Kylar's Training Log

Sup y’all, figured I’d start writing down what I do at the gym whenever I disappear there for 2h blocks and come back beat down, but more energetic than before. I’m betting it’ll help me stay a bit more accountable to my personal goals and have my experiences possibly help some random who stumbles onto my log. Here goes:


Training History

I started lifting a few months before I graduated High School, in Jan 2015. That’s right, I was a filthy Resolutioner. I even curled in the squat rack twice a few times (no shame). Good ol’ Jason Blaha’s ICF 5x5 got me going and made a few decent noob gains. Candito’s LP was next, and then GZCL’s Jacked and Tan 2.0 was used to peak for my first meet in June 2016. Thirds (and second bench) were 150kg/330lbs Squat, 85kg/187lbs Bench and 162.5kg/358lbs Deadlift.

Injured my back shortly after because I went back to training heavy too soon and focused solely on my bench, which went up to 100kg/220lbs in a matter of two months. Squat and deadlifts were a no-go for the better part of six months as any attempts at rehab would trigger another flareup. Switching to sumo deads and starting over at 40kg/95lbs high block pulls and working my way up were what allowed me to start lifting again.

Fast forward a few months of rehabbing my back, I was up to some mediocre numbers, 275 Squat/230 Bench/360 Deadlift. I then hopped on Layne Norton’s PH3 program. Here’s a link to the program review I’ve written on Reddit almost a year ago

Been on this program ever since. I know, I love crazy

On May 26 of this year, I had my second meet. Horrible. A wrist injury messed up both my squats and bench badly. Squats were doubly worse because I apparently wasn’t hitting depth with ATG squats. Oh well.

3rd Squat: 398lbs
2nd Bench: 264.5lbs
3rd Bench: 275lbs (Red-lighted; butt came off the bench, but pressed it relatively easily)
1st Deadlift: 424lbs


Starting Point

Bodyweight: 179.8
Bf %: 15-16%ish
All estimated 1RMs
Squat: 405lbs
Bench: 295lbs
Sumo Deadlift: 460lbs
Conv. Deadlift: ~425lbs

Short-Term Goals
Squat: 455lbs before end of year
Bench: 315lbs before midterms in mid-October
Conv. Deadlift: 465lbs before midterms in mid-October
Sumo Deadlift: 495lbs before end of year
Arms: 14 3/4" => 15.5"

Meet Goals
Compete in Feb/March 2019
Squat: 465-480lbs
Bench: 325-350lbs
Deadlift: 500lbs


Starting PH3’s Intermediate block next week Already did two cycles of Accumulation to build up fatigue and volume in preparation for a small mock meet at the end of Intermediate. I’m not doing the Intensity block for a full max out, as I believe it would not be productive given that I can make more long term progress training submaximally, or a more off-season approach while I can. Plus that block always makes old aches and pains come up, which I don’t need more of.

Anyways, see you Monday.

Intermediate Block: Week 8, Day 1

Squats: 75%x2x8

  • 305lbs x8 @8
  • 305lbs x8 @8.5

Bench: 75%x2x8

  • 220lbs x8 @8
  • 220lbs x8 @9

Conventional Deads: 75%x2x6

  • 310lbs x8 @8.5 (strapped)
  • 310lbs x8 @9.5

Okay day so far, getting back into the more high volume sets after a small deload last week. Conventional deads suck. I rest my case.

Intermediate Block: Week 8, Day 2
Daily Step Count: 10,531

Chest Press Machine: 2x8 (3RIR)
Snatch-Grip Barbell Row: 220lbs x2x8
Chin-Ups: 5x8-10
Overhead Press: 110x2x7
Barbell Shrugs: 475lbs x3x8
Incline Flyes: 15lbs x3x8
Face Pulls: 3x8 (2RIR)
Preacher CG Curls: 50lbs x5x8
Incline DB Extensions: 25lbs x3x8

Nachos for dinner. Healthy eating at its finest.

Intermediate Block: Week 8, Day 5

Conv. Deadlift: 85% 3x3

  • 350lbs x2
    Swapped to sumo here
  • 350lbs x3 @8
  • 350lbs x3 @8

Paused Bench: 85% 4x4

  • 245lbs x4 @9.5
  • 245lbs x4 @9.5
  • 245lbs x4 @10
  • 245lbs x4 @10

Accessories:

  • Pec Deck: 2x15 (3RIR)
  • Narrow Grip Lat Pulldown: 2x15 (2RIR)
  • Single Arm Cable Roe: 3x15 (2RIR)
  • Cable Front Raise: 2x15 (3RIR)
  • DB Preacher Curl: 3x15
  • Rolling DB Tricep Extensions: 3x15

Skipped Day 3 because work beat me up too much and I couldn’t recover properly.

Done with conventional. I dropped my max by 20lbs since the end of the previous block and I failed my first set. One thing to note is that my sumo felt pretty great, even maintained my hip mobility from before even without touching it for three months. Felt felt more packed in, and the reduced ROM felt pretty damn weird.

Overall I think my lower back benefited from this stint with conventional, but I can always change my exercise selection to include more low back work and focus on my comp setup. I’ll let the program auto-adjust my sumo max so as to not rush things and “relearn” how to perform it properly.

Sucks that in about two years my conventional never felt good, or got past 330lbsx6. Oh well.

Intermediate Block: Week 8, Day 6

Squats: 85% 4x4

  • 345lbs x4 @8
  • 345lbs x4 @8.5
  • 345lbs x4 @9
  • 345lbs x4 @9

Assistance:

  • Leg Curls: 3x30
  • Leg Extensions: 3x30
  • Hyperextensions: 3x20
  • Ab-Wheel Rollouts: 3xMRS (12,12,12)

Squatting in flats is messing with my ability to gauge RPEs; since when I squatted in heels, I was much more upright and my back wasn’t contributing as much to the movement as my quads, I had a very explosive ascent and a very pronounced sticking point 3/4 of the way up. Now that I’m using flats, I find I can grind through that difficult area more consistently, so I can always get more reps than what I believe I can get. Every rep is much slower though, which helps confuse me even more.

Practice makes perfect it seems.

Intermediate Block: Week 9, Day 3

Squats: 80% 4x6

  • 325lbs x6 @7.5
  • 325lbs x6 @8
  • 325lbs x6 @8.5
  • 325lbs x6 @9

Bench: 80% 4x6

  • 230lbs x6 @8.5
  • 230lbs x6 @9.5
  • 230lbs x6 @9.5
  • 230lbs x6 @10

Accessories:

  • DL Stance Leg Press: 3x10
  • GHR: 3x10
  • Ab-Wheel Rollouts: 3x12

Gym was closed on Monday and just did a bodybuilding type workout on Tuesday.

Finally started filming my sets, gonna be a bit more entertaining than just reading numbers.


Intermediate Block: Week 9, Day 5

Deadlift: Top Single @<9, 85% 3x3

Paused Bench: Top Single @<9, 85% 4x4

Accessories:

  • Low-High Cable Flyes: 3x15
  • Narrow Grip Underhand Lat Pulldown: 3x15
  • Single Arm Cable Row: 2x15
  • Cable Front Raise: 2x15
  • Cable Pushdowns: 3x15 (1RIR)

Total step count: 13,351

Switching back to sumo feels so much better than conventional ever felt. I can get my back tighter, technique is more dialed in and it just is plain stronger. I do feel as though I can get a better back positioning because I pulled conventional for a bit, but the almost immediate stalling once I hit challenging weights isn’t worth the effort at this point.

Bench pauses were rushed, and need to be worked on. Doing exclusively close grip bench for this cycle has definitely brought up my triceps to the point where my anterior delts and chest are lagging behind. I believe this is true because of the lack of speed off the chest. Soft touching is definitely harder than sinking imo

Intermediate Block: Week 9, Day 6

Squats: Top Single @<9, 85% 4x4

  • 370lbs x1 @8.5
    101.5% increase to max
  • 345lbs x4 @9
  • 345lbs x4 @9.5
  • 345lbs x4 @10
  • 345lbs x4 @9.5

Accessories:

  • Leg Curl: 1x30, 3x15 cluster sets
  • Leg Extension: 1x30, 3x15 cluster sets
  • Planks: 3x1min

Intermediate Block: Week 10, Day 1

Squats: 75% x4 x8

Bench: 75% x4 x8

Deadlift: 75% x4 x6

Pretty pissed that I missed one rep on bench, but I need to pay attention to my recovery for the coming week so that that failure doesn’t affect the rest of my training.

Intermediate Block: Week 10, Day 3

Squats: 80% x5 x6

  • 330lbs x5 @8 proof I cant actually count past 5
  • 330lbs x6 @8.5
  • 330lbs x6 @9.5
  • 330lbs x6 @9.5
  • 330lbs x6 @9.5

Paused Bench: 80% x5 x6

  • 235lbs x6 @9
  • 235lbs x6 @9.5
  • 235lbs x6 @9.5
  • 235lbs x6 @10
  • 235lbs x6 @10

Accessories:

  • Leg Press: 2x10 (3RIR)

Pretty burnt out today, and it showed in the squats. Another thing that contributed to the high RPEs is that I accidentally took the shitty OPB that had rusted out bearings and it made the bar roll all over my back. Definitely made the whole movement behave like an SSB squat.

Started sinking my benches again, and it made the speed off the chest so much better. Tightness, bar positioning, the whole lot! The whole movement feels better when I sink, so I’ll ditch the soft touch. Like with conventional deads, it was a nice experiment, but I don’t think it works well for my particular build and technique.

Here’s an update boyos

My bicep injury kept flaring up and never healing with my training, and with the training changes I had to do to accommodate for it, I just felt too bummed out to update the log. Something about not being able to be at 100% at everything (performance and making sure the log reflects what I can actually do) made me give up on it for a while.

Today, I tested my maxes:

Squat: 420lbs @8.5
Bench: 295lbs
Deadlift: 455lbs

Total: 1170lbs

This is the first time actually maxing out in a while. The numbers in the starting point area of my introduction are all estimated 1RMs. Squat is up 15lbs with who knows how many in the tank. Bench I was happy to hit >285lbs. Technique felt much better than when I started, which is the real progress for me. Bicep issues were also manageable compared to how it was a few weeks ago, so I see that as progress too. Transitioning back into sumo deads, I wasn’t expecting to hit anything above 430lbs given how technique was off and I couldn’t get as tight as I wanted to. I’m happy I actually hit 455lbs, since that’s less distance between my original goal of 495 than it originally was.

Still alive, and actually forgot that I even had this log open.

Just did a meet yesterday, the Mike Laroche 2019 Open. Two days ago, I had an accident in the kitchen when a misplaced, unbalanced knife in the drying rack fell as I was cleaning up, bounced off the counter and sliced my palm open under the pinky joint down to the bone. Perfect timing too, but I was determined to not let it affect me.

Squats

In order: 2nd, 3rd, Opener

I had major issues with my last meet where I had two squats be redlighted for depth, and having to do my third at ATG depth (that squat actually got one red light for depth too lmao). I decided to open quite light at 197.5kg, when I had done 202kg/445lbs in the gym easily to see how the judging would be. It flew, but I wasn’t entirely confident in how fast it went, as it felt heavy on my back. That, plus having to make a decision rather quickly on how much to raise it by, I went to 205kg/452lbs, which I then realized was too small a jump but I apparently couldn’t change it. A better attempt would have been 210kg/462lbs. My cut wasn’t affecting me here thankfully from the thicker bandage the meet director allowed me to wear on my hand.

After seeing my second fly like an empty bar, I chased 220kg/485lbs, and would have had it had it been a balance issue coming out of the hole. I transitioned too early from midfoot to heel pressure and fell backwards. Warmup room cam shows this perfectly.

Ah well, 452lbs isn’t a PR by any stretch, but it gives me something to work off of after I recover from the meet.

Bench

In order: 3rd, 2nd, Opener

Bench is my jam. I live and breathe the Bro life with my t-rex length arms. It was the lift that was going so well during meet prep, and it payed off. Canadian pauses were brutal and lived up to their reputation.

I opened with 132.5kg/292lbs and knew I had it easily when I unracked it. Fairly uneventful. An old friend of mine dropped by to volunteer but ended up handling me and a few other guys and I let him take my attempt selection from here on.

I had 140kg/308lbs next, had easily done it in the gym and besides a little sticky misgroove on my right arm from the bar rolling onto my cut and the pain throwing me off.

My handler picked 145kg/320lbs and I’d say it was the perfect number to end with. Consistent effort, and a nice cramped hamstring. I’m happy overall with how it went.

Deadlifts

In order: 3rd, 2nd, Opener

I was most concerned about my deadlifts. Evidently the cut on my hand was messing with my benches slightly, but the question was how would it hold up when I’d be tugging on hundreds of pounds? Well, it held up just fine on my opener at 195kg/430lbs, but tore open through the bandage on my second at 205kg/452lbs.

My handler picked 220kg/485lbs and we both believed I’d be able to pull 227.5kg/502lbs had my hand not tore open more and it clearly messed my grip up. You can’t hear it in the video (obviously from the lack of sound) but I got the down command just as my hand was opening.

Lessons Learned

  1. When picking my squat attempts, trust myself a bit more and take a more moderate jump, and then another moderate jump, rather than a smaller one and then trying to make up for it by taking a much bigger one. I would have better odds of actually building a total
  2. Don’t get injured before a meet. Find a place that does cryostasis and fast forward until the day I compete so everything goes perfectly.
  3. ^ is a joke

Recap

Squat: 205kg/452lbs
Bench: 145kg/320lbs
Deadlift: 205kg/452lbs
Total: 555kg/1223lbs
Wilks: 353.28
IPF: 514.07

There was quite a bit left on the platform, my goal was to hit 480/325/485, or 1290, but I know where things can improve now, and where to take off next.