Give me strength, or give me death!

[Phedder]

I'm joking! That's solid lifting mate!

Yea gotta say, good work Phedder! I'm impressed!

Cheers guys, still a long way to go to reach my goals though. I must say having the video camera helps a tonne, that 2nd rep at 230 felt like an absolute grinder but on video it wasn't too slow. I need to stop doubting myself and just lift the damn weights my spreadsheet tells me to :pfft:

[Ninja]

Awesome vids man they're good watching

[kong22]

W8D1

Weight:103.2kg

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

1x100kg - First reps all paused from here

1x110kg

1x120kg - PB \:D/ Have done it T'n'G before but failed it at nationals, glad to finally get it paused.

5x3x107.5kg - Volume PB I suppose, only ever done 1 set of 3.

DB Rows - Strict

15x26kg

3x12x41kg

D grip Pulldowns

3x10x120

Face Pulls

2x15x75

And that's all I had time for before the gym closed. Will plan better next sat and be able to fit in floor presses and some heavier back work.

Benching Vid:

your bench looks like your best lift technically. do you have a link i can read on the setup you use or were you taught? i've tried using the metal militia setup but it puts a lot of stress on my lower back...

[kong22]

what is your opinion of this setup?

[Phedder]

your bench looks like your best lift technically.

Don't say that, that means it's crap because I'm too weak :pfft: Which is the sad truth...

do you have a link i can read on the setup you use or were you taught? i've tried using the metal militia setup but it puts a lot of stress on my lower back...

Any set up when you're trying to arch hard will put stress on your lower back. A good way to get used to the arch is to lie on a PVC pipe, foam roller, try arching over a keg etc. Just anything cylindrical to help you get used to that position. My arch is far from great and something I want to work on, but arching over my foam roller has helped me get a lot more comfortable in that position.

As for the actual set up I use, I don't really know where it originally comes from. It's what Steak taught me at CBC and i've slightly tweaked it over time, maybe he has a link for something? I'll write out the steps I go through in my head;

Nose under the bar, I then use then push my arms against the bench pillars to help retract and set my shoulders, and once my shoulders are set I reach up and grab the bar, and push myself down into the bench whilst I set the rest of my body. I then bring my hips and legs up and walk my feet up the bench as far as I can to create the arch, and then while trying to keep my hips high I set my feet down one at a time as far back as I can. Arching my lower back as hard as I can I then lower my butt until it touches the bench, and push my heels hard into the ground, and try to force my knees outwards a little to help keep tight.

The main problem with the set up vid you posted is his heels don't touch the ground which is required in the IPF and NZPF. I think CAPO allows heels off the ground, so if you're intending to compete with them that's fine, or if you're not intending to compete then it doesn't matter at all. Otherwise it's a solid set up that covers everything you need to know. Plenty of people use the heels first set up just fine, but whenever I've tried it I found it hard to then set my upper back properly, and I'd end up having to adjust my foot position anyway. I'm sure if I practiced it more I could make it work, but I prefer setting the upper back first as I think of that as the foundation for a stable press.

A lot of rambling there, hope it helps

[kong22]

cheers phed, that helps a lot

[Phedder]

W9D4

Weigh in:105.2kg

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

2x3x130kg

2x3x150kg (B)

3x160kg (B)

1x180kg (B)

1x190kg (B)

1x200kg (B)

2x3x160kg (B)

SSB squats

10x70kg

3x5x110kg

Leg Press

3x12x3pps

Seated Hammy Curls

20x40lb

20x70lb

15x90lb

Squats were great, I was intending to do singles at 180 and 190 because it's been a while since I've had much weight on my back and wanted to check how form was with heavier weights. Very stoked with those, the 2 best reps I've ever done at 180 and 190. Was going to stop there but was convinced to do 200kg as well, and it wasn't so smooth Felt light on the back which was great, last time I had 200kg on my back I was shitting myself. But I think I lost focus, head was down a bit and I didn't engage the hamstrings properly. Stalled about 1/3rd of the way up and you can see quite clearly in the video when I thought 'Oh yeah, HIPS!' and then it kept coming up. A little disappointed it didn't come up easier, but I wasn't exactly fresh happy enough overall :nod:

Vid:

[Phedder]

W10D1

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

1x100kg - First reps paused from here

1x110kg

1x117.5kg - Nice and smooth, felt like I could double it.

5x3x102.5kg

Pull ups

12x3xbw - Done between sets of bench.

Floor Press

8x60kg

3x5x90kg

DB rows

15x26kg

3x12x46kg

D grip pulldowns

15x120lb

12x135lb

10x165lb

[Phedder]

W10D2

Weigh in: 105.3kg

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

2x4x130kg

2x3x150kg (B)

5x2x170kg (B)

2x3x150kg (B)

Speed Bench, cycling grips. Close grip, medium grip and illegal wide.

lots x bar

5x60kg

9x3x72.5kg

Seated DB Press

10x16kg

8x21kg

4x6x26kg

DB lateral raises

15x11kg

12x13kg

15x13kg - Drop set 8x8kg.

Great session, squats felt surprisngly fantastic, especially considering I went to 200kg on Friday. Depth was good and bar speed looked pretty good too, mostly nice snappy reps and managed to stay fairly upright for most of them. Bench was very quick, all done within 10 mins and glad to get in some decent shoulder work without any complaints. I guess sitting around most of the day studying and sleeping for 10 hours helps recovery a bit

I've just realised that ironically, although my main goal for this training block was to improve my deadlift, I'm happiest with how my squats and bench are going. Hopefully a deadlift double at 242.5kg on Wednesday will change my mind on this :pray:

[OnlyHuman]

Great work on the squats Phed!

[Northland Powah]

mirin your squatting :clap: oh and your shoes, are they oly style? any good for low bar squats?

[Phedder]

Cheers guys, still plenty to work on but happy how it's progressing.

Yeah they are oly shoes, Wei-Rui Warriors (Cheapest I could find :pfft: ) I find them great for low bar as it fits my leverages and squat style. If you're interested in trying some I'd say try squatting in a pair of dress shoes with a raised heel. Not exactly the same but close enough to give you a feel and let you know if getting proper oly shoes is something worth investing in.

[Phedder]

W10D3

Deadlifts

5x60kg

3x100kg

2x140kg

2x180kg (B)

1x210kg (B)

2x242.5kg (B) PB - Definite 10 on the RPE scale, wow :shock: First rep came up alright, gave myself 15-20 seconds and then went for the 2nd, locked it out but a massive grind and a bit of hitching. Singles for the next 2 weeks \:D/

3x3x180kg (B) - first set without belt then chucked it back on.

Romanian Deadlifts

5x140kg

10x100kg

Bent Over Row

2x5x70kg

Chin ups

3x5

Ab wheel rollouts

10xbw

3x8xbw+15kg

Got video of the 210 and 242.5, I'll throw them up with fridays squats and saturdays bench sometime later.

[Kalidane]

Cheers guys, still plenty to work on but happy how it's progressing.

Yeah they are oly shoes, Wei-Rui Warriors (Cheapest I could find :pfft: ) I find them great for low bar as it fits my leverages and squat style. If you're interested in trying some I'd say try squatting in a pair of dress shoes with a raised heel. Not exactly the same but close enough to give you a feel and let you know if getting proper oly shoes is something worth investing in.

Every time I try to get those shoes they are out of stock with the supplier. What's the trick to it??

[Phedder]

I guess I just had good timing :shrug: Have you emailed them and asked when they're next getting in stock? You could reserve a pair that way.

Or if you want them immediately, here's the exact same shoes re-branded as BAF for $30USD more :pfft: http://www.plgearonline.com/cart/index. ... oductId=90

[Kalidane]

Cheers dude

Time to line up an xmas present :nod:

[drizzt]

Holy crap bro! Nice lifting going on in here. Bodyweight looking good too :grin:

[Phedder]

Cheers D, very glad I'm only deadlifting once a week though. Pavel Simmons looks ridiculous :shock:

I think I can thank Coca Cola for the bodyweight, just finished my 4 weeks on 1L a day, up 2kg from it :pfft: Blood pressure still exactly the same and waist only up 1cm. Unfortunately have to wait until January for them to process the blood results, should be interesting. It's nice to be drinking raro during training again though, actually quenches my thirst.

[drizzt]

Cheers D, very glad I'm only deadlifting once a week though. Pavel Simmons looks ridiculous :shock:

Honestly, it is not as hard as Smolov. Essentially there are only 51 working reps in a week, and if you think of the first couple of days (27 reps) as speed/warmup weights (65-80%), then you've only really got the remaining 24 reps that are kind of "working set" weights (75-93%). Pretty much a 5x5 session spread over 3 days

Without an eccentric phase to the exercise, the muscle soreness hasn't really been an issue like it sometimes was in Smolov, so going day to day is almost like having a 24 hour rest between sets :pfft:

Also manageable in that the weights only just sneak over 90% for 3 of the 25 sessions... so all up, the 5x days deadlifting a week isn't as tough as it sounds. Would reccommend giving it a go if you get the time!

I think I can thank Coca Cola for the bodyweight, just finished my 4 weeks on 1L a day, up 2kg from it :pfft: Blood pressure still exactly the same and waist only up 1cm. Unfortunately have to wait until January for them to process the blood results, should be interesting. It's nice to be drinking raro during training again though, actually quenches my thirst.

Oh yeah! I forgot about the coke trial, more energy? But it would certainly be to blame for a little extra weight :nod:

[Phedder]

Wow, you just managed to make Pavel Simmons sound like it's no big deal :clap:

No eccentric, so you're using bumper plates? That would make a massive difference I'd imagine, is that what they recommend for the program, or your own genius?

I'm definitely interested in giving it a go, could be a good peaking program into a meet. Pavel Simmons + Smolov base for squat and Smolov jr for bench, sorted :pfft: :pale: Keen to see your results, but I don't think I'll be focusing on my deadlift again for a while yet, not while it's more than double my bench! :doh:

[drizzt]

Wow, you just managed to make Pavel Simmons sound like it's no big deal :clap:

No eccentric, so you're using bumper plates? That would make a massive difference I'd imagine, is that what they recommend for the program, or your own genius?

I'm definitely interested in giving it a go, could be a good peaking program into a meet. Pavel Simmons + Smolov base for squat and Smolov jr for bench, sorted :pfft: :pale: Keen to see your results, but I don't think I'll be focusing on my deadlift again for a while yet, not while it's more than double my bench! :doh:

Ha, I think it sounds like a big deal in the first place purely due to the 5 days in a row thing. If you break it down (what I did before starting it, haha) it really isn't as suicidal as most people think at first glance. It's just that it goes against the usual "you must only deadlift once every 7 days" line. Key to the program is in the singles, and resetting before each rep I believe. Better force applied to each rep, better technique ingrained in your initial setup.

The no eccentric is kind of something I've heard a lot of the bigger deadlifters do to save energy, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It is comp-legal (as long as your hands remain gripping the bar until it is resting on the ground again, I think), and yep, I use Oly plates for my deads. Basically just after holding the rep at the top for a count, I'll relax the tension and let the bar fall (still gripping though). Depends on your gym I guess!

I've probably been guilty in the past of controlling the eccentric too much, which just wouldn't fly during this kind of program as you'd be wrecked for the following session.

But I suppose if your dead is already going well (like yours!) it probably isn't a high priority which is fair enough. I'm only doing it because mine seemed to be on a constant slide :pfft:

Anyway, hijack over!

[Phedder]

A welcome hijack

I postponed yesterdays session because I had my most important exam this morning. So on 4 hours of sleep, 400mg of caffeine, and after 3 hours of continuous writing for 10+ pages, I tried to combine the two sessions... :shifty:

W10D4/W11D1

Weigh in: 104.4kg, not surprised as I'd been holding back on the carbs for 2 days of inactivity.

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

1x100kg (first reps paused from here)

1x110kg

1x120kg

5x3x105kg

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

3x130kg

3x150kg (B)

2x3x160kg (B)

2x2x170kg (B)

3x160kg (B)

Close grip bench

10x60kg

5x80kg

5x90kg

6x100kg PB been ages since I've done CG though.

4x100kg

Was feeling pretty drained by the time I got to the top sets of squats, I even dropped 3 sets at 160 because I'll be squatting again on Monday and was running out of time. Given the circumstances I'm pretty happy with the outcome, squats at 170 felt bloody heavy but on footage the bar was moving alright, obviously just tired. I'll get up the video of Wednesdays deadlifts and todays bench/squat in about an hour or so.

[Phedder]

Video:

[Phedder]

Postponed yesterdays session due to an exam this morning, last one of the degree though, so i'm DONE! :grin: Will deadlift on Thur and combine fri squats with bench on saturday. My final deadlift session happens to coincide with moving day (Dunedin to Motueka, long drive...) so will hopefully knock that out the day after, I'm not really fussed though as I've left a free week for a bit of opener testing etc so my final programed week can be stretched out a bit.

Anyway, todays session:

W11D2

Weigh in:105.2kg

Squats

lotsxbar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

3x130kg

2x3x150kg (B)

5x3x170kg (B) - Pretty sure that's a volume PB for 170, IIRC the most smolov had me do was 4x3. Definitely much smoother than those days too :grin:

2x5x150kg (B)

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

1x90kg

2x8x92.5kg

Lying leg curls

4x15x60lb

SS

Leg extensions

4x15x80lb

Chin ups

3x10xbw.

Youtube's being a prick and won't let me upload the video, so will try again tomorrow.

[Phedder]

Youtube stopped being a prick: