Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:21 pm
Nathan Poage wrote:
Is this the end of natty Kyle? Are the wraps coming back?
Yes, the wraps are coming back. I'm going to do one unwrapped day and one wrapped day. Most of my squatting will be done without them, but I'm going to start using them again to see where I stand for April. I'll maybe do a couple of sessions in them before running one heavy-single session to get an idea of an opener and a second attempt.
Nathan Poage Master
Posts : 1912 Join date : 2011-10-31 Age : 32
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:39 pm
Intradesting. The day after I begin my intensification cycle, the Jung Dawg goes back to using gear on his squats. Did he hear the footsteps?
Nathan Poage Master
Posts : 1912 Join date : 2011-10-31 Age : 32
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:40 pm
BTDUBS, took 415 for a triple today, no big deal.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Mar 11, 2013 8:20 pm
Nathan Poage wrote:
Intradesting. The day after I begin my intensification cycle, the Jung Dawg goes back to using gear on his squats. Did he hear the footsteps?
lol; I think the plan was always to go back to wraps at some point, but I really felt like the best thing for my squat was just squatting frequently without them. But now it's time to start to recover and get an idea for what my squat numbers will be at the meet. I basically know my deadlift and bench attempts, but I have no clue where my squat is.
Also, I'm not even worried, unless you're going 148 again. I don't worry about you 165s.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:08 pm
My floor press definitely feels stronger than when I started Smolov. This was 20 lbs. better than my same rep max just after the October 27th meet. My three-rep max at that time was 295, and my two-rep best was 300 (1RM of 315), so obviously those numbers are way up. My hope is that as I continue to recover from eight grueling weeks of benching, my strength will climb.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Wed Mar 13, 2013 1:26 pm
Squatting still feels awful, and it's going to take me a while to recover. All my older nagging issues reappeared with a vengeance towards the end of this last base cycle. My right ankle really does not appreciate squatting right now, and my left knee is pretty achy. The good news is that this volume didn't cause my ribs to flare up at all, and I think squatting only twice per week will allow them--along with everything else--to heal.
Anyway, everything from 95 lbs. on up is a pain in the ass to squat; I'm definitely pretty beat up right now. In hindsight, it was probably a good idea to stop when I did. 365x8 is a pretty good wrapless PR for me; even though it's not a HUGE number, given how lousy I felt, it's a pretty good one. I think my best eight-rep set with wraps is something like 375, but I would have probably been able to hit around 405 at my strongest, so to be 40 lbs. away on a day in which I felt awful is a pretty small gap. My squat style has always allowed me to get a lot out of my wraps, so I'm hoping my wrapped squat day is going to yield good results. My goal is just to get in there and feel the wraps out for a few sets on Thursday, and if I feel strong in them, I'll try to put together a good number. If all goes well, I'll be feeling much better in a couple of weeks, and I'll be ready to gauge where my wrapped max stands.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Thu Mar 14, 2013 10:27 am
I'm going to start trying to add more written analysis on these sessions. I think it might help me to keep more of a running log of how I'm feeling.
My bench still feels mediocre, and my technique was all over the place, with my left side dipping pretty badly during certain reps. The speed wasn't fantastic, and I just didn't feel strong on this today. I also don't feel like I'm doing as good a job maintaining tightness at the bottom as I was at the end of the last Jr. cycle.
The upside is that my tweaked pec isn't really bothering me anymore; I hardly felt it at all this session. There was a little achiness or something in my right shoulder, but it might just be that I have to spend more time warming up next time. And 235x12 is a +3 rep PR from what I was doing before running Jr.; that's a pretty substantial difference, and it's made better by the fact that I didn't feel fantastic. The pauses on that set ranged from pretty good and pretty lousy.
So, three-for-three on AMRAP PRs this week. I'm expecting a lot more of these as I start to recover from the high-volume work I put myself through. My body is starting to recover from all the squatting abuse I've absorbed, and I can now put my shoes on without too much discomfort.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:45 pm
For today: I wanted to come in and try not to put too much pressure on myself to perform well in my wraps for the first time in a couple of months. I felt good about where my squat stood after all this high-frequency training, but I still felt really achy earlier in the week and I don't feel like I've hit my stride yet. Plus, I wasn't sure how I would respond to being back in the wraps. I have a squat style that really seems to take advantage of them (I'm great at using my wraps but, conversely, suck without them), so I was hoping that was still the case.
Overall, I'm very happy with today's results. I only did two work sets for a few reasons--I just wanted to do enough work to experiment with them, and they very quickly started cannibalizing the backs of my knees--but the results were good. 365x6 moved pretty fast, though I could feel myself sitting back further than when I was squatting in these every week. For 425, the number I had in mind was 7, but I figured I'd just accept whatever I ended up with, even if it was underwhelming. I was ready to accept the possibility that I'd have to set my sights lower on the squat for this meet, even though I REALLY did not want to have to face regression.
With that said, 425x7 felt pretty good. The reps felt easy, and though I mis-grooved early, I started getting more comfortable as the set moved on. I didn't break technique too badly and I managed to keep most of my speed through the last rep. My legs just got real tired from shouldering the weight--and having circulation cut off from the wraps--so I racked at seven rather than trying to squeeze out more reps. Someday soon, I'm going to take the training wheels off and go until failure with these, so that I know where I stand.
But yes, this went about as well as I could hope for, and it now seems like 515-520 in April is a distinct possibility.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sun Mar 17, 2013 10:59 am
My paused bench still doesn't feel "fast," but 245x10 was a +2 rep PR, so that's pretty good progress. I might be leaning out a little--I recently changed my diet (more for health reasons, as something I was ingesting was making me sick pretty much every night for the last six months) and I've lost a lot of calories that I might not be properly replacing. I'm trying to introduce more fat into my diet, but I think my intake was greater than I previously thought. So, the weight (I was 155.2 this morning) loss probably is having a small effect on my performance as well.
Anyway, no excuses. I've performed well thus far this week, and my body no longer feels ravaged by the training. I'm not 100% just yet, but I'm getting there. 1400 is still the goal.
Logan Joseph Ghost Dawg
Posts : 224 Join date : 2011-10-30
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sun Mar 17, 2013 12:44 pm
beastly.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sun Mar 17, 2013 3:42 pm
Logan Joseph wrote:
beastly.
Best bencher on the team. COME AT ME BROS.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Mar 18, 2013 12:27 am
I got my revenge on this setup, which I passed out on in mid-December of last year. That was on a 500-lb. pull; this time, I pulled 505, and I made it much easier than the 500 in December. I tried for 525, but the jump was simply too big, and I couldn't get it close enough to lockout to give myself a chance.
Overall, my deadlift is testing out pretty well; I'm very happy with how each week is going, even if I'm not making HUGE progress on this lift (even ten pounds added in a six-month cycle would be great for me).
Everything's coming together with my lifts right now, and starting my meet tapering cycle has allowed me to hit big PRs the whole week. I'm still messing with my attempts, but they *might* look something like this:
Squat: 457 507 518
This is the lift I'm still not sure about. I'll probably open at 455-465, take a small meet PR with 507, then shoot for the lift I'd need for 1400+ with 518.
HOWEVER, this is entirely contingent upon how I do on my max-test in a week and a half. Ideally, I squat 515-520 (425x7 puts me in that neighborhood, but let's see how I perform this week) and leave myself feeling pretty good about my chances with 518. But if I have to drop my attempts because the results are underwhelming, so be it--I'll take whatever my training has given me on this lift. Of the three, it's the wildcard.
Bench Press: 276 304 309
I really need to (finally) hit a 300+ lb. competition bench, and I'll do it at this meet...hopefully. 309 lbs. could be a must for 1400+, depending upon how I do with my deadlift. I'm risking blowing my energy before that attempt, but I need to trust that I've gotten stronger on this lift--and that I'll come up with a big bench like last meet.
Deadlift: 518 573 579
I'm opening much lower on the deadlift this time. There's no reason to open at 535+, as both of my training PRs this cycle have come when I've done a final warm up in the 505-520 range. I'm bettering off opening very light, then going for the meet PR on my second attempt. If I hit it--and I had better hit it--I WILL NOT overshoot for my third attempt. If I need 579 for 1400, then that's what I'm taking.
Right now, with these attempts, I need to go eight-for-nine for 1400. I NEED to hit every squat, and I can only afford to miss one third attempt on my bench and deadlift. That's obviously difficult, but I'm capable of doing it. These might get tweaked again depending upon how this last month of training goes, but as of now, this is what I'm thinking I'll do.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:38 pm
The skinny on the day: 445x6 compares pretty favorably to my best rep performances of my pre-Smolov training cycle. My previous best with six reps was 430, and my previous five-rep max was 440. So, this was a +15 lb. PR for a six-rep set, and +5 lbs. AND +1 rep on my 440x5. All told, I'm making good progress, and I might have been capable of grinding out another rep if I didn't start to literally shit myself.
So, for two weeks in a row my wrapped squat has performed pretty well. I can't describe it, but the mechanics of the lift just feel a little different to me. I definitely feel like I can keep better position coming out of the hole; the key will see if that transfers over to my 1RM.
Next week, I finally test my wrapped squat after doing what feels like nothing but squatting for the last two months and change. I'm looking to take an attempt at 520 lbs. If I'm successful, that will put me in position for 1400+ in April. If I'm unsuccessful, it's still possible, but I'll evaluate closely my attempt selection and perhaps readjust. This will be the most important litmus test of this entire training cycle--here's hoping it goes to plan.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Sat Mar 23, 2013 8:18 pm
More paused bench PRs. I really wanted 300x2, but it wasn't to be; it's OK, because I didn't expect to get that far anyway. 290x2 is a nice press and a good step in the right direction. I felt REALLY good handling heavier weights today, and I don't think I'm going to have any problem breaking my meet PR and pressing 304+ in April.
KevinAlvy Elite
Posts : 2446 Join date : 2011-10-30
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Mar 25, 2013 1:24 pm
I like the programming lately
Do I smell a full switch from west side principles to rts principles?
edit: how big is Mike T's picture on your wall
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log Mon Mar 25, 2013 2:29 pm
Squat Belt Hip Walks +90x5 trips +135x5 trips +135x5 trips
Rear Delt Flys 10x15 10x15 10x15
VWs/Wall Angels x20 x20 x20
I'm pretty happy with how 550 felt. The deficit isn't huge (1.5", or a 25-lb. bumper plate), but it's still over 95% of my 1RM from the floor. The last time I pulled for a PR with this setup, I got a really tough 545 with straps a week before I pulled 568 at a meet. By comparison, this one was definitely easier, though I don't think I had a lot left in me, which is why I didn't go for another pull.
So, this will probably be the last time I go to 550+ before my meet. After this, I'll probably pull longer sets from a deficit and try to hit some rep PRs. I'm also going to experiment with doing only speed pulling the Sunday before my meet; this will give me a full thirteen days between my last heavy deadlift session and my meet. My deadlift performance seems so tied to lumbar fatigue that I think giving myself more recuperation time before the meet will only make me a stronger puller. And if it doesn't work--which would shock me, honestly--then I'll go back to pulling heavy one week before the meet.
Subject: Re: The 1400 or Bust Log 
Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:21 pm
