The Inevitable Return of the Great White Dope

[matty_mcfly]

Are you trying to rock the visible abs? Or just a nice side effect if it happens?

[El Exorcisto]

I want to get cut the fuck up eventually. Emphasis on eventually.

[Shortgorilla]

I await your sumo video with baited breath.

[El Exorcisto]

I didn't pull today. It was a shitty weekend with little sleep. I woke up stiff as a rock ad decided to just do some loaded stretches and screwed around on the rings. Maybe later this week...

[El Exorcisto]

Strict press: 8,4,3 rest pause @ 105

Barbell row: 10 @ 95, 105, 115

Barbell shrug: 5 @ 135, 225; 10 @ 275

Incline Zottman curl: 12,6,4 rest pause @ 20

[El Exorcisto]

Squat: 10 @ 45; 5 @ 95, 135; 20 @ 165

Good morning: 5 @ 45, 3x10 @ 95

Rings practice: inverted hang, inverted pike, skin the cat, single leg back lever, tuck front lever, slow negative tuck front lever

Support tuck: 3x10

Bodyweight hyper: 3x15

 

I've had to reset my SI two more times since I found that manipulation. It gets better with each time, and this morning I was still set from yesterday. Squats were fucking brutal again, but they feel awesome. Everything else was uneventful but everything felt really good with very little low back or glute tightness today. My inverted pike was a lot tighter today than I have bee able to get before and I can get inverted without any kick-off now. All the rings work smoked my abs and the hypers put a bullet in my hams.

 

I'm going to leave deadlifts out of my programming for a while. They seem to be the only movement that bothers me, and I think my glutes just need some time to relax after having to hold my pelvis together for the last couple months.

[El Exorcisto]

Close-grip floor press: 5 @ 45, 95; 3 @ 135, 155, 175, 185, 190 (rep PR)

Single DB press: 3x5  @ 50

Both superset with ring chins: 40 total

Barbell shrugs: 5 @ 135, 225, 275, 295, 315

Hammer curl: 15,6,5 rest pause @ 30

 

Floor press felt fucking amazing today. I think my upper back has been a weakness for a while that this ring work is starting to address. I can really keep my scapulae bolted to the floor. The second rep @ 190 fell out of the groove a bit, but I recovered and the the third rep wasn't half the grinder it should have been. I would have gone for 195 but I was worried I'd miss a rep.

 

DB presses are good, but unremarkable. My ring chin volume is coming up, but I'm not sure if it has translated to a bigger total set. I like just supersetting them, so I'll stick with it for a while. The set of 315 on shrugs barely moved, so I think I'll just work up in nickels from 275 for higher reps. This is as close to deadlifting as I can pull off right now, so I want to get what I can out of them. Curls... that is all.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Could you tell me what skin the cat is? I really don't want to google it.

[El Exorcisto]

Go from the hang, into an inverted hang, around into a German hang, then back around without losing control and resting on your shoulder capsules.

 

[El Exorcisto]

Strict press: 9,4,3 @ 110, rest pause

Close-grip bench: 12,5,3 @ 135 rest pause

Rings work focussing on German hangs

[El Exorcisto]

Bench press: 5 @ 45, 135; 5x2 @ 185

Shrug: 5 @ 45, 135, 225, 275, 285, 295, 305, 315

[matty_mcfly]

Any tips on increasingly junky shoulders?

[El Exorcisto]

How are they junky? My shoulders have been a lot more forgiving than my hips.

[matty_mcfly]

I may just need a deload/back-off week from bench, but I'm finding my shoulders (left one in particular) are getting pretty angry when raising my arms above my head.  Its mostly in the front of my shoulder or in the arm pit.  No pain of issues when actually benching

 

This could just be the effects of going much heavier on bench than I am use to.

[El Exorcisto]

Jam your thumb into your biceps and work up to where it inserts into your humeral head. If that's where it hurts, then I have plenty of experience with it.

[El Exorcisto]

BTN push press, snatch grip: doubles @ 45, 95, 105, 115, 125, 135, 145; injurious fail @ 155, single @ 155

Superset with ring chins: 6x5

Conventional fucking deadlift: triples @ 135, 185, 225, 275, 315

 

After a day in the woods walking around with a gun, training wasn't really on my mind. I got home and proceeded to plow and shovel my driveway. When I came in, dinner was noted to be about 45 minutes out, and for some reason by this time training was seriously on my mind. With 45 minutes to burn, it was time to get to it.

 

BTN push presses feel fucking awkward, and the fail at 155 resulted in a blow to the head from my Texas Power Bar. I hit a single at 155 after that and dropped it from overhead. I decided to pick the bar up and set it on my hooks to unload it... no pain. Not even a little. That meant it was time to pull some shit off the floor. I smoked 275 and ground out 315 for triples and called it a night... a fucking awesome night. Provided I can walk in the morning, I think I might be back.

[El Exorcisto]

Zercher squat: 10x2 @ 165

Axle clean and press: 2x3 @ 130, 5x3 @ 140

 

Trashed... That is all.

[matty_mcfly]

I jammed my thumb and a few fingers into my bicep and shoulder, not the issue.  I'm a bit less worried today, I think next week's rest before my "peak" week will do me a lot of good.

 

How are you liking those Zerchers? 

[El Exorcisto]

Zercher squats are like front squats but even stricter. You can't put any English on them or they drag you all over the place. They also smoke my abs more than anything else. Anywhere. Ever.

[matty_mcfly]

Next week I won't be training like I usually do, so I might try a set or two of them just cause.

 

Have you ever run a cycle or more of SmolovJr?

[El Exorcisto]

Nope, I've never done any type of specialization block. Fuck being good at a single lift.

 

I'm sending my app off for my first strongman contest tomorrow. I have 5 months to train like a fucking monster and cry like a bitch. It's April 18th.

[matty_mcfly]

Yea, that's the issue I'm running into with the idea of playing with it.  I probs could get good gainz on bench or squat but I feel like the other lifts would drop a bit and I'm just now getting back on track with get to my old lifts.

 

Sweet shit!  Putting off a PL meet until after this?  The training for this should be interesting.

[El Exorcisto]

You know how your squat started eating dick after you came off 5x5? The drop in squatting volume led to detraining of the movement. Like I said, I've never done it, nor do I plan to, but it just seems like a bad idea unless the plan is to peak for a meet. Rooks seems to already be seeing that effect just a few weeks out from it.

 

I may never do a powerlifting meet. Strongman has always spoken to me a lot more than powerlifting. I'm not writing it off, but I'm not holding my breath on a meet either.

 

Training is going to be straight Chaos and Pain with an overhead emphasis for pressing until the weather warms up enough for me to get under a yoke outside. Then it'll be Chaos and Pain with yoke walks and stone carries on off days. The events at the contest are (provided I can make 175 pounds): 160 log/160 axle/90 DB max reps in 60 seconds, Max 18" deadlift opening @ 300, "puzzle piece" carry @ 175, 475 yoke/175 sandbag medley for 50 feet, and 200 lb keg over 48" bar. The yoke and keg sound heavy as fuck, but everything else sounds pretty manageable in 5 months.

[Rooks]

Indeed.  Smolov Jr both times I've run it, I've PR'ed my bench shortly after it, but I'm only 4 weeks out and as can be seen by last week's bench day, I might be back at where I started (Did 225 x 4 right after Jr this last time and last week could only get 230 x 1 which isn't any better then when I ran it).  Definitely some goofy stuff and I'm curious to see what happens tomorrow or Sunday (next Bench workout depending on how I feel).  That said, my bench does feel more stable.  Doing any exercise that many times does at least get you a time under the bar. 

[El Exorcisto]

From the people's logs that I have read both here and at T-Nation doing Smolov or Smolov Jr cycles, that fast dropoff after ending the cycle is a running theme.