Week 6 Day 1 Repetition Deadlift Day

RECONSTRUCTING THE DEADLIFT

Transitioning from single ply to Raw has probably been the hardest thing to do for me. Worried that all my lifts will go down significantly my first goal was to match my single ply numbers before i concentrate on another aspect of my powerlifting venture. It took about 8 months to match and beat my single ply numbers as a raw lifter. As a matter of fact i surpassed them by tenfold. NOW that that's out of the way the next thing is to work on technique. Doing this will take me 1 step back but once it's all said and done i'll be ahead by 2 steps or more. "1 step back, 2 steps forward". Last week I started with bench and squat and had no problem, in fact tweaking my technique on them made a world of a difference by making weight that would usually feel heavy feel light. Today, not so much on my deadlift. Tweaking my deadlift technique was a different story. What did i do different? I brought in my sumo stance by about 2 inches.  While it did improve leverages, it did make setting up hard as fuck causing me to have a bit difficulty pulling off of the floor the first inch or two. With the help of my friend Dean we came up that the shims of my leg are too close to the bar and slightly stepping back by 1/2" as well as "bringing down my lats" helped a bunch and made deadlifting much easier. Reconstructing the deadlift is probably going to be the hardest thing i'll be doing these next few weeks since my numbers will plummet but once i get used to the motion of setting up properly i should be (at my previous DL numbers) surpassing previous DL numbers.

Deadlift (sumo)

2x10@135

1x10@225

2x8@315

1x6@405

4x2@405 - lowered rep count to focus more on setting up instead of repping out

Some sort of Standing hip thrust using bands
4 sets

Pull ups

5 sets

Good morning w/ cambered bar

4x10

Dumbbell rows

4x12

I definitely have the strength to pull some big numbers but working on technique has brought down my deadlift for the time being. Once i get it all sorted out i'll be at a much happier place with my deadlift. :)

Gluta-tren and peak 400 taken 10 minutes before training. good stuff...

Week 4 Day 3 Reps Squat

Squats after squats after squats and then more squats

Repetition Squat day it is!

Squat (Low bar)

2x8@135

1x8@225

1x8@315

1x4@405

1x6@445 - This is a new rep PR and a very BIG one for me considering I still had much more in the tank

Front Squat

2x8@135

2x6@225

3x3@315

Dumbbell Lunges

1x12@50

1x10@50

2x8@50

Side bends

3 sets

Squat

50 reps with out re-racking the weight - stopped to catch my breath at 25 and again at 40.

Very good squat session and each rep was deep AF. Peak 400 kicked in hard (maybe because i took 2 scoops).

Note: Gluta-tren has seen to be helping a lot with recovery

Week 4 Day 2 Explosive Bench

Explosive Bench

Bench
2x6@135
1x3@185
6x2@235 - All reps paused

Bench with Bench Shirt
Contemplating getting back into single ply so did a few sets with the shirt on
2x4@135 Had a bit trouble getting into the grove and touching chest
1x4@185 Did some adjusting and found the grove
1x3@225 Easy and effortless
2x3@275 Easy and effortless and speed was beyond fast

Close Grip Bench
4x8@225

Incline Dumbbell
1x15@45
2x15@50

Dips
5 sets

Tricep Cable Pull Down (increasing weight with each set)
1x26
1x23
1x20
1x10

Seated Over Head Press
1x10@bar
3x10@95

Rear Delts (seeated)
4 Sets

Lateral Raises
3 sets

Peak 400 taken at arrival of gym.

Week 4 Day 1 Heavy Deadlift

Somedays you suck and some days you suck even more. 

Somedays you hit PR's and somedays you suck

 We'll today was a day where I sucked even more. I failed my work sets on Deadlifts - not being able to complete one single set. Im not one to make excuses but this is what happens with having a heavy workload at work, lack of food, lack of rest, lack of motivation, giving up on yourself, and mixing feelings into your training. It all adds up and takes a toll on you. This is a recipe for disaster. Well no more. No more of this fucking bullshit. I won't allow this to ever happen again as long as i'm in control

Deadlift (conventional, no belt)
2x10@135
1x6@225
1x6@315
1x2@405
1.5,1,0@495 FAIL DEADLIFT IS FAIL
Set 1 - First rep on first with "ok" speed, 2nd rep ripped a good chunk of a callous on right hand making me lose grip halfway up and dropped the bar. BOOM! blood everywhere.
Set 2 - First rep was coming up with good speed until i started feeling pain where i ripped the callous and threw me off causing me to grind out the rep. 2nd rep couldnt even lift it.
Set 3 - At this point i completely gave up on myself and couldnt even get it off the ground past an 1"
1x1@405 didnt feel good at all

Snatch Grip Deadlift (decided to keep these light)
5,5,3,5@225

Barbell Bent Over Rows
2x10@135
1x5@185
1x5@205
1x5@225
Grip was an issue on all these sets/reps =(

Dumbbell Rows
2x10@35

Dumbbell Shrugs
4 sets

Planks
3 sets@60 seconds

Cable Pull throughs
4 sets@light weight

Piss poor training session and felt like walking out of the gym after each exercise to call it a day. I didn't and followed through the training session...

Note: peak 400 taken 30 minutes prior to training. dont feel like it did shit today but hard to tell since there were a lot of things that factored into todays training.

Week 3 Day 3 Explsive squat

Been a bit busy these past few days causing me to not post the latest training sesh...

Thursday squat.. Not much to post this time since i already forgot how my day went so i'll just skip all the way to logging my training.

Squat (High bar and no knee sleeves) Focusing on "explosiveness" and minimal rest periods in between work sets
2x10@bar
1x6@135
1x6@225
1x6@315
5x3@340
340x3 Work set Click this shit mutha fuckas

Squat + chains (hi bar, knee sleeves)
1x6@225
3x5@315
2x5@225 - As deep as possible with 3 second pause

Good Morning
2x5@225
1x3@275
1x2@315
Decided to work up to a moderate to heavy double

Leg Press
1x15@2plates each side
1x15@3plates each side
1x15@4plates each side

Leg Curls
4x25@i dont know what the fucking weight was since i forgot to log it in

Note: peak400 30 minutes prior to work out and gluta-tren taken before bed.

Week 3 Day 2 Heavy Bench

99 problems but a bench ain't one.  Seriously! 

With only 3 hours of sleep and trying to function from t hat was plenty hard today. Not one minute passed with out my mind wandering off to la-la land and thinking about sleeping. It's actually quite amazing how i got through the day and performed well at work given the circumstances. As i was exhausted I was dreading training today and was even thinking of postponing it for tomorrow but then quickly realized that wont work since i'm set to squat thursday. Oh wells, on to training it was then. The second i stepped foot into the gym and took my pre-work out (peak 400) my mind set changed and felt rejuvenated filled with vast amounts of energy. I felt like training and destroying the weight. I was set to bench heavy today and bench *heavy i did(i put an asterisk since heavy is defined by the percentage i used of my max).

The initial plan was to board press but since i got there a bit too early and my new training partners, Travis and Conrad, weren't there to help me with the boards, un-racking some heavy ass weight, I wasnt really comfortable with getting some randoms from the gym to help i decided to skip it today and substitute it with regular bench.

ME bench aka heavy bench day. The main focus was to pause all reps and get 3 minutes max rest. 

Bench Press

1x15@bar

1x6@135

1x6@185

1x6@225

5x2@285 Speed was great and even better than what i would expect for a heavy day.

Floor Press 

Rigged up a set up so I can floor press. The platform is raised by about 4" so I stacked plates on the floor to raise where I will be laying down. Pins are turned inward to allow to be placed at a lower setting since the pins are a weird design. Red mat places on top of the plates so I can be comfortable. 

Just my luck. After setting up for floor pressing Travins and Conrad show up. It was also their ME day so we all floor pressed. Although their rep scheme was a bit different than mine, it didn't matter. 

1x15@bar paused

2x8@135 paused

1x8@185 paused

1x3@225 paused

1x3@245 paused

1x1@275 touch and go. tried going for a double but no budge

3x3@245 paused

Dumbbell Bench press (Neutral grip)

First time using a neutral grip but i think i did fairly well

1x8@60

2x8@50 Unhappy with the first set I dropped the weight to 50 lbs and worked on form 

Perfomed this exercise with Travis and Conrad so they coached me on this. 

Lat pull downs

1x12@140

1x12@130

JM press

2x20@95

1x8@115

i prayed to baby jesus afterward to ease the soreness that i'll be getting from these. 

Seated Dumbbell Press

30 second rest between each set was a bit much for me but i still did it. Definitely need to work on endurance lol

1x12@35

1x12@45

1x10@55 missed 11th rep and shoulders were pumped like whoaski!

Rear delts (seated and leaning forward) - like i've said in the past. These are a staple and i try to do them on bench days 

3x10@25

A much needed training session to get me up to speed and WAKE me up. I had so much energy through out the session it almost felt as if i was on crack. Not that i've ever done it, just a metaphor.

Note: Took peak 400 at arrival of gym. Like always gluta-tren before bed. Gluta-tren seems to be aiding in recovery alot. 

Note 2: song of choice was evanescence - bring me to life 

Week 3 day 1 Rep Deadlift

Being that it's international Bench monday I decided to Bench. Just kidding. Bench monday is faggotory shit. Instead I choose to go against the grain and Deadlift. There's nothing like beginning your week with slamming weights to the floor and 45 lbs. plates clanking against each other.
Funny thing is I wasn't feeling like training today due to exhaustion from work but with the help of peak 400 i was ready to go within minutes.

Deadlifts for reps today!

Deadlifts (conventional) (beltless)
2x8@135
1x8@225
1x8@315
1x8@430 -  New conventional rep and beltless PR
Bar speed was flying in all sets and i was extremely happy with the way i performed. Im also getting back in to motion of gripping and ripping

http://youtu.be/tz9CKjlByq0

4" Block pulls
1x3@430
1x3@460
I really need to work on being a bit more explosive as i pull off of block but with time and practice i'll get there.

Cable Pull Throughs
4x12

Dumbbell Rolls
1x10@65 each side
2x10@75each side

Planks
4 sets - :20, :30, :30, ;30 seconds
New to me and will be experimenting with these

Side Bends
3x8

Cable pull downs
4 sets

Great training thanks to peak 400 for giving me the push i needed today

Note: peak 400 taken at arrival of gym. Will take gluta tren before sleeping.

Week 2 Day 3 Heavy Squat

A hot date under the bar for some unfinished business.
After last weeks squat training i was left a bit disappointed since finding out my squats were a tad too high for my liking. Since friday of last week i've been anxious to get back under the bar for my next squat day to fix what i didn't like in my squat - depth! This time i made sure i had nothing to get between me and mrs. depth. I made sure to lower the safety pins lower than what i had them previously and do some light stretching before warming up for squats. With this strategy I was able to make depth my bitch which resulted in a squat victory.

Today training - Heavy Squats.

Squat w/knee sleeves (using low bar)
I know i said i'll be doing high bar squatting during the beggining of this training cycle but I forgot to mention that heavy day are always set for Low bar.
2x5@bar
1x5@135
1x5@225
1x3@315
1x2@405
5x2@455
1x1@495
Making sure all squats were past parallel. It seems that the depth was getting lower and lower after each set. This is a plus for me. I should note that since this was a heavy day rest periods between sets were 3-5 minutes


http://youtu.be/FXiOIP0aAHA

Leg Press
1x15@3 plates each side
1x15@4 plates each side
1x10@5 plates each side

Good Mornings (close stance)
2x10@135
1x8@185

Since time was scarce today I had to cut my training a bit short by eliminating 2 accessory work outs. This isn't too much of a big deal to me since i did the most important parts of todays training.
Accessory work wasn't done with much weight since im planning on increasing the weight each week as the training goes.

What made this a great squat day was that i had a double double from in-n-out 5-10 minutes before working out and a delicious steak with a side of potatoes right after training for dinner. Hehe, i'm such a fatty...


but i'm a strong fatty.

Note: I took peak 400 right after my first warm up set of squatting. Gluta-tren to be taken as recovery before bed.

Note 2: Song of choice was Dilated Peoples - Back again

Week 2 day 2 Reps bench

Tuesdays are usually my rest days but since this week(ending of the week) will be quite busy i had to find a way to not miss my training and keep at it. The end result was to train back to back to back, deads on monday, bench on tuesday, and squat wednesday to leave thursday and friday empty so i can do what i need. This makes it a bit tough since it'll wear me out since i wont have enough recovery time in between. Still, it wont hold me back on giving it my all as i have a set goal to meet come january 11 and i wont have any obstacles deviate me from it. 

Reps, reps, and reps today for bench this time. The goal for today was to work up to a challenging weight for 8 reps. 

Flat Bench Press

In order to bring my bench up i will be doing more paused reps than touch and go through out my bench days.

1x10@bar

1x10@135

1x10@185

1x8@225

1x8@265 - New PR for paused reps

Every rep was paused for 2 seconds. I may increase the pausing to 3-4 seconds on my following bench days or i may just keep it at 2 seconds. It'll depend on how i feel that day.

Incline Bench Press (grip was in between close and medium grip)

1x12@135

1x9@185

3x4@225 - the goal was to get a 12 rep total 

Close grip bench

1x10@135

2x3@225

1x10@185

Pin Press/Dead Press

1x10@bar

1x6@135

1x3@185

1x2@185 - Unable to lock out the 3rd rep and it really tired out my triceps

1x0@185 - Exhausted triceps lead me to be unable to press it 2" past the pins =(

1x5@135 - struggled a bit but fought through

Tricep Press downs

100 reps - 20@45, 20@55, 20@65, 20@75, 10@70, 10@65

triceps were beat after this

Seated DB Press

3x15@35

Cable Pull downs(abs)

4 sets @25 resp - I forgot the weights. lolz

Aside from the gym being packed and the benches being taken up by the bench jockeys I was still able to get a good training session. 

Note: peak 400 taken at arrival of gym. im loving this stuff so far. Gluta-tren will be taken prior to bed, Same, im loving it too. I have the orange creme flavor and it's great.

Note 2 : song of choice was AC/DC - TNT