Day 3

It's late. Had 2.5 hours sleep and had a HUGE day and still managed to pull myself into gym. Then I do it again (staying up late). Gotta sleep so I'll be quick.

Front Squat 85 SRM (70 dubs)
Weighted Pullups 72.5 SRM (70 dubs)

Day 2

Hopefully it's a Day 2 of a revelation, not Day 2 of the worst decision I've ever made. Moving on..

So today I started with a DB Bench + Squat workout. Worked up to an SRM of 100, then did doubles of 90, triples of 80, fives of 65. I find that for squats, these will work well: doubles @ 85-90%; triples @ 75-80%; fives at 60-70%. For DB bench, I worked up to an SRM of 35, and I found these worked well: doubles @ 95%; triples @ 85-90%; fives at 75-80%. Didn't get to go on to eights or tens but I would estimate eighttotens @ 60-70%.

There are four reasons why the numbers are different:

1) Failing on DB bench is not as exhausting and dangerous as failing a squat.
2) Going heavy on the squat breaks form and stresses the lower back and also the knees.
3) I want power in my squats in case I ever transition into Olympic Weightlifting. Don't need so much speed in my bench (but I'll still practise it as much as I can).
4) I will be doing squats almost every day.

Decided for the time-being that I will NOT do the Lifts and I will include Push Presses and Rows, like so:

Snatch Pulls + DB Bench
Back Squat + Weighted Pullups
Front Squat + Push Press
Back Squat + Bench Rows

Excepting the Snatch Pulls (which will only be done in triples or more), these will be done in SRM-pyramid fashion.

My goal of 40s doesn't seem so far after all. I will probably have to move to BB bench once I can hit 40s for triples (but still have working sets on DB). That is, if I continue this regime. Excited though. Don't want to expect too much though or else I might be disappointed, but I do expect to hit 37.5 in the next few workouts and then 40 within the next few weeks at least. Anyway, it's late.

Peace

Day 1 (for the manyth time)

So. I'm back.

Not technically Day 1 of this period but a Day 1 of starting my Squat Every Day workouts. Been reading some advice from Coach John Broz, who trained with none other than Antonio Krastev, a Bulgarian Olympic Weightlifting champion who pulled 216kg in the Snatch. This record still stands (but is not currently recognized as the weight classes got reshuffled). Anyway, having read into how Coach Broz trains his lifters, I thought that I, too, could benefit from his Bulgarian-influenced training regime. He explains a number of reasons that training every day is beneficial in many ways. I, personally, am quite convinced that I will respond to this type of training well. The students of Broz' workout twice a day, six days a week, and once on Sundays. This is a total of thirteen workouts a week but I think a more lenient number would just be to say ten to fourteen times. This is definitely a huge number of workouts, and one would normally think that is extreme, especially with all the Personal Trainer's blabbing about overtraining (and form..and hypertrophy..lol) but I'm sold. Or gullible. No, seriously, John also said something very insightful: "Research, do what flows with your logic the most, and stick to it. The best thing you can do is get a good coach and fully and blindly follow him." I completely agree with his logic and his claims - though I didn't bother to do the research bit. I think I know enough anyway, to keep my work efficient. Anyway, the basic workout schedule for the Average Broz student might be to do the Olympic lifts up to specific weights in the morning, followed by some higher-rep squats. In the late afternoon session his lifters will go for single-rep maxes (SRM) in the snatch and clean and jerk, then perform doubles based upon those results, and then finish with squats, also in SRM style.

My goal will be to eventually build up to seven days a week of SRM squatting. It will be the first exercise of every workout (unless it's Olympic day), and if there are rest days then I will just come in and just do squats.

I hope to improve my current max of 110 Back Squat (BS), to at least 140 for reps. Same with the Front Squat (FS) but I'm not too fussed about the weights on that, just doing them once a week, and decent numbers in the FS I will be happy with. I hope to do some fast deadlifts also mixed in once a week, just explosive triples of around 80%. I can feel when my form begins to break down so I'll have to just work with whatever weight that is (around 80-90 I start struggling).

If I ever want to, I might start doing the Lifts again, however, they take extreme time and patience and it's not so encouraging when I walk away with nothing (noticeably) improved.

Anyway enough chit-chat. See you all soon enough.

Day 137

Not much strength gain but I think I've gotten size gains.

Squat 90
Bench 72.5
Press 42.5
Deadlift 127.5

Improvements that I have made:

Chest and Quad and Shoulder workouts are near perfection.
Back and Hamstring workouts have drastically improved.
Just begun skipping.

Unimprovements:
Visibly alot less lean.
Don't do abs, traps, or forearms - deadlift is getting to the point where i need straps. Calves aren't on a regular basis.

Improvements I would like to make:
Do calves on a regular basis.
Do traps on a regular basis.
Do abs at least twice a week.
Get good at skipping.

Things I need to keep in mind:
Eat now, cut later
Sleep like a baby, lift like a monster
Turn up every single day, faggot
Take your time, don't rush

Day 87

Deloading @ 70% for the week starting yesterday

Day 73

6 Day Split.

Monday - Chest + Abs
Tuesday - Hams + Calves
Wednesday - Arms + Abs (optional)
Thursday - Quads + Calves
Friday - Shoulders + Abs
Saturday - Back
Sunday - Rest

Day 67

Deadlift 120
Squat 90
Bench 70