#drizzt

[drizzt]

Guys, I'm all for this discussion, but I've split it out of my log to reduce clutter, and maybe get a few more people involved. Check it out here:

Building a Big Lift, & Frequency of Training.

Ta!

[drizzt]

07.01.12

104 flat. Weighed in on the home scales before oats and a protein shake at 102 flat, quick gain.

• Squats (hi-bar, narrow) (sets, reps, weights)
  bar
  1 x 10 @ 60kg
  1 x 5 @ 100kg
  1 x 5 @ 120kg
  1 x 5 @ 140kg
  1 x 2 @ 160kg
  1 x 2 @ 160kg
  
• Banded Deads to the Knees (double blue bands for everything, roughly 80kg at the top)
  1 x 5 @ bar + bands
  2 x 5 @ 40kg + bands
  1 x 5 @ 70kg + bands
  1 x 5 @ 120kg + bands
  1 x 3 @ 140kg + bands
  1 x 3 @ 150kg + bands
  1 x 3 @ 160kg + bands (no pause at knees)
  
• DB Turkish Getups
  1 x 5/ps @ 25lb
  1 x 3/ps @ 40lb
  1 x 3/ps @ 50lb
  
• Box Jumps
  Roughly 20 jumps @ 41inch box

Comments

• Was meant to train with Harry today but he got tied up elsewhere (maybe he doesn't really exist and I imagined meeting him? :think:), so we just mucked around a bit.
  Wanted to hi-bar squat just to change it up a bit, and brought the stance in to shoulder width... man was it tough! 160 was incredibly hard (hence only 2 reps). Switched to low bar for the 2nd set of 160 but I hadn't warmed up the right groups to do so, and it was just as tough as the hi-bar. So I threw in the towel there.
  
• Awesome to get back into the deads. Relatively heavy session today (160+bands should be about 240 at the top I think?). Most sets were to the knees for a 1sec pause before exploding through to lockout. Apart from the final one where I didn't even attempt to pause just went straight through.
  First few sets were easy as, but definitely slowed down as we added the weight on the bar. Ended up using straps from about the 5th set onwards, as that sudden thrust of the hips from the pause was almost ripping the bar out of our hands, made it hard to hold onto. Also incredibly painful with the hook grip. Could just be my hands are getting wussy and they need to be trained back up.
  
• Good to get back into the Turks! And with the box jumps I was just concentrating on landing as far forward on the box as I can, hopefully sets me up for a bigger jump when I next try.

[HarryB]

Was good meeting you bro, man love that gym set up! (I'll just remember to bring my own mirror lol)

Sorry I didn't make it sat but just had family stuff to do so trained at the hutt. I did deadlift 260 so I wasn't completely lame. Finally caught up on reading about you're overtraining LOL!!

Hopefully next time I'm on town I'll be able to train a bit more.

[drizzt]

Was good meeting you bro, man love that gym set up! (I'll just remember to bring my own mirror lol)

Sorry I didn't make it sat but just had family stuff to do so trained at the hutt. I did deadlift 260 so I wasn't completely lame. Finally caught up on reading about you're overtraining LOL!!

Hopefully next time I'm on town I'll be able to train a bit more.

Cheers bro you too! Yeah no probs re: Sat, got plenty of time to catch up again. I'm over the ditch usually once or twice a year, I"ll let you know next time I'm there :nod:

[M.T]

Was good meeting you bro, man love that gym set up! (I'll just remember to bring my own mirror lol)

Sorry I didn't make it sat but just had family stuff to do so trained at the hutt. I did deadlift 260 so I wasn't completely lame. Finally caught up on reading about you're overtraining LOL!!

Hopefully next time I'm on town I'll be able to train a bit more.

gutted I missed ya Harry would have been good to see if you were real or not (guess not for now) was up North when you caught Drizzt then was keen to catch ya Sat but heard you had a good fri night lol sweet as. Hope you enjoyed the house.

[HarryB]

Was good meeting you bro, man love that gym set up! (I'll just remember to bring my own mirror lol)

Sorry I didn't make it sat but just had family stuff to do so trained at the hutt. I did deadlift 260 so I wasn't completely lame. Finally caught up on reading about you're overtraining LOL!!

Hopefully next time I'm on town I'll be able to train a bit more.

gutted I missed ya Harry would have been good to see if you were real or not (guess not for now) was up North when you caught Drizzt then was keen to catch ya Sat but heard you had a good fri night lol sweet as. Hope you enjoyed the house.

Loved it bro, really nice set up and I'm looking forward to next time I am in town. Met a few the guys from the forum which was nice and played catch up with the Old fella about people I used to know way back when.

Man tell drizzt to lay off those triceps!! Or at least lie to people and tell them he does more than just pushdowns for them.

No more derailing! My respects to the house lol

[drizzt]

^ Ha, my tris aren't that great just with such small bis they make the tris look better :pfft:

10.01.12 - 5x5 W1/D1

105.4 today :shock: Started the new diet yesterday too Ah well see where it takes me.

Back on the 5 x 5 Advanced template today. Gonna start throwing RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) on the end of my working numbers just to track how each weight was feeling on a scale of 1-10.

• Squats (sets x reps @ weight - RPE)
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 6 @ 100kg
  1 x 4 @ 120kg
  1 x 3 @ 140kg
  1 x 2 @ 160kg
  Working
  2 x 5 @ 175kg - 9
  3 x 5 @ 175kg (b) - 8
  
• Bench
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 5 @ 60kg
  Working
  1 x 5 @ 80kg - 6
  1 x 5 @ 85kg - 6
  2 x 5 @ 95kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ 105kg - 7
  
• Barbell Rows
  bar
  2 x 5 @ 60kg - 6
  1 x 5 @ 65kg - 6
  2 x 5 @ 70kg - 7
  
• Dips
  1 x 5 @ +20kg - 8
  1 x 5 @ +30kg - 8
  1 x 5 @ +40kg - 9
  
• Standing Calf Raises
  3 x 50 @ 60kg - 8

Comments

• Ok start today, squats weren't bad but I'm a little rusty. Tech wasn't great but the rest seems to have been good for my power.
  Warmups felt easy, so I went into the first set without a belt. Wasn't terrible, but the 5th rep was a bit of a grind. Next set was a bit worse, reps 3-5 weren't great, so decided to chuck the belt on for the remaining sets.
  Once the belt went on, it made it much easier. Still tired as hell, and a really muggy day in the capital (More FM building said 27 degrees when we walked past at 3.20pm ish!! :shock:) so was drenched in sweat by the 3rd set. Just a case of getting the conditioning back up there.
  
• Bench was good, easy. Big jump into next week though so not getting complacent.
  Implemented what Harry told me today which definitely made the benching feel a lot smoother.
  
• Don't do much barbell rowing, so a lot of room to improve here, and we put quite a conservative 1RM into the template as we weren't sure how it would go.
  
• Dips were tougher than expected.
  
• Threw in calf raises to finish, and was doing random band pushdowns throughout the entire workout as the elbows were quite sore.

Oh and we couldn't be bothered with the 2.5kg incremements, so we rounded up here and there.

Done, will be back in tomorrow for some assistance. No video today, and probably not for the whole week as it's quite a boring week weights-wise.

[OnlyHuman]

. Gonna start throwing RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) on the end of my working numbers just to track how each weight was feeling on a scale of 1-10.

Just an idea on the RPE... I'm familiar with it but could be handy for others to copy and paste it in your journal (as MT explains it) few times so peeps can get a better understanding of it. Just an idea... Training = good stuff as usual!

[drizzt]

Just an idea on the RPE... I'm familiar with it but could be handy for others to copy and paste it in your journal (as MT explains it) few times so peeps can get a better understanding of it. Just an idea... Training = good stuff as usual!

Thanks! And sure, but not quite understanding what you mean by pasting it in the journal?

I'm fairly new to it too so will probably begin to refine my ratings as I get on, maybe shouldn't be so close to "maximal" on a few of them... reading the scale, a 6 is a little bit harder than "hard", when I'm probably intending it as light-moderate.

[OnlyHuman]

Just an idea on the RPE... I'm familiar with it but could be handy for others to copy and paste it in your journal (as MT explains it) few times so peeps can get a better understanding of it. Just an idea... Training = good stuff as usual!

Thanks! And sure, but not quite understanding what you mean by pasting it in the journal?

I'm fairly new to it too so will probably begin to refine my ratings as I get on, maybe shouldn't be so close to "maximal" on a few of them... reading the scale, a 6 is a little bit harder than "hard", when I'm probably intending it as light-moderate.

No worries. I was under the impression of that you doing Mike Tuchscherer's system for rating. The first part of the article explains it nicely.

http://www.reactivetrainingsystems.com/ ... -chapter-2

Here is a copy and paste of it for cliff notes:

10- Maximal. No reps left in the tank.

9- Last rep is tough, but still 1 rep left in the tank.

8- Weight is too heavy to maintain fast bar speed, but is not a struggle. 2-4 reps left.

7- Weight moves quickly when maximal force is applied to the weight. “Speed weight”

6- Light speed work. Moves quickly with moderate force.

5- Most warm-up weights

4- Recovery. Usually 20+ rep sets. Not hard, but intended to flush the muscle.

RPEs below 4 are not important.

Just an idea. You do what you think suits you the best. Obviously it has been working for you!

[drizzt]

Ah sweet, cheers, good link!

Yeah I just used what first popped up in Google (Borg 1-10, who I think founded it) but it had 6 listed as "hard".

Tuchscherer's way sounds more along the lines of what I had envisioned, cheers!

[drizzt]

11.01.12 - 5 x 5 Assistance Day

105.6 today, uhhh. Diet doesn't seem to have kicked in yet :shifty: Have been following it pretty closely, even measuring my dinners out (what kind of powerlifter does that?!). So will give it a week or two and if the weight doesn't stop climbing, I'll just go back to what I was doing which seemed to work ok.

• CG Bench (sets x reps @ weight - RPE)
  bar
  1 x 10 @ 60kg - 7
  1 x 10 @ 80kg - 8
  1 x 10 @ 80kg - 9
  
• Chins
  1 x 5 @ +10kg - 9.5
  1 x 5 @ +15kg - 10
  1 x 5 @ +20kg - 10 (last 2 assisted)
  
• Face Pulls
  1 x 20 @ stack - 9.5
  1 x 15 @ stack - 9.5
  1 x 12 @ stack - 9.5
  giant set with...
  
• EZ Bar Curls
  3 x 10 @ 10kg/ps - 9
  giant set with...
  
• Tri Pushdowns
  1 x 20 @ full stack - 9
  1 x 15 @ full stack - 9.5
  1 x 12 @ full stack - 9.5

Comments

• Short and sharp today, just wanted to do some upper body assistance. Got a new philosophy that I want to train these smaller body parts as hard as I train the "big lifts". Will be auto regulating these assistance days, and aiming for 8-9 RPE for each exercise.
  Moved chins forward from tomorrow's session, as we always find them tough after deads. Today, they were really tough anyway. Obviously rusty having not done them for a month or two.
  And the final 3 exercises were one big set. Didn't have rep targets in mind, just went until we could barely get any more reps out (i.e. a 9, almost 10) and then shifted on.

In and out in about 20-25mins. We'll do some lowerbody assistance following Saturday's workout.

[Meds]

Seriously!?!

300/160/300?!? :shock:

To think I had my stroll on with my 100/70/120

Thats pretty phenomenal :notworthy: or will be when you hit it. GOOD LUCK!

[drizzt]

Shucks, thanks! Hopefully I'll get there sooner rather than later but we'll see how the year pans out

Have been checking in and out of your log, looking forward to seeing how you get on

[drizzt]

12.01.12 - 5 x 5 W1/D2

105.9 today, kinda know deep down this weight is going to keep heading up. This particular diet just doesn't seem to be agreeing with me. Maybe the body is adjusting, but I had to force down the pre-workout protein shake today, and I've never had to force food on a diet. Even the post workout shake was more uncomfortable than usual, and that's usually my hungriest part of the day.

Walking around most of the day quite bloated, but I guess that is to be somewhat expected coming from what was pretty much a 16-hour fast for most of last year, one meal, then workout.

Maybe it'll make me stronger, but if it's at the expense of not being a 105er I think I'll pass. I already feel quite uncomfortable at this bodyweight, I really don't want to get any heavier.

ANYWAY, on with it.

• Squats (sets x reps @ weight - RPE)
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 5 @ 100kg
  1 x 3 @ 120kg
  1 x 3 @ 140kg
  Working
  3 x 5 @ 157.5kg - 7
  2 x 5 @ 157.5kg - 8
  
• OH Pin Press
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 5 @ 40kg
  Working
  5 x 5 @ 65kg - 7
  
• Deadlifts
  Warmups
  1 x 5 @ 60kg
  1 x 3 @ 100kg
  1 x 2 @ 140kg
  Working
  3 x 5 @ 175kg - 6
  
• Banded+Paused Deads
  2 x 5 @ 80kg + Double Blue Bands - 7

Comments

• Ok day today, "light" squats and they weren't too bad. Adductor flared up though which upped the RPE rating slightly, especially in the latter sets. Just didn't quite get the pop out of the bottom that I'm used to. Still, bar speed was pretty good for the first few sets, but started to slow on the final two. Not quite grinding reps though so hence the 8 rating instead of a 9.
  
• Pin press started a wee bit slow, but as the sets went on and I found my rhythm it got easier. Making the wrists straight like we're doing for bench seemed to make things slightly easier too.
  
• Deads were weird, due to the adductor pain, I couldn't quite sit back into the position that I'd like to, so the bar started further in front than I usually have it... and it popped up really fast. Kinda just concentrated above anything else at forcing the hips through from the start and just had an immediate "wow" effect on me with how quick they flew up. Didn't really slow down over the 3 sets either. Definitely felt like warmup weights.
  And because we've cut the total sets back from 5 to 3 for the first 4 weeks, we've decided we'll keep some form of workload going by finishing off on 2 sets of banded deads at a reasonable weight.
  Banded deads were a bit tough coming from the full deads, I definitely think it's the pause at the knees that does it. Still, not too much trouble, but a bit slower than the full dead.

[drizzt]

14.01.12 - 5 x 5 W1/D3

104.5 today. Went against the diet slightly and cut carbs way back yesterday (instead of only dropping about 100g as suggested), and whaddaya know, about 2kg down and feeling good. Think I might do what I usually do for off days from now instead of what is suggested.

• Squats (sets x reps @ weight - RPE)
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 5 @ 100kg
  1 x 3 @ 120kg
  Working
  1 x 5 @ 142.5kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ 155kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ 165kg - 8
  1 x 5 @ 177.5kg (b) - 9
  1 x 5 @ 187.5kg (b) - 9
  
• Barbell Rows
  bar
  5 x 5 @ 65kg - 7
  
• Turkish Get-ups
  1 x 5/ps @ 15lb - 8
  1 x 5/ps @ 30lb - 8
  1 x 5/ps @ 45lb - 9
  
• Bench
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  Working
  5 x 5 @ 100kg - 8
  
• Hamstring Curls superset with Leg Extensions
  3 x 10 @ 50kg & 10 @ 60ish kg - 8-9RPE
  
• Calf Raises
  3 x 20 @ 30kg - 8

Comments

• Squats were a bit tougher than expected today, adductor slightly sore and lower back a bit tight, but that's no excuse just didn't feel very strong.
  Had to get a bit aggressive to get the final set of 187.5 out, which I don't like to do during normal training really unless I'm heading for a max, as I feel like it's a finite resource. Ended up getting it out ok, and still had one, maybe two more reps in the tank.
  Here's hoping I've greased the gears enough to have a good week next week :nod:
  
• BB rows were easy. Turks were pretty much cardio, the weight isn't very challenging, it's just such a tiring, full-body movement. Dripping with sweat after it.
  
• Bench was tough being at the end of the session, would usually do it after squats but all of the benches were in use. Didn't mind too much being quite a light day, but it definitely effected the end output for us.
  
• And some leg assistance to finish. Went heavy enough to be challenging with probably a couple reps left in the tank, but didn't push it to failure or anything.

Also as usual I did lots of band pressdowns throughout the workout for the elbows.

If it's a similarly nice day tomorrow, may walk in for some casual cardio.

[HarryB]

The bloat might be due to your bodies reaction to the type of carbs, maybe wheat sensitive like most pacific island descent types or if you're having fruit or lactose? Maybe try keeping the macros the same but change the sources around?

[drizzt]

Cheers Harry, yeah I've thought that may be the issue, I've been trying different carb sources. Pretty much every night there is 250-300g (cooked) kumara which I don't think causes me too much trouble.

But lunch is either rice + tuna, sushi, or sandwiches. I'm thinking the sandwiches in particular bloat me, bread has never really been good, but I don't think the rice is that troublesome. Might try stick to that next week. Sushi is only once a week at the mo, and it didn't effect me badly last year, so I think I'll start by cutting the bread back/out.

As for the fruit, probably have two pieces a day (usually a banana on my oats, and an apple pre-training).

[drizzt]

15.01.12 - Casual Cardio

103.6 today, after a couple days sorta doing what I usually do (but still taking some cues from the diet), I've shed almost a few kilo

• Casual Cardio
  3ish Hours walking
  10 Standing Crunches @ green band (3 sets)
  10 (per side) Side Crunches @ green band (3 sets)
  20 Band Pushdowns @ green band (3 sets)
  10 Reverse Hyper Extensions @ 25kg (3 sets)

Comments

• Nice day in the capital, had no training today but I like to take advantage when it's sunny and head for a walk. Took about 2 hours to get to the House, and by the time I got there I couldn't really be bothered doing much :pfft: So just mucked around for about 20mins before taking off.

[M.T]

Bro my cardio sounds way better Brought a basketball for $25 played bball at the park for an hour.

[drizzt]

Wow, cool story bro. Thanks for letting me know.

[drizzt]

17.01.12 - 5 x 5, W2/D1

104.6 today, expected to be a bit heavier with a full day of food in me compared to Sunday.

• Squats (sets x reps @ weight - RPE)
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 5 @ 100kg
  1 x 3 @ 120kg
  1 x 3 @ 140kg
  1 x 2 @ 160kg
  1 x 1 @ 180kg
  Working
  1 x 5 @ 197.5kg (b) - 10
  3 x 5 @ 197.5kg (b/kw) - 9
  1 x 5 @ 197.5kg (b/kw) - 8
  
• Bench
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 10 @ 60kg
  Working
  1 x 5 @ 90kg - 6
  1 x 5 @ 100kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ 105kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ 112.5kg - 8
  1 x 5 @ 120kg - 9.5
  
• BB Rows
  bar
  1 x 5 @ 65kg - 6
  1 x 5 @ 70kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ 75kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ 80kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ 85kg - 8
  
• Dips
  1 x 5 @ bw
  1 x 5 @ +20kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ +30kg - 8.5
  1 x 5 @ +50kg - 10

Comments

• Mixed bag today.
  Squats started well, felt good mentally, bar seemed to be moving ok in the first few warmup sets, but 160 and 180 were a bit tougher than they should've been.
  Did the first working set without wraps - as I should be able to do most days without a terrible amount of trouble I think - and it was definitely a 10 on the RPE scale. First couple of reps were ok, but rep 3 onwards were grinders. MT was about to jump in and spot me out of the 5th rep but I managed to grind my way out of it. I find when I start getting uncertain about a weight, my descent slows and I try to control it too much, end up burning a lot of energy, and getting no rebound out of the bottom like I do when I'm squatting well. Unfortunately, that's what happened on the first set, it was all slow motion.
  So there was no way I was getting any more sets out without wrapping up, so grudgingly chucked them on. Made it pretty loose to keep the difficulty up a bit, and didn't feel like I got a lot out of them - on the RPE scale I would've called it a hard 9 for sets 2, 3 and 4 - maaaaybe one more tough rep left in each of the sets. Set 5 though, I wrapped a little tighter, and it made it a bit easier than the previous sets. At this point I was also dropping a lot quicker as I had found my groove a bit, and got some decent rebound out of the hole. Probably an extra couple of reps, if not 3 in the tank.
  Also skin around the knees has gone soft again :roll: Wrapping was incredibly painful, and this is probably my softest pair of wraps. Kinda like calluses/tough hands, you have to build the skin up a bit to accept things a little more I reckon.
  
• Although squats weren't great, bench was pretty good today. Felt quite powerful. First 4 working sets were pretty easy.
  5th set I hit a bit of a wall on the 4th rep, but surprised myself on the 5th which absolutely shot up when I changed the angle of the press a bit (to make it feel a bit more decline). So that's why I made it a 9.5 - maybe there was another rep in there? But probably not...
  
• BB rows were pretty standard, not terribly difficult, enjoying the direct back work though.
  Dips were ok, but the 50kg plate was a toughy! First 3 reps weren't too bad, but the 4th and 5th were grinders. Actually strained a muscle in my neck while I was grinding the last rep out, might have to ice that up tonight...

So not a great day, but not terrible in the end either. Weights are starting to step up so just need for the body to click into gear I think, hopefully sooner rather than later! :pray: Looking forward to seeing what Thursday throws at me.

[drizzt]

18.01.12 - 5 x 5, W2/D2 (squats + assistance)

104.3 today, no real food in me though so if I weighed in the afternoon it probably would've been up closer to 105.

• Squats (sets x reps @ weight - RPE)
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 5 @ 100kg
  1 x 3 @ 120kg
  1 x 3 @ 140kg
  1 x 1 @ 160kg
  Working
  5 x 5 @ 175kg (b) - 8-9
  
• Chins
  1 x 5 @ +10kg - 9
  1 x 5 @ +15kg - 10
  1 x 5 @ +25kg - 10 (had to rest between reps 3 & 4)
  
• DB Curls superset with OH DB Tri Press
  3 x 10 @ 35lb & 3 x 10 @ 70lb - 8
  
• Seated Pulley Rows superset with Lat Pulldowns
  1 x 10 @ 60kg & 1 x 10 @ 50kg - 8/10!
  2 x 10 @ 60kg & 2 x 10 @ 30kg - 9
  
• Circuit
  Tri Pressdowns @ full stack
  Cable Side Raise @ not much
  Rear Delt Raises @ 15lb DBs
  x 3 sets. About 8-9 RPE

Comments

• Decided to see how I'd go moving the day 2 squats back a day, as I really want to do the deads on their own day without being gassed from squats beforehand.
  It wasn't too bad considering I was squatting at 9-10 RPE less than 24 hours before this session. A few grinders here and there, but the last set I chucked on my "power song" :pfft: And it made the set fly by. Seems to be a theme with me, getting the last set easier than the others. Set 4 was probably the hardest at 9 RPE, but the rest I'd probably call hard 8s.
  
• Moved chins back a day as well, also prefer not doing these after deads (damn I'm moving mountains to accommodate them! :pfft:). First set wasn't too bad, 2nd set was ugly but got it done with a bit of "crossfit swing" thrown in And 3rd set was quite tough, but grinded it out with a rest between reps 3 and 4.
  
• Aaand finished with a lot of assistance work, tried to keep above 8RPE for most things, which wasn't a lot of weight sometimes but just wanted to listen to the body and not go to failure on these assistance days. Lat pulldowns were strangely tough (hence the 10 rating on the first set), think the lats are quite fatigued from the BB rows we did yesterday, so had to drop the weight right down and it was still quite challenging.

[drizzt]

19.01.12 - 5 x 5, W2/D2 (deads)

105.6 today oops, not sure what's going on there. Been training (and sweating!) hard, decent bit of (slow-paced) cardio, bread is out, portions are down... ah well.

• Deads (sets x reps @ weight - RPE)
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 5 @ 70kg
  1 x 3 @ 110kg
  1 x 3 @ 140kg
  1 x 2 @ 170kg
  Working
  3 x 5 @ 200kg - 8
  + a few token sumo reps @ 140kg to feel it out...
  
• Banded Deads (paused at the knee, double blue bands)
  2 x 5 @ 90kg + bands - 8.5
  
• OH Pin Press
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 5 @ 40kg
  1 x 3 @ 60kg
  Working
  4 x 5 @ 75kg - 6.5
  1 x 10 @ 75kg - 8.5

Comments

• Pretty short and sharp session today having moved squats and chins to yesterday.
  Deads were pretty quick, first set in particular was very fast.
  First rep of the final set, I thought I'd muck around and try to do sumo... it flew up! :shock: Was pleasantly surprised with how smooth, fast, and easy that was - I've mucked around with lighter sumo stuff before (maybe as high as 140), but 200 is definitely the highest I've ever gone.
  Then I grinded out 4 kinda tough-ish conventional reps to finish. Afterwards MT and I mucked around with 140 on the bar trying different things, good fun.
  With the squat getting up there now, I'm vaguely contemplating a move to sumo as I've been told it spares your back a bit for squats. If I can make the transition smoothly enough, I think I might just give it a crack. Judging by today's efforts (admittedly not extensive), I'm quietly optimistic that I could be ok at it :think:
  
• Banded deads were kinda tough, but not bad really. I think the hips were getting through better on the full deadlift personally, felt lazy when we got to the bands. Still managed to lock every rep out without a lot of hassle. I think maybe working weight minus 20-30kg is a good place to work with the paused/banded stuff (weight at the top of the bands).
  
• OH Press was a walk in the park today, felt really strong under it. So much so, that I pumped 5 extras out in the last set, and I think I still could've got a few more. Once I get my groove I find the lift quite easy to do.

Done, can't wait for Saturday, get to try out the new Wraps \:D/

[red machine]

spares your back a bit for squats

hard bro, i never fell anything in lower back pulling sumo, you pretty much just squat the weight up, thats why i ended up changing back as my lower back was getting fried with heaps of squats + pullin conv