Sweetlou's training log

[SweetLou321]

1/16
Cg bench paused
225x6 @7
235x6 @7
245x6 @9
235x6x2 @7-8
Dips
25x6 @7
35x6x4 @7-8
Lat pull downs
115x12/10/10/10 @9
Lat pull downs negatives
70x5x2 @7
Rope face pulls-flat flys-db curls
15x15-20x15-20x12 @8-7-8
15x14-20x15-20x12 @9-7-9
15x13-20x15-20x12 @9-8-9
Cardio: 15min of prowler sprints
Notes: being on my highest volume sessions of the block is went fast. Settling into my layout with school. Was sore from sat but it didn't effect anything but my pumps lol

 

[SweetLou321]

1/18
High bar squat
285x6x3 @7-8
295x6 @8-9
Bss
15x12x3 @sucks
Uni sldl
12kg bellx12x3 @sucks
Abs wheel
12x3 @7-8
Cardio: 10min prowler sprints
Notes: planned 5 sets of squats. However I'm at or past my mrv for that lift atm. I just can't handle a high load for squats. So I have any idea where I am there and I can make smarter programming and profession schemes going forward. Gonna start to explore my deadlift now. Bench I need to pay more attention to the trends but based on fridays session I will know about my mrv there as well. Fun times ahead.

 

[SweetLou321]

1/20
Comp bench
315x2 @10
Cat bench
240x4x4 @7
Dead bench 45s rest
225x1x8
Rope face pulls
15x15x4 @7-8
Incline db rows-db jm press
70x12-30x12 @8-7
70x12-35x12 @9-8
70x9-35x12 @9-8
70x7-35x12 @9-8
70x7-35x12 @9-8
Hammer curls
15x12x3 @7
Notes: I'm so spent holy crap. This block tore me up. I'm way past my mrv with benching, and I'm under on my mrv with my back work. To closer I got on the mrv the better I can program for myself in the future. Bench is feeling better form wise.

 

[liftandswim]

1/20
Comp bench
315x2 @10
Cat bench
240x4x4 @7
Dead bench 45s rest
225x1x8
Rope face pulls
15x15x4 @7-8
Incline db rows-db jm press
70x12-30x12 @8-7
70x12-35x12 @9-8
70x9-35x12 @9-8
70x7-35x12 @9-8
70x7-35x12 @9-8
Hammer curls
15x12x3 @7
Notes: I'm so spent holy crap. This block tore me up. I'm way past my mrv with benching, and I'm under on my mrv with my back work. To closer I got on the mrv the better I can program for myself in the future. Bench is feeling better form wise.

Yeah, it seems I can do about twice the amount upper back work compared with benching. I just don't have the time (or discipline) to fit it all in. Same with shoulder raises and any arm isolation. It's lame.

 

[SweetLou321]

Yeah, it seems I can do about twice the amount upper back work compared with benching. I just don't have the time (or discipline) to fit it all in. Same with shoulder raises and any arm isolation. It's lame.

Same man, but alas my goals are in powerlifting to filling in all those extras don't really play a role in the long term for me. But it's been nice find the limits.

 

[liftandswim]

Same man, but alas my goals are in powerlifting to filling in all those extras don't really play a role in the long term for me. But it's been nice find the limits.

I don't even know what my goals are anymore lol

 

[SweetLou321]

I don't even know what my goals are anymore lol

Get bigger and stronger?

 

[SweetLou321]

1/21
Comp squat
445x2 @10 pr
Cat squat
325x4x3 @7/8/9
Comp deadlift
540x3 @9-9.5
Cat deadlift
390x4x3 @7
Front squat static holds beltless
315x15sx2 @7
Notes: tossed on the oly shoes to squat today. Not sure how I feel about them. They really allow me to load into my legs but that's also my week point. I really folded on the second rep of 445. But I'm so beat up idk if the flats would have been better lol. I'll keep playing and see. I like the way they feel on my feet though. Basically hit a wall on the cat squat down sets. So cut it there. I had a hamstring and glute tugging on my right side on the pulls. Opened it up but after the third down set it start to pull again so cut it, and spent a few min opening up and moved on. Great day overall and happy to end the block on this note. Given how beat up I am.

Ps, front squats feel way better in oly shoes then flats.

 

[liftandswim]

Get bigger and stronger?

Yes. But that's pretty vague haha

 

[liftandswim]

What's your best deadlift again?

 

[SweetLou321]

Yes. But that's pretty vague haha

Lol well at least you have the base for your goals then?

 

[SweetLou321]

What's your best deadlift again?

600 is my best pull to day date. If I keep rolling like I have been then in may I'm looking for 640-660.

 

[SweetLou321]

Setting up my next block. So my issue is the bottom of my bench. Greg nuckols says shoulder strength matters here, cws and Josh Bryant say pecs. So I'm gonna add 3 count pause bench in but I need a second more hyper based lift. I'm torn between deep paused db press and oh press. Would love input thanks.

 

[liftandswim]

I think it's pecs. I think 3 count bench for 6 reps is a lot of volume

 

[SweetLou321]

I think it's pecs. I think 3 count bench for 6 reps is a lot of volume

I agree bud, so with that in mind I'll go with the oh press since I'm doing flys and dead bench later in the week and have a history or pec issues. I don't want to overload them and cause and issue. I've handled the long pauses well in the past.

 

[SweetLou321]

I think it's pecs. I think 3 count bench for 6 reps is a lot of volume

I also wasn't sure what bottom end based variation I could do that wasn't wide grip and wouldn't bother my pec

 

[Hyde]

Bryant has had some success with heavy ass dips, but that isn't for everyone obviously. But I think they work, I've just never been able to keep up with them long enough

 

[SweetLou321]

Bryant has had some success with heavy ass dips, but that isn't for everyone obviously. But I think they work, I've just never been able to keep up with them long enough

I love dips, and I can add weight to them quickly. However they hit my tris much harder then my chest and thus don't seem to fit exactly what I'm looking for here.

 

[Hyde]

I love dips, and I can add weight to them quickly. However they hit my tris much harder then my chest and thus don't seem to fit exactly what I'm looking for here.

Go deeper. Besides, what's wrong with brutally strong tris??

 

[liftandswim]

If you can do them, dips are amazing. They hurt me

 

[Hyde]

If you can do them, dips are amazing. They hurt me

I always beat my elbows up or my shoulders get pissy quick. Idk if it's the length of my arms or what. But they definitely help.

 

[SweetLou321]

Go deeper. Besides, what's wrong with brutally strong tris??

Nothing of course lol. I'm gonna give Josh's bottom end drives a try I think. Should be fun. I just don't have a lot of free time so each lift needs to count. My issue is the bottom so my focus is there. Down the road this will change, and as such I will most likely add the dips back in. But for now I like what I'm hitting.

 

[SweetLou321]

If you can do them, dips are amazing. They hurt me

Something hurts you? How so? I always did well when healthy, i seem to handle them fine now.

 

[liftandswim]

Something hurts you? How so? I always did well when healthy, i seem to handle them fine now.

Tends to cause my biceps tendinitis to flare up (if I happen to be pushing my low bar squat at the time) and last time I did them I had pain in my sternum for about a week afterwards.

 

[SweetLou321]

Tends to cause my biceps tendinitis to flare up (if I happen to be pushing my low bar squat at the time) and last time I did them I had pain in my sternum for about a week afterwards.

Damn man, sucks, luckily I'm past that myself

 

[SweetLou321]

1/23
Bottom end drives (120s rest)
245x6x2 @7
Oh press (120s rest)
135x6x3 @7
Pendlay rows (120s rest)
135x6x3 @6
184x6x2 @8
Rear delt raises-db curls-uni mini band pushdowns (90s rest)
15x10-25x10-25x2 @6
Cardio: 10min prowler sprints
Notes: deload workout. I really like the bottom end drives, was fun and different and really forced me to spend some time at the bottom. Ohp felt great, I'm back. Unsure on the pendlays or some db rows. May just rotate them and have fun.

 

[SweetLou321]

1/25
Comp squat
315x5
335x4
A few pauses at 335
Belt squat
45x10
90x10
Uni sldl
8kgx10x2
Front squat beltless static holds
315x15sx2
Cardio: 10min prowler
Notes: all squats around 7-8. Played with the belt squat to try and turn on my legs. I don't feel them when I squat. Gonna back the squats off a touch to rebuild my pattern, took some videos and it's not as crisp as I'd like. I will rebuild. I snagged some prs but now it's time to clean up the form and get things moving perfect. Gonna dial my warm up in a little more to turn on my quads and glutes for the squat and the hamstrings and glutes for the pulls. Right now my low back is taking over both moves.

 

[liftandswim]

I don't really feel my legs either when I squat, fwiw. Not until I'm 3/4 the way up anyway

 

[SweetLou321]

I don't really feel my legs either when I squat, fwiw. Not until I'm 3/4 the way up anyway

But I do transfer the weight to my back on the heavier sets so I at least need get that strength ratio ironed out.

 

[SweetLou321]

1/27
Comp bench
225x3-4x5
3 count pause bench
225x5
Lat pulldowns
120x8x3
Flys-ext
20x10-10x2
Rope facepulls-db curls
20x10-20x10x2
Notes: easy deload. Worked on my bench set up, much more simple tonight but felt much better so pretty happy about that. Excited for the next block of training.

 

[Hyde]

Training is looking well organized. How've you been feeling with your hormones lately?

 

[SweetLou321]

Training is looking well organized. How've you been feeling with your hormones lately?

Hormones seem to be fine according to my endo. I keep it simple and do 50mg test 2xpw and 6.25 Asin 1xpw. Been doing that for months now. Test is prescribed, asin is not but I hate Adex

 

[SweetLou321]

1/28
High bar squat
235x5x2 @6 or lower
Comp pull
315x3/3/3/4 @6 or lower
Sumo pull
315x1x2 if I trained this I could easily make a sumo come back. Idk how my hips would hold up. Just playing around.
Notes: quick deload. Working over time at work so just snuck this in at my other gym. Squats felt pretty and so did the pulls. Squats looked good on video too. Trying some new warm up stuff and I'm liking it so far.

 

[SweetLou321]

As I was putting together my next block I ran across a plan from Greg nuckols I may just play with for now. It's looks fun and progressive and something I can learn from. Has top sets, amrap, some testing to reset training maxes, and even a conservative peak. All stuff I've tried to employ in my own training with no real structure. So just like my experience with Josh I feel I can learn from this too. I'm quite bored of straight sets and this looks like it will be fast in terms of time and effective.

 

[Hyde]

Guinnea pig it and let us know your thoughts

 

[SweetLou321]

Guinnea pig it and let us know your thoughts

Will do. I'm excited to try it out

 

[SweetLou321]

1/30
Hyper block day 1 week 1
Low incline bench paused
165x12 @8
155x12 @8
140x15 @10
Dips
25x8x3 @7/8/8
Head supported db rows
60x8x4 @7/7/8/8
10min complex of mini band pushdowns/mini band hammer curls/mini band face pulls. 15 reps each no rest between and non stop.
Notes: he had ohp in the program but since my left shoulder doesn't like it atm I swapped for another Greg favorite the low incline bench. I am terribly weak at this and it will address my issue pec and shoulder strength to help my bottom end. Using dips atm since I'm 4 months out from a meet, will get more specific as it gets closer. I was hoping the complex would be a challenge on my cardio but it wasn't at all. I'll try something else next week. Trying to find an upper body dominant cardio type activity to do on this day as the prowler tanks my legs for my squatting on wed. Felt sad to be benching around 1 plate again lol.

 

[jswain34]

Have a rower at the gym? I also had a rope climber at the gym i went to before jakked that worked decently for "upper" cardio. I wasnt the biggest fan of it since you were sitting down just going hand over hand but if you put some effort into it your forearms, bis, and lats got some good work while elevating your heart rate some.

 

[liftandswim]

I find it hard to believe you'll be able to find an upper body complex that'll challenge your conditioning. Upper body just ain't tiring like that. At least for me. Lower body is another story.

 

[SweetLou321]

Have a rower at the gym? I also had a rope climber at the gym i went to before jakked that worked decently for "upper" cardio. I wasnt the biggest fan of it since you were sitting down just going hand over hand but if you put some effort into it your forearms, bis, and lats got some good work while elevating your heart rate some.

I'll be checking. Thanks for the ideas

 

[SweetLou321]

I find it hard to believe you'll be able to find an upper body complex that'll challenge your conditioning. Upper body just ain't tiring like that. At least for me. Lower body is another story.

I agree, I was however hopeful lol.

I'll prob just add a 20-30min mod intensity cardio session later in the week. I have a bike at home to use.

 

[rob112]

You could like have one of the sleds that are basically a flat piece of steel, attach a rope, and then move until the rope is tight, row it in, move back, row in, repeat. It can be kind of challenging.

Lots of nice work, I'm all caught up now.

 

[SweetLou321]

Thought I would take a second to put a full review of joshes method with top set then cat work.

I will start off and say it can be tough time wise as you will be doing a lot of sets with the cat style work. However you really only have 1 challenging set per day or lift per week. It assumes some pretty dramatic progressions percent wise but you can always just tailor each jump to your actual progress. So you will usually have 1 low rep set around 8-9 rpe. Then the cat work is usually an rpe 6-7 unless you are cutting rest periods for conditioning then the fatigue from needing air will bump this up and not the weight. I feel it's great if coming off some injuries like I was. Here is why:

Although rpe 8 most sets will maximize your fatigue to fitness gain. If rehabbing you would want to spend more time around 6-7 bc of this. So this is perfect to get work in and volume in the right intensity range. 1 top set means not much work in the 8-9 range to risk reinjury.

It does have phases like volume strength and peaking but avg intensity is fairly low to ever maximizes the strength phases sadly which would be the bread and butter for most.

Also most rep work is on the low side. But can work on technique.

So good for those that are coming off injuries, hate rep work, and need to do some detailed technique work.

Edit: did some number crunching and the avg intensity of the blocks actually fits very well with each goal. While the "cat" work is lower percents the top set creates a good avg stimulus for a week. Even tho you are taking 100% singles at the end of the peak the avg intensity just barely tops around 90% making the overal training much more manageable.

Also for those of us that like to know where we are in training this style of top set and drop sets does give you some good performance indicators so no need to testing or rep maxes, although they can be fun, not on squats or deads though. We all should hate cardio.

 

[Hyde]

So basically he was a good coach?

 

[SweetLou321]

So basically he was a good coach?

This speaking purely from a programming standpoint. He is incredibly smart yes. I'd say he is a great coach esp if you work with him long term. The end of my peak wasn't ideal as he didn't know my ability for carryover but I'm sure if I could have afforded a longer time with him then it would have been much different.

 

[SweetLou321]

2/1
Comp squat
325x12 @10 the pump was so real and I'm NOT in shape for this, nor will I ever be.
300x7 @7-8
275x10 @7-8
Uni sldl
12kgx8x3 @7-8
Planks
60s/40s/35s @8/8/8
Cardio: 10min prowler sprints
Notes: even tho it was light I knew this was going to kill me. I suck so bad at reps on squat even tho my top end is much higher. I couldn't get all the reps on the down sets without risking going 10 rpe. And since I'm feeling pretty healthy I wanted to keep it that way. Top set was very good technically and depth was on point. Legs/glutes were working hard. Perfect set really. This reset to some lighter weights was a good call.

 

[Hyde]

Nice cardio session

 

[rob112]

Damn Lou I might actually be able to come for you on a 12 rep max lol haha but nice work my man.

Edit: saying it's funny bc you destroy my 1RM is all. Just ball busting brother

 

[SweetLou321]

Damn Lou I might actually be able to come for you on a 12 rep max lol haha but nice work my man.

Edit: saying it's funny bc you destroy my 1RM is all. Just ball busting brother

lol let's go rep for rep then bud. I take no offense and love some good competition. Me and Sean are trying this out but of course I can't match him lol I just suck at reps.

 

[SweetLou321]

2/3
Paused bench
240x12 @10
225x10 @9
205x10 @8
Low incline db bench paused
50x8x2 @7
55x8 @8
Underhand pulldowns-db tri ext
115x8/25x10, 4 sets @7-8
Push ups-rear delt raises
20/15x15 @9/8
15/15x15 @8/8
12/15x15 @8/8
Notes: fun session. Had a bad headache going in. Tried a new technique from Greg, flare and push. Get great and had all my pressing muscles finally engaged. Still gonna work on it. As I over tuck and have the bar slightly behind my elbows indicating week pecs and overactive triceps. Left ac joint is bothering me so a few small changes assistance wise to address it and let it heal.