It's just so mind-numbingly boring!

Meet Prep Week 2 Day 2 (10 January 2017)

It's amazing what pizza can do to your training. It's almost like a performance enhancing drugs AKA steroids. Cheated on my diet on this day and went full fatty mode, ate 7 slices of the regular pizza sized slices, 2 slices of dessert pizza, tons of carbonated drinks and 7 pieces of chicken drummets. I felt so sinful.

Squats (lowbar) 95kg x 5 x 4
- So I've been tweaking my squat form the past few sessions and I think I've found the sweet spot where the hip crease goes below the top of knee, AKA below parallel. I've been struggling with squatting too low and not activating my quads more and this session really shows the vast difference some slight form changes can make. The weight went up very easily and I didn't spend as much energy as before when attacking this weight. RPE was 7 at the most. I felt more quad activation and more power out of the hole, rather than relying on momentum. Great session overall. The pizza helped most probably. Haha.

Bench Press (touch & go) 67.5kg x 4 x 5, 1 X AMRAP=5
- On this session I've decided to not wear my wrist wraps to help maintain healthy wrists. The weight was nothing much to write about, it was easy. RPE 7.5. I did practice on my form a lot more here and played around with foot positioning and ended up being most comfortable with feet flat on the floor. I feel more traction and activation of the quads for leg drive with flat position rather than on the toes position which GPA allows. I do however love to raise my head up at the bottom position of the lift so I'm glad that GPA allows that too. If I compete in IPF sanctioned meet one day I need to remove that head positioning habit.

Squats (lowbar) 87.5kg x 3 x 8
- Remember last week I complained sets of 8's being death. Not so much on this session. Something about not going ATG and the pizza, definitely. This was a great session and gave me a lot of practice. Not once did my barbell hit the safeties that I set to be about 3-4 inches below parallel with my SO checking and confirming that I hit proper depth. RPE 8.5 on these. A bit winded at the end but not dead like last week. I need to start filming myself but I keep forgetting to take the damn tripod with me all the damn time.

Accessories.
- For accessories, I did:

Dumbbell bench press 28kg x 3 x 8 (getting easier everyday)
Lat pulldown 60kg x 3 x 10 (also getting easier everyday)

what kind of programming you did.. i read the program you put in earlier post, but what is it based on? sheiko? GCZL etc.

where do you train..

My programming evolves constantly. On each cycle (usually 6 weeks) I find what works and what doesn't so its's current form is the 6th iteration. That's what I use for regular off season training.

Right now since it's on season, I'm doing a DUP based meet prep program, kinda. The program is in the first post. It's a meet prep so it's more focused on getting stronger in the 3 lifts rather than getting stronger in general.

The bench press part of it is based on Matt Disbrow's deathbench program. I split his program from 2 days to 4 days and reduce some of the accessories because I couldn't recover adequately from his original template. It's quite famous, just google it.

For squats, it's inspired by Sheiko's style of submaximal lifting. On off season I squat 3 times a week while undulating the volume/intensity ala DUP style, on meet prep I squat twice a session, 2 sessions a week. Volume on one day, heavy-ish and technique on another. Keeping my fingers crossed since squat is my weakest lift and slowest in terms of progression.

For deadlifts, I'm not sure what it was inspired from. I just found what works for me, which is weakness focused movements, moderate volume and high-ish intensity as compared to squats and it's currently working well. To deal with fatigue I spread the session across the days I train. Also helps that I simply love deadlifting, so I really don't mind doing it daily if my body permits.

As to where I train, I train in a commercial gym in Cyberjaya. Not really comfortable in revealing too specific details online to be honest, hope you understand.

I see.. im also doing meet prep for MPA. I am on sheiko programming now..

No problem man.. just asking in case you train nearby my area..

I like to try other gym that can do powerlifting.. since not many gym have decent barbell and racks

Hell yeah Sheiko looks good man. One of these days I gotta run it but I'm a stubborn bastard in doing things my way. You doing which Sheiko for the prep? 32-29-37? I believe that's the one that was suggested to me before. Or the intermediate load one? There's so many of them. Which class are you competing in by the way?

My gym sucks man, 1 power rack, 1 bench and 1 platform. Barbells there suck too, very mild knurling and whippy as hell. But it's closest to me so I can't complain. It's filled with cardio bunnies and machine huggers so I never really have to wait for the one and only rack there.

This post has been edited by Npad: Jan 11 2017, 11:40 AM

Im doing intermediate load, my friend is coaching me for this meet.. i am also not familiar with sheiko programming, 1st time doing it

Im competing in 100kg weight class, around 1 year lifting experience.

want to try around the gym? im thinking of going outlaw this weekend, they have eleiko bars and plate

This post has been edited by gondarz: Jan 11 2017, 02:12 PM

I'd love to man, but weekends are a no go for me when it comes to training. Family comes first.

A lot of these nice gyms are just too far away for me. I just live too far from everybody else. QLS, Outlaw, Honey Badger, War3house, Vi Fitness in Seremban 2, all too far from me.

Where do you train if you don't mind me asking? QLS got them Ivanko plates recently and the texas bars. We'll use those bars at the meet so it might be worth it to train there too once in a while. I'm planning to train there the week I test my openers which I'm guessing to be around 2 weeks out.

Super excited to hear there's a fellow powerlifter in here man, looking forward to seeing you there. I'll be in the U67.5kg class.

i train at Muscle Theory at sunway..its just a regular gym but decent to train at..

well i understand, lucky my wife understand im competing, so she allows me to train harder until the competition lol

Meet Prep Week 2 Rest Day (11 January 2017)

In an effort to help with my cut I've decided to try

But seriously, I went swimming yesterday. Did 2 laps of that backwards swimming style (can you tell I don't know shit about swimming) and hit the quads, hammies and glutes considerably hard. Stan Efferding advocates active rest to promote recovery so this is my experiment to see if this is true. If anything I'm more sore. Shit! Don't think it'll affect my performance today too much though.

I hate rest days.

On the brighter side of things, morning weight reading was 74.5kg today. 6 more weeks of this bloody cut and I'm done.

Meet Prep Week 2 Day 3 (12 January 2017)

I did day 4's workout on day 3, like I did in the beginning of the week. Meh, it doesn't matter. On this session I learned the importance of exercise arrangement. There's a reason Sheiko always puts bench press between the first and second lower body movement. I went and did my deadlift and deadlift assistance movement and it really compromised my bench press workout. So kids, don't be rearranging your program willy nilly.

Deadlift (touch & go) 115kg x 2 x 5, 1 x AMRAP=8
- Adductors were sore as fuck on this session, really no idea why. I don't think I swam that hard the day before. Nothing a good roll on the foam roller can't fix. The weight felt a bit heavier than it should but I managed to maintain good bar speed and form. RPE 7 on the regular sets, RPE 8.5 on the AMRAP set.

2.5" Deficit Deadlift (touch & go) 115kg x 3 x 5
- Here was where the mistake was made. I wanted to get over with deadlifts for the day since the weight is practically the same with the main movement. I used a 35# plate for my deficit board and to be honest it felt a bit too high. I might go a bit lower next week since on this session, I felt some shearing force on my spine and that't no good. The weight was heavy-ish like before but moved easily. RPE 8 on all sets. Grip was amazing though, held the weight for a bit on the last reps to get some grip training in.

Manpon Press (touch & go) 77.5kg x 5 x 5
- I love manpon press. On this session I really hammered my lockout hard. But, since I foolishly did deficit deadlift before this one, I kinda ran out of fuel and getting all around fatigued. My last set was horrible with the bar going out of position on the first rep and me failing on the last. My spotter was there to save me, phew. RPE 8.5 on these. Shitty last set but I felt I had a good workout. Also, my wrist wraps really hurts to wear. Is it because I wear it too tight or my wrists are just pussies? The stability is worth the pain though.

Accessories.
Kroc Rows 32kg x 2 x 15, highly recommend these as it will train your biceps, back and abs really really hard. Grab a weight you can do for 15 reps, then AMRAP it for 2 sets. Once you reach 20 reps, move up in weight. I attribute my deadlift gains to these a lot.

Ab Medley 42.5kg x 2 x 5. My version of ab medley is 5 reps barbell rollout followed immediately by 5 reps suitcase deadlift on both sides. this usually kills my abs good and I make good progress in my lifts when I progress in this. I highly recommend full contact twist to be added to the medley as well, but I just couldn't last night.

Meet Prep Week 2 Day 4 (13 January 2017)

I should ban training on Fridays I tell you, something always comes up. This session was cut super short, but I did manage to get some good work in. Went off after bench press.

Squats (lowbar) 115kg x 3 x 3
- The main focus of this session on squats was to nail depth. I filmed myself every set to figure out my depth and out of the 9 reps, only the last rep I went below parallel with the rest being ass to grass even though I actively tried to avoid that. It still feels like I'm quarter squatting though, but I'll keep practicing. RPE was 8 on this session. Wasn't anything too difficult. Gonna post some form checks among other powerlifters and see what I can improve on my technique.

Bench Press (competition paused) 72.5kg x 3 x 3
- This session was a bit weak because of the manpon press I did the day before. I'll need to keep in mind to not do manpon press before a heavy bench press session as it compromises my triceps. RPE 9 on these sets.

This post has been edited by Npad: Jan 14 2017, 09:40 AM

Meet Prep Week 3 Day 1 (16 January 2017)

Didn't feel well today and took a medical leave from work. Still went to train though after sleeping the whole day to recover.

Deadlift (deadstop) 137.5kg x 3 x 3
- This deadlift session took out a lot of energy out of me. Maybe because I was sick, maybe because I couldn't focus, but it didn't feel like the best session ever. My setup went to shits in one of the reps on the last set. Got it done though, RPE 8.5 on these. Bar speed was good. Form was good. Next week I will start filming deadlifts as well to check on form.

Bench Press (touch & go) 67.5kg x 5 x 5
- I experimented a wider grip on this session and felt quite comfortable with it. My wrist might have some issue with the grip but with wraps solving that problem, the triceps no longer becomes the limiting factor. Setup was a bit weird though, have to get used to the bigger arch. RPE 6 on these, #macambarkosong. Will continue with this grip width.

Pull to knees (deadstop) 102.5kg x 3 x 8
- Conditioning is a lot better this week despite me not being 100% on this particular session. I can feel this movement working the hammies real good and I'm getting more powerful and explosive at the bottom portion of the deadlift. Hopefully, my lockout won't give me troubles but so far it's good. RPE 8 on these.

Accessories.
- For accessories, I did:

Lat pulldown 60kg x 2 x 10, 1 x 12
Dumbbell bench press 28kg x 2 x 8, 1 x 10

Meet Prep Week 3 Day 2 (18 January 2017)

This week just isn't going the way I planned it and I'm forced to hustle and "program" on the fly due to time. I'm not a fan of deciding what weights, what exercise, etc when I'm already at the gym but what can you do right? Shit happens. Had to skip Tuesday and went on Wednesday, which I had to cut short an hour of training time. Ended up going home after bench and that was half an hour later than when I usually leave the gym. Hopefully today's session will be better.

Squats 97.5kg x 6 x 4
- My number one goal for this squat session is to fix my form and depth. I filmed myself every set and found that I was still going down into the hole way too fast and not being in control. Depth was still a bit too low but nothing too extreme like before. Feet stayed planted though so that was good. I slowed down everything to maintain proprioception of my hips and quads and on the 2 last sets I think I kinda nailed it. Felt more power out of the hole and engaged the quads more. All from slowing shit down. RPE 8 on these, nothing too serious. Loving squats at the moment.

Bench Press (competition paused) 72.5kg x 5 x 3
- Wide grip is my grip, really loving my current setup. It feels really secure and strong off the chest and my triceps don't need to work as hard. Downside? I need a liftoff for the heavier weights. Wrists feel a bit off too but straps can deal with that easily. RPE 7 on this session. I really want to film myself benching but currently that's rather difficult due the gym's layout. One of these days for sure.

Accessories.
- For accessories, I did barbell rows 70kg x 3 x 10. I just had to end the training session with at least one rowing accessory. I think next time I'm doing Pendlay rows instead. This exercise kinda aggravates my back.

Meet Prep Week 3 Day 3 (20 January 2017)

Like seriously, this week kinda sucks. I missed 2 sessions and on the previous log which was basically a replacement, I had to cut that one shirt too. So on this session I was playing catch up and ended up being in the gym for 3 hours, a first time for me.

Squats 90kg x 3 x 8
- I've been following and emulating Richard "The Ant" Hawthorne very closely with his squats because he's so short just like me. Thanks to that I'm getting better at judging depth and engaging the quads for a more explosive concentric. My form is getting more stable with less bounciness which was pointed out to me in my previous form check. Overall, I'm happy with the progress I'm making with squats. RPE 7 on these. Sets of 8's used to be death 3 weeks ago, now it feels just nice. My conditioning is better and I've become more efficient in the movement.

Bench Press (competition paused) 75kg x 5 x 3
- Also a good session on bench. This weight was my 1RM a year ago. Now I can rep it out no problem. Form also getting better on bench, making full use of the rules set by GPA. As big as an arch I can get, heels up, and wide grip. I believe 100kg on meet day is not a far fetched idea. RPE 7.5 on these. Seriously, my pecs and all the muscles related to bench seem to be able to handle a rather large weekly INOL number. Suggested weekly INOL is between 2-3, my current program on bench has weekly INOL between 4-6. Current limitations are elbow health. With the frequency and intensity I'm benching, my elbows get pretty beat up so whenever that happens, I rehab it with lots and lots of curls.

Pin Squats 100kg x 3 x 5
- Now this, this is a movement I should have started doing a long time ago. With pin setting at hole 5, I was able to identify so many issues with my squats namely, descent speed too fast, unbalanced bar, unbalanced force distribution between legs, lower back rounding when reps get sloppy, depth too low. After this session I gotta say I bettered my form simply because it gave me practice in the range of motion that I needed. Was able to engage the quads more too, so I'm sure it will translate to a bigger squat later. RPE 8 on these.

Deadlift (touch & go) 120kg x 2 x 5, 1 x AMRAP=8
- Deadlift feels solid today. Even though lower back was really fatigued from all the squats I was able to perform these with general ease. I asked a gym bro to slap my upper back before set 2 and I have to admit the bar feels lighter after that. I'm sure there's a connection between the pain and activation of the CNS in a fight or flight response that allows people to handle bigger weights. I'm definitely doing that next time I handle heavier weights. RPE 8 on these, nothing too difficult. Form was awesome too, no breakdowns whatsoever.

Accessories.
- For accessories, I absolutely hammered my back and biceps on this session:

Landmine row with V-Bar handle 60kg x 2 x 10, 1 x AMRAP=15
Seated cable rows with V-Bar handle 195lbs x 3 x 15
A bajillion reps of all kinds of curls at light weight. Didn't even count the sets or reps. Eased the pain I was having in my left elbow. It was also mind-numbingly boring. Got a really good pump though. Look ma, I got biceps.

Meet Prep Week 3 Day 4 (21 January 2017)

Elbows were giving issues on this session. It just hurts. I couldn't bench, row, nor do anything that involves my arm. Ended up doing squats and deadlifts only. I did afterwards went to some cheapskate shop (supersave) and bought some cheap ass elbow sleeves to keep some compression and warmth in my elbows, which in theory, will reduce the pain and keep the joints more fluid. Can't afford none of that SBD elbow sleeves man.

Squats 117.5kg x 3 x 2
- First 2 sets went ok but the last set went to shits. I shifted forward and almost fell, scary. Anyhow, I think I finally ironed out all the small details of my squat like depth, belt positioning, foot positioning, etc. I think I finally got it. I will keep practicing the current form. RPE 9 on these, was quite difficult. Felt like I was pushing the weight up really slowly when in fact it was quite fast as the video review shows.

Paused deficit deadlift 115kg x 3 x 3
- This was a first time for this movement. I picked it to spend more time in the off the ground zone of the deadlift and hopefully will translate to a more explosive max deadlift later on. Deficit was 2" tall but enough to make it really challenging. Quite pleased with it to be honest. Basically combined the benefits of a paused deadlift and a deficit deadlift altogether. RPE 9 on these as well.

Accessories.
- No accessories were done on this session due to elbows giving issues.

Meet Prep Week 4 Day 1 (23 January 2017)

The cheap ass elbow sleeves I bought works well enough. Elbows were kept warm and adequately compressed so the pain was mitigated during squats and bench. And in other news, I really hate my belt right now. Hole 4 is too loose and hole 5 is too tight. Hopefully in 3 weeks I can fit into hole 5. Or if I get CNY bonus I'll buy a new damn belt. Having my eyes on Beast Genetics lever belt on SIG.

Squats 102.5kg x 6 x 4
- Squats moved rather well today. Currently I'm working on removing another bad habit of mine where I drive my hip way too hard which causes me to be unbalanced. There's a difference between being explosive and being wasteful of energy. Driving the hips forward and the back up too hard until the bar can bounce of your delts, that's a waste of energy and a form issue. Pleased with this session, RPE 7.5 on these.

Bench Press (touch & go) 67.5kg x 4 x 5, 1 x AMRAP=9
- A little bit out of touch with bench on this session. I kinda "forgot" how to bench? First 2 sets I wasn't in the groove, didn't engage the leg drive, didn't retract my scapula fully. Something about touch & go style that causes me to forget my cues. I'm just more used to competition paused style of benching I guess. By set 3 though I got my groove back. RPE 7 on these. AMRAP was RPE 9. Probably could have gotten another rep in but I didn't have a spotter. Also, I'm learning how to lift off myself by having my butt off the bench when I lift off and setting it back down once I have the bar set up on top of me. Cool trick to know.

Squats 92.5kg x 3 x 8
- I squatted fast this time and really burned my quads. I still have some balancing issue but nothing I can't deal with by simply slowing down. Very good session for quad building. RPE 8 on these.

Accessories.
- For accessories, I did the following for a finisher:

Landmine row with V-Bar handle 65kg x 2 x 10, 1 x AMRAP=15

Preacher curls of unknown weight, set, or reps. I just mindlessly curled the EZ bar for a pump. Wanted to do skullcrusher but this being Monday, it's international dumbbell bench press day. Not one free bench was available I tell you.

Meet Prep Week 4 Day 2 (24 January 2017)

Why are noobs and other gym goers at my gym in general, just adamant about using the suicide grip on the bench press and loads up way more weight than they can handle? Don't they know why suicide grip is called suicide grip? SMH. I hate my gym sometimes. One of these days one of these fuckers will off themselves on the bench I tell you, I just hope I won't be there to witness it. Had to work in with someone like this on this session.

Deadlifts (deadstop) 142.5kg x 3 x 3
- Felt a little lethargic and messed up on some of the cues during this session, so I decided to film myself. My lower back feels neutral, but the video makes it hard to assess due to all the fat, shirt and belt around that general area. Next week I'll wear my soft suit only during deadlift for a proper form check. RPE 8.5 on these. Wasn't particularly difficult but like I said I was lethargic a bit. Speed of the barbell was good though.

Bench Press (competition paused) 75kg x 5 x 3
- Elbows still giving me issues on this session. Last week it was more of my left, on this day it was more of my right. Sleeves helped a bit but the pain was still there. Had to take long breaks between sets, seeing as it is my max effort day.Weight moved fast. As expected rep 3 of each set slows down a bit as I begin to lose tightness but I only need to do 1 rep at the competition, no biggy. RPE 8 on these no problem. My feet setup is getting better too. I manage to use my adductor to basically clamp onto the bench and keep my butt set down. Allows me to push off with my legs for a stronger leg drive as well.

Pull to knees 107.5kg x 3 x 8
- Conditioning is still shit I suppose since I almost passed out on set 2 of these. Haha. Wasn't difficult, was just really exhausted. Got a good pump on me hammies, erector and glutes.

Accessories.
- For accessories, I did the following:

Dumbbell bench press 30kg x 3 x 8

Seated cable rows with straight handle 195lbs x 3 x 15

Guess what came in the mail today? I finally pulled the trigger and bought myself the Beast Genetics Lever Belt that I've been eyeing the past few months. I'm so stoked to try this shit out! Can't wait to get off work and get home.

Meet Prep Week 4 Day 3 (26 January 2017)

Rushing for time today so can't do much commentary on the log.

Main lifts:

Deadlifts (touch & go) 125kg x 2 x 5, 1 x AMRAP=10

Bench Press (competition paused) 75kg x 3 x 3, 77.5kg x 2 x 3

Deficit deadlifts 115kg x 3 x 5

Accessories:

Kroc Rows 34kg x 2 x 15

Lat Pulldown 60kg x 3 x 10