Month: July 2017

Some days after work all I do is a cold single, but sometimes I’ll hit a slightly higher rep range.

Yesterday I went 365×5 leaving some in the tank. 365×10+ felt on the table, and lifetime PR is 365×9.

After reracking the weights the idea hit me.

Now before I continue:
405×5 is my lifetime PR.

Mentally I want 405×10, and more along the lines of 495×5 as short term goals.

Now I could continue adding weight every so often to cold singles while randomly doing higher rep ranges, or an approach that makes more sense to me:

Do cold sets of 5 primarily, and add weight to this rep range.

Instead of focusing on the 1rm focus on the 5rm.

It’s easier mentally for me to add 5lbs to 5 reps than to add the 5lbs to a single.

8-5lb weight jumps would have me at my lifetime 5rm PR….but cold, and would be an easier progression than adding reps at a heavy weight.

Same end result, different approach.

As of posting I’ll be at what may end up being a 16+hr shift of labor, and you know what?

I’ll hit 365 for over 5 or 370-375 x5 cold immediately after be it 7pm or 1am the next day. (Update: After what ended up being a 14hr shift I hit 365 x 10 @ 11pm 7/24/17)

Whatever it is,make it a need. You’ll do what it takes… effortlessly.

And the best part is…none of this labor and Bulgarian squatting is draining me in the least. I live for this.

Growth on all fronts.

WHOO!!!

-J

315 x 20 Rep Squat

7/20/17 At around 745pm I finally did it.

(I audio swapped, other than those first 2 views no one else gets to hear the grunts,breathing, or me trying to say “And for good measure” just THE MUSIC!)

That set had been years in the making.

It was one of those sets I’d been wanting to hit since 15 or 16 years old.

So roughly 8 years in the making.

I didn’t want to warm up, or really lift.

It had been done at the end of an easy labor shift.

I wasn’t able to take the pre-workout…you know a shit.

I loaded the bar to the 3 plates, while loading I knew I’d do it.

20+ reps or death.

I mentally decided to finish the set or hit a TRUE failure. Unconsciousness or a snap the only allowed set enders below 20 reps.

Near the end of the sets my hands were numb, in fact semi locked in position.

I thought I’d hit 21 reps.

It took rewatching 4 or 5 time to accurately count 22.

The scary thing I could’ve pushed it to 30 reps or more.

365 x 20 feels possible, 405 x 20 is scary to imagine doing, but the 4 minute mile principle comes up here.

I’ve seen video of it done. That short bodybuilder did it in the Animal Cage. So can I!

At work today my coworker suggested I go for professional strongman.

Wouldn’t that be greater than manual labor?

No matter, I hit one of those beginner lifetime goals, and expanded my mind to greater possibilities.

Whoo!

Great things happening, great things on the horizon.

-J

P.S. Ended with 225×12 Bench feet up and one set of 9 chins. Of note: Squat Every Day does great shit, and goddamn I was under tension for 3:02 to finish that set….Endurance!

Now I can most likely count on my fingers how many times I’ve done either jump squats or speed pulls, and my Olympic form generally looks like a caveman heaving a carcass so take this for what you will:

When you’re being a lunatic and pushing the frequency of your squat or pulling to asshole like levels of daily or even higher (7+ sessions weekly) at some point you’ll be doing yourself no favors continuing to add in sessions that aren’t light as fuck.

Here’s where the speed work comes in, and that’s what jump squats, speed pulls, and olys are…speed work.

Jump Squats

Squatting? While you can get away with maxing out near it daily the best progress on high frequency seems from just getting under the bar as often as possible and keeping it moderate.

When you absolutely positively should not be squatting there’s a variation for you….Jump squats.

They come in as a God send of a streak extender and seem to allow you to get airborne (barely) with far heavier weight than you’d expect the day after maxing. 435 (regular) at around 10pm followed by 405 (questionable, no vid to tell) but definitely 365 airborne the next morning…on no sleep. No squat variation has ever felt as easy on my body as the jumps, even when I’m in the vicinity of 90% 1rm(that’s regular 1rm), and no variation feels as good on days where you feel as if your ass is crippled.

Speed Pulls

As I preach time and again: Frequency, frequency and fucking frequency!

Before the months long burn out of hating the new gym(since you’re reading this want to know why,ha!), soon after I’d joined I was pulling PRs all over the place.

I got pissed and pulled daily for between 14 and 21 days.

The 1rm came near the end of this streak.

How how did I pull that many days in a row and often 10x weekly without visiting snap city or some other fagged out land of crippled weaklings?

Speed pulls.

The speed work seems to take nothing out of you, primes you to blast your hips, and likely at play here pisses you off as you are gripping and ripping yet it’s light and you have to pull out your hair keeping yourself from maxing again.

Olympic Variations:

Same concept as both of the aforementioned.

Even to fucking 500lb cleaners it’s still light as fuck and explosive in relation to what they can squat (I say there are squat records waiting to be broken by weightlifters that won’t bother due to their not giving a fuck about powerlifting), and deadlift should they care to max.

You can hit Olympic variations daily or more than daily indefinitely without dipping into recovery and while at it muscling up your traps and improving hip pop.

Initial Point:

Jump Squats:

Add them in, actually remember to do them, see how heavy you can still clear ground with and then be amazed at both how “heavy” that is, how you didn’t get injured, and at how good the lift itself feels and how it makes you feel.

-J

P. Fucking.S. I imagine I’ll hit a jump squat with more than my current 1rm soon, and’ll have to get that inch of airborne glory on video. It feels very chaos and pain like.
L O L
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