Preparing to apply to the 1,000lb club

[Dreamforger]

So it's the start of the new year and I feel it's time for a new log as the title of the previous one didn't reflect what I was doing for the majority of the year. In this new log the intention is to get as close to as 1,000lbs powerlifting total as possible. I'm not worrying too much about weight classes but that doesn't mean that I'm going to suddenly enter the 105kg's either.

I'm entering the new year and this log with a dual knee injury and as of 13/1/16 I was able get on a bench and start benching again. My last proper bench session was 24/11/15 so it was safe to say that I had lost a lot of strength. This with not being able to walk since 20/12/15 and the chances of squatting and/or deadlifting remain unknown means that for now I'm only focusing on Bench press.

My programming and frequency will more than likely remain unchanged. I doubt I'll be doing much, if any, weightlifting along side the powerlifting as I want to focus on getting the total and hopefully there should be a few more variations entering the routine such as Spoto press and Close Grip bench press.

Now that I can focus on my lifting again, my diet is improving dramatically as well as getting a bit more sleep than before, there are high hopes for gains in the bench press and hopefully in the squat and deadlift when the knee injury as gone away.

Goals for 2016
455kg total
Squat: 160kg
Bench: 110kg
Deadlift: 185kg

Best Stats:
Dreamforger -------------------- 137.5(B) / 100 / 160(B) -------- [79] ---- 397.5

2016 Stats:
Dreamforger -------------------- 125(B)+ / 100 / 160(B) -------- [81.7] ---- 385

For anyone interested old log can be found here.

 

[Dreamforger]

13/1/16 - Wednesday

So this is my first "training" session of the year and it only consisted of some bench press as I hobbled into the gym with bandaged knees and my walking stick. I have no idea where my bench max is so decided to pick 67.5kg as my 75%... I over estimated how much strength I had left. I should have known since it's been since the end of November since I last benched I have not been able to consume enough calories to preserve as much muscle as possible. Instead I have wasted away.

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 3
67.5kg x 3x5
67.5kg x 4
62.5kg x 3

Tragic.

Once I got home I piled in the food. It felt good. I also decided to add in more accessories and variations to my bench for the time being since I can't do anything else so I may as well train the bench press hard until I can squat and deadlift again.

 

[Steedie]

In

 

[mrthingyx]

So far in I can tickle your tonsils, nomsayin...

 

[Dreamforger]

16/1/15 - Saturday

Day 2, more bench.

Threw in some spoto, some extremely light OHP, some BOR's (I can just about bend my knees enough but I can't hold the position for very long) and some shrugs.

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
47.5kg x 6
55kg x 2x4
62.5kg x 2x3
47.5kg x 6x4 (Spoto)

OHP

Bar x 8
25kg x 12
22.5kg x 12
20kg x 15

BOR

40kg x 4x12

Shrugs

40kg x 12
50kg x 4x12

I'm quite enjoying the spoto press as it's helping to learn how to keep tight at the bottom of the movement. Hopefully this will help with power off the chest as well as ensuring that my left trap and rhomboids are activating properly. It's also quite nice that my body is realising that it has a chest and that it needs to use it. I'm going to increase the weight from 60% to 70% as today felt far too light.

The rest of the session were typical accessories, I was pleased I could do BOR's (just about) but I couldn't hold the position for long so had to reset every 5-6 reps. Shrugs were added in because "apparently" an excessive shrugging movement is good for releasing tightness from the traps. I've increased my training max for next week as I was dramatically stronger today than I was on Wednesday.

 

[Somnambulist]

In.

You could always join the seal row club to remove the knees from the equation entirely?

 

[Dreamforger]

In.

You could always join the seal row club to remove the knees from the equation entirely?

I considered this, and many others have recommend them too, but my issue is getting back up (and also setting up the bench and blocks etc to be able to do them) as I'd end up either getting stuck on the bench or have to roll off the side and then drag myself back up

 

[GSVBagpuss]

In as always. If you can't squat or dead, it's a 1000lb bench or nothing!

 

[Razor-BladE]

I should hopefully be breaking in to the 1000lbs club as well this year. I shall try to follow logs a bit more this year! Definitely looks doable, hope your knees get better!

 

[Dreamforger]

18/01/15 - Monday

Knee's are not feeling great at all. Bench is getting better. Turns out my triceps aren't anywhere near as strong as they once were, nor do I have the shoulder strength or muscle endurance either. Lots things to work on over the next several weeks.

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 3
65kg x 4x3
60kg x 3x6

(Close grip)
50kg x 2x8
50kg x 1x6

Silly pump, triceps have become rather weak it appears from that close grip bench. Lots of fun though.

OHP

Bar x lots
27.5kg x 10
25kg x 10
2.5kg x 12

My muscle endurance is rubbish.

And that concludes my session. Well now the session looks feeble and disappointing now that it's written down but it went on for a good while but trying to keep a pretty strict 2 mins break between sets. More 65kg triples on Wednesday before trying to hit it for a set of 9+ on Saturday.

 

[Dreamforger]

20/1/16 - Wednesday

Was I benching tonight? I was indeed benching tonight.

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 2x6
57.5kg x 2x5
60kg x 2x4
65kg x 3x3

Feeling rather confident about my AMRAP test on Saturday! Feeling rather good right now.

Shrugs

60kg x 4x10

Up 10kg since last week and it felt easier tonight.

Rather pleased with tonight. Took a while to get through all the sets but that had nothing to do with strength and instead the time and energy it took to get weights whilst using a walking stick.

 

[Dreamforger]

23/1/16 - Saturday

Bench, spoto bench, rows.

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 3
65kg x 9

Really happy with that. Definitely had more in the tank but there was not need to push it.

Spoto Press

52.5kg x 6x4

Need to focus more on getting consistent height on the pause.

BOR

45kg 4x10

Not a bad session at all. It would have been nice to do some OHP for some easy delt and tricep work but never mind. Up to 72.5kg 4x3 on Monday Still super tiny numbers but at least my strength is coming back quite nicely.

 

[Dreamforger]

25/1/16 - Monday

Could it be another bench session? It was indeed another bench session. 'Heaviest' session in a while and my left scapular just was not sliding as it should and my body english was horrific for some reason. Leg flexibility has increase so now I can bring my feet further back but I'm lacking the dorsiflexion currently to help keep my feet planted. So I just used my normal foot positioning and carried on.

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 3
67.5kg x 3
72.5kg x 4x3 - Paused
60kg x 3x8 - Quick touch and go

Close Grip Bench Press

55kg x 3x6

I'm so rubbish at this...

OHP

Bar x lots
30kg x 8
27.5kg x 8
25kg x 10

I think my endurance is getting better.

BOR

50kg x 4x8

Not a bad session by any means but not a great session. I got every rep without too many issues, it would have just been nice if everything was a bit more solid and stable.

 

[Dreamforger]

27/1/16 - Wednesday

Today was a good day. Bench was solid and knees are improving. I can't walk but my rom is improving.

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 2x6
60kg x 2x5
67.5kg x 2x3
75kg x 2x1

Really happy with how this went, everything was properly competition paused too. Nice to see the strength is coming back.

Tricep Push downs

Some weight x 4x8

Shrugs

70kg x 4x8

And that's that.

I was playing around with stances to see if I can possibly squat or deadlift. I tried my luck with a 40kg deadlift and I managed it without many issues but I wasn't going to push my luck and do anymore. I played around with squats and it feels better going wide like sumo with no shoes on but I'm still high and obviously at no stage to actually be squatting again just yet. The gains are coming and the knee seems to be getting better. Today was a good day.

 

[Dreamforger]

30/1/16 - Saturday

More bench. It started well but I was tired so the spoto press aspect of the program wasn't too great today. Some reps I simply lost tightness which typically meant that there would be a horizontal shift of the bar slightly at times.

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 3
67.5kg x 9 - Really happy with this

Spoto Press

55kg x 6x4

Not bad, but not amazing either. Going to keep the weight the same next week.

BOR

50kg x 4x8

And that's that. Bench felt good at the beginning and the rows were really good too. The Spoto press was a tad off since I was tired and I was forced to only 60 sec breaks in between sets, which may not have been enough. Oh well, the weight goes up for next week!

 

[Dreamforger]

1/2/16 - Monday

Hell to the yeah things are going well!

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 3
70kg x 3x2
60kg x 3x5

70kg was easy and the 60kg down sets were just silly easy. All paused too.

Close Grip Bench Press

60kg 3x4

This is feeling miles better. Hopefully good things shall come next cycle!

OHP

Bar x lots
30kg x 12

BOR

55kg x 4x6

Short and sweet session. Really happy with that session. Wednesday should be a nice easy session too. I need to work on the setup on bench being identical every time as sometimes my feet position changes and therefore my arch might not be as tight (it's always the same size but I can tell when there's a change in tightness). Plenty of stuff to work on

 

[Dreamforger]

5/2/16 - Friday

Bench. Not at the usual gym and I was blinded by the light above me so my test set was iffy as I just could not focus properly.

Bench

Bar x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 3
67.5kg x 2
72.5kg x 6

All over the place, miss grooved two, maybe three reps and it was just hell. Oh well, I'll be back at my usual gym on Monday.

Spoto Bench Press

55kg x 6x4

Done.

That's it. Not super exciting but I'm upping my max for next week so it's all good

 

[Dreamforger]

9/2/16 - Tuesday

Rather happy with the session tonight, lost a bit of tightness but the weight moved really well. Managed t do everything paused too. Massive improvement since when I first started 4 weeks ago.

Bench

Bar lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 3
67.5kg x 5x5

All reps were paused and moved rather well. Happy days.

Close Grip Bench

52.5kg x 3x8

Managed to paused these too. Felt good.

OHP

Bar x lots
30kg x 12
27.5kg x 12
25kg x 15 (might have done 22.5kg instead now that I think about it. Oh well)

Damn that fatigue.

BOR

45kg x 4x12

Nice and easy.

Really happy with that. Need to keep eating, get plenty of rest and do some stretching and mobility work.

 

[Dreamforger]

10/2/16 - Wednesday

Today I did deadlifts. "What? Deadlifts?" I hear you say. Yes, I somehow managed to bend my knees enough with minimal discomfort to deadlift. Not all the reps were super powerful but it's a start and I'm happy with that.

Deadlift

40kg x 10
60kg x lots x 1
70kg x 10
70kg x 3x5

For today that is enough for the knee. I could easily handle a lot more weight without any issues but I don't want to do too much too soon.

Ended up having treatment afterwards and somehow I ended up doing full depth body weigh squats. They weren't easy, one or two were a tad shaky but I managed them without any pain. Few clicks in the left knee but that was it.

Going to take my shoes in tomorrow to try and squat with more consistency and hopefully on Saturday I'll deadlift again either more conventional or try sumo.

 

[Dreamforger]

11/2/16 - Thursday

Bench and some bodyweight squats. Tonight went really well. Bench felt decent on work sets and I've re introduced the slingshot for this cycle to see what benefits I can claim from it. I kind of messed up on the third set as on a few reps I forgot to pause properly. I also managed some bodyweight squats for 3x10 without much issue.

Bench

Bar x lots
40kg x 8
45kg x 8
52.5kg x 6
62.5kg x 2x4
72.5kg x 2x3

Happy with that, second set moved better than the first set.

Slingshot Bench

72.5kg x 3x8

Much easier than I thought and made my shoulders feel really good. I found it helped with trying to keep my back tight too.

Tricep Pushdown

Some weight x 4x12

Shrugs

60kg x 4x12

Squat

BW x 3,5,8
BW x 2x10

And that's enough squats for tonight. Knee is feeling better and moving better but I have no intention of doing too much too soon.

Happy with that session as it went rather well. The slingshot bench has given me confidence for my amrap on Saturday as I'm only going for 70kg x 9. I'm really happy with the squats too; I might do some more sets on Saturday and see how I get on.