Keosawa's Powerlifting Log

[belph]

Did I miss something? O.O

How in the world did you miss Cratos vs Keo?

 

[Keosawa]

Hatch, it was also really helpful in coming back from my last meet. I'd have a rebuilding mesocycle in place, and I'd inevitably want to put my foot on the gas, but I'd keep myself on the cycle. Sometimes, I'd give myself one set to ramp things up, but otherwise, I'd just get in the work that I had set out originally for myself. If you look at the weights I was doing on the last week of April, and you compare them to what I'm doing now, it's a huge difference.

Pulls were 440x4x3, 460x3x3, and 285x10x3 off 2.5" blocks; floor press was 205x8x4, 225x12; squats were 300x8x4, 345x6; bench was 215x8x4, 240x6. The build from these numbers was slow but consistent.

This week, the pulls from a 2.5" block were 540x3, 435x5x4; floor press was 260x4x3, 275x4, and 225x9x4; squats were 375x5 (box), 365x5x5, and 320x8x4 (beltless); bench was 275x2, 300x2, 225x17, 260x5x4, and 270x5.

If left to my own devices, I would have gotten here sooner, but I would have probably overreached and ended up peaking too early. Now, I'm feeling good and progressing with my lifts--I feel like I can move forward and sustain progress up to my meet. So, taking five weeks to get back to difficult training weights worked well.

 

[Gfreak]

How in the world did you miss Cratos vs Keo?

I started working 50 hour weeks on tuesday lmao. Can I get a link to this? It sounds amazing :icon_surp

edit: Nvm, if it's what happened in the pub I found it lol.

 

[hatchoo]

Thanks for the explanation keo. I'm an "excel" type of lifter and i'm starting to get tired of following what the spreadsheet says if i know i can push myself more. I feel like i'm missing out on some gains by doing so. I'm doing something like that right now (where i set rep maxes - nothing exceeding 5) for the main lifts and then just hammer in some assistance to get some volume. I'll run it for a few weeks and i'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Keosawa]

2.5" Block Pulls
135x5
225x3
315x3
405x3
460x4
460x4
490x3
490x3
520x5 (PR)
405x10
405x10

Notes: Probably the longest marathon pulling session of my life (two hours, with no other accessory work), but I felt fine going through it and took ample time between sets. 520 was supposed to be a double, but I turned it into a long set of five because fuck it. I'm intentionally breaking the bar slowly off the ground in order to save my lower back, and my lockout still feels pretty smooth despite the lack of bar speed. The first four sets weren't bad, but 520x5 was an RPE@10, and the two sets of ten with 405 were tough.

Overall, the numbers are getting better. My 1RM with 2.5" block pulls could be between 580-590 right now, which is great. I've never been too great at these, so I'm hoping that will translate into a bigger pull off the floor. The only thing that holds my deadlift back is my lockout, and I've gotten in so many reps this training cycle that I feel it's finally starting to come around. Time will tell, but if this does work out, I *should* end up finally becoming a 600-lb. deadlifter, which is my long-ish term goal now.

Video of 520x5:


Full video, with commentary:

 

[Keosawa]

Thanks for the explanation keo. I'm an "excel" type of lifter and i'm starting to get tired of following what the spreadsheet says if i know i can push myself more. I feel like i'm missing out on some gains by doing so. I'm doing something like that right now (where i set rep maxes - nothing exceeding 5) for the main lifts and then just hammer in some assistance to get some volume. I'll run it for a few weeks and i'll let you know how it goes.

Dan Green's training is similar, in that he uses a main movement, a lift variant, and he alternates between them while constantly trying to set new rep maxes. It's an approach that I've come to like a lot for my bench press.

 

[KidAlchemy]

Good pulling, Keo!

And I have to say that the gym you go to looks pretty damn awesome. And this comes from a guy whos gym has 1 bench rack, 1 squat rack and a platform.

 

[LegioTitan]

Breaks the bar off the floor slower to save back.... still faster than my pull.

Had something I'd like your input on.
So, if I plan on doing another IPA meet I have the option of raising my heels on the bench. Do you think this is even worth playing around with?? I've always benched flat footed.
If so, how would you recommend I implement it and what cues should I try to focus on??

 

[Mike Y History]

Really impressive. Also at 1:24 you (or maybe someone else) do a great Donald Duck quack.

 

[CRZA]

Great pulls keo!

 

[Keosawa]

Good pulling, Keo!

And I have to say that the gym you go to looks pretty damn awesome. And this comes from a guy whos gym has 1 bench rack, 1 squat rack and a platform.

It is! We've got eight of each of those. Now, our gym is very crowded during the school year, but to me, it's totally worth it. I'm lucky to not have to worry about equipment.

Breaks the bar off the floor slower to save back.... still faster than my pull.

Had something I'd like your input on.
So, if I plan on doing another IPA meet I have the option of raising my heels on the bench. Do you think this is even worth playing around with?? I've always benched flat footed.
If so, how would you recommend I implement it and what cues should I try to focus on??

lol. Once it budges off the floor, it seems to fly up past my knees no matter how slowly I try to go. I would be awful at paused deadlifts, I bet.

It's worth it, sure. I'm doing a UPA meet with the same option, and I tried it for a training cycle. I'd recommend you first throw it in as technique work after your normal benching and just mess around with different stances. The benefits of heels-up benching include being able to position your feet higher up, which will anteriorly rotate your pelvis more and produce a bigger arch. Lifters with really great mobility will space their feet far apart to get them even higher towards the head; Laura Phelps has her feet under her bar when she benches. Those lifters are essentially teabagging the bench rather than placing their glutes on it.

Here are a few cues that I would use:

1.) Heels to the ground. *Trying* to touch the ground with your heels will help lock your base into place when you bench.

2.) Knees below the bench; knees below elbows. Because you can achieve a different shin angle with heels-up benching (closer to parallel with the floor), you can get your knees further below the bench, which will give you better leverage. So, after I'd try to touch the ground with my heels, I'd try to push my knees below the bench. If you do this really well and can produce a good arch, your elbows can actually stay higher than your knees at pause position on the bench.

3.) Anteriorly rotate your pelvis. This one doesn't really need an explanation. In my opinion, these three cues all encourage each other.

Outside of that, when I messed around with this setup, I had a hell of a time figuring out how to start setting up--where my feet should be, where my body should be, etc. So, I can't offer much good advice on that. Many lifters will set their feet in a particular spot first, then use the bar to wrench themselves into position.

Really impressive. Also at 1:24 you (or maybe someone else) do a great Donald Duck quack.

LOL. I had to rewatch this--it's somebody stripping a plate off a bar. I've heard that sound before. And yes, the resemblance is uncanny--nice catch.

Great pulls keo!

Thanks! This was a pretty surreal session, as I ended up performing well above where I thought I could. So, maybe that bodes well for the future!

 

[Keosawa]

Paused Bench Press
Barx20
95x5
135x5
185x5
225x10
225x10
225x10
225x10

Face Pulls, in kg
57.5x15
57.5x15
57.5x15
57.5x15
57.5x15

Notes: I'm finally starting to move sub-maximal weights faster; 225 felt like it flew up for the first time all training cycle. I've been doing a good job at handling near-max weights, but my sub-max speed has been lacking, until now. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come; I went with a higher RPE today in order to really push my bench press, and I feel I handled it well. For context, 225x10 was my paused rep max when I first paused 300 lbs. late last year; considering how easily I handled today's work, I'm hoping a 310+ bench is in my near-future.

 

[LegioTitan]

Hey Keo thanks for all that information. I've wanted to try playing around with it when I warm up this week but I was well above 80% on Tuesday and in no mental state to tinker with technique today. If that makes any sense.

I am going to try it out soon though. My bench is making the most progress.... ever so I want to get after it.

The way you push your volume is interesting and periodically ridiculous. I'd be willing to venture that your current NBL is higher per meso cycle than a lot of popular "volume" programs. But you still maintain it for fairly long, and effective, periods until a new weakness is found. Don't you keep track of these numbers?? I think it'd be really neat to see the comparison. I believe the set/rep is the real fine tuning of a program beyond just % and total lifts so I'd be the most curious about that.

 

[Keosawa]

Okay, I haven't logged in a few days, so I'll get caught up with some notes on recent sessions.

On Tuesday, I did some heavy squatting; 395x2x3, 395x3. These were all pretty slow and pretty hard, and I just about stalled out halfway up on my last rep. This didn't feel as good as I wanted it to, but considering the weight and the total volume, it's progress. I definitely didn't feel as strong as I did last week, though.

On Wednesday, I was supposed to bench; 275x3x5 was the goal for the day. I got through two sets and called it a day. These felt really slow and really hard, and I tweaked my shoulder on the second set. I have video of this, but I doubt I'll even bother posting it. It was a forgettable session and I decided afterwards to give my bench a little more time to recover. So, I think I won't be benching again until next Tuesday.

After this session, I came pretty close to imploding, as I'm prone to do this far out from a meet, but by some minor miracle managed to keep the damage to a minimum. I'm going to try to stick to my plan and keep myself from getting hurt recklessly chasing numbers.

On Thursday, I came back to squat 370x5x5. There's no video of this session, which is too bad; it was a nice rebound for me. The sets were way too tough--the last set was brutally difficult--but I at least got through it, and 370x5 isn't exactly easy as a work set. So, I was happy with the work I put forth. The following morning, I did 325x9x3, though this time I used a belt for my sets. These were pretty easy, but I strained a right abdominal and squatting against it felt like I was getting pierced in the gut by my belt. I need to continue to moderate the amount of belted training volume I put myself through.

I'll be back to regular training with deadlifting on Monday. I'm getting a couple of days off, which is pretty welcome after this week's end. I've had a couple of great weeks of training, but I think now it's time to take a slight deload before I make my final push for July. We'll see how recovered I feel on Monday. Recovery isn't great right now, and life isn't great right now, but things will work out.

 

[Keosawa]

Hey Keo thanks for all that information. I've wanted to try playing around with it when I warm up this week but I was well above 80% on Tuesday and in no mental state to tinker with technique today. If that makes any sense.

I am going to try it out soon though. My bench is making the most progress.... ever so I want to get after it.

The way you push your volume is interesting and periodically ridiculous. I'd be willing to venture that your current NBL is higher per meso cycle than a lot of popular "volume" programs. But you still maintain it for fairly long, and effective, periods until a new weakness is found. Don't you keep track of these numbers?? I think it'd be really neat to see the comparison. I believe the set/rep is the real fine tuning of a program beyond just % and total lifts so I'd be the most curious about that.

It's still a process of trial-and-error (as evidenced by my last update). I'm keeping track of these numbers, but it's going to take me a while to compile enough data to properly understand how I respond to different approaches to training.

I'm just hoping to make improvements managing myself with each training cycle. This cycle has been better than last, but I'm sure I could improve it further.

 

[Keosawa]

Today, Babyeater and I went to the second day of the JTS seminar in Chicago. We were there for the large Q&A in the morning and a deadlift workshop session in the afternoon. I did a little lifting, so I guess I'll log that, but I'll also talk about the day itself.

The Q&A didn't provide a lot of new information, but it was nice to hear everyone's perspective. I think it reinforced a few things for me, particularly to be patient: it's good to hear that everyone on that panel, except maybe Caitlyn Trout, has been training for longer than me. So, yeah, it was neat.

I mostly want to talk about the deadlift workshop. I was supposed to pull on Sunday anyway, and though I was going to push that back a day, I figured I'd just do a bit of pulling today and perhaps subtract today's work from tomorrow's training session. Of my three lifts, I have one that I'm confident in (bench), one that I suck at technically--but that I feel I know how to fix--(squat), and one that I suck at technically and don't quite know how to fix (deadlift). So, I figured it'd make sense to get some help on my deadlift.

I inserted myself into Ed Coan's group, which ended up being a good decision. I tried widening my stance and pointing my toes out; the focus was on pulling back more and on thinking about initiating my hip drive before the bar even passes my knees. This is totally foreign to me, but I suppose it makes sense--my reaction time is often a little slow because my pull off the floor is so fast, and this leaves me shoulders out in front of the bar.

So, here's what I did (I think):

135x3
225x3
315x3
405x1
495x1
515x3

515x3 wasn't a rep PR; it wasn't an RPE@10 either though, as I just went until he told me to stop. The lockout felt a LOT smoother, but conversely, I lost some speed off the floor. Still, I didn't feel like I was near failure, which is encouraging.

I figure I'll try to pull with a wider stance tomorrow. I can still hit my work sets with it, so it won't hurt, and I might just find it works better for me.

Finally, I just want to say that I got to see a lot of really accomplished lifters, but Ed Coan is probably one of the coolest guys I've had the good fortune of being around. He has absolutely no ego and doesn't hold himself above anybody else. Some great lifters are lousy coaches, but he quite a good coach, too; he'd double somebody's rep PR just by making a few technical changes, and his approach was very sensible. He was also the guy who worked with people after the session ended and offered to stay for more questions after the seminar was over.

All in all, it was a great weekend. The Babyeater was fantastic company, and we had a heck of a last hurrah before I really dial in my diet for July (I think she had a great time too).

 

[Keosawa]

(Credit to the Babyeater for taking this. I'll cherish it forever.)

 

[hatchoo]

That sounded like an awesome time. I'm sure just being around those strong people is enough to raise someone's PR

I'll be keeping an eye on your pull progress. My deadlift has been stalled for a very long time.

 

[Babyeater]

Just want to add that I believe one of the Lilibridges is back there in the black tank top on the right in that picture, and Pete Rubish is over there on the left in black. I love this picture too, it's probably one of my favorite parts of the day--or perhaps one of my favorite things with which I walked away from the seminar.

Also, Kyle is kind of the best lifting-trip-partner ever. Just saying.

 

[Gfreak]

That's awesome man, I"d love to go to something like that some time.

And it's always good to hear when the people at the top are still just real good guys to get to know.