4/30 – Sheiko/WSB Hybrid – Bench ME & Deadlift – Session 17

This was one of my best bench workouts, if not the best, ever. This is my fourth heavy bench workout in as many workouts and had planned on 4 doubles @ 315, but the first double was easy, so was another at 325 (which tied my 2rm paused pr), and the 335 double was just as easy still. Decided to go for a 1rm and killed 360, then jumped to 370 and nailed that as well. Only 5lbs off my all-time best touch and go max, and I know I have 375+ in me with the pause. Went down to 345 to finish and got another double. Excellent. Did some work with the slingshot and worked up to 445 for a single, and another PR. Deadlifts rounded things out and I had no objections to sticking with the plan of doing a light deadlift workout.

Paused Bench Press:
135x10x1
195x3x1
235x3x1
275x3x1
315x2x1
325x2x1 (PR)
335x2x1 (PR)
360x1x1 (PR)
370x1x1 (PR)
345x2x1 (PR)

Slingshot Bench Press:
315x5x1
365x3x1
405x3x1
425x1x1
445x1x1 (PR)
405x3x1

Deadlift:
225x6x1
315x3x1
405x3x1
495x3x1
585x3x1
585x3x1
585x3x1
585x4x1

Sumo SLDL:
405x8x1
405x8x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
red x50x1
red x50x1
red x50x1

Duration: 90 minutes

4/28 – Sheiko/WSB Hybrid – Bench RE & Squat ME – Session 16

Awesome session today. This cycle is winding down towards its conclusion, with volume dropping as this week progresses and next week basically being an active recovery week before I test my lifts and start fresh.

Opted to do high-bar ATG squats today since they felt good on Friday. My hip was bothering me quite a bit today but I still wound up hitting a pretty easy 515 double, which is a an all-time PR there for high-bar full squats. Did a light 5×5 on front squats, utilizing the zombie grip. I really liked how these felt once I trusted myself in holding the bar on my delts alone. Moved on to paused bench and nailed 4 triples @ 315, then a PR effort for 4 reps for my fifth and last set. I am really pleased with how my bench is feeling right now. Rounded things out with some good inclines and neutral grip chest press.

High-bar ATG Squat:
135x10x1
225x6x1
315x3x1
405x3x1
475x2x1
515x2x1 (PR)

Front Squats (zombie grip):
225x5x1
225x5x1
225x5x1
225x5x1
225x5x1

Paused Bench Press:
135x10x1
195x3x1
235x3x1
275x3x1
315x3x1
315x3x1
315x3x1
315x3x1
315x4x1 (PR)

Incline Bench Press:
225x4x1
275x4x1
275x4x1
275x4x1

Neutral Grip Chest Press Machine:
150x10x1
175x10x1
200x10x1
150x10x1
150x10x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
red x50x1
red x50x1
red x50x1

Duration: 120 minutes

4/25 – Sheiko/WSB Hybrid – Bench RE & Squat DE – Session 15

Pretty great workout today. Decided to give touch and go bench a try, as I have only done a handful of tng sets since I started benching again a few months ago (all work has been paused on flat, besides slingshot work). Was not sure how heavy to push things and figured I would give 315 a try if things felt OK. Pretty sore and achy from benching Wednesday but I worked up to a triple @ 315, which felt good, but awkward, and uncoordinated. There takes a certain amount of coordination in going from paused reps to tng, and that took a few sets to “click”. I ended up hitting 7 reps on my 3rd set @ 315, which ties my all time best rep effort at 315. Finished a few more sets with 5 and 4 reps, total of 24 reps. I am pretty sure that is a volume PR for bench for me @ 315. Arching on the slippery benches my gym has makes rep efforts harder as my shoulders/back keep slipping up the bench. Moved on to incline, where I did not push things too hard. Decided to try high-bar ATG squats for speed work. I have not done high-bar ATG squats since 2008, when my doctor discovered my high-bar squatting was eroding the discs between my top 3 vertebrae. My top 2 verts stick out a bit, and the bar would always rest between/on them, despite carrying as much weight on my traps as possible, so I made the permanent switch to low-bar then. Today I carried the bar slightly lower than my old high-bar position, but well up from my low-bar position. Felt really awkward at first, but ended up feeling really strong and smooth by the end of the 8 sets. I will have to play with that more as I am not sure how that bar position will translate to heavier weight, or if it is even feasible.

Bench Press:
135x10x1
135x10x1
185x5x1
225x3x1
225x3x1
275x3x1
300x3x1
315x3x1
315x5x1
315x7x1 (PR)
315x5x1
315x4x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x4x1
275x4x1
275x4x1
225x4x1

DE High-bar ATG Squat:
225x2x1
225x2x1
225x2x1
225x2x1
275x2x1
275x2x1
325x2x1
325x2x1

Chins:
bw x8x1
bw x8x1
bw x8x1
bw x8x1

Seated Bicep Curl Machine (superset behind chins):
75x10x1
75x10x1
75x10x1
75×10-50×10-37x10x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
red x50x1
red x50x1
red x50x1

Duration: 70 minutes

4/23 – Sheiko/WSB Hybrid – Deadlift and Bench ME – Session 14

Good workout – much better than Monday. Bench felt pretty decent – got some solid singles in, but still not feeling strong enough to go for a 1rm PR, but I did get a 3rm PR, which I’m happy with. With as beat-up feeling as I am, I am ok with what I did today. Slingshot bench press went well – PR with 435 for a double, but I am still having troubles touching. I moved down to 355 and used a full arch (something that always helps my bench, but I hate doing) and was able to get the weight to touch finally, and banged out a solid 10 paused reps. This hit harder than the heavier low rep sets, so I think I will continue doing higher reps with the slingshot – and pausing occasionally. Conventional deads felt pretty decent, considering how achy and sore my hips/back are right now. Worked up to a tough single @ 595, which is the heaviest I have hit this training cycle. Did rack pulls from the top of the knee to really hammer the lockout. Easy weights, but the point was to work that hip/glute strength for lockouts. Finished with some tricep work.

Paused Bench Press:
135x10x1
195x3x1
235x3x1
275x3x1
315x2x1
335x1x1
340x1x1
345x1x1
315x3x1 (PR)

Slingshot Bench Press:
315x5x1
355x3x1
385x3x1
415x3x1
435x2x1 (PR)
355x10x1 (PR)

Conventional Deadlift:
225x5x1
315x3x1
405x3x1
495x3x1
565x1x1
595x1x1
565x1x1
525x5x1

Rack Deadlift (bar @ top of knee):
315x5x1
405x5x1
495x5x1
585x5x1
665x5x1

Seated Tricep Extension Machine:
75x10x1
75x10x1
75x10x1
75x10x1
75x10x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
red x50x1
red x50x1
red x50x1

Duration: 120 minutes

4/21 – Sheiko/WSB Hybrid – Squat ME – Session 13

Tough session today. Feeling under the weather from yesterday’s festivities and generally sluggish. Right rear delt feeling achy so did what I needed to do and that.was.it.

Push Press:
135x10x1
185x5x1
225x4x1
255x3x1

Wide-stance Squat (single-ply briefs):
225x10x1
315x5x1
405x3x1
495x3x1
515x3x1
535x3x1

Flat DB Bench Press:
80x8x1
110x8x1
110x8x1
110x12x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x8x1
225x8x1
225x8x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
red x50x1
red x50x1
red x50x1

Duration: 70 minutes

4/18 – Sheiko/WSB Hybrid – Squat DE – Session 12

Wide-stance box squats were the dynamic effort flavor of the week. These rip my hips apart, in a good way. Front squats were brutal on the hips as well, but strength is steadily improving. 4 triples @ 335 without too much trouble. No pressing at all today – giving the upper body a break there. Chins felt good – need to do those more.

DE Wide-stance Box Squat:
225x2x1
275x2x1
275x2x1
315x2x1
315x2x1
335x2x1
335x2x1
335x2x1

Front Squat:
225x5x1
315x3x1
335x3x1
335x3x1
335x3x1
335x3x1

Chins:
bw x10x1
bw x10x1
bw x10x1
bw x10x1
bw x15x1

CG Pulldowns:
250x5x1
250x5x1
250x5x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
red x50x1
red x50x1

Band External Rotations:
red x50x1
red x50x1

Duration: 70 minutes

4/16 – Sheiko/WSB Hybrid – Deadlift and Bench ME – Session 11

Pretty damn good session today. Lots of DOMs in my back and forearms (especially) from squats and overheads, but was able to hit some decent rep work on deads. Heavy singles were out of the question today. Hitting those higher rep sets was a nice change of pace. One more rep at 640 would have been a 5rm PR, but considering how beat up I felt, I am pleased with those 4 reps. Three-board bench was tough with all the forearm soreness, but throwing on the elbow sleeves helped quite a bit with that. Moved on to slingshot after some decent singles on 3-board and hit a couple rep PRs there as well. Could have gone for some heavy singles but figured the rep work would be more beneficial. Inclines went well despite being very fatigued. Finished off with my current favorite movement – the paused neutral grip flat db bench.

Deadlift:
225x10x1
315x3x1
380x3x1
455x3x1
530x3x1
610x2x1
640x4x1
585x6x1
585x6x1

3-board Bench Press:
135x10x1
195x5x1
225x3x1
265x3x1
295x2x1
335x1x1
355x1x1
375x1x1

Slingshot Bench Press:
315x3x1
355x3x1
385x3x1
405x3x1
425x3x1 (PR)
405x5x1 (PR)
405x4x1
405x4x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x5x1
275x5x1
280x5x1
275x6x1

Paused Neutral Grip Flat DB Bench:
70x8x1
70x8x1
80x8x1
80x10x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
red x60x1
red x60x1
red x60x1

Duration: 120 minutes

4/14 – Sheiko/WSB Hybrid – Squat and Press ME – Session 10

Pretty great workout. Today I was determined to stick with using the clean grip for my push presses – typically these hurt by the time I finish a few warmup sets due to my right wrist having poor mobility (broken several times in the past), but today the clean grip was actually pretty comfortable. It feels really awkward, and strange not gripping the bar for each press, but using the clean grip creates a natural head-forward movement, which keeps my form nice and tight. Hit a pretty easy 285 double, then did some triples @ 255, which all felt really solid. The clean grip will hopefully continue to feel OK. Moved on to full squats and worked up to a pretty smooth 600 single, then backed down to go after some rep PRs. I ended up beating my previous 3 and 5rm bests with efforts @ 565 and 515. Happy with that! Did some flat db bench, which felt great, then ended things with curls and ab work.

Push Press:
135x10x1
185x3x1
225x3x1
255x3x1
285x2x1
255x3x1
255x3x1

ATG Squat:
225x10x1
330x3x1
405x3x1
460x2x1
530x1x1
575x1x1
600x1x1
565x3x1 (PR)
515x5x1 (PR)

Flat DB Bench:
80x8x1
100x8x1
120x8x1
130x8x1
110x8x1

Rope Cable Crunch:
75x10x1
100x10x1
112x10x1

Seated Curl Machine (one big mega-set):
75x12x1
62x12x1
50x12x1
87x8x1
75x8x1
62x8x1
50x8x1
100x3x1
87x3x1
75x4x1
62x4x1
50x6x1
37x10x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
red x50x1
red x50x1
red x50x1

Duration: 120 minutes

4/11 – Sheiko/WSB Hybrid – Squat DE – Session 9

Pretty nice workout today. Speed work went well – 335 was flying. My upper body is just a wreck from the overheads on Monday and slingshot work on Wednesday – made for some interesting front squats. Regardless, I hit 355 for a triple, which is only 10lbs off my best, but I think I was not hitting depth like this back then. Humbling weight, but the strength will come. Inclines felt really rugged, but hit some not-to-tough sets with 275; pleased with that. Tried a set of seated DB presses but my shoulders emphatically said “no”, so I switched to neutral grip db floor presses. Really nice tricep blaster there.

DE ATG Squat:
225x2x1
275x2x1
315x2x1
315x2x1
335x2x1
335x2x1
335x2x1
335x2x1

Front Squat:
225x5x1
315x3x1
335x3x1
355x3x1
315x5x1

Incline Bench Press:
225x5x1
255x5x1
275x5x1
275x5x1
275x5x1

Seated DB Press:
70x8x1

Paused Neutral-grip DB Floor Press:
70x8x1
80x8x1
90x8x1
90x10x1

Band Pull-Aparts:
purple x20x1
purple x20x1

Band Face Pulls:
purple x30x1
purple x30x1

Duration: 90 minutes

4/9 – Sheiko/WSB Hybrid – Bench and Deadlift ME – Session 8

Pretty tough, but good workout. Lots of shoulder and upper back soreness from all the overhead presses on Monday so I did not expect much from bench, but it went better than expected. Did 5 singles @ ~90%+ on paused bench, where my pauses are getting longer and longer, without too much trouble. Moved on to Slingshot bench and worked up to 415 for a triple (pr), a pretty solid 425 single, then back down to 405 to call it good. My forearms were completely fried and I could barely grip the bar for the 425 set. That presented a but of a struggled with deads, as a loose grip means loose traps, etc. Conventionals went OK – better than two weeks ago, but were very fatigued. The Slingshot and those heavy workloads really take a lot out of my core since I always bench with an arch. No real assistance work today, the heavy stuff was enough.

Paused Bench Press:
135x12x1
195x5x1
235x4x1
275x3x1
315x1x1
335x1x1
320x1x1
320x1x1
320x1x1

Slingshot Bench Press:
320x2x1
350x2x1
385x2x1
415x3x1 (PR)
425x1x1
405x2x1

Conventional Deadlift:
225x3x1
315x3x1
405x3x1
495x2x1
545x1x1
575x1x1
575x1x1
495x3x1

Duration: 90 minutes