Beached Whale Chronicles

[Xiva]

And yes i got my answer
Thanks for explaining.

 

[Sentinel]

Looks good. Why are you doing "Crazy Plate Bench Press"

I guess it's because it put alot of focus at stabilitation muscles, am i correct?

Bingo. Also, because I absolutely DETEST the bench press, I will do everything I can to make it fun(ner).

And yes i got my answer
Thanks for explaining.

No worries. You got any questions about why I do what I do please ask away and I will do my absolute best to answer them. You are very very well informed about training so I respect your opinion and I do not think it is any waste of my time to explain things to you no matter how long the explanation may be.

 

[jonathan]

I don't like the bench press either mate

 

[Xiva]

Neither do i
it's also totoally overrated at hypertrophy matters.

 

[Sentinel]

who likes to workout while lying down?

 

[jonathan]

haha good one. Maybe we must invent some kind of bench press we can do while standing

 

[El Freako]

Nice log mate, good to see another powerlifter amongst our ranks. Hope you stick around.

 

[Sentinel]

Nice log mate, good to see another powerlifter amongst our ranks. Hope you stick around.

I will stick around as long as I can lift, sir.

 

[Sentinel]

Fall 2009 Training
Mesocycle 15 - Week 4
Squat Day​

Beginning Thoughts:

This is last night's workout. I have such a love-hate relationship with the Front Squat. I love FS and it hates me ​

Workout:

Front Squats:​

255 lbs x 2 reps​

275 lbs x 1 rep​

285 lbs x 1 rep​

295 lbs x FAIL​

295 lbs x 1 rep​

Oh man....This destroyed me. The bar rolled forward in 295 on the ascent and I had to dump it. I got the weight on my second attempt though. ​

​

Front Squat Cluster Sets:​

(225 lbs x 1 rep x 4 minisets) x 1 set​

(225 lbs x 2 reps x 4 minisets) x 1 set​

Did 2 sets here. Tired the shit outta me. If anyone is wondering: you do clusters by choosing a weight, doing some reps, resting for 20 seconds, doing some more reps, rest for 20 seconds and then do some more reps, etc. I have these two sets on video but I warn you that they are VERY boring because of all the waiting around I did. ​

​

Cable Pull-throughs:​

90 lbs x 10 reps x 3 sets​

​

Farmers Walks:​

110 lbs x 2 trips x 3 sets​

​

Jackknife Pikes on a Swiss Ball:​

BW x 7 reps x 2 sets​

Videos:

Front Squats, Cluster Sets, Pull-throughs, Farmers Walks and Jackknife Pikes on a Swiss Ball. WARNING: VERY LONG!:​

​

Overall Impression:

The workout was pretty decent. I am happy with 295 on the Front Squats. The Cluster Sets were really difficult (mentally) to go through.​

 

[Xiva]

Hey Mate, i might be wrong but if i remember correctly Clusters are when you pick a certain weight that's close to your 1rm.

Then you do 1 rep, rack the weight and have 5 seconds break and do 1 rep again. You do this to a total of 5 reps.

The whole idea is to cheat your body into believing that you're acctually doing 5 reps with close to your 1rm.

 

[Sentinel]

Hey Mate, i might be wrong but if i remember correctly Clusters are when you pick a certain weight that's close to your 1rm.

Then you do 1 rep, rack the weight and have 5 seconds break and do 1 rep again. You do this to a total of 5 reps.

The whole idea is to cheat your body into believing that you're acctually doing 5 reps with close to your 1rm.

Correct. That is exactly how it is done. Infact, 3 weeks from now I am going to be doing Deadlifts in that exact manner. I am gonna be using my 3 rep max and doing 5-6 such "singles" in a cluster formation.

But, you don't need to just do one rep. You can do more - thats the only place you're wrong. Clusters don't have to be just one rep minisets. You can do more - but I doubt anybody does more than 3. When I was on Eric Cressey's Maximum Strength program, I think the largest cluster was (3 reps x 4 minisets) x 5 sets.

And you are right: you are supposed to use close to your 1RM on this but as I mentioned above: I have a love hate relationship with Front Squats and they aren't very fond of me. Expecting me to take 255 or 275 and knocking out the same cluster formation is simply not possible. I will work up to that amount but for a first-time-in-a-long-time experience taking such a heavy load would be resulted in me bombing out.

Your understanding of clusters is more or less correct. The difference is that you don't rest 5 seconds. Rest is arbitrary and when I do these for Deadlifts in 3 weeks I will be taking 20-30 seconds. And you don't need to do just 1 rep each time. You can do more. It's just easier if you do 1 and sometimes taking something very close to your 1RM and knocking out more than 1 rep just builds up fatigue which ends up hindering you in the long run (in terms of completing the workout properly).

 

[jonathan]

interesting, I will try it too

 

[Xiva]

Aight Well then that's solved. You like singels in DL dont ya?

 

[Sentinel]

Aight Well then that's solved. You like singels in DL dont ya?

Actually, no I don't. I like the reps because in my head singles make me nervous. However, after 2-3 months of rep work, I need to do singles to see where I am at so I can plan ahead and I know I am heading towards getting stronger. There's no point repping with 405 if you can't even get close to a 455 max lift, you know? We lift to get strong (maximal-wise) so I need this to sorta make sure I am heading in the right direction.

 

[PrinceVegeta]

Very solid log with awesome training!

 

[Sentinel]

Very solid log with awesome training!

Thanks!

 

[Sentinel]

Fall 2009 Training
Mesocycle 15 - Week 4
Pistol Squat Day​

Beginning Thoughts:

Went in on Tuesday again....​

Workout:

Pistol Squats:​

7 + 7 + 7 = 21 reps​

My form went to complete shit come the 3rd set. I was pretty pissed off about this. ​

​

Pull-ups:​

BW x 3 reps x 3 sets​

BW + 20 lbs x 3 reps​

BW + 35 lbs x 3 reps​

BW + 50 lbs x 2 reps x 2 sets​

BW + 40 lbs x 1 rep​

Total Reps = 20​

Decent session.​

​

Banded Bench Press:​

Orange short band x 10 reps x 2 sets​

A friend of mine bought these bands so I thought I'd be the first to break them in ​

​

Renegade Rows:​

50 lbs x 7 reps x 3 sets​

​

Alternating 1 Arm 1 Leg Front Planks:​

BW x 60 seconds x 3 sets​

I got this one video.​

Videos:

Pistol Squats, Pull-ups and Core Training:​

​

Overall Impression:

I hope everyone's having a good week. Thanks for reading! ​

 

[Xiva]

Looks good. Pistols i guess you're doing because of stability work?

 

[Hypocrisy86]

keep up the hard work man!

 

[Sentinel]

Looks good. Pistols i guess you're doing because of stability work?

Yup. For Hip Stability. And they've been helping me tremendously. I hate regular squats and OH Squats and Pistols have been a real boon. They've also been helping my Deadlift a lot so thats something...

keep up the hard work man!

Thanks!