Return of the King

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Squat
140kg - 2x2 ... Fine. Videos of both sets to follow. Equals all time 2x2 pb. I think... or is 2.5kg over it. Need to check back 2.5 years ago
---

That is what success feels like ^^. Solid cycle done and dusted. Happy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaGc0Y_zDU

BossArky

Monday February 24th: first day of new cycle

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x6
85kg - 3x6
---
Squat
60kg - 1x6
*belt*
90kg - 1x3
105kg - 3x6 ... felt awful
---
Front Squat
60kg - 3x10 ... wrecked
---
Glute Ham Raise
3x10
---

Felt terrible driving home after that. Was on the verge of fainting. Almost puked in the toilets before leaving gym. Perhaps it was too much to go straight into that ^^ as first day of new cycle. Probably could have done with a really light day 3 or 4 days ago to get body back into the swing of things.

BossArky

Tuesday February 25th: Smolov Jr. Cycle 3 - Bench Day 1 of 12

Bench *all paused*
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 6x6
*add slingshot*
100kg - 1x3
107.5 - 1x3
110kg - 1x1 ... fine

Chin Ups (wide V handle grip)
bodyweight +10kg - 3x6 ... alrighty

BB Row
65kg - 3x10

One Arm DB Row
25kg per arm - 3x10
---

Kicked off 3rd cycle of Smolov Jr. for bench. Should cost me another half a k in new work clothes by the end of the 6 weeks :pac: Everything just slightly heavier than last cycle.

• Starting bench itself 2.5kg up and will plough onwards.
• Chins Ups are up 5kg from last cycle: from bodyweight +5kg to bodyweight +10kg 3x6.
• Barbell rows are up 5kg on last cycle: from 60kg to 65kg 3x10.
• DB rows are up 2.5kg on last cycle: from 22.5kg to 25kg per arm 3x10
• Increasing slingshot sets from [100kg x3, 105kg x3 and 107.5kg x1] to [100kg x3, 107.5kg x3 and 110kg x1]

Was in bits for the next couple of days after the above first two work outs of this new cycle

BossArky

Thursday February 27th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x6
90kg - 1x3
110kg - 1x2
120kg - 3x6 ... fine. Used non bumper plates for the first time in a while. Felt nice and clangy.
---
Squat
60kg - 1x6 ... was told these were a mile high
*belt*
80kg - 3x6 ... was told these were border line, even tho I thought they were deep when performing them

***coach stretching my hip flexors on ground***

60kg - 1x6?
---
Front Squat
60kg - 3x10 ... fine... much better than Monday last

Dead bugs (abz)
3x12
---
Glute Ham Raise
3x10 ... finally found the correct setup position on this GHR
---

Squats were shocking. I approached the bar not knowing WTF way I was gonna grip it (wide, narrow, medium) or how I'd place it (high bar, low bar, middle of nowhere bar?) or how I'd squat it (wide stance, close stance).

Memories of low bar achey elbows were in the back of my mind from a couple of weeks back so I was thrown off and not sure what the hell to do.

After first set one of the coaches shouted over that the 60kg 1x6 (first warm) up was high. I knew that anyway... and proceded to the light work sets of 80kg 3x6. I called coach back from the last one... confident that I'd show him myself sinking these ones nice and deep. What seemed really deep for me was actually barely borderline apparently. Hmmmm.

Coach proceeded to twist and stretch the life out of both my hip flexors, plus showed me the "dead bugs" ab exercise. Did 3x12 of those. Need to build up some abz to prevent my anterior pelvic tilt... which is locking me up as I descend in the squat and living me nowhere to go.

Feeling a bit pissed off with my Squatting at present. I wasn't too happy with the depth towards the end of last cycle. Some of the videos you will see recently are definetly border line. Need to watch this. Glad to get some constructive input though... and ideas for ab exercise that should help.

Leaving the gym I remembered that I'd accidently skipped some of my usual lower body warm ups (from the de franco agile 8). This may have been a factor in my overall tightness... or it may be a crappy excuse.

kevpants

BossArky wrote: »

Coach proceeded to twist and stretch the life out of both my hip flexors, plus showed me the "dead bugs" ab exercise. Did 3x12 of those. Need to build up some abz to prevent my anterior pelvic tilt... which is locking me up as I descend in the squat and living me nowhere to go.

I found paying attention to day to day posture and concentrating on holding in my gut and standing with soft knees etc has helped more than any exercise. I can recommend beginner pilates vids on youtube too. Don't do any back raises or anything that gives you a lower back pump, if you have APT then your lower back muscles are already too strong. Looking at your squat style I'm sure they are.

BossArky

Friday February 28th: Smolov Jr. Cycle 3 - Bench Day 2 of 12

Bench *all paused*
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
70kg - 1x5
80kg - 7x5
*add slingshot*
100kg - 1x3
107.5 - 1x3 ... dodgy... may have been 2 reps instead of 3 clean. Hit rack on one side. Will try lowering pins next time.
110kg - 1x1 ... easy compared to the 107.5 set beforehand.

Chin Ups (wide V handle grip)
bodyweight +10kg - 3x6 ... alrighty

BB Row
65kg - 3x10

One Arm DB Row
25kg per arm - 3x10
---

Feeling like I haven't gotten out of first gear yet this cycle. The 7x5s on 80kg felt heavier than they should have. Rack height may have been slightly too high for the heavy slingshot sets. Will lower it one pin height next time and see if it helps give me a cleaner lift off.

BossArky

Monday March 3rd: mixing things up by battering legs

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x6
85kg - 3x6
---
Squat
60kg - 1x6
*belt*
90kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x2
115kg - 3x6 ... alrightly. Video'd every Squat set today including warm ups for depth checking purposes. Happy with the depth of the heavier sets. Using narrow enough grip (crease on middle of thumb on edge of smooth) giving me really tight upper back andcausing Squat to be closer to high bar than low. At least elbows get a rest this way and I can go low bar if required later in cycle.
---
Front Squat
65kg - 3x10

Dead bugs (abz)
3x20

Stiff Leg Deadlift ... to stretch out hamstrings
20kg - 1x6
30kg - 1x6
40kg - 1x6
50kg - 3x10 ... video'd all these sets, including warm ups, to see if I was doing 'em right. Seems ok.
---
Mongo Leg Press (or whatever that Elite FTS leg press is called)
160kg - 1x10 ... bands assisted, to ensure I don't staple myself whilst getting used to the groove
160kg - 1x10 ... i.e bands off = straight weight
180kg - 1x10
200kg - 1x10 ... alrighty
160kg - 3x10 ... took out the cross bolt here to make it unilateral so each leg taking 80kg per rep
---
Glute Ham Raise
3x10
---
Prowler
+20kg 1x2 (i.e. 2 lengths of the astro back to back)
+40kg 3x2 ... taking increasing amounts of time between sets so my heart wouldn't pop out of my mouth & the fire in my quads could disipate.
---

Happy with Squat depth today.

Threw in a heap of other leg work too on top of the usual Sumo Deads, Squats, Front Squats & GHR:

• Stiff Leg Deads to stretch hammys out
• Leg Press to see what it is like
• Prowler ... 'cos I keep meaning to do it at the end of each workout but am always too knackered. Today I bit the bullet and just did it, to get myself started on it.

It's a public holiday here so I could well afford the 4 hours I spent working through that^^. Training during the day time (i.e. typical work hours) makes me feel like I'm clawing back time.

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Squat
60kg - 1x6
*belt*
90kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x2
115kg - 3x6 ... alrightly. Video'd every Squat set today including warm ups for depth checking purposes. Happy with the depth of the heavier sets. Using narrow enough grip (crease on middle of thumb on edge of smooth) giving me really tight upper back andcausing Squat to be closer to high bar than low. At least elbows get a rest this way and I can go low bar if required later in cycle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0nmgN8pXbY

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Stiff Leg Deadlift ... to stretch out hamstrings
20kg - 1x6
30kg - 1x6
40kg - 1x6
50kg - 3x10 ... video'd all these sets, including warm ups, to see if I was doing 'em right. Seems ok.

Stiff leg deads to stretch hammys out. Pretty light. Weight will increase in coming weeks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iK64DmKFs8

BossArky

kevpants wrote: »

I found paying attention to day to day posture and concentrating on holding in my gut and standing with soft knees etc has helped more than any exercise. I can recommend beginner pilates vids on youtube too. Don't do any back raises or anything that gives you a lower back pump, if you have APT then your lower back muscles are already too strong. Looking at your squat style I'm sure they are.

Noted. Cheers.

Hanley

What sorta gains did you get off Smolov Jr bench?

BossArky

Haven't tested yet. Comp on April 12th, so we'll see then!

BossArky

Tuesday March 4th: Smolov Jr. Cycle 3 - Bench Day 3 of 12

Bench *all paused*
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 1x3
85kg - 8x4
*add slingshot*
100kg - 1x3
107.5 - 1x3
110kg - 1x1 ... fine

Chin Ups (wide V handle grip)
bodyweight +10kg - 3x6 ... alrighty, but achey elbow woe

BB Row
65kg - 3x10

One Arm DB Row
25kg per arm - 3x10
---

Benching was fine, but I think assistance is getting too much to be supersetting in amongst the Smolov.Jr. Elbows sore from chins.

BossArky

Thursday March 6th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x6
100kg - 1x3
120kg - 1x2
130kg - 3x6 ... fine. Video'd these. Nothing interesting to note.
---
Squat
60kg - 1x6 ... was told these were a mile high
*belt*
80kg - 3x6 ... video'd the first two sets and they were good depth-wise

Stiff Leg Deads
20kg - 1x5
52.5kg - 3x10
---
Front Squat
65kg - 3x10 ... good

Glute Ham Raise
3x5
---

Warmed up for that early in the day by doing a fire evac from the 18th floor. Hamstrings in bits so that was nice.

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
130kg - 3x6 ... fine. Video'd these. Nothing interesting to note.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6AqVFaYQXg

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Squat
80kg - 3x6 ... video'd the first two sets and they were good depth-wise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CGDZ5yP8II

BossArky

Friday March 7th: Smolov Jr. Cycle 3 - Bench Day 4 of 12

Bench *all paused*
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 1x3
82.5kg - 1x2
90kg - 10x3 ... fine
*add slingshot*
100kg - 1x3
107.5 - 1x3 ... used a lift off for first time in ages
110kg - 1x1 ... used a lift off. Bar went up from chest after pause like a rocket.. Nearly touched the roof. Spotter impressed with speed. Lol.

Chin Ups (wide V handle grip)
bodyweight - 3x6

BB Row
50kg - 3x10

One Arm DB Row
25kg per arm - 3x10
---
Bench was fine. Just realized (as I type this two days later) than I did the 90kg 10x3 paused. Usually I would give myself a break and do every 4th, 8th & 12th day of the 12 day smolov jr bench cycle touch & go (as a bit of a mental boost when hitting the 85%+ days). Was a bit distracted that night ^^ (rushing to finish up and collect someone from airport) and did the whole thing paused. That bodes well for finishing cycle 3 on 97.5kg 10x3 in 4 weeks time.

edit #1 - spotter mentioned that I was doing a bit of a double dip after pausing before pressing. Saw this myself in my benching vids a few weeks back but didn't really register. Need to watch this, as it is something which could cause a failed lift in comp on technicality.

edit #2 - Reduced the weight on assistance (chins down from +10kg to 0kg, Barbell Rows from 65kg to 50kg). My elbows felt fine. Zero aches... and the energy was better spent on actually benching.

BossArky

Saturday March 9th:

Swim 250m ... 10x25m alternating bs & fc

BossArky

Monday March 10th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x6
90kg - 3x6
---
Squat
60kg - 1x6
*belt*
90kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x2
122.5kg - 3x6 ... pb for 3x6s. Up 2.5kg for each of the last 2 cycles. Nice depth. Videos to follow. Yeah!
---
Front Squat
70kg - 3x6

Stiff Leg Deadlift ... to stretch out hamstrings
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 3x10 ... fine
---
Mondo Leg Press
160kg - 1x10
210kg - 3x10 ... alrighty
160kg - 3x10 ... took out the cross bolt here to make it unilateral so each leg taking 80kg per rep
---

Good Squatting.

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Squat
122.5kg - 3x6 ... pb for 3x6s. Up 2.5kg for each of the last 2 cycles. Nice depth. Videos to follow. Yeah!
---

Good Squatting.

Youtube is apparently telling me that the background ACDC music in the gym may cause my video to be unavailable in some countries. I disputed the rights issue. Lol.

Got videos of first two sets. Ran out of storage on phone for last one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BGkKaxz3NM

BossArky

Tuesday March 11th: Smolov Jr. Cycle 3 - Bench Day 5 of 12

Bench *all paused*
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
72.5kg - 1x3
80kg - 6x6 ... easy peasy. Actually did 1x5 on first set... realized my mistake, did another 5x6, before throwing in the final forgotten rep at the end of all the slingshots sets to make sure the volume was as planned. More logical to keep all the reps documented as planned though
*add slingshot*
100kg - 1x3
107.5 - 1x3
110kg - 1x1 ... fine

Chin Ups (wide V handle grip)
bodyweight - 3x6

BB Row
50kg - 3x10

One Arm DB Row
25kg per arm - 3x10
---

My aim today was to get into the gym, fly though the sets, and get home within 2 hours (including the 40 min roundtrip). Mission accomplished. The reduction in assistance weight helps bigtime. Can now actually recover between bench sets!

Probably one of the quickest Smolov Jr. Bench sessions I've done. The weight felt light. Pauses were good & I was careful to avoid the double dip. Training partner commented that it was gone, which is good.

Got a few tips on leg drive. Another guy who was working in worked up to an easy 140kg x5.

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Mondo Leg Press
160kg - 1x10
210kg - 3x10 ... alrighty
160kg - 3x10 ... took out the cross bolt here to make it unilateral so each leg taking 80kg per rep

Did some number crunching for my weights on Squat vs. Leg Press.

Leg Press is on 60 degree incline (versus more of the typical 45 degree leg presses you'll fine in most commercial gyms). The additional 15 degrees makes it harder obviously. I wanted to find out what kind of weight I need to be leg pressing to make it equivalent to the 122.5kg Squats I just did.

Let's first of all compare the 210kg on the Leg Press. Obviously you are not taking exactly 210kg. The incline knocks a bit off. Dusting off some arithmetic (google is your friend) gives you the following:

Sin(60) = 0.86602540378443864676372317075294
(210kg)(0.866) = ~180kg

So, loading the 60 degree leg press up to 210kg means you are actually only pressing 180kg.

Squatting 122.5kg 3x6 at bodyweight 85.5kg means I'm using my legs to press (122.5kg)+(~90%?? of bodyweight)
= (122.5kg)+(~77kg)
= ~200kg

So.... I'd need to throw an extra 20kg on the leg press (bringing it up to 230kg) to get the same effect on my legs as Squatting 122.5kg at bodyweight 85.5kg.

Interesting.

BossArky

Thursday March 13th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x5
100kg - 1x3
115kg - 1x2
127.5kg - 1x2
135kg - 3x5 ... fine. Video'd these from various angles.
---
Squat
60kg - 1x5
*belt*
85kg - 3x5 ... fine
---
Front Squat
75kg - 3x5 ... alrighty, ... heavy but alrighty

Glute Ham Raise
3x6
---

Deadlifts ploughing on & gradually building up. No rush, I'll get back there eventually. Cycle has hit the 3x5s now. Todays 135kg 3x5 was alrighty. Next week I'll finally be back to 3 wheels aside for 3x5 (i.e. 140kg). Last week of 3x5 will be 142.5kg with doubles on 150kg (2x2) ahead of comp. Probably will get somewhere in and around a double bodyweight deadlift in competition.

I'm guesstimating I''ll be good for a 167.5kg ish Deadlift in the April 12th comp. Still undecided if I'll cut to the 83kg class or just keeping eating and stay in the middle of nowhere almost half way between 83 and 93kg class.

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
135kg - 3x5 ... fine. Video'd these from various angles.
---

Deadlifts ploughing on & gradually building up. No rush, I'll get back there eventually. Cycle has hit the 3x5s now. Todays 135kg 3x5 was alrighty. Next week I'll finally be back to 3 wheels aside for 3x5 (i.e. 140kg). Last week of 3x5 will be 142.5kg with doubles on 150kg (2x2) ahead of comp. Probably will get somewhere in and around a double bodyweight deadlift in competition.

I'm guesstimating I''ll be good for a 167.5kg ish Deadlift in the April 12th comp. Still undecided if I'll cut to the 83kg class or just keeping eating and stay in the middle of nowhere almost half way between 83 and 93kg class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vw0KZWWlkw

BossArky

Friday March 14th: Smolov Jr. Cycle 3 - Bench Day 6 of 12

Bench *all paused*
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 1x3
85kg - 7x5 ... easy peasy - felt like nothing.
*add slingshot*
100kg - 1x3
107.5 - 1x3
110kg - 1x1 ... fine

Chin Ups (wide V handle grip)
bodyweight - 3x6

BB Row
50kg - 3x10

One Arm DB Row
25kg per arm - 3x10
---
BB Curlz
20kg - 3x10
---

Took a 4 hour flight cross country early in the morning. Hopped off and went straight to gym to bench. Weights felt crazy light. Very optimistic for finishing this 3rd Smolov Jr. Bench Cycle strongly.

More importantly I got a free coaching session from a S&C coach friend of mine when one of his clients didn't turn up. He took in my disaster of a bench setup, took a few pics... and showed them to me. Crazy viewing. I was gobsmacked to see that when I wedge my self under the bar with all the foot shuffling... I actually push myself off to the right hand side of the bench... so my right shoulder is almost hanging off the bench... and my head is about 75% of the way to the right of the pad. I'd been wondering why I keep clipping the left pins and the bar always ends up to the right hand side when I re-rack it. My assumption was that my foot placing was throwing my drive to the right. It's that... but also the fact that I'm at such a weird angle. I'll have to post the photo.

Anyway, I experimented with planting feet first, then wedging under bar... vs. the opposite which is what I typically do. Will have to get more practice in at lighter weights to hone new setup.

BossArky

Saturday March 16th:

Swim 250m ... 10x25m alternating bs & fc

BossArky

Monday March 17th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x5
90kg - 3x5
---
Squat
60kg - 1x5
*belt*
90kg - 1x3
107.5kg - 1x2
120kg - 1x1
127.5kg - 3x5 ... Weird Squatting. First set easy, second set fell over, third set fine. Video of all 3 sets to come
---
Front Squat
80kg - 3x5 ... which happens to be a pb. Fine. Still beltless.

Stiff Leg Deadlift
50kg - 3x10 ... nice & light
---

First time I've managed to almost fall over when Squatting. Check out the video of the 2nd set. Luckily managed to control it after shuffling back a few steps. Could have been dangerous if I'd hit the back of the cage. Weight itself was pretty easy... just messing about with different setups. btween 1st, 2nd and 3rd sets.

Did a totally close stance 1st set. My quad strength has really come on and the weight felt like nothing.

Didn't like the look of that set on video replay so tried to widen stance a bit which caused me to fall over on 2nd set. Never a good idea to mess with things on your top sets.

3rd set I brought stance back in a bit... and cannot really remember much about it apart from the fact that it was fine and felt handy enough.

Purchased some Rehband elbow sleeves. Used them tonight for the first time. Elbows were kept nice and warm. Didn't low-bar so cannot say for definite if they have made a major different to Squat. Will see how things go with them in the coming weeks as I peak this cycle. Kinda felt that they were getting too damp and thus cold towards the end of the 2hr+ session... but they warmed up once I got going again.

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Squat
127.5kg - 3x5 ... Weird Squatting. First set easy, second set fell over, third set fine. Video of all 3 sets to come
---

First time I've managed to almost fall over when Squatting. Check out the video of the 2nd set. Luckily managed to control it after shuffling back a few steps. Could have been dangerous if I'd hit the back of the cage. Weight itself was pretty easy... just messing about with different setups between 1st, 2nd and 3rd sets.

Did a totally close stance 1st set. My quad strength has really come on and the weight felt like nothing.

Didn't like the look of that set on video replay so tried to widen stance a bit which caused me to fall over on 2nd set. Never a good idea to mess with things on your top sets.

3rd set I brought stance back in a bit... and cannot really remember much about it apart from the fact that it was fine and felt handy enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAFRA0imcus

RidleyRider

Just incase you haven't noticed the heels rising a tad.

BossArky

Tuesday March 18th: Smolov Jr. Cycle 3 - Bench Day 7 of 12

Bench *all paused*
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 1x3
82.5kg - 1x2
90kg - 8x4 ... fine
*add slingshot*
100kg - 1x3
107.5 - 1x3
110kg - 1x1 ... fine

Chin Ups (wide V handle grip)
bodyweight - 3x6

BB Row
50kg - 3x10

One Arm DB Row
25kg per arm - 3x10
---

That was fine. Looking forward to seeing what I'm gonna bench in comp. Weights are feeling like nothing. Concentrated on setting up evenly.

Need a good sleep. The past couple of nights have been late due to long training sessions followed by late night work emails.