Martin's odyssey to become not as weak.

[martin_mathers]

In on first page for fellow Canuck. Strong as hell brother.

Thanks I'm trying.

Paused Bench with super bad cold
barx20
135x10
185x8
225x5
275x3
295x2
315x1
335x1
355x2 Tied PR. Really wanted a triple but with the cold it just wasn't happening. I could barely drag my ass out of bed to the gym. So I was actually pretty happy with this.
255x8x5 sets. So I went right into the start of my meet prep cycle. Building volume again for the next 2 months or so.

Pullups
5x8

DB OHP
4x10

Really should've just done volume work today without working up cause I'm sick as a dog. I did plan to work up to 565x1 for squats on Friday but I think I'm just going to start the meet prep and do light volume work. No reason to burn myself out. Gym PR's don't count anyways.

[martin_mathers]

Been sick as fuk, coughing and blowing my nose all week last week, and got a bad fever Thursday night. Didn't even make it to work on Friday, just slept through pretty much all weekend. Still managed to train though. And since it's the start of my meet prep everything was light.

Friday: Squats 390x5x6 sets. Felt like dying after each set. Random muscle cramps + not being able to breathe properly. Finished with some rows and leg presses.

Saturday: Light paused bench 225x10x5 sets. Finished with pullups, DB OHP, curls and shoulder prehab stuff. Was still having body aches all over.

At work right now feeling a little better. Still coughing my lungs out but no more fever and very little body aches.

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift
barx20
135x10
225x5
315x3
385x5x6 sets

Rows
4x12

GHR
3x10

More like a deload day than anything. Talked to Jeremy about my programming for my meet prep and he wasn't agreeing on some of the stuff I planned on doing. He's gonna write me something, at least for the deadlift.

[Juggernaut0]

How's your diet right now? Or at least before you got sick...

[martin_mathers]

How's your diet right now? Or at least before you got sick...

Nothing special, I don't really count anything. 2-3lbs of meat a day (beef and chicken), 1-2 shakes a day, then the rest I fill in with eggs, cottage cheese, rice, bread, some veggies. I also eat out once a week.

[martin_mathers]

Paused Bench
barx20
135x10
185x8
225x5
255x3
285x5x8 sets

Pullups
5x8

DB OHP
4x10

Tricep Pushdown
3x12

Facepulls
3x15

So Jeremy gave me the meet prep cycle for the deadlift, and told me to write the squat and bench cycles with pretty much the same idea. So I did and just changed the number of reps. Basically he said with my original plans my starting numbers were too low for a meet prep cycle. It was more like an offseason plan. Now he got me to start a little heavier, do a small reset mid cycle then peak. I've never done anything like this before for a meet so we'll see how it works out. I have some pretty aggressive goals for this meet in 12 weeks.

[Juggernaut0]

Does this mean you'll pull the long awaited 600? lol

[martin_mathers]

Does this mean you'll pull the long awaited 600? lol

Aiming for more than that hopefully.

Friday Squats
barx15
135x8
225x5
275x3
315x2
365x1
405x1
425x5x5 sets. http://www.instagram.com/p/BBLJl6gykcb/
These were fast but hard. Just not used to doing sets of anything more than a triple. These should improve my work capacity.

Rows
4x12

Split squats
3x10


Saturday Paused Bench
up to
235x10x5 sets

Lat Pulldowns
4x15

DB OHP
4x10

Tri Pushdown
3x15

Facepulls
3x15

Curls
3x12

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift
Barx15
135x10
225x5
315x3
365x2
405x1
455x3x9 sets
Jeremy didn’t program the number of sets, just the weights and reps. He told me to keep pulling for sets until I slowed down. Well I didn’t slow down and actually got faster set after set. So I thought 9 sets would be enough. Or else I would’ve stayed there pulling for the whole night lol.

Rows
4x12

GHR
3x10

Even though the deadlifts were light and fast, after pulling 9 sets I was still a bit fatigued. And it showed in the GHR’s.

[NorthStrong]

should've done 10 sets bro

[Juggernaut0]

should've done 10 sets bro

Agreed. lol

[Hunttarded]

Nice, lots of volume. Liking increasing the sets and keeping reps low to get some work in instead of the other way around.

[martin_mathers]

should've done 10 sets bro

I was gonna stop at 8 but shiit was moving too fast so I did another one.

Nice, lots of volume. Liking increasing the sets and keeping reps low to get some work in instead of the other way around.

Yea just trying to get as much practice in as possible.


Paused Bench
barx20
135x10
185x8
225x5
275x3
295x5x8 sets
Light and fast. Switched out some plates during the workout cause I thought some of them were light. Felt the same after.

Pullups
5x8

DB OHP
3x10

Tricep Pushdown
3x15

Facepulls
2x20

[martin_mathers]

Friday
Squat
up to
435x5x5 http://instagram.com/p/BBboYimSkZE/
435x3 Extra set to try out different wrapping technique. Didn't like it.
The 5x5's were fast but still felt like cardio. Sweating and breathing like crazy after each set.

Rows
4x15

Split Squats
3x10

Ab Wheel
2x12


Saturday
Light Paused Bench
up to
245x10x5 sets
Not much bicep, forearm and elbow pain on this day.

Pullups
lots

DB OHP
4x10

Facepulls
3x15

Curls
3x12

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift
barx15
70kg x10
120kg x5
150kg x3
180kg x1
200kg x1
215kg x3x8 sets (474lbs). http://instagram.com/p/BBjT8CiSkS5/
Used the set of calibrated kilo plates today cause all the good pound plates were taken. Fortis gets way too busy nowadays. Kilo plates felt a bit different than pound plates. Bar bends a lot less since the plates are thinner. Will probably continue to use kilo plates for deadlifts and add 10kg a week. Also tore a callus off on my last set.

GHR
4x10

Rows
3x15

[martin_mathers]

Paused Bench
Barx20
135x10
185x8
225x5
275x3
305x5x7 sets
Not sure what happened today but everything was moving fast until the last two sets. My arms pretty much died on the last rep of set 6 and 7. Got a bit ugly. Pretty pissed off about that since I’ve done volume work with 305 many many times and stuff like this just shouldn’t happen. I did shorten my rest periods for the first 5 sets so maybe I got tired.

Lat Pulldown
4x12

DB OHP
4x10

Bench is still not feeling as top notch and crisp as I’d like. I’m supposed to have two more weeks of 5’s before I jump into 3’s. If this was offseason I’d probably back off and go lighter. But I’ll see how I feel and still try to hit 5’s.

[martin_mathers]

Friday
Squats
barx15
135x8
225x5
275x3
315x2
365x1
add wraps
405x1
425x1
445x5x5 http://www.instagram.com/p/BBtpg23Ska5/
Felt great. Fast and easy. Wanted to do an extra set but decided to save it for next week.

Rows
4x12

Split Squats
3x10

Ab wheel
2x12


Saturday
Light Bench
up to 225x5, had to shut it down after. Both shoulders were bugging me. No reason to risk it being 9 weeks out.

Finished with pullups, DB OHP, and some arms.

[Juggernaut0]

Have you done any BB OHP? Most of what you've done at least recently is DB OHP. Is it just something that's simply not apart of your work currently?

[Hunttarded]

Strong squatting brother. Take it easy with the bench, you're absolutely right.

[martin_mathers]

Have you done any BB OHP? Most of what you've done at least recently is DB OHP. Is it just something that's simply not apart of your work currently?

Haven't done any BB OHP in a long time. They seem to have always aggravated my shoulders.

Strong squatting brother. Take it easy with the bench, you're absolutely right.

Thanks, really want a big squat at the meet.


Deadlift
barx15
70kg x8
120kg x5
150kg x3
170kg x2
190kg x1
210kg x1
225kg x3x6 sets (496lbs) http://instagram.com/p/BB1CHEzykQv/
Kilo plates didn't feel so weird anymore today. Wanted to keep rest periods short but I kept talking so I forgot to look at the clock.

Rows
4x12

GHR
3x10

[martin_mathers]

Paused Bench
barx10
135x8
185x5
225x5
275x3
295x2
315x3
Had to shut it down again. Right shoulder felt fine but my left shoulder-pec tie-in felt like it was going to rip off. Really pissed off since I was feeling strong today. Jeremy said I'm still over 8 weeks out so "this won't matter". I do agree with him since I've built up so much volume over the past 8 months , I just need to stay healthy and peak properly.

Pullups
5x8

DB OHP
Lots

Tricep pushdowns
4x15

Pec flys
2x10, wanted to see if I could make my shoulder/pec feel better but didn't work.

Need to change my meet prep for the bench. Going to take it easy this Saturday and try to get back to regular bench training next week if I can. Also going to stay away from 5's and just stick to triples and singles. There's no bruising so it's probably just a strain.

[martin_mathers]

Friday
Squat
barx10
135x8
225x4
275x3
315x2
365x1
add wraps
405x1
435x1
455x5x5 sets http://www.instagram.com/p/BB_pnhYykU0/
Speed was good but felt hard. First two sets felt shiitty but got easier after.

Rows
4x12

Split Squats
3x10

Ab Wheel
2x12



Saturday
Light Bench
barx10
135x8
185x5
225x5
275x3 ouch pec tendon still hurt
225x3
255x1
275x1
295x1x5 sets
Still hurt a bit, so did singles. Might have to stick with singles for the next several weeks. Things are not looking well for the meet for bench. I've dealt with the same pain before but it would usually leave after a few days. It's been 2 weeks now.

Finished with some pullups and arms. Couldn't do overhead either. Just gotta do what I can right now. Doing a bunch of singles is better than doing nothing at all.

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift
barx15
70kg x8
120kg x5
150kg x3
180kg x1
200kg x1
220kg x1
235kg/518lbs x3x4 sets http://www.instagram.com/p/BCHYMOtSkaY/
Every set felt crappy. Was having some stomach troubles but couldn't shiit anything out. But I felt like I was shiittting myself every rep. This was a volume PR though.

Rows
4x15

GHR
3x10

Going back down to 220kg next week for a small reset. Then it's just gonna go up all the way til the meet.

[martin_mathers]

Paused Bench (narrow grip)
barx10
95x10
135x8
185x5
225x3
255x3
275x3
295x3
305x3
315x3
325x3x5 sets http://www.instagram.com/p/BCMd8RcykSN/
Was being extra careful and made smaller jumps. Didn't feel any pain in my pec so I kept working up and did multiple sets. Also brought my grip in just to be safe. Might move it back out to competition grip next week if I feel good.

Pullups
5x8

DB OHP
4x10

Tri Pushdown
3x15

Facepulls
3x15

Cycling back next week and starting the peak.

[martin_mathers]

7 weeks out
Squat
barx10
135x8
225x3
275x3
315x1
365x1
405x1
435x1
465x5x5
Pretty big PR here. My 5RM before was 465 for 1 set and I did 5x5 this time. These weren't easy though. First 2 sets I wrapped kinda light and last 3 sets had to wrap tighter cause I was getting tired.

Rows
3x15

Split Squats
3x10

Done with 5's thank god. Moving onto 3's next week.





Light Paused Bench
barx10
135x10
185x10
225x5
255x5
275x5x5
Still kept the grip narrow on this day to be safe. Pec didn't hurt but my shoulders were sore. Also kept the volume relatively low.

Pullups
5x8

DB OHP
4x10

Curls
3x15

Facepulls
4x12

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift
barx15
70kg x8
120kg x5
150kg x3
170kg x2
200kg x1
220kg/485lbs x3x8 sets.
Glute was bugging me today but speed felt good. Should've stopped at 5 or 6 sets but I tend to get too caught up in one day rather than the big picture.

Rows
4x12

GHR
2x10

5 more deadlift days left. Need to be careful with the volume.

[martin_mathers]

Paused Bench
barx15
135x10
185x8
225x5
275x3
295x2
320x4x5 sets. http://www.instagram.com/p/BCejA7UykV_/
Pretty easy. Wanted to do more sets like I always do but managed to stop myself. Being 6.5 weeks out there's no point over-doing anything. Also I'm probably going to compete with this narrow grip. Weights are moving fast but my shoulders are still iffy.

Lat Pulldown
3x15

DB OHP
4x10

Tri Pushdown with band
3x25 holy pump

Facepulls
3x15

Been having some bad pain in my right trap for the past few weeks. Hurts when I move the shoulder around.

[Juggernaut0]

glute and butt probs? foam rolling time

[martin_mathers]

glute and butt probs? foam rolling time

That never helps.

[martin_mathers]

6 weeks out
Friday
Squat (with 50lb squat bar and monolift!!!!)
barx10
140x8
230x4
320x2
370x1
add wraps
410x1
440x1
470x3x6 sets
All easy. Felt a bit weird not having to walk out so my stance was inconsistent. Set up a bit too wide a few times. But overall it was fun. Going to be squatting in the mono until the meet. Hopefully I don't become dependent on it because I move around and switch gyms a lot.


Rows
4x12

Lunges
3x10


Saturday

Close Grip Paused Bench
barx20
135x10
185x8
225x8
245x8
255x5
265x5
275x5x3 sets
Took it easy on this day. Just wanted to keep things light and go through the motions.

Lat pulldown
4x12

DB OHP
4x10

Curls
3x15

Facepulls
3x15