KSC's Log

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Cheat meals are treated much like a training session. I generally only get one per week and the rest of the time I am pretty much always hungry. In fact, my nutritionist had to put me on a 45 minute time limit because I would just keep eating. This is why I get so mad at people who say they can't gain weight, or it takes them a month to put on 5 lbs.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thurs 3/25

Bodyweight = 203


Dynamic Effort Bench Press

10 x 3 x 185 + doubled up yellow bands

Press

3 x 5 x 185
1 x 10 x 135

*Benches felt pretty fast and explosive, but as to be expected, my strength on the presses was greatly impacted by the fatigue created by the bands. 185 felt heavier than it should have. I wasn't scheduled to workout til tomorrow but we're clsoing on our new house tomorrow morning and then we gotta start the super fun process of moving. No training til Monday. Until then I will be evaluating my plans going into Week 11. I'm liking the DE stuff in the program, but not sure I like the way stuff it is laid out. We'll see.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 3/29

Bodyweight: 204. Only a three lb jump from Sunday cheat meal this time around. Weighed in Sunday morning at 201.

Max Effort Bench Day

Incline (pinkies on ring)

10 x 135
5 x 185
3 x 225
1 x 255
1 x 275
1 x 295
1 x 305
1 x 315
6 x 275 (87.5%)

Weighted Dips

5 x 6-10 x 50 lbs

Just what I needed on a busy Monday. In and out of the gym in about 45 minutes. May have had another 5 lbs in me on Inclines, but I didn't have the time to wait around for 6-8 minutes to recover enough to get it. Pretty sure 315 is a PR for this bodyweight, or close to it.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tues 3/30

Bodyweight = 202

Max Effort SQ/DL

Raw Squat (belt only)

10 x 135
5 x 225
3 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 405
1 x 425
1 x 445
1 x 465
1 x 485
1 x 505
5 x 455

Snatch Grip Deadlifts

3 x 5 x 365

Lat Pulldowns

3 x 8 x 190

Superset with:

45 degree Back Extensions

3 x 10 x 25 lbs

Maybe 5-10 lbs left in the tank on the squats but I left a little room for improvement. Happy with 505 today only weighing in at 202 and not wearing any knee wraps. The only thing I don't like about this style of training is that sometimes you feel like you are just winging it through the workouts without a very thorough plan to follow. As I approach the halfway point to the meet in the coming weeks, I will lay out something a little more concrete for myself.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thurs 4/1

Bodyweight = 199. Officially no longer an adult male, right Justin? Or do I get a waiver since I'm only 5'4.

Press

5 x 5 x 190

Dynamic Effort Bench Press

10 x 3 x 205 + 1 yellow band

Straight Bar Lying Tricep Extensions (i.e. Skull Krushers)

3 x 5 x 115

*Happy with Press strength today. They felt pretty good.

[Sami]

I think the rule was under 5'7" you can be 185 and still be adult male. I think you're matured Y chromosome is firmly intact.

Sucks if you're 5'8", you gotta gain 15lbs, through no fault of your own.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Friday 4/2

Bodyweight = 200. Adult male again.

Dynamic Effort Box Squat (10" box)

5 x 135
2 x 225
2 x 275
2 x 315
2 x 385 x 3 sets
2 x 335 x 7 sets

Goodmornings (paused on power rack pins, very deep)

3 x 5 x 205

BB Rows

5 x 5 x 225

Everything felt like shit today.

There was nothing "Dynamic" about 385, so I stripped the weight and dropped to 335. 385 didn't feel heavy, but it wasn't "popping" at the top. Goodmornings felt pretty good today, I took those down WAY deep and paused them on the pins, followed by an explosive concentric. I think those were the most productive exercise of the day. BB Rows were a wash too for the most part. Upperback has stayed super sore from those snatch grip deads on Tuesday and I felt real weak while warming up for these, so I was a bitch and just threw on 225 or a few easy sets of 5 and called it a day.

First 8 weeks of this training cycle were great, but I have screwed up these last few weeks. I should have just cycled down for a big peak, but I wanted to save that for the meet. Instead I kinda missed my window and started screwing around with this split routine, and as usual I have been disappointed with the production. I wouldn't say i have regressed at all, but I certainly don't feel like the I have progressed too much either.

Gonna take a good rest this weekend (including a big Easter cheat day) and come up with a good solid plan for the remaining 15 weeks. Gonna kinda pretend like the last 2 weeks didn't happen.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Monday 4/5

Bodyweight = 207. 8 lb bump from cheat day. Sunday morning had me at 199.

Max Effort Bench Day

Rack Press
(bar set on pins about an inch or two over the chest; hands placed thumbs distance from smooth part of bar)

5 x 135
3 x 225
1 x 275
1 x 315
1 x 335
1 x 355
0 x 365
0 x 360

Incline

4 x 6 x 245

Tricep Pressdowns

3 x 10 x 50, 50, 60

*Probably could have gotten 360 on the rack press had I not strained for so long with 365. Totally fried my triceps. Good workout overall.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Tues 4/6

Bodyweight = 203.

Deadlifts

10 x 135
5 x 225
1 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 405
1 x 455 x 5 sets. Felt fast and smooth.

Rack Pull (below knees/top of shins)

1 x 405
1 x 455
1 x 505
1 x 525
1 x 545. Had another 20-30 lbs but got a twinge in the hamstring and didn't want to push it further. 5 years ago I would have kept going and then been out a week or more with a pulled hamstring. I guess I'm getting smarter.

Rack Squat (full squat position; start from bottom)

5 x 135
1 x 225
1 x 275
1 x 315
1 x 365
1 x 385
1 x 405. Had more in the tank, but leaving room to run.

Pull Ups

3 x 8-10

This is a new deadlift routine that I got from a PLing coach here in Houston named John Hudson. I believe he is an English professor at U of H. I have never met the guy and wouldn't know him from Adam if I saw him on the street. A friend of mine pointed me to his website and to this deadlift routine. Everything I have tried on my own to get the DL moving hasn't really worked, and the layout of this routine made sense to me.

Each session basically starts out pulling some convential singles. You begin the cycle with multiple singles across and after 6-8 weeks, you just work up to 1 heavy single. Coach Hudson then follows the deads with 2 sets of heavy stiff legs followed by either rack pulls or rack squats. The rack pulls and rack squats are alternated each week and done for heavy singles only.

Changes I have made: I will alternate the stiff legs and the rack pulls and keep the rack squats in a two weeks on, one week off pattern. On the weeks that I don't rack squat, I will work up to a heavy single after my DE box squats on Friday. The reason for this is that I am fairly well adapted to both rack pulls and stiff legs yet have had no exposure to the rack squats. I think I can make some good progress on these and hopefully improve my explosion off the floor. I am performing the rack squats from a below parallel posistion and from the bottom up. I'm using a very narrow stance and heeled weightlifting shoes to really nail the quads.

I will be doing some additional deadlift assistance work on Fridays after my DE Squats so I hope I don't start to overtrain. We'll see. May have to adjust on the fly.

[Locutus]

I think the member "Guido" may have some personal experience with that routine. Maybe you can send him a PM, if he doesn't see this mention.