Can't deadlift for toffee

Mon 14th

Tonight I pinched my thumb between two plates I was loading, because I was looking at a girl with big breasts in a low cut top (she was in the low cut top, not me).

After 7 weeks of squatting every workout, I decided to give it a break today. In fact I'm going to go down to once a week and start including deadlifts once a week.

The program has served me well. The first squat session was 170 X 5 and the last-but-one was 187.5 X 5, which is a healthy increase.

Chest supported rows: 140 (well, that's what the machine says) X 4,4,4
Bench Press with pause: 130 X 3,3,3,3,3
DB lying triceps extension: 25s X 7,6,5
Abs
Grip work

Nice lifting, we have plenty of big tits at Adlington but I preferred the ones at the Sugden university gym!

Wednesday 16th Jan

Started back on deadlift training tonight, this time with the lifting straps consigned to the dustbin of history. I'm using a routine I found on here - Olly's maybe? I forget.

The weights will be light until my grip catches up with the rest of me. Then they won't be much heavier.

Deadlifts (80% 1 RM): 175 X 2,2,2,2,2
Deadlift off raised platform: 150 X 4
Gay hip assistance work: 2 sets X who knows
Chins (chest to bar, elbows retracted): 4, 4, 4, 4
Seated hammer curls 25s X 8,6,6

good stuff mate, always a pleasure to read about raised platform deads , that grip will be iron in no time !!!

Thanks Boar.

I can't believe how long it takes to do 11 sets, none of which consisted of more than three reps. Nor how knackered I am at the end of it. Anyway, pleased with myself tonight - I had a headache from work, so I didn't want to go but forced myself -and my 'official total' has moved up 10kg as a result.

Squats 190 X 2,2,2,2,2
Bench press (85% projected max, all paused) 137.5 X 2,2,2
Seated high incline press (75 degrees, smith machine) 115 x 3,3,3

Monday 21st Jan

I want a new set of shoulders for Xmas. These days, bench press is, for me, all about avoiding shoulder pain. How much I can bench is only partly down to my strength, the rest is dictated by whether I can get into a groove that avoids pain. I'm trying some stretching most days, so we will see if that helps.

I wasn't scheduled to do military press, but some kids were doing endless sets on the Smith machine, so my planned assistance work got cancelled. 100kg is the most I've clean and pressed, though I've pressed the same from a rack.

Face pulls "14" X 10, 10, 10
Bench Press (with pause) - worked up to 142.5 X 1, 1
Clean and Press 70 X 5, 80 X 4, 90 X 2, 100 X 1
Lying DB extensions 25 X 8,8,7
Sit-ups with 40kg DB X 10, 10
Grip work

Nice session. 100kg floor to overhead is solid, not many people doing that

Olly's routine is brutal work at first while you adapt to it. Then it gets brutal again near the end .

Wednesday 23rd Jan

Great workout today. Deadlifts were only supposed to go up to 190kg, but I sneaked a cheeky 200kg to see how my grip would cope - it was fine and I felt like there was some more, maybe plenty, in there. I managed to find somewhere to do hyperextensions - a metal step on the dipping station and as long as I am not fussy about flattening my cobblers, it should work quite well. I love hypers. Finally got the groove on the 'powerlifter chins' (elbows pulled in, shoulder blades squeezed together, pull to chest) and got an extra rep - it's an amazing exercise.

Deadlifts: 190 X 1,1,1,1
200 X 1

Hyperextensions: bodyweight X 10, 10
5kg behind head X 9

'Powerlifter' chins: 5,5,4

Seated DB hammer curls: 25s X 9,8,7

nice 200 !! and them chins sound good , might give them a try !!

Cheers. Here's a link to an article describing them:

http://powerliftinguk.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4878

Another one of those sessions that seemed to go on forever.

The weight on squats, which I've put up by 2.5kg a week for the last 9 weeks, finally got too much for five sets of two - I had to reduce the last two sets to singles and concentrated on getting these as perfect as I could make them.

Squats 192.5 X 2,2,2,1,1

Bench Press (paused) 132.5 X 3,3,3,3,3

Face pulls "14" X 8,8,8

High incline press (75 degrees, smith machine) worked up to 125 (including bar)x 1

Grip work - static holds with 120 and then 75

Monday 28th Jan

Having read some opinions on this on here, I've moved my deadlift day to Mondays so that I've always got two clear days between that and squatting.

I've discovered that I can bench heavier weights much better with a lift off the pins. Unfortunately, I can't be choosy about who helps. I had three different spotters tonight. On set no. 3, the guy spotting me insisted on having his hands under the bar all the way down. Paused at the bottom, I managed to hiss "loose it", which he did for 2 nanoseconds. Then he grabbed it again for the way up, giving an easy 10-20 kg assistance on the lockout . Nice guy, and very helpful, but why do so many think that it's a tag-team event?

Anyway:

Deadlifts: 190 X 2,2,1,2 (grip went on third set)
Hyperextensions: body X 10; body + 2.5 X 10,10; body X 10
Bench press: 140 X 2,2,2
Lying DB extensions 25 X 9,9,6

just explain it to the spotters mate, better to do that once and they will learn. Folk usually genuinely just want to help, and will be happy to learn how to do it so that you get the most of the set i think.

I agree that they want to help, and I'm not ungrateful for the spotting I get - it's better than nothing, mostly.

I always explain what I'm after really clearly before the set, but it often doesn't make any difference. Everybody else's bench press at our gym seems to be a combination of bench press and spotter upright row.It's part of the culture and they really don't grasp the concept of 'not helping at all'. Ah well.