Training for the IPA Buckeye Brawl on December 1st. Programming by Dave Tate in italics.

 

ME Lower 10/6

  • *Warm Ups  
  • 2 sets each of hanging leg raise, glute ham raises and bent knee reverse hypers. Reps will be 4-5 under failure. This is just warming up. Add in band pull aparts and band face pulls. 

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My warm ups also include rolling planks, bird dogs, McGill curl ups, and dead bugs (all for my back) and aggressive RPR scratching.

 

  • STAY FUCKING HYDRATED

LOL I’ve actually been cramping like a uterus. But in all the other parts of my body instead.

  • Squats - no box 
  • Work up to a weight that is 80% of your best squat. If Raw then base on raw, if full gear than base on full gear. If you use gear than use it all.
  • Set straps up so you will be squatting 2-3 inches high. Have someone call you up before bar hits the straps.
  • Do singles after you are warmed up until you get to 80%. If this is VERY good then jump to 85% for a single. If not do 80% for another single. SO - 2 sets of 1 sub-max rep.
  • After last set toss a reverse band on so you take 100-150 off at the bottom.
  • Go up to 90% for 1 and 95% for one.

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I based these on my best squat of the previous training cycle since my meet squat was not even close. So I went based off 465. This week people doing December meets were supposed to break off from people doing November meets but based on the ease of the squats of the week prior, Dave chose to keep us December folks on the same uptick as the people who are peaking and do some more heavy geared squats.

Here are my jumps:

80% -375

85%-  395/400

90%- 420

95%- 440

Everything felt nice and easy as it should at this weight BUT apparently we all did not look too solid. For people in gear, our picks looked off and we looked generally fatigued. Dave noted this and will make the necessary changes for our programming next week. Sometimes if thinks look good we will keep working up but in this case, we did the prescribed work and shut it down after.

Since my squatting has been slow to come back since my back debacle (is anyone keeping track of how many times I use the word debacle?), it was good to work on a heavier pick (even though it was reverse band).

At a certain point, a good coach or training partner has to work on pulling people back instead of pushing them forward. Heading into a meet, a lot of us dummies usually want to keep pushing if things feel good (or if they don’t) even if it doesn’t serve the end goal (the meet). Sometimes you need people to reign you in and keep you on track. As a beginner you may need more of a push but at some point you need someone to tell you when to shut it down.

 

Here is the 440 reverse band.

doge

 

 

  • Speed Pulls 
  • 55% for 5 sets of 1 with 60 sec rest
  • 45% for 5 sets 1 with 60 sec rest
  • Not a typo, you will take 15% off the bar
  • YES - less than last week.

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 235 5x1

190 5x1

Since I spent so long not deadlifting while I was getting my back.. back into shape, I use speed deadlifts to re-learn how to pull, work on my speed, and try to tweak my form to keep as much off my low back as possible.

 

  • Reverse Hypers (HEAVY)
  • 2 sets of 8 reps

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Having two reverse hypers is nice. One stays loaded with plates for heavy days and one has less plates for lighter days. I’m here to train, not exercise by playing plate tetris on the reverse hyper. In case you have not been reading my logs every week, heavier days I swing the weight more and have a longer range of motion.

 

  • Banded Good Mornings 
  • 2 sets of 20 reps

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I do these rounded back as more of a rehab movement.

 

  •  Light Bench Press with tsunami bar
  • 3 sets of 10 using either 95 or 135 pounds 

I use 95 lbs.  Just some blood work.

 

  • Free Time: 
  • NO FREE TIME TODAY. DO THE WORK ABOVE AND BE DONE SO YOU ARE BETTER RESTED FOR TOMORROW. 

 

I may or may not have done some yoke bar good mornings even though it said no free time. I just did not want to pass up an opportunity to build up my back strength. Even though I know that more is not always better. The closer we get to meets and the more we ramp up our training, the more “fluff” gets removed. At a certain point, overexertion can lead to fatigue and injury. I understand the rationale for cutting out the extras and how you peak for a meet but I have a very hard time actually being able to cut things out that I feel keep my strength up or keep me from lagging behind. Again, sometimes you need people to reign you in. And this is one of those times.