Return of the King

BossArky

Sunday September 6th: Bike

Bike (outdoors, obviously)
31km - city circle loop
---

This is the 3rd weekend I've done this cycle. Didn't bother logging the last 2. This 31km loop is lovely! Bringing back in some cardio for life gains. I obviously love powerlifting, but also need to keep cardio healthy, hence the slight increase in cycling and also doing a lot more walking to work these days. Somedays recently I've been up to 10km walking per day.

Noticed that I was getting lazy over the past 6 months due to:
1) killing myself with heavy Squatting and pretending I didn't need cardio
2) taking tram too often when should just walk

The above was causing my powerlifting belt to feel way too tight and I wasn't even bulking.. hence I decided to do the healthy think and loose some fat from the waist (vs. the easy option of letting the belt out a notch).

Plus... summer is coming in the southern hemisphere

BossArky

Monday September 7th: Squat

Squat (flat shoes, beltless)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x3
120kg - 1x1
135kg - 1x2 ... top set double. Alright - just early for that kind of weight
120kg - 3x5 ... worksets done in 20 mins. Alrighty
---
Front Squat (flat shoes)
70kg - 3x5
---
Deadlift (sumo & double overhand)
70kg - 1x5
100kg - 3x5
---

Squats: happy enough. Keeping the feeling of "heavy" weight with the double on 135kg before the worksets 3x5 on 120kg.

The 135kg double was alright. Think I was still asleep doing it though. Body had to wake up and keep pushing harder and harder. Each rep seemed to take a few seconds to complete as I wasn't applying 100% force.

Rest was just fine. Good front Squats and Sumo Deads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9XBGwk0sTM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDy1GRiYbjg

BossArky

Tuesday Sept 8th: Bench Day 5

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 6x6
**add slingshot & gansta wraps**
100kg - 1x3
110kg - 1x3
117.5kg - 1x3 .. fine. Video'd.

Barbell Row
50kg - 6x10
---
Military Press
40kg - 3x8

Rev Fly (bent over)
5kg - 3x12
---
Machine Rows (4 handles)
120lbs - 3x4x10 ... 120 reps

Lat Raise (standing)
5kg - 3x12
---

Bench was good. Got my Mark Bell hip circle and gansta wraps in the post which are both cool new toys. Wrist wraps are particularly rock solid and felt in on the 117.5kg slingshot sets. All force transferred to bar and none lost at the wrist.

Everything else the usual bodybuilding.

Drank some chocolate milk afterwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju2V5XsytTk

BossArky

Thursday September 11th: Deadlift Day

Squat
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 3x5
---
Front Squat
60kg - 3x5
---
Deadlift (sumo)
70kg - 1x5
120kg - 1x3
145kg - 1x1
165kg - 1x2 ... top double. Alright if a bit slow due to being heavy (lol)
145kg - 3x5 ... worksets. Alrighty.
---
GHR
3x8
---
Hip Thrust
60kg - 1x10
70kg - 3x10
---

Good Deadlifts.

Did some hip thrusts at the end working in with a training buddy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQVmwZ5syxE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCYn4_OSzBM

BossArky

Friday September 11th: Bench Day 6

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 6x5 ... fine. Worksets took 26 mins with the superset pull ups included

Pull Up
bodyweight - 6x3
---

Usual quick Friday night bench session to allow a free weekend of zero training.

BossArky

Monday September 14th: Squat

Squat
40kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x3
120kg - 1x1
130kg - 1x1
137.5kg - 1x2 ... top set double. Fine.
125kg - 3x5 ... Fine.
---
Front Squat
65kg - 3x5
---
Deadlift (sumo & double overhand)
70kg - 1x5
100kg - 3x5
---

Squats felt great this morning.

Top double on 137.5kg felt better than 135kg last week. Spring is in the air and its a lot easier training early when it is 16 degressed at 5:40am walking to gym vs -1 degrees a couple of months ago.

Did last workset of 125kg high bar and liked it!

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Monday September 14th: Squat

Squat
137.5kg - 1x2 ... top set double. Fine.
125kg - 3x5 ... Fine.
---

Squats felt great this morning.

Top double on 137.5kg felt better than 135kg last week. Spring is in the air and its a lot easier training early when it is 16 degressed at 5:40am walking to gym vs -1 degrees a couple of months ago.

Did last workset of 125kg high bar and liked it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1aB79uSQBA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxW43RD3vo4

BossArky

Tuesday Sept 8th: Bench Day 5

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
95kg - 6x4 ... easy & done in 30 mins with superset rows
**add slingshot & gansta wraps**
102.5kg - 1x3
112.5kg - 1x3
120kg - 1x3 ... easy

Barbell Row
50kg - 6x10
---
Military Press
40kg - 3x8

Rev Fly (bent over)
7kg - 4x12
---
Face Pulls
4 ascending sets of some weight - 3x10

Lat Raise (standing)
7kg - 2x10
---

Easiset paused slingshot 120kg triple I've done. Thats the third time. Couldn't defintely have done 122.5kg or 125kg.

Had to hang around for ages after the main part of the session so fluffed around with accessory as I was coaching/locking up.

BossArky

Thursday September 18th: Deadlift Day

Squat
40kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 3x5
---
Front Squat
70kg - 3x5
---
Deadlift (sumo)
70kg - 1x5
110kg - 1x3
135kg - 1x1
155kg - 1x1
170kg - 1x2 ... PR for 2 reps
150kg - 3x5 ... Fine
---
GHR
3x8
---

Pretty happy with a PR on 170kg x2.

Worksets 150kg 3x5 afterwards were fine. Misloaded on the first set as forgot to take 10kg off one side.

Gripping bar differently now. Holding it right down at the limits of finger tips instead of my usual up in palm. This gives me an extra inch or two reduction in ROM and thus better leverage. Combine that with sumo and I'm totally cheating. Got my feet much wider than normal on sumo also. Wasn't planning to - it just seemed like my body wanted to do that when it went heavier. Worked fine.

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Thursday September 18th: Deadlift Day

Deadlift (sumo)
170kg - 1x2 ... PR for 2 reps
150kg - 3x5 ... Fine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dY2WwZ5Vb8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBjy5zA1dJ4

BossArky

Friday September 18th: Bench Day 8

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 1x1
100kg - 6x3 ... worksets & supersets below done in 26 mins

Pull Up
bodyweight - 6x3
---

Good & quick. The next two weeks are where the rubber hits the road. This particular training day 2 weeks time will see me hit 105kg 6x3 for a PR.

BossArky

Monday September 21st: Squat

Squat
40kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x3
120kg - 1x1
140kg - 1x2 ... fine. Video didn't save as phone was full.
130kg - 3x5 ... fine. Video'd 3rd set (after emptying phone)
---
Front Squat
60kg - 3x5
---
Deadlift (sumo & double overhand)
70kg - 1x5
100kg - 3x5
---

Cannot complain. Hitting a 140kg x2 Squat at 6am in the morning is good.

Followed that up with the main worksets of 130kg 3x5 which were fine. May have accidently done 6 reps on the 2nd set.

Was feeling particularly wrecked upon moving onto Front Squats and Deadlifts. Thought for a while that I was coming down with virus/illness as felt particularly naueous. It seems to have passed as I write this a few hours later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caeouR7EbKo

BossArky

Tuesday Sept 22nd: Bench Day 9

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 6x6 ... PR & easy. Done in 26 mins with superset rows
**add slingshot & gansta wraps**
105kg - 1x3
115kg - 1x3
122.5kg - 1x3 ... PR & felt right on the limit on last rep. Video looks fine though

Barbell Row
50kg - 6x10
---
Military Press
40kg - 3x8

Rev Fly (bent over)
7.5kg - 4x10
---
Machine Rows (4 handles)
100lbs? - 3x4x10

Lat Raise (standing)
7.5kg - 3x10
---

Into new territory from this bench session forwards. Everything will be PRs. Bench is feeling good. Pretty happy with how the 90kg 6x6 paused felt. i.e. like nothing.

Slingshot 122.5kg x3 paused is a 2.5kg PR also.

... and doing all the 90kg 6x6 bench worksets in 26 mins combined with 6x10 rows was basically crossfit. Building up some serious bench work capacitiy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjx3mjCUitI

BossArky

Thursday September 24th: Deadlift Day

Squat
40kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 3x5
---
Front Squat
65kg - 3x5
---
Deadlift (sumo)
70kg - 1x5
120kg - 1x3
140kg - 1x1
160kg - 1x1 ... easy
175kg - fail ... was planning 2 reps but failed first rep a few inches off the floor. Gave up
155kg - 3x5 ... easy
---
GHR
3x5
---

Happy enough with the sumo worksets 155kg 3x5, which is 1kg under my all time best conventional.

Shouldn't have attempted the 175kg x2 beforehand. Too tired and mind not on it 100%. Gave up nice and easily to save myself for the real worksets of 3x5 after.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvIqqTEu41s

BossArky

Friday September 25th: Bench Day 10

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
95kg - 6x5 ... worksets & supersets below done in 28 mins


Pull Up
bodyweight - 6x3
---

Bench felt pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhYKcXZ53OA

BossArky

Monday September 21st: Squat

Squat
40kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x3
120kg - 1x1
135kg - 3x5 ... tough enough but survived.
---
Front Squat
70kg - 3x5
---
Deadlift (sumo & double overhand)
70kg - 1x5
100kg - 3x5
---

Squat 135kg 3x5 was hard enough. Shard myself on 2nd rep of 1st set, thought about racking the bar, but continued and got all 5 reps.

Sets 2 & 3 felt a bit better. Probably a decent place to peak this cycles 3x5s at, as planned.

Erectors in ribbons as was good morning many reps. Not the prettiest sets I've ever performed. May be due to the way I'm holding the bar with wider grip on bar this cycle and thus bar is rolling forward more. The wider grip allows me to take the stress off wrists/elbows, but may not be optimal for tight upper back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdjz0KefGeo

BossArky

Tuesday Sept 29th: Bench Day 11

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 1x1
100kg - 6x4 ... PR & easy. Video'd last set. Done in 33 mins with superset rows

Barbell Row
50kg - 6x10
---

No elbow sleeves (forgot them) or wrist wraps (not required for 100kg or less), but that don't matter when YOLO. Pretty easy considering that is the first time I've ever hit 4 reps on 100kg. Very happy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-FXM4KqFv8

BossArky

Thursday October 1st: Deadlift Day

Squat
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 3x5
---
Front Squat
60kg - 3x5
---
Deadlift (sumo)
70kg - 1x5
120kg - 1x3
142.5kg - 1x1
162.5kg - 2x2 ... easy. Video'd both sets
---

Practiced Deadlift opener tonight for 2x2. Felt pretty easy but slow as was stuffed from dinner.

Concentrating on widening stance and gripping bar as far down finger tips as possible for extra cheater points. Have doubled heavier than this a few times in the past month so backed things off a bit tonight.

Confident I'll hit a PR in 1.5 weeks after 4.5 years deadlifting in the wilderness. Target is 182.5kg. Oh yeah, my deadlift sucks...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg19IeUo5wU

BossArky

Friday October 2nd: Bench Day 12

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
95kg - 1x1
105kg - 6x3 ... PR & felt good. Worksets done in 49 mins combined with superset pullups

Pull Up
bodyweight - 6x3
---

Final heavy bench before comp. Video is 6th set of 105kg 6x3. 2.5kg PR on last cycle.

Will open with 105kg in comp, then go for 112.5kg PR attempt on 2nd & 115kg on third.

Bench is the one lift that I can consistently make progress on. Pretty happy with the ease with which I finished this cycle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-nKgMbQ7Ec

BossArky

Just went back and inserted a heap of youtube videos into the last 5-10 log posts. Have been very busy outside of gym/training with real life and often forget to update log until days after ... and even then I sometimes forget to include the vids of lifts. Anyway, updated now ^^.

Here is how I'm planning my comp lifts to go on Oct 11th:

Squat 145/155/160 (equal PR)
Bench 105/112.5/115 (5kg PR)
Deadlift 162.5/172.5/182.5 (2.5kg PR)

That would give me 457.5kg in the 83kg category. It is tempting to throw on an extra 2.5kg on the 3rd Squat attempt to round the total up to 460kg and the illusive B grade nationals qualifying total.

Bench and Deadlift have been going well. Squat just marking time, hence why I'm being a bit more conservative there. A deload may see my Squat feel great and we'll see on the day.

Alf Veedersane

How are you feeling, physically, when you compare with previous comps?

BossArky

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

How are you feeling, physically, when you compare with previous comps?

Feeling pretty good to be honest!

BossArky

Monday October 5th: Squat

Squat
40kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x3
122.5kg - 1x1
142.5kg - 2x2 ... alrighty.
---
Front Squat
65kg - 3x5
---
Deadlift (sumo & double overhand)
70kg - 1x5
100kg - 3x5
---

Final Squats completed successfully.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzt54Xi9Xgg

BossArky

Wednesday October 7th: Deload

Squat
40kg - 1x5
60kg - 3x5
---
Bench
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 3x5
---
Chest Supported Row
frame +15kg - 3x10
---

That was easy.

Problem is that later in the evening when lying in bed I seem to have trapped a nerve either during that deload session or sometime later. COuldn't sleep and mobility restricted. Painful.

BossArky

Powerlifting Meet: Sunday October 11th:

Short Version:
- Went 4/9 for a 422.5kg total at 82.9kg
- Bench 112.5kg for a 2.5kg PR
- Squat and Deadlift rubbish - just getting openers & each lift being 15kg below my best

Long Version:
Was cutting close to the wire bodyweight wise coming into this comp. Was 84kg for a couple of days in the run up and then 83.2kg on the morning of the comp. My home scales are a bit dodgy so I was expecting that I was about 0.7kg overweight the morning of the comp. Went to the beach and walked around a bit to burn off some water.

Comp weigh in was at 12pm (noon) with my flight starting at 1:30pm. Drove the 30 mins to the venue with heater on fullblast in the car, spitting out the window and getting it all blown back in my face. Lovely. Got to the venue and weighed in with the scales flicking between 82.9 and 82.95kg. Phew.

Hot day. Sweat running off me before I had completed my warm ups. Did the usual foam rolling, couch stretch with shoulder dislocates, hip circle, push ups with pelvis on ground. and then on to the Squat bar starting from 40kg.

Squat warm ups went like this:
40kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5 ... felt heavier than it should
85kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x2
125kg - 1x1

Knew from 60kg up that Squats weren't feeling too good. Persevered with the plan and didn't deviate from the planned opener of 145kg, given that I had done 2x2 on 142.5kg last Monday before comp.

Squat attempts went as follows:
Squat 1: 145kg - GOOD, but felt heavy. Revised second lift down from 155kg to 150kg
Squat 2: 150kg - FAIL ... cannot believe I failed 150kg
Squat 3: 150kg - FAIL again. Sweet Jesus. Felt way too heavy on the day.

Shocking opening. Struggling with first Squat and getting stapled on the 2nd and 3rd. Perhaps I was too dehydrated. Purposely didnt drink too much from 12:30pm (after weight in) to 1:30pm (lifting starting) to avoid situation where the liquid in stomach gets blown straight out my ass (as has happened in the past couple of comps due to over hydration prior to lifting).

Need to train a bit lighter bodyweight wise so I don't have do do such drastic watercuts & run the risk of dehydration.

On the plus side the comp was running very smoothly and the spotters/loaders were flying through the attempts/flights.

On to Bench. Warm ups went as follows:
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
95kg - 1x1 .. easy enough. Caught the left upright but fine.

Bench was feeling pretty good so I stuck with the plan of opening on 105kg.

Bench comp attempts went as follows:
Bench 1: 105kg - GOOD & easy enough
Bench 2: 112.5kg - GOOD & 2.5kg PR. Ground it out over about 5 seconds.
Bench 3: 115kg - FAIL. Got it off my chest and it was moving but died about half way up. No video of this of any other lifts as was at comp alone.

Pretty happy to get the Bench PR. Bench again proves to my decent lift which I can constantly make progress on.

On to Deadlifts (sumo). Based upon subtotal so far I knew I was going to be in for a struggle if I wanted my usual 2.5kg PR Total. To get that I would need to Deadlift 187.5kg. So, I decided to base my Deadlift attempts off trying to hit 187.5kg (which is 7.5kg over my best ever Deadlift to date).

Instead of going for the pre-planned attempts of 162.5/172.5/182.5 I opted for 165/177.5/187.5... in the name of Powerlifting drama and to have something to fight for on the last attempt

Warm ups went as follows.
60kg - 1x5
110kg - 1x5 (as couldn't be arsed unloading bar to do 100kg)
140kg - 1x2 ... all double overhand to here

Deadlift competition attempts went as follows:
165kg - GOOD but felt too heavy for opener. Dropped it on my right knee on the way down taking off a few layers of skin & leaving a mildly bloody mark for rest of comp
177.5g - FAIL. Got an inch or so off the ground
187.5g - FAIL. Nailed to the floor. Decided to add 10kg to my failed second attempt in the hope that the adrenaline of a PR total attempt would supercharge my Deadlift. It wasn't to be.

So, a pretty forgettable comp with the exception of my Bench which keeps moving.

Need to get a lot stronger on the lowerbody. Upperbody has been responding well to the PowerBuilding approach (i.e. heaps of high rep assistance after the main bench exercises). Need to get some Bodybuilding assistance going for lowerbody too.

Funny - if you add together all of my comp best lifts (ever, not today) I'm just 7.5kg under the nationals qualification standard... but need to string all of those together in 1 comp. Today my total of 422.5kg was 20kg under my total from 4 months ago. Need 460kg for nationals qualification.

Interestingly my Squat has taken 7.5kg backward steps in each of the past 2 comps. Did 160kg in April, 152.5kg in July, and now 145kg. Could have made more progress today if I wasn't going making such abrupt jumps and opening so high.

Gonna take about 6 months off competing now, to get setup with home gym and build some lowerbody strength.

Still got a bronze medal as was 3rd out of the 3 in the 83kg category. That's a podium pic to send to the folks (lol).

BossArky

Thursday October 15th: Deload

Squat
60kg - 3x5 ... didn't feel too good

Bench
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 3x5
---
Pull Ups
3x5

RDL
20kg - 1x10
60kg - 5x10
---
Leg Press
frame - 1x10
frame + 50kg - 5x10

BB Curl
3x10
---

Bit of a nothing session. I'm in limbo at the moment. Post comp, about to move home, my home gym rack arriving in the coming week... all that moving fun/stress, combined with post comp sluggishness.

The stars did align somewhat though. The Uni were getting rid of gym floor mats so I took about 15 of them home in the boot of the car. These are each 0.9m x 0.9m. Saves me a couple of hundred AUD in sorting out home gym flooring. It also gave me an extra half hour of manual labour bringing the mats in bunches of 2s from the gym door to the car.

The lifting tonight was trying to blow the cobwebs out. Jumped straight onto Squat with 60kg 3x5 which was too abrupt. Didn't feel too good (generally tight & frazzled) so called it quits after 3 sets and moved onto some bench.

Got in 5x10 on both Leg Press plus RDL. My aim for the coming 6 months is to grow some lowerbody muscle, hence the high reps.

Hanley

Unlucky day.

What's the reason for the significant deterioration in squatting performance?!

BossArky

Hanley wrote: »

Unlucky day.

What's the reason for the significant deterioration in squatting performance?!

Not too sure. Just got a heap of stuff going on outside the gym in real life. Was in two minds about whether I would bother competing in the weeks building up to comp so I guess that 50/50 mental state combined with dehydration, hot day, Squat prep reset half way through cycle, peaking too early in Deadlift cycle, being alone at the comp without handler ... plus various other things that sound like excuses could have been contribution factors.

Not too bothered with the crap performance on Squat / Deadlift. Got the Bench PR which was the real one I was chasing at that comp anyway.

BossArky

General update:

I'm between two homes at the moment - moving all the smaller stuff in my car and awaiting the removalists this coming Friday to move all the final big things. In between the manual labour of moving I've managed to put down the rubber matting for home gym in garage, plus tarpaulin on the sides of storage cage to keep out inquisitive neighbors. This truely is a labour of love as I cannot wait to get in there and start lifting some weights once my ER rack arrives in approx 1 week. I've already got all the bumper plates (& associated loose change) in there. Will put in the Eleiko bar in the coming days.

Training wise - I've been getting in a couple of 10 min high rep bodybuilder style sessions a couple of times in the past few days on the likes of:
- leg curl
- leg ext
- machine press (from overhead, incline to flat)
- lat pull down
- seated pulley row

Probably won't bother doing proper Squat/Bench/Deadlift until my rack arrives. Good time to give the body a chance to recover after some decent training the past year or so.

BossArky

Saturday October 25th:

Bike 18 mins total: 15 mins (level 6) & 3 mins (cool down)

30 reps (3x10) on 8 random exercises:
- machine overhead press
- machine bench press
- leg ext
- leg curl
- lat pulldown
- lat row machin
- curls
- calf raise

I think that was it. Memory a bit hazy since it was a few days ago.