Right. It's been a while since my last post.
Training has been going very well.
Currently gym PR's are Squat - 235kg, Bench - 205kg, Deadlift 270kg.
This gives me a gym total of 710kg (5kg off the qualifying total for the British). I am 9 1/2 weeks out from competition and my preparation seems to be on track.
For my Squat, I am adopting the following training principles / programme.
I squat on Friday (afternoon). I have limited my training now to one main squat session per week. I used to squat twice a week but as I approach competition I am tapering my volume. I do occasionally grab an extra session here and there where I 'grease the groove' and practice a few light to moderate squats, but I am limiting these extra workouts now that I am drawing close to the comp.
My squat has been moving forward nicely recently. In the past I have made the mistake of adding supportive equipment too early. I would get into a habit of putting my belt on at a set weight, and knee wraps would go on quite early too, and then the suit would go on relatively early as well. This was because I was much more focussed on the top sets in the suit and lost track of the raw sets having their value.
These days I try to avoid using any supportive gear until it starts to get to 7-8 on the RPE scale. So I stay belt free and wrap free etc until the weights start to feel heavier and I reach the appropriate difficulty level. I then add a belt, and continue to work up until once again my form starts to break. I then add wraps and keep working up, and then finally when I have hit my target with wraps I put the suit on.
My volume has decreased and I tend to perform a few warm up sets at 60-120kg for 3-5 reps.
I then ramp up performing sets of 1, adding belt and wraps as I work up. I have had a basic target of performing 3reps on 205kg in just belt and knee wraps.
The last few weeks have progressed as following
Week 1 - 190 x 3
Week 2 - 195 x 3
Week 3 - 200 x 2 (could have probably managed a 3rd but decided to conserve energy for suited work.)
So this week my target will be to hit either 200kg x 3, or 205 for 2 or 3 reps. Once achieving this I will perform some work in the suit.
I have been using a template in the suit to perform 5 singles. Previous weeks have been around 205-225, but last week I pushed this a little heavier and went to 235kg. I also did a rep at 245kg but did not take it down deep enough so discounted it.
My assistance work the last few weeks has been 5 sets of 5 with a regular bar squat using a green reverse band. This is done with just a belt, and I have been using 165-180kg for the sets of 5 reps. This has in all honesty been fairly easy and not massively challenging, but I am using it to maintain and possibly even add some muscle mass to the quads, glutes and hamstrings.
I also do some unilateral work and some hamstring work. This can be reverse hypers, glute ham raises, pistol squats, dumbbell lunges, split squats and step ups.
With my Bench, I have been performing my heavy work on Wednesday. This consists of a dynamic warm up (as with all my workouts) then some warm up sets between 20-80kg for trebles, and then working up in singles or doubles raw up to 90-95% raw 1RM (all reps with pauses). I then put the bench shirt on. I have found the best bet for me is to use the boards and take 165kg down to a 2board before loading up 185kg and working down with a 3 board, 2 board, 1 board and then trying to touch. I aim for 3-5 touches in the shirt.
This wednesday just gone, I actually did a set with 205kg just down to a 2 board. It was good to handle this weight again. The press was very easy and shot up pretty fast, but in the shirt I am still having a few problems right at the bottom of the range of the movement where I tend to start to drop the bar too low down my chest. I seem to be in good control for 3/4 of the movement and then I push the bar forward and away from me for the last 1-2 inches of the descent. This is a problem I am now trying to correct.
I am now working with a size 46 Super Katana low collar angled sleeve shirt. This shirt seems to suit the way I bench and I love the way you can adjust the collar by yourself. You could not do this at all with my Titan F6 Bench shirt which needed two people to jack the shirt if I wanted the collar pulled down low. With the Super Katana I can pretty much put the collar where I want it and tweak the shirt how I want it to enable me to get the bar down to touch where I want it.
Depending on how much time I have on the day (which often depends on who else is wanting to use the bench or who else is using the shirt) I will sometimes, following some work trying to get some weights to touch, do some heavier 3-4 board pressing for sets of 3 for some very heavy tricep work.
Failing this, this week I did some close grip floor pressing with a texas power bar. (Please note I use an Ivanko competition bar for training because it will be what I use in competition in april). I worked up on the floor presses to 140 for a set of 5 or 6 ( I forget which, and do not have my training journal to hand). I then did some high rep sets with 100kg. This was then followed by some JM press (false grip), some high incline DB Press, some dips and some push downs.
I supplement my main sessions with back work using extra workouts often during the morning. I have been using the seated row machine and doing dumbbell bench rows a lot because I like how this develops my middle upper back. I also do a fair number of chins and pull ups spread across the week. I must admit these are tougher these days since I am now 102-104kg. I used to be able to do 20+ chins very easily and now I think this would be a bit of a struggle. I think I still at least can knock out at least 16-18 strict chins, but I will probably work on building these back up and make them more of a focus point post competition. For now I am 'focussing on the major rather than the minor' and concentrating on what really matters for this comp.
On my second bench day ( saturday) I had been doing some high intensity / high volume raw work.
I was using a template doing 6 x 4 @ 80% on week 1, 7 x 3 @ 85% on week 2 and 8 x 2 @ 90% on week 3. This works very well for me, but recently my raw bench has stalled slightly and I think that because of the added work in the bench shirt I am currently unable to keep up this high intensity level during my second session.
Because of this I have decided to stick to sets of 5 reps (raw) on my second bench day. I will then follow this with some heavy shoulder work (standing barbell press, or seated dumbbell press). I then do some extra back work, and then focus on the arms and the traps.
With my Deadlift, (mondays session) I have been working on a very basic principle whereby I perform 4-6 singles in the deadlift suit, having worked up for singles raw. Depending on how I am feeling I will take my raw deadlift as far as feels right on the day before putting the suit on. Last week I just went to 225kg raw before performing 245, 255, 260 and 260 in the suit. I am not increasing the weight each week, rather staying a little off max and pulling something more like 8-9 on the RPE scale for 2-3 singles on the heaviest sets. Because I got 260 for a couple of singles, this week, next week I will probably stay on this weight but go for 3-4 singles on 260kg. My basic plan is to be comfortable with how a certain weight feels and ensure minimal technical breakdown of form, before moving up. I am currently fairly confident that I have a new PR on the cards for the competition (my current gym best being 270kg). At present I am thinking my opener in competition will probably be 245kg, 260kg being my second attempt and hopefully a new PR for my final lift.
Following my main sets on the deadlift, I am performing 3 sets of 3 reps for speed pulls against bands. Last week I just used 140kg and concentrated on my positioning and ensuring technically I was spot on with my form on the sumo dead. Previous weeks I have been doing conventional deadlifts for sets of 3-5 reps, but since I am now approaching competition I may reduce how much conventional deadlifting I am doing because I will be performing SUMO deads in comp.
I then do 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps on the Glute ham raise machine. Some more lower and upper back work, occasionally an additional exercise for the glutes and some ab work.
This pretty much sums up my current training status. All going very well. Stay tuned for more updates coming soon.
Phil
No comments:
Post a Comment