I did a bunch of assistance work yesterday that I forgot to log: barbell rows, pulldowns, pull-aparts, banded pushdowns, and some VWs. But today, I just benched.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Thu Feb 21, 2013 12:22 pm
Modified Agile 8
Squats (beltless and wrapless, lol) 95x8 135x5 185x3 235x3 285x3 325x2 345x2 365x2 385x1 (cheap 5-lb. beltless PR; dude spotting a bench press was literally standing under the j-hooks as I attempted to re-rack it.)
DE Deadlifts 255x3 255x3 255x3 255x3 255x3 255x3
GHRs BWx20 BWx20 BWx20 BWx20 BWx20
A little beltless squatting while my ribs continue to heal.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:03 pm
I think this is about as strong as I've ever felt on the bench, period. For lulz, I included video of me benching the same weight for sets of three on January 12th. The difference is night and day. I felt so good that I combined my last two sets, and it was still pretty easy.
Maybe the answer is running Smolov Jr. indefinitely.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:42 pm
Number of bar lifts performed in all three intensity ranges (and in all three lifts) from 1/22-2/22:
70-79%: 503 80-89%: 417 90-100+%: 13
KevinAlvy Elite
Posts : 2446 Join date : 2011-10-30
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:09 pm
das a lot of volume
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sun Feb 24, 2013 12:52 am
Bench press is becoming less and less of a weakness with each month. If I somehow manage to continue progressing, I could end up in the 330-340 range by the end of this year, which is goddamn crazy to me, but hey, this seems to be going well. I'm waiting for something to go wrong.
Logan Joseph Ghost Dawg
Posts : 224 Join date : 2011-10-30
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sun Feb 24, 2013 8:14 am
Awesome man, one day we are all confident that you'll be able to bench George's bodyweight no problem.
Nathan Poage Master
Posts : 1912 Join date : 2011-10-31 Age : 32
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:39 am
Logan Joseph wrote:
Awesome man, one day we are all confident that you'll be able to bench George's bodyweight no problem.
But who will bench George's body weight first, Kyle or George?
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sun Feb 24, 2013 12:47 pm
I have a lead, but George could put this out of reach for both of us at any moment.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:01 am
Just getting back into the swing of things with my squatting. I was breathing heavy after these...
Logan Joseph Ghost Dawg
Posts : 224 Join date : 2011-10-30
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:50 am
Hey brah, what exactly have you modified about agile 8? As you know I spent quite a lot of time limbering up before squatting but I imagine I could do a better job at it and also take less time doing it. And what sort of routine do you follow post workout, if any?
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:53 pm
Logan Joseph wrote:
Hey brah, what exactly have you modified about agile 8? As you know I spent quite a lot of time limbering up before squatting but I imagine I could do a better job at it and also take less time doing it. And what sort of routine do you follow post workout, if any?
Here's exactly what I do: for SMR, I focus on quads, IT bands, and lumbar, and no abductor/adductor work. Then I go in and do a hip flexor stretch, rolls to v-sits, and mountain climbers, but none of those frog jump things (again, I don't feel I have to do a lot of hip mobility work before squatting because of my stance). I'll sometimes finish with hip thrusts for glute activation, particularly if I'm going to deadlift.
After training, I just foam-roll my quads, IT bands, and lacrosse-ball my lumbar and spinal erectors. I'll usually do this at night though.
I basically just took agile 8 and tailored it to what I felt I need for my squat style.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:02 am
Sorry I've let this go for days without updating. This week, I ran sort of a reduced version of Smolov to re-acclimate, because the training weights kicked my ass:
This week, I'm running it with the same weights, except that I'm going to try to do the full volume.
Yesterday, I floor pressed with reverse-bands on my off-week from benching. I'm only taking an off-week because I stupidly tweaked my pec (but it's healing nicely):
Floor pressing was mostly just for fun, and it told me what I already knew, which was that my press is way stronger than it was about a year ago. I think 465 was about a 40-lb. PR from the last time I did this (maybe nine months to a year ago).
Nathan Poage Master
Posts : 1912 Join date : 2011-10-31 Age : 32
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:03 pm
Don't forget to log: Upright Row 1x2x315
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:20 pm
Nathan Poage wrote:
Don't forget to log: Upright Row 1x2x315
I knew I was forgetting something!
It was not all him, bro.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Mar 04, 2013 1:43 pm
Squatting felt a lot easier than last week; my goal is to get through this week with no missed reps, then bumping the weights up ten pounds for a brutal final week before a wrapped max-test week.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Tue Mar 05, 2013 8:04 am
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:01 am
On another note, powerliftingwatch released all-time raw rankings yesterday. These include every lifter, from every nation, from every documented competition, since the beginning. They ranked the squat, bench press, and total, but not the deadlift, since I guess unequipped deadlifting is too hard to verify.
So, this will give me something to shoot for. They missed including me for whatever reason (compiling this list is a massive undertaking, and it isn't perfect), but when that gets remedied, I'm going to be somewhere around #11-13 for the squat and #14 for the total. The list at the top for the total was about what I expected: Tony Conyers (1580), Rick Gaugler (1521), Rickey Dale Crain (1494), Joe Morrow (1482), Hsieh Tsung-Ting (1411), and Don Blue (1410). So, six lifters have broken 1400, which was about what I expected. I could have guessed five of the six, but I have no idea who Don Blue was (born in '34, lifts were done in '74).
It's a cool group, because three of these come from the 70s, one (Conyers) from '99, and Morrow and Tsung-Ting from the last few years. Tsung-Ting actually won IPF Raw Worlds with this total last year. His is the only total of the six done without knee wraps, though Conyers has totaled 1400+ without them on a separate meet.
So, this gives me a new standard with which to measure myself; it is weird to start to think about where I stand "all-time" in a weight class, but perhaps that new perspective will help me push my total higher.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:51 pm
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:44 pm
Are you going to try a 10MM belt?
If not maybe try putting some cloth/something/wrap something around the belt to make the surface area a bit larger and blunt that sharp edge
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:12 pm
KevinAlvy wrote:
Are you going to try a 10MM belt?
If not maybe try putting some cloth/something/wrap something around the belt to make the surface area a bit larger and blunt that sharp edge
The 10mm could help, and I thought about wearing a sweatshirt for squats, but I think my ribs are so bruised right now that it's probably still going to happen with anything short of beltless training. I'll probably just forge ahead beltless and perhaps bring the weights down next week if I feel I need to.
I change my mind about this by the day though. I was going to train through it, but today it was bothering my during squatting--and not just after my sets--and so I knew that wouldn't end well (I don't want to start compromising technique because of pain).
I feel pretty good about 385x3x10 beltless; next week might be tough, but I will do my best.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sun Mar 10, 2013 10:16 pm
Two days ago, I came in for a double session--first, I benched; then, I taught class; finally, I squatted. On bench, I hit 255x3x8 with no problem, but the reps did move slowly. I came back for squats and it became clear pretty early on that I wasn't recovered from my 365x5x7, particularly with my lower back. During warm-ups, I squatted 365 for a difficult single (beltless, as I had been doing), and I knew right then and there that I wasn't going to be hitting 385 for any triples, at least not beltless.
At that point, I had decided that Smolov had run its course. My plan was to run this training for two more weeks, then run my own mesocycle to recuperate and peak for the meet, but I'm giving myself more time and starting earlier. I won't be able to continue Smolov beltless without a drop in the weights, and I'm already working well below my wrapped max. My bench has, frankly, felt lousy this week, and it seems I'm having a hard time bouncing back after this second Jr. cycle.
In short, I think I've reached a point in which I'm reaching my limits with this level of volume training. It's time to decrease the volume. My body has been giving me some signs over the last two weeks that I might be fried from the training (I won't say "overtrained")--various aches and recurring minor injuries, always feeling sleepy, not having much of an appetite, head-aches after most squat sessions, and so on--and I'm just going to listen to those signs.
Plus, training really wasn't fun anymore, and while I would suffer through "not-fun" training in order to get stronger, it's great to be excited to train again.
So, sorry I've been so wishy-washy this week. I've gone from trying to train with a belt, to training beltless, to dropping Smolov altogether. I know it looks like I'm really indecisive right now, but I'm really just trying to do what's best for my training and my body, and every day I'm getting different signs, which probably just means that I have to start scaling back now.
KevinAlvy Elite
Posts : 2446 Join date : 2011-10-30
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sun Mar 10, 2013 10:39 pm
Sorry to hear that. I am sure you've learned a ton about your own abilities and ability to tolerate volume from this though. I'm pretty confident you can bounce back pretty quickly if you are smart about it. You were doing a tremendous amount of volume and overall work, I think if you just taper a bit you will be primed for a transition into some higher intensities on the comp lifts
Are you going to continue running smolov jr?
Nathan Poage Master
Posts : 1912 Join date : 2011-10-31 Age : 32
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:01 pm
Is this the end of natty Kyle? Are the wraps coming back?
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:20 pm
KevinAlvy wrote:
Sorry to hear that. I am sure you've learned a ton about your own abilities and ability to tolerate volume from this though. I'm pretty confident you can bounce back pretty quickly if you are smart about it. You were doing a tremendous amount of volume and overall work, I think if you just taper a bit you will be primed for a transition into some higher intensities on the comp lifts
Are you going to continue running smolov jr?
Nope, stopping Smolov entirely for now. It's a little disappointing to end now, but I got in eight good weeks with a ton of volume. It was worth it, and I know I'm stronger for it.