ME SQUAT/DEADLIFT: Good day..

Goodmornings:

225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 3
345 x 2
365 x 1
385 x 1
405 x 1

- First time I've done these for a single as the ME lift. I used to rotate them in regularly for a triple as a secondary ME. Felt strong with these. Explosive. Bent all the way down to parallel. Slightly above for the 405 being lazy.

Conventional Deadlifts:

225 x 5
315 x 3
405 x 1
465 x 5

- Felt GREAT for these. My grip didn't slip at all. I probably could've done 8 reps at this weight, but stopped short. Next time I have GM's as an ME lift, I'll follow with conventional deads for 1-5 RM. I felt like I could've repped 500 for 3 solid today, but time was becoming a factor.

Pullthroughs [190 x 3 x 12] ss w/ Hyperextensions [1 x 10]

- Gonna start doing the stack with these.

Banded Abs Pulldowns: 3 x 20

Leg Press: A lot x [3 x 12]

- Great day. Love GM's as the ME lift. Next time I'll elliminate some of those workup sets because they're pointless. Next week it's back to the grind with low box squats (4" below parallel).

I've been offline for the past few days while remoddeling my house. Finally done!

RE BENCH: Last one before reverting back to speed bench..

Flat Bench: 320 x [5 x 5]

Standing OHP: 220 x [3 x 5]

Weighted Pullups: 35 x [2 x 7]

Chest-Supported Rows: 340 x [3 x 10]

Seated DB Curls [55 x 3 x 10] ss w/ Rolling DB Extensions [50 x 3 x 10]

Shoulder Prehab

-----------------------------

DE SQUAT/DEADLIFT:

Banded Speed Squats: 265 x [8 x 2] Light bands

SLDL: 335 x [3 x 8]

DB Swings [100 x 3 x 12] ss w/ Weighted Hypers [bw x 2 x 10]

Hamstring Curls: 3 sets of 10

Banded Abs Pulldowns: 4 x 15

congrats on the house :)

^^ Gracias!

ME BENCH: Serious weight getting tossed around!

Reverse Band Bench: Light bands choked on top of cage.

225 x 10
275 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 3
405 x 2
435 x 1
465 x 1 (+ 10 PR)

375 x 5 DROP
375 x 5 DROP

- Gotta love this exercise. Overloads the fuck out of my triceps. I'd venture to say off the chest the bands take off 90 or so pounds, and next to nothing near the top. 465 felt great from the moment I unracked it. I had a spotter standing by with my top set, everything else was solo.

Reverse Band JM Press: Already set up, so no point in moving to 3 board CGB.

225 x 5
245 x 5
265 x 5

- I like this exercise, but not as much as the 3-4 boards close/med grip. Every time I have reverse band bench, these will certainly follow to augment my training with something new.

Wide Grip T-Bar Rows: 4 plates for 3 x 10

- First time doing these since my "bodybuilding" days. I've ALWAYS done Pendlay Rows for 3 x 8, but felt a change was necessary. I tried with a close grip for these T-Bar's, but I would've had to load another couple of plates on the sides cause my biceps are too strong. So a nice wide grip really limited today's poundage.

Hammer Strength Shoulder Press: 250 x 2 x 10

Reverse Pec Dec: 3 x 10

Barbell Curls ss w/ 20 rep Banded Pressdowns

DONE! Terrific day today. Felt so stong all around. I'm sure it's partially to do with a good night's sleep combined with rotating in some new exercises for a change. I've been doing Pendlay Rows for the past year for ME days! I've slowly worked up to 300 for 3 x 8 with perfect form, but every set is SO DEMANDING that it literally sucks the motivation right out of me! T-Bar's are a fun exercise that IMO will pay dividends with a wide grip..

In other news, my dieting has been OUTSTANDING! No cheating, very clean. I say outstanding because:

a) I've gone from 255 to 248 now

b) Strength continues to increase (see above post!)

c) Measured my chest/arms with the gym's tape measure and I STILL got 19.5" arms, and a shade more than 50" chest.

I was in a hurry to get started lifting, so I didn't bother doing the whole shabang. On Tuesday I'll get my waist measurements, which is pretty fucking important LOL..

Your hitting new PR's all the time...Especially while dieting down. And some people say it isn't possible...:wtf:

Good Job

I purposely missed yesterday's ME SQUAT/DEADLIFT day because I'm working on something else to augment my fat loss while maintaining my strength increases. More than likely NOT 1 RM's because it's too much of a mental strain while dieting. More like 3-5 RM's. I'm also gonna hit up some 8 x 3's and other really fun shit! It's almost been a full year doing Westside and the results have been fucking amazing! Now I'm looking towards a different approach to strength training. Out of the past year, my QUADS and CHEST have atrophied a bit compared to before. It's to be expected with the limited amount of volume focusing on neural efficiency.

I believe my strength is at such a high point to where I'm debating about doing a more "traditional split". Something with TONS of overlapping of course. :D Quite possibly doing 1 mesocycle of medium volume, and 1 meso strength focus.

LOL, I got bored at work and cruised over to horoscopes and came across mine for today that just so happened (IMO) to address the matter at hand:

Split vs. Frequency anyone??! Wierd huh?

Disclaimer: Absolutely NO 5 day split either.. I gotta think on this.. Might just keep the two day split but change some things up. Who knows :weights:

BTW, I started this journal in mid August after already training Westside (w/ Reynolds at the time) for a few months prior. Here's part of my first post:

So in about 5 months, I've since blown past ALL short time goals (excluding chest)!

Bench Goal: 405
Current Bench: 405 (achieved!.. Twice)

Squat Goal: 425
Current Squat: 450 (w/out a spot)

Deadlift Goal: 475-500
Current Deadlift: 475 x 5 belt only (max around 515)

----

The entire program done 100% natural to boot.. :lame: (I know)!

Lookin good bro ... progress upon progress ... but I gotta warn ya, you need to keep it up cause i'm comin for ya :weights:

u know, u could do a 4 day split as long as u periodize ur lifts....i dunno, but there are TONS of ways to do this...

im just gonna put some points across for the sake of

lets say u do a 4 day split:
Chest Biceps
Legs
Back
Shoulder Triceps

now, u could use primary motions like:
Chest - Bench Press
Legs - Squat or Deadlift or rotate the 2 biweekly
Back - Rows
Shoulders - Military Press

now u know that there are TONS of other variations to ALL those lifts, but u could start off with these lifts and periodize the whole thing....like start off at 80% of ur 5RM for them all and work up to ur 5RM in 5 weeks and blow past it...like the good old days of 5x5 training lol...

also, what i was thinking, u could try to do ME movements where u hit a new RM every session and then rotate the lift every 4 weeks....and u could keep some stuff to DE work and then after 4 weeks change the ME work to DE work and DE work to ME work

what i mean is:

Weeks 1-4:
Chest - ME Bench
Legs - DE Squat
Back - ME Deadlift
Shoulders - DE Press

Weeks 5-8:
Chest - DE Bench
Legs - ME Squat
Back - DE Deadlift
Shoulders - ME Press

just my 2C for what little its worth sir.....if i think of more stuff u can be sure ill put it here...