Arian's Rise to Power

[arian11]

Those weren't bench presses. Nowhere near your chest. It actually looks further away the more I watch it. They look like that board **** you do, but without the boards.

It's 285 - its only like 50 lbs more than you weigh....let it drop down. To your chest. And press it.

Trust me brother, they are touching my sternum and it's only 280 lbs.

lolwut

idklol

hehehehe, i knew he was trouble when he walked in

strong progress on bench. isn't 275 your comp max?

Nah. I've hit 265 at 2 different meets and then let my ego take over and missed 281 once. I've hit 280 for a quick pause and 285 bouncing previously in the gym. So 300 could be there now and maybe 285-290 paused.

Nice PR, as per usual. What's the plan with that laggy left arm?

I'm thinking more DB work so I can more easily tell if my left hand is lagging. So tate presses, overhead presses, and maybe even a flat or incline press with DBs and stop when my left hand fails.

What is going on in here? I am confused.

Anywho....IMO, the 280 x 3 looked better than the 275 x 3 last time. Appeared a bit tighter at the chest. Nicely done. Laggy left arm could have been from a setup issue. If your shoulders weren't retracted evenly, it is very easy to do this.

Heh I have no idea. My log has been pretty random lately. I think it could be that as well but because my right side is bigger than my left side all around. So left rear delt, trap, shoulder, and triceps lag. So less of a base on the left side and less strength on the left side. That is also why I think my right arm touches the ground before my left on floor press, dat dere medial triceps is non-existent on left side.

[martin_mathers]

hehehehe, i knew he was trouble when he walked in

stop...please..stop...i was writing my midterm this morning and that song was playing in my head the whole time you cheeky kunt

[arian11]

2/27/13 - PEAKING BLOCK - DAY 4
WEIGHT 228.1 LBS

SQUAT
365x3
385x3

GOODMORNINGS
225x5
225x5
225x5

GHRs
25x10
25x8
25x6

CABLE ROWS
70x12
100x12
100x12

BACK EXTENSIONS
15
15
15



Back and rest of body feels 100%. Squat strength isn't at it's peak, 410 is my 3RM. Might have had a tad bit more in me if I really got jacked up but I called it at 385 since I was losing form. Depth felt poopy. Bar didn't feel tight and was moving around on squat and goodmornings. I'll still take it as my 1st heavy squat session after deload/being sick/lower back fawked. Any points on squats, goodmornings, and ghrs are welcome.

[HoneyBadger300]

365x3 your squatmornings were showing. Seemed to be better on the 385s though.

[showmestate08]

Any points on squats, goodmornings, and ghrs are welcome.

Have you tried breaking at the knees rather than the hips to initiate the lift? I hear Mark Bell talk about this quite a bit. He basically says that it will help keep your hips from drifting too far back which can often lead to a GM position while coming out of the hole.

I feel like making this change has really helped me on squats lately (which still suck so take this info with a grain of salt). A downside to this method is that you get more forward knee travel and still have the chance of turning the lift into a GM if you don't open up at the hips and force the knees out.

Besides that-- nice job grinding out that third rep.

[TheStigIsBig]

Bro, I'm not out to troll you. You chose to post a workout log and asked people to participate, so and I am.

You are NOT pressing those lifts; you don't even come close to touching your sternum. I could give a **** less - you are only cheating yourself if you choose to call those presses PRs.

They're not off your chest; if you think a judge is going to give you those, you're Candadian Crazy. Look at them again. I think 1 rep on the 2nd set of your video...maybe...that's it.

wtf is he touching then?

[ampUP11]

Arian hits TnG triple at competition PR, amp misses 5lb PR with my friends foreverpause press command.

You phckin stole my mojo.

[TheStigIsBig]

Nothing?

Nothing.

Nothing!

ok.

[showmestate08]

Arian's log is great. He's obviously a good guy, works hard, honest.....He's funny, everyone likes him too!

But that pressing vid (which I'm not allowed to repost)...

Thought they looked like ****. Sorry I didn't like 'em.

Call me Ernie, make fun of me, whatever.... He's strong and determined - YES.

I think he could do better, those look like (2/3) lifts to me....

Whatever.

I'll **** off, then.

I think you might enjoy watching Robert Wilkerson train.

[izzygrant]

They're not off your chest; if you think a judge is going to give you those, you're Candadian Crazy.

oh no you did not

do you even angles? the ipod is on the floor. watch his chest at the bottom instead of the bar; you'll see the bit of rebound he gets. he is most definitely touching.

[MattIsBored]

oh no you did not

do you even angles? the ipod is on the floor. watch his chest at the bottom instead of the bar; you'll see the bit of rebound he gets. he is most definitely touching.

A white knight has appeared. He's also only referring to Western Canada. What weight class are you competing in at raw nationals Arian?

[izzygrant]

A white knight has appeared. He's also only referring to Western Canada. What weight class are you competing in at raw nationals Arian?

wrong, that's called pink knighting. honestly

[arian11]

Bro, I'm not out to troll you. You chose to post a workout log and asked people to participate, so and I am.

You are NOT pressing those lifts; you don't even come close to touching your sternum. I could give a **** less - you are only cheating yourself if you choose to call those presses PRs.

They're not off your chest; if you think a judge is going to give you those, you're Candadian Crazy. Look at them again. I think 1 rep on the 2nd set of your video...maybe...that's it.

Ok. You caught me. A guy who has paused 265 in competition is trying to e-stat on the Internet that he can bounce 280 for 3 off his chest. I'll ask my gym for the security camera footage of that night so you can get a top view of my bench lol.

365x3 your squatmornings were showing. Seemed to be better on the 385s though.

Damnit I knew I forgot to write something in that post. Was gonna write "inb4 your squats and goodmornings look the same"

Have you tried breaking at the knees rather than the hips to initiate the lift? I hear Mark Bell talk about this quite a bit. He basically says that it will help keep your hips from drifting too far back which can often lead to a GM position while coming out of the hole.

I feel like making this change has really helped me on squats lately (which still suck so take this info with a grain of salt). A downside to this method is that you get more forward knee travel and still have the chance of turning the lift into a GM if you don't open up at the hips and force the knees out.

Besides that-- nice job grinding out that third rep.

Nah haven't tried that. My knees are pretty far forward at the bottom of a squat, so I've been trying to focus on sitting back and staying back.

Arian hits TnG triple at competition PR, amp misses 5lb PR with my friends foreverpause press command.

You phckin stole my mojo.

Not competition PR. I've only paused 265 in comp. So this was 15 lbs over my competition PR for a triple.

A white knight has appeared. He's also only referring to Western Canada. What weight class are you competing in at raw nationals Arian?

205 or 231. I do want to cut some body fat and then go back to building some muscle mass. It just depends how far down I go. I could cut 1 lbs a week from now till nationals and then only have to cut the last few pounds in water weight. But I'm always scared when I think about cutting cuz I'm scared my lifts will suffer, especially squat and bench.

[samsont]

dude go 231 and hit a good bench

[bmontgomery87]

205 or 231. I do want to cut some body fat and then go back to building some muscle mass. It just depends how far down I go. I could cut 1 lbs a week from now till nationals and then only have to cut the last few pounds in water weight. But I'm always scared when I think about cutting cuz I'm scared my lifts will suffer, especially squat and bench.

If you're only 215 or so, cutting 10 pounds shouldn't take a crap on your numbers too bad.
Nothing wrong with cleaning up a bit, you'd probably be rather sloppy at 231 (no hate, but that's a bit of extra weight to put on)

[samsont]

If you're only 215 or so, cutting 10 pounds shouldn't take a crap on your numbers too bad.
Nothing wrong with cleaning up a bit, you'd probably be rather sloppy at 231 (no hate, but that's a bit of extra weight to put on)

why not just not worry about weight class and continue on whatever he's doing (cause he's getting stronger)? unless you're setting a record or trying to win first place, why not go for the best total @ 215 even if it'll be '231' dont gotta get sloppy. I wanna see him hit a good bench PR mang

[arian11]

If you're only 215 or so, cutting 10 pounds shouldn't take a crap on your numbers too bad.
Nothing wrong with cleaning up a bit, you'd probably be rather sloppy at 231 (no hate, but that's a bit of extra weight to put on)

why not just not worry about weight class and continue on whatever he's doing (cause he's getting stronger)? unless you're setting a record or trying to win first place, why not go for the best total @ 215 even if it'll be '231' dont gotta get sloppy. I wanna see him hit a good bench PR mang

My weight on the left isn't up to date. I'm between 225 and 230 these days. But I've been sloppy for quite some time now. Probably like 30% bf right now lol. Got the muscle mass of a 165 lber trying to compete at 220/231. That's why I thought maybe I should cut some body fat and then slow build back up into 231. But like I said, I've been scared to do any kind of cut for like the past year or so now because I'm scared I'll lose dem little gainz that I do have.

EDIT:

So for now I've just been trying to clean up my diet as some have suggested. I'm down to just 1 bad meal per day, which is lunch. Everything else is just trying to get some better whole foods in to match whatever macros I got left to hit for the day. So no more cookies, ice cream, frozen pizza, donuts, mcdonalds, etc.

[Doollas]

Subbed for my space bench angles.

[bmontgomery87]

why not just not worry about weight class and continue on whatever he's doing (cause he's getting stronger)? unless you're setting a record or trying to win first place, why not go for the best total @ 215 even if it'll be '231' dont gotta get sloppy. I wanna see him hit a good bench PR mang

I wasn't thinking about it that way when I read it earlier. I was interpreting it as "fill out the 231 class" which would lead to a fatness overload.
maintaining his current weight and competing at it is a fine idea.


But as he said above, he's gotten pretty sloppy, and while yes his gains will have to take a backseat, he's eventually going to have to clean his weight up to get in the class he needs to be in. He could always do this meet at his current weight and then work on getting to whatever size he wants to be at.

[arian11]

I wasn't thinking about it that way when I read it earlier. I was interpreting it as "fill out the 231 class" which would lead to a fatness overload.
maintaining his current weight and competing at it is a fine idea.


But as he said above, he's gotten pretty sloppy, and while yes his gains will have to take a backseat, he's eventually going to have to clean his weight up to get in the class he needs to be in. He could always do this meet at his current weight and then work on getting to whatever size he wants to be at.

Somewhat long term goal is to get up to a 390 wilks by raw nationals 2014 so I can qualify for arnolds 2015. Doesn't matter what bodyweight but it'd be like 1353 @ 200 or like 1432 @ 229. So stay the same weight and put 209 lbs on my best comp total or drop 25 lbs and put 130 lbs on my best comp total. The latter seems like the easier one on paper but idk.

[Jason2459]

Somewhat long term goal is to get up to a 390 wilks by raw nationals 2014 so I can qualify for arnolds 2015. Doesn't matter what bodyweight but it'd be like 1353 @ 200 or like 1432 @ 229. So stay the same weight and put 209 lbs on my best comp total or drop 25 lbs and put 130 lbs on my best comp total. The latter seems like the easier one on paper but idk.

Is qualifications for the Arnolds based on wilks or based on total at a particular weight class?

[arian11]

Is qualifications for the Arnolds based on wilks or based on total at a particular weight class?

SELECTION: First 75 Paid Entries meeting the Qualifying Competitions and Wilks. Open entry to all U.S. & NAPF lifters who
meet Qualifying Criteria and Minimum Wilks total. IPF Lifters by invitation ONLY.
Secondary Selection is by Invitation ONLY.
Qualifying Competition
 2012 Raw Nationals
 NAPF members (non-USAPL) – Raw total in sanctioned 2012 competition
Must have established a minimum Wilks total:
 Men: 390 unequipped
 Women: 340 unequipped
Secondary Selection by INVITE ONLY
 2012 ASF Raw competitor
 2012 Raw total in Sanctioned USAPL meet
 2012 Total in USAPL Sanctioned meet

http://arnold.usapowerlifting.com/wp...d-Criteria.pdf

That is what it was for this year but I've heard it's changed over the years. It use to be a 400 wilks but they couldn't get enough people. Then they went to qualifying totals I hear. I'm just assuming they will stick to a 390 wilks for next year since it seems to be working well.

[bmontgomery87]

I need to put like 150 on my gym total to have a 390 wilks, while staying the same weight.
Doable but it'll take a little time. I put 200 on my total in the past year but I also gained 20 pounds.

[ErickStevens]

http://arnold.usapowerlifting.com/wp...d-Criteria.pdf

That is what it was for this year but I've heard it's changed over the years. It use to be a 400 wilks but they couldn't get enough people. Then they went to qualifying totals I hear. I'm just assuming they will stick to a 390 wilks for next year since it seems to be working well.

I'll be there in 2014!

[arian11]

3/2/13 - PEAKING BLOCK - DAY 5
WEIGHT: 224.3 LBS

REVERSE BAND BENCH W/ MINIS
230x1
280x1
300x1
320x1
330x0

FLOOR PRESS
135x6
225x6
225x5
225x4

TATE PRESS
40x8
40x8
40x8



Pretty quick workout today. Saving my back work for after squats/deadlifts tomorrow. Jason's reverse band PRs inspired me today but 330 just wasn't there at lockout. I used 2 bands this time and went with a different setup so I filmed it to see if you guys think I fawked up or not. Also, depending on when I head back to Tally and who will be there, I may do some testing of lifts there. Probably try 290 paused or 300 tng. Maybe I'll see whereabouts my squat is as well. And then that will be my "competition" and I'll get back to normal training in preparation for July.

[Jason2459]

That's one way to set them up but that's a doubled mini on both sides. That will take quite a bit off the chest building up tension quickly. Raise the pins or use the top of the rack and choke the bands. Still making sure the bands are slack at the top. You can do it both ways but know there's a difference and track separate PRs. This is good though. Do the choked mini on each side next week. Aim for 305.

I'm pretty sure I took pics of my setup in my journal.

[arian11]

That's one way to set them up but that's a doubled mini on both sides. That will take quite a bit off the chest building up tension quickly. Raise the pins or use the top of the rack and choke the bands. Still making sure the bands are slack at the top. You can do it both ways but know there's a difference and track separate PRs. This is good though. Do the choked mini on each side next week. Aim for 305.

I'm pretty sure I took pics of my setup in my journal.

I went through your log before I went to lift to see if you had a vid but only saw your reverse band squat setup. So I went for this setup kinda for the reason you said, takes quite a bit off the chest but builds up tension fast. This is probably the last ME bench session I'm doing at this gym so it doesn't really matter, I'll have a new setup once again.

[Jason2459]

I went through your log before I went to lift to see if you had a vid but only saw your reverse band squat setup. So I went for this setup kinda for the reason you said, takes quite a bit off the chest but builds up tension fast. This is probably the last ME bench session I'm doing at this gym so it doesn't really matter, I'll have a new setup once again.

Post #913
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...post1022225043

Not that you'll be able to setup the top exactly like that but I find it easy and I know they are setup the same way every time with every band and no variations on how tight or loose the choke is around the top. I also have a 6.5' rack instead of the common taller ones. So pins up high and choked would work on just about any rack. It seemed the thinner the band I went with the more and more slack there was sooner before lock out. By the time I got to mini's I'm not sure how much the bands really took off the bottom but didn't seem like much as it seemed to slack off by about half way up.

[arian11]

3/3/13 - PEAKING BLOCK - DAY 6
WEIGHT: 224.8 LBS

SQUAT
45x10
135x6
225x4
315x2

DEADLIFT
405x3

DEFICIT DEADLIFT
315x5
315x5

CABLE ROWS
100x12
110x12
120x12

FACE PULLS
6x12
6x12
6x12
6x12
6x12

STATIONARY BIKE
10 mins, super slow



Deadlifts still feel hard. I guess I peaked out right before my deload when I pulled 445x3. Atleast my form was looking joocy today. So hard to break the ground when you aren't rounding your lower back. So I tried out some deficit pulls for the first time. Put one pad under me and didn't feel much different, so I added another and that felt real good. Might be something I'll implement into my training. Did a few minutes on the stationary bike and man was it boring as fawk, even with the Heat game on.

[arian11]

3/5/13 - PEAKING BLOCK - DAY 7
WEIGHT 228 LBS

BENCH PRESS
45x10
135x6
185x3
225x2
255x1
285x2 PR
300x0 JAM

CLOSE GRIP BENCH PRESS
225x9 PR
225x5
225x3

REAR DELT FLYES
15x15
15x15
15x15

TATE PRESS
45x5
45x5
45x5



It was one of those days where I let my stupidity get the better of me. Was supposed to do a double which I PRed on, 285x2. But my friend, who I'm racing to a 300 bench, is maxing on bench tomorrow. So obviously I wanted to beat him and got greedy thinking I could hit a 2 rep PR and a massive 1 rep PR. You can see I had the tightness and leg drive to get it off my chest but no upper body to actually finish the lift. Strong horizontal press lol. Put my setup in the video in case anyone sees anything wrong. We've been talking about bench technique in a few logs so I figured I'd put up how I set up. Similar to zmcdole with some slight variations.