Return of the King

Friday January 24th: Smolov Jr. Cycle 2 - Bench Day 6 of 12

Agile 8 i.e. De Franco mobility / warm up

1. foam roll IT bands
2. foam roll adductors
3. foam roll glutes
4. fire hydrants
5. V sits tumble thing
6. groiners
7. mountain climbers
8. hip flexor stretch

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Bench *all paused*
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
72.5kg - 1x3
82.5kg - 7x5 ... easy
*add slingshot*
100kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x3
107.5kg - 1x1 ... fine

Chin Ups (parallel grip)
bodyweight +5kg - 3x6

BB Row (wide grip = pinky on rings)
55kg - 3x10

One Arm DB Row
22.5kg per arm - 3x8 ... dead stop on ground between each rep
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Face Pulls (yellow band)
3x10

Barbell Curls
20kg - 3x10
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Prowler
no added weight - 6 lengths walking on the astro
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I've been looking for a decent warm up routine. Was reading about De Franco's Agile 8. Tried it out and got a good sweat going. Could be good ahead of lower body days. Also threw in some backward bends, external rotations and shoulder dislocates (i.e. usual warm up).

Bench was easy. Feeling very solid and powerful from the pause at the bottom. Neighbour is telling me that I'm looking bigger than last time I saw him about a month ago, so seems Smolov Jr is delivering.

Monday January 27th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x6
85kg - 3x6
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Squat
60kg - 1x6
*belt*
90kg - 1x3
112.5kg - 1x2
125kg - 3x5 ... videos of all 3 sets to follow
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Front Squat
72.5kg - 3x5 ... videos of sets 2 and 3 to follow
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45 Degree Back Raise
no weight - 3x10
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Ham Curl (seated machine)
18kg - 1x10
23kg - 1x10
27kg - 1x10
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Different gym again today. The new new that I joined isn't open on public holidays, so I used a free pass at another local gym. 3rd gym I've used this cycle, which meant more slight confusion getting used to the bars and plates in there. I'm convinced that the 20kg plates have a smaller radius than the typical 20kg plates. Deadlifts felt like a deficit.

Wasn't planning to video the Squats, but glad I did. Not sure if it was the bar markings causing my grip to differ (narrow grip = trying to stay more upright and not get to depth as well), but I was shocked at the depth of the first set. Awkward angle but they seemed high.

Changed angle of video recording for 2nd set and they again seemed borderline.

For the 3rd set I took a wider grip (i.e. lower bar'd it more) and the depth was way better. Feel it much more in the adductors with low bar. That explains why my adductors were killing me last week.

Went to the beach afterwards. Think that makes it 6 days in a row. Messed about in the water with bodyboard... which is way less strenuous (i.e. not at all) than surfing, so don't bother logging that stuff.

Knees slightly sore which I'm putting down to running around so much in the sand the past few days.

Tuesday January 28th: Smolov Jr. Cycle 2 - Bench Day 7 of 12

Bench *all paused*
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 1x2
87.5kg - 8x4 ... fine
*add slingshot*
100kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x3
107.5kg - 1x1

Chin Ups (parallel grip)
bodyweight +5kg - 3x6

BB Row
57.5kg - 3x10 ... adding 2.5kg per session still

One Arm DB Row
22.5kg per arm - 3x8 ... dead stop on ground between each rep
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Elbows slightly achey today on bench which I'll put down to low bar Squats yesterday. Rushed through bench sets and all fine. Feeling strong on bench.

BossArky wrote: »

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
135kg - 3x5 ... fine. Videos to follow of all 3 sets
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Deadlifts felt good

BossArky wrote: »

Squat
85kg - 3x5 ... again experimenting with slightly wider grip than usual and head down on 2nd and 3rd set. Videos of all 3 sets to follow.

Just videos of 2nd & 3rd set. Deleted first as it was sideways for some reason.

BossArky wrote: »

Front Squat
75kg - 3x5 ... video'd first set

BossArky wrote: »

Glute Ham Raise
3x5 ... video'd all sets to check angle. Need to put the back foot pad up to the highest notch to get totally horizontal. Currently one off highest. Thought I was horizonal in bottom position so glad I found out via video that I wasn't

BossArky wrote: »

BB Row (wide grip = pinky on rings)
60kg - 3x10 ... video to follow. Checking form.

Video'd the barbell rows to see if the image of my form in my head equates to reality. It does, sorta.

Monday February 4th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x5
90kg - 3x5
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Squat
60kg - 1x5
*belt*
90kg - 1x3
110kg - 1x2
122.5kg - 1x1
130kg - 3x5 ... almost perfect! Videos of all 3 sets to follow
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Front Squat
77.5kg - 3x5 ... tough. 2.5kg up on last cycle
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Glute Ham Raise
3x5
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Squats were awesome. Best heavy sets of my powerlifting career. Low bar and gaze down. You cannot see it from the video but on the 3rd rep of 3rd set I got pulled a tiny bit forward. That was the only thing of note. The rest were perfect. Happy.

Front Squats were heavy. Almost reracked after 1st and 2nd reps in 1st set. Persevered and got it done. Wanted to add 2.5kg to last cycle top sets. Next Front Squats will be high reps / low weights until this cycle is complete.

Tuesday February 4th: Smolov Jr. Cycle 2 - Bench Day 9 of 12

Bench *all paused*
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
70kg - 1x2
80kg - 6x6 ... alightly but elbows achey from Squats
*add slingshot*
100kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x3 ... on the second attempt. First attempt = bar ended up on ground
107.5kg - 1x1 ... fine, but left it at just 1 rep again

Chin Ups (parallel grip)
bodyweight +5kg - 3x6

BB Row
60kg - 3x10

One Arm DB Row
22.5kg per arm - 3x10 ... dead stop on ground between each rep. Feeling these nicely in the lats nowadays. Maybe due to following the BB rows.
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Elbows achey from Squats the day before. 80kg paused 6x6 was alrightly on bench... however managed to dump all the plates off the right side of the bar on the 105kg set. This lead to an OOOOOHHH ****!!! moment as I was holding the bar and seeing this happen in slow-mo. The bar ended up standing bolt upright on the left side of the bench with two twenties and a 2.5 at its base... like a rocket. Lesson learnt. Use clips. I've now got face savers/spotting thingy on this bench so cannot kill myself if using clips.

Pretty knackered after Squats yesterday.

BossArky wrote: »

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
137.5kg - 3x5 ... fine. Videos of all 3 sets to follow

Deadlifting 137.5kg is the peak of the 3x5s this cycle. Next week I'll do 145kg 2x2. Felt fine. Sets got progressively better. Seem to be pulled forward a tiny bit in the first set as the bar leaves the floor.

I create my videos with iphone and either of the following apps:

• Splice = free and limited functionality, but enough for gym vids
• iMovie = costs a small bit, but has more functionality than you need for simple gym vids

Both allow you to combine multiple separate vids into one and include fades, etc.

I used Splice a lot initially. It is fine. Only problem is it takes up heaps and heaps of mbs for storing vids and past projects. I would have to keep uninstalling it to clean out the disk space and then reinstall ahead of each new video.

tl;dr --> iMovie.

BossArky wrote: »

Friday February 7th: Smolov Jr. Cycle 2 - Bench Day 10 of 12

Bench *all paused*
85kg - 7x5 ... alightly but elbows achey from Squats. Video of last set to follow
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I remember how I struggled through 85kg 10x3 touch & go on day 3 of smolov cycle 1. Now I'm doing the same weight for 7x5 paused. Nice.

BossArky wrote: »

Squat
132.5kg - 3x5 ... equals all time 3x5 pb. Good. Videos of set 2&3 to follow. Recorded set 1 sideways so won't bother including in montage
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Delighted my Squat 3x5 is back up to all time personal best levels set 2.5 years ago. Next cycle will break new ground ahead of comp on April 12th.

BossArky wrote: »

Bench *all paused*
90kg - 8x4 ... eblows very achey. No problems strengthwise but foot positioning dodgy & caused me to hit side supports a few times. Videos of sets 5-8 to follow.

BossArky wrote: »

*add slingshot*
100kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x3
107.5kg - 1x1 ... vids of all slingshot sets to follow

Arrived at gym 3pm. Left 5:30pm. Jesus.

BossArky wrote: »

Thursday February 13th:

Sumo Deadlift (with belt)
60kg - 1x5
90kg - 1x3
110kg - 1x2
125kg - 1x1
135kg - 1x1
145kg - 2x2 ... meh. Videos of both sets to follow. Tired

So tired. Didn't sleep last night. Deadlift wasn't particularly hard, just real sloppy and felt like I was dragged forward on each rep of both sets. On second set I set up all wrong and was miles from bar when started pulling. Started new job the day beforehand. The mini stress of that, the heavy Squats from Monday & lack of sleep adding up. Will be fine with some decent recovery.

Anyway, that is the end of this deadlift cycle. It was pretty easy. None of the weeks were particularly taxing to be honest. Still building up strength again. Will take a mini deload next week (after Squat 2x2 on Monday) and then one more cycle which will peak 5kg heavier ahead of comp in April.

BossArky wrote: »

Friday February 14th: Smolov Jr. Cycle 2 - Bench Day 12 of 12

Bench
95kg - 10x3 ... good through it. Eblows very achey still. Vids of sets 6-10 to follow
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Successfully completed second Smolov Jr. Bench cycle. Elbows so sore.

Went up two shirt sizes due to all that benching in the past couple of months. Had to go out and buy a new wardrobe for new job. Previous shirts were painted onto me when I tried them at beginning of the week.

Saturday February 15th:

Cycle 13.2km with BabyArky in the bike trailer.