ElitePL242's Journal
 

finally making a journal on here. i've been real busy ever since my meet with finals and everything. i ended up going 540/369/584 in my meet @ 233lbs. that is nowhere near what i can do, so that means it's back to work. besides work, and the world cup, all i have to do is eat and lift.

today is the last workout of my 4 week speed cycle.

squat, 67.5%
405x10 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMXPOFtwlqU)

box squat, 47.5%
285x8x3

leg curl
135x10x3

calves
4x20
4x20


pretty good day. got a video of 405 so people can finally see what i look like. go usa.

Looking forward to following along my man. A few questions:
1. What's the plan now that you've graduated and how did your project turn out?
2. Do you have another meet in mind for now? So, what are your goals?
3. What will your training look like? What is the basis for your program?
4. What gym is that in the video?

Can't wait to follow all of this.

expect a phone call very soon for the answers to these questions.


anyway, i started a new sticking point cycle today, with about 4 hours of sleep, here's how it went:


bench, 75%
300x8
300x8
300x6 (supposed to be 8)

bench 2bd, 80%
320x4 (8)

bench 3bd, 82%
295x8 (supposed to be 330)

close grip
245x8
255x8
255x8

military
135x8
135x8
135x8

russian twists
25x15
25x15
25x15


everything felt heavy (surprise), but that's what i get for only getting 4 hours of sleep. the first 2 sets of bench were fine and then the rest was tough. that is contributed to the volume increase, obviously. i'll probably feel this tomorrow.

405x10 is INSANE!!! cant wait to follow along

-also, i have noticed from your competition journal you incorporate russian twists frequently..whats the reason for this? just core strenght to help w/ the big 3??

it actually just felt like 315 used to.

exactly. it's the main ab work that we do and sometimes i'll throw some more ab work in during the week. but i also think you're thinking of a different russian twist than what we do.

talked to my trainer today to throw some ideas around about my plans for my next meet (next april) and how i'm going to get there. also put together my own sticking point cycle with his help. i am also switching to a sumo deadlift for a while to see where it gets me.


deadlift, 60%
360x10
360x10

rack pulls below knee, 70%
420x10

bent row
365x8
365x10

shrug
495x10
495x10
495x10

good mornings
315x10
315x10

db curl
60x5, 50x5, 40x5, 30x5, 20x5, 10x5 (dropset)


this was a pretty tiring workout. i was actually supposed to take like 10% of my conv. deadlift max and do my sumo stuff from that, but i didn't. we'll see what happens. i still might drop my max a little. the deadlifts actually didn't feel too difficult. just the mix of completely changing my mechanics along with not having deadlifted in ~ 2 months, and sets of 10 wore me out pretty quick. the rack pulls were pretty easy, even after my lower back was fried from deads. bent rows were moderate, shrugs were easy, gms were moderate, curls were curls. i might tinker around with this some more but it felt pretty good.

btw, i actually like sumo. it feels stronger with my leverages.

I've tried sumo before as well and liked the feel, although I typically pull conventional. I'm curious to see how your training with it goes.

Nice to see you post a journal here.

I tried sumo for awhile a few years ago and went I went back to conventional deadlifts it seemed to help. Mostly due to the increased hip strength.

please explain your russian twist for me. the one I am familiar with and use is done on an incline bench, holding a plate out in front of me...then twisting back on each side and sitting up. similar?

Nice, you finally got a journal up. And now we know what you look like, big! Interesting experiment switching to sumo, I've never tried it. Seems like a shorter ROM but I'm not sure if its necessarily easier. Keep us updated.