200, 300, 400, 500 - A quest for greatness

So, my second deload day was pretty thoroughly terrible.  Not sure what gives, but things just felt heavier in my basement.

Pause Squats

bar x warmup
135 x warmup (band)
185 x warmup (band)
205 x warmup (band)
225 x 1
245 x 1
265 x 1 (belt)
275 x 1 (belt)
225 x 2 (high bar)
225 x 1 (no belt, another low bar)

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
255 x 1
265 x 1

Chins

Me + 90 x 1
Me + 135 x 2
Me + 135 x 2

Discussion

My groove in squats just felt wretched.  Hip shifting, hip hiking, the whole 9 yards, this just felt like absolute garbage, and despite warming up quite a bit, I just could not salvage it.  It's like a few days off just completely refucks my hips, it's the weirdest thing. I tried a little high bar at the end out of curiosity to see if it felt more natural or less asymmetric. Not even a little.

Bench was alright...265 was a bit grindy, though not an absolute top effort, but I stopped there instead of risking failure with 275 and pissing myself off further.

Chins were similarly okay.  I had the idea of maybe doing a triple with 135, which would be pushing it, and if I had a chance, it would have been that first set, but I pussied out.  Second set was a little harder, and I got both on video (may upload at some point).

So, here are the results of my latest 6 week block of high frequency training:

* Top paused squat in reasonable form is arguably a PR, but barely.  This didn't really improve much.

* Bench for reps improved, but my top end strength is no better, and possibly worse, than my last THREE week cycle.

* Chins improved all around, I'm at my strongest ever in this.  It might have something to do with this being the first time I tried it in the context of high frequency practice.

So what does this all mean?  I have no idea.  I'm tempted to try another 3 week block of 5 times a week, given how crazy well that worked.  I'm not sure why the drawn out, 4 day per week version didn't work as well...overtrained?  I'm really not sure, weird ****.  The next logical step is to go back to what worked so well the first time, and see if it helps again.

If it does, then I know shorter cycles of high frequency training are the way to go for me.  If not, it might be time to go back to the drawing board.
 
My next training cycle...

Back to 5 days per week, I am thinking of the following...

Rear Leg Elevated Split Squats (the bulgarian name is too much).  RLESS for short.  I want to do these first, to see if unilateral training helps at all in terms of my symmetry.

Back Squat.  The usual, though I know have my Vibram KSO's, so I will be emulating barefoot training, again to see if this helps my symmetry. These may take a slight hit in poundage by putting them after split squats, but split squats are getting the priority.

Bench or Dips.  I'm a little torn here, haven't honestly decided which to do.

Chins.  I want to work up to at least a triple with 135 after my next 3 week cycle, and this should allow that to happen.

Hook Grip Deadlfits - once weekly, the usual.
 
RLESS + 2 inch box

Bar x 5/side
65 x 5/side
65 x 5/side

ME Pause Squat (no belt)

135 x 3
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 3
235 x 3

Chins

Me x 5 (warmup)
Me + 80 x 5
Me + 80 x 5

Pause Dips

Me x 5 (warmup)
Me + 80 x 5
Me + 80 x 5

Bodyweight Rows

Me x 10
Me x 10

1-Leg Calf Raises

Me x 10/side
Me x 10/side

Discussion

My initial thought was to do both split squats and ferrealz squats 5 days per week, but like the deadlifts the cycle before, as I did this and thought about it, it seemed I'd really be risking doing too much too soon.

That said, I don't want to NOT squat, as my back, if nothing else, would get deconditioned to heavy weights.  Solution?  Well, much like deadlifts, I figure I'll just do these once a week, a 3/2/1 type of thing only going up to an RPE of ~9 or so.  This won't build strength like 5x per week will, but I really want to concentrate on unilateral stuff this block without having to worry about heavy squats afterwards, and this way I get to still keep them in there.

The Rear Leg Elevated Split Squats with a bit of added ROM (high bar, 2 inch box under lead foot) went well enough. This weight is pathetically light, but my balance is absolutely abysmal. As such, I expect my working weights to skyrocket quickly, but I wanted to focus more on balance and feeling the right muscles initially rather than stacking on weight and compromising my balance. Given the nature of my high frequency training, I am hoping my balance improves massively in the next few weeks.

I decided on dips this cycle instead of bench.  Why?  I'm curious how fast I can get my strength jacked up in this.  Paused reps with 80 were actually pretty easy, I may increase this sooner rather than later.

Without heavy squats in there every day, I'm also reasonably confident I can throw in some prehab-y type stuff in the form of bodyweight rows (for my shoulders) and calf raises.  My right shoulder has felt a little iffy, and perhaps not coincidentally, I got a burny sensation right where my right shoulder has been hurting during rows, indicating that something was being stretched/worked that hasn't been lately.  I went without rows for the past couple of months, so I'm thinking putting these back in, even lightly, is the path of wisdom.
 
SQUATS ARE DEAD






















wink.gif
 
RFESS

I'll give into the naming trend and call these what the Boyle cult does (rear foot elevated split squats).

Bar x 5/side
65 x 5/side
85 x 5/side
85 x 5/side

Chins

Me x 5
Me + 80 x 5
Me + 80 x 5

Pause Dips

Me x 5
Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5

Pause Bench

225 x 3
235 x 3

Accessory ****

Bodyweight Rows - 2 sets of me x 10
1-Leg Calf Raises - 2 sets of me x 10/side

Discussion

Man, tired today. Bulgarians felt harder than yesterday, though still ultimately manageable. Really hope my balance improves quickly in these.

I wanted to bench once a week, but wasn't really sure how to do it. In hindsight, I'd have warmed up more just to get more practice on groove, but even starting straight with 225 wasn't that bad after the sets of dips, and the 235 for 3 paused reps wasn't that bad, I had at least 4 paused reps in me. As such, strength in bench is still as high/higher than it's ever been, and I'm hoping my dip strength will translate nicely to this. We shall see.
 
Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats

Me x 5/side
Bar x 5/side
65 x 5/side
85 x 5/side
85 x 5/side

Chins

Me x 5
Me + 80 x 5
Me + 80 x 5

Pause Dips

Me x 5
Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5

Accessory Stuff

Bodyweight Rows - 2 sets of me x 10
1-Leg Calf Raises - 2 sets of me x 10/side

Discussion

Groove in split squats was much, much better today. A lot of it has to do with positioning the rear foot, I felt much more stable.
 
Hook Grip Deadlifts (no belt)

135 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
335 x 3

RFESS

Me x 5/side
45 x 5/side
65 x 5/side
85 x 5/side
95 x 5/side

Chins

Me + 80 x 5
Me + 80 x 5

Pause Dips

Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5

Accessory ****

Bodyweight Rows - 2 sets of me x 10
1-Leg Calf Raises - 2 sets of me x 10/side
 
Yikes...my back went into spasm today. I wasn't even bent over, rotated, or doing anything funny, just felt a really hard simultaneous contraction on both sides of my spine. Hopefully I'll be good to go by Sunday
tounge.gif
 
A couple of days of updates...

Sunday

Pause Squats (Vibrams)

Bar x warmup
135 x 3
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 3
245 x 3 (belt)
255 x 3 (belt)

RFESS

Bar x warmup
65 x warmup
95 x 5/side
95 x 5/side
95 x 5/side

Chins

Me x 5
Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5

Pause Dips

Me x 5
Me + 90 x 5
Me + 90 x 5
Me + 90 x 5

Accessory Stuff

Bodyweight Rows - 3 sets of me x 10
1-Leg Calf Raises - 3 sets of me x 10/side

Monday

RFESS

Bar x warmup
65 x warmup
95 x 5/side
95 x 5/side
95 x 5/side

Chins

Me x 5
Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5

Pause Dips

Me x 5
Me + 90 x 5
Me + 90 x 5
Me + 90 x 5

Accessory Stuff

Bodyweight Rows - 3 sets of me x 10
2-Leg Calf Raises - 2 sets of me + 135 x 10, 1 set of me + 115 x 10
 
RFESS

Bar x warmup
95 x 5/side
95 x 5/side
95 x 5/side

Chins

Me x 5
Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5

Pause Dips

Me x 5
Me + 90 x 5
Me + 90 x 5
Me + 90 x 5

Accessory Stuff

Bodyweight Rows - 3 sets of me x 10
1-Leg Calf Raises - 3 sets of me x 10/side
 
RFESS

Bar x warmup
95 x 5/side
95 x 5/side
95 x 5/side

Chins

Me x 5
Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5

Pause Dips

Me x 5
Me + 90 x 5
Me + 90 x 5
Me + 90 x 5

Accessory Stuff

Bodyweight Rows - 3 sets of me x 10
1-Leg Calf Raises - 3 sets of me x 10/side
 
Man...I forgot how tiring this 3 sets of 5 gets the second week, even without pushing failure. Can't wait for it to be over after tomorrow...single sets of 5 next week, then another test week after that.
 
Last day (yesterday) of the 3 sets of 5 week...

Hook Grip Deadlifts

135 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
345 x 3 (belt)
365 x 3 (belt, all time PR in hook)

RFESS

Bar x warmup
95 x 5/side
95 x 5/side
95 x 5/side

Chins

Me x 5
Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5
Me + 85 x 5

Pause Dips

Me x 5
Me + 90 x 5
Me + 90 x 5
Me + 90 x 5

Discussion

Tiring week, but I made it through...now I'm curious to see if this overreaching translates into some reasonable gains the next couple of weeks.
 
Gadzooks, Mike! You actually seemed to find that last rep a little tough!  
smile.gif


Nice PR. That's the same length pause (~ 1 second) I've been using for my paused bench efforts.

Evidently, dropping bench for a few weeks and switching to dips hasn't hurt your bench numbers any, something I have always found too. Maybe this is down to using a fairly close-grip dipping style and a large ROM?
 
Better paused dips (me + 100 x 5)

Didn't record this week so much because it's been repetitive, but I've experienced jumps in strength in everything. Here's what I did today...

Hook Grip Deadlifts (no belt)

135 x warmup
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 1
345 x 1
365 x 1

Pause Dips

Me x 5
Me + 100 x 5 (video above)

Chins

Me x 5
Me + 100 x 5 (for some reason the video didn't take...lame)

Bulgarian Split Squats

Bar x 5/side
115 x 5/side

Discussion

My deadlifts wound up in a pretty good place after this cycle. Basically, I pulled as much without a belt in my basement as with a belt at comparable difficulty from one cycle to the next (like all of 3-4 weeks later). Cool deal.

Strength in dips and chins are both as high as they've ever been in my life. Bulgarians similarly jumped up quite a bit.

So, all in all, a good cycle. I'll play around with some conservative maxes next week and see how things go.
 
<div>
(Lol @ Nov. 12 2009,8:53)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Gadzooks, Mike! You actually seemed to find that last rep a little tough!  
smile.gif


Nice PR. That's the same length pause (~ 1 second) I've been using for my paused bench efforts.

Evidently, dropping bench for a few weeks and switching to dips hasn't hurt your bench numbers any, something I have always found too. Maybe this is down to using a fairly close-grip dipping style and a large ROM?</div>
Yep, I suspect it's exactly that (close grip + large ROM). I think the people who are getting shitty transfer from dips are doing the wider grip, not nearly as deep variety.

I think it's a fair statement to suggest that transfer is probably largely based on (similarity of muscles used) + (ROM of the joints involved for those muscles) + (weight you're able to use).

The ROM in my dips are arguably greater than the bench, and as such, they seem to transfer to each other quite well.

And yah, I decided to push my limits on that set when the fifth rep felt entirely too easy. What's interesting is that my form looks a little shaky, but the strength is up. I.e. I'm out of practice in terms of my groove, but the raw strength from the dips carries over anyways, a good sign.
 
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