Manveer Gets Competitive

[Bryan Dobson]

To get a start command you sometimes have to nearly hyper extend the elbows to look convincing. Weighted bench holds suck in competition.

[Scott.Acosta]

I see you have the Open Barbell system. How has using the device helped your training? I'm waiting for mine to ship and am excited about the possibilities.

[manveer]

One trick for the bench rack command is to not move until you feel the spotters touching the bar. This way even if you don't hear it, etc. you will never miss a lift for racking it too early.

Thanks! This is my strategy for squats as well. I can see myself getting overly excited and missing the rack command.

To get a start command you sometimes have to nearly hyper extend the elbows to look convincing. Weighted bench holds suck in competition.

It will be interesting to see how strict the judging is at this meet and how picky they are about those things. It's a local USAPL meet.

[manveer]

I see you have the Open Barbell system. How has using the device helped your training? I'm waiting for mine to ship and am excited about the possibilities.

I guess I would say that it has helped by bringing some objectivity into my training, though bar speed is not all that goes into RPE. The priority for me in RPE ratings is:
1) Subjective feel during the lift
2) Video review
3) Bar speed

If 1 & 2 are in agreement, I just use that rating. If I'm still on the border between an 8 or 8.5 or something, I'll use bar speed to help figure out what to call it. I don't adjust over half a point from the subjective feel, since that carries the most weight. Might sound complicated, but it is pretty quick.

It's interesting to see bar speeds on different days and make comparisons too. Warmups don't always tell you how you'll do on a top set, but some days you can tell that the bar is flying (or not moving well) and maybe go a little heavier or lighter.

I ordered the v3 as well. Looking forward to using it.

[manveer]

BW (7/18 morning): 241.0#
BW (7/19 morning): 241.0#

Sleep (7/17 evening): Probably 7 hrs
Sleep (7/18 evening): ~4.5hrs, in bed at 10, but the fucking alarm clock went off at midnight and I couldn't fall back asleep for several hours

Came home and napped a little before training. Still really tired, and the heat wasn't helping.

2017-07-19 - C3W17D3
Pin Squat (no belt)
365x4 @6
385x4 @7
405x4 @8 or 7.5, bar speed would indicate 7.5
405x4 @8.5
405x4 @9
385x4 @8
Just tough because of the heat. Took long rest breaks. Small PR.

Video: Instagram

TnG Bench
315x1 @6
350x1 @7.5
225x13 @7.5
225x13 @8?
225x12 @9.5
Maybe a PR? Sandbagged the set of 13 because I had no idea what the right weight would be for an @10, plus I didn't really want to hit an @10 and risk getting into a bad position while grinding a rep out (or failing a rep). Last set I just had no strength left so I racked it.

Video: Instagram

Press v1 (no belt)
125x4 @5.5
135x4 @6.5
145x4 @7.5
145x4 @7.5
145x4 @7.5
145x4 @7.5
More sandbagging. Short rest periods to get this done quickly. Thought the fatigue from benching would hurt my press more, but it was surprisingly resilient. Probably should've gone for 160 top sets or something.

[manveer]

BW (7/20 morning): 240.4#

Sleep (7/19 evening): ~7.5h

TRAC: Drop 1 set

Really didn't have any motivation to do this workout, but strength doesn't care, yada yada...

2017-07-20 - C3W17D4
2ct Pause DL
365x4 @6.5
385x4 @7
405x4 @8
405x4 @8.5
405x4 @9
Brought my stance and grip in about 1" per side. Seemed like I could set up a little better. Anyway, this went well. RPEs relative to my ability to lockout without hitching. Setup started to degrade with fatigue, which made the lockout harder.

Cues that helped: "lats" at the bottom, shoulders back hard at the top

Video: Instagram

3ct Pause Bench
325x1 @8 (+17 e1RM PR)
295x4 @9
275x4 @8
Pec was a little sore before this, but there was no pain doing this work.

Leg drive helped maintain the bottom position here. Definitely something I need to keep drilling.

Video: Instagram

SG SLDL
185x8 @6.5?
205x8 @7?
225x8 @7.5?
Really despise this movement, but it should help my deadlift a little if I start doing it again. Mild glute pain doing this. RPEs were supposed to be higher, but since I am reintroducing this and don't want to aggravate my glute again I'm going slow.

[manveer]

BW (7/21 morning): 240.6#

Sleep (7/20 evening): ~7.5h

89F, 62% RH, heat index 98 :-/

2017-07-21 - GPP
Airdyne
15:18
HR (avg/max): 117/125

Pendlay Rows - 10 min AMRAP
225x7 @8
225x5 @8
225x5 @8
225x5 @8.5
225x3 @8
225x6 @10

[manveer]

BW (7/22 morning): 243.2#
BW (7/23 morning): 240.8#
I eat like a bitch.

Sleep (7/21 evening): ~7h?
Sleep (7/22 evening): ~9.5h (!)

Deload week! 4 weeks out.

2017-07-23 - C3W18D1
Squat w/ belt
465x3 @6.5
490x3 @7
515x3 @8
515x3 @10, fuck, really bad back rounding on rep 3
475x3 @8.5
475x3 @8.5
Happy with the top set after last week's dip in e1RM. Still trying to stay detached from good or bad days. I think my low back needs to grow. It's the weak link in squats and deads. I have been skipping a lot of the posterior chain work because my glute has been hurting, but I have to figure something out.

Video: Instagram

Comp Raw Bench (w/ commands)
355x1 @8 (e1RM PR)
345x1 @8
345x1 @8
345x1 @8.5
345x1 @9.5
320x1 @8
320x1 @8
320x1 @8
320x1 @8
320x1 @8.5
320x1 @8.5
320x1 @8.5
320x1 @8.5
Had my wife give commands on warmups and a few of the singles. I didn't jump the rack command on the top single, but I did on some warmups and drop sets. Oh well, that's why I'm practicing. Only a slight pinching feeling in the pec after this, but otherwise things have been feeling OK.

Video: Instagram

[Mahendra]

Nice work. What do you have in mind for lower back work, given that your glute pain is a restraint?

[Austin Baraki]

...thats a lot of singles