Keosawa's Powerlifting Log

[Keosawa]

Hey, is this your DE bench workout? Assuming your max is 315 you are using about 70% of it, is there a reason you go this high rather than the 50-60% recommended by westside? I assume it's because you compete raw and raw lifters must use higher %'s but I dunno. Also, is there a reason you do 2x5 then 5x3 rather than the 8x3 they recommend? Also, are you basically doing another ME exercise on DE day (close grip floor press doing 1rms and going to failure)? Do you always do this? Sorry for all the questions, looking to use westside for my off-season as I feel it translates to fighting pretty well with the exercise variation and DE portions and want to hear from someone like you whos been incredibly successful with it.

Nope, this is my max-effort bench press workout. My max was 315, but it dropped considerably when I went away from wide-grip pressing for a couple of months. I'm getting back into it slowly and rebuilding strength, which is the reason for the lower numbers.

For my DE day, I use around 50% bar weight and 25-35% resistance, so that it's around 50% at bottom and 75-85% at the top. Right now, I'll use around 135-155 in bar weight and maybe 70-80 lbs. in resistance. This was what I was instructed to do by Westside.

 

[Keosawa]

Pendlay Rows, underhand grip
135x10
185x10
235x8
235x6
185x10
185x10
135x10
135x10

One-Armed Dumbbell Windmills
50x10, 10
70x8, 8
70x8, 8
90x5, 5

GHR Band Crunches w/ blue band
x15
x15
x15

lol, my one-armed dumbell snatch is ugly as sin, and I'd be hard-pressed to snatch over 90 lbs. This session took close to an hour, because I ran into two of our lifters who had competed over the weekend. One's a 220 who did around a 550 squat, 355 bench press, and 617 deadlift, and the other's a 242 who did around a 460 squat, 242 bench press, and 507 deadlift. The second lifter in particular left a lot of pounds on the platform and should break 1300 in April. The first lifter should break into the top 50 with a good performance in April; we have three lifters who could potentially total Elite at that meet, including a very small 165 (155 lbs.) who SHOULD either go 148 or bulk up and squats 405 without knee wraps, bench presses in the low 200s, and deadlifted 500 at his last meet a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Keosawa]

Squat
Barx8
Barx8
135x3
135x3
225x2
225x2
275x1
315x1
325x5
350x5
375x5

Standing Goodmornings w/ reverse mini-bands
Barx5
135x3
135x3
225x3
315x3
315x3
315x3

Barbell Hip Thrusts w/ feet elevated
135x8
225x8
225x8
225x8

Squat Belt Walks, up/down platform five times (maybe 150 steps total per round)
140x one round
185x one round
185x one round
185x one round
185x one round

Sorry, I've been a very selfish forum member lately and haven't been reading too many other people's logs.

 

[dfownz]

Those are some beast GHR reps. Are you using the band for assistance or resistance? Impressive either way.

 

[moyy]

Nope, this is my max-effort bench press workout. My max was 315, but it dropped considerably when I went away from wide-grip pressing for a couple of months. I'm getting back into it slowly and rebuilding strength, which is the reason for the lower numbers.

For my DE day, I use around 50% bar weight and 25-35% resistance, so that it's around 50% at bottom and 75-85% at the top. Right now, I'll use around 135-155 in bar weight and maybe 70-80 lbs. in resistance. This was what I was instructed to do by Westside.

Ah right, that's cool. Just one more question if that's ok, why did you bench before doing your ME lift? Was it basically a warm-up or what was your logic. I know a lot of the westside concepts are misunderstood online, and you having been there probably picked up a lot of stuff they do that no one knows/they don't talk about, hence all my questions. Sorry if it's a bother.

 

[Keosawa]

Those are some beast GHR reps. Are you using the band for assistance or resistance? Impressive either way.

For glute-ham raises, I always use bands for resistance. For standing goodmornings, I always use bands for assistance. I've gotten way better at both of these in the last year, and it's helped all my other lifts out.

 

[dfownz]

For glute-ham raises, I always use bands for resistance. For standing goodmornings, I always use bands for assistance. I've gotten way better at both of these in the last year, and it's helped all my other lifts out.

Well, this certainly motivates me to be able to do ONE! Thanks for the info and you gave me the idea to use a band/rope (I'm poor) for assistance.

 

[Keosawa]

Ah right, that's cool. Just one more question if that's ok, why did you bench before doing your ME lift? Was it basically a warm-up or what was your logic. I know a lot of the westside concepts are misunderstood online, and you having been there probably picked up a lot of stuff they do that no one knows/they don't talk about, hence all my questions. Sorry if it's a bother.

I usually do two ME lifts on bench press day, and one is typically a close-grip press. In a Westside program, one ME lift is chosen per day, but that lift involves three different grip widths, so you're producing variation just by cycling from close, normal, and wide grips. I'll do two different exercises, but one might be exclusively close-grip and the other might be mostly wide-grip.

Anyway, some of what I do comes from Westside, but a lot of it just comes from me and whatever I feel will help at the time; I feel right now that I need the rep work to rebuild my bench press, and so that came first today.

 

[Keosawa]

Well, this certainly motivates me to be able to do ONE! Thanks for the info and you gave me the idea to use a band/rope (I'm poor) for assistance.

When my partner started doing them, he could barely do one without his form going to shit, and now he can do sets of 20-25 without much difficulty, and he's been working with me for a year. Start slow, do assisted GHRs of some type, and be consistent with them. We do several hundred GHRs in a month. Some months, I might do 600 GHRs, and many of those include band resistance. I'm not saying this to brag, but to reinforce the fact that GHRs respond to volume.

 

[dfownz]

When my partner started doing them, he could barely do one without his form going to shit, and now he can do sets of 20-25 without much difficulty, and he's been working with me for a year. Start slow, do assisted GHRs of some type, and be consistent with them. We do several hundred GHRs in a month. Some months, I might do 600 GHRs, and many of those include band resistance. I'm not saying this to brag, but to reinforce the fact that GHRs respond to volume.

Awesome information, thank you!

 

[Keosawa]

You only weigh about 20 pounds more than me. I'd say you need to EAT!

WC, I could weigh 200 lbs. by April if I wanted to. Putting on weight has never been a problem for me.

The problem with eating is that it takes my strength a while to catch up, and I mentally would have a hard time coping with that. Once I hit 1300 at 148, I'll consider it, if the weight becomes a real problem for me.

 

[moyy]

Thanks a lot for your insight.

 

[WitchCraft]

WC, I could weigh 200 lbs. by April if I wanted to. Putting on weight has never been a problem for me.

The problem with eating is that it takes my strength a while to catch up, and I mentally would have a hard time coping with that. Once I hit 1300 at 148, I'll consider it, if the weight becomes a real problem for me.

That's surprising to me. I just figured if you started to gain a lot of weight, your strength would skyrocket. So be it, it'll be fun outweighing you soon!

 

[Keosawa]

That's surprising to me. I just figured if you started to gain a lot of weight, your strength would skyrocket. So be it, it'll be fun outweighing you soon!

Let's say I put on 20 lbs. and go to 165. To maintain my ranking, I'd probably have to put 150 lbs. on my total. I could probably do it eventually, but even with the extra weight, I bet it'd take me a couple of years at least to get there.

Again, once I break 1300, I'll consider it. Once I find my total isn't improving anymore at 148 and the weight's getting tough to manage, I'll REALLY consider it, lol.

 

[Keosawa]

Thanks a lot for your insight.

No problem man. I know some about Westside, but my log isn't the best source of advice for it, since I don't do everything like they do. I can always tell you what they do differently from me though, and why that is the case.

 

[LegioTitan]

No problem man. I know some about Westside, but my log isn't the best source of advice for it, since I don't do everything like they do. I can always tell you what they do differently from me though, and why that is the case.

So after your time there does this mean they'll be reaching out to support you in any way??

 

[KnuckleSangwich]

Let's say I put on 20 lbs. and go to 165. To maintain my ranking, I'd probably have to put 150 lbs. on my total. I could probably do it eventually, but even with the extra weight, I bet it'd take me a couple of years at least to get there.

Again, once I break 1300, I'll consider it. Once I find my total isn't improving anymore at 148 and the weight's getting tough to manage, I'll REALLY consider it, lol.

Here's what you do Keo. Go ahead and put 150lbs on your total while you're still at 148, set a couple records. Then move up to 165 and put another 150lbs on your total. There's a way to do it. Ask Louie.

 

[Keosawa]

So after your time there does this mean they'll be reaching out to support you in any way??

Louie is very open about answering any questions and told me to give him a call whenever I needed advice. He also might send me some stuff (like a bench shirt) for me to try training in if they've got anything extra lying around.

He spends an hour or two each day responding to phone calls from random lifters and giving them advice, so I feel like the support is there regardless of who you are or what your total is.

 

[Keosawa]

Here's what you do Keo. Go ahead and put 150lbs on your total while you're still at 148, set a couple records. Then move up to 165 and put another 150lbs on your total. There's a way to do it. Ask Louie.

Had you asked me at 18 if I would ever take drugs, I would have told you, "fuck no." Had you asked me at 22, I wouldn't know. If you were to ask me now, my answer is, "probably, once I get to a point where my gains have really slowed down."

I don't have the same moral hangup I used to about performance-enhancers. I appreciate Westside's policy, because it's honest: they're all open about their use, and they compete in a federation that is similarly open about it.

I don't feel like that time has come yet for me though. I'm still learning a lot, and I'm putting 5 lbs. on my squat every month, so it's not like I can't continue to make regular gains on my total. I don't see any reason why I can't total 1350 with knee wraps at 148 lbs. someday, drug-free. 1500, however, would require some assistance to go along with years of training.

 

[PLftw]

hey keosawa, when you do sumo how wide should the stance by relative to your body? ive watched a few videos but havent seen anything real specific about that.

i tried for the first time a bit ago and my right knee started to shake a bit so was i too far wide? etc