February - April 2011

[John]

Sunday 27 February - Madcow Advanced

1. Back Squat: 3 x 3 x 132.5kg
2. Bench Press: 3 x 90, 3 x 100, 3 x 110kg
3. Pendlay Row: 3 x 85, 3 x 95, 3 x 107.5kg

Got to the gym too late to do any assistance work. Will do some tomorrow night.

[John]

Monday 28 February

Warm-up rowing: 5 min. at 2:08 pace.

1. Hyperextension with BB: 12 x 35, 2 x 10 x 40kg
2. Hanging Leg Raise: 3 x 10 x 0kg
3. EZbar Curl: 12 x27, 10 x 37, 6 x 42kg
4. Hammer Curl (Slow eccent.): 12 x 8, 12 x 10, 12 x 12kg
5. EZbar Curl (Rev. Grip): 6 x 37, 6 x 32kg

Trying to keep strict form with the leg raises - no body swing, straight knees, steady speed.

[John]

Tuesday 1 March

1. Dead Lift: 3 x 3 x 177.5kg
2. 45° Incline Bench Press: 3 x 3 x 85kg
3. Weighted Pull-up: 20 x 0, 3 x 8 x 15kg, 10 x 0
4. Hanging Leg Raise: 11, 9, 11

Warm-down trot on the treadmill!!! Well, 5min at 8km/hr with 2min 6km/hr walk before and after. 89 Cal burned. It all helps!

[John]

Thursday 3 March

1. Back Squat: 3 x 120, 3 x 132.5, 3 x 142.5kg
2. Bench Press: 3 x 3 x 107.5kg, 1 x 115, 1 x 120, 1 x 125kg
3. Pendlay Row: 3 x 3 x 102.5kg

No time to do assistance stuff. Will squeeze in a session during the day tomorrow.

Body weight down to 85.2kg this morning :8P:

[John]

Saturday Morning, 5 March - Weltec Gym

First reasonable Weltec session this year due to silly little setbacks - injuries, other commitments etc.

• Squat Snatch: to 60kg
• Squat Clean: to 90kg

Cut the Olympic training short to do some bench press training for upcoming powerlifting meets. One next weekend (which I'm not taking seriously, for various reasons) and a more important one at the end of April.

• Bench Press with pause on chest: to 120kg

Edit Note: This post and all subsequent posts in this topic are copied from a log I've been keeping on Stronglifts forum.

[John]

Sunday Evening, 6 March

Nothing very significant to report I'm afraid. Training-cum-coaching session with a guy who will be a first-time competitor at the powerlifting meet next weekend. We did:

• Back Squat: I only did a couple of singles, maxing at 145kg
• Bench Press: I pretty much avoided this after yesterdays effort to make sure shoulder doesn't become too inflamed.
• Dead Lift: I made a reasonable effort here with singles at 140, 170, 190, 200 and 210kg

All 'n all my squats are crap at the moment (missed an attempt at 150), bench - at maintenance level so I don't bugger my shoulder completely, but deal lift seems pretty solid. Tonight I was the most comfortable that I've ever felt with a 210, so perhaps a PR is not too far away on that. As I've said time and time again, the fewer deads I do the better they seem to get.

[John]

Thursday, 10 March

Was going to rest up all this week before PL competition on Saturday, but I ended up doing a very quick '70%' session tonight. Oh well, this weekend is just a warmup novice competition before the Central Districts Champs at the end of April. Hopefully I'll have re-discovered how to do a half-decent squat by then

1. Back Squat: 2 x 3 x 100kg
2. Bench Press (p.o.c.): 2 x 3 x 90kg
3. Dead Lift: 2 x 3 x 150kg

[John]

Saturday, 12 March

Powerhouse Gym - First Novice Competition for 2011, Wellington NZ

Well my lifts were as unspectactular as I was expecting. Gotta kick that squat into shape between now and the Central Districts Champs in seven weeks' time.

• Squat: 140, 145, 155
• Bench: 110, 117½, [-]122½[/-]
• Dead: 190, 200, 210

Total: 482½

The two guys I've been coaching did well. It was Jordon's second competition and, after making a 200 dead lift look too easy, he got a bit cocky and had a crack at 215 for his last lift. Got it to his knees but no further. So at a BW of 68.1kg he fell just short of making a triple-bodyweight lift. I introduced Lawrence (about 71kg) to squats and dead lifts only about four weeks ago. He squatted 110 (equalling his previous PR), benched a PR of 95 and dead lifted a PR of 162½.

[John]

Thursday, 17 March

Smolov

First night of a 4-week Smolov base mesocycle to help with the squat 1-RM (currently only about 155kg), with a few pull-ups thrown in to contribute to the Million Pull-ups by End of 2012 total:

• Pull-up (palms pronated): 20, 10, 10
• Back Squat (warm-up): 10 x 60, 5 x 80kg
• Back Squat: 4 x 9 x 108.5kg
• Pull-up (palms pronated): 15, 15

Bit of a shock to the nervous system doing more than 3- or 5-rep squat sets again. It can only get harder

[John]

Sunday, 20 March

Smolov Base Mesocycle - Week 1, Day 2

1. Back Squat, Warm-up: 10 x 20, 7 x 60, 5 x 100kg
2. Back Squat, Working sets: 5 x 7 x 116kg
3. Pull-up, palms pronated: 15, 15, 10, 9, 6

Ah, 35-rep Smolov day's always sharpen you up! Pull-ups much harder than they used to be, but with a Million Pull-ups by End of 2012 challenge to motivate me it shoudn't be too long before I can get back to starting each gym session with a set of 30.

[John]

Tuesday, 22 March

Smolov Base Mesocycle - Week 1, Day 3

1. Back Squat, Warm-up: 10 x 20, 7 x 60, 5 x 100kg
2. Back Squat, Working sets: 7 x 5 x 125kg
3. Pull-up, body weight: 12, 12, 10, 10, 10, 10

[John]

Wednesday, 23 March

Smolov - Week1, Day 4

1. Back Squat, warm-up: 10 x 20, 7 x 60, 5 x 100kg
2. Back Squat, working sets: 10 x 3 x 132.5kg
3. Pull-up, palms pronated: 15, 15, 10, 10

Hmm. Squats two nights in a row is tough!

[John]

Thursday, 24 March

Token Bench Press

15-minutes session start to finish.

1. Bench Press: 10 x 60, 8 x 80, 8 x 90, 3 x 4 x 100kg
2. Pull-up, pronated: 15

Last time I did the Mesocycle with exactly the same weights I found the second week wasn't as tough as the first; but it's going to be tough in the third week. Still I need to do something about my squat which is down about 20kg from where it was in November last year.

[John]

Friday, 25 March

Smolov - Week 2, Day 1

1. Back Squat, warm-up: 10 x 20, 8 x 60, 5 x 100, 3 x 110kg
2. Back Squat, working sets: 4 x 9 x 117.5kg

Early closing at the gym tonight - no time for pull-ups.

[John]

Saturday Morning, 26 March - Weltec Gym

Some unmentionably pathetic Olympic weightlifting training + 60 pull-ups to add to the Million Pull-ups challenge.