Sweetlou's training log

Duramaxhd said:
I wonder if I need to hold it more neutral I try to pull the handles apart rather then into me but I'm sure do
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I was always told to drive the handles up out of the whole. I also push the handles up to push my last down, same way I set up on bench. Makes it feel more natural to me.
 
6/25/15-upper
Warmup
Avg band around knees with movements
Avg band around heel with movement
Quad stretch
Sohdbp/pulldowns/pushdowns 2 sets
Cg paused bench with min arch
275x5x5, much better then last week, back held up and I found a good set up finally. Time to add weight to the bar.
Wide grip Larsen/spoto paused bench for pecs/delta
135x8
155x3x8
Skullcrushers
95x3x10
Pull ups
10/8/8/6 pulldowns-150x10
Front raises/side raises/mini pullaparts
15x10/15x10/25, 3 sets
Notes: back is still a work in progress. Ready to start adding weight to some lifts. Controlling volume at 20 sets per session. All incline benches were taken so I just stayed on the bench. You can see how week my pecs are. Those pec isolated presses were challenging. I bench more then twice that with an arch and triceps. Work in progress.
 
I'm interested to see how your groove changes when your pecs are stronger.
 
SweetLou321 said:
It probably won't change much? Considering I use my back heavily to press weights and it controls my groove as well as my triceps.
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I dunno, the body has a funny way of moving the bar toward strong points and away from weak points. My hypothesis is that as your pecs get stronger, you'll recruit them better. You'll play around with a cue and one day something will happen that gives you a few pounds. I've been wrong before, but I'm curious if this will happen.
 
herderdude said:
I dunno, the body has a funny way of moving the bar toward strong points and away from weak points. My hypothesis is that as your pecs get stronger, you'll recruit them better. You'll play around with a cue and one day something will happen that gives you a few pounds. I've been wrong before, but I'm curious if this will happen.
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Matt Wenning said something this effect in his appearance on the PowerCast.
 
herderdude said:
I dunno, the body has a funny way of moving the bar toward strong points and away from weak points. My hypothesis is that as your pecs get stronger, you'll recruit them better. You'll play around with a cue and one day something will happen that gives you a few pounds. I've been wrong before, but I'm curious if this will happen.
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I can see this happening for sure. It'll just take time is all. I just haven't seen any big benchers who don't have big pecs and delta. Matt wenning is one of the few strong tricep benchers I'm aware of.
 
SweetLou321 said:
He said something about his groove changing if he does more pec work right? So he keeps to just enough to be healthy and avoid injury but instead pushes tricep work.
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Right, pecs and front delts. If he does too much, it changes his groove. So he hammers rear and lateral delts, upper back and tris. He even corrected Silent Mike about dumbbell pressing building big pecs. So there's something to be said there about how he even performs dumbbell presses to load triceps.

I had good results on my bench when I did lateral raises, but I shied away from it as I heard from too many sources that it did nothing. Now I'm seeing where it could benefit.
 
herderdude said:
Right, pecs and front delts. If he does too much, it changes his groove. So he hammers rear and lateral delts, upper back and tris. He even corrected Silent Mike about dumbbell pressing building big pecs. So there's something to be said there about how he even performs dumbbell presses to load triceps.

I had good results on my bench when I did lateral raises, but I shied away from it as I heard from too many sources that it did nothing. Now I'm seeing where it could benefit.
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Did he explain how side raises helped? And how does he do his db presses different then other and silent mike?
 
Idk about Wenning but Brandon Lilly said lateral raises help him because as he presses the bar his shoulders will flare (along with his elbows). That flaring will get stronger with lateral raises, I guess.
 
liftandswim said:
Idk about Wenning but Brandon Lilly said lateral raises help him because as he presses the bar his shoulders will flare (along with his elbows). That flaring will get stronger with lateral raises, I guess.
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Hmm this is all interesting. I'm just gonna bring up my weak body parts and hope for the best. What could it hurt right? Lol
 
liftandswim said:
Idk about Wenning but Brandon Lilly said lateral raises help him because as he presses the bar his shoulders will flare (along with his elbows). That flaring will get stronger with lateral raises, I guess.
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I thought of this very thing when I was training in my shirt last fall. Then I read in multiple articles that shirted benching was the death of delt work ten and fifteen years ago. I've concluded just this very moment that no article is as smart as the person that writes it.
 
SweetLou321 said:
Did he explain how side raises helped? And how does he do his db presses different then other and silent mike?
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Lateral raises just for muscular balance. He did not explain it, But I tried it The other day. Think of how you do a rolling triceps extension and try to bias your groove towards that more so than your regular DB press. Think about stretching the triceps by keeping the elbows as high as you can with maximum range of motion as the dumbbells. Its a mind/muscle thing.
 
herderdude said:
Lateral raises just for muscular balance. He did not explain it, But I tried it The other day. Think of how you do a rolling triceps extension and try to bias your groove towards that more so than your regular DB press. Think about stretching the triceps by keeping the elbows as high as you can with maximum range of motion as the dumbbells. Its a mind/muscle thing.
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That sounds interesting. My big issue is imbalances from side to side. So for now I'm just trying to even those out while bringing up weak points.
 
Anyone got any stretches or anything specific I can do to bring my grip in closer for my squat? I used the rack again but I was throwing myself forward bc grip was to close for my mobility so my lats and elbows weren't in the right places. I'd just keep using the mono but I might be moving in sept and the powerlifting gym in that area doesn't have a mono and nothing else close by does either.
 
6/26/15-lower
Warmup
Stuff, don't feel like typing it out ATM lol.
Cat squat at 70% of estimated wrappless max. For time.
335x7x3 in 15min 30s. Beat my goal again.
Beltless deficit (3/4-1in) pulls
405x5
455x3x5
Paused leg press
270x3x15
Planks
60s/60s/30s/30s
Notes: squats were ehh. To tight to properly squat out of a rack. Tried to grab as wide as I could. Caught my hand between the bar and rack. Smashed it. Pulls sucked at first then I got my groove and smashed them. Had 495 in me for at least a set. However, on the last set my left lat cramped. That's another small injury for the books. I might need to deload next week bc its starting to add up now. All else was good.
 
liftandswim said:
How many weeks you been at it?
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That was the end if week three. I have accumulated 4 small injuries, sprains, annoyances? Lol. I've already smashed my cat goals for the 8 week training cycle. And I've increased my working volume up well beyond where it has been lately. So I'd say a deload is in order?
 
Funny thing is too, that besides being sore my motivation is at an all time high and everything feels relatively easy and light.
 
Banged up! Lol. I'd say it's time to deload.

And good to hear about the motivation, man. I'm right there with ya. Bring on the gains
 
liftandswim said:
Banged up! Lol. I'd say it's time to deload.

And good to hear about the motivation, man. I'm right there with ya. Bring on the gains
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Yup I agree. I'll back off next week while I program my next 3 or so week block.

Same to you man. My motivation was at an all time low nearing the end if meet prep. As expected. But its nice to want to train again.

Any tips on how to bring my grip on on squats without compromising tspine and lat engagment?
 
Also I prefer to squat before I pull BUT those cat squats leave me with nothing in the tank to pull heavy after. Would you guys think having my 5x5 front squat then my 5x4-5 deadlift work back to back would be better or no? I mean I am pretty dead after the squats. So maybe some lighter sldl or something would be better after cat? It took 20min for my hr to come back down enough to really dig in and pull.

Or I guess I could pull then front squat as an assistance. Since the cat squat is a main squat lift. Not to sure but I gotta change it up a touch next block.
 
Dislocations pre-squatting? Other than working on shoulder mobility, I've got nothing. I'm not the best guy to ask with things like this. I've never had to improve my mobility.
 
And I wouldn't necessarily change something because it's hard the first few times. I know that's not exactly what you're saying, just offering up my 2 cents. Either way it won't make a huge difference. You're busting your ass in here
 
liftandswim said:
Dislocations pre-squatting? Other than working on shoulder mobility, I've got nothing. I'm not the best guy to ask with things like this. I've never had to improve my mobility.
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I do those already. I guess I could get more aggressive with them in general and over time I could bring it in.
 
liftandswim said:
And I wouldn't necessarily change something because it's hard the first few times. I know that's not exactly what you're saying, just offering up my 2 cents. Either way it won't make a huge difference. You're busting your ass in here
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Its not that its hard, its that I'm spent. Its hard for me to really lock in my form and pulling after. Plus I've gotten to injuries from doing it this way. I'm sure my si was related to the pause pulls and now my lat. I may change it next block just to see how it feels. It'll be the same work done. But it may be note quality work which will result in less injuries ATM.
 
Whatever you do, keep the CAT squats at the forefront of whatever day you do them - you can't hope to be as forceful as possible if you're not fresh.
 
Hyde said:
Whatever you do, keep the CAT squats at the forefront of whatever day you do them - you can't hope to be as forceful as possible if you're not fresh.
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Which is I think the opposite of what Josh Bryant suggests I think. I'll try to find his exact wording
 
Duramaxhd said:
Which is I think the opposite of what Josh Bryant suggests I think. I'll try to find his exact wording
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Really? Please do, if you can. That mf'r knows some awesome sh*t about isometrics and PAP and the like. Lot of respect for him. If you've never tried his Lightning Deadlifts, you owe it a try. You'll never pull as fast as with that method; it's nuts.
 
Hyde said:
Really? Please do, if you can. That mf'r knows some awesome sh*t about isometrics and PAP and the like. Lot of respect for him. If you've never tried his Lightning Deadlifts, you owe it a try. You'll never pull as fast as with that method; it's nuts.
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Josh Bryant does say to cat squat second after working up to a heavier lift first. The reason is that when you go heavier first everything lighter then that feels even easier then before. So in turn you will move it with more force then if you just did the cat work first. This only applies on the same lift tho. If I pulled then squatted it wouldn't have the same effect. I have his bench book where he covers this in detail.
 
Here is a rough outline of what I have planned so far.

Day 1
Cat bench work up to 80%x1 then
1-60% 5x5
2-70% 5x4
3-80% 5x3
4-deload
Wide grip paused bench 4x10
Seated cable rows 5x10
Skull crushers/db curls/face pulls 4x10-20

Day 2
Cat squat work up to 80% then
Same as bench
5/3/1 beltless deadlift
Bss or step up 4x10
Abs wheel paused 4x10

Day 3
Cg paused bench 5x5 rpe 8
Oh db press 4x10
Seated cable rows or pull ups/downs depending on lat 5x10
Front/side raises/pullaparts 4x10-20

Day 4
Beltless front squats 5x5 rpe 8
Beltless conv pulls with opposite mixed grip from comp grip 5x5 rpe 8
Ghrs 4x10
Planks 4 sets

Just a rough idea, using rpe to increase the quality of the work in the lower rep range to control ego. 5/3/1 pull would be just to control volume on my comp pulls after all the squatting. Idk yet. Cat work is working towards some rep maxes now. This is another sub max work capacity block.
 
Looks good. Personally, I'd like to see you start the assistance at like 3x10 on the CAT days and increase to 4x10 then 5x10. Or something to that effect. So you're replacing the volume you're losing as you up the intensity of the CAT work.

If this were a strength block I wouldn't worry about something like this, but it's not. Really just regurgitating ideas from the book here.
 
You're saying he recommends to take advantage of PAP before starting CAT, which is the norm - I thought Dmax was stating that it was to be done in a fatigued state though, and working up to a good PAP inducing lift, say a single at 85%, wouldn't take much out of you before starting the 70% work. And you're supposed to fully recover after the big neural-priming single before you start the clock and the CAT reps.

As for lightnings, they're basically speed doubles on deadlift (using an appropriate weight obviously) with x% of chain weight draped over the bar. It works best w/ a training partner. Pull your first rep, let partner rip the chains off, and pull the next rep (without losing your grip or setup on the bar). The first heavier rep is purely used for the heavy eccentric; this creates stored energy that could never be replicated with a true deadlift from stationary. Plus the bar is now lighter, only bar weight, and the combination of lighter weight after neural priming coupled with a cheater eccentric storage lets you unleash hell on the second pull.
 
liftandswim said:
Looks good. Personally, I'd like to see you start the assistance at like 3x10 on the CAT days and increase to 4x10 then 5x10. Or something to that effect. So you're replacing the volume you're losing as you up the intensity of the CAT work.

If this were a strength block I wouldn't worry about something like this, but it's not. Really just regurgitating ideas from the book here.
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I can do that. Plus it'll help me to avoid the pitfall I ran into this block where I became overloaded fast and start tweaking things. I think after this block I'll go into a strength one with the goal of setting a new 5rm in the squat and bench then I'll cycle back down into a pure hypertrophy and work capacity blocks again. I think I can build some 12-16 week waves off that until I pick a meet then I'll go hypetrophy, strength, peak for the meet.
 
Hyde said:
As for lightnings, they're basically speed doubles on deadlift (using an appropriate weight obviously) with x% of chain weight draped over the bar. It works best w/ a training partner. Pull your first rep, let partner rip the chains off, and pull the next rep (without losing your grip or setup on the bar). The first heavier rep is purely used for the heavy eccentric; this creates stored energy that could never be replicated with a true deadlift from stationary. Plus the bar is now lighter, only bar weight, and the combination of lighter weight after neural priming coupled with a cheater eccentric storage lets you unleash hell on the second pull.
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Thanks for the info I want to try this
 
6/28/15-upper deload
Warmup
Hips mobility
Sohdbp/pulldowns/pushdowns 3 sets increasing weight each time to feel out lat
Comp bench
80%-275x2x1
Wide grip paused bench pec/shoulder focus
155x2x10
Db rows ed coan style with pause
80x2x10
100x10
Skull crushers/db curls/face pulls
95x10/25x12/45x15, 2 sets
Notes: lat held up fine. Pull ups are no go for now tho. Had to change bench set up a touch to save my si. Gotta work around stuff sometimes. No biggie. Pecs are weak. I don't like cable rows so db rows it is. I am concerned about to much low back work though. Between db rows, squats, sumo, fronts, and conv I think it may be to much. So I may drop conv, just unsure what to replace it with given the lift.
 
Duramaxhd said:
Thanks for the info I want to try this
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It's honestly pretty sweet. No idea if it helps as I was only able to use it for 2 weeks in a row once, but this is how it looks:

[video=youtube;S5f2sPDZ2_k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5f2sPDZ2_k[/video]​

*it says modified because on a conventional dead you want 2 guys to pull the chain from each side. With the sumo, they were able to latch them all together w/ a carabiner or something so one guy can pull it.
 
Weight loss seems to be what my body is doing right now? Leanest I've ever been and lightest too. Slowly increasing cals per the gfs directions.

I dropped the milf some time ago bc things were picking up with the other girl. We are now dating and its beyond what I expected. She is simply great.

Trying out ironstar test per reviews. Will be getting blood work done soon. Besides the no bloat lack of weight gain I'm unsure. Only on 250 per week. Will be looking to start legit trt again soon as I'm over playing this game. Had some performance issues with the gf too. Which surprised me, even with the cialis I take for bp. So that could be gear, hormones, or just nerves. Either way it sucked. I need a full panel done. Or what private MD labs has and dhea/preg as derm does add to my drive but I don't wanna mix to many variables ATM.

Just updating some other aspects of the log for now.
 
Rodja said:
Nerves will do that to the best of us.
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Nerves for sure. Even when everything is banging on full cylinders for me I often struggle the first outing w/ a lady. If hormones are off you can kiss it goodbye for me lol. But a cool chick will usually be around still to see what it's all about.

Run some Dermacrine homie; just dose on feel if you feel like you could use a bit more energy/libido.
 
Hyde said:
Nerves for sure. Even when everything is banging on full cylinders for me I often struggle the first outing w/ a lady. If hormones are off you can kiss it goodbye for me lol. But a cool chick will usually be around still to see what it's all about.

Run some Dermacrine homie; just dose on feel if you feel like you could use a bit more energy/libido.
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Yeah it was deff nerves. She understood and we started dating after I couldn't perform. So she deff is sticking around. Besides the second night went much better.

I've only ever used one pump of derm. My only concern with adding it in is that study where transdermal dhea at 50mg raised e2 by like 300%. I don't want to be playing yoyo with my estrogen as that seems to be what kills my libido/performance the most. Any comments on that study? Think its something to worry about?
 
7/1/15-lower deload
Warm up
Usual stuff. Being less aggressive as I was getting tighter from doing to much.
Beltless squat
80% of training max-385x3x1
Beltless sumo pull
80% of training max-435x2x1
Quad focused bss
35x2x10
Abs wheel paused
2x10
Notes: found a grip I can use to get the bar out of the rack. Max out the squat bar. Little harder to get tight since I'm not forced tight but it was good by the end. Played my only shoes some more. Yeah no way I can squat in them atm comp style. My quads are up to par and balancing is hard. Pulls felt like air. Decent day for being so light and sleep deprived .
 
You know, I always thought about trying that but the whole dhea -> estro scarred me away as well.
 
rob112 said:
You know, I always thought about trying that but the whole dhea -> estro scarred me away as well.
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I had noticed nothing from a year of 50mg oral other then ed and gyno issues the whole time. So I don't seem to get much from 50mg. Not to mention 25mg didn't increase my dhea s at all on bw. I used derm on y first blast. Had some sleep issues but libido was sky high. However that could have been the test, dbol, or ai, or having a good combo of the above.
 
My experience w/ dhea is it bugged my gyno a lot, just using intermittently. Dermacrine, if you ask me, is more for the TRT crowd that's just looking for balance, not really blasting often. So you'd already have a baseline bloods and then implement the Dermacrine for a month consistently, get bloods, and decide from there (dhea & preg levels naturally fall when TRT is implemented, and eventually often have to be added exogenously, after all).

But not everyone on TRT ever needs to supp with either, or both, dhea and preg. Many get by without.

Anyway, pregnenolone, used orally just here and there makes a very profound impact for me on cycle. All positives except insomnia/inability to sleep long if you overdo it. Hence the using as needed. That might be a better option, as it won't bug the e2. Just google reputable brands, because there are a lot of hit or miss companies.
 
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