Max Effort Squat

High Box Squat 265x5, 315x3, 375x2, 425x2, 475x2, 505x2x2
Deadlifts 315x3, 405x3, 455x3, 505x3

Skimped on the accessory work tonight and will hit it tomorrow. This session killed me for some reason, the flu has left me with no endurance. But who said Powerlifting was an endurance sport?

Anyway, last week I hit an easy 525 on the High Box Squat and figured this week I would smoke that. Well, at the last second I decided I wanted to get some heavier pulling in too, so I decided to beat last weeks High Box Squat poundage with volume and hit the deads with a bit of volume too...

The 505 High Box Squat Doubles were fast & controlled, I figure this weight to represent the 90% of my 1RM. (Estimated 550-560 1 RM). So sticking to Prilipens chart worked well for this night. Next week will result in either a 1RM or a 2RM, I will Decide then. Currently I have been going with Doubles and Triples with the belief the added volume will develop my strength quicker, seems to be working and until the results say otherwise I will continue on this path. Plus I find doubles and Triples a bit more challenging than Singles...who knows, just got to experiment right?

For the deads I chose to do a simple work up to what I estimate to be 80% of my 1 rm. My last recorded Deadlift 1 rm was at 570 a few months ago, I figure I am beyond that by now and should really test it some time soon. But regardless, the deadlifts were nice, strong and fast considering I was pre-exhausted from the squatting. After these I figured I had performed enough work and opted to push the accessory work out til tomorrow.

Thats all from me, have a great weekend everyone!

Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!

Dynamic Effort Bench Press

11/29/2007
Dynamic Effort Bench Press w/Chains 205x4, 215,5x3
4 Board Press w/Chains 315x5, 365x4x5
Ano Row 120x4x10
KB Single Arm Swing 33x4x8

Speed was great tonight, my 5 year son even said so. He was hanging out with me working out and judging speed. Of course everything I did he said was fast, so I dont really know what to believe. Performing Dynamic Effort Bench Press with the chains set up as I have them is quite brutal. I have them set up so they are fully suspended off the ground at the top, you really have to fight the bar to keep it in the groove. I find this helps when controlling heavier weight.

4 Board Press w/chains were nice and fast as well. Will up the weight next week on these as 365 was a touch too light. Ano rows and KB Single Arm Swing rounded out the night, these also had Jakob giggling like a school girl to watch his big strong daddy swinging around a weight like a wee little boy. All in all, it was kind of fun having the little crumbsnatcher down there and him pretend working out, made the task at hand much more bearable.

Tune in next time for ME Squat where I hope to beat my previous performance of 525x2 on the parallel box RAW baby!!!

Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!

Powerlifting

Had a bit of an Ab Tear and have been busy, so sorry for the lack of updates here at Powerlifting Etc. But here's the last couple of workouts....


11/24/2007 Max Effort Squat
High Box Squat (Parallel) 235x5, 285x3, 335x2, 385x2, 405x2, 455x2, 500x2 (This may have been a PR), 525x2PR
KB Swingthroughs 73x4x12
Leg Curls 75x3x12
Crunches...

525 for a double was a nice PR considering the Ab muscle tear... The funny thing is I am pretty sure I had alot more in the tank. But with the ab twinging, I held back.....

11/25/2007 Max Effort Bench Press
Floor Press 165x5, 205x3, 235x2, 265x2, 305x2, 315x3x2
Laying DB Tricep Extensions 50x4x6
DB CSR 30x12, 40x10, 50x10, 60x10
DB Shoulder Press 60x3x12

Floor presses sucked ass, my body was/is fighting the flu and I felt weak as hell. Hopefully next week goes better...nuff said....

Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy

Max Effort Bench Press

11/12/2007
Max Bench Press
2 Board Press 190x5, 225x3, 290x2, 315x1, 345x3, 385x3, 405x1, 425x1PR, 435x1PR, 405x3
Super-Setted
Justin Harris Rows 4x8
Monster Mini Tricep Extensions 4x8
DB Over-Head Press 4x8

Tonight was a bit of a surprise. Not sure if I am overtrained or what, but I have had no motivation to train. But, that being said, I hit 2 Personal Records tonight. Perhaps the powerlifting gods are looking down on me...So, considering last week for some reason I struggled to hit 415 for a 5lb PR (Previous week I tripled 405 easy), I am quite happy with tonights results.

My original plan was to just beat last week on volume, figuring I was going to suck it up, but after the 385 triple flew, I thought I ought to go to 405 and check the speed at least. 405 Flew, so I called 425, again straight to lockout with no glitches. 435 flew too, I probably could have gone up a bit more, Im figuring 10-15 lbs maybe, but since I wasnt positive, I ended on a high note. Dropped to 405 for a quick triple and moved on to accessory work.

All in all I was proud of myself for pushing through, it almost seems as though I lift better alone. I think I still struggle with having someone stand over me for lift offs, but alas, that is something should probably get used to. Anyway, wont complain too much, I gotz me a de-load week coming up....Woo-hoo...

Powerlifting Etc Q&A

Eric from Washington asks...

I see you train without gear but have competed in gear before. Do you have a preference? Why? And what to you think about the multiply stuff?

Powerlifting Etc Answers:

Hey Eric,

Actually its all part of my master plan I have for myself. I plan on developing a good base strength then move into some more aggressive single ply gear while maintaining and pushing up my RAW strength. For myself, I want to be strong in and out of gear, and with that will come alot of hard work and unfortunately alot of time. Now, as far as multiply goes, someday I will probably use it, but for now I just dont think personally I am ready for any of that, perhaps when my RAW Squat hits 600, my RAW Deadlift hits the 650-700 range, and my RAW bench press hits the 450-500 range. But thats gonna take time.

So anyway, for now its pretty much Train RAW, occasionally throw on the brief bottoms to overload a bit, and lather, rinse, repeat. My day will come, but for now, i'll just relegate myself to the shadows of my basement.

Not sure I did, but I hope I answered that alright. Take Care.

I heard the dude on the left gets 300 pounds out of that suit...



Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!

Max Effort Squat

11/10/2007
Max Effort Squat
SSB High Box 235x5, 285x3, 335x2, 385x2, 425x2, 445x3x2
Deadlift 315x2, 405x2, 455x2, 505x2x2

Felt like doody on this day, everything felt uber-heavy!!! I had originally planned on hitting 500 on Safety Squat Bar High Box as a PR, but I just wasnt into it this week, so I decided to beat last week's poundages with volume, which still sucked as by the way.

Deadlifts were especially brutal on me, the doody feeling coupled with being pre-exhausted from the squatting made these excruciating slow, I mean no pop at all off the ground. But in hindsight, a year ago I would have said you were crazy to think I could pull 505 for 2 doubles after squatting, so all in all life aint so bad.

Last Couple Workouts.....

Dynamic Effort Squat 11/05/07
Speed Squat w/Chains 290x4x2, 315x4x2
Speed Deadlift 405x10x1
GHR 3x10
Wood Choppers 3x15

Speed on both the Squat & Deadlifts were pretty darn good. 30 second rests were incoporated which definitely make you work to maintain speed. Please note these percentages are in the 60% range for Dynamic Effort, this is part of my experiment to see if this range suits me better than the 50% training I performed for so long, after a couple of more cycles I will make my decision. So far, so good though....

Dynamic Effort Bench Press 11/07/07
Speed Bench Press 235x9x3
Pin Press 315x6, 335x2x6
Lat Pull Down 130x3x8
Shoulder Complex w/Chains 3x8

Speed was amazing today, I actually had to check after the first couple of sets to make sure the weight was correct, it was. 235 felt more like 185, lets hope this phenomena carries over to Max Effort Squats!!!

Sorry for the short post, really been busy around here lately. Someday Powerlifting will be my full time time, but for now, I must juggle...Got a few emails regarding the Powerlifting Etc Q&A and whether or not I am still doing it. I will still answer questions and post them here, its just this past week has been a busy one, so keep them coming and I will try my best to keep up. BTW, just so you all know, for the most part I answer all questions via email, and generally post only the relevant ones here. So if you got one, dont be shy...Thats all for today.

Its All A Juggle Act...



Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!

11/05/07 ME Bench Press....Ho-Hum....

2 Board Press 205x5, 245x3, 285x2, 325x2, 365x2, 405x2, 415x1PR, 380x2, 380x4
Bunch of silly crap for triceps, upper back and shoulders...

Well, to say I was not motivated today would be an understatement. I did NOT want to lift, and it showed. Considering I hit 405x3 last week with relative ease, and struggled with a double this week, I knew I was in trouble.

Rather than get down becuase I wouldnt be able to hit a massive PR, I decided to hit a 5 pound PR and then get some volume in. Total volume put me at 9 reps at or above 90%, good to go. Although, after dropping to 380, the reps were fast as all hell, the last set was supposed to be only a double, but for some reason 4 reps popped out of me...oh well.

The rest was just an exercise in absurdity. I wanted to quit after benching, but decided to do a bunch of high rep, low intensity bodybuilding crap...Tricep pushdowns, Monster Mini Laying Face Pulls, Dumbbell Overhead Press. At I least I worked right?

Powerlifting Etc Q&A

Norman from KY asks:

"How do you decide what exercises to do for bench day? How long should I do them for?

Powerlifting Etc Answers:

Hello Norman,

Exercise selection will be based on what you have available. I dont really plan out what I'm going to do for Max Effort Bench Press. I will generally pick a movement as I am geting my gym clothes on. But I will generally go with a partial range movement such as 2 Board Press, 3 Board Press, Floor Press and then maybe throw in a slight variant of those ala bands, chains, or both.

From there I will perform this movement for three weeks straight, deload, and move on to another movement. In the past I experimented with 2 week cycles, 1 week cycles, and even 4 week cycles. But for me, 3 week cycles work best, experiment and figure out what works for you. Consistency is key. As with anything in life, or powerlifting, in order to succeed you must be consistent in your efforts so as to achieve your goals. Dont try to throw in as many variations as you can for the sake of it, test each out and record your results. Overtime you will find what works for you.

Thats all folks, did I fail to mention The Patriots Rule?

This is Too Funny!!!


Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!

11/02/07 Max Effort Squat, Now Scram Flu...

SSB High Box 235x5, 285x3, 335x2, 385x1, 425x2, 465x2, 475x2
SSB Chain Suspended GM's 255x4x6

Supersetted

GHR w/Avg Band 3x8

Wood Choppers 3x8

Thanks to my Ding-Dong boss the whole office is sick. But luckily it wasnt the suspected Strep Throat!!! Anyway, I decided to take advantage of a phenomena of the body whereby your CNS is under duress & trying to overcompensate for the sickness. This condition often times results in stronger than normal attempts, today may have been one of those times...

Safety Squat Bar High Box Squats (High being Parallel, Low being 1-2 inches below) were, slow, sludgy, but stubbornly strong...I really tested my mettle today, and I feel I won. 425 about popped my head off, this congestion has got to go!!!. So I figured if I am going to fail, then I am going to fail on a PR at 465 for 2. Didnt happen there, so onto to 475 for a double, got it, Done. Now granted, I almost passed out, dont really remember racking it, and may have pee'd myself a little bit, but I got it none the less.

The rest was a blur, my head wasnt really into it, though I remember it being abnormally hard...It was kind of like a vision quest I might suppose. That vision being me a sweaty lump of turd at the end...how's that for a vision?

Now would be the normal time to answer a question, but alas, my groggy brain requires a bit of nap time to recover. I feel like hammered poo. Thanks for stopping by, and remember...

Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!

10/31/07 Dynamic Bench Press Day - Happy Halloween

Dynamic Effort Bench Press 225x5x3, 235x4x3
Overhead Pin Press (Eye Level) 185x4x6
Seated Rope Pull Down 130x2x8 (Rope Broke)
Lat Pull Down 130x2x8
Monster Mini Extensions

Speed was nice, next week all reps will be perfromed with 235. Overhead Pin Presses sucked ass, that static start shit at the bottom absolutely sucks!!! Oh well, 1 more week of them...

Seated Rope Pull Downs got cut short as the bottom plug ripped of on one side, mid-rep no less. So I finished out with regular old pulldowns, kinda pisses me off, I havent really had that rope accessory that long...oh well. Onto Questions...

Annonymous (Actually I am being too lazy to go see who it was) asks:

"What kind of tempo do you use on Dynamic Effort Bench Press day? Is it a pause on the chest then explode or is it kind of a bouncing motion I have seen in several videos?"

Powerlifting Etc Answers:

Personally I swap it up. Some days I will go all reps ballistically, where as other I will go with a full pause on the bottm and concentrate on explosion off the chest. I think this is more of a personal choice and that both approaches work fine. Please Note I also vary my grip, this seems to help keep all variants of the lift in the same ball park speed wise, Or at least it seems to be for me thus far...Below is a sample of my DE Work:

Assuming a 9 Sets of 3 Reps DE Bench Scheme (varying Grips):

Set 1 - Paused Method (Narrow Grip)
Set 2 - Paused Method (Medium Grip)
Set 3 - Paused Method (Competition Grip)
Set 4 - Ballistic Method (Narrow Grip)
Set 5 - Ballistic Method (Medium Grip)
Set 6 - Ballistic Method (Competition Grip)
Set 7 - Paused Method (Narrow Grip)
Set 8 - Paused Method (Medium Grip)
Set 9 - Paused Method (Competition Grip)

Bottom Line, this is something you will have to incorporate & measure. If after time you see results, keep it, if not, continue tweaking until you find the right mix...Success in life as well as Powerlifting requires experimentation and honest assesment of the results to optimize progess. If you try to incorporate something for a few weeks, but dont keep track of any results, how do you know it worked or not?

Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!