Week 3 (Session 1)

1.A Box/Bench Squats

Barx5
60kgx5
80kgx5
120kgx5
140kgx5

160kgx5
170kgx4
177.5kgx3F (Got 2)
172.5kgx3
167.5kgx4
160kgx5

Put the wrong weight on the bar for the 3 and ended up failing it. However it may have just been a bad rep because the first 2 felt good. But anyway put the correct weight on and it came up nicely.

2.A Bench Press

60kgx5
80kgx5

95kgx5
97.5kgx4
100kgx3
97.5kgx4
95kgx5

All good, can feel the effect of the floor presses on these.

3.A Clean High Pull

60kgx3
90kgx3

100kgx3
105kgx3
110kgx3
115kgx3

4.A Pull Ups

+2.5kgx5
+5kgx4
+5kgx3
+2.5kgx4
BWx5

Thought my form was going a bit on these so dropped the weight to make sure I was getting full ROM.

Good session today, box squats felt good and strong. Something I have also realised is that the bench that I set my RMs for box squat is actually higher than the bench I am using now. So the percentages I have set for this cycle are higher than what they should be for this bench height. However I am doing okay with it so I will keep going, quite pleasing really as it shows I am getting stronger over a bigger ROM.

Week 3 (Session 2)

1.A Deadlifts

60kgx5
100kgx5
140kgx5
160kgx3
170kgx3

180kgx5
185kgx4
190kgx3
185kgx4
180kgx5

These came up very quickly! Very happy at how these were today.

2.A Muscle Clean-Press

57.5kgx5
60kgx4
62.5kgx3
60kgx4
57.5kgx5

3.A Step Ups

85kgx6 (reps per leg)
95kgx5
105kgx4
95kgx4
85kgx6

Whoops just realised writing this that I haven't brought the reps down to follow the plan! Ah well never-mind not too much of an issue.

4.A T-Bar Row

70kgx5
75kgx4
80kgx3

Sacked these off as they are a load of shit!

5.A Reverse Grip Chins

BWx5
BWx5

Very pleased with todays session, deadlifts felt the best they have felt. I am looking forward to seeing what weight I can ramp up to in the next cycle.

Coop_de_Ville wrote:4.A T-Bar Row

70kgx5
75kgx4
80kgx3

Sacked these off as they are a load of shit!

Blasphemy!

tbars are awesome dude! trick is to flex the back on the up a little forcefully

Good progress on the deads Coop.

Sorry KP I agree with Coop - they're a load of old shit.

I've never liked them personally. i think you can get just as much benefit from other horizontal pulling movements.

Awesome pulls, i'll try not to put you to shame too much when i start them next week

They're good fun. Trick is to get a good stretch at the bottom and pause and squeeze at the top.

No doubt there are better/equally good pulling exercises...I do them out of enjoyment as much as anything.

Treat the movement like a Pendlay Row and it's decent movement.

Week 3 (Session 3)

1.A Squats (Full Depth)

60kgx5
80kgx5
100kgx5
120kgx5

145kgx5
152.5kgx4
157.5kgx3
152.5kgx4
145kgx4

Form was good, back solid and driving up with good power.

2.A Floor Press

5x60kg

5x85kg
4x90kg
3x95kg
4x90kg
5x85kg

3.A RDL

5x60kg
5x100kg

5x135kg
4x140kg
3x145kg
4x140kg
5x135kg

Really enjoying these! Feeling the benefits of them on all my major lifts. Such a useful and transferrable exercise.

4.A Chins

+7.5kgx5
+10kgx4
+15kgx3
+10kgx4
+7.5kgx5

Decided to take more than 45 secs rest between each set, treating them like a proper exercise with rest up to 2mins and saw the benefits in form.

Good work on the squats Coop. I agree, I love RDLs - shame they irritate my back problem. Lots of carryover, good for grip too.

Session 1 (Week 4)

1.A Box Squats

Barx8
60kgx5
80kgx5
100kgx5
120kgx5
140kgx5

162.5kgx5
172.5kgx4
180kgx3
172.5kgx4
162.5kgx5

Felt good today, I changed the height of the bench to the same as it is in K-Dawgs. Mainly as this allows me to keep to the set programme and also I feel I will get more benefit out of these by going heavier as the other box had me nearly at the same depth as my full squats. I may as-well just to do sessions of full squats if I am to carry on with that box.

2.A Bench Press

60kgx5
80kgx5
90kgx5

102.5kgx3 (Idiot! Thought this was 97.5kgx5 and went for 5 and failed on the 4th, thinking this seems heavier than last week lol.)
97.5kgx5 Easy
100kgx4
102.5kgx3
100kgx4
97.5kx5 (Failed on the 5th rep) Must have burnt out a bit from the first set. Ah well no biggy.

3.A Clean High Pull

70kgx3

105kgx3
110kgx3
115kgx3
120kgx3

These were extremely snappy and high today. The bar is coming up to just below my sternum, very happy with this as I am sure I could easily duck under it and make it a power clean, I even felt tempted to do that at one point.

4.A Pull Ups

5xBW
4xBW
3xBW
4xBW
5xBW

Tired at the end, was a long session and I have gone on the anabolic diet for a bit just to cut some of this excess fat down so I can get the best out of my sprints. Also I want to be 100kg steady for when I do my 1RM squats in about 2 months so I can get a double bw squat at 200kg.

Nice session.

What kind of carb up you doing?

I feel like i've had better results with 1 carb meal a day than none for 5 days followed by a day or two of high carb.

Well I was going to do the 5/2 days split but thinking about it and from you saying that it might make more sense to have one carb meal per day especially with the training load.

What do you reckon? How do you plan the rest of your food constituent wise, as in Fat% Protein % etc etc?

Just low carb, as in protein/fat/low sugar fruit & veg. Usually 30-50g prote and 20-30g fat.

Session 2 (Week 4)

1.A Deadlift

D-OH Grip

60kgx5
60kgx5 (Gave this set a go with straps)
100kgx5
120kgx5
140kgx5 (Belt on)
160kgx3


Mixed grip for working sets.

185kgx5
190kgx4
195kgx3
190kgx4
185kgx5

Felt nice, all came up smooth and clean. Pleasing to be comfortable on these.

2.A Muscle Clean-Press

60kgx5
62.5kgx4
65kgx3
62.5kgx4
60kgx5

3.A Step Ups

95kgx5 (reps per leg)
105kgx4
110kgx3
105kgx4
95kgx5

These felt very good, strong and snappy.

4.A Dead Hang Hammer Grip Chins

BWx5
BWx4
BWx3
BWx4
BWx5

Good session today, feeling good on all the lifts. Week 4 is usually a week were I feel at my best and this continues to week 5 however I am aware I need a week off when in week 5.

I also gave straps a go, don't know what to do really. I am not having any problem with my form doing mixed grip on the dead lifts so don't feel any need to change. However will it improve my form and therefore my gains if I use them?

Nice session there Coop

Coop_de_Ville wrote:I also gave straps a go, don't know what to do really. I am not having any problem with my form doing mixed grip on the dead lifts so don't feel any need to change. However will it improve my form and therefore my gains if I use them?

I donlt think straps will 'improve' your form, they'e useful for real heavy stuff - e.g. real heavy rack pulls - and sometimes useful speed work as you can concentrate on form and not worry about grip failing. TBH I rarely use them for speed work and reserve them exclusively for heavy rack pulls.

If mixed grip's working fine and with what you're doing I'm not sure you need to use straps. If ain't broke, don't fix it.

Good deads Coop. I wouldn't bother with straps unless grip is an issue - if you start using them routinely then grip will become an issue.

Session 3 (Week 4)

1.A Squats (Full Depth)

Barx8
40kgx5
60kgx5
100kgx5
120kgx5
140kgx3

150kgx5
155kgx4
160kgx3
155kgx4
150kgx5

Top set came up nicely, the way back down was tough work but to be expected with the amount of volume. Good progress.

2.A Floor Press

50kgx5
70kgx5

87.5kgx5
95kgx4
100kgx3
95kgx4
87.5kgx5

These were good fun today, top set was challenging but felt good.

3.A RDLs

100kgx5
130kgx5

140kgx5
145kgx4
150kgx3
145kgx4
140kgx5

Grip was slipping on the sets of 5 but all sets felt good, really tired me out these!

4.A Chins

BWx5x4x3x4x5

Didnt really focus on form on these just banged em out as k-dawg felt I was outstaying my welcome in his gym.

Session 1 (Week 5)

1.A Box Squats ( Onto parallel box, this is about an inch or so lower than last week, not ideal changing round but this is what I will try and stick to from now)

Barx8
60kgx5
80kgx5
100kgx5
120kgx5
140kgx3
160kgx2

175x4
182.5kgx3
190kgx2

Felt good so I thought I would try a 1RM

200kgx1 PB

Very happy with the progress as the last time I PBd on the box squat it was over an inch higher.

2.A Bench Press

60kgx5
80kgx5
100kgx1

102.5kgx4 PB
105kgx3 PB
107.5kgx2 PB

All reps felt good and controlled. Good progress on the bench, pleasing to see. However it is the slowest one to improve out of all my lifts. But thats probably because I don't work it as much as legs.

3.A Clean Pull

70kgx3

110kgx3
115kgx3
120kgx3
125kgx3

Explosive and coming up high, getting good triple extension.

4.A Hammer Grip Chins (Dead Hang)

BWx4
BWx3
BWx2

I decided not to descend on the sets today as most of my efforts were all PBs and have got two more intense sessions this week so want to get the most out of them.

Happy with the PBs.

Good PB's there CDV, especially the 200Kg bench squat - Impressive

Great work! Upper body stuff will always progress slower (and less) than legs.

Frog pb, frog pb....

Very nice Coop, especially the box squats.

Session 2 (Week 5)

I have recently been sleeping for around 10-12 hours per night for about 4 nights in a row but waking up and still feeling exhausted, infact I have been really tired since last Thursday. So I have decided to take the rest of the week as a deload week instead of pushing on through and not really getting anything out of it.

I will start my new phase next week as a Max Strength/Power Development phase. From now my cycles will be quite short but more intense with 4 sessions per week for 4 weeks (3 weeks on/1 week deload)

Anyway I did the same exercises today but with less volume and intensity.

10 mins foam roll

Dynamic warm up

1.A Dead Lifts (3mins rest)

60kgx8
100kgx6
130kgx5
160kgx4

165kgx4
170kgx3
175kgx2

All came up easy. I did these in my nike free shoes as I wanted to see if they made a difference in comparison to wearing my ironworks (as I normally do) to glute and hammy involvement, and they did! I also started grazing my shins, something that hasn't happened wearing my ironworks so this indicated that I am getting the bar closer into my body and doing a better lift, at least it felt that way!

2.A Muscle Clean-Press (1 min rest)

40kgx5
50kgx5
55kgx5
57.5kgx5


3.A Step Up (1 min 30 rest)

60kgx5 (Reps per leg)
80kgx5
85kgx5
87.5kgx5
60kgx5

4.A Pull Ups (dead hang) (1min rest)

BWx4x4

5.A Ab roll outs (1 min rest)

3x10

6.A Skipping

10 mins with 30secs hard and 1 minute off

I love skipping! Haven't lost any of my skills lol!


Good session, feel alot better for adding in a proper warm up and mobility work. Also I have decided to reduce my rest to bring in an element of conditioning/fat loss without negating strength. I feel a lot better for the quicker session as usually it takes about 1hour 30 to complete and I would come out really tired. I feel great now!
Can't wait for my new cycle!

You did alot of volume in your last cycle so i'm not surprised you burnt out before you planned to.

what i tell you about deadlifts, always listen to the k-dawg

Good idea shortening you sessions too. My sessions are usually 1.5hrs, with half an hr of that being warmup/mobility.

Karlos wrote:You did alot of volume in your last cycle so i'm not surprised you burnt out before you planned to.

what i tell you about deadlifts, always listen to the k-dawg

Good idea shortening you sessions too. My sessions are usually 1.5hrs, with half an hr of that being warmup/mobility.

I think Karlos is right. You were going for a lot of volume on big lifts, especially with stuff like squats & deads. Once you've done one or two really hard sets of deads I don't see what's to be gained from back off sets apart from burning yourself out.

& like Karlos says shorter sessions are better - I think 1.5 hours is fine if the first half hour is light warmup/mobility work, that's pretty much what I do. But I would keep the heavy lifting to an hour or less.