Deadlifts and milkshakes

2/19/2014

Squats
bar x 10
95 x 5
135 x 3
155 x 2
175 x 5
175 x 5
175 x 5
175 x 5
175 x 5
^^new 5x5 PR

Smolov Week 1, day 2
PAUSED Bench
95 x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5

Notes: Everything moved pretty fast today, despite being a 5 x 5 PR. For some reason, I peed a little on the last rep of every set.

/TMI
 
2/21/2014

Smolov Week 1, Day 3

PAUSED Bench
bar x 5
65 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4

Shoulder Dislocations

Chins
5,4,4

Notes: Skipped light squats today. Hip is starting to feel a little beat up. Going for a new PR this Sunday and then going to probably take a deload.

Also, tomorrow I am going to a seminar by Caitlyin Trout. It's an 8 hour female-only powerlifting seminar that will focus on nutrition and training for women. I'm excited for it, but not looking forward to the long drive. I'll do a write-up when I get back.
 
2/22/2014

Female Powerlifting Seminar

I promised a write-up, so here it is. Not sure how much anybody on here is going to take from a female-only powerlifting seminar but this is more for my sake than anybody else's.

I attended an 8 hour seminar today led by Caitlyn Trout. She's a competitive female powerlifter who just squatted a world record (391 @ 123 I believe). Most of the people that were attending the seminar were crossfit coaches or members and had pretty little experience in powerlifting. One girl actually had never even benched before. I think after the introductions and hearing about everyone's experience, Caitlyn took a more general approach to cater to the newbies. Almost everything she said had been a refresher for me and my friend, who have been lifting for quite a few years.

However, she talked about a range of topics from warming up, to preparing for your first meet, peeing while you train, girly topics that men don't talk about, programming, and nutrition. For me, the best part of the seminar was hearing her talking about how she motivates herself and her attitudes toward her body image. A few girls were commenting about how they were upset that their bodyweight had increased since they switched from cardio to strength training. She didn't sugar coat anything and just plainly stated that it doesn't matter what the scale says, (besides when you weigh in) it's about how you feel and you have to be comfortable. It was refreshing to hear a woman, who is pretty highly respected in the powerlifting community, to say that. She talked about weight cutting but highly encouraged most lifters to avoid cutting weight unless they are going for something big.

Her programming advice was a little bit too complicated for me and I didn't really agree with it, at least not to be used by any of the lifters that were there in attendance. She only does one day for each lift, so only squats once a week, deadlifts once a week, and so on. For beginners and intermediates, I really don't think that's enough work but she insisted that it was enough. The rep schemes were bizarre and just a little too over-complicated for me.

She does a carb backloading approach for her nutrition but modified Kiefer's plan a little bit to fit a woman's needs. She talked about some of the different hormonal patterns that a woman goes through and that Kiefer's book clearly does not cater to women, so it was nice to hear her perspective on that.

We had a quick lifting session at the end and she watched some of our sets. She didn't have much to say about my form but said I might benefit from some upper back work to help me keep more upright in my squats. So, the one thing I took away from this seminar is she recommends a rowing exercise for every training day. I'll experiment with it for a little while, see if I notice a difference.

Overall, it was a good seminar. But it was really targeted for the newbie.

Here's her world record squat, pretty intense!
 
2/23/2014

Squats
bar x 5
95 x 5
135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 2
185 x 1
195 x 1
200 x 3 + F
210 x 1 +5lb PR

Smolov JR Week 1, Day 4
bar x 5
65 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 3
105 x 2
110 x 3
110 x 3
110 x 3
110 x 3
110 x 3
110 x 3
110 x 3
110 x 3
110 x 3
110 x 3

Notes: I was pretty psyched for this squat day. Woke up thinking about it! Warm ups felt awesome and when I finally had 200 on my back it felt pretty good actually, not heavy at all. But all of the squats were high and I knew it. I kind of just gave up on the 4th rep because I could tell the set sucked. I don't know what I was thinking. I just had to sink them a little bit more. I think I was a little too excited for this set. I felt down on myself for quitting, so I went for a 1RM and squatted that, pretty sure it was to depth.

Benching has gone great as well. Today was a PR, and I did ALL 10 sets paused. I'm excited to see where my paused max goes after this.

here's video (again, in b4 "squats were high")

 
Congrats for the PR!

Thank you!

2/25/2014

Smolov Week 2, Day 1
Bench
bar x 10
bar x 5
65 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 3
100 x 6
100 x 6
100 x 6
100 x 6
100 x 6
100 x 6

Lat Pulldowns
75 x 10
90 x 10
90 x 10
90 x 10

Notes: Started pausing the first few sets of benching but then started tng. I didn't have a spot and the bench at the high school gym is terrible. It's one of those benches that has a gap where you butt is supposed to go. Just terrible. I was a little worried that with my crappy set up, I might not be able to finish the sets paused.
 
2/26/2014

Squat
bar x 5
bar x 5
bar x 5
95 x 5
115 x 5

Bench
bar x 5
65 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 3
100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5

Notes: Left knee was really bothering me today. Not exactly sure what I did today, but it felt super tender right around the MCL area. I stretched a lot last night, maybe I tweaked it. I skipped squatting after warm ups and then just pushed through the discomfort while benching.
 
2/28/2014

Smolov Week 2, Day 3
bar x 5
65 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 3
105 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4
105 x 4

Squat
bar x 5
bar x 5
95 x 5
115 x 3
95 x 3
95 x 3

Chins
5,5,6

Notes: Benching has been going great. Today was a volume PR and it was so easy it was almost boring.

Squats feel terrible though. Hip flexors are really irritated and left knee is still tender. :icon_neut Sticking with a deload until next week.
 
3/2/2014

Squat
bar x 5
bar x 5
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 3
155 x 2
175 x 1
185 x 1
185 x 1
185 x 1
185 x 1
185 x 1

"Sally Up" WOD
using just the bar

Bench
bar x 10
65 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 3
105 x 3
115 x 3
115 x 3
115 x 3
115 x 3
115 x 3
115 x 3
115 x 3
115 x 3
115 x 3
115 x 3

Notes: Did a WOD for the first time ever at my gym. The WOD was to squat to the song "Sally Up." The objective is to squat up when the song says "Sally Up" and then sit down when the song says "Sally Down." I just used the bar and it was fucking brutal! My legs were shaking by the end and I'm still fatigued by it. I imagine I will be sore tomorrow!
 
3/6/2014

Squat
bar x 5
95 x 5
135 x 3
155 x 3
165 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 5

Bench
bar x 5
65 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 3
105 x 3
107 x 5
107 x 5
107 x 5
107 x 5
107 x 5
107 x 5
107 x 5

Chins
5,5,5

Notes: Very sore from that stupid WOD I did over the weekend. Squats were really suffering today (form wise) so I backed down 10 pounds.
 
3/7/2014

Bench, Smolov Week 3, Day 3
bar x 5
65 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 3
105 x 2
115 x 4
115 x 4
115 x 4
115 x 4
115 x 4
115 x 4
115 x 4
115 x 4

Chins
6,6,6

Notes: Benching was EASY today. Smolov has been a success! This Sunday will be a big PR. 120 3 x 10. Then in a week I'll probably test 1RM and then start another cycle provided my shoulders still feel good.
 
3/9/2014

Squat
bar x 5
bar x 5
95 x 5
115 x 3
135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 2
195 x 1
205 x 1
205 x F
195 x 2
195 x 2

Bench (Last day of Smolov cycle)
120 x 3
120 x 3
120 x 3
120 x 3
120 x 3
120 x 3
120 x 3
120 x 3
120 x 3
120 x 3

Notes: Squats were frustrating today. All of the heavier work sets felt like 1,000 pounds on my back. I think I was just really tired today. Had a pretty epic fail with the second 205 single. Got pretty close to finishing it but then my back and legs completely gave out. Luckily I had the pins set up. It jostled me a little and the rest of the sets were really challenging after that.

Benching went well. This Smolov Jr cycle was a huge success. It almost felt too easy, boring even. Next cycle I might do it with a slingshot.
 
Last edited:
3/11/2014

Bench
Warmed up, but felt beat up from last session. Called it quits.

Squat
bar x 5
bar x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5
115 x 3
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5

Chins
bar x 5
+5 x 5
+5 x 5
+5 x 5

Notes: Chins felt strong today.
 
3/12/2014

Squat
bar x 5
bar x 5
95 x 5
115 x 3
135 x 3
160 x 5
160 x 5
160 x 5
160 x 5

Ring rows
10
10
10

Supported leg raises (on wrists)
10
10
10

Notes: Felt a little tweak in my mid-back area today. Things are really starting to break down even though I've dropped the weight. I'm making an appt. with my ART therapist and hope to get adjusted soon. I feel off :-/
 
3/15/2014

Just a little update. Yesterday the pain that started on Wednesday became pretty debilitating. My whole right side of my back was throbbing with pain. I also was having waves of nausea at the same time. I'm not sure if the nausea was a reaction to the pain, or something else. I went to my ART doctor and got some adjustments made. It helped a lot and he told me that I have some mild lumbar dysfunction. He looked at some old MRIs and says I don't have a natural lumbar curve. It was an old MRI, probably 2-3 years old so I will have to get an updated one soon.

I've been resting all day. But went for a few walks with the dog just to get moving around. I'm feeling pretty depressed and worried. Hope it turns out to be nothing.
 
Sorry to hear that WC. Did the tweak come during training, or did you just happen to notice it during the day? Sounds frustrating. I know how depressing it is to have to sit out.
 
Sorry to hear that WC. Did the tweak come during training, or did you just happen to notice it during the day? Sounds frustrating. I know how depressing it is to have to sit out.

I honestly can't remember. I've been obsessively thinking about what could have caused it, but there were a few things. Weighted chins maybe? Sleeping funny? The long commute I have every day? No idea.

Hope you get better WC!

Thanks to the both of you. It feels a lot better than it did on day 1 but it is still present. I feel mostly discomfort, but pain when I sleep. Pain in my spine and the muscles around it.

I trained a little bit this week. Did some very light squatting, benching, dips, etc. Everything felt OK, but not great. I went to a pilates class at my gym and had some work done on me by the instructor. They were working on a quad smash which was awesome (when it was over).

Example of quad smash that I found on YT. Try it out!

 
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