KSC's Log

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Updating this introduction page as of 10-22-2010

Feel free to run through the log...its over two years old now, but full of some good information.

I'm a strength & conditioning coach based out of Houston, owner of Kingwood Strength & Conditioning. My gym's website is at www.kingwoodstrength.com. In addition to my personal training and strength coaching, I do online program design and several members of this board have benefited from the service.

I compete in Powerlifting, but I wouldn't say I'm an AVID competitor. Maybe 1 or 2 meets a year is all I have time for.

Biggest accomplishment to date is winning the 2010 N.A.S.A Grand Nationals, 198 lb Unequipped Division. In doing so I set an American Record Squat and Texas State Record Bench.

Height: 5'4
Current Body Weight: 195-205

1RMs as of May 2008 when I started the log (Bodyweight of 235-245, and kinda fat)
Squat: 455
Bench: 365
Deadlift: 500
Press: 225


Current 1RMs (at bodyweight of 198)

Squat: 529
Bench: 405 -touch n go, 380 in contest
Deadlift: 562
Press: 250

I compete raw and natural. That means no bench shirts and no squat suits. Just a belt and knee sleeves. Nothing against equipped lifting, just not my bag. Same goes for anabolics. No judgements, just not my thing either.


Feel free to comment ask questions on the log.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 5/30 - DE Bench

DE Bench Press
10x3x140 (40% of 355) 45 sec rest between sets

Standing Shoulder Press
4x4x185

Wide Grip Pull Ups
50 total reps broken up over several sets


*Was suppossed to work out Saturday too, had to run out of town on short notice...not a good start


Monday 6/02 - ME Bench

Rack Lockouts (bar 4 inches over chest)
Worked up to a heavy single with 380, I do these when I"m not working with a spotter, otherwise I like full range of motion lifts as my lockout is not really a problem on my bench press

Flat Dumbell Bench Press
3 x 6-10 x 85 lb dumbells (haven't done those in a while, hopefully weight will go up, about 1-2 minute rests

BB Rows (done from floor - paused each rep)
5 x 5 x 225, these felt light, haven't done them in a while either, but I'm looking to drive the weight on these up super heavy

Tricep Pushdowns
4 x 10-12 x don't remember weight, who cares anyways

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Wednesday 6/04 - DE Squat/DL

DE Box Squat (12 inch box)
12 x 2 x 230 lbs (50% of 455) - 45-60 second rest

Speed Pulls/Clean Pulls
10 x 1 x 185 lbs (40% of 455) - done Oly style, I hit triple ext and include a shrug, 30 seconds rest

Weighted Back Extensions
Weighted Sit Ups

Friday 6/06 - DE Bench

Bench Press
10 x 3 x 140 (40% of 355) 45 sec rest

Seated DB Shoulder Press (haven't done these in over 2 years)
3 x 8-10 x 85 lbs
Stronger on these than on flat DB benches??? must be all that pressing over the past few years.

Wide Pull Ups
50 total reps broken up over several sets

Dips with band tension
4 x 8-10 reps with two light bands draped over neck and secured to floor
These kick ass for tricep strength and size.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 6/07 - ME Lowerbody

Arched Back Good Mornings
5 x 5 x 185 - was going to work up to a max triple but I just don't feel comfortable going heavy on these, so I kept the weight more moderate and focused on sinking these down really deep and coming up explosively. Going to keep these as an assistance exercise from now on.

Trap Bar Deadlifts (elevated on a 45 lb bumper plate)
4 x 10 x 275 - stood on the bumper so I could sink down lower and increase quad activity

Sled Pulls
4 x 50 yd carrys in parking lot - heavy weight

Abs

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 6-09 ME Bench Day

Incline
1 x 245
1 x 275
1 x 295
1 x 305
1 x 315
1 x 330 (5 lbs below previous PR)
12 x 225 Back off set

Flat DB Bench Press
12 x 85
8 x 85
8 x 85

BB Rows (off floor each rep)

5 x 5 x 235

Standing Behind head Tricep Ext
4 x 10-12


Tues 6-10 - Conditioning

Did 30 minutes HIIT on elliptical trainer. Yeah, ellipticals are kinda gay but you can crank the resistance up pretty high and get in some good interval training, and the elliptical has never really affected my strength training at all like running does.

I like throwing this stuff in a few times per week in order to keep my metabolism running hot. I'm an extreme endomorph and very short so I put on fat pretty easily. This allows me to still eat a ton of calories and not accumulate excess body fat.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Wednesday 6-11 DE Squat/Deadlift

Box Squat
12 x 2 x 240 lbs (52.5 % of 455) 45 sec rest

Speed Pulls
10 x 1 x 195 lbs (42.5% of 455) 30 sec rest

Weighted Sit Ups

Sled Dragging
6 x 50 yd pulls, about 150 on the sled I think, I don't really weigh it though I just throw some shit on there and go.

[widding]

Interesting log, i share youre same opinion on roids and gear in competing. Think ill have to follow this log and learn a thing or two :)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sounds good, the more questions and comments I get on it the better, makes it a better learning experience for everyone involved. This is my first time running a program like this so I'm kinda learning as I go and hoping to learn from others as well

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday June 13 - DE Bench Day

DE Bench
10x3x160 lbs (45% 1RM)

Standing Shoulder Press
5 x 5 x 185 lbs, PR!!!!!!! been shooting for that for a while now, went up easy too. Very encouraging

Wide Grip Pull Ups
50 total reps broken over several sets

One Arm DB Rows
2 x 12-15 x 85 lbs.....I used to do these with 120's back in the BBing days, felt like a bitch kinda

Dips
4 x 10, 8, 6, 6 (with band tension....weaker on these today, not sure why, maybe cuz presses were so taxing)
1 x 12 x Bodyweight

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday June 14th - ME Squat/DL

Deadlift
1 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 405
1 x 425
1 x 455
1 x 475 (missed - could not lock it out)

Front Squats
3 x 10 x 185 lbs (light - short rests)

I should have done some more assistance work, but I was kinda pissed after I missed 475 and my head just wasn't into the workout after that. I have got to find a way to get that deadlift back up, I seem to have hit a wall at 455 and I am starting to get frustrated especially since I have done over 500 lbs on several occassions.

On a seperate note, I am going to enter a WABDL meet this coming up Sunday, which for those of you who don't follow PLing, this is just a bench and deadlift only meet, no squats. I had no idea this meet was even going on, but a good friend of mine is promoting the thing and invited me to do it, so I am doing it on short notice. Its not really an ideal time since I'm right in the middle of a training cycle for a meet in July, but I figured it won't throw things off too bad.

I don't expect to win because this is an equipped meet and I don't wear any gear, so I will be competing Raw against equipped lifters. Should be fun anyways though.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday June 16 - ME Bench Day

This was the last heavy training day before the meet on Sunday. I'm gonna let myself rest up for the rest of the week. Will probably do some low volume DE stuff on Thursday just keep me in the groove. Just kinda wanted to see where I was at on the bench before I take out my opener on Sunday.

Bench Press (with pause)
1 x 275
1 x 315
1 x 335
1 x 355 (went up nice and smooth, I think I might have had 365 - 370 in me so that is what I will shoot for on Sunday on my third attempt)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thurs 6-19 DE Squat & Bench

DE Box Squat
6 x 2 x 230 lbs (50%)

DE Bench
6 x 3 x 140 lbs(40%)

Just a little something a few days before the meet to keep the pathways alive. Last workout till the meet on Sunday.

[Keenan]

KSC,
I am hoping you can provide some direction for me in regards to DE days. I recently started to use these instead of a PR day in the Texas Method. After last night I am not sure if I am performing these as they are intended.

Bench DE
-The momentum of my reps are not only making the bar jump slightly out of my hands, but also taking my head out of position. It is my understanding this is why bands and chains are used in the Westside method. Is this acceptable for a bench DE day when bands and chains are unavailable? Or should I refrain from using these methods without the appropriate equipment?

Box Squat DE
- Could you explain how the box provides an advantage vs. No box? I have been performing these without a box but the more I read about DE, the more people integrate the use of box squats.

DE speed
- Do you monitor the speed of your sets to determine the last is faster than the first? Do you think that this condition is mandatory to maximize DE days?

Your log is insightful. It would be nice to see some of the other seasoned strength trainers do this as well.

Thanks,
Keenan

[pats fan]

KSC,

Just curious, what does a typical training cycle look like when performing full body 3 x per week?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Keenan:

Thanks for the compliments. First I want to state that I am absolutely not an expert when it comes to Westside methods, or any other methods for that matter. This is actually my first expirement running a Westside based program. I did a ton of reading and research into the concepts before I began the program however, but I will try and answer your questions as best I can:

DE Bench:
If the bar is coming out of your hands and the momentum is pulling you off of the bench you might have too light of a weight. I am currently cycling between 40% - 45% and 50% on my DE bench days and that seems about right. maybe could do a little more but speed is of the most importance here, not weight. Bands and chains are used because they make the weight harder at the top of the movement, near the lockout. I do not use bands and chains in my DE days. Some westside literature will say they are a must, I disagree. Bands and chains really really help you if your problem is on the lockout. My sticking point on the bench is not on the lockout it is at the bottom portion...gettting it moving off my chest (bands can help with this too, but that is another topic, but I don't feel I need them at this point). This brings up two other points....it is useful for you to know your weak points on certain lifts and tailor your training accordingly and you need to understand that there is a difference between equipped lifters and raw lifters in training. You will see alot of equipped guys doing a ton of lockout stuff with board presses, floor presses, bands and chains. I believe that an overemphasis on this stuff is a mistake for a Raw lifter who needs more time going thru the full range of motion. So to answer your question...DE stuff is still useful even without the chains and bands.

Box Squat
Mark could probably give you a better and more scientific answer than I can but basically the box inhibits the stretch reflex at the bottom of the squat, so you have to "power" yourself of the box without the aid of the stretch reflex. This is useful for developing explosive strength coming out of the hole on a heavy squat. I use these for DE days, but not for ME squatting. Again this has much to do with the fact that I don't lift in a squat suit which has a breaking affect on the body much like the box does. Louie recommends box squatting instead of regular squats, but again I think that raw lifter definately needs to be doing lots of regular squats. So I save the boxes for DE days, and squat normal on ME days.

DE Squats
Yes, I monitor the speed of my sets when doing DE benches and squats. I don't use a radar gun or anything like that, but you should be able to really feel yourself coming up faster and feeling much more explosive on your last sets as compared to your first few sets. If you feel like your last few sets are slower than your first few, then the weight is too heavy. For squats I wave my loads between 50 - 60% of 1RM, and for benches its 40-50%.

Pats Fan:

I've used a few different set ups for that. The most effective one I've used though looked very similar to what some of you guys call the "madcow 5x5" Madcow did not invent this program, it has been around for a long time.

It is a basic accumulation/intensification cycle that Rip outlines in PP as the first program for an advanced trainee. Basically 4-6 weeks of 5 x 5 on the big lifts, then drop down to 3 x 3 and ride that out until progress stops, maybe dropping down for a max single at the end of the 3 x 3 cycle.

I would still be doing that program today, except for the time constraints in my personal life, don't allow for those lengthy 5 x 5 sessions. Once you get close to your top weights, those workouts can take a long long time. This is the only reason I have broken my training into upper/lower. One big lift, some assistance crap, and your out.

I have a full body 3 x week maintenance program that I run sometimes when I am not focusing on any particular goal...This would be a good program for an offseason natural BBer to use for part of his training cycle I believe. I say this only because I usually get a little bigger and my physique starts to look better when I run this program:

Mon
Powersnatch
Squats
Incline Press
Pull Ups

Weds
Press or Push Press
Deadlifts
Dips

Friday
Powerclean
Front Squats
DB Bench or Bench
BB Row

[pats fan]

I appreciate your response...I'm curious though how long a typical workout was when following Rip's pyramid workout. It seems that the workout includes 5x5 each day throughout the week...with the second workout being at a reduced intensity.

If your workouts were long, you must have rested quite a while b/w sets. I tend to superset exercises (e.g., set of bench, rest 60 secs, set of squat, rest 60 sec, repeat)...this way, I rest approx 2.5 mins b/w sets of the same exercise.

If I did this, then threw in 6x2 power cleans, I would still be done in under an hour, including warm-ups and stretching at the end.

I assume you did straight sets, resting 3-5 mins b/w sets...correct?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Pats Fan:

Not sure what your working weights were but when you get to a certain point it is going to be pretty hard to superset your primary barbell exercises. Especially when doing heavy 5 x 5. I tried to keep my rest times between 3 -5 minutes, but I needed every bit of that rest time. Last time I ran that cycle I ended with 395 for 5 x 5 and that was pretty taxing for me. No way I could have benched heavy between sets. Workouts took me about an hour and a half once I got warmed up...but once you include showering, eating your post workout meals etc, it can take up a pretty good portion of the day....and its just time I don't have right now trying to grow my business.

[pats fan]

Gotcha..that's what I thought...I agree with you...certainly I give up a little bit of intensity in order to keep my workouts to an hour, for the same reasons you have shortened your workouts...

I guess I could either go to a 3x5 vs. 5x5...or keep going the way I am, and sacrifice intensity slightly...I figure that my workouts also help to increase my work capacity and fitness levels, which are as important to me as absolute strength.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Meet Results:

Okay, did the WABDL meet yesterday. Went really well. Took first in the bench and deadlift in the 220 lbs division. Bench was 366, Deadlift 501. I should have gone heavier on my third attempt on the bench. It really felt like I left about 30 lbs on the platform. Oh well, I got white lights across the board so that's fine.

I don't think I'm gonna lift in the WABDL again because of the equipment factor. I lift Raw and want to compete against others that are also raw. If I stay with WABDL, I just won't be competitive for very long unless I start wearing suits and shirts and I'm just not into that. Next meet will be in either July or October in NASA's unequipped division.

Training starts tomorrow.....gonna stay with this Westside template for a while and see how it goes. I'll try and keep the log updated as best I can.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tues 6-24, ME Bench Day

-Skipped a true ME movement today as I just finished my meet on Sunday. Today was just a RE day on assistance exercises. Probably should have taken off a few more days after the meet but I had a pretty good deload prior to the meet and I feel pretty refreshed and currently have the enthusiasm to train so I went ahead and got back into the swing of things today.

DB Bench Press 4 x 8-12 x 85lb DB's, 3 min rest.
(Still suck at these but getting a little better).

BB Rows 5 x 12 x 185 lbs, 2 min rest.
(Felt pretty light, but felt really smooth. Lats needed a good workout today).

Standing French Press 2 x 10-12, 1 min rest.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds June 25 - DE Squat/DL

Box Squat 12 x 2 x 230 lbs (50% of 455 box squat 1rm)

Clean Pulls 15 x 1 x 200 lbs (40% of 500 lb deadlift 1rm)

KB Swings 3 x 10 x 85 lbs

Sit Ups 5 x 12 with weight

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 6-27-08

DE Bench/Heavy Press Day

Bench Press
10 x 3 x 155 (40% of 385 estimated max) - I don't have a real solid max to go off of right now, I hit 365 at my meet last week, but it went up really really easy so I know I had at least 20 more lbs in me. May have to readjust my percentages later on in the training cycle.

Press
6 x 3 x 195 - went up suprisingly easy on all six sets. Very happy with pressing progress as of late. Need to find a CF Total meet somewhere.

Pull Ups - wide overhand grip
60 Reps broken up over several sets

Dips (with added band tension)
3 x 12, 8, 6 with bands, 1 x 14 with no bands, BW only
Did the last several reps on the dips with a pause at the bottom and tried to come up explosively. Kinda liked that, might do it more often.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sat 6-28

ME Squat/DL

Squats (100% Raw - no suit, wraps, belt, etc)
1 x 315
1 x 335
1 x 365
1 x 385
1 x 405
1 x 435
1 x 455
2 x 10 x 315 (1 min rest between sets)

Arched back Goodmornings
5 x 135
5 x 185
5 x 205
5 x 225
5 x 245 (PR)

Ab Wheel
3 x 10 (30 sec rest between sets)


Sunday 6-29, Conditioning

30 minutes of intervals on the elliptical trainer. Nothing too hard, could feel the bodyfat starting to creep up a little bit after a weekend of eating like shit so I like to do this to stoke the metabolism a bit. I'm one of the few people out there that believe that a little "cardio" training can actually help you to get bigger. Go read some of Kelly Baggett's stuff on calorie partioning. I also feel that the increased blood flow around the body helps with recovery and muscle soreness.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 6/30

ME Bench Day

Close Grip Bench (index finger touching smooth part of bar)
1 x 275
1 x 295
1 x 315
1 x 335
1 x 355
1 x 365
1 x 375 -PR
(Back off set - 15 x 225)

DB Incline Press
3 x 8-12 x 85's

BB Row
5 x 10 x 205

Standing French Press
2 x 12

*Not sure what happened with those Close Grip presses....I close gripped 10 lbs more than what I benched at my meet a week ago??? I don't think its that I missed my peak, I think its just that I way underestimated myself at the meet and chose a weight that was much to low for my third attempt. I should have tried 395-405 on my third attempt at the meet. Oh well, I'll get it next time. Not complaining though...very happy with a 375 CG bench, that is a major PR for me.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Wednesday 7-02

DE Squat/DL

Box Squat
12 x 2 x 250 lbs (55% of 455 box squat 1rm) - Felt very explosive on these today. Feet were coming up off the floor on each rep. Good stuff.

Clean Pulls
15 x 1 x 225 lbs (45% of 500 lb DL 1rm). I think I might drop these back down to ten sets instead of fifteen. 15 seemed like a bit much today for some reason. Still felt fairly explosive though. Was getting good triple ext. on each rep.

Weighted Sit Ups
3 x 10. For me it is a big moral victory just to actually train my abs. Sets, reps, and modalities are unimportant. I hate this above all things, even conditioning.

Sled Dragging
4 x 50 yards. I had planned to do 6 or 8 trips today but I tapped out today to the "Houston in July" heat. I could not have picked a hotter time of day to do this at. (1:30 pm) Need to start timing my lowerbody days to the evening so I can pull the sled when it isn't so fucking hot. I've been to Iraq, Kuwait, and Egypt in the summer time but somehow the Houston humidity still cripples me worse than anything else. Not sure how I used to do two a day practices in this shit.

*on another note - I had a very gay yet very delicious meal after my workout.
- Two packages of strawberry/banana yogurt
- One cup of cottage cheese
- 1 cup of blueberries
- 1/2 cup of granola
- mix everything together in a bowl. (35gProtein, 100gCarbs)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday July 4th

DE Bench/Heavy Press Day

DE Bench 10 x 3 x 175 lbs (45% of 385 estimated bench 1RM)
Press 2 x 2 x 205, (backoff set) 1 x 10 x 155

Superset the following for ten sets:
5 strict wide grip pull ups
10 Dips
(Thats 50 pull ups and 100 dips)

Had a pretty good workout then went and stuffed my face with barbque and beer for the rest of the day :-)

[Keenan]

Do you ever perform a DE Press day? Or do you not find that very useful?

Thanks,
Keenan

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 7-05

ME Squat/DL Day

Rack Pulls (knee height)
1 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 405
1 x 455
1 x 495
1 x 525
0 x 545 (couldn't budge)
3 x 10 x 315 (below knee - dropped 2 or 3 inches). 315 was too light for the back off sets.

*Not sure what happened on these today. I was hoping to get at least 575 which would have been 10 lbs over my previous PR of 565 of a rack pull at knee height. For some reason my rack pull isn't that much stronger than my deadlift. Obviously this is something that I need to address as it seems that it is the top portion of my DL that is keeping me away from 600.

Front Squats
3 x 8 x 225 lbs. These felt pretty light. I was frustrated after the rack pulls and didn't have alot of mental energy left to hit the front squats as hard as I should have.

Ab Wheel with weighted Vest
3 x 10

Keenan - I have never done Presses as a DE exercise. Not to say that they couldn't be done. I am hoping that the CF Total competitions will begin to grow in popularity and frequency and I hope to be able to compete in them with some regularity. If I was preparing for a CF Total meet then i would probably train with DE Presses and move my benching to just once per week. I am finding out that the DE upperbody stuff can be kinda hard on the elbow joints so doing DE Benches and DE Presses all in the same week might not be worth the potential problems that could arise in that area.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tues 7-08

ME Bench Day

Reverse Band Rack Lockout (Bar about 5-6 in off chest whiile laying flat on bench, 1 blue band per side, medium grip, little finger 1 inch inside of rings).
3 x 315
3 x 365
1 x 385
1 x 405
1 x 425
1 x 445
1 x 455
1 x 465 (got it up a few inches but missed the lift)

Regular Bench Presses
12 x 275 - New rep record for this weight. PR!!!
10 x 275
8 x 275
(4 min. rest between sets)

BB Rows
5 x 8 x 225

Straight Bar Tricep Pressdowns
12 x 70
10 x 75
10 x 75

[Tor]

Hey KSC,

5' 4" and 220 lbs?! Holy crap, man. How long have you been training for? How big were you when you started?

Tor

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tor,

I've been training for about 10 or 11 years now. I'm 26 and started when I was about 15 years old training for football. I just did the program that they had laid out for us at school, which looking back now was complete and utter garbage but I still grew pretty good because of my age. After high school, I went to college and like alot of college age guys, got into the BBing gig. I put on a little more size but not too much because my training routines were so shitty (basically right out of the muscle mags) and I did too much cardio. After college I got into the Marine Corps and I actually started to read more sources of information about training and luckily stumbled onto Starting Strength, Practical Programming, Madcow's site, Westside, Bill Starr, Crossfit, etc, etc. Then I had the opportunity to go to a course under Coach Mike Conroy (USA Weightlifting) and learned how to PROPERLY perform the O-lifts and how to program them for lifting and for sports performance. Great course.

In 2005 I stepped away from the BBing stuff (where I had worked my way up to 190 very lean and pretty strong pounds) and put myself onto a Rippetoe inspired fullbody routine where I squatted a heavy 5 x 5 three time per week. In 8 weeks I went from 190 to 225 lbs and all my lifts went up and average of 30-40 lbs. I haven't looked back since. I have recently gotten away from the 5 x 5 stuff somewhat and am following a Westside inspired powerlifting program that I have created for myself. I can't say enough good things about this methodology for powerlifting and all of my lifts are going up week to week. I am very pleased with the results.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

DE Squat/DL - Wed 7-09

Box Squat 12 x 2 x 275 lbs (60% of 455 1rm)

Speed Pulls 10 x 1 x 250 lbs (50% of 500 1rm)

Slide Board Leg Curls - 60 reps broken over several sets
(Just tried these today out of curiosity after hearing some positive things about them. Holy shit those tear up your hamstrings. Hamstrings act isometrically to keep your hips extended while simultaneously dynamically flexing your knee. Glute-Hams are better, but since i don't have a GHD bench or a partner then it makes glute hams hard to do)

Weighted Sit Ups 1 x 10
I was feeling lazy as hell today so even doing one set of ten is considered somewhat of a victory for me.

[Tor]

Hey KSC,

Funny how so many people's first introduction to weightlifting is in high school with completely inadequate coaching or instruction. The only thing I can remember from high school weight training was the bench press, and to be honest I don't think our teacher gave us any really instruction in ANY of the lifts.

Anyway, you probably don't need me to tell you that those are some pretty impressive numbers. I also love that you entered an equipped meet and competed raw and took first.

Speaking of unequipped meets, any suggestions on finding ones locally? There's so many different powerlifting organizations out there it's hard to tell what's what and when events are happening, how to sign up etc.

Tor

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I think that most of the major PLing organizations out there are equipped but I know that NASA has an unequipped division (they also have strict testing policies which is good) and there is an organization called 100% RAW or something like that that is all unequipped. I don't know much about them. I haven't seen any of their meets come to Texas yet. Contact your local CF affiliate as well and see if they put on CF Total meets. Hopefully one day CF Total meets will eclipse powerlifting as the standard for strength on the slow lifts but I doubt it will happen anytime soon.

Here is the link for NASA Powerlifting. Navigate the site and see if any meets are coming to your area.

http://www.nasa-sports.com/

Also, don't be afriad to enter an equipped meet. Even if you lose big, you will at least gain some experience in how a meet works and will build some confidence.

[Tor]

Checked out the NASA website and I definitely like their attitude (the drug-free part is particularly refreshing).

Actually, it's not me who's interested in competing right now, it's my mom. She started in on Starting Strength a couple months ago, at the age of 57 and never having picked up a barbell in her life, and loves it. Who knew, right?

A quick question about your routine. You said you're making advances every week in your lifts, but it's not entirely clear what days and in what form those advances are taking place. Do you try to go up in the form of a heavy single on the major lifts each week or something else?

Thanks,
Tor

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tor,

This is my first time doing a Westside type of training split so I'm still kinda learning as I go, but I can definately feel myself getting stronger as I go along on my lifts, mainly my ME benching exercises. The main one that surprised me was my CG Bench Press where I hit 375 the other day. Squats and Deads have been a little slower to progress, mainly because I haven't really gotten comfortable yet as to how I want to structure my lower body days throughout the week. So I guess i should have qualified my statement a little better...not ALL of my lifts are going up quickly, but I feel there has been improvement across the board.

And yes, to answer your question, I am trying to hit a heavy single on my ME exercises at each workout, followed by trying to hit a rep PR (ME bench exercises only) with a given weight. For example this week I did a Reverse Band Rack Lockout with 465 for a single, then stripped everything down to 275 and did a set of 12 with 275 on regular bench presses.

With the Lowerbody stuff I'm not gonna go for a heavy single every workout. Instead I'll probably be rotating through 1rm's, 3rm's, and 5rm's. This basically stems from the fact that my exercise selection for my lowerbody movements is not as diverse as my bench movements - basically gonna use squats and rackpulls and thats it for my ME exercises. Like I said though, I'm still trying to get comfortable with a consistent format for my two lowerbody days each week.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 7-12

DE Bench Day

Speed Bench Press
10 x 3 x 195 lbs (50% of 385 est. 1RM)

Press
5 x 155
1 x 185
1 x 205
1 x 235 (missed)
1 x 230 (missed)
10 x 165

Weighted Pull Ups (20 lb Vest)
5 x 5

Superset the following for 5 Rounds:
5 Pull Ups (unweighted)
20 Push Ups ( hands elevated for added depth)

*Should not have gone for a heavy single today on the presses. That was stupid. I am at the end of my loading block which is not the best time to set a PR, seeing as how this is when you are the most fatigued. Should have waited till after the deload week. Just an example of poor planning.

[Keenan]

KSC,
I hope you don't mind shelling out some free advice. But I have a question Re: the deadlift. My weakness is finishing out the hip extension once the bar passes the knees. My upper back tends to round and I want to reduce that as much as possible. I notice that you like to do rack pulls. Would I program them similarly to my deads (1X5 workset) or more of a 3X5 format?

My current split is:
Day 1- Upper Body 5X5
Day 2- Lower Body 5X5
Day 3- Upper Body DE
Day 4- Lower Body DE

Thanks,
Keenan

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday July 12

ME Squat/DL

Squats
3 x 275
3 x 315
3 x 365
3 x 385
3 x 405 (went up pretty easy on all reps)
10 x 315 - getting too light. Going to have to crank up either the reps or weight on my back off sets

Stiff Leg Deads
8 x 225
8 x 275
8 x 315
* did these elevated. bar from thighs down to shoelaces.

Only did two exercises today. Feeling kinda lazy. This has been a trend on my Saturday Squat/DL workouts so I may have to move this workout to another day. can't afford to keep having lazy ME SQ/DL wokouts.

Keenan:

I am doing rack pulls for the same reason you are. I can pull alot off the ground but then lose it just past the knees. When programming any lift, lowerback stuff especially, you have to look at what else is included in the program. Are there other days of the week where you will be hitting exercises where your lowerback is significantly stressed? If so, then limit the volume a bit on the pulls. If not then you might be able to get away with sets across. Generally when i rack pull I just pyramid my weights up to a top set of whatever rep range I am doing that day. So it might look like this:

5 x 315
5 x 365
5 x 405
5 x 455

On the deadlift it would probably be a little different, more like this:

5 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 405
5 x 455

Also, when I rack pull, I usually do a back off set after my main sets. Not to complete failure....just a set of 10-12 with a moderately heavy weight. Rack pulls act as a great hypertrophy stimulus to the erector spinae, rhomboids, and trapezius and I feel are better for higher reps than deadlifts.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

My wife had her baby on Monday July 14th, so I am going to probably take this week off with no training, so no new journal updates until next week. This week was going to be a deloading week anyways, so now it'll just be complete week off to spend time at home with the kid.

[Phil]

congratulations!!

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Okay,
Took this entire last week off from training. Didn't do a damn thing. The next NASA meet is less than 1 week away so I'm not gonna be doing that. Instead I'm gonna register for the October 4th meet which gives me 11 weeks of really good training time. Training will start tomorrow.

I'm going to stay with the basic "westside" inspired training split, with a few alterations in how I was running it up until my layoff.

I also need to hit the diet hard again after this past week. I'm feeling softer and fatter than I have felt in a long long time.

Basic training set up is going to look like this:

Monday - ME Bench Day
Max Effort Bench Movement - pick from the following: bench press, incline press, close grip press, rack lockouts (done when no spotter is available)
Supplemental Chest Movement - pick one: DB Bench Press, Incline DB Press, Incline Press, regular bench press 3-4 x 8-12
Barbell Rows - 5 x 5, 2 x 10-12 (back off sets)
Tricep Extensions - 2-3 x 8-12
Conditioning - either on track, field, or elliptical trainer

Wednesday - DE Squat/Heavy DL
Box Squat 12 x 2 x 50-60% 1RM
Deadlifts, Stiff Leg Deadlifts, or Rack Pulls - work up to 3 x 3-8
Abs - 5 x 10
Sled Dragging

Friday - DE Bench/Heavy Press
Bench Press 10 x 3 x 40-50%
Press 5 x 5 or similar rep scheme
Dip - Pull Up Supersets 10 x 10 on each

Saturday - ME Squat
Squats - 5 x 5 or work up to 5rm, 3rm, or 1rm
Goodmornings - 3 x 3-8
Abs 5 x 10
Sled Dragging

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Well, I had just a great start to my meet training this afternoon. First day of training and I got a pretty severe strain/tear right in my pec delt tie in. This is an old injury that I have had in both shoulders for many years that likes to resurface itself about twice per year. Usually means no benching for about two weeks but other than that its okay. Lots of scar tissue build up in that area so everytime I injure the area it just becomes more prone to injury again. Once I get back to benching I'm likely to avoid the ME training for my ME bench days and instead do 5x5 or something like that for a while as the super heavy stuff tends to be risky when coming back from an injury. Very frustrating when something like this happens the first day of the training cycle. its my fault too. I skipped my general warm up today (pressed for time) and just started right in benching with the bar as my warm up. This never happens when I precede my workout with about 10-15 mins on the elliptical trainer where I can work up a nice sweat and get some blood flowing through the whole body and raise the temperature of all the tissue.

Bench Press
5 x 225
3 x 275
1 x 315
1 x 345
1 x 365
1 x 375
1 x 385 (tore on 385)

I skipped all my assistance stuff today and will hit it tomorrow when i am in a better frame of mind.

[coldfire]

Hi KSC,

Nice training log, very informative. Hope your injury gets better.

Anyway, I had a question about the 5x5 program you did for eight weeks (the one that Rip gave you). I understand how it looks basically, I was just wondering how did you program your deadlifting? Did you do it for sets across too, or just one heavy set as Rip usually suggests.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I actually did my DL's for 5 x 5 across, until I got to where I was pulling two times my bodyweight, then I did it for 3 x 5 across. I made progress doing this, but I probably would not do that again. Those sessions were extremely brutal and very long and I could probably have made just as much progress if not more had I just pulled for 1 x 5.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Upperbody Assistance 7-22-08

Barbell Rows
10 x 185
10 x 205
3 x 10 x 225

DB Triceps Extensions
5 x 10 (short rest)

15 mins Conditioning

*Fairly unmotivated today after yesterday's setback due to the shoulder strain. Mainly wanted to get my upperback work in. Shoulder feels okay today. Will try some light pressing on Friday, but no benching for the next 1-2 weeks.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 7-23

DE Squat / Heavy DL

Box Squats
12 x 2 x 230 lbs (50% of 455 1RM)

Deadlifts
5 x 315
5 x 335
5 x 365
5 x 385
5 x 405

Weighted Sit Ups
5 x 10

First good workout of this training cycle after a disappointing start with the shoulder/pec tear. Squats felt extremely explosive; I was actually coming off the ground completely on some of the last few sets. Deadlifts felt really good too. Did a little more volume than I normally do on deads but I'm trying to build my work capacity back up a little bit after the layoff and the weight really didn't feel heavy at all which is encouraging. 405 x 5 seemed pretty easy.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 7-25

Bench Assistance Day
( Should have been speed benches and heavy presses but do to this fucked up shoulder/pec I am still a little ways away from any pressing or benching...sucks bad)

Pull Ups x 50 broken over several sets

T-Bar Rows (bar wedged in corner, old school BBer style!!) 4 x 10 heavy

DB Lateral Raises 5 x 10

Tricep Pushdowns 3 x 10

Today was basically straight up Bodybuilding but I didn't have any other choice due to my injury. No pressing at all doesn't leave you with much but I wanted to still hit the back, shoulders, and triceps so this was what I came up with. I haven't done those old school T-Bar rows in a long long time so that was kinda fun....those things really hit the upperback hard and was a good variation from the standard BB Row. Good workout overall for what it was.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 7/26 - Heavy Squats

Squats
5 x 295
5 x 320
5 x 340
5 x 365
5 x 385, went up real easy

Good Mornings
5 x 195
5 x 210
5 x 225
5 x 240
5 x 255 (PR)

Weighted Sit Ups
5 x 10

Everything felt really light and smooth today, so that was encouraging, still got pain in my shoulder/pec though, so I don't think I'll be benching or pressing next week, which means lots more back and tricep work. By the way, my traps and rear delts are sore as shit today from those T-Bar Rows.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 7-28

Another shitty upperbody assistance workout

BB Rows

5 x 5 x 255

One Arm DB Rows

2 x 15 x 85

Tricep Extensions

3 x 8-15, don't remember the weight, don't care


Pec/Delt tie-in tear is getting better but still injured and can't do any pressing or bench pressing which really sucks on upperbody day. All you can really do is hit the back and the triceps hard and hope that the additional effort spent on the assistance stuff will pay off once you get back to doing your primary lifts. Hopefully next week, I can do some light stuff on the bench and press

[Tor]

Hey KSC,

Sucks about the injury. Heal up fast.

I've been doing a little reading up on Westside since I've been checking out your log and I was curious about something. How did you decide to make the switch to Westside training from your 5x5 (texas method?) workout? Would you recommend doing it like you did, or if you'd known about Westside would you have switched earlier?

Thanks,
Tor

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I've known about Westside for a long time and have spent a long time reading the writings of Louie, Dave Tate, and others who pioneered the system. I still don't profess to understand everything in its entirety.

Basically the reason I made the switch was because of time constraints. I run my own business which doesn't give me alot of free time, and often times leaves me without alot of energy. The full body 5 x 5 sessions were just taking too long once I got into the heavier weeks of training. I could put more energy and effort into my workouts when I broke it down into upper and lower body.

I think both systems have merits and work as long as you work hard at them and really learn the ins and outs of each system. The biggest mistake I see people make who start doing a Westside type system is getting too complex with it and also not realizing that most of the info on Westside pertains to lifters who wear gear (bench shirts and squat suits). The training must be adapted if you lift raw.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 7-30

Another good DE Squat / Heavy DL Day

Box Squat

12 x 2 x 250 (55% of 455 1rm)

Convential Deadlift
5 x 325
5 x 350
5 x 375
5 x 400
5 x 425

Abs - about 45 seconds worth

Box squats felt very explosive again. Videotaped my first and last set and could see no noticeable drop off in speed. In fact the last set looked faster than the first which is good. Kept weight on deads moderate again today and kept the volume somewhat high (for me). Felt like my work capacity had dropped a little over the past few months so the best way to build it back up is to turn the volume up just a tad on some of the big lifts. Shoulder/pec feels a little better today...I'm gonna try some light pressing on Friday and see what happens.

[craigrasm]

Andy-

Random question, but back when you were doing clean pulls, did you use bumpers and drop your clean pulls or did you hold on to the bar after finishing the pull?

Thanks-
Craig

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Craig,

I was using bumpers and dropping the weight after each rep. You can do speed pulls the way that Westside does them, but I don't really like them. I've expiremented with them a bit but I always thought that clean pulls or powercleans are a better exercise if you want to pull fast off the floor. Speed Pulls, the way I've seen them done, are really nothing more than light deadlifts pulled for singles. My theory was that if you are going to pull fast from the floor, do so in the most explosive manner possible, and I know I'm alot more explosive with clean pulls than with speed pulls.

That being said, I've pretty much eliminated them both from the program for now. I was doing my clean pulls on the same day that I was doing my DE Squatting, which gave me only one heavy lowerbody lift per week. I changed that up to where now I am doing DE Squats followed by heavy deads. And then later in the week I am doing heavy squats followed by good mornings (which I would consider like light deadlifts).

I chose to do this based on what I perceive as my needs right now, but there is definately a time and place for pulling exploisvely off the floor with cleans or clean pulls.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sunday 8-03

ME Squat Day

(Was sick the past couple of days with a mild cold / flu so that's why I'm off a bit on my scheduling. Missed an upperbody day completely, but those have sucked anyways due to my shoulder/pec injury so not a huge loss)

Squats
5 x 310
5 x 330
5 x 355
5 x 380
5 x 405 (went up easy again. Didn't really strain on any of the reps)

Goodmornings
5 x 225
5 x 245
5 x 265 (PR)
5 x 275 (PR)

Short Conditioning Circuit

5 minutes of:
5 Powersnatches x 95 lbs
5 Box Jumps (30 inches)

Notes:
Squats - felt great, forgot to bring my Chuck Taylors to the gym today so I squatted in crosstraining shoes, which pitched me forward a little bit, but overall, 405 felt really light.
GM - was only gonna go up to 265 today but once I hit it, it felt really light so I bumped up to 275 for a second PR. Hopefully by the time I hit 315 on these for sets of 5 it will have begun to impact my DLing strength. Thats what I'm hoping for anyways.
Conditioning - could not stand the thought of ab work today (a common occurrence) so I replaced them with a little conditioning which I've been completely neglecting lately. It was evident.

By the way, 32 oz of Schepp's Chocolate Milk has about 100g Carbs, and 25g of Protein. Perfect 4:1 ratio for a postworkout drink.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tues 8-05

Bench + Assistance Day

Bench Press - 100 reps of 135 lbs (broken over several sets)

BB Rows (off floor) 5 x 5 x 260 lbs PR
2 x 15 x 185 - 30 sec rest

Conditioning:
Jump Rope - as many reps as possible in 5 mins. Lost count. Many. Tired. Feet. Hurt.

Tried out the bench for the first time in several weeks after my injury. The strain is still definately there so I didn't go above 135. I put on 185 and could feel it after 2 reps. Very disappointing and kinda lost heart again in this workout. Hit the Rows hard and then called it a day. Hoping for another good squat/deadlift day on Thursday.

[Tor]

Hey KSC,

Do you know these guys? I was browsing unequipped/drug-free lifting federations and came across their website.

Check out these results from the 2006 World Championships. Looks like you could have taken 8th or 9th in the 220 lb. class.

http://www.worlddrugfreepowerliftingfederation.org/results2006/kinsale/kinsale.html

Tor

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tor,

I have heard about this organization. Never really researched them. I have never seen them do any meets in the Houston area before. I will go check them out however and if they are coming to my neck of the woods anytime, I'd definately be interested in trying them out. Thanks for the tip.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thursday 8-07

DE Squat / Deads

DE Box Squat

12 x 2 x 275 (60% of 455 1rm)

Deadlifts

5 x 330
5 x 355
5 x 380
5 x 410
5 x 435

Abs

5-10 mins conditioning - jump rope

Very explosive on box squats, deads went up easy again tonite too. All is well with the lowerbody. Just got to get this F-ing shoulder up to speed.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 8-09

Heavy Press + Upperbody Assistance

Warm Up - 10 mins Elliptical

BB Complex
10 x Powersnatch
10 x Overhead Squat
10 x Behind the Neck Push Press (Snatch Grip)
10 x Good Mornings
10 x BB Rows
* BB complexes can be a really good warm up, especially on days like today where I was just feeling especially stiff

Press
5 x 145
5 x 155
5 x 170
5 x 180
5 x 190 PR for a set of 5
11 x 155 PR for a back off set with this weight

10 Rounds of the following:
5 Pull Ups
10 Dips
(that comes out to 50 pull ups and 100 dips)

**Good news is that shoulder felt great during the presses and I felt real strong, I think I could have done 6-7 with 190. I could start to feel it a bit on the dips. Probably not the best idea to be doing dips right after the injury but I think it'll be okay. We'll see.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sunday 8-10

ME Lowerbody

Well, it was supposed to be a heavy squat day, but I just had the itch to do some Oly lifting, so i went ahead with it and broke protocol with my program. Most of the time this is a no no, but sometimes its okay to go with your instincts.

Warm Up / Conditioning
3 Rounds of the following:

500 meter C2 Rower
20 Kettlebell Swings
10 Box Jumps

Powerclean
10 x 95
5 x 115
3 x 135
3 x 155
3 x 175
3 x 195
1 x 215
1 x 225
1 x 230
1 x 235
1 x 240

Powersnatch
10 x 95
2 x 135
2 x 145
2 x 155
1 x 165
1 x 175
1 x 185 missed. Damn I should have gotten that

Will be back on the squats next week. This was a good change of pace though. Definately should be stronger on both these movements.

[PowerPete]

Nice work on the PR's.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tuesday 8-12

Bench + Assistance

Medium Grip Bench Press (Hands thumb's distance away from smooth part of the bar)

5 x 5 x 275

BB Rows (from floor)

5 x 5 x 265

(back off sets, not from floor)

2 x 12 x 205 (30 sec. rest)

*Good new / bad news on the workout today. I went fairly light today for the bench presses and kept my hands more narrow than normal to try and protect the pec-delt tie in. first four sets felt fine, no pain, so on the last set I moved my hands out to my normal grip and on the 4th and 5th rep I could feel the pain in that injured area again. Also, I'm having some pretty significant pain in my elbows that really surfaced on the narrower grip benches today. Pain started a few weeks ago during my DE Bench Presses, which is a problem that is unfortunately associated with speed benches. I haven't done speed benches in a few weeks cuz of the shoulder so I'm not sure if that is the cause or not. It's hell getting older.

**Also, I've had a few PM's asking about my training days and why I am doing so little (like today where all it was was bench and rows). To be honest, it's not because I've planned it this way, it's a scheduling issue. I'd like to be able to do more, but the demands of running my business and having a newborn at home are pretty high right now and so at the end of the day, sometimes all I have the energy and/or time for is the bare minimum. The nagging injuries haven't helped either.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thurs 8-14

DE Squat / Deadlift

Box Squat

12 x 2 x 235 lbs (50% of 455 1RM + 5 lbs)

Deadlifts

5 x 315
3 x 355 (70%)
3 x 405 (80%)
3 x 455 (90%)

*starting to feel like maybe I should back off and deload a bit on the squats and deads. Didn't feel quite as explosive today coming off the box, but still pretty good. Form felt off a bit, which is usually a sign that you are beginning to over reach. Deads felt pretty heavy, but then again 455 is a heavy weight. Just that last week 5 x 435 felt really light so I didn't expect 455 to feel all that heavy.

[SHMENT]

nice log.
why you did 2 DE exersice for the lower body?
nice bench press by the way.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

What day are you referencing?

[SHMENT]

What day are you referencing?

in the beginning of the log i saw that you did box squat and clean pulls. both in fast tempo.
from what i know on westside we are doing only one DE exercise and than work on supplemental.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

What you reference is the general template. One DE exercise followed by supplemental. Louie does state in his articles however that if speed pulls are done, they are generally done for 8-10 singles on the DE day, following the box squats.

[SHMENT]

im talking about DE for squat/deadlidt.
from what i know in this day the program will look like that:
DE exercise for about 10 sets and 2 reps with 50-60% and fast concentric
hams
lower back
abs

i saw that you use to do two DE exercise on this day (the second was clean pulls). my question is why?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

What you reference is the STANDARD template. In the standard template speed pulls are not done. According to Louie, IF speed pulls are done, they are done after DE Box Squats. I chose to do clean pulls / speed pulls because I felt that they would benefit my deadlift. I put them after Box Squats, because Louie Simmons, the man who designed the program, said to do it that way. I had never done them before in this type of program, so I took his word for it that that was the best place to put them.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sunday 8-17

Heavy Squat / Light Powerclean

Squats (Unequipped as always, no wraps, no suit, belt only)
5 x 225
5 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 385
1 x 405
1 x 435
1 x 470 (heavy, but very smooth)

Powercleans
3 x 135
3 x 155
3 x 3 x 175

Bench Press
3 x 25 x 50 lbs

That pec delt tie in injury just won't go the fuck away. It usually clears itself out after a few weeks, but this time it is just still hanging around. It might be way too late for this, but I went ahead and started Bill Starr's rehab protocol today using the bench press. Hope it works, never tried it before.

[Tor]

Hey KSC,

For the past two months I experienced some intense elbow pain while benching, but I eventually realized the bench wasn't the source of the pain, it was the squat. I changed my squat grip from Rip's thumbless with elevated elbows (which was putting a lot of torque on the tendons that attached to my elbows) to a grip where my elbows were rotated down and my thumbs were under the bar. Since then the problem has disappeared. The pain became severe enough that I was unable to squat or bench on a couple of workouts.

Also, when do we get to see some videos? A heavy squat single or maybe a powerclean?

Tor

[coldfire]

Hey KSC,

Another question for you. Seems like you don't do any sets across anymore (at least on the big movements). You usually work up to a 5RM, or 1RM. Do you find this volume to be enough? I know you used to squat 5x5 for sets across 3 times a week. How do this compare to the amount of work you are doing now?

Thanks.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tor -

I'd like to post some video soon. Unfortunately I am an absolute dinosaur when it comes to technology and I don't think I can even upload video from my phone onto the computer. I'll have to borrow someone's digital camera and do it that way.

Coldfire -

Squatting 5 x 5 across three times per week will cause more adaptation in the long run for an advanced trainee. There are a couple of reasons / excuses why I am not doing this now:

1)Time: I am the CEO, CFO, COO, President, Vice President, Chairman of the Board, Manager, Head Trainer, and Janitor of my business right now. Unfortunately I find myself with a very full plate right now, and I don't have the time I would like to commit to training. On top of that I have a newborn baby at home, and my mother who lives close by is having some major health issues right now.

Generally I allot myself about an hour each day in order to train and I have to make the most efficient use of that time as possible. I have found that with squats I can ramp up my weights for 5 x 5 and still get a respectable amount of volume in, hitting a close to PR set of 5, all the while reducing the time it takes to complete the workout. Sure, I can hit 5 x 5 across with 425 or so, but it takes me a while to get through it.

2) Doing 5 x 5 across 3 days per week, is a means to an end, not an end in itself. This just means that the results from this type of training comes several weeks after volume is reduced, and you start to supercompensate or "rebound" from 15 hard sets per week. And believe me, when done right, there is major supercompensation 2-3 weeks out from the last high volume day. For this to work, it is vital to be able to maintain a strict schedule, not miss workouts, ingest sufficient amounts of quality calories, and get plenty of sleep. None of these things are very consistent for me right now.

3) The schedule that I maintain now is almost one of necessity not of choice. As those of you have followed this log know, I started out following somewhat of a westside type template. However, even with that model, I have had to skim down on the volume of training, due to both time constraints and injury. Right now, I am basically doing 1 primary movement and 1 secondary or assistance movment each workout and that is it. I wouldn't call it westside or anything else. Just the bare minimum.

That being said, my schedule is lightening up a bit, and hopefully soon I can make the transistion back to full body training. To be honest, i haven't really enjoyed the upperbody/lowerbody split for a couple of reasons:
1) I prefer the feel of training my whole body each workout and I think it causes greater adaptation.
2) I think that the fullbody stuff helps keep me leaner as well. My BF% is higher than normal right now, and I think that is part of the reason.
3) The DE Benching has wreaked some havoc on my elbows.
4) I wind up skipping my assistance work most of the time anyways, so why do a program that calls for lots of assistance work.

Look for some changes coming in the near future.

[coldfire]

Tor -

I'd like to post some video soon. Unfortunately I am an absolute dinosaur when it comes to technology and I don't think I can even upload video from my phone onto the computer. I'll have to borrow someone's digital camera and do it that way.

Coldfire -

Squatting 5 x 5 across three times per week will cause more adaptation in the long run for an advanced trainee. There are a couple of reasons / excuses why I am not doing this now:

1)Time: I am the CEO, CFO, COO, President, Vice President, Chairman of the Board, Manager, Head Trainer, and Janitor of my business right now. Unfortunately I find myself with a very full plate right now, and I don't have the time I would like to commit to training. On top of that I have a newborn baby at home, and my mother who lives close by is having some major health issues right now.

Generally I allot myself about an hour each day in order to train and I have to make the most efficient use of that time as possible. I have found that with squats I can ramp up my weights for 5 x 5 and still get a respectable amount of volume in, hitting a close to PR set of 5, all the while reducing the time it takes to complete the workout. Sure, I can hit 5 x 5 across with 425 or so, but it takes me a while to get through it.

2) Doing 5 x 5 across 3 days per week, is a means to an end, not an end in itself. This just means that the results from this type of training comes several weeks after volume is reduced, and you start to supercompensate or "rebound" from 15 hard sets per week. And believe me, when done right, there is major supercompensation 2-3 weeks out from the last high volume day. For this to work, it is vital to be able to maintain a strict schedule, not miss workouts, ingest sufficient amounts of quality calories, and get plenty of sleep. None of these things are very consistent for me right now.

3) The schedule that I maintain now is almost one of necessity not of choice. As those of you have followed this log know, I started out following somewhat of a westside type template. However, even with that model, I have had to skim down on the volume of training, due to both time constraints and injury. Right now, I am basically doing 1 primary movement and 1 secondary or assistance movment each workout and that is it. I wouldn't call it westside or anything else. Just the bare minimum.

That being said, my schedule is lightening up a bit, and hopefully soon I can make the transistion back to full body training. To be honest, i haven't really enjoyed the upperbody/lowerbody split for a couple of reasons:
1) I prefer the feel of training my whole body each workout and I think it causes greater adaptation.
2) I think that the fullbody stuff helps keep me leaner as well. My BF% is higher than normal right now, and I think that is part of the reason.
3) The DE Benching has wreaked some havoc on my elbows.
4) I wind up skipping my assistance work most of the time anyways, so why do a program that calls for lots of assistance work.

Look for some changes coming in the near future.

Thanks for the answer. Looking forward for changes :)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 8-18

Bench Rehab

Conditioning:

8 x 100m strides (run straights, walk curves on high school track). Wow, I am a fat out of shape pig. Also, legs were fucking dead from the ME Squat yesterday


Tuesday 8-19

Bench Rehab

Conditioning:

5 Rounds of the following:

5 x Box Jump (30 inch)
5 x Clean & Jerk (135 lbs)
5 x Pull Ups

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 8-23

Okay, kinda took this last week off from hard training to allow a little deload and healing up of some nagging injuries before I start my meet training this week. Here is what I have on tap:

Sunday Sept 7: WABDL meet in Humble TX. This is a bench and deadlift meet. I think I'm just gonna deadlift as you have the option of doing one or the other or both. I'm not gonna really train for this meet, I'm gonna treat it more as a workout. Saturday or Sunday will be my DL day for this training cycle so it'll fit in nice without too much interference to the training schedule.

Saturday Oct 4: NASA meet in Tyler TX. Full meet. This is the meet I'll be training for and one I hope to do well in.

The training split is going to be pretty similar to what I have been doing lately. I'd like to change it up to a three day a week, whole body deal, but I just don't have the time to committ to three big lifts per day. Here are the adjustments I've made:

Friday -
Press
Pull Ups
Assistance exercise of choice (most likely wtd dips if shoulder heals)

Saturday or Sunday -
DE Box Squats
Deadlifts
Abs

Tuesday -
Bench (probably a close grip bench because of shoulder)
Supplemental Bench exercise - Incline, DB Benches, etc
BB Rows - heavy followed by back off sets

Wednesday -
Powercleans
Squats
Abs
(might throw in some goodmornings on this day as well)

Weights will be programmed as follows:

Week 1:
6 x 3 x 85% (Press, Bench, Squat, Clean)
1 x 3 x 85% (Deadlift)
12 x 2 x 50% (Box Squat)

Week 2:
6 x 3 x 90%
1 x 3 x 90%
12 x 2 x 55% (Box Squat)

Week 3:
6 x 3 x 95% (this is very aggressive, might wind up as like 92.5%)
1 x 3 x 95%
12 x 2 x 60% (Box Squat)

Week 4:
3 x 3 x 90%
1 x 3 x 90%
6 x 2 x 60%

Week 5:
3 x 1 x 100%
1 x 1 x 100%
6 x 2 x 55%

Week 6:
3 x 1 x 80%
1 x 1 x 80%
6 x 2 x 50%

Week 7:
Meet

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 8/23

Heavy Press + Assistance

Press 6 x 3 x 190 lbs (85% of 1rm)
Wide Grip Weighted Pull Ups x 30 reps, broken over several sets
Wide Grip Pulldowns 3 x 10

Presses felt real light. Big pump in the back. Everybody has to promise to not tell Rip I diid a machine exercise today :-)

Actually some machine exercises can be useful in certain situations, lat pulls being one of the acceptable exercises. They are not a sub for pull ups or chins, but they do help to add alot of volume to your back work which acts as a hypertrophy aid. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy or not, a big back makes for good leverage on the bench and the squat.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sunday 8-24

DE Box Squats

12 x 2 x 235 (50% of 1rm)

Deadlifts
5 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 385
1 x 405
3 x 435 (85% of 1rm)

Weighted Sit Ups
5 x 10

Workout felt pretty good for having done it with a really bad hangover.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tues 8-26

Cllose Grip Bench Press (Index finger on smooth part of bar)

3 x 3 x 325 (planned on 5-6 x 3 but shoulder started to tighen so I didn't push my luck. Happy with that effort though)

(back off sets)
2 x 10-12 x 225

BB Rows (from floor)

5 x 5 x 270 PR!
1 x 12 x 225, back off set

Rear Delt Flys

5 x 10-15

happy as hell to have done some decent weight on the bench today. hope it keeps up

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thursday 8/28

Powercleans

6 x 3 x 205

Squats

6 x 3 x 400

Abs - ya right

First time I've done this much volume in a while. Tough, but felt good.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 8-30

Press

6 x 3 x 205 (I think this is a PR for 3 reps, definatley a PR
for 6 x 3)

Weighted Pull Ups x 40 reps broken over several sets

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sunday 8-31

DE Box Squats

12 x 2 x 260 lbs (55% of 470 1RM)

Deadlifts

5 x 315
3 x 365
3 x 405
3 x 455 (90% of 505 1RM)

Abs - kinda

[Phil]

Nice, seems like you've been making all kinds of new PR's.... Great Stuff!

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 9-03

Close Grip Bench Press (index finger on smooth part of bar)

5 x 225
3 x 275
1 x 305
3 x 1 x 335

Incline Press

3 x 10 x 185

Lat Pulldown

6 x 10 with 30-45 second rest in between sets

*Not sure what the hell happened on the close grips today. My goal was to hit sets of three which I should have been able to do, but all I could manage were singles.
To be honest, I think it was a lack of recovery on Sunday - Monday - Tuesday. I was dove hunting up in north texas and I drank alot of beer and didn't eat nearly enough; and what I did eat was crap.

I took it easy on the Inclines today because that was my first time doing them since my shoulder injury. Normally I do about 225 for sets of 8-10 as an assistance exercise but I didn't want to strain too hard until I knew how the shoulder is going to react.

I was pretty disappointed with my close grip effort and I didn't really have the motivation to go tackle heavy BB Rows today. I took the easy way out and just knocked out some high density sets of lat pulldowns.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 9/05

Press

3 x 3 x 210 PR!!!!
1 x 15 x 135

High Pulls (from rack, mid thigh, semi wide grip0

5 x 10 x 135 (short rest)

BB Curls

3 x 8 x too embarrassed to say weight
1 x 10 x even less weight

Very very excited about the Press PR again. Seems like I am making linear type progression on these as of late. I wanted a set of 20 with 135 but totally bombed out at 15. Couldn't even budge 16.

Because of the PR, I rewarded myself with some fuck around time in the gym today which explains the high pulls and curls.

To me, high pulls have no real value in a strength program but I like doing them so I figured what the hell. I used to do them in the BBing days and they are good for development of the medial deltoid.

Curls are even less useful but I hadn't done a set in about 2 years so I figured I was due. Truth is, I have a heavy squat day tomorrow, so my focus today was mainly on getting the presses done.

I had to kind of shift around some training days a bit in my schedule due to some travelling and so on, but no major changes, just a slight alteration, which explains why I did presses today, only 48 hrs after benching. Also, I've pretty much conceded the fact that my shoulder isn't going to handle too much volume on benching and pressing, so I'm sticking with 3 work sets of 1-3 reps.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sat 9/06

Squats

3 x 3 x 425, went up super smooth

Glute Ham Raises 5 x 10

Abs 5 x 10

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 9/08

Bench Press (Regular Grip)

3 x 5 x 315

DB Bench Press

3 x 6-8 x bitch weight

BB Rows

4 x 15 x 185 - short rest, huge pump after doing sets of 5 for so long

Finally able to do some regular grip benching with no pain. Hopefully it lasts.

By the way, for any of you who are following the log, please do not take my current training as a model of what is ideal. I'm not sure that one workout has gone as planned since I planned this meet in October. Unfortunately, my own training currently takes a back seat to my clients training at the moment. On top of that I have been fighting off many nagging injuries and my work capacity isn't what it should be, making my regular high volume training hard to do. Time has been limited and I'm doing the best I can with what is available to me. So if you are following the log, just look at one workout at a time and don't try to piece everything together in the neatly organized plan that I originally laid out, cuz it won't fit. Feel free to hit me with any questions you might have. Makes the log more fun.

[Tor]

It's okay, KSC, you can tell us what you were curling. We won't judge, we promise (more or less than 70#?).

Tor

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

More- but does it really matter. I'm still guilty of the crime.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tuesday 9/09

Squats (again - getting my schedule on track)
5 x 315
5 x 365
3 x 5 x 405

Goodmornings
5 x 225
5 x 245
3 x 275 (2 reps shy of previous PR. Not sure what happened)

Weighted Side Bends 2 x whatever x whatever

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 9-12

Speed Bench Press
10 x 3 x 150 (40% of 375 Close Grip 1RM)

Press
3 x 5 x 195 |PR for sets of 5 (I think)
1 x 10 x 155

Pull Ups x 50 reps broken over several sets

Dips x 50 reps broken over several sets (Got 28 reps on the first set at a bodyweight of 230 (PR). Time to start adding weight again I guess).

Got about 3 weeks out from the meet so I decided to start speed benches again on my pressing days. Felt a little slow on the first few sets but got faster each successive set. First set of 195 on the presses felt great, went up real smooth. Been hitting lots of PR's on the presses lately, I better get a fucking 1RM PR when I go for it here in a few weeks. Hoping for at least 235. First dips I've done in a while too, felt good, no shoulder pain, triceps burned out kinda quick after that first set.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

As most of you know I live in Houston and was recently hit pretty hard by hurricane Ike. We had no power for a long time and I had damage to my home and my parents home, who are both older and needed alot of my help during and after the storm. Needless to say, not much training took place over the last couple weeks except for one workout where I actually set a new Press PR with 235!!!!! I was very happy with that.

I went ahead and shitcanned my plans for the meet on Oct 4th. My entire training cycle got fucked up even before the storm hit and was obviously made worse once it did hit. Unfortunately, when your business is closed down for the better part of two weeks it doesn't set well financially. I don't have the time, money, or inclination to do a meet next week so we'll wait for another one to open up down the road.

In the mean time it is now time to get back to some serious fucking training. I have cleared some time in my schedule for it and I am mentally ready to get going again. My work capacity is for shit right now and in general the westside stuff doesn't work all that well when work capacity is low (in my experience).

Here is what I did yesterday - Monday September 22 - just trying to get back in the groove of things

Squats
5 x 5 x 335 (70% of 470 1RM)

Close Grip Bench Press (70% of 375 1RM)
5 x 5 x 265

BB Rows
5 x 10 x 205

All sets were done with 1:30 to 2:00 rest

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

If anybody is still following this log (and I would be surprised if they were) here is my plan for the next few weeks:

Monday
Squats
Bench
Rows

Wednesday
Front Squats
Press
Deadlift
Shrugs

Friday
Squats
Incline
Pull Ups

Saturday
Conditioning - intervals on track

I will be following the TSFOSB Model found in Rippetoe's Practical Programming.

[Tor]

Whew, glad yr back. What with you checked out, and Rip AWOL, it was starting to get a little quiet around here.

So are you abandoning Westside, or just getting back in shape before you get back in to it? And what does TSFOSB stand for again?

Tor

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

No, I'm not abandoning Westside. I know for a fact the speed work was helping my strength in the squat and bench. I could feel it clear as day in the bottom of the squat and I know I would not have close grip benched 375 had I not instituted the speed work. However right now I feel like my work capacity is quite poor and I like fullbody routines with 3 x week squatting for raising work capacity. Both systems have their pros and cons and I think an alternation between the two throughout the year is probably the best plan of action at this point in my lifting career.

Rip isn't AWOL, he is just travelling a shitload doing these BB certs for Crossfit.

TSFOSB = Two Steps Forward One Step Back

[coldfire]

If anybody is still following this log (and I would be surprised if they were) here is my plan for the next few weeks:

Monday
Squats
Bench
Rows

Wednesday
Front Squats
Press
Deadlift
Shrugs

Friday
Squats
Incline
Pull Ups

Saturday
Conditioning - intervals on track

I will be following the TSFOSB Model found in Rippetoe's Practical Programming.

No cleans? :(

Anyway, good to see you are still here. I still follow your journal :)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Nope. Not at this point.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Wednesday 9/25

Front Squats

5 x 5 x 230 (70% of 325 1RM)

Press

5 x 5 x 165 (70% of 235 1RM)

Powercleans (performed as warm up for the deadlift in order to satisfy coldfire and Rip) - pyramided up from 135 to 225 going from sets of 5 to a single

Deadlifts
5 x 255 (50% 1RM of 505)
5 x 280 (55%)
5 x 305 (60%)
5 x 330 (65%)
5 x 355 (70%)

BB Shrugs
3 x 12 x 225

Presses felt unusually heavy for 165, especially since I've been making somewhat linear progress on them for the past several weeks.

Deadlifts felt light and explosive which is good since it was light weight

Just did regular shrugs because I was too lazy to set up the rack again for powershrugs. Bad choice. Next time I'll either do the powershrugs or i won't do them at all. Good workout overall, kept a good pace.

By the way, I started a diet on Monday. Already lost 6 lbs and 1 inch off the waist.

[Keenan]

Whats your diet?

I guess a better question is are you using the zone or any other particular diet or just doing some old fashioned carb reduction?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Just BBing style carb cycling. Pretty simple diet really. Got it from Kelly Baggett. Works wonders every time.

Low Carb Days
Protein - 1.5g per lb of BW
Carbs - 50-100g all from fibrous veggies only

Every 4th or 5th day you carb up starting with your post workout meal and going until bedtime.

So here are some sample days:

Low Carb Day
1) 6-7 egg Omellete made with veggies
2) 40g Protein powder with fish oil caps
3) Large Grilled Chicken breast with 1 can of Green beans
Train
4) 40g Protein powder
5) 8-12 oz of steak or Ground beef, Bowl of mixed vegetables
6) 1 cup of cottage cheese

Carb Up Day
1) 6-7 egg omellete with veggies
2) 40g protein powder with fish oil caps
3) Large Grilled Chicken breast with 1 can of Green beans
Train
4) 25g Protein Powder with 100g of Maltodextrin
5) 8-12 oz of steak or Ground beef, 1 Large Baked Sweet Potato
6) 1 cup of cottage cheese, 1 medium sized bowl of Oatmeal

So if you train MWF it works like this:

Week 1
M - start of diet, low carb
T - low carb
W - low carb
T - low carb
F - Carb up after workout
S- low carb
S- low carb

Week 2
M-low carb
T - low carb
W - carb up after workout
T - low carb
F - low carb
S - low carb
S - low carb

Week 3
M - carb up after workout
T - low carb
W low carb
T - low carb
F - Carb up
S- low carb
S - low carb

start back over at week 2, so basically one week you carb up on Weds, and the next week you carb up on Mon and Friday.

Zone works too but this is faster and I think keeps your muscle bellies fuller. For me, the allowance of fruit in the zone slows things down as does the high amount of fat. I use the zone as my default eating plan but I don't count out blocks and all that shit. I just use the hand eye method.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 9/26

Warm Up (going to start taking my warm ups more seriously in order to avoid the little nagging injuries that I already feel coming on).

10 minutes Elliptical Trainer, going hard and working up a real good sweat.

BB Complex: 4 Rounds, ramping up weight each round:
pipe - empty bar - 65lbs - 95 lbs

Powersnatch x 5
Overhead Squat x 5
Behind neck push press, snatch grip x 5
Goodmornings x 5
BB Row x 5
Push Ups x 5

Workout -

Squats

5 x 5 x 335 (70% of 470 1RM)

Incline Press

5 x 5 x 230 (70% of 335 1RM)

Pull Ups

5 x 8

Weighted Sit ups

3 x 10

*Inclines and pull ups were performed as a superset in order to save time and work on conditioning which is atrocious.

[Keenan]

So how do you gain the willpower to cut beer out of your diet? That has always been my problem....

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Keenan - I don't. I drink on my carb loading days. And some other days as well. I'd probably be leaner if I didn't but I'll sacrifice the six pack abs for a six pack of Bud.

Saturday9/27 - Conditioning

"Fuck around on the Field Day"

Conditioned at a local middle school football field. The grass was freshly mowed and the field has good visible yard lines so I decided to condition on it instead of the track.

Warmed up with a bunch of mobility crap - high knees, buttkicks, cariocas, side lunges, etc. Pretending that I was still an athlete.

10 x 25 yd sprints
5 x 50 yd sprints

Sprints were at about 75-80% of maximal effort, and rest was minimal.

No rhyme or reason why I did what I did today. Just couldn't bring myself to run the 100's that I was planning on.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 9/29

Warm Up
10 mins on Elliptical Trainer

BB Complex - 2 rounds with 45 lb bar
Powersnatch x 5
Ovhd Squat x 5
Behind Neck Push Press x 5
Goodmorning x 5
BB Row x 5
Push ups x 5

Squats

5 x 5 x 365 (80% of 470 1RM minus 10 lbs, should have been 375)
Took just a little bit of weight off because I narrowed my stance up quite a bit from my regular wide PLing stance. Heels were hip width today.

Close Grip Bench Press

5 x 5 x 300 (80% of 375 close grip 1RM)

BB Rows - stood on low box to increase stretch at bottom. Back remained perfectly flat throughout the movement. Same weight as last week, but more strict. Shaved off two sets as well cuz I simply ran out of gas and had already achieved an amazing pump.

10 x 135
10 x 155
10 x 185
3 x 10 x 205

*Last week I ever so slightly pulled my groin on Monday's squat workout due to the wide stance I generally assume when squatting. I don't need a fucking groin injury right now so I didn't tempt fate and I went ahead and narrowed my stance quite a bit and will stay that way the rest of the cycle.

My main goal this training cycle is to complete the fucking thing from start to finish without any major alterations or interruptions. This has not happened as of late due to an accumulation of injuries and Hurricane Ike that put everybody's life on hold here in Houston for a few weeks and royally fucked up my last attempted training cycle, including a meet I had planned.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tuesday 9-30

Conditioning on Football Field

100 yard Shuttle Runs (going 50 yds down and back)

6 Shuttle Runs, walked 50 yds in between each shuttle as rest.

[Tor]

I'd be curious to hear as you go along with this diet how you feel it's affecting your performance. The good, the bad, the purely anecdotal.

I figure at some point I'm going to have and lose some of this milk-fat I've picked up on Starting Strength but I'm terrified to see my numbers drop...

Tor

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Well I was really good last week and ate super clean, this week hasn't been so good. After my carb up day on Friday, I kinda just kept carbing up over the weekend, and even into this week. I am a weak bitch when it comes to diet. I hate depriving myself of anything foodwise. Part of it is the fact that I'm not that fat. But I was up around 235 which is a bit heavy for 5'4 - 5'5 and I think I'd feel better down around 215 or so.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 10/02

Warm Up - BB Complex (3 rounds ramping up from the bar to 95 lbs)
Powersnatch x 5
Overhead Squat x 5
Behind Neck Push Press x 5
Goodmornings x 5
BB Row x 5

Front Squats

5 x 5 x 260 (80% of 325 1rm)

Press

5 x 5 x 190 (80% of 235 1rm)

Powerclean Warm Up for Deads
135 x 5
155 x 3
185 x 3
205 x 2
225 x 1

Deadlift

5 x 305
5 x 330
5 x 355
5 x 380
5 x 405 (80% of 505)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 10/04

Squats

5 x 5 x 365 (80% of 470 1rm)

Incline Press

5 x 5 x 265 (80% of 330 1RM)

Pull Ups

5 x 8

Glad to get this one behind me. Next week is a deload week. Looking forward to that. I'll elaborate on how the deload works next post maybe. I've got to run to go eat some homemade tacos and watch kimbo and shamrock. I usually root against ken shamrock, but I'd like to see him win this one.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

This is the third week of my training cycle, it is a scheduled deload week. Intensity drops by 5% and volume goes from 5 x 5 to 3 x 5

Monday 10/06

Conditioning - 30 minutes of interval training on the elliptical.



Tuesday 10/07

Warm Up

10 minutes elliptical trainer
BB Complexes: Powersnatch, Ovhd Squat, Push Press, Goodmorning, BB Rows

Squats

3 x 5 x 355 (75% of 470 1rm)

Close Grip Bench

3 x 5 x 280 (75% of 375 1rm)

BB Rows

10 x 135
10 x 155
3 x 10 x 185

Extra Conditioning- 10 minutes of intervals on elliptical

*Deloading - works like this.
Week 1 was 5 x 5 x 70%;
Week 2 was 5 x 5 x 80%;
Week 3 (deload) is 3 x 5 x 75%,
and next week (peak) will be 5 x 5 x 85%.

Also, this week the second squat session is dropped and Thursday's front squats will be moved to Saturday. That means no squats on the middle day of the week, just presses and deadlifts. Also, for the deload, I am probably going to replace regular deadlifts on Thursday with Speed Deads for 15 x 1 x 40-50%.

**Good idea for a post workout drink - 32 oz of Milk, 2 packets of chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast; gives you about 40 grams of protein, 100 grams of carbs, and is enhanced with a ton of vitamins and minerals. Stir with a spoon, don't blend or shake, it gets too foamy. Tastes like chocolate milk.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thursday 10-09 (Still deloading)

Warm Ups - 10 mins elliptical trainer

Press

3 x 5 x 175 (75% of 235 1rm)

Speed Deadlift

15 x 1 x 40-50% of 505 1rm

(3 x 1 x 40%; 3 x 1 x 45%; 3 x 1 x 50%, 3 x 1 x 45%, 3 x 1 x 40%)

Conditioning:

Javorek Complex #1 w/ 95 lbs (3 rounds with 2 mins between rounds)

Clean Grip High Pull from Hang x 6
Hang Snatch x 6
Behind the Head Squat Push Press x 6
Good Morning x6
Barbell Bent Over Row x6 (subbed the BB Row with more clean grip high pulls)

*Traps are on fire from the complex
**Finally found a good groove for speed pulls. Didn't feel like I was decelerating the bar at the top of the movement.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 10-10

Conditioning:

30 minutes of intervals on the elliptical

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 10-11 (Last day of deloading)

Warm up - 8 minutes elliptical trainer (feeling lazy today, 10 mins was just too much :-)

Depth Jumps- 10 repetitions, 30 sec. rest between reps
Jumping off 24 inch box onto 30 inch box, I need a bigger box as these were pretty easy. Not sure why I did these today. Just fucking around mostly.

Front Squats

3 x 5 x 250 (75% of 1rm)

Incline

3 x 5 x 250 (75% of 1rm)

Pull Ups

3 x 8

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tuesday 10-14

Warm up:
BB Complex - 5 rounds without setting bar down (45 lbs only)
Powersnatch x 5
Overhead Squat x 5
Behind Neck Press x 5
Goodmorning x 5
BB Row x 5

Squats

5 x 5 x 405 (85% of 1rm)

Bench Press

5 x 5 x 320 (85% of 1rm)

Barbell Rows

3 x 12 x 205 (was going to do 5 sets but ran out of steam)

*Squats felt pretty explosive so it looks as if the deload week did its job, but I had nothing left at the end of this one. I'm looking forward to dropping the reps down to 3's next week as I enter phase two of the program.

[jacob cloud]

Low Carb Day
1) 6-7 egg Omellete made with veggies
2) 40g Protein powder with fish oil caps
3) Large Grilled Chicken breast with 1 can of Green beans
Train
4) 40g Protein powder
5) 8-12 oz of steak or Ground beef, Bowl of mixed vegetables
6) 1 cup of cottage cheese

KSC - I've been lurking and following your log and I dig it. I am actually following a similar diet, but like yours a little better and am going to incorporate some of what you're doing into my schedule. Question: What's with the cottage cheese? Do you have sugar-free cottage cheese, or just ignore the few grams that's typically in there? I *hate* CC, but am willing to learn to like it if it's got some magical properties I need to know about. Thanks for any info! I think I'll start keeping my training log here as well. Time to go make a new thread.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I don't worry about the carbs in the cottage cheese. Anybody that is that fanatical about their diet should be seeing a pyschologist. This is the diet that I "try" to follow the majority of the time, but more often than not I wind up straying from it at some point.

I used to be quite fanatical about my diet when i was younger and lived on a diet that consisted of tuna, chicken, and green beans. Thankfully I got my head unfucked and learned to accept the fact that losing my six pack wasn't the end of the world.

The fat KSC is much happier (and stronger) than the skinny KSC.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thurs 10-16

Press

5 x 5 x 200 lbs (85% of 1rm)

Deadlifts

5 x 225
1 x 315
1 x 375
5 x 430 (85% of 1RM)

[jacob cloud]

The fat KSC is much happier (and stronger) than the skinny KSC.

Amen. I'm not fanatical, just trying to trim down a bit after letting myself go for awhile w/o losing what strength I have. I enjoy eating too much to go crazy with it, just wanted to make sure the CC wasn't anything special I needed to know about. I usually just end my evening with diet jello and whipped cream - gives me something sweet for dessert and curbs some of those cravings I get while in keto.

[djl236]

Tor,

I've been training for about 10 or 11 years now. I'm 26 and started when I was about 15 years old training for football. I just did the program that they had laid out for us at school, which looking back now was complete and utter garbage but I still grew pretty good because of my age. After high school, I went to college and like alot of college age guys, got into the BBing gig. I put on a little more size but not too much because my training routines were so shitty (basically right out of the muscle mags) and I did too much cardio. After college I got into the Marine Corps and I actually started to read more sources of information about training and luckily stumbled onto Starting Strength, Practical Programming, Madcow's site, Westside, Bill Starr, Crossfit, etc, etc. Then I had the opportunity to go to a course under Coach Mike Conroy (USA Weightlifting) and learned how to PROPERLY perform the O-lifts and how to program them for lifting and for sports performance. Great course.

In 2005 I stepped away from the BBing stuff (where I had worked my way up to 190 very lean and pretty strong pounds) and put myself onto a Rippetoe inspired fullbody routine where I squatted a heavy 5 x 5 three time per week. In 8 weeks I went from 190 to 225 lbs and all my lifts went up and average of 30-40 lbs. I haven't looked back since. I have recently gotten away from the 5 x 5 stuff somewhat and am following a Westside inspired powerlifting program that I have created for myself. I can't say enough good things about this methodology for powerlifting and all of my lifts are going up week to week. I am very pleased with the results.


KSC, did you go through OCS for the Corps? Still in?

I went through twice after college and further messed up an already bad ankle killing my commission 2 weeks before graduation.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I was enlisted in the Corps so no OCS for me. I got out in May of 2007 as a Sergeant, so its been about a year and a half since I got out. I hear ya on the ankle, I sprained mine real real bad on a 15K hike in infantry school and then a week or so later went on a 20K hike with the ankle still all swollen and in alot of pain. I don't think it ever got to heal right and i still have problems with it today. Good times.

[djl236]

I was enlisted in the Corps so no OCS for me. I got out in May of 2007 as a Sergeant, so its been about a year and a half since I got out. I hear ya on the ankle, I sprained mine real real bad on a 15K hike in infantry school and then a week or so later went on a 20K hike with the ankle still all swollen and in alot of pain. I don't think it ever got to heal right and i still have problems with it today. Good times.

ah yes, nothing like a good ol' forced nature walk with the Corps
Thanks for serving devil dawg. Semper Fi.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 10-17

Conditioning (kinda)

Sled Dragging

3 x 100 yds

*took all of about five minutes, not really even worth the effort it took to haul out the sled and the plates to the parking lot.

[Keenan]

Quick Question regarding the 5X5 method.

I have seen three different interpretations.

1. Same weight for 5X5
2. Progressive pyramiding up 5X5
3. 2 sets of 5 at sub-warm up/work set weight followed by 3 sets of 5 of same weight.

Are all of these accepted interpretations? I've noticed you have used the progressive pyramiding vs. same weight, is that because of personal preference or you have had better results?

Thanks,
Keenan

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Which method you use probably depends on where you are at in your training. I've used 5 x 5 (pyramiding) when linear progress was available to me, meaning I could go up 5-10 lbs every workout on a top set of 5. You will get longer runs of linear progress with the ramping method then you will with sets across. Also, I've used this method when my schedule did not allow for long laborious workouts. Obviously the ramping method does not take as long to complete as sets across.

5 x 5 across works well for programs like the one I am running now, where you are trying to cause adaptation to reach a peak many weeks down the road. It is very tiring and time consuming and I wouldn't use it with anyone but a pure lifter. Meaning, I wouldn't use it with an athlete who was doing lots of sprint work and sport specific work in addition to their lifting. Simply too draining, especially if that athlete is using any sort of appreciable poundages.

The other method you speak of, I have never used, although that doesn't mean it isn't a good method. Sounds like nice blend of the other two. I knew a super strong guy in college who trained strictly with 3x8, 3x5, and 3x3 on all his big lifts. Worked for him.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 10-19

Front Squats

5 x 5 x 275 (85% of 1rm) - felt very light and explosive. Last front squat workout of the cycle. Next week, I switch front squats to DE Box Squats.

Incline

5 x 5 x 280 (85% of 1rm) - same thing, light and explosive

Pull Ups

50 reps broken up over several sets

*So I made it through Phase I of the program I wrote out for myself without any alterations due to injury, work, or hurricanes. Next week, begins phase II of the program, where 5 x 5 drops to 5 x 3 on all the big lifts, and Front squats are dropped from the program, and DE Box Squats take their place.

**Was supposed to get my new Glute Ham Developer delivered today but the guy won't be able to get it to me until tomorrow. Very excited about this addition to my gym. I think adding GHR's and GHD Situps to the program is going to help alot with my squats.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tuesday 10-21

Squats

5 x 3 x 375 (80% of 1RM) - felt extremely light and all reps were very explosive. Only rested 1-2 mins between sets. That's a good sign.

Close Grip Bench Press

5 x 3 x 305 (80% + 5 lbs) - same thing, light and easy, 1-2 mins between sets

BB Rows

5 x 8 x 210 lbs

Alternating DB Curls - ran the rack from 50's down to 20's. I don't know why. I can think of about 5 billion more useful things I could have done with that extra time and energy than curling.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thursday 10-23

Warm Up - 15 minutes elliptical trainer

Press

5 x 3 x 190 (80% of 1RM)

Speed Pulls - 30 sec rest between reps

5 x 1 x 205 (40%1RM)
5 x 1 x 225 (45%1RM)
5 x 1 x 250 (50% 1RM)

Deadlifts

1 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 3 x 405 (80% 1RM)

BB Shrugs

1 x 30 x 225

Okay, I'm in love with doing a high volume of speed pulls prior to my deadlifting. 315, 365, and 405 absolutely flew off of the floor today. I've done powercleans prior to my deadlifting before but I don't think I've ever had as much neural carry over as I had today. That makes me think, I'm generating lots more force with the speed pulls than with the cleans. Presses felt light today too, only 1 min rest between sets.

[Tor]

Speed pull is just a Louie Simmons thing where you pull the deadlift as fast as possible (like a DE squat or bench)?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Ya, it is just a lightweight deadlift performed really quickly. Alot of the videos I've seen of them from "westside" guys are really slow and unexplosive. Probably a product of too much weight on the bar. You also run into the problem of have to decelerate the bar at the top of the lock out. I've been working on these for a while now just messing around, but a few weeks ago I found a groove that I really like with them and I'm gonna be keeping them in the program for a while. The way I've been doing them is similar to a clean pull and I release the bar at the top of the movement, and I've only been using 40-50% of 1RM so they actually are very explosive.

[Locutus]

Okay, I'm in love with doing a high volume of speed pulls prior to my deadlifting. 315, 365, and 405 absolutely flew off of the floor today. I've done powercleans prior to my deadlifting before but I don't think I've ever had as much neural carry over as I had today. That makes me think, I'm generating lots more force with the speed pulls than with the cleans.

That makes sense, since power cleans don't need to be particularly fast until they pass the knee. Have you considered doing the speed pulls on top of a small deficit? (say, 2-4")

Do you think that I could throw these into the modified KSC texas template: ( here (http://strengthmill.net/forum/showpost.php?p=18528&postcount=14) ) as part of the dead warmup occasionally? Or might the box squats already fulfill that neural function?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Yes, I think you could use these as part of the deadlift warm up. I would stick to a lower volume though, say 8-10 singles if you are doing them after DE Box Squats.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Oh ya, your other question.....yes I think my next block of training will incorporate a slight deficit in my speed pulls while keeping the weight the same.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sat 10-25

DE Box Squats

12 x 2 x 235 (50% 1RM) - except for the first few sets all these felt really explosive and I was actually getting air underneath my feet on every set.

Incline Press

5 x 3 x 265 - felt really light so I went to a close grip on the last few sets and only took 1 minute of rest

Pull Ups x 50 reps broken over several sets

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tuesday 10-28

Squats

10 x 135
5 x 225
3 x 315
1 x 385

5 x 3 x 425

Incline Press

15 x 135
5 x 225
1 x 250
1 x 275

5 x 3 x 295

BB Rows (from floor)

5 x 10 x 210

Didn't get to workout today until almost 8 p.m. which is late for me considering I am at work everyday at 6 a.m. I feel like I'm starting to get sick, and I had only eaten two meals all day because of work and poor planning.

Even though I know better, I skipped my usual warm up of 10-15 minutes on the elliptical trainer and subsequently felt like shit during my squats. I felt stiff, off balance and weak. But, I got all 5 sets with the prescribed weight so I'm happy with the effort.

I didn't have anybody to spot me tonight so I did my Inclines today instead of at the end of the week like I normally do. On my incline bench, its easy for me to unrack the weights myself, but my flat bench isn't designed in a way that makes unracking the weights yourself very easy.

BB Rows from the floor felt good tonite. Haven't done em that way in a few weeks.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thursday 10-30

Warm Up - 15 mins elliptical

Press

20 x bar
10 x 95
5 x 135
1 x 155
1 x 185

5 x 3 x 210 (90% 1rm)

Speed Pulls

3 x 1 x 205 (40% 1rm)
3 x 1 x 225 (45% 1rm)
9 x 1 x 250 (50% 1rm)

Deadlifts

1 x 315 - light and very fast
1 x 385 - light and fast
3 x 1 x 455 (90%1rm) - was a set of 3, but was really more like 3 singles...went up smooth each time though

Shrugs - can't really justify these other than the fact that big traps are cool

3 x 20

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sat 11-01

Very busy around the house today...kept procrastinating the workout until it was too late. Got my benches in today, i'll hit squats and pull ups tomorrow.

Bench Press (Medium Grip)

5 x 3 x 335 PR for sets of 3 I think, but definately for 5 x 3

1 x 10 x 275

Skull Crushers (felt like I had to do at least two exercises today)

3 x 12

Even though I kinda skewed my schedule a bit, very happy with my effort on the bench. Weight felt pretty light actually. Finish the other half of the workout tomorrow, then next week is a deload (yeah!!!)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sunday 11-2

DE Box Squats

1 x 2 x 225
1 x 2 x 245
10 x 2 x 275

Pull Ups

30 reps broken over several sets

Lucky to make it into the gym today as the hangover was worse than I thought it would be from a long night of beer and yager

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Wednesday 11-05

Schedule a little off, had to take an extra rest day but no big deal.

This week starts my second deload week of the cycle.

Squats

3 x 3 x 405 (85%)

Bench

3 x 3 x 315 (85%)

Seated Cable Rows (instead of the usual BB Rows - deload week, who cares)

3 x 12 x ???

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 11-07

Still in deload week

Press

3 x 3 x 200 lbs (85%)

Speed Pulls

4 x 1 x 225 (45% 1rm)

6 x 1 x 250 (50% 1rm)

Deadlifts

1 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 3 x 430 (85%)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tues 11-11

Okay it has been eons since I last trained...actually just last thursday, but it feels like a long time. Felt really de-trained coming into the workout today and I was right....workout pretty much sucked.

Workout called for 5 x 3 @ 95% of 1RM so I decided to split up the squat and bench....bench today, squat tomorrow.

Workout:

Warm Up - BB Complexes x many (Snatch, OHS, Behind Neck Press, Goodmorning, BB Row)

Bench Press

Warm Up sets
15 x 135
5 x 225
3 x 275
1 x 315
1 x 335

Working Sets:
2 x 355 (95% of 1RM)
2 x 355
2 x 355 (had to have light spot on last rep)
3 x 345
3 x 345 (had to have light spot on last rep)
16 x 225 (back off set)

BB Rows (from floor)

3 x 12 x 210

Close Grip Pulldowns

2 x 10-12

Not having benched in 7 days combined with too much alcohol and a crappy diet in between led to this bombout. I should not have missed so much time since my last workout. It cost me today, because I should have been able to get this weight at the pace I was on. 2 Weeks ago I hit 335 for a fairly easy 5 x 3, 355 should have been doable after the deload week.

Can't wait to see what happens on squats tomorrow!!!

[Tor]

Hey KSC,

Just curious, have you lined up your next competition yet?

Tor

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

There is a NASA meet on Dec 13, but it is way out in West Texas near Amarillo, which is quite a drive for me so I'm not sure that will work. I believe the next meets near me are in February of '09, up near Dallas, which is only 3-4 hours away. Hoping to hop into one of those. If any WABDL meets come up between now and then in my area, I will probably do that too. Either way, I am going to go for new PR's on the Squat, Bench, Dead, and Press in the middle of December. I don't expect the deadlift to move up that much, hoping to hit 500 squat, 400 bench, and 250 press though.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 11-12

General Warm Up -

BB Complexes - many

Workout:

Squats

Warm Up Sets:
10 x 135
5 x 225
3 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 405
Working Sets:
2 x 455 (95% of 1RM)
2 x 455
2 x 455
2 x 455
2 x 455

Weighted Sit Ups

5 x 10

Just like yesterday the goal was 5 x 3 but it just wasn't in the cards this week. Missed my DE Squat workout last week, plus had to take extra rest days due to work and poor planning, so it had been 8 days since the last time I squatted..and that was a deload week. Felt a little detrained coming into this week and it showed. I also haven't been eating the way I should be to support the types of efforts I am expecting from myself in the gym.

[djl236]

Still impressive numbers. I can't wait till I can put up that much weight. You'll get back in the swing of things KSC.

[K.Diesel]

KSC, those are damn good numbers. I know, none of us on this site or other ones like it are ever satisfied with whatever we do in the gym or in a meet, but hey man, that's pretty strong! Especially as a raw lifter. How much do you weigh now, still around 220?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

KSC, those are damn good numbers. I know, none of us on this site or other ones like it are ever satisfied with whatever we do in the gym or in a meet, but hey man, that's pretty strong! Especially as a raw lifter. How much do you weigh now, still around 220?

Thanks fellas.....actually I'm up to around 230-235 right now, which is about 10-15 lbs too much for me. I started a diet a few months ago, and it lasted about a week. I'm in the middle of my heavy weeks right now so it is no time to start adding in cardio and calorie restriction but once I hit some PR's in December, Im gonna back off the weights some, up the conditioning big time for about a month or so and get back down to a lean 210-215. We'll see. I like to eat.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 11-14

Press
Warm Up Sets:
10 x bar
10 x 95
5 x 135
3 x 155
1 x 185
1 x 205
Work Sets:
2 x 225
2 x 225
2 x 225
2 x 225
2 x 225 (95% of 1rm)

Rack Pulls
Warm Up Sets:
10 x 135
5 x 225
3 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 405
1 x 455
Work Set:
3 x 480 (95% of 1RM)

Shrugs
15 x 315
15 x 225 (drop set)

Same story as my other lifts on the presses. shooting for 5 x 3 but could only manage 5 x 2. I feared my deadlifts at 95% would be a total bombout based on my other lifts this week, so I went ahead and just did rack pulls from the below knee position. Disappointed about the presses but 225 for a double is still a PR.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sunday 11-16

Incline Press
Warm up:
10 x 135
3 x 225
1 x 275
1 x 295
Work Sets:
2 x 305
2 x 310
2 x 315
2 x 310
2 x 310

Didn't have time or energy for assistance work today. I drank until about 3 a.m. last night after the UFC fight and had to be up at 8 this morning. The little bit I did eat today was mostly garbage, and everything I ate yesterday, I threw up in the parking lot of the bar. Goal was 5 x 3 with 315 today but like all the other lifts it wasn't in me. I believe the 310 and 315 for 2 are still PR's for me so its okay.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 11-17

DE Box Squat

12 x 2 x 230 (50% 1RM)

Speed Pulls

3 x 1 x 225 (45% of 1RM)
3 x 1 x 250 (50% of 1RM)
4 x 1 x 275 (55% of 1RM)

Stiff Leg Deadlifts (standing on 2 inch raised platform)
5 x 275
5 x 295
5 x 315
5 x 335
5 x 365

Ab Wheel

3 x 5 (stomach still incredibly sore from several days ago-this was all I could do)

*bumped the weight up a bit on speed pulls...never done these about 50% of 1rm, wanted to see how fast 55% went up. Definately a difference as the weight moved a little slower. Seen several of Louie's articles where he recommends up to 60% of 1rm. Maybe I'm just not very explosive but 60% seems like it would be fairly light, but not real fast.
**Haven't done SLDL's in about 3 years but I feel like I need a little more assistance work in my training right now, as the last few weeks have been mostly the core lifts done for sets of 2-5. I actually feel as I'm starting to lose a little muscle mass so a little more volume will help with that before I taper and peak here in the next few weeks.

[Tuesday]

The point of speed sets/DE work isn't just to be fast, but to generate maximum power in the movement. Most of the time you're limited by the movement to a maximum speed, so you can't move very low weights fast enough to generate as much power as you can with heavier weights at a somewhat slower speed. Therefore a heavier weight may feel slower but allow you to generate more power.

For example, if you up the weight from 50% to 55% of your 1RM but it takes 10% longer to lift the weight, you're still making more power at the heavier weight because there was a 10% increase in weight but only a 9.1% drop in velocity. The Sorinex guys have a video of them farting around with a Tendo that illustrates this.

NerEqkveBng

It's probably not worth buying the Tendo, but you could video yourself and count the frames over the range of motion at several weights (just make sure the camera is set to "constant frame rate" instead of "variable frame rate"). Don't worry about measuring the distance and calculating the power exactly. You only care about the relative power, which is easy to calculate.

P=F*d/t=m*g*h/t

Because g (acceleration due to gravity) is constant, and since we can assume h (the distance the bar travels) is constant, we can ignore g and h. We can also substitute the number of frames for t (time to complete the concentric part of the movement), which means we only need m (the weight on the barbell) to be accurate. Rewriting, we get:

relative power = weight / frames

And this is the value you want to maximize.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Interesting. Thanks for the feedback. The DE stuff is still relatively new to me, so this type of info is great. Thanks again.

[Tuesday]

The thing is, DE work isn't all that clearly defined by the Westside guys. They talk about moving the bar as fast as possible, accelerating it through the rep, and that it's better to move the bar faster than to use more weight. But they also say that 50-70% of 1RM is best for this and they're training what's ultimately a slow movement with heavy goddamned weights. So it seems like there are contradictory elements in their description since they don't have much need for absolute speed in their sport.

Since there's a maximum velocity for a given movement, there must also be a maximum weight that can be used in that movement without a drop in the bar speed. This maximum weight for the maximum velocity is what's usually referred to as "speed strength." I might have my head up my ass and think that the max power or "strength speed" stuff is what's meant by DE when they really mean speed strength, but the maximum velocity tends to drop off around 20-30% of 1RM, instead of the 50-70% where the Westside guys recommend DE work be done and maximum power is produced.

But by saying they want the fastest bar speed at the sacrifice of extra weight, it seems like they're trying to do two things at once -- train speed and train power production. But those things are somewhat divergent goals. We might therefore need two classifications for DE work, DE1 for speed strength done at maximum speed and DE2 for strength speed done at maximum power.

If you're into cars, you can also think of it like this: the ME work trains the peak torque the engine generates, the DE2 or strength speed work trains the peak horsepower. They're very related, but not the same thing. The DE1 or speed strength work might equate to raising the red line and the power/torque at red line, which is more CrossFit metcon than Westside. Or I might just be pushing the metaphor too far and be completely wrong about the point of DE work.

The more I think about DE as training for power production, though, the more I wonder if it's a good idea to train the DE stuff so dissimilar to the way the ME stuff is trained and if the usual 1:1 ratio of ME work days to DE work days is ideal. While peak power production can't be a whole lot easier on the body than peak force production, the lighter eccentric part of the lift should make it much easier to recover from.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

The thing is, DE work isn't all that clearly defined by the Westside guys. They talk about moving the bar as fast as possible, accelerating it through the rep, and that it's better to move the bar faster than to use more weight. But they also say that 50-70% of 1RM is best for this and they're training what's ultimately a slow movement with heavy goddamned weights. So it seems like there are contradictory elements in their description since they don't have much need for absolute speed in their sport.

Since there's a maximum velocity for a given movement, there must also be a maximum weight that can be used in that movement without a drop in the bar speed. This maximum weight for the maximum velocity is what's usually referred to as "speed strength." I might have my head up my ass and think that the max power or "strength speed" stuff is what's meant by DE when they really mean speed strength, but the maximum velocity tends to drop off around 20-30% of 1RM, instead of the 50-70% where the Westside guys recommend DE work be done and maximum power is produced.

But by saying they want the fastest bar speed at the sacrifice of extra weight, it seems like they're trying to do two things at once -- train speed and train power production. But those things are somewhat divergent goals. We might therefore need two classifications for DE work, DE1 for speed strength done at maximum speed and DE2 for strength speed done at maximum power.

If you're into cars, you can also think of it like this: the ME work trains the peak torque the engine generates, the DE2 or strength speed work trains the peak horsepower. They're very related, but not the same thing. The DE1 or speed strength work might equate to raising the red line and the power/torque at red line, which is more CrossFit metcon than Westside. Or I might just be pushing the metaphor too far and be completely wrong about the point of DE work.

The more I think about DE as training for power production, though, the more I wonder if it's a good idea to train the DE stuff so dissimilar to the way the ME stuff is trained and if the usual 1:1 ratio of ME work days to DE work days is ideal. While peak power production can't be a whole lot easier on the body than peak force production, the lighter eccentric part of the lift should make it much easier to recover from.

Definately get what you are saying. Unfortunately alot of the literature produced by Louie sometimes contradicts itself on how the DE days should be trained. I guess the best way to understand exactly what to do would be to talk to train with Louie, since his results obviously indicate an understanding of the methods. Being somewhat confused myself after reading everything I could on the Westside method, I went ahead and just tried it out for myself so I could learn for myself what works best. I think for sure it is better to go a little lighter and move the bar fast. I don't do bands and chains and all that stuff so it doesn't get too complicated. If the weight is heavy enough to wear i am straining against it then for me it is to heavy for speed work. For squats I like 50-60% of 1rm, and i'm still playing with speed pulls and DE Benches.

[coldfire]

I found that for me speed stuff doesn't work well, except maybe as a warmup. If the weight is light, it makes me actually deccelerate the weight at the top. i think that going as fast as possible with heavy weights works better. The bar is moving slowly anyway, but it helps to recruit more motor units, if that makes sense.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 11-19

Warm Ups - BB Complex, 5 Rounds

Speed Bench

10 x 3 x 150 (40% of 1rm)

Press

5 x 1 x 210 (felt very very light)

Pull Ups

50 Reps broken over several sets, reps ranged from 12 to 4 per set

High Pulls from hang - trying to hit upperback across rear delts and traps

5 x 10 x 95 lbs (15-20 second rest) Should have used more weight, but who really cares

*Speed Benches were done off the pins set just barely above chest level. Never done them this way before, have always done them ballistically, but I think I like this way better. Feel like it is more applicable to a paused bench.

[Tuesday]

Definately get what you are saying. Unfortunately alot of the literature produced by Louie sometimes contradicts itself on how the DE days should be trained. I guess the best way to understand exactly what to do would be to talk to train with Louie, since his results obviously indicate an understanding of the methods. Being somewhat confused myself after reading everything I could on the Westside method, I went ahead and just tried it out for myself so I could learn for myself what works best. I think for sure it is better to go a little lighter and move the bar fast. I don't do bands and chains and all that stuff so it doesn't get too complicated. If the weight is heavy enough to wear i am straining against it then for me it is to heavy for speed work. For squats I like 50-60% of 1rm, and i'm still playing with speed pulls and DE Benches.

Too true, Louie definitely has a brilliant approach, even if it's not clear what that approach is exactly other than "work fast half the time, work heavy the other half." I've sent the Westside guys an email on the subject, maybe they'll be able to clarify.

Anyway, I've had better results with the power stuff I described in my first post than I did training by following the DE recommendations, even though doing it the Westside way felt like the bar moved faster. My DE weights tend to be a little above 70% and though I can tell I move slower compared to the lighter weights, I never feel like I'm straining or grinding the weight and my recovery is good.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 11-21

Warm ups - BB Complexes

Squats
Warm Up Sets:
10 x 135
5 x 225
3 x 315
1 x 385
Work Sets:
1 x 425 (90% 1rm)
1 x 425
1 x 425
1 x 425
1 x 425

Weighted Sit Ups
5 x 10

Weighted Side Bends with DB's
3 x 10 per side

Heavy Prowler Pushes (Just received it the other day from EliteFTS, first time to use it was tonite)

5 trips of about 20-30 yards. Didn't use much for weight, but the friction on the concrete made it pretty hard to push. Didn't measure off the distance, so that is just an estimate. Pretty fun. Need to find a better place to push than the parking lot though. Almost got run over by a woman digging through her purse on the center console. Suprise suprise.

[TravisRussellDC]

We use a prowler occasionally when we train the strongman events at the warehouse. It seems like good work and reminds me a lot of pushing the sled in football practice. Of course, we push it over about 60 feet of rubber mats. Talk about friction! :D

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sunday 11-23

Warm Up - Vacummed my gym. The floor was dirty.

Close Grip Bench
Warm Up Sets
1 billion x bar
10 x 135
5 x 225
1 x 275
1 x 295
1 x 315
Work Sets (all sets paused for two count)
1 x 335
1 x 335
1 x 335
1 x 335
1 x 335

Flat DB Bench Press
3 x 6 -10 x embarrassed to post weight

Seated Cable Rows
6 x 10 x 4 plates (I have a plate loaded cable row machine)
-Should have done BB Rows but was feeling especially lazy today so seated rows was the best I could manage. Working out on Sunday almost always results in these types of workouts.

[djl236]

KSC, I don't mean to hijack your thread but I have a question for you. I've PMed it as to not totally hijack your threat. I'd appreciate your input. Thanks.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 11-24

Quick and easy. Everything felt great.

DE Box Squat
1 x 2 x 225
1 x 2 x 245
10 x 2 x 265

Speed Pulls
2 x 1 x 225
2 x 1 x 245
6 x 1 x 275 (felt really light this week = good thing)

Leg Raises
3 x 15 - why even bother

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 11-26

Warm Up - Prowler Push - back and forth up and down my gym floor which is only about 15yds long. Alternated between high handles and low handles, 10 minutes with medium weight

Press
5 x 135
1 x 155
1 x 185
1 x 215
1 x 245 - P - Fuckin - R
Fail x 250

Speed Bench (off of pins about 1 inch above chest)

10 x 3 x 175 (45% 1rm)

Pull Ups

50 Reps broken over several sets

DB Tricep Ext

4 x 8-10

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 11/29

Attended the Basic Barbell Cert with Mark Rippetoe. Spent all day learning about and practicing squats, presses, and bench presses. Good shit.

During the the course of the day at the cert:

Squats- worked up to a set of 5 at 275. Nice and easy. Just had to demonstrate we knew how to squat the Rippetoe way. Turns out, Rip wants me squatting with a very narrow stance. That'll take some getting used to.

Presses - worked up to an easy set of 5 with 185.

Bench Presses - Did an easy set of 5 with 295, then after the cert was over I did 3 easy singles with 325.

After the cert we went out and drank and Rip gave me a hard time for drinking Bud Light. Awesome day.

Day 2

Spent the whole day learning about and practicing deadlifts and cleans.

During the course of the day I worked up to a moderate set of 5 with 365 on the deadlift.

Rip said I had a good clean but didn't like my poor wrist flexibility in the rack position so he recommended that I just stick with snatches. So I worked up to a moderately heavy triple on the snatch which got good grades. Don't remember the weight.

Very very good course. Everybody can learn something from this, even a seasoned lifter and trainer. If you get the chance to attend, do it.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tuesday 12/02

This week and next week are basically deloading or tapering weeks and I will be going for PR's the weekend of the 13th, on the squat, bench, and deadlift. I hit my press PR last week and will only be training it light the next few weeks.

Speed Bench Press (off pins 1 inch over chest)

10 x 3 x 185 (50% 1rm)

Close Grip Rack Lockouts (from mid range, about 4-5 inches over chest??)

3 x 225
3 x 275
1 x 315
1 x 335
1 x 365
1 x 385

Press

3 x 10-12 x 135

Pulldowns

3 x 10 x 4 plates (my pulldown machine is plate loaded)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thursday 12/04

Squats

Worked up to 3 singles with 365. Starting to get what feels like the flu, so I didn't push it today with alot of volume, weight, or assistance work.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sunday 12 - 07

Bench Testing Day!!!! - Time to see if this program has been worth a shit

Bench Press
10 x 135
5 x 225
1 x 275
1 x 315
1 x 335
1 x 365
1 x 385 10 lb PR!!
0 x 400 Fail

6 x 315 (PR with 315 for reps)

Incline Press
12 x 225 (PR with 225 for reps on incline, I think?)
8 x 225
8 x 225

BB Row
3 x 15 x 135, 45 sec rest between sets

I guess I'm happy with my 385 Bench. It actually went up fairly easy which is why I made the jump to 400. I think I maybe could have got 390 or 395 but I got overzealous. I actually tried 390 after the 400 miss and it fell through my chest which means I burned my nervous system out at 400. Possibly could have had 315 for 7 or 8 but I started to get that sharp pain in my shoulder again so I didn't push it. No need to ruin a good day with an injury. Not sure why I even did the BB Rows, wasn't even enough weight to get a pump but I felt like I need to do a little pulling to keep things balanced.

Scheduled the PR's a little earlier than I had planned because I am going to be out of town this weekend. I actually wanted to do a meet this next weekend to test out my PR's but the closest one I could find was in Hereford, TX which is about 12-13 hours away from here. Then on top of that, I got an invite to my buddy's deer lease this weekend which is not equipped with racks, bars, and benches, so I hit the bench today, I'll squat tomorrow or Tuesday and Deadlift on Thursday.

[Joe Costello]

Hey KSC,

I've been following your log. Nice job with staying on task and hitting those PR's!

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thanks, I've gotten a little off schedule right here at the end of the training cycle, which kinda sucks but still got PR's on both my bench and my press. Squats are tomorrow and deads on Thursday, hopefully there will be PR's there as well.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

SQUAT PR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warm Ups

BB Complexes - BB Row x 10, Powersnatch x 5, OHS x 5, GM x 5, BN Press x 5
3 Rounds

Squats
10 x 135
5 x 225
1 x 275
1 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 405
1 x 455 - tipped forward on toes and felt real heavy
1 x 480 (PR)- back in groove and went up pretty easy
1 x 500 (PR)- belt only, no wraps, no suit - got it on video so I know depth was good.

[beastmaster103]

Impressive!!

Just a question for ya...and I think I know the answer already, but I'm going to ask anyways. Since you have eclipsed the 500 mark on squats, I'd like to ask you a question about your general feeling - mentally & physically - when attempting PR's. I've only hit 255, but I know my depth was good - it was a major struggle to achieve 3 sets of 5 reps. I'm assuming that this will be the norm each and every time I go for a PR for squats.

Is that the case for you? Just figured I'd ask someone else that was once at this point in the weight...a long time ago.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Not sure what your question is actually? Are you wanting to know about squat depth or just in general how hard PR squats are physically and mentally?

[manchild]

where's the vid? I must see it lol

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Vid is on my cell phone. My phone is old so I am trying to figure out a way to upload it to the computer.

[beastmaster103]

Not sure what your question is actually? Are you wanting to know about squat depth or just in general how hard PR squats are physically and mentally?

I probably should have worded the question better. I was asking about the physical/mental difficulty for squatting during PR's. For me, at least, since this is the first time I've been able to execute 255, with a full squat and the right form, I have noticed how tough it is to bang out the reps on the PR set.

I had attempted to squat somewhere around 315 or so a few years ago, but my form sucked and I was nowhere near parallel, let alone an inch or two below parallel. I think I hurt my back the next week and I am surprised it took that long for an injury to occur.

From here on out, until I get to a point where I am unable to continue the straight line weight increase, (and modify the workout to intermediate status) I'm assuming that the mental/physical feeling of an extreme work load, similar to deads, will continue during the squat PR's.

I hope that makes some sort of sense...at least it did when I typed it on my computer...

[Locutus]

I'm assuming that the mental/physical feeling of an extreme work load, similar to deads, will continue during the squat PR's.

Make sure you're eating enough and getting enough sleep. If you're not progressing at least 5lbs per week on squats, it's time to move to intermediate.

Anyways, to answer your "question," I think maximum effort days, where you're trying for one heavy set, are EASY. It's much easier to get pumped up for a 1x5 vs a 3x5 or 5x5.

It's all the work that leads up to the PR that can drain you mentally.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

PR sets of anything are hard which is what makes them PR's. They are definately physically demanding and also mentally, especially squats. Even if you have spotters and/or a rack to squat in it is still fairly nerve racking to squat down with an extremely heavy weight that you may not be able to get out from underneath. Deads are not the same...if you miss it just goes back to the floor. Benches too...the weight still pins you down if you miss, but not in a way that heavy squats do. I still get nervous before a big set of squats whether it be 5x5 or a 1RM.

[beastmaster103]

Make sure you're eating enough and getting enough sleep. If you're not progressing at least 5lbs per week on squats, it's time to move to intermediate.

Anyways, to answer your "question," I think maximum effort days, where you're trying for one heavy set, are EASY. It's much easier to get pumped up for a 1x5 vs a 3x5 or 5x5.

It's all the work that leads up to the PR that can drain you mentally.

5 lbs/week? I've been progressing 5 lbs/workout (3 times/week, if I have the time...it's been more like 2.5 times per week), since I am still at the beginner level. I haven't purchased any microweights to modify the weight increases, but I think that may be a good idea in the near future. Maybe I'm paying too much attention to the strength standards chart that Rip has in his book. For my bodyweight, 225, I think an "intermediate" level of strength is a 305 squat.

I'll be attempting the 260 tonight/tomorrow as the next PR, for 3 sets of 5. Hopefully all goes well. For some reason, I feel like my squat is really weak. I don't think it should be, though...

[beastmaster103]

PR sets of anything are hard which is what makes them PR's. They are definately physically demanding and also mentally, especially squats. Even if you have spotters and/or a rack to squat in it is still fairly nerve racking to squat down with an extremely heavy weight that you may not be able to get out from underneath. Deads are not the same...if you miss it just goes back to the floor. Benches too...the weight still pins you down if you miss, but not in a way that heavy squats do. I still get nervous before a big set of squats whether it be 5x5 or a 1RM.

Well, that makes me feel a bit better. It is nervewracking when you lift the bar off of the rack on a PR attempt. I don't have the nervousness with the press or dead. The bench is a minor concern, but I'm at such a small weight (215) that it is no big deal right now. I'll stick with it and if I stall out after two resets (I really haven't reset as of yet, just had to retry the same weight), I will change the squat workout to the intermediate level. I think I still have a few more months in me...and I want to get to three plates on the squat.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thursday Dec 11

Forgot to post this last week.

Deadlift PR
1 x 525

Upper back work afterwards - pull ups, rows, etc, don't remember specifics.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tuesday 12-16

Scheduled to do a meet on January 10th. Today was first day of meet workup. Don't have alot of time to prepare. Hoping to just hold onto PR's from last week.

Speed Bench

10 x 3 x 155 (40% 1rm) each rep paused on chest for 2 count. Liked this alot.

Press

5 x 5 x 185 (75% of 1rm)

Weighted Pull Ups

5 x 5 - these were weak today for some reason

Close Grip Pulldowns

5 x 8-10

[LCN]

I have a question about the sport of powerlifting, which it looks like you can give a good answer to.

How can a natural powerlifter be competitive with steroid-users?

Like in any other individual sport (track & field, swimming, whatever), my impression is that at the highest level a steroid user will beat a non-steroid user every time.

It seems like the only way this could not be true in powerlifting is if:

(1) the competition is not nearly as intense as it could be in some circuits or geographical areas or however it works, or

(2) the steroid users tend to be in higher weight-classes.

Just seems very strange to me that in powerlifting of all sports non-steroid users have a chance against steroid-users. Or do they have testing at some events or something?

[Locutus]

Well, it's more like there are a billion different federations. Some of which are tested. You set records in the fed you compete in, not across the sport as a whole.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Some events test some don't. Even in tested meets you will have assholes who will use drugs and try and cheat the system. All things being equal a steroid user will beat a non steroid user. However, not all things are always equal. Lots of guys use anabolics because they can't get results any other way, usually to a lack of knowledge in how to train. A productive program that manipulates the bodies own hormones, along with an anabolic diet can produce some amazing results in a drug free trainee.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 12-17

Speed Box Squats

12 x 2 x 250 (50% of 1rm)

Speed Deadlift

10 x 1 x 315 (60% of 1rm)

Deadlift

1 x 5 x 405 (75% of 1rm)

Weighted Sit Ups

3 x 10

*First time doing speed pulls with 60%. I was doing them with between 40-50% 1rm but after some feedback from some others on the forum and additional research of my own, I'm gonna try a high % this cycle and see if it pushes my DL up. Suprisingly, 60% felt like it went up pretty fast. Hope this helps cuz my DL needs major help.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 12-19

Going out of town early tomorrow so I had to squat today instead of tomorrow. Not sure if it was going on one day's rest since my last lowerbody day or if it was just a bad day but my squat workout went horribly.

Squats
10 x 135
5 x 225
1 x 315
1 x 365

5 x 405 (80%-felt extremely heavy and slow)
1 x 405 (racked weight called it a day on squats)

Bench Press

5 x 5 x 310 (80% - these felt heavy too but at least I got them)

Lat Pulldowns

3 x 10

*Squats should have been 5 x 5 but it just wasn't there today. Maybe should have started out this cycle at 70 or 75%. Oh well, live and learn.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tuesday 12-23

Speed Bench

10 x 3 x 175 (45% 1rm) - paused on chest for two count

Press

5 x 5 x 195 (80% of 1rm)

Pull Ups

30 Reps broken over several sets

Weighted Dips

3 x 6-8

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 12-24

Speed Box Squats

6 x 2 x 275 (55% 1rm)
6 x 2 x 275 + doubled up yellow bands (added these on a whim)

Rack Pulls
5 x 225
1 x 315
1 x 405
1 x 455
1 x 495
10 x 365

First time squatting with the bands. I have no idea what the band tension added to the bar. The bands I have are not the same brand westside uses I don't think, but they work well. I really liked the effect of the bands and I think I will incorporate them more often.

I can't figure out the deal with my rack pulls. I feel like I'm stronger on regular deads than on these. Seems to me like I oughta be able to rack pull alot more than I DL, but it just isn't the case. Something I probably oughta address at some point if I want to get my DL up I guess.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 12-26

Bench Press

5 x 5 x 325 (85% 1rm) went up nice and easy. PR for 5 x 5

Lying Triceps Ext.

3 x 8-12

BB Curls

3 x 10

*bench took alot out of me and I simply ran out of time, so I skipped the BB Rows I had planned and did some quick arm shit just to remind myself that they're still there.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 12-27

Squats

5 x 325
5 x 350
5 x 375
5 x 405
4 x 425 - maybe could have gotten five but pussed out big time

Explosive Good Mornings

3 x 8 x 185

Weighted Side Bends

3 x 10

*Another poor performance on squats, for the second workout in a row. I'm pretty sure the reason is that I didn't get enough of a deload after my 1RM attempt a few weeks ago and I started the cycle too aggressively. It was a mistake to think I would go 5 x 5 x 80% on week 1 and 5 x 5 x 85% on week 2. I tried to hedge a little bit this week and just work up to one heavy set of 5 but it just wasn't in me today. Big deload over the next few weeks to try and recoup for Jan. 10th.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tues 12-30

Press

5 x 5 x 210 (85%) - PR for 5 x 5

Speed Bench Press

10 x 3 x 185 with bands

1 x 15 x 225

Pull Ups

30 Reps

Pulldowns

3 x 10

[K.Diesel]

Don't be too hard on yourself on those squats. I know strength is relative, and everyone here wants to do their absolute best, but I can't wait for the day when I can call a top set of 4 at 425 a "poor performance". You're strong as an ox!! And I'm scared to see one of your "good days" :)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

At least I can kinda pin point the reasons for why I had a couple of off workouts. That is less frustrating then when you are expecting a great workout and it turns to shit. And, my other lifts are doing well so it isn't a systematic thing.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 12/31

Speed Box Squats

3 x 2 x 295 (60% 1rm)
6 x 2 x 295 added bands
1 x 2 x 295 took bands off, felt really fast at the top

Speed Pulls

1 x 275
6 x 1 x 315

Deadlifts - to test speed

1 x 405
1 x 465 (85% 1rm)

Abs - stared at the sit up board for a few minutes, sipped on some water, and then rationalized that since it was a holiday I don't need to do them.

[MAD9692]

KSC- Whats ME and DE mean/stand for?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

ME = Maximum Effort

DE = Dynamic Effort

These are both terms that Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell (a great powerlifting gym/club/team) has kinda coined to describe his training methods. In a nutshell, Westisde has a system of training where you have a maximum effort day for the bench press and a max effort day for the squat/deadlift. One these days you pick the bench/squat/DL or a related barbell exercise (like inclines, good mornings, rack pulls, etc) and go as heavy as possible on that movement, trying to set a new personal record. Later in the week you have a Dynamic Effort day for each lift. On this day you put a light weight on the bar and move it as fast as possible for multiple sets of 2 or 3. This is an extremely general explanation and you can find more in depth writing about this system here:

http://www.westside-barbell.com/articles.htm

www.elitefitness.com/forum/weight-training-weight-lifting/westside-barbell-basic-template-469668.html

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thurs 1/01/09

Had to get something in on the first day of the New Year, right?

Conditioning

8 x 100m sprints (about 80% of max effort speed)

New Year's Resolutions:


Squat 500 with a narrow stance. Got it with a wide stance, now I want to do it Oly style.
Deadlift between to 550-575
Bench 405, Press 275
Do a Crossfit Total meet
Figure out a way to make more money without selling out in the S&C business

Make it to the track at least once per week for a dedicated conditioning workout
.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 1-02

Bench Press - deload

4 x 5 x 295 (75% 1rm)

BB Rows (from floor)

5 x 10 x 185 - light

Tricep Pressdowns

3 x 12

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sat 1/03

Squats (tapering)

1 x 315
1 x 335
3 x 1 x 365

Explosive Goodmornings

3 x 6 x 205

Weighted Sit Ups

3 x 10

[Locutus]

Does the Pendlay article you read happen to be here?: http://stronglifts.com/forum/lessons-from-glenn-pendlay-t8840.html

Medhi has compiled several of Glenn's writings in that thread.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 1/7

Last workout before meet:

Squats

3 x 1 x 315

Bench 3 x 1 x 275

Real light weight. Just working on speed and technique.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Not a terrible day, but not a great one either. I took first place in the Unequipped (RAW) 242 division, but didn't hit any major PRs.

Here is what happened:

Squat
1st - 405
2nd - 455
3rd - 485

Bench
1st 365
2nd 395 - miss
3rd - 395 - miss

Deadlift
1st - 455
2nd - 505
3rd - 520 - got the weight up and locked it out, but got 2 redlights because of a slight hitch on my left side. bar went down for a split second before lockout and cost me the lift. No big deal though, its still a meet PR and I locked the weight out pretty easily.

Commentary-

Squats were good. I could have hit 500 again, I think, but I underestimated myself a bit based on the crappiness of the last several squat workouts of the training cycle, and so I hedged at 485. It went up pretty easy so I'm happy with that.

365 on the bench felt real light, and led me to make too aggressive of a jump to 395 on my second attempt. I hit 385 in the gym several weeks ago, and was hoping to best that today, but it just didn't happen. I should have hit 385 on my second attempt and then maybe tried 390 on my third. Oh well. That happens.

Pretty happy with deads. That is a meet PR for me. Gym PR is 525 but that lift was done fresh, not after max effort squats, so 520 I was happy with. Even though I got redlighted, that was based on a minute technicality. I got the weight pretty smoothly, so in my training log it goes down as a lift.

They held a damn good bar-b-que for us afterwards too which was cool. Few days off then back at it again.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

First workout back after the meet, and the start of the new training cycle.

Tues 1/13 - Bench + Assistance

Warm Up - 10 mins light sled dragging in parking lot

Bench Press 5 x 8-12 x (60%)

12 x 230
12 x 230
10 x 230
8 x 230
8 x 230

Incline Bench Press

12 x 185
8 x 185
8 x 185

BB Rows

5 x 10 x 185

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 1-14

Squats + Assistance

Squats (narrow stance w/ squat shoes)

5 x 10 x 295

Goodmornings

3 x 8 x 205

GHD Sit Ups

3 x 10 -PR in doing abs with the lowest amount of motivation ever

Been a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time since I've done that much squat volume. Legs were jello for the GM's. Can't wait for the soreness to set it tomorrow and the next day.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 1/16

Legs are SORE!!!!!!!!!

Warm Up - 15 minutes of sled dragging in parking lot, almost continuous

Press

5 x 8-12 x 145 (60%)

DB Lateral Raises

5 x 15

Overhead Tricep Extensions

5 x 8-12

Kind of a little bodybuilding type workout today, goal was just to get the high volume presses in so everything else is just fluff. Still debating how I want to arrange my training for this cycle. Going back and forth between an upper/lower split and a full body routine.

I definately got a feel for my weak points during the meet, and one of them is my upperback. I need to be training it harder and with more volume than I currently do. I have a feeling that is part of what is holding my DL back. This cycle I need to be doing alot more BB Rows and Shrugs. This will help my leverage on the bench as well.

Back in the BBing days I used to have a "back day" and I know my back was much bigger then, and I'm pretty sure it was stronger too. I'm considering re-instating the back day somewhere in my training week. It used to look somethng like this:

Pull Ups 3-5 x Failure
BB Rows 3-5 x 8-10
Rack Deads 2-3 x 5-6
Close Grip Pulldowns 2 x 10-12
Shrugs 3 x 10-12

[Joe Costello]

KSC,

I definitely understand your problem about whether to do an upper/lower split or a 3 day/week full body. I'm in the exact same scenario. I too had a bodybuilding period in life and used to compete quite often. I remember also feeling that my back was bigger and stronger when I had a separate back day. My problem is that once I tried the full body workouts a few years ago, I found out I really like the feeling of working the entire body each time. But, I definitely miss some of the "size" effects of the bodybuilding routine.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I like the fullbody split the best too, it is just very time consuming and very demanding once you reach a certain level of strength. You definately need to be in good condition to train hard with that system. When I use fullbody systems, my Monday workout is typically squat, bench, row. By the time I get to the rows, I'm often so drained that it is hard for me really hit the exercise as hard as it should be hit.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sat. 1/17

"Back Day"

Warm Up - 15 mins continuous sled dragging in parking lot. Trying to get this damn soreness outta my legs. (don't think I'm gonna squat 5 x 10 again :-)

Wide Grip Pull Ups

5 sets to failure

BB Rows (from floor)

3 x 5 x 245 - I've gotten weaker on these as I suspected.
1 x 10 x 205

Powershrugs (out of rack from midthigh height)

3 x 8 x 315 (felt very light and explosive)

Close Grip Pulldowns

3 x 12

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Okay, writing last week off as kind of a fuck around week. I was gonna do a few weeks of "bodybuilder" type training but have decided against it. The better idea is to just go ahead and start back on my normal routine but with light weights and short rest intervals.

I'm gonna go with a three day per week full body gig again, but I need to get in shape first to do it. The big deload before a meet kinda zaps your work capacity a bit so I'm not quite ready to jump into a fullbody routine again with heavy weights.

I will be doing a meet here in Houston in either May or July. My weakest lift is my deadlift so I need to work on my hams and upperback pretty hard as well as my conditioning so I'm not dragging ass by the time I get to the rows and chins at the end of my workouts.


Tuesday 1/20

Warm Up - Sled Dragging in parking lot - 500yds in 8:38

Squats (60% 1rm)

5 x 5 x 300 lbs (45 sec. rest)

Bench Press (60% 1rm)

5 x 5 x 230 (45 sec. rest)

BB Rows

5 x 5 x 225 (1 min rest)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thurs 1-22

Warm Up

500 yds sled dragging in parking lot - 9:38

Powerclean + Press (60% of press 1rm)

5 x 5 x 145 (90 second rest)

Deadlifts (60% 1rm)

5 x 5 x 315 (60 second rest)

Sit Ups

3 x 15

Today was again, a light workout with short rest periods. Emphasis is still on trying to get in good shape and build work capacity back up. Felt good today. I was sweating pretty good and my heart rate was up the whole workout. Adding a full powerclean before each pressing rep was a good idea to increase the metabolic demands of the exercise.

Here is the plan for the next few weeks:

Week 1 (this week) - 5 x 5 x 60% short rest intervals
Week 2 - 5 x 5 x 65%, short rest intervals
Week 3 - 5 x 5 x 70%
Week 4 - 5 x 5 x 75%
Week 5 - 5 x 5 x 80%
Week 6 - 3 x 5 x 65% - Deload
Week 7 - 5 x 5 x 85%

Additionally, I will be dragging the sled before each workout as a warm up and as a way to build up my condtioning and my hamstrings. On the weekends, I'm gonna try and get down to the track for some mid distance sprint work as well.

Here is the plan I intend to follow:

Tues -
Squats
Bench Press
Upperback - mostly BB Rows, but maybe some DB Rows, or T-Bar rows as well

Thurs-
Press
Powershrugs
Deadlift variant - regular, rack pulls, snatch grip, SLDL, Goodmornings, etc
Abs

Saturday -
Front Squats or Box Squats
Incline or DB Bench/Incline
Pull Ups or Pulldowns or combo of both

Sunday - Track Intervals

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sat 1/24

Warm Up - Sled Dragging in parking lot, 500yds in 8:17

Front Squats
15 x bar
5 x 135
3 x 185
1 x 225
1 x 275
1 x 295
1 x 315
1 x 335
1 x 350 PR

5 x 5 x 205 (60% 1rm), 45 seconds rest

Incline DB Press

3 x 8-10

Pull Ups

5 x 5

My front squat SUCKS!

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 1/26

Warm Ups - 500 yds sled dragging in parking lot, just under 9 minutes.

Squats

5 x 5 x 325 (65% 1rm) 90 sec rest between sets.

BB Rows (from floor)

5 x 5 x 245

Superset with

Bench Press (65% 1rm)

5 x 5 x 250

No rest after BB Rows, 30 sec rest after bench presses. Did all ten sets in about 5-6 minutes, I think.

BB Curls

4 x 10

Starting to feel like I'm getting back into pretty good shape. Haven't had any carbs (other than from vegetables) in about a week, and I always have more energy once I get acclimated to operating on low carbs. I was flying through the workout today. Sled felt light and fast and everything else did too. Even had enough energy to hit some curls after the workout!

Squats felt ROCK SOLID today. Lately I have been inconsistent on my technique and form trying to change some things up, but I finally just quit overthinking it and squatted in the manner that feels natural to me. And I've finally ended the debate with myself.....I don't like WLing shoes for squats. I like my Chucks dammit, and I'm through switching back and forth trying to get comfortable in the WLing shoes.

[K.Diesel]

KSC, quick ? about the WL shoes. Have you (or anyone else reading this) tried them for deads, and if so, how do you like them? I read an interview w/Rip on elitefts about using them for deads to maximize quad involvement on the start of the pull, and as usual, his logic made sense to me. Thinking about getting some to try it for myself, but am curious on others' experience w/it.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Yes, WLing shoes do activate more quad involvement in the pull off the floor for deads. I don't like them because they also increase the distance the bar has to travel as compared to a flat soled shoe like CTs, and if the heel is too big then they pitch you forward a bit (at least they did that to me).

I worked on my DL form at the BB Cert with Rip, and the biggest thing that helped me was narrowing my stance and pointing my toes out more to increase the involvment of my adductors.

I've tried the DL and the Squat with the WLing shoes, and I just like the feel of a flat soled shoe better. I get the arguement but for me the proof is in the pudding, I lift more weight, more comfortably in Chucks then I do in WLing shoes.

[K.Diesel]

Thanks for addressing that. I've been using Chucks myself for the past year and like them alot, but will use anything legal, moral and affordable for a few more pounds on the bar :). May experiment w/other shoes if I can find some inexpensive ones but I don't want to blow alot of $ on something that is good in theory but may not work in application (lifting or otherwise).

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I know lots of people swear by them, and every WLer in the world wears them so you know they work. Personally, I think they are probably better for a close stance olympic squat or front squat, but if you squat with a wider stance, like most PLer's do, then I think flat sole is better. Just my opinion, and I'm not really qualified to be an authority on anything.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 1-28

Light Squats (45% 1rm) - 60 sec rest

5 x 5 x 225

Clean and Press (Powerclean followed by strict press), 65% 1RM, 90 sec rest

5 x 5 x 160

Deadlift (65% 1rm) - 90 sec rest

5 x 5 x 340

Another light day working on building work capacity for the heavier weeks coming up. I need to be able to get through those workouts in a reasonable amount of time so I'm doing my best to get in shape for heavy 5x5 training, by using light weights with short rest periods, trying to keep my heart rate elevated for the whole workout.

Threw in some light squats today to reinforce the good technique from Monday, felt good again today, I might keep this light squat day in here for the duration of the training cycle. This is the last week of doing the clean and press. Next week I'll be going back to just presses, but I'll be powershrugging before or after my deadlifts. I'll have to see how one effects the other.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I have been working on a project for quite some time based on the amount of PM's I get from the strengthmill forum asking about program design and advice on current programs. I've put together kind of a little manual with all the different types of programs for different types of training goals, and was sure to cover the questions that I get asked about most.

Everything that I have put into the manual are programs that I have either used with myself or my clients and athletes and have produced positive results.

Now, let me be very clear in saying that I am not making any artificial claims about my level of expertise, etc. I have trained exactly one professional athlete, a few D1 college athletes, dozens of D2/3 and high school athletes, and hundreds of ordinary folks ranging in all levels of abilities, goals, age groups, etc.

I myself am a lifter but not anything special - below parallel squat of 500 (belt only), deadlift 525, raw bench 385, press - 250, and can clean about 285.

That being said, I do think that I am a pretty good coach and have gotten quite good at getting my athletes big, strong, and fast fairly efficiently. I stand behind everything I have put together as backed by science and practical experience.

I am a strength and conditioning professional and I feel somewhat obligated to provide this text, both to educate those who want to learn and earn income for my family.

I think just about anyone could benefit from the programs I lay out. The programs provided are "cookie cutters" meaning they are very specific. I've laid out several 12 week programs that detail every set and rep and intensity range for each exercise. Obviously this stuff can be modified if need be and suggestions are given on how to do so. Even experienced lifters can probably borrow some ideas from the text for their own training.

In closing, the text is being submitted now for publishing, binding, etc and should be available in a few weeks.

Trying to get a feel if anyone on the board would be interested in such a product??

Let me know, by replying here in the journal.

[MAD9692]

Hi KSC- I would be very interested. I think there are quite a few of us here that enjoy what we learned from Rip and SS that would also like to add some hypertrophy to the mix. Looking at your logs, it looks like you always throw in some BB movements. Like it or not some of us are vain and although we dont want to go and compete as a BB (cause thats gay) we want to look like a BB. (sort of) I think alot of guys are already mixing SS with extra BB type of work. It would be cool if we could have a plan that actually makes sense, and from someone that knows what the fuck there talking about. Also, going to the Gym only 3 days a week gets boring quick.
Thats my 2-cents.

[Joe Costello]

It sounds like something I'd be interested in. Thanks Andy.

[Locutus]

I'd be interested too. You could call it Practical Programming: The Lost Chapters..

[coldfire]

Count me in.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 1-30

Started out with front squats and then the old hip flexor tendonitis started flaring up real bad during my warm up sets. I felt it alot last week for whatever reason. Front squats were originally what caused this condition and now, even when I am not letting my knees slide forward at the bottom it seems to come back from time to time. I tried to push through it today, but it was getting pretty bad so I switched over to my normal wider stance back squat which does not aggravate the condition as much; this made for three back squat sessions this week.

Squats

5 x 5 x 325 (65% 1rm)

DB Incline Press

3 x 8-12

Pull Ups

5 sets to failure

I was planning on moving super fast through this one again to keep the heart rate up and work on my conditioning but I was training two clients at the time that had to reschedule at the last minute. These two ladies are pretty self sufficient once I get them going, but in the interest of being a professional, I couldn't completely ignore them during the session so it slowed me down quite a bit.

As a side note, I put them through a pretty good CF Workout:

500 meter Row
20 Heavy Kettlebell Swings
15 Dips

3 rounds for time

The row and the swings back to back are a vicious little combo

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 2/2

Squats

5 x 5 x 350 (70% 1rm)

Bench Press

5 x 5 x 275 (70% 1rm)

BB Rows (from floor)

5 x 5 x 250

Nothing eventful from this one. First real training week of the cycle, as I really don't treat anything under 70% of 1rm to be strength training. Everything felt pretty light and smooth.

[Dave I]

I have been working on a project for quite some time based on the amount of PM's I get from the strengthmill forum asking about program design and advice on current programs. I've put together kind of a little manual with all the different types of programs for different types of training goals, and was sure to cover the questions that I get asked about most.

I'd be interested as well.

-Cheers

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 2-04

Powercleans (for the hell of it)

3 x 135
3 x 155
3 x 185
3 x 205
3 x 225

Press (cleaned first rep of each set)

5 x 5 x 175 (70% of 1rm)

Deadlifts (standing on 100 lb plates for increased ROM and quad involvement)

1 x 5 x 365 (70% 1rm)


Pretty easy workout. Cleans felt really slow for some reason. Legs felt kinda like jello today and I just didn't feel real explosive on the second pull so I called it quits at 225, since cleans aren't part of my program anyways.

Presses and deadlifts both felt really light.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Fri 2/6

Powersnatch - done light, as a warm up, and to work on technique

5 x 2 x 135

Box Squats

12 x 2 x 255 (50% 1rm) - 30-45 sec rest

Incline Press

5 x 5 x 245 - light and easy, 60 sec rest between sets

Pull Ups x 50 reps

Reverse Hyperextensions

3 x 10

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Book has been printed and I have a copy being mailed to me today. Once I review the book myself to make sure everything is good to go, then I will post the link where you can get it if you are interested. Thanks.

[coldfire]

Hey KSC,

I have a question about box squats. Do you use them only as DE exercise or have you tried doing them for 5x5 or maybe ME? What height is the box?

Thanks for your help.

Waiting for the book :)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I have done them for max effort and it seems my box squat at parallel is about on par with my regular raw squat. The most I have done off the box is 475 and that was when I was squatting about 465.

It seems my raw squat should be a bit higher than the box squat, but I think the discrepancy is due to the fact that the box I used was right at parallel and my raw squat is below parallel.

I felt ALOT of pressure on my patella tendon during the max effort box squat, so much so that I decided against making them a regular part of my training. I know alot of guys do alot of ME box squatting, but I was real uncomfortable with the feeling on my patella and I figured the risk probably wasn't worth it.

I have never done them for 5x5 but I want to. In fact, before the start of this cycle, I was debating that but decided to stick with the DE stuff for one more cycle, since it seems to have worked last time in driving up my squat.

The box I have always used is 12" which puts me right at parallel. I just recently started training at another gym instead of the one I own, and they have a 10 inch box and I squatted off that for the first time a few nights ago. I really liked the extra depth and am excited to see if it helps.

[coldfire]

Cool. Thanks for all the info. For someone who is new to box squats, would you recommend to add it as DE movement and stay with regular squats for everything else?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Cool. Thanks for all the info. For someone who is new to box squats, would you recommend to add it as DE movement and stay with regular squats for everything else?

Thats what I did. Currently I raw squat on Monday for 5x5, and DE Box Squat on Friday for 12 x 2 (50-60% 1rm). I think it is a mistake for raw lifters to box squat exclusively. You get used to sitting back and feeling for that box and then get screwed up when it gets taken away. This is just what I have heard from a few people who have abandoned free squats for box squats. I myself have never exclusively used box squats so I can't really speak authoritatively on the subject. Equipped squatters may have had a different experience with the boxes.

[coldfire]

Thanks KSC. I was thinking about a template for the Texas method with raw squat for 5x5 on Monday, DE box squat on Wednesday and rotating ME squats (front squat, box squat, regular squat) on Friday.

Thanks for your help.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

You might try something like this if you want to incorporate ME, 5x5, and DE:

Weeks 1-3

Mon - 5 x 5
Weds - 2 x 5
Fri - 12 x 2, DE Box Squat
(50-55-60%)

Weeks 4-6

Mon - 12 x 2, DE Box Squat (50-55-60)
Weds - 2 x 5
Friday - 3 RM, 2RM, 1RM

Repeat Cycle.

Damn, you know that just might work pretty fucking good. I've never run that exact cycle, but I bet it works well. This borders on advanced programming but it would probably still be very effective. The three weeks of 5x5 and DE would set the stage for some good PR's in weeks 4-6.

I shoulda put that in the book.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 2-9

Squats

5 x 5 x 375 (75% 1rm)

Bench Press

5 x 5 x 295 (75% 1rm)

BB Rows (from floor)

3 x 10 x 225

Reverse Hypers

1 x 10 - gassed out

Only slept like 2 hours last night, didn't eat my first meal till almost 11, then didn't get to the gym until 8 p.m. I thought about just benching tonight and saving the squats for tomorrow, but I went ahead and just dragged through it. Skipped sled dragging warm up AGAIN, this is not good, but time has not been on my side lately. Reverse hypers directly after BB Rows - what a pump in the back...wow.

[coldfire]

You might try something like this if you want to incorporate ME, 5x5, and DE:

Weeks 1-3

Mon - 5 x 5
Weds - 2 x 5
Fri - 12 x 2, DE Box Squat
(50-55-60%)

Weeks 4-6

Mon - 12 x 2, DE Box Squat (50-55-60)
Weds - 2 x 5
Friday - 3 RM, 2RM, 1RM

Repeat Cycle.

Damn, you know that just might work pretty fucking good. I've never run that exact cycle, but I bet it works well. This borders on advanced programming but it would probably still be very effective. The three weeks of 5x5 and DE would set the stage for some good PR's in weeks 4-6.

I shoulda put that in the book.

Thanks for the suggestion. From this example I understand that I can't put box squats in recovery day? My squat is not as strong as yours :) It's barely 400lbs, so the DE weights will be pretty low.

I think I'll try it anyway. Thanks for the help.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

You can try a DE Box squat on recovery day but you won't be able to move the weight as fast as if you put it on your intensity or volume day.

[coldfire]

You can try a DE Box squat on recovery day but you won't be able to move the weight as fast as if you put it on your intensity or volume day.

You are probably right. Didn't think about it. I'll try your suggestion soon. Thanks for your help.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Weds 2-11

Press

5 x 5 x 185 (75% 1rm), very easy

1 x 10 x 135, as a drop set from 185

Deadlifts (standing on 100 lb plates) - these were tough as legs were sore and tired from Monday

1 x 5 x 390 (75% 1rm)

Power Shrugs (bar set at mid-thigh)

3 x 8 x 365

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Book is ready if anybody here is interested. Let me preface this by saying that there is nothing revolutionary within the pages of the text...all I did was outline (in detail) several programs that have worked for me and my athletes in the past, so please don't expect something along the lines of what Rip has written! Also, this book assumes that you already have at least some base level of knowledge about strength training and a familiarity with lots of advanced exercises and how to perform them. The book does NOT tell you how to do the actual exercises, it only prescribes them. If anybody has any questions, comments, or complaints, PLEASE let me know, either here on the log or through my private email at bakerlee02@yahoo.com. Please don't send questions/comments to me via Rip's forum.

Here is the link where you can purchase the book:

http://www.crossfitkingwood.com/new-book-ready-to-order

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 2-13

Warm up - BB Complexes

Powersnatch

3 x 2 x 135 - technique work

Box Squats

12 x 2 x 275 (55% 1rm)

Glute Ham Raise

5 x 5 with 30 sec rest - havent done these in a while -OWWW!!!

Had to make some changes to my training due to some schedule changes. Will update this tomorrow.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Saturday 2-14

Warm Up - Sled Dragging, 15 mins continuous

Pull Ups

x 30 reps

BB Rows (from floor)

5 x 5 x 265

Close Grip Pulldowns

4 x 10-12

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 2-16

Warm up - BB Complex

Bench Press

5 x 5 x 315 (80% 1rm) - very very fast and light tonight, only needed about 90 seconds rest between sets. Not sure what that was about.

DB Incline Press

2 x 10

Lat Pulldowns

5 x 10

Dips

1 x failure

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tuesday 2-17

Squats

5 x 5 x 405 (80% 1rm)

Glute Ham Raises

3 x 6 - man I suck at these.

These may have been the easiest sets of 405 I have ever done, felt very light. This is encouraging to say the least.

Also, I am registered for the NASA South Texas State meet on May 23 in Alvin, TX.

Goals are squat - 515, bench - 405, Deadlift 545

The deadlift numbers might be a bit out of reach but I am hoping the targeted assistance work I have planned for this training cycle will target some weaknesses with this lift and unstick it. Glute Hams, Reverse Hypers, and Power shrugs are all directed at moving the DL up.

From now 'till the meet I plan on scheduling my training like this:

Mon - Bench + Assistance (lats, triceps)

Tues - Squats + Assistance (GHRs, Abs, and Goodmornings if I have energy enough to do them right)

Thursday - Presses + Assistance (lats, triceps) - add in speed benches closer to the meet

Friday or Saturday - Deadlifts + Assistance (Powershrugs, Reverse Hypers) - not sure if I'm gonna keep box squatting on this day for the entire cycle or if I'm gonna just add them in later on with the speed benches.

Leading up to this point I've been doing full body training 3 x week, but it just takes up too much damn time and the workouts drag out too late in the evening even when you are moving fast. By the time I get done warming up and squatting for 5 sets, I've been in the gym 40-45 minutes, then I'm supposed to bench and row for 5 sets. Too much. My periodization scheme has not been altered but my weekly schedule has been (again). Maybe I'm just getting old.

Link to the new manual:

http://www.crossfitkingwood.com/new-book-ready-to-order

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Just wanted to let everybody know that the manual is now available as an
e-book, which has cut the cost in half. This way there is no shipping and handling and the cost of printing and binding the book is not built into the cost.

Here is the link for the manual:

http://www.crossfitkingwood.com/new-book-ready-to-order

Please let me know if there is any problems with the links or ordering process.

Thanks,

KSC

[Locutus]

Will those of us who bought the hard copy be able to obtain the ebook too?

[coldfire]

Just ordered the e-book. Thanks!

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Will those of us who bought the hard copy be able to obtain the ebook too?

Check my PM

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thurs 2-19 - Bench Assistance Day

Press

5 x 5 x 195 (80% 1rm) - felt ridiculously easy, light, and fast

1 x 13 x 135

Lat Pulldowns

5 x 8-10 x 200 (60-90 sec rest)

Tricep Pressdowns (with Rope)

5 x 10-15

My body is in a good state right now as far as my lifts are concerned. All this week, benches, squats, and presses have all felt really really easy and light. Next week is suppossed to be a deload but I don't even think I need it.....but, I need to take it anyway or else it'll mess up my meet preparation. I was planning on dropping 10-15% in weight, but it might only be like 5% and only drop 1 work set instead of two.

Locutus....I haven't forgot about you....I keep forgetting to send the ebook, but I will asap.