1400 Total @ 148?

[Ape288]

I decided to do some deadlifts this past Sunday just to get an idea of where I currently stand. As of now, I'm about 7 weeks out from my next meet. I will be cutting back down to 148. I went sumo and worked up to a relatively comfortable, but very technically unsound, single with 500lbs. I would estimate I had about 20lbs left in the tank. Not bad considering I have not done a deadlift since October. Unfortunately, I forgot I don't have access to the deadlift bar on Sundays so this was done on a stiff bar. I'm going to have to shift my lifting schedule around a smidgey smidge so that I can get in a couple more feeler sessions with the deadlift bar before the meet. That whip always throws me off, but hopefully I can get a few pounds out of it. I'm planning to give that a go this coming Monday. On Thursday, however, I need to see where I stand with my squat. That should be interesting...

Anyway, I threw together a little training motivation vid for my YouTube channel. Just some big lifts and a few jumps/sprints that I've done in recent history. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Training Motivation - Alec Enkiri - YouTube

4/2/17
Broad jump- 3,3,3,3,3 (best was 9'4" - a one inch comeback PR!)
Standing rollout- 5,3,3
Sumo deadlift- 135x5, 225x3, 315x2, 405x1, 500x1
Weighted Hyperextension(165lbs)- 10,10,10,8,7

Done.

[Chris McCarthy]

Nice Pull!

[Ape288]

Nice Pull!

Yeah, I don't know if you saw it or not, but the video of the actual DL from Sunday is on my Instagram haha.

[Chris McCarthy]

I shall take a peak!

[Ape288]

I decided to to go ahead and do my usual Tuesday workout even though I just deadlifted on Sunday. My body doesn't really feel that beat up or anything, but my hands hurt, and my grip strength was WAY down yesterday for farmer's walks. I could barely hold 225 for one set, where my current strapless PR from just a few week ago is 250. My overall strength was not really hampered, however, as I was able to do a strong set with 265lbs per hand when I strapped in.

I'm going to squat tomorrow and after that I'll have at least some idea of where I stand with it. And I'm going to pull on the deadlift bar on Monday to see how that feels. After that the main focus up to the meet is going to be on remembering how to squat, trying to find a respectable bench, and using the movements I've been using to retain fatigue until I cut them all out as meet day approaches.

4/4/17
Straight arm pulldown(150)- 20,17,13
Farmer's walk- (115lbs per hand x 25yds),(165x25yds)(205x20yds)(225x20yds)
Add straps- (245x20yds)(265x20yds)
Zombie front squat hold-(345x20 secs)(395x20)(455x20)(505x17)(505x10)
Pallof press-(60x10)(70x10)(80x10)(70x10)

Done.

Oh and here's the 500 pull from the other day. Probably about 20lbs in the tank. Not everything I hoped it would be, but not terrible all things considered. Tbh, mostly just bad positioning from lack of practice, I'd say. Given my current body weight and means of training, the strength level is not bad.

Instagram

[Ape288]

Return to squatting

Had my first squat session yesterday in preparation for my meet. I managed to work my way up to a decent 455lbs single (w/wraps). This was the first time squatting in over 6 months, unfortunately. The good news is, I wasn't terribly weak. The bad news is, the lift was super wonky technically and my body doesn't remember what a truly heavy squat is supposed to feel like. I need to re-teach myself how to grind. I was basically in panic mode during the descent even though the weight felt incredibly light on my back. My hips shot up out of the hole in spite of the fact that I was wearing wraps, and I got out of position heading into the sticking point which caused the bar to slow down and me to have to bully it back into position before easily finishing the lift. 20 more pounds on the bar and this type of inefficiency simply won't fly. Anyway, 6 weeks out from the meet. I'm going to get in 4-5 more sessions before then and hopefully regain some ground.

4/6/17
Standing ab rollout- 5,4,3
Broad jump- 3,3,3,3
Squat- (135x5), (225x3), (275x2), (325x1), (375x1), (425x1), (455x1)
Front squat- (225x2), (275x2), (315x2), (355x2)
Hyperextension- (175 x 6,6,6,6,6)(145 x 10)

Done.

Instagram

[John Petrizzo]

Hi Alec,

I have been following your training here and on social media a little bit and was just curious why you had to stop squatting for so long. Did you have some complications recovering from your hip surgery?

[Ape288]

Hi Alec,

I have been following your training here and on social media a little bit and was just curious why you had to stop squatting for so long. Did you have some complications recovering from your hip surgery?

Hey John,

My hip is fantastic, actually. It was completely unstable before the surgery and now it's rock solid. Best decision I ever made. What I didn't know going into it was that some of the pain I was feeling in the posterior pelvic area was not due to the hip but something else entirely. I've had hip, hamstring, and lumbar MRI's since then. The only conclusive thing that came about from these is that I have some foraminal narrowing at L5/S1 due to a slight spondylolisthesis, so the orthos say the pain is coming from my lumbar spine. I can list about 50 reasons why I don't believe that diagnosis for a second, the least of which are that spinal compression causes me zero pain, the pain doesn't follow the dermatomes, and I even let them give me a cortisone injection directly into L5/S1 to see what would happen and it did absolutely nothing. Since then I've discovered I have a sacral torsion due to a true leg length discrepancy. I'm more inclined to believe the pain is a result of that. I actually had my squat and deadlift shoes shimmed after getting the idea from Rippetoe from an article he posted on here. Anyway, the injury doesn't look to be going anywhere so I have to take things very gently. The wraps alleviate the issue somewhat which is why I'm using them. If I do too much volume or too much frequency the injury, whatever it may be, lights up and I'm worthless for a week. The way I've been training is a work around that does not irritate the injury at all. If you'd like to hear the full timeline of how things have gone since the surgery, I'd be happy to share it with you via email. Just let me know.

Alec

[Ape288]

I had originally planned to deadlift again this week, but instead of that, I'm going to save it for next week. Then I'll repeat that same pattern: the following week will be off and the week after that I'll do my final deadlift session about 19 days out. I've still got 5 squat sessions to go, every Friday from here on out. I shifted my training schedule up one day to allow the deadlift days that will follow to be on Monday instead of Sunday so that I'll be able to use the DL bar for them. Anyway, today was nothing exciting. Just back to the sled and whatnot. I posted the full video of last week's squat session on my YouTube channel for those who are interested.

First Squat Session in 6 Months... - YouTube

4/10/17
Standing Rollout- 6,4,3
Broad jump- 3,3,3,3,3
Sled- (630lbsx20yds)(745x20)(835x20)(900x20)
Zombie Hold- (365lbsx20secs)(415x20)(465x20)(515x15)
Weighted Hypers(185lbss)- 5,5,5,5,5

Done.

[Ape288]

I did 465 this week for my second squat session of this pseudo-meet peak. My technique felt a little bit cleaner, although I'm still squatting kind of high. I can't really feel where I am as I descend right now. I'm going to have to sort that out before the meet or I'll bomb on depth lol.

This lift moved considerably slower than I would have liked. The 455 last week was really only slwoed down by poor positioning, but this lift wasn't so much out of position as it was just grindy, unfortunately. I tried using the Texas squat bar this week because I hate those stupid paper thin bars at this gym, but I think I prefer the paper thin ones to the Texas bar. Anyway, I'll be traveling home next week and that will give me the opportunity to get in a session on my own equipment which will be helpful for gauging where I am. Hopefully soon I'll be able to move all that stuff down here with me. I just need a garage first!

The plan is to deadlift tomorrow using the deadlift bar. But my hamstrings are sore as hell today from too many hypers on Friday and too much sprinting yesterday. I should be good to go though.

4/14/17
Standing rollout- 5,5,5
Broad jump- 3,3,3,3
Squat- 145x4, 235x3, 285x2, 335x1, 385x1, 435x1, 465x1
Front squat- 275x2, 325x2, 365x2
Hypers(150)- 15,13,12,10+6+4 (drop set)

Done.

465lbs Squat @ 162 - YouTube