Give me strength, or give me death!

[Phedder]

W3D2 - Shit session. Spent most of the last 2 days sitting at a desk, body felt tight and achey. How the hell do office workers do it!?

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

2x4x120kg (B)

2x3x140kg (B)

3x3x160kg (B) - Called it there, still had 2 more sets at 160 and 2 more at 140 to do but just wasn't feeling it.

Bench

lots x bar

8x60kg

2x8x80kg

CG bench

4x10x60kg

150+ reps of band pull aparts between benching sets.

[Phedder]

W3D2 - Coan/Phillipi

Weigh in: 102.4kg

Deadlifts

5x60kg

5x100kg

3x140kg

1x180kg (B)

2x195kg (B)

8x3x155kg - some belted some not, playing around a bit.

Circuit:

Romanian deadlifts - 3x8x100kg

Bent over rows - 3x8x60kg

Good mornings - 3x8x60kg

Underhand Lat Pulldown

12x105lb

3x8x150lb

Poundstone Curls

80x20kg :shock: Fuark, burn and cramp.

Good session, taxing on the lower back as always. I want to increase the weight for rows as they're way too easy, but back feels fried trying to keep position with anything heavier :?

[Phedder]

W3D4

Squats

lots x bar

10x60kg

5x100kg

4x120kg

2x5x140kg (B)

5x4x150kg (B)

Power Cleans

3x5x60kg

SSB Squats

6x10x70kg

Hanging leg raises

3x12xbw

Curl ups

3x15+5kg med ball held over head.

A little bit disappointed, knee started feeling a little unstable during the last few squat sets. I wanted to do some heavy front squats but figured that a bad idea, so did plenty of volume on the SSB instead, focusing on really feeling the muscles work and bottoming out every rep, knee felt fine for those.

Off to watch the Nabba day show tomorrow so no time to train before the gym closes, will do my heavy bench on Sunday instead and move the speed work back a day to Tuesday.

[Phedder]

Edit: Plans changed again, made it to the night show thanks to a guaranteed ride back and being able to start work a tad later. Glad I made it :nod:

So, I went and trained instead :grin:

Mongrel Block W4D1

Weigh in: 102.3kg

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

2x100kg - First reps all paused from here

1x110kg

1x117.5kg - PB with a solid pause, smooth lift and still a bit in the tank too

5x3x105kg - Happy to get through these pausing the first reps without much hassle.

Floor Press

5x60kg

5x80kg

5x5x80kg + chains, approx 85kg at bottom 95kg at lockout.

Machine row thingy

4x12x60kg

V grip Pulldowns

3x10x135lb

Inverted Rows

10

8

9

Good session, really happy with how my benching's coming along. Hitting all the prescribed sets and reps without too much hassle, and floor press is feeling great too. Hopefully see me through to a big comp PB :pray:

[OnlyHuman]

PBs are fun :clap:

[Phedder]

PBs are fun :clap:

Indeed they are, hitting plenty of them yourself I see :clap:

W4D2

Weigh in: 102.2kg

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

4x120kg

2x3x140kg (B)

5x3x160kg (B)

3x2x170kg (B)

2x2x160kg (B)

2x3x140kg (B)

Speed Bench

lots x bar

5x60kg

8x3x72.5kg

Seated DB press

10x16kg

8x21kg

8,6,6x26kg

10x21kg

Holy crap that was a lot of squatting, spent about an hour in the rack :shock: Pretty happy with most of it, form feeling good. Had a little mishap on the 2nd rep of 2nd set at 170, felt a slight twinge in my back on the 1st rep, so didn't sit back enough on the 2nd and came forward onto my toes. Got it up alright, but not something I want to repeat. Otherwise a pretty good session, bar speed great for bench and happy to get some overhead work in without the shoulder complaining.

[Phedder]

W4D3 - Coan/Phillipi

Weigh in: 102.2 - Still...Will up the cals a little bit

Deadlifts

2x5x70kg

3x110kg

3x150kg

1x190kg (B)

2x210kg (B)

8x3x170kg (B) - I switched my alternate grip for these, so my overhand went under, underhand went over. Made it feel a little awkward, but I need to work on balance a bit.

Circuit

Romanian Deadlifts - 3x8x100kg

Bent over rows - 2x8x80kg, 8x60kg

Good mornings - 3x8x60kg

Lat Pulldowns - D grip

10x150lb

3x8x165lb

BB curls - Wanted to try hit 100 for poundstone curls but my forearms kept cramping up.

30xbar

10x40kg

30xbar

Wanted to do some core work but getting a bit late, so will do on Friday. Need to stop avoiding it though.

I'm glad that was the last of the 8x3 deadlifts, bring on less sets and more weight!

[Phedder]

Spent about a months savings yesterday Good news is half of it was lifting related, ordered in some more T!tan knee sleeves because my old ones have about had it. I've been reassured the 'new and improved' sleeves have much better and reinforced stitching so hopefully they won't come apart on me, I went up a size as well just to be safe. Also bought a cheap camera/video recorder from 1-Day so i'll be keeping that in my gym bag when I get it and recording some of my sets, will likely do a weekly wrap up video type thing, but will be good to record some of my lifting for feedback

W4D4

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

3x120kg

2x3x140kg (B)

1x3x160kg (B) - Came up easy but I wasn't feeling very focused, so...

1x185kg (B) - Small psych up and flew up easier than the 160s, well focused now

4x3x160kg (B)

Leg Press - Going right down to the safeties. Got a few looks, probably because of the noise of it hitting the safeties, unfamilar sound for most I think :pfft:

15x3pps

12x4pps

4x10x5pps

8x6pps

Ab wheel rollouts

8xbw

8x+10kg

2x8x+15kg

10xbw

Curl ups

15x+10kg

2x15x+15kg

Nice and simple session, really happy with how that 185 came up. I knew slapping a bit more weight on the bar would wake me up, but didn't expect it to go that well. Will likely end up opening on 190-195kg at this rate, still a while to go yet.

[Phedder]

W5D1

Weigh in: 102.7kg - That's more like it.

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

2x100kg - First reps all paused from here

1x112.5kg

3x5x100kg

Floor Press

8x60kg

5x80kg

3x5x85kg +Chains

2x5x80kg + Chains

Chin ups

5xbw

5x+10kg

5x+20kg - Really hard, wtf :shock: It has been 3 weeks or so since I last did any, so will plug away at them the next few weeks. I want 5 at 30kg back.

5xbw

5xbw - pull ups

Incline DB Press

12x21kg

2x10x26kg

Seated Cable Row

3x12x120lb

Bent Over 1 Arm Cable row

3x10x100lb

Inverted Rows

No idea, didn't really do sets, just did a few reps, rest 10-20 secs and do some more. Maybe 45 reps total?

[Phedder]

W5D2

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

3x120kg

5x5x145kg (B) - I was really looking forward to these, expecting them to be nice and easy, almost like a deload...I was wrong I guess I'm pretty fatigued from a busy weekend without much sleep. Didn't finish work until 5am Sun morning and then my girlfriend woke me up at 9.30 blow drying her hair :evil:

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

2x8x85kg

Machine shoulder press

4x10

Tricep extensions

80ish reps

Lateral Raises

50ish reps

[Phedder]

W5D3 - Coan/Phillipi

Deadlifts

5x60kg

5x100kg

3x140kg

2x180kg (B)

1x200kg (B)

2x222.5kg (B) - Rep PB, only doubled 220 before Nats and this felt way easier.

6x3x182.5kg (B) - Belt 1 notch looser, and alternate mixed grip.

Circuit

Romanian Deadlifts 3x8x100kg

Bent Over Rows 3x8x60kg

Good Mornings 3x8x60kg

V grip Pulldowns

3x8x165lb

BB curls

3x30x20kg

Went well, bring on the double at 235kg next week :grin:

[Phedder]

Blarghhh day today. Ended up doing a fair bit of work yesterday, participated in a lab in the morning so about an hour of cardio, then in the arvo with my core and stability class had to do a knee stability routine, which involved a lot of lunges, sprints, jumps and eccentric hamstring lowers. All that the day after deadlifts and before squats, great...

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

3x120kg

2x3x145kg (B)

5x3x155kg (B) - this felt like 180kg, so just finished the squats and decided to finish with abs and be done with it.

AB wheel rollouts

10xbw

3x10xbw+10kg

Hanging leg raises SS Hyperextensions

3x12 for each.

Curl ups

3x15+10kg plate

A bunch of stretching a mobility stuff.

Feeling a bit run down, so tomorrow I'll do the prescribed bench and some floor presses and then just do light upper back work instead of going heavy, more pre-hab type stuff. Should hopefully leave me fresh to hit it hard again on Monday.

[Phedder]

W6D1

Weigh in: 103.2kg - Yeah buddy :grin:

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

2x100kg - First reps all paused from here

1x110kg

1x115kg

5x3x102.5kg

Floor Press

10x60kg

4x8x80kg

Seated Cable Rows

3x10x120lb

Machine Row

4x10x1pps

DB Rows

2x10x30kg

Face Pulls

5x10x100lb - Double pulley cable station

V grip Pulldowns

2x15x105lb

Okay session, kept the back work light and just focused on squeezing etc. Not too taxing, hopefully nail the squats on Monday :nod:

[Phedder]

W6D2

Camera finally arrived today so I gave it a whirl on the squats. Mini tripod still on the way but it balanced damn well just sitting on a box.

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

3x120kg

2x3x145kg (B)

5x2x165kg (B)

3x3x140kg (B) - Paused.

Bench

lots x bar

8x60kg

8x3x72.5kg - Varying grips

DB Shoulder Press

10x16kg

8x23kg

5x28kg - Possibly a PB, weak I know :oops:

3x10x20kg

Circuit;

Lying Leg Curls 3x12x90lb

Tricep Pressdowns 3x12x50lb

Lateral raises 3x12x11kg

Here's the vid. Will take me a while to figure out how to make it fit the screen better but this'll do for now. Will be a great addition to my training, can already spot a few things to work on. Lemme have it

[red machine]

nicce bro, looks like that form has tightened up a heap since i last watch your vids

one thing that could be something to look at is that walk out, maybe try and cut out one of those steps you take, as you want to save all the gas you can for the squat, just one step back each foot, takes abit of prac but iv found it helped me heaps (stiill dont get it right all the time though) I just try and hit every walk out the same from empty bar to max, although i see your rack goes back on an angle so maybe not possible but i reckon you can def cut it down a heap. keep smashing it mate going well!!

[Phedder]

Cheers Red, I'm happy with the form progress but still plenty to work on, this cycle's doing it's job at least. Best thing I noticed tonight was my depth is pretty much spot on, I'm not dropping every rep too low which was throwing me forward coming out of the hole. I'd like to sit back a little more also, just to bring the knees back 1-2inches.

The walkout is a hard one because of the rack design and that it's pushed right up against a mirror as well :doh: I've tried 1 step before and that lets me just clear the rack but puts me too close to the mirror for my liking, my ugly faces put me off a bit :pfft: Next time I'll try a bigger single step and see if I can get somewhere between the two, as I'm definitely a lot further back in the rack and taking too many steps as you said. Cheers

Looks like a massive PB heading you way on Saturday too, smash it :twisted:

[Monarchking]

I've used that rack a couple of times, its a bitch..

[Phedder]

^ It's often not being used though, so that keeps me happy :pfft:

Officially got accepted into a study today comparing the same calories/carb intake from fruit vs coke, and I was put into the coke trial 1 can and 1 600ml bottle a day. I'll be using flat coke with BCAA as my intra workout drink now, 1 can before training, 1 can after, and then only 1 bottle on rest days. Come at me IIFYM :pfft: Ah well, free coke for a month and $100 at the end. Getting the fruit would have been awesome though.

W6D3 - Coan/Phillipi

Deadlifts

5x60kg

3x100kg

2x140kg

2x180kg (B)

1x210kg (B)

1.5x232.5kg (B) - Misload, forgot the 2.5kg for one side :doh: Was enough to make the bar rise unevenly.

1x235kg (B) - Loaded the bar properly with the intention of trying to double again, just wasn't confident enough for a 2nd with how the 1st came up. Looking at the vid though I think it was there :evil: :doh:

4x3x195kg (B) - Dropped 1 set due to the 2nd attempt at the top set.

Circuit

Romanian Deadlifts 2x8x100kg

Bent Over Rows 2x8x60kg

Good mornings 2x8x60kg

Didn't do a third set, lower back feeling pretty fatigued.

Lat Pulldowns

3x12x150lb

Here's the vid:

I think I could have grinded through a 2nd rep on both top sets, first one I felt my grip giving out a little on the heavier side when at the knees, and 2nd set I just defeated myself mentally, looks like it came up sweet :? Happy with the 195s though, those were all good...as they should be. I'm going to reduce my target max to 255 which will drop all working weights by 5kg, have me hitting 255kg 10 days before the BBro and then I'll go for 260+ at the comp.

[Phedder]

W6D4

Bodyweight: 103.0kg

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

3x120kg

2x3x145kg (B)

6x3x155kg (B)

2x2x165kg (B)

Lying Leg Curls

3x10x80lb

SS

Leg extensions

3x10x100lb

Done. No video tonight as I was in a bit of a hurry, will fit some core work in after tomorrows session.

Tonights squats felt HEAVY. Form felt pretty spot on which was good, but I think I was a bit optimistic with my programming for this block and it's catching up to me. I'm going to take a slight deload next week on the lower body movements and drop back bench assistance work. Will just work up to 2-3 sets at 140kg on both squat days, and for the deadlifts only do 1 top set instead of 3. Running sheiko 37 squats 3 times through back to back alongside coan/phillipi is just a tad too much for me at the moment. Lesson learned for the future and I can add in the deload at week 6 if I use this block again in the future :nod:

[tomsammce]

What do ya do for work ya sack?

[Phedder]

Just work on the door Fri and Sat nights. It's not much, but it doesn't interfere with uni and lets me eat better with a little spending money to spare.

[tomsammce]

Cool, I wondered that.

Always potential for shit to get exciting!

[Phedder]

Only had 2 or 3 big instances all year, otherwise just stupid drunks getting kicked out or denied. Less action on the door compared to inside, I spend most of the night just chatting to drunks, always entertaining :pfft:

W7D1

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

1x100kg - All first reps paused from here

1x110kg

1x117.5kg - Equal paused PB and smooth, didn't even bother with a spotter. 120 next week.

5x3x105kg

Chin ups

50 reps between bench, in sets of 5.

Incline DB Press

12x21kg

3x10x26kg

Inverted Rows

4x10xbw

Ab wheel rollouts

12xbw

3x10xbw+10kg

Then 5 mins of crunches, leg raises, planks etc.

I'm really starting to hate drinking coke during training. It's 600ml coke and 400ml water with BCAA, but the syrupy feeling never goes away and it's not at all thirst quenching. Why didn't they give me fruit damnit!?

[tomsammce]

Why are u drinking coke in training?

I used to drink them carbo colas during a phase of my years training and hated it!

[Phedder]

Why are u drinking coke in training?

I used to drink them carbo colas during a phase of my years training and hated it!

Officially got accepted into a study today comparing the same calories/carb intake from fruit vs coke, and I was put into the coke trial 1 can and 1 600ml bottle a day. I'll be using flat coke with BCAA as my intra workout drink now, 1 can before training, 1 can after, and then only 1 bottle on rest days. Come at me IIFYM :pfft: Ah well, free coke for a month and $100 at the end. Getting the fruit would have been awesome though.

It's all good cold and fizzy with a meal, but flat and warm + unflavoured BCAA is some foul shit :x The only inclusion criteria for the study was a BMI of 28 or over, so I figured sweet free food and some cash + blood tests.