Wolf's Log: From Cub to Direwolf

[Michael Wolf]

Swiss Bar Bench Press: Medium Width Neutral Grip
225x7x3
Notes: Still feels pretty awkward. Have to have a slight tilt of the bar towards my head to make the large center of the bar touch my chest. If I keep the bar straight, only one little point of the thing touches. Can't tell which I prefer yet, but it's fine for some light work.

DB Seated Arnold Press
60x10, 70x10, 80x8x3
Notes: Bizzarely, the gym has DBs in 5 lb increments up to 100 (then 110 and 120), EXCEPT for 65 and 75, so while 75x10 would've probably been perfect, I had to jump to 80 and 8s were better for the level of difficulty I wanted to keep for this lighter day in a deload week.

Leg Press
135x8, 225x8, 315x8x2

High Cable Row
3x8

C2 Erg
30/45 x5 @1:50-1:55, then 200m/1:10 rest x 2 @~2:00

[Michael Wolf]

Still doing so much unpacking, shopping for new things, and generally things needed to settle in to Texas and my new apt, that my schedule was just thrown way off this week. So I decided to call last week at 2 workouts, both lighter but still some work, and split the next workout into upper Sunday and lower Monday, since the gym is closed Tuesday. Then I'll do Weds/Fri to finish out the week.

Bench Press: 3" belt + wraps
435x1 @7.5, 455x1 @8.5, 475x1 - PR! @9.75
Notes: Plan was 405x2 and 415x2x2, but with a light week and some extra time off, warm-ups were HOT. I decided to do one heavier single and use that as the barometer, if it flew up, I'd keep going up. 435x1 moved like I might've had 4 reps there, so went to 455 and that moved fast too. Form was locked in and I was pushing hard. I looped 475 so it slowed down a lot till I got it back, and then it moved up again. Looks like I have about 485-490 if I keep the bar path good, but that's a consistent issue for me at heavy weights.

Still, super excited to get a bench PR, and redemption for straining my pec attempting this 6 months ago.

475x1 Bench Press PR on IG

Press: 4" belt + wraps
250x5x5 - PR! @8-9
Notes: Thought about going a little lighter here, but dammit, press is what is contested in USSF and I really wanted this one so I sacked up and did it. I normally like to keep press volume rest in the 5 minute range, 6 at most, but I had to go 7-8 minutes to get these done and they still slowed down to @9 by the end. Still, very happy to get this too. Quads were crampin like mofos, too.

Lat Pulldown
5x8, first set warm-up, second set super easy work, next three pretty easy worksets.

DB Curls
50x8, 60x8x2

A few hours later now and my whole upper body is crushed. My tricep cramped up just pushing myself routinely up off the floor after snuggling my pup, something I do a dozen times every day. My left lat and rhomboid or teres cramped up randomly. This is what happens to me when I go for a heavy weight without having slowly built up to it first, probably a combination of age and a natural inclination towards being this way. Kind of like when I hit a 635x1 @8 DL at the end of the coaches conference in August. And then could barely walk for a week - it literally took me 45-60 seconds to get out of bed the next 2-3 days; and then I was still crushed for a whole additional week after that, when I felt it every step. Any rep performed @8, you wouldn't think would be that stressful.

But if you don't pay attention to the fact that absolute weight matters, and hitting a very heavy mechanical stress in the absence of recent preparation for it is stressful, and only pay attention to the % and bar speed, then, well, you aren't really paying attention.

[neilc1]

eat a banana,
no, really,
eat a banana for cramps.

[JimB]

Still doing so much unpacking, shopping for new things, and generally things needed to settle in to Texas and my new apt, that my schedule was just thrown way off this week. So I decided to call last week at 2 workouts, both lighter but still some work, and split the next workout into upper Sunday and lower Monday, since the gym is closed Tuesday. Then I'll do Weds/Fri to finish out the week.

Bench Press: 3" belt + wraps
435x1 @7.5, 455x1 @8.5, 475x1 - PR! @9.75
Notes: Plan was 405x2 and 415x2x2, but with a light week and some extra time off, warm-ups were HOT. I decided to do one heavier single and use that as the barometer, if it flew up, I'd keep going up. 435x1 moved like I might've had 4 reps there, so went to 455 and that moved fast too. Form was locked in and I was pushing hard. I looped 475 so it slowed down a lot till I got it back, and then it moved up again. Looks like I have about 485-490 if I keep the bar path good, but that's a consistent issue for me at heavy weights.

Still, super excited to get a bench PR, and redemption for straining my pec attempting this 6 months ago.

475x1 Bench Press PR on IG

Press: 4" belt + wraps
250x5x5 - PR! @8-9
Notes: Thought about going a little lighter here, but dammit, press is what is contested in USSF and I really wanted this one so I sacked up and did it. I normally like to keep press volume rest in the 5 minute range, 6 at most, but I had to go 7-8 minutes to get these done and they still slowed down to @9 by the end. Still, very happy to get this too. Quads were crampin like mofos, too.

Lat Pulldown
5x8, first set warm-up, second set super easy work, next three pretty easy worksets.

DB Curls
50x8, 60x8x2

A few hours later now and my whole upper body is crushed. My tricep cramped up just pushing myself routinely up off the floor after snuggling my pup, something I do a dozen times every day. My left lat and rhomboid or teres cramped up randomly. This is what happens to me when I go for a heavy weight without having slowly built up to it first, probably a combination of age and a natural inclination towards being this way. Kind of like when I hit a 635x1 @8 DL at the end of the coaches conference in August. And then could barely walk for a week - it literally took me 45-60 seconds to get out of bed the next 2-3 days; and then I was still crushed for a whole additional week after that, when I felt it every step. Any rep performed @8, you wouldn't think would be that stressful.

But if you don't pay attention to the fact that absolute weight matters, and hitting a very heavy mechanical stress in the absence of recent preparation for it is stressful, and only pay attention to the % and bar speed, then, well, you aren't really paying attention.

475 bench is insane congrats

To me what’s even crazier is the 250x5x5. Awesome lifting very impressive

[Michael Wolf]

475 bench is insane congrats

To me what’s even crazier is the 250x5x5. Awesome lifting very impressive

Dude, I'm just trying to stay ahead of you on bench. Which I am. For now. Barely.

I was really happy about that press, too. Found the vid of when I first did 250x1, almost exactly 54 months ago:


If you'd told me that 4.5 years later, I do that for 5x5, I'd have been very pleased. Of course I've also gained about 15 lbs since then. You really just have to chip away at the press. It hasn't been exactly perfectly linear, but I've added roughly an average of 10 lbs per year to my press for the last 8 years. Very slow, but steady.

I should note, though, that if I was still able to squat, it would probably have slowed down the last couple years, simply due to time and recovery constraints that would have been dedicated to squatting that haven't been, so I've put them into bench and press. That spurred some new progress when I really upped volume and frequency last year. But that quick spurt is over and I'm back to the slow grind of chipping away.

[Michael Wolf]

Gym closed at noon today so had to go much earlier than I prefer to. I also had a, uh, busy morning with the porcelain throne so my intention to get there by 10am turned into 10:50, so I had to hurry. I also have been doing a ton of unpacking, moving furniture, buying new stuff and carrying into my apartment up four flights of stairs - all with no help, so my back has been absolutely fried despite not deadlifting for a week and a half. So despite needing to hurry, I really couldn't, because my erectors were seizing up in a way I don't remember feeling since 2012 I think. Ended up having to cut my workout short because of that, but I got the most important things in.

Deadlift: 3" belt
565x1 @7, 600x1 @8
From low blocks (3-4 inches): 635x1 @8.5 - tore a callus on this
Back to the floor, with straps: 475x3x2 @7
Notes: Ok, a lot to go over here. First, the heavy singles. I was pleased at the bar speed considering my lack of deadlifting regularity lately, and lack of heavy pulling at all since I tweaked my back yet again about 5 weeks ago. On the 600x1 rep, I walked the bar 3-4 baby steps forward to put it down on the blocks, and that was cool to be able to do with 600. Especially because the gym was packed with people trying to get it in before Christmas, so was stuck with a VERY spinny bar that rotated like crazy and that every step where my thigh pushed into it, it tried to rotate. It also had a not very aggressive knurling, so all in all this was quite a challenge. Another testament to the usefulness of general strength.

I've been thinking about if 700 is realistic for the meet, considering everything that's happened. 5 weeks ago I was sure I'd do it. I pulled 600 with what looked like enough ease to have done 600x5 if i wanted. And no accumulated fatigue. 3 days later I tweaked it pulling 610, even though it went up easy and there were no visible issues with the lift. That knocked me out for a couple weeks, and compounded with all the moving stuff, I essentially have only just NOW ramped up my DL yet back to where it was in mid-November. So 700 in 3 short weeks seems like a stretch.

On the other hand, although I've never actually done it, I'm confident I've been strong enough before to have either done so or at least come awfully close. Both in 2015, and again this past spring. Since it's still just a matter of regaining strength I've held before, and pretty recently, I'm not willing to give up on it.

On the gripping hand, per my post about bench yesterday - when I subject myself to large mechanical stresses that are well over and above what my body has very recently been adapted to, I get crushed. And this is most true of all the lifts, in the deadlift. So although I'd like to just plan singles at like 605 today, 620 Friday, 635 next Monday, and 650 next Friday, and then maybe 665 the following Weds and then rest till the meet - I can't. I could probably get away with 605 and 620, but making jumps that big, at that high a weight and %, with that much frequency, will leave me absolutely wrecked heading into the meet, if I even get there at all.

So my thought, based on my experience with them, is to continue that pattern of jumps but do some smaller DL jumps and then larger jumps from the blocks. I get way less crushing fatigue when pulling from the blocks, and I think - hope - that the exposure to the heavier weights via a raised lift, will be enough so that 700 isn't such a system shock and I'll be ready for it.

If I had more time, I'd do some block work but much more work from the floor. I can'y handle deficits, or they'd be an option too. But since I have so short a time, this is what I'm going with. May the Barbell Gods grant me gains.

Leg Press
135x8, 225x8, 315x8, 365x8
Notes: Wanted to do 2 sets @365, but ran out of time.

Ran out of time for conditioning too. Putting the weights back was brutal. My erectors were rekt. Seizing up like crazy. There was a time when that happened all the time, but it's been a long time, like 5-6 years. They're just overworked from stuff outside the gym, I think.

[Michael Wolf]

Swiss Bar Bench
135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 255x5, 275x5x2

Leg Press
135x8, 225x8, 315x8, 405x8x2
Notes: I could feel my knees some at 405, but IIRC, that's where I really started feeling it back in the summer when I leg pressed for a few weeks. And I stopped going to the gym with the leg press soon after so never got higher. They're definitely feeling better now than they did six months ago. My knees I mean. Also the leg press, but that's a function of the knees. It's only marginal but it does make a difference.

DB Seated Press
60x6, 80x6, 90x6, 100x6x2
Notes: At 100 lbs, getting the bells into position was harder than the reps.

LTEs
90x10, 120x10x2

C2 Erg
30/55 x6 @1:50ish
then 225/1:30 x3 @ 1:57-2:00

[Michael Wolf]

Press: 4" belt, no wraps
265x1x5 with 1 min rests, then 265x3 @9 for the last set
Notes: Wanted this to be hard, heavy enough, but not THAT heavy. And it hit all those spots.

Close Grip Bench
315x6x5 @7ish
Notes: Pretty easy, 4 mins rest

Block Pull - just below knee: 3" belt and straps
Worked up to 663x1
Deadlift - straps only
425x5
Notes: Split a callus on the base of my left ring finger on Sunday pulling 635, so used straps to give it the time to fully heal. The 663 rep too FOREVER to get alllllll the slack out and bite, but once it did, it moved real fast. 425x5 afterwards felt like poop only cause it was already getting late on a Friday night and I was tired, but moved fast.

Lat Pulldown
Chin Grip - 3x8
Pullup Grip - 2x8

DB Curls
45x8, 55x8, 65x8

[Michael Wolf]

Good New Years eve session yesterday with my friend Hayden visiting from NYC. Hayden observed me coach a bunch at Solace, and is now a student in the SSOC Barbell Coaching Academy, and has taken over my strength cycles at Solace since i left. He's also one of my best friends and a really good dude, hopefully a future SSC.

Bench
405x2, 420x2x2 @7
Notes: Left pec was a little tetchy so I moved my grip in an inch on each side, but boy did these move well. I'll post the video later today on insta, I have definitely never moved 420 this fast before. I pushed 425 up pretty quick the day I strained my pec when attempting 475 back in June, but not this fast. Woosh!

Deadlift: 3" belt
585x1 @6, 620x1 @7, 640x1 @8, 495x3 @everything felt hard at this point even though it was 145 lbs lighter
Notes: I've been going back and forth about whether to be more aggressive or conservative with my DLs prior to the meet. My injury history suggests conservative, my performance history - I do not get a huge "meet bump" and generally only do a little more than I've done in training unless there are unusual circumstances - suggests that if I want a real shot at 700, I need to be aggressive.

So I'm kind of playing it by ear. I planned to do 620 today, 635 next week, and though that is much further from 700 than I wanted to be at before the meet, knowing that I did a not quite maximal 675 in May gives me confidence that it might be there.

But the barbell gods were with me on this eve of the new year, and 620 flew up. So I took it, put on 640, and that went up real fast too. Definitely had a triple there, had I wanted it, which puts me right around the 700 mark by extrapolation. I'll hit one more day with 1-2 heavy singles next week and then it's up to the barbell gods.

Technique wise, having Hayden was super helpful. Due to my knees, I'd moved my stance to a very narrow, toes-out to allow a more vertical shin, which avoided my knees trying to extend through an ROM that was very painful, with a bunch of weight. Breaking the weight off the floor, basically. Though they have gotten a little better, I kept the stance. But Hayden was very unsatisfied with my Step 4, and suggested I try a more conventional "SS Stance." I went into all the stuff about my knees etc but eventually caved and tried it - knees were fine, and got a much better squeeze, and felt less strain on the areas of my back that get dinged all the time. So that was awesome. I really can't say enough how important technique coaching is, regardless of how experienced or strong you are. You can't see yourself lift in real time, period. I pay such close attention to my form at all times, I really never just say f**k it and go. Ever. And I film some of my sets every workout and watch them immediately after. But some things need to be in from multiple angles, in real time, and it's absolutely invaluable.

Press: 3" belt, no wraps
225x5x4 @6-7
Notes: Smoove. These were movin.

Lat Pulldown
4 sets of 5 heavy, then a back-off set of 10

Rolling Dumbbells
40x10, 50x10x2

C2 Erg
25/75 x7 @1:40-1:45
275/1:30 x2 @1:55ish
Notes: Once again amazed at how quick this comes back. I know it in my head but experiencing it is crazy. Still not especially fast or challenging even by my unimpressive standards, but 2 weeks ago this would've been a max effort and left me wasted. It was actually too easy and the only reason I didn't push it more was because I was chatting with Hayden in between intervals and because I have a meet coming up.

[Michael Wolf]

Swiss Bar Bench
135x8, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5, 295x5
Leg Press
(135, 225, 315, 405, 455) x8

DB Seated Arnold Press
60x8, 70x8x3
Cable Row
4x10

DB Curl - Strict
45x8x3