Arian's Rise to Power

[arian11]

When I ran smolov jr it took me from an estimated 275 to an actual 300.

Interdasting. The most I've hit touch and go is 275 but with my 265 paused, I think I am closer to 280 now.

[arian11]

Been messing around trying to figure out what I'm doing next. This is an idea I came up with.



Basically smolov jr for bench. Then an old program my coach gave me for squat. I changed the deadlifting a bit to add in some RDLs and DB rows. I'm hoping they'll help my lockout but still have deadlifting in there once a week to continue working on my technique. I've improved on holding my arch quite a bit but still needs some work.

Wondering what you guys think. 7 days a week might be a bit much. I might move smolov jr to m/w/f/sa so I only lift 4x a week. The program is still gonna be an amoeba when it comes to percentages because I am going to try to push it on good days. And with working with my dad alot recently, I may need to back off some days when I feel miserable.

[kbespy]

Been messing around trying to figure out what I'm doing next. This is an idea I came up with.



Basically smolov jr for bench. Then an old program my coach gave me for squat. I changed the deadlifting a bit to add in some RDLs and DB rows. I'm hoping they'll help my lockout but still have deadlifting in there once a week to continue working on my technique. I've improved on holding my arch quite a bit but still needs some work.

Wondering what you guys think. 7 days a week might be a bit much. I might move smolov jr to m/w/f/sa so I only lift 4x a week. The program is still gonna be an amoeba when it comes to percentages because I am going to try to push it on good days. And with working with my dad alot recently, I may need to back off some days when I feel miserable.

I suppose I could take alot of time and read the beginnings of your log, but it'd be quicker and easier to ask. Are you used to that kind of benching volume? Or squatting and deadlifting same day? I looks pretty awesome and definitely worthy of a run if it's not too taxing.

[arian11]

I suppose I could take alot of time and read the beginnings of your log, but it'd be quicker and easier to ask. Are you used to that kind of benching volume? Or squatting and deadlifting same day? I looks pretty awesome and definitely worthy of a run if it's not too taxing.

I've done smolov jr once, so I know I can handle it. And usually I do squatting M/W/F and deadlift on M/F. So now I just moved deadlift to W and added in RDLs for M/F. And I didn't put in percentages for RDLs or DB rows for that exact reason. If it happens to be too much the first week than I can go lighter on the weights. Then once I get acclimated to it, I can push the weights closer to a near max.

I am probably going to compete in October as well and thinking about going down to 198 so I can compete with my friends. That means I might go into a slight caloric deficit for alittle while since I'm around 210 right now. So I don't want to push anything too crazy while in a deficit. I think if I get down to 205, I can cut the last 7 lbs in water weight a couple days before.

[kbespy]

I've done smolov jr once, so I know I can handle it. And usually I do squatting M/W/F and deadlift on M/F. So now I just moved deadlift to W and added in RDLs for M/F. And I didn't put in percentages for RDLs or DB rows for that exact reason. If it happens to be too much the first week than I can go lighter on the weights. Then once I get acclimated to it, I can push the weights closer to a near max.

I am probably going to compete in October as well and thinking about going down to 198 so I can compete with my friends. That means I might go into a slight caloric deficit for alittle while since I'm around 210 right now. So I don't want to push anything too crazy while in a deficit. I think if I get down to 205, I can cut the last 7 lbs in water weight a couple days before.

Sounds like a good plan. You'll be benching 3 plates by then! I'll be following to see how you do. I have my first meet in a month. Goodluck!

[Jason2459]

I've done smolov jr once, so I know I can handle it. And usually I do squatting M/W/F and deadlift on M/F. So now I just moved deadlift to W and added in RDLs for M/F. And I didn't put in percentages for RDLs or DB rows for that exact reason. If it happens to be too much the first week than I can go lighter on the weights. Then once I get acclimated to it, I can push the weights closer to a near max.

I am probably going to compete in October as well and thinking about going down to 198 so I can compete with my friends. That means I might go into a slight caloric deficit for alittle while since I'm around 210 right now. So I don't want to push anything too crazy while in a deficit. I think if I get down to 205, I can cut the last 7 lbs in water weight a couple days before.

I don't want to hear about how dieting is the reason I kicked your a$$.

[arian11]

Sounds like a good plan. You'll be benching 3 plates by then! I'll be following to see how you do. I have my first meet in a month. Goodluck!

Thanks and good luck at your meet.

I don't want to hear about how dieting is the reason I kicked your a$$.

It won't be because first, you're not gonna beat me and second, I'm cutting so little I doubt it'll have much of an effect on my strength gains. Time is the bigger issue since we are about 2 months out from our meets.

Looks like my jobs with my dad are gonna be more work than we thought. So I'm pretty sure I'm going to combine everything into 4 days so work doesn't get in the way of lifting as much. Something like:

Tuesday: Squat 1, Bench 1
Thursday: Squat 2, Bench 2, Deadlift 1
Saturday: Squat 3, Bench 3
Sunday: Bench 4

That way really only Tuesday and Thursday I'll have to work all day and then go lift afterwards. Saturday we work sometimes but its never really a full day so it won't be bad. And Sunday I'll be completely off and only have bench to do and then recover for the new week. I'm going to do a light day tonight and a moderate day on Saturday so that'll be a better indication of how I feel with lifting after working.

[arian11]

8/9/12

Squat:
315x3x3

Bench:
195x3x3

Everything felt fast though my technique was a little off in squat. I was tipping forward out of the hole and my heels even came up on 1 rep which is pretty hard to pull off in weightlifting shoes. Technique should be better come Saturday and then good to go to start my new program on Tuesday. Been trying to get my friend to sign up so he can lift with me. I had him do 5x5 a couple years back but then he quit. So hopefully I'll have a training partner to keep me motivated and check my depth.

[arian11]

I've uploaded the videos my friend has sent me so far.

Bench Press Attempt 3:



Deadlift Attempt 1:



Deadlift Attempt 2:



Deadlift Attempt 3:

[bmontgomery87]

That 3rd attempt flew up until right before lockout!

[arian11]

That 3rd attempt flew up until right before lockout!

That's how my deadlifts always are.

[SPFjudge]

That 3rd attempt flew up until right before lockout!

That's how my deadlifts always are.

RDL's brah!

[bmontgomery87]

That's how my deadlifts always are.

Mine are reverse. If I break it off the ground, it's getting locked out.

[arian11]

RDL's brah!

Look at my new program brah!

Mine are reverse. If I break it off the ground, it's getting locked out.

Mine use to be like that when I had a wider stance. Then I brought it in so my arms can be straighter and thus longer but now my lockout suffers a bit.

[arian11]

8/11/12

Squat:
365x1x3

Bench:
225x1x3

Did some singles at 80% to get ready for the new program. Felt pretty good. I did all my squats without the hip thrust before sitting back thingy. Was unusual but I might try it out and see if it helps with sitting back more and staying tighter. I also need to stop being lazy with my dynamic warmup because then my hips and shoulders are too tight and I lose tightness at the bottom of the squat and bench.

[arian11]

8/14/12

Squat:
365x6
365x6
315x6

Bench:
195x6
195x6
195x6
195x4

I expected my first day of manual labor and lifting heavy would be hard but didn't think it'd be this bad. Squats were hard so I dropped the weight on the last set to conserve energy for bench. Bench started off good but my lockout strength quickly deteriorated. Last set was a ~9.5 RPE so I stopped there and didn't even do RDLs or DB Rows. Looks like I'm gonna have to ease into this alittle. Also, today, I went from working to taking my dog to the park and then to the gym with only having aminos and creatine at the park. I'm gonna try squeezing a meal inbetween work and park on Thursday hoping it'll give me some energy before the gym.

[dtaps24]

So, you plan on Squatting 3x per week, including once 2 days after deadlifting, and benching 4x per week while eating at a deficit and cutting 10-15 lbs. over the next 2 months? Please tell me I'm wrong about something in your plan or there is something you're not telling us about.

[kbespy]

So, you plan on Squatting 3x per week, including once 2 days after deadlifting, and benching 4x per week while eating at a deficit and cutting 10-15 lbs. over the next 2 months? Please tell me I'm wrong about something in your plan or there is something you're not telling us about.

He's become an inject'arian'?

[arian11]

So, you plan on Squatting 3x per week, including once 2 days after deadlifting, and benching 4x per week while eating at a deficit and cutting 10-15 lbs. over the next 2 months? Please tell me I'm wrong about something in your plan or there is something you're not telling us about.

Squatting 3x per week, check.
One of them being 2 days after deadlifting, check.
Benching 4x per week, check.
Eating at a deficit, check.
Cutting 10-15 lbs, incorrect I did not say that.


I'm 210 in the mornings now. I'm going to cut 5 lbs in the next 2 months to get to 205. And then attempt to cut the last 7 lbs the week of the meet in water weight. This is just an idea, if I see the weight is not going down in the next 2 months or I can't cut the water weight the week of then I'll just bloat up and go 220. Also, all the programs I've done have been high frequency and high volume so I'm use to it. What I'm not use to is the the manual labor but hopefully I adapt quickly. The deadlifts I think will be the easiest since it'll be singles in the 80% range and the sets will actually be determined by how I'm feeling that day. I also thought the bench would be easy but didn't go so well today. Like I said before, those percentages are there for an idea and this 3 week cycle will be more of an amoeba than before in that I'll be changing the weight by how I feel that day. If Thursday goes bad as today, I will drop all the percentages somewhere between 2.5-5%.

He's become an inject'arian'?

I loled.

[arian11]

Here is my 3rd squat attempt from nationals last week. Looks alot worse now than when I first saw it on video. Surprised the spotters didn't grab the bar from the side that tilted down. Don't know why that happened, I don't think that has ever happened to me on squat. Whatevs.

[martin_mathers]

Since when did you start squatting wide? I thought you despised people who open up they legs like that.

[arian11]

Since when did you start squatting wide? I thought you despised people who open up they legs like that.

I didn't do that on purpose. I guess not competing in so long threw me off when I went from a power rack to an ER rack. Judge even told Stig while I was competing that I was squatting wide. That is probably why my form looked so different than usual as well.

[dtaps24]

He's become an inject'arian'?

Would be a decent idea given that he's based his programming off rtaining principles designed around resotratives.

Squatting 3x per week, check.
One of them being 2 days after deadlifting, check.
Benching 4x per week, check.
Eating at a deficit, check.
Cutting 10-15 lbs, incorrect I did not say that.


I'm 210 in the mornings now. I'm going to cut 5 lbs in the next 2 months to get to 205. And then attempt to cut the last 7 lbs the week of the meet in water weight. This is just an idea, if I see the weight is not going down in the next 2 months or I can't cut the water weight the week of then I'll just bloat up and go 220. Also, all the programs I've done have been high frequency and high volume so I'm use to it. What I'm not use to is the the manual labor but hopefully I adapt quickly. The deadlifts I think will be the easiest since it'll be singles in the 80% range and the sets will actually be determined by how I'm feeling that day. I also thought the bench would be easy but didn't go so well today. Like I said before, those percentages are there for an idea and this 3 week cycle will be more of an amoeba than before in that I'll be changing the weight by how I feel that day. If Thursday goes bad as today, I will drop all the percentages somewhere between 2.5-5%.

Please no. I think dropping the weight will b e easy especially in a deficit and doing manual labor in Florida in the late summer/early Fall. If you do this my crystal ball says you will hit 1180 at 198 in October.

[dan_g_28]

I dislike your programming.

[magic15]

went through the whole thread, great read, arian how long have you been training?

[arian11]

Would be a decent idea given that he's based his programming off rtaining principles designed around resotratives.



Please no. I think dropping the weight will b e easy especially in a deficit and doing manual labor in Florida in the late summer/early Fall. If you do this my crystal ball says you will hit 1180 at 198 in October.

So stay 220 and keep the same program? Or stay 220 and change the program? You told me about my depth issues on squat and I listened and didn't have a problem when competition came. So you know I'll listen to you again if you give me some ideas.

I dislike your programming.

You should have told me last week when I posted the program! Suggestions?

went through the whole thread, great read, arian how long have you been training?

Thanks dude. The first time I lifted a weight was the summer going into 6th grade, so like 2003. But I was doing alot of stupid mistakes like not squatting or deadlifting and didn't progress that much. Even when I first started a powerlifting program in summer 2010 I was still slacking a bit by playing basketball all the time and making my gains suffer. I would say I got serious leading up to my first competition which was Feb 2011 and have been sticking with it since then.

[dtaps24]

Here's my thoughts and observations generally and specifically, and as you know I wouldn't waste my time if I thought you wouldn't listen, I'd just be a smartass/dip****, anyways, here we guuuu:

First, good job at Nats, hadn't said that but you made a nice move. 457 Squat in a strict Fed is very solid even though it was below your gym PRs but you were falling into the trap that I think lots of us do of getting borderline, then parallel, then a little high so correcting that took some hard work and to do it without a drop off is impressive, pulling 500 is a big milestone too and I'll touch on that later, your bench is garbage but you already know that you just need to figure out what to do about it.

First problem I see is the whole Smolov/Smolov type training for two lifts. If you search the forum you will see that people constantly try to run Smolov (SQ) and Smolov Jr. (B) together and it rarely if ever works. Smolov is an overreaching program designed with restoratives as a factor. Trying to run two overreaching programs at the same time is silly, trying to run them while also working manual labor and eating at deficit while incorportaing deadlifts is stupid. You will probably burn out quickly if you manage not to hurt yourself first.

I would not recommend tricking up your bench training much at this point. An intermediate (5x5) or peaking (Coan) linear program seems more appropos especially if you want to train your squat that heavy. If you really want to accumulate volume, I'd do Sheiko where at least it regulates your intensity. Bear in mind Sheiko was also designed with an eye toward restoratives, but at least it was designed for more than one lift unlike Smolov.

On Squat, you have made nice progress but need to consider that increasing your BW plays a fairly crucial role for any squatter but especially one who like you (or me) has significant forward lean. I'm not taking anything away from the progress as I don't even like Wilks, if you total higher you total higher especially if you can bulk without having your wife nag you all the livelong day, so good on ya, but look at it critically. You seem to have decent leverages for Squat and a lot of people can Squat 3x per week, I'd just get out of going heavy all 3 days especially if you're wanting to pull.

On that note, especially if you want to try to drop a couple pounds and possibly make a run at 198 and are going to be working a decent amount this Summer, the best place to make up for any loss on your Squat and then some seems to be your deadlift. You made progress with limited work on it which should tell you something. I am not saying run a deadlift program or deadlift heavy every week, but there's room for growth there. I'd say to try to maybe do something like Speed/heavy/maybe assistance only like RDL from week to week. on the heavy week coordinate your squats to lower intensity, the other two weeks you can go hard on squats once or even twice a week.

As for your weight, I always think bigger is better but if you want to try your plan it could certainly work, it's not too drastic. I'd say your best bet would be to look to maintain your squat and put 20 lbs. on your bench and 20 on your Dead in October while maintaining or dropping a little weight. Shoot for like 1250-75 at 198 or if you can pull it off 1300 at 220 whichever you prefer. It would also keep your training fresh and then if you want to go back to overreaching afterwards, you'd probably get better results.

The good news is you like to work hard. The bad news is that you like to work hard. You gottta regulate a tiddle bit.

[martin_mathers]

^this

why do you wanna drop weight? 198 at 5'10 is pretty skinny. at 5'10 you'd have the best leverages at 242 or 275. not to mention your bench will go up a lot.
i always thought the more the better and i was running sheiko all year round but once i dropped the volume and frequency drastically i've been making way better progress. with all that manual labor i think you should focus more on recovery.

[dan_g_28]

I think MM makes a good point. Have you always thought "I need to up volume and frequency" when you don't see progress? Have you tried doing the opposite and lowering volume and frequency but upping the poopoo out of the intensity?

I am no program wizard, I can hardly set up my own.. but I'm not a fan of the "squat, bench, deadlift, repeat" without accessory movements training style. I think accessory work is a good way to bring up weaknesses without burning you out too bad.

So for your bench, its not a secret that it kind of sucks.. so instead of saying "it sucks, I need to up the volume", why not bench twice a week but hammer our some accessory work on each day as well? Its just a thought, buddy.

[kbespy]

You are lucky to have people with experience want to give you so much advice, and I am impressed with your humility to be able to take it in and use it.