icecold's training log

[icecold]

I dropped the weights on dips and HC2PP, but they were probably a bit too light in the end.

Two consecutive HST days would be very tough. I'm doing an A/B split, but I'd still be doing a squat variation on those two days. You could tweak it and only have a squat variation and a deadlift variation on each day, but I'm not sure it would be the best idea.

What I'm planning on is doing a fourth day with strongman stuff, so a similar approach would be to have a day of something like powercleans, core stuff, grip work, mobility, complexes, or anything you don't have in HST.

 

[icecold]

Training 23/6/12

Front squats 2x15x80kg - postponed due to tightness in adductor

Good mornings 2x15x90kg - easy

Bench press 2x15x75kg tough!

BOR 2x15x67.5kg easy

Arnold press 2x15x16kg - tough, just tired in general. Strict flat back and 80 degree bench

CGBP 2x15x60kg - tiring

EZ preacher curls 2x15x15(+bar)kg easy


All the pressing was tough, for some reason the short rests kill me here. Good session though.

 

[icecold]

Training 25/6/12

Squat 2x15x117.5kg - easier than last time!

RDL 2x15x112.5kg - same! Although I was gassed after these; strict 90s rests started to go out of the window

Inc. DB press 2x15x30kg - easy again

Pullups 2x15xbw - first set was really easy, boldly went for a very short rest on the second set and had to have a few breaks!

Dips 2x15x10kg - fine, triceps were dying though

HC2PP 2x15x40kg - easy but horrible! Had to take a second on the floor after these. 90s rests

FRONT SQUAT 1x15x80kg - to make up for last time. My god, very dead after these.


Good session, still no pain. Tight from previous session but I soon warmed up.

 

[icecold]

Where? Atomic Burger?

I'm feeling more optimistic every workout, but at the same time I can't work out why I'm not getting the pain I was. I can still feel it when I sit down and shift my weight, but squatting feels ok.

 

[icecold]

That's a change from how it used to be! As I sit now I can't get it to hurt by wiggling around... Progress? Who knows.


No training yesterday or today due to flu. Hopefully I'll be back in tomorrow. I've only technically missed a day so it's not too bad.

I've just realised I still haven't posted my comp video, I blame Dom for withholding my first squat video

 

[icecold]

Training 29/6/12

Front squat 15x90kg, 15x85kg - it was meant to be 85kg :/

GMs 2x15x95kg

Bench 2x15x80kg - easier than last time

BOR 2x15x72.5kg - too easy

Arnold press 2x15x17.5kg - far too easy, added another set with 20kg

Ez curls 2x15x17.5(+bar)kg - far too easy again, did a set with 20kg of plates

CGPB 2x15x65kg - last set went to failure with a 2-board and then a 3-board. Brutal pump!

Ab wheel roll out chain strip sets:
Set 1: 3 chains x 4 --> 2 chains x 5 --> 1 chain x 4 --> 0 chains x 4
Set 2: 3 chains x 3 --> 2 chains x 3 --> 1 chain x 4 --> 0 chains x 3
^ hard!

 

[icecold]

Training 01/07/12

The tail end of this flu decided to kick me in the balls today, but I thought it couldn't be bad enough to warrant missing a session.

Squats 2x15x125kg

RDLs 2x15x125kg

Inc DB press 2x15x32.5kg


Then I ran out of time. I was feeling pretty terrible at this point anyway, including the horrible ab DOMS from friday. I should be fine finish off the rest tomorrow.


Edit: On a positive note, I successfully taught Dom to snatch. He videoed his last power snatch complex which I'm not sure if he'll upload, but if he does you will be able to hear how ill I am

Edit 2: RDLs were DOH without straps. Considering I'm holding onto the bar the entire time I'd expected my grip to have failed by now, but I was more concerned with just being exhausted! I also felt my injury a little more than normal, and my squats were a little funny as a results. Hopefully that's just an anomaly though.

I'm still just under 85kg, I don't really know how that's happened as I've been eating as much as possible to get myself better. This naturally means doughnuts and biscuits and fudge. And sausage rolls. And Yoghurt.

 

[icecold]

I love HST, but it is really hard at times. To get the most out of it you really have to push yourself to the point of collapse, and that doesn't mix that well with having the flu I can already see changes in my physique, but that's just because most of my muscles have gone nowhere near high reps in a year.

Cheers Delvis. Now I'm back in my good gym I might play around with some DOH rack pulls or just static hangs so I can see where my maximal grip is.

 

[icecold]

Holding on for 20 reps is pretty brutal!

The real test will be the DOH RDL with 150kg for 10 reps D:

 

[icecold]

Training 02/07/12

WG pull ups 2x15xbw - easy. Short rest too

Dips 2x15x20kg - comfy

HC2PP 15x45kg, 15x50kg - comfy

Pleased! Flu wasn't so bad today and I felt much stronger. I did a load of aggressive lower body stretching as I didn't have any lower body stuff to do today.




Also, FINALLY, here is the video of my comp performance.

Cheers guys

There will be videos posted at some point, we got all of the attempts.


Here's my mini write up...


Making weight was actually pretty easy. The worst part of my prep was the several days of very little sleep, but that was completely my own fault. I've definitely still got more body fat to lose, and I think I'll do that in the next few weeks.

As I mentioned at the time, I spent a long time in the morning waiting around to actually get going. It turns out the seniors (23+ and younger than whatever the masters start at) had nearly 6 hours after first weigh in before lifting started, although I didn't know this at the time. It wasn't a huge problem, but I got pretty hungry.

Squats

I was always going to be very conservative with these due to my injury, but they actually went quite well. Warm ups were fine, although I was still feeling my injury.

1st attempt: 180kg - good lift

Probably one of the better reps at this weight that I've ever done. Nice and deep and very smooth. Minimal injury bother.

2nd attempt: 190kg - good lift

Still very comfortable weight wise, but I felt my injury biting a bit more here so I decided not to do my 3rd attempt.


Bench

Frustrating. Warm ups went badly due to me not noticing someone had put 25kg plates on instead of 20kgs, and also some oddly aggressive lift offs from the local spotter. They yanked the bar out of the rack so hard that I came off the bench with 110kg (I thought it was 100kg). This did something strange to my upper pec and the rep felt really weird on the descent. I was intending on pausing it but just popped it back up. I wanted to do 110kg again so I got Dom in to lift off, but the clueless other spotters grabbed the bar again and pulled me off the bench :/ I ignored Dom's pause commands because it felt strange on my chest again. At this point I didn't have time to work back up through my warm ups again, so the entire this was botched.

As I waited to do my first attempt my upper pec (clavicular, and generally around the insertion at the shoulders) felt as fatigued as if I'd done a few sets of 20. This didn't any get better throughout my attempts.

1st attempt: 120kg - good lift

Went up ok, but it wasn't as pretty as it should have been. The shoes I was lifting in were slipping around on the carpet so I might as well have had them up on the bench :/

2nd attempt: 130kg - fail

Probably shouldn't have gone straight to this given the build up, but it really should have been there. I'd swapped to my deadlifting slippers which helped with grip, but I received the lift off weirdly and had to re-steady myself.

3rd attempt: 130kg - fail

I wasn't confident this would go any differently, but I didn't have anything to lose and I was annoyed. I tried taking it lower down my chest to see if I could take my fatigued areas out of the lift, but I ended up going a bit too low.

This is the only real disappointment of the day, it should have gone very differently.

Deadlifts

Messy. Warm ups were good (even got a few "wow"s and "holy ****"s at my lockout speed ), but I had less than two minutes after my last warmup (200kg) before my opener.

1st attempt: 215kg - good lift

Felt a bit rubbish, bit it went up.

2nd attempt: 225kg - didn't even bother!

Again, I only had two minutes rest. I set myself up and took the slack out of the bar, but it was going to be ugly so I left it. This sometimes ends up happening, but it really shouldn't. It affected another guy as well causing him to miss his lift.

525kg total weighing 82.2kg, which won me my the 83kg class, but I didn't really have any competition. As I said, I'm only really gutted with my bench, the rest was more a triumph of good sense over ego

Given that my injury still played a big part in today I may have to rethink my plans for nationals. But for now, it's time to feast and do brocep curls.

It's annoying watching those bench attempts, they should have gone so much better. The deadlift looks poor as well... next time!

 

[icecold]

Training 05/07/12

Good mornings 2x15x100kg

Front squats 2x15x90kg

Bench 2x15x85kg

BOR 2x15x77.5kg

Arnold press 2x15x20kg - the 22.5kg DBs are broken

EZ curls 2x15x25(+bar)kg, then 1xfailurex40kg with a barbell

CGBP 2x15x75kg, last set straight into 2-board to failure, then 3-board to failure

Holy arm pump!

Did my GMs first to warm up my hammies and adductors a little more. This was awesome for the depth of my front squats, my ass was on my ankles for most reps, but I was a lot more gassed as a consequence.

Everything else was fine. This is was the last workout of the 15 rep phase, I will not miss it.

 

[icecold]

I don't geddit

 

[icecold]

Yeah I was saying that I wouldn't advise them.

They're awesome, but very easy to get wrong. I try and make sure that someone can watch my sets whenever possible, just in case.

 

[icecold]

That's because you have dat der spaghetti spine


Good mornings, not even once*


*unless you are properly supervised.

I'm still really cautious with them. I started with 60kg for low reps, which is basically nothing for me, and have slowly built up over the last few months.

 

[icecold]

Your back is bending, like the aforementioned Italian pasta variety.


That and the bar is too high on your back. DON'T DO THEM




LiE, GMs + RDL = ultimate hamstring destruction

 

[icecold]

Training 09/07/12

I felt strong today, so I decided to beat that straight out of me by doing some additional work.

Squats 2x10x130kg - silly easy, paused the last rep. I so so eager to get going that I didn't warm up as thoroughly and as a result I felt my injury slightly more.

Beltless deadlift singles up to 210kg - just playing around with bracing. All easy, but I think this is some kind of beltless PB

RDL 2x10x130kg easy, even after the deads. DOH grip still not a problem.

Bench singles up to 120kg - I'm going to work up to a heavy single every day and add 5kg. There no reason not to be hammering my bench still.

Incline DB bench 2x10x35kg

Pull ups 2x10xbw+5kg

Dips 2x10xbw+30kg

HC2PP 2x10x55kg - first set was fine, but I tried tweaking some things on the second and ended up confusing and tiring myself out massively


Then me and Dom did LOADS of mobility and soft tissue work. Serious amounts of pain, but some good results. The additional beating didn't entirely work, as I still feel like I could have done lots more.

 

[icecold]

should train fighting sports,after you finish you always ....ed

That sounds like a wonderful idea full over carry over to recovery and powerlifting.

That's some solid lifting ice I've yet to try deads and squats in the same session.

I've been doing DOH RDL and my grip isn't that great. 110kg is ok for 2 sets of 8 but the third set isn't so great. The main problem I have is 110 is too easy, do you think I should stick with DOH until it catches up? What I did last night was 2 sets DOH then switched to mixed grip.

Both in the same session isn't as bad as you'd think, you have to do it in comp as well so it's good to get used to it.

In that situation I'd actually strap up and use a weight that was challenging, then do grip work. I like to avoid mixed grip as much as possible, and at some stage I'm going to learn to hook properly.

 

[icecold]

Fair enough.


Oh yeah, so I found out on Friday that my injury wasn't what I originally thought it was. I've actually had a small tear in my adductor insertion for two months

This essentially means two thing:

1) Going into rehab mode was definitely the right choice.

2) My performance at the comp was approximately 1.2x more badass, which actually puts my numbers in a much more respectable range.

 

[icecold]

Something like that! It was with a 40kg warm up, so maybe that's a bad idea too...?

 

[icecold]

It's a case of wait and see. The high rep stuff in HST will help, so I might run another cycle of it just to make sure everything is in the best condition possible. Or I might just do high rep squats along side more conventional training...