icecold's training log

[icecold]

Training 21/05/12

Bench 10x3x120kg

Squats 6x2x170kg

Bulgarian split squats 3x5x30kg

Ab Wheel Rollouts 12, 8(with long pauses at the bottom), 8 (no pause, core dead!), 5, 5, longer rest, 8!

Face pulls 3x8x55kg

30 deg. raise 3x8x9(I think)

Many Many Hamstring stretchings


Great session today, smashed out the bench with minimal bother, despite triceps still feeling fatigued.

Squats were initially annoying; I was getting glute pain at the bottom so I wasn't able to focus on getting the depth I wanted with a nice pause. After getting frustrated with set 3 I decided that I was just going to sit into the hole and if I have to bail due to pain then so be it. The pain stopped being an issue, and I started burying my squats! I was able to sit and pause quite comfortably in the hole. Confusing, but satisfying. I think I videoed the second and last sets, although with the last set the random who I asked didn't get my feet in shot.

I've decided that I need to be a lot more aggressive with my split squat weights. They're actually really easy, I don't know why I've been messing about.

Now I've watched it back on a bigger screen, you can see the actual depth quite well if you look in the mirror... Also, there is a touch of tuck in set 2, but none in set 6.

Pretty pleased!

 

[icecold]

...also, I brought my grip in slightly on the squats because my elbows were basically touching my thighs when I started hitting good depth. This felt a little unstable at first, but is actually more comfortable.

 

[icecold]

Cheers chaps.

Squat weight will increase in a couple of weeks.

 

[icecold]

I think I see what you mean on set six. Makes sense though, right glute switching off slightly because of the injury.

 

[icecold]

I'm not going to worry about it, it's probably more that I'm "over" contracting my left side but just doing enough on the right.

If there's actually hip sway at heavier weights then it's more of a problem, but even then it'll go when I'm healed.

The hamstring stretching seems to have done some good things in that department actually, fingers crossed.

Thoughts on depth?

I want to see what the you guys at Iffley think asap.

 

[icecold]

Contemplated doing bench today to try to catch up with my schedule, but looking at the rest of the week that wouldn't be a great idea.

Starting to think about openers for the comp. I have no idea for squat and dead yet (190/220????), but 120kg bench might be a good bet. I'll work in some paused stuff after smolov jr.

 

[icecold]

That's the plan. 120kg for 10 triples was comfortable, so that should just be a case of getting some paused reps in. I'm planning on being conservative on squats and deads, so 190kg and 220kg might be a little too aggressive. If I'd done this last year, I'd almost certainly be opening with a 200kg squat

Deads are only once a week. Squatting twice a week is considerably easier than smolov These weights are easy at the moment though, things get interesting in a few weeks.

 

[icecold]

512.5kg I think, which is one of the reasons I'm considering being extra conservative with squats and deads. With a 120kg bench, I only need 177.5kg squat and 215kg dead, for example... Although tbh I'll be disappointed if I don't get to squat over 200kg.

This isn't exactly a huge problem, I'm just musing.

 

[icecold]

Training 23/5/12

Bench 6x6x102.5kg

Deads

2x225kg
5x3x187.5kg

RDL 3x8x125kg


I was time limited so didn't get around to everything. Bench was surprisingly tough, 6 reps seems like a lot!

Wasn't entirely pleased with the top set of deads, I was really finding that I wasn't getting strong glute drive because of my weird injury (which actually feels a bit better today). Speed wasn't terrible, but it was a little backier than I would have liked. Weight drops down next week so I'll be able to sort this out.

 

[icecold]

It's funny, sometimes I'm convinced it's gotten loads better and then I'll put weight on it somehow or sit on it and it hurts again. I'm going to try warming up for squats with pull throughs tonight to see if this makes a difference.

Also, it occurred to me that I was being a little negative about my deads. It's still a seasons PB, or something

 

[icecold]

Vid checked and commented on! I think you just need to get used to shifting heavy weights again, not a big deal.


Training 25/5/12

Bench 7x5x110kg

Squats - nope! Glute too painful

Good mornings 3x8x90kg

Chin grip pulldowns 3x8x80kg

BOR 3x8x80kg

Med ball pushup 2x10

30 deg. raise 3x10

Rear delt cable fly 3x10

30 mins of stretching glutes and hamstrings


Mixed session! Bench was initially going very badly, first 2 sets were grindy towards the end, 3rd set last rep was spotted, 4th set I dropped a rep. Then I took a bigger rest, rolled my lats (which were totally ****ed) and right tricep (which is what was fatiguing first) and proceeded to bang out the rest of the sets without an issue. I think my bench is well and truly smoloved.

My glute was feeling a little rough today before I even started, but it didn't get any better as I was warming up. There was a glimmer of hope at 100kg when I was able to sit at the bottom and ignore the pain (which has previously relaxed the whole system and allowed me to squat), but there was a very minor niggle on the front of my left leg that I attacked before the 140kg warmup. Somehow in this gap my glute seized up and felt horrible for the 140kg, and was still terrible when I went to 170kg. It's possible that I could have pushed through, but a) probably not clever, b) I was already tired and hungry, and c) it's not a big deal if I just leave it until tomorrow.

When I stretched it felt like I was pulling stuff apart in a good way, so hopefully it's just that everything had gotten a little tight for whatever reason.

If it's still bad tomorrow then I may have to take a week off squatting, which means a slight re-jigging of plans.

 

[icecold]

A lot better, but we'll see!

Oh, the PT bands are in the country, but we may have to pay some tax on them


Weight loss in on target, just about! I want to be below 85kg by June 15th. Carbs will be reduced from now on, along with no more dairy (). I may have a carb up depending how recovery is going, but it should be ok considering how things are going.

 

[icecold]

Secondary new plan: Squat tomorrow, sack of monday's squats for extra recovery if necessary.

Can't fit a session in today any more, but it kind of works out well. It feels pretty good at the moment, so tomorrow I'll warm up thoroughly and accept the slight drop in power from stretching everything too.

 

[icecold]

I'm sure we spoke about this, but yeah I tried it and it made it worse :/

 

[icecold]

It's not exactly my glutes, but it's that area. Explained here.

Training 27/05/12

Squat 6x5x170kg

Ab wheel x lots

Hmmm. Managed to smash them out, but it was pretty painful. First set was great, I got a massive adrenalin rush and felt like I could have done 15. On the second set I was more cautious, and I think that the resulting slowness into the bottom of the squat is what is causing me so much trouble. For the last two sets I dropped more aggressively (no faster than "normal" pain free squats) and things were much better.

I spent AGES after this rolling my lacrosse ball into my glutes, turns out my right side was in a terrible state! Piriformis/everything was tight and extremely painful to treat. Felt great afterwards though, so I'm going to do this again a few times this week.

I'm not entirely sure what to do now. Even though the pain isn't quite enough to stop me squatting, I'm still leaning towards resting it for 2 weeks. If I ignore it and it gets any worse it WILL stop me squatting, and even with the current level of pain I can see it removing KGs from a max effort lift. Not to mention the fact that ignoring it so far has stopped it from healing, which has to be bad news.

If by some miracle there is no pain on friday then I'll just carry on from there. Other than squats I'm not going to drop anything else, so I'll still be split squatting tomorrow.

Bottom line: I'd much rather sacrifice even 15kg off my max and be pain free. By the time nationals come around, I may well have caught back up anyway.

 

[icecold]

The plan was to get to 85kg a few days before the comp, so that I would be able to comfortably make weight with glycogen depletion/dehydration. However, the more weight I can lose the less I have to dehydrate, which makes the 24 hour pre-comp period much easier. PL comps are a lot of fun, I'd recommend one.

I tend to have a serious problem with giving myself time off, so this was a tougher decision than it should have been!

I'll consider dropping split squats too, but I'll base it on whether they cause any pain at all. You're right, a week off all squatting isn't going to affect anything.

 

[icecold]

Oh my god that sounds fantastic right now!

 

[icecold]

Training 28/05/12

Bench 8x4x115kg

Lots of failed reps today! I was shattered and dehydrated from too much walking around in the sun. First set was pretty easy, then lats and right pec/tricep tightened up and it became pretty gruelling.

It turns out that the soft tissue work I did yesterday was pretty savage as I've got some pretty intense glute DOMS today. I decided to completely rest my lower body because of this, so I might try the split squats tomorrow.

 

[icecold]

Training 29/05/12

Push press up to 90kg

Strict press several sets of 5 at 60kg

TRX push ups 3x8

"Aggressive lat rolling" x pain

Mostly a session to get some blood and movement into my shoulders/triceps. No injuries here (yet), but everything is really tight from all the benching.

Glute-thing feels a lot better so I may be on for some friday/saturday squatting


Edit: Also, my tub of MP almond butter arrived. The reviews are a little mixed, but I like it.

 

[icecold]

Do them so you externally rotate your shoulders at the top. You should end up with your palms almost facing upwards.