Weasel,

Im about to the end of my LRB cycle. I want to test maxes once its done. What do you think the best schedule is regarding a break/deload and the testing? Here is what is coming up (i usually workout MWF).

Week 1 (this week): bench heavy, legs heavy, light pulls
Week 2: light press, light legs, heavy DLs
Week 3: ???? deload? when should I test? Saturday of this week?

Thanks for any input.

Aidan,

On week 3, I would just work up to singles at a weight that you could do for like 4 reps on Monday for bench and squat and then take the rest of the week off and either max on Friday or Saturday.

sounds good, thanks!

Aidan,

I just read through your log more closely and another way you could go about maxing out is max out on saturday of week 2 in place of deadlift day. Then just deload or something week 3 and start your new cylce the next week. If you do it the first way i said, you would have like 2.5 weeks off of heavy benching and 2 weeks off heavy squatting. Not really sure what way is the best they both probably would work about the same.

I appreciate the effort! Both options seem ok to me, I guess I'll see how I feel between now and then.

Week 11 day 2

Deadlift w/ belt x 3 @9. 4-6% fatigue

I used hookgrip on this again cause my wrist still hurt on the supinated hand. Hookgrip seems to be going well. I feel like my lockout is better and I can get in a better starting position since my hands are closer together

455x3 @8
505x3 @9
480x3 @9

8cm towel press x2 @9 4-6% fatigue
245x2 @7
275x2 @8
300x2 @8.5
305x2 @9
290x2 @9

Front squat x4 @9. 4-6% fatigue
185x4 @7
225x1. I lost this one forward a little so i had to lift my elbows way up and I tweaked my same wrist thats been hurting on deadlifts. I decided to quit here and not risk really messing my wrist up

When I saw you were FSing after complaining about a wrist problem, I knew that would not end well. Take care of the wrist & find a substitute for FSs, or use a cross grip or something imo.

I use straps when I fs so I didn't think it would be a problem but I was wrong.I don't think I have any more front squats programmed til after the meet but I will ask Mike t to not program them in anymore til my wrist is 100 percent

Good idea.

Start hunting around on your forearms for adhesions. Wrist problems are weird sometimes. I get pain in the backside of the joint of my right wrist that is usually caused by adhesions on the other side of my forearm. The pronator teres muscle was really bad for a while and that hurt the backside of my wrist for a long time.

Week 11 GPP session 1

Side lying external rotation
2x10x10lbs

Spinal traction

Land Mines
2x10

Ab Wheel 2x10

hip thrusts
2x20

BB Row
3x10x190

Steady state cardio HR 120-152 20 min
Did this on exercise bike

Week 11 day 3

2 ct pause squat x 2 @9. 4-6% fatigue

315x2 @7.5
340x2 @8
365x2 @9
350x2 @9

Bench against dbl mini x 6@10. 4-6% fatigue

185x6 @7.5
205x6 @8.5
225x6 @10
215x6 @10

Push press x5 @9. 4-6% fatigue
165x5 @8
180x5 @8
170x5 @8

Week 11 day 4

2 count pause deadlift x2 @9. 4-6% fatigue

385x2 @7
415x2 @8
440x2 @8.5
455x2 @8.5
475x2 @9
450x2 @9

Bench against mini x5 @9. 4-6% fatigue

5x205 @7
5x230 @9
5x220 @8.5
5x220 @9

Snatch Grip sldl
270x5 @7
320x5 @9
305x5 @8.5
305x5 @9

Where do you pause at on the deadlift?

I pause at pretty much mid shin

Week 12 day 1

Squat w/ belt x2 @9. 4-6% fatigue
375x2 @ 7.5
410x2 @ 8.5
420x2 @ 9
400x2 @ 9

Comp Bench x2 @9
225x2 @7
250x2 @8
275x2 @9
260x2 @9

2 Count pause bench x4 @9. 4-6% fatigue
225x4 @8
245x4 @9
235x4 @9

Week 12 Day 2

DL w/ belt x2 @9. 4-6% fatigue
475x2 @8
520x2 @9
495x2 @9

8cm towel press x 4 @9. 4-6% fatigue

245x4 @7.5
280x4 @9
265x4 @8.5
265x4 @9

2 ct pause squat x5 @9. 4-6% fatigue

315x5 @8
350x5 @9.5
330x5 @9

So for the meet next week im thinking about doing these for my 1st and second attempts. Anyone have opinions on how it looks?

squat 408, 440, then maybe 465 or so depending on how 440 feels

bench 270, 286, 303

DL 506, 535, then whatever i feel like i can do. hopefully like 560 or so

Week 12 day 3

Squat against avg band x4 @9. 4-6% fatigue

275x4 @7.5
315x4 @9
300x4 @9

Bench against dbl minis x2 @9. 4-6% fatigue

225x2 @8
245x2 @9
235x2 @9

Press x7 @9. 4-6% fatigue
135x7 @7.5
150x7 @9
140x7 @9

isn't meet super soon? Kinda surprised you're still doing band/etc work.

Ya meet is next Saturday. I'm not really sure about the band work. Have to band dl tomorrow then deload. Not to sure what I'll be doing that week. I think just singles to my openers but not sure. Mike T always does better in the gym than at meets so not sure how good his peaking is but we'll see

I was thinking about squatting just about like that. I had 419 441 463 on my Excel sheet that I made several weeks ago, but will probably go 2.5 - 5 KGs lighter on the opener. You plan looks fine. Adjust 2nd or 3rd rep as necessary depending how the preceding one feels.

bench - idk, I suck at benching in meets. I'm planning 314 325 336 fwiw. I dont suggest you do this, and you and/or others might try to talk me out of this, but I think I'm going to warm up with ~315 before I do my opener. I'm going to do that because I tend to feel stronger & more ready for a heavy bench after doing something like that that's pretty heavy. Typically in the past, I've felt like the opening weight was harder than it should have been because I felt like I hadnt done anything challenging enough in warm ups. Maybe its my old muscles; maybe I'm nuts; whatever. I'm sure another single with ~315 isnt going to tire me out like another opening DL or squat rep might. I'm going to do it, but I'm not going to suggest you do it.

Your DL seems good. I was going to do 496 or 502, 540, 573.

Tell me what you think of my squat & DL plans.



520x2 - very nice

Your squat and deaddlift plans both look pretty good. I dont know about warming up at 315 though. I think if your going to warm up with your opener you might want to open a tad lower at like 303 or 308

Both cha and weasel,

I'd lower both your squat openers. Make it 85% of your goal and smoke it, which for both of you means taking 4-5kg off.

Cha, that's a bizarre bench plan. 10 pound jumps seems nuts.

KC,

Keep the second the same or lower that as well?

I'm a fan of the 85%, 93%, 100% approach, so your 2nd is a little high using that, but not by much, so 200kg seems fine. It really depends on you and how you like to lift. Some like 90/95/100. Some just care about the 2nd and go for broke on the 3rd (I think that's fairly dumb for inexperienced raw lifters).

but I'm especially an advocate for keeping the squat opener light just to get the ball rolling.

I never really understood how to use that. It seems to me like the 3rd attempt is the most variable, but that's the 100 that you're basing the first two off of? It could very well be because I had no idea wtf I was doing but at my [only] meet, I didn't know what I'd be able to lift so I chose comfortable openers and just added ~5-10%.