Off-season Week 3, Day 2 - Bench day

Bench day! 

Bench: 

305 - 5 x 3 

Paused bench: 

245 x 5 

255 x 5 

275 x 3 

Dips: 

3 x 12 

Incline band flyes: 

3 x 25 

Band pull aparts: 

3 x 20 

Finished out strong with 8 x 40yds with speed sled. 

Off-season Week 3, Day 1 - Deadlift day

Deadlift day! 

Deadlift: 

355 x 6 (sumo) 

405 x 3

445 x 3 

4" block pull: 

405 x 4 

455 x 3 

Bent over barbell row: 

3 x 12 

Shrugs: 

3 x 25 

Band good mornings: 

3 x 15 

Sprints for cardio to end the day! 

Overall felt off today, nothing major or anything to be upset about. Hopefully next deadlift day I'll bring a bit more intensity! 

Off-season week 2, day 4 - accessory day

Accessory day! 

Military press: 

170 - 3 x 6 

135 x 15 (drop set with fat grips) 

Lat pulldown superset with bent over barbell rows: 

3 x 15 

3 x 12 

Triceps press downs: 

3 x 20 

Barbell curls: 

5 x 20 

Cardio for the day: 

Sled sprints - 3 x 100 yards 

Off-season week 2, day 3 - squat

Squat day! 

Squat: 

350 x 6 

365 x 3 

405 x 5 

Front squat: 

150 x 5 

240 x 5 

310 x 5 

Paused SSB squat: 

240 x 5 

330 x 3 

Lunges: 

3 x 25 yards 

Planks: 

3 x 1 minute 

Off-season week 2, day 2 - bench

Bench Day! 

Bench: 

285 - 3 x 6 

Paused Close Grip Bench: 

250 x 5

270 x 5 

295 x 3 

Incline band flyes: 

3 x 25 

Band pull aparts: 

3 x 25 

Overhead dumbbell extension: 

3 x 20

Off-season Week 2, Day 1 - deadlift day

Deadlift day! 

Deadlift from floor: 

410 - 5 x 4 

Rack pulls: 

225 x 5 

315 x 5 

405 x 5 

Bent over barbell rows: 

3 x 12 

Shrugs: 

4 x 25 

Band good mornings: 

3 x 15 

Hanging knee raises: 

3 x 30 

Cardio for the day: 

Sled sprints - 8 x 40yds 

Off-season Week 1, Day 4 - Accessory day

Accessory day! 

Military press: 

135 x 10 

195 - 3 x 5 

155 x 12 (back down set) 

Lat pulldowns supersetted with band pull aparts: 

3 x 15 

3 x 20 

Tricep press downs: 

3 x 15 

EZ barbell curls: 

5 x 15-20 

Hanging knee raises: 

4 x 25 

Cardio for the day: 

Speed sled sprints - 8 x 50yds 

Off-season week 1, day 3 Squat day!!!

Squat day! 

Squats (based of a max without wraps) 

375 - 5 x 4 

Paused squats (2 sec pause) 

275 x 3 

315 x 3 

365 x 3 

Lunges: 

3 x 20 yds 

Kettle bell swings: 

3 x 12 

Cardio for the day: 

Speed sled sprints - 5 x 60yds 

Off-season week 1, day 2 - Bench day

Bench day: 

Bench: 

275 - 3 x 8 

Paused close grip bench: 

245- 2 x 5 

285 x 3 

Dips: 

3 x 12 

Incline band flyes: 

3 x 25 

Band pull aparts: 

3 x 20 

Planks: 

3 x 1 minute 

Off-season week 1/day 1 - Deadlift day

Deadlift day: 

1" deficit pull: 

365 x 6 

385 x 8 

4" block pull: 

420 x 6 

Bent over rows: 

3 x 10 

Shrugs: 

4 x 25 

Band good mornings: 

3 x 15 

Core work: 

Hanging knee raise - 4 x 25

Nothing spectacular today, however since it's the off-season I'll be picking and choosing my battles with any true max effort work. Did set a goal of 440 x 8 from a 1" deficit in a few weeks and I believe I'll nail it fairly smoothly. 

Going into the Off-season/ Goals!!!!

So with the off-season just around the corner I thought I'd write out a blog explaining my goals and training style for the next few months. 

As far as competing again goes I've decided to put off stepping on the platform until at least late spring/early summer, currently I am scoping out a meet in Ashland hosted by Iron Mafia in June. This will more than likely be a competition I'll be committing to! 

Now lets talk about my training style, for the off-season I've decided to add variety to my current template. What I mean by that is my main movement and main accessory movement will be designed to have 3-4 different selections for myself to choose from each training day, and each selection has a detailed percentage and rep range. As far as max effort work goes I'm dialing it back slightly to allow myself to heal up to handle a tough peaking cycle going in to my next competition, consider it a 10/20/life decision! 

So a listed version of my goals look like this: 

1.) heal up and rehab for a couple of weeks before hitting anything considered "max effort"

2.) Cardio is becoming a staple once again in my training, 3 days a week alternating intensities. I felt so much better when my body was conditioned, and my recovery was incredible in between lifting sets. 

3.) Keep my off-season body weight in check, main goal here is 260-265 and to maintain that. The SPF appears to have a 259lb weight class if so that will work very well for myself. 

4.) All squat work is without wraps, ill rarely touch a wrap until competition prep begins. 

5.) Bring up my hip strength, so I'll be pulling sumo some along with a variety of other exercises to strengthen my hips. 

Lifting goals look like this for the off-season: 

Squat 500 x 6-8 reps 

Bench 315 x 10-12 and 405 x 3 

Deadlift 455 x 8-10 and 500 x 6

Off-season work begins Monday, looking forward to having some fun with my training!!!

Competition recap and meet write-up

First off I'd like to start off by saying Crossfit Thunder put on an excellent meet, overall it was a great day involving some great lifters. Although the competitors list was small I believe there was a high percentage of these lifters that were very skilled and are chasing some very high level elite lifts from what I saw. Without any further delay I'll jump into my day. 

First up was squats, first thing I will say is that all these weights I attempted today felt light on my back. My last warmup was 500 and I obliterated it, but lets take a look at my attempts: 

523lbs - was a smoke show, went up with no problem. 

556lbs - was a bit of grinding with this lift, but I locked it out smoothly. Honestly felt I had 25lbs or so left in me so I made a call for 584lbs 

584lbs - brought it down and reversed it as hard as I could, came out of the hole maybe 2" and lost it couldn't go any further with it. Considering the most I've ever squatted in my gym is 525lbs I think 556lbs is solid, I will hit over 600+ in my next meet mark those words!!! 

Bench was a different story today, and in all honesty I need to keep all of my bench work to paused reps to keep building this lift in a positive direction. Attempts looked like this: 

358lbs - flew up with no struggle what so ever. 

380lbs - looked slower than 358lbs, light grinding but honestly thought I had 391lbs in me. 

391lbs - brought it down and pressed, got stuck at my weak point which is about 6" off my chest couldn't finish the lift. Disappointing however I was still on track for a solid meet PR!! 

Deadlifts went very well today, attempts looked like this: 

523lbs - obliterated it, several people joked and told me to put some weight on the bar haha! 

556lbs - again slaughtered it, felt great!! 

578lbs - bar flew up off the floor, entire lift looked great until the last 1-2" from lockout bar slowed quite a bit however finished the lift very solid. I'll be taking the off-season to fix that last bit of lockout, I will be back to pull over 600+ you can guarantee it!!! 

Finished with a 1,514lb total and a 109lbs meet total PR, felt bad that I missed my last heavy squat and that I didn't bench 400+ like I was projected to do. But you live and learn, and I'll be back to fight another day. And in all honesty I can't really be too disappointed with a triple digit meet PR, this was a wonderful learning experience and this was the first time that I've took gambles with lifts as opposed to Beast Of The Bluegrass where I played it conservatively because it was my first meet. 

Already looking forward to the off season and seeing where I'm at in my next competition, also I'd like to thank everyone who texted or messaged me wishing me good luck this weekend, it meant alot and I'm glad you all are behind me and hope for the best when I'm competing. 

I'LL BE BACK!!!! For a much higher total!!!!