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5/3/1 - Back from the Dead(lift)

Day 2 Week 3

Warmup
Prying Goblet Squat
2 Hand Swing - a few explosive reps

Deadlift (sumo stance)

135 x 5, 225 x 5, 315 x 5 (top set)

Conventional
285 x 5 (90%)

255 x 5 x 8 sets (80 % sets)

Stressful day at work that carried into session. Felt a bit fatigued but the deadlifts looked a lot better then they felt. Still feeling my conventional is stronger than my sumo. When I cycle on to PTTP style workouts doing sumo more often, hopefully it'll get better grooving. Feel I need to focus more on pulling the slack and rooting/wedging. Got kind of lazy and my hips were not driving

 
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Day3 Week 3

Thoracic opener, Yoga pushups, B.U. K-bell Presses

Bench
Bar x 5, 135 x 5, 185 x 3

210 x 5
190 x 5 (close grip)
170 x 5 x 6 sets (close grip)



Feel an odd biceps strain on warmups but goes away after 135. Odd. Felt okay today but wasn't in the best groove Weight felt solid but it's a good time to cycle back as it took a bit to get the last rep. Gotta remember to squeeze those glutes on the bench!
 
Day 1 Week 4

K-bell Halo's, Yoga Pushups, Thoracic Bridge, TGU

Bench
Bar x 5, 135 x 5, 185 x 3

215 x 4 (top set)
195 x 5
175 x 5 x 3 sets

Could've gotten the 5 reps on top set but would've been grindy. I'll do a light deload for bench on Friday and restart a cycle on Monday. I'll probably allow my deadlift to roll along and watch for signs of fatigue.

 
Trained today even though I usually train Wednesdays instead, I'll be busy tomorrow with school thangs.

Day 2 week 4

Renegade Lunges, Prying Goblet Squat, Swings

Deadlifts
135 x 1, 225 x 1, 295 x 1

335 x 5
285 x 5
255 x 5 x5 sets

Had a momentary lapse in basic arithmetic and loaded the bar too low for the back off sets. That's fine, I'll probably start decreasing the volume on the B.O. sets on deadlift day as the weight increases. Made some adjustments to my sumo that felt better. Focused more on pushing hips back at start as opposed to trying to "squat" the weight. My hips stayed in better position and the pull was very smooth. I got distracted on the first rep because someone entered the gym and when I arrived it was locked and empty, so it startled me a tad. Alas, the grip has started to become a challenge, and it may be time to switch to mixed grip. This is why I somewhat "rush" the lockout. The bar rolls around because it is bent, sadly. Other thn that, happy my sumo seems to be coming round again.

 
Did a morning weigh in today and was pleasantly delighted to find I've gone up again! I'm now up approximately 8 lbs since starting DeLorme, which I think is pretty impressive for a couple months. Now, I think it's time for me to switch gears a bit. Hypertrophy training has been long and hard. The constant eating and work has paid though. I'm the heaviest I've ever been, but I'm beaten. I think I need a switch. I have goals for my bench and deadlift for the end of this year, and now's a great time to start to work to bring these lifts to their highest potential for the year. I've decided to combine a few simple programs to achieve this. They are very similar to what I've currently been doing, they just alter the load/frequency/intensity. Same, but different.
IMG_1793.JPG
 
PTTP/ROP/Vodka and Pickles

Next week, I will start the new and separate cycles for bench press and deadlift. My inspiration will be the Jason Bryce program published by Pavel from PTTP and the vodka and pickle program, with a slight modification. I will deadlift once a week on Wednesday, like I've been doing, and do the 100-200 swings/snatches on Monday/Friday after bench press. I will resume with 5 rep set on DL, as I have been, and drop the reps when the weight dictates so. This will cut my DL volume, but I'll get it back via swings, in a much harsh manner. The Bench will start off as a linear progression on Monday, doing 1 set of 5 and adding 5 lbs per day until 5 rep max is reached. Then R.O.P style ladders with the 5 rep max, every other day for two weeks. After that, back down the 5 rep max and repeat the linear cycle. So it'll look like this.

Day 1
Bench 1 x 5
Swing 100-200

Day 2
Bench 1 x 5 (add 5 lbs)

Day 3
Bench 1 x 5 (add 5 lbs)
Deadlift 1 x 5

Day 4
Bench 1 x 5 (add 5 lbs)

Day 5
Bench 1 x 5 (add 5 lbs)
Swings 100-200

Repeat indefinitely

When 5 rep max is reached for bench

Day 1
Bench
Ladders with 5 RM 1,2,3 for as many

Take a day off and repeat. Deadlift cycle remains same.

Once DL weight gets too heavy, test sorta Max. Once bench reaches next 5 RM, test sorta max.
 
Day 1 Week 1
Power/Pickle

Chest Opener, Yoga Pushups, T.G.U

Bench
Bar x 5, 95 x 5, 175 x 5 (Top set)

Swings
53 lbs x 20, 70 lbs x 3 x 10 reps

K.B Windmills
3 per side

I haven't benched since Monday of last week so groove felt odd. Weight even felt kind of heavy but was practicing tension techniques, especially on bottom of press. My arch is looking very high I noticed, but this slightly affects my leg drive. Will play around with it a little more. This style bench requires a maximal arch, but not during setup. The arch should get higher during descent. Swings feel odd. Haven't done them in a while as well. 53 was too light, as these are power swings, not conditioning. I will build volume up over time since they haven't been trained as much.
 
Day 2 Week 1 Power/Pickle

Chest opener, Yoga Pushups, T.G.U

Bench
Bar x 5, 135 x 5, 180 x 5 (Top set) 165 x5 (90% set)

Windmills, Pullup Bar Hang

Bench felt much more solid today. Descent and loading felt solid and leg drive was timed right. Also, my descent feels a little better slowed a tad down, but not too slow. This helps me load the lats and legs at the bottom for a nice solid drive upwards. Hit an extra set for some more practice, since nothing else planned today then did my windmills to stretch the pecs and glutes/hamstrings and give the upper back some stability. Hung from pullup bar to loosen back up, as usual and noted my erectors were quite sore from swings yesterday. Tomorrow is heavy deadlift so hopefully they won't be a bother for that.

 
Day 3 Week 1 Power/Pickle

Bench
Bar x 5, 135 x 5, 185 x 5

Deadlift
135 x 1, 225 x 1, 315 x 1, 355 x5

Today was an off day. Maybe should've skipped training. Had to take my mother to the ER because of abdominal cramps and was worried. After hours and hours of waiting, we found it was non life threatening but just a blockage. She's been admitted and may need surgery. Felt guilty leaving her with my sister though and it affected my training. All ready have lost my father, so I'm always worried even when everything is supposedly going to be all right. Wasn't very focused on my lifts. Rushed in with very little prep/warmup as my mind was focused on my mother and kept a close eye on my phone. Didn't stretch or cooldown and left. Finally got word from my sister that she was doing well and was going to talk to the surgeon. Hopefully I'll have better news tomorrow.



 
Thanks @Antti. she should be well soon, nothing too majorly wrong, but I appreciate the support! Glad to hear your meet prep is going well and I'm excited for you with your meet coming up! I know you'll do well!
 
Day 4 Week 1

Chest opener, Yoga pushups, B.U. press

Bench
Bar x 5, 135 x 5, 165 x 3, 190 x 5

K.B. Arm Bars, Windmills, Pullup Hang

Easy day, just the bench set and some cooldown, warmups. Going to see mother and drop off some things at hospital. Need to eat.

 
Day 5 Week 1

Chest opener, Yoga pushups, B.U. K.B. press

Bench
Bar x 5, 135 x 5, 170 x 3, 195 x 5

Swings
73 lbs K.B.
20,20,15

Bench is going smoothly, bicep on left side feels better. I've really slowed it down to work on bar path/control, but I'll probably allow myself to speed up the descent a bit. For some reason (gravity), it seems more conducive to lower the light weights slowly. They'll probably move about the same speed as my heavy reps, but since they're lighter I have to actually control them down, otherwise I don't really feel the weight. My style is explosive, but to get better bar path and feel for bottom, it's easier to practice slowly. Now I'll allow myself to lower a bit faster as weight climbs next week. Gently nudging the swing up about 5 reps a week. They sure are tiring! And shows the current state of my (lack of) conditioning.



 
Day 1 Week 2

Warmup
Chest openers, Yoga Pushups, B.U. K.B. Presses

Bench
Bar x 5, 135 x 5, 175 x 3, 200 x 5

Swings
70 lbs x 20 x 3

Cool Down
Pullup Hangs, Windmills, Arm Bars

Bench flew up well today. Brought the speed back up and was moving very well.

 
Day 2 Week 2

Warmup
Chest openers, Yoga Pushups, B.U K.B. Press

Bench
Bar x 5, 135 x 5, 175 x 3, 205 x 5

Pullups
2 x 5

Cooldown
Pullup Bar hangs, Windmills, K.B. Armbar

Bench didn't feel as solid today. Many things contributed. Didn't eat enough before workout and spent an hour longer than I intended at the mechanic's shop. Rack wasn't set correctly so one side was just a couple inches higher, which explains why my set up always felt off. It is barely noticeable on this rack, as I use the lowest setting, which actually takes the pins out and is only a slight amount higher with the pins in. Alas, the touch point on the bottom was not consistent. Youtube seems down now as well. Hit a few sets of pullups afterwards, mimicking my bench motion, thus using the arched back style.



 
Day 3 Week 3

Warmup
Light pump work

Bench-Bar x 5, 135 x 5, 175 x 3, 210 x 5
Deadlift- 135 x 3, 255 x 2, 335 x 1, 375 x 3 =(

Changed my upper body warmup. I've felt a little laggy lately, and the chest opener kind of relaxes me a bit too much. I hung out on it for a bit too long and all this stuff has been nice, but iI felt it didn't really wake up my system or get the blood flowing. So I did some light pump stuff OH Press (bar), Curls, Pulldowns and Pushdowns for a couple rounds of 8-12. It felt really nice. Mark Bell advocated this in a video and I feel it was a nice change. Bench went well. But I feel now, I could use 1 more warmup set as the jumps are getting big. I'm not used to the heavy weight all the sudden, and it's a 35 lbs jump from my last warmup set. SO I think for the 215/220, a jump of 135 x 5/ 175 x 3/ 200 x 1, would help me not feel so shocked by the heavy set. Deadlift was a grind today. Many reasons I'm sure. Technique is not practiced as frequently on this program (DL 1 x week). Also, my original strongest deadlift is conventional. I switched to sumo when my back was hurting and never really went back. Also, my squat seemed to really help my sumo, a the stances are quite close. My leverages favor conventional and since I have not been able to squat, maybe it's time to try the conventional again, as my strength has stagnated. My bench has improved much so far, my deadlift has not. Odd, because my leverages naturally favor the deadlift with the bench being a harder to lift for me. I will also start squatting again soon, as my knee feels a million times better. I miss the squat.



 
I like at most 10kg jumps in the bench when it gets reasonably heavy, like ~70% 1RM. So I can understand if you feel you've taken too big jumps.
 
Day 4 week 2

Warmup

Bench
Bar x 5, 135 x 5, 175x 3, 200 x 1, 215 x 4(fail 5th)

Well it happened today. I missed a rep, which I haven't done in a very long time. The session was a bit of a downer, because the 4th rep didn't seem that hard at all. But my arms, for some reason, kept bumping into the safeties, which has never happened. They may have been raised into a higher position then normal, but I normally don't use them. This tells me I must be flaring earlier with heavier reps. @15 x 4 was my best at then end of the bear, so I haven't improved my 5 rep max, which is a bit disheartening. But I will commence the ladders with 210 next week and take tomorrow off.
 
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