K.Diesel's powerlifting and other training - 2009 and beyond

[K.Diesel]

I've decided to change my weekly order of core lifts. This will allow me to have my last heavy session for each lift at the right number of out before the meet. The plan is to do:

Last heavy squat: Thu. 7/9, followed by a session with 80% 1RM on 7/16
Last heavy bench: Tue. 7/14
Last heavy dead: Sun. 7/12 or Mon. 7/13

Basically, that means I'm swapping my squat and dead days, so now I'll dead on Mondays and squat on Thursdays. Bench will still be on Tuesday. Fri/Sat will function as a "light" bench day, and ohp may still be a part of it.

1. Deadlift - still sumo
140/5, 5; 230/5; 320/2; 370/1; 420/1, 465/1, 480/1, 495/1, 415/6
Once I get past 300 lbs or so, I use an alternated grip for deads, and always supinate my right hand for my heaviest set of the day. I usually alternate the over/under pattern throughout the workout for balance development. I mention this because I realized on the 480 that my control on the bar, or lack thereof to be more accurate, is much more pronounced with the left hand supinated on the sumo stance than with the conventional. The bar swung laterally a little bit on that one. Also, I've been tinkering with the Inzer sleeves on deads the last 2 sessions. I'll try it without them next time, and see if I notice any difference. If not, or obviously if it feels better, I'll save them for squats only.

2a. RDL - standing on 45 lb plates, using versa gripps
280/9; 330/6, 7, 8 - I did not expect to get that many reps with this weight after deadlifts. Pleasantly surprised.

2b. Standing cable crunch
120/15; 130/16, 26 - used versa gripps on last set, and it made a huge difference. Holding the rope attachment after the other pulls probably wasn't a good idea.

3. Calf press - on plate loaded leg press
270/13-14 (5 sec stretch on neg, 2 sec squeeze at top), 16 (fast)

Time - 1:13. Extra rest for singles, loading/unloading, and helped my wife with her workout.

[K.Diesel]

BW = 199.5 on Sunday morning. Probably a real 195. I don't think I mentioned it on the last post. I gotta be careful, as it would suck to be over the weight limit after being so far under for each of the other meets.

1. Bench
bar/15 (varied grips); 140/5; 180/3; 210/1; 235/1 - then singles over 90% 1RM
257/1; 262/1; 268/1; 274/1.75 - the attempt at a 2nd rep was within reach, but I blew it. At least I set the record for the longest rep ever on a bench press (see video).
230/6 + 1 assisted

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2. Seated cable row - switched attachments
100/10 v-grip; 150/8 wide/over; 200/8 wide/over, 7 narrow/under, 8 v-grip; rest-pause 150/16 + 5 wide/neutral

3. Pressdown
100/20 rope; 120/14(?) short bar; 120/12 v-bar

4. Dumbbell curls - standing, alternating
drop set: 50s/8 + 40s/6

Time - 1:17

[K.Diesel]

My plan was to lift before my shift started at the gym so I could go home when I got off. Instead, I got there with half hour before the shift started. So what did I do? Figured I'd squat anyway, and do any assistance work afterwards (3 hours later). Went like this:

1.Squat
bar/6; 140/5; 230/3; 320/2; 350/1; 380/1 - then 90+% lifts
406/1; 419/1; 428/1

Time - :32. I'm sure everyone on this board knows this, but I'll share it anyway. Never attempt to lift really heavy things without a proper warm up and without taking your time to progress. A strongman competitor was talking to me while I was squatting, and was trying to figure out how I was able to move so fast. I told him I didn't know, but the weights felt heavier than they should have. Of course, I already knew going in what the problem would be: time. I didn't deliver mail that day (my normal warm-up), and I skipped my regular off-day warm-up, so that was mistake number one. Then I didn't take proper rest between sets, including my warm up. I think I rested 90 sec to 2 min. between 419 and 428. I won't make those errors again. Thank God I didn't have a painful lesson.

On another note, I did notice this interesting effect. The "pump" feeling was in my quads after I finished squatting, but I've never felt it from doing singles before. Perhaps there's some hypertrophy effect to heavy singles with minimal rest between them?

Three hours later...

2. Leg press - plate loaded. The sled weight is unknown.
270+/7; 450/6; 590/5
720+/20; 540/25 - again, what was I thinking?

3. Glute-ham raise - on back extension
BW/6-8; +40/8; +40/10; BW/21

Time - :29

[K.Diesel]

My plan was to lift before my shift started at the gym so I could go home when I got off. Instead, I got there with half hour before the shift started. So what did I do? Figured I'd squat anyway, and do any assistance work afterwards (3 hours later). Went like this:

1.Squat
bar/6; 140/5; 230/3; 320/2; 350/1; 380/1 - then 90+% lifts
406/1; 419/1; 428/1

Time - :32. I'm sure everyone on this board knows this, but I'll share it anyway. Never attempt to lift really heavy things without a proper warm up and without taking your time to progress. A strongman competitor was talking to me while I was squatting, and was trying to figure out how I was able to move so fast. I told him I didn't know, but the weights felt heavier than they should have. Of course, I already knew going in what the problem would be: time. I didn't deliver mail that day (my normal warm-up), and I skipped my regular off-day warm-up, so that was mistake number one. Then I didn't take proper rest between sets, including my warm up. I think I rested 90 sec to 2 min. between 419 and 428. I won't make those errors again. Thank God I didn't have a painful lesson.

On another note, I did notice this interesting effect. The "pump" feeling was in my quads after I finished squatting, but I've never felt it from doing singles before. Perhaps there's some hypertrophy effect to heavy singles with minimal rest between them?

Three hours later...

2. Leg press - plate loaded. The sled weight is unknown.
270+/7; 450/6; 590/5
720+/20; 540/25 - again, what was I thinking?

3. Glute-ham raise - on back extension
BW/6-8; +40/8; +40/10; BW/21

Time - :29

Did some side planks at the end. Some were done for time(:30), and others were for reps.

[K.Diesel]

Nothing dead about deadlifts today! Weighed in Mon. morning at 201.5, meaning a real 196-197. Haven't measured my waist, but abs are still visible without flexing, so I guess I'm still fairly lean. It would suck to be too heavy after spending so much time under the weight limit, so I think I'm going to taper down my calorie consumption for the next 2 weeks. Once I get to the beach, all bets are off. Plenty of buffets in Ocean City!

1. Deadlift - still sumo
140/6; 230/3; 320/1; 370/1; 420/1 - next 3 sets are 90%+ 1RM
470/1; 480/1; and then...
500/3!!! - all-time 3RM PR for deads, sumo or conventional,
raw or suited. Each rep was fully deloaded on the floor. Granted, I haven't been doing deads for reps until I started 5/3/1 about 8 weeks ago, but looking back in my journal, the last time I tried a 3RM, it was 10 months ago, in a new squat suit, with a conventional stance. I managed 2 reps at 463, then after about 3-5 minutes rest, pulled a 3rd rep. I'm amped right now. I feel blessed, strong, and confident about pulling with 26 days to go.

Backoff set: 420/7 - these felt hard, but I'm not surprised considering what preceeded it. Started with chalked hands and Versa-Gripps on my wrists. I did the 1st 2 reps with left under/right over, switched for the next 3, then used Versa-Gripps to get 2 more.

2a. RDL - on step
320/10, 8, 8

2b. Standing cable crunch
150/20, 20, 25 - using VGs on these make a huge difference in the number of reps I get

3. Shovel lift
45 plate/10 left leading, 10 right leading

4. Calf press on plate-loaded leg press
270/22; 16; 12 (with longer stretch); 16

Time - 1:30

[Gary Gibson]

500x3 DL. Congrats!

[K.Diesel]

1. Bench press
bar/15-20; 140/6; 180/3; 210/1; 235/1 - then 90%+
259/1; 265/1; 271/1; 276/1.5 - again, went for the double on max set, but my form collapsed on 2nd rep. By that, I mean I pushed the bar up and maybe towards my feet instead of towards the rack. Maybe I was disgusted with this tendency, because I spent a total of about 70 minutes benching today...

2a. Seated cable row - different attachments and grips
100/13 wide/overhand; 150/8 wide/overhand;
200/7 wide/overhand, 6 wide/neutral, 8 v-handle;
160/16 v-handle (pretty strict through rep 13), 12-13 short/underhand
150/17 underhand

2b. Bench press
240/3, 5
250/2, 2, 3, 2, 2
(hit the rack on 3rd rep of set 3 which messed it up, but it was good if that pin wasn't in the way)
200/7

3. Dips
BW/20, 12

4. Rope pressdown
drop set: 120/11 + 90/8

Time - 1:43

[K.Diesel]

Made a timely field trip to Supreme Sports Performance and Training in Rockville, MD. http://www.supremesportspt.com/

Talked to my distance coach/mentor Matt Gary about lift attempts, what to expect at my first national meet, some of my competition, and other stuff. I'll get into some of that in another post. The only downside - I realized as I left that my next training session would not be there. Ah well, at least I'm blessed with the ability to train at all.

Also had fellow strengthmill poster Gary Gibson go with me. Evidently, Gary got drunk off some drink called Smolov the night before and was recovering from the hangover when I picked him up. So he said training was out for him, but he was a great help spotting and loading/unloading. Thanks Gary, I really appreciate it. God willing, we'll do another field trip in August/September.

As for the workout:

Warmed up on treadmill, GHR, lunges, jumps, and some other stuff. I only mention it because this was 2-6 hours before I normally lift. More so, I didn't do my normal warmup, which I also call going to work.

1. Squats - used kilo plates, but the weights listed are in lbs.
bar/8; 143/6; 209/4; 253.5/3; 298/2; 325/2; 363/1
396/1, 1, 1 - Big OOPS! I left my journal in my truck, which my wife drove to the mall. I couldn't remember what I did last week, and I ended up doing 3 singles of 396 (90% 1RM). But I did seem to remember 432 as a target for this week's session. Turns out I did 428 for a single last week! So did I progress toward my goal, or regress from it? Next week's plan is unsure at this point.

The rest was light assistance stuff, but cool and hopefully useful. I did GHRs on an actual EliteFts glute-ham apparatus! I did reverse hypers on a real reverse hyper! Sets and reps weren't even that important, but I think it was something like 10-15 reps per set.

[Gary Gibson]

I really wish I'd been able to train with you yesterday. I finally get a trip down to the Garys' facility and don't even use all that beautiful regulation equipment...but I look forward to heading down there with you when it's time for me to learn the gear!

And Comrade Smolov could put 50 lbs on your bench by the time States rolls around.

[K.Diesel]

And Comrade Smolov could put 50 lbs on your bench by the time States rolls around.

I'd be willing to give it a try, but I also really want to learn how to use these bench shirts I have laying around. Can you post or send me the format of the program? I'll figure out how to incorporate the shirts, or depending on the duration of the program, add them once it's over.

Went to the gym yesterday, even though I didn't feel like it. I was dragging through my work day, and had little or no desire to go to the gym for bench assistance work. But I did anyway, and got out of there in about a half hour.

I alternated between weighted chins, standing ohp, and weighted dips. I don't even feel like looking in the journal to find the sets, reps, weights. I remember doing 10 reps of wide chins with a 45 plate, 8 or 9 dips with 70 lbs, and 7 ohp with 140. Those were the heaviest sets out of a total of around 8-9 work sets. I got home and had little appetite. Could barely stay awake to eat the little bit I did.

Was I overtrained/under-recovered? I went to sleep around 12:30 am and woke up today at 12:30 pm. 12 hours sleep without the use of sedatives. I think the answer would be yes. No mailman GPP or weights until Monday, and at this point it's 3 days of lifting per week with decreasing assistance work before the meet. 21 days to go until Raw Nationals. Forgot to weigh myself today, so hopefully I'll do it when I wake up tomorrow.