Sean's Powerlifting Journey

Decided to squat today so I don't have to do anything when I get off work tomorrow morning.

Deload

2-Count Narrow Pause Squats
315x6
315x6
365x6

Actually, I did dirty word pause squats. I had someone say a dirty word to me each time I was in the hole. The last rep was "butt baby". Probably the funniest sets of squats I've ever done.

Barbell Step-ups
135x4x8

Single-Legged Barbell SLDL
135x4x8

I still prefer Dumbell over Barbell for the single-legged SLDL but the barbell was easier.

And step-ups make me feet fat.

Happy thanksgiving you all you guys. All of my motivation to continue training comes from all of you and I'm thankful for the friendships I have here.
 
Nice session. I'd lose my air with those dirty word pause squats! Lol.

I'm too scared to try barbell step-ups. I'd probably fall knowing me.
 
Happy Thanksgiving Sean.
 
liftandswim said:
Nice session. I'd lose my air with those dirty word pause squats! Lol.

I'm too scared to try barbell step-ups. I'd probably fall knowing me.
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I lost it every rep lol

I was afraid to but it's so much easier than Dumbell I think. Balancing 135 was easy. I'd be afraid to do anymore though.
 
Upper

Incline DB Bench/CG Seated Cable Row
50x10/135x5x12
60x10
70x3x10
40x4x10 (10" Rest Between Sets)

Bottoms-up KB Press/Inc Rear Delt Fly
35x3x10/25x3x20

Dumbell Shrugs/Swiss Bar Skullcrusher
80x3x15/85x3x8

Cable Bicep Curl/Ext Rotations
5x10
 
So I'm start another 4 week mesocycle tomorrow.

The meat and potatoes is as follows-

Pull day:
4" Conv Block Pull
2" Conv Deficit or SLDL/RDL

Bench:
I'm going to attempt 2-board pressing this week with an undetermined amount of weight. Sets of 10-12.

Squat:
14" Cambered Bar, Narrower than comp
GHR

Upper:
Flat or Incline Dumbell Pressing
OHP Variant

Any assistance work after all that will be whatever the F I feel like doing at the time.

I've never cared for deficit deadlifts. I never felt like I did anything for me. I was thinking maybe do one or two of the following (all conventional): Deficit, Paused Deficit, Deficit SLDL. I'm leaning towards deficit SLDL.

I really don't see the need to pull sumo during a hypertrophy block. Maybe sumo block pulls would be a good idea to get the groove back? But then again, my best sumo pulling has always been after not pulling it for ages.

As for working percentages, I have no idea what my max is on the cambered bar or 4" block pull. Just to ballpark a number to start my working loads with, I'm just going to go off of 600 for each. The numbers seem reasonable and I can always adjust accordingly if it's a slap in the face.

What are your opinions on rep scheme? I might just do the exact same thing I did last round, increasing volume each week with as many sets as possible of 10/8/6 (wk 1/2/3). The 4th week I'll just try to beat Week 3's volume any way I can. Same percentages as last time? 60/62.5/65/67.5 or shift up 2.5%? I'm leaning towards the 2.5% shift up but either will be a kick in the butt. And yes, I'll autoregulate, I just need percentages in my mind to start basing figures off of.

Thoughts/Opinions?
 
I'd say keep the reps up high where you have them and bump the percents. You're adapting to the training, so I think you'll perform as well as you did last time. After this month or another you can get into a phase where you're working on more first reps and better quality in each rep by dropping the reps down a little and another 2.5% bump. How many weeks until the next meet?
 
herderdude said:
I'd say keep the reps up high where you have them and bump the percents. You're adapting to the training, so I think you'll perform as well as you did last time. After this month or another you can get into a phase where you're working on more first reps and better quality in each rep by dropping the reps down a little and another 2.5% bump. How many weeks until the next meet?
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Thanks for your thoughts, man. I'll keep the reps up and shift them all up 2.5%. 4 weeks then a 1 week deload. Right now I'm 20 or 21 weeks out.
 
Pulls

4" Conventional Block Pull
*TnG
375x4x10

Deficit SLDL
*Reset
4"
315x8
2"
315x2x8

High-Bar, Slow Eccentric, Narrow Squat
315x12
325x12
335x12

Barbell Row
225x4x6

I probably could have done a 5th set but it would have hurt. Slightly underfed and worked in this session sour of the moment because of some work stuff.

No more 4" Deficit after m pulls unless I'm wearing a belt. 2" was comfortable though.

It feels like my work capacity took a slight dip but I still accomplished what I wanted.
 
Sean1332 said:
Pulls

4" Conventional Block Pull
*TnG
375x4x10

Deficit SLDL
*Reset
4"
315x8
2"
315x2x8

High-Bar, Slow Eccentric, Narrow Squat
315x12
325x12
335x12

Barbell Row
225x4x6

I probably could have done a 5th set but it would have hurt. Slightly underfed and worked in this session sour of the moment because of some work stuff.

No more 4" Deficit after m pulls unless I'm wearing a belt. 2" was comfortable though.

It feels like my work capacity took a slight dip but I still accomplished what I wanted.
Click to expand...

How long your sessions normally last?
 
SweetLou321 said:
How long your sessions normally last?
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Today, between bull****ting with people at work and laying on the ground, I walked into the gym around 3:15 and finished at 445. My warmup was a whole 2 minutes today.

I'd say 1.5hr average for days like this, including warmup and whatever.
 
Sean1332 said:
Today, between bull****ting with people at work and laying on the ground, I walked into the gym around 3:15 and finished at 445. My warmup was a whole 2 minutes today.

I'd say 1.5hr average for days like this, including warmup and whatever.
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Whoa! I need to speed up then. My days avg 3 hrs. This is not good lol
 
I wish I had 2 hours. I have to get up earlier on squat and deadlift days and I haven't seen 600 on either yet. Gonna suck having to get up at 0230 as I move more weight.
 
RegisterJr said:
I wish I had 2 hours. I have to get up earlier on squat and deadlift days and I haven't seen 600 on either yet. Gonna suck having to get up at 0230 as I move more weight.
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Shouldn't be too bad man. It really isn't that much of a difference. Just some days I'll take more time warming up and working up to a working set.
 
That was a World Record mustache you just killed, Sean.

I dig the new game plan and like everything Herder said, fwiw. Also, 4" deficit is freaking huge. I usually just stand on a 45 or 100.

Gym has been taking 2 hours lately but there has been so much chatting. 1.5 hours of work is pretty much the true norm
 
Some of the strongmen in my gym made it to the strongman amateurs at the '16 Arnold. Axle bar deads at 4" deficit for reps. Weight for one of them (can't remember the weight class) is 675.
 
Depending on the day, I'm usually in the gym for an hour and a half +/- 15 minutes. Heavy squat days, it's usually the 1.75 hours.

4" deficits are no joke. I rotated those and pauses two training cycles ago. Put some hair on your upper lip ... Wait
 
liftandswim said:
1.5 hours is my usual ticket too. 2 hours is too much for me. I hit a wall, physically and mentally.
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Ok I move way to slow. I'm gonna try to push it to 1.5 hrs with the rest of you. 3hrs is the norm at Obb and 4 hrs for Brian Schwab and Jo Jordan. They usually only get 2 lifts done in that time too.
 
capo180 said:
Agreed. I try to be in and out relatively quick. I try to get more done in less time then your usual gym rat lol.
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I see people in my gym who are already drenched in sweat when I get there and are still going after I leave. And they make zero gains...lol
 
Don't you think you'd get more from the block pulls done reset?
 
Chin-ups
BWx3x6

Barbell Bench
*Wide, Middle on ring
95x10
135x8
160x5
+2 Board
185x4x8
-Board, +Double Pause
165x3x5

Cable Tri Ext/Facepull from seated cable
130x5x12/55x5x15

Front & Lateral Raise
15x3x12&15

Hammer Curls
100 Total reps

I'm beyond sleep deprived and I definitely felt it through the session.

The wider grip benching was comfortable. I'm not sure how it will be without the boards though. Still weak as hell, but at least I benched, which I'm happy about.

Video in a bit.
 
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I'm tightening up my diet. Off days consists of ~150g carbs. I'm getting the carb timing down better as well. I'll see how squats go tomorrow without a bigass bloat lol

I'm 99% sure my shoulder issue is tricep related, and it appears to be getting better.
 
Sean1332 said:
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I'm tightening up my diet. Off days consists of ~150g carbs. I'm getting the carb timing down better as well. I'll see how squats go tomorrow without a bigass bloat lol

I'm 99% sure my shoulder issue is tricep related, and it appears to be getting better.
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First video.

Ass comes up when you press, a lot of leg drive turned off and on, kinda heave like. Rib cage goes down as you bring the bar down. Big no no.

Second video.

Leg drive was off the fist couple reps. Looked like you really had no groove honestly. A lot of miss timing.
 
SweetLou321 said:
First video.

Ass comes up when you press, a lot of leg drive turned off and on, kinda heave like. Rib cage goes down as you bring the bar down. Big no no.

Second video.

Leg drive was off the fist couple reps. Looked like you really had no groove honestly. A lot of miss timing.
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And now I shall work on every one of those lol

Thanks man
 
Sean1332 said:
And now I shall work on every one of those lol

Thanks man
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The big one for you is your leg drive, not letting your ass come up. And not turning it off so you cave. Think of it as a power up meter. I'd increase it as the bar comes down. This will drive you up the bar. Touch. Then give 100% and reverse. Never losing it should eliminate the cave and ass coming up problems. Make you tighter at the bottom. If you are gonna raise you head. Make sure to ribcage and belly up as you do so you don't cave bc of that also.
 
So I have a fcked up holiday schedule with work so next week I can't squat at my gym, unless I change squats out with deadlift day, meaning I'd squat 4 days after today. Bad idea? I can squat at work, but I'm not looking forward to using a straight bar and soft gym floor matting.
 
Sean1332 said:
So I have a fcked up holiday schedule with work so next week I can't squat at my gym, unless I change squats out with deadlift day, meaning I'd squat 4 days after today. Bad idea? I can squat at work, but I'm not looking forward to using a straight bar and soft gym floor matting.
Click to expand...

I'd just switch the days.
 
SweetLou321 said:
Its hypertrophy work right and you just came off a deload? You will be ok
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Yessir. Only thing is that it'll spread my deadlift day far apart from this weeks, and I'll swap them again after that, but I think it'll be okay. Only 26 more days and I'll no longer have to lift at work lol
 
Sean1332 said:
Yessir. Only thing is that it'll spread my deadlift day far apart from this weeks, and I'll swap them again after that, but I think it'll be okay. Only 26 more days and I'll no longer have to lift at work lol
Click to expand...

I wouldn't sweat it right now, esp with the holidays and work.
 
Also, the gym owner wants me to do powerlifting for beginners classes after the new year, 2x a week. That'll be interesting.
 
Gonna have to grow that mustache back out man. They won't believe you're a world record holder without that porn stache. They've seen too many weightlifting pics from the 80s.
 
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