My Training Log

[amounirl]

DE (Dynamic Effort) Lower

Warm up: Farmer's Walk:
95 in each hand for about 50 ft
100 in each hand for 50 ft

Speed box squats with 60-124 lbs of bands (30-62 per band):
1x6xbar
1x5x95
1x3x135
2x2x155
6x2x165
2x2x175

Speed Deadlifts with bands (Not sure how much band tension but it felt like at least 100-150 at the top):
1x3x135 Conventional
1x3x135 Sumo
1x5x185 Conventional
3x2x185 Conventional
4x2x185 Sumo

Cooldown: Farmer's Walk:
100 per hand for 50 feet

I was planning on doing zercher squats today, but I read a couple of the training logs of guys from Westside and it seems that they do zerchers on ME day and just stick with DE and no repetition method for the bigger, heavier lifts on speed day, not to mention I got to class about 20 minutes late (I have weight training 0 period so it starts at 6:25 before school.) I'll definitely do them next time I do squats on ME day.

I had to carry the dumbbells to set up the bands with them, so I decided to take the long route for a farmer's walk warmup, really makes you appreciate how in strongman they do more than double that weight for 3 times the distance. My 1rm on squats is 355 so I was experimenting with different weights around 50%. I think as I got more warmed up I could accelerate heavier weights at max speed. Speed deadlifts, I saw how Konstantin Konstantinovs set it up with the dumbbells and the bands, and I found it added a lot more resistance than the way I was doing it before, so I had to take it a bit easy. I'm usually a sumo puller but my groin feels really sore from squats on Monday, so I did a little more conventional pulls than I normally would. Max bench tomorrow!

 

[amounirl]

ME (Max Effort) Upper

Bench Press:
10xbar
5x95
5x145
5x185
1x225

T-Bar "Deadrows" (deadlift into row, good stretch and peak contraction in one movement for lats):
3x12x2 plates on the t-end of the bar

Right-Below-Sticking-Point Rack Lockouts (10 sec pause just above bottom at the end of the set):
5xbar
5x95
5x135
5x185
3x205

Face pulls:
3x12x110 (weird leverage machine)

Rope Tricep Extensions:
Drop set 12x130 -> 12x100

Today I didn't go to school (shit happened) so I had to go train at 24 hour fitness. I have friends that I PT there and I had Thanksgiving break a few weeks ago, so I have a mostly unused membership lying around.

I went with one of my buddies that I train who just started lifting 2 or 3 weeks ago, and he didn't know how to spot properly, I tried teaching him but I still felt sketchy about going above 225, so I didn't. Usually I have people in my weight training class who know how to spot. No big deal, first time max benching in a while, glad to see I maintained most of my strength after losing 10 lbs on my cut. I'll do board press next week to get my confidence back up about heavier weights, then aim for a PR of 245 in 2 weeks.

It was really crowded, I forgot how crowded commercial gyms could get, so I had to do a lot of waiting, ended up doing my workouts out of order, and didn't get to do all the lifts I'd planned for that day because the workout was taking way too long. Either way, I was surprised with how hard rack lockouts were for a partial movement, probably because you go from static to dynamic and don't get the stretch reflex you would get on regular bench. The rope cable machine was really weird, I could do ~3x the weight I can do on the one at school, so those numbers up there are pretty meaningless.

I'm maxing on deadlifts this Monday so I'm really excited about that, hopefully I can still pull 4 plates. They say you should only deadlift 2x per month and should only do variants (standing on blocks, reverse bands, etc.), but there's no meets coming up that I could compete in (I'd get smoked in the 25 yr old and under divisions, and there's no comps in under 18 till after I'm 18), so I'm not worried about peaking.

So anyways, sorry for the long post, any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated, I'm still pretty new to the conjugate method so I just kinda half-copied this workout from one of Brian Hopper's from Westside (but of course with less than half the weight xD).

 

[joeblow12345]

I think you can benefit alot from a basic training scheme. The westside conjugate system is a great program to do, I myself use my own variation of the conjugate system. The only issue I have with a beginner using accommodating resistance is it doesn't address your needs. The reason I say this is it reduces the pressure in the hole and increases near lockout. Thats fine for advanced lifters, because they have developed that part of the lift over years of hard training. Plus they use gear which aides them in the hole. Im guessing you train raw. I think you would make better gains just by focusing on technique and learning the lifts, and minimizing the use of bands and chains.

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[amounirl]

I think you can benefit alot from a basic training scheme. The westside conjugate system is a great program to do, I myself use my own variation of the conjugate system. The only issue I have with a beginner using accommodating resistance is it doesn't address your needs. The reason I say this is it reduces the pressure in the hole and increases near lockout. Thats fine for advanced lifters, because they have developed that part of the lift over years of hard training. Plus they use gear which aides them in the hole. Im guessing you train raw. I think you would make better gains just by focusing on technique and learning the lifts, and minimizing the use of bands and chains.

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Thank you for the feedback! So what you're saying is I should be focusing more on assistance exercises like dumbbell press variants, floor presses, low board presses, sticking point lockouts, etc. that will increase my strength in the hole as opposed to bands, high board presses and high lockouts that are better for equipped and advanced lifters?

 

[joeblow12345]

The board presses and lockout work address geared issues. Raw lifters benefit from full range work more, and dead stops. Instead of touch and go on the bench focus on controlling the weight and exploding off the chest. Dont let the bar slam on your chest, drive your feet into floor, keep your ass on the bench. For squats set the pins in power rack at weakest point and do concentric squats as an accessory exercise. Lots of reverse hypers, ghr, good mornings and sled work. Speed work is great to do but dont forget the hypertrophy work, like db presses, tricep work, leg press, shoulder work, lots of rows, pull ups, and tons of abs. Look at all the top power lifters and strong men they have huge dense muscle. You seem to be on the right track keep up the hard work.

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[amounirl]

The board presses and lockout work address geared issues. Raw lifters benefit from full range work more, and dead stops. Instead of touch and go on the bench focus on controlling the weight and exploding off the chest. Dont let the bar slam on your chest, drive your feet into floor, keep your ass on the bench. For squats set the pins in power rack at weakest point and do concentric squats as an accessory exercise. Lots of reverse hypers, ghr, good mornings and sled work. Speed work is great to do but dont forget the hypertrophy work, like db presses, tricep work, leg press, shoulder work, lots of rows, pull ups, and tons of abs. Look at all the top power lifters and strong men they have huge dense muscle. You seem to be on the right track keep up the hard work.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using EliteFitness

All right thanks man, I really appreciate it! Although I've heard that board presses also benefit raw lifters, for example being able to handle heavier weights increases your confidence under that weight, and also it's a good way to vary it up, help recovery, and prevent plateaus. I'll PM you the elitefts article (it won't let me post links on this forum yet). But I see what you're saying that it shouldn't be the focus of training, so I'll definitely put more focus on form/technique and hypertrophy.

 

[amounirl]

Monday: ME Lower

Deadlifts:
5x135 Sumo
5x135 Conventional
5x185 Sumo
5x185 Conventional
3x225 Sumo
1x225 Conventional
1x275 Sumo
1x315 Sumo
1x365 Sumo
Added Belt
1x365 Sumo
1x405 Sumo

Sumo Block Pulls off a 4 inch bumper plate:
2x405

1x5 Weighted Hyperextensions
1x15 Weighted Abs

I got to class a bit late (we're nearing Winter Break, this is the laziest part of the year xD), so I didn't get to do leg press, and I only managed 1 set of hypers and abs, but thankfully I can still pull 4 plates, though my lockout felt really weak compared to last time where below my knees was the hardest. 405 actually felt a lot easier than 365 felt both times, and the 2nd rep of my block pull felt easier than the 1st, and moved faster, even though I paused 3 sec between reps. This worries me a bit that I'm not fully recruiting my muscles and not fulfilling my potential when I 1rm. Maybe I should switch to doing doubles and triples, or do them alongside singles. It'd benefit me because of hypertrophy, as well as possibly learning how to fully recruit my muscles the way I"m doing on the 2nd rep. What do you guys think?

Also, I've been reading up on a few intermediate routines and I think I ought to try experimenting with some of the concepts and ideas in those programs. I might even switch to a more basic routine like Bill Starr Intermediate or 5/3/1, or throw some elements of Westside for Skinny Bastards (RE days, 3-5RMs instead of 1RM) into my conjugate method split. If I find a time where schoolwork is light enough that I can get adequate sleep (hopefully next semester, or summer break), I might also run a Smolov Base Cycle for Squats and a Smolov JR for Bench, since that'd get me a lot of hypertrophy, strength gains, and technique work. So anyways, just a little speculating there about what direction I might start taking my training to make the most of my intermediacy, thoughts?

 

[amounirl]

Tuesday: DE Upper

Speed Bench:
10xbar
Added Bands so that it decelerates by itself at the top
5xbar
5x95
3x3x115 Close Grip
3x3x115 Wide Grip
3x3x115 Medium Grip

Dumbbell Bench:
2x20x50 lb DBs

Tate Press:
1x10x25
1x20x35 Supersetted with JM Press 5x25

Lat Pulldown:
1x10x100
2x10x120
2x12x120

Bodyweight is up around 185-187 now, I'm finding it's a lot easier for me to gain weight than it used to be back 8 months ago when I weighed 162. I was planning on doing 50 pull ups (throughout several sets), but for some reason even 3 felt hard, and I knew it'd take me 30 mins to hit 50, even though I've done 15 chin ups and 12 pull ups at 185 before.

I'm thinking that the reason pull ups were hard, and my DL lockout was hard yesterday, are because my back lost strength while I was cutting, even though I managed to maintain everything else, since all I was doing for back were rows, pulldowns, and block pulls sporadically. In fact it even seemed like my lats got wider and my shoulders got bigger while I was cutting (due to german volume training). Or it could just be that I was fatigued, I'll try to focus more on lats than triceps on Friday since today was very tricep oriented, I'm planning on doing T-Bar deadrows and depending on how I feel, I might re-attempt 50 pull ups when I'm more fresh. If not I'll try lat shrugs (hanging from a pull up bar, weight on a dip belt, shrug with your lats,) since regular shrugs grew my traps a lot. I haven't done Kroc rows in a while since it's so strenuous, I'll have to do that again also, anything to get my back up to speed.

 

[amounirl]

DE Lower

Farmer's Walk Warmup
95s
100s

Speed Deadlifts
5x135 Sumo and Conventional
6x2x185 Sumo with bands standing on 10 lb plates
2x2x205 Sumo

Farmer's Walk Cooldown
100s

Weighted abs
1x16, time to up the weight

I had 6 hours of homework last night, as opposed to the usual 2 hours, so that really kicked my ass and I got to class 45 mins late with less than 5 hours of sleep. I have hardly gotten any sleep these last few weeks since my sleep patterns got screwed up on Thanksgiving break. I gotta get rid of this senioritous and get my homework done sooner so I can sleep 8 hours per night again . I think I'm gonna go take a 3 hour nap right now. Anyways, with only 15 mins left to lift, I decided to just quickly do speed deadlifts, since I already have pretty good speed on my squat, while my deadlift is by far my slowest lift.

I've found that by getting down like I'm about to pull, and tightening my lats, then coming up so my hamstrings are stretched, but keeping my lats tight, snapping back down and flexing my core, exploding up, the bar travels way faster, even with 50% 1rm + bands (it feels like it adds 100 (25%) at the very least, at the top). Though I probably shouldn't go so high that my hamstrings are stretched. I read an article by a guy named Tim Harold, who sumo deadlifts 700 or 800, about form, and now I see what he meant by getting the lats involved and exploding down then up.

Even thought it was short, rushed, and I didn't get to do much, I still felt like it was a pretty good workout, probably because my rest periods were around 30 seconds... Max bench tomorrow!

 

[amounirl]

ME Upper

Yoga Mat "Board" Press:
2x10xbar
1x5x95
1x5x135
Added Yoga Mat
1x5x185
1x3x235
1x1x255 10 lb PR!!!
1x0x265

Sticking Point Low Rack Lockouts
5xbar
5x135
3x185
3x215 10 lb PR!!!
4x205 1 rep PR!!!

Chin Ups
2x10
1x4 (1 min rest since the last set)

Iso Lateral/Lever Rows
10x1 plate 1 side at a time
10x2 plates 1 side at a time
10x3 plates 1 side at a time
12x2 plates both sides at the same time, rested 20 sec then 7 more reps.

Lat Shrugs
10x25s
10x40s

Tate Press
20x40s

DONE! Great workout today, got some PRs and worked my back hard, feeling great, with many gains to come over the weekend. I was so close to a second rep on the 255 but my spotter had to help me out with just his fingers. After going to failure on 255, the 265 wasn't even close. About the yoga mat press, we don't have boards so I use a rolled up yoga mat that's about 4 inches in diameter (same diameter compared to a bumper plate's thickness), but compresses to about 3 when I rest the bar on it, so basically a 1 board with a foam board on top. 1.5 boards.

Great back pump today and I can tell I'm gonna be sore and make some gains. Starting winter break, so I can get some good sleep, finally. Although unfortunately I have to go work out at 24 hour fitness . Either way, after destroying that 255, I'm really confident that I can hit 245 next week on full range bench press. Tate presses and rack lockouts for the win!