Mahendra's log of GainzZz

[Mahendra]

Noooo don't assume anything about Berkhan.

YOUR Drug-Free Muscle and Strength Potential: Part 1 ? Strengtheory

That right there is great. It wants me to be 170lbs and 12% at my max. WAY more interesting and satisfying to chase.

Interesting! I re-read this and measured my wrist & ankle. Seems like I have the potential to be ~180lbs @ 12% BF. As you said, that is much more interesting and satisfying to chase. Thanks dude.

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Good morning fellow lifters!

January 6th, 2017 - Friday

AM BW: 134.4lbs

Squat

285x1 @ 8.5 - 0.28 m/s
275x1 @ 8.5 - 0.27
275x1 @ 8 - 0.30
275x1 @ 8.5 - 0.28
250x3 @ 8 - 0.34, 0.37, 0.31
250x3 @ 8 - 0.35, 0.33, 0.30

Deadlift

365x1 @ 9.5 - 0.16
285x4 @ 7
285x4 @ 7

Dragon Flags

10 sets - 14 reps total

< 45 seconds per set


Overall, I guess this was a decent workout. I didn't get enough rest over the past 2 days, and I think it manifested itself this morning. I felt that squats went okay, but I was zapped for energy when I started deadlifts. Zapped enough that I almost fainted during my warmup at @ 315lbs. Funny, because I was completely fine for the subsequent warmup @ 335, and top single at 365lbs.

Squat - Went decently well. Wasn't happy with my 1st single @ 275lbs

Deadlift - Warmups went like this: 135x5 --> 225x1 --> 275x1 --> 315x1 --> 335x1, then 365x1 followed by 285x4x2.

On 315x1, I thought the music was starting to distort, but in reality, it was me probably about to black out. I grabbed on to the rack and I was okay within ~3 seconds. However, on subsequent sets, I felt nothing at all. Weird, eh?

In other news, after reading a few articles by Mike T, and glancing over a few logs here, I think I need to slightly modify my schedule. Basically, move competition lifts to the beginning of the week when I'm fresher, and save variants for the end of the week. I'll still stick with the same set/rep scheme. Pack on volume for now and hope my e1RM inches up over time, then taper ~2-3 weeks before the meet.

So basically:




I think that's all for now. Training video is below.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Cheers!

Training - January 6th, 2017 - YouTube

[Mahendra]

Good morning fellow lifters!

January 7th, 2016 - Saturday

AM BW: 134.0lbs
Waist: 28.875"

Dumbbell bench press

70x8x2
60x8x2

Dumbbell incline press

50x8x4

Dumbbell rows

70x8x2

Dumbbell seal rows

40x10x3

Side raises / Dumbbell lateral raises

20x10x3 / 30x6x3 - Superset

Good workout this morning. Nice dumbbell work. I picked up a pair of 70lbs Dumbbells but my lazy ass left them in the car until this morning, so they were ice cold.

No time for curls or conditioning because:



I'll try to get them done tonight.

I think that's all for now!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!

Cheers!

[gtl]

28 inch waist? Whoa broa!

[Mahendra]

28 inch waist? Whoa broa!

Haha.. 28.875

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Good morning fellow lifters!

January 9th, 2017 - Monday

AM BW: 134.0lbs

Comp Bench

195x1 @ 7.5 - 0.26 m/s
200x1 @ 8 - 0.21 m/s
167.5x4x6

e1RM ~217lbs

< 3 minutes rest

TnG Bench

170x4x2

< 3 minutes rest

Strict Press

97.5x5x3

< 2 minutes rest

Seated Arnold Press

40x5x2

< 2 minutes rest

Chin Ups

BW+70x3x3
BWx9x2

< 2 minutes rest

Dips

BW+72.5x4x2
BWx10x3

< 2 minutes rest

Time: ~90 minutes


Great workout this morning. I had a busy musical weekend, which involved me sitting cross legged for ~12 hours over 3 days, which caused some soreness on my upper left glute. LoL. Woke up exhausted, but training turned out to be good.

Comp Bench - Single @ 195lbs speed improved quite a bit over last Monday's. Single @ 200lbs also improved which felt like a solid @8. #winning. Backoff sets were good. Decided to move 2 backoff sets to TnG bench and bump up load. I think I'll move a couple more backoff sets to TnG next week.

Everything else - Good

Notes: I think I may drop weighted dips in favour of BW dips for volume. I don't think that weighted dips directly help my bench. I feel everything in my shoulders rather than chest or triceps.

Regarding overhead press, I might consider dropping this in favour of dumbbell work for now. Or, maybe work up to 1 heavy'ish set of 3 and then do some backoff dumbbell work. We'll see.

I think that's all for now. Snippets of training can be seen below.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!

Cheers!

Training Snippets - January 9th, 2017

[manveer]

Haha.. 28.875

__________________________________________________ _____

Good morning fellow lifters!

January 9th, 2017 - Monday

AM BW: 134.0lbs

Comp Bench

195x1 @ 7.5 - 0.26 m/s
200x1 @ 8 - 0.21 m/s
167.5x4x6

e1RM ~217lbs

< 3 minutes rest

TnG Bench

170x4x2

< 3 minutes rest

Strict Press

97.5x5x3

< 2 minutes rest

Seated Arnold Press

40x5x2

< 2 minutes rest

Chin Ups

BW+70x3x3
BWx9x2

< 2 minutes rest

Dips

BW+72.5x4x2
BWx10x3

< 2 minutes rest

Time: ~90 minutes

y u no squat today? Or is this new schedule not in effect yet?

Nice work moving your top single up on bench!

[slowmotion]

Great workout this morning. I had a busy musical weekend, which involved me sitting cross legged for ~12 hours over 3 days, which caused some soreness on my upper left glute. LoL. Woke up exhausted, but training turned out to be good.

Traditional music?

Regarding overhead press, I might consider dropping this in favour of dumbbell work for now. Or, maybe work up to 1 heavy'ish set of 3 and then do some backoff dumbbell work. We'll see.

You don't like the press? Shoulder problems?

[Mahendra]

y u no squat today? Or is this new schedule not in effect yet?

Nice work moving your top single up on bench!

Thank Manveer!

I guess that "wasn't all for today". LOL. I meant to write about this earlier, but somehow forgot about it.

Unfortunately, every time that a workout doesn't go as well as I'd like (i.e. Friday's), against my better judgement, I re-think everything rather than realizing it was just a bad workout.

I decided to stick with what I'm doing right now, except that on Friday's, I'll Deadlift first, then Squat. Similar to a 1 lift per day, plus assistance.

The main reason for doing this is time. Given how much more or less volume I may need to do on a Monday, I question my ability to finish ~16 work sets of 4 for both Squat & Bench in the mornings.

Deadlifting on Friday's may not be the most ideal situation (i.e. not being as fresh), but given some time constraints, this might be my best option for now.

So basically:

Monday - Comp Bench + Assistance
Tuesday - Comp Squat + deadlift assistance

Thursday - Bench assistance (i.e. 2ct, slingshot)
Friday - Comp Deadlift + squat assistance

I guess my worry is stamina on competition day to handle 3 heavy singles for each lift. Maybe as I taper (last 2 weeks), I may Squat, Bench & Deadlift all on the same day.

[Mahendra]

Traditional music?

Yes sir

You don't like the press? Shoulder problems?

I do enjoy the press, and thankfully, no shoulder problems.

My thought process is that I should devote more time to Benching & assistance. I don't believe the press adds anything to my bench. After the comp, I may consider adding some more time to the press.

But, I wouldn't give up pressing completely - I'll just do a few more variations of it. I guess, given how hard it is to add weight, and how little it adds to a total (if I were to compete in a Strengthlifting meet again), I don't know if prioritizing it right now is the right thing to do.

[Kooline]

I think it is worth a shot to drop it for a little bit and see how your bench responds to more volume/specificity. I just dropped them as well Since I'm doing so much bench volume now. Only thing I'll do for shoulder health is some very light presses or DB presses and maybe some band pull aparts or some shit like that. But nothing that would get in the way of recovery.

[Mahendra]

I think it is worth a shot to drop it for a little bit and see how your bench responds to more volume/specificity. I just dropped them as well Since I'm doing so much bench volume now. Only thing I'll do for shoulder health is some very light presses or DB presses and maybe some band pull aparts or some shit like that. But nothing that would get in the way of recovery.

Agreed. I dropped pressing intensity & volume quite a bit in favour of MOAR benching. I also like Cody's idea about training the press as an assistance rather than a main lift (unless I was training for a strength lifting meet, I suppose).

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Good morning fellow lifters!

January 10th, 2017 - Tuesday

AM BW: 133.8lbs

11 weeks out

Squat

290x1 @9 - 0.23 m/s
232.5x4x8

e1RM ~ 303lbs

< 3 minutes rest

RDL's

230x6x3

< 3 minutes rest

Dragon Flags

10 Rounds - 15 reps

< 45 seconds rest

Time ~90 minutes

Notes

Overall, it was a great workout this morning.

Squat - I let the bar get in front of me on my top set, which made it harder than it seemed. Had that not happened, I'm sure it wouldn't have been more than an @8.5. Backoff sets were all smooth and nothing was slower than 0.37 m/s (7.5 RPE). Most were in the ~0.40 m/s range.

RDL's - Still undecided on these. Need to figure out another "light" pull.

Dragon Flags - Gold.

That's all for now. Snippets of training is below via Instagram. I recorded backoff sets 1, 4 & 8.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Cheers!

Training Snippets - January 10th, 2017