DE

Week 6 of Conjugate Training

Ben Balthaser Training Log , , , , ,

8/8/2015 – ME Upper

Close grip bench to 2 board with Reactive Sling Shot, 2RM – 135, 185, 225, 275, 295, 315, 335, 355, 365, 375

Burnout set with 50% – 2 x fail @ 185

Dumbbell rows – 3×10 @ 55 lb, 65 lb, 75 lb

Dumbbell extensions – 2 x 45 sec @ 25 lb

8/9/2015 – ME lower

Close stance squat, 2RM – 135, 185, 225, 275, 315, 365, 385, 405

Rack pulls from 3 pin, sumo stance, 3RM – 225, 275, 315, 365, 405, 425, 455

Lying leg curl – 2 x fail @ 40 lb

Side bend – 3 x 12 @ 100 lb

Ab wheel – 2 x 10

8/11/2015 – DE upper

Bench – 10 x 3 @ 115 lb with double red bands and 1 chain

Military press, 8 RM – 95, 115, 135, 155

Tate press – 3 x 1 min @ 30 lb

Band pull aparts – 4 x 25 with red band

8/12/2015 – DE lower

Paused squats – 10 x 3 @ 40% (185 lb)

High pulls – 8 x 2 @ 225 lb

Paused front squats – 4 x 10 @ 135 lb

Leg curls – 3 x fail @ 100 lb.

Where is week 5 you ask? Well it was a scheduled deload week and the start of the football season so I just took the week off completely.

Not much to talk about for this week of training, but high pulls and front squats….what am I, an Olympic lifter? amirite?!

Week 4 of Conjugate Training

Ben Balthaser Training Log , , , , ,

Sunday July 26, 2015 – ME lower

Paused front squat –

3 x 45 lb + 130 lb in chains

3 x 95 lb + 130 lb in chains

3 x 135 lb + 130 lb in chains

3 x 155 lb + 130 lb in chains

3 x 175 lb + 130 lb in chains

3 x 195 lb + 130 lb in chains

3 x 205 lb + 130 lb in chains

Stiff legged sumo deadlift –

185 x 6

205 x 6

215 x 6

225 x 6

Cable pull through – 3 x 15, 130 lb

Alternating leg extension – 3 x 70, 30 lb

Tuesday July 28, 2015 – DE upper

Bench – 10 x 3, 130 lb

Incline dumbbell press – 2 x failure, 50 lb (20, 18)

Band pull apart – 4 x 25

Face pulls – 5 x 20, 50 lb

Wednesday July 29, 2015 – DE lower

Squats – 8 x 2, 260 lb

Straight leg deficit deadlift – 4 x 8, 185 lb, 205 lb, 225 lb, 245 lb

Hamstring curl with average band – 3 x failure

Paused front squat, each set add 1 more second to pause – 3 x 10, 135 lb

Saturday August 1, 2015 – ME upper

Bench with reverse average bands (hard for me to guess the amount of weight this took off, but 135 didn’t even touch my chest)  –

3 x 135

3 x 135 (with bands)

3 x 225

3 x 275

3 x 315

3 x 335

3 x 355

3 x 375

3 x 385

2 x 395

Close grip bench, 50% of ME lift, with Sling Shot, paused – 2 x failure, 200 lb (18, 20)

Pull ups – 3 x failure (10, 8, 7)

Lateral raises – 3 x failure, 20 lb (20, 16, 15)

Walking out the bar with chains on it sucks, doing it on front squats is terrible. My best ever front squat is 315 WITH a belt and WITHOUT a pause, my top set was 335 at the top WITHOUT a belt and WITH a pause for 3 reps. That was rough.

So I’m never recording a whole training session again. It’s taken me a week to upload everything, crop it, and piece it together. I don’t have the software for it and using YouTube editor sucks. Also, you will never see me recording cable pull throughs again haha.

I bought my first bar this week, it was $79 off, plus free shipping, plus free Croc Locks ($40). I couldn’t say no. Can’t wait to use it.

A photo posted by Ben Balthaser (@benbalthaser) on Jul 28, 2015 at 6:40pm PDT

This upcoming week is a deload, perfect timing because football practice begins this week and it’s going to be a tough 10 weeks or so of trying to get training in as well as proper rest and nutrition, but I honestly wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Week 3 of Conjugate Training

Ben Balthaser Training Log , , , , ,

Monday 7/20/2015 – ME lower

Squats

135×5

135+120 lb of chains x 5

185+120 lb of chains x 5

225+120 lb of chains x 5

275+120 lb of chains x 5

295+120 lb of chains x 5

315+120 lb of chains x 5

Stiff legged sumo deadlift

135 x 5

155 x 5

175 x 5

185 x 5

205 x 5

225 x 5

Kneeling cable crunches – 3 x 20, 120 lb

Back extension on Roman Chair – 3 x 8, 3 – 3 tempo, 25 lb

Tuesday 7/21/2015 – DE upper

Bench – 10 x 3, 120 lb with doubled mini bands

Wide grip triceps pushdown – 3 x 1 min, 100 lb

Band pull apart – 4 x 25

Internal/external rotation – lots, 10 lb

Thursday 7/23/2015 – DE lower

SSB squats – 2 x 2, 185 lb. 4 x 2, 205 lb. 2 x 2, 225 lb.

Sumo deadlift – 10 x 3, 225 lb, 45 seconds rest.

SSB good mornings – 3 x 1 min, 135 lb

Hanging leg raises – 3 x 1 min (~30+ each)

Shrugs – 2 x failure, 100 lb dumbbells

Saturday 7/25/2015 – ME upper

Close grip bench with Fat Gripz –

135 x 3

185 x 3

225 x 3

245 x 1

265 x 1

275 x 1

285 x 1

295 x 1

305 x 1

315 x 1

3 x 205, failure (~13, 8, 7)

Triceps push downs – 3 x failure, monster mini bands (~40, 35, 35)

Bent over rows – 3 x failure, 75 lb (10, 8, 8)

Reverse curls – 3 x failure (~20, 15, 15)

So Monday was fun…my first time using chains for squats, I worked up to about 435 lb on my back, plus my shirt was kind of thin, and it was about 85° in the gym. This led to a lot of missing skin, bruising, and cramping followed by football camp for 2 hours…so like I said, fun!

image
After ONE set of squats
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On the drive home

Close grip bench with Fat Gripz was interesting, I kept thinking I was done and the weight kept flying up. I was only supposed to go to 90% so I thought 3 plates was a good stopping point.

For the banded push downs, I tried something I saw recently. Westside Barbell shared a link to an article saying that if you’re having tendonitis, a good way to combat this is ‘over speed eccentrics’ (use a band to do a movement violently with lots of reps). I had slight elbow pain on me DE upper day, so hopefully this will help a bit.

Hopefully I’ll have some exciting things to share this week…or, at least they’ll be exciting to me!

Week 2 of Conjugate Training

Ben Balthaser Training Log , , , , ,

Tuesday 7/14/2015 – ME Lower

SSB squat to ultra low box – 160×3, 180×3, 210×3, 230×3, 250×3, 270×3, 300×3, 320×3, 340×3, 360×3

Deficit deadlift – 135×5, 185×5, 225×5, 275×5, 315×5

Lying leg curls – 3 x failure, 40 lb

Standing banded ab crunches – 4 x 25

Reverse hyper – 3 x 10, 100 lb

Wednesday 7/15/2015 – DE upper

Bench – 10 x 3, 115 lb

Cable overhead extension – 3 x 1 min, 80 lb, 60 lb, 40 lb

Band pull aparts – 4 x 25

Friday 7/17/2015 – DE lower

Squat – 10 x 3, 250 lb

Deadlift – 10 x 1, 225, 245, 265, 275, 295, 315 (hips hurt too much to continue)

Stiff legged deadlift – 3 x 1 min, 50 lb dumbbells

Reverse hyper – 3 x 15, 20 lb

Saturday 7/18/2015

Close grip bench with reverse light bands and 3 sec pause – 135×3, 185×3, 225×3, 275×2, 315×2, 335×2, 355×2, 365×2, 375×2

Burn out set – 3 – 3 tempo, 195 lb. I think I got 9

Incline chest supported rows – 3 x 45 seconds, 55 lb dumbbells

Hammer curls – 3 x 1 min, 20 lb dumbbells

Lateral raises – 3 x 1 min, 20 lb, 20 lb, 15 lb

Training was extra rough this week, I think it’s because I’m trying to rearrange my days in preparation for football where I will do my max effort stuff on the weekends when I have more time and can do the dynamic days at night. That means I did 2 ME days/DE days in 6 days instead of 7, hopefully after this week things will be on schedule and I get the right amount of rest. The top of my quad (rectus femoris) was in so much pain I had to shut down my speed pulls. I’m going to have to put more effort in the my recovery (it finally put me over the edge on whether or not to buy a massage stick).

I’m really loving the amount of sets my programming has set up. Powerlifting is as much a technique sport as it is a pure strength sport. Yeah, people who are flat out strong are going to do well, but people who practice their technique are going to get more out of their lifts and probably last longer in the sport. It’s much easier to get your set up right and focus on technique when you’re doing more sets and less reps than a few sets and lots of reps.

If you’re looking to add something new to your workout, you should definitely try the timed sets. They are absolutely brutal. Today during my side raises, a 15 lb dumbbell flew out of my left hand, which you might know as the hand with my screwed up wrist. Instant reminder than I need to build some grip endurance in that hand.

Next week I get to do squats with chains…I can’t wait!

Week 1 of Conjugate Training

Ben Balthaser Training Log , , , , ,

Wednesday 7/8/15 ME lower Squat -225×5, 275×5, 315×5, 345×5 (belt), 365×5 1″ deficit sumo deadlifts – 225×5, 275×5, 315×5, 335×5 (belt), 355 (video)

Lying leg curls – 3 x a 3-3 tempo. 40 lb, 40 lb, 30 lb Ab wheel – 3 x 10 Glute bridges – 3 x 1 min, 80 lb, 80 lb, 60 lb

Thursday 7/9/15 DE upper Bench – 10 x 3. 110 lb with double mini bands Tate press – 3 x 1 min, 25 lb Band pull aparts – 4 x 25 Suitcase holds – 3 x 30 sec, 115 lb Lateral raises – 2 x 1 min, 15 lb

Saturday 7/11/15 ME upper Bench – 135×6, 155×6, 175×6, 195×6, 225×6, 245×6, 255×6, 265×5 Close grip 2 board bench – 2 x failure, 3 – 3 tempo, 2 sec pause on board. 205 lb, 185 lb Dumbbell rows – 5 x 10. 60 lb, 60 lb, 65 lb, 65 lb, 75 lb Dumbbell triceps extension – 2 x 45 sec. 30 lb

Sunday 7/12/15 DE lower Squat – 10 x 3, 2 sec pause in the hole. 135 lb with light band. Deadlifts – 10 x 1. 225 lb for 3 sets, 275 lb for 3 sets, 315 lb for 3 sets. Cut it short to go tour a new store and watch the USAPL State Championships

So going from 531 to conjugate is weird. Having my programming done by Matt Wenning is brutal. I’ve never done real sumo deadlifts in training before nor really glute bridges. First day out having to do both was awesome. The tempo training and lifts for time are also different and brutal. I had to use less weight or drop down weight from what he suggested just to do them. For the glute bridges I did 33 on my first set, 30 on my second, 30 on my third. I don’t think I’ve ever done 30 reps for one set in my entire life. I’m hoping that my body will get conditioned to doing the reps like this so at least I’ll have the energy to finish sets.

I’m thinking about buying a camcorder. I could use it for coaching as well as for my lifts which is the only reason I’m really considering it. Or I could save money and just use my phone propped up on random equipment to do the job. It’s hard to get a good angle.

On my sumo pulls, everything looked okay, but I bet if I could have gotten a higher view then things would be off. All in all, I’m pretty excited about this new programming and can’t wait to see what the next week brings!