I know, urgent deadlifting was needed after seeing your training, so I got right to it!
At least 240kg is something, but I would like to deadlift something closer to my squat very soon…
14th
Squat: w/u with 1x70kg, 3x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, 1 x 250kg, 1 x 255kg (562lbs, =PR)
Push Press: 3 x 100kg, 2 x 2 x 105kg
Very strong session. 255kg wasn’t very nice, but it’s great to have hit it again!
15th
Squat: w/u with 3x120kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg
HB Squat: 3 x 2 x 170kg (long pause, beltless)
superset with
SGDL: 3 x 3 x 150kg
Machine Row: 15 x 98kg, 10 x 105kg, paused reps to failure at 78kg
I got 240kg again and left it there for today; the last couple of weeks have been pretty intense with 250kg+ most days, so some paused high-bar and extras instead today, building towards 260kg+ in the next week or so.
16th
Stat. Bike: power sprints to max. speed on full resistance, 10 sets of ~5-10 sec.
Paused Squat Jumps: 10 for max. height between sprints
Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 2x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 250kg, M x 255kg
“Klokov” Press: 3 x 8 x 60kg
I decided to do a quick speed / acceleration session earlier as I needed to wake myself up and get moving. Not bad.
Squats later were alright, but unfortunately I missed 255kg after misloading the bar (2.5kg on one side, no 2.5kg on the other) and having to rack it and start again, putting me off. Still, 250kg again, I’m building towards some more PRs…
17th
Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 230kg, 1 x 250kg
Push Press: 3 x 100kg, 2 x 110kg (PR!), 2 x 3 x 100kg
superset with -
HB Pause Squats: (beltless) 4 x 2 x 170kg
“Klokov Press”: 8 x 70kg
More progress overhead, doubling my PR! 250kg squat again, still building up slowly. Felt good.
18th
Squat: w/u with 70kg, 1x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, 1 x 250kg, 3 x 230kg (=PR)
SGDL: 5, 3, 3, x 170kg (short rest between sets)
Alright, still working on 260kg. 250kg nearly every session for a while now. Probably won’t be able to get to the gym to squat tomorrow, so I’ll do bench.
19th
Bench: w/u with 5x70kg, 3x110kg; 2 x 140kg, 2 x 150kg, 1 x 160kg (=PR), 3 x 150kg, 5 x 140kg, 2 x 2 x 150kg, 2 x 8 x 120kg
Good benching. No new PR yet, but I will be going for it and getting it pretty soon! Squats tomorrow…
20th
Squat: w/u with 3x70kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 250kg, 1 x 255kg (=PR), 2 x 2 x 220kg
Push Press + FS Complex: 3 x (2+2) x 100kg
Technique felt off today; I think I could have lifted 260kg if I’d felt more balanced and better positioned, but 255kg isn’t bad so I’ll take it for now.
Bent gym bars are annoying me, but it’s either that or a weightlifting bar with no centre knurling, so that’s that really. Maybe I should try to bring my Texas Power Bar in…
I’m planning a new HB / FS routine to supplement my daily max. squatting, and so I gave light FSs a shot in this complex with presses. No worse than I expected.
21st
Squat: w/u with 4x120kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, 1 x 250kg
Push Press: 3 x 70kg, 2 x 3 x 100kg
Overhead Squat: 3 x 40kg, 3 x 5 x 40kg
HB Squat: (paused, beltless) 3 x 5 x 150kg
High Incline Smith Machine Press: 6 x 50kg, 6 x 70kg, 3 x 6 x 80kg
Pulldowns: 3 x 10 x 91kg
OH squats today to work on stability and balance - I plan to include these for a few weeks, at least, to help me to learn proper positioning overhead.
250kg flew up once I was past parallel, I nearly overdid it and jumped! Still a tough lift at the bottom though, and close enough to my PR for me to call it there.
The SM incline presses were taken straight from Zydrunas Savickas’s video of doing them with 160kg. They seem like a nice addition for extra shoulder work.
Good job, looks like 250 kg is your daily minimum and nothing exciting anymore. I look forward to see you squating 270 kg soon, 5 olympic plates would look cool.
22nd
Squat: w/u with 3x70kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, 1 x 250kg, 1 x 255kg (562lbs, =PR)
Push Press: 3 x 100kg, 1 x 110kg, 1 x 112.5kg (248lbs, PR)
OH Squat: 3 x 40kg, 3 x 50kg, 3 x 2 x 60kg
superset with -
Front Squat: 3 x 70kg, 3 x 3 x 100kg (paused)
@squats_and_milk Yes, 250kg is basically my minimum now, I’m trying to improve at 250 before I push on further, cementing my technique and confidence. Still, 255kg was alright today despite heavy training yesterday, so maybe I’ll attempt 260kg next week.
Strong session again. The push presses are feeling a lot better, I think 120kg is very close, especially as I haven’t rested at all for this PR.
Overhead squats are improving; I’m looking to build my confidence and positioning under the barbell, and I might build up to doing some olympic lifts by the summer - this is just a start.
Front squats are horrible. That’s basically all I can say about them, just a few light sets and I still found them miserable. Maybe weightlifting shoes would help with these, that could be an option.
All with the aim of improving my balance in other forms of squat…
BW around 102-103kg
23rd
Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 240kg, 1 x 250kg, 2 x 230kg
HB Squat: (beltless) 5 x 150kg, 2 x 180kg, 1 x 190kg, 1 x 200kg, 2 x 170kg
Muscle SN + OH Squat: 3 x 50kg, 2 x 60kg, 1 x 70kg
24th
Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 2x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, M x 250kg, 2 x 2 x 220kg
Deadlift: (beltless) 3 x 160kg, 4 x 180kg, 2 x 2 x 200kg, 2 x 3 x 160kg; SN grip - 2 x 3 x 120kg
superset with -
Seated Smith Machine High Incline Press: 6 x 70kg, 4 x 6 x 80kg, 6 x 70kg
The volume in the last few days has caught up with me, but still a good session. I think it’s often a good sign when I start missing, as it shows that I’m pushing my volume and intensity enough to make major progress.
25th
Squat: 3x120kg, 2x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg
HB Squat: (beltless) 3 x 160kg, 4 x 2 x 180kg
superset with -
OH Squat: 3 x 50kg, 2 x 60kg, 1 x 70kg, 2 x 5 x 50kg
Very tired physically after this week of training with extra volume, but still comfortably up to 240kg in 4 sets and the high-bar doubles were good. Big things coming when I finally adapt to the extra training!
Just out of curiosity, are you really doing only 3-4 warm-ups to get to the top set?
Yes!
I write out all warm-ups on here. I normally start with 120kg, sometimes 70kg. I really don’t seem to get any benefit from doing more, so yeah, that’s all there is to it!
Thanks for following along as usual, I expect I’ll be lifting that 272.5kg pretty soon (by summer, anyway) so there should be some excitement to come.
26th
Squat: 3x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 240kg, 1 x 250kg, 2 x 2 x 230kg
Push Press: 3 x 2 x 100kg
Zombie Front Squat: 5 x 3 x 70kg (to practice technique)
Wide-grip Pullups: (strict, paused) 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
More effort, decent lifts. I wasn’t as deep as usual on the 250kg, but made up for it with very strong doubles at 230kg.
I’ve ordered some Adipower weightlifting shoes for my front squats, high-bar, OH, etc. I may attempt to introduce full olympic lifts as well when I’ve improved my positioning enough with the overhead and FS work; should be interesting…
27th
Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg
SGDL: 3 x 120kg, 3 x 150kg, 2 x 170kg, 2 x 180kg, 2 x 3 x 150kg
Pullup: 5, 4, 3, 2, 2, (wide grip, long pauses)
I was shaking with 240kg. I think it might take me 2-3 weeks to adapt to this extra workload fully, but I expect big things after that. The gym is closed tomorrow, so I’ll probably do some heavy bench and then rest.
28th
Bench: w/u with 3x70kg, 3x110kg; 2 x 140kg, 7 x 1 x 150kg, 2 x 150kg, 3 x 3 x 140kg
Reasonable bench training today. I went for a long walk and tried to stretch to speed my recovery, but unfortunately I have a muscle pain around my shoulder blade / upper back area that has been annoying me today; I noticed it when I woke up, having been fine the night before, so I can only guess I slept awkwardly on my side or something. Hopefully it won’t bother me tomorrow.
29th
HB Squat: (beltless, no sleeves, etc.) 3 x 110kg, 3 x 160kg, 2 x 180kg, 1 x 190kg, M x 200kg (lol!), 2 x 180kg, 3 x 170kg, 2 x 180kg, 2 x 160kg, 2 x 170kg
High Incline SM Press: 5 x 4 x 90kg
The muscle under my shoulder blade that I seem to have injured in my sleep is pretty tight and uncomfortable today, so I had to stick to high-bar. I hope that this will resolve itself soon and I’ll be back to full effort training, but some extra high-bar work can’t be a bad thing. The weightlifting shoes should arrive soon too, so I’ll give those a go this week.