Give me strength, or give me death!

[Monarchking]

They've never really agreed with my shoulders, of course I did always lean really far forward to involve the chest a lot. I might have a play around with them tomorrow, could stay upright for maximum tricep involvement. But any complaints from the shoulders and they're out

agh true. they can be a bitch, and I heard lots of people have shoulder issues with dips. I just found them to be quite effective this year.

[Phedder]

Switching Cycle W1D2

Weigh in : 101.8kg - :shock: Where'd that come from?

Power Cleans

8x3x60kg

2x70kg

1x80kg

3x0x90kg - Wtf, just couldn't seem to land the catch properly :-s

2x1x80kg

Front Squats

2x10x60kg

2x5x80kg

1x90kg

1x100kg

Sumo Deadlifts with Hook Grip

5x60kg

3x100kg

2x2x130kg

1x150kg

1x170kg (loose belt)

2x1x180kg (tight belt) - PB

2x0x190kg - Got it to the knees easily enough twice and the hook grip gave out, must squeeze harder!

2x1x170kg - Held each at the top for ~10 sec squeezing hard.

3x170kg - Conventional Deadlifts, wanted to rep out with hook grip but on the 3rd rep it ripped a fair chunk out of my thumb and the bar slipped. Somehow managed to hold onto it with my fingers to lower it to the ground.

Left it there, wanted to do some Kroc Rows but figured it'd be rude to leave blood on the DBs, and the chalk in the tear was stinging :oops:

Happy with how Sumo and Hook grip is progressing, 200kg with sumo is there easily enough if I could just hold onto the bar Using alternate grip with sumo feels bloody awkward so I'll keep working with hook and strengthening it.

[red machine]

phed! progressing along nicely mate! 200 odd squat must be on the card at nats? keep the foot on it!

[Phedder]

phed! progressing along nicely mate! 200 odd squat must be on the card at nats? keep the foot on it!

Cheers Red, that's the plan :nod: I've set myself a semi ambitious goal of a 575kg total. That's the equipped qualifying total for open men 105s, so if I can hit that raw and as a junior I'd be pretty happy :nod: Something along the lines of 210-120-245. Would set me up well to aim for 600 at either Raw Nats or the BBro too

Awesome lifting at NIs too, always love the aggression you bring to the bar :clap:

[hjp]

Must be eating a lot bro, that bodyweight is flying.

When does the intense cycle start bro?

[Phedder]

Must be eating a lot bro, that bodyweight is flying.

When does the intense cycle start bro?

I think I'm just not moving around as much as usual. I've been pretty sedentary with studying for exams but diet hasn't really changed. Should shift back to just under 101.

I start the intense cycle on monday, so I want to make sure I've got room to eat well through that leading into nationals. 2-3Kg gained over the 8 weeks should be enough to ensure good recovery and strength :nod: Thinking I'll try doing The Bear once or twice a week also to help with a bit of conditioning and assitance.

[Phedder]

Had an exam yesterday afternoon and another one this morning, so couldn't make it in for yesterdays session. Postponed it until today and totally forgot that it was Saturday and that the gym closes at 4pm...So I arrive at 3.40 thinking I had heaps of time :doh:

Smolov Switching Cycle W1D3

Weighed in back down at 100.3kg, not at all surprised as food the last 2 days hasn't been the greatest. Pretty much just been hitting 250gish protein with a heap of veges and fruit and caffeine...a LOT of caffeine

Speed box squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

10x2x100kg - Got to set 3 or so when I realised the gym was closing soon. Rest of the sets were 2 reps, rack, 5 breaths and then go again.

5 mins later back home...

Blue Band Pull aparts

5x20

Push ups

2x20 - Could hear my left shoulder clicking

Blue Band Floor press

3x20

I laid down and doubled the band around my back and then looped each end over my fists, tucking the elbows right in and pressed up. Gave me a massive pump and contraction in my Tris :nod:

I wanted to do a lot more today but wasn't meant to be. Probably for the best as I'm starting the intense cycle on Monday. But before then it's time to knock back a massive feed, and then catch up on 6 weeks worth of drinking :pfft:

[Phedder]

Smolov Intense Cycle W1D1 - It begins :twisted:

Weigh in: 100.8kg - Surprised as I only had 1 meal yesterday, still roughly 3Kcal but expected weight to be a bit lower.

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

3x120kg (LB)

3x135kg (LB)

3x4x152.5kg (LB)

5x152.5kg (TB) - Rep PB

Heavy Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

2x100kg

2x110kg

3x2x102.5kg

Flat DB Press

10x23kg

10x31kg

8x36kg

3x6x36kg

Seated DB shoulder Press

2x8x18kg - Wasn't feeling good

Machine shoulder Press

10x50 - Na.

Core circuit

Hanging Leg Raises 2x15xbw

Back hyper extensions 2x15xbw

AB wheel Roll outs 2x5xbw - First time doing these, HARD!

Felt a bit weak today, especially on Squats. All reps at 152.5kg felt like grinders, the body should quickly re-adjust to proper squatting though, given enough food and sleep of course Started back up on DAA and Beta-Alanine today.

[Phedder]

Smolov Intense Cycle W1D2

Weigh in:101.2kg - I may have broken my fast yesterday with 2x Gone Burgers from Velvet Burger again

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

3x110kg

3x125kg (LB)

4x145kg (LB)

3x162.5kg (TB) -Rep PB - Harder than I was hoping, much harder than last weeks 3x160. Wouldn't have gotten a 4th.

2x5x150kg (LB) 5th rep on 2nd set was also a big grind, definitely no 6th there.

Pull ups

3x5 - Full dead hang and pause

CG Chin ups

3x5 - Same as above

Kroc Rows

10x23kg

2x15x46kg - Decided to go a bit lighter this week. Will try for 20 at 51kg again next week and begin moving weight up if alls good.

Plate Loaded Row

3x12x1pps

BB Curls SS Face Pulls

3x12x30kg SS 3x12x50

Ezy bar Curls

10x20kg

2x10x30kg

I'll never be a successful bodybuilder, I bloody hate training biceps :pfft:

[Phedder]

Speed + assistance day

Speed Bench

lots x bar

10xbar + doubled red band

5x40kg + red band

9x3x60kg + red band

Speed Deadlifts - Hook grip for all deadlifts today

5x70kg

3x110kg

5x2x110kg + doubled blue band

Heavier Deadlifts

2x150kg (LB)

2x170kg (LB)

1x190kg (TB) - Hook grip PB

1x200kg (TB)- new Hook grip PB

4x1x190kg (LB)

3x150kg (LB)

Lying hamstring curls

12x80

2x8x100

12x80

Ab wheel rollouts

3x10xbw - LOVE THESE! Can feel everything working to stabilise and bring myself back to starting position.

Hanging Leg Raises

2x10xbw - would have done more but my abs kept cramping from the rollouts :pfft:

Great session today, everything felt good and strong. Great speed on bench and no niggles. I'd only intended to go to 180kg for deadlifts for 5-6 singles but everything was strong and fast so went a bit further.

Made a major breakthrough with hook grip too. I had been only gripping my thumb with my index finger over the thumbnail, but I tried moving my thumb in further and gripping the thumb knuckle with both my index and middle finger. No more pain on my thumbnail and it felt very strong Still ripping the skin a bit, but the pain's nothing compared to what it was when gripping the thumbnail. The 200kg came up nice and quick, held at lockout for 5 seconds or so and grip was solid the whole time, I'd estimate a 215-220 hook grip max atm. I'm going to get some medical tape to protect the skin a bit and see where that takes me. I'm confident that by either Raw Nats or the BBro (unsure of what one I can do yet) I'll likely be pulling my max lifts with hook grip :grin:

[Phedder]

Went up to the pools today, for a soak and waterfall massage Spent about 2 and a half hours swapping between the spa, and the kiddies play area that has a lot of different waterfalls and jets you can turn on and off. The pressure of some of them is perfect, put it on the right spot and you can just feel the tightness melt away in minutes. Focused on upper back and lower quads, but covered the whole body too. Some of the positions necessary to get the water in the right places may look a bit odd in a kiddies play area :pfft: :oops:

Feeling great right now, everything loosened up and tissue quality good. Can't wait to hit the squat rack tomorrow :twisted:

[hjp]

Your workload is amazing... Keep it up. Don't know how you do it! :clap:

Oh an those jets sound awesome, jealous as!

[Phedder]

Your workload is amazing... Keep it up. Don't know how you do it! :clap:

Oh an those jets sound awesome, jealous as!

Cheers Hayden, the deadlifts were a little overboard but I figured I could get away with it because the next lot of squats were the lightest I'll have through the intense cycle. Will likely keep deads to 3-4 heavy reps a week now, never over 90%.

This was Saturdays session but I've had a very busy weekend so didn't log until now;

Smolov W1D3

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

4x115kg

4x125kg (LB)

5x4x145kg (LB)

Overhead Press

lots x bar

2x5x40kg

5x50kg

2x60kg - Crap I'm weak! Didn't try for a 3rd because if I failed it'd depress me, stopping at 2 I can convince myself a 3rd was there :pfft:

7x50kg

Done. Would have liked to do more but ended up spending a fair bit of time between sets chatting and spotting a guy trying to find his bench 1RM. I noticed his sticking/failure point was exactly where floor press would hit the hardest, got him to give it a go and he's sure in a months time it'll help him smash his old PB :nod:

Heading in for the start of week 2 in a couple hours, 2x4x162.5kg on the cards as top sets. Hopefully my weekend hasn't affected me too much :shifty:

[M.T]

Animal training Phed nice work brother :clap:

[Phedder]

Smolov Intense, W2D1

Weigh in:101.4kg

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

4x110kg

4x125kg (LB)

4x145kg (LB)

3x162.5kg (LB)

2x4x162.5kg (LB) - Rep PB

Chin ups

5xbw

5xbw+10kg

5xbw+20kg

3xbw+30kg

5xbw+10kg

8xbw

6xbw

Plate Loaded Row

2x12x1pps

2x10x1.5pps

Lat Pulldowns

15x105

4x10x150

Cable Curls

4x10x60

Ab Wheel Rollouts

3x10

Good session, took quite a while as I was helping the misses with her squat form as well, she's on track to hit 5x5x60kg in 2 weeks time

Eats earlier today hadn't been the greatest, so here's tonight's feast =P~

Approx 600g of roast pork and 1kg of roast spuds, seasoned with olive oil and Moroccon spice, and I combined some left overs to make my own dipping sauce with mayonaise, aioli, feta& spinach and a little bit of mixed herb.

[M.T]

:notworthy:

[Monarchking]

Good squats man. Work hard!

And getting the Mrs involved :clap: :clap:

[Phedder]

Cheers guys

Smolov Intense W2D2 - Felt tired and achy, but made it through. Just.

Weigh in 101.5kg

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

3x120kg (LB)

3x135kg (LB)

3x152.5kg (LB)

3x3x162.5kg (LB)

3x170kg (TB) - Rep PB

Squats felt ugly and looked it. Just couldn't get the right groove and everything felt heavy, was considering throwing in the towel on the 135s, they felt that bad. But I persevered and somehow made it through, 3rd rep at 170 would have been borderline depth but I got it up with a big grind. No idea why everything felt so crap today, got 4x5x162.5kg on Sat so hopefully I'm right by then.

Heavy Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

2x100kg

2x1x110kg -Comp Singles

2x115kg - TnG - PB No idea how that happened. 110s felt shit, figured it try 1 rep at 115 tng, got myself a spotter and it bloody flew up! So I went for a 2nd and got that okay as well, wee grind but never any doubt. Bloody stoked and confused

3x2x100kg - Extended pauses for each rep, 3-4 sec.

Frizzled. Back in tomorrow for deadlifts and back, think I'll just do the speed deadlifts and maybe some moderate rep work for Sumo, no heavy singles I think.

[Phedder]

Speed deads+assistance day. Somewhat of a deload due to yesterdays difficulties.

Speed Deadlifts

2x5x70kg

3x110kg

6x2x110kg + doubled blue band

3x3x150kg (LB)

1x190kg (LB) - Couldn't resist pulling something semi-heavy :oops: Nice and snappy at lockout though. Lockout always feels a breeze after band work

Strict DB Rows

15x25kg

2x10x40kg

Hammer Grip Pulldowns

15x105

10x135

10x165

8x195

5x225

2x10x150

Ezy-Bar Curls

15x20kg

10x30kg

8x40kg

2x15x30kg

12x30kg

Ab wheel Rollouts SS Hanging leg raises

2x10xbw for both.

[Phedder]

Smolov Intense W2D3

Weigh in: 101.6kg

Squats

lots x bar

10x60kg

3x100kg

3x115kg

3x135kg (LB)

3x152.5kg (LB)

4x5x162.5kg (LB) - Rep and Vol PB Very happy with these, tough session for sure but considering 2 weeks ago 152.5kg was my 5 rep PB, to add 10kg and do 4 sets for that I'm stoked. On Monday same again but just add another set.

Speed Bench

lots x bar

5xbar + doubled red band

5x40kg + red band

8x3x62.5kg + red band

Close Grip Bench - Band made the tris really work hard for lockout.

5x62.5kg + band

5x70kg + band

5x75kg +band

5x80kg + band

Overhead Press

10xbar

5x40kg

2x5x50kg

5x40kg

Tri Set - No rest between exercises, 1 min rest between rounds.

Face Pulls - 5x12x60

DB Lateral Raises - 5x12x11kg

Tricep Pressdowns - 5x12x60

[bar-belle]

Wow Phedder you have just gone from strength to strength KUTGW :grin:

[Phedder]

Cheers Rach, just trying to push as hard as my body will let me I look forward to seeing how you go on Westside, after being a russian devotee for so long. Be a great mental break I bet :nod:

Smolov Intense W3D1 - Blarghhhhhhhhh. Survived, somehow.

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

3x110kg

3x125kg (LB)

3x145kg (LB)

5x5x162.5kg (LB) - Vol PB - Felt a lot harder than Saturday, I was tired and unmotivated. Actually yawned before quite a few sets. Some of my first reps looked like 1RMs haha, but that seemed to wake me up and the following 4 were usually much better.

Chin ups - 50 total.

10

8x5

Was buggered after squats so just decided to do 50 chins and call it there. I'll do some more back work at home tomorrow morning just using my bands for pullaparts and rows etc. I'm actually looking forward to 2x3x170kg on Wed, only 6 working reps instead of 25 should be a breeze :pray:

[hjp]

Rep PR's are everywhere. Smashing smolov in the face bro. Insane stuff :shock:

[Phedder]

Rep PR's are everywhere. Smashing smolov in the face bro. Insane stuff :shock:

They're there because smolov tells me to do it :pfft: I still had DOMS today from Mondays efforts, first time I've had DOMS in my legs since the first day of the base like 8 or 9 weeks ago :shock: If smolov didn't tell me to, I would have likely pussied out today and just done sets at 140-150. Turns out I had plenty more in me :grin:

Smolov Intense W3D2

Lots x bar

10x60kg

3x100kg

3x110kg

3x125kg (LB)

3x145kg (LB)

1x160kg (LB) - Non prescribed set, didn't want to jump straight to 170.

2x3x170kg (TB) - Vol PB Legs were killing me but these came up way easier than I expected, much better than last weeks set at 170. They came up so well I decided on...

1x180kg (TB) - Off program, was supposed to be done after 170s but figured a cheeky single couldn't hurt :wink: Came up nice and smooth, felt light on the back too. Bodes very well :grin:

Bench Press

lots x bar - Could tell from the first rep with the bar it'd be a good session

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

2x100kg

1x110kg

1x117.5kg - PB T'n'G but it came up really well, slowed a little through sticking point and then snapped through to lockout. Spotter told me to chuck 120 on and I'm confident I would have had it, but didn't want to push too hard after being cheeky on squats. 120 next week if everything feels good

Paused back offs - Comp commands in my head.

2x1x110kg

3x100kg

3x2x100kg

1x100kg - super long pause, counted to 5 in hippopotamuses Strength off the chest and leg drive is feeling much better lately.

Flat DB press

10x23kg

5x30kg

3x8x36kg

Seated Lateral Raises - super strict

5x10x11kg

Done, I really wasn't expecting this session to be that great walking in, so really stoked with the outcome. In tomorrow for deadlifts, back work and I must do some core! :naughty:

[steak]

good spell of training going on in here :nod: