#drizzt

[drizzt]

Yeah that's why I reckon Luke probably isn't far off shooting up in his progress, we had similar issues to begin with, but he's also hit a fairly similar strength level to what I had back then.

[runveerun]

Wow Drizzt what a world of difference in a year :shock: Be interesting to compare test day this 1-1-12, is this some sort of tradition now, test days on the 1st of Jan? Good way to start the new year off! :nod: You are definitely biggerer and strongerer sir! :salute: Kudos to you!

[drizzt]

Wow Drizzt what a world of difference in a year :shock:

Thanks Miss Vee! Difference to squat has been large, but deads are only about 15kg on, and bench is arguably exactly the same spot :pfft: Maybe 5kg or so better. Bodyweight is 10kg more too... pretty much all in the thighs/waist :shifty:

Be interesting to compare test day this 1-1-12, is this some sort of tradition now, test days on the 1st of Jan? Good way to start the new year off! :nod: You are definitely biggerer and strongerer sir! :salute: Kudos to you!

Ha honestly it was entirely unintended last year. I started the 13 week Sheiko in September-October I think, and realised a few weeks from the end that I'd be testing on New Years :shock: Was shocked at first as it meant no partying... but then realised that was probably a good thing :pfft:

This time was kinda the same, but I knew when I punched my numbers into the Smolov spreadsheet what was gonna happen. Ah well, might as well make it a tradition

Thankya ma'am :salute:

[drizzt]

24.12.11 - Smolov Base/Smolov Jr, W3/D3

104.4 today.

• Squats (sets, reps, weights)
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 6 @ 100kg
  1 x 4 @ 130kg
  1 x 3 @ 150kg
  1 x 2 @ 170kg
  Working
  7 x 5 @ 190kg (b)
  
• Bench
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 6 @ 60kg
  1 x 3 @ 90kg
  1 x 2 @ 110kg
  Working
  8 x 4 @ 125kg
  
• Circuit
  Yellow band pressdowns x 25
  70kg Standing Calf Raises x 50
  60kg barbell rows x 12
  Repeat 3x

Comments

• Squats were ok today, started off fairly well. As the sets went on though balance started to fade, lower back started to tire, and foot positioning was really inconsistent. Still pretty deep throughout, though.
  Some sets were better than others. Will post up vid of the first and last later on (probably two of the worse ones :shifty:). Happy to get through it all though.
  
• Bench was alright too, first 4 sets were ok but I felt like I wasn't getting quite the speed that I have been lately. By the time set 6 rolled around the shoulders and chest were really pumped, which made the reps harder to come by. Set 6 was when the final rep begun to get pretty hard, but somehow I grinded out the last few sets the same way. Very final rep probably didn't quite lockout the right arm (dammit) but I did rack it so I'll give myself a pass for the session considering how tough today was on paper.
  
• Usual circuit, continue putting up the calf raises, getting pretty serious now. They're still sore! Barbell rows were also good for a change.

One more session! :jive:

First beach visit today, beautiful day in Wellington but the water is still bloody freezing! Good for the muscles though, was pretty much an ice bath.

[steak]

First beach visit today, beautiful day in Wellington but the water is still bloody freezing!

like a tepid bath up here bro :nod:

[drizzt]

Sets 1 and 7 from today's squats, ugly as but no failures thankfully!

No bench today, didn't think my bench was worthy enough to be on film. Heck, squats weren't really either but I needed something :pfft:

[drizzt]

like a tepid bath up here bro :nod:

Ahh nice. We knew something was up when we got there and there were heaps of people on the beach but not a lot in the water. Ah well just takes a minute or two to adjust and you're fine 8)

[HarryB]

Have a merry Xmas bro, been good watching your numbers sky rocket up!

[drizzt]

Thanks Harry, same to you and your whanau bro.

[drizzt]

25.12.11 - Smolov Base Cycle, W3/D4

103.8 today. too heavy to take part in the bloat comp haha.

• Squats (sets, reps, weights)
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 5 @ 100kg
  1 x 4 @ 120kg
  1 x 2 @ 140kg
  1 x 2 @ 160kg
  1 x 1 @ 190kg
  Working
  5 x 3 @ 202.5kg (b)
  1 x 3 @ 202.5kg (b/kw)
  1 x 6 @ 202.5kg (b/kw)
  1 x 10 @ 202.5kg (b/kw) [definite 10 rep PB] :-s

Comments

• Sooo... squats! Didn't feel great today, nothing was particularly sore but kinda felt from the get-go that things weren't moving as fast as they had been previously.
  First couple of working sets were tough, but not close to failure... but the 3rd-5th sets were hell! Nearly failed on the 2nd rep of the 5th, so re-reacked for about 10seconds and then tried again for the 3rd which came up verrrrry slowly!
  Intended to use the wraps anyway, to get back into the groove before test day, so just chucked them on a wee bit earlier than I would've (was targeting set 7 or so).
  First wrapped set popped up horrendously easy, even with the wraps really loose. Same tightness for the next set, and I thought I should up the difficulty now that I'm wrapped and bowl over two sets (7 and 8 ) in one... and did so pretty easily.
  For the last couple of sets, I had a stupid idea of "christmas bonus" reps. So not only would I do the 9th and 10th sets in one go, I'd push it to a nice round figure of 10 reps.
  At about rep 6 (which was number 30 for the day) I was battling pretty hard. Rep 8 I was beginning to shake a bit, and rep 9 I could barely stand still and straight to begin the 10th! (you'll see on the video) So I kinda just dropped into it as it felt like it was easier than standing there, popped up ok, but got to the top and the legs started failing me, haha. Couldn't quite get it all back into the rack so my brother had to haul one side up for me, and I collapsed.
  Very cool to get 10 reps at nearly double bodyweight though! Stoked with that. And 10 reps at 200 no matter what bodyweight I'm at is a good milestone to hit.
  Anyway check out the video when it's here and you'll see how tough it was, heh.

We were going to do bench at home after a nice feed, but ended up eating a bit too much, and were pretty much incapable of any sort of movement, let alone heavy exercise. So we might do it tomorrow if we can move again, otherwise, the extra squat reps should've made up for it :pfft:

Smolov in the bank again, test day to come Saturday or Sunday, we'll see how I feel come the weekend... Merry xmas all!

[drizzt]

Sets 2, and 9, 10 + bonuses (mis-labeled the video caption, meant to say sets 9, 10 + 4 bonus reps, ignore the 8!)

[Phedder]

Jeez, 10 reps at 202.5kg aint a bad way to finish off :clap:

It's amazing to see the difference wraps make for you, huge carry over.

[tomleegolf]

Hahaha, nicely done. Good luck for your test day, smash it!

[drizzt]

Jeez, 10 reps at 202.5kg aint a bad way to finish off :clap:

It's amazing to see the difference wraps make for you, huge carry over.

Cheers Phed. Yeaaah, re: the wraps, definitely. In this case though it just gave me a kick in the one spot I was beginning to fail at (just after getting out of the hole when your knees need to begin to straighten), as they weren't particularly tight really.

But it is why I want to up my raw squat, hopefully means the carry-over from wraps will be that much better and bring me closer to a 300.

Hahaha, nicely done. Good luck for your test day, smash it!

Cheers Tom!

[steak]

cool..a 2 ton set :clap:

[drizzt]

Ha ha thanks Big guy, had thought of that but then I remembered I'd probably done a few 2-tonners here and there (hi-rep 100/150 kinda sets).

Definitely the least reps I've taken to get to a 2-tonner though!

[Big john]

eyeing up any comps in 2012 bro with nzpf?

[Danomyte]

BAWSE training there drizzt. Keep it up mate!!!!!

[drizzt]

eyeing up any comps in 2012 bro with nzpf?

Hey bro, at this stage it's CDs in March, and Nats in August. I'm away travelling in April-May so hopefully I can squeeze a comp in late June/early July to get my bearings back after being away for a bit. Maybe July novice up in Auckland again for a bit of a hitout.

Hopefully keep somewhat active while I'm away, but I'm not holding my breath!

BAWSE training there drizzt. Keep it up mate!!!!!

Cheers Danny!

[drizzt]

28.12.11 - Pre-test Session

104.6 today. Got a horrible cold coming on which always makes me hold fluid, perfect timing of course. Start of my holidays and right before test day :roll:

• Squats (sets, reps, weights)
  bar
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 5 @ 100kg
  1 x 4 @ 140kg
  1 x 3 @ 160kg
  1 x 2 @ 180kg
  Lockouts (about a foot from the top)
  1 x 2 @ 200kg (b)
  1 x 2 @ 220kg (b)
  1 x 2 @ 240kg (b)
  1 x 1 @ 260kg (b)
  Walkouts Only
  1 @ 280kg (b)
  2 @ 300kg (b)
  
• Random Circuit-y Stuff
  Yellow Band Pressdowns x 25
  80kg Calf Raises x 50
  60kg Leg Ext x 15
  70kg Seated Rows x 15
  3 sets of each

Comments

• All good today, body was quite tight so it was good to squat some of that out before test day. Wanted to come in yesterday but my bro slept through my texts so didn't get a chance to go in So ideally I wouldn't come in just a few days out from the test, but did want to do something, so I thought light squats and heavy walkouts would be good.
  Couldn't resist doing lockouts on a few of them with the safetys set about a foot from lockout, just dropped it on to them and let it rest for about half a second and then shot it back up. All lockouts felt easy, probably could've done 300 like that but didn't want to get too carried away so close to test day.
  280 is the most I've ever unracked and it didn't feel too bad. The first of my 300 walkouts I learnt straight away that the big first step I took prrrroobbably wasn't the best idea, as I felt the leg buckle slightly but managed to correct it quick enough (kept the safetys up high just in case). Otherwise felt pretty good, stood there for a good few seconds without too much trouble before walking it back in nice and easy. Have this one on vid which I'll post up shortly.
  Second walkout I had learnt a bit from the first one and shuffled out a little slower with smaller steps, will go that way for the heavier weights on test day.
  
• Usual circuit stuff to finish, loving the calf raises right now, so much fun! Went from struggling to do the same reps at half the weight in the beginning, to doing 3 sets at double the weight now.
  Got some back work in just to shake it out, as that area was quite tight during squatting today. Left delt is a little sore, hopefully holds out ok for bench on test day.

All going well, a 280 squat should pop up alright, and a 150ish touch and go bench. Anything extra will be a bonus, but I'm not holding my breath! Will also deadlift if squats haven't taken too much out of me.

[drizzt]

Here it is, nothing special, pretty boring! But good for me anyway to feel the weight on my back...

[Retro Blaster]

Hey mate awesome reading your journal real impressive.

Just a quick question, I remember you say you lift as well as train for rugby.... how has that been? If you still are doing that. I am lookinga t doing a Smolov cycle to get my squat up but i also love doing conditioning sessions to keep the fat off, what would you say is the reality of doing smolov and any type of conditioning. I do kettlebells and mma conditioning stuff so what would you think?

[drizzt]

Hey mate awesome reading your journal real impressive.

Just a quick question, I remember you say you lift as well as train for rugby.... how has that been? If you still are doing that. I am lookinga t doing a Smolov cycle to get my squat up but i also love doing conditioning sessions to keep the fat off, what would you say is the reality of doing smolov and any type of conditioning. I do kettlebells and mma conditioning stuff so what would you think?

Cheers bro thanks for reading!

I actually took a year off to get bigger and fix my injuries from rugby, but this strength stuff is so addictive I'm going to extend it at least another year (there are some things I want to accomplish before leaving).

In saying that, I think I know a bit more about how I'd structure my trainings were I to head back to rugby again, and I don't think Smolov would be a part of it. While upping your squat potentially has great benefit to a lot of the physical aspects in rugby, I'd say the template itself probably is a bit too intense for anyone trying to play a sport alongside it. Maybe if it was right at the beginning of an offseason it could potentially be a goer, but it is so difficult to do anything else alongside it that I'd go for something a little less taxing on the body.

In saying that, Smolov in and of itself is quite effective conditioning... but probably not effective enough for a rugby player. There isn't a lot of room for running and stuff, which I'd definitely throw in the mix for rugby pre season.

The one program I had a lot of success with leading into (and during) a rugby season that didn't effect everything else too badly, was a simple 5 x 5 template. Linear progression pre-season, and then do what you feel capable of during. Only 3 days a week which leaves at least a couple of days for everything else.

Hope that helps mate, let me know if you have any other q's

[tomleegolf]

You monster

[Retro Blaster]

Yea was thinking that bro.

I was fully into my West Side training a few years ago before i took off to Sydney and was putting up desent numbers. Ive only just got back into it in the last 3 months from a loooong lay off, my focus has changed from powerlifting per se to astrong and lean style, however there are a few goals i want to get. I am fully into this smolov style however the conditioning i do will interupt with progress. Im not too keen on giving up the conditioning but maybe cut back as the smolov research ive done and the results that you have posted up say the bi product of squatting most of the week is conditioning in it self. Your gains are awesome mate and if I do do some sort of program like this i hope my goals will tumble.

I might hit up OB to see what he reckons, he may remember me.