Trei's Attempts at Lifting Heavy Shit

[AdamW]

Just read your whole log, that bench press shit sounds fucking irritating.

What is your plan after the meet? I have had incredible results using 5/3/1 for my bench and press, sort of contrary to a lot of other people though. But I find if you pyramid back down through your previous 2 worksets after the top set, you get a lot of solid volume in. Plus the AMRAP thing is a mental relief big time because the minimum reps you need to hit are ALWAYS easy, and anything after that is just bonus. You can go to the gym and have the shittiest day ever and it's not considered a stall unless you are below your minimum reps.

As far as the deadlift "off the ground" sticking point, that is the same as me and I'm finally killing it, for two reasons.

1. Lift the bar AS FAST AS FUCKING POSSIBLE. Squeeze into it, take the "looseness" out of it so that there's just enough pressure on the bar that your arms are locked out and it's not rolling, then RIP IT AS HARD AS YOU FUCKING CAN. The deadlift is all about momentum, the faster the bar moves the less work you need to do to keep it moving. Think of pushing the floor away instead of pulling the bar up. I always used to just grind every rep by using "slow strength" and this speed thing is working miles better.

2. RDLs. My posterior chain is a weak piece of shit, and by the sound of your "falling forward" squat problem, your posterior chain is probably also as shitty as mine. I have that exact same problem on my squats and it's because my knees start extending but I can't maintain my back angle because off a weakass PC, so it turns into a good morning. RDLs have brought up my hamstring/glute/lower back strength considerably. I usually do 3x8-10 or 5x5.

Looking forward to the meet on Saturday man, glad we're in the same flight! I have another friend competing who is unfortunately in Flight 1 so I won't be able to warm up with him or even watch his lifts which really sucks.

[Trei]

Just read your whole log, that bench press shit sounds fucking irritating.

What is your plan after the meet? I have had incredible results using 5/3/1 for my bench and press, sort of contrary to a lot of other people though. But I find if you pyramid back down through your previous 2 worksets after the top set, you get a lot of solid volume in. Plus the AMRAP thing is a mental relief big time because the minimum reps you need to hit are ALWAYS easy, and anything after that is just bonus. You can go to the gym and have the shittiest day ever and it's not considered a stall unless you are below your minimum reps.

Time for me to be wordy, heh.

I know part of the reason that my bench has been being a prick is 'cause I've been losing weight. So realistically, when you consider it I've maintained my bench strength while losing 25 pounds since September. But, well... I'm a stubborn bastard, and maintaining isn't good enough for me. All my other lifts have gone up (squat especially, but squats seem to be my baby for whatever reason). I'm not 100% sure, but from the past couple of weeks I've discovered that I really like singles, doubles and triples (which is why I was doing doubles of incline bench yesterday). My thinking is that, when I ran a cycle of Smolov Jr. for my bench (which probably wasn't necessary, but oh well) it did quite well and and I seemed to thrive on the high intensity days. The 10x3 day (fourth day of the week) was actually the easiest, and what I enjoyed most, despite being the day after doing 8x4. So my figuring is my bench needs both volume as well as high intensity so as to keep used to handling heavy weights - and the multitude of sets also means a lot of form work. I honestly think that that's why my bench didn't do well on Madcow: Only 1 high-intensity set, and otherwise everything was relatively light.

So with that in mind, what I'm probably going to do is either singles, doubles or triples at 85%+, and keep rests low (60-90s seems to be fine and keeps me focused) for 10+ sets. It also seems to be easier to recover from due to it being less TUT and less stress on the CNS. I had been considering 5/3/1, and if this doesn't work I may go to that for my bench and press. First I'm going to try this, though.

1. Lift the bar AS FAST AS FUCKING POSSIBLE. Squeeze into it, take the "looseness" out of it so that there's just enough pressure on the bar that your arms are locked out and it's not rolling, then RIP IT AS HARD AS YOU FUCKING CAN. The deadlift is all about momentum, the faster the bar moves the less work you need to do to keep it moving. Think of pushing the floor away instead of pulling the bar up. I always used to just grind every rep by using "slow strength" and this speed thing is working miles better.

Yeah, that I can understand. My form on deads still needs a bit of work, but off the ground is something that I'm familiar with and can deal with (it was my original sticking point in the lift). I've heard the cue of "leg press the world" a few times, and I will definitely be trying that in the future. I also need to remember to take the slack out of the bar more consistently (aka, every time instead of most). I do, however, try and pull the bar as fast as I can, and that actually helped with my lockout a lot, in addition to adding my ghetto GHRs every week. For a while I was also trying hook grip (about when I did my reset on it) and once I got back to a reasonable weight, realized I hate it and went back to AG. The downside is that my grip has to be a little further out, but the advantages for me more than make up for it.

2. RDLs. My posterior chain is a weak piece of shit, and by the sound of your "falling forward" squat problem, your posterior chain is probably also as shitty as mine. I have that exact same problem on my squats and it's because my knees start extending but I can't maintain my back angle because off a weakass PC, so it turns into a good morning. RDLs have brought up my hamstring/glute/lower back strength considerably. I usually do 3x8-10 or 5x5.

I've been thinking about adding RDLs (or arched-back GMs, such as what KSC talks about) in somewhere. Chances are what I'll do is, for now, continue with the weekly decline sit-ups (which have definitely helped a lot already) and, GHRs, keep improving on that, and once I'm comfortably doing a few unassisted (which should be soon) and then see where my weakpoints are and decide on adding the RDLs/GMs in.

For the squats, it could either be a weak PC (I know, at least in the past, I was a walking checklist for weak glutes) or a weak core (first time I did decline sit-ups, I did 3x8 with no weight and could not have done another at all). I've been improving both, and my forward-falling has diminished. Problem is, I'm just not sure if it's one or the other, or both, that have been helping. But then, I'm weak in both, so I'm inclined to believe both.

Looking forward to the meet on Saturday man, glad we're in the same flight! I have another friend competing who is unfortunately in Flight 1 so I won't be able to warm up with him or even watch his lifts which really sucks.

Yeah, same thing for me. When I checked it last night, I saw that my friend and his brother were in flight 1 and was kind'a sad. The way it goes, I guess. And agreed, definitely looking forward to the meet and lifting in the same flight as you.

[AdamW]

The Hepburn A program might be something you'd enjoy for your presses, basically this:

2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2
3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2
3-3-2-2-2-2-2-2
...
3-3-3-3-3-3-3-2
3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3

...add weight and start over.

The progression is pretty slow but you could probably do it a bit faster by adding the triples on more sets than just 1 each workout.

[Trei]

I'll definitely have to look into that a bit more closely (after this week, though, I'm distracting myself enough from studying/essays as is, hah).

However... I think I might have just fallen in love with the 100kg weight class. The squat pro record for junior is 346 pounds. My opener is 395. Not exactly a spectacular achievement, but hey, whatever.

[Brother Francis]

Congrats on the 5 minute record, lanky man!

[Trei]

Congrats on the 5 minute record, lanky man!

Gah! I can't believe my record got taken so quickly. I don't think there was even anyone in Flight C that was in the right age/weight class for it, either. I'm gonna have to take it back next year, and then for the year after set it such that no one can take it ever. :P

[Brother Francis]

All I need is the bench record, brah.

[Trei]

Totally forgot to log Wednesday:

2011/12/7:

Zercher squats (because fuck it):
bar x5
95# x5
115# x5
135# x5
155# x3
175# 4x3

Dips: 3x8
Chins: 2x3, 1x2

Curls:
80# x5
70# 2x6

Decline sit-ups:
3x8

[Trei]

Meet recap from yesterday:

So, leading up the meet I decided that I would experiment with a water cut. My rational here was that I'd never done one before, and it's not necessary, so I would experiment with it now so that I know what it's like when it is necessary and I know anything I need to keep in mind/improve. I didn't do it particularly well, because I had an exam on Thursday and was unwilling to not eat/drink (but kept it minimal).

Monday: 213.5#
Weigh-in on Friday around 2pm: 206
Weight when I woke up, after taking a crap, on Saturday: 219. All you can eat sushi + XL meat lovers pizza + pound of wings + litre of chocolate milk + however much water.
...weight upon going to bed last night, around 2:30: 214.5 (heh)
And finally, upon waking up this morning: 210.5.

For some reason I find that amusing. Anyhow, on to the meet (sort of):

So, I got there for rules around 11am, with the meet scheduled to start around noon. Which would be good, because this was a combined raw/equipped meet, so it would take a while. Unfortunately, there was a highschool meet going on before-hand that didn't finish until around 2:15 or so, so the first flight didn't even get started on squats until 2:30, and the second flight started around 60-75 minutes later (my flight).

Squats:
Went through my warm-ups feeling like shit, 'cause I'm not used to a fat bar. Regardless, my warm-ups have a tendency to feel like shit, so it's whatever. My opener was 395, and was set to beet the current Junior (20-23) 220#/100kg record of 346.
Too bad I forgot to tell the judges.
With that in mind, I set my second attempt at 185kg/407lbs. to make sure that I got it (it's a PR for me). I also asked one of my friends to tell a judge when my attempt came, in case I forgot again (I spend most of the time between attempts listening to music, rocking out to all hell and am full of adrenaline going into squat attempts, and so tend to forget). Francis (he has a log here on the forums in the SS logs) was awesome and told one of the judges for my second attempt. I set up, went down, and then hit my dreaded sticking point of just above parallel. I have yet to ever fail a squat, and I wasn't about to let it happen on a record-setting attempt, so I let out a nice scream and good morning the ever living shit out of it. Got the rack command, and got 3 white lights, and a comment from one of the judges, "If there was ever a national record for good mornings, that would be it!" Which was hilarious and awesome. And I got the national record.

For the third attempt I went conservative again, went for 2.5kg above that, so 187.5kg/412.5lbs.. Between my second and third, someone commented to me that I need to drive my elbows way the hell down more, and somehow I kept that in mind going into the attempt. Francis was once again awesome and told the judges, and I went for it. Down, then up and it was easier than my second by far. Didn't even have to scream. 3 whites.

Got my ipod, water bottle and the sheet of paper with my attempts on it, and started walking around to get to the bleachers. Stopped to watch the next lift of 200kg. The guy grinded it out and got 3 white lights. And was also in my weight class, and age group. I was a national record holder for all of 5 minutes. >.>
I'll get it back next time around.

Bench:

So, bench is basically my worst lift by far. Since May the only progress I've really made was in a brief stint of Smolov Jr. during August, at which point I've mostly just maintained (lost a little bit, about 5 pounds I would guess) while cutting.
Anyhow, went through the warm-ups, but I apparently started too early and got cold. So I some more warm-up. Then when my turn came around, I went for my opener of 87.5kg/192.5lbs. (did I mention fuck bench?). Set up on the bench and apparently they called me by accident, and had to wait for them to raise the racks. Nailed my opener, but made the rack command by pure coincidence 'cause I forgot it.
Set my second attempt for 97.5kg/214.5lbs., which is what my third attempt in June was that I failed. Nailed it, and even remembered the rack command (...with one of the spotters reminding me before I set up xD)
Initially I'd set my third attempt for 100kg/220lbs., but with some encouragement I set it to 102.5/225.5lbs. Set up (got another rack command reminder >.>), went down, got the press command, got it about 4 inches off my chest and just couldn't budge it. Spotters took it after a while, and so I continued with the standard I set at the previous meet of going 2/3 on bench. Ah well, I can live with that, especially with deads coming up (not my main lift - that'd be squats - but still a good lift for me).

Deathlifts:

So, for the past month or month and a half, I'd been working on form primarily, and aside from a few singles at my opener of 185kg/407lbs., I hadn't deadlifted above 385 since hitting 420x5 around Halloween or something (can't remember exactly).
Did my warm-ups, which felt awesome. Went into the chalk area, put some baby powder on my legs and rubbed it in with my hands, then someone mentioned while I was chalking up that, no matter how much I put on I wouldn't negate the baby powder. Fuck. Ran over to the warm-up area and grabbed a bottle of water, rinsed that shit off, went back (handing the bottle to another guy who had done the EXACT same thing as me), rechalked the ever living shit out of my hands, and began blasting some music and getting my adrenaline going. My attempt came up within 2 minutes of this all happening. Ipod out, went to the platform and TORE it off the ground like it was nothing. I was ecstatic, it felt like nothing at all.
Set my second attempt for 190kg/418lbs., and spent the entire time between attempts just rocking out. My friends got a kick out of it, because I was just basically prowling around, jumping up and down, lip synching and glaring at the attempts screen waiting for my attempt. They got a video of it, they found it so hilarious, hah!
Anyhow, my name came up, stomped up to the platform and once again tore it off the ground. Apparently it went up faster than my first attempt. So awesome.
Going into this, I'd planned for a third attempt of 197.5/434.5 but decided to go for a nice even 200kg/440lbs.. Proceeded to rock out for a few minutes, then stomped up to the platform and once again just tore it off the ground like it was nothing.

Unfortunately for me, by this point it was like 10:15 or 10:30pm, and because of how late the meet was running I wasn't able to get a fourth attempt. Current record is 212.5kg, which means I would've had to go for 215kg/473lbs.. With how easy my attempts were, I'm confident I would've hit it, but alas. I'll get it next time.



Altogether, despite the few hiccups, the meet was awesome and I had a blast. Had a total of 1067, which I'm fine with for now.

Videos:




A big thank you to Francis' and his brother's girlfriends for being awesome and recording everything.

[Trei]

2011/12/12
Because I'm dumb and felt like being dumb.

Squats:

Bar 2x5
135# x5
185# x3
225# x3
275# x3
315# x2
375# 15x1 (singles)
Was 50/50 on going heavy, but once I put my belt on for 315 they flew, so I said fuck it. And then I accidentally 15 singles. Gotta work on not GMing still, and driving my elbows down coming out of the hole.
Also, I'm going to hate my legs tomorrow. Oh well.

Bench:

bar 2x10
95# x5
115# x5
135# x3
175# x1
185# 6x3 (triples)
Wasn't feeling it (which, really, isn't surprising. Squat is surprising, however) so I called it here for bench.

Decline sit-ups
4x6 +25#