Return of the King

BossArky

Tuesday November 25th: Smolov Jr. Half Pace Cycle 8 - Bench Day 7 of 12

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 8x4 ... done like lighning in about 26 minutes

Chin Up (parallel grip)
8x4 ... first 6 sets parallel grip, 7th & 8th palms to face
---
DB Arnold Press (seated)
17.5kg per arm - 3x12 (or 15?)

Barbell Curl
25kg - 3x10
---

Rattled through bench as was training close to 5pm and the influx of bench bros was imminent.

Increased Arnold Press by 2.5kg and it was fine. Felt easier than previously at less weight which was surprising.

BossArky

Thursday November 27th: Squat - Half Pace Smolov Cycle 3 Day 8 of 12

Squat
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
*belt*
80kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x2
120kg - 10x3 ... knackered so took 71 minutes. Got easier & quicker as it went on. Video'd second set and depth was fine.
---
Sumo Deadlift (beltless)
70kg - 1x5
100kg - 1x3
122.5kg - 3x3
---

You may remember last week I was b!tching about the equipment in this place. In the midst of my Squat set I was googling the bar ("Solid Focus 1500 lbs") and weight plates ("Ziva").

Ziva plates are apparently approx 2 AUD per kg... i.e. shockingly low quality. For reference Ivanko are around 10 AUD per kg.. .whilst Eleiko are almost 20 AUD per kg.

The "Solid Focus" 1500 lbs rated bar (lol!) is about 150 AUD. All 3 of these are shaped like boomerangs.

In the midst of working through quotes for a home gym, thus very interested in bars and plates at the moment.

BossArky

Friday November 28th: Smolov Jr. Half Pace Cycle 8 - Bench Day 8 of 12

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 10x3 ... done like lighning in 37 minutes

Chin Up (parallel grip)
10x3
---
DB Arnold Press (seated)
17.5kg per arm - 3x12

Barbell Curl
25kg - 3x10
---

Right shoulder a slight bit sore. Been like this since the competition a month ago. Just really minor, but want it to heel itself up. The enforced deload in the coming week should help. Not sure if I'll manage to get days 9, 10, 11 & 12 of this half pace smolov cycle done. If I take a week off next week for the enforced deload (due to life circumstances) then there is probably little point in taking up where I left off. Better to just start from scratch fresh again.... which is what I'll probably do. Really enjoyed the past 4 weeks of training. Light weights, but high intensity and getting through things really quickly.

Also liking the reintroduction of chins ups to my training... and matching them to whatever I'm benching as supersets.

Timing breakdown of bench sets today:
1: 35
2: 38
3: 41
4: 45
5: 48
6: 52
7: 55
8: 59
9: 04
10: 12

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Thursday November 27th: Squat - Half Pace Smolov Cycle 3 Day 8 of 12

Squat
120kg - 10x3 ... knackered so took 71 minutes. Got easier & quicker as it went on. Video'd second set and depth was fine.

Squats from yesterday. Second set from 120kg 10x3.

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

BossArky

Thursday December 11th:

Squat
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
95kg - 1x2
105kg - 2x9 ... supposed to be 4x9 would too wrecked
---
GHR
3x~8?
---

First time training in 13 days... and first Squats in 14 days. Just relocated cross country. Felt like it.

Called it quits half way through the worksets. Too many late nights unpacking and setting up home. Will break back into it at lower weights soon.

BossArky

Saturday Dec 13th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
77.5kg - 3x6

T-Bar Row
frame - 1x10
frame +20kg - 1x10
frame +25kg - 1x10

Shoulder Press (DB, seated)
12.5kg - 3x10

BB Curl
20kg - 1x10
---

BossArky

Monday December 15th: Squat

Squat
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 4x9

GHR
3x9
---

Restarting this cycle.

BossArky

Tuesday Dec 16th

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
70kg - 6x6

Chin Ups (parallel grip)
3x6

T-Bar Row
frame +25kg - 3x10

Shoulder Press (DB, seated)
12.5kg - 3x12

Lat Pull down
setting 10 - 3x10

One Arm DB Row
30kg - 3x6

BB Curl
20kg - 1x10
22.5kg - 1x10
25kg - 1x10
---

Some pump by the end of that. 1 hr 5 mins from leaving home to returning to home.

Joined 2 gyms. This one is 5 mins walk from home. Handy. Will split sessions probably 2 per gym each week... training 4 days per week.

BossArky

Thursday December 18th

Squat
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
97.5kg - 5x7

Sumo Deadlift (beltless)
70kg - 1x5
120kg - 3x3
*add 2 inch block*
150kg - 1x3

Chin Up
1x10 ... easy. 1000000% ROM
---

Fully paid up member again at my old powerlifting club from 3.5 years ago. Good to be back.

BossArky

Saturday Dec 20th:

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 7x5

T-Bar Row
frame +25kg - 3x10

Shoulder Press (DB, seated)
15kg per arm - x10, x12, x15

Lat Pull down (close grip, V handle)
setting 8 - 3x15

BB Curl
20kg - 3x10
---

Was a bit hungover after club AGM/PL club xmas party, so just getting through the above with some xmas carols blasting on the soundsystem.

BossArky

Monday December 22nd: Squat

Squat
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
95kg - 1x2
105kg - 7x5
---

Squats were fine strength wise but felt a bit off technically.

Need to start eating more now that I'm getting more settled in life outside of work. Clothes are a bit loose at the moment & I've lost a bit of weight in the past 7 weeks. 84kg on gym scales full clothed.

BossArky

Tuesday December 23rd: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 8x4 ... fine
**add slingshot**
90kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x3 ... fine

T-Bar Row
frame +25kg - 3x10

Chin Ups
3x6

Lat Pull down
setting 10 - 3x10
---
BB Curl
25kg - 3x10

Shoulder Press (DB, seated)
17.5kg - 3x10
---

Gradually increasing bench weight after the lay off. Feels good. Nice to use slingshot for slightly heavier sets after too. Did all 11 bench sets (8+3) in not too long at all: 54 mins.

BossArky

Saturday December 27th: early morning Squatting... as in midnight to 2am

Squat
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x2 ... all without belt and wrist wraps up to here
110kg - 10x3 ... fine. Video'd sets 7 & 8

Sumo Deadlift
60kg - 1x5
100kg - 1x3
125kg - 3x3
*add belt & 2 inch block in the form of a fat red 25kg Eleiko bumper plate under each side*
155kg - 1x3 ... alright but could have done with chalk and it not being 2am in the morning...
---

Due to Xmas holidays my 2 "usual" gyms were closed so trained at a 24/7 place. Coincidentally it is the place I met Dorian Yates at one late night in 2011. This gym is considered "hard core"... but just pretty run down. It is great for when you wanna train anytime... but the state of the equipment is pretty shocking. I've been pretty spoilt with great places to train in the last year... and this place tonight just came across shoddy.

Got the work done though. Trained from midnight to 2am-ish. Took 70 minutes to do the 10 sets of Squats. Could have gotten through them a bit quicker if I wasn't messing about on phone and recording a few vids. Did all the warm up sets without belt and wrist wraps. Think I've been relying on them too much for lighter weights.

7th set was alright, but wanted a cleaner angle.

8th set looks great. Loving the depth.

Did the usual "moderate" deadlifts and then a heavier triple off blocks to finish off. The 155kg triple was ok. Would have been way easier if I had chalk and it wasn't 2am...

Think there is a bigger deadlift (>175kg... 185-190kg?) hiding in me wanting to finally get out after all these years.

Happy enough.

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Saturday December 27th: early morning Squatting... as in midnight to 2am

Squat
110kg - 10x3 ... fine. Video'd sets 7 & 8

Got the work done though. Trained from midnight to 2am-ish. Took 70 minutes to do the 10 sets of Squats. Could have gotten through them a bit quicker if I wasn't messing about on phone and recording a few vids. Did all the warm up sets without belt and wrist wraps. Think I've been relying on them too much for lighter weights.

7th set was alright, but wanted a cleaner angle.

8th set looks great. Loving the depth.

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

BossArky

Saturday December 27th: proper morning (9am-10am)

1 hr of BOUNCE lol. Trampolining, dodge ball, jumping into pillows after legging it along trampoline runways, etc. Awesome fun & good cardio!

BossArky

Saturday December 27th: lunchtime (12:30pm-2pm)

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 10x3 ... easy

T-Bar Row
frame +30kg - 3x10

Chin Ups
bodyweight +5kg DB between legs - 3x6

Lat Pull down (close grip, V handle)
setting 15 - 3x10
---
BB Curl
25kg - 3x10

Shoulder Press (DB, seated)
20kg - 2x10 ... didn't have time for 3rd set as gym was closing
---

Pretty handy weights, but happy as everything is moving quickly and I'm starting to get back to eating normally.

Did the Squats/Deads, plus Bounce and then Bench all within exactly 12 hours of each other. Wrecked for the day afterwards...

Bodyweight around 81kg or so. Need to start eating. Toying with what exactly I'm gonna do competition-wise for 2015. There is a comp on here in March but it clashes exactly with the F1 which I wanna attend. May just train hard for the next 6 months and then aim to compete mid 2015 and put a substantial amount on my total. I feel I've got some big pbs coming in Squat and Deadlift once I get a few decent uninterrupted months of training behind me.

Just enjoying training (& life) a lot at the moment.

BossArky

Monday December 29th: Squat

Squat
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
100kg - 4x9
---
Front Squat
60kg - 3x10
---

Squats were fine. Got caught up talking and being sociable in new gym so the 4 work-sets took longer than planned.

Reintroducing Front Squats for the first time in ~6 months. Erectors, abs, upper back and other core stuff killing me after these as I write this two days later. Nice one. Want to get some bodybuilding type assistance going on after the main Squat worksets... hence the Front Squats to add a bit more quad and core strength. It occured to me recently that I do loads of bodybuilding sets of 10 on bench days after/during the worksets... and it has worked well... so should do the same on lower body days.

Eating more.

BossArky

Tuesday December 30th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 6x6 ... light...
**add slingshot**
95kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x3
110kg - 1x3 ... fine

T-Bar Row
frame +30kg - 3x10

Chin Ups
3x6

Lat Pull down
setting 10 - 3x10
---
BB Curl
30kg - 3x10

Shoulder Press (DB, seated)
20kg - 3x10
---

Bench is light, probably too light. Taking the long view though and will build it up over the months. Slingshot was used to keep some heavier weight in the hands. Felt good.

Happy to be doing 3x10 @20kg with the DB shoulder press again. Should really be able to do this a lot heavier, so gonna work on it (plus barbell shoulder press) in the coming while and see how it fairs as assistance. Good for a shoulder pump anyway.

Curled 30kg with the Eleiko.

Rereading Starting Strength the past few days, for the sake of it. Enjoying it. Tme under the bar leads you to the same conclusions that he (Rip) comes up with, which I probably didn't get the first time I read the book years ago. One thing which popped out at me was his recommendation to slightly internally rotate hand on bench to get better position. This is something I found out myself over the past year. Also contemplating getting straps for rack pulls, for situations like last week where I may find myself in some dodgy gym without chalk / decent bars etc. Also just want to try them.

BossArky

Checking back through my log to evaluate the training year vs. goals at beginning of 2014.

Here were the goals a year ago for 2014:

BossArky wrote: »

Thursday January 2nd:
For reference I'm currently around 150/102.5/165.

Targets for 2014? Stay injury free and keep making incremental progress on the big 3 cycle on cycle.

I ended 2014 weighing around 81kg (approx 4 to 5kg less than a year ago when I was weighing around 86kg), but increased my numbers year on year to be:

• Squat 157.5kg (+7.5kg)
• Bench 107.5kg (+5kg)
• Deadlift 175kg (+10kg)

My targets for 2015 are as follows:

• Squat 180kg (+22.5kg)
• Bench 120kg (+12.5kg)
• Deadlift 200kg (+25kg)
• ... whilst keeping waistline <34 inches.

That waistline caveat means I'm not going to pigeonhole myself into staying in the 83kg weightclass, as long as I can make strength gainz without getting fat.

BossArky

Friday January 2nd: Squat & Deads

Squat
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x2
**add belt and wrist wraps**
107.5kg - 5x7 ... fine. Video'd set 5. Looks good.
---
Sumo Deadlift
70kg - 1x5
120kg - 1x3
130kg - 3x3 ... easy, as it should be. Video'd.
**add belt & 2 inch block in the form of a heaps of rubber mats under each side**
145kg - 1x3 ... fine. Video'd.
160kg - 1x3 ... fine. Video'd.
---
Conventional Deadlift
70kg - 3x5 ... first time convo deadlifting in ~3 year. Felt weird. Knees getting in way. Nice to use muscles which haven't worked in a while
---
RDL
20kg - 1x10
40kg - 3x10 ... concentrating on keeping bar against legs the whole time down and up, as discussed in Starting Strength. Light weight, just getting the hang of this exercise for future heavy sessions
---

Will post some videos later. Was trying out some other back related exercises on top of the usual Squats and Deads on this day.

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Friday January 2nd: Squat & Deads

Squat
107.5kg - 5x7 ... fine. Video'd set 5. Looks good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QPHjGfwXSg

BossArky wrote: »

Sumo Deadlift
130kg - 3x3 ... easy, as it should be. Video'd.
**add belt & 2 inch block in the form of a heaps of rubber mats under each side**
145kg - 1x3 ... fine. Video'd.
160kg - 1x3 ... fine. Video'd.
---
Conventional Deadlift
70kg - 3x5 ... first time convo deadlifting in ~3 year. Felt weird. Knees getting in way. Nice to use muscles which haven't worked in a while
---
RDL
40kg - 3x10 ... concentrating on keeping bar against legs the whole time down and up, as discussed in Starting Strength. Light weight, just getting the hang of this exercise for future heavy sessions
---

Video compliation of Deadlifting above:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7cYHvgtw24

BossArky

Interestingly my hamstring flexibility was a lot better in the evening after the RDLs. That's why I included them in the first place. Hope they'll help stretch me out a bit.

I've been propping myself up on the floor with back flat against sofa and trying to get legs straight out in front of me on the ground (i.e. 90 degree angle between back and legs). Initially when I try this each evening my hamstrings are as tight as fnck - barely able to get far beyond 60(?) degrees. Over the course of 10-15 mins they gradually loosen off and I can relax into the stretch (where have you heard that before?) almost getting back of legs flat onto ground.

Well, last night I got to that position really quickly - in perhaps 2 or 3 mins. I thank the RDLs for that.

Plan is to keep up this stretching regime for 3 months religiously each night and hopefully it will help my Squat/Dead flexibility and prevent snap city.

BossArky

Saturday January 3rd: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 7x5 ... easy. All 7 sets done in 34 mins

Inverted Row
3x10
---
BB Curl (mini BB)
30kg - 3x10

Arnold Press (DB, seated)
20kg per arm - 3x10 ... alrighty
---
DB grip holds for time
40kg per arm - 3x30 seconds ... left hand has a noticeably weaker grip. Was barely hanging onto DB on second and third sets
---

Had to train in crappy gym due to usual one closed due to heat reaching ~40 degrees.

Bench was easy and the rest was straight forward body building.

Added the DB grip training at the end - part of the 200kg Deadlift plan.

BossArky

Copied from my fb post & related to the Deadlifts above:

Did some conventional deadlifts today for the first time in ~3 years. Here is a nice overlay comparison of my sumo vs conventional starting position using an app called Piclay. Convo feels weird...

BossArky

Monday January 5th: Squat

Squat
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x2
**add belt and wrist wraps**
115kg - 7x5 ... slow & tight. Video'd set 7
---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyqGn4eTADc

Squats felt heavier than they should have. Paid the piper for over zealous Deadlifting a few days ago.

BossArky

Tuesday January 6th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 8x4 ... handy
**add slingshot**
100kg - 1x3
107.5kg - 1x3
112.5kg - 1x3 ... fine

T-Bar Row
frame+40kg

Inverted Row
3x10

Lat Pulldown
setting 13 - 3x10
---
BB Curl
40kg - 2x8

Arnold Press (DB, seated)
20kg per arm - 2x10
---
DB grip holds for time (one arm at a time)
32.5kg per arm - 1x60 seconds
---


Fine. Increased assistance a bit.

Hanley

BossArky wrote: »

Copied from my fb post & related to the Deadlifts above:

Did some conventional deadlifts today for the first time in ~3 years. Here is a nice overlay comparison of my sumo vs conventional starting position using an app called Piclay. Convo feels weird...

Do the same again, but at 85%.

Pause the video right as the bar breaks the floor in both instances.

Overlay.

I'd actually love to see that one.

I think hip position would end up being VERY close.

..just a theory I have about sumo DL.

BossArky

I'd like to see that too, Hanley. Just don't plan on going "heavy" on conventional anytime soon.

BossArky

Thursday January 8th: Squat

Squat
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x2
**add belt and wrist wraps**
120kg - 10x3 ... hmmm
---
Front Squat
60kg - 1x3
80kg - 3x3
---
DB grip holds for time (one arm at a time)
32.5kg per arm - 1x60, 1x40, 1x30 seconds
---

Back Squats: Sets got better as they went on. Feeling very sluggish though. Think I've still got a Deadlift hangover from last week... hence didn't Deadlift after Squats.

Front Squats: Abs on fire! Going forwards I'm gonna do these for triples with heavier weight than my usual 3x10s.

BossArky

Saturday January 10th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x2
90kg - 10x3 ... fine
**add slingshot**
100kg - 1x3
110kg - 1x3
115kg - 1x3 ... fine

T-Bar Row
frame+45kg - 3x8
frame+40kg - 3x8
frame+35kg - 3x8
frame+30kg - 3x8
---

Good benching and a heap of T-Bar Rowing.

Got to gym after closing time, so was rushing to get through main sets with owner sitting around nicely, which is never a good thing when it is 10x3 day. Got through the 10x3s in 59 minutes.

No time for other assistance.