View Full Version : Kyle's Training Log
Hey there--
I have been meaning to track my training someplace for a while, and I was last here a couple years ago, so I figure I will give this a go. I like having some sort of "training diary" and talking out loud like this helps me conceptualize and process my concerns as I'm working my way through a training cycle.
I don't exactly know who my audience is--I guess I'm writing this for myself (maybe?)--so I will just be brief. My next meet is in Kansas City (USPA) on Dec. 10th. I moved from 148 to 165 a couple years ago and am again doing this at 165. I haven't competed since the beginning of the year and am ready to see how much I have progressed. I was at 1581 in January and 1621 during a mock meet in June, so 1650-1700 would be cool. Blergh.
Playing catchup here:
My training cycle started about six weeks ago. Everything is feeling good thus far. Right now, training frequency is high, the exertion on most work is very low, and my goals are just to work on my weaknesses and rebuild work capacity.
Basically, I squat and bench three times a week. Two sessions for the squat are really easy; the bench ones, less so. The third session is a predetermined top-set.
For deadlift, I alternate weeks of straight-set and max-effort work.
My bodyweight is down to around 177 now; I have been cutting from 185 but I want room to gain weight in the last few weeks, so I am leaning out as the training is easy.
Yesterday was max-effort deadlift and my top set (a single) on squat. I don't do drop sets or anything like that--I save the supplemental work for everything else. Deadlift was 731, which is 11 pounds above what I did right before a meet last year, when I pulled 639, and squat was 645. I haven't squatted with this setup in AGES, so it's hard for me to form any comparison.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJqiaUuBtec/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJquSHEBHCM/
I am deloading my bench this week, so I am resting this week, but I will be back at it tomorrow.
High-bar squats, 345 for four sets of eight. Considering how awful high bar has felt recently, this went well. My SI joint is a little tender from Sunday's session, but I managed fine. I am going to reset my numbers on squat after the next deload and nake the training even easier for a bit as I start prep.
Keosawa
09-02-16, 12:34 am
Paused squats, 405 for six triples. Nice and eeeeeasy. Besides not being able to keep the bar on my back, this went just fine.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ0reGdhUHA/
Keosawa
09-03-16, 10:51 pm
Squats today: 505 for a single, then 530 for a miss.
Really pleased with how today went; my goal was to test around 5% away from where I peaked in the summer, and although I ended up with a close miss, I feel good about where I'm at.
Over the summer, I bulked up and peaked for a mock meet, where I squatted 560. That was a small PR over my meet best of 551. For my summer peak, my bodyweight got up to 194 and I was priming myself for a mid-year test.
Now I am down to 177 lbs. in an effort to bring my bodyweight down before this next prep. I usually cut from 185 and am dropping bodyweight to accommodate weight gain towards the meet. A little loss now for a bigger return later.
I am 14 weeks out from this meet and just wanted to get a read on where I stood. I figure if I were coming off a rest versus in a training cycle, I am a 520-530ish squatter right now, which I am very happy with.
Prep starts in two weeks. I am already in good shape and pretty light for this one. I feel healthy and am starting much higher than I did in last year's prep.
A lot of this reads like me making excuses and setting crazy goals, but in reality, I have always been a guy who just feels much stronger at meets, and so I take all things into account when planning.
Keosawa
09-04-16, 10:32 pm
Paused deadlifts: 526x2x2, then 526x5.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ8ibOShM7B/
I felt very strong today on these; stronger really than in some time. While my squat nosedives with weight-loss, my deadlift stays about the same. Conversely, I don't see the same rapid increase as I prep for a meet. So if I'm around 660 right now, hitting 675 in competition is awesome, whereas my squat will move 50-75 pounds from this point on, barring injury.
I switched back to a deadlift bar for this, and this was the firsf day that felt "too" easy. Maybe I will bump the numbers a bit moving forward. I think in two weeks I am set to do 485x5x4, so that could stand to be upped a tad. We'll see. I would be fine with undershooting for a bit.
Otherwise, this all went fine. Did some grip work and a fluff and buff sesh after. I really need to ramp up the grip work. It has not been a problem in training, but it sometimes gets iffy in the mid-6's, so I need to focus on it before I lose a third attempt at a meet. I will at a minimum hammer away at it after deadlifts.
2-second paused bench: 275x5x5
A new mesocycle has begun, and I will be regressing my bench untensity while adding longer pauses for this one. The goal is to reduce absolute intensity while maintaining relative intensity, allowing myself to get rid of these little nagging boo-boos before I ramp it up.
This session went just fine. It was a bit on the easy side, but no worries there: my pec was gimpy beforw my deload and I would rather baby it right now.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ-wf0ph--X/
Keosawa
09-07-16, 12:18 am
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKCR_t2BMlb/
Low bar, 335 for five sets of ten.
Holy crap, this kicked my ass. Some higher-rep low bar is probably going to be very useful for me. I did NOT expect this session to be quite this taxing. Lesson learned! I don't have much good to say: sloppy reps, slow speed, and I was dying by the end of it. No biggy though, as I will get better.
Keosawa
09-08-16, 11:11 pm
A couple days behind here:
2 sec. paused benches, 235 for six sets of ten, and 325 paused squats for ten sets of five:
Independently, the sets weren't too hard, but the cumulative work has kicked my ass. Benching has been fine, but I have surprisingly had to recondition myself to the extra low bar volume. I figured the high bar work would make this a very easy transition; I was wrong! My adductors are sore as shit and I am going to need to round into shape. This will be a good next two weeks before I FINALLY can deload my squat.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKMTf29B0O0/
Top set deadlift, 621x1 from a 2" deficit. Nice and smooth and my grip felt great. Bodyweight was 177.5 for that morning, which is also good. These felt like poo warming up, but I was happy with how it turned out. Woo.
Yesterday was top set with reactive slingshot of 350x7, followed by long pause sets of 290x4x5. I was supposed to do x5 in the slingshot, but I was too conservative with the number I chose. I just added a couple reps to make it a bit harder and did my straight sets from there. Pec strain feels about gone and tendonitis cooperated well for this day, so my benching was stronger than usual. With 12ish weeks to go, everything ramps up starting now. Time to put together some quality sessions. Bodyweight is 177.8 today for training after a cheat meal, so that continues dropping nicely.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKQ_R0cBwIk/
Yesterday was long-paused benching, 255 for four sets of eight. These were fine and the hardest part is holding the setup for that long! My legs were fried. Since this weekend is all top sets, I am taking today and tomorrow off. I am due a day off anyway, and I will place the light paused squatting after my top set as drop-sets. Work has been killer and I am running on fumes this week! At least I hit a new bodyweight low of 175.6.
Keosawa
09-17-16, 12:16 am
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKa_-wrBwJv/
335x4x10
Keosawa
09-17-16, 10:41 pm
Paused deadlift, 556x4. Bodyweight 175.
Blergh. Pretty depressed and worn down today. Hopefully a long sleep has me feeling a bit better in the morning. Deadlifts were actually quite good though.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKebdzlhIbh/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKgo5lYBMYC/
405x2 in a reactive slingshot. Making this the raw goal for the end of prep is a good one. This was decent--I felt pretty lousy and under-performed, but I still set a good benchmark for the future.
I am guessing I just take my deload next week and start back up on Saturday. I have been super busy and super stressed and training this week was a struggle to get through. It has been five weeks of aggressive squatting and I'm just ready for a break. Now seems like a good time to hit the reset button. I will do some light upper body stuff during the week, but will mostly stay out of the gym and recharge my batteries. So, I will probably see this log again on Saturday, unless plans change, lol.
Back!
I just started training again after a five-day deload. So far, I have done 480x2 squat and 350x3 bench. The bench is great for where I'm at; the squat is meh. I have decided to ramp up squat intensity this meso to see how things progress. Up until now, the training has consisted of light sub-max work, so it's time to handle something heavier.
Keosawa
10-01-16, 10:20 pm
Well, I basically forgot to recap an entire week, as I have been so busy! Here is the short of it:
I started a new three-week meso, and this one went well. Bench was 290x8x4 and 320x4x4 (paused), and squat was 390x7x4 for two sessions and 420x7x2 for one. On deadlift, I pulled 601x3.
Quick thoughts:
- Deadlift grip is way better and is a non-issue right now.
- Squats and bench both felt progressively better as the week went on.
- Taking off top sets on squat and bench will likely be a good ddcision for the meso after this one.
Blergh. I just missed about a month of this! I was made the new manager at my gym, which is fantastic but also very time-consuming. I still manage to train every day. I am five weeks out from this meet, so maaaybe I should start logging all this again. Today was:
Deadlift, 592x3x3
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMfC34uhZY5/
Good sesh. I felt like dog poop warming up but this ended up being surprisingly easy. I just kind of cruised through the sets. No additional grip work today, as my hands were plenty beat up from this. This is about 91% and was the session I half-expected to cut short, so managing it pretty easily was very weird. I am guessing this will be a final warm-up by meet day. No idea where I will open; it was 617 in Feb. but I guess I got a bunch stronger, so I figure 620-640 depending on how training finishes up. Next week is 615x2x2, then 650x2, then 670x1. If I make it through that, I just rest from there.
Squat, 450x6x4 https://www.instagram.com/p/BMhqkFKBdEx/
Decent squat sesh. My straight set sessions have been mostly awful for two weeks, and this was the best of the bunch. 450x6x4 isn't stupid-hard, but it's pretty challenging, and I survived it. It only gets harder from here!
Keosawa
11-10-16, 12:46 am
Bench, 352x3x2
Squat, 505x3
Bench felt like death, but I managed two triples with 352 despite having wicked tendonitis. Now I just need to get it to chill for Saturday so I can hit a good top set. Squat was a nice top set, but they only get harder from here and I felt pretty run down. Next week, I will be converting to 2x squat and bench and running some drop sets after my top set. That I think will be a better way to redistribute volume for this last training cycle.
Squat: 485x3, 485x5
Deadlift: 611x4
Notes: Bench is on hiatus for now, as my tendonitis is freaking out. I am going to db press like a maniac in an effort to get my strength up there. I am working on it regularly and will run a x3 top set next weekend.
So, that stinks, but it is a pretty small setback and I have a good backup plan. Squat and deadlift have gone well all cycle and I even autoregulated up this weekend. 485x5 is a 5 rep PR and 611x4 is a big PR, over 606x3. 611 was supposed to be 2x2 but it felt easy. Grip feels awesome and it is looking like my deadlift will take a leap forward at this meet. Next week is 650x2.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMwf_4dhhLy/
Keosawa
12-15-16, 12:35 pm
Lame-o never updated his log before the meet. Did a USPA meet and totaled 1669 at 165, raw (sleevesies). 573 squat, 402 bench, 694 deadlift.
+22 pounds on squat this year, but my depth and technique is much better. Now I can actually do a meet without worrying about squat depth.
+16 pounds on bench this year. Decent, but not super. Tendonitis continues to hold me back. I just need to keep fighting the good fight. Someday it will click.
+50 pounds on deadlift this year. Weird, because I focused so much on squat and bench. I found a deadlift training program that worked and I will stick to it. Grip and technique are getting a lot better now.
Next year, I will do the US Open in wraps in April, and maybe a local USPA meet next December. 1730+ in wraps for April would be cool, as would 1730+ in sleeves next December. I have four months until April and just started dicking around with light bodybuilding today. I will start documenting training this weekend. Stay tuned, audience of zero. 😀