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drizzt

By drizzt
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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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Finish lines close now KP. You've definitely got a large set of nungers to attempt and finish a program like this so I take my hat off to you. :clap:
Feel the pain, enjoy the power!
-Not sure when or where he said it, Big J has it on his sig and I thought it would be appropriate. Plus its just king.

Keep it up bro. :nod:

Cheers Sam! Good to keep in mind bro. When are you back in the House?

14.07.11 - Smolov Intense Cycle, Week 4, Day2

101.2 today, decent! The weight being over 100 seems to correlate with when I have good sessions under the bar... probably not a coincidence.

  • Squats (sets, reps, weights)
    Warmup Sets
    bar
    1 x 8 @ 60kg
    1 x 6 @ 80kg
    1 x 4 @ 100kg
    1 x 3 @ 120kg
    Working Sets
    1 x 3 @ 147.5kg
    1 x 3 @ 167.5kg (b)
    4 x 3 @ 200kg (b/kw)(+ww for first 2sets)
  • Sleds
    Lots of different variations for 10-15 lengths or so @ 50kg
  • Standing Band Crunches
    2 x 10 (1sec pause) @ green band

Comments

  • Great session today, probably my deepest reps at 200 yet, felt really strong under the bar as well. I have noticed that pretty much all of my good sessions have been when I've weighed over 100.. whereas my poorer ones (the last few included) have been in the 98-99 region. Maybe it's a sign to stay in the 105s...
    Used the wrist wraps for the first two sets of squats @ 200, as I thought it may help my shoulder by making the wrists straighter... but no difference at all, so I ditched them for the 3rd and 4th sets.
    Arm/shoulder is still battling along. Skipped bench tonight to give it a rest. Thinking of just putting in token bench/deadlifts in comp to post a total rather than going hard and potentially further damaging the arm. We'll see how it goes on the day.

Also tried these things out today, seemed to do really well, noticed a good, quick boost from it. Had one pre-session, and one just after warmups. Pretty much just sugar, magnesium, vitamins, but gave a great energy boost. Just 12cals per tab (mostly from the dextrose).

Found them at my local supermarket (Woolworths) when I was buying a protein cookie :shifty: So look for them in the sports/nutrition kinda aisle if you're keen on giving them a go.

Think I'll use these for days when I'm finding it tough.

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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Strong like tractor! :pfft: Great session drizz. Hope the shoulder comes right.

How much are the tabs worth?

I'll be back around midday on sat for skills.

Good stuff bro might see you there if we're in for a longish assistance day.

Tabs were $6 for 2x packs of 14 I think, Doc and M.T liked em too. Think I might buy up a bunch :nod:

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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yeah..I tried them. bit of a lift for sure :)

Damn, thought I was onto something new :grin: PL legal by the looks? So could be a good alternative to Jack3d/Curse, with a shot or 3 of coffee =P~

Maybe no-doz + dextro? Must experiment...

i saw Tabs and was like

WTF! :shock:

:grin: :grin: :grin:

:shifty: :shifty:

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VanillaGorilla Junior member

VanillaGorilla

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You may have already mentioned this but I was wondering why you are hovering in the 98-102 weight bracket? Are you trying to hold your weight and lean up slowly? Do you just sit on maintenance cals and let all your weight gain come from muscle? What is the goal? If you find your best sessions are when you weigh more, why not just hammer away at the burgers?

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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You may have already mentioned this but I was wondering why you are hovering in the 98-102 weight bracket? Are you trying to hold your weight and lean up slowly? Do you just sit on maintenance cals and let all your weight gain come from muscle? What is the goal? If you find your best sessions are when you weigh more, why not just hammer away at the burgers?

Hey bro. Tough question!

Initially, the thoughts were to stay in the 83-93 class (where I competed earlier this year). At the beginning of Smolov I think I was 95kg, so I was well within the "quick cut" range of that class.

As Smolov dragged on however, the weight shot up! I initially tried to resist the weight climb by cleaning up the diet, but that did absolutely sfa, so I stopped fighting it (although the diet hasn't exactly been terrible) and have settled around the 100kg mark.

I'm now - very recently, as in, the last week - beginning to think I'm strongest above 100kg. But I'm yet to know that without a doubt. Fact is, the sessions when I've been under 100 have also coincided with a poor state of mind going into the workout. Maybe eating just makes me happy, and results in better sessions - nothing to do with the weight? In which case, maybe this means I just need to eat foods that make me "feel good" while trying to get the weight back down towards the 93 class?

As I say, I'm not quite sure yet, I'm still figuring things out, but for the time being (the remainder of Smolov at the very least) I'm just gonna let the weight do it's thing :nod:

I also really hate being a fat bastard (have spent my time above 120, do not want to go there again), so I'd rather not chow down too hard on the burgers :pfft: I think I'm holding 100kg ish pretty well at the moment, but much heavier and I think the motor will start to expand, which I've never been able to accept. I'm into the sport not just for the strength aspect, but for the health, and to me, carrying the extra fat around to get a little stronger isn't what I'm about. I'd much rather be lean and not quite as strong... maybe there's a little slice of bodybuilder in there somewhere :shifty:

Anyway I've gone off on a bit of a tangent, sorry! But you've made me think about it a bit more, cheers :)

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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Haha, nothing really closet about it. One day I do hope to get on stage in the budgie smugglers (could be in a year or two, could be 10 :shrug:), just for the moment, strength is what interests me. So powerlifting is the outlet for that and I'm enjoying it :nod:

But I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want to sacrifice too much leanness for strength. There are technique adjustments that can be made to add poundage to my total (as I'm still pretty poor in all 3 lifts in a lot of techincal aspects) before I have to resort to too much weight gain for strength. e.g. I notice sometimes that my final rep in a set of squats can be my best... because the first few reps, I've done something wrong, and corrected it on each subsequent rep. If I can do that from rep 1, I'm going to be much better at the lift. Not necessarily stronger, but performing it in a more efficient manner.

I don't want to get to the stage where some of the PLers get; that you ARE big and strong, but your average Jane/Joe on the street just sees a guy carrying extra weight around.. (no offence intended to any of my PL buddies - just my personal preference). There's nothing wrong with doing that if that's what you are willing to do, and what it will take for you to get better at the sport, but for me personally that doesn't fit with my physical ideals.

And when it gets to the stage where I have to gain weight to get stronger... I may need to reassess things :)

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HarryB Veteran member

HarryB

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Interesting side not about your feelings on weight gain and subsequent strength gains. I think Pman or someone like that made a great point about neural efficiency increasing you ability to shift weight without a gain in bodyweight. Just interesting to read your personal view regarding your own performance and journey and I guess more key how you view the health aspect of it. When I was a young guy making a decision between just pursuing power or a more bodybuilding type aesthetic was a hard one. So I figured why not just be a really strong bodybuilder. Gee I wish they had weight class strong man back in the dark ages when I was young lol

I guess some of the real monsters in strength sports show that you can be in great shape, have a great physique and be a real strong mofo with it.

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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So I figured why not just be a really strong bodybuilder. Gee I wish they had weight class strong man back in the dark ages when I was young lol

I guess some of the real monsters in strength sports show that you can be in great shape, have a great physique and be a real strong mofo with it.

Absolutely Harry, and I think in a roundabout kinda way that was what I was getting at. You just put it much better than I did :grin:

I think the cool kids these days call it powerbuilding? I suppose if I had to put myself in a category, powerbuilding would be my ideal :nod:

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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17.07.11 - Smolov Intense Cycle, Week 4, Day 3

102.2 today, up there a bit. Especially seeing as I weighed in at 99 flat yesterday morning! I did have an absolute bucketload of food yesterday (whanau birthday dinner) so not entirely surprised.

Final session today :cry: / \:D/

  • SSB Squats (sets, reps, weights)
    bar
    1 x 8 @ 60kg
    1 x 4 @ 100kg
    1 x 3 @ 120kg (wasn't feeling the SSB so cut these here to head back to normal)
  • Squats
    Warmup Sets
    1 x 6 @ 60kg
    1 x 2 @ 100kg
    1 x 2 @ 140kg
    Working Sets
    1 x 3 @ 157.5kg (b)
    1 x 4 @ 190kg (b/kw)
    2 x 4 @ 200kg (b/kw)
    1 x 5 @ 205kg (b/kw)
  • Deads (light)
    1 x 8 @ 60kg
    1 x 3 @ 100kg
    1 x 1 @ 150kg

Comments

  • Last session of Smolov! Bittersweet, good to finally finish, but sad to see it go at the same time.
    Started off with the Safety Squat Bar as I wanted to try and save my shoulder, but due to the bulk of the bar, it sat slightly higher on my back than I like which threw off my rhythm, so threw this idea in near the last warmup sets and switched back to a normal bar.
    190 felt pretty good with loose wraps, brought the Titaniums back in to replace the THPs, as I'm intending to use the Titaniums in comp (feel I get a bit more out of them). Less irritable on my knees too which is a bit of a bonus, and get more revolutions out of the wraps. Also slightly stretchier so I feel I get a better pop out of the hole. Good to train in the THPs though which I feel don't quite give me as much.
    First set @ 200 I wasn't sure how it was gonna go, so I wrapped up fairly tight for it. Went up really easily. Second set I wrapped up not quite as tight, and went up probably just as easy as the first set did.
    So for the 3rd set which was meant to be the same again - and was the final set of Smolov for me - I decided to add a bit. Chucked +5kg on. Wrapped up tightish. First 4 reps went up easily, so went for a 5th, lost some tightness in the core and looked a bit ugly, but still went up fairly easily.
    Smolov, done.
  • Finished off with some quick, light deadlifts just to get the feel of the bar again ahead of the comp on Saturday (as we haven't done deads for roughly 3 months now) and they felt really snappy. I don't think any strength has been lost here, but if anything, the grip could be a limiter come comp day.

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Phedder Veteran member

Phedder

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Smolov, done.

Said with a sigh of relief I'm sure :nod:

It's been great following your experience with Smolov and seeing your squat skyrocket. Will be interesting to see at the comp how it has affected your dead if the grip cooperates :lol:

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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Said with a sigh of relief I'm sure :nod:

It's been great following your experience with Smolov and seeing your squat skyrocket. Will be interesting to see at the comp how it has affected your dead if the grip cooperates :lol:

Cheers Phed :) And yeah a wee bit bitter sweet, we'll see how it goes this Saturday but hopefully the hard work pays off.

Dead felt ok today, big test beside the grip is gonna be the arm/shoulder. Bit of a bruise forming on the inner arm which is a wee bit worrying! But see how it goes.

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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Now that I'm back at work for the week, I've had a chance to punch my last numbers into the Volume Calculator that I've set up.

Volume was down a bit from the Base Cycle (I probably did about half of the warmup volume), and I think I can vouch for that physically, as the Intense Cycle hasn't quite felt as draining as the Base was.

Here are some random figures for the Intense Cycle:

Total Warmup Volume: 19,700kg

Total Working Set Volume: 48,272.5kg

Total Volume for Cycle: 67,972.5kg

Average Set (incl warmups+working): 5 x 132.5kg

Compare that, with the Base Cycle (not including the test day):

Total Warmup Volume: 30,790kg

Total Working Set Volume: 60,025kg

Total Volume for Cycle: 90,815kg

Average Set (incl warmups+working): 5 x 115kg

Grand totals for the Smolov routine (incl intro cycle + base test day):

Reps: 1729

Sets: 367

Warmup Volume: 70,555kg

Working Volume: 130,535kg

Total Squatted: 201,090.5kg

Average Set: 5 x 117.5kg

Interesting, not quite as much volume as I had thought it'd be, but still a fair bit over the average program I guess :)

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