All Eyez On Me

[Cdt_Richards]

Congrats Zach, those were some fantastic lifts!

[Jstamp]

Great write-up. Bump to new page

My first powerlifting meet!

Lifts

Squat:
352.5 - 3 whites
402 - 3 whites
413 - no lift - failed right above getting out of the hole

Bench:
308 - 3 whites
325 - 3 whites
336 - 3 whites: 1lb PR

Deadlifts:
435 - 3 whites
490.5 - 3 whites
507 - 3 whites: 12lb PR

1245 total going 8 of 9

A little video compilation I put together of my best lifts:



Thoughts

Only got like 4 hours of sleep the night before unfortunately. I woke up in the middle of the night and just couldn't shut my brain off, so I slept like 3 hours, woke up, stayed up for 3 hours, then slept another hour. Felt pretty crappy but had enough focus and adrenaline to not let it bother me.

The lifting portion for my flights went by pretty quickly for the most part with little breaks. The open division was only split into 2 groups, with each group having about 10-15 people in it. It was kinda hard to time the warmups because they took forever to post the lifting rosters, but it didn't seem to affect me too much.

I was in the lifting group of 220 class through SHWs. In this group some pretty big names like Chris Duffin, Ben Seath, Grant Higa Monster, and Justin Randal, so it was pretty fukin awesome to be grouped together with these dudes and be warming up/lifting next to them. Definitely inspiring to see the ridiculous #s they were putting up.

Squats went alright: going into the meet I wanted to get at least 420, but my 402 felt like chit because I leaned too far forward so I decided to try and play it safe with a 413 3rd attempt. Last week on Tuesday I went to a sports chiropractor and we did a bunch of ROM/flexibility/mobility/strength tests, and he discovered that my glutes are very weak in relation to the rest of my posterior chain, so I feel like I know why I failed on my squat where I did, as my glutes weren't firing enough to get out of the hole. Definitely something I need to start focusing more on now that I have identified the problem.

Bench went awesome. Up until this point I had pretty much only benched on peice of chit 24 hour fitness benches, benching on an actual competition bench made a world of difference. All 3 of my bench attempts were relatively easy, but I played it pretty conservatively, and going into the meet I had the goal of matching my best gym bench PR with keeping my ass down, so I accomplished that. Probably had another 10-15lbs in me.

Deadlifts went pretty well. I didn't use any ammonia on my squats/benching because I didn't want to risk jumping the commands, but since on DLs there isn't really any I decided to use them on my 2nd and 3rd attempts. It's pretty funny though because on my 2nd attempt I hit the ammonia, got a huge rush, and hit 490, but it felt like complete chit. Basically stiff-legged the entire lift, and it felt like a max effort attempt. I decided to go for 507 for the hell of it (510 was my goal going into the meet), but I had serious mental doubts about it. Here's the funny part: my buddy broke the ammonia capsule for me after I chalked my hands, I sniffed it, and it was a complete dud. Didn't do anything. Since the clock was ticking I said fuk it and just went for it, and the 507 lift actually went much smoother than the 490 attempt. I think I just set up too fast on the 490, but after the 507 I felt like I probably had another 10lbs in me at least.

Ended up placing 3rd in my class, getting a medal. There were only about 5-6 people in the 220 open class though.

At the meet I finally got to meet some people I had previously only know on the forums here like Jstamp and Kabukirocks (Chris Duffin) so that was pretty awesome.

While it was one of the most physically and mentally exhausting days of my life, it was an awesome experience and I met some amazing people. I'm definitely going to continue powerlifting, and now plan on actually going to look at some powerlifting gyms instead of training solo at 24 hour fitness where everyone is weak as fawk.

Me with Ben Seath, Grant Higa Monster, and Justin Randal:



Getting my medal from the meet director, Rick Mcclung:



3rd place in my class for my first meet - not bad.jpg

[The Shoeless Wonder]

bench and deadlift looked too easy for you. also, youre bigger than I thought you are(ttws)

[adamsz]

Hell yeah!!! great job buddy. You killed it for your first meet. Really solid #s. Definitely should be proud of that effort, you trained hard to get there too.

What's next now?

Thanks Tim, I really appreciate all the motivation and support along the way man, serious. From here I plan on checking out a real powerlifting gym owned by a really well-known lifter named Chris Duffin, and hopefully join his team. I'd like to do another meet in the Spring/Summer and shoot for a 1300 total. I also wanna drop down to 195-200 though and compete in the 198 class.

shoulda went for two reps on 336.

lmao that would have been fukin hilarious. "Don't fukin rack it yet! I'm not done bro!!!" I wonder if they would have disqualified me

All of those lifts looked easy! Great work with the 1245 total and you've got a lot more on your bench, and probably your squat as well
Congratulations Zach!

Thanks Fit! You've insight, analysis, and support has been great during my journey up to my meet. I owe you man.

I also think on a good comp bench like that I should be good for maybe 345-350 to be honest. And once I work on strengthening my glutes more I think my squat is gonna jump up.

[adamsz]

Great write-up. Bump to new page

Thanks Joey. I have a tendency to sometimes go overboard with things like analysis though lol. You plan on doing a detailed write-up at all?

bench and deadlift looked too easy for you. also, youre bigger than I thought you are(ttws)

Yeah I think I had another 10-15lbs each on bench and deadlift, and also honestly squat if I didn't fawk up my form. And I'll take that as a compliment lol. I felt tiny next to Justin Randal, Ben Seath, Grant Higa, and Chris Duffin though.

[adamsz]

Congrats Zach, those were some fantastic lifts!

Thank you sir!

[nwskier]

lmao that would have been fukin hilarious. "Don't fukin rack it yet! I'm not done bro!!!" I wonder if they would have disqualified me

haha lmao that woulda been king!


no doubt dude, motivation and support is what da journals are for. appreciate all your support in return bro

[BombDonald]

Good meet dude. I'm surprised you didn't get 413 on squats. 402 moved easy.

[AirForceV]

lmao that would have been fukin hilarious. "Don't fukin rack it yet! I'm not done bro!!!" I wonder if they would have disqualified me

when body builders go to meets.

[RyouBakua]

big congrats on the comp zach


1245 is an awesome number

[adamsz]

haha lmao that woulda been king!

no doubt dude, motivation and support is what da journals are for. appreciate all your support in return bro

Always brotha.

Good meet dude. I'm surprised you didn't get 413 on squats. 402 moved easy.

I know right? The 413 felt fine until right out of the hole I just stalled... fukin weak glutes man. Now I gotta drop down to the 198 class and slowly catch up to you lb by lb on my lifts You've been inspiring bro, srs.

when body builders go to meets.

I can confirm, I am Layne Norton.

big congrats on the comp zach

1245 is an awesome number

Thanks RB! 1245 is alright, but I wanted 1265 damnit! lol. 1300 will be mine in 2013. Mark my words!

[adamsz]

12/4/12

30 minute dynamic warmup

7:30PM - 9:25PM lifting

Squats 2 minute breaks on top sets
Bar x 5
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5
275 x 5
275 x 5
add belt
275 x 5
275 x 5

Bench Press 2 minute breaks on top sets
bar x 5
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5 all reps paused
245 x 5 TnG
245 x 5 TnG
245 x 5 TnG
245 x 5 last rep paused

Wide-Grip Pull-ups squeeze at top, 1 minute breaks
5
5
5
5
5

Cable Face Pulls 1 minute breaks
40 x 20
40 x 20
40 x 20
30 x 20
30 x 20

Roman Chair Leg Raises 1 minute breaks
10
10
10
10

1 hour stretching / PVC and Rumble rolling / mobility work

Thoughts

Got to the gym around 7, left at 11. Strong life... I guess I did talk to a few people for a bit though.

First day back at the gym since the meet on Saturday. I was originally planning on taking a full week off, but had the itch to get back in and get back to work. I'm planning on going and checking out Elite Performance Center sometime in the next week, so I just kinda winged it today instead of starting an actual program.

Went in thinking I was going to do 315 x 5 x 5 on squats and 275 x 5 x 5 on bench. Started out the lifts and quickly realized this was not going to happen lol. 5 rep sets fuking kill me.... 3 rep sets are much easier lol. Brb 5 reps feels like cardio.

Squats wern't super hard but I was really trying to focus on form, and I've been trying to integrate diaphragmatic breathing into my lifting to increase intra-abdominal pressure as per my chiropractor's recommendation. It's much easier said then done, and I find I can't seem to breath in as much air at once when I breath with my diaphragm, and as a result I get out of breath easily and it makes the reps feel like cardio. Gotta keep with it though because I know in the long run this will definitely help my lifts.

Started on bench and did my first set of 275 x 5. I damn near failed on the 5th rep LOL. Realized I needed to take the weight down a notch because I clearly wasn't 100% recovered from the meet yet. I was also planning on only doing touch-and-go bench today since I've only been doing paused work for the past 7 months, and I realized that I'm actually stronger pausing all my reps which is pretty ironic. 245 x 5 sets weren't terribly hard, but they definitely weren't a cake walk either.

[fittofattofit]

Nice way to spend 4 hours Zach --- 2 hours with the weights and two hours chatting
That would have been a hard session with all the 5 rep sets and the 2 minute rests
Did you find it a lot easier with the 275 squats once you put the belt on
Do you have another comp lined up yet and are you serious at competing at 198?
1300 will be yours easily sometime early in 2013

[nads786]

Good work at the meet! Have you decided which direction you want to take now that the meet is over? 5 reps is cardio?!?

[Jstamp]

I also had to lower the weight on everything. It sucks. Last year I actually PR'd the week after the comp

How far away is elite performance center from your home? I would def go there if it was closer.

[slytheslayer]

Lookin Huge dude!! Awesome work up in here man!

[adamsz]

Nice way to spend 4 hours Zach --- 2 hours with the weights and two hours chatting
That would have been a hard session with all the 5 rep sets and the 2 minute rests
Did you find it a lot easier with the 275 squats once you put the belt on
Do you have another comp lined up yet and are you serious at competing at 198?
1300 will be yours easily sometime early in 2013

Haha definitely didn't spend 2 whole hours chatting. It was like half hour warm up, 2 hours lifting, half hour cool down, protein shake, hour stretching/mobility work.

Yeah the 275 squat sets are definitely way easier with the belt, but conversely the belt makes it much harder to breath so it feels more like cardio with the belt on.

Don't have another comp lined up quite yet, but I think there's one near the end of March in Portland I'd like to do, and I definitely want to compete as a 198.

Good work at the meet! Have you decided which direction you want to take now that the meet is over? 5 reps is cardio?!?

Thanks Nads. I plan on continue to powerlift from here on out, but I'd like to also lose a little bit of weight (lol I've been saying that forever now...)

I also had to lower the weight on everything. It sucks. Last year I actually PR'd the week after the comp

How far away is elite performance center from your home? I would def go there if it was closer.

I know that feel bro. EPC is about 20-40 minutes away from my house depending on traffic, it's way the hell on the other side of town unfortunately.

Lookin Huge dude!! Awesome work up in here man!

lol thanks bro, hope life in the states is treating you well.

[adamsz]

12/8/12 8:30am-ish - 11:30am-ish @ Elite Performance Center

Banded Deadlifts against 2 purple mini bands, 150lbs of resistance @ top
135 x 5 x 5 sets
185 x 5 x 3 sets
225 x 5 x 2-3 sets
275 x 4 x 2ish sets
315 x 4

Back Circuit 3 circuits
Ring Rows with elevated feet x 20
Pen Rotations x 20
Pull-ups (assisted with bands) x 20
Chain Kettlebell Facepulls x 20

Edit: Here's one of the other guys there doing the circuit:



stretching / rolling / mobility work

Thoughts

First time training at Elite Performance Center, it was pretty dope. Saw a few guys from the WCO last weekend and met some other really cool dudes.

Didn't write down anything at all when I was training, so this was all from memory.

Deadlifts against the bands were pretty awesome, my first time doing them ever. Worked up to 315 x 4 at about 90% effort. Also only my second time deadlifting without hex plates pretty much lmao. It's like a whole new world...

The back circuit that Chris had us do was pretty insane - we did them in groups of 2 in Tabata intervals. I think I only got through the first circuit doing all the 20 reps on each exercise, but by the 2nd circuit I was definitely failing before 20.

Overall it seemed like a pretty sick gym and I wanna go in again sometime this week and get another training session in.

[fittofattofit]

Great work on those banded deadlifts. Going by the 315s + 150 at the top you have no problem with your lockout
My trainer got me to do the banded deads and they felt really good as well. Of course mine were with 100kg and 66lbs at the top It did help me feel explosive off the ground while still having a decent weight to push the hips through at the top
That back circuit is the same type of stuff that he gets me to do as tri-sets for cycles as well - always kills me by the third round
Good workout Zack and it sounds like a great gym. So do you think you'll make the move to EPC permanent?
And I think competing at 198 is a good idea. You still want dem der Aesthetics and you'll keep getting leaner as you get stronger in the leadup to the comp if you have to work at staying under 198

[adamsz]

Great work on those banded deadlifts. Going by the 315s + 150 at the top you have no problem with your lockout
My trainer got me to do the banded deads and they felt really good as well. Of course mine were with 100kg and 66lbs at the top It did help me feel explosive off the ground while still having a decent weight to push the hips through at the top
That back circuit is the same type of stuff that he gets me to do as tri-sets for cycles as well - always kills me by the third round
Good workout Zack and it sounds like a great gym. So do you think you'll make the move to EPC permanent?
And I think competing at 198 is a good idea. You still want dem der Aesthetics and you'll keep getting leaner as you get stronger in the leadup to the comp if you have to work at staying under 198

Thanks Fit! Those banded deadlifts were awesome. Sometime I'd like to try and work up to a 1-3 rep max on them just to see how far I can push it.

And the back circuit was fukin killer. Me and my partner ended up quiting after the 3rd round because we physically just couldn't do any more reps lol. The other 2 groups did another circuit after that - fukin crazy bastards! lol. I added a video of the circuit in my training post that one of the other guys made.

EPC was great and I'm pretty sure I'm going to start training there full-time. I just have to sort out my work schedule and see when it would work since it's team-oriented training sessions.

[adamsz]

I ran Sheiko from the beginning of May until my first meet last Saturday, so about 7 months total. I ran 29-37-32, then 29-37-31-32.

Lifts increased as follows:

Squat: 350 --> 405

Bench Press: 310 --> 336

Deadlift: 475 --> 507

So an increase of 113lbs to my total.

Accessory Work

For the first 3 month cycle I tried to stick to the program as it was laid out as closely as possible, with the exception of taking out lunges because they pinch my lower back in a weird way. After becoming familiarized with the program and analyzing what seemed necessary and what wasn't, I started switching out certain exercises. For example, I switched cable flyes for DB flyes, and hyperextensions for good mornings simply because I liked those exercises better and felt they were more beneficial to me.

For most of the program I also would add in a 4th back/shoulders/biceps hypertrophy day since the program is particularly lacking in pulling movements besides deadlifts.

Deadlifts

The one thing Sheiko did not work for me was deadlifts. After doing the first 3 month cycle doing lots of paused deadlifts and rackpulls I only added 5lbs to my deadlift max (it should probably be noted however that I did rackpulls instead of deadlift from boxes because I didn't have any boxes at my gym - if I used deadlift from boxes as prescribed I wonder if the outcome would have been different). In general when I did deadlifts if I could get it up to at least mid-shin I could always finish the pull, so I figured my weakness was off the floor. So starting my 2nd 4-month block I dropped the paused deadlifts and just did them as regular deadlifts, and swapped rackpulls for deficit deadlifts. After 2 months of doing this my deadlift still didn't seem to be improving at all, so I consulted some people on the forums knowledgable of Sheiko (notably MISSINGLINK who followed ChaseTs Sheiko work here) he suggested just doing 5 sets of 3 at 80% (a common rep scheme from Sheiko) and then addressing your weaknesses as you see fit. So for Sheiko 31 I did the 5 sets of 3 at 80%, and then would do 4 sets of 315 x 3 deficit deadlifts to help address my weakness off the floor. Switching to this yielded a 27lb bump to my deadlift max in 2 months, and worked much better than the prescribed Sheiko work for deadlifts.

Bench Press

When I started Sheiko I had never really done a paused rep on bench press. Starting the program the benching portion was too easy, so I ended up pausing every rep to make it harder. The only time I wouldn't pause a rep would be occasionally on the huge pyramid sets where you end up doing sets of 10-12 on the bottom sets of the pyramid, and by then my chest would be so fatigued I would usually just do touch-and-go on those last couple sets. When it came time for my competition doing a paused rep was 2nd nature to me and I felt very prepared.

About 5 months in to Sheiko my shoulders started giving me greif from benching 3x a week, so as a result I slowly moved in my grip closer and closer until I was doing all my bench sets as CGBP. After taking some time off before the meet my shoulders now seem fine though.

Pros of Sheiko:
- tons of volume on the big 3 so it really helps to engrain good form
- helps build confidence in that you never do more than 85% of your 1RM so every set is definitely "doable" but you have those moments where you start to doubt yourself i.e. "crap there's no way I can do 7 sets of 245 on bench" but then you think about it and you're like yes it is definitely PHYSICALLY possible and you push through it (I only missed about 3 reps during my entire 7 months)
- great for conditioning because you're forced to do so much volume, and as a result your rest times become fairly low (on average it was 1-2 minute for bench and squat, and 2-4 minutes for deadlifts)

Cons of Sheiko:
- Definitely can get boring doing the same lifts day in and day out over and over
- workouts are LONG and HARD: my workouts (not including warming up and stretching/foam rolling after) averaged 2-2.5 hours. Throw in warming up and the stretching stuff, and we're talking 3-4 hours in the gym easy (yes strong life)
- no pulling movements in the program at all besides deadlift
- nothing to address postural imbalances created by so much benching

Thoughts

One thing to note though is that if you're a natty lifter it can definitely run you into the ground. By the end of my training block leading up to the meet I had a laundry list of nagging injuries: shoulders hurt, knees hurt, and my cubetal fossa (the area opposite of the elbow where you're forarm and bicep meet) starting hurting really bad: Sheiko can be hard as hell on the joints and tendons because it is so damn volume heavy. Part of this might have been than I ran 31 which is a more advanced/volume-heavy cycle than 29 and 37, but I think if you keep upping you're training maxes on any of the Sheiko cycles eventually you're going to get small injuries here and there which will add up and affect your training.

All that being said, overall Sheiko is a great program and I definitely would recommend it. Doing Sheiko helped me basically fully transition into powerlifting, which I am happy about (previous to Sheiko I ran 5/3/1 for 6 months but focused mainly on the bodybuilding accessory stuff).

[fittofattofit]

Great summary Zach!
You did really well to last through 7 cycles of Sheiko --- that is some serious volume you've shifted over 7 months. It's not surprising that you're feeling the effects of wear and tear
A 113lb bump in your totals sounds good to me. What was the bump in your totals over the last 12 months if you know?

With the deadlifts from a box, do you mean standing on a box (ie deficit dead) or lifting with the wheels resting on two boxes so that it is closer to a rack dead?

Great work Zach! So what happens now?

[adamsz]

Great summary Zach!
You did really well to last through 7 cycles of Sheiko --- that is some serious volume you've shifted over 7 months. It's not surprising that you're feeling the effects of wear and tear
A 113lb bump in your totals sounds good to me. What was the bump in your totals over the last 12 months if you know?

With the deadlifts from a box, do you mean standing on a box (ie deficit dead) or lifting with the wheels resting on two boxes so that it is closer to a rack dead?

Great work Zach! So what happens now?

Thanks my man. I'm not sure what my bump in my totals was in the year prior to that, I'd have to get out my old workout journals and look through them. Not gonna do it tonight because I gotta go to bed, but I am kinda curious now. I just remembered I posted this on my Bodyblog on June 21st, 2011 though:

"Currently just six pounds away from my goal of having a combined bench, squat, and deadlift of 1000. Right now my squat is a theoretical 334 (315 x 3), raw deadlift of 365, and raw bench of 295. I haven't tried a 1 rep max on deadlift that I haven't been able to do yet, so I think I could probably hit 385 or maybe even 405 if I gave it a shot. The one thing I want to bring up though is my bench. I haven't tried a 1RM on the bench in a few months, and I think it's about time. I really hope I can hit 315!!!"

strong lulz. So in about 17 months (end of June 2011 - beginning of Dec 2012) I added about 250lbs to my total.

The deadlifts from a box are where you have boxes that you put the wheels on so it's like a rack dead. Here's an example I just pulled from youtube:



Now I'm just gonna keep focusing on powerlifting for the foreseeable future. In the next couple weeks I'm gonna sit down and really think about what my goals are for 2013, and I'll keep you posted

[adamsz]

Went to the gym after a hard day of work to hit some conditioning for once, since I won't be lifting until at least Tuesday. Decided to try out some prowler work for the first time, borrowing from the conditioning portion of Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 book. I was planning on doing what he called "easy conditioning" which is prowler pushes for 8 sets of 40-yard sprints, high handles, 90 lbs, 60 seconds rest. I have no idea the length of the area of the gym I was using was, but I would guess it was about 50 yards.

What started as sprints with 90lbs quickly evolved into pushes with 90 lbs.

What started as 60 seconds rest time quickly evolved into 90 seconds, then 2 minutes, then 3 minutes.

I quit after only 5 sets who knows though, the length of the area could have been much longer than I guessed and I could be fooling myself...

My thoughts on the prowloer:

Dat feel of metal in your mouth. Dat feel of panting like you just ran away from something like your life depended on it. Dat feel collapsing on the floor at the end for a solid 5 minutes. Brings back memories of popwarner football in 5th grade...

I thought I had pretty good conditioning from doing super high volume work on Sheiko, but this is on a whole new level.

Afterwards did about an hour of stretching and mobility work.

[Ciper]

Simply terrafic man!!

[fittofattofit]

"Currently just six pounds away from my goal of having a combined bench, squat, and deadlift of 1000. Right now my squat is a theoretical 334 (315 x 3), raw deadlift of 365, and raw bench of 295. I haven't tried a 1 rep max on deadlift that I haven't been able to do yet, so I think I could probably hit 385 or maybe even 405 if I gave it a shot. The one thing I want to bring up though is my bench. I haven't tried a 1RM on the bench in a few months, and I think it's about time. I really hope I can hit 315!!!"

strong lulz. So in about 17 months (end of June 2011 - beginning of Dec 2012) I added about 250lbs to my total.

250lbs in 17 months = pretty fuarcking awesome Zach!
One of the reasons why it's so cool to keep a log

And it doesn't me long to find the limits of my endurance once I start doing circuit work with the PL trainer. I'm sure your conditioning will benefit once you get into those team oriented training sessions at EPC

[nads786]

Awesome summary! Thanks for that btw. Couple questions:

1) Did you gain a significant amount of mass while doing Sheiko? Do you feel Sheiko is better method of adding mass via traditonal BBing work or a 5/3/1 with a mix of powerlifting and BBing.

2) If you were to run it again would you add more rowing to help with the amount of benching done? Has your lat strength decreased from bascially only dead lifting? (IE pulldowns pullups rows)


On the note of sprinting cardio: I think so much of this stuff is exercise specific. During the summer I could ride my bike at a 16-17mph for 25+ miles but I probably couldnt run more than 2miles.. Personally I don't seem to get any cross over benefit from one type of exercise over another. I'ts pretty cool you have a prowler tho!

[Jstamp]

Woowee! That's some great gains in the past year. If you keep making gains like that, you are gonna be one strong mofo. Yes, I'm jealous lol. The student has now become the teacher

[BombDonald]

Great improvement dude.

[adamsz]

Simply terrafic man!!

lol thanks brah

250lbs in 17 months = pretty fuarcking awesome Zach!
One of the reasons why it's so cool to keep a log

And it doesn't me long to find the limits of my endurance once I start doing circuit work with the PL trainer. I'm sure your conditioning will benefit once you get into those team oriented training sessions at EPC

Yeah I suppose that's decent progress If only I could repeat that in the next 17 months... And yeah it's definitely nice to have the log. I really want to figure out a way to print out the entire thing like a book and save a hard copy of it along with my physical training journals. Is such a thing even possible???

And circuit work is fukin crazy. Brb doing 3 inch ROM pullups by the end because everything is so pumped and exhausted. LOL.

Awesome summary! Thanks for that btw. Couple questions:

1) Did you gain a significant amount of mass while doing Sheiko? Do you feel Sheiko is better method of adding mass via traditonal BBing work or a 5/3/1 with a mix of powerlifting and BBing.

2) If you were to run it again would you add more rowing to help with the amount of benching done? Has your lat strength decreased from bascially only dead lifting? (IE pulldowns pullups rows)


On the note of sprinting cardio: I think so much of this stuff is exercise specific. During the summer I could ride my bike at a 16-17mph for 25+ miles but I probably couldnt run more than 2miles.. Personally I don't seem to get any cross over benefit from one type of exercise over another. I'ts pretty cool you have a prowler tho!

Thanks Nads.

1) I think I added some significant mass to my posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, lower back) more than anything, but I lost a ton of detail on most of my body because of not doing any isolation work and also not doing any hypertrophy work for a lot of different muscle groups. I would only run Sheiko if you want to get stronger on the big 3, not to add mass. For mass I think something like 5/3/1 with bodybuilder accessory work is great.

Here are some pics for comparison (sorry some of them the lighting/angle/etc is different, but it was the best I could find):

End of 5/3/1 (4/28/12)



Today after 7 months of Sheiko (12/11/12)



3/11/12



Today



I think I added some thickness in my back/traps as well, but lost some of the detail like I was saying.

2) I know one guy (ChaseT) who did chin-ups (something like 5 sets of 10) instead of the good mornings. I think adding in the 4th back/bicep/shoulder hypertrophy day also helped to counteract a lot of the benching, and closer to the end of the program I started adding in a lot of cable face pulls and rear delt cable crossovers at the end of workouts as well. I think I may have lost a little bit of lat strength, but not really a significant amount.

Woowee! That's some great gains in the past year. If you keep making gains like that, you are gonna be one strong mofo. Yes, I'm jealous lol. The student has now become the teacher

If only the gains stayed as linear as they do in the first 2 years… lol. And I don’t know about the student becoming the teacher quite yet, you still got me beat on squats and deads buddy. I’m gonna work hard to change that in the coming months though

Great improvement dude.

Thanks man, I really appreciate that.