#drizzt

[HarryB]

Phlegmy and sickly? My dinner isn't tasting so good now lol... Remind to read this stuff after I eat!!

[drizzt]

24.05.11 - Base Meso, Week 2, Day 1

96.9 today, I think that's because I didn't have such a big meal to break the fast today (just a few pieces of fruit). Cold is in full swing, especially in the mornings, very raw throat is making breathing difficult at times (especially squat time!) and I seem to be blowing my nose more than I blink so its not a very pleasant time to be doing Smolov! May take tomorrow off work to rest if it's still fairly bad in the morning.

The TP has almost caught me in weight, set a new high for him of 96.3 today!

• Squats (sets, reps, weights)
  Warmup Sets
  1 x 10 @ 60kg
  1 x 8 @ 80kg
  1 x 6 @ 100kg
  1 x 4 @ 110kg
  1 x 3 @ 120kg
  1 x 2 @ 130kg
  Working Sets
  4 x 9 @ 135kg
  
• Bench
  Warmup Sets
  1 x 10 @ 60kg
  1 x 4 @ 100kg
  1 x 2 @ 110kg
  1 x 1 @ 125kg
  Working Sets
  1 x 1 @ 137.5kg (w/w)
  5 x 3 @ 122.5kg
  
• Face Pulls superset with Side DB Raises
  3 x 15 @ ? & 3 x 12 @ 20lb
  

Comments

• Squats weren't bad today, cold got in the way a little bit but not using that as an excuse, just made (normal) breathing a tad difficult.
  Both hips were a little sore today which I'm actually taking as a good sign, because I think the left is loosening up enough that the muscles around it are beginning to work
  First working set was a bit shallow, most would've passed depth but a couple may not have. The other 3 were more or less bang on/below for everything. Continued the no-belt theme today \:D/ We'll see how long I can keep that up...
  
• Bench was TOUGH. We were shattered from Squats, so even 100 felt pretty rough.
  In saying that, I nailed the setup for 137.5 and got a really clean touch and go, went up nice and smooth. Smoother than some of the warmups! Actually felt as though it could've been 140 and it would've gone up.
  The back off sets at 122.5 were bloody tough, we took some decent rests in between sets in order to get them out. Starting to figure out the leg drive which is making the lifts a bit easier than they have been, though.
  

Decent day in the office, bring on 5 x 7 @145.

[drizzt]

Phlegmy and sickly? My dinner isn't tasting so good now lol... Remind to read this stuff after I eat!!

Haha, sorry bro! Hope it's not oysters! :poked:

[HarryB]

Damn that's nice benching bro!! I do feel it's necessary to point out that you benches more than you squatted ha ha ha next your workouts will be biceps on Monday, triceps on Tuesday and arms on Wednesday.... With chest every day ha ha ha

But seriously that's decent benching!

[drizzt]

Damn that's nice benching bro!! I do feel it's necessary to point out that you benches more than you squatted ha ha ha next your workouts will be biceps on Monday, triceps on Tuesday and arms on Wednesday.... With chest every day ha ha ha

But seriously that's decent benching!

Cheers! And haha that did cross my mind before going to bench! I'm telling myself that volume-wise I squatted more today :shifty:

[steak]

Good work Drizzt..coming along well bro 8) :clap:

[drizzt]

Thanks big guy, still early on but can't wait to see what the 1RM testing will be like...

People say the hardest thing about Smolov is you start to hate squatting... well, I wonder when that will kick in! Because so far I've been looking forward to every session, absolutely loving it! Same with the TP! Maybe we're just crazy :crazy:

[morattigirl]

Nice drizzt! So whats the time length of this programme? 4/6 weeker, deload then test or longer? oh and hope your feeling better today, god damn colds suck!

[drizzt]

Thanks MG Feeling slightly better today, took the day off and seem to be on the improve If anything it lifts the spirits a little bit knowing the head will be in it better for the next session.

As for the program, its 13 weeks long, but made up of smaller cycles.

Intro cycle (which we've completed) is 2 weeks of squatting, prepares you for the workload.

Base cycle is 4 weeks (4x per week squatting), where the 4th week is an empty week with a 1RM test day at the end. We're into week 2 of this now.

Switching cycle (pretty much a deload) is 2 weeks with no squatting involved, but we're cutting it to one week so we can enter the Auckland Novice in July.

And Intense cycle to finish, which is 6 weeks (of 3x days per week squatting). Week 5 is a deload, and week 6 is the 1RM test (which we'll be doing at the Auckland Novice).

So it's gonna be a bit of a battle, but we're keen as to smash it and set some big numbers :nod:

[drizzt]

26.05.11 - Base Meso, Week 2, Day 2

96.8 today, holding pretty steady here. Cold is almost cleared up so expect to settle here-or hereabouts.

• Squats (sets, reps, weights)
  Warmups
  1 x 10 @ 60kg
  1 x 8 @ 80kg
  1 x 6 @ 100kg
  1 x 4 @ 120kg
  1 x 2 @ 130kg
  1 x 2 @ 140kg
  Working
  2 x 7 @ 145kg
  3 x 7 @ 145kg (+belt)
  
• Bench
  8 x 2 @ 85kg
  

Comments

• Soooo broke the non-belted streak today :cry: Had to give some time, and today everything felt pretty heavy.
  For the first two sets - every. Single. Rep. Was a grind.
  So I decided to throw in the towel and add the belt - but the first set with it on, I didn't really notice much difference :-s I think I didn't have it far down enough, was sitting a bit too close to the rib cage. 2nd and 3rd set with it on were lower, and I felt it assisting a little better.
  TP displayed awesome recording skills as he seems to do occasionally, starting recording a rep into the 2nd set, and missing the 5th (and best!) set completely :doh: OB1 got the last one on Cam though so will take that.
  Nothing to say about bench, light as. Shoulder took a little tweak but doesn't feel terrible.
  

Roll on 7x5 @ 155.

[morattigirl]

As for the program, its 13 weeks long, but made up of smaller cycles.

Intro cycle (which we've completed) is 2 week of squatting, prepares you for the workload.

Base cycle is 4 weeks (4x per week squatting), where the 4th week is an empty week with a 1RM test day at the end. We're into week 2 of this now.

Switching cycle (pretty much a deload) is 2 weeks with no squatting involved, but we're cutting it to one week so we can enter the Auckland Novice in July.

And Intense cycle to finish, which is 6 weeks (of 3x days per week squatting). Week 5 is a deload, and week 6 is the 1RM test (which we'll be doing at the Auckland Novice).

So it's gonna be a bit of a battle, but we're keen as to smash it and set some big numbers :nod:

Awesome dude! 3 days a week squatting for 6 weeks!! Holy Moly, Mean!! Look forward to following your progress! 8)

[drizzt]

Thanks again MG

28.05.11 - Base Meso, Week 2, Day 3

97.3 when I walked in... and then 96.9 about, say, 10mins later :shifty: More or less holding steady here.

Some remnants of the cold floating about today but not too bad.

• Squats (sets, reps, weights)
  Warmups
  1 x 10 @ 60kg
  1 x 8 @ 80kg
  1 x 6 @ 100kg
  1 x 3 @ 120kg
  1 x 3 @ 130kg
  1 x 2 @ 140kg
  1 x 2 @ 145kg
  1 x 1 @ 150kg
  Working Sets
  7 x 5 @ 155kg (+belt) :puke:
  
• Chins
  1 x 11 @ bw
  1 x 8 @ bw
  1 x 7 @ bw
  
• OH DB Tri Ext
  3 x 10 @ 75lb
  

Comments

• Today was looking like a good day - I'd had an awesome sleep, the warmups were feeling great, hip troubles came and went pretty quickly, and the mindset was good, so I thought I was in line for a blinder...
  However, it was far and away the toughest squat session I've experienced so far for Smolov, and probably the toughest squat session in my life to boot :grin:
  As I said above, the warmups weren't feeling bad at all, but once 155 was loaded, the game stepped up to a whole new difficulty! The first 3 reps of every set weren't terrible, but each time I completed the 3rd rep, it was kinda the point where I started thinking to myself; "where are 4 and 5 gonna come from?" :shrug:
  Somehow, I managed to dig deep and squeeze every rep out without failure, but boy, some of those 5th reps were close! :shifty: Even brought out the smelling salts around set 5 to get a kick up the arse for it.
  After reviewing the footage, all reps were at the very least close to parallel, but admittedly, I'd have needed a generous judge or 3 to pass a few of them. TBH though, I'm happy to take "close enough" on a grinding day like today.
  As an aside, a good pyschological tool I've found is just marking off each set in the notebook. Feels like a victory every time you can put a line next to the weight in the diary. Small thing but I really believe it helps seeing the sets knocked off like that.
  After the session, I was thinking that it was probably just a bad day... but then I thought about last week's 7 x 5, and how I found that pretty tough then (although obviously not quite as tough as today). There was also the 152.5 from Sunday where I found triples ok, but about my limit, and this was +2.5kg, +2 reps as well. So to stack 10kg onto what was already a tough day in the schedule, I would've had to have been on form to nail it. Even though I wasn't necessarily humming along today, I'm just happy to have completed it.
  Can only imagine how tough another 5kg on top will go next Saturday :pray:
  
• Assistance was standard. Chins are weird because every time I do them I feel like I'm flying along until BAM the bis hit a wall and I can squeeze out one more rep only. That was the case today, smashed 9 out really easily in that first set, but the 10th started to feel hard, and then the 11th was pretty much failure. Same went for the other 2 sets.
  Tri exts were light, just getting the tris working outside of the bench days.
  

10 x 3 @ 162.5 tomorrow, hoping it won't be as tough. Thinking I will start introducing wraps - not because the prog is feeling more difficult, but because I want to get a feel for them before my test day in a couple of weeks.

With any luck, my knee sleeves should be here before Tuesday's session next week (at the very least before Thursday I think), so maybe they'll provide a wee bit of assistance without having to wrap up.

[Phedder]

Some amazing squatting going on in here :clap: Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to give Smolov a go :oops:

Chins are weird because every time I do them I feel like I'm flying along until BAM the bis hit a wall and I can squeeze out one more rep only.

I find I'm the exact same here. There's been a few times where I've almost hit my head on the roof I've been flying up so quickly, and then the next rep is a grind :-s

[OnlyHuman]

Good luck with the Smolov :nod:

Back in the day 4 weeks of it gave me a 10 on the back squats.

I'm sure you will do well on it :grin:

[drizzt]

Some amazing squatting going on in here :clap: Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to give Smolov a go :oops:

Chins are weird because every time I do them I feel like I'm flying along until BAM the bis hit a wall and I can squeeze out one more rep only.

I find I'm the exact same here. There's been a few times where I've almost hit my head on the roof I've been flying up so quickly, and then the next rep is a grind :-s

Thanks bro, sometimes I question why I'm doing it, then I look at my pitiful squat max which pushes me further :pfft:

Good to know I'm not the only one on chins too!

[drizzt]

Good luck with the Smolov :nod:

Back in the day 4 weeks of it gave me a 10 on the back squats.

I'm sure you will do well on it :grin:

Cheers mate, didn't realise you had done it! Heartening to hear that everybody gains a decent whack from it, so fingers crossed something good comes out in a couple of weeks :nod:

Just out of curiousity, how come you didn't do the full? Were you just testing the waters with it?

I've heard of a lot of people just doing the base, which is tempting now I've found out how tough it is! :shifty: But I'm intent on completing the full thing :nod:

[OnlyHuman]

Good luck with the Smolov :nod:

Back in the day 4 weeks of it gave me a 10 on the back squats.

I'm sure you will do well on it :grin:

Cheers mate, didn't realise you had done it! Heartening to hear that everybody gains a decent whack from it, so fingers crossed something good comes out in a couple of weeks :nod:

Just out of curiousity, how come you didn't do the full? Were you just testing the waters with it?

I've heard of a lot of people just doing the base, which is tempting now I've found out how tough it is! :shifty: But I'm intent on completing the full thing :nod:

It has been a long time ago but if I remember correctly I read that quite a few people made good gains on the base part of it. Also, probably at the time I was doing a bit too much for the upper body and find it hard to recover from the added volume. Called it quits after 4 weeks and went onto working on my bench (I think)

[drizzt]

^Yeah very true, it seems like a good little cycle to do in itself, just the base :nod:

29.05.11 - Base Meso, Week 2, Day 4

98.8 today woaaah! That's pretty much a full 2kg gain in 24 hours! Although I did have quite a large amount of food throughout the day yesterday, so wasn't at all surprised by this. If I know my body (which I do quite well I must say!), it'll back off a bit as the week goes on until the next big feedup :grin:

MT hit another high for weight today - 96.7! He's pretty much gained 10kg in the few months since he started, massive.

• Squats (sets, reps, weights)
  Warmups
  1 x 10 @ 60kg
  1 x 8 @ 80kg
  1 x 6 @ 100kg
  1 x 4 @ 120kg
  1 x 3 @ 130kg
  1 x 2 @ 140kg
  1 x 1 @ 150kg
  1 x 1 @ 157.5kg
  Working Sets
  8 x 3 @ 162.5kg (+belt)
  1 x 3 @ 162.5kg (+belt/wraps)
  1 x 6 @ 162.5kg (+belt/wraps)
  
• Seated Calf Raises superset with Leg Extensions
  3 x 15 @ 40kg & 12 @ 80kg
  

Comments

• So, I went from the toughest squat session of my life yesterday, to one of the most satisfying ones today :grin:
  Warmups felt great, hip(s) gave me very little trouble throughout the sets. Went all the way up to 157.5 without the belt and with quite a bit of ease.
  Was thinking about not belting up for the first few working sets, but didn't want to be a hero so chucked it on. First 7 sets were pretty easy, occasional grind here and there but pretty much every rep was to depth.
  Set 8 I chucked the wraps on and was given a huge shock as to how easy the weight suddenly became! I went from a tough-ish 3 reps, to an easy 3 - it felt like someone had stripped the 10s/1.25s off the sides and just left me with 140.
  Intended to wrap up for the last 3 sets, but it was taking so long to roll them up, and then wrap the knees, that I flagged the wraps for the 9th, and just did them for the last one. The last set with wraps was feeling so easy, that I pushed an extra 3 out, and stopped there. Fully confident I could've got 10+ but didn't want to stray too far.
  So I'm happy as with how the wraps feel, and I know I haven't gotten close to learning how they work properly yet (nor have I got the wrapping technique down properly), but at a very conservative estimate they're giving me 10kg. Really can't wait to give these babies a try on 1RM testing, and furthermore, it gives me confidence for days like yesterday where I'm not feeling particularly good, and know I can wrap up to make it much easier. Have a feeling I'll be getting a lot more practise with these wraps for the remainder of the cycle!
  Assistance was basic, easy. Just getting these parts working in isolation was the goal.
  

Last "working" week of the base cycle coming up, looking forward to it! 8) Video to follow later on today.

[drizzt]

Week 2 wrap-up vid:

[M.T]

YEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAA

[HarryB]

My 2 cents on your squatting is that when you hit the bottom and round a little before coming back up when you get stronger and the weights go up that will be more of a problem. Maybe a wider foot stance or just focussing on keeping your chest out and elbows forward. With the wraps it becomes more apparent because your legs will straighten quicker and all of a sudden it's not really a matter of your leg strength being the limiting factor etc etc etc

Good work though, now you are starting to hit good numbers!!

[drizzt]

Thanks for the feedback Harry, that's why I'm chucking the videos up in the hope I'll get some comments like that

I fiddled around with some of the things you mention a little while ago (hand positioning - which was an effort at shifting elbows forward! - & wider stance in particular), and after seeing slow gains/plateau for a while, I kinda threw in the towel and went back to what felt natural.

I'll make more of an effort at working the elbows forward first and see how that goes (should drag up the chest too, right?), and maybe slowly work the stance out over time, as the narrow stance - roughly shoulder width - definitely feels more powerful to me (right now anyway!) than the wider position I was using for the past 6-8 months or so :nod:

Thanks again

[HarryB]

Thanks for the feedback Harry, that's why I'm chucking the videos up in the hope I'll get some comments like that

I fiddled around with some of the things you mention a little while ago (hand positioning - which was an effort at shifting elbows forward! - & wider stance in particular), and after seeing slow gains/plateau for a while, I kinda threw in the towel and went back to what felt natural.

I'll make more of an effort at working the elbows forward first and see how that goes (should drag up the chest too, right?), and maybe slowly work the stance out over time, as the narrow stance - roughly shoulder width - definitely feels more powerful to me (right now anyway!) than the wider position I was using for the past 6-8 months or so :nod:

Thanks again

That's it bro, elbows forward will push your chest up and gradually edge your hands in closer to your shoulders on the bar, feels awkward as hell so do it gradually but once you have them locked in nice and tight they will allow you to hold the bar lower on your back. I know the wide stance sucks sometimes, maybe you aren't turning your toes out enough?

I squat high bar and relatively close foot stance, but if I was just trying to shift more weight it would be lower bar and wider stance. Turning your toes out a little allows your hips to open, which in turn activates more adductor and glute and the lower bar also means in the bottom position the bar should be sitting about mid quad if you were to look at it side on, this lets you keep a more upright body.

You're right to make it a gradual thing, trying to force your body into it doesn't allow you to find a comfortable version for you.

[drizzt]

Sweet bro, thanks heaps. As I say, I'll give the elbows a go first, and then look at progressing the stance out a tad.

As for toe position, you could be right there... I guess in thinking about the feet positioning, I kinda overlooked where the toes were pointing, or at the very least didn't actively try and adjust it. Something to think about though, cheers

[drizzt]

31.05.11 - Base Meso, Week 3, Day 1

98.8 today :shock: Still sitting up there a bit! Maybe it's because I hibernated yesterday - lay down for a pre-dinner nap at about 5pm, woke up at 1.30am, so just went back to sleep until I had to get up for work at 6am :shifty:

MT is shooting up as well - 97.7 this week! Maybe it's because we're actually adding muscle? Who knows. All I know is diet hasn't really changed significantly since the start of the prog, but the weight has shot up the past couple of weeks :shrug:

• Squats (sets, reps, weights)
  Warmups
  1 x 6 @ 60kg
  1 x 6 @ 80kg
  1 x 4 @ 100kg
  1 x 3 @ 120kg
  1 x 2 @ 130kg
  1 x 1 @ 135kg
  Working Sets
  4 x 9 @ 140kg (+belt)
  
• Bench
  Warmups
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 3 @ 100kg
  1 x 1 @ 120kg
  Working Sets
  1 x 1 @ 130kg
  3 x 5 @ 115kg
  

Comments

• It was actually a really cruisy day in the office today. 140 never really felt like a challenge (except when I mucked around with set-up a little too much.
  Tried a lower bar position, and found a thumbless grip helped to achieve this. I thought it would automatically force the elbows forward/chest up, and it did a little bit, but I had to think about pushing the chest out. It was noticeable on film when I did, and didn't do this. MT said it looked better, but I wasn't convinced viewing the film - albeit on the smaller handheld screen. I'll see how it looks when I plug it into the TV.
  So the low bar wasn't as bad as I thought, although initially my bad shoulder complained a little bit, it got better as I went along. Wrists didn't hurt as much, but I found my hands slipping outward about halfway through the set - meaning I lost my tightness a little bit. Also once or twice I felt the bar slipping down the back. Maybe need to chalk the bar/back as the weights go up.
  Foot stance I edged out once or twice, and it felt really clean - as long as I kept tight. I could feel the hips and glutes working, and could feel myself sitting back better. The weight didn't feel any heavier or lighter, but that's anecdotal - I feel there is a decent amount here for me to work with (thanks again Harry).
  
• Bench felt ok, well, as ok as it usually does after squats. MT is making it look real easy where I have a grinder here and there, got a feeling he's passing me on bench, the bastard! All good, will hopefully push me harder to improve.
  

Easy day, have a feeling that 5 x 7 @ 150 is gonna be tough though...