Ross unequipped journal

awright ross solid training m8t. are you doing the single lift comp in 3wks?

No mate, just going to finish this training cycle then start the new one for the unequipped full meet June/July? You doing this one too?

yeh thats my aim to put in a solid total at the unequipped in june. still havent squated yet this year due to injury but my deads and bench are pretty decent. will try and start working the squats within the next couple of wks.

all the best.

Had ultrasound on the shoulder at work today at occupational health. today was the next stage of squat and overheads, felt bit weak and lethargic going into the gym today as energy levels were'nt at their best plus my shoulder had some pain since the treatment earlier, squat warmups felt heavy and muscles were tight all over, tried to lossen up shoulders, the overhead presses are getting so heavy now, I don't know each set If I'm going to be able to make it or not!!!


SQUAT:

warmups:

70kgx5,

120kgx5,

150kgx5,

worksets:

175kgx4, not the tightest but thought it will get better as I go on,

190kgx2, well felt like a tonne weight unracking, forgot to be tight,

190kgx2, bit better as remembered how to squat properly,

190kgx2, good set,

190kgx2, """""""",

190kgx2, started feeling lighter on unracking and walking out, like it should,

190kgx2, felt great, decided that would do next week as extra set,

195kgx2, best technique of the day, always at the end it seems!


No time for rest as only had 30 minutes to complete overheads before gym closed, so with a sip of juice......

Standing overhead presses:

warmups:

barx10,

50kgx8,

60kgx6,

70kgx4,

75kgx3,

worksets:

82.5kgx3, 82.5kgx3, a bit hard always shocking on first heavy press,

87.5kgx2, 87.5kgx2, 87.5kgx2, very hard ran out of time for another 2x2, face was as red as the 25kg plates on the bar when locking out each press, the cleans on the 87.5kg sets seemed to resemble something fromm the appolons axle you see on strongman, as the cleans at this stage were ugly, think I got it to lower chest level then somehow highpulled/reverse curled it up to throat! Think I might review this, got a week to think, might switch to something else or do another week, will see, squats are on track though, just need tom switch on more and tighten up and not take these sets for grantede just because I've done them many times before!

Been looking at Bulgarian training methods, russian format such as what I'm doing and American westside..simple conclusion...none of them were completely correct as a stand alone system for successful training, Bulgarian system nice idea but we westerners do not get paid to eat/sleep/train 6 days a week nor could we adapt to their program without the huge pharmaceutical assistance they relied on..also note how lightly muscled they were compared to their counterparts, they always did singles, no assistance, no back squats. Russiand did loads of volume working on percentages as still periodisation, makes stronger athletes and builds some muscle mass, again sheiko seems too much for the natural athlete due to the volume being a recovery issue. I disagree with westside with replacing a classical lift with a substitute especially if you lift in IPF and squat below parallel! the squat in my opinion cannot and should not be replaced by good mornings, box squats, zerchers, safty bar squats as although westside argue that these lifts use the same muscles used in the squat, the exercises do not assist with the lift in the bottom position of a deep squat. I believe the exercises could supplement the squat but not replace it, as it's important to get good at the lift itself. However I'm starting to believe there is some value to speed work which can supplement the program on a different day as trains a different type of weakness. I don't believe in only deadlifting once or twice before a meet in the training leading up to it, I used to deadlift every week with good resultss now I've discovered I can still get good results deadlifting once every two weeks, which can aid the squat day following. I like to think thatthe training that seems to work for me is a hybrid of cross disciplines (1) Bulgarian method of adaption where I stay heavy all the time (2)Russian volume method, practice of technique, submaximal periodisation increases exponentially (3) use of different exercises to work weaknesses and speed work.

Some of the ideas of the russian and bulgarian weightlifters make a lot of sense and although they are olympic weightlifters rather than powerlifters, I've become more convinced by the value of some of their exercises to supplement powerlifting for crossover strength.

solid squatting ross good number of sets.

Fantastic blog tonight Ross.
There is a lot of stuff in there that I've been looking at and thinking about over the last while myself especially with regards to the crosstraining and Olympic methods for squatting. The only worry in my mind is whether my body could handle that type of training or not.
There's some food for thought in there.

P.S. Epic squatting tonight. So many sets!

Looks like a good session even though you were rushed mate! Also very interesting to read your views on the various different training methods. I agree with pretty much everything you say, but I do think natural drug free athletes can do the high volume high intensity stuff, just not for any overly extended period of time. I'm obviously starting to do well with smolov at the moment (though the end results remain to be seen) and I'm lifetime drug free, but I only plan on doing 3 weeks of it, any longer and I think it'd kill me haha.

Yeah us natural guys need to deload more often than these guys, think even a week at 70-80% every 4-5 weeks can work wonders to supplement recovery before resuming heavy again, that way you can train heavy more frequently and for a longer period of time, I meant to include this in my opinion but omitted to put it in, they key is not to train above 90% non-stop for weeks on end as the risk of burnout is almost guaranteed and even the Bulgarians who were geared to the eyeballs took a taper down week aveery few weeks, this along with loads of active recovery, lots of sleep, massage, whirlpools, contrast showers, hot/cold treatments and other stuff that most of us would ever have time to do meant this was a big part of their success as their recovery was finely tuned under near perfect optimal conditions, they did'nt have to work all week like the rest of us, suffer stresses of modern living, experience sever lack of sleep etc, however the downside was that they were told what to eat, when to eat, when to sleep, train, piss, f**k and s**t whenever because they were an integral part of the cogs of the communist machine of the time and like a military show of strength like all communist countries quite often frequently publicised through propaganda, the olympic weightlifting team were the other unlikely political wing of the regime as the Bulgarians were turned into world beating weightlifitng machines!! We can only take some elements of what they and the Russians did and dilute the training to suit our lifestyle/recovery.

Type into google Ivan Abadjiev and the bulgarian weightlifting system, if you see the documentary (approx 1 hour 15 mins long!) you will understand their methods and their method behind them, you might even find some vids if you type in bulgarian weightlifters into you tube, a guy weighing 69kg back squatting 250kg and looked in dire need of a decent meal...I s**t you not!

Quick one hour upper back/lats workout tonite:

barbell rows:

70kgx5, pronated,

110kgx5, pronated,

115kgx5, supinated,

115kgx5, supinated,

7x3 @ 130kg, pronated


chinssomeone has nicked the dipping belt to add weight)

bwtx5,

bwtx5,Big Simon suggested to use the chains we use for bench looped over belt!!

3x5 @ bwt+17.5kg chains,



high pulls medium grip:

5x5 @ 70kg

Yeah I know the vids you mean, the documentary was a good watch and seeing that guy hitting those numbers on squats at his size was nuts!

A bit of a s**t session today, hoped to hit 5's at 100kg on inclines as had been doing triples then doubles and dropped back weight this week, but did'nt feel ready for 5's so aimed for 4's instead. Deadlifts were tentative as heart was'nt in it at all, I just did them to do something! Realised if I want to pull big I'll need to start pulling every week to get back my enthusiasm and motivation for pulling big by the end of June.

Incline bench presses:

warmups:

barx10,

50kgx8,

70kgx6,

90kgx5,

work sets: 6x4@100kg (dropped weight this week slightly)


deadlifts:

warmups:

120kgx5,

170kgx4,

210kgx2,

240kgx1,

worksets: 5x2@260kg


flat bench rehab: 2x10@70kg

shoulder still painful on inclines and flat, not sure what to do, might switch overheads to declines for a while as pushed overheads very far and back taking a hammering doing these after squatting, will think about it...will sleep on it til Tuesday!

I recall seeing one of your sets on Incline Bench today in between my squats, I actually thought you had planned sets of 4 because I recall thinking at the time you looked good for 5! I'm not sure if it was one of the early sets or not but I recon you have 5's in you at that weight.

And of course seeing someone deadlifting as much as that in their boxer shorts was amusing haha

LOL what's this about boxer shorts and deadlifting?
Nice work on those deads. It's an impressive number right enough.

Back still fried from deadlifts on saturday, I've made up my mind, I'm better just pulling every week, as my body gets conditioned better this was, if I deadlift every two weeks I'll be out of condition as I experience severe DOMS which later affects my squat, going to wave down the cycle next week and start a new one to keep things consistant and build up conditioning gradually over the next 3 months.

SQUAT:

70kgx5,

120kgx5,

150kgx4,

175kgx2,

195kgx2,

195kgx2,

195kgx2,

195kgx2,

195kgx2,

200kgx2,

200kgx1 (missed second rep in the hole, lower back said erm...no! )


Normally do standing presses after squats, but as back was very fatigued I did'nt want to go heavy and I had another idea....it's been close to 3 months since I last flat bench pressed, since the injury has made it too painful to do any, which was why I'be been working around it with standing presses and inclines. I wanted to see how it felt going flat today, so I was very tentative and cautious, took it slow and made sure not to do too many reps that would fatigue it and give me big trouble, also did not arch lower back at all just pulled shoulder blades down used my new narrow grip and place the bar higher on the chest now to minimise rotation of the shoulders totally new but its the same grip I've used on overheads and inclines:

Flat bench press:

barx10, all reps very slow and tentative and fast press upward,

40kgx5, """""""""""""""""

60kgx5, """""""""""""""""

80kgx3, """""""""""""""""

100kgx3,"""""""""""""""""

110kgx1,"""""""""""""""""

120kgx1 """"""""""""""""", quite easy really, but pain still there so stopped here!

standing presses:

2x5x70kg, 1x8x70kg easy enough, if cardio up to it could prob do 10. Think I'll start back flat bench again once a week but drop way back the percentages to get used to strict tecnhique with this new style and practice, pain still there just need lots of warmups and I have not lost as much as I thought, thought it would be worse, think if I train it regularly again, can bring it back again.

Still very good squatting considering you back was knackered from saturday buddy!