LtL's Training Log

[LtL]

Cube meet cycle plan

Mini is playing up tonight so rather than make a noisy Vlog of my Cube plan, I thought I'd write it out and stay safe

For squat and deadlift I will be following the book pretty much as is. The routine has lots of deadlift variations and way more pulling than I have been used to which I really think will help my pull. For bench I will be running something very similar to what Brandon lays out in his shirted bench cycle. I have made a couple of changes though as he only has 3 weeks out of 9 in the shirt and I do well with more practice so my cycle is:

Week 1 - Floor press against chains (25kgs of chain per side).
Week 2 - Shirt work. Touch something like an opener then do some 2 board work for lockout.
Week 3 - Reverse band bench raw. If the power rack at the gym has not been fixed I will do slingshot bench instead as I get a similar overload.
Week 4 - Opener to a 1board, second attempt to a 2board.
Week 5 - Raw 3board press.
Week 6 - Floor press with straight weight.
Week 7 - Shirt work. All three attempts to a 2 board. Supra-maximal weights to 3 board. Hopefully going 10% over projected third attempt.
Week 8 - Full comp warm-ups and then opener to chest.
Week 9 - Floor press with straight weight. Probably working in triples.
Week 10 - Meet week.

As I said it is a departure from what Brandon lays out with more shirt work (I need practice as I'm a novice gear whore) and more chest and lower board work (as I'm in single ply and not multi like Brandon). On this bench cycle I am working off projected meet attempts of 170, 180, 190kgs. My contest PB is 172.5kgs and that was ridiculously easy so I am confident I can hit these although I will adjust as necessary through the cycle.

For squats and deads, squats in particular, my maxes are somewhat out of whack. At the last meet my squat suit was so loose in the straps it was like competing in briefs. I have now had them tightened and although not super tight, I think this will make a difference. I plan to run the first 3 week wave doing the rep and explosive days in knee sleeves, belt and suit bottom then on the heavy day I will do my max set with straps down and then take 1 or 2 more sets with straps up. I will use this as a gauge and if my gym max is up above my 235kgs contest max (which I expect it to be) I will adjust accordingly for the next mesocycle.

For my deadlift weights I am being conservative. My deadlift has flat out sucked for the past maybe 6 months. I pulled a 240kg raw conventional in about August, maybe before that and then at the meet in November I barely got an equipped 235kgs! The difference between the two is paltry so I am using 235kgs for the first mesocycle and will work up on explosive day, maybe not until the second cycle, and adjust from there. The extra assistance volume combined with a deadlift specific suit and, thanks to Faz, a better idea on how to use it should see me to a PB but I'm very much playing the deadlift by ear and not getting ahead of myself.

Lastly for assistance I am starting with the template as it is laid out in the book. If something is really not working I'll change it out but otherwise I plan on running with it the whole 10 weeks and review then. As of this week I will be doing my extra session during the week at the work gym and this will be lat pulldowns, leg curls, curls, more shoulder work and abs, probably done as two big circuits.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

[bruteforce]

Nice write-up. Looking forward to see you crush some heavy weight!

[Fazc]

Decided which Deadlift you going to go with?

[LtL]

Originally Posted by bruteforce

Nice write-up. Looking forward to see you crush some heavy weight!

Thanks Brute. I'm excited to be back in gear and ramping up.

Originally Posted by Fazc

Decided which Deadlift you going to go with?

Conventional for now. Gonna have another crack at sumo later in the year but for now it's just too wrong to fix without SERIOUS work. I have only pulled twice conventional since the meet and it is feeling natural and strong which is hopefully a good sign of things to come.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by LtL

Cube meet cycle plan

Mini is playing up tonight so rather than make a noisy Vlog of my Cube plan, I thought I'd write it out and stay safe

For squat and deadlift I will be following the book pretty much as is. The routine has lots of deadlift variations and way more pulling than I have been used to which I really think will help my pull. For bench I will be running something very similar to what Brandon lays out in his shirted bench cycle. I have made a couple of changes though as he only has 3 weeks out of 9 in the shirt and I do well with more practice so my cycle is:

Week 1 - Floor press against chains (25kgs of chain per side).
Week 2 - Shirt work. Touch something like an opener then do some 2 board work for lockout.
Week 3 - Reverse band bench raw. If the power rack at the gym has not been fixed I will do slingshot bench instead as I get a similar overload.
Week 4 - Opener to a 1board, second attempt to a 2board.
Week 5 - Raw 3board press.
Week 6 - Floor press with straight weight.
Week 7 - Shirt work. All three attempts to a 2 board. Supra-maximal weights to 3 board. Hopefully going 10% over projected third attempt.
Week 8 - Full comp warm-ups and then opener to chest.
Week 9 - Floor press with straight weight. Probably working in triples.
Week 10 - Meet week.

As I said it is a departure from what Brandon lays out with more shirt work (I need practice as I'm a novice gear whore) and more chest and lower board work (as I'm in single ply and not multi like Brandon). On this bench cycle I am working off projected meet attempts of 170, 180, 190kgs. My contest PB is 172.5kgs and that was ridiculously easy so I am confident I can hit these although I will adjust as necessary through the cycle.

For squats and deads, squats in particular, my maxes are somewhat out of whack. At the last meet my squat suit was so loose in the straps it was like competing in briefs. I have now had them tightened and although not super tight, I think this will make a difference. I plan to run the first 3 week wave doing the rep and explosive days in knee sleeves, belt and suit bottom then on the heavy day I will do my max set with straps down and then take 1 or 2 more sets with straps up. I will use this as a gauge and if my gym max is up above my 235kgs contest max (which I expect it to be) I will adjust accordingly for the next mesocycle.

For my deadlift weights I am being conservative. My deadlift has flat out sucked for the past maybe 6 months. I pulled a 240kg raw conventional in about August, maybe before that and then at the meet in November I barely got an equipped 235kgs! The difference between the two is paltry so I am using 235kgs for the first mesocycle and will work up on explosive day, maybe not until the second cycle, and adjust from there. The extra assistance volume combined with a deadlift specific suit and, thanks to Faz, a better idea on how to use it should see me to a PB but I'm very much playing the deadlift by ear and not getting ahead of myself.

Lastly for assistance I am starting with the template as it is laid out in the book. If something is really not working I'll change it out but otherwise I plan on running with it the whole 10 weeks and review then. As of this week I will be doing my extra session during the week at the work gym and this will be lat pulldowns, leg curls, curls, more shoulder work and abs, probably done as two big circuits.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Soaking this in. Well thought out. Going to give it another read ASAP in the morning when I am fresh.

Give it heck.

[markievicz]

good write up Al ,

10 weeks out from some beastly new PRs

[fenrisulfr]

Nice plan and goals. Good luck.

[LtL]

Thanks guys. Rough night with a sick Mini last night but if she behaves at bedtime I hope to be in the gym tonight for session 1

[big_swede]

Good looking programming Al. I wish you the best of luck with this. Kill it!!

[LtL]

Thanks Swedish. I'm excited.