Give me strength, or give me death!

[hjp]

Nice work! Enjoy the rest pre comp, big lifts to come!!

[Phedder]

Welcome back Phed, you gonna be hitting the comp at Sky on 14th April?

Certainly am :nod: If I start on Monday I can fit the Smolov intro and base cycle in perfectly to line up test day with the comp, and given my timetable I'll be training in the late afternoon/evenings so should see you around sometime

Nice work! Enjoy the rest pre comp, big lifts to come!!

Cheers hjp Need to keep my ego in check and go for 9/9 for my first outing, Otago champs on 14th of April is what matters. After seeing yours and others progress with smolov jr I'm seriously considering running it along side the smolov squat base. My head tells me that's probably a bad idea... my pitiful squat and bench tell me otherwise

Didn't end up making it to the pools last night as I got called into work, was a quiet one though and finished up at 2.30 so not too bad. About to head to the pools soon to get some blood through the shoulders and hips and then soak in the spa and pester the missus for a shoulder and back rub \:D/

[Ronin]

Welcome back Phed, you gonna be hitting the comp at Sky on 14th April?

Certainly am :nod: If I start on Monday I can fit the Smolov intro and base cycle in perfectly to line up test day with the comp, and given my timetable I'll be training in the late afternoon/evenings so should see you around sometime

Sweet, I'll have to make sure I come along to support ya. I train in the am most days, at the moment Sunday is the only day I'm in there in the afternoon. Small place tho, so I'm bound to run into ya sooner or later

[Phedder]

Welcome back Phed, you gonna be hitting the comp at Sky on 14th April?

Certainly am :nod: If I start on Monday I can fit the Smolov intro and base cycle in perfectly to line up test day with the comp, and given my timetable I'll be training in the late afternoon/evenings so should see you around sometime

Sweet, I'll have to make sure I come along to support ya. I train in the am most days, at the moment Sunday is the only day I'm in there in the afternoon. Small place tho, so I'm bound to run into ya sooner or later

Mornings :pale:

The pools were exactly what I needed, did 10 lengths freestyle and then 6 more breast stroke because I started getting a bit tired :oops:

Found a fountain/sprinkler type thing in the play pool that you could adjust the flow. Got it going really hard, nice thick heavy stream, hitting roughly the same area and pressure as rolling with a tennis ball. Alternated 10-15 mins with that hitting pretty much the whole body and then 10-15 mins in the spa for just over an hour. Feelsgoodman.

Got home and ordered 2 large pizzas and fried up 400g chicken breast to chuck on top, and then added some extra cheese and ranch sauce =P~ Got through 12 pieces, so 4 left to take for tomorrow as well.

[tinytraps]

All the best for tommorow bro, may all our lights be white and let us smash PBs :twisted:

[Phedder]

Southern Raw Classic.

Had a bit of stress sorting a ride to get down to Invercargill, had to wait up until 11.30 to borrow a car from a mate. Fell asleep maybe around 12.30, girlfriend came home from bar tending at 3am and woke me up and I was still wide awake at 5am when the alarm went off :roll:

8.30am Weigh in: 94.0kg - Bit less than I was expecting but knew it would be low early in the morning and I'm not a big morning eater (I usually fast) only had a shake and banana by this point. Then finished my 5 pieces of pizza and got a 6 inch sub, weighed in again at 95.2kg when lifting.

Squats

140kg www

152.5kg www

165kg www - 10kg PB

Bench

100kg www

110kg www

115kg rrr - got it off the chest okay but it started coming towards my head and I didn't have the power to keep pushing through. I'll get this at Otago Champs. Strength is there, technique not quite.

Deads

195kg

215kg -5kg PB

227.5kg - 17.5kg PB 500lb! :grin: I wasn't too sure of this, I almost lost my grip on lockout with 215 and it felt slow. Andy Mahon just told me to go for it, and i'm very glad I did. Felt like the hardest lift I've ever done, lockout felt to take forever but looked okay on vid.

I got a vid of the 165 squat, none of bench and my mate finally turned up a got vids of all 3 deadlifts. Ill chuck up the squat now and deads when I get them from him.

Smolov intro cycle starts tomorrow :twisted:

[Phedder]

227.5kg Deadlift

[steak]

Good day of grinding bro...just the way it should be. Onya :clap:

[drizzt]

Awesome results bro! Onwards and upwards :clap:

[Shutupandsquat]

Dude, you annihilated deads! :clap:

[HarryB]

Awesome deadlift man and that squat, you are strong under the bar just a grind coming up. Well done man.

[tinytraps]

Man we are basically on par except for that dead of yours :shock: Beasted it bro!! Cant wait to see what you get out of smolov

[red machine]

good 1st outting mate, ease on the 500lber 8)

[bar-belle]

Awesome work there Phed....PB's whoop whoop :clap: :clap:

17.5kg on your dead is outstanding \:D/

[Phedder]

Thanks everyone, definitely hooked now! Good to see CBC doing well too :clap:

Man we are basically on par except for that dead of yours :shock: Beasted it bro!! Cant wait to see what you get out of smolov

I'll give you a few KG on deadlift, if you give me a few on bench :pfft:

Just got back from a Speed, Agility and Power practical class I'm taking, 2 hours every monday for 10 weeks. Hopefully it doesn't interfere too much with training. Good bit of conditioning and fun, and learning things I'm sure I'll be able to apply in future. Today was some stair drills, tempo runs, sprint starts and then max 20,30,40m sprints. Covered a lot of stretches at the end too, a lot I already use but a few good new ones to add to the arsenal as well :nod:

Still contemplating running Smolov Jr for bench alongside the squats, but with a well reduced weight. I'm getting a little frustrated with my bench, and being largely technical issues I think the added volume could do wonders. Considering plugging in a max of 100kg and on paper every session looks pretty easy. Can someone convince me one way or the other, please! If running Smolov squats and Smolov Jr I'd look at doing 2 back exercises a session and calling it there. Say Chin ups and Face pulls or DB rows and rear delt flies etc. Still got 2 weeks to decide before I start the base cycle and possibly smolov jr :think:

Off to the supermarket and then the first session of the intro cycle

[drizzt]

First time through Smolov - Squats (full/base) or Jr (bench) - I'd suggest just doing one or the other, not both. Give your full attention to one.

[Phedder]

First time through Smolov - Squats (full/base) or Jr (bench) - I'd suggest just doing one or the other, not both. Give your full attention to one.

A sensible, responsible answer. Just what I was dreading I definitely want to give bench a fair bit of attention at the same time, maybe a DE/ME template along side the squats? Keep ME well away from failure but still heavy enough weight to stay comfortable under the bar, and DE to help work more on tech. So many possibilities :shrug:

[Phedder]

Smolov Intro Day 1.

Weigh in 95.2kg. Will take thigh and waist measurements tomorrow.

Squats

10xbar

8x60kg

5x80kg

3x8x100kg (b)

5x107.5kg (b)

2x2x117.5kg (b)

1x125kg (b)

Face Pulls

4x15x40

That's it. Nice and easy. Ideally I'd have taken a few days off post comp to recover but I had to start today for the prog to line up to peak at Otago Champs. Will keep any extra work to a minimum this week then add more in next week.

[hjp]

Huge deadlift PR!! 500lb club!!!

Awesome work bro, great meet.

Goodluck with smolov an I would agree with Drizz, he is after all the NZBB smolov expert lol

[drizzt]

he is after all the NZBB smolov expert lol

Ha I wouldn't say expert, I've only done 1.333 Smolovs and a Jr, about the same as most guys really!

A sensible, responsible answer. Just what I was dreading I definitely want to give bench a fair bit of attention at the same time, maybe a DE/ME template along side the squats? Keep ME well away from failure but still heavy enough weight to stay comfortable under the bar, and DE to help work more on tech. So many possibilities :shrug:

The thing with Smolov, though, is (obviously) you do it to get your squat up. IMHO you need to accept that your other lifts might take a small hit to get the squat going up - this means focusing fully on just getting through the squat sessions. I think this is one of the risks you take in running Smolov.

I suppose the question you could ask yourself is; do you want really good gains in one of the lifts? Or "ok" ones in both?

I know exactly where you're coming from - I'm often guilty of trying to push for too much, and I think I hit that wall in running the Smolov Base/Smolov Jr alongside each other. In hindisght I ended up not doing justice to either.

However, I believe even with minimal work (i.e. 1-2 maintenance sessions per week - working on tech, like you say) on your bench, that it will at least stay the same, if not improve along with your squat. Generally you'll find that when the squat goes up, your bench will too.

My 2c.

[M.T]

ah YEEEEES another Smolov Comrade :clap:

[Phedder]

Huge deadlift PR!! 500lb club!!!

Awesome work bro, great meet.

Thanks :grin: Now you need to go and join the 600lb club!

I suppose the question you could ask yourself is; do you want really good gains in one of the lifts? Or "ok" ones in both?

Yeah, thinking strategically, right now I want the biggest possible increase in total by Otago Champs so I can comfortably qualify for the equipped nationals lifting raw. Focusing on the squat should do that, I want at least 180 and adding smolov jr may jeopardise those chances.

ah YEEEEES another Smolov Comrade :clap:

Unsure if I'll be a full comrade :shifty: It'll depend how much I get from the intro/base if I decide to carry on and do the intense. I really do want to put some focus onto my bench as well. Too much to do, too little time :pfft:

[Phedder]

Smolov Intro Day 2. - Same as yesterday.

Turns out that speed/agility session took more out of me than I thought. Thighs can take it, but the calves haven't done much work lately so all the sprinting has really nailed them. Waddling around all day :oops: Think I surprised a few people at the gym waddling/limping around and then nailing the squats with ease. A few aches and pains through warm ups but after that felt sweet as, everywhere but the calves :shifty:

Squats

10xbar

3x5x60kg

5x80kg

3x8x100kg (b)

5x107.5kg (b)

2x2x117.5kg (b)

1x125kg (b)

Done. Weights bump up again tomorrow, 3rd day in a row. Bring it

[hjp]

Loving it! Nailing consecutive squat days!!

[Phedder]

Loving it! Nailing consecutive squat days!!

And today felt even easier once I got going, still hobbling around though :pfft:

Spent the first 30-40mins teaching my girlfriend to squat and deadlift, form was already surprisingly good and the few changes I had her make she took to really well. She managed 5x60kg for deadlifts and 2x3x40kg for squats. She was about 2 inches above depth, but for her first proper session and a 5'10" girl who's all legs I was really surprised. Proud :nod:

My session;

Weigh in: 95.6kg - had 1 more meal in me than usual.

Squats

10xbar

2x5x60kg

5x80kg

4x5x107.5kg (b)

3x117.5kg (b)

2x2x125kg (b)

2x140kg (b) - Only supposed to be 1 rep but I was being cheeky :shifty: Doubt I'll be doing that once the base starts

And done again. The next 3 days just call for lunges so I'll start doing upper body work again, maybe throw in a little deadlifting on Friday.