Lol's New HST Log

Russian Peaking Program (Bench week 5, Squat week 8)

Mon 05/04/10

First week of peaking phase for bench following last week's reset.

5 x 5 x 105kg (231lb) programmed for this week's main bench day and 6 x 2 x 140kg for maintenance squats.

Dislocates and lunges for warmups.

Bench:
15 x 40kg, 5 x 60kg, 5 x 80kg WU

5 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 8.5
5 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 9
5 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 9
5 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 9
5 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 9.5

3 x 110kg (242lb) @ RPE 9

Wrist wraps for all work sets; momentary pauses.

Pretty pleased I managed all the work sets without dropping a rep.

Paused Squats:
10 x 40kg, 10 x 80kg, 5 x 110kg, 2 x 130kg WU

2 x 140kg (308lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 140kg (308lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 140kg (308lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 140kg (308lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 140kg (308lb) @ RPE 8
5 x 140kg (308lb) @ RPE 9

Pauses for all reps.

First work set felt heavy but by the last set the load felt strangely light so I did a set of 5.

Late training to night so stopped there.
 
Wed 07/03/10

I decided to spare my lower back for Friday's squats by not doing heavy deads today.

Dislocates and lunges for warmups.

Shoulders feeling more beaten up than usual during dislocates so did extra shoulder warmup:

DB Press:
30 x 30lb
20 x 30lb

OHS:
3 x 40kg
3 x 50kg
3 x 55kg
3 x 60kg

Cleans:
10 x 40kg, 5 x 50kg WU

10 x 70kg (154lb) - hang power cleans
5 x 80kg (176lb)
4 x 5 x 85kg (187lb)

No problem with lower back today. Most of these were power cleans but I did a few squat cleans in the last two sets.

Chins:
15 x bw

Deads:
4 x 5 x 130kg (286lb)

Speed reps and with only short rest between sets. 130kg is ~60% 1RM.

I should recover my strength well enough from this workout to be able to manage Friday's heavy squats.
 
Thu 08/04/10

Traps and back pretty sore from yesterday's workout. Felt like doing some pull-ups.

Warmed up shoulders as thoroughly as possible with rotations, dislocates and stretches.

Kipping Pull-ups:
5 x bw warmup
28 x bw
10 x bw
7 x bw

Short rest between sets for max burn. Sort of a Myo-rep set for KPUs. Back fried after that.
 
Russian Peaking Program (Bench week 5, Squat week 8)

Fri 09/04/10

2 x 2 x 175kg (386lb) programmed for squat + 6 x 2 x 102.5kg (226lb) for maintenance bench.

Dislocates and lunges for warmups.

Paused Squats:
10 x 40kg, 10 x 60kg, 5 x 80kg, 2 x 110kg, 2 x 130kg, 1 x 160kg WU

2 x 175kg (386lb) @ RPE 9
2 x 175kg (386lb) @ RPE 9
2 x 175kg (386lb) @ RPE 9

I'd been nervous about these all evening but it turned out better than expected, so much so that I added an extra double.

Bench:
15 x 40kg, 15 x 50kg, 5 x 80kg, 2 x 90kg WU

2 x 100kg (220lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 102.5kg (226lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 102.5kg (226lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 102.5kg (226lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 102.5kg (226lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 102.5kg (226lb) @ RPE 8
6 x 102.5kg (226lb) @ RPE 9

Wrist wraps for all work sets; momentary pauses.

Added an extra set and pushed the reps up on the last set.

After tonight's squats I'm feeling pretty positive about next week's max session.
 
Lol said:
Paused Squats:
10 x 40kg, 10 x 60kg, 5 x 80kg, 2 x 110kg, 2 x 130kg, 1 x 160kg WU

2 x 175kg (386lb) @ RPE 9
2 x 175kg (386lb) @ RPE 9
2 x 175kg (386lb) @ RPE 9
Click to expand...
Wow, nice one! If you got doubles at 386lbs for paused squats you can sure beat your squat PR of 396lbs.
 
Cheers electric. I think I could have made a triple with 386 so, as long as I get my sleep and nutrition right this week, I should be good for a new squat PR next Friday. I'm hoping to get 185kg (408lb).
 
Momentary pause only. Certainly not the same length pause I can now do with 140kg.
 
Russian Peaking Program (Bench week 6, Squat week 9)

Mon 12/04/10

4 x 4 x 112.5kg (248lb) programmed for this week's main bench day and 6 x 2 x 140kg for maintenance squats.

Dislocates and lunges for warmups.

Bench:
15 x 40kg, 15 x 50kg, 5 x 70kg, 5 x 97.5kg, 2 x 107.5kg WU

4 x 112.5kg (248lb) @ RPE 9.5
4 x 107.5kg (237lb) @ RPE 9
4 x 107.5kg (237lb) @ RPE 9
4 x 107.5kg (237lb) @ RPE 9
4 x 107.5kg (237lb) @ RPE 9

Wrist wraps for all work sets; momentary pauses.

First set was hard enough that I decided to reduce the load by 5kg for the remaining sets. 107.5kg was just about perfect. I added an extra set of 4 with slightly longer pauses to finish up. This was the first time so far this cycle that I have felt so drained following a benching session.

Paused Squats:
10 x 40kg, 10 x 60kg, 5 x 80kg, 5 x 110kg, 2 x 130kg WU

2 x 145kg (320lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 145kg (320lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 145kg (320lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 145kg (320lb) @ RPE 8
2 x 145kg (320lb) @ RPE 8.5
2 x 145kg (320lb) @ RPE 8.5
2 x 145kg (320lb) @ RPE 8.5

Pauses for all reps ~ 1 sec. No belt. One extra set as a bonus!

Longer pauses tonight and no belt made all these doubles feel more like sets of 4! Tiring but really enjoyable. Once my shoulders are warmed up, I feel very comfortable getting under a load like this now. Good thing too, because it's going to get a lot heavier on Friday.

Chins:
10 x bw
5 x bw+10kg
5 x bw+20kg
5 x bw+20kg @ RPE 9.5!

Kipping Pull-ups:
23 x bw

Not sure if my chinning is weaker or not? I am a bit heavier than I was, plus I was feeling quite tired by the time I started them so that might be why. 2 x 5 with 20kg was tough going. Only managed 23 kips after that; lost my grip and messed up my rhythm. Even my abs were toasted when I finished.
 
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Wed 14/04/10

So tonight I was thinking of doing a heavy clean session but then I figured that might interfere with Friday's squats so I decided on something a little different.

Metcon:

50 x walking lunges - knee to floor
50 x jumping pull-ups - feet just reaching floor
50 x overhead press - 45lb
50 x good mornings - 45lb
50 x knees to bar
50 x push-ups
50 x power cleans - 90lb

Chinning bar static hold - overhand grip
1 minute hang - not to failure but good burn going on.
30s rest
30s hang
30s rest
40s hang

Forearm burn from hell in the last 10 seconds.

Apart form the lunges, the presses and the good mornings, I had to break up the rest of the sets -- 5 x 10 whenever possible but sometimes with a few sets of 5, namely for knees-to-bar -- while keeping rest times as short as possible. Even push-ups which I would normalyl be strong in were hard as heck.

All done and dusted fairly quickly but lungs got a good workout. Annoyingly, I forgot to take my time so I'll have to do all this again soon so I have a time to beat for future attempts.

Four extra things I planned to do but decided against were:

50 x 10kg wallball to 9ft - thruster like movement where 10kg ball is held in bottom of front squat position then launched up to specified height with fast leg drive and pressing movement, before being re-caught and then dropping back down to below parallel.
50 x burpees
50 x 24" boxjumps
50 x double-unders

I just figured my legs might not recover fully by Friday so I skipped them.

-----------------------------------------------

@LDU: not doing 15s at the moment. I won't be starting a new HST cycle for a few weeks yet. The only sets of 15 I'm doing right now are for warmups.
 
Nice work Lol. Lookin forward to seeing your squat session Fri. I haven't got to this Wod yet but it looks like a tough one. Wall balls are pretty cool once you get the rhythm down. Beware though when you start getting tired, it's easy to misjudge the ball a little on the way down and you end up with a nice burn mark on your nose and chin. Unfortunately I'm speaking on experience there.
 
Wall balls are pretty cool once you get the rhythm down. Beware though when you start getting tired, it's easy to misjudge the ball a little on the way down and you end up with a nice burn mark on your nose and chin. Unfortunately I'm speaking on experience there.
Click to expand...
I'll bear that in mind Bax. Thanks. Sounds nasty especially with a 10kg ball. Up until now, I have never pushed the reps high enough doing wall-ball that I've got to the point where I've lost control. I'm sure 50 reps would be enough to find out what that's like!

===================================

Forgot to post that I took delivery of my new supply of fish oil so I'm back on it again as of yesterday. I'll stick with 10g a day for a few months and see how I get on.
 
At last!185kg squat! Woohoo!!

Ha! Got it! I am psyched!

@ 9:45pm to the dulcet tones of Rush playing Jacob's Ladder. Totally awesome band. Definitely helped.

And I think there's more to come. :D

That's all I have to say right now. Just had to get this down in writing. Been messing with my camera for ages trying to get the stoopid thing to work. It stopped working a few days ago. Thought I might be able to fix it but it's now in bits on my desk! That might have helped too!!

OK, back to the fray...

=========================

Double ha! So my new squat PR is now 190kg (10:00pm), this time to the sound of Xanadu (also courtesy the Rush boys).

Wretched camera. Oh well, I'll catch this again soon enough. 500lb is my new long term target. Squatting is too cool not to do.

Back to the fray once more...
 
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Russian Peaking Program (Bench week 6, Squat week 9)

Fri 09/04/10

1 x 1 x 185kg (408lb) programmed for squat + 6 x 2 x 102.5kg (226lb) for maintenance bench.

Dislocates and lunges for warmups.

Paused Squats:
10 x 60kg, 5 x 80kg, 2 x 110kg, 1 x 140kg, 1 x 160kg WU - ~ 0.5-1.0 sec pauses for all these reps, decreasing with increasing load.

1 x 180kg (397lb) @ RPE 9 - matched old PR
1 x 185kg (408lb) @ RPE 9.5 PR
1 x 190kg (419lb) @ RPE 10 PR again!
12 x 140kg (308lb) @ RPE 9.5 PR

As per my previous post, I'm pretty pleased with how these went. What's not in the numbers is that my form stayed really tight for all the heavy singles, with no GMing. Felt strong but had to give it all I had to get the 190kg. Steady descent with a brief pause in the turnaround before the hip drive kicked in.

Feeling good so dropped the load to 140kg and went for a set of 10 -- something I haven't tried in ages. Got to 10 and knew I could keep going, so ground out 2 more reps. Bit 'GM'y and back started to lose extension for those last two reps, but not too bad. So that's a PR also.

Paused Bench:
15 x 60kg, 6 x 80kg, 2 x 90kg WU

2 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 8.5
2 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 8.5
2 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 8.5
2 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 8.5
2 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 8.5
2 x 105kg (231lb) @ RPE 9

Wrist wraps for all work sets; ~1 sec pauses.
No problems with these reps. Added an extra 2.5kg tonight which increased my RPE above 8. Will see how this effects Monday's benching.

So, all in all, a great session for me. All the squatting over the last two months paid off even better than expected. I've taken my 1RM (as at the start of this peaking program) from 386lb to 419lb, a 33lb increase, and beating my old PR by 23lb. I also know my form is better now than it was when I got 396lb the last time around. Happy with that. :)

Weighed myself afterwards: 215.5lb training gear, no shoes.
 
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Sun 18/04/10

Spent the afternoon practicing handstand walking on the lawn while visiting family. Haven't done this for about 25 years! I am now a lot heavier than I was back then and it seemed really hard to do. By the end of the afternoon I could manage about 10 yards before losing my balance. Wrists and shoulders took a beating. I would like to be able to walk the full length of the lawn by the end of the summer -- that should allow for a few more visits plus I must do more handstand practice at home.
 
Russian Peaking Program (Bench week 7)

Mon 20/04/10

Squat program now completed so I'm giving my knees a break today. There's a certain amount of residual soreness in all my joints at the moment but I'm hoping that the fish oil will help a bit. Lack of sleep last night meant that I've been feeling generally tired all day.

3 x 3 x 115kg (253lb) programmed for this week's main bench day.

Dislocates and lunges for warmups.

Paused Bench:
15 x 50kg, 10 x 60kg, 5 x 87.5kg, 2 x 100kg WU

3 x 115kg (253lb) @ RPE 9.5
3 x 115kg (253lb) @ RPE 9.5
3 x 115kg (253lb) @ RPE 9.5

Followed by drop set:
8 x 90kg (198lb) @ RPE 9.5

And then a Myorep set:
10+1,1 x 90kg (198lb) - ran out of steam and only managed 2 singles following the first 10 reps.

Wrist wraps for all work sets; momentary pauses.

All three triples with 115kg were hard, but I'm reasonably happy with my effort because 115kg was my 1RM when I started this cycle.

Hang Cleans:
10 x 60kg

Power Cleans:
5 x 80kg

Jumping Pull-ups:
50 x bw - performed as 25,10,10,5

Wall Handstand:
30 seconds then got a cramp in my abs, so called it quits.

After benching, everything seemed more difficult. Feeling very tired and sore, and in need of sustenance and sleep.
 
twindeltatandem said:
Looks like you're doing Crossfit HST?
Click to expand...

Not quite yet but I like the idea. Right now I'm just trying to pick my strength back up after injury and I'm throwing in some GPP stuff because I like to do it, but a CF/HST hybrid is something that I have been thinking about for a while now.

Following CF mainsite WODs is IMHO a great way to increase GPP. There's some strength stuff thrown in there too but it's not programmed in a way that makes it optimal for strength/size increase - and rightly so; strength is only a part of the many aspects of fitness that are addressed by CF programming.

I'm going to try combining a pretty standard HST cycle with some CF style WODs performed along the way. If HST is performed 3 x weekly, that should leave me enough recovery time to add in at least 2 WODs each week. The WODs would have to be chosen so that there was as little interference with the HST workouts as possible so that would rule out the heavy lifting WODs. I might do a shorter metcon following after an HST w/o. I'd most likely save the longer metcons for non-HST days.

I also want to do a bit more O-lifting practice so I'm thinking of doing that on Wednesday's as part of my HST session.
 
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