Squat: w/u with 2x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 230kg, 1 x 240kg
Zombie FS: 2 x 100kg, 2 x 110kg, 2 x 1 x 120kg, 1 x 125kg (PR)
HB Squat: (long pause) 5 x 3 x 150kg
Push Press: 5 x 60kg, 2 x 3 x 90kg
Various extra lifts today, still tired but I’m sure results will come when I get the chance to rest and build.
Good job!
You’ve got some real thoracic extensor strength to hold those zombie front squats despite you haven’t been doing them very often.
As far as I remember I’ve never lifted more than 3x120 in the zombie mode. Gotta try to bring them up.
@squats_and_milk Well, I figure that if I get my zombie squat to 140kg, I’ll have some hope of a respectable front squat. I really didn’t expect them to begin to feel so comfortable, but they’re feeling more natural every session. With normal FS, I just try to muscle it up with too much forward lean. There’s hope for my front squatting / weightlifting yet!
Rugby Match: 70 mins.
I was asked to play for the local team in one of their final games of the season, and as the Colleges’ League has finished I took the chance to play an extra game. We lost narrowly, but it was nice to play and go out with the team after. Back to the squats today, session coming up shortly…
Squat: w/u with 2x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg
Deadlift: 3 x 120kg, 8 x 3 x 130kg (speed)
BtN Wide Grip Push Press: 5 x 5 x 85kg
Bench: w/u, then 8 x 3 x 105kg (speed)
Squat: w/u with 2x70kg, 2x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, 2 x 4 x 200kg
Zombie FS: 2 x 70kg, 2 x 100kg, 2 x 110kg, 1 x 120kg
Pulldown: 12 x 95kg, 12 x 105kg, 12 x 127kg (must be a PR…?)
Very sore and tired at the moment. I’m trying to get more sleep this week - I averaged around 5hrs / night last week and it’s not helping me.
I’ve also lost weight with the rugby and extra football/soccer and submission wrestling I’ve done for fun because of the improved weather, so I need to up my calories again! Down to around 100kg at the moment, and my press has suffered a bit. Hopefully regular 5x5 (or 5x3-5) will sort that out, along with a bench routine with a slight conjugate influence with the speed work (although I don’t think I’ll be rotating max effort lift variations any time soon, but we’ll see!)
BtN WG Push Press: 5 x 5 x 90kg
superset with -
Deadlift: 3 x 120kg, 4 x 3 x 140kg
HB Squat: (long pause) 4 x 3 x 150kg
BB Strict Curl: 8, 6, 4, x 40kg (with a pause at the top and shrug)
An explosive session today, trying to recover and build toward a greater level of dynamic strength (with more PRs). I’m using 5x5 for my behind the neck (wide grip) push presses to bring my overhead and general upper body strength up a lot over the coming weeks. Big things coming, I just need to keep on top of my habit of not sleeping!
Squat: w/u with 3x60kg, 3x100kg, 1x140kg, 1x180kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 230kg, 1 x 240kg
HB Squat: a couple of sets up to 5-6 x 140kg to get a feel for my weightlifting shoes (I’m going to start using them more for high bar and front squats etc.)
Bench soon. I was in the college gym again today, and 240kg was ok considering the week I’ve had squat-wise. Here’s a picture from the bottom of 240kg
Later:-
Bench: w/u with 3x70kg; 10 x 100kg, 8 x 115kg, 6 x 125kg, 20 x 85kg
Moving to 10/8/6/20 as a once-a-week addition to my training to build my base of bench strength back up. I might try a longer rotation, with one speed bench session, one heavy bench session, and one of these, every 10 days. With the 5x5 wide grip, behind-the-neck push press 3 times as well, that sounds like a pretty solid upper body pressing routine.
Squat: w/u with 2x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, 2 x 2 x 220kg
WG BtN Push Press: 5, 5, 5, 3, 3, x 95kg
Still in need of better recovery and sleep, but the behind-the-neck push presses are going well.
Squat: to 230kg, 240kg
Bench: 8 x 3 x 110kg
“Circus-style” Single DB Overhead: built up to 50kg for 8 reps, not bad for a first attempt, then more practice with doubles.
Core work, pushups, possibly some kind of row.
Off; first real rest day in a long time, hopefully I’ll feel better after it. Today’s training coming soon…
Squat: w/u with 2x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 220kg, M x 240kg (hit support and lost balance), 1 x 240kg, 3 x 2 x (paused) 190kg
BtN Push Press: 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, x 100kg
Well, hopefully I’m getting there (slowly) with the squat, although I really need to start eating more again (I’ve inadvertently dropped 4kg in a week or two, possibly from cutting down on bread). Push press is ok at the moment, I think I’ll get 120kg behind the neck soon, although my standard push press is still feeling off. Maybe it’ll pick up soon, who knows… Anyway, the gym’s closed tomorrow, so more benching coming up.
Weeell, seems like the race to 120 kg push press is getting more interesting 
I’ll try those circus-style lifts tomorrow. Looks like so much fun.
The circus dumbbell press is definitely a good lift for the obliques and core muscles as a whole, with a lot of technique to it. Fun to try for a change, but it really tired me out!
As for the 120kg, yeah I’m getting close; it’s unfortunate that my strength has suffered slightly from “accidentally” losing 3kg bodyweight, but a few weeks of refeeding should sort that out.
Bench: w/u with 2 x 5 x 85kg; 10 x 110kg, 7 x 120kg, 2 x 5 x 130kg, 20 r.p. x 85kg
Simple bench session today as the gym was shut. I wasn’t very fresh after the push pressing yesterday so it’s understandable that I wasn’t at my best, but I still have a long way to go in terms of physical and technical conditioning before I can have a decent shot at a 400lb bench. Tomorrow I’ll begin a new phase of squatting: more volume, more effort, more food. Until then, Strength out!
Squat: to 230kg, 6 x 2 x 200kg
Push Press: to 3 x 3 x 90kg, 2 x 100kg
I’m starting a volume phase (basically the first part of the Russian Squat Routine, but on consecutive days with no rest) to regain my strength base and push on without relying on heavy singles alone, as I’m feeling tired at the moment with exams coming up soon and a lot of work. Still hitting over 500lbs every session though!
I ran in a light-hearted (but pretty competitive) 4 x 100m relay, running the final 100m and winning. Not bad!
Later:-
Squat: to 230kg, 6 x 2 x 200kg
Zombie FS: 3 x 90kg, 3 x 2 x 100kg
Squat: to 240kg, 6 x 3 x 200kg
SGDL: 6 x 3 x 130kg (explosive)
A better session today, maybe I’m starting to turn a corner… Still a massive amount of work to put into my technique and consistency though, and always more strength to gain, en route to 600lbs.
Squat: w/u with 1x70kg, 1x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg
BtN Push Press: 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, x 100kg (damn, just missed last rep again)
Deadlift: 3 x 120kg, 5 x 3 x 160kg
Bench: 5 x 60kg, 5 x 90kg, 5 x 100kg, 6 x 3 x 110kg (dynamic)
Just missed the final rep of the push presses, very close. I would normally work with a lower weight for 5x3-5, but I feel that technique is holding me back and so I have a large potential strength increase to come if I utilize my legs fully in the movement. I’ll stick with this until I get 5x5x100kg, then hopefully I’ll be ready for a PR single.
Squat: w/u with 2x120kg, 1x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 6 x 2 x 200kg
Seated Machine Row: 10 x 91kg, 10 x 119kg, 2 x paused reps x 80kg
Feeling it today after all this volume, which is basically the RSR with a rule of “if in doubt, do 6x2 everyday”… Hopefully it’ll bring some PRs and allow me to train successfully through this exam period without the mental stress of having to hit 250kg everyday! Still hitting a heavy single first though…
Bench: w/u with 2x5x70kg; 10 x 110kg, 7 x 120kg, 4 x 130kg, 3 x 6 x 115kg
A quick bench session. Pretty late and I wasn’t feeling great, but it’s more volume, even though it was with light weights.
Squat: w/u to 220kg, then 6 x 4 x 200kg
Light bench later…
The volume increase is getting to me, but I got it done. 6 x 6 x 200kg soon, then I’ll up the weight. Crazy heat in the college gym, lost about 2kg in sweat.
9th, Later -
Bench w/ Legs Up: ramped to 4 x 2 x 130kg
I have used this style a lot in the past due to injury, and I thought I’d try it again as it worked so well before.
BtN Push Press: 5 x 60kg, 5 x 100kg, 2 x 105kg, 1 x 110kg, 1 x 115kg (PR!), M x 120kg, 5, 3, 3, x 100kg
Deadlift: 3 x 120kg, 6 x 3 x 160kg
Seated Machine Row: 12 x 119kg, 6 + drop set x 119kg downwards
I was going to do 5x5 today for PP, but as the first set felt good I went for the PRs. 115kg was good, but I missed 120kg; maybe I’d have had it if I’d been fresher, but either way I’m confident I’ll get it very soon.
Deadlifts felt good. No squats today, mostly due to back fatigue from the other lifts. More tomorrow anyway, so the day off might help.
Squat: w/u with 3x70kg, 1x120kg; 6 x 2 x 200kg
Then some touch rugby and stuff for a bit. Enjoying the break from 100% Bulgarian training, but I’ll be back to it properly after this volume cycle. I have pretty bad cuts on my shoulders from all the low bar squatting, so I’m trying to let them heal too… But I’ll probably squat to a heavy single again tomorrow, so really nothing much has changed. I felt stronger today though.
