My road to 1500

Training Logs
641

21-7-17

Squat

Foam roll glutes / quads / hammis, leg swings, banded side steps, stretch hips.

Low Bar Squat 20kg 2x6, 60kg 2x5, 100kg 2x5, 140kg x3, 170kg 4x6

High bar Squat 137.5kg 2x6

Conv Deadlift 100kg 2x6, 140kg 2x6
Back Raise BW 4x8
GHR 4x8

Today wasn’t a good day! My knees and hips have been aching for the last couple of days, nothing really bad but a dull ache. I got to the gym today, and could feel them complaining more and more as I warmed up.

Low Bar Squats felt quite bad getting into the hole but I managed to get my sets done. I did normal High Bar Squats instead of Paused Squats after as I just couldn’t put up with the pauses, cut these a set short.

Did my light pulling as Conventional for 2x6 instead of 4x6, my knees and hips couldn’t put up with Sumo at all.

Not overly happy at all, at the moment I’m popping Ibuprofen like smarties, my knees are still causing me some aggro just walking around so I have no idea where to go from here. I Guess I’ll see how I am over the weekend.

642

Unlucky! Any idea why your knees are acting up?

643

Only thing I can put it down to is Sumo man, its the same dull ache / pain around my knee caps as last time. I’m not doing anything else that I can think of different.

I’m hoping its just my body adjusting, but if its going to effect my other training days, its not really somethihg I can just ignore. Hopefully its gone by the time I’m squatting again on Monday, otherwise I may just have to accept that its not for me.

644

Ugh. Hopefully it sorts itself out soon.

645

Cheers man! Trying to stay positive, hoping it’ll feel better by Monday! I’ve got something planned for either eventuality… worst case scenario is I strip my DL training back to basics, and work out where my weakness is with Conventional, maybe book a session with a coach and get my form evaluated to make sure theres no glaring issues.

1 Like
646

Won’t be training this weekend, I’m quite ill with the manflu! Its been building up for the last week, so I figure I’m just going to take this weekend to rest.

Knees and Hips still hurting a little aswell, just sitting is uncomfortable!

647

24-7-17

Squat - Med

Leg swings, banded side steps, sit in squat position

High Bar Squat 20kg 2x5, 60kg x5, 70kg 2x5, 120kg x5, 150kg x5, 170kg 4x5

Paused High Bar Squat 140kg 3x5
SSB Good Mornings 80kg x10, 90kg x8, 100kg x8
GHR 3x8
BB Rows 100kg x5, 110kg x5, 120kg x5, 130kg x5, 140kg x3
Chins 5x8
GHR Situps x15, 15, 10

Knees are still aching, but not as much as they were which I’m happy about. Hopefully be better after another few days.

I’ve lowered my weights on the Paused Squats, I’ve decided I’m going to be doing them beltless. Eventually I’d like to do all my High Bar work beltless, but my core isn’t strong enough yet. I’m adding in some core work to bring it up to where it needs to be!

1 Like
648

25-7-17

Bench - Med

Band Dislocations, Band Pullaparts, Stretch Pecs

Bench 20kg 2x5, 60kg 2x5, 80kg x5, 100kg x5, 120kg 4x5

CG Bench 105kg 3x5
DB Inc Bench 35kg x8, 42.5kg x8, 7
Seated BB OHP 60kg x6, 65kg x6, 70kg x6, 75kg x6
Cable Flys 3 plates 3x12
Side Laterals 15kg 3x8
Dips 3x8
BB Curls 30kg 2x12

My knees are almost back to normal after a week, wont be putting myself through that again! That caused me all sorts of grief!

Felt pretty good today, still trying to perfect my setup, but week by week I can feel myself getting tighter! My head felt like it was going to pop off today.

Last set of Bench:

3 Likes
649

26-7-17

Deadlift - High

Leg swings, hip stretch, glute activation,banded side steps, band dislocations

Deadlift 60kg 2x5, 100kg 2x5, 140kg x5, 180kg x3, 202.5kg 3x4

Block Pulls 207.5kg 2x5 (Supposed to be 2x4)
RDL 145kg 3x8
Front Squat 80kg 3x8
Pullups x8, 7, 7, 5
Shrugs 140kg 4x10

Had a good hard think these last few days! My knees are still causing me mild discomfort, but they still aren’t 100% so I just can’t carry on with Sumo. Its affecting me at work and in training, so its back to conventional.

Block Pulls have always been horrible for me, I’m mo strong off of blocks than I am off the floor so I figure that would be a good place to start for my second movement. They were supposed to be for 2x4 today, but my brain was yelling 5 at me throughout my sets for some reason!

Second set of Deadlifts, and first set of Block Pulls:

1 Like
650

Maybe do them as if you are a beginner. Do your conventional then sumo with only a plate. Each week add 5lbs per side. I think your still rushing with the weight. Not trying to push you one way or the other but I do think even 315 starting is quite a bit, sumo leverages are very different than conventional. Think of it like wide grip bench when you’ve only been close gripping for the last year. Even going light 205-225 you’ll be beat up, chest sore as Shit.

3 Likes
651

Thats a good idea mate, when the knees are 100% i’ll do that, just do 2 sets a week after conventional, start at 60kg and work from there

2 Likes
652

Keeping a log of my weight now too, as I’ve got no comps planned for a while, so going to try add some mass to my frame followed by a small cut back down to the lower 90s.

Yesterday: 94.3kg
Today: 94.5kg

653

Weighing 94.8kg on waking.

1 Like
654

28-7-17

Squat - Low

Banded side steps, leg swings, glute activation, stretch hips, band dislocations

Squat 20kg 2x6, 60kg 2x6, 110kg x6, 140kg x3, 170kg 4x6

Paused High Bar Squat 130kg 3x6

Deadlift 60kg x5, 100kg x5, 152.5kg 4x6

Leg Press 4x8, 200kg, 240kg, 280kg, 320kg
GHR 3x8
Machine Row 60kg 3x8

Knees still not 100% but theyr slowly getting there, its just my right knee now thats causing me any problems.

Even with the above, Squats felt good, I really need to stop rushing my walkout though in the gym and get myself exactly where I want to be before starting my reps!

Tried a little something different with my deadlift, and I have to say it felt great! Kept my hips a little higher than usual and I felt a lot tighter, the reps felt smoother and less like it was trying to pull me forward. Still a work in progress but I may be onto something.

I was watching back my pulls from the other day, and I drop my hips so low before I start pulling which puts my shoulders over the bar rather than my shoulder blades.

Last set of Squats, 2nd set of Pauses, 1st set of Pulls:

1 Like
655

Woke at 95.0kg

1 Like
656

Could be you’ve solved your problem…

1 Like
657

Fingers crossed man, only time will tell! Looking forward to trying it with a little more weight next week, see how it goes

1 Like
658

29-7-17

Bench - Low

Band pullaparts, band dislocations, banded rows and facepulls, stretch pecs

Bench 20kg 2x6, 60kg 2x6, 80kg x6, 100kg x6, 112.5kg 4x6

Slingshot 130kg x3, 140kg x4
WG Bench 95kg 3x6
Pin Press 90kg 3x8
Cable Flys 3 plates 3x12
DB OHP 30kg 3x8
Dips 3x8
Side Laterals 15kg 2x8, 17.5kg x6

Nothing major to say about todays session, could have used a little more sleep, and more than just a bowl of cereal and a shake before training, but thats minor.

Everything felt pretty good! Deffo need some more work with the Slingshot, it felt a bit weird having not used it for so long, but it’ll come!

Second set on Bench:

2 Likes
659

Woke at 95.4kg

1 Like
660

Woke at 95.7kg

1 Like