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

[Locutus]

361 x 10 is no joke. What kind of belt do you currently have? I sort of hate mine because it's double prong, but it otherwise seems to work well enough..

[K.Diesel]

I was about to get ready for mosque this morning when a glitch tripped my house alarm. I pulled a hamstring running downstairs to investigate. I'm self-diagnosing as a grade 1 (minor). Was really looking forward to deficit deadlifts tomorrow. Mailman GPP is going to suck too since my longest route is on Monday. Hopefully, I'll heal really fast, so if I don't DL tomorrow, I'll do it Tuesday. I'll do presses tomorrow or Wednesday, then squats as scheduled on Friday. This may be a good indicator that I need to start stretching.

361 x 10 is no joke. What kind of belt do you currently have? I sort of hate mine because it's double prong, but it otherwise seems to work well enough..

Thanks man. I have an Inzer Economy double-prong belt, which apparently is discontinued. I'm thinking of getting a Titan Toro single-prong belt, primarily because they're on sale thru March 31 for $49.95.

[Platus]

Thanks man. I have an Inzer Economy double-prong belt, which apparently is discontinued. I'm thinking of getting a Titan Toro single-prong belt, primarily because they're on sale thru March 31 for $49.95.

I have a 13mm belt from elitefts (I just looked at their site - it appears to be discontinued). It took a while to break it in, but it sure does the job. Both Inzer and Titan have 13mm belts on their websites; I'm sure you'll notice a big, immediate improvement if you get one.

[K.Diesel]

I must be impatient or stupid, because here's what I kept telling myself at work today.

"You're testing your leg at work, and you don't love work. You love training. You're not in pain. Go test the leg at the gym."

So that's what I did...

Bodyweight at start of session: 199 1/2 lbs

Warmed up with some romanian deadlifts with the empty bar and 115 lbs.

Working max = 505 lbs

1. Deficit deadlifts - I use 35 lbs plates and wear flat soled shoes for deficits.
115/5
190/5
260/5
(65%) 330/5
(75%) 380/5
add belt: (85%) 430/7 - I had my Versa Gripps on my wrists, but didn't use them until the very last rep. I went to the gym with the fatter-than-normal bars.

2. Front Squat - I haven't done these in a year or so. Used a clean grip while holding onto straps wrapped around the bar.
135/6
225/6
add belt: 315/1 - The bar rolled forward on this one, so I re-racked it after I came back up. I could have done another 1-2 if the bar was more stable.
225/6

The rest was done as a circuit. 12 reps of everything. Minimal rest between each exercise.

3a. Flat DB fly
30's, 30's

3b. Standing lateral raises
15's, 15's

3c. Face pulls - cable with rope attachment
110, 110

3d. Standing calf raises
230, 210

Total time: 1 hr 3 min

I have a 13mm belt from elitefts (I just looked at their site - it appears to be discontinued). It took a while to break it in, but it sure does the job. Both Inzer and Titan have 13mm belts on their websites; I'm sure you'll notice a big, immediate improvement if you get one.

I know that squat set I did with Rob's belt felt great compared to the 2 I did with mine. I wasn't able to find out how thick the Titan Toro belt is from the info on liftinglarge, but the thicker the better. He may have the belt you're talking about, because he said it was the same belt sold on another site other than Inzer's. It wasn't broken in yet after 2 weeks.

[Platus]

It wasn't broken in yet after 2 weeks.

In order to break it in, I had to roll it in my hands and around the uprights of the squat rack during my rest breaks for a couple weeks. The leather from the 4" belt hole down is now somewhat soft, but the rest of it is still very stiff. I expect that it will be useful for quite some time.

[K.Diesel]

Here's the first video on the road to 2011 Raw Nats. Features the 361 x 10 squat rep-PR set, 430 x 7 deficit deadlifts, and some pretty pathetic benching. Thanks in advance for watching!



Today, I weighed 200 1/2 before training. Some of that came from the Big Steak Omelette and double blueberry pancakes I'd just eaten at IHOP.

Warm-up: OHP/bar/12 reps + pulldown/100/8 reps. No mailman GPP today.

1. OHP - the rack was in use, so I cleaned the first rep of each set from the floor.
95/5
(70%) 120/3
(80%) 135/3
add belt: (90%) 155/6, 3, 3, 4
125/12

2. Pullups - wide/overhand grip
BW/8
45/8, 6, 6 - 3rd set was done with a medium/underhand grip
BW/7

3. Seated row - plate loaded with chest pad
140/8 overhand + 5 neutral, 7 overhand + 7 neutral

Time: 53 min. Ran out of time, so I did a little more at home 4 1/2 hours later.

1a. Daddy/Daughter Push-ups - had my 5-year-old hop on my back. She weighs about 45 lbs.
BW/15
Daugther/12, 15, 20

1b. Ab wheel
15, 15, 15

[swilczewski]

Awesome lifting man. That's a damn good idea to use 35lb plates for deficit deads, i have never thought of that. One observation/critique on your bench. It looks like you use a relatively wide grip, i think if you moved your hands in about 11/2 to 2 inches you may be able to tuck your elbows into your lats more which will assist with the initial portion of the lift. Just something that i noticed has helped my bench in the last few years.

[hbriem]

Seconded. I kept trying to widen my grip, mistakenly thinking that was the way to go. A couple of years ago a very experienced old lifter saw a video of me benching and convinced me to go back to my old relatively narrow grip. Bam, I got 2.5kg immediately and my bench started moving upward again. It's still moving up gradually and my shoulders feel a lot better.

[John2336]

Hey man, i dont have much to add, but I really enjoy following your training. I know your pain on the food poisoning though. About 3 weeks ago i spent four days in the bathroom. Lost about 10 pounds. Not fun, and not a good time for squatting.

[K.Diesel]

I only had my route to deliver for mailman GPP Friday. No overtime. So for once on a Friday, my wife and I got to the gym with plenty of time before child watch closed. When we got there, a younger (21-24) guy was using the squat rack and said he had 2 more sets. Nothing wrong with that, except one thing. He wasn't squatting. He wasn't doing good mornings. Not even the loathsome barbell-curls-in-the-rack routine. He was deadlifting! That would normally earn you respect and cool points, but this guy was doing deadlifts from the floor. Not rack pulls where he would, by definition, need a rack to pull from. These were full, conventional, snatch-grip deadlifts where no part of the bar was actually in contact with the rack. But for some reason, this guy thought it was best to occupy the squat rack to do an exercise he could have done in any space large enough to accommodate the bar. Good thing we had plenty of time.

Core lift: Squat, 3's
Working max: 425 lbs

Bodyweight before training: 199 lbs.
Warm-up: empty bar squats, good morning, RDL's, 8 reps each

1. Squat
135/5; 225/5; (70%) 297/3; (80%) 340/3
add belt: (90%) 383/3
(95%) 405/1, 1, 1
(90%) 383/6

The rack at the gym we went to today is built in such a way that I can't do my normal 3-step set-up. I have to do a 4-step, which feels awkward. I only had one set where I felt like I had a good, strong set-up. Some of the descents were ugly too, but nothing felt really hard until the last set.

2. Glute-hip thrusts- with barbell
225/10; 315/10, 6

I didn't have my buddy Rob's pad that we use just for this exercise. So I had to use the little pad that folks use for their necks, plus a shirt underneath. Doesn't work as well as Rob's pad. I thought the bar was going to cut me in half on the last set.

3. Prone leg curl
125/12; 100/13

4. Standing calf raise
225/12

Time: 1 hr 18 min

Awesome lifting man. That's a damn good idea to use 35lb plates for deficit deads, i have never thought of that. One observation/critique on your bench. It looks like you use a relatively wide grip, i think if you moved your hands in about 11/2 to 2 inches you may be able to tuck your elbows into your lats more which will assist with the initial portion of the lift. Just something that i noticed has helped my bench in the last few years.

Thank you sir. I saw someone use 35's on a video a while back, and it seemed like a good idea. Pulling sumo, it's much easier than standing on a platform. Wearing normal shoes instead of slippers makes another 1/2" of difference or so. As for the bench advice...

Seconded. I kept trying to widen my grip, mistakenly thinking that was the way to go. A couple of years ago a very experienced old lifter saw a video of me benching and convinced me to go back to my old relatively narrow grip. Bam, I got 2.5kg immediately and my bench started moving upward again. It's still moving up gradually and my shoulders feel a lot better.

I think you're both right. I've been using a wider grip for a few months, and I think my bench has gone down. I know I feel weaker benching than I used to, and I've never been any good at it to begin with. I'm going back to my old grip tomorrow and we'll see what happens. Helgi you're right, my shoulders felt better after benching with my old grip too.

Hey man, i dont have much to add, but I really enjoy following your training. I know your pain on the food poisoning though. About 3 weeks ago i spent four days in the bathroom. Lost about 10 pounds. Not fun, and not a good time for squatting.

Thanks a lot John. I appreciate having you on board and hope you'll continue to keep up with me. That food poisoning was the worst! I had the flu about 5 weeks prior, and would have traded another bout of the flu for that stomach bug.