TangoDown's Vanilla HST Run

You think potentially 16 reps a week would be enough though, even at 90%?

Sun: Leg Press 4x3 @ 85%, Sumo DL 5x4 @ 70%, Pendlay Cluster 12-15 reps @ 5RM

Tues: Sumo DL 5-6x2 @ 85%, Rest-Pause Bench 8-10x1 @ 4RM, Weighted Pullups (???)

Fri: Sumo DL 10x1 @ 90%, Rest-Pause Bench 8-10x1 @ 4RM, Pendlay Cluster 12-15 reps @ 5RM
 
SD done. Back in the saddle. Lessgo.

Weight: 168lb @ Tallest Manlet

Rest Pause Bench:
Bar x 5, 135lb x 5, 160lb x 3, 185lb x 2
30-45 second intervals, 205lb x 1, x 0 (adaszcxzcz)...waited about 5 minutes
195lb 8x1

Sumo DL:
135lb x 5, 225lb x 5, 275lb x 3, 315lb x 1, 335lb 5x1

Clusted (2 minutes between clusters) Weighted Pullups:
BW x 5, Belt + 50lb x 5, x 4, x 3

Brisk Run on Treadmill
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Bench, if you decide to use your planned work weight from last cycle the session after you finish an SD, you're gonna have a bad time...

Knocked the weight down 10lb and did 8 slow reps. Will take a couple of weeks to get back to where I was last cycle.

Sumo Deadlift, bar speed was SUPER FAST. There seems to be a little bit of lumbar rounding. Bar rolling is almost a non-issue now, fortunately. I can post the video if you care to see it. Did 5 singles and then 6 single wouldn't budge. I woke up about 5-6 times last night, so I'll just repeat this weight next time.

Weighted pullups, this is also not my planned work weight as I'm going to be easing up to Belt + 60lb. Could have probably clustered 15 reps in 3-4 sets but I figured there's no point of grinding now.
 
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Skimmed through some of my old logs. Good god. :eek:

Can't believe how much time I wasted in the gym fumbling around toward the end of cycles instead of sticking to the program and not eating enough. Was reading one from a couple of years ago and I was ecstatic when I benched 165lb x 5 and deadlifted 2 plates. If I had any idea of what I was doing back then I'd probably be deadlifting 500lb and benching around 300lb by now.

At least I can be thankful that I've been somewhat dialed in training-wise since the end of last year. Mere months until a 4 plate sumo deadlift and 240lb+ bench if things go well, but considering how unproductive I've been in the weight room over the past couple of years, I'm not too keen with creating timed goals for myself. But if I can walk away with lifts near those at the end of the year, I should have the right to be ecstatic this time.

Main thing I've learned: 99% of weightlifting is training and training entails a plan that you stick with and a 10-ton container of patience.
 
Slept real poorly last night and had to do some manual labor in a garden today for work so I just did some rest-pause BW pullups at home with 10-15 seconds between sets.

15, 5, 3, 3, 4. I know I'm capable of 30 reps in 4 sets but fuck it. Don't feel like it.

I probably have 20-21 pullups max in me on a good day, but I don't train 'em for endurance so that's definitely not all I could do at my current body weight. Most I've ever done was 24 @ 155lb.

Not going into the gym to do speed work deadlift or 4x3 leg press so I'll just have do my deadlift doubles on Tues and save leg press for next Sun.
 
TangoDown said:
Skimmed through some of my old logs. Good god. :eek:

Can't believe how much time I wasted in the gym fumbling around toward the end of cycles instead of sticking to the program and not eating enough. Was reading one from a couple of years ago and I was ecstatic when I benched 165lb x 5 and deadlifted 2 plates. If I had any idea of what I was doing back then I'd probably be deadlifting 500lb and benching around 300lb by now.

At least I can be thankful that I've been somewhat dialed in training-wise since the end of last year. Mere months until a 4 plate sumo deadlift and 240lb+ bench if things go well, but considering how unproductive I've been in the weight room over the past couple of years, I'm not too keen with creating timed goals for myself. But if I can walk away with lifts near those at the end of the year, I should have the right to be ecstatic this time.

Main thing I've learned: 99% of weightlifting is training and training entails a plan that you stick with and a 10-ton container of patience.
Click to expand...

TD - lifting is something that requires a ton of personal knowledge and drive. Results can be had with so many methodologies; the main thing is in recognizing what works for you. What that means - find what keeps you driven, while producing the results that you're after. Don't beat yourself up just because certain numbers that you think you should be hitting are off in the distance. Enjoy the ride to the heavies, along with that 10ton bucket of patience - if you aren't having fun in the process, you likely won't hit your goals. Come on now - you're a strong dude; put the thing back on the rails and go.
 
_tim said:
Come on now - you're a strong dude; put the thing back on the rails and go.
Click to expand...

Train's not off the rails at all. Should be in Gainzville sooner than later, but I saw the conductor doing one-legged bosu ball curls so everything's up in the air at this point...

Seriously though, I'm not demotivated at all. Just setting goals for myself, but this time recognizing from anecdotal experience that progress is not always linear. It's just interesting to see where my mindset was training-wise 2 years ago.

Came down with a nice cold to round out the few days of crap sleep, so hopefully I can get in the gym tomorrow and not have my sinuses explode.
 
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Just take pseudoephedrine (phenylephrine is you can't access pseudo).


Frankly I think your deadlift should be at 400 very soon.
 
Weight: Probably still 168lb.

Rest-Pause Bench (15-20 seconds between reps):
Bar x 5, 135lb x 5, 160lb x 5
195lb 10x1

Sumo Deadlift:
135 x 5, 225lb x 4, 275lb x 2
320lb 4x2, 1x1 (obviously had another rep but I've got a cold so didn't really feel mentally into this set)

Clustered Weighted Pullups (2 minutes between sets):
Bar x 5
Belt + 55lb x 5, x 3, x 3, x 4
__________________________________________

I was borderline about going to the gym today because after taking an early-morning exam I started to develop a mild cough. Ended up going. Once the endorphins kicked in I felt fine but the cold is still there so I didn't want to go insane today. So weighted pullups and bench are still under target work weight right now and I'll probably be class off completely tomorrow off completely to recoup because I don't really want to work in a Microbiology lab tomorrow if this shit is turning into a full-fledged chest cold.

Bench felt pretty easy. Only issue was unracking. Bar tends to like to get caught on the right side of the rack. Probably pulling the bar out a bit asymmetrically. Need to work on that. But reps weren't very hard. Will push up to 5lb under my 90% 1RM next session if I'm feeling good.

Sumo DL, I tried focusing on really driving with my legs and I noticed that with some adjustments, certain reps were literally flying off the ground. That's great because lockout has never been an issue for me. Usually, it'd be the first rep of the double, which makes sense. Considering a quick reset between reps on doubles day but I'll keep playing around with trying to keep the bar in the right position for subsequent reps instead.

Pullups went alright. Didn't push as hard as I could because I'm under my planned work weight trying to recondition a bit.
 
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Gym scale said 171lb today. Considering that it's known for inaccuracy, I'm somewhere between 168lb and 171lb.

Rep-Pause Bench (15-30 seconds between reps):
Bar x 5, 135lb x 4, 175lb x 3,
200lb 8x1

Sumo Deadlift:
135lb x 5, 225lb x 4, 275lb x 3, 315lb x 1
340lb 7x1

Clustered Weighted Pullups (2 minutes between sets):
BW x 4
Belt + 60lb x 4, x 3, x 3
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Bench went fine. Will move up to 205lb (planned work weight). Unrack was a little better but could still be an issue with left side of bar getting caught on the rack.

Deadlift, considering that 315lb flew up like nothing, I moved up to 340lb and focused on leg drive. The first rep was insanely fast. No bar roll at all throughout all singles, so that issue is basically fixed. Bar speed definitely slowed down and I couldn't get rep 8 to even budge so I called it a day. Will repeat 340lb for a few sessions.

Very happy with progression here assuming it's legitimate.

Grip width was a little more narrow than I'd like for weighted pullups so didn't feel as strong. I'm more of a narrow pullup guy so I like to really feel the bicep and brachialis contraction at the top of the lift.

Still no cardio because I'm getting over the tail-end of a chest cold.
 
Weight: 169lb

Clustered Weighted Pullups (2 minutes between sets):
BW x 5, Belt + 45lb x 3
Belt + 60lb x 4, x 3, x 3

Sumo Deadlift (speed day):
135 x 5, 225lb x 3
265lb x 3, 3x4

Leg Press (non-plate loaded):
290lb x 5
340lb 4x3
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Don't feel much benefit from the deadlift speed work. Just feels like I'm grinding out reps @ 70% for no reason. Think I'd feel better throwing in a couple more sets of doubles on doubles day and singles on singles day and not deadlifting at all on Sunday.

What you think?

Leg press was 10lb under planned work weight because I didn't get to leg press the first session back from SD last week.
 
I don't know if that's due to the speed work though. I think it's just technique adjustment to be honest, figuring out leg drive. Speed was there coming out of SD.
 
Rest-Pause Bench (15-30 seconds between reps):
135lb x 5, 175lb x 3
205lb 7x1 [failed 8th and final rep]

Sumo Deadlift:
135lb x 5, 225lb x 4, 275lb x 3
320lb 3x2, 1x1 [tried this rep without shoes on and didn't like it], 1x2

Pullups:
BW [170lbish] x 18

Ran half a mile on the treadmill lol
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Sort of feel like I'm falling out of position on rep 2 a lot of times for sumo deadlift. Almost feel like doing 2 sessions of 90% singles instead but I know it's bad to change a horse in the middle of the race.

Failed rep 8 of bench because the bar came down a little awkwardly on the chest. I should get it next session.

Felt exhausted after the deadlift doubles so I just did a fast set of body weight pullups.
 
Shoeless is not ideal for sumo, not ideal at all. You really need the traction that grip from the shoes provides.
 
Yeah I figured that out.

Thinking about buying some Chucks. Getting tired of my Vivobarefoot dress shoes for gym use lol. Traction is okay but not optimal.

Do you think two sessions of 90% singles are a bad idea? I know your argument will be "don't change what's working," so let's say this is a change for down the line.
 
I think what might be better right now is to add reps to each set, rather than add load. Try to make your 90% into your 85% by virtue of capable reps, and your 85% into your 80%. Build up that work capacity for a month or so then let's retest your strength then.
 
The point is that I've been getting out of position after the first rep. Maybe I'll reset each time I feel like I'm out of position on doubles day.

As for adding reps, I'll maybe do that after I test my new max in a few weeks. I wanna see what I can do with the current set up.
 
Weight: 170lb (+1lb)

Rest-Pause Bench (15-30 seconds between reps):
135lb x 5, 160lb x 4, 175lb x 3
205lb 10x1

Sumo Deadlift:
135lb x 5, 225lb x 4, 275lb x 3, 315lb x 1
340lb 8x1

Weighted Pullups:
Belt + 45lb x 3
Belt + 60lb x 4, x 3, x 3
___________________________________________

Bench felt good. Bar speed was pretty decent until rep 7 or so. Will repeat this weight for maybe 4-6 more sessions and then probably increase the work weight to 210lb.

Sumo DL felt pretty slow today. I didn't feel like I was pulling with the greatest form. Still managed 1 more single than last time. Will probably be repeating this weight for at least another 2 sessions.

Weighted pullups felt about the same. Since my body weight is slowly increasing, I don't expect the weight I use for pullups or reps to go up that much, so I'll keep the progress conservative here.
 
Weight: 170lb

Weighted Pullups (Clustered with 2 minute rest):
BW x 5, Belt + 45lb x 3
Belt + 60lb x 4, x 3, x 3

Leg Press (non-plate loaded):
240lb x 5, 290lb x 3
345lb 1x3, 350lb 3x3

10 minutes of Elliptical
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The first few cluster felt pretty easy, then the second cluster I didn't kick the stool I use to get up onto the pullup bar all the way back so the eccentric motion was slower as to not slam into it. Third set, grip was a bit too narrow so I tried to adjust on the fly and ended up doing the last 2 reps hanging from my fingers lol.

Leg press, 345lb felt easy enough that I figured I'd just move back up to my final work weight from last cycle for the subsequent triples.

Need to get back into cardio again. Started with 10 minutes of high intensity elliptical and I'll progress to 15-30 minutes at the around the highest resistance which is what I was doing before.
 
Decided to test maxes today.

Bench 205lb x 4 FUCK.

First 4 reps were SO easy and then the bar came down too high on my chest and I couldn't budge it. I'll try again on Friday but it seriously felt like I could have knocked out 6-7 reps with this weight. Pissed me off.

Waited 6 minutes and then got 205lb x 2 and failed on 3rd rep.

Sumo DL 385lb (PR + 20lb)

Super happy about that. Couldn't budge it the first attempt. Then tried it again and it was SUPER hard off the floor, but after I got it off the floor I knew it was going up. It's amazing how hard sumo DL can be off the floor and how fast it can be once you budge it.

Clustered Weighted Pullups: Belt + 60lb x 4, x 4, x 3 (Volume PR)

Volume PR came on the 2nd cluster. 4 reps instead of 3.
 
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