12/30 – Sheiko – Session 1

Back to the grind! Good session to start things off. Pushed things on push press a bit by deviating from the scheduled four doubles at 280 and did some singles with 300, and ended with a PR triple at 280. Pleased with that. 315 still wasn’t there today (granted, I didn’t try it either), but I think exposure to some heavy singles more often throughout the cycle will help – especially mentally; anything 300 or greater still messes with my head. All squats were wrap-less and I plowed through them without much difficulty. Pressing felt good across the board.

Push Press:
135x10x1
175x5x1
210x4x1
245x3x1
280x2x1
300x1x1
300x1x1
280x3x1 (PR)

ATG Squat:
320x3x1
385x3x1
450x3x1
480x3x1
480x3x1
480x3x1
480x3x1
450x3x1
450x3x1
450x3x1

Paused Bench Press:
225x5x1
225x4x1
265x3x1
280x2x1
280x2x1
280x2x1
280x2x1

Good Mornings:
185x8x1
185x8x1
185x8x1
185x8x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x8x1
245x8x1
245x8x1
225x8x1

Decline Bench Press:
185x4x1
225x4x1
265x4x1
265x4x1
265x4x1
265x4x1

Concentration Curls:
35x10x1
35x10x1
35x10x1
35x10x1
35x10x1

Pull-Aparts:
red band x50x1
red band x50x1
red band x50x1

+ stretching

Duration: 110 minutes

12/27 – Deadlift ME

Pretty average deadlift session today. Seems I can’t put together that big 1rm effort. Did some conventionals afterwards and worked up to 605, which is just off of my best conventional of 615. Tried 620 and stalled at my knees – just ran out of gas. Feeling pretty good about conventionals, at least.

Deadlift:
135x10x1
225x5x1
315x3x1
375x3x1
450x2x1
520x1x1
600x1x1
675x1x1
725x0x1

Conventional Deadlift:
405x2x1
495x1x1
585x1x1
605x1x1
620x0x1

Standing Band Abduction:
red band x50x1

Pull-Aparts:
red band x50x1
red band x50x1
red band x50x1

+ stretching

Duration: 60 minutes

12/26 – Bench ME

Fantastic bench workout. Everything really clicked today and I ended up setting a handful of PRs. Previous long-paused PR bench was 345, which I broke twice, ending at 355 with more in the tank I think. Moved on to incline, which I haven’t maxed in a long, long time, where I destroyed my previous PR of 325 with efforts of 330, 340, 345. At this point I feel like my incline bench is better than my paused flat bench…that’s kind of sad, but it’s progressing at least.

Paused Bench Press:
135x15x1
185x3x1
225x3x1
255x2x1
290x1x1
330x1x1
350x1x1 (PR)
355x1x1 (PR)

Incline Bench Press:
135x10x1
185x3x1
225x3x1
255x2x1
285x1x1
315x1x1
330x1x1 (PR)
340x1x1 (PR)
345x1x1 (PR)

Decline Bench Press:
225x5x1
275x3x1
315x3x1
335x2x1

Pull-Aparts:
red band x50x1
red band x50x1
red band x50x1

+ stretching

Duration: 60 minutes

12/23 – Squat ME

Nice max effort squatting today. Hit a 5 and 10lb PR over my previous PR effort 2 months ago, so I am very pleased. 625 actually felt easier than 620, so I think there is another 5-10lbs there yet. I started warming up on bench but just wasn’t feeling it; I was mentally ‘done’ for the day. Will max bench and deads after Christmas. Happy Holidays!

ATG Squat:
135x15x1
225x5x1
315x3x1
375x3x1
440x2x1
505x1x1
570x1x1
620x1x1 (PR)
625x1x1 (PR)

Paused Bench Press:
185x3x1
225x3x1
255x2x1
290x2x1

Pull-Aparts:
red band x50x1
red band x50x1
red band x50x1

+ stretching

Duration: 45 minutes

12/20 – Sheiko – Session #20

Nice easy workout to end this Sheiko cycle. Did pulls conventionally again – easy stuff. I might do the next cycle completely conventional – I know that any increased low back strength will only help my sumo pull.

Conventional Deadlift:
135x10x1
225x3x1
315x3x1
375x3x1
450x2x1
450x2x1
525x1x1
525x1x1
525x1x1

Paused Bench Press:
185x3x1
225x2x1
225x2x1
255x1x1
255x1x1
255x1x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x6x1
225x6x1
225x6x1

WG Pulldown:
150x10x1
150x10x1
150x10x1

Pull-Aparts:
red band x50x1
red band x50x1
red band x50x1

+ stretching

Duration: 40 minutes

12/16 – Sheiko – Session 19

Low volume, low intensity workout. Was supposed to do 3 singles @ 255 on overheads but I decided to do some heavier weights just to help myself mentally acclimate to a possible PR attempt next week. Did a few singles with 295, which felt OK. 315 certainly wasn’t there today, but then again I wasn’t really fired up, and I wasn’t feeling very recovered from last week yet. Paused my 3 singles for a few seconds each @ 440 on atg squats (wrapless), and they were a cake-walk.

Push Press:
135x10x1
175x5x1
205x3x1
240x2x1
240x2x1
255x1x1
275x1x1
295x1x1
295x1x1

ATG Squat:
315x3x1
375x2x1
440x1x1
440x1x1
440x1x1

Good Mornings:
185x4x1
185x4x1
185x4x1
185x4x1

Pull-Aparts:
red band x50x1
red band x50x1
red band x50x1

+ stretching

Duration: 60 minutes

12/13 – Sheiko – Session 18

Happy Friday the 13th! Had a pretty decent workout. Everything is sore and tired from those conventional pulls today, but I did everything on schedule. Still wrapless on squats – I am hoping that pays off well when I finally throw on the tight wraps and belt and go for something heavy. Volume next week drops drastically and has an off day on Wednesday. Going to be nice!

Push Press:
135x12x1
175x3x1
205x3x1
240x3x1
255x2x1
255x2x1
255x2x1
255x6x1

ATG Squat:
315x3x1
375x3x1
440x3x1
475x2x1
475x2x1
475x2x1
475x2x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x6x1
255x6x1
255x8x1

Seated Bicep Curl Machine:
62x20x1
62x20x1
62x20x1

Pull Aparts:
red band x50x1
red band x50x1
red band x75x1

+ stretching

Duration: 75 minutes

12/11 – Sheiko – Session 17

Good workout. Did conventional deads to mix things up and they felt pretty decent despite being pretty fatigued from squats lately. 615 is the heaviest I’ve gone on conventionals so I wasn’t far off…Bench felt real easy today.

Conventional Deadlift:
135x10x1
225x3x1
315x3x1
375x3x1
450x3x1
525x2x1
565x2x1
585x2x1
605x2x1
565x3x1

Paused Bench Press:
185x3x1
225x3x1
255x3x1
290x2x1
290x2x1
290x2x1
290x2x1

Standing Cable Crunch:
80x8x1
100x8x1
120x8x1
140x8x1
160x8x1

Seated Bicep Curl Machine:
62x20x1
62x20x1
62x20x1

Single-arm Rope Cable Extensions:
23x12x1
23x12x1
23x12x1
23x12x1
23x12x1

Pull Aparts:
red band x50x1
red band x50x1
red band x75x1
red band x100x1

+ stretching

Duration: 60 minutes

12/9 – Sheiko – Session 16

Nice session. Overheads were pretty strong – no leg drive today for whatever reason so I had to ‘press’ more. Squats felt stiff/achy, but decent – again skipped wraps. Incline felt really strong, as did db bench. Thinking of starting to push those a bit harder…

Push Press:
135x12x1
175x3x1
205x3x1
240x3x1
275x3x1
275x3x1
275x3x1
275x3x1
275x3x1

ATG Squat:
315x3x1
375x3x1
440x3x1
505x2x1
505x2x1
505x2x1
505x2x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x4x1
255x4x1
285x4x1
285x4x1

Flat DB Bench:
110x6x1
120x6x1
130x10x1

Pull Aparts:
red band x50x1
red band x50x1
red band x50x1

+ stretching

Duration: 80 minutes

12/6 – Sheiko – Session 15

Good session. Push presses started out real tough, but they got better as I worked through my top sets. Squats were real solid – this is the heaviest I’ve gone on ATG squats without any knee wraps so I was pretty pleased with how things felt. Finished with some incline bench and flat db bench.

Push Press:
135x12x1
175x3x1
205x3x1
240x3x1
275x2x1
275x2x1
275x2x1
275x2x1
275x3x1

ATG Squat:
315x3x1
375x3x1
440x3x1
505x2x1
505x2x1
505x2x1
505x2x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x4x1
255x4x1
255x4x1
275x6x1

Flat DB Bench:
110x8x1
110x8x1
110x8x1
110x12x1

Pull Aparts:
red band x50x1
red band x50x1
red band x50x1

+ stretching

Duration: 75 minutes