After an abysmal showing at APF Equipped Nationals, I'm now in an off season mode of training. Currently, I am in a strength block building up strength and weaknesses to prepare me for a meet prep cycle for WPC World's in November.

For programming and coaching inquires, please email SmitleyPerformanceSystems@gmail.com or visit brandonsmitley.com

Saturday's max effort squat session was an awesome day of training. Everything went great, felt great, and the weather was great. We also had an awesome atmosphere with everyone hitting some great numbers and helping each other out. We've finally really got a good crew running and synergy, which is definitely helping everyone.

My squats felt great, and I worked up to a 10 pound PR on my squats vs chains. This was the first time I had 500 pounds back on my back again since Nationals, and while it felt heavy, things moved and looked pretty good. I still need to continue to work on my upper back tightness (it's getting better though!), and continue to hammer my legs on my extra day to bring them up a bit to keep everything in sync, but it looks rather good, and I'm happy with this, thus far. If anything, my squat has held really well in the off season, while my bench press and deadlift are still needing some adjustments and time to adjust back up before getting into a meet prep. Luckily, I've still got ample time to bring everything back up. I also think my depth and positioning in the hole is looking better, so if I can keep that up, things should look good for world's.

A good start to the week of training!

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQI1kwIsIsY]

Items Used in this Training Session
Duffalo Bar
EZ Loaders
Chains
Mini Band
Light Band

Warm Up
Hip Flexor Stretch - 30 sec per leg
Leg Swings (forward and side to side) - 10 each
Single Leg RDL - 10 per leg
Bulgarian Split Squat - 10 per leg
Goblet Squat - 10
Standing Band Crunch - 15

A1) Buffalo Bar Squat vs 3 Chains Per Side
55x10
55x5 - add chains
145x5
195x3
235x3
285x3
325x3
355x3
375x3 - PR
345x3
345x2x2

B1) Buffalo Bar Pause Squat
355x4x6

C1) GHR (Elevated) vs Band
3x10 + drop set

D1) Single Leg RDL
3x15 per leg

E1) Close Stance TKE Squat
3x20

F1) Band Marching
3x2 min

F2) Sit Ups off GHR vs Band
4x15