Abz
Scissor Crunch & Press Up Leg up - 3x10 each
---
Squat
60kg - 1x5
*belt*
75kg - 3x8

One Arm DB Row
32.5kg per arm - 3x8
---
Front Squat
40kg - 3x12 ... easy but gassed after them as rushed through everything above due to gym closing

Ham Curl
40kg - 3x12
---

Knackerd at end as was rushing. Huffed and puffed through the front squats which felt like crossfit the rate I was doing them supersetted with the ham curls. Felt like puking afterwards for about 30 mins. Nearly threw up in shower. It passed & was a good workout.

Calories the past couple of days as follows:

Thursday: ~2473 cals (38% Fat overall & 10% saturated/ 33% Carbs / 29% Protein)
Wednesday: ~3079 cals (35% Fat overall & 14% saturated/ 37% Carbs / 27% Protein)

Spend Thursday stuffing myself with raw veg and was really full, but as you can see the calories took a dip as the raw veg has nothing in it. Had a fair bit of good fats too. The days where I'm hitting 3,000+ is when I'm getting in a 2l of either lite or full fat milk.

Interestingly the cals difference between full fat and lit milk isn't as much as I expected: ~1300 vs ~1000. The main difference is that full fat has ~twice the saturated fat, but protein content is more or less the same... so don't see a reason to ever drink the full fat going forwards. Can easily make up the addition ~300 cals with something like an avocado (~250g) plus a few almonds (7g per almond).

BossArky

Friday November 8th: Bencharama

Bench
20kg - 1x10
60kg - 3x10 ... PAUSED

Chin Ups (parallel grip)
bodyweight + 10kg - 3x6
---
Floor Press
20kg - 1x10
60kg - 3x10

Lat Pulldown
45kg - 1x10
50kg - 1x10
55kg - 1x10
---
Decline Bench
20kg - 1x10
60kg - 3x10 ... PAUSED

BB Curl
30kg - 2x10
40kg - 1x8 ... this set was 10kg heavier as some guy took my bar to do some rows whilst I was away supersetting decline bench. For fun I came back and curled more than he was rowing
---
Incline Bench
20kg - 1x10
60kg - 3x5 ... PAUSED

DB Curlz
17.5kg per arm - 3x5
---
DB Bench "Running the rack"
30kg per arm - fail at 3 reps
27.5kg per arm - fail at 3 reps
25kg per arm - fail at 6 reps
22.5kg per arm - fail at 6 reps
20kg per arm - fail at 8 reps
17.5kg per arm - fail at 10 or 12(?) reps
---

The "running the rack" on DB bench gave me some great DOMS for the next few days. Light weights, just volume. Easing back into flat bench. Shoulder more or less ok now which is good.

BossArky

Monday November 11th: Melbourne

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x8
75kg - 3x8
---
Squat
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
*belt*
85kg - 1x5
100kg - 3x8 ... fine

One Arm DB Row
30kg per arm - 3x10
---
Bench
20kg - 1x10
60kg - 1x8
70kg - 3x8 ... PAUSED when I remembered.... which was the first set and some of the other reps in second and third set
---
DB Bench
25kg - 3x10

Glute Ham Raise
2x10
1x8
---
Front Squat
45kg - 3x12 ... fine. Should have been 42.5kg. Felt these in the abz.

Inverted Row
3x10
---

Back in Melbourne for a flying visit. Called in to train with old powerlifting buddies at the club. Was good. So many new faces. So many strong people. It is both depressing and motivating to see guys who used to be weaker than me by say 20kg and now a good bit stronger. One guy who used to squat less than me by 20kg was squatting 5x5 with my comp 1rm from last month (145kg).

First time using a proper GHR in a perhaps 18 months. I kept it on the hardest setting vertically and brought it from third hardest to hardest setting horizontally as the sets went on. Hence getting just 8 reps on the last set. Some nice hams DOMS the next day.

BossArky

Thursday November 14th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x8
85kg - 1x5
100kg - 3x8 ... fine
---
Squat
60kg - 1x5
72.5kg - 3x8
---
Front Squat
47.5kg - 3x12 ... quad pump & ab fire
---
Ham Curl
35kg - 1x12
50kg - 3x8

Calf Raise (frame)
frame + 40kg - 1x12
frame + 80kg - 3x8
---

Front Squats are slowly building up now to where I'm getting a nice pump in the quad after the high rep sets. I'm liking these.

Happy enough with how easy the 100kg 3x8 sumo deads felt. I checked back through my log and saw that on my way to my 2nd heaviest ever deadlift cyce whilst building up for the 180kg 1 rep max I did 102.5kg 3x8 in the early days of the cycle before that. So, in or around a decent level for 3x8s.

BossArky

Friday November 15th: Bench mania

Bench
20kg - 1x5 ... PAUSED
60kg - 1x5 ... PAUSED
75kg - 3x6 ... PAUSED
*add slingshot*
80kg - 1x6 ... PAUSED
90kg - 1x6 ... PAUSED
100kg - 1x6 ... PAUSED

Chin Ups (parallel grip)
bodyweight + 12.5kg - 3x6

Lat Pulldown
50kg - 1x10
55kg - 1x10
60kg - 1x10
---
One Arm DB Row
30kg per arm - 3x8 ... each rep from dead stop on floor

Dips
bodyweight - 3x10
---
BB Curl
30kg - 3x10 ... wrapped wrists = more direct power
---
Incline Bench
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
70kg - 3x6

DB Curlz
17.5kg per arm - 3x5
---
DB Bench "Running the rack" ... cannot remember exact failure points... went roughtly from 4 up to 8.
30kg per arm - fail at ~4 reps
27.5kg per arm - fail at ~5 reps
25kg per arm - fail at ~6 reps
22.5kg per arm - fail at ~7 reps
20kg per arm - fail at ~7 reps
17.5kg per arm - fail at ~8 reps
---

Lots of volume. Used my own slingshot for first time (I had borrowed someone elses previosuly). Nice to get 100kg back in my hands. Paused everything on flat bench.

Bodyweight going down slighly. Was initially 83kg a week or so ago, then 82.7, then 82.6kg. Still tracking diet in fitday and putting together the ideal eating plan to get cleanly to 85kg by years end. As I write this (the next day) I've just eaten 743g of boiled spuds along with 328g of boiled carrots. Will wash that down with some protein. Want to eliminate saturdated fats as much as possible.

Yesterday (Friday, the day of this log entry work-out) was ~4124 cals (37% Fat overall & 19% saturated/ 36% Carbs / 27% Protein). Way too much saturdated fat due to 3 litres of full fat milk, a burger and chips, plus 600ml of chocolate milk later on in the day.

BossArky

Monday November 18th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x8
75kg - 3x8
---
Squat
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
*belt*
85kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x2
107.5kg - 3x6
---
Front Squat
50kg - 3x12 ... good. Feeling good pushing out the hole. Getting nice and deep

45 Degree Back Raise
broom - 1x12
mini barbell 5kg - 1x12
mini barbell 10kg - 1x12
mini barbell 15kg - 1x12
mini barbell 20kg - 1x12
---
Calves (standing, frame)
45kg - 1x12
85kg - 3x12
---

Front Squats felt good.

Looking for something above and beyond ham curls to hit the hamstrings. I don't find I get the same effect from ham curls vs. something like GHR (which current gym dosen't have). Experimented with the 45 degree back raise. Was ultra conservative on the weight, as it's the first time I've done such an exercise which could potentially put back in compromising position. Was thinking about stiff leg deads too could be a good ham blaster. May try them next time, again being conservative with weight initially.

Bodyweight 82.8kg the day after the above, so gradually managing to gain weight.

BossArky

Tuesday November 19th:

Bench
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
70kg - 6x6
*add slingshot*
82.5kg - 1x6
92.5kg - 1x6
102.5kg - 1x3

Chin Ups
bodyweight - 3x6

Lat Pull Down
55kg - 1x8
60kg - 1x8
65kg - 1x8

Face Pull
setting 6 - 3x10
---

Started Smolov Jr for bench. Using 100kg as 1 rep max for program calculation purposes. Going to pause everything. Will do this 2 days a week (rather than 4) so the entire program will stretch out over 6 weeks (instead of 3).

Day 1: 70% 6x6 (i.e. today)
Day 2: 75% 7x5
Day 3: 80% 8x4
Day 4: 85% 10x3

Days 5-8: repeat days 1-4 but add 2.5kg to everything

Days 9-12: repeat days 1-4 but add 5kg to everything

This will build my bench to a peak for year end, which ties in with my Squat and Dead cycles.

BossArky

Thursday November 21st:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x6
85kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x2
110kg - 3x6 ... fine. Video to follow
---
Squat
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 3x8 ... video to follow
---
Front Squat
52.5kg - 3x10 ... pretty ok. Video to follow
---
Ham Curl
40kg - 3x8

Calf Raise (frame)
frame + 50kg - 2x12 ... ran out of time as gym closed before I could get 3rd set in
---

Going into the above my hamstrings were in bits from the 45 degree back raise on Monday. Slightly sluggish but got through everything. Made some videos for the first time in ages. Will throw them up shortly.

The receptionist/stick insect trainer has being going out of his way to talk to me the past 3 sessions. He's full of ****e.

Sangre

BossArky wrote: »

Looking for something above and beyond ham curls to hit the hamstrings. I don't find I get the same effect from ham curls vs. something like GHR (which current gym dosen't have). Experimented with the 45 degree back raise. Was ultra conservative on the weight, as it's the first time I've done such an exercise which could potentially put back in compromising position. Was thinking about stiff leg deads too could be a good ham blaster. May try them next time, again being conservative with weight initially.

I've never been a fan of leg curls myself. I find SLDLs quite good, just make sure you have the hamstring flexibility for them.

Alternatively, you will be able to use most lat pull-down machines to do GHRs.

Regards,

BossArky

BossArky wrote:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
110kg - 3x6 ... fine. Video to follow

Video of sets 2 and 3: Happy enough with these. Still not too heavy so hard to tell. Maybe a tiny bit of getting pulled forward when breaking the ground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7YSGkA3zEs

BossArky wrote:

Squat
75kg - 3x8 ... video to follow

Video of sets 2 and 3: These were pretty light. Need to watch the depth though. Looks slightly high, maybe it's the camera angle... or maybe wide stance making it tighter at bottom and cutting depth. Shouldn't be a problem with more weight on the bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QLMargC32A

BossArky wrote:

Front Squat
52.5kg - 3x10 ... pretty ok. Video to follow

Video of sets 2 and 3: Didn't realize I rattled through these so quickly. Happy enough with them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoBrtkgqgig

Constructive feedback welcome on any of the above videos.

BossArky

Friday November 22nd:

Bench ... ALL PAUSED
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 7x5
*add slingshot*
85kg - 1x3
95kg - 1x3
102.5kg - 1x3

Chin Ups
bodyweight - 3x6

Lat Pull Down
60kg - 1x8
65kg - 1x8
70kg - 1x8

One Arm DB Row
30kg per arm - 3x8
---
BB Curl
42.5kg - 3x6

DB Shoulder Press (standing)
17.5kg - 3x8
---

Good.

BossArky

Monday November 25th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x6
77.5kg - 3x6
---
Squat ... made videos of all these
60kg - 1x5
*belt*
85kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x2
112.5kg - 3x6 ... easy
---
Front Squat
55kg - 3x10 ... easy

45 Degree Back Raise ... made videos of all these
broom - 1x8
mini barbell 10kg - 1x8
mini barbell 20kg - 1x8
mini barbell 22.5kg - 1x8
---
Calves (standing, frame)
70kg - 1x12
90kg - 1x12
110kg - 1x12
120kg - 1x12
---

Easy. Gaining a bit of weight too. Got up to 83.9kg by Tuesday Nov 26th morning.