Journey to a natural pro card

[The Solution]

I agree, the DL you flew up man, especially doing it last which is very impressive. 1500+ at your first meet, Cannot say enough. thats putting in work.

[ebomb55]

I agree, the DL you flew up man, especially doing it last which is very impressive. 1500+ at your first meet, Cannot say enough. thats putting in work.

Thanks man! I'm very excited about this, but am already more excited to see where I can take this after some more training under my belt.

[curjo]

Awesome lifts! That deadlift looked like child's play! Great job and can't wait to see what the future holds for you.

[ebomb55]

Awesome lifts! That deadlift looked like child's play! Great job and can't wait to see what the future holds for you.

Thanks man! Definitely excited to see where I can take this.

[ebomb55]

4.15.13

Arms

V-Grip Pushdowns/Barbell Curls (1 second squeeze at top, slow eccentric)
20/8
4 rounds

Hammer Curls (1 second squeeze, slow eccentric)/Bench Dips (3 second eccentric, hard flex)
30 x 8 + 4 partials/45 lb x 8
4 rounds

Seated French Press/EZ Bar Preachers
50 + bar x 12/50 + bar x 8
4 rounds

Standing Occluded Barbell Curls
50 lb x 30, 15, 15, 15

Decided to come in and hit a good old MD arm session...I figured I wasn't in any shape to do much else, so did some short rest, pump-style arm work. Felt great. Still have a slight pain in my forearm, but I'm feeling very recovered overall. Some overall soreness in my lower back, but I'm actually surprised at how I'm not destroyed haha. This really demonstrates that Det's training really got me in great condition for the meet (also demonstrated by the fact that I pulled an easy all-time PR on the deadlift at the meet after being there for 16 hours haha).

I'm going to go through this week, doing just some pump work, and then this weekend, figure out some more long-term training plans.

Goals for the near future are a 700 lb deadlift, 600 lb squat, 405 lb bench press.

Lesssgoo.

[mattjansen]

Thanks for the motivation homie! Saw the video last night on ********, great stuff! I am training to hit elite in the 181's in 4 weeks!

[ebomb55]

Thanks for the motivation homie! Saw the video last night on ********, great stuff! I am training to hit elite in the 181's in 4 weeks!

That's awesome man!!

Good luck! What numbers are you looking to hit?

[ebomb55]

4.17.13

Circuit
Pullups x 15-20 (mixed grips)
Goblet Squats (45 x 30, 70 x 30, 105 x 20, 20)
Feet-Elevated Pushups x 20
30 seconds rest, 4 rounds

Partial Laterals: 50 x 30
Goblet Squats: 105 x 20
Lat Pulldowns: 10
3 rounds

Dumbbell Curls: 30 x 8
Goblet Squats: 105 x 20
Triceps Pushdowns: 20
3 rounds

Another light/full body pump session. I'm pretty much going to be doing this stuff until next week/when I figure out what I'm programming next. Also, I'm having some tendon pain in the lateral part of my arm above the elbow...likely beat up from the meet and general overuse over the past month. I'm going to keep at this, hit some sprints/sled work tomorrow, and then start thinking about where I'm heading next.

[coolmroli]

Good job on the meet man!! Awesome for your first meet ever

Are you leaning towards working with John again and doing bodybuilding or sticking to PLifting?

[ebomb55]

Good job on the meet man!! Awesome for your first meet ever

Are you leaning towards working with John again and doing bodybuilding or sticking to PLifting?

Thanks man!

I'm not exactly sure right now. I'm going to take this week to just figure things out and take it from there. Either way, I'm going to pursue both in the future.

[ebomb55]

4.18.13

Front Squats: 225 x 12
Log Press: 135 x 10
Sled Drags: 135 lb x 50 yards
4 rounds

Will hit some more a little later...Solid sesh.

Arm still hurts...ordered voodoo bands today.

[ebomb55]

4.20.13

Dead Treads
10 minute warmup
12 intervals: 15-20 seconds/45-60 seconds rest
Cooldown

Just some cardio today...Will likely be starting a new split that resembles MD training on Monday...Starting with legs .

[The Solution]

Bout time you get back to your meat and potatoes.
What variations you gonna use? or run a previous program? Incinerator? Devourer?

[ebomb55]

Bout time you get back to your meat and potatoes.
What variations you gonna use? or run a previous program? Incinerator? Devourer?

I'll likely ease into it, and not go right into the 7 days/week program.

I likely won't do a program, but start off with a 4-5 day/week split of Legs, back/biceps, chest/shoulders/triceps, arms, and start with lower volume/intensity and wave them up and down accordingly.

[ebomb55]

4.22.13

Legs

Squats (based off 500 max)
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
375 x 5
Add belt
425 x 3 x 2

Lying Leg Curls
120 x 12, 130 x 12, 150 x 10, 170 x 8 + 6 partials

Leg Press
2 pps through 9 pps x 10-15 warmup
3 second eccentric, continuous
10 pps x 8
11 pps x 8
12 pps x 8
Right into lunges with heavy bag x 20
Rest = putting on plates

Leg Extensions (kick weight up, hard flex) x 15/OLY Squats
15/225 x 15
2 rounds, 60 seconds rest
15/315 x 10
2 rounds, 60 seconds rest

Dumbbell RDL
80 x 2 x 10

Woah...Back to MD legs and it's quite a shock after 10-11 weeks of powerlifting haha.

I decided not to go heavy on squats right off the bat and cut it before I hit weight that would hinder the rest of the workout. My tendons and joints are still giving me problems and I think higher rep/lower weight work for a while will do the trick.

Felt great to hit leg press again...Quads were screaming.

The leg extension/squat superset was brutal...I felt like vomiting by the final set and was winded.

Weights felt smooth, no issues on the MD-type movements.

Bodyweight right now is 223.5 first thing in the morning. I'm going to continue with a mini diet I believe.

[ebomb55]

4.23.13

Chest/Shoulders/Triceps

Warmup
Voodoo band work
Hip flexors
Brachialis/Elbow

Bench Press: 5/3/1 (based on 315 max)
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 5
245 x 5
275 x 5 (not to failure, just hitting the prescribed reps)

HS Incline (hard flex at top)
1 pps x 15
1 pps + 25 x 12
2 pps x 10
2 pps + 25 x 10 to 2 pps x 8 to 1 pps + 25 x 8 to 1 pps x 12

Descending Angles Dumbbell Bench
High incline to low incline to flat
40 x 12-12-12
80 x 8-8-8, 10-10-10, 8-8-8

Cable Flies
6 sets, 12-15 each set

Over and Back Press
Bar x 10
65 x 10
85 x 10
105 x 10
105 x 2 x 5

Tri-Set
Spider Crawls (short red band) x 3
Bentover Delt Swings x 20
Mini Band Partials x 20
3 rounds

Rope Pushdowns
6 x 10-12, 10 seconds rest

More voodoo band work on brachialis

Pleased with today's session. Brachialis was bothering me a bit during the session, but I had a great session regardless. The bench wasn't done close to failure, I'm going to do the 5/3/1 to get bench press frequency. I won't be ripping out the top set for a while.

Great pump on everything else. Getting back into it.

[The Solution]

MD sure is a different breed, how long you gonna diet?

[ebomb55]

MD sure is a different breed, how long you gonna diet?

Haha, that's for sure.

I'm not entirely sure. Right now I'm 223-224 and likely will fall somewhere around 210-215, as that's the weight I predict I'll be at the leanness I'm looking for.

[ebomb55]

4.24.13

Back

Warmup
Hip flexor voodoo

Single Arm Barbell Row supersetted with Meadows Rows
Bar x 8-8-8-8
25 x 8-8-8-8
50 x 8-8-8-8
75, 100 x same
Work sets
125 x 8-8-8-8
3 times

Dumbbell Shrugs
105 x 30
115 x 5 w/3 second hold then continuous to failure x 2

Partial Pulldowns
190 x 8, 210 x 8, 200 x 8
140 x 20, 100 x 30

Incline Dumbbell Rhomboid Rows
35 x 10, 10, 10

Back Extensions
Bw x 15
Light band x 15, 15

Awesome back session...Very pleased with how it went today. After just 3 sessions of voodoo band work on my elbow flexor/brachialis, pain has gone down significantly and was barely noticeable today. I would definitely recommend these to those battling nagging tendon issues or other lifting related strains/pains.

The single arm barbell/meadow row superset was TOUGH. That's 24 reps with no rest, left me winded and with a nasty full back pump.

Partial Pulldowns felt good...decided to throw some higher reps in at the end to experiment and I like how they feel. I did them where the ROM was just from forehead to 1/2 to lockout, continuously.

Don't be fooled by the light weights on the rhomboid rows...if you do these correctly, it doesn't take much to light them up.

[ebomb55]

4.25.13

Arms
Voodoo band warmup

Superset 1: 10 seconds between all
V grip Pushdowns x 20/Cable Curls x 12
4 rounds

Triset 1:
Close Grip Incline Press (3 second negative, pause, flex at top) 135 x 8
Cross Body Hammers: 35 x 8 LR
Pronated DB Kick Backs: 40 x 6
3 rounds

Triset 2:
EZ Preachers: 50 + bar x 10
OH Rope Extensions x 15
Straight Bar Reverse Curls x 12
3 rounds

Abs
2 x decline leg raises to failure
2 x knees to forehead

Great arm session. Very pleased with how weights felt today and how my elbow/brachialis is feeling. Voodoo bands are helping immensely.

Getting back into the good old MD split with some extra wrinkles thrown in for bench press. Saturday, I'm going to hit another session where I'll do bench press and other upper work.

[ebomb55]

4.26.13

Cardio
Voodoo Band Hip Flexor Work
Active Warmup
Sprints
20 yards, walk back, do situps to failure (2 seconds up, 2 seconds flex, 2 seconds down)
40 yards (same)
60 yards
80 yards
100 yards
80 yards
60 yards
40 yards
20 yards

Very fun routine...Would definitely recommend if you are short on time and want to get in some solid abdominal training with cardio/conditioning. I got this from tnation, where it's dubbed as "the ab shredder." We'll see how that works out haha.

[ebomb55]

4.28.13

Upper Session
Warmup

Bench Press
205 x 2x10
225 x 2x10

Dumbbell Bench Press Descending Incline Set: (high incline to low incline to flat, no rest between just changing bench height)
95 lb x 8-8-8
120 x 5-3-5

Dumbbell Laterals/Single Arm Cable Row
20 x 10/8 LR
5 rounds

Close Grip Cable Row/Band Rear Delts
10/12
4 rounds

Rope Pushdown/EZ Drag Curl
6 rounds

I'm going to add in this session where I'll hit everything in the upper body in addition to getting more frequency for bench press, just hitting some lighter rep sets. In the past, I've had my best bench pressing gains where I've done one heavy session and then a second session where I do sets of 10-12 explosively and not to failure. The 4x10 with 205 and 225 were just that.

The dumbbell pressing set is pretty brutal. Would definitely recommend as a change up.

[rakan92]

4.28.13

Upper Session
Warmup

Bench Press
205 x 2x10
225 x 2x10

Dumbbell Bench Press Descending Incline Set: (high incline to low incline to flat, no rest between just changing bench height)
95 lb x 8-8-8
120 x 5-3-5

Dumbbell Laterals/Single Arm Cable Row
20 x 10/8 LR
5 rounds

Close Grip Cable Row/Band Rear Delts
10/12
4 rounds

Rope Pushdown/EZ Drag Curl
6 rounds

I'm going to add in this session where I'll hit everything in the upper body in addition to getting more frequency for bench press, just hitting some lighter rep sets. In the past, I've had my best bench pressing gains where I've done one heavy session and then a second session where I do sets of 10-12 explosively and not to failure. The 4x10 with 205 and 225 were just that.

The dumbbell pressing set is pretty brutal. Would definitely recommend as a change up.

Gr8 session! may u plz elaborate more on bench pressing thing. SO did u hit failure on the heavy bench days and do you believe failure has a positive or negative impact when it comes to strength gains? I hear a lot of conflicting opinions on this so if u may present your 2 cents , that will be great

[ebomb55]

Gr8 session! may u plz elaborate more on bench pressing thing. SO did u hit failure on the heavy bench days and do you believe failure has a positive or negative impact when it comes to strength gains? I hear a lot of conflicting opinions on this so if u may present your 2 cents , that will be great

Right now, I'm not going to failure on any benching days. I am hitting heavier weights on the "heavy" day right now, and since I'm doing a 5/3/1 setup, they are a percent of my max. I think there is a time and place for going to failure, but IMO, if used too often, it can definitely have adverse strength-effects.

[mattjansen]

Liking that first leg day set up man! I like the implementation of of the oly squats super set!

[ebomb55]

4.29.13

Legs
Warmup
Voodoo Work

OLY Squats (Olympic lifting shoes, beltless, 5/3/1)
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 5
355 x 5
405 x 5 (85 percent 475)
315 x 5 paused reps
315 x 20

Lying Hamstring Curls (1.5 reps)
4 x 8

Superset warmups, 3 rounds
Set 1: Leg Extensions (2 second squeeze at top) x 10/Leg Press: 5 pps x 40
2: 3 second squeeze x 8/6 pps x 40
3: 4 second squeeze x 6/7 pps x 30

Barbell RDL (using 25s, bottom range)
145 x 20
195 x 20, 20

Voodoo Band For Arm

Occluded Calf Raises/Tibia Raises
33/30
15/15
15/15
15/15
(Ouch)

Amazing session. I decided to give OLY squats a try with my OLY shoes and they actually felt very comfortable. I thought that going beltless with closer stance, high bar squats might feel odd at first, but they felt good. I didn't go 'all out' on the 85 percent set, but decided to hit a higher rep set with 65 percent, 315, which torched my quads.

The leg extension/leg press super set really put the finishing touches on my quads, definitely a killer choice.

I guess I will need to be doing more voodoo band work on squat days, as my arm hurts the most when I squat due to the position it gets put in. Or, I might switch to some SSB squats.

[ebomb55]

Liking that first leg day set up man! I like the implementation of of the oly squats super set!

Thanks Matt! They definitely are brutal in a superset. Trying to channel my inner Platz :P

[ebomb55]

Here's the 405 x 5 set...Not to failure yet...We'll see how they feel next week.

[The Solution]

Squat form looks very good bro, how the knee wraps feel?

[ebomb55]

Squat form looks very good bro, how the knee wraps feel?

These are Rehbands...neoprene sleeves, not wraps actually.

I love my Rehbands. Most raw orgs allow just these, as they give no rebound/help, but keep your knees very warm. I can wear these throughout my entire leg session, they're that comfortable. When you take them off, your knees are drenched though hah.