Keosawa's Powerlifting Log

[LegioTitan]

Good stuff Keo. Congrats.

What's the subject matter?

 

[CRZA]

Nice! Looking forward to the article

 

[rikwebb]

Congratulations, will make sure i take a look on the 10th for it.

 

[Keosawa]

That's pretty sweet, looking forward to it.

EDIT: Is it the high volume pendulum swing thinger ma bob you were talking about before?

It is indeed--an expanded version of those thoughts, anyway.

Congrats Keo! Looking forward to it!

Thanks, much! Also, I got your PM, but I've been a busy bee and haven't had time to give a good response yet.

Good stuff Keo. Congrats.

What's the subject matter?

It's based on my experiences with higher-volume training.

Nice! Looking forward to the article

Thanks man.

Congratulations, will make sure i take a look on the 10th for it.

Awesome--I hope you enjoy it. I'll probably be sending more stuff to EliteFTS in the future. I still have an e-book planned, but it's been put on the back-burner while I finish some school stuff.

 

[ravenman2000]

Hi Kyle! I've just finished reading through this log from the beginning; I've thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot along the way, so thanks for sharing all of this.

I have a question I hope you don't mind addressing-- why do you squat with such a narrow stance?? lol j/k I've read/listened to you answer that question a bunch of times already.

Serious question--in what way do you you modify the Agile 8 to suit your needs?

Thanks, and good luck with your meet prep.

 

[toonie]

Listened to your vlog on your diet the other day. Have you ever considered designing another day of eats that meets all your macros? Such that you could jump between your current daily meals, and another one week to week or even day to day and still have easy manipulation.

 

[3 dimensional]

I don't do a lot of accessory work for my deadlift, honestly. I'll do some light-ish seated goodmornings, sometimes with bands, GHRs, and back extensions, but I really do no heavy deadlift assistance work. In the past, I've done things like heavy standing goodmornings, hip thrusts, and rack pulls for accessory work, but I mostly just focus on one heavy pulling session and one speed session per week, plus light assistance.

where did you place the pins for your rack pull...? i read, anything above the knees is pointless... yes/no? the power rack i am using has 2 settings BELOW my knees... #1 is roughly, on the floor. #2 is what i am using...

AND link us when that article comes up...

 

[Keosawa]

Hi Kyle! I've just finished reading through this log from the beginning; I've thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot along the way, so thanks for sharing all of this.

I have a question I hope you don't mind addressing-- why do you squat with such a narrow stance?? lol j/k I've read/listened to you answer that question a bunch of times already.

Serious question--in what way do you you modify the Agile 8 to suit your needs?

Thanks, and good luck with your meet prep.

Hello there! You're bringing the lulz, I see. I'm glad you enjoyed the log, and here's my answer to your question:

For the Agile 8, I put a little less emphasis on my adductors, since I squat with a really narrow stance. Instead of adductor SMR, I usually do lacrosse-ball rolling for my lower back. I also don't do glute SMR, but instead focus on my hip flexors. Sometimes, I'll hit my glute medius as well, if it's tight. Additionally, I roll out my quads. Simply put, I try to tailor the SMR portion of it to the muscle groups that I feel are tight and/or taxed at the beginning of a session. Looking back on my recent adductor troubles, I'll probably return to the adductor SMR; additionally, I'll roll out my calves more often, since I've had some issues recently with tight calves.

I do everything else as stated, but I don't do the groiners. Again, I don't think it's necessary for me to do a lot of dynamic stretching for my adductors when I'm taking a really narrow stance for my squats. Instead, I'll usually do some kneeling squats for glute/hip activation.

Listened to your vlog on your diet the other day. Have you ever considered designing another day of eats that meets all your macros? Such that you could jump between your current daily meals, and another one week to week or even day to day and still have easy manipulation.

Not a bad idea at all; I might end up doing this, actually. I've been thinking about maybe introducing some occasional red meat into my diet. I'm a creature of habit, and I don't get bored with my diet, but a little variety might be worthwhile.

where did you place the pins for your rack pull...? i read, anything above the knees is pointless... yes/no? the power rack i am using has 2 settings BELOW my knees... #1 is roughly, on the floor. #2 is what i am using...

AND link us when that article comes up...

Regarding the article; absolutely.

I've heard the same, and the reason is simply that the higher the rack pull, the less your positioning will mimic that of a deadlift. When I did knee-height rack pulls, I'd find I'd "cheat" by putting myself in a biomechanically advantaged position to complete the lift.

I always liked pulling 2" below my knee. For me, the answer to this is pretty simple: look at how you perform at each rack height, then pull from the height you're weakest (relatively speaking) at. So, for me, I was pulling the same weights 2" off the floor as I was from the floor. At 4" off, my deadlift would jump a bit. Once I reached an inch below my knees, I was pulling close to 600, and at knee height, I was pulling 630+. So, I'd choose to pull where I was weakest.

If you only have two settings below your knees on your rack, and one is basically on the floor, then I guess you're sort of stuck using #2. But the simple answer would just be to pull from the position you're worst at, assuming you have a "worst" position. Otherwise, stick with what's proven to work for a lot of others and pull at 2" below your knees.

 

[Keosawa]

From Friday:

Modified Agile 8

Squats
95x8
145x5
195x5
245x5
295x5
345x5
345x5
345x5 (adductor strain)
295x3 (adductor strain worsens)

Speed Pulls
275x2x6

Leg Curls
BWx300

Back Extensions, three sets

Hip Abductors w/ band, three sets

I strained my left adductor (as opposed to my right one, which was an issue throughout this cycle) squatting, and the pain got worse as I trained, so I ultimately called it early. I should be fine, but the numerous minor injury setbacks are getting annoying. That, plus a string of bad squat sessions, has me rethinking, again, my squat attempts at the meet. I'm just trying to keep it together for this final week at this point.

My benching from yesterday, since I never logged it:

Paused Bench Press
Barx20
Barx20
95x8
135x5
185x2
225x2
255x2
265x2
275x2
285x3 (+5 PR)
295x2 (+5 PR)

285x3 was about a 9.5 RPE; 295x2 was an absolute 10, and the last rep was a brutal grind. Still, I was happy to hit a three- and a two-rep PR in a row. These also break my all-time best touch and go PRs (280x3 and 290x2), which is pretty cool.

My bench again felt awful during warm-ups--I'm just not generating much speed with sub-max weights--but I turned it on for the work sets and got some good numbers out of it.

 

[Keosawa]

2.5" Deficit Deadlits
(w/ monster-mini bands for all warm-ups)
135x3
135x3
225x1
275x1
325x1
375x1
425x1
(without bands)
450x8

Barbell Hip Thrusts
235x8
325x8
325x8

Back Extensions
BWx15
+36x15
+52x15

Banded Face Pulls, three sets

Banded External Rotations, two sets

Pull speed felt lousy today all the way up to--and including--my first work set. I grabbed a badly bent bar by mistake, and I almost lost my grip with 425 after it rolled on me. When that happened, I decided just to strap up, lose the bands, and pull for as long a set as I could. 450 didn't fly off the ground, but the good news was that I felt very strong through lockout.

And so ends my last heavy pull day before the meet. I'll do some speed pulling next Saturday, but otherwise, I'm done deadlifting until April 20th.

 

[miaou]

Hope the adductor heals up in time.

 

[rikwebb]

Congrats on the bench PR's Keo.

 

[LegioTitan]

It seems like you've made a ton of progress on your bench in recent months.

Hope the adductor heals up quickly man. My weekly scalding hot epsom salt bath usually soothes issues like that for me.

 

[Keosawa]

Hope the adductor heals up in time.

It'll be fine. I know that a week's rest before a meet will take care of it; in fact, it feels fine, but I know if I hammer it with a lot of squatting it's going to flare up again. It's not so much a matter of getting it to heal in time for the meet, but rather, of getting at least some good squatting in this week in order to maintain my squat.

Congrats on the bench PR's Keo.

Thank you, sir.

It seems like you've made a ton of progress on your bench in recent months.

Hope the adductor heals up quickly man. My weekly scalding hot epsom salt bath usually soothes issues like that for me.

Yeah, the bench has definitely improved, even over where it was last October. I definitely think I can go three-for-three with my bench at this meet--something like 276/304/309 is very attainable for me--and I feel really confident that I'll bench 304 at the very least. If I can even add 2.5 kilo from one meet to the next, I'm very happy with that rate of progress, as that would make me a 320-330 lb. bencher by next year, which would be fantastic.

It just moves slowly, and I have to accept that. Last April, I benched 292. Coming into this meet, I've done a double with 295 and a single with 310. If I perform well, I'll hit 309, which is +17 lbs. on the year.

 

[Keosawa]

Some not-so-good news:

On the second rep squatting 415 on Tuesday, I felt a pop in the back of my knee. The area has been tender when I've wrapped up ever since I squatted 520, and I've been stiff in my calf for a couple of days after, but it's never been more than a little nagging thing. Well, it felt fine after squatting--I didn't notice much--but it's gradually gotten worse. Now I can barely walk or curl my leg. There's a little viscous swelling in the area, it's painful as shit to touch, and the stiffness and pain extends down into my calf. I'm hoping it's just a calf pull and not a burst Baker's cyst or, even worse, a blood clot. The cyst makes the most sense, since I've been experiencing arthritic symptoms in my left knee this entire training cycle.

I'm not going to evaluate my status for the meet at this time. Yesterday, I sent me entry form in. My plan is to do everything to try and get ready and compete if I can. But I'm going to go to sports medicine to get myself looked at first. I'm not looking to die here from a blood clot.

Anyway, I haven't trained since squatting since even walking to the gym is about out of the question right now. Maybe this will turn out to be nothing and I'll heal like a wolverine. We'll see.

 

[LegioTitan]

I can't find a .gif to express my displeasure at your situation.

Hope it's nothing man. Certainly not a blood clot.

 

[toonie]

Hope it's nothing serious. Best of luck.

 

[NurseKnuckles]

Some not-so-good news:

On the second rep squatting 415 on Tuesday, I felt a pop in the back of my knee. The area has been tender when I've wrapped up ever since I squatted 520, and I've been stiff in my calf for a couple of days after, but it's never been more than a little nagging thing. Well, it felt fine after squatting--I didn't notice much--but it's gradually gotten worse. Now I can barely walk or curl my leg. There's a little viscous swelling in the area, it's painful as shit to touch, and the stiffness and pain extends down into my calf. I'm hoping it's just a calf pull and not a burst Baker's cyst or, even worse, a blood clot. The cyst makes the most sense, since I've been experiencing arthritic symptoms in my left knee this entire training cycle.

I'm not going to evaluate my status for the meet at this time. Yesterday, I sent me entry form in. My plan is to do everything to try and get ready and compete if I can. But I'm going to go to sports medicine to get myself looked at first. I'm not looking to die here from a blood clot.

Anyway, I haven't trained since squatting since even walking to the gym is about out of the question right now. Maybe this will turn out to be nothing and I'll heal like a wolverine. We'll see.

Good idea!
Let me/us know what comes of it!

 

[3 dimensional]

i am genuinely sad ...

 

[hatchoo]

I hope it's nothing and that you can recover in time for your meet.