#drizzt

[drizzt]

Sweet bro sounds good to me! Lower back has been quite tight for about 6 months straight now, ha ha.

[Big john]

Sweet bro sounds good to me! Lower back has been quite tight for about 6 months straight now, ha ha.

Mark of the conventional lifter :twisted: :grin:

[drizzt]

21.01.12 - 5 x 5, W2/D3

105.2 today.

• 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
  1 x 5 @ 162.5kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ 175kg - 8
  1 x 5 @ 187.5kg (b) - 8
  1 x 5 @ 200kg (b/w) - 8
  1 x 5 @ 212.5kg (b/w) - 10
  
• Pause Squats (1 sec pause in the hole)
  1 x 2 @ 100kg - 6
  1 x 2 @ 120kg - 6
  1 x 2 @ 140kg - 7
  3 x 2 @ 160kg (b) - 9
  
• Bench
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 5 @ 60kg
  1 x 2 @ 100kg
  Working
  5 x 5 @ 110kg - 7
  
• Barbell Rows
  1 x 5 @ 60kg - 6
  5 x 5 @ 75kg - 7-9
  
• Turkish Get-ups
  1 x 5 @ 15lb - 7
  1 x 5 @ 35lb - 8
  1 x 5 @ 50lb - 9.5
  
• Circuit
  220kg Leg Press x 10 reps
  75kg Leg Extensions x 10 reps
  60kg Hamstring Curls x 10 reps
  60kg Calf Raises x 20 reps
  Non stop circuit, 3x around - 8-9 RPE

Comments

• Ok session today, but I feel like I'm not where I should be, or have been in the past. Don't feel like I'm getting much - if anything - out of wraps these days. Feels tough up to the set before I wrap, and then in the past the wraps would be a massive boost making everything really easy. But now I chuck them on and it is just able to kick me a tiny bit further. This is what I assumed wraps would do before I ever wore them, but now that I know I can get a lot out of them, I'm really disappointed in what is happening currently.
  All unwrapped sets were surprisingly good. But the wrapped stuff felt horrid. Nuff said there.
  Tried the True Blacks on the set of 200, weirdly one wrap got quite a few around the leg without having to pull it very tight, and on the second leg I got one less revolution, and this was pulling it a bit tighter to try and make up the slack. So after the set we measured them, sure enough, one was about 1.95m, and the other was around 2.06m :shock:
  OB pulled out his pair and another guy's pair (from the same order), and they were odd lengths too. A bit of shuffling and the pairs matched up for those two, but the stitching on one of them was really off. So have taken some photos and will send them to Inzer to see what they say.
  If they were both a few cm under the 2m length, I could've handled that, because they would've stretched a bit eventually and hit that 2m length. But with one over, having to trim a new pair of wraps off the bat just doesn't seem right to me. Not very happy with the Inzer "quality control" :snooty:
  BUT, aside from that, the wraps actually felt pretty good. Similar to the Titaniums with just a little more stretch. So I like the fabric, lets just see if we can get a matching pair! :pfft: Haven't checked the ones out that I've got on my desk at work yet, will maybe pop in this arvo and grab em.
  
• Paused squats were ok, not great, not really bad. Kinda expected to be slightly tough following all of my working sets, and haven't really done them properly (apart from the odd one in warmups here and there).
  
• On the positive side - bench is feeling really good lately. 110 was nice and easy, very fast. Liking where this is at/going.
  
• Barbell rows weren't bad, you go/I go so got a little tough towards the end with maybe 20 seconds rest between sets, but all good.
  
• Turks were tough, first set walk in the park, second set the last couple of reps were hard, final set pretty much everything was a grinder, but somehow got through it.
  
• Circuit to finish was awesome, big burn in the quads in particular from this one.

OH yeah, and to top things off, one of the bolts in my belt fell off after the final set of squats :clubbed: One of those days for my equipment...

Big sweat on today, nice intensity throughout the workout.

[drizzt]

22.01.12 - Conditioning

103.4 today, 2kg down from about 24hours ago. Had a MASSIVE dinner last night too, odd how that works.

• Walking
  Into the house = 1hour 52mins (timed)
  Walk home (before it started raining) = ~40mins
  Other misc today = ~30mins
  About 3 hours total today.
  
• Mini-Circuit
  The Bear @ 40kg (power clean-to-front squat-to-OH Press-to-back squat-to-BN Press-back to floor = 1 rep) x 5 reps
  150kg sled x 2 lengths
  Single-arm Band pressdowns x 20 reps per arm
  x 4 sets

Comments

• Just wanted to get some cardio in today.
  Walk in was ok, was keen to see how long it would take from door (home) to door (the House), just under 2 hours and I wasn't exactly motoring it. Maybe could look at bringing that closer to 1.5hours in future.
  Begun to walk home after the session, and then all of a sudden it started hosing down which put paid to my efforts! So cut my losses and jumped on the bus home. Pity, as this was pretty much the only time I've felt keen on walking the return leg instead of jumping on a bus.
  
• Mini circuit was good, fairly high intensity (well, compared to what I usually do). Good sweat on. Sleds were tough, tried to go as fast as possible but very quickly ran out of gas, last set was tough!
  The Bear was tougher than it sounds, kept the weight low so I didn't kill myself :pfft:

See what the weather is like tomorrow, may do the walking again - Wellington Anniversary so have the day off

[drizzt]

Also, just to show what I'm talking about with my newly-arrived wraps, here is a pic showing the difference between a pair about bang on 2m (on the right)... and a pair that isn't:

Pretty annoyed!

[drizzt]

23.01.12 - Conditioning

103.8 today.

• Conditioning
  Approx 4 hours/23km of walking
  Band pullaparts
  PVC rolling
  Dislocations
  Skipping x 5mins

Comments

• Finally got a full day of nice weather, so was able to walk from my house, to The House, and then do the return leg. Google Map'd it, and it comes out as 11.5km each way. Took me a little less than 2 hours to get to The House, and a little more than 2 hours to walk back home. There was some miscellaneous off-track stuff to some shops/coffee places that I didn't include in my total, maybe as much as 25km all up today.
  Wasn't actually going to do anything in the gym, but I thought seeing as I walked there I may as well stop in. So did some stretches, random skipping and stuff. Didn't want to do too much as I have to squat tomorrow. In and out of there in about 15mins.

Week 3 of 5 x 5 starts tomorrow, things are getting tough! Looking forward to it.

[Growth]

Were you walking back home today wearing a red singlet and black/dark shorts up the Ngauranga Gorge?

[drizzt]

Ha, yep! That would've been me. Worst part of the walk, need to keep watching your back for cyclists, sneaky buggers are right behind you yelling at you to make room before you know it :-s

[Panzer]

Ha, yep! That would've been me. Worst part of the walk, need to keep watching your back for cyclists, sneaky buggers are right behind you yelling at you to make room before you know it :-s

They fear you drizzt!

[drizzt]

Ha, if that were the case, they'd just slowly follow me up the hill until I realised they were behind me so I could shift off the path to let them pass :pfft:

IMHO it comes down to them feeling more entitled to the footpath than pedestrians are on this particular route (even though there are signs saying otherwise).

Ah well, it's not so bad as long as I keep an eye out and move before things get confrontational :pfft:

[M.T]

We are the bottom of the pecking order cars>bikes>joggers>walkers

it's a hard life for us walkers tough times.

[drizzt]

^Too right mate, too right.

24.01.12 - 5 x 5, W3/D1

105.2 today, fairly standard for a Tues afternoon these days...

• Squats (sets x reps @ weight - RPE)
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 5 @ 100kg
  1 x 3 @ 120kg
  1 x 2 @ 140kg
  1 x 2 @ 160kg
  1 x 1 @ 185kg (b)
  1 x 2 @ 205kg (b/w)
  Working
  5 x 5 @ 217.5kg (b/w) - between 8-9 RPE
  
• Bench
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 5 @ 80kg
  Working
  1 x 5 @ 100kg - 6
  1 x 5 @ 107.5kg - 6
  1 x 5 @ 117.5kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ 125kg - 9
  1 x 4 @ 132.5kg (4th rep spotted slightly, missed 5th) - 10
  1 x 2 @ 120kg (2nd rep spotted) - 10
  
• Barbell Rows
  bar
  1 x 2 @ 60kg - 6
  1 x 5 @ 70kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ 75kg - 8
  1 x 5 @ 80kg - 8
  1 x 5 @ 85kg - 8
  1 x 5 @ 90kg - 8
  
• Dips
  1 x 5 @ +20kg - 7
  1 x 5 @ +40kg - 9
  1 x 4 @ +55kg - 10

Comments

• Relatively tough day today.
  Squats actually weren't too bad, warmups felt pretty good. Trialled wrapping earlier which may have made a difference, hard to say.
  Toughest thing about the working sets, was the wrapping! SO. PAINFUL. I think it took my mind off actually squatting, which seemed to make the reps easier. I'm sitting here about 2 hours after my final set of squats and my knees are on fire. Worst wrapping experience I've ever had.
  If it was just painful wrapping, I wouldn't mind the True Blacks too much. But the quality of the wraps is horrible! During the first working set, all sorts of cracking/popping noises were made - took em off after the set, sure enough, tonnes of fabric had split along the wraps. This is the sort of thing that took lots of tough sessions to show on any of my Titan wraps.
  Not only that, but the two wraps in the pair seem to be made of slightly different fabric quality? Like, one stretches slightly further than the other? They were both about the same length when I started the first set, but by the end of the 5th, one wrap was a good 10cm longer :shock:
  Anyway, I'll write more in-depth about it in the review thread, but I'm pretty disappointed with the whole Inzer experience tbh. Will be ordering some more Titaniums off Reuben asap.
  
• Bench wasn't bad, yeah, I missed the final 2 reps (jusssst missed lockout on the 4th) of the final set, but everything up until then felt really fast. I just ran out of gas! I have no doubt that if squats weren't such a battle today that I would've got all 5 on that top set, so I'm not too worried.
  Everything up to, and including the 4th working set @ 125 was nice and snappy, really pleased with how bench is coming along. Especially pleased that the shoulders (both!) finally seem to be giving me something to work with (touch wood).
  
• Barbell rows were ok, nothing really to say, all pretty strict reps. Dips were ok, 1st and 2nd sets were easy, but again, ran out of gas on the final couple of reps of the 3rd set. Again, not too worried, as the bench muscles were well fatigued at this point, which would definitely have effected it.

So on paper, not a great session, but I'm pretty happy with it. I feel like these tough sessions are where the gains are made, and I now have a bit of renewed confidence that I can make it to the deload with my numbers relatively in tact

[drizzt]

25.01.12 - 5 x 5, W3/D1.5

104.4 today.

• Squats (sets x reps @ weight - RPE)
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 5 @ 100kg
  1 x 3 @ 120kg
  1 x 3 @ 145kg
  1 x 2 @ 165kg
  Working
  1 x 5 @ 185kg (b) - 9.5
  1 x 4 @ 185kg (b) - 10
  
• Chins
  1 x 5 @ +10kg - 8 (dead hangs)
  1 x 5 @ +20kg - 9
  1 x 4 @ +25kg - 10
  
• Tri Pushdowns superset with Gayble Curls
  3 x 15 @ stack & 3 x 15 @ 100 - 9

Comments

• Sooo beginning to think that maybe pulling the squats forward a day wasn't such a great idea. Had a lot of niggles appear from yesterday that made this session feel really bad. From the get-go, the right calf was in a lot of pain from yesterday's wrapping session (when I wrap tight, sometimes it restricts bloodflow a bit, which puts the calf in an awkward situation), this made it really painful in the hole whenever the hammies touched the calves.
  Got a little better, but as the weight got heavier the back started to complain a bit.
  To top it all off, I just didn't feel very strong today. 4th rep of the second set was a grinder, didn't attempt the 5th as I was fairly certain it wasn't going to go up (that was the kinda mindset I was in I guess!), and there was no way I was wrapping with the calf still sore and the knees tender from yesterday. So threw in the towel there, and will complete the session tomorrow, pre-deads.
  
• Chins weren't too bad, only expected 3 on the last set but managed to eek out 4. Failed the 5th though, and after a bit of a rest, it still wouldn't fly. Then a couple of token arm exercises there and I left it as is.

Pretty buggered so will eat up well and attack it all tomorrow.

[Big john]

itll be interesting to read the reveiw on the wraps bro

Not only that, but the two wraps in the pair seem to be made of slightly different fabric quality? Like, one stretches slightly further than the other? They were both about the same length when I started the first set, but by the end of the 5th, one wrap was a good 10cm longer :shock:

by no means should leg wraps stretch that much after a break-in sesh!. id prob have a chat to inzer about that aswell

itll be interesting to read the reveiw on the wraps bro

[drizzt]

Yeah man, just ridiculous! The pic posted on the previous page shows the ones on the right which I used for yesterday's session - pretty much identical length (were being pinned down on the other end by the deadlift dolly). Will take a pic of them tomorrow if I remember (sitting in my shoe bag) to show how much farther one has outstretched than the other after 5 sets of use.

Was pretty comical walking up to squat on about set 4, where one wrap had massive overhang, the other I was scraping to get the same number of revolutions. The difference between them now I would say is approaching the same difference between the pair shown on the left.

Will write a review when I get a chance :nod:

And yep, would love to contact Inzer, but could only find a phone number and a physical address, no email? Any ideas aside from long distance call/snail mail?

[Big john]

And yep, would love to contact Inzer, but could only find a phone number and a physical address, no email? Any ideas aside from long distance call/snail mail?

nah i dont think they do, they seem abit behind the times in regards to email adress/physical addresses. :naughty:

they have an international number: 903 236-4012, but wouldnt want to be on the receiving end of that phone bill :shock:

My advice is if you wanna get inzer stuff flag getting it from there site. most of there product you can get thru houseofpain.com, atleast they have an email address and decent customer service from what ive read

for example you can get the exact same soft suit from mattman (who supply inzer the softsuits) for sometimes 40-60 bucks less :shock:

[drizzt]

Sweet, cheers bro.

Yeah I've kinda written off any kind of recourse with getting an exchange or anything like that, I won't be calling international to chase up their quality issues and just leave me further out of pocket. And yeah, re: House of Pain, I got told of that just after I made my order unfortunately. But I did check them out and it didn't work out any cheaper, so I wasn't too disappointed - however in hindsight, the support would've been good!

TBH, after the inconsistencies between all of the 4 pairs of wraps in my order, I wouldn't be prepared to go Inzer again purely on principle. Pity, because I actually believe the True Blacks are (well, could be) a very good wrap, just seemingly let down by a bit of laziness

Writing the review now.

[drizzt]

26.01.12 - 5 x 5, W3/D2

104.9 today. Weight is holding relatively steady around the 104-105 mark which I'm happy with. I'm feeling kinda leanish lately, I think the extra walking I'm doing is helping keep things under control.

• OH Pin Press (sets x reps @ weight - RPE)
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 5 @ 60kg
  1 x 2 @ 72.5kg
  Working
  5 x 5 @ 82.5kg - 7
  
• Deads
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 5 @ 70kg
  1 x 3 @ 110kg
  1 x 2 @ 150kg
  1 x 2 @ 180kg
  1 x 1 @ 200kg
  Working
  1 x 5 @ 220kg - 9
  1 x 5 @ 220kg (b) - 9.5
  1 x 1 @ 220kg (b - sumo) - 7 [+20kg Sumo PB]
  1 x 4 @ 220kg (b) - 10
  
• Banded + Paused @ the Knees (1 sec) Deads
  2 x 5 @ 100kg + double blue bands (about 80 at the top) - 10
  
• Paused Squats (1 sec in the hole)
  bar
  1 x 3 @ 60kg
  1 x 3 @ 100kg
  1 x 2 @ 120kg
  3 x 2 @ 140kg - 6

Comments

• Ok session today, OH Pin Press was awesome, think I've figured it out pretty well. The only reps that were a little tough were when I got the pressing line wrong and let the bar drift a bit too far forward. Otherwise strength is more than up to the task on these, feel very strong under the bar.
  
• Deads weren't great, but not terrible either. Did the first set beltless which wasn't horrible, but hard enough to know that I might struggle in the remaining sets. So I chucked the belt on for the 2nd set, didn't really seem to make much of a difference (happens sometimes for some reason, maybe I get lazy with my breathing) but still got all reps out.
  3rd set, like last week I tried sumo for the first rep. Wee bit slow off the floor, but love how once it is off the floor it's pretty much straight to lockout. Again, that's the highest I've ever attempted with Sumo, and I honestly reckon I have a lot more in the tank with it. Would be good to get OB to give me some form pointers at some point as well, as I'm sure there are things I can improve on with it.
  
• Banded deads were pretty tough, I was really fatigued by the time these rolled around. Still, no failures, so I guess that's a success.
  
• Paused squats to finish were easy. I was meant to finish off yesterday's 185 x 5 for 3 sets, but really couldn't see it happening after giving a lot of energy to deads, so we did paused squats instead. Probably should've upped the weight a bit tbh, 140 was a little too easy.

Tough few sessions coming up!

[tinytraps]

Awesome training bro :clap: liking the weights on those pin presses too, how high do you set the pins? I did them last week and they are KILLER!

[drizzt]

Thanks bro! We set the pins about throat level, so we have the bar resting at chin height.

If I'm being honest, I can still get a wee bit of leg drive out of it which really gives me a fast start and makes the whole lift quite simple. I obviously can't generate quite as much leg drive as I can from a push press off the chest, but I do get a little out of this :shifty:

Might record some next week, I think we're up to 5 x 5 @ 90kg.

[Old Bull]

• Deads
  Warmups
  bar
  1 x 5 @ 70kg
  1 x 3 @ 110kg
  1 x 2 @ 150kg
  1 x 2 @ 180kg
  1 x 1 @ 200kg
  Working
  1 x 5 @ 220kg - 9
  1 x 5 @ 220kg (b) - 9.5
  1 x 1 @ 220kg (b - sumo) - 7 [+20kg Sumo PB]
  1 x 4 @ 220kg (b) - 10
  
• 3rd set, like last week I tried sumo for the first rep. Wee bit slow off the floor, but love how once it is off the floor it's pretty much straight to lockout. Again, that's the highest I've ever attempted with Sumo, and I honestly reckon I have a lot more in the tank with it. Would be good to get OB to give me some form pointers at some point as well, as I'm sure there are things I can improve on with it.

That's twice I have missed your Sumos, first time I was in the Office oblivious to what was happening in Iron Valhalla. Today I was upstairs making more WEAPONS of MASS PAIN and I could hear the Deads. Come down and your'e finished.

Will not miss the next one

[drizzt]

Ha ha, all good OB1, I had a quick look for you before my last set but could hear you banging around upstairs so just went for it. No rush I've still got 6 weeks of the prog left, and will try to hit a new sumo PB each week :nod:

[Big john]

1 x 1 @ 220kg (b - sumo) - 7 [+20kg Sumo PB]

mind - shattered :shock:

i dont even....

could this be the start down the path of Sumo pulling corruption?

[drizzt]

1 x 1 @ 220kg (b - sumo) - 7 [+20kg Sumo PB]

mind - shattered :shock:

i dont even....

could this be the start down the path of Sumo pulling corruption?

Haha honestly it just feels like a squat to me... except I don't need to worry about depth, I just need to stand up. So in that way I think I'm beginning to go toward my strength a bit.

It also takes SO much pressure off of my back, which - now that my squats are getting fairly heavy - is just getting doubly pounded by heavy deads and heavy squats throughout the week. In hindsight, conventional-only wasn't so bad when my squat sucked :pfft:

But yeah, the back isn't getting any rest and I think I may need to start managing it properly before something gives way :nod:

So it's a decent start to sumo-dom considering I've probably only ever done less than 20 sumo reps in my life :pfft: But I'm not entirely converted yet, and I still reckon conventional is the more badass of the two 8)

[BarBrother]

It also takes SO much pressure off of my back, which - now that my squats are getting fairly heavy - is just getting doubly pounded by heavy deads and heavy squats throughout the week. In hindsight, conventional-only wasn't so bad when my squat sucked :pfft:

But yeah, the back isn't getting any rest and I think I may need to start managing it properly before something gives way :nod:

Thats one of the primary reasons it is used is because of the volume on the lower back with squatting , arched benching and then conv deadlifting. sometimes conv vs sumo the conv can be stronger but ensuring longevity in the sport and the ability to continue progress and train hard, sumo seems to be very popular.