Figuring on a max bench of 500, 75% comes in at 385, but that was a little light for my training, so I upped my working sets to 405.
On my last warm up (first shirted lift) of 385x2, it sure was a wake up call lol of being back in the gear.. first time since march.. I unracked the weight, paused for a second, and all my cues started playing back in my head.. ok.. elbows out..keep the shirt tight.. spread the bar..use the lats..lift the head..dont overflare.
It was like a light switch went on in my head. Anyhow.. speed was really good, weight felt super light. I can still improve my overall tightness, and locking my legs in. I want to try and get my feet further apart, and rotate my knees and heels out.
One thing I have been trying to incorporate are little pauses at the top and bottom of the reps. (more so at the top).. Time under Tension, and staying under control all work to help the overall lift.
Well its been quite awhile since I updated this blog, so I figured it was as good a time as any to get my ass going again with my posts.
Quick update on whats been going on since my last April '14 post. As you probably know, I've been training following Brian Carroll's 10/20/Life for the last 16 months with great success. April - July '14 has been my "Off Season" training.. where focus strictly on building raw strength, no gear, very little 1 rep maxes, and just overall strength building, bulking up, and enjoying all facets of my life.
The overall program run basically 2-3 weeks at a time, then a 1 wk deload week.. rotating the main lifts between 3-8 rep work, and sometimes even putting all 3 lifts (Sq/Be/DL) into the same day for overall conditioning work. Its been great.
Its August 13th now, and we are 10, actually 9 training weeks out of the meet. I got back into the squat suit last night for the first time since march, (blew off the dust haha) and following Brian Carroll's programming, it was Squat and DL's for 2 sets of 3 reps at 75%.
Squats:
Figuring on a 620lb Training Max for Squat, I went with a 465x3x2 with the straps down on squat suit, and no knee wraps.. using only knee sleeves.
Overall felt great - squats were high, but I don't usually hit depth until I'm north of 500lbs.
I need to make sure I am making my first move into the bar with my shoulders out of the hole, rather than just driving my hips. This will be even further a concern once I put the knee wraps on because they will make my legs shoot up faster. Getting forward on the squat is what caused me to miss by 2nd attempt squat back in March and take a step forward. Based on this I am going to try and get in the knee wraps more often, but its also dependent when I can round up my training partners to wrap my knees.. as self-wrapping with a suit on at 275lb bw is near impossible. (or damn funny anyhow if I pass out)
Deadlifts:
Figuring on a conservative 575lb deadlift, I went with a 415lb deadlift x3x2.
Deadlifts felt real good all around. I made sure I did full-resets with each rep.
I was happy I kept my back in position and tight, and stayed back on my lifts..
So next meet is a good distance away. I figured
id share some of my personal goals...
Obviously hitting 1700 is a nice mark to shoot for, but honestly more important
to me would be to break solidly into the 600s on the squat and 500s on the
bench in the same 3 year old single ply stuff. That would mean I am getting
stronger.
If I can pull that off before making the switch to multiply, I think we can
see some real nice gains once I do.
My deadlift we will continue to grow and I should be knocking on the door of 600
raw.
I did some more analyzing of my squat, and I realized the difference between my
first and second attempts were that we tightened up the straps which I think
contributed to throwing me forward. I need to do more training work with the
straps tighter.
I always did my training work straps up ... but they were always set
real loose. Mistake.
... Just some thoughts for the summer..
Missed Squat 2nd attempt.. lost footing..thrown forward..
With the huge number of people out there offering coaching services, I want to share my personal experience with Brian Carroll
and his coaching. I reached out to Brian about 10 months ago stuck at a
plateau where I was having trouble hitting depth, and putting all my
best “gym” lifts together on a platform. I knew I needed some help. At
41 years old, my biggest concern was making progress on my lifts
– injury free. The year before, I had suffered a back muscle strain
from improperly deadlifting. This had set my training back 6 months at
least. My long-term personal goal is to achieve a Pro total – and I also
knew if I kept getting injured and set back like this, my “biological
timeclock” was going to run out before I hit my goals.
Brian
set me up on a 10 week program built around my goals. At first I looked
at it, and I was like “Hey, why don’t we do this, or that?” .. and he
said “Trust me, let me steer the ship.” .. he was right. If you are
going to hook up with Brian, you need to be all-in and trust him – or
don’t waste your time and money.
If you are willing to put your
trust in him, and WORK HARD, (more on this later..) you will get
results. Period. Its not black magic. Its just when you combine your
hard work and dedication with his experience and coaching , good things
happen. Regarding working hard – here’s the deal. When I saw the first
10 weeks, I said “Brian, I’ve never squatted and deadlifted both on the
same day.” .. he said “Well, you have to at a meet, don’t you?” .. Game
on. It was not just about getting stronger, but also making sure I could
perform my best all on meet day.
The best part of following
his programming, is it gives you the lifter one less thing to think
about. Don’t worry about what you are going to do at training tonight.
Just trust the program, and do your lifts. Regarding working hard – if
you think Brian or anyone else is going to magically make you a pro
lifter without working hard – stay home. Getting results requires
dedicating yourself to your training and making sacrifices where
necessary. I have a wife and 5 kids. If I can train 3-4 days a week, so
can you. Stop making excuses and hoping for some magic results. Its 3
days before Christmas, get up early and train. Its family vacation
during the summer. “Hey babe, its Monday.. I gotta go squat. Take the
kids to the pool. I’ll be back in 2 hours.” .. if you bring the hard
work and dedication – you will get the results with Brian.
I’d
say 70% of the success comes from his adaptive programming, but at least
30% of it comes from Brian’s psychological coaching, and teaching you
how to make your openers reliable, pick reasonable attempts, and peak on
meet day so you can hit your best lifts. He is always asking questions
like “How do you feel? What do you think about this or that?” .. and
that’s a HUGE part of the game I’ve found.. come meet day.. its all
about making your lifts, not “calculated misses” from an over-stroked
ego.
In closing, I’ve done two meets since we hooked up last
may, and in October I put 110lbs on my total, and PR’d on all 3 lifts..
and just this weekend, I put another 50lbs on my total, and again PR’d
on all 3 lifts.
Sunday 3/30 was my powerlifting meet.. and all went as good, or better than expectations..
I headed up on Saturday to help my son and friends compete in the 220 and under classes.. It was great to watch everyone hit good PRs... some highlights were Laura Rinke, totalling 820 at 132lbs, and Dan Berlin deadlifting 580 at only 181lbs..
Onto Sunday..
Squat:
Opened up with a text book 530lbs.. all went well.
2nd Attempt.. 570lbs.. should have been fairly easy, but I wasn't used to the straps being cranked down, and I got thrown forward a bit and lost my footing. NO LIFT.
3rd Attempt..570lbs.. Good lift (30lbs PR).. still got cranked forward, but caught myself.
Lesson learned: Train in tight straps so I can get used to arching harder into the bar and staying back.
Bench:
Opened with an easy 430lbs. 3 white lights.
2nd attempt 460lbs.. a bit of a grinder at top.. good lift.
3rd attempt 485lbs (15lbs PR) .. grinder.. GOOD LIFT!
There's a bit of story to this 3rd attempt.. I had told my handler Fred Mackinnon to put in 480, and he kicked me up an extra 5lbs without me knowing it to 485lbs..
Deadlift:
Opened with an easy 500lbs to get in the meet at hit a 5 lb overall PR at 1555.
2nd attempt .. PR 545lbs good lift, good speed.. 1600 lb PR Total.
Overall real happy with this 50lb total PR, and PRing in every lift!
10 days old.. this is last heavy bench session. Taking my opener to a half-board.
Half-board allows nearly a full-range of motion without all the stress on the CNS of a touch.
I am really happy with this bench tonight.. I was more stable than I ever have been. I took a little while getting to the touch, because I kept my head locked into the bench this time, causing the shirt to remain a bit tighter, and not loosen up in the bottom.
Previously, I would pick up my head as the bar came down, loosening tension, then drive my head back into the bench when I began the press. I am experimenting with keeping it down to improve stability.
Accessory work:
3 sets of 30 Bench Dips
Tricep Band Pressdowns (Crossover) - 50 reps
Band Flyes - 50 Reps
From here on in, its some accessory work on Friday, then rest up for the meet and stay loose!
