Give me strength, or give me death!

[Phedder]

Weigh in: 96.6KG I shouldn't be surprised I suppose, I've been feasting all weekend with really high carbs and not doing my usual fasts. Back to fasting and higher protein/less carbs so should be back around mid 98s soon, then back to the slow and steady gains.

wait wut

you lost weight by feasting and eating heaps of carbs and now youre going to gain weight by fasting?

Not again! :doh:

Meant to be 99.6. A few weeks back somehow I wrote 76 instead of 96. The retard is strong in me

[Phedder]

Smolov Jr W3D2

Weigh in: 98.2kg, as expected.

Bench Press

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

7x5x90kg - Felt great...and that was the end of that feeling

Squats

lots x bar

3x5x60kg

3x100kg

2x120kg (b)

2x2x140kg (b)

Power Cleans

2x3x60kg - na, wrist didn't like the catch.

RDLS

8x60kg - na, just didn't feel right.

Lying Hammy Curls - just getting some blood in there.

12x70

2x15x50

10x50+10x30

I've been sitting around too much the last few days and my hips felt like shit. Between every bench set I was stretching and warming up my hips. My the time I got to squats they felt alright, but I was just weak as piss. The doubles at 140 were slow and ugly, honestly looked worse than my 170 in comp. I still need to work up to 90%ish to set the weight for Smolov again, and it aint looking good, especially when 140 feels like 90% :shifty:

[Phedder]

What a hectic few days!

Thursday night I pulled an all-nighter to finish an assignment. Once that was Handed in on Friday, I then had an exercise metabolism lab at 2pm, where I thought it was a cool experiment so volunteered (great idea on no sleep). We did max static contractions on a biodex dynamometer, set up like the bottom position on a leg extension machine. So I had to try and extend my leg as hard as possible against that. My best of 3 tests was 720Nm, I was told most people were maxing at ~600Nm except for one freak who pulled out 930Nm! Then I got hooked up with electrodes to stimulate the muscle, got to the point where it felt like someone was charlie horsing me in the leg and called it there, that was 260ish Nm. Then I had to jump on the bike and pedal to exhaustion, increasing the watts every 2 mins. I finished around 10mins and 290watts when I just couldn't keep my legs turning faster enough, once RPM dropped below 40 you're done. Then straight back over to the dynamometer, and I did 3 more max contractions + the charlie horse electric stimulation superimposed, that felt fantastic :shifty:

And if that wasn't enough, I still had to go train 2 hours later :grin:

Yesterday, Smolov W3D3

Bench Press

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

8x4x95kg - Volume PB

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

2x120kg (b)

2x2x140kg (b)

2x6x100kg

Lat Pulldowns

5x10-12

Then went with the flatties and friends out to the long beach caves for a bonfire and drinks. I was driving the late car out, and I drove a load back around 2am with most others camping there the night. So all of the above from 8am Thursday until 2am Sat with no sleep /lifestory.

[Phedder]

Woke up this arvo just in time to make it to the gym. Still not enough sleep, and I won't be catching up on it either because I'm probably working tonight :roll:

Smolov W3D4 - FINAL DAY :grin:

Weigh in: 98.6kg

Bench Press

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

2x80kg

1x90kg

9x3x100kg - Volume PB - Third reps were getting pretty slow but never in danger of missing.

4.5x100kg - For my last set I figured I'd be a cocky bugger and try push out 5 reps. The bar slowed right down on the 5th rep so spotter gave it a nudge with his fingers, I would have got it unassisted but definitely a grind.

That made me think I may have set my weights too light :shifty: I shouldn't be able to do 9x3 on the final day with relative ease, and then get +2 reps on the final set :shrug:

I'm starting Smolov for squats again next week and still hadn't sorted a number to plug in. Since tweaking my back after the comp squats still haven't gotten back to where they were.

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

1x120kg

1x140kg (b)

1x150kg (b)

1x160kg (b) - Smooth but slow, that's far enough. I'll use 160 to plug in, which was less than I'd like but it's better to bump it up if it's too easy than having to drop weights due to failing. If I can get back to 180+ after the base cycle I'll be happy anyway, and hopefully intense will get me to a 200+ at nationals :twisted:

Deadlifts

3x100kg

1x140kg

3x180kg (b) - Da f*ck? Felt heavy as. I suppose I was pretty fatigued my now, and had barely been resting. I gym was closing so all my squats and deads with done within 15 minutes, not exactly ideal rest times when focusing on strength :pfft:

So yeah, stoked with how the bench went today, glad to finish the program off strong. I'll likely do some speed bench on Monday and then test bench on Friday. Bit annoyed at deadlifts, wanted to either get quite a few reps at 180 or move up to heavier weights before starting smolov. May have to throw in a speed DL session at some point, I think my technique slipping from lack of deadlifting is what got my injured at the comp in the first place, so I plan on avoiding that this time through.

[CoastNZ]

What a hectic few days!

We did max static contractions on a biodex dynamometer, set up like the bottom position on a leg extension machine. So I had to try and extend my leg as hard as possible against that. My best of 3 tests was 720Nm, I was told most people were maxing at ~600Nm except for one freak who pulled out 930Nm! Then I got hooked up with electrodes to stimulate the muscle, got to the point where it felt like someone was charlie horsing me in the leg and called it there, that was 260ish Nm. Then I had to jump on the bike and pedal to exhaustion, increasing the watts every 2 mins. I finished around 10mins and 290watts when I just couldn't keep my legs turning faster enough, once RPM dropped below 40 you're done. Then straight back over to the dynamometer, and I did 3 more max contractions + the charlie horse electric stimulation superimposed, that felt fantastic :shifty:

Haha that's the only lab I offered to do last year since it was the least exercise... The shock sucks aye, affected some people more than others and I turned out to be a good responder to the stimuli..

Good to hear about the benching, hopefully that 115 falls soon.

[Phedder]

Haha that's the only lab I offered to do last year since it was the least exercise... The shock sucks aye, affected some people more than others and I turned out to be a good responder to the stimuli..

Good to hear about the benching, hopefully that 115 falls soon.

The pain wasn't too bad, but felt like it was bending my leg in half, and creepy as f*ck watching the muscle sink right into the bone.

115 is going down (err, up) The minimum I'll accept is a 115 paused and 120 T'n'G on Friday.

Another pretty taxing day today. Had the final session of speed agility and power so we worked up to testing 60m sprints with the timing lights. So a heap of practice sprints beforehand, slow lead ins, technique runs, maintaining top speed etc, and then 3 timed max effort 60s. Later in the arvo I went to hand in a lab report, which I had emailed to myself as an attachment to then go to uni and print off. For some reason my email wouldn't open, and I had accidentally saved the data file instead of actual report to my USB :doh: So another 10min sprint in each direction back to the flat to get the report and to uni to print and hand it in...Legs were screwed.

So naturally, today was the day I'm starting the smolov base again

Smolov Base W1D1

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

4x9x115kg (loose belt) Easy weight, but man my legs were fatigued, and 9 reps got me breathing pretty hard, for the third time today. Actually cramped up a bit between sets.

Speed Bench Press

lots x bar

3x60kg

8x3x60kg + red band

3x80kg +red band - no real reason :shifty:

Machine shoulder Press

4x10x70 - 2 hammer grip 2 pronated.

Press downs SS Face Pulls

5x15x40 for both exercises.

And tonights post training Feed =P~

approx 550g Chicken breast, 250g (dry weight) whole grain pasta, 200g vege, 1 jar of Creamy Mushroom sauce and lemon pepper. I'll likely chase that with half a block of almond dairy milk choc to make up for all the damn running today

[hjp]

Sounds like a rough few days with lack of sleep! I work at Massey here in Palmy, always love the electrical stim experiments haha such a weird feeling.

Na I felt good on the last day of that bench cycle too man, was strange.

When you testing bench? Goodluck with the full smolov for squats

[Phedder]

When you testing bench? Goodluck with the full smolov for squats

Will do it on Friday before squats. I may need that luck too

Smolov Base W1D2 today - Hard.

Weigh in: 98.6kg

Big warm up because my legs were still sore from all of mondays running + squats

lots x bar

5x60kg

3x100kg

1x120kg (b)

5x7x125kg (b) - Really hard, final reps were all a grind. No way it should be this hard yet. Although compared to the last time I ran the base, these were my final weeks numbers, and now im using them for my first week. Will push through this week and maybe only add 5kg instead of 10kg to next week.

Kroc rows

12x20kg

20x40kg - PB

15x30kg

Hammer grip pull downs

2x12x105

3x10x120

Ezy bar curls

15xbar

15xbar+10kg

10xbar+20kg

10xbar+20kg + 5 cheat reps.

Straight bar curls

30x20kg

First time I've gotten a bicep pump in I don't know how long...feels good =P~

Going to keep Kroc rows in again, i'll try and move up the weight for 20 reps each week, and keep the 15 rep set at 10kg less than that.

[Phedder]

Smolov Base W1D3 + Bench Test

Weigh in: 99.0kg

Bench Press

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

1x90kg

1x100kg

1x110kg

1x115kg paused - PB Glad to knock that one off, been plaguing me for months. Came up pretty well too, not quick or easy but nice and smooth with no real grind.

0x120kg - TnG - Good off the chest and then stalled at mid point. Spotter grabbed it a bit early, could have possibly ground it out but likely not. Not sure what went wrong, with how well the 115 went I though 120 TnG was a given.

2x5x100kg

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

1x120kg (b)

7x5x132.5kg (b)

OH BB press

8x40kg

5x50kg

Seated DB Press SS Hammer curls.

10x20kg SS same

2x10x16kg SS same

Single arm DB press

3x23kg

1x26kg

1x28kg

I was honestly expecting more from my bench, but even during the warm ups it didn't quite feel right. Definitely not as good as it was the final day of the prog. I'm happy to have finally got 115 paused, but I know there's more there too. I'll be doing ME/DE bench from now, hopefully get a good day and see those numbers climb up more.

[hjp]

Paused 115, nice. Tough luck with the spotter on the 120, but nevertheless you got a PB! :nod:

[Phedder]

Paused 115, nice. Tough luck with the spotter on the 120, but nevertheless you got a PB! :nod:

Yeah can't complain about the PB, but I was expecting more. Seeing how well others, including yourself have done on it, and how well my final session felt I was secretly expecting a 120 paused Might make for an interesting 3rd attempt at South Islands :nod:

Smolov W1D4

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

1x130kg (b)

10x3x140kg (b)

Speed deads

5x60kg

3x100kg

5x3x100kg + blue band

2x140kg

2x180kg (b) - Felt heavy as. Last time through smolov I felt like my deadlift technique suffered a lot from not really doing them for 5 weeks or so. Definitely including speed deads and the occasional semi heavy set this time through, lower back be damned

Chin ups

3x6

[Phedder]

Smolov W2D1

Stuck with adding 10kg this week, figured if I miss a rep I'll drop it back, until then I soldier on :nod:

Squats

10x40kg

5x60kg

3x100kg

1x120kg (loose belt)

4x9x125kg (loose belt) -Rep and volume PB These felt surprisingly good, just conditioning letting me down on the final reps again. I've brought my stance in 1-2cm and think it's helping me with a bit more drive out of the hole. Will see how it pans out.

Heavy Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

1x90kg

3x100kg

3x105kg

3x3x95kg - First set all paused. Next 2 TnG

Lying Hamstring Curls

4x10x80

SS

Flat DB Press - Pause every rep and explode up. Hoping the pauses will help improve the bottom end of my bench and strengthen my chest.

4x10x26kg

Lateral Raises

3x10x11kg

[Phedder]

Smolov Base W2D2

Weigh in : 99.3kg - consistently in 99s now, onwards to 100 =P~

Squats - Really long warm up, sitting at my desk all day typing out an assignment. It's amazing how I always manage to do more work in the final 2-3 hours than in the entire day beforehand

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

1x130kg (loose belt)

5x7x135kg (loose belt) - Vol and rep PB

Front squats

2x5x60kg

Power Cleans

3x5x60kg

Kroc Rows

10x26kg

20x43kg - PB

2x15x33kg

Hammer grip pull downs

4x12x120

SS

Face Pulls

4x12x50

Ab circuit

Hanging leg raises - 3x15

Top half Crunches - 3x15

Back extensions - 3x15

5 minutes after I get home, my girlfriend comes in with a whole pre cooked chook for me. Keeper :nod: :grin: =P~

[Phedder]

Smolov base W2D3

Speed Bench - racks were taken

lots x bar

8xbar+doubled red band

3x40kg +red band

10x3x62.5kg + red band

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

2x130kg (loose belt)

7x5x142.5kg - Vol and rep PB Kept alternating between loose and tight belt, neither felt quite right

5x100kg

BB OH Press

lots x bar

8x40kg

3x5x50kg

Seated DB press

8x16kg

3x6x23kg

Seated Machine Press

4x10

Side raises

20x11kg

New squat stance is feeling strong, I think my form's a bit more consistent like this, and I'm not dropping every rep to rock bottom. Feels slightly less explosive, but more solid for repping and smoother reps at that too.

[M.T]

Really awesome work in here Phed! your soon becoming a force to be reckoned with my friend keep it up and smash dem cals :clap:

[Phedder]

Really awesome work in here Phed! your soon becoming a force to be reckoned with my friend keep it up and smash dem cals :clap:

Cheers MT, just hoping to build a nice solid base this year. Force to be reckoned with in 2013 :twisted:

Good to see you back smashing it after that bout of the flu :clap:

[Phedder]

Smolov Base W2D4

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

1x120kg

1x140kg (loose belt)

10x3x150kg (tight belt)

Speed deadlifts

5x70kg

3x110kg

5x2x110kg + doubled blue band

2x150kg (b)

2x190kg (b)

Pull ups/Chin ups

5xbw -pull ups

5xbw -chin ups from here

5xbw+10kg

2x5xbw+20kg

5xbw -pull ups

6xbw - chin ups

Gym closing.

Blue band pull-a-parts - 5 mins later back home.

4x15

Hardest session of squats so far, yet never doubted myself of failing a rep :-s Every rep felt hard, but 3rd reps felt exactly the same as the 1st reps. The 20 hours between 7x5x142.5kg and this likely has something to do with it, I know the weights shouldn't be that hard, but that limited recover really kicks my ass.

[hjp]

Yeah limited recovery always kicks ya lol

Nice work though man, doing well. Love seeing smolov, don't know how you others always get so much work in after, crazy stuff

[Phedder]

Yeah limited recovery always kicks ya lol

Nice work though man, doing well. Love seeing smolov, don't know how you others always get so much work in after, crazy stuff

Cheers mate. I'm sticking with the speed deads and odd heavy set because I'm convinced the reason I tweaked my back at provincials was from only doing deads once in 5 weeks and form getting loose. Also that kind of work feels like a walk in the park after the smolov sets haha. The squats took me around an hour and everything else was within 25min

[Phedder]

Smolov Base W3D1

Weigh in: 99.4kg

Squats

lots x bar

10x60kg

3x100kg

1x120kg (loose belt)

4x9x130kg (loose belt) - Rep and Vol PB - All warm up sets felt terrible, and then working sets were actually fine. 9 reps still gets the lungs going :oops: But my slightly altered stance is really making doing reps a lot easier. Reps 1-7 felt nearly identical, speed and form wise, all felt pretty sweet. 8 and 9 were a wee grind.

Heavy Bench

lots x bar

5x60kg

3x80kg

1x90kg

3x100kg

3x107.5kg - rep PB - Again warm ups felt shit, and top sets weren't much better but managed the 3 reps ok. If all's well 3@110kg should happen next week, then into doubles.

3x2x100kg

Flat DB press

10x21kg

8x31kg

6x36kg

5x41kg - PB I think? Been ages since I've put any effort into DB work, once the stabilisers get accustomed again I'll hopefully be nearing the 51s closer to nationals :pray:

2x10x30kg

Machine Shoulder Press

3x10x50

Face Pulls SS Side Raises

3x12x60 SS 3x10x11kg

Kneeling Cable Crunches

3x10x70 - Couldn't quite feel these working, will have to experiment a little :?

Hanging Leg Raises

15xBW

8xbw+ 2kg med ball between ankles, 3xbw once it slipped

5xbw+med ball, 5xbw once it slipped

Ended up being a fair amount of volume, just wanted to keep doing more Good excuse to eat more tonight, I've got some BBQ pork chops and a block of hazelnut chocolate with my name on it =P~

[hjp]

3PB's in one session!! Killing it bro. You do do a lot of volume bro. Keep it up

[M.T]

3PB's in one session!! Killing it bro. You do do a lot of volume bro. Keep it up

+1 :clap:

[Phedder]

3PB's in one session!! Killing it bro. You do do a lot of volume bro. Keep it up

+1 :clap:

Thanks guys, just trying to get some volume in while I can, before the intense cycle flattens me

Smolov Base W3D2

Weigh in: 99.6kg - Closing in on the hundy, I'll likely be there when I test on the 9th

Squats

lots x bar

5x60kg

3x100kg

1x120kg

1x140kg (loose belt)

5x7x140kg (tight belt) - Rep and Vol PB :pale: Previous rep PB was 6 for 1 set, so to add a rep and do 5 sets I'm pretty stoked. Confident for the next 2 sessions :nod:

Sumo deadlifts

5x5x60kg - I'm thinking I'll continue doing my speed deadlifts conventional to maintain form, and then work up a bit heavier with Sumo to save the lower back a bit through smolov while still having some weight in my hands. If I can get my Sumo over 200kg with ease I'll be happy, previous PB is 160kg from like a year and a half ago so shouldn't be too difficult.

Kroc Rows

10x26kg

20x46kg - PB Fuarrrrrrk burning hands. Grip with my left is fine, grip with my right was starting to give way around rep 17.

2x15x36kg

Lat Pulldowns

10x105

10x135

10x150

8x150 - Massive drop set down from here.

8x135

8x120

8x105

8x90

8x75

20x60

2x8x105

[Phedder]

Smolov Base W3D3

Weigh in: 100.2kg - PB Yeah buddy, triple digits! \:D/ That was after a massive pre-workout deuce, too :pfft: That's one long-term goal achieved, 100kg without being a fat shit. Abs are far from fantastic or even easily visible, but with the correct lighting using my favourite mirror and tensing hard when Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus align...They're still kinda there

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

1x120kg

1x140kg (loose belt)

7x5x147.5kg (5xloose belt, 2x tight) - Rep and Vol PB

Speed Bench

lots x bar

10xbar + doubled red band

5x40kg + red band

3x3x65kg + red band - Speed not quite where I want it

5x3x60kg + red band - Perfect speed

Close grip Bench

8x10x60kg

SS

DB hammer Curls

2x10x18kg - Too light

6x10x23kg - Just right

Wasn't going to do that many sets of CG and curls but my girlfriend turned up so I stuck around a bit longer helping her out with squat form etc. I reckon I'll have her in a competition by the end of next year, she gets frustrated when something doesn't quite feel right and loves adding weight to the bar when she can :twisted: Got her on a pretty basic 3 day a week full body template at the moment and she's thriving :nod:

Now to smash back the food and get a good sleep, final session of the base at 10x3x155kg in 20 hours or so

[Phedder]

Smolov Base W3D4 -Final day :grin:

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

1x120kg

1x140kg (loose belt)

1x150kg (loose belt)

10x3x155kg (tight belt) - Rep and Vol PB I made it through :pray: Took me roughly 1hr20min of squatting including warm ups though :oops:

Speed Conventional Deadlifts - Hook gripped

5x60kg

3x110kg

6x2x110kg + doubled blue band + loose belt

Sumo Deadlifts

3x110kg

3x130kg

1x150kg (loose belt)

1x170kg (tight belt ) -PB for sumo and hook grip

Conventional Deadlifts

1x150kg (loose belt) - Hooked

1x170kg (loose belt) - Hooked

1x190kg (tight belt) - Alternate grip

1x210kg (tight belt) - Alternate grip

And all those deadlifts were done within 30 min :pfft: Not sure why I did so much after squats, just felt energized and really wanted to play around a bit with Sumo and the Hook grip, felt really good. Hook grip killed my thumbs as expected, but I actually felt a bit stronger in the upper back. Will keep working on it :nod: I'm definitely much stronger Conventional, but feel with more time I could work up to similar numbers in both. The 170 sumo was a little slow off the ground but lock out was a breeze. It'll be good including Sumos during the rest of smolov, learn a new skill and help strengthen the adductors. Once switching back to conventional I realised I hadn't gone over 200kg since Otago Champs, so figured why not? The 210 came up pretty well, a bit slower than I'd like but what can I really expect after that much squatting and deadlifting beforehand

I'll do a do a test next Friday or Saturday, up to 95% or so but if I feel a PB is there I'll go for it.

I also met Monarchking today, he was down for his girlfriends hockey game so popped in for a session. Nice guy and looking pretty solid, hope to see you around again mate