Preperation

Bench: 100 x 1, 102.5 x 1, 105 x 1, 107.5 x 1 (all paused). Had a bit left in the tank after the 107.5. Will probably go for a 110 at the meet for my final attempt.

DL: 190 x 5. 5th rep was hard. This was pretty much a 5RM.

Squat: 100 x 5, 120 x 2, 140 x 1, 100 x 5. The 140 hurt my hips slightly. The 120 didn't hurt at all which is encouraging because last time it did cause a little pain.

Shrugs: 185 x 4 x 5.

Good times really.

Pressn Shoulders - Pressn Legs

Press: 60 x 5, 62.5 x 3, 65 x 3, 60 x 4. All these reps were  couple shy of failure. Thought I would give the bench a rest today before hitting it again Thursday than one last time Sunday before the meet.

Squat: 60 x 5, 80 x 2 x 5, 100 x 3, 120 x 2. Top set caused some hip pain unfortunately : (

Leg Press: 12 plates x multiple sets of 5 followed by final set of 15

Rows: 38kg x multiple 5s

Curls

Deadlift Volume

Bench: 92.5 x 5, 95 x 4, 97.5 x 3, 100 x 2, 102.5 x 1. All first reps of sets were paused. Top set also paused. Not too hard but a good challenge.

Deadlift (conventional off 10cm mats): 170kg x 5 x 3. Solid effort. By the 5th set I was pretty glad it was over. So that's about 15 reps at 85% of my 1RM which is right in the middle of Prilepin's chart.

Chins/Pulls: 21.25kg x 6 x 3. I'm just running a linear periodization on these. Up weight while slowly decreasing volume.

Traps are still sore from last Thursday!

In search Of Bane: Trap Explosion

Bench: 90 x 5, 92.5 x 4, 95 x 3, 97.5 x 2, 100 x 1. The 100kg went up pretty easily, especially considering I had done all these reps prior. Could be a good sign but we will have to wait and see. I wont run the typical wave cycle now seems I'm trying to peak for the meet. So instead of taking 2 steps back on Sunday, I'll just progress to a 102.5 top set. Then have just the Sunday session on the week of the meet before going light.

DL: 185 x 5. 5th rep was a little slow but it was never in doubt. This was a very rewarding set. I'll make another 5kg jump next week and hopefully hit 5 again. Next week's session will be my last deadlifting session before the meet.

Barbell shrugs (Power Shrugs): 180 x 4 x 5. Short rest. My God, my traps still feel like they are going to explode. And this is 4hours after I worked them. After hearing Rippetoe, Starr and Pavel champion this exercise, I just could ignore them no longer. Hopefully in the next few weeks, I can really pack some mass on my traps. I will move them to Sundays now though.

Squat: 60 x 3 x 5, 80 x 2 x 5. No pain at all.
Curls

Hips Feeling Better

Bench: 87.5 x 5, 90 x 4, 92.5 x 3, 95 x 2, 97.5 x 1. Many of these were paused.

Kirk's Shrugs: 60 x 5 x 5. Short rest.

Squats: empty bar then 60kg x heaps of reps. Hips feeling a lot better. Almost no pain. Before 60kg warm up sets would cause considerable pain.

Rows: worked up tp 40 x 5. Short rest.

Throw An Extra Couple Of Light Days In Your Week

It's hard not to be inspired by Jamie Lewis of chaosandpain.blogspot.com. As well as being extremely knowledgeble, he is hilarious. His training philosophy and motivational qualities are right up there with Jim Steel and Pavel for mine. I've just been  going through his old posts as well as reading more Pavel and it seems doing the big lifts, 4 or 5 times a week, has been a pretty common occurence for lifters throughout history. By the same token, some of the greats have only squatted 1x a week too so it goes both ways.

But I can't help but feel lifting 5 x a week is a good idea. Pavel talks about the greats conceiving weights as practice. Obviously you can't approach every session with the same intensity but if you cycle your loads I think there is good reason to believe that extra sessions are at least going to help neurological efficiency as well as promote recovery.

Jim Steel has also talked about "squattin everyday" and how it kept him feeling fresh. I always felt best squatting 3 x a week and it was when I went to 1 x a week squatting that I started feeling sore and tight all the time.

No doubt you could make strength gains by training only 30mins 3 x or even 2 x a week. But is this the most optimal way to train? Especially considering all the other hours of the week are spent sitting around doing nothing? I know this wroks for plent of people but surely that extra frequency and volume has benifits.

There's a lot more to strength training than just stressing the muscle so it can grow stronger. Train more often, improve technique, become more efficient and recover better. Some weeks, 3 days in the gym might feel like plenty, but other weeks, I just wanna get in there and do a little something everyday I can.

BW chins, pulls and dips

Light incline DB: 20kg x 4 x 5

Power Cleans: 60kg x 10 reps total

Squat Rehab: Bar x 3 x 10, 60kg x 1 x 10

Cuff work

Calf work

Hectic Ab routine

...In The Absence Of Squats

Bench: 85 x 5, 87.5 x 4, 90 x 3, 92.5 x 2, 95 x 1. I was gonna take a deload week but the first couple of sessions are pretty easy for this wave cycle so I thought, 3 weeks out from the meet, I may as well just start it as the program has you hitting a new PR at the end of week 3, so let's see how it goes!

Press: Bunch of sets 3-5 reps, short rest.

Deficit DL off 10cm Mats: 140 x 4 x 3, 160 x 2 x 3. The extra range of motion required definitely makes the lift harder but all in all, the session wasn't anything too hectic, hence adding an extra 20kg for the last 2 sets. These were all conventional stance (which I haven't pulled infor a while and dam it hits the lower back). I basically planned on hitting somewhere between 15-20 reps.

Chins, Pullups, Hammer grips: 20kg: 20 reps total.

Really fun session.