adpowah's training logs

So i hit my year end maxes and it went surprisingly well. I had suspected since I didn't get much if any volume in between my last max that it wouldn't work out well but I was pleasantly wrong. I didn't hit my 1100 goal but I was pretty close minus some caveats.

Squat 355/365
I had thought that I needed 355 to get a +5lbs to my pr but I had actually needed 360. 365 was part of my 1100 plan and I had hoped I had more in the tank and after completing 365 I figured I didn't. I don't love my depth but I am beginning to think that might be a mobility issue since I fall apart if I go lower than that, I will have to keep figuring that out. [355 is fighting me on the upload] If you keep an eye on my maxes you may feel this is a step backwards since I hit 385 last year but I feel my high-mid bar [this year] technique is a little better for my body than my lowbar [last year], so I am happy with the progression.


Bench 250/255
Bench went as well as expected. Unfortunately I didn't notice my spotter was being overly handsy until I did 255 but I didn't want to attempt again, unfortunate but I don't feel it had much effect on the end result. Again this may seem like a step backwards from last years 265 but that was (a sloppy) touch and go while this is fully paused.



Deadlift 470/480
So I had woekn up with a bit of a stiff lower back and had to do a lot of driving this day. I had a lacrosse ball with me so I was able to work most of it out throughout the day but I was a bit skeptical about my DL since I hadn't gone over 405 since last month. Regardless that last two times I had 405 on the bar it was pretty explosive and I was happy about that and today was the same. Next I went 455 (not recorded) and it felt good but wasn't fast so I kind of realized that the next two would be grinders. 470 went moderately well and I told myself that it is only 10 more pounds for the next lift. I should have taken about 10mins instead of 5 and in the setup I was a bit tentative and I didn't get the explosiveness I needed and missed the lift. A portion of it was physical but really it was a mental fail which ended me at 1090 rather than 1100.

Fail!


Year in review
Last year ended on a sad note where overuse injuries caught up to me. This year I am feeling recovered and healthy for the most part and I hit one of my lifetime goals of a 500lb deadlift which was incredibly satisfying. I also cleaned up my bench and squat technique and while there is still plenty of room for improvement I feel the motions are safer and more repeatable/reliable. I am going to take a bit of time off from the strength game and do some GPP/Hypetrophy work while still hitting some occasional 85%+ work. Other than being able to hit 500 on the DL any given day I would say my goals for this year are; improve my vanity muscles a little, 405 squat, 275 bench and maybe break into the 500+ range with the DLs.
 
Needs more glutes. Lockout is definitely your weak point.

I'd be repping floor pause deads twice per week, at about 70%.
 
I haven't done too much recently. My friends have a 10k coming up this weekend that I will participate in so I trained running a bit and worked on a lot of Bulgarian Squats. Starting September 1st I will get re-serious about training.
 
So I am going to do a run of HST, it should run about 8 weeks and see if I come up with a new plan by the end of this cycle. Nothing revolutionary just some basics. Going to go 15 > 10 > 5 > 2 normalizing the INOL so that my hardest blocks are the 10s and 5s. I do my upper body, Bench, OHP and Bent over rows as a circuit. It keeps the total training time in order. I won't be trying to lose any weight but I won't be gaining either. I'm hoping to pick up some composition gains due to the increased variety and the HIIT training I do on Wednesdays with some friends.

Re_HST_3.jpg
 
@Jester
Yeah the high rep deadlifts definitely push your conditioning more than anything. I am not sure they do anything for hypertrophy. I just try and focus on technique rather than just ripping out the reps.
 
adpowah said:
@Jester
Yeah the high rep deadlifts definitely push your conditioning more than anything. I am not sure they do anything for hypertrophy. I just try and focus on technique rather than just ripping out the reps.
Click to expand...

I think say, 5@75% will do more for technique. You need the load, without going to RPE 9.
 
@Jester thanks, I do feel my pull is neurologically coming from the "top" too much, pushing the floor away is a great cue to help me out. I will probably open up my foot angle a little, maybe go slightly wider too.

Regarding going 75%, your point makes sense and they likely won't be a permanent aspect of my training but they only total 4 workouts (2 for 15s, 2 for 10s) and I am hoping it will help get my body re-acclimated to repitition deadlifts since I haven't pulled anything but singles since I started my training towards 500 like 8 months ago.

Appreciate the feedback for sure.
 
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Today I will hit the 50% mark for my return to HST. So far the the lift diversity has really helped with my body composition, arms and back are getting bigger, stomach a little smaller. Overall the diet has been maintenance, I've had a couple of days weighing in at 198 but realistically 200 has been my average (where I started). I am excited to get into the 5s and 2s but also excited to get back to the high rep work too.

The main thing that has worked out differently than expected is my pullup have gotten much easier. Now in the past I have done pullups a lot so likely a good portion of this is just regaining lost ground.

5s are done, deadlifts were challenging but not impossible Bench and Pullups continue to do well. The added variety of the lifts are paying off in the physique area.

Edit: First round of 2s was stupid easy, but left me surprisingly sore. Wrapped it up but for my last day of deads I had to break it into two workouts because of life. So I did my 420 x 6 x 2 and I will do the rest in a day or two when I have the time. Brought back hook grip which is way better at lifting big weights but way harder on the hands.
 
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I decided not to do an SD and just restarted my HST routine at the 15s. For lifts that I felt super strong at I just increased my training max by 15lbs, for lifts I felt good with I did 10, and the rest were just 5lbs. So it went like this:

  • Deadlift +5 (430)
  • Sumo +10 (375)
  • Squat +15 (345)
  • Bulgarian SS +15 (135)
  • Bench +5 (235)
  • Standing OHP +40 (135, went higher here because it non existent on the fatigue scale last cycle, this may have to be adjusted)
  • Bent over Rows +20 (225, this continues to be fairly easy)
  • Pull ups +15 (220)
Week 1: Going right back into the 15s seemed like a good idea but the first session back felt terrible. I gassed out and my cardio just wasn't ready to be pushed like that particularly the deadlifts really wrecked me. In addition to that challenge on my conventional deads the clip kept slipping and the sets would end with the right hand side weights traveling substantially. I should have noticed this during the lifts but i didn't and it happened in both sets. This added a rotational component that severely hit my low back causing a lot of fatigue, no injury just fatigue. Due to the challenge level in week 1 I doubled down on recovery, cut the beer and increased my sleep.

Week 2: Coming in on the squat day I wanted to make sure it went well even though I had some lingering fatigue from the brutal deadlift session the previous Friday. Unfortunately I looked at my schedule wrong and didn't question it, this resulted in me doing 2x15 squats at my deadlift weight of 230 rather than 195. Unsurprisingly I felt like death afterwards and had to dig deep to make it happen but worked through the rest of the workout. Today, the day after, I am not feeling unduly destroyed but I don't intend to repeat that mistake again. Deadlifts went great but OHP is starting to lag, I probably jumped it up too much.

Week 3,4,5: Oops, forgot to update. Nothing special happened except I hit my recent lowest weight at 195.7 which is nice. Probably 194ish at the end.

Week 6: Midway through, everything went easy enough. Will likely be increasing squat significantly. The knee is a pretty non-issue these days but my right should is bugging me. Mainly just pain while not in use, I found the area so I will probably be able to take care of it. I will likely move to lower weight lateral raises in place for OHP, which will help too. Also I will probably take a week off and just work on mobility between this cycle and my next. Weight loss continues to go ok.

Week 7,8: Well it went well enough until the end and then I got sick, so I missed my my last deadlift session. /bummer Anyways I am going to take a week off and just do some mobility and let my body heal up. Then I think I am going to move to a 4 week cycle rather than an 8 week.

Issues: My left knee has been really tender in the back, this has been an off/on issue where somedays it feels great others not so much. It definitely feels like a muscle type issue. It really peaked during the 10k training and I am pretty sure it was related to training in running. I haven't found the solution for it yet, I am guessing it is a pain point based on a compilation of other issues with mobility, balance and alignment. Since I am done (for the most part running) it seems there are more good days than bad but i would really like to get this issue under control. Update: I think I have this pretty much figured out, it is a little tender in the mornings but it ended up being a combination multiple tight spots in my calf and shin. It will take a while but it is getting better day to day.
 
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Just been screwing around with some high rep "body building bro" lifts like chest flys. I will follow a measure of progression getting heavier working on getting my knee and shoulder back into solid condition. Then in Feb I will start planning something more intense involving singles.
 
Nothing too new. Continuing to just eat at maintenance or below. Lots of higher rep work, just doing stuff intuitively.

We decided to go heavy in Bench and I ht a 245 paused that was super clean even with the minor shoulder issues. I likely could have gone higher but wasn't looking for anything special.

Next week I am going to start working with a PT and it will correspond with a week away from the gym. When I get back early Feb I am going to do a bit more strength based training.
 
It's been about 3 weeks and I have been working with Jake Noel for my PT. It has been going well and we are working on improving my squat mechanics. They seem to be the issue that was causing my knee the pain as that has generally subsided. It looks like I needed a lot more glute-med work. After trying some different forms of rehab type work it seems squats with the hip circle have been the best to get this fixed. Since I need the weight to be on the high side I am just trying to do some linear progression with good form at 275. I got to 4x5 this last week which was up from a 4x4 the week before. I will just continue with this until my squats are good and clean.

We haven't completely tackled the should yet so it is still a minor annoyance. I worked up to a heavy single and got 255 with a good deal of effort (rpe 9.5). After that I did some slingshot work with 225 and got 15 reps (a new personal best), then I did some of the chest work with 185 and 135 to finish it off.

I've also added in rack pulls semi-regularly and was able to work up to 585 but 635 I couldn't break off the rack. So I will keep working that up to build up my traps.
 
Re-_HST_4.jpg


So I finished off my 4th cycle of returning to HST. I stuck with the program until I got to the 2s and then I went off reservation (so you can see a "Doubles" what I shuld have done, and "Actual Doubles" being what I did).

Squat: Felt a lot more healthy due to the PT work. Ended the cycle with a 4x2@315 which I was really happy with. Not that it is a PR or anything but they moved well and the movement was decent.

Sumo: This was kind of a surprise hit, my previous 1rm on sumo was 405, however I ended up working up to a 445 double. So this puts my sumo right in line with my conventional and I think I will take it serious next cycle since I think my sumo could beat my conventional very quickly. I'll post the vid shortly. Note: I pulled with straps because I couldn't get motivated to deal with everything that comes along with hook grip this cycle.

Bench: Another standout, I increased my 200+ work a lot and was able to hit lots of sets of high intensity doubles. I ended with a 3x2@250 and I could have continued on this until maybe 260 but I wanted to get on with my SD and get back to training so I cut it short. I feel my goal of 1rm of 275 is entirely within reach and will attempt it at the end of next cycle.

Conventional: It went fine, I pulled with straps. I ended pulling a 460 or 465 (I forget) for a double. I went to go for another set and pulled a single but fell out of position too much and called it quits. So I feel I am very close to pulling 500 again but without the cost of only training deadlifts.

Final thoughts: Staying healthy and working with the PT and Chiro have really permitted my training to go undistracted and uninterupted. Taking my SD and starting back in about a week. I am thinking about taking my sumo more seriously and giving it a dedicated training day, not sure how yet but will have a plan soon.
 
I reached the end of my most recent training cycle. I jumped the weights a bit too much so I had to cut some lifts on some days. After my SD I am going to repeat this cycle with some minor adjustments since I still feel I am stronger than I was at the beginning. Here are some highlights.

Squat: This went meh to bad and I cut it half way through my cycle. I jumped the weight considerably and it was proving way too taxing to squat and then sumo the next day. I am thinking for the next cycle I will squat for 15s and 10s, then pause them or lighter work and start conventional deadlifts at 5s and 2s. Not entirely sure here.

Bench: Probably best of the bunch, last night I smoked a 275 for a solid 1rm with a good pause. Unfortunately my wife took a picture rather than a video but I still love her. It was really encouraging that I am the road to 315 and I will take that serious starting with my next cycle and hopefully hit it by the end of the year.

Deadlift: Went well enough. Ended the cycle with an attempt at 2x6@455, I made it through the first two sets, failed on the third, took a break and came back and got the third set. Then I dropped it to 405 for the last three sets. I was pretty sore for about 5 days after this.

Sumo DL: Continues to be the star, I can do it regularly and recover well. At the end I had programmed a 395@2x6 but decided to go 405, the first three sets went so easy I bumped it up to 435. Very soon now my sumo will eclipse my conventional.
 
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Well I've basically been off the reservation for a while. I am kind of doing just lots of heavy singles + assistance type work on everything and eating and sleeping a lot. This is kind of similar to my DL training that took me to 500 and weather it works or not it is fun and I feel better. So far here are my best lifts:

Bench: 275 paused after a 3x8 of 225 tng
Bench Sling Shot: 315x3, another day 315x2x3
Squat: 350+ once a week, I could do more weight but it just isn't might focus atm
Sumo Deadlift: 455x2

Every time when I come in I try and hit 30 reps of face pulls, high pulls, "skier pull down on cables". If I feel like I can do more accessory work I do after my main lifts.
 
Its been about 2 weeks, bench continues to progress. My former 275 was a bar speed of 0.10 (really slow) of course I didn't have my accelerometer for my 280 but it went really fast (prolly like a 0.20ish) also no belt, wrist wraps or shoes off. When I racked it my spotter said, "is that it?" I'd suppose I have the potential of a 295 if everything went perfect but I am feeling like 280-285 any given day is possible.

My 315 with the slighshot triple went really well too with my final rep being a 0.21.

I am about to take a 2 week break and travel a bit. I think end of year 315 for a single is pretty realistic.
 
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