WhiteSSP's log of HVIII - Road to Strength

[whitessp]

Figured I might as well post up a log in here. I'm currently planning on competing on Feb 14, 2015 in my first ever powerlifting meet.

30 years old
6'2, 270lbs or so
2.5 years lifting experience (Started lifting at 28 after going from 310lbs of fatty to 210lbs of skinny-fatty)
Best gym lifts are currently 455 squat, 305 bench, 600 deadlift (on a deadlift bar, 585 deadlift on a Rogue Ohio Bar at home)
Goal for the meet is a 1400 total in sleeves (wraps feel wonky for me and I dont feel like messing with them really)

I've run just about every program ever invented in the past couple of years because I get bored pretty easily. Made great gains on 5/3/1 to start with, ran some Madcows 5x5, did Sheiko for a couple weeks before I realized it wasnt fun. Ran Smolov Jr a couple times for bench. Just got done doing a 3 month run of a Conjugate style that added quite a bit to my lifting, but my form was going to **** chasing my ego with the weight on the bar. Always been a fan of Matt Vincent, and bought his Strength Lab book the other day and read through it and really liked his layout, so I'm gonna run his HVIII program on repeat until the meet. Its nothing fancy, just a 3 day a week program focusing on Squat, Bench, Deadlift, Push Press, Snatch, and Clean. My Snatch and Clean will definitely end up being power versions of both, since I have no idea how to actually snatch or clean fully, I have **** knees that I dont trust, and I only have iron plates at my house with nobody to teach me the form of the lifts. I'm basically going to focus on violent hip extension and pulling as hard as I can to get the most weight possible up, which probably wont be much.

[whitessp]

Had to combine the first two days because I was sick as a dog yesterday (still tried to lift, but I was weaker than a 16 year old girl). Only did the main lifts. Will do the accessories tomorrow (work schedule is weird, not sure how long it'll take me so I dont wanna be rushed).

Squat
135x5
225x5
275x5
315x5
345x3x5

Pause bench
135x5
185x5
225x5
235x3x5

Push Press
95x5
135x5
155x5
170x3x5

Deadlift
135x5
225x5
315x5
405x5
445x3x5

Everything felt pretty good. I was really focusing on form for the squats and deadlifts, as I have a habit of not staying tight on both of those. The goal was 5x5 of all lifts for the final weights, but I havent been doing reps for a while and my endurance and cardio sucks (another reason I'm running this program), so I only did 3x5 with no AMRAP at the end. I'm hoping after a cycle of this I'll be able to hit the 5x5 for the same weights (or more) and AMRAP the last set.

[whitessp]

10-16-14 Assistance Work
Good Mornings 3x10
Bench Dips 3x10
Pull Ups 3x5


10-18-14

Snatch
105x10x2

Clean
170x10x2

Seated Box Jumps
5@20"
5@24"
5@28"

[whitessp]

Squat
135x5
225x5
275x5
315x5
365x3x5

Bench
135x5
185x5
225x5
245x2x5
245x3

SSB Good Mornings
130x3x10

Bench Dips
3x10

Squats felt good today. I tried to focus on keeping my core braced since thats what usually seems to go first and I fall forward on heavy squats. Bench wasnt feeling particularly strong today. I paused all reps until rep 5 of set 2 of 245, and then the 245x3 at the end was touch n go, and I didnt have any more in me.

[whitessp]

Push Press
95x5
115x5
135x5
155x5
185x3x5

Deadlift
185x5
225x5
315x5
405x5
475x5
475x2

Pull Ups
3x5

Single Arm Rows
135x3x10

Wasnt feeling all that strong today. Was supposed to lift yesterday but my dad got sent to the ER on Tuesday Night and I was in the hospital with him all day yesterday for the most part. I stopped deadlifting once my form started to break down (normally I just power through it and pick it up with a round back anyway). Single Arm Rows were done with a barbell holding onto the collar, each arm.

[whitessp]

Snatch
110x8x2

Clean
185x8x2

Seated box Jump
3x5@28" box

267.8 this morning.

I suck so bad at oly lifts. Even the power versions lol. Especially the clean, its weird because 185 used to be a super easy power clean for me, and now its like I cant even figure out wtf to do with it haha. The snatches seem to be going ok, I just have to focus on the timing of firing my hips to get the bar up or it turns into a muscle snatch instead of a power snatch.