The Training of the Hal

Training Logs
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21

29th

Rugby Practice: 1 hour

Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 2x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg

SGDL: 2 x 6 x 170kg
OHP: 2 x 5 x 80kg
Pull-up: 2 x 8

Solid session. Nothing too extreme because I have rugby tomorrow, but I felt strong.

22

30th

Rugby Match: great game, narrow win against decent opposition.

31st

Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 2x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, 2 x 2 x 220kg

SGDL: w/u, 6 x 3 x 140kg (explosive)

Bench laterā€¦

23

Bench: w/u with 70kg, 3x110kg, 3x130kg; 5 x 3 x 140kg

Just getting some solid reps in. Felt ok.

24

February 1st

Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 2x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, 2 x 2 x 220kg

OHP: 3 x 5 x 80kg

Pretty good session again, ready to start pushing hard again over the next few weeks.

25

Thatā€™s some pretty solid weight on snatch deadlifts. I bet that straps will give you a lot more if youā€™re not used to wear them.

5 plates with snatch grip before summer?

btw. Are you done with high-bar work?

26

Yeah, the SGDLs are feeling great at the moment! If I get to 500lbs SGDL surely my conventional will be approaching 600lbsā€¦ Iā€™ll have to test that out.

As for high-bar squats, no I havenā€™t cut them completely, Iā€™ve just focused on maximizing my low-bar frequency over the last month to hit the 250kg I was aiming for and hopefully more soon! Iā€™ll cycle them back in when I feel like changing something; I was considering doing some last week but my knee was sore so I stuck with the safer option. Maybe Iā€™ll give them a go later this week.

Thanks for stopping by, more PRs coming soon!

27

2nd

Squat: w/u with 2x120kg, 2x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, 2 x 4 x 210kg

Calf Raise: 3 sets to failure, pause at top and slow eccentric

Seated Machine Row: 12 x 91kg, 12 x 105kg, 8 x 115kg (or full stack, might be 120)

More work completed. Iā€™m quite busy at the moment with school work etc. (chemistry practical assessments this week), but still pushing hard. Looking for a new deadlift PR and another few kgs on my squat this month. Bench is improving too, so look out for some big weights there as I begin to gain bodyweight slowly to reach 105kg again.

28

3rd

Rugby Practice: 2hrs, not much contact but a lot of running

Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 2x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, 1 x 245kg

SGDL: 3 x 160kg (add straps), 3 x 180kg, 1 x 200kg (PR!)

HB Squat: 15 x 120kg just to try it out after knee pain least week. Felt ok.

Some heavy weights lifted there, I think Iā€™m improving nicely, especially considering the rugby beforehand.

29

4th

Bench: w/u, 3 x 3 x 140kg, 3 x 5 x 130kg, 3 x 8 x 110kg

Nothing else today, tired and couldnā€™t get to the gym so trained bench at home. Heavier work tomorrow.

30

Congratulations on the SGDL PR man! Nice work, especially after rugby

31

@squats_and_milk Thanks, I have a feeling Iā€™ll be breaking that again soon though as Iā€™m still getting used to the straps and how much more I can lift with them - 220kg might not be too far away!

5th

Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 2x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, 1 x 245kg, 4 x 220kg (PR!)

Pull-ups: a couple of sets of 10 and then some isometric holds

I went in looking for a PR today, and, as it wasnā€™t coming with the maximum lifts, I decided to go for reps with 220kg. It was a bit ugly on the fourth rep but definitely a new PR, so I got what I wanted (albeit with a rather small increase, but weā€™re getting there!). Another good session.

32

6th

Deadlift: beltless snatch-grip to 3 x 160kg, 2 x 190kg (PR); then conventional, belted - 1 x 210kg, 1 x 220kg, 1 x 230kg; then beltless - 2 x 1 x 200kg; then beltless snatch-grip - 5 x 160kg

Push Press: w/u, 5 x 90kg, 5 x 100kg (massive PR!), 1 x 107.5kg (PR!)

Well that pressing was crazyā€¦ My previous record was 2 reps (I believe) at 100kg, so hitting 5 was bizarre - I guess all of my overhead press sessions payed off at once!
There was a rugby match scheduled for today so I had planned to take a day off squatting; it was canceled in the end because the pitch had flooded (not sure how, it isnā€™t raining much), but since I had already decided not to squat I thought Iā€™d go for some deadlifts and presses for a change.
Evidently going for the overhead press PRs fresh was a good idea.

33

6th

LATER:-

Bench: w/u to 3x130kg; 5 x 140kg (=PR), 3 x 145kg, 6 x 130kg

Very pleased with the set of 5, felt strong.

7th

Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 2x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg, 2 x 230kg (=PR)

HB Squat: 6 x 2 x 150kg (5 sec. pause squats)

Squats felt great today, far sharper technique-wise than last session. Iā€™ve decided to run the ā€œRussian squat routineā€ for high-bar squats after my daily low-bar max., possibly twice a week instead of three times for obvious reasons but otherwise as written. First session of HB today felt fine.

34

7th

LATER:-

Bench: w/u with 5x70kg, 3x110kg; 5 x 3 x 130kg

35

8th

Rugby Practice: 1 hour

Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 2x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 230kg

HB Squat: 6 x 3 x 150kg (paused reps)

CG Pulldowns: 15 x 85kg, 12, 10, x 98kg

Hit 230kg as a ā€œminimal maximumā€ and then went straight into high-bar. Not bad.

36

Damn, that push press was not too shabby. Good job man, Iā€™m at least 10 kg behind you, gonna try to catch up with you soon :wink:

37

@squats_and_milk Yes, I was impressed with myself there, major progress. Maybe we should have a race to 120kg overhead, or something similar scaled to bodyweight. Whatā€™s your best push press single?

9th

Squat: to 220kg, 230kg

OHP: 2 x 5 x 90kg, 5 (strict) x 70kg

Pullups: max reps

Not much yesterday; I was tired after the two days of high-bar in addition to the normal heavy low-bar singles, and wanted to remain fairly fresh for rugby today.

10th

Rugby Match: played about 60 mins. of the game, and won. Good job done.

Bench laterā€¦

38

10th

Later:-

Bench: 5x70kg, 3x110kg; 3, 3, 3, 3, 5 (=PR), x 140kg

39

Hell yeah that would be a nice challenge for me.
With relatively small strict press numbers and decent leg driveā€¦ I kinda jerk my push presses a bit. The heaviest I went behind the neck are smooth 3 sets of 9 with 85 kgs. (BW 87-88 kg)
Never tried 1-3RM but the first rep is always the most difficult one so my max is prolly around 105 kg.

40

11th

Squat: w/u with 3x120kg, 2x170kg; 1 x 220kg, 1 x 240kg

HB Squat: 6 x 2 x 150kg (5 sec. pause in bottom position, beltless)

Muscle Snatch: 4 x 4 (or 5) x 60kg (superset with the first sets of high-bar squats)

Still going well. High-bar, beltless pause squats felt very easy; hopefully running this Russian Squat Routine as my high-bar program will get me to a 200kg+ beltless high-bar squat (220kg would be nice in the near future).
@squats_and_milk Sounds good, letā€™s get working on it! Two red bumper plates (25kg each) per side - it should look pretty too!