My road to 1500

Woke at 94.4kg

I must of really been on the border of maintenance and a deficit before, because so far I’ve added around 300 cals per day over the last 2 weeks and I’m still weighing / looking the same! Looks like I’ll add another 100-150 tomorrow and go for another week.

This gaining weight game is hard work!

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11-8-17

Full Body - Deload

Lazy lifter + shoulders

SSB Squat 30kg 2x8, 70kg 2x5, 110kg x3, 130kg 5x3

Deadlift 60kg 2x5, 100kg 2x5, 140kg 3x3

Bench 20kg 2x5, 60kg 2x5, 80kg x3, 100kg 5x3

45 Back Raise 20kg 3x8
GHR Situp BW 3x12

Was supposed to be Squat and Deadlift today, and Bench tomorrow but I decided I’d do a full body deload today, and take the full weekend off of training. Elbow is feeling slightly better, hopefully good for getting back to things next week!

Recorded my DL sets, looked pretty decent. Position feels good, I just dont feel I’m getting the leg drive I’m capable of. I seem to treat the lift as a Pull only, and am struggling to cue the ‘push the world away’ for leg drive, it feels like I initiate the lift with my back.

Sets 1 and 2 of Deadlift:

I find as long as I’m sitting back hard, I get leg drive. If I’m not, my back takes over.

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Cheers man, I’ll give it a go! I’d noticed from your vids you lean back onto your heels quite a lot, which is something I’ve never been able to replicate

Yes, that’s key. It’s actually how I bend down to pick stuff up even, makes my other half crack up. It’s all about reaching back with your arse and keeping your shins vertical.

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Re-watching my vid, if I lean any further back my shoulders might be too far back? I’m not sure but I’ll try it and see what happens anyway man, thanks! :slight_smile:

Wokebat 94.8kg

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I always aim for front delts behind the bar myself…

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Everythin I’ve ever read / seen has always drilled in that its shoulder blades over the bar, front delts slightly forward

I’ve gone by what works, TBH. I’ve read shoulders behind, but that may have meant shoulderblades. For me, I envisage a line extending up from the bar perpendicular to the floor, with my shoulders touching but not going in front of it when I’m setting up on the floor.

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Woke at 94.4kg

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Woke at 95.2kg

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14-8-17

Deadlift - High

Lazy lifter + shoulders, banded side steps

Deadlift 60kg x5, 100kg 2x5, 140kg x5, 170kg x3, 207.5kg 3x4

Paused Deadlift 170kg 2x4 (Beltless)
RDL 140kg 3x8
45 Back Raise 20kg 3x8
Pullups BW x8, 7, 5, 5
Shrug Machine 120kg 2x12, 160kg x8, 7

Everything felt pretty good today, I really need to work on getting my hips through, but I’m happy that its progressing.

I used the Paused DLs to focus on starting the lift with my legs rather than my lower back which I tend to do, as you can see in the difference from my first rep, to the last 3 reps.

Last set of DLs, first set of Paused:

That looked better. It’s just a matter of getting used to driving with the legs, so you push rather than pull with your back.

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Woke at 94.4kg

Thanks man! I could definately feel a difference pushing with the legs rather than pulling with my back, its a work in progress :slight_smile:

15-8-17

Bench - Low

Lazy lifter + shoulders, stretch hip flexors, band pullaparts between warmups.

Bench 20kg 2x8, 60kg 2x5, 80kg x5, 100kg x3, 115kg 4x6

Close Grip Bench 102.5kg 3x6
Pin Press 95kg 3x8
DB OHP 30kg 2x6, 35kg 2x6
Cable Flys 4 plates 3x10
Dips BW 4x8
Side Laterals 15kg 3x8

My hip flexors have gotten stupidly tight as of late, really need to get them stretched back out!!

Everything feeling good today! The early Deload was exactly what my elbows needed, aswell as the saitch around of Squat and Bench days, no discomfort or pain at all! Happy days!!

Not sure exactly what happened on Pin Press but I think I set up with my feet in a slightly different position, I felt like I was more on my traps during the sets, and I actually got Glute cramp because I was squeezing them that hard!

3rd set of Bench:

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Woke at 96.4kg

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16-8-17

Squat

Lazy lifter + shoulders, hip flexor stretch, leg swings, banded side steps

Squat 20kg 2x5, 70kg 2x5, 100kg 2x3, 120kg x3, 150kg x3, 177.5kg 4x6

Paused SSB Squat 120kg 3x6

Deadlift 160kg 4x6

Belt Squat 50kg 3x8
GHR BW 3x10
Pendlay Rows 110kg 5x5

Squats felt great today, wore my belt a little lower than usual, and my bracing felt a lot stronger than usual!

The gym got a new Belt Squat today, and its awesome! Its definately going to be featuring in my programming from now on, great assisstance movement.

Deadlifts, what can I say… they moved faster today than they ever have, I think I’ve got this pushing the floor away thing pretty much sorted! :slight_smile:

2nd set of Squats:

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Woke at 95kg

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18-8-17

Bench - Med

Lazy Lifter + Shoulders, lots of pull aparts, stretch hip flexors and pecs.

Bench 20kg 2x5, 60kg 2x5, 80kg 2x5, 100kg x3, 122.5kg x5, 5, 4, 3

Spoto Press 3x5 110kg

DB Inc Bench 30kg 3x10
DB OHP 25kg 3x8
Dips BW 4x8
Side Laterals 12.5kg 3x8

Bench 90kg x a few triples (working on form)

Really crap session today! Very tired from lack of sleep last night. I have issues with night terrors from time to time, not had any episodes for quite a while, now I’ve had 2 in the space of around 2 weeks. Woke up around 1am and struggled to sleep for the rest of the night. Work has been a real chore today (I actually fell asleep briefly while laying down running a weld) and training wasn’t much better, but I hit most of what I wanted to.

Bench setup felt really off today, couldn’t get tight, leg drive felt not there at all, and my lower back took a bit of a beating from not being setup right, which I why I hit a few lighter triples to see if I could tidy it up for the day, didn’t manage it.

Oh well, hopefully I’ll sleep better tonight, Front Squats tomorrow!

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