Zmcdole's Bro Spotted 220lb Log (title inspired by bench monster Dan Goodwin)

[zmcdole]

I have no idea how you do it haha. I am a good 4-5 inches from touching the chest. And I grip pretty damn wide.

To be honest I think it's my back thickness. Not bragging, but I seriously think having a thick wide back adds tremendously to your bench. Look at DanG, sick back and he has long ass arms. Pullups and rows (any variation) are you best friend. I can't think of anyone who has a really good bench that doesn't have a big thick back. My bench isn't amazing by any stretch of the imagination, but my point is it wouldn't be where it's at without the attention that I give my back.

[zmcdole]

Not a bad night, but I'm definitely feeling the no/alot less sleep thing. I pulled 585 for a super easy double off of a 1.25" deficit a few weeks ago and this week 615 felt a lot heavier than it should have off the floor. There's no way I got weaker so for now I'm blaming lack of sleep and recovery. We'll see what happens in a few weeks.

HEAVY DEADLIFTS CUBE METHOD
585 x 1
615 x 1
I was supposed to do a 3rd single but 615 felt heavy so I stopped.

SNATCH GRIP DEADS FROM FLOOR
415 x 8 x 2

BB ROWS
185 x 5
205 x 5
225 x 5 x 3

PULLUPS
3 sets of 8-10

[Jason2459]

Yeah, pretty much every baby at least the first month is rough with the every 3 hour feeding. Hopefully she is like my second and starts sleeping through the night sooner then later. Our first still doesn't sleep through the night and gets up 1-3 times and is up for the day around 5-6am FML.

EDIT: btw, hope the wife is recovering

[Kent.White]

Yeah, pretty much every baby at least the first month is rough with the every 3 hour feeding. Hopefully she is like my second and starts sleeping through the night sooner then later. Our first still doesn't sleep through the night and gets up 1-3 times and is up for the day around 5-6am FML.

EDIT: btw, hope the wife is recovering

I was lucky and my first two slept through the night from the 1st day home. The doctor told my wife to wake them up every 2-3 hours to feed them and she said, "Are you crazy. If they are going sleep all night I am going to let them. When they get hungry they will let me know."

[zmcdole]

Yeah, pretty much every baby at least the first month is rough with the every 3 hour feeding. Hopefully she is like my second and starts sleeping through the night sooner then later. Our first still doesn't sleep through the night and gets up 1-3 times and is up for the day around 5-6am FML.

EDIT: btw, hope the wife is recovering

I was lucky and my first two slept through the night from the 1st day home. The doctor told my wife to wake them up every 2-3 hours to feed them and she said, "Are you crazy. If they are going sleep all night I am going to let them. When they get hungry they will let me know."

Luckily this one is sleeping very well already. He'll go 4 hours or more before he needs to eat. The biggest problem is me. I'm still up now and I could be sleeping!! I've pretty much been up till 12 the past few nights on top of getting no sleep the night we were in the ER. So right now my sleep problems are pretty much my own fault besides the LIFE HAPPENS ER trip. I've got a few weeks yet to adjust and get my act together and be more responsible and get my ass to bed before I test.

[adamsz]

To be honest I think it's my back thickness. Not bragging, but I seriously think having a thick wide back adds tremendously to your bench. Look at DanG, sick back and he has long ass arms. Pullups and rows (any variation) are you best friend. I can't think of anyone who has a really good bench that doesn't have a big thick back. My bench isn't amazing by any stretch of the imagination, but my point is it wouldn't be where it's at without the attention that I give my back.

This is pretty much my model for how to improve my bench now (srs). But damn your back must be thick as fawk if it touches your chest on floor press. Mine's a solid inch at least away... mirin.

Hope your wife's alright and your sleep troubles end soon man.

[zmcdole]

This is pretty much my model for how to improve my bench now (srs). But damn your back must be thick as fawk if it touches your chest on floor press. Mine's a solid inch at least away... mirin.

Hope your wife's alright and your sleep troubles end soon man.

Thanks man.


Vid from last night's lift:

[zmcdole]

REP SQUATS (cube method)
507 x 2

GMs
220 x 8 x 3

CLOSE STANCE OLYMPIC SQUATS
135 x 50 x 1

CALF RAISES
a bunch

ABS
decline situps 3 sets of 20

[ampUP11]

How were the oly squats for you? Definitely the longest DOMS ever after that workout at least 4-5 days lol

[zmcdole]

How were the oly squats for you? Definitely the longest DOMS ever after that workout at least 4-5 days lol

lol, they get worse every time. You'd think they'd get a little easier, but they don't because the work you do before only increases/the % of your rep squats goes up. The doms doesn't last as long though. My recovery and ability to handle high rep work has increased with the Cube method so I'm happy with that. The 50 reps still sucks so bad though lol.

[zmcdole]

2nd crappy deadlift workout in a row. I don't like making excuses, but a few weeks ago (before the newborn) I was smoking 585 for a double off of a 1.25" deficit. Last week 615 felt heavy as hell and was slow off the floor and this week 545 for a double off the 1.25" deficit was crappy. Two things I know for sure haven't helped. We realized we have been pulling on a platform that is sloped and we've been facing the downhill side of it. That doesn't help things. Also, my glute/ham area has been hurting and I favored it pretty bad tonight. I think those two things combined with the adjustment I've had to make with the new child have hurt me a little. I'm not gonna let this get me though. I felt pretty dang good pulling conventional and 475 was smooth and really fast for doubles. I'm gonna pull conventional again next week with no sumo (that pulls my hammy). Hopefully backing off of sumo, pulling conventional, getting a little more time to adjust to different sleep patterns, and really working on my hammy/glute during the week will get me back on track by the time I test in a few weeks.

[Jason2459]

Have you thought of doing at least a couple 3day weeks to help recover a bit then hit back up to 4 days.

[zmcdole]

Have you thought of doing at least a couple 3day weeks to help recover a bit then hit back up to 4 days.

I debated not pulling at all next week and the following week would be a rest week anyways. We'll see how I feel. Pulling conventional doesn't bother me as much as pulling sumo. I also thing giving that area more TLC via stretching, rolling, and smashing in between deadlift workouts will help a little too.

[zmcdole]

SPEED SQUAT CUBE METHOD
407 x 2 x 5

REVERSE BAND SQUAT (orange bands)
518 x 1
617 x .75 good out of the hole then about half way up I needed a nudge from the spotter to keep the weight moving. These were done in the mono with the weight not walked out. I'm very inexperienced with getting set up in a mono and I just could not get comfortable. I still think 617 would have been slow with the reverse bands, but I think I would have atleast done it completely on my own had I been able to get setup properly/walk it out. I'll know more about where I'm at next week when we work up to 95% of our max.

HIGH BAR OLMPIC SQUATS
303 x 3 sets of 5
319 x 10

LEG PRESS
4 plates per side x 2 sets of 15
4 plates per side x 30

PULL THROUGHS
2 sets of 10.

[Jason2459]

Nice job so far man. Keep it up. I know it's hard with the new baby. BTW, I tried those 50 reps squats tonight... lol

[zmcdole]

Nice job so far man. Keep it up. I know it's hard with the new baby. BTW, I tried those 50 reps squats tonight... lol

thanks. LOL they suck huh?

[Jason2459]

thanks. LOL they suck huh?

Yeah, I couldn't make it. My quads started cramping at like the 20-21st rep and by the 23rd rep they were cramping something fierce just standing there with the bar on my back so I just racked it. I'll have to give it another go.

[ampUP11]

From personal experience, 135 for 50 was brutal, 150 for 45 was pretty bad, and 165 for 40 was miserable. Cut a few at parallel but hands didnt fall asleep. Its all about pacing yourself and not burning out early, then its tackling reps 2-3 at a time.

[zmcdole]

From personal experience, 135 for 50 was brutal, 150 for 45 was pretty bad, and 165 for 40 was miserable. Cut a few at parallel but hands didnt fall asleep. Its all about pacing yourself and not burning out early, then its tackling reps 2-3 at a time.

I do them high bar so my wrists and elbows don't take a beating. I'll usually try and get 20-25 reps non stop and then I'll do sets of 5-10 after that until I get to 50. I've always used 135.

[ampUP11]

I do them high bar so my wrists and elbows don't take a beating. I'll usually try and get 20-25 reps non stop and then I'll do sets of 5-10 after that until I get to 50. I've always used 135.

I did em all high bar as well, same deal in terms of going for 20 or so pretty smooth then hammering out 3 at a time rest pausing to catch my breath. The excel sheets bump weight up and reps down, but I think for my next cycle since I haven't chosen my first competition yet I'll do front squats instead and drop the weight down considerably. Should suck even more lol.

[zmcdole]

[zmcdole]

HEAVY SQUAT WEEK 9 CUBE METHOD
522 x 1
540 x 1
551 x 1 sloppy as hell, but I'm pretty pleased overall at how easy it actually was despite having nearly no technique and loosing a ton of tightness on the way down

LEG PRESS
4 plates per side x 20 x 3

BACK RAISES
2 sets of 30

LEG CURLS
1 set of 50

[Kent.White]

That looked real easy. Very fast.

[zmcdole]

That looked real easy. Very fast.

Thanks. I pretty confident I can hit a squat and bench PR next saturday when i test.

CUBE METHOD REP BENCH INCLINE
365 x 3 PR

DB INCLINE
100's x 20 feet up
100's x 20 feet down

CLOSE GRIP BENCH
245 x 12
225 x 12
225 x 12

BAND FLIES GREEN BAND
3 x 15

BAND PRESS DOWN
monster mini x 100

STANDING DB OHP
50's x 12
60's x 12
70's x 12

[zmcdole]

END OF CUBE CYCLE TEST EPIC FAIL
SQUAT (right about here is where I stuck my head up my ass and went wrapped when I had very little experience in wraps)
551 fairly fast, but not a whole lot faster than my sloppy ass raw raw rep from last week. I probably should have realized my next attempts weren't gonna be so swift.
601 stapled
601 stapled again lol

BENCH
402 speedy
440 good bar speed off of my chest that slowed slightly at lockout
451 good bar speed off my chest again but I lost it at lockout. I need to find a way next 9 week cube cycle to strengthen my lockout. Very close and i honestly would rather have been stapled than to miss a lift that close.

DEADLIFT
595 easy, but I was gonna do 606 misloaded ooops
640 not that easy, but for some reason I'm literally rocking forward and the bar swings out away from me when I start my pull. I'm gonna have to fix this. 661 at my meet 10 weeks ago did not do this. Called it here.

I'm gonna make a video of my review of the Cube method and my thoughts on my test day as well as what I can do to improve my progress.

[ampUP11]

Are you running another cycle? This week is the end of my cycle, I'm not sure if I want to do it all in one day mock meet style or spread it out across the week.

Also, are you jumping right into week 1 this week?

[zmcdole]

Are you running another cycle? This week is the end of my cycle, I'm not sure if I want to do it all in one day mock meet style or spread it out across the week.

Also, are you jumping right into week 1 this week?

I am running another cycle. I didn't get a fair assessment because of my lack of sleep (newborn) and recovery. We are gonna start right away on Monday. I'd rather wait a week, but my training partners wanna get going right away.

[ampUP11]

I am running another cycle. I didn't get a fair assessment because of my lack of sleep (newborn) and recovery. We are gonna start right away on Monday. I'd rather wait a week, but my training partners wanna get going right away.

Were all of those retests in the same day or a compilation of each typical training days results? Like I said I'm not sure if he intends for non-competing cubers to do a mock meet or just use the whole week to retest.

[zmcdole]

Were all of those retests in the same day or a compilation of each typical training days results? Like I said I'm not sure if he intends for non-competing cubers to do a mock meet or just use the whole week to retest.

we ran a mock meet. I think it's really up to you as to how you do it. If you're non competitive I don't see why you couldn't just test each one on the day you'd normally train the lift.

[zmcdole]