Rubber to Rebar

[Smolovicus]

mini extra day

Power C&J
up to 215 x 2

Sumo Block Pull
up to 475 x 1

Seated DB OHP
40 3 x 20
40 x 30

Laterals
4 x 15

Concentration Curls
4 x 10

Cable Row
3 x 15

[Smolovicus]

been a long week so far and it's not over yet. lab tomorrow and yet another exam Friday for 40% of the course grade.

left my exam tonight and went to the rec with 30 mins to close

Larsens narrow, <1.30m rest
up to 225 x 5 or 6 sets of 5, pauses on 5th

Laterals
3 x 15

DB Curls
4 x 15

DB OHP
4 x 15

Rear Delt Raises
3 x 15

felt super weak, super achey, super meh in general. completely expected. just wanted to get some volume in.

[Smolovicus]

Pause Squat
bar 2 x 8
135 2 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 1
315 x 1
365 x 1
385 x 1
405 x 1 slow
375 x 2 no positioning, also slow

Power C&J
135 x 4
185 x 3
205 x 2
225 x 2
250 x 1

Rack Jerk
up to 255 x 1

Olympic Squat very narrow stance
225 x 10, pause on last 3
<45s rest
225 x 10 beltless, pause on last 3

Body still worn out from the last 2 weeks of persistent late nights / stress / studying / etc. Haven't felt like doing anything or talking to anyone since I finished my last midterm at 11pm last night. Gonna feel nice to get back into a regular eating and training schedule again.

[Smolovicus]

Larsen Press narrow
bar 2 x 10
135 x 8
185 2 x 3
225 x 5
245 x 5
225 3 x 8

Jerks
185 5 x 2

felt great

DB OHP
45 x 15
65 x 10
80 x 17

Pulldowns
x 30
dropset
x10
x10

Laterals
x 30
dropset
x 15
x 15

[Smolovicus]

After two weeks of grinding my studies (and a weekend of slow-churning background stress in regard to the upcoming grading) I came out on the other side today with three As and a B. The relief that swept over me was pretty overwhelming. Really I have to say this semester has been the most successful I've ever had in terms of sleep, eating, academic performance and so on. Complete turnaround from the 4 months of anxiety and borderline depression of last spring. Just gotta keep the engine running for another 7 weeks or so.

Power C&J
up to
225 x 1
225 x 3
235 2 x 1

Jerks
front rack
185 x 2
205 x 1
235 x 1
255 x 1
275 x 1
BTN
185 x 1
235 x 1
255 x 1
275 x 1

I am almost 100% certain I will be hitting a 300lb jerk next week -- most likely from BTN. My only issue today was that my body kept reflexively scrambling to recover as soon as I landed the split. Almost lost 275 on both occasions as a result. Need to force patience, hold the position steady, then recover. I imagine this would be a lot easier if I could just squat 500lbs.

Olympic Squat hip width, elevated heel
on <1 minute rests
185 x 10
185 x 10
185 x 10
full rest
185 x 20, last rep paused


Focused on maintaining my position throughout each set. Definitely more a test of focus than strength. Could've probably kept hitting reps for a good amount of time if I was truly a masochist. Might make this a weekly thing, upping 10 or so lbs each time.

If I could come home by winter break with a 315lb jerk and a smooth ~265-285 x 20 olympic squat I'd be ecstatic.


Body weight has dropped way down to about 220 from 230-233 a few weeks ago. Don't think my strength has been affected too grievously. Certainly getting leaner. Another 15lbs and I could maybe have some semblance of abs. #dreams

[Smolovicus]

CG Bench
bar 2 x 10
135 2 x 3
185 2 x 3
225 2 x 3
255 x 3
275 x 3
295 x 1 paused
315 x 1 paused

Motion felt great and fast, despite being a bit heavy in the hands (having not touched much over 275 consistently in weeks). Definitely still have a ~365 bench in me.

Larsens CG
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5

BTN Jerk
bar x 3
95 x 3
135 x 2
185 x 2
205 x 2
225 x 1
255 x 1
275 x 1
295 x
295 x
295 x fml
300 x
300 x now you gone and done it https://instagram.com/p/9IU3J8sF-g/?...brother.incubo
300 x 1 PRRRRR https://instagram.com/p/9IVZ3VMF-6/?...brother.incubo

lol @ the terrible recovery, but whatever man, I nailed it. 315 is right around the corner.

Though I wonder what it means exactly when you can jerk more than you front squat?

DB OHP
60 x 8
60 x 8
90 x 10

Pulldown
3 x 15

Laterals
4 x 20

[Smolovicus]

Deadlift
135 2 x 3
225 x 4
315 x 3
365 x 1
415 x 1
445 x 3
460 x 2
315 10 x 3 (<minute rests)

only thing that failed me today was grip. I've had a torn callous at the base of my right hand's ring finger for about week and a half that makes it difficult to fully clasp my hand or put the bar in the most stable groove. gonna need to take care of it.

would have liked 460 x 3, but I'm still happy.

Single Arm Cable Rows
5 x 10
dropsets
x20
x20
x20

Called it good there!

[Smolovicus]

hit a bench session Friday but didn't really do much other than work up to 285 x 2 close grip w pauses. Felt like trash.

CG Bench
bar 2 x 10
135 2 x 5
185 2 x 3
225 2 x 3
265 x 1
295 x 1 paused @ 8
275 x 5 paused

Larsens CG
225 x 5
235 x 5

Power Cleans
up to 185 4 x 2

Jerk
up to 220 4 x 2

DB OHP <45s rests
60 x 20
60 x 18
60 x 11

Laterals no rests
25 x 30
20 x 15
15 x 15
10 x 15
25 x 15

Caught a cold so I'm feeling a bit rough around the edges. Strength is okay though. Not looking forward to the cold wreaking havoc on my joints here soon.

[Smolovicus]

felt like absolute trash all day. stayed in bed for like 12 hours exhausted, aching, no energy. finally pulled myself together on 3 cups of coffee and a heaping scoop of preworkout and hit the gym with ~45 minutes left till close.

Pause Squat
bar 2 x 8
135 2 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 2
315 x 2
365 x 1
390 x 1
405 x 1

HB Olympic Squat narrow, elevated heel
225 x 20

could've hit another 15-20lbs

Pin Half Squat
315 x 10

done within <3 minutes of the 225 set, so I hadn't really caught my breath at all.

Pulldown
x 100 straight reps at ~70lbs, just blood flow work

[Smolovicus]

Pause Bench narrow
bar x 10
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 2 x 1
295 x 1 3ct pause
315 3 x 1 -- 3ct pauses
280 x 3

Larsens narrow; <45s rests
205 5 x 5
205 x 10
205 2 x 5

Basically just kept hitting sets till they slowed considerably.

DB High Incline
50 x 10
75 x 10
100 x 7 almost blacked out on the first again, took like 5 seconds to lockout
45 3 x 10 neutral

DB Chest Flies
45 3 x 10

Single Arm Cable Row
5 x 10

Pulldown
5 x 10

Laterals
5 x 10

BB Curls
8 x 5 constant set from 30lb -> 100lb

[Smolovicus]

phone was stolen on Hallow's Eve. ruined my primary fallbacks for end of night female interaction over the Halloweekend. also slept on my shoulder wrong and it's been aching ever since. much disappointment.

Pause Squat
up to
405 x 1
385 x 3

pretty smooth. knees keep coming in these past few sessions though.

Deadlift
up to
415 x 2
445 x 1

smooth, no psyche up, kinda just did it for no reason. 475-485 x 3 mebbe this week.

Pause Bench CG
up to 315 x 1, 3ct pause
+Larsens
225 8 x 5 on <2 min rests
185 4 x 5 <30s rests, basically speed sets

Olympic Squat narrow stance, elevated heel
255 4 x 1
255 x 15, +5 after 10 second rest because I'm a pathetic lazy weakling; last one paused

Bunch of upper back and general shoulder stuff.

Chose to do a bunch of different stuff today since I've got assignments to do tomorrow.

[NorthStrong]

sleeping on your shoulder wrong sucks, i hate that ****

you tryna be a weightlifter now or wat

[Smolovicus]

Just trying to develop some of that power and quad strength that i used to have (jk I never had quad strength).

But really the main idea is just to get back to developing all-around strength, rather than specializing only in specific ROMs. That's been the reasoning behind all my close grip / larsen / incline pressing, jerks, etc. Just want to be comfortable moving weights through different planes.

On top of that I've long since given up on getting "stronger" during school semesters, so I just focus on trying to keep the volume grinds fun. This generally seems to add 30-40lbs to each of my lifts during the summer after a peak ... when I'm healthy / not injured anyway.

Pause Bench CG; all sets w/ <1 minute rest
up to 295 4 x 1, 3ct pauses
245 5 x 3 various forms

Power Cleans
185 3 x 3
205 3 x 2

felt bad. had my high tops tied pretty tight, thinking it was cutting off my ankle mobility pretty significantly.

High Incline DBs
45 2 x 10
65 2 x 10
75 2 x 10
95 x 10 pretty ez actually

Low Incline DBs very controlled
65 3 x 8

Laterals
25 x 10
35 x 10
45 x 10
50 x 10
dropset
35 x 10
25 x 10
15 x 20

Pretty sure that was it for tonight. Didn't feel strong anywhere other than maybe the DBs.

[Smolovicus]

Deadlift
135 2 x 3
225 x 4
315 x 2
365 x 2
405 x 1
455 x 1
475 x 1.5 easy but lost grip at the knee ffs
455 x 4 PR @ 9.5
405 x 2
365 x 15 rep PR

Would've had 455 up for 5 or 6 if I'd just gone for it the first time around. Can't believe I lost my grip on 475 after how smooth the first rep was. Pull should be sitting at around 500-510. I think head to EPC and try testing it out for real over Thanksgiving break in another 2 weeks. If I could nail 475 for 4 by then (straps or nah) I'd be in awesome shape, especially factoring in a deadlift bar.

Adductor
4 x 12

That was it. Mainly coached one of my lady friends through a squat session since she's been concerned about losing her butt (smh). Complained almost the entire time but had surprisingly solid form so it really wasn't a struggle at all. 5 x 8 pause squats followed by 4 x 5 sumo deads and 4 x 15 on the adductor machine, lol. #sadism

[Smolovicus]

terrible day. sleep has been kind of irregular and not-too-great lately. exams coming up again. etc

CG Bench
up to 300 4 x 1 all with 3ct pauses
225 3 x 5

shoulder immediately flared up at 135. wtf. hasn't been like that for weeks and weeks.

CG Pause Incline
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 5 x 5
135 3 x 10

whole lot of upper back and lateral delt accessorizing

blehg

[Smolovicus]

what an absolute mess of a week

meals have been terrible, sleep has been off, exam stress was ruthless. last midterm is on Monday (wtf, sigh). cannot wait for this semester to wrap up. last few weeks have dragged on and on.

Deadlift
up to 415 x 1
fail 465

not sure if it was a real fail or if I just stopped pulling before it was about to break the floor. point is my hips felt like they were breaking and my positioning was all over the place at 315 and up. felt so uncoordinated.

decided deads / squats weren't going to happen, despite having 465 x 4 in my head. too dehydrated, too worn out, etc.

CG Pause Bench 3ct pauses
up to 315, which I failed twice

no words, just smh

CG Larsens
185 x 15
185 x 10

circuit
Laterals
3 x 15

Curls
3 x 15

Front Raises
3 x 15

throw away session.

blehg

[Smolovicus]

slept 12 straight hours to 4pm. had a headache all day that wouldn't fade even after hydrating / eating / caffeinating. decided to pop 4 ibuprofen (lol), downed another cup of black coffee, shot some preworkout. finally started to fade as I began warming up.

Deadlift
135 x 6
225 x 6
315 x 2
365 x 1
415 x 1
405 x 8

still felt terrible but I wasn't going to let another day go to waste. shut off all doubt and just kept pulling. honestly could have fought for another 2 reps by virtue of pure focus, but 8 was nice enough for me to feel redeemed.

High Bar Pause Pin Squats narrow stance, conv. deadlift hip height (little lower than quarter squat)
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 3
405 x 3 @ 7.5
315 x 13
225 x 10
225 x 10
225 x 10

tried to emulate a pulling position so there was a bit of a good morning motion near the bottom. honestly felt great and very familiar to my conventional pull.

content for the moment. if I can manage this while feeling like trash, a week of better rest and food should prime me up to a very smooth PR when I'm home in another week.

Lat Pulldown
3 x 15
x 30

[Smolovicus]

Finally a bench day I feel okay about.

Entire session was done with no more than 2 minutes between sets / 5 minutes between exercises.


3ct Pause Bench
up to 315 x 1 @ 8

CG Bench
265 x 3
255 3 x 3

CG Larsens paused
225 4 x 3

Incline DB Bench
50 x 10
65 x 10
80 x 10
70 x 20

Super-set (no rests)

Laterals
3 x 15
1 x 30

Pulldowns
3 x 15
1 x 30

Performed decently on all my midterms. Stress has been drastically diminished once again. Eating and sleeping better again. Gets reflected in training very quickly.

[Smolovicus]

Olympic Squat narrow stance, elevated heel
bar x 10
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 1
275 x 1
315 x 1
355 x 1
365 x 1
265 x 20 fml

Stiff Leg Deficits
bar x 5
135 x 5
185 x 20 fml redux

Pulldown 5s hold/stretch at top before and after each set; back decompression mostly
3 x 10

squats were pretty sluggish but had no worries. I think I have an ATG 405 squat in me, which was literally one of the first long term goals I ever made for myself alongside a 315 bench. should've had it long ago, but that's the nature of the game lol. ATG squatting has always boosted my deadlift at an almost pound-for-pound rate, too, so I'm excited to keep hammering away at these. grand scheme is to eventually rebuild my conventional pull to a point where it is once again stronger than my sumo, which only ever gained real ground after I injured my back. I am a conventional puller damn it.

that 265 was ruthless. felt weightless when I unracked it, but I quickly screwed up my groove after 3 reps and involuntarily psyched down a bit.

anyhow

heading home tomorrow, 7 hour drive on my own. RIP in peace lower back and knees.

[Smolovicus]

CG Bench
bar x 10
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 2 x 2
295 3 x 1
320 3 x 1
330 x 1 PR I think, 2ct or 3ct pause
270 3 x 5

basically all of these were PRs as far as my TnG bench goes. got intimidated with 330 so I paused it (logic).

super satisfied tho

Deadlift
up to 315 2 x 2

back was aching today due to sleeping on this soft ass mattress since being home. got my DL session coming up on Saturday so I wanted to work out some of the kinks. very easy, but didn't really iron out the aching.

Pulldown
5 x 10

Curls
a lot

JM Press
95 5 x 15
95 x 30
bar x 30

[Smolovicus]

Olympic Pause Squat 2ct, no bounce/rebound
bar x 10
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 1
315 x 1
335 x 1
350 x 1

Really didn't think I even had much left in me at 275. Weight just felt heavy, back was still aching, left hip felt a little tight and I was pulling to the side as a result, movement was slow, etc. But I just kept going up. 350 ended up feeling better than 335, and 365 would've probably been right on the 95-100% ticket.

Pause Pin Squat deadlift depth
bar x 20
135 x 20
225 x 20
+sumo stance, 3-5ct descent
315 x 3
365 x 3
405 x 1
+regular, no pause
315 x 20
225 x 10

Reverse Hyper
3 x 20

These are actually fking brutal for high reps. Mad lower back pump as well.

Pulldown
4 x 15

[Smolovicus]

CG Bench
up to
230 3 x 10
185 3 x 5 on 30s rests
135 3 x 5 on 30s rests

Pulldown
3 x 15

Laterals
5 x 15

Curls
a whole lot


started thinking the other day about how there are people weaker than me who are able to curl like 135 for reps. decided that's not cool with me, lol.

also saw a few vids of a couple girls who train with Efferding / Spoto. talking women who are pulling 515-550, one of whom benches like 335. realized how weak I am. if this bed doesn't ruin my back by saturday I'm going to need to tear something off the ground to restore my sanity.

[Smolovicus]

whole lotta nothing of note today

CG Bench
300 x some singles
275 x some triples
240 3 x 3

Incline DB Bench
up to
85 3 x 10

bunch of upper back work

bunch of miscellaneous shoulder work

decline bench 3 x 10 at 185, dead at this point

also pulled 405 easily while completely cold, so that bodes pretty well for tomorrow.

[Smolovicus]

well didn't have the day I wanted at all, but it wasn't totally terrible

SSB Box Squats paused
up to 345 x 1

maybe another 20lbs in me on these, but as a "first time doing these" PR I'm okay with this.

Deadlift
up to
455 x 1
500 x static pull for like 10 seconds lol
455 x 4 matches PR

455 moved slow, knew nothing heavier was really gonna go up.

not much else to it other than not having the strength on this particular day. the entire time I was pulling on 500, my form stayed just about 100% perfect. hips stayed down, back upright, positioning just all-around pretty great. weight just wouldn't move off the floor... or maybe it would've, but by the time I let go I had nearly blacked out, lol.

some light misc upper back work

[Smolovicus]

back to school. car ran out of gas about 10 miles out from town. 100s of students driving by over the course of an hour, not one stopped. university solidarity, lol. anyway, had a friend drive out with some gas. set me back quite a bit of time and I ended up having to work through the night on an assignment and studying for an exam (which was yesterday evening).

luckily I have plenty of experience with 35+ hour days after last semester.

CG Bench
up to 300 x 1 3ct, maybe even 4ct. smooth.
200 5 x 8 (2 sets with full pauses), <2 min rests

Gonna be really trying to bump up the volume over the next few weeks. Ideally benching 4x a week, with an emphasis on exerting control and consistent acceleration through my ROM. Keeping my foot position pretty neutral and forward -- no tucking, no wide set bracing, etc. Basically a rebuilding phase.

Incline DB Bench
55 x 10
80 x 10
100 3 x f (7, 8, 7)

left wrist kept buckling in.

Laterals
25 x 10
35 x 10
50 x 10, +10 loose form (PR)
dropset
40 x 10
30 x 10
20 x 10
10 x 10

Seated Hammer Curls
25 x 10
40 4 x 8

Barbell Curls
from 30lbs to 70lbs x 10 then back down, no rests

EZ Bar JM Press
55lbs 3 x 30

will be hammering curls and JM presses alongside the increased bench volume. either going to burn my shoulders out and get a wicked pec tear or build a HUeG bench and set of arms. we'll find out.

[Smolovicus]

Olympic Pause Squat elevated heel
bar x 10
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 1
315 x 1
340 x 1
365 x 1 PR

actually easier than 355 was. neato.

Olympic Front Squat
225 2 x 1
250 x 1
275 x 1

Pin Pause Squat ~DL height
-narrow stance
275 x 20
-sumo stance
225 x 20

word

[tkonpk]

Strong dude with a strong log, keep it up.

[Smolovicus]

Thanks man. I've got a long way to go and a lot more to learn, but I'm inching along. You're killing me with your lifts at 145!

CG Bench
bar x 10
95 x 10
135 x 5
205 5 x 5

super easy. used a lot of control here. slow negatives and a lot of focus on carving the arc in my bar path.

Incline DB
45 x 20
65 x 20
85 x 10
100 x 11 PR

DB OHP
75 x 12
dropsets
55 x 20
35 x 15
25 x 10

Laterals
25 x 10
40 x 10 (unilateral)
55 x 10 (unilateral)
20 x 50

DB Curls
40 4 x 8
dropsets for a total of 45 more reps

EZ JM Presses
65 4 x 20

Keep running out of time in the gym before I'm able to do any upper back work, but I'm not gonna worry about it too much.

[Smolovicus]

Came down with a mild flu or food poisoning late Friday night. Heavy nausea. Skipped lifting. Tried to sleep it off. Woke up around 6am and vomited my guts out. Stayed in bed literally all of Saturday. Ate something around 11pm. Slept most of today and finally got around to feeling better.

Super behind on school work now and I'll be up all night doing it, lol. Oh well.

CG Bench
205 5 x 8

DB OHP
40 x 30
55 x 20
70 x 20

DB Curls
25 x 8
40 x 8
55 4 x 8

EZ JM Press
65 3 x 30

UL Laterals
25 x 10
40 x 10
50 x 10
60 x 10 PR
35 x 10
25 3 x 10

BB Curls
40 x 10
60 x 10
80 x 10
100 x 10
dropset
60 x 10
50 x 10
40 x 10
30 x 10

Weighing around 214lbs today.

[Smolovicus]

Olympic Pause Squat
bar x 10
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 2
275 x 1
315 x 1
350 x 1
370 x 1 PR

almost folded over somehow on the 370. form felt better on the way up than it did the last two sessions, but I guess I lost some upper back tightness. didn't feel great on the lower back.

Olympic Front Squat
up to 275 x 1

easier than last time, but still not smooth like I want it. I should easily be doing ~300 on these.

Pause Pin Squats
135 x 10
225 x 6
315 x 2
365 x 2
365 x 10
385 x 10

Dimel Deadlifts on <2 min rests
135 4 x 20

posterior chain is still shaking after these

Pulldowns
7 x 10



lower back not feeling too wonderful at the moment. I'll be doing some knuckle rolling and stretches tonight.