10.31.2015 Bench Press, touch and go
45 x 12 x 2
135 x 6
185 x 4
225 x 2
245 x 1
255 x 1
265 x 5 x 1
I can't believe it. 10-lb PR from last week. And I had another rep left in me.
Last week:
I want to believe 275 x 5 is coming up soon. That definitely means 315 x 1 is in there somewhere. But I'm holding off on any singles and looking forward to 315 coming as a fiver in my normal progression.
I need more rest days for squat, so I'll probably bench again before I squat again. I think I'll squat on Wednesday because I have to pass through Lake Mary again that day so I can use their awesome dumbbells for rows after I squat. I'll bench on Tuesday, the third day out from this last very rewarding session: 255 x 5 for sets.
Friday, October 30, 2015
10.30.2015 / 193 lbs Olympic Squat, no belt
45 x 15 x 2
135 x 8
225 x 4
275 x 3
315 x 2
335 x 6 x 1
One-Arm Dumbbell Row 100 x 6, 130 x 5 x 3
Six reps with 335 means a projected max of 395. I'd had high hopes of getting multiple sets of 335 x 6 today, but I was getting winded early in the warm ups and my lower back was feeling tired. I simply wasn't recovered. I think the swings two days ago have a lot of the blame.
Though I have been shedding some glycogen and water, too, and cutting calories a bit with daily fasts. So that's probably not helping.
I'd just started feeling all bloated and tubby. Definitely got a spare inner tube. Just wanted to get things back in wack a bit, take a breather from stuffing my gut all the time.
I'm adding am extra rest day for squats: Fr-We-Mo-Sa-Th-Tu-Su, repeat. At least for now.
I think I overdid the warm up. I took ten minutes after 315 x 2 to do these. I knew six would be failure. It made me sad.
My 355 x 5 was actually a 355 x 4 + 1. Or even 355 x 3+1+......1. I was really no stronger today. Not fully recovered. So definitely an extra rest day for a while.
Oh, and I did a couple hard reps 15 minutes later just to see how burned out I was. I was very.
The dumbbells at Lake Mary are so much better than anywhere else. Thin handles coated in rubber...my grip didn't hold me back at all today. 130 felt like nothing and I am sure I can do 140 now. Lake Mary is also the only LAF in the area that goes up to 150 lbs...though I will be surpassing that soon...
10.28.2015 am /194 lbs Two-Handed 16kg KB Swing (15 hours fasted) x 40 x 4
10.28.2015 pm /192 lbs Bench Press, touch and go
45 x 10 x 2
135 x 6
185 x 4
225 x 3 245 x 5 x 4 PR
I broke my fast at 3:30 pm with some shepherd's pie. That's about 18 hours. I did the swings about 15 hours in. I'm feeling a little tubby and I realized today that I'm pushing 20% bodyfat. To be brutally honest, I could stand to lose about 10% of my mass as bodyfat, or nearly 20 lbs of fat. Essentially I'm a 181 lifter in a fat suit.
And huge volume PR with 245. Reps were nonstop, no pausing. I'm tempted to make a 10-lb jump next session for a max set of five with 265. I'm hovering around a 300-lb projected max.
I just realized this morning that before my SARM adventure my highest ever Olympic squat (high bar, high heels, no belt, no wraps) was 365 at @ 182.5 That was my only double bodyweight Olympic squat.
I am 194 these last couple of days and I'm sure I could hit a 390-lb Olympic squat if I had to, once again putting me at double bodyweight.
But what I really want is to get 405 while weighing 195 or less.
(Also, I just realized this morning that I could get at least a triple with my highest ever Olympic squat from before my SARM experience. I got 355 x 4+1 and am sure I could get 365 x 3 or maybe even 4 by next week.)
My experience over the last few months tells me that SARMs work best in very short cycles. The weight gain seems to start kicking in after the two-week mark and then it really slows down by week four or so.
I weighed 191-192 by the time I hit bench. Feels great to get that weight and volume after losing a couple pounds of water this morning.
10.26.2015/ 195 lbs Mon AM Olympic Squat, no belt
45 x 12 x 2
135 x 6
225 x 4
275 x 2
315 x 1
335 x 1 355 x 5 PR Deadlift, conventional, no belt 435 x 2 x 2
This is more accurately 4+1. I was crying on that last rep. But they were deep and controlled and I'm happy. I know I'm not ready for 405 yet, but it's coming.
I don't know if I've stated this explicitly in this blog, but when I say "Olympic Squat" I mean to package several conditions into one phrase without having to type them out: weightlifting shoes with a significant heel rise, high bar position, zero or very minimal support gear; if wraps are used, they are very thin and light and wrapped loosely; a belt is not used (and this is explicitly stated), but if a belt were to be used, it would be one of the thinner ones that offer more proprioceptive feedback rather than support.
If I just say "Back Squat", that could mean low bar or high bar. It could mean I'm using zero heel drop. It could mean I'm using thicker wraps and have them on so tight that I have to remove them between sets.
10.24.2015/ Sat-pm/ 193 lbs Bench Press, touch and go
45 x 12
135 x 6
185 x 4
225 x 2
245 x 1 255 x 5 x 1 PR
Accidental personal record. I meant to load up just to 240, but apparently I was really spacing out today. I think I took the 10's for 5's and the 5's for 2.5's. I was a little worried that 240 x 5 felt pretty close to a max effort (leaving me with little hope of getting additional sets). Then I realized that it was actually 255!
A couple weeks ago before my layoff, 245 x 5 was a very, very hard max. So I'm up at least 10 lbs now. Very happy with that.
But no way I had it in me to reproduce that first set and get volume with that weight. So maybe next time I'll go down to 245 and get volume with sets of five. Or maybe I'll go up to 265 and get volume with sets of three or four.
I would do well to keep in mind that this PR comes on the heels of a high volume session with eight work sets of five. So this is essentially alternating volume and intensity a la the Texas Method. So maybe I should go down to 245 and get a whole bunch of fives with it.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
10.22.2015/Thu-pm/195lbs Olympic Squat, NO BELT
45 x 15
135 x 6
225 x 4
275 x 2
315 x 1
325 x 5 x 3
Straight Bar Pull Up @ 195 + 35 x 4 x 4
I got 325 for three sets of five and with good bar speed and zero pausing between reps, except for the very last rep of the last set. Compare this to the 315 for three sets of four last week.
Another ten pounds, an additional rep per set, and done in about three quarters the time each set.
I will jump up to 335 for five next session and hope to get at least a couple of sets with it. Then 345 for a couple or three sets of four. Then 355 for a couple sets of four, then triples with 365 and 375. Then doubles with 385 and 395. That should set me up for singles with 405, 415, and maybe even 425.
Down to 193 this morning, despite eating several thousand Calories yesterday as usual. Obviously swinging up to 196 so rapidly meant a lot of water retention, though, which seems to have abated. I'm still 20 lbs over my average in July. It's all good. I want to be under 200 lbs the first time I squat 405 completely beltless raw.
I started dosing my 190-lbs lab rat with RAD-140 about two and a half weeks ago. As expected, the weight gain started accelerating again at around the two-week mark. Granted, I have also been dosing the poor rodent with MK 677 which increases appetite. Still the weight didn't start to stay on till the RAD had time to kick in. This isn't a coincidence.
My rat is clearly not putting on a pound of pure muscle per day. But muscle gain is still apparent and considerable. Maybe it's only about 1/4 lb of muscle per day, or almost two pounds per week. I'm guessing this is true because the strength gains are clearly starting to accelerate. My rat is doing sets with weights he could only manage for a single set just a couple weeks ago.
It's a good thing my rat is growing older and gaining some perspective. Or else he might sabotage his progress because the weight gain means some fat storage and water retention. He has sprouted a tiny muffin top and is looking fairly smooth -- no great surprise when gaining a pound daily. But he is also now tossing around with ease weights that used to be maximal efforts. And he is happy with these results and not at all sad about being a little chubby and smooth for a while.
Just a couple weeks ago 245 x 5 on the bench for one set was the best he could muster. Now he is gunning for 245 x 6 x 6 after just a couple more bench sessions. Same with 315 on the completely raw squat (sleeves only, no belt): 315 for a single set of five or six will be giving may to multiple sets of six within the next couple of sessions. The targets for this cycle are a 315 touch and go bench and a completely raw high bar squat of 405.
I just looked at my results from a session almost exactly four months on June 27, 2015:
320 x 1 high bar back squat, sleeves only, no belt
210 x 1 touch and go bench
425 x 1 conventional deadlift, no belt
I had to chuckle a bit. Overall progress has been staggering after months of stagnation at those levels. I am doing multiple sets and reps with what were one-rep maxes just a few months ago. The bench was a little low that day because it always is after squats. I could actually do about 220 x 1 when fresh. Still, I'm using quite a bit more than that for multiple sets and reps too.
I apparently forgot to put a fiver on the right side of the bar. No wonder four sets of 235 x 5 felt easy; it was 230!
So I did it all over with the correct weight. Failure on very last rep. Still, I freaking got a lot of volume with 230-235: eight sets of five in all.
Up to 195 this morning. Though that was after a cup of coffee, a couple slices of toast, and a few slices of Cajun turkey. But I've been eating pretty nonstop. My appetite isn't ravenous, but it's constant.
In the interest of getting sensible frequency I've vowed to alternate squat and bench sessions on non-consecutive days. No more trying to squat twice in one week. Rather I'll get each movement in three times in two weeks, i.e. Tue-Sat-Thur squat, Thur-Sat-Tues bench.
I'm already finding that this is allowing not just great recovery in terms of the muscles, but even more pronounced relief for my joints! More frequent training just means getting more beaten up and having to take deloads more often. And I am miserable during the actual training cycles by the second the week.
I will be accumulating volume with a given weight instead of rushing to add more weight. So I'll stick to 315 on the squat till I can get multiple sets of six, then I'll add weight. I was able to get three sets of four with 315 immediately after my two-week layoff. If I can get multiple sets of six with 315, then I should be able to work up to a single with 405+ over the next six weeks (nine sessions). This will be HUGE: a completely raw high bar squat with 405 while under 200 lbs.
Oh, and today's performance on bench makes me feel like 315 is very likely this year.
10.17.2015 Olympic Squat, first rep paused till 275, sleeves, NO BELT
45 x 12
135 x 6
225 x 4
275 x 3
315 x 4 x 3
Conventional Deadlift, mixed grip, NO BELT 415 x 2 x 4 or 5
Weighing 192 this morning after a "thorough" cleansing with two trips to the bathroom. It's been two weeks of Rad and it may be kicking in. It's been a couple weeks since I had a real squat session and I'm just now starting to feel like training again. My legs are just now shaking off the pain and stiffness of constant high-intensity squatting.
I had the desire to squat, but was still feeling lethargic (from the MK 677). I went to the gym and had to psych myself up to get moving out of the car. I just wanted to take a nap. But I'm glad I got it going. It's been like two weeks since back squats. I went "nearly naked" with just my old Rehbands on and I'm happy to report that 315 felt light on my back and though the first set betrayed a little rust...
...the ensuing sets were much snappier.
I did one standing press with 155 that felt so awful that I didn't officially record it up top. I did that press after my second set of squats and decided to do another set of squats after it. Then it was fairly snappy doubles with 415 for deadlifts. I don't remember if I got four or five sets. It's probably four. Doesn't really matter. These were more a test of grip and resolve. The weight wasn't that heavy.
Monday, October 12, 2015
10.12.2015/Mon-pm Bench Press, touch and go, first rep paused till 255
45 x 1paused + 10
135 x 1paused + 4
185 x 1paused + 3
225 x 1paused + 2
255 x 1paused + 1
275 x 1
280 x X
245 x 5
That sucked. Unable to get 280. Though I did get a rep with 255 after I paused the first rep with it. That did me in, however. That 255 was 10 lbs shy of my best ever paused rep...then I did a tng...
Got 245 for that fiver finally. That will have to mollify me tonight.
10.11.2015/Sun-pm One-Arm Dumbbell Row
100 x 5LR
110 x 3LR
125 x 7LR x 5
I am burned out on squats, benches, and deadlifts. So today I decided to take this rare opportunity to thow all my energies into dumbbell rows. This is my best performance on them to date. I had to set the DB down between reps later on, with the left hand needing rest by set two and the right by set four.
I hope I feel like squatting and benching again soon. I was thinking of turning this into a deload week, but that would kind of throw me off any kind of peaking for the meet. I dunno. I'll see how I feel tomorrow morning. Right now I just don't feel like lifting and the means I should probably skip a couple of planned training days till the desire comes back.
10.08.2015/Thu-pm Bench Press, touch and go, first rep paused till 245
45 x 10
135 x 5
185 x 4
225 x 3
245 x 2
265 x 1
275 x 1
285 x X
245 x 4 + X
Front Squat, wraps at 315
45 x 10
135 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 2
315 x 1
What a shitty session. I had one of those five-hour energy drinks and felt jittery and weak. I was also probably simply not nearly recovered enough to be back. As usual the midweek bench was off. Missed 285 for a new PR and then I was so tired that I really should not have tried to get five reps with 245.
Then I felt incredibly weak on the front squats. I was truly exhausted by the time I got to them. I had been hoping to work up to a new PR with 335 because 325 had moved so quickly a few days ago. But I was shaky and weak under the bar and barely got 315.
Also my right soleus is hurting the way my left soleus did years ago right before I injured it badly. I think it's combination of lots of heavy squatting in high heels and with wraps.
Once again I'm staring down the barrel of the Smolov gun. If I start on Monday, then my test day will coincide with the November 7 meet.
I'm sticking with the high bar squat. I will squat as few pounds less this way than I would with low bar, but I think that gap has gotten a lot smaller because of my practice with high bar and front squats.
Plus I'm using wraps which confer more benefit to high bar. I could still probably get 10-20 lbs more with low bar, but I just really, really hate how much of a good morning my low bar becomes at max loads.
I am, however, planning to switch to the sumo deadlift for the meet. The conventional does test back strength better, but it also invites more back rounding because omother more bent over start position means a much bigger moment arm. My back is safer with sumo and I can use my quads more to lift more.
I'd dropped sumo training in large part because I did some long-term damage to my left hip when I relaxed on a paused squat last year. But last night I worked about an hour on the sumo pattern till the pain started to go away.
The sumo actually reintroduced some flexibility that I'd been missing! My hips feel better than they have in months.
10.06.2015/Tue-pm Back Squat, high bar, belt and wraps at 365, paused first rep till 315
45 x 15
135 x 8
225 x 4
315 x 2
355 x 1
385 x 1
405 x 1 Standing Overhead Press 175 x 1 PR Front Squat, wraps 325 x 1 PR
I ran out of LGD-4033 yesterday so this morning I upped my complimentary Ostarine dosage from 15 mg to 25 mg. I'm holding on above 190 lbs steadily, much to my surprise, and as of this morning I was over 191 lbs.
Apparently I'm still not recovered from Saturday's back squat personal records. 405 single moved fast, but I didn't have the energy for a double. I thought about doing a bunch of singles, but I knew they would quickly start looking like crap.
So I did my usual press and front squat "easy" PR attempts as a wrap up. As usual, I got them.
Interesting that my squat is taking almost a week to recover while my bench takes just two or three days. I mean, it makes sense since the bench muscle mass is about half the squat's.
Also interesting how my press remains right about 66% of my paused bench...and my front squat stays at about 82% of my high bar back squat.
I don't train my press and front squat at all; I just test out a single every week or two. And yet they keep going up. Because of the work I put in on the bench press and high bar back squat!
I woke up to the news that Primeval will be discontinuing their SARMs line while Olympus UK will no longer sell their SARMs, secretagogues, or PPAR-agonists to US retailers.
These amazing products will be disappearing from the US market as these companies scramble to get ahead of lawsuits from competitors who are starting to run to the government. You see, it's perfectly legal to sell snake oil with wild claims and no results. And anyone who starts selling anything that runs too close to the nanny state's restricted list of products that actually work is going to be a target.
I'm really too angry to talk about this much. I will say that this pushes me one step closer to using actual testosterone. [Don't worry, Uncle Sam. I'm just talking tough for the sake of my blog. I would never, EVER do anything in violation of your presumed ownership of my person.]
Here are today's results. 10.03.2015/Sat-am Back Squat, high bar, belt and wraps at 355, paused first rep of warm ups to 315
45 x 12
135 x 6
225 x 4
275 x 3
315 x 2
355 x 1
375 x 1
395 x 1 405 x 1 PR 415 x 1 x 2 PR
I decided that I felt good enough to go ahead and start using Saturdays as mock meets of sorts but with a little volume. So squat session in the morning, bench and dead later on in the afternoon. I managed to set a couple personal records today. The most I have ever squatted high bar was 385 for a single without a belt but with powerlifting wraps. A belt "gives" me ten pounds so that's the equivalent of about 395. I got 405 today easily enough and then got 415. I then did 415 for another very tough single.
10.03.2015/Thu-pm Bench Press, paused
45 x 10
135 x 3
185 x 2
225 x 1
245 x 1
255 x 1
260 x 1
265 x 1 x 2 PR
Deadlift, conventional, hook grip, belt at 475, mixed hook on 500.
405 x 2
435 x 1
455 x 1
475 x 1
495 x 1
500 x 1 PR
The personal records kept rolling in today. My biggest paused bench was 253 five years ago; today I hit 260 then 265, then 265 for another sloooooow single. Then I just barely eked out 500 on the belted conventional pull to surpass my 495 @ 189 I did five years ago.
Friday, October 2, 2015
10.01.2015/Thu-noon Back Squat, belt and wraps at 355
135 x 4 paused, 4
225 x 2 paused, 4
275 x 1 paused, 2
315 x 1 paused, 1
355 x 1
375 x 1
385 x 3
10.01.2015/Thu-pm Bench Press
135 x 3 paused, 3
185 x 2 paused, 2
225 x 1 paused, 1
245 x 1 paused
260 x 1
275 x X
225 x 5 x 2
[Deadlift, conventional, no belt 405 x 2 ]
I partied a little too hard the night before this and it looks like it is still costing me. My weight has been going down. This is despite my attempts at getting my calories up along with my water intake. My performance yesterday really suffered. My squat was okay, but I don't have the endurance to do deadlifts on the same day as maximal effort squats.
I almost made it through the 275 bench. Even if I'd gotten that rep, I'd have been sad that I couldn't do I double with it. I was still being affected by the squat session from a few hours earlier. And my weight was down about two pounds so my bench was probably ten pounds weaker. My max when I was two pounds heavier was probably 285. During the session it wasn't quite 275.
I was amazed that a 405 pull was all I could muster after bench. My quads and lower back -- but especially my quads -- just couldn't handle anything else that day. I was honestly hoping to work up to using 495 with a belt! Not even close. I put the deadlift in brackets above because that doesn't even really count as worthy of note...except as a measure of how burned out the squats left me.
Also something in my left lat popped when I was warming up on squats. I think it went out on 275.
Squats and Hopes for the Meet
Now, my best high bar was 385 x 2 a couple weeks ago. The second rep was hard and slow through the sticking point. And of course I was wearing wraps (which add 20 lbs to what I can do without wraps). Yesterday I got 385 x 3 with the addition of a belt. I have to start training with a belt now because I'm six weeks out from the meet.
But a belt really only adds 10 lbs to my high bar squat. It is much, much more effective at adding weight to my low bar squat, which has me leaning over more and therefore makes lower back strength a limiting factor.
With high bar my upper back strength is more the limiting factor; with front squat the upper back completely displaces the lower back as the limiting factor. Notice the trend: the more vertical the back in the squat, the less the lower back holds the lift back and the more the upper back does. This also means that the more upright the squat, the less the belt helps.
I say all this to point out that I'm probably actually a little bit stronger with this 385 x 3 with the belt than the 385 x 2 without the belt, even discounting the assistance that the belt afforded me. In any case, what matters for the meet is how much I can lift with the belt and wraps.
I want to squat at least 200kg/440lbs at the meet, though my real target is 205kg/451lbs. My belt+wraps max is probably 415lbs right now. So I'm looking to add 5lbs/week for the next six weeks.
But if I want to keep my deadlift moving up, I'm going to have squat light on the day I train deadlifts. I don't mind not deadlifting much during most of my training cycles (because deadlift gains are built on squat gains), but I have to practice holding the weight in my hands through lockout and generating impulse from a dead stop.
Comparing to Past Low Bar Achievements
I've low bar squatted 405 and more with a belt multiple times in the past. The first time was when I weighed 175. Then I worked up to 405 x 3 x 3 before squatting 418 in competition at 179 lbs.
But there is no way I would have been able to high bar squat that weight back then! In fact, when I first low bar squatted 405 with a belt, I don't know if at that time I was able to high bar squat 315! After I low bar + belt squatted 418 in competition, I found that I could barely high bar squat 330.
I would later spend a few weeks working up to my then best ever high bar squat of 365 @ 182 wearing just knee sleeves.
So here is my first 405 low bar with a belt back in 2009....
And even though I squatted 405 to the satisfaction of the raw lifting rules in various federations and then did it for reps a year later, there is no way I was strong enough back then to do this....
I mean, it's not even close. If you would have asked me heighten the bar position and close up my stance a bit and take off the belt...I would have been buried in the bottom position by 325 if I didn't come right back up with the stretch-reflex.
It's funny. Ocassionally an article will ask if the one or two inches difference in bar position between low and high bar really makes that much of a difference. Bar position in the squat is like football and penis length: inches count. The movement changes a great deal. Muscle emphases shift. Different capacities are developed. A higher bar placement gives more carryover to more stuff while a lower bar placement allows more weight to be moved (usually requires a belt to exploit this fully).
This is coming from a former low bar and belt zealot. I've spent years in pursuit of both low and high bar improvements and I much prefer the benefits conferred by the higher bar placement. I am more "explosive" though I think a lot of that comes from the fact that my quads are much more developed by high bar. With low bar the quads are deemphasized while the glutes are overemphasized (as in a deadlift, thouh not to the same degree because a squat of any sort has more knee flexion...though low bar does start toeing the line of the good morning).
So yeah, I've "squatted" 405+ before at 175-179. But that was low bar with a belt. This is not the same as squatting 405+ high bar with no belt. I am getting close to that magical Olympic-style (high bar, no belt, sleeves or minimal wraps) 405 right now. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I could get it now, but I would need wraps. My best completely naked squat right now is likely just 385, but wraps would put me at 405.
In short, wraps add 20 lbs; a belt adds 10. So when I hit 440 with the wraps and belt, I should simultaneously be good for 405 with just knee sleeves.
I'm taking a more conservative approach this time and just adding 5lbs/week for the next six weeks. I should be able to hit that 405 Olympic-style just before my meet. I will be training with the belt one session and without it the next. Like so...
Mon: Bench Press (touch and go)
Tues: Squat (no belt)
Wed: Rest
Thu: Bench Press (touch and go)
Fri: Rest
Sat: Squat (belt and wraps), Bench (paused), Deadlift (belt)
Sun: Rest
Saturday is obviously meant to replicate meet conditions. This is to be low volume practice with heavy weight. For example, I will NOT be going for another all-out third rep with 95% again on a day like that. I think working up to hard-but-not-impossible singles makes more sense.
