Blonde will make you STRONG

[iRaise]

Not heard from Eso or Harvey since leg day...

Haha, was shattered yesterday, so decided to swerve it for some mobility. Gonna take a rest day today and attack it tomorrow all being well. Confirmed still in the game.

[PokerBroker]

Not heard from Eso or Harvey since leg day...

Are they both dying?  

I made a few adjustments to one of our senior lifters programmes about 8 weeks back, which has seen a big improvement on his clean and jerk.  He was always strong, but I felt we just needed to tweak his own confidence by showing him what he could do.  I know him not to be the sharpest tool in the box, and for this I felt quite guilty but I coded his programme so that I was controlling his work out from warm up to completion.   So instead of telling him what weight was going on the bar I done the following colour sheet (I never put the disc value on his).  His PB for a Power clean and Press was 115kg.   PB in Clean and Jerk 150kg.  

Overhead press - bare bar 1x 10
Power Clean 1 x10 - greens (10kg discs) Snatch Balance 2 greens,
Power clean x 1 + 5 OHP greens
Power clean x 3 + 3 OHP  yellows (15kg discs)  + whites (5kg discs), 1 minute rest 1 power clean + 5 f/squats
Snatch Balance x 5 - blues (20kg discs) + greens
Power Clean + Power Jerk + OHP 3 + 1  + 2 (reds (25kg discs), + greens
Power Clean + F/S + OHP 3 x 3 + 1 (2 blues)  

I had him Repeat this alongside his normal schedule for 2 weeks (twice in each week)  If you have done the Maths by this point you will see we are up to almost 87% of his 1 rep max.   He's doing this pretty easily.   But because we haven't spoke about weights he's not too concerned.   In week 3 I had him do the warm up to 80% and asked him to do a single at 110 kg, asked him how it felt and the response was pretty hard but he knew he could do it as it was within his PB.  The difference here was He'd put the weight on himself and went green x 2 + blue + white the bar looks bigger and heavier.   It's now a bit of mind over matter.  

I then had the bar loaded with 2 red either side and asked him to so me a single on Power clean/FS/OHP  - 5kg over his best.  I asked how it felt the response this time was it felt a bit lighter.  

We left it that and nothing was said.  Fast forward to the 2nd session that week we were at 90% for 3 x 3 + 2, Week 4 (3 x 2 + 2 + 2) at 95% week 5 (3 x 1 + 2 + 1) Week 6 ( 3 x 2 power clean + 2 OHP at 100%) and it was easy.   I had him taper down, and had him at 75% working on speed by doing cleans off the block and power jerks off the rack  for 6 x 4.  

Yesterday evening, we done a session in which we were pushing for 1rep max in the PC & OHP he managed 125kg, just missed the 130kg in the press, the clean was easy but he was out of line when pressing and I'm sure if we had taken it off the rack and made sure his hips were in line when pressing he'd have made it.  

After a 30 minute rest we had him go up on full power clean and jerks (he had been working this in his normal schedule so I can claim all the credit) but after 8 weeks he had gone from 150kg to 162.5kg.  That is a massive jump for a senior lifter.  Now he should be starting to peak now he's 29 and lifts in the 94kg class.   So he's a big lump of a lad, but he's only been training for 3 years and sits 17kg off the Scottish Senior record.  I'm not saying he'll reach it but there is a good chance that he does, more importantly for him he's over taken a Jnr who has had him beat for 3 years in comps who has just moved into snr level.   The Jnr has been training for 10 years though.  

Cliffs:
Mind over matter
Changed it up, tricked a lifter.
Squat = King

[Eso Kral]

Not heard from Eso or Harvey since leg day...

Haha did legs day Weds, rest day Thurs and upper body today with back to legs tomorrow morning.

What happened to Harvey I have no idea 😂

[iRaise]

Not heard from Eso or Harvey since leg day...

Are they both dying?  

I made a few adjustments to one of our senior lifters programmes about 8 weeks back, which has seen a big improvement on his clean and jerk.  He was always strong, but I felt we just needed to tweak his own confidence by showing him what he could do.  I know him not to be the sharpest tool in the box, and for this I felt quite guilty but I coded his programme so that I was controlling his work out from warm up to completion.   So instead of telling him what weight was going on the bar I done the following colour sheet (I never put the disc value on his).  His PB for a Power clean and Press was 115kg.   PB in Clean and Jerk 150kg.  

Overhead press - bare bar 1x 10
Power Clean 1 x10 - greens (10kg discs) Snatch Balance 2 greens,
Power clean x 1 + 5 OHP greens
Power clean x 3 + 3 OHP  yellows (15kg discs)  + whites (5kg discs), 1 minute rest 1 power clean + 5 f/squats
Snatch Balance x 5 - blues (20kg discs) + greens
Power Clean + Power Jerk + OHP 3 + 1  + 2 (reds (25kg discs), + greens
Power Clean + F/S + OHP 3 x 3 + 1 (2 blues)  

I had him Repeat this alongside his normal schedule for 2 weeks (twice in each week)  If you have done the Maths by this point you will see we are up to almost 87% of his 1 rep max.   He's doing this pretty easily.   But because we haven't spoke about weights he's not too concerned.   In week 3 I had him do the warm up to 80% and asked him to do a single at 110 kg, asked him how it felt and the response was pretty hard but he knew he could do it as it was within his PB.  The difference here was He'd put the weight on himself and went green x 2 + blue + white the bar looks bigger and heavier.   It's now a bit of mind over matter.  

I then had the bar loaded with 2 red either side and asked him to so me a single on Power clean/FS/OHP  - 5kg over his best.  I asked how it felt the response this time was it felt a bit lighter.  

We left it that and nothing was said.  Fast forward to the 2nd session that week we were at 90% for 3 x 3 + 2, Week 4 (3 x 2 + 2 + 2) at 95% week 5 (3 x 1 + 2 + 1) Week 6 ( 3 x 2 power clean + 2 OHP at 100%) and it was easy.   I had him taper down, and had him at 75% working on speed by doing cleans off the block and power jerks off the rack  for 6 x 4.  

Yesterday evening, we done a session in which we were pushing for 1rep max in the PC & OHP he managed 125kg, just missed the 130kg in the press, the clean was easy but he was out of line when pressing and I'm sure if we had taken it off the rack and made sure his hips were in line when pressing he'd have made it.  

After a 30 minute rest we had him go up on full power clean and jerks (he had been working this in his normal schedule so I can claim all the credit) but after 8 weeks he had gone from 150kg to 162.5kg.  That is a massive jump for a senior lifter.  Now he should be starting to peak now he's 29 and lifts in the 94kg class.   So he's a big lump of a lad, but he's only been training for 3 years and sits 17kg off the Scottish Senior record.  I'm not saying he'll reach it but there is a good chance that he does, more importantly for him he's over taken a Jnr who has had him beat for 3 years in comps who has just moved into snr level.   The Jnr has been training for 10 years though.  

Cliffs:
Mind over matter
Changed it up, tricked a lifter.
Squat = King

How long do the guys normally spend in the gym? Per da/per week?

Some serious numbers being flung around there.

[PokerBroker]

normally 4/5 training days a week, normally doing 60 - 90 minutes work.   Because of the social aspect of our gym and it's community focus over the years we have former lifters in, local gym bods who like to watch some strong guys, we have 12 - 20 Jnrs in each night so there isn't a lot of rest time between work.   Additionally we can use the numbers to help load and unload bars and also we try and have 2/3 lifters working a box at the same time so we match on weght lifted, which keeps things moving very fast so once a set has been done next guy/girl steps inand that is the rest period for lifter 1 and so on an so forth.   

I should add as well that we have lifters who come in and do split sessions 1hr in the morning, 1hr at night. We have folk who come in and do 45 - 60 minutes, 1 or 2 folk spend hours there but literally none of that time training.     We have a guy who has trained for 12 years who never improved, he just likes the social elelment - (he also has learning difficulties) so no matter how many times you try and coach him he just reverts back to what he knows.   We just keep an eye on him from a safety perspective to make sure he's not going to injure himself or other users.   The sad thng is he works to 90 - 100% every day for sets of 4/5 so he is capapble of doing far better but has a massive mental block.  He spends 3 hrs minimum in the gym from when he finishes work.   

What do you mean about the big numbers?  We have guys who do and who have lifted more. 

Our all time strong man was probably Tommy Neil - he looked a bit like the honey monster.  @105kg he snatched 142kg, C&J 180kg - squatted 250kg, but when he started getting lotto funding he became lazy, started training in different gyms and stopped listening to the coach who trained him from the age of 13 to 25 and regressed, started picking up needless injuries.   He had the potential to be massive. 

We also had a guy in 77kg class who at 18 was snatching 122kg, C&J 145kg and squatting 205kg.  He git an injury to the scaphoid (sp) bone in the wrist and despite having it operated on and pinned he went backwards with comp lifts, his bottle crashed at prospect of doing further serious injury.   We cam back briefly but was gone at the game. 

As I have said as well we have 2 jnrs just now in particular who are still competing at under 16 level who are smashing all previous records at the age groups set by the guy mentioned above.   Wee Bear (Jason) will be the same size as Tommy by the time he is 20.  I mentioned before we had to get him squatting because it was an area he was lazy in, but he was super strong overhead.  He has been doing the adapted Soviet I mentioned previously.   I can't wait till we have our squad day after the team come off this schedule.   They all lifted at the Scottish School Championships a few weeks ago, none of them ready to peak and we took about 90% of the 1st places across the different age groups.   We won every category in the under 12's technical comp.   

All the videos taken by the boys end up on Facebook and I'm a complete technono and can't get them on here.   I've asked them to put them on youtube but they never do it the little shits. 

[iRaise]

Quick update,

All going well.

[muckthenuts]

Completed 5x5 90kg squats today. I feel like i'm absolutely powering through them at the moment which is great and additionally really enjoying pushing myself on the rack. I remember not too long ago 60kg felt insaaaaanely heavy, now it's one of my warm up sets

[iRaise]

Completed 5x5 90kg squats today. I feel like i'm absolutely powering through them at the moment which is great and additionally really enjoying pushing myself on the rack. I remember not too long ago 60kg felt insaaaaanely heavy, now it's one of my warm up sets

A very good feeling when this happens. Gotta run with it.

[iRaise]

So who knew, the lighter you get, the easier chins are.

Doing around 4x6-8 with a 2-4 second eccentric phase. And I mean a proper 2-4 second. Don't want to add anymore reps until I can get them all out at 4. Really want the control there so I can move into some ring based stuff.

Strength is wavering right now. Lowering fats and upping carbs. Hopefully can help break the plateau a little bit.

[Eso Kral]

This is the final week of my 4 week cycle albeit I have done 5 weeks as after week 1 we went to Slovakia so I repeated week 1 again.

I have completed two of my four sessions this week with the final days being Friday & Saturday before we move onto the second cycle with different exercises which is even more challenging.

Although it has been tough as 3 out of 4 sessions are at 6am with the other on Sat at 8am I have not missed one session as I felt very motivated throughout this and a big thanks to Harvey who looked at a lot of my lifestyle to prescribe the macros that I should be working within and bar a few days where I may have had the odd chocolate bar (which obv wont do any harm if the rest is consistent) I have been pretty good.

I will post my next program over the weekend once this one is done and dusted.

[muckthenuts]

So who knew, the lighter you get, the easier chins are.

Doing around 4x6-8 with a 2-4 second eccentric phase. And I mean a proper 2-4 second. Don't want to add anymore reps until I can get them all out at 4. Really want the control there so I can move into some ring based stuff.

This might be something key for me to incorporate more. I could probably slow my movements down a bunch. Admittedly at the moment a combination of boredom/tiredness/having many other things to do when i get home often leads me to bashing sets out as quickly as possible - i will adjust and see if i can't make my sessions a little more productive by slowing it up. 

Great work on the consistency Eso. I hope i can look as good as you one day!

[vegaslover]

This is the final week of my 4 week cycle albeit I have done 5 weeks as after week 1 we went to Slovakia so I repeated week 1 again.

I have completed two of my four sessions this week with the final days being Friday & Saturday before we move onto the second cycle with different exercises which is even more challenging.

Although it has been tough as 3 out of 4 sessions are at 6am with the other on Sat at 8am I have not missed one session as I felt very motivated throughout this and a big thanks to Harvey who looked at a lot of my lifestyle to prescribe the macros that I should be working within and bar a few days where I may have had the odd chocolate bar (which obv wont do any harm if the rest is consistent) I have been pretty good.

I will post my next program over the weekend once this one is done and dusted.

From the photos you posted on your blog, training and diet been going well 

[iRaise]

So who knew, the lighter you get, the easier chins are.

Doing around 4x6-8 with a 2-4 second eccentric phase. And I mean a proper 2-4 second. Don't want to add anymore reps until I can get them all out at 4. Really want the control there so I can move into some ring based stuff.

This might be something key for me to incorporate more. I could probably slow my movements down a bunch. Admittedly at the moment a combination of boredom/tiredness/having many other things to do when i get home often leads me to bashing sets out as quickly as possible - i will adjust and see if i can't make my sessions a little more productive by slowing it up. 

Great work on the consistency Eso. I hope i can look as good as you one day!

Watch some top level powerlifters, and see how controlled they are on the eccentric on squat and bench. It is much easier/safer/probably efficient in the long run being controlled at the bottom of the movement.

I suck at being controlled, definitely something I now need to do to become stronger.

[muckthenuts]

So who knew, the lighter you get, the easier chins are.

Doing around 4x6-8 with a 2-4 second eccentric phase. And I mean a proper 2-4 second. Don't want to add anymore reps until I can get them all out at 4. Really want the control there so I can move into some ring based stuff.

This might be something key for me to incorporate more. I could probably slow my movements down a bunch. Admittedly at the moment a combination of boredom/tiredness/having many other things to do when i get home often leads me to bashing sets out as quickly as possible - i will adjust and see if i can't make my sessions a little more productive by slowing it up. 

Great work on the consistency Eso. I hope i can look as good as you one day!

Watch some top level powerlifters, and see how controlled they are on the eccentric on squat and bench. It is much easier/safer/probably efficient in the long run being controlled at the bottom of the movement.

I suck at being controlled, definitely something I now need to do to become stronger.

Cool. I've been searching for something different to do so taking off a few weights then and going slow is what i'll try next. Maybe it'll help my upper body to grow a bit too, so far i remain disappointed with my size gains there. Might be plugging a leak here.

[iRaise]

So who knew, the lighter you get, the easier chins are.

Doing around 4x6-8 with a 2-4 second eccentric phase. And I mean a proper 2-4 second. Don't want to add anymore reps until I can get them all out at 4. Really want the control there so I can move into some ring based stuff.

This might be something key for me to incorporate more. I could probably slow my movements down a bunch. Admittedly at the moment a combination of boredom/tiredness/having many other things to do when i get home often leads me to bashing sets out as quickly as possible - i will adjust and see if i can't make my sessions a little more productive by slowing it up. 

Great work on the consistency Eso. I hope i can look as good as you one day!

Watch some top level powerlifters, and see how controlled they are on the eccentric on squat and bench. It is much easier/safer/probably efficient in the long run being controlled at the bottom of the movement.

I suck at being controlled, definitely something I now need to do to become stronger.

Cool. I've been searching for something different to do so taking off a few weights then and going slow is what i'll try next. Maybe it'll help my upper body to grow a bit too, so far i remain disappointed with my size gains there. Might be plugging a leak here.

Size is probably a food issue, if you aren't eating enough, rough guess 3000kcal a day everyday, you just won't gain size after the early beginner adaptations wear off.