JK's Road to Elite

[Mc_Beast]

How did you back injury occur? I have a torn l5s1, been dealing with it for a few years now. After what felt like some close calls I quit pulling conventional. I had worked up to a max of 600, which was a struggle. Since then I had not pulled over 500 conventional. My sumo training really took off. Well, here is a "rookie mistake for you (which turned out to be the smartest idea). I was doing my squat & dead openers two weeks out from my first meet. Well, I went to pull 575 (projected opener) and it didn't budge. Frustrated, I switched to conventional. 405,455,500,545,575 all SPEED pulls.. Two weeks later on my third attempt I pulled 640. What I am getting at is, I think sumos have a huge carryover to conventional but not vice versa. Front squats have really brough my conventional up too. Good luck!

[jkstrength]

I imagine all the sumo work you have done will have had some carryover anyway, and im also pretty sure that overthinking on meet day come deadlift time wont be an issue either haha! adrenaline and nose tork should sort that very swiftly! just gotta commit to the pull

Exactly J. I never really think too much about it on meet day. I mostly just let the mind go blank and lift. It's worked so far. The nose tork does help! Haha.

How did you back injury occur? I have a torn l5s1, been dealing with it for a few years now. After what felt like some close calls I quit pulling conventional. I had worked up to a max of 600, which was a struggle. Since then I had not pulled over 500 conventional. My sumo training really took off. Well, here is a "rookie mistake for you (which turned out to be the smartest idea). I was doing my squat & dead openers two weeks out from my first meet. Well, I went to pull 575 (projected opener) and it didn't budge. Frustrated, I switched to conventional. 405,455,500,545,575 all SPEED pulls.. Two weeks later on my third attempt I pulled 640. What I am getting at is, I think sumos have a huge carryover to conventional but not vice versa. Front squats have really brough my conventional up too. Good luck!

It occured deadlifting of all things. Way before I even took up powerlifting. It had hurt for some time and one day when I was warming up WITH AN EMPTY BAR it just popped. L5 complete rupture. I think you are dead on with the carryover thing as JLS stated above as well. I have never had conventional pulls flying up this easy. Definitely think all the sumo pulling has increased my hip strength. Great to hear your story. Really has me convinced to stick with conventional and set a PR in 4 weeks.

[jkstrength]

Workouts from Monday and Wednesday:

Monday:

bench: 135x20 x 3 sets

Dbell Rows: 50 x 10 x 3 sets

Dbell Skull Crushers: 15's x 20 x 3 sets

Wednesday:

squat: 225 x 5 x 5 sets

Pull: 225 x 6 singles

GHR: bw x 10 x 3 sets

situps: bw x 20 x 3 sets

DELOADING!!!!

[J L S]

staying fresh! i like it

[Brian Hopper]

Glad to see your sticking with conventional!!!

[jkstrength]

staying fresh! i like it

A little over 3 weeks out. Gotta stay fresh and inury free!

Glad to see your sticking with conventional!!!

Thanks Brian, me too. It just feels more natural for some reason.

[jkstrength]

Thursday 7/13/12 DELOAD

Speed Bench: 170 + light bands x 3 x 9 sets

Incline Dbell Bench: 70 x 10 x 3 sets

Side Raises: 15's x 20 x 3 sets

Dbell Curls: 3x20

Everything light!!!

[Coke]

Keeping everything light right now is the timely thing to be doing man.

[J L S]

nice, whats the plan for the next 3 weeks into the meet?

[jkstrength]

Keeping everything light right now is the timely thing to be doing man.

Hell yeah Coke. At this point its more important to come in healthy and feeling strong.

nice, whats the plan for the next 3 weeks into the meet?

Monday will be regular ME upper day. Usual speed work through the week. Saturday (14 days out) we'll hit squat and dead openers and possibly seconds depending on how we feel. Speed work through the week and bench openers 7 days out. Seems to work really well for us as we always hit bigger numbers in the meet than in training, which is kind of the point right? Lol!

[jkstrength]

Saturday 7/14/12 - Deload Lower

Squat:
135x5
135x5
225x5
225x3
315 (70%) x1
315 (70%) x1
315 (70%) x1

Deadlift (Conventional):
135x3
225x1
315x1
350 (70%) x 1
350 (70%) x 1
350 (70%) x 1

Static Leg Raises (hold at parallel):
15 seconds
15 seconds
15 seconds
15 seconds

Keeping everything relatively light and explosive. Last heavy workout for squat/dead is next Saturday and I'm looking forward to it.

[jkstrength]

Monday 7/16/12 - ME Upper

Bench:
135x5
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x2
315x1
added one-board
335x1
350x1
365x1

Barbell Rows:
185x10
205x10
205x10
205x10

EZ Skulls:
4x10

Flat Dbell Bench:
70x20
70x20

Pretty good day. Not sure if 365 is a PR but probably not since I've done 360 off my chest. It was a grinder today. Bench is not gonna move till my bodyweight does I'm afraid. Still confident I can get 352 at the meet when I'm peaked. We'll see....

[Coke]

Great day with the benching and all, fine lower body speed work too.

[J L S]

haha too right about hitting the bigger numbers in the meets where it counts! Ive learned that the hard way haha! sounds like a good plan! Always seems the hardest thing for me getting it right when it really counts, can train weeks and weeks for one day!

[Brian Hopper]

Strong board presses!!!

[jkstrength]

Great day with the benching and all, fine lower body speed work too.

Thanks my friend! Hopefully it all pays off.

haha too right about hitting the bigger numbers in the meets where it counts! Ive learned that the hard way haha! sounds like a good plan! Always seems the hardest thing for me getting it right when it really counts, can train weeks and weeks for one day!

Yeah peaking is definitely an art more than a science. What has always seemed to work for me is just making sure I'm completely rested. Even if I don't hit some numbers I'm supposed to in the weeks before, if I am rested I will hit my numbers in the meet.

Strong board presses!!!

Thanks Brian! Felt heavier than I would have liked...

[jkstrength]

Wednesday 7/18/12 - DE/RE Lower

Squat:
135x5
135x5
225x3
225x3
275 (60%) x2 x 12 sets

Speed Pulls (conventional):
300 (60%) + 50 pounds chains x 1 x 5 sets

Wide Stance Front Box Squats (16 inch box):
185x5
225x5
275x5

GHR/Weighted Sit-up Superset:
25x10/25x10
25x10/25x10
25x10/25x10

Squat form felt a little off but weight was still flying up. Pulls felt great. Openers for squat and dead on Saturday. Looking forward to it.

[Coke]

Openers for squat and dead on Saturday.

Will definitely be watching this space for it man.

[Brian Hopper]

How often do you deload?

[jkstrength]

Will definitely be watching this space for it man.

Thanks Coke. I appreciate the continued support!

How often do you deload?

Every fourth week. I used to deload just when I felt like it but I would just go until I was completely beat up and a week off was never enough. This cycle I just did every fourth week and I feel great. No pain anywhere.

[Brian Hopper]

That sounds about right. That's what we do also. I tried this past training cycle to push it a little further and it sucked, lol. It was a short 8 week cycle and I did PR at the end, but it was still a bad idea.

[jkstrength]

That sounds about right. That's what we do also. I tried this past training cycle to push it a little further and it sucked, lol. It was a short 8 week cycle and I did PR at the end, but it was still a bad idea.

Yeah I've done longer cycles without a deload and pretty much felt the same way. PRed but don't know if it was worth it. So you deload every fourth as well?

[jkstrength]

Thursday 7/19/12 - DE Upper

Speed Bench:
175 + 40 pounds chain x 3 x 9 sets

Floor Press (paused):
225x5
275x5
300x5
320x5 PR

Chins:
BW + 25 x 6 x 4 sets (30 seconds rest between sets)

Military Press:
115x5 x 4 sets (30 seconds rest between sets)

Feeling strong and very pumped for this meet. If I hit my numbers I'll finally make the top 50 ranking on Powerliftingwatch.com in at least squat and total. Don't want to jinx myself but I'm definitely feeling like its something I am very capable of. Squat/Dead openers on Saturday. I'm thinking 440ish squat and 470ish dead.

[Brian Hopper]

Yeah I've done longer cycles without a deload and pretty much felt the same way. PRed but don't know if it was worth it. So you deload every fourth as well?

Yep, 3 weeks of heavy training then 1 week for a deload!

[jkstrength]

Yep, 3 weeks of heavy training then 1 week for a deload!

Exactly what we usually do.