The Jungle

[400Lb Gorilla]

In, hope to learn a thing of two from you my american friend!

Welcome. Not sure you will learn much from me but I got a few experienced lifters in here that usually keep me from doing too much damage to myself.

[400Lb Gorilla]

SST Wave 3 Week 3
Squat Day
Weight: 205 pounds

Squat
Warm-up Sets
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x1

Working Sets
300x5
335x3
370x1
390x1 New Max

Rev Band
410x1

Speed Deads(w/ Chains)
225x2
315x2
385(+75)x2, 2, 2, 2, 2

Box Squats
225x3
275x3
295x3, 3, 3
275x3, 3

That was it for the day. Did some hip mobility and shoulder prehab/rehab work. The squats were awesome. The only thing I skipped was the 450 set on reverse band because the 410 set felt off. Not with me but with the setup of the bands. I think it might be time for me to replace them. Speed deads were a little slower than I hoped but that was because I was not into pulling today lol. This hurricane had my garage a lot cooler but the humidity was more than enough to make up for the lacking temps.

[400Lb Gorilla]

[400Lb Gorilla]

SST Wave 3 Week 3
Bench Day

Benchpress
Warm-up Sets
45x10
95x5
135x5
185x5
225x1

Working Sets
240x5
270x3
300x1
310x1
320x1 New Max

Reverse Band Sets
335x2
275x3, 3, 3
225x3, 3, 3, 3

Z-Press
135x5
145x5
155x3
155x3
155x3

DB Lateral Raises
25x8
30x7
30x7
30x7
30x7

Floor Press
155x5
205x5
205(+75)x3
205x4
185x5
185x5

DB Curls
30x10, 8, 8, 8, 8

Killing it Strength is coming back slowly, but it is coming back lol. The 320 was a grinder but surprisingly not as bad as I thought I was going to have to fight it. Everything else went smoothly on bench. As you can see from the rest of the work it was all about putting the emphasis on the triceps and shoulders. On my next run with this program I will have a more set "schedule" of assistance lifts. This run was all about dialing in a few things form wise, finding my weaknesses, and figuring out how to put it all together.
Hopefully I get the video up but getting packed for the camping trip with the family so may not get around to it until I get back.

[400Lb Gorilla]

[Woody-5]

good sh!t dude!

390 squat looked pretty smooth!
375 with chains for speed deads.. hnngggg
I still have my chains kicking around but haven't touched them in years.

Strong pressing! way to grind out that 320, holy hell. that must have felt like an eternity under the bar.

[Motiviert]

Mirin press day volume hard

[AlexSays]

Congrats on the bench max, crazy rep!!

[400Lb Gorilla]

good sh!t dude!

390 squat looked pretty smooth!
375 with chains for speed deads.. hnngggg
I still have my chains kicking around but haven't touched them in years.

Strong pressing! way to grind out that 320, holy hell. that must have felt like an eternity under the bar.

Thanks Wood, the 390 on squat was a lot easier than I thought it was gonna be. I am thinking I want 415 to 425 when I test them out. That bench rep was HEAVY lol but not nearly as bad as the last rep of 270x5 on week 2. That rep felt like I was gonna die.

I prefer chains to bands because they just sound like they are effective lol. That clinking and the way they sway when they leave the ground has me feeling all hnnnnng

Mirin press day volume hard

Thanks brotha, I stole that from Dopamine. He has a weird talent for putting massive amounts of work in the 85-95% range of his lifts into one workout lol. I am pretty sure he is using some form of the conjugate method

Congrats on the bench max, crazy rep!!

Thanks, Alex, it felt good to keep it fairly decent on form. I wont consider something an "actual" max until I can bring it down, pause it, then press it, but right now 320 is a good training max to use.

[400Lb Gorilla]

SST Wave 3 Week 3
Deadlift Day

Deadlift
Warm-up Sets
135x5
225x5
315x3
365x1

Working Sets
415x5
465x3
515x1
535x1

Deficit Deadlifts(2.5" deficit)
225x3
275x3
315x3
315(+75)x3, 3, 3, 3

BB Curls
45x12
65x10, 10, 8


Not too shabby. Came off the vacation strong... but then again it is not normal that I get 4 days off between lifting days each week Active recovery week next week, which I may end up skipping the work and just doing the prehab, rehab, and mobility work. Got some house and camper repairs I need to get finished so I should probably do that during a recovery week lol. The week after is ramping up and the following week is test week.

[400Lb Gorilla]

[Woody-5]

Agreed, chains just look and sound badass

Strong push off the ground on those deficits.

How was camping?

[Motiviert]

Nice. Agreed on the beautiful noise of chains.

[rallyum]

Not too shabby. Came off the vacation strong... but then again it is not normal that I get 4 days off between lifting days each week Active recovery week next week, which I may end up skipping the work and just doing the prehab, rehab, and mobility work. Got some house and camper repairs I need to get finished so I should probably do that during a recovery week lol. The week after is ramping up and the following week is test week.

I need this maturity

[400Lb Gorilla]

Agreed, chains just look and sound badass

Strong push off the ground on those deficits.

How was camping?

love them! Yeah Trying to really get into the habit of putting more power into the bottom of the lift so that I can have some momentum to help with lockout.

It was fun. Got a little sunburned, a little drunk, had fun with the wife and kids, and been busy as hell this week getting everything as far as possible.

Nice. Agreed on the beautiful noise of chains.

Dat dere dungeon quality

[Raigs]

love them! Yeah Trying to really get into the habit of putting more power into the bottom of the lift so that I can have some momentum to help with lockout.

You know what helps with that final lockout right???

https://imgur.com/a/TrxeS8K

[400Lb Gorilla]

SST Test Wave
Week 1
Squat Day

Squat
Warm-up
135x5
185x5
225x3

Working Sets
280x1
315x1
350x1

This week is a "ramp-up" into next week. It is a way to connect last week's active recovery to next week's all out max test. What you see here is basically a ramp up to 90% of my working max(which was 385) and after that the testing will begin. So every set you see this week will be in the "warm-up" section next week with the "working sets" hopefully ending with a 415-435 squat max

[Raigs]

I can’t wait to see the 435 go like butter. How did you feel doing 350?

[400Lb Gorilla]

I can’t wait to see the 435 go like butter. How did you feel doing 350?

It wet really easy. Felt like a warm-up rather than a working set. I think next week it will progress something like 350, 385, 405, then 425+. I am pretty sure I have the 405. After that will depend on if I am feeling it or not. Because I am still fairly new to this wider stance of squatting I tend to get gassed out quicker than narrow stance.

[400Lb Gorilla]

[Raigs]

Nice squats!! How tall are you??

[400Lb Gorilla]

Nice squats!! How tall are you??

5'11" 201 pound Manlet

[400Lb Gorilla]

SST Test Wave
Week 1- Ramp-up Week
Weight- 201 pounds
Benchpress Day

Benchpress
Warm-up Sets
45x7
95x7
135x5
185x3

Working Sets
225x1
255x1
285x1

BB Curls
***15-30 second rests***
45x10
55x10
65x8
75x6
85x5
45x9

JM Press
45x7
95x7
115x6
135x5
135x3
45x10

DB Curls
***Alternating, no rests***
25x10, 10, 10

Disclaimer: I am not supposed to be doing any assistance work this week but it is rare that I am "fresh" enough to put this much effort into biceps and my triceps I still feel are the weakness in my bench.
Benchpress was easy. From 1st warm-up to the last single took less than 10 minutes. Felt good working to the heavy single then moving on.
BB Curls were done with minimal rest to get that blood pump into the biceps so that JM presses had a bigger pad to push from
JM Press I took heavier than I normally do and my triceps are feelinggoodman/10
DB Curls were done one arm at a time and there was no rest. Three sets of 10 had the veins from the shoulders to wrist popping out and the biceps feeling like they each had 2 pints of blood stuck in them.

I am thinking next week will progress like above and then will go something like:

300x1
325x1
330-340x1 this depends on getting the 325, obviously, and what I feel like I can get away with.
As is normal with my bench, I pause as many sets as I can, but if need be I will do touch and go. I will even add a bounce at the bottom to get a new max. Then as I train I "consolidate" through the training run by making my paused bench heavier and heavier, and it usually does not take long to have my paused bench catch up to my TNG bench.

[Raigs]

Gotta do those curls for the girls! I like your thoughts on the benching. Touch and go for the new Max but normal training it paused. Very smart way to go about it.

[400Lb Gorilla]

Gotta do those curls for the girls! I like your thoughts on the benching. Touch and go for the new Max but normal training it paused. Very smart way to go about it.

It is always how I seem to progress the fastest. Oddly enough, when I stall on bench it usually has nothing to do with the bottom of the lift. Doesnt matter if I bounce it, touch and go, or pause it. Always seems to be the top of the lift that kills any progress

[Raigs]

Man that’s probably the triceps or traps hurting you at the lockout is my best guess. Some extra close grip pressing should help

[400Lb Gorilla]

Man that’s probably the triceps or traps hurting you at the lockout is my best guess. Some extra close grip pressing should help

I figured that as well. My assistance lifts for triceps are floor press, CGBP, and more recently JM press. Things like OH press and some rare extension work also help I believe.

It is something I am focusing on currently so hopefully by the end of the next training cycle I will have brought the weakness somewhat up to snuff. If it wasnt for my deadlift I would also think traps could be a weakness, or lats, but I have been told by multiple PLers I know that where I am failing at and how I am failing is a tricep weakness. I tend to fail all at once about 2 inches or closer to lockout. I say all at once because I usually fail with a lot of speed going up until I hit that sticking point.

lol one guy who was spotting me on a 355 attempt(I failed it that day) told me as fast as I got it off my chest momentum alone should have locked it out. But I just FAIL.... sometimes I can huff and puff and muscle it up, but most of the time it is a slow descent to the safety bars or a helping hand from a spotter

[George2100]

In.
Just started a log myself! Mirin banjo/bluegrass!

[Motiviert]

The pausing was what finally helped me get over a couple plateaus

[Woody-5]

ramp up week looking good.
Paused benching worked great for me when I was PL training.
Slow lockout on bench sounds like moar chains needed!