The Basement Tapes 2015

Alright, I just finished the first cycle of the Candito 6 week strength program and now it's time to assess and plan for my next training cycle.

So first the numbers...

Training max before

Squat - 330 (est. from 285x5 that was barely to parallel, used 300 as my training max for the program in order to focus on better depth)

Deadlift - 420 (est. from 385x3)

Bench - 295 (actual 1rm)

New Training maxes

Squat - 370 (est. from 335x3, got much better depth but I am still using 350 as my training max to continue focus on form)

Deadlift - 455 (est. from 415x3)

Bench - 305 (est. from 255x6, big caveat, I don't think I can do 305, I failed to get 290x2 during the peak week)


Pretty happy with the Squat and Deadlift gains, the weights went up and form did not degrade at all, actually it got better. Still all beltless for squats and deadlifts, I am going to practice with the belt some this next cycle but will most likely continue beltless on heavy work sets for the time being (I still feel tight and stable w/o belt).

Bench was disappointing, although it is possible I just had a bad day during peak week since I hit the needed reps every workout along the way. It could have something to do with my balky right shoulder, which was getting progressively worse with the increased bench press volume. I had a hard time staying tight with heavy weight touch and go.

Conclusions

  • Squat and Deadlift progressing well, will do another cycle with the Candito 6 week program
  • Lower body feeling good, so no deload
  • Right shoulder and upper back beat up, so taking a upper body deload week
  • Will be doing my own programming for the upper body
  • The focus of said programming will be Overhead Press and paused bench will be an assistance lift
  • The goal being to keep up the pressing volume with less stress on the shoulder (OHP doesn't bother it)

Goals for next training cycle

  • Squat - 370x3
  • Deadlift - 440x3
  • SOHP - 205x1
  • Push Press - 245x1
  • Improve shoulder gridle health and ROM
  • Hook grip DL 405
  • Not lose strength on the Bench Press
 
5/9/15

Just a little light workout after work to get some of the stiffness out after 12 hours of sitting in front of a control panel.

Shoulder and Hip Mobility Work

Fat Gripz Deadlift - just got fat gripz, I have small hands and 135 was tough to hold on to. I am going to work with these during warm-up every deadlift workout and hopefully improve a lot.

135x8
135x8
135x8

Cleans

135x3

Front Squat

135x8
135x8
135x10

Lunge with 25lb plate

10xeach leg
10xeach leg
10xeach leg

Facepulls

3 sets of 10

1 arm dumb press 25lbs
3 sets of 10 each arm

planks with a 25lb plate on my back
 
Week 1

Squat

Warm-up

135x5
135x5
205x5
255x3

Work

280x6
280x6
280x6
280x6

[YT]ZUhhK_rKa9U[/YT]

Pretty tough, had a couple of shaky reps but all in all pretty happy. I got good depth.

Deadlift

Warm-up

155x5 fat gripz
165x5 fat gripz
205x2 hook
255x2 hook
305x1 hook
345x1 hook
365x1 hook

Work

365x6 versa grips
365x6 versa grips

[YT]Q5GO_zQk66o[/YT]

First set was harder than the second, felt like my muscles were firing better on the second set.
 
Upper body deload

5-13-15

Snatch Grip BTN press
45x10
45x10
45x10

Z-press
45x10
65x10
65x10

Sotts Press
45x3

Pendlay Rows - all with fat gripz DOH

135x5
135x5
135x5
135x5

SOHP

115x5
115x5
115x5

Bench

185x6 paused
185x6 paused
185x6 paused

Bench was actually not easy after all the hi-rep light pressing.

Facepulls
3 sets of 10
 
Week 1

5-15-15

Squats

Warm-up

45x3 overhead squat
45x3 overhead squat
45x10
135x5 paused
205x5 couple reps paused
245x1 5-10sec pause with breaths

Work

245x8
245x8
245x8
245x8

[YT]Qmnwi7byDKw[/YT]

Messed around with my stance a little, trying to find the sweet spot, if my toes are too foward my glutes don't activate and that causes my knees to cave and my SI joint area to get achy but if my toes point out too far it bothers my right knee that I injured last year.

Deadlifts

Warm-up

135x5 fat gripz
205x2 fat gripz
255x2 hook grip
325x1 hook grip

Work

325x8 versa grips
325x8 versa grips

[YT]_hfQ0jFeWV8[/YT]

After watching the video, I need to keep a more neutral head position.

Couple sets of lunges with 10lbs overhead.
 
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Upper body deload week

Sotts Press

45x5

One arm strict press with barbell

45x8
45x8
45x8

Pendlay Row - all with fat gripz

145x5
145x5
145x5
145x5

Snatch grip BTN strict press

65x10
65x10
65x10

Z-Press

85x10
85x10
85x10

Chin-up

BWx5
BWx5
BWx5

Bench Press - all paused

185x6
185x6
185x6

Facepulls

3 sets of 10 reps
 
Week 2

5-18-15

Squats

Warm-up

45x5 Overhead squat
45x10
135x5
135x5
205x5
255x3

Work

280x10 all time rep max
60 sec rest
285x3
60 sec
285x3
60 sec
285x3
60 sec
285x3
60 sec
285x3

[YT]u1WRD9NmBPA[/YT]

These were very brutal, the 280x10 was RPE 9-9.5 and each following set felt like a RPE 9 just from the cumulative fatigue. I was GMing the weight a little as I got fatigued, but I was really happy with the consistent depth and the speed with which I was moving 280 for the first 6-7 reps of the first set.


Deadlift Assistance - Stiff legged DL

Giving these another shot, I tried last time to keep my arms directly under my shoulders which led to the bar being far from my center of gravity making the lift awkward and harder on my spinal erectors than my hamstrings.

This time I put the bar over the midline of my feet and focused on keeping my butt as high as possible. Still awkward and my body was fired from squats, but felt it more in my hamstrings this time.

135x8
205x8
225x8
225x8

[YT]pXLQXpKcw3Q[/YT]

The pauses between reps were the combination of trying not to turn it into a conventional DL which would be much too easy and my heartrate being 170-180bpm after only taking a couple minutes after squats.
 
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Overhead Program week 1

5-19-15

Pendlay Row

135x5
185x5
185x5
185x5

Hang Power Snatch

45x6

BTN Snatch grip press

45x10
45x10
45x10

SOHP

135x3
165x3
165x3
165x3

Paused Bench

135x5
205x5
205x5
205x5

Facepulls

2 sets of 15 reps
 
Week 2

5-22-15

So I hurt my upper back/neck while I was asleep Wednesday night, had to skip my upper body workout yesterday, I could hardly move my head. It was much better today but I didn't want to miss leg day. I had a hard time getting tight for both squats and deadlifts because I couldn't keep my upper back tight.

Squats

Warm-up

135x5 paused
135x5
205x5
255x3

Work

285x8
60 seconds rest
275x3
60 sec
275x3
60 sec
275x3
60 sec
275x3
60 sec
275x3
60 sec
275x3
60 sec, put belt on because my lower back was getting loose since I couldn't keep my upper back tight enough
275x3
60 sec
275x3

Deadlift assistance - 3in deficit dl

Warm-up
135x5

Work

205x8
255x8

My upper back and neck were bothering me so I called it a day.
 
5-23-15

Neck feeling a little better was out of the house all day visiting family. Managed to get a little workout in at my parent's house.

Filled a wheelbarrow with about 240lbs of cinderblocks and pushed it down a slight hill about 50 meters and back up again. Did this about 8 times,

One arm barbell Snatch (with a standard 1" curl bar with all the weights on it 78lbs + whatever the bar weighs maybe 10-12lbs)

about 90lbs for 3 sets of 3 left arm

about 90lbs for 2 sets of 3 right arm

Same barbell, one arm farmers carry 50 meters down and back one time each arm.

Good core workout
 
Week 3

5-25-15

Squats

Warm-up - been going back and forth between a wider toes out stance and a more toes forward high/low bar hybrid stance. The wider stance lets me grind through reps better, but I get a lot of knee caving when the weight gets heavy. The hybrid stance gives me a great stretch bounce at the bottom but its tougher not to good morning the weight when I'm grinding through a rep. Went back and forth between the two.

135x5 hybrid
135x5 wide
205x3 hybrid
205x3 wide
255x2 hybrid
255x2 wide

Work

305x6 wide
305x6 hybrid
305x5 halfway between the two

[YT]I_TNnXw2Tl4[/YT]

Really happy with this, depth is just as good as with lighter weight, form is a work in progress but felt good even though it was quite difficult.

Deadlift

Warm-up

225x3 DOH
295x3 Hook
345x1 Hook
395x1 Hook +30lb hook grip PR

Work

400x4 versa grips
400x4 versa grips, belt
295x3 versa grips, speed reps (wanted to move the bar fast after all the slow work reps)

[YT]LWrvBSxCMsw[/YT]

These were really slow, difficult. Form didn't break down too much but the weight felt extremely heavy off the floor. I feel like I am not getting stronger on deadlifts. I'm trying not to get down about it, I think its because this training cycle the squats are actually really challenging (training max moved up 50lbs from the first 5 week cycle) and deadlifting after those squats is limiting my strength. The upper back/ neck tightness probably isn't helping either but I didn't really feel that today.
 
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5-27-15

Upper Body - first upper body workout in 8 days, the neck upper back area was feeling much better so I decided to give it a go.

Threw in some front squats just for the hell of it, light weight.

Front Squats - all paused

135x8
135x8
185x6

SOHP

45x8
95x5
115x5
135x3
155x2
170x3 -was supposed to do three sets of this, but the first set was a grinder so I dropped down
135x6
135x6

Lat Pull-downs

4 sets of 10-15, didn't keep track of the weight

Bench - all paused

135x5
185x5
215x5
215x5
215x5

Curls and reverse curls with fat gripz

2 sets of 8-10 for each


Afterwards my neck is feeling fine, but I have a big knot in my right Lat to the point that it was difficult to sleep.
 
Week 3

5-29-15

Squats

Warm-up

45x8
135x6
205x5
255x3

Work

310x6 Felt extremely heavy, even just walking it out, but it moved

chalking it up to just waking up and no caffeine

Deadlift assistance - Sumo deadlifts

So I am veering slightly off the Candito program here, he has you doing high rep assistance deadlift work. I just feel like for most deadlift assistance movements, my form isn't good enough (especially after heavy squats) to get much out of hi-rep assistance work. I hit form failure far before absolute failure. So instead I worked up to a heavy (for me) Sumo triple.

135x5
205x3
255x3
305x2
345x3 I think this is the heaviest weight I've ever pulled sumo. Not rpe 9 but challenging.

RDL

205x8
205x8

got a little more volume with these.
 
5-30-15

Upper Body hypertrophy

BTN Snatch grip press

45x8


SOHP

45x10
95x17
95x13
95x9

Pendlay Row

135x15
135x10
135x8
135x7

Shoulder Raises - Lateral, Front, Rear delt

3 sets of 10 each with 15lb

Fat Gripz DB curls

2 sets of 15 with 15lb DB
 
Week 4

6-1-15

Had to rush this workout in between a pair of 12+hr shifts at work. Felt ok, no caffiene or pre-workout.

Squats

Warm-up

135x5
135x5 paused
205x5 a couple paused
255x3 one paused
305x1

Work

315x3
325x3
335x3

Form was shaky first two sets, but the third set was pretty good, not easy, but it matched my best set ever and this time was beltless and a good bit deeper than last time.

Deadlift assistance

I was going to do Sumo again today but I got up to 305 and it was feeling weird on my right knee (the one with the partially torn acl) not painful but I didn't have time to baby it because of the limited time so I switched it up and did conventional speed deads for the work sets.

Warm-up - all sumo

135x6
205x5
255x3
305x2

Work - all conventional and fast

305x3
325x3
325x3
325x3

Felt really fast as soon as the weight was off the ground, but still not feeling powerful in the starting position, it really takes a little for everything to fire. Maybe I need to start doing power cleans again.
 
6-3-15

Upper Body Strength

Warmed up, SOHP didn't feel good, right lat/trap/upper back hurting/inhibiting full strength. Dropped the weight and added a little volume.

SOHP

45x10
45x10 Snatch grip BTN
135x3
155x2+fail crazy weak/couldn't fire muscles, rolled on a lacrosse ball
155x3 pretty easy
170x2+ fail rolled some more dropped the weight.
135x5
135x5
135x5
135x5

Supposed to do Pendlay rows, but I have to deadlift heavy tomorrow so I just did some moderate weight lat pull-downs.

Lat pull-downs
3 sets of 10-12 reps

Bench Press - All Paused

135x5
215x5
215x5
215x5
215x5

Some curls.


Kinda frustrated, I don't know what to do with my right shoulder. I'm pretty sure all my issues are due to the massive amounts of scar tissue and impingement in that shoulder.
 
Week 4

6-4-15

Squats

Warm-up

135x5 paused
135x5 paused
205x3 paused
255x3
305x1

Work

335x3
350x2 My all time max for a double beltless

The squats felt pretty good. I got a little forward on the second rep, I have the videos and I will get to posting them sometime soon. I think some quality front squat work will help me.

My problem shoulder/lat tightened up after squats.

Deadlift

Warm-up

225x2 hook
295x2 hook
345x2 hook
405x1 hook +10lb hook grip PR, also heaviest deadlift without grip assistance.

Shoulder/lat really yelling at me after the last warm-up even though the rep wasn't too hard.

Work
415xFail Was going for 3, but I got it 2 inches off the ground and my body shut down.

Called it a day, shoulder/lat area so tight that it hurts to turn my head, its definitely inhibiting me on my heavy lifts. I don't know the best way to go from here. If things don't change, I can't see myself getting anything out of heavy weight next week. I think I may need to take a week and not do anything that bothers it at all (one of the problems is almost everything irritates it).

Really frustrated on a day I set two all time bests, so I guess it could be a lot worse.
 
Ughhh, 3 days off and I'm itching to lift. Shoulder isn't 100% yet so I'm doing some random lifts, working on weaknesses, etc.

6/8/15

Sumo deadlifts
135x10
135x10

Overhead squats
45x5
45x5

Front Squats

135x5 paused
205x5 paused
225x5 paused
235x5
255x4 belted, could of got 5 but I got a little off balance on the 4th and called it.

Pretty happy, I think my best ever front squat set was 255x5 and that was when I was front squatting routinely.

Lunges
45x5 each leg
45x5 each
45x5 each
135x3 each

Platz squat
135x8
135x8
 
Woke up, nothing I did yesterday bothered my shoulder/back. So that's progress, first time it hasn't felt worse after a workout in since the initial injury.

6-9-15

Paused Wide Grip Bench - My idea of wide grip is like a average powerlifting grip width, my normal bench grip is more akin to a close grip bench.

Warm-up

135x5
185x5

Work

225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5

Incline Paused bench - closer to upright than flat

135x8
135x7
135x6

Bunch of pre-hab, re-hab shit
 
6-11-15

Still doing a no program, random lift thing. The shoulder feels pretty good, but I'm not going to put too much stress on it yet.

Sumo Deadlift - touch and go, trying to grease the groove for the movement. Easy weight of course.

135x8
185x8
185x8
185x8

Front Squat

135x5 paused
205x5 paused
225x5 paused

Squat

225x20 fuck that was hard, first time doing 20 rep squats in years

Goodmornings

45x10
45x10
45x10

Right Leg Hypertrophy

(I've noticed that while my right leg has grown significantly since I starting lifting again after last April's ACL injury, it is still smaller than the left leg, so I'm going to be doing some targeted single leg stuff)

2 sets of 10 pistols to a parallel bench
2 sets of 15 25lb weighted one leg calf raise
 
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