Thor's Thunder: Electrake's Epic Training Tales

[Electrake]

4/25/24

Main - OHP (strict)

• 5 x 70lb
• 5 x 85
• 5 x 105
• 5 x 115
• 5 x 135
• 5 x 150

Supplemental - OHP

• 10 x 5 @ 115

Assistance

• upright Row 5 x 10 @ 220
• Floor Press 5 x 5 @185lb

Other Stuff

• Weighted crunch 5 x 30 @ 150lb
• Abwheel 5x5

Time 51min
Weight 213.9

Elbows are tender from the last few days, rest day tomorrow!

 

[Electrake]

20ish minutes probably faster in the morning when there is no traffic.

Bro that’s still spoiled for a ‘real’ gym, check it out

My nearest "specialty" gym is in Charlotte or Kingsport, TN, Charlotte is 2 hours and Kingsport 1.5 hours lol. There's a crossfit gym in Boone 30min away, but they don't count.

 

[Electrake]

This one is actually for Saturday, I'm planning a deeply religious experience for myself and want to suffer. Critique welcome

Main - Deadlift

• 5 x 205lb
• 5 x 255
• 5 x 315
• 5 x 410
• 5 x 425
• 5 x 460

Supplemental -Squat

• 10 x 5 @ 255

Assistance

• PullUps 5x5+
• Incline DB press 5x10 @ 90

Legs or whatever

• Rack Pulls 5x5 505+ (No idea what I can do here)

 

[akboom87]

This one is actually for Saturday, I'm planning a deeply religious experience for myself and want to suffer. Critique welcome

Main - Deadlift

• 5 x 205lb
• 5 x 255
• 5 x 315
• 5 x 410
• 5 x 425
• 5 x 460

Supplemental -Squat

• 10 x 5 @ 255

Assistance

• PullUps 5x5+
• Incline DB press 5x10 @ 90

Legs or whatever

• Rack Pulls 5x5 505+ (No idea what I can do here)

 

[Hyde]

This one is actually for Saturday, I'm planning a deeply religious experience for myself and want to suffer. Critique welcome

Main - Deadlift

• 5 x 205lb
• 5 x 255
• 5 x 315
• 5 x 410
• 5 x 425
• 5 x 460

Supplemental -Squat

• 10 x 5 @ 255

Assistance

• PullUps 5x5+
• Incline DB press 5x10 @ 90

Legs or whatever

• Rack Pulls 5x5 505+ (No idea what I can do here)

I think if you are going to do rackpulls they belong after the deadlifts or squats. But I think all 3 of those combined as written are going to be very fatiguing. I don’t think you need to do a full 5x5 on them, unless you are one of those people that counts 4 warmup sets like that and there is one actual work set.

Never max out on something totally new. It’s more dangerous, and you will have neurological adaptations coming that will make you stronger the next time anyway. So better to have an intro week to practice and learn the movement before putting the pedal to the floor on it.

Also, what’s with the 315-410-425 hop? I would think 385 would make a lot more sense than 410…

 

[Electrake]

Also, what’s with the 315-410-425 hop?

Copy/paste typo lol, I'd start at 255 and have a 365 betwixt the others.

I'll definitely ease into it and see what I can get to without stressing myself, I'm pretty ok at noticing when I need to slow down if I'm in a good mental state. I'm also not married to the idea, we will see how my lower back is doing after all that. Still have house cleaning/moving stuff to do after lol

 

[Hyde]

Copy/paste typo lol, I'd start at 255 and have a 365 betwixt the others.

I'll definitely ease into it and see what I can get to without stressing myself, I'm pretty ok at noticing when I need to slow down if I'm in a good mental state. I'm also not married to the idea, we will see how my lower back is doing after all that. Still have house cleaning/moving stuff to do after lol

5x5 is probably fine at 315, but if you smash them is where it could get greedy.

 

[Electrake]

5x5 is probably fine at 315, but if you smash them is where it could get greedy.

I agree. Deadlift days are holy to me, I don't mind being there for 2 hours if that's what it takes.

 

[Resolve10]

I agree idk if I'd be down to do 5x5 of a movement like that after Deads and Squats unless everything was dialed back to a certain degree.

Personal preference but also not really a fan of rack pulls. I prefer blocks and even then I think it just turns more into an ego thing. Most people who do lots of pulls there don't really need those kinds of pulls. If it really is a weakness that needs addressing I find that individuals who do need them actually have trouble lifting a ton of weight on them, hence the need for them as a weakness in their pattern. I find more people need help with from the floor and if missing lockout strength on deadlifts do better with things that will force better positions once they reach that higher part of the movement (as possible coordination and positioning is leading to the miss at the top), doing them much "lower" on blocks than they think they need (not super high which can be tough to get pins set low enough), or accommodating resistance like chains has helped me more when I needed that kind of work.

Again there are definitely use cases though, not saying no one should ever not do them.

 

[Hyde]

I agree idk if I'd be down to do 5x5 of a movement like that after Deads and Squats unless everything was dialed back to a certain degree.

Personal preference but also not really a fan of rack pulls. I prefer blocks and even then I think it just turns more into an ego thing. Most people who do lots of pulls there don't really need those kinds of pulls. If it really is a weakness that needs addressing I find that individuals who do need them actually have trouble lifting a ton of weight on them, hence the need for them as a weakness in their pattern. I find more people need help with from the floor and if missing lockout strength on deadlifts do better with things that will force better positions once they reach that higher part of the movement (as possible coordination and positioning is leading to the miss at the top), doing them much "lower" on blocks than they think they need (not super high which can be tough to get pins set low enough), or accommodating resistance like chains has helped me more when I needed that kind of work.

Again there are definitely use cases though, not saying no one should ever not do them.

All of that is my experience too, just with myself. I hate pulling off from blocks, but they work for me because my conventional is always strong from the floor and pulling from 3-4” blocks is a weakness (I can only lift similar weights as floor).

But rackpulls I struggle to obtain the actual positions I’d be at by that height when deadlifting from the floor. So they don’t really transfer well.

 

[Dustin07]

I'm one of those who needs rack pulls in his life because 90% of lifting for me is and always has been mental. I can feel like dogshit walking into the gym but with headphones on, the ritual of lacing up shoes and pulling on knee sleeves gets my competitive side amp'd up.

adding 5lbs a week or whatever on a given cycle from the ground is nice but for me reaches diminishing returns a lot faster if I don't do those rack pulls. I do believe there is of course physical/neurological benefits to simply holding very heavy weight (squat walk outs, bench holds, etc) and I used heavy rack pulls to rehab my back injury years ago.

But now days I just find that heavy rack pulls seem to give my body the ability to hold very heavy weight without being anywhere near as taxing as a full conventional. What I want to do in the next few weeks is cycle from deficit pulls > rack pulls and then see where my conventional is.

Main - OHP (strict)

• 5 x 70lb
• 5 x 85
• 5 x 105
• 5 x 115
• 5 x 135
• 5 x 150

what's your PR here, or goal?
at 150 x 5 you have me paying attention lol. I think my best legal rep was like 205 but I'm not sure if my 5 rep ever crossed 175ish. I was using micro plates in the 160s to eek out gains.

There's a crossfit gym in Boone 30min away, but they don't count.

they aren't what they used to be. in the good old days, I'd spend 90+ minutes training at the box before I even started doing wods. it was a hangout. pound a shake, aminos, water, 20 minutes later do another wod. We would look at all the benchmark wods and our leaderboards at our box and start takings stabs at them trying to earn the #1 on every board.

Main - Deadlift

• 5 x 460

fuuuck.

 

[Electrake]

what's your PR here, or goal?

PR for 100% strict with a decent warmup is 225, same with the log. I don't really have a goal for OHP atm except to increase my weights, but it's been something I was missing for years to increase upper body size and overall push strength. Bench rocketed up when I started incorporating it about a year ago. At the moment, I'm comfortable with 175x5, but last week I dialed my weights back significantly in order to get some more volume in, work on endurance, and basically just keep my **** together until life is stable lol.

 

[Dustin07]

I always sorta see 150+ for reps kinda like 225+ for reps on bench. it's like that foundational launching pad for most male lifters I think. Yes these can be 1rm goals for a lot of guys at first, but as you're chasing big numbers they sorta are like the launchpad IMO...

Bench rocketed up when I started incorporating it about a year ago.

man I wish I was the same. I definitely had diminishing returns and found that specializing in one or the other, and treating the other as an accessory was the key for me. The only time I've been able to get two lifts to PR side by side was really 2023 when I focused exclusively on deads and bench and let OHP, Squats, cleans, jerk everything else wither a bit.

 

[Electrake]

I always sorta see 150+ for reps kinda like 225+ for reps on bench. it's like that foundational launching pad for most male lifters I think. Yes these can be 1rm goals for a lot of guys at first, but as you're chasing big numbers they sorta are like the launchpad IMO...



man I wish I was the same. I definitely had diminishing returns and found that specializing in one or the other, and treating the other as an accessory was the key for me. The only time I've been able to get two lifts to PR side by side was really 2023 when I focused exclusively on deads and bench and let OHP, Squats, cleans, jerk everything else wither a bit.

I agree with everything about the 150 range, seems like a hard place to get to, but when you're there you're kind of stuck unless you specialize lol.

Everything else you mentioned definitely seems par for the course. I think I still have a lot of "beginner" gains to be achieved from years of poor training, bodybuilding specialization, and improper diet. The last year+ of strength training has seen my biggest PRs and I may be the most muscular I've been, besides coming back from Iraq at an absolutely shredded 170 lol. But those were my "Jim Stoppani is god" days. Thanks Bodybuilding.com

 

[Electrake]

I thought this was weird... I added a scoop of karbolyn to 20oz almond milk, scoop of ON vanilla whey, and 2 tbl PBfit. It's amazing. 9/10 would do again.

 

[akboom87]

I thought this was weird... I added a scoop of karbolyn to 20oz almond milk, scoop of ON vanilla whey, and 2 tbl PBfit. It's amazing. 9/10 would do again.

I need to locate some Protein powder this weekend, this tub of ghost I got I am not fond of.

 

[Electrake]

I need to locate some Protein powder this weekend, this tub of ghost I got I am not fond of.

I'm not sure if it's one of the supps I've been eating, but I've been fighting nausea lately and have been slamming shakes of various types. Would recommend this one

 

[Electrake]

The training plan went as prescribed, it was a mess! Only difference was working rack pulls, I started pretty low, mid shin, at 315 for 5. That didn't do a lot for me so went up 405, 455, 505, finally 525 for 5. No belt, but i did bring out the straps.