February - April 2011

[John]

Sunday, 27 March

Smolov Mesocycle - Week 2, Day 2

1. Back Squat, warm-up: 10 x 20, 7 x 60, 5 x 100, 2 x 120kg
2. Back Squat, working sets: 5 x 7 x 125kg
3. Pull-up, palms pronated: 7 x 10reps

Couple of exercises and I'm left feeling utterly stuffed! Um, thanks for the comment ARob. Though I'm not sure it provided a hell'v'alot of motivation.

[John]

Tuesday, 29 March

Smolov - Week 2, Day 3

1. Back Squat, warm-up: 10 x 20, 7 x 60, 4 x 100, 3 x 120kg
2. Back Squat, working sets: 7 x 5 x 132.5kg
3. Pull-up, palms pronated: 11 x 10reps

Tonight's squats felt good. Dunno what was up with Sunday night's set but I felt crap all of the next day (yesterday). Bring on the 10 sets of triples tomorrow night

[John]

Thursday, 31 March

Smolov Mesocycle - Week 2, Day 4

1. Back Squat, warm-up: 10 x 20, 7 x 60, 4 x 100, 2 x 130kg
2. Back Squat, working sets: 10 x 3 x 140kg
3. Pull-ups, pronated: 12, 12, 15, 15

Had intended to do more pull-ups but it was getting late and I got diverted into helping one of the gym staff put away all the weights and crap that people leave lying around everywhere before closing.

[rant]Seems to be a problem world-wide in gyms ... people who train with heavy weights but don't have the energy to put the weights away or walk more than 10m from the gym door to where they feel they have to park. I see people arriving in the gym car park then waiting for maybe 10 minutes or more in their car, hoping a park will come free closer to the door.[/rant]

Will post a video of my other star pupil next time - doing a near-triple-body-weight dead lift. He weighs 68kg and I have no doubt his dead lift will fly past mine within the next month or so.

[John]

Saturday, 2 April

Morning: Weightlifting at Weltec Gym

This sucks right now. I don't have my heart in it and I'm way behind where I got to last year. Won't compete again until after the CD power lifting champs at the end of this month.

• Full Snatch: to doubles at 55kg
• Full Cleans: to doubles at 85kg
• Squats: Couple of sets at 120kg

Afternoon: Smolov Mesocycle - Week 3, Day 1

1. Back Squat, warm-up: 10 x 20, 7 x 60, 4 x 100, 3 x 120kg
2. Back Squat, working sets: 4 x 9 x 122.5kg

Had to take a minute breather before completing the last two reps so - Fail

It's getting tough. Early closing Saturday so no time to do any pull-ups. Will do some BB stuff and a few pull-ups tomorrow afternoon.

Originally Posted by John, Tuesday 19 October 2010:

Smolov Base Mesocycle Day 1, Week 3

Back Squat: 4* x 9 x 122.5kg

Well all the squatting finally caught up with the old man tonight. Sore as - right from the start, so made the mistake of using a belt on the second set. It was too tight and I couldn't suck in enough air to finish the set. Pretty sure I would have passing out if I'd continued past the 7th rep so took a break and then did a couple more reps without the belt just to say I did the reps. Took another break after the fifth rep of the last set.*

Can't really see me getting much further with the sessions as prescribed for this week. Just have to see how it feels on Thursday.

OMG ... Déjà vu!

Just realized; last night's session was almost an exact replay of the above one 5½ months ago. Same weights, same week and day into the cycle. Only difference was I made the 7th rep in the fourth set this time, rather than in the second set. Is that progress? I guess it is. Good news is I made it through the session that followed that one in October.

[John]

Sunday, 3 April

Some training for the back and triceps

1. Pull-up, pronated: 20, 15, 7 x 10reps
2. Str. bar Cable Press-down: 12 x 21, 10 x 29, 8 x 36, 6 x 44, 12 x 36kg
3. Super-set: Bench Press, narrow-grip (15cm): 12 x 40kg
4. Bench Press, narrow-grip (15cm): 10 x 40kg

Very short session. Left with arms burning.

[John]

Tuesday, 5 April

Smolov Basic Mesocycle - Week 3, Day 2

1. Back Squat, warm-up: 10 x 20, 7 x 60, 5 x 80, 4 x 100, 3 x 120kg (with pause at bottom)
2. Back Squat, working sets: 5 x 7 x 130kg
3. Pull-up, you've guessed it - pronated: 5 x 10reps

Session was way easier than the sets of nine at 122. Seems like limitations in the CV system are my problem. Good job I only have to do a single at competitions

Two more sessions of the regular mesocycle sequence to go. Don't expect to be able to complete these without some unscheduled breaks between reps. The weights shoot up too aggressively for us non-juice-taking, old guys.

[John]

Thursday, 7 April

Smolov Base Mesocycle - Week 3, Day 3

1. Back Squat, warm-up: 10 x 20, 7 x 60, 4 x 100, 3 x 127.5kg
2. Back Squat, working sets: 7 x 5 x 137.5kg
3. Pull-up: 7 x 10reps

[John]

Saturday Morning, 9 April

Smolov Base Mesocycle - Week 3, Day 4

Theoretically this session should have been done last night but I needed more time to recover.

1. Back Squat, warm-up: 10 x 20, 8 x 60, 4 x 100, 2 x 120kg
2. Back Squat, working sets: 10 x 3 x 145kg

The first set felt soooo heavy but I struggled through all ten sets. Some reps were a bit short of parallel and one threatened to become a PR Good Morning. Rest up from squats now until 1-RM test towards the end of next week.

[John]

Sunday, 10 April

Some Long-overdue Pressing

Have totally neglected pressing and dead lifting during the three-week Smolov base cycle. Need to catch up with this now because it's less than three weeks before the CD champs.

1. Incline Barbell Press, warm-up: 10 x 20, 7 x 40, 3 x 60kg
2. Incline Barbell Press, working sets: 5 x 5 x 80, 2 x 90kg
3. Flat Dumbbell Press: 10 x 24, 10 x 28, 10 x 34, 6 x 40kg
4. Pull-up: 12reps

Felt reasonably challenged by the 90kg inclines, but I think I underestimated the flat dumbbell weights by about 10kg. Next time!

On the way out when I realized I'd forgotten the pull-ups challenge. Gym was officially closed so only time to do a quick set.