I’m currently in off season mode working on bringing up certain qualities and weaknesses I noticed from the IPA Grand Prix Nationals. This training will be laying the ground for my training cycle into the 2016 XPC Finals.
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Sunday I broke in the fat bar for some good bench pressing. I really like pressing with a good fat bar, and the El Gordo is by far the best fat bar that I've ever used. Anyways, I managed to PR on this movement, and I think this shows my added tricep work is paying off. Lots of accessory work and just another good day of training.
Earlier in the day I traveled up to Purdue to help them with their first ever "meet" held in their rec. This was a blast and we had 22 new lifters that hit some huge numbers and had a great time, with some pretty strict judging (all these lifts by far were by the book). I think we can expect to see some new kids hitting the platform in the spring which is awesome. We also had a new lifter, Nic, hit a whopping 1650 pound total at 19 years old after only training for a semester. He hit a 650 squat, and probably was good for 675 for the day. It was awesome to see the atmosphere the team brought. We broke down and did some Q&A and helped with technique for some lifters and then grabbed some grub. It was a good day, and I still managed to get back and train. Certainly one of my more fun Sunday's in a long time!
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaGBHl0KZgo]
Items Used in this Training Session
El Gordo Fat Bar
EZ Loaders
Chains
Mini Band
Warm Up
DB Bench Press - 2x15
Band Face Pulls - 2x20
Band Pressdowns - 2x20
Band Curls - 2x15
A1) Fat Bar Bench Press vs 2 Chains Per Side
75x10
75x5 - add chains
125x5
165x5
185x5
205x5
225x5
245x3
260x3
270x3
255x5
230x7 - medium grip
B1) Skull Crushers vs 2 Chains Per Side
15x8
35x8
45x8
55x8
65x8
C1) Incline Tate Press vs Mini Band
4x10
D1) Neutral Grip DB Bench Press
4x15
E1) Side Lying DB Rear Delt Raise
4x25 per arm
F1) Band Pressdowns
200 total reps
G1) Wtd V-Ups
4 sets
My EZ curl bar that I have was a Craigslist pick up. However, I believe it is a Cap Barbell Brand. It's held up rather well. However, buying a new one here from the site is on my short list of things to get, no question. So with the sales we've got going on, it might be worth to look on the site and see how that compares for you.
As I mentioned in a Q&A that you answered, I'm working on figuring out my own programming right now. Your training log has definitely been a good guide in a lot of ways.
You will notice on my max effort days that I still work up to a pretty heavy triple for the day. I do this as it builds in some limitations and I won't go too heavy while in "off season". After that top set, I do some back down sets to acquire more volume and work for that specific lift. In terms of this, I do this because I believe just working up to the 1-3RM isn't enough actual work for a raw lifter. We need to build the movement, and dropping the weight and bit and getting in some more reps has worked very well for me for this. So I'm kind of flirting with the intensity and volume, but it's a really good balance. Basically just 3 pretty tough sets, one that is "near maximal" for a set of 3.
I've dropped my accessory work quite a bit on these days, as I'm getting in extra work with training 6 days per week now. My body responds very well to volume, so while I'm in off season where I'm eating more food I'm capitalizing off of that. As I approach my next meet, this will likely change just a bit. At the end of the day, you just need to find what is going to let you recover and continue to see results. For me, that's a mix of volume and intensity, but placed and used at the right times. So for deadlifting for example, I'm finding my body is doing much better with less frequency on actual deadlifts and more stimulus from good mornings and volume. So when I do deadlift heavy (about every 2-3 weeks), I have ample energy from not being destroyed deadlifting hard and heavy every week, which in turn let's me use more weight. I'm already hitting PR's from only 5 weeks of doing this, so it's been much better for me for that lift alone. Squatting and benching, I tend to need to hit those heavier and hard about once a week.
Glad to hear the log is helping though!