After an abysmal showing at APF Equipped Nationals, I'm now in an off season mode of training. Currently, I am in a hypertrophy block focusing on quality of movement and time under tension. This will build the foundation for my strength phases to prepare for WPC World's in November.

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

Saturday my training partner, Trey and I, traveled over to Elitefts to catch a training session at the compound. We mainly drove over to pick up my Sabertooth Bench Bar that I ordered (as it was cheaper for me to drive over and get it than have it shipped). I knew since we would be there, that we would just train as well. I was dumb enough to ask Dave if it was cool if I jumped in his training session with him. I knew that I was able to put a bar on my back again, and figured that Dave wasn't going too crazy with weight this week. While that was partially right, his volume on his speed squats were pretty heavy.

I wish I would have gotten the footage of us speed squatting, but my dumbass forgot my SD card for my camera, so I had to resort to using my cell phone. By the time we got going, I didn't want to mess up the rotation and screw our training session over, so I just got what I could. But let me say this: our pace was insane given the amount of change we had to make to the mono and box height. Hell, I even got to see Dave squat raw raw raw. That's a rare sight to see!

Overall, this was a great training session and super fun. I not only appreciate Dave letting me jump in with him, but of course all the extra time we spent chatting and catching up about everything else in life (training, business, powerlifting, future projects, etc.). It's times like this that I LOVE. Training at the compound is always cool, but it's what happens between sets, and the discussions that leave me coming back for more and help catapult me further.

As for the training moving forward for week three, you'll see that I am adding in more barbell work finally (still no straight bar yet), and I'm able to push things a bit more. I also will be increasing my training to five days per week (an additional lower body day). Two weeks of this, and then we are back to some powerlifting training!

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeXFNzkeP9k]

Items Used in this Training Session
SS Yoke Bar
Box Squat Box
Tsunami Bar
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) Lying Leg Curls
3x15

B1) SSB Speed Box Squats
65x10
155x5
245x3
335x20x2

C1) Tsunami Bar Speed Squats
50x3
140x3
200x4x2

D1) Sumo Speed Deadlifts vs Light Bands
135x3
225x4x1

E1) Pit Shark Belt Squats
4x20

F1) Meadows Sissy Squats
3x10
F2) Seated Leg Curls
3x20 + drop set

G1) GHH/Back Extension vs Band
3x20
G2) Seated Crunches
3x12