I competed in NPC Junior Nationals on June 12-13. I came in with a much bigger and leaner package than years past. Moving into the off season I will be working on my raw strength and putting on size in my upper body. Competition plans are still to be determined with the possibility of some powerlifting in the late fall. I will continue to work with Amit Sapir on my off-season dieting, gradually increasing food and working to put on some good muscle.  Scott Paltos will be doing my training. We've added quite a bit of muscle and are continuing to work some technical things with my raw lifts. 

Been pushing hard the past few weeks.  "Riding the high wave" as Scott said. Did mention that pumps haven't been as good, body is feeling a little slow and hip is still sticky as hell. With all that being said, a deload was needed.  Pushed hard through Wednesday then will take the long weekend to do some light swole stuff and be done.  And no legs (phew)... give that hip a little bit of a break.

Now... I enjoy having my programs written for me.  I spend a lot of time writing, modifying, changing and giving programs to my clients, so it's nice for me to go into the gym and just train. No thinking or even talking myself out of anything. Many of my sessions have included 100 reps of something... pushdowns, lunges, squats, pushups, pull aparts... you name it.  I'm convinced that when there's a 200 with a smiley face, that Scott is just sitting behind his screen, twiddling his fingers, much like Dr. Evil.

Getting ready for a weekend at the Swis Symposium... first Swis in over 10 years!! Gonna be a great event!

 

Monday - Bench/Tris/ light shoulders
A. Bench press 5x3
(170x3, then 4x3 @ 175.  170 looked like 135. Go up 5 pounds and it looks like sh*t. Last set cleaned up a lot more.  Some of it is mental for sure.  Not having a spotter, etc. BUT, now I have a plan of attack.  Scott and I talked about me making the call to modify if need be... meaning, now is the time to hit everything technically perfect. So if I need to cut the triples short and do doubles, do that. The added rep/volume is not significant enough to make an aesthetic changes, and strength-wise, I need to be technically sound.  All good and that's why it's good to have other eyes to help you see things as you go.)

B. DB low incline press 5x10
C1. Skull crusher decline 4x8
C2. DB extension decline 4x4 eccentric
D. Machine laterals 3x12, 2x10 drop sets
E. Banded pushdowns x200 🙂
F. Standing laterals heavy as hell  4x8
G. Pec deck 2x12 light

 

Tuesday - Squats/ legs
A. Ssb box squats below depth 8x2
(Felt yucky today.  Hip sticky issue was not good. Felt slow. We knew a deload was needed soon and this confirmed it.  Hit 185 (plus whatever the bar weighs) for all my sets, but cut it at 7 sets instead of 8.  Felt like it was the smart thing to do for my hip.)

B. Pause squat at parallel 4x5 3 sec
(These felt way better on my hip than the box squats. After reviewing some video, we figured a few things out.  So hopefully a deload, some rest and a few technical things on box squats will make my hip feel better.)

C. Lying hamstring curls 4x12 drop set last two
D1. Pulsed lunges 4x20 each
D2. Seated hamstring curls 4x15
E. Alt leg extensions 4x 30 sec sets
F. Air squats narrow x100 non stop
G. Abs 10mins

 

 

Wednesday - Back!!
A. Bent Over rows  4x10 with contraction
B. Pull-ups super wide x25 reps
C. Seated hammer row single arm 4x8 drop set last one
D. Long straight bar pulls to head/ chin /chest 4x12
E. DB hammer curls 4x10
F. Rope pushdowns 4x20
G. Lat pulldowns x1 giant drop set