Calling anyone interested in a friendly strength competition for this spring/summer

[EliKoehn]

Deadlift day on Friday, 43 reps at 395
Bench day today, 43 reps at 235

Still adding weight to chin ups, 5 sets of 3 with +90 today. Also found the assisted pull up machine, so doing some of that with 30-40 lbs assist.

That's a lot of poundage for the deadlift in one workout. How was the volume spread?

[jademonkey]

Mostly just 2 reps every minute or so. Aimed to finish in 30 minutes and finished in 25. Bench today took the whole 30 minutes.

[EliKoehn]

Gjdm

[SaviorSelfJT]

Congrats getting the new job. I also stepped up in May and it's been a really good change. My mental energy spread around to several different things besides training, but you'll get back to it when you do.

What's a faang company?

Thanks man, I think a new team/new company will give me a breath of fresh air so to speak. My long term plan isn't to stay here, but in a few years jump to a different one

Yesterday I got a 315 close grip bench, but only one rep. Still more weight than I've done before CG. Close grip doesn't bother my shoulder at all

Thinking about joining a gym to train at, I'm thinking a different environment would be nice

And this:

********, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google

[EliKoehn]

Yeah, congrats Savior!

Approximate maintenance yesterday, today so far at deficit.

Candito-esque workout today...

Squat:
3 x 5 at 275

Deadlift:
2 x 4 at 385 (was attempting 6s but this was too heavy)

A.S.
Seated calf raise:
3 x 8 w/ 90 added

Leg Extension:
3 x 8 at 160

[WolfRose7]

Work all round in here. Nice job guys

Just some end of block tech work and pivot fun bench for me.

Gunning for 100x5 larsen bench at some point.

[EliKoehn]

^^ Nice lifts

--

Deficit maintained

Fairly lackluster day...

A.S.
Flat Bench:
2 x 8 at 225*, 1 x 7, 1 x 6 at 245

Pullups:
8, 8, 8, 7 at bodyweight

*I think somebody took the tens off of the bar after my first set, but I might have forgotten them in the first place. So, possibly the first set was 245 but I honestly can't remember. Stressful day at work and haven't been sleeping enough lately, and was feeling mentally fatigued going in.

[DoMoreWeighLess]

I'm cleared to lift again boys! Not looking forward to that soreness or garage humidity though.

[jademonkey]

Squat 300x43 < 30 minutes
May have done 45, lost count at 20/22 and had time to get 2 extra at the end just to be sure, since I'm OCD lol.
Left me with little energy.
Tried some OHP, weak.
Tried some chin ups and RDL, weak.

Machines to the rescue lol. Did leg extension and hamstring curl sets for the first time. My gym also has some weird chest press and row machines where the seat kinda raises up as you do the exercises. Those are kinda fun to throw in at the end when too tired for free weights.

[jademonkey]

Deadlift, added 20 lbs, reduced reps by 7.
465x1, then 415x36 < 30 minutes

Need some more OHP work so did (155x1)x4 / 135x6

One arm assisted chin up work, decline bench press, and a few accessories.

[EliKoehn]

@Jademonkey, that is an impressive amount of total poundage on the squat... How are you finding the "time trial" approach?

--

Yesterday, kept it simple

Flat Bench:
275 x 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1

At full strength, this would have been lackluster, but I did a 36 hour fast the day before so I am feeling pretty good being able to get it for 5 in a weakened state.

[jademonkey]

I like it so far. I felt I needed a lot more high intensity volume and never done anything like it before. Hoping it gets me more accustomed to reps closer to max than I'd get with like 4x10 or something. Feels good cuz I can actually feel my muscles working for it towards the end and gets me sore the next day. We all know feeling sore = growing and getting stronger, right? Lol.

Only lifting 3 days a week and hitting each of the big 3 heavy once a week, so figure a big burnout should be fine with so much recovery time.

If I can keep it up I'd get a slight boost on my total by the end of September. -7 reps each week, +10 lbs bench, +15 squat, +20 DL.

Gotta be really diligent about eating enough though.

[EliKoehn]

^^ Well that's impressive. Keep it up.

--

Today...
Deadlift:
405 x 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1

Replicated the exact volume as the bench yesterday. This was about perfect in terms of difficulty. Final single was a clean, slow grind and I doubt I'd have gotten another. Strength was unsurprisingly up after my delicious, four course steakhouse dinner yesterday lol.

[CW47]

Moving into my new house in about a week. Prep for this is eating up most of my time right now, so I've pretty much been out of the loop with how everyone is doing in here. Glad to you a bunch of you are still working hard.

I started a new cycle this last week, started out by testing squat, bench and deads.

Recap:
- Attempted new PR's on both Squats and Bench, and failed on both. These lifts have stalled out for a couple of consecutive cycles now, still sitting at 295 on Squats and 185 on bench. I'm relatively happy that I've mostly maintained my strength on these, but for them to go up I believe my volume is going to need to increase. I'm changing the backoff work from 1 set of 3 to 3 sets of 3 - will try that for a while and see how it goes.
- Deads are progressing very well with the lower volume. Hit a 10 pound PR this time, and 385. No reason to make any changes.
- I'm trying to reserve the 'all out' attempts for competition Squat, Bench, and Dead each cycle, and max out the others around 8-9 RPE.


Today's workout:
Close Grip Bench Press
175 pounds x 1 rep
135 pounds - 3 sets x 3 reps
Top rep moved a little slowly, probably ending up around a 9 RPE. Not bad for being within 5 pounds of my PR.

[jademonkey]

Bench was brutal today. Warmed up to 275x1, then aimed for 245x36 in 30 minutes, ended up one rep short. Rested a bit and squeezed out the last rep.
Felt pretty wrecked after that. Rested a lot and still didn't feel like front squats. Did some RDL, weighted chin ups, leg press instead of front squats, palms up full range lateral raises, machine chest flys, and some light weight cable rows focusing on only the second half of the movement.

[EliKoehn]

@CW, that is some excellent progress. Seems like your deadlift and your squat have made major strides.

--

We have exactly 6 weeks until the deadline, gentlemen. I've decided to reboot the Candito 6 Week one last time and eat at a tiny deficit. I'm down 15 pounds in a hydrated, fed state from last block. This is beneath my target weight, so if I can get the same numbers, I'll call victory on my goals.

3C6W Week One, Monday

Squat:
4 x 6 at 290

Deadlift omitted*

Optional Exercises omitted

*After the 20 reps of 405 on Saturday, I skipped the deadlifts today in good conscience. I'm going to need more than one day to recover from that and be pulling 380 for 6s. I think Candito would agree that such a heavy loading just on the prior weekend checks the box for today's muscular conditioning.

[WolfRose7]

@CW, that is some excellent progress. Seems like your deadlift and your squat have made major strides.

--

We have exactly 6 weeks until the deadline, gentlemen. I've decided to reboot the Candito 6 Week one last time and eat at a tiny deficit. I'm down 15 pounds in a hydrated, fed state from last block. This is beneath my target weight, so if I can get the same numbers, I'll call victory on my goals.

3C6W Week One, Monday

Squat:
4 x 6 at 290

Deadlift omitted*

Optional Exercises omitted

*After the 20 reps of 405 on Saturday, I skipped the deadlifts today in good conscience. I'm going to need more than one day to recover from that and be pulling 380 for 6s. I think Candito would agree that such a heavy loading just on the prior weekend checks the box for today's muscular conditioning.

I start a 6 week dev block next week, so timing worked out okay.

Isn't geared at peaking but as it happens I do have 1@8s on each lift. May push that to 1@9 for test on week 6.

[EliKoehn]

I start a 6 week dev block next week, so timing worked out okay.

Isn't geared at peaking but as it happens I do have 1@8s on each lift. May push that to 1@9 for test on week 6.

Nice. One week later should be fine as it's pretty close anyway, if that's what your programming calls for. I'm sticking with 10/4 for the even half-year since the start. **Everyone competing ITT, be ready to upload your final lifts by early October**

Sadly it looks like EC opted out. He's probably got bigger fish to fry than I do as a bachelor who lifts recreationally, but I was starting to catch up to his squat and my lead on the bench was shrinking. Would have made for some fun competition, even if I only came close. Hopefully he'll jump back in for the home-stretch.

[WolfRose7]

Nice. One week later should be fine as it's pretty close anyway, if that's what your programming calls for. I'm sticking with 10/4 for the even half-year since the start. **Everyone competing ITT, be ready to upload your final lifts by early October**

Sadly it looks like EC opted out. He's probably got bigger fish to fry than I do as a bachelor who lifts recreationally, but I was starting to catch up to his squat and my lead on the bench was shrinking. Would have made for some fun competition, even if I only came close. Hopefully he'll jump back in for the home-stretch.

It's quite possible week 6 won't even be my best anyway.
So ill upload week 5 vids too. But if I beat them week 6 I'll throw those up too for fun.

Hopefully EC does return, doubt he'll be any weaker lol.

I'm hoping to push past an old PR or two, but doubt I'll be pushing near your Squat or Bench just yet. Definitely not dead

[bLinkMoore]

415 squat for a new PR moving ok--this is comp standards in term of depth, right? In the past during training, I've tended to bury squats more than necessary and I'm now putting more effort into getting depth dialed in to where it's deep enough for my meet, but not so deep that I'm wasting energy.

https://youtu.be/DzTZpFPQ5GY

Thanks!

[WolfRose7]

415 squat for a new PR moving ok--this is comp standards in term of depth, right? In the past during training, I've tended to bury squats more than necessary and I'm now putting more effort into getting depth dialed in to where it's deep enough for my meet, but not so deep that I'm wasting energy.

https://youtu.be/DzTZpFPQ5GY

Thanks!

Nice!
Well below depth.

[EliKoehn]

415 squat for a new PR moving ok--this is comp standards in term of depth, right? In the past during training, I've tended to bury squats more than necessary and I'm now putting more effort into getting depth dialed in to where it's deep enough for my meet, but not so deep that I'm wasting energy.

https://youtu.be/DzTZpFPQ5GY

Thanks!

Great job! Very impressive, especially at your bodyweight.

Amusingly that might be a winning squat for this thread, if we're going off of Wilks. Savior's is heavier IIRC so he might still have the title, but can't remember off hand.

[bLinkMoore]

Nice!
Well below depth.

Thanks! Very good to hear lol. That's what I thought, but tbh I've had a really tough time figuring out exactly where the hip crease is when I'm not wearing a singlet--I'll probably end up doing all my heavy days in full meet attire during my peak

[bLinkMoore]

Great job! Very impressive, especially at your bodyweight.

Amusingly that might be a winning squat for this thread, if we're going off of Wilks. Savior's is heavier IIRC so he might still have the title, but can't remember off hand.

Thank you! Hopefully I'll have some even better clips after the meet excited to see what I can do.
Well that's a nice surprise haha definitely wasn't expecting to be anywhere near the top

[EliKoehn]

^^ Yeah, you've got a slightly heavier deadlift than I do and I weigh significantly more than you, so looks like an adjusted score would have you winning that as well.


--

Deficit maintained

3C6W Week One, Tuesday:

Flat Bench:
160 x 10, 215 x 10, 235 x 8, 245 x 6

BOR:
160 x 10, 215 x 10, 235 x 8, 245 x 6

Standing OHP:
95 x 12, 95 x 12, 100 x 10, 105 x 10 - forgot that that last set was supposed to be 8 and mistakenly did two more, but last was wonky anyway

Lat Pulldown:
120 x 12, 120 x 12, 150 x 10, 170 x 8

Optional Exercises omitted

[jademonkey]

You still at 170?
Damn I better add some pounds to my lifts soon!

[CW47]

We're in crunch time gentlemen! It's been very cool seeing a bunch of us stick with the thread for so long. Love seeing all of your progress and training approaches. Thank you all for the encouragement, motivation, guidance, and education.

Today was Bench Press w/chains x2 - Wide Grip:
155 pounds + 2 Chains x 1 rep
125 pounds + 2 Chains - 3 sets x 3 reps
Changing this one over to a wide grip. Felt like I was starting to make some progress with more shoulder focused variants, and I've gotten away from that. I'll do my next bench session (3 count pause) with a wide grip as well. And whenever I change out a pressing exercise I'll probably add in Larsen Press as my first replacement. Also noticed today that having been away from Speed focused work on bench for so long I've gotten out of the habit of really exploding up out of the bottom. Got that explosiveness firing again in the second backoff set and it made the reps feel much easier. For sure that focus on explosiveness needs to be there when benching.

[bLinkMoore]

You still at 170?
Damn I better add some pounds to my lifts soon!

Yup! Was 170.4 this morning

You guys are the best hype squad ever haha you're killing it though! Hopefully my bench will be up there with yours soon

[jademonkey]

169.9 this morning. Seem to have stopped accidentally losing weight, but not gaining either.

Today was squats.
Warmed up to 355x1 but failed. Maybe could have good-morninged it up but didn't want to ruin my workout. Last month I did 3 singles at 355 plus back off sets, and early July I did 375. Not sure what's up.

1) I did leg press 2 days ago instead of the usual front squats. 720 leg press might takes more of a toll on quads and glutes than 185 lb front squats?
2) I've been doing these high volume workouts at ~76% to 85% for a few weeks now, might just be catching up to me and I need a recovery week? Though I'm only doing 3 workouts a week. I felt like I slept poorly the past 2 nights, but was in bed ~ 9 hours and am not tired.
3) Haven't been doing more than 1 single above ~85% for those weeks.

Still got 36 reps at 315 in 30 minutes today after the failed squat.

What do you all think, do I need a rest week or do I chalk it up to not enough near-max singles lately?

Followed up with high rep chin ups, OHP, leg extension, leg curl, flys, and rows.

[jademonkey]

Also, I feel like there's a sticking point in the squat where the glutes have to take over from quads, and doesn't know how. Like, once I'm above it, glutes are fine, but that transition point is tough. It's kinda like my glutes don't know what to do until they are shortened more and my hamstrings can't help due to lengthening at the knee. Is there an exercise that goes from a sitting position to straight? Like squat, but sitting instead of folded. More like bulgarian split squats with 2 legs.