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Full Olysquats 315x5 - finally regained all my squat strength!
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolco…5_12March04.mpg
CleanDeadlift +Shrug PR 353x3 - did 4 sets as well!
Grip slipping on 3rd rep, could have done more weight but grip slip was a problem! 400lbs soon for triple 
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolco…3_12March04.mpg
sigh grip strength holding me back
Friday 12th March - Cycle1 Get Stronger - Week 5 - Day 3 - Lower 1 Strength - afternoon
Warmup+ CoreWork+Plyos
Did my general warmup - dynamic swings etc, and 10 reps with 25lb in various exercises - Hang slow cleanpull, military press, oly goodmorning, snatch grip BN press, hang powerclean and jerks for a few, powersnatches, Fullsquat press for a few.
Rest - 30secs alternating between each exercise. 1min between pairs.
1)Incline situps with Russian twists to each side at the top - arms held outstretched x8
2)Twisting Back Extensions - BWx6 normal, and 6 twisted to each alternating sides.
Ankle Jumps - Low 3x10secs
Olys
Used bar for couple sets of warmup stuff
rest - 2-3mins
Powersnatch + 3 overheadsquats - 89lbs
Powersnatch + 3 overheadsquats - 109lbs
Powersnatch + 3 overheadsquats - 116lbs --> best set of the lot
Powersnatch + 3 overheadsquats - 119lbs --> a tab wobbly
Making progress on these! Shoulders felt nice and strong except the last set
Rotating between each exercise - Squat, Reverse Back Extension, Lat Machine Situp
rest - 3-4mins between each exercise after warmups. 1 to 2 mins until workoutsets
Full Oly Squat - in Oly Shoes - RAW
Warmup sets - reps - Bar x8, 135lbs x8, 185lbs x6, 225lbs x5, 275lbs x3
Tempo 10X0
Rotation 1) 315lbs x5 - 15sec set duration --> back to my all time best finally. Last rep was hard, through the sticking point, would have failed the next rep.
5% of (85%BW+Load) Dropoff
Rotation 2) 290lbs x5
Rotation 3) 290lbs x5
Rotation 4) 280lbs x5 --> miss loaded bar! easy
Rotation 5) 280lbs x5 --> miss loaded bar! too easy!!
I misloaded the bar on the last 2 sets, after doing the ISO frontsquats!
Was wondering why I was nowhere near failure, still had gas for another 3 sets!
Decided to call it day after the 5th set even though I hadn’t reached near failure. Maybe I didn’t warmup properly because 315lbs was was definitely quite heavy, last rep was a ball buster, and you’d think with all the clean deads and ISO frontsquats I did between sets would have fatigued me…
Clean Deadlift + Shrug - in Oly Shoes - HookGrip - RAW
Warmup sets - 177lbs x3, 243lbs x3, 293lbs x 2
Rotation 1) 353lbs x 3 New PR!! --> grip slipping on last rep
Rotation 2) 353lbs x 3
Rotation 3) 353lbs x 3 --> rest grip on 3rd set
Rotation 4) 353lbs x 3 --> upperback standing to round slightly
Well my pulling strength was increased dramaticly! 353 was no problem for my muscles , but my grip was slipping after the 1st rep, So i kept the same weight for all sets.
Evidence my posterior chain and core has gone up in size and strength. I have the strength to do at least 400lbs with strict flat back form I think. Need to boost my grips strength in a hurry! Won’t be long now till I crank out triples with 400lbs if I can get my grip strength up. Last set, upper back standing rounding slightly, which is “failure” as far as I’m concerned.
Full Front Squat ISO - CleanGrip in Oly Shoes - RAW - 15secs
Warmup sets - 135lbs x3
Lower to body come up 3inches - hold for 15secs and then back up
Rotation 1) 185lbs x 15secs + squat up
Rotation 2) 185lbs x 15secs + squat up
Rotation 3) 185lbs x 15secs + squat up
Painful, but not too hard otherwise, had room to spare. Been a while since I have frontsqquatted so kept it moderate. Will use 205lbs next session, don’t like going to failure on these.
Lat Machine Situp ISO Hold, Torso Parallel, Dumbell on Chest - 15secs
Warmup sets - BW x 5+10sec ISO, 15lbs x5+ 10sec ISO, 30lbs x 10sec ISO,
Rotation 1) 65lbs x 15secs New PR!! --> too light
Rotation 2) 65lbs x 15sec
Rotation 3) 65lbs x 15sec --> just about to fail here
Could have used 70-75lbs on first set, so I kept the same weight for the rest of sets
Bits and Pieces
Reverse Back Extensions
BW x12
Bulgarian SplitSquat Stretched ISO hold
BW x 1min each leg
Did you only go to a 5% drop off on the one exercise?
Did you do it in a circuit fashion?
I just got TSB so ill try and read that before i ask anymore questions 
Well I went 5% on all exercises, its just that the first set on some exercises were slightly too light so I kept the weight the same on the next sets.
I rotated all the main exercises, - ie rotation 1), rotation 2) etc
That is a problem intially, sometimes your strength jumps so much from session to session that you end up being too light on the first session max set and then have to fudge it a bit - not a bad problem to have
Or its hard to judge loads on ISOs for example
I didn’t drop 5% on frontsquat ISO holds because I wasn’t going maximal on them, been a while since I did em so easing into them and the fact I don’t like to go near failure on frontsquats, less my lower back rounds etc. I was planning to just couple em with the fullsquats, when the squats went near failure I would stop the frontsquat ISOs as well, but that kinda went bad in this session due to the misloading errors 
And also I normally fail on the 3rd rotation of worksets, so for some reason I kept getting stronger on fullsquats, even when factoring in the misloading…guess work (terminal) capacity is up…
things are going great so far, all kinds of new muscles are sprouting out everywhere
Cool
Thats very impressive, just watched your clean + shrugs. Thats alot of weight your shifting! Out of curiousity what can you do with explosive shrugs?
Are you doing any specific grip work? I have the same problem due to short fingers and small hands so been trying deadlift holds, but only just started so can’t tell if its working yet.
And excuse my ignorance but what is TSB?
Thanks
Felt like I could have cleanpulled those 353lbs sets if I was so inclined! The 243lbs I did for warmups felt pretty “light”, that is the load I used to cleanpull with, and I didn’t bother hooking it.
I haven’t done any sort of powershrugs yet so far. But man are my traps sore as hell! Not just the top part but down the middle bit of it as well.
I have done some grip work indirectly with 3 inch square bar chins etc.
But I will pick it up now. I have an Ivanko Supergripper on order with an extra spring (3 in total) for variable resistance ISO holds for 30secs etc. Plenty of calculators out there to figuring out spring settings for selected resistance amount for this unit.
Also found a nice thick hollow carboard cyclinder (the bit that’s left from a roll of plastic sheeting) - its 3.5 inches in diamter and 1.5 feet long, gonna use this for “thickbar” holds -makes my forearms ache just holding it
I have short fingers as well and I think the way I’m doing my hookgrip isn’t that effective at all because my grip seems to slip off. But at least no pain on the thumb!
TSB is DBhammer’s book
BTW I figure my quads are the weak link in my squat now, becuase it ain’t my lower back, glutes or hams
huge sticking point!!!
you seem to really rotate to the right when you initiate the upward movement. I do this too if I squat too heavy or too deep. But the depth I can go to before this happens depends on the weight. I try to push off more with the leg that I rotate to the side of. Also, stretching the tight side helps.
ooops, meant rotate to the left. Why the hell I said ‘right’ I have no idea.
You mean with the squats? I think it maybe due the fact I can never get the bar to sit directly centered on my back
It’s only a very small surface area where I put it high on my traps, luckly I have a some thickness there.
you didnt give your workout a score!
how do you plan to combine grip work to avoid CNS overtraining?
Yep i have the same problem with hook grips. It increases my grip strength enormously but when it fails it tends to fail catastrophically especially with explosive movements! My fingers slip off my thumb mid snatch and ping… run for cover
Not good in a commercial gym with no platform, its only a matter of time before I get some ‘advice’ from the management.
Need to buy CT’s book and DB hammers stuff sounds real interesting.
credd:
just chalk your thumbs alot.
also practice chins and rows with a hook grip occasionaly
Is it safe to look right and left when unracking the squat? This may be a stupid question, but I have wondered it for a while…
I always go heavy on the chalk. Think my thumbs are a bit messed up from boxing so i don’t have full mobility in them due to ossification. They won’t get better without surgery but that could just make the problem worst as bone has a tendency to grow back. So basically i’m f*$#ed!
coolcol
why dont thread your workout? this way I (and all) can track it down nicely.
GluteSpanker - well I rated it a 9/10
That’s one reason why I’m gonna do iso holds on a gripper rather than try and hold heavy loads for time which would fry my CNS a bit. The “thick bar” holds with the carboard cyclinder will be done one hand at a time and since its so hard to hold, I don’t need to use heavy weights, so it should be ok. I will do these a few hours after my workouts, and I only train 3 times a week anyway.
I look left and right when racking, so I can make sure the bar is on the rack hooks
yeah maybe a good idea to create a thread
But for now I’ll wack yesterday’s upper 2 workout here - press/chin dominant. My other upper session is bench/row.
Making some fast gains in strength (plus some size too). Next week I’ll crank out regular up and down reps and see where I am
Sunday 14th March - Cycle 1 Get Stronger - Week 6 - Day 1 - Upper 2 STRENGTH - Afternoon
Man is my working set capacity gone way up. I can do way more sets before approaching failure now! Thus the long workout…
Making nice progress.
Workout time - 2.5 hours
Workout rating - 8/10
Warmup
Did my general warmup - dynamic swings etc, and 10 reps with 25lb in various exercises - pull, press, oly goodmorning, snatch grip BN press, hang powerclean + powerjerk
Incline Situp, arms outstretched infront, Russian twists to each side at top - BW x8
Back Extensions - 6 normal + 6 twisting to alternate sides
8xHangPowercleans + 8 Pushpresses - 45lbs
Rotating Sets between Press, Chin, Tricep, Pulldown, Flye
Resting 1.5mins on warmup sets and then 3 mins
Military Press ISO Hold in Oly Shoes - 9secs
Warmups - 45x8, 75lbs x5+5sec ISO, 95lbs x5+5sec ISO, 115lbs x5+5sec ISO, 135x3+5sec ISO, 155x1+5sec ISO
I press the weight all the way up, lower down to sticking point and hold for 9secs
Rotation 1) 165lbs x 9secs New PR!!
had some juice left so assumed I could do 170lbs.
5% of (15%BW+Weight) Dropoff -
Rotation 2) 160lbs x9secs
Rotation 3) 160lbs x9secs
Rotation 4) 160lbs x9secs
Rotation 5) 160lbs x9secs --> just about failed here, bar drifting down
kinda surprsied I was able to press up all the sets up before doing the ISO hold - didn’t think I’d reach 5 sets total with the tricep ISO work I was also doing.
Chins - 8 inches between hands
Warmups - used pulldowns for warmup initially, then BW x1, +15lbs x1, +25lbs x1
Rotation 1) BW(222lbs) + 35lbs x3 New PR!! +10lbs
5% of (85%BW+Weight) Dropoff -
Rotation 2) +22.5lbs x3 ,
Rotation 3) +22.5lbs x3 ,
Rotation 4) +22.5lbs x3 ,
Rotation 5) +22.5lbs x3 —> started to feel tough here
finally getting these going up nicely - odd that I could do 5 sets while doing ISO pulldowns as well!
Parallel Grip Lying Dumbell Tricep Extension ISO - 40secs
Warmups - 3kg x10, 15lbs x10+5sec ISO, 25lbs x10+5sec ISO, 35lbs x3+5 sec ISO
Rotation 1) 45lbs x 40secs New PR!! +10lbs
5% of (6%BW+Weight) Dropoff -
Rotation 2) 40lbs x 40secs,
Rotation 3) 40lbs x 38secs,
Chin Grip Pulldowns ISO - Shoulder width - 15secs
Warmups - 30kg x8, 40x5+5sec ISO, 50x5+5sec ISO, 60x5+5sec ISO, 75x3+5sec ISO
Held in fully contracted position
Rotation 1) 85kg x 15secs - 5kg too light
Rotation 2) 85kg x 15secs,
Rotation 3) 85kg x 25secs --> held too long!
Got bored with it so stopped em - I am now strong enough to do everything on chins.
Pec Fyles ISO - 25secs
Bent Arms, elbow slightly toward feet, shoulders tucked
Warmups - 3kg x10, 15lbs x10+5sec ISO, 25lbs x5+5sec ISO, 35lbs x 5 sec ISO
Rotation 1) 45lbs x 25secs, New PR!! +10lbs --> too light
Rotation 2) 45lbs x 25secs,
Rotation 3) 45lbs x 25secs,
First set too light so kept the same load, last set very close to failure
Standing Low Pulley L-Flyes ISO on Free Motion Machine
Warmups - 10lbs x5 rest - 3mins
30lbs x 25secs New PR!! +5lbs
5% of (6%BW+Weight) Dropoff -
25lbs x25secs, 25lbs x25secs
actual dropoff weight was 27.5lbs
–
ISO Stretches - EQI
Low Pulley ROW Stretched ISO hold - Close curl Grip on Straight Bar
50kg x 1.5mins - up 5kg
Tricep Dip Forward leaning Leg supported Stretched ISO hold
BW x 1.5mins
Free Motion Pulley Delt Stretched ISO hold
80lbs x 1min each side
Shoulder Dislocates pec stretch with lights bands
Hi CoolColJ,
I’ve a question and maybe it’s a stupid one, but I’m totally new to this oly-game… so, here it goes: how come u do so many ISO exercises? what’s the point of it? It’d be great if u could point me to some thread or site where I could gather some info about it:-)
TIA
Firstly I’m not an olylifter, I just do the lifts becuase I like em
The reason being is that I had an elastic and explosive strnegth dominance, which created created certain static/spring muscle/tendon wise imbalances. This was caused by my abuse of speed/reactive training methods over a year or so.
Now I am trying to restore the balance between frictional and elastic strength. ISO have zero elastic qualities, so its perfect for restoring this
If you compare my squat clips from before to now, you can see the difference. I seem a lot more stable, knees don’t buckle inwards as much and I can finally strain through a sticking point rather than crash and burning. A month ago, I would not have made that last rep, and I was just too “elastic” for squats. That is what ISO do they increase strain ability for rate dominant lifters like myself. They also make you stronger too, help heal tendonitus and some other things. And yeah the longer ISO sure pile on some muscle too!
But I am probably not as fast as I used to be, although I wasn’t going for maximum squat concentric speed in that session, just load and reps.
I don’t do ISO every session, I alternate between ISO, PIM (regular up and down reps) and OI (oscillatory isometrics) - these are where you tense a muscle and then relax, the load falls down and you snap it back up as the stretch reflex kicks in, kinda like a mini “depth jump” with 2-3 inch range of motion. Later on I will reintroduce speed and reactive type stuff I used to do and some new ones.
Basicly what I do is based on what I need for my neural weakness - strength, strain ability, reactivity, speed etc. And what each exercise I am trying to improve needs.
As far as ISOs go, you can read about it some of the recent aricles by Christian Thibaudeau, and some from a few months back. Do a search for his posts as well in these forums too and maybe get his new up and coming book
thnx a lot, a really clear explanation:)
I’ll look into thib’s articles for some other info, thnx again:)