Mike's quest for Abs and 1100

[big_swede]

Good luck with this Mike and Iam in for the journey! Sorry about the teeth, that really sucks!

Look at it from the bright side! Surviving on eggs and shakes will lead to visible abs, in the long run =)

[BendtheBar]

Hopes that pain subsides quickly. All I would want is comfort food.

[MikeM]

Thanks, Swede. Yeah, for a while there I literally felt like I was deflating! But, ultra low carb does not agree with me, I'd never make it on eggs and protein shakes.

Thanks, BtB. It was rough for a while there, but now we're back in business today! Off the meds, stuffed myself like hyena over the weekend. Good stuff.

So, probably overdid it a bit today, but there you go. It's what I do.

Monday Cycle 1, week 1

warmups: Pullups 2x2, Rowing 3x 1 min, Lat Pulls 2x 5x 150 (pullups were messing with my elbow a bit)
Dynamic warmup: KB push throws for height 8x 1x 20KB to a tree branch about 9 ft up. Dipped legs to start push. Like an old school two hand set shot.

OHP:
3x 95, 110, 120
1x 135
1x 145
ss w/ 15x band pullaparts, face pulls, dislocations, etc.

BBB sets: 5x 10x 70 (Too easy, add 10)
ss w/ Underhand Pulldowns: 5x 8x 220

BB Rows:
Singles to 185 to get an idea where to start
5x 5x 155
ss w/ CGBP 5x 5x 155 (gonna keep these at same weight as rows)

Side, Back, and Front Raises: 2x 10 each

COnditioning: 5x 40 yard hill "sprints" easy pace

Felt good. Got all that done in barely over an hour as I kept rest times 2 min or less.

So, I'm doing a dynamic warmup targetted to the movement of the day. I'm also did Raises today to target the main muscles of the day. Threw in the close grips as I'd eventually like to get a bench movement on this day and this is an easy superset for the rows anyway.

I'm going to do those extras as I noticed at the meet most guys I lifted against had bigger shoulders than me. So the idea behind today is bigger shoulders. If anyone has a better idea how to do that, I'd be happy to here it.

Squat days the focus will be doing the movement slower and more under control as almost no one at the meet drops as fast as I do. They also have more core strength too. So, slower and tighter and core stuff on squat day. Speed is my "strength" so to speak, so I'm going to focus on my weakness here to get stronger.

Bench day will be more consistent setup and staying tight longer as well as bigger arms. All the guys who lifted more than me had bigger arms and consistent form. So, I'll be working the guns directly Swede! I'll try to make you proud.

Deadlift is a whole 'nother animal so I'll save the ideas behind that process for Friday.

Here we go. First step, done. Good start. I felt super strong today.

Oh, started the week right at 200 lbs. A bit sloppy after a weekend of crappy food, so the cleaned up diet started today too. That's another goal of this routine is that I was easily the fattest of the guys that were under 200 lbs. Hence the conditioning and the cleaner diet.

We'll see.

[MikeM]

Holy crap! Today was one of the hardest workouts of my life. This 5x 10 is no joke with squats!! Goodness.

Tuesday, cycle 1, week 1

warmups: 2x 1min Jump rope, 2x 15 reverse hypers, 3x 5-8 broad jumps and jumps for height (hands height, not a box jump). I'm also measuring these and keeping track of progress to see what happens.

Squat:
3x 215, 245
2x 275 (FUUAAARKK!! should have been 3 but this was way harder than expected)
1 x 275 (Wasn't letting that rep think it's too much for me!)

2x 1x 245 Pause squats

5x 10x 160 (barely made it, was literally shaking by the end!!)

And that's it.

Holy mother that was hard. I just bailed on anything else I had planned. I could barely walk after that. And I mean I had no idea that was going to happen. On paper, I figured I was starting out fairly easy. Holy Cow. Live and learn. Also, I am now slowing my squats way down, not much bounce, no belt, etc. which certainly helped make it harder, but still.

Anyway, the whole purpose is to work on getting very tight and staying tight all the way down and up. Obviously, mixed success, but it's the first day. Pissed about that 275. I could have had it, but I lost tightness and wasn't going to get it back, so I racked it rather than hit another ugly rep.

Also, I started doing the 165s slow too, but that went out the window about middle of second set. I went on pure survival mode for reps 7-10 in the last 3 sets. Brutal.

Some videos to show you what I mean.

2x 275: Depth a little sketchy I know.

MVI 6559 - YouTube

MVI 6559 - YouTube

245 Pause: Pause wasn't really long enough.

MVI 6560 - YouTube

MVI 6560 - YouTube

Second 245 pause: better I think.

MVI 6561 - YouTube

MVI 6561 - YouTube

Going slow I notice it's a lot harder to hit depth or even know when you have hit depth. I'll keep working on that. Maybe I need to set up a low box and just tap it. Also, doing them this style seems a lot more hamstring as those are sore too and they usually are not after squat day.

Didn't video the 10 reppers as I was huffing and puffing like a freight train with a bad boiler. I was just concentrating on surviving. It was epic though. I'll remember those sets forever.

There you go. Might try to finish today's leftovers tomorrow on my off day, but I think I'm in for some serious pain so probably not.

We'll see. Moving along.

[ravimolasaria]

Originally Posted by MikeM

Tuesday, cycle 1, week 1

Squat:
3x 215, 245
2x 275 (FUUAAARKK!! should have been 3 but this was way harder than expected)
1 x 275 (Wasn't letting that rep think it's too much for me!)

2x 1x 245 Pause squats
5x 10x 160 (barely made it, was literally shaking by the end!!)

Great session Mike ... the best part is that you made it. It reminds me of my 1st session of Smolov. It was 4 sets of 9 reps and I barely made it. But eventually your body will adept to this routine and after 2-3 weeks you will be surprised by your progress. Hang in there and keep smashing the wts ...

[Squatter]

Nice work getting thru your most brutal squat session Mike!! Your a warrior.

I did notice some leaning forward, more so on the 2nd rep of 275. Are you squatting high or low bar?

Hope everything is getting sorted with your teeth. That is even more brutal than the squat session.

[BendtheBar]

Holy crap! Today was one of the hardest workouts of my life. This 5x 10 is no joke with squats!

Understatement!

2x 275 (FUUAAARKK!! should have been 3 but this was way harder than expected)

Hang tough Mike. Sometimes I still feel CNS fatigue 2-3 weeks after a meet.

Depth looked good on those 275s. I'd pass them, and I am strict

[Kuytrider]

10 rep squats really suck! Doing 5x10 is just painful stuff! There is a reason Wendler recommends starting out at 50%, I even find 3x10 to be exhausting. Good work though and if you stick out that kind of volume you'll be in a great place in terms of conditioning. Personally, I'd consider 60kg if I do a 5x10 just to avoid dying at first

[big_swede]

Getting it done Mile. Great work.

[JordanK91]

Great squatting Mike!