BombDonald's Powerlifting Log

[BluntD]

Congratulations man!

[-=Zeus=-!]

Congrats to both of you!

[BombDonald]

1/31/17

Deadlift
455x5x5

Dips
+135x10x5 - volume PR

Deadlifts were super fast. Lower back was too torched to do heavier singles, so I limited the weight. I could do 455x5 all day on a weightlifting bar lol. Probably will do some strongman stuff tomorrow if I'm feeling good.

Congratulations man!

Congrats to both of you!

Thanks fellas.

[BombDonald]

2/1/17

Viper Press
160x10x5

Atlas Stone Extensions
180x5x10

Quick 30 minute workout, my lower back is gone. Gonna ice and rest tomorrow and come back for heavy squat/bench triples on Friday.

Probably will do a bunch of reps on the wrist roller tonight (not a masturbation reference) and maybe some chins.

[BombDonald]

2/3/17

Squat
455x3x10

Bench Press
350x3x10

Felt like garbage today but pushed through it. The lifting itself was really good though, despite my back feeling super tired. Either have to scale back the squat volume or cut out the strongman stuff (at least stones) for the next 4 weeks. Every set had some in the tank though, which was awesome.

Benching was fukking awesome. Time to stop sandbagging and see what I'm really capable of on 3s. Planning on 335 for 5s on Monday and will likely keep it there through the meet, trying to push progression on the 3s hard. Tried to film the last set with my computer's potato cam, but can't figure out how to find the file lol.

Going to go help out at the MN State High School Powerlifting meet tomorrow, should be fun. Hopefully will be able to fit in some deadlifts and dips at least.

[BombDonald]

2/4/17

Dips
BWTx20x5

Block Pulls (4")
545x1x10

Power Shrugs
545x20

Meh. Should have just done some farmer's when I got home instead.

[BombDonald]

2/6/17

Squat
455x5x5

Bench Press
335x5x10

Having issues hitting depth while staying tight, most likely an issue with my foot placement. They weren't that high though (right at parallel), and the speed was solid. I could probably hit 455x10 right now without a Herculean effort, which would be a big PR.

Benching was awesome as usual. My consistency has been great. 335x10 might be possible right now.

[BombDonald]

2/7/17

AM

A. Dips
+135x10x5

B. Chest Supported Row
180x10x5

Leg Press
sets of 10 up to 7 plates

Dips were rough after yesterday's benching, and rowing with the chest support almost made me throw up my breakfast.


PM

Block Pull (4")
515x5x3
585x1 @7-7.5

Super quick workout. Back felt great from only doing 5 sets of squats yesterday, and this made my sets with 515 feel like I wasn't even doing anything. Threw 585 on to see how it felt, and it went up with almost no effort. Hopefully this translates to a big pull off the floor! I'll do regular deadlifts on Friday or Saturday.

[BombDonald]

2/9/17

Squat
495x3x5

Bench Press
365x3x8

Squats were crap. I gotta get my form cleaned up or I'm going to really mess up at the meet. Last set was convincingly to depth, but the set was super hard. I'll plan on repeating 495x3x5 next week with better form. Somehow I always seem to pull a mid-high 500s squat out of my ass even if training wasn't great leading into a meet, but right now I'm quite skeptical of going 584+. It's possible that I just had a bad day too, as I did recently say my squat felt stronger than ever. I think I just fall apart at heavier weights though.

Benching went amazing. Plan was to keep going on triples until I couldn't do another set. Probably could do 365x5-6 fresh. Got greedy and decided I didn't want to do 355 or 360 for triples. 365 is so much cooler.

EDIT: Also did 405x5 with a crappy old Sling Shot for fun. The elasticity is definitely not what it used to be, as I hit 405x5 fairly easily a long time ago when my bench wasn't nearly as strong as it is right now.

[BombDonald]

2/10/17

My body is destroyed today, pushed deadlifts back to tomorrow. Today is going to be recovery work.

After dinner and a few scotches last night I went back to my rack and tried a few form adjustments. Hit a smooth 495x1 and a bunch of singles at 405. Finally found my groove with low bar squats again, so my optimism is back

[JiP]

Get some videos up. I like to see how other people work through these form issues.

[BombDonald]

2/11/17

Deadlift (no straps)
545x3x5

Bench Press
335x5x10

Dips
BWTx50 - sloppy

Deadlifts felt great. Last set was @8.5 or so. Benching was weird on the commercial gym bench but I brought a bath mat for my shoulders which helped a lot. Managed to pause every rep on the last set, and basically didn't have an arch for the entire workout because my feet kept slipping.

Cutting out most exercises except for the essentials until the meet. Might do a strongman day 1x/week just to give myself a break from grinding. My deadlift and bench are feeling a lot stronger after I cut out the overhead pressing and other back intensive stuff.




The 495x1 after tweaking my form the other day. Not perfect and didn't look fast, but it felt pretty good. It was also after doing 495x3x5 (with crap form), eating dinner, and drinking booze.

To be the most efficient, it seems that I have to relax my upper back a bit and take a fairly loose and wider grip on the bar (the opposite of what I've been doing). This allow me to crank my elbows under the bar and keep my chest high, which is a necessity for me to hit depth. It also allows me to drop straight down instead of sitting back, which makes it more hip dominant and doesn't require as much back strength since the bar is almost as low as I can physically hold it (shorter lever). My torso is quite long in relation to my height, so that makes sense.

Main issue I need to address is why the bar drops lower on the left side. Secondary issue is simply playing with foot positioning a bit. Seems I might be a little wide right now.

I'll get some form videos posted regularly from here out.

[-=Zeus=-!]

A bath mat huh... interesting idea. I basically stopped BB benching at my gym because the benches are too narrow for me to do it confidently

[BombDonald]

2/13/17

Squat
455x5x5

Slingshot Bench Press
385x5x10


Speed was fine on squats, but my back is torched from deadlifting on Saturday. Definitely going to pull off blocks for my volume work leading into the meet, with maybe a day or 2 of singles off the floor to make sure my technique is dialed in.

Used the slingshot to give my shoulders/chest a break and work my triceps a bit more. Not going to be a regular occurrence as the groove is nothing like my raw bench.



Need to keep my chest up a little more, other than I think they look pretty good. That was set 5/5 too, and I had reps in the tank.

A bath mat huh... interesting idea. I basically stopped BB benching at my gym because the benches are too narrow for me to do it confidently

Can't remember where I read it, but it's a lifesaver.

[BombDonald]

2/14/17

Block Pull (4")
545x5x3

Felt like the only muscles that were used during this workout were in my lower back. Last set was still @7.5 so they moved fine. Might knock out some dips before I go to bed but I'm exhausted.

Recovery day tomorrow. I need some work done on my lower back. I can't wait to take a break from powerlifting and get back into general strength training for a couple months.

[BombDonald]

2/16/17

Squat
495x3 @ death
a bunch of practice

Bench Press
365x3x8

Squats sucked. Low bar is destroying me, but I can't handle heavy weights with high bar. Gonna just have to focus on low volume, recovery, and technique until the meet and see what happens.

Benching went smooth. Probably will hit some accessory work after work since the family will be out of town and I'll be bored (and I've been slacking on accessories). Not going to touch anything even moderately heavy until at LEAST Sunday, probably Monday.

[BombDonald]

Took it easy over the weekend and did a lot dips.

2/20/17

Squat
455x3x10

Bench Press
335x5x10

Desperate times call for desperate measures on squats. First 3 sets were regular low bar and they just hurt. Tried to go high bar for set 4 and almost died. Tossed on my belt because why not, and somehow feel like I know how to use it now. The rest of the sets went really smooth. I was able to keep my chest higher and get a lot more tightness in my abs. They don't feel fast or snappy, but I feel like I will be able to stand up with a lot of weight regardless of speed. Probably will open about 518/529 and go from there. If I can squat at least 573 I'll be ecstatic and still might have a chance at 1650 if I can go about 429/650.

Benching went well despite a little elbow pain, just had to slow down the descent a bit. Gonna take it easy on dips this week, and probably will hit 1 heavy workout before the meet, 405 paused for sure and maybe 425/435 TNG. Might even try 405x3 TNG which has been a goal for a LONG time.

[BombDonald]

2/22/17

Deadlift
585x3 @10

Bench Press
405x1 @10

Everything felt super heavy today. Was going to go 5 if possible on deads but my right hamstring was giving me hell and 3 was a grind. Gonna hit one more heavy squat/bench session otherwise it's all recovery until the meet. My body feels like it's going to die, and I hope that's a good thing. Need a lot of food and water the next week, and that should get me to where I need to be.

Planned openers are about 518/385/573. See you all in 10 days.

[mstatefan91]

You powerlifting again? I'm so confused.

[BombDonald]

Last update before the meet.

2/24/17

Squat
495x1
525x1
545x1 @9

Bench Press (paused)
365x1
375x1
385x1 @9
395x0?

Squats went really well. Technique is dialed in and I'm ready for 573+.

Bench went terrible. Left elbow is giving me grief and it seems like I can't bring the bar down under control like I normally can. 385 moved well and 395 didn't budge off my chest.

Deloading completely on squat/deadlift, and will hit one more heavy bench session on Monday.

You powerlifting again? I'm so confused.

Mostly strongman with a powerlifting emphasis. After this meet I'm going to get healthy, focus on mass and a little bit of conditioning.

[ChecksandGiggles]

Good luck at the meet dude! I'm gonna try to come and watch.

Also, congrats on the kid!

[BombDonald]

Meet Recap

Squat
529 - smoked it
573 - harder than I thought it would be, depth was close
584 - hard, but I got it. depth was close

Bench Press
374 - easy
396 - smooth
x407 - got it a few inches off the chest and it just stopped

Deadlift
x584 - feet were sliding on the carpet, and it dipped a bit right around my knees. both calves violently seized up
x584 - wiped my feet off really well, got it to lockout no problem, both calves locked up from slipping and I beat the down command by .05 seconds.
606 - switched to conventional and smoked it, totaled 1587 which took back the USAPL state total record at 205 which was 1576.



Squats went almost impossibly well, bench was blah, and I left a lot of weight on the platform for deadlifts. That 606 was after deadlifting 545x1 and 584x1x2 and with no conventional stance warm-ups.

I was standing by the table after my 2nd deadlift, and the guy told me he needed my 3rd attempt, and I just blurted out 606 without giving it another thought. It was definitely the most nervous I ever was for a deadlift as I was either going to bomb out, or take the total record back.

Definitely learned a lot this training cycle and am going to get back into some lighter training for a bit, focusing on size, conditioning and mobility.

[RipCJ]

Good to see you back on the platform.