Beyond 1400: Kyle's Road to RUM VIII

Great, The Keough is going to get addicted to Reddit now. inb4 300lb squat form check because butt wink

I know about reddit! I lurk there (except I never visit r/fitness)--I just didn't know about this sub.

Also, I'm the opposite of form-check guy: it's not a training session until my technique starts breaking down!

inb4 kyle starts outing my troll handles on reddit

CONVENTIONAL Deadlifts
365x6x4

Pull-Ups, three sets

Standing Abs, four sets

Thoracic Extensions w/ kettlebell, three sets

GHRs, three sets

Notes: A few observations on today's session:

1.) First day pulling conventional in about six weeks. I still haven't touched anything over 405 since RUM, but I feel optimistic that my starting point will be at a reasonably high level. It'll at least be high enough for me to build off of during the rest of this year.

2.) No pain in my back. I can't guarantee that this will remain the case, but the first day was a victory on that front.

3.) Though there was no pain, I'm doing a few things incorrectly because I'm gun-shy. That includes starting a bit slow off the floor and short-changing my lockouts (out of fear of lumbar extension). Mentally, I need to get over some shit.

4.) The bar-speed on 365 looked a bit better on video than it felt. These are probably .05 to .1 faster than I was pulling 405 pre-RUM, which probably puts me a little ways behind my RUM deadlift--but not TOO far behind. I'm guessing I could pull 550 right now if I absolutely had to do it. So, that's a decent enough starting point.

5.) Sumo did help me get back on track--I definitely feel like there was some carry-over. Had I sat on my ass for six weeks, this likely wouldn't have looked remotely close to the same. It took some time to troubleshoot, but overall I'm very happy with how all the injury-stage training went. Once I made a few key changes, I think I was really successful. A couple months ago, 405/550 for an unwrapped squat and deadlift as a starting number would have sounded completely absurd.

Friday:

Paused Bench w/ reactive slingshot
275x3
315x3
340x2 (PR)
no slingshot
225x13x3

Some light supplemental floor pressing

A bunch of other stuff (face pulls, pushdowns, and something else)

Push Press
145x5
160x5
175x5
190x3

From today:

Squat w/ reverse minis (30 lbs. at bottom)
365x1
405x1
435x1
295x8x3

Leg Extensions, three sets

Complex, GHR crunches w/ blue band, thoracic extensions w/ kettlebell, three sets apiece

Notes: I'll start with benchy, which felt terrible on Friday, but maybe I'm spoiled by not having to bench at the crappy CRWC most Fridays. 340x2 is a PR and is actually my biggest slingshotted single at the CRWC, but it falls far short of the previous week. 225 felt easy enough; I just wanted to supplement with ~40 reps at a lower intensity. The good news is that my pec tie-in feels almost completely better now. Also, my push press sucks, but I had fun messing around with it at the end of training.

For today, I hit a 435 single on my last reverse-mini day; that's about 405 at bottom, 435ish at top. It felt slow and hard, but I kept my position pretty well. Afterwards, I kept the drop sets lighter than programmed and focused just on staying as upright as possible. I hammered out some assistance and called it a day. I start my new squat phase next week, and hopefully that will be the prep that gets me to 425.

Deadlifts
365x6x6

GHRs, three sets

Face Pulls, a bunch of sets

Pull-Aparts, three sets

Pulldowns, three sets

Notes: My second day pulling conventional since the layoff--things today started to feel a bit better. My bar speed's still lagging a bit, but I can tell by how these felt that my deadlift hasn't really dropped off much. We pulled at Magni for this session, and the deadlift bar gave me some confidence to rip it off the floor, but it took a while to get a feel for the whip of the bar.

Overall, this was a very encouraging session--I just need to keep stringing these together for a while and my deadlift will be A-OK. I think I'll be back to normal in two or three months, and from there, we'll rebuild towards 600 and beyond. I have this strange sneaking suspicion that my recent squat training might actually help develop my deadlift lockout--call it a hunch, but we'll see if it turns out that way.

Paused Bench Press
300x5 (PR; previous bests of 287x6, 298x3)
315x2 (PR; previous best of 304x2)
255x8x2
225x12 (narrower grip)

Lat Pulldowns, four sets

Triceps w/ bands, four or five sets

Rear Delt Flys, three sets

External Rotations, two sets

Notes: Paused bench felt much better today versus the previous session, and 300x5 was a great set for me. I am capable of 315x3, but I didn't perform well enough, and so I will have to wait for another chance. I at least stayed in my groove well for just about every rep, and that's progress.

The good news is that my numbers have increased since singling 330, which is a bit surprising, considering I've really been working on my diet this last month and have been training on a deficit.

Anyway, I'm going to post this up and relax for the night. Training has been going fantastic recently, and I have been thinking a lot about next February's meet, but the over-analysis is taking its toll; I'm waking up most mornings after about four hours' worth of sleep, usually from some combination of vivid dreams and hunger. I've gone through long periods of meet prep in which I cannot turn my brain off before bed, and I'm not interested in starting this trend nine months out from the next one.

Squats
335x4
315x4x3
w/ reverse bands
405x4
425x4

GHR standing abs w/ band, three sets

SSB goodmornings, two sets

Notes: Squatting felt a bit off, as my low-back was pretty stiff for this session, but the bar-speed was OK for this being my first session doing 315 for more than a single rep in almost four months. As I get more comfortable, I need to drop into the hole and start to achieve some stretch-reflex. I kept position well, but I can also be much more fluid on these. My thinking is that my first session this week will be a technique/acclimation day, and the goal on my second session will be to fix some of these little mistakes and increase bar-speed. It finally started to click on 425x4; I just have to squat every set like that. There is probably a lot left in the tank on the raw squat stuff, but this will be a slow build.

Deadlifts
385x5x5

GHRs, three sets

Seated Goodmornings, three sets

Hise Shrugs, two sets

Something else. Can't remember what.

Notes: Slow as molasses on the deadlifts, but I will make steady progress. GHRs are getting better now that I can train them again.

Paused Bench Press w/ narrower grip (pinky on rings)
245x10x3

Push Press
135x10
150x10
165x9

Lat Pulldowns, three sets

Face Pulls w/ band, two sets

Notes: I've been stressing myself out a lot this week thinking about training and focusing too much on little details, so I tried to relax a bit for this session. No AMAP or anything, just three moderately-difficult sets of ten on bench and some push presses. It felt good to get some narrower-grip volume in, even though my triceps were still a bit sore from the last session. I will try and be a bit more relaxed today, as well (then I get a rest day tomorrow!)

Squats
315x4x3
335x4
w/ light reverse bands
365x3
415x3
450x3

GHR Crunches, three sets

Standing Goodmornings, three sets

Notes: Squats were much faster this session versus last one; sometimes I get a little loose with my torso when I descend quickly, but my depth is much better and my speed is, too. I thought briefly about going for the lifetime PR after my work sets, but (thankfully) I talked myself out of it. I still have a lot more acclimating to do before I should give 425 a shot.

Otherwise, that's it. Good sesh today.

Sumo Deadlifts
385x5x5

Lat Pulldowns, four sets

Seated Goodmornings, two sets

Thoracic Extensions w/ chains, three sets

Standing GHR Crunches, three sets

Notes: So-so bar-speed on 385. I guess this is probably a millisecond faster than last session. Things got much better off the floor once I started pulling without my knee sleeves on my ankles, but unfortunately I need those to protect my shins. I'll try to pull with baby powder on them in the future, as that helped decrease friction a bit.



Paused Bench Press
315x1
340x1 (10-lb. PR)

Some face pulls and banded pushdowns.

Notes: Probably the worst possible time to do a max single, but I was back in the gym and figured what the heck. Everything from the warm-ups on felt pretty horrible, but 315 went well enough that I figured I'd give 340 (which was my next goal) a shot. That ended up being a pretty ugly, slow lift, and I don't think it would have counted in competition, but I at least got it. I'm feeling a bit tired from all the training now, and considering how far I am from my next week, I'm just going to take Friday's bench day off and come back the following Monday to start a new phase of training.

Squats
335x3x2
350x3
425x1 (5-lb. unwrapped PR)
w/ reverse average bands
315x3
365x3
405x6x3

Notes: Hit 425 sort of on a whim, though I had been thinking about it for the last day. It was a tough grind, but I got it. It was also a very ugly squat, with some legit breakdown, but again, I got it, and I'm not about to make too much a habit of this. That's a five-pound all-time PR, though admittedly I never really tested my unwrapped max when I was at my strongest. I'm still a little behind where I was before, but it's getting better all the time.

Also, when I came back to squatting and hit a 335-lb. single (this was on March 16th), I set three timeline goals for myself: 405 by June 16th, 425 by September 16th, and 440 by December 16th. I'm done two, and I've got one to go. Now, I'm going to start building towards that third goal. If I can hit it before December, I'll push my unwrapped squat as high as possible. Things are going to come together, and we're all going to make it.

Deadlifts
405x4x5

Standing Goodmornings
225x8
275x8
295x8

GHRs, two sets

Pull-Ups, three sets

External Rotations, two sets

Notes: Solid deadlifting. Bar-speed's still coming along slowly; I worked more on crowding the bar and setting my hips higher, a la Jay Nera. From the third set on, I made a strong lockout a priority. All in all, I felt like I made some good adjustments with my technique, and I cruised through the session, even if my speed is lagging. I'm not going to keep droning on about having no explosion around my knees, because it's just going to be that way for a while.

Squats
335x3
365x3
385x4
w/ reverse average bands
455x1
505x1
525x1 (PR)

Notes: Squats felt surprisingly easy today, so I just ended up pushing the sets higher. It was very surprising how easy all the squats felt, and even on 385x4, I felt like the reps moved (for me, at least) extremely quickly.

It seems like squatting is improving from week to week, so that's exciting. Good sesh.

Good thing I'm getting back to squatting lately (tomorrow will be four times squatting in the last five days, holla), because all these PRs are getting me antsy.

Chris Anderson wrote:

Good thing I'm getting back to squatting lately (tomorrow will be four times squatting in the last five days, holla), because all these PRs are getting me antsy.

Thankfully, the squat standards at 148 aren't too high, so I don't exactly have to reach for the stars. With your quads of doom, you will blow well past me in no time.

THAT'S WHAT THEY ALL SAY




but then people find out i am a posterior chain dominant squatter (for the most part)

Time for high-bar Oly-style squatting. You will be the darling of rawr dawgs everywhere.

lol but i'm even worse at that

Deadlifts
415x5x3
415x10

GHRs, two sets (BWx15x2!)

Thoracic Extensions, four chains and a 44-lb. kettlebell, three sets

Notes: Last deadlift session before my next deload, and it went pretty well. I'm trying not to focus so much on bar-speed anymore--that'll come in time--and instead just try and get my technique right. I'm setting my hips a little higher and trying to pull with less of a snap now, and I'm finding my groove a bit better. Locking out every rep and holding it decreases bar speed a little bit, but I felt like I did a good job of at least hitting full lockout on these (though I didn't hold it as long as last time). Everything was pretty easy, including 415x10, so that's encouraging. My body is ready for block #2.

Keosawa wrote:

Time for high-bar Oly-style squatting. You will be the darling of rawr dawgs everywhere.

Stay off of my lawn turf!

Paused Bench Press w/ narrower grip (pinkies on rings)
275x7 (PR)
275x3 (2-sec. pauses)
225x12x3

Lat Pulldowns, five sets

Tricep Rollbacks, three sets

Hammer Curls, three sets

Rear Delt Flys, two sets

Notes: First session benching in about eight days, and most of the achiness is gone; there was still a little residual discomfort after my top set, so I cut the 275x3 sets short by one. I'm very happy with 275x7; I thought I'd get around five, but I was able to keep going even after my bar started to really slow down. 275x7 is a PR regardless of grip width, and for these benches, I set my pinkies on the rings--my competition grip is index fingers on the rings.

So, that's pretty good. I'll run a three-week wave with my slingshot on Fridays, too. My training for this meso will probably look something like this:

Week one:
Session A: Narrower grip, 275xAMAP, 275x50%x2; 225x12x3
Session B: Comp grip, 300xAMAP w/ blue slingshot, 300x50%x2; narrower grip, 225x12x3

Week two:
Session A: Narrower grip, 290xAMAP, 290x50%x2; 235x10x3
Session B: Comp grip, 320xAMAP w/ blue slingshot, 320x50%x2; narrower grip, 225x12x3

Week three:
Session A: Narrower grip, 305xAMAP, 305x50%x2, 245x8x3
Session B: Comp grip, 340xAMAP w/ blue slingshot, 340x50%x2; narrower grip, 225x12x3

That'll be the gist of it, anyway; chances are I'll tweak it as I go. A bit more structure to this one as I start back up again.