Keosawa's Powerlifting Log

[Obscure Terror]

Injury wise, right now...

Left big toe has ligament strain. Was hyper extended at jiu jitsu a week ago, can;t drive off it or wrestle. Getting better daily.

Left elbow was compressed rolling last night - think unintentional bicep slice. Arm is annoying when fully flexed in or out. Didn't hinder pressing.

Both thumbs sore from being bent/knocked/hyperextended. These tend to reinjure easily and take a while to shake.

Neck is stiff but that's from sleeping and having a brown belt instructor who is working guillotines.

The current theme is BJJ injuries. I recently fixed two lifting related niggles - tight hip flexors were fixed by doing the Agile 8 warmup before every lifting session. Left rotator cuff was torn a while back and flared up recently, hurt for 2 weeks, Shoulder dislocations and the YTWL Diesel Crew warmup fixed it.

Prior to that I've had lumbar disc herniation(not sport related) that training fixed, and ripped ankle ligaments at Judo. Chipped my tooth and shredded my lip doing OHP once when I rammed the bar into my face on rep 49 of 5x10. I've trapped fingers a couple times between plates, no biggie, and had a bruised sternum when doing the roll of shame of a failed bench attempt.

 

[Keosawa]

Low Box Squats w/ reverse band (around 30 lbs. at top, 125 at bottom)
Barx5
Barx5
135x3
225x1
w/ bands:
225x1
315x1
365x1
425x2
425x2
425x2
435x2
435x2
435x2
435x2
455x1

Saxon Side Bends
30x20
30x20

My week's extra workout; this took around 45 minutes. I just tried to handle some semi-heavy weights with around three-minute intervals.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Your amount of whining is directly proportionate to your age it seems, old man.

I just can't wait to get even older and to complain even more. If I'm like this when I'm 38, just imagine what I'll be like at 70!

 

[scoopj]

Also: I know this isn't the place for constructive criticism, but if you refined certain things in your bench press, I think you'd be even stronger.

Keo, you mentioned this in the PR thread. Can you elaborate?

 

[Keosawa]

Keo, you mentioned this in the PR thread. Can you elaborate?

The biggest issue's probably your setup, scoop. You've got happy feet after unracking 235, and you could be doing a much better job of placing the weight on your traps. If your legs are that loose, you're probably not pushing yourself up the bench, which is going to keep you from digging your traps into the ground and letting them shoulder the weight of the barbell.

I think that if you set up with a toes-only bench press foot position, you need to tilt your pelvis down by trying to get your heels to touch the ground; I'm guessing you're not doing this, because it would be extremely hard to follow this cue while pivoting on your toes and moving your heels laterally. Your cue should be to get your knees as close to BELOW the bench as possible--this will really help you, I think.

 

[Keosawa]

4" Deficit Deadlift
135x3
135x3
225x1
275x1
315x1
365x1
405x1
455x1
495x1
525x0 (ugh, my closest failure ever--I lost my grip at lockout.)
455x1
455x1
455x1

Low Block Pulls (4" off ground)
455x1
505x1
505x1
505x1

Standing Goodmornings
135x10
225x10
225x10
225x10

The missed 525 doesn't matter; it might as well have been a good attempt, and I've been weighing in my mind over the last day whether I wanted to count it or not. My hips could have come forward a little more, so I'm not going to count it, but it doesn't really matter anyway. Next week I'll try to pull 540 off a 2" deficit, and if I can pull that, I'll feel good about my deadlift going into Grand Nationals.

 

[Keosawa]

Reverse-Band Bench Press (125 lbs. at bottom, 85 lbs. at top)
Barx20
Barx20
135x5
225x3
275x1
315x1
365x1
390x3
390x2
390x2
390x2
390x2

Pin Press, 2" off chest
135x5
225x1
265x1
275x1
225x3
225x5
225x5

Dumbbell Press
60x5
90x11
80x12

Kettlebell Cross-Body Tricep Extension
24x12, 12
24x12, 12
24x12, 12
24x12, 12

Hammer Curls
40x8, 8
50x8, 8
60x6, 6

Also, our other 148 on our team is doing awesome:

Deadlift: 455, 510, 520, 550 (Fail) - YouTube

He pulled 520 for an easy PR last week, and he just squatted 455 today. He's also got a 250 bench press now. His progress has been remarkable: in his first powerlifting meet in October, he totaled 970, and now he's hoping to break 1200 lbs. in July.

 

[WitchCraft]

What is with Iowa and all of you tiny freaks?!?! It must be cool to have a training partner in your weight class who is also strong as hell.

 

[hatchoo]

Are you guys competing in the same meet? Both of you have awesome lifts!

 

[scoopj]

The biggest issue's probably your setup, scoop. You've got happy feet after unracking 235, and you could be doing a much better job of placing the weight on your traps. If your legs are that loose, you're probably not pushing yourself up the bench, which is going to keep you from digging your traps into the ground and letting them shoulder the weight of the barbell.

I think that if you set up with a toes-only bench press foot position, you need to tilt your pelvis down by trying to get your heels to touch the ground; I'm guessing you're not doing this, because it would be extremely hard to follow this cue while pivoting on your toes and moving your heels laterally. Your cue should be to get your knees as close to BELOW the bench as possible--this will really help you, I think.

Thanks for the advice Keo. No, I was not thinking about digging my traps into the bench at all. When I do my set up, I'm thinking about squeezing my shoulder blades together, but I will incorporate your suggestion. You probably couldn't tell in the video (250), but as I was setting up my shoulder blades, I got a pretty bad cramp in my upper back, so I ended up resetting and didn't get as tight as I would have liked due to the cramping.

I have my heels up and I think about pressing them down for leg drive, but I've not heard of the knees below the bench cue or tilting the pelvis down. Will incorporate those as well.

Thanks!

 

[Keosawa]

What is with Iowa and all of you tiny freaks?!?! It must be cool to have a training partner in your weight class who is also strong as hell.

It's awesome--he's getting so strong so quickly! It's a little freaky, actually; he totaled 970 in October and will do well over 1200 lbs. at this meet. It's awesome because his progress pushes me to get stronger, since I don't want to be the weakest 148 on the team.

Are you guys competing in the same meet? Both of you have awesome lifts!

Yep! We're both going to compete, hopefully at 148. My weight is fine, but he's been around 160, so we have to watch his weight closely and see if we can get it to drop. He's 5'8", so he's very tall for the weight class; he might have to go 165 if he can't make the weight, but I'm thinking he'll figure it out. This might be his last meet at 148 lbs.; with his awesome progress, I wouldn't be surprised if he's totaling 1400 at 165 by the end of next year.

Thanks for the advice Keo. No, I was not thinking about digging my traps into the bench at all. When I do my set up, I'm thinking about squeezing my shoulder blades together, but I will incorporate your suggestion. You probably couldn't tell in the video (250), but as I was setting up my shoulder blades, I got a pretty bad cramp in my upper back, so I ended up resetting and didn't get as tight as I would have liked due to the cramping.

I have my heels up and I think about pressing them down for leg drive, but I've not heard of the knees below the bench cue or tilting the pelvis down. Will incorporate those as well.

Thanks!

No problem man. If I were to bench with my heels off the floor (I can't because my fed doesn't allow it), forcing my knees below the bench would be my biggest cue for keeping tension. Just as you want to put yourself in a position where your elbows don't end up below the bench at the bottom of the press (as per Dave Tate), you want to try to get into a set-up in which your knees don't end up above the bench. Elbows above knees, always!

 

[Keosawa]

DE Low Box Squat (w/ short mini-bands)
Barx3
Barx3
135x1
185x1
225x1
275x1
275x1
275x1
275x1
275x1
275x1
275x1
275x1
275x1

DE Conventional Deadlifts (w/ short mini-bands)
135x3
135x3
225x1
275x1
315x1
365x1
365x1
365x1
365x1
365x1
365x1
365x1
365x1
365x1

Back Extensions w/ barbell
BWx15
+75x12
+75x12
+75x12

Leg Curls
BWx200

Standing Cable Ab Crunches
70x25
78x25
78x25

I did a lot of heavy singles on this day, as this is my last speed day before the meet and I wanted to work heavier than usual. Work sets for box squats were probably close to 375 at the top, and 415 at the top for deadlifts. Considering the weight, these moved fairly well.

Now begins my last week of meet prep!

 

[Tosa]

5'8"? I wouldn't be surprised if he was 83kg before long.

 

[Keosawa]

5'8"? I wouldn't be surprised if he was 83kg before long.

I told him his future would likely ultimately be at 181.



Squat
Barx8
Barx8
135x3
185x1
225x1
275x1
315x1
340x5
385x3
430x4 (PR)

Low Box Squat
135x1
225x1
315x1
315x5
315x5
365x3

GHRs
BWx50
BWx50
BWx50

Squat Belt Walks
+120x10 trips
+120x10 trips

I can't believe how strong my squat is feeling lately; this is way stronger than where I was a couple of weeks ago, and it's a huge PR for me: my previous two-rep PR was 425, and my previous three-rep PR was 415. The downside is that I could have cut a couple of these squats high, but I've never had a problem with depth in a meet, and my shorts and shirt make it hard for me to identify my hip crease. Then again, I could just be in denial. Someday soon--maybe next week--I'll come in and squat with a singlet to check my depth.

 

[Jake Pudenz]

Nice work on the PR. Your squatting is starting to take off.

Do it. When I would go in there, I would train in just my warm pants and a t-shirt. I'm pretty sure that I trained in my singlet at least once. Fucks given: zero.

 

[Keosawa]

Nice work on the PR. Your squatting is starting to take off.

Do it. When I would go in there, I would train in just my warm pants and a t-shirt. I'm pretty sure that I trained in my singlet at least once. Fucks given: zero.

Yeah, it is. I've put 25 lbs. on my squat so far this year, but I think I can do better than that before the end of the year, provided I increase the frequency of my squatting by keeping my medium-heavy day.

And yes, I will do this next week. At this point, I don't care what I look like in there anyway. When I deadlift, I do so with my shorts rolled up to my crotch, so by comparison, this isn't so bad.

 

[Keosawa]

Bench Press
Barx20
Barx20
95x3
135x1
185x1
225x1
255x1
275x1
290x1
290x1
295x0 (paused)
245x5
245x5
245x4

Kettlebell Overhead Tricep Extensions
26x15, 15
35x15, 15
40x12, 12
44x10, 10
35x15, 15
35x15, 15

Dumbbell Flys
30x15
40x12
40x12
40x12

Not my best pressing day. My 290 singles moved a bit slowly, and going for a paused 295 rep after doing those singles was horribly stupid. I almost had this attempt, but I ran out of gas. My lockout is really strong right now, but I'm a little weak off of my chest. I'm probably going to take a 287 third attempt at my powerlifting meet, just to be safe. Going 452-287-562 still gives me a 1301 total, which I'd be happy with. I think I could match my 292 bench press from last time, but I don't want to risk missing it.

At this point, there is absolutely no reason why I should miss these lifts. Three failed attempts at 1300 is enough; I'm ready to finally finish this thing and move on to bigger totals. I know that 1300 WILL fall, and I believe that this will be the time.

 

[NurseKnuckles]

I always come into this log looking for nuggets of info. Great stuff in here.

 

[squatsquatsquat]

I know that 1300 WILL fall, and I believe that this will be the time.

Good. Fucking kill it!

 

[JauntyAngle]

I can't believe how strong my squat is feeling lately; this is way stronger than where I was a couple of weeks ago, and it's a huge PR for me: my previous two-rep PR was 425, and my previous three-rep PR was 415. The downside is that I could have cut a couple of these squats high, but I've never had a problem with depth in a meet, and my shorts and shirt make it hard for me to identify my hip crease. Then again, I could just be in denial. Someday soon--maybe next week--I'll come in and squat with a singlet to check my depth.

Did you widen your stance as you said you would? Has that contributed to the progress or is it some other factor (e.g. the love of a good woman).