TangoDown's Vanilla HST Run

mickc1965 said:
Squatting at nearly 2.4 x body weight and deads at 2.8 x body weight, impressive stats!! Sitting mid way between advanced and elite in exrx strength.
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Yeah, he's always had strong legs. Another friend of mine is 5'10, 165lb, and doesn't even weight train. Does P90X off and on for years but besides that, doesn't do shit. Yet he can walk into the gym and bench like 230lb. I don't fucking get it...
 
230lb is not particularly impressive, I'm sorry to say.

The lower body ratios are, and leverages are huge factors for a lucky few.
 
Bench (~90%):
Did not go well. Huge problem unracking the weight this time since I brought my grip in. The rack is simply too fuckin' high. Gonna either need to find someone suitable to unrack the bar for me or gonna have to play around with lifting the hips off the bench to raise my body and get the bar unracked. That, or I'm going to have to consider switching over to the incline bench or something. This is getting frustrating because programming is there, I've gained weight since the last PR (2 months ago), I've got some volume PRs in, and everything else is going up.

Sumo Deadlift (~85%):
warmup, then 380lb x 3, x 3, x 3, x 2 (Volume PR)...didn't do last rep cus a serial "loudness" complainer came into the weight room

Squat (~85%):
warmup, then 265lb x 3, x 3, x 3, x 2 (Volume PR), no spot, so didn't want to grind out last rep.

T-Bar Rows (~5RM, non-Pendlay this time...just straight rows):
warmup, then Bar + 4 plates x 5, x 3, x 3, x 2 (PR)


Jester said:
230lb is not particularly impressive, I'm sorry to say.

The lower body ratios are, and leverages are huge factors for a lucky few.
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For someone who doesn't even lift and is only 165lb, I think it is. You take your average 165lb guy who does pushups semi-regularly (P90x without weights) and tell him to max out on the bench press and I doubt he's going to put up his bw for a rep.
 
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Bench:
warmup, then 215lb x 2, 205lb x 2, 185lb x 6

Incline Bench (tried for the first time in years):
went up to 170lb and cranked out a couple of reps. Obviously stability and numbers will rapidly improve as coding does. Feels more stable than flat bench, probably because the seat height is adjustable which means the rack is at the right height for me. Hmm...

Sumo Deadlift:
warmup, then 395lb x 2, x 2, x 2, x 2 (Volume PR)

Squat (Light Day, 3 minutes b/w sets):
warmup, then 230lb x 5, x 5, x 3

T-Bar Rows (Clustered w ~1.5-2 minutes b/w):
warmup, then 225lb x 3, x 2, 205lb x 5, 180lb x 5
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Bench felt like crap. Gonna do a deload week next week and then try for 210lb x 5. Tried incline bench...don't know what to do with that...

I tried to cut down on rest between reps doing sumo deadlift today. The last rep of set 3 and 4 were grinders. Almost couldn't lock out the last rep of the 4th set, but got it.

Made squatting light today less light, and made T-bar rows harder to do, but it is what it is.
 
210lb x 4.5...ALMOST had 5 reps. Will deload volume this week and then try again next week.

Squat 275lb x 3. Didn't try a 4th rep. Will deload volume, bring out the stance a bit, and then try 270lb x 5.

Disappointing, granted I didn't sleep well and squat was basically ATG.
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Candito's non-linear progression program or Wendler 5/3/1?
 
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TangoDown said:
210lb x 4.5...ALMOST had 5 reps. Will deload volume this week and then try again next week.
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It will come

TangoDown said:
Squat 275lb x 3. Didn't try a 4th rep. Will deload volume, bring out the stance a bit, and then try 270lb x 5.

Disappointing, granted I didn't sleep well and squat was basically ATG.
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Should be ATG all the time, well that's all I do anyway
TangoDown said:
Candito's non-linear progression program or Wendler 5/3/1?
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Thinking of a change?
 
mickc1965 said:
It will come



Should be ATG all the time, well that's all I do anyway


Thinking of a change?
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Well I do a low bar squat and a lot of people tend to stop at/just after parallel with a low bar squat, especially if their stance is wide. Mine is narrow, however, though I'm thinking about bringing out my stance a bit.

In terms of changing, I don't know...I believe my deadlift has greatly benefited from high load/low volume clustering work, but at the same time, my bench has barely moved at all. Granted, this is the first time I hit 210lb x 4 with a narrower grip, but there's no reason why I can't get 5 reps when I hit 4x3 a couple of weeks ago.

Tomorrow, I was thinking about reducing load to 65% and doing a light day. Do you think one light day would make a difference so I can feel recovered enough to eak out another week of training before testing deadlift, retesting bench/squat? Next training day would be Friday.
 
Leave your deadlift training as it is. That's how to train it, and that's how we'll keep changing it ;)

Bench is, in many ways, far trickier with it's leverages. You can pretty much find out right away which deadlifting style suits you; it will be the most natural (conventional, sumo, rounded or straight thoracic etc.). Bench takes time to figure out and even seasoned competitive lifters will vary grip width, bar-touching placement and so on.

If you are going to test maxes, I would significantly reduce the volume for 5-7 days prior. 65-70% is perfectly fine. Have a two day break before testing deads IMO.


Re: low bar; feet width takes time to figure out, it's literally trial and error.

5 rep issue for bench seems mental/psychological from my read of it. I tend to keep raising the weight, sticking to doubles and triples and the five reps will be a natural flow. It may be worth doing some high-rep accessory sets/work afterwards; strength-endurance could be the issue, working in the 8-ish range can be worth testing. I don't think 15reps is going to be useful for strength gains, frankly.


5/3/1 is useless for the non-enchanced, intermediate+ lifter IMO. Not enough exposure to loads at 80-85% +. $0.02.

It's basically like a BB'ing program that uses exercises instead of body parts.
 
per: throwing in accessory sets for strength endurance. After clustering up to ~10 reps (@90%, which I've been doing 3 days a week per your instruction), throwing in a set of two of bench or incline bench @ around 80% 1RM?

I wish it were psychological but it the bar doesn't go up. This has always been trouble with my bench - failing before I think I should. I mean, considering I've worked up to 4x3 210lb (4 minute rest b/w) and 4x2 220lb (4:30 minute rest b/w), there is no reason why 210lb x 5 can't happen, so maybe it is a matter of strength endurance, which could be why I make volume PRs but I haven't really hit a new 5RM since I got done with vanilla HST (which had higher rep work).

5-7 days, I assume that's 5-7 days and not 5-7 sessions.

So I suppose I'll actually spend this week with normal load/volume (though not pushing it TOO hard), and then spend next week Monday through Sunday (3 sessions in that period) doing ~70% on all lifts and then test the following week. Last deads day would be a Friday, and then I'd plan to test on a Tuesday, so that's technically a 3 day break.

How's that sound?
 
Yeh, 5-7 days.

Throw in a set or two at your 8RM after your strength work (day 1 work) for bench.

Military Press is v.good for bench IMO. Even if the press doesn't skyrocket up, the bench tends to be improved.
 
Bench:
warmup, then 210lb x 4, x 2, x 2, x 2,
190lb x 6, 180lb x 6

Callus ripped off

Sumo Deadlift:
warmup, then 385lb x 3, taped hand, x 1 (reset), x 1...
315lb x 3, x 2 just cus

Squat:
warmup, then 270lb x 3, x 3, x 2

T-bar:
warmup, then blah x blah
 
Bench:
warmup, then 210lb x 3 (failed 4th rep) what the fuck.

Had some athletic tape on my hand covering the ripped callous. Could have made a difference. First 2 reps felt like nothing, third rep hard, fourth rep fail. Hopefully the week of 65-70% will fix this before PR attempt or I'm dropping heavy flat bench altogether. Enough of this shit.

Sumo DL:
warmup, then 400lb x 2, x 2, x 2, x 2, x 1 (volume PR)

Felt amazingly easy today. I suppose using 400lb for a workset can be considered a milestone...excited to see what my new 1RM is.

Squat (light/moderate day):
warmup, then 240lb x 5, x 5, x 5

After fucking around with T-Bar, decided to try out some Pendlays. Worked up to some double of 205lb just to test the water. Very easy though it always feels like the bar is going to come out of my hands at the top of the movement. Wish I could do pullups again, but shoulder still flares up a bit when I try them. Maybe I'll get my adjustable DB back from my friend and can do DB rows. and/or find my Versa Grips
 
Only thing mentionable:

Bench:
warmup, then 210lb x 4, x 2 (failed 3rd rep, almost had it), x 2, x 2

Didn't feel comfortable squatting heavy today with no spot. Played around with some rowing movements to use after my SD.
 
Deload/pre-PR test week. All loads ~70% 1RM

Bench:
warmup, then 165lb x somewhere between 6-10 lol, 5, 8

Sumo Deadlift:
warmup, then 305lb x 5, x 5, x 5

Squat:
warmup, then 210lb x 5, x 5

Row Machine (plate-loaded):
warmup, then 150lb x 8, 140lb x 6, 130lb x 6

Foam-rolled and stretched some...
 
Deload/pre-PR test week. All loads ~70% 1RM

Bench:
warmup, then 165lb x 8, x 8, x 8

Sumo Deadlift:
warmup, then 305lb x 5, x 5, x 3

Squat:
warmup, then 210lb x 5, x 5

Row Machine (plate-loaded):
warmup, then 150lb x 8, x 8, x 8

Foam-rolled ze t-spine and lats.
 
Final deload day. PR-test day this Tuesday. All loads ~70% 1RM.

Bench:
warmup, then 165lb x 6, x 6, 155lb x 6

Squat:
warmup, then 210lb x 5, x 5, 195lb x 5

Row Machine (plate-loaded):
warmup, then 150lb x 6, x 6, 140lb x 6

Foam-rolled t-spine. May do some PNF stuff tonight.
 
Welp, my cold stuffed up my nose so i got about 5 hrs last night on an antihistamine. Guess ill have to test PRs in this state...
 
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