Efficiency

Lessons from the Garage and the Gym

Mark Brown

March 22, 2022

Powerlifting has taught me a lot over the last year. Among the most important lessons over that time period is how to be more efficient in the gym. The things I learned in the garage during the last half of last year has bore fruit the first 9 weeks of 2022 at the commercial gym I am a member of. In past years, the gym has slowed down my lifting sessions or changed them in ways I didn’t like because of the chaotic nature of dozens of people trying to use dozens of pieces of equipment simultaneously in a nigh endless loop. It can be a nightmare to get done what I want to get done, especially on a self imposed time limit. Using the lifting session breakdown of main lift – supplemental lifts – accessory lifts as the core of tenant of any lifting session has helped prioritize lifts in not only what should be done but also in what order. This has the capability of making lifting sessions far more efficient than they might otherwise be for any number of reasons. The first part of this entry will talk about about the efficiency lessons I have learned from powerlifting and second will be ways those lessons can be implemented.

I started lifting with more powerlifting principles in place than bodybuilding towards the summer of 2021. The further into the year I went, the heavier and harder my sessions got. I adopted the breakdown of lifting sessions written above as a main part of programming. By week 9 of my Fall 2021 program, last week of October into November, accessory lifts disappeared altogether in order to get more important lifts in. This was first lesson of efficiency that I learned in the garage from powerlifting. When prioritizing strength development over muscular development, I found that training movements was more important than muscle growth. As a result, major compound lifts became main and supplemental lifts and took up all of my training. During the summer, I had worked those isolation-based accessory lifts into the session between main and supplemental lifts as super sets to get them in as efficiently as possible. That was successful for gaining strength and muscle growth, but working that way meant I was using energy at the beginning of the workout for lifts that didn’t need to be. That made supplemental lifts at the end of the session harder and required more muscle recruitment to get them done, which is a bodybuilding principle. The trade-off was those extra sets of accessories between main and supplemental sets made the session longer by an hour or so on upper body days. I don’t have enough equipment in the garage to really do accessories for lower body. I wouldn’t trade the program in the summer for what I did in the fall of am doing now because it was the bridge that was necessary to cross to learn lift prioritization.

Accessory lifts are still important and need to be done. That has been drilled into me though the various ways I have consumed Dave Tate’s teachings though his podcast or his company’s, EliteFTS, Youtube channel and gym experience. The lesson is where those lifts fit during the lifting week. Muscular development cannot be ignored but if it isn’t the overarching goal, then it needs to be placed on its own day. This was initially learned though those podcasts and videos but I found a lot of value in it when I started doing it after coming back from illness the second week of December 2021. The way the last 4 weeks of the fall program went it made me question how I could get accessories in at all if I kept doing what I was doing during that time period. Obviously, peak phases don’t happen all the time but the concept remained the same. The concept of an “off day” changed from being a day that lifting wasn’t done at all to a day where power lifts weren’t done. That changed my thought process of how to get accessories in. I have used Tuesdays to get that day in as a bridge between Day 1 of legs/back and Day 1 of chest/shoulder since December. That had multiple effects during the week. The first is that it allows me to get all of the isolation work I do during the week done. All tricep, bicep and lat isolation lifts get completed on Tuesdays. That leads to the second thing. My first chest/shoulder day on Wednesday took a shorter amount of time to complete as a result of that hour accessories done the day before. Tuesday took about an hour to complete because those lifts require very little rest time between sets and Wednesday took about an hour and a half. Third is the effect of doing arm lifts a day ahead of heavy presses made me very particular about what accessories I did. The result of programming a lifting week this way led to results in both strength development and muscular development.

What I just wrote is relatively easy to pull off in a garage or basement gym space where competition for equipment is either non-existent or barely an issue. For those who have a garage set up like I do (full power rack, a nearly full dumbbell set up to 120 pounds, 6 specialty bars not including a power bar, lat pull down, t-bar row, preacher bench, and accessories), one can be as efficient as they want to be. Commercial gyms are another breed of workout space entirely. When they get busy, being efficient while getting the session done the way I want it done is a daunting challenge. This would be harder to do if I had a bodybuilding type approach to programming because training muscles is different than training movements. I would be isolating muscles in a much more specific manner rather than using big compound movements such as a bench press. That tends to lead me to use more equipment. The more different pieces of equipment I need means more potential conflict with another lifter. What powerlifting has taught me is to limit the equipment I need to use by focusing my session into 1 main lift and 3 or 4 supplemental lifts. I get my work load in by doing a lot of sets in with brief rest times. This is not necessarily efficient in terms of time because my big days still take 2.5 hours or so, but I don’t think of efficiency in the gym in that way. An efficient workout is one in which I get what I needed done without anything getting in the way. Time just isn’t that big a factor in the grand scheme of things.

Powerlifting has helped me understand a lot more about why I do the things that I do in the garage and at the gym. Using a program that funnels the higher energy requiring lifts to the front end of the session ensures that I will getting the most out of it. Eliminating accessory lifts on power days has helped simplify the goal on those particular days. Using an off day to focus all of my efforts on those accessory isolation-based lifts helps to build muscular development, which is necessary to gain absolute strength. Programming the lifting session to include the least amount of equipment necessary has helped get the most amount of work done in a decent time frame. These three lessons that I have learned since summer last year have helped me get more work done in the gym or in the garage can I did before. I feel stronger, I move more weight, and I have better muscular development using these principles. I believe they would help you as well.

2022 Week 11 Training Log

March 14, 2022 – March 20, 2022

Mark Brown

March 20, 2022

Monday
Bench Press – 135 x 6, 225 x 6, 245 x 6, 265 x 6, 275 x 6, 285 x 2
Narrow Grip Bench Press – 185 x 6, 205 x 6, x 6; 225 x 3, x 3; 235 x 2
Log Press – 121 x 6, 131 x 6, 141 x 6, 151 x 3, x 3
Dumbbell Press – 100 x 9, 110 x 5, 115 x 3
Bent Over rear deltoid Fly – 20 x 12, 30 x 12, 40 x 8
Side Lateral raise, each arm separate – 25 x 12, x 12, x 12

Tuesday
Tricep Extension, Fat Bar – 75 x 10, 85 x 10, 95 w/chain x 8, x 8
Tricep Pushdown, Pronated Grip – 50 x 12, 60 x 10, 70 x 10, 80 x 10
Lat Pulldown – 100 x 12, 125 x 12, 140 x 10
Standing EZ Curl Bar Curls – 45 x 15, 55 x 12, 65 x 12, 75 x 12, 85 x 10
Tricep Pulldowns, Grenade Chain per ball (3) – 50 x 8, 55 x 8, 60 x 8
Strait Arm Lat Pulldown – 65 x 10, 75 x 10, 80 x 10
Preacher Curl, EZ Curl Outer Grip super set with Inner Grip – 75 x 12, 65 x 12, 45 x 15

Wednesday
Box Squats – 245 x 3, x 3; 335 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 295 x 3, x 3, x 6(assisted)
Good Mornings – 65 x 8, 155 x 6, x 6
Calf Raises – 295 x 12, 315 x 12, x 12
Block Pulls – 315 x 3, x 3; 365 x 3, x 3; 385 x 3, x 3; 405 x 3, x 3
Barbell Rows – 135 x 8, x 8, x 8, x 8

Thursday
Scheduled Day Off – Rest

Friday
Incline Dumbbell Press – 100 x 10, 105 x 9, 110 x 8, 115 x 6, 120 x 4
Floor Press – 225 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 245 x 3, x3 , x 3, x 3
Seated Overhead Dumbbell Press – 50 x 12, 55 x 10, 60 x 10, 65 x 8, 70 x 5
Chest Flies, Machine – 100 x 12, 115 x 12, 130 x 12
Rear Deltoid Flies – 100 x 15, 115 x 12, 130 x 10

Saturday
Unscheduled Day Off – Rest

Sunday
Cambered Bar Squat – 175 x 6, 225 x 6, 285 x 6, 315 x 6, 335 x 6, 355 x 6, 375 x 6, 405 x 3, x 3
Sumo Deadlift – 315 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3
Calf Raises – 225 x 10, x 10
Leg Extension – `110 x 8, 130 x 8, 150 x 10, 170 x 8
T Bar Row – 45 x 10, 70 x 8, 90 x 10, 115 x 8

Steps/Miles
Monday – 28,222 steps, 14.2 miles. Tuesday – 26,803 steps, 13.4 miles. Wednesday – 23,992 steps, 12.0 miles. Thursday – 21,915 steps, 11.1 miles. Friday – 25,059 steps, 12.4 miles. 4,018 steps, 2.1 miles. Sunday – 8,907 steps, 4.5 miles. Total – 138.916 steps, 69.7 miles.

Notes

Only 1 note of worth mentioning this week is that the return to the garage means logs will be looking like this one for the bulk of the rest of the year. Leg days in the garage feature less isolated accessories and and more complex movements. I also got re-acquainted with my yoke and cambered bars on squat. I had forgotten how very different the yoke bar feels and didn’t expect the cambered bar to feel as smooth as it did. Friday was a rainy day in the 30s so I decided to take my chest/shoulder day to the gym, which resulted in a day that was kinda compromised by the fact I did 3 of the lifts I normally spread throughout the week on Monday.

Deadlifts: Part 3

Hitching Madness

Mark Brown

March 16, 2022

I have written about deadlifts a few times over the time my blog has been around. The last time I wrote about my confusion at the lack of actually performing the last half of the lift I have seen in the gym since I started lifting at Genesis Healthy Clubs again in January. A bigger concern with deadlifts in the gym is the hitching that is done to complete the lift. I’ve seen it going back through Strongman competition footage and have thought nothing of it until now. Hitching really one of those things in the gym where seeing it in person changes the perception of it. Seeing lifts done really brings them into focus when it comes time to do them myself. Even with mirrors, lifting is still about the feeling the load is giving the lifter. Coaches and spotters can help identify poor form but it is up to the lifter to put the verbal information given and his or her own physical cues together to improve future reps. There is a higher level of concern for strength sports in general that I have when I see it done by the same people repeatedly. I don’t think hitching deadlifts being more acceptable than ever is a bad thing on the whole, but I believe it represents a dangerous direction for strength training. I will explain why.

I have stated the difference between the standards of various competition deadlifts before in previous entries, but it bears repeating here since it is central to the message of this one. A competition deadlift for powerlifting is one that is done without straps to aid grip strength and done all in 1 motion from the floor to the lock out point at the hip without a stop in momentum. The Strongman competition standard is less strict. Wrist straps can be used to enhance grip strength and getting the bar up to the locked out position doesn’t necessarily have to be done in 1 motion. That’s where the “hitch” comes into play for Strongman competitors. I have watched a lot of deadlifts completed at World’s Strongest Man and other competitions where the momentum of the bar was completely stopped but the lift was completed by the lifter using body movements, aka body English, to get the bar to the final locked out position. That is what “hitching” is. In this context, I fully understand and back anyone who wants to hitch to complete the lift. In most cases, hitches have been used on deadlifts that were on competitor’s upper limits. It’s a tell tale sign that the load is either too heavy for the lifter to successfully complete or right at that doorstep. Competition is the time to pull out all of the stops.

What concerns me is when I see it done in a training setting at the gym. I have hitched deadlifts in the past myself during lifting sessions, mostly in 2020 and into the first half of 2021. I was a vastly different lifter during that time than I am now. Hitching really is the sign that the load is too heavy to attempt in the first place. There is value in lifting up into ranges of loads that might require a hitch to complete towards the end of a program during the peak phase; however, that’s a very small chunk of time all things considered. To me, lifting into those ranges is an unnecessary safety risk without much of a payoff in the end if it can’t be done in 1 motion from start to finish. Sufficed to say I no longer see value in lifting so heavy that I need to hitch for a heavy single every week. What I have experienced since the start of 2022 has further cemented that belief because of the progress I have made with sheer volume at the 75% – 95% 1RM range. That’s the powerlifter that I have evolved into over the last half of 2021 coming out. That is where my bias is at this point.

I see quite a few of the teenage lifters and others closer to my age (37) consistently using hitches to complete deadlifts each week. I find this to be unsafe from both a physical and psychological point of view. The former because hitching a deadlift involves using upper, middle and lower back muscles in ways they were not intended to be used on the lift. That exposes them to more fatigue and potential injury than necessary. Injury is always a possibility, but this kind of lifting week to week increases those odds dramatically. It also takes the body longer to recover because of those little movements. A deadlift is about 65% legs, 25% back and 10% grip, in my estimation. Forcing the back muscles to do more of the work than necessary is what gets people in trouble with the lift over the long haul.

Succeeding on hitched deadlifts at max intensity every week doesn’t do lifters any psychological favors because the success feeds their belief that the load wasn’t too heavy when in fact it was. This belief is the basis for what is colloquially known as “ego lifting.” Success tends to keep people doing what they are doing even if the process is messed up. A big part of my concern is those lifters get public affirmation after succeeding at those lifts, done in training, because that just confirms the value of what they just did. I watched one of the personal trainers at the gym I lift at dap up a 140-150 pound teenage lifter who used 4 significant hitches to finally lock out a deadlift at 315 pounds. The load was clearly too heavy for him but he fought through and locked it out. A few weeks back I watched another lifter who looked to be mid to late 20s hitch a small amount at 315 pounds then hitch very aggressively to lock out 1 rep at 365. He then went up to 405 failed to get the bar 2 inches off the ground. His attempt at 365 should have been enough to tell him 405 wasn’t going anywhere close to up. I see these reps being done every week and it makes me wonder why people believe it’s worthwhile to lift this way. I would express concern if I were ever asked by a lifter who I saw hitching deadlifts rather than affirm their path.

I don’t know what the root cause of hitching deadlifts in training is. I would lean more towards the rush a lifter gets when a hard set or rep is completed. The physical and psychological rush is real. The adrenaline flows quite easily after a big lift. It just makes a lifter want to do it again. Then heavier until failure actually occurs. I can attest that the hardest thing to do in those situations is stop myself from going to total failure. That part of our egos that gets fed by success propagates future bad decision making, especially in the presence of other lifters. Part of the blame goes to the idea implanted into the minds of lifters by coaches, influencers, and professional athletes to go after success, even in the face of the smarter decision to just let the bar go or set it down. The rise of Strongman as a sport has played its role in this as well. By not matching the powerlifting standard of one motion from floor to lock out, Strongman has given a reason for lifters to feel good about doing it more often than they should.

I think hitching deadlifts during training is a subject that needs to be addressed by coaches, influencers and strength athletes (especially Strongman competitors). It creates unsafe conditions for lifting physically and psychologically through unnecessary muscle usage and ego affirming success. If it were me guiding or coaching a lifter, I would have them steer away from hitching as much I could until a competition. I don’t see a benefit to hitching deadlifts in training.

Week 10 Training Log

March 7, 2022 – March 13, 2022

Mark Brown

March 13, 2022

Monday
Low Bar Straight Bar Squats – 135 x 6, 345 x 6; 365 x 3, x 3; 385 x 3, x 3; 405 x 2, x 3
Deadlift, Power Bar – 315 x 3, x 3; 345 x 3, x 3; 365 x 1
Calf Raises – 100 kg x 30, 120 kg x 30, 140 kg x 25, 160 kg x 15
Single Leg Leg Curls, Each Leg – 35 x 10, 60 x 10, 85 x 8
Adduction – 295 x 50, x 50

Tuesday – Sunday
Unscheduled Day Off – Recovery

Steps/Miles
Monday – 28,015 steps, 14.1 miles. Tuesday – 23,025 steps, 11.7 miles. Wednesday – 18,834 steps, 9.4 miles. Thursday – 20,848 steps, 10.6 miles. Friday – 24,2021 steps, 12.3 miles. Saturday – 5,706 steps, 3.1 miles. Sunday – 2,104 steps, 1.2 miles. Total – 122,733 steps, 62.4 miles.

Notes

Only note of consequence not covered this week already is the that this week’s steps and miles reflects a week of going to work without lifting afterwards. When combined with the steps and miles from my week of vacation during week 9, it shows just how much I rely on work to get my conditioning and steady state cardio in. The difference is pretty stark.

2022 Workload Audit

Mark Brown

March 13, 2022

2022Low Bar SquatDeadliftFlat Dumbbell PressNarrow Grip Incline PressOverhead Dumbbell PressFloor Press High Bar Squat Sumo Deadlift Leg Press Incline Dumbbell PressBench PressStanding Overhead Press
Week 18,4755,8103,6752,7852,2002,3708,5603,22529,4365,0853,8352,010
Week 28,4455,9753,2653,1302,2403,2058,5605,64034,40249754,2802,415
Week 310,8305,2953,9004,0102,6205,5108,5806,97033,2664,0754,9953,690
Week 410,5708,8653,8204,8202,8656,27010,1206,61530,8703,2256,6003,690
Week 510,8007,8753,3855,7052,5006,4508,2809,27130,1504,2756,1003,690
Week 612,3957,7403,2556,1052,50014,0809,21032,0804,2904,0453,690
Week 714,0809,0153,3706,9902,4355,28514,730756036,208


Week 815,18010,2403,7855,6702,52010,77515,950756036,2084,7107,8904,310
Week 916,27012,5454,3755,6702,33010,45014,730756038,0644,6104,8153,120
Week 109,6754,365









All numbers are in pounds. Blank boxes means no lift. Dumbbell numbers are per hand.

I noticed some trends when I did this audit of my lifting in 2022 to date. These lifts listed are my main and supplemental lifts in total pounds lifted during the week listed.

I have noticed a significant jump in strength in my legs and back over the last couple weeks. That has manifested itself in my squats at my normal “315-345-365-385” splits becoming easier. Earlier in the year I needed to put more effort into my squat reps. That has since changed since week 6, and the chart shows why. I knew I had been lifting progressively heavier under my new format of increased numbers of sets doing 2-3 reps per set, but to see the overall workload when load became part of the equation is absolutely eye opening. I wasn’t expecting to make such a leap on my squat over winter because I don’t have a history of challenging my squat at the gym. The main reason is safety.

To see that workload number on both low bar and high bar squats increase the way it did while working on this audit explained why the lifts at the loads I mentioned above were becoming easier. Also explains why the 405 pound squat, which I referenced in the last blog post, felt way below max effort. It explains why my effort level required to do my “315-345-365-385” split on squat got lower, which means my squat is getting stronger, while those splits on deadlift require about the same amount of effort as earlier in the year. When one considers what the addition of the sumo deadlift brings to the program, it’s plain to see that I’ve just put more effort into squat than I have deadlift. It’s that simple. If my squat wasn’t getting better and stronger than my deadlift, then something would have to be addressed there. The message is clear. If I want to increase my deadlift, I have to pour more effort into specifically that lift.

The week 10 number on squat is interesting to me because that includes 2 sets at 405 pounds. To see the “best 8 sets I could do” on that Monday be so low comparative to the workload of prior week was interesting. It shows me how much the number of sets I was doing during weeks 6-9 were perhaps overkill. The increase in strength was nice but the physical toll on me cause me to take an unplanned break.

Seeing the dumbbell totals vs the barbell total workload numbers is fascinating because I didn’t think the difference between them would be so stark. I have been using dumbbell press lifts as my main lift to produce both muscular development and force my chest and shoulders to work into fatigue later in the session. I thought that the main reason why dumbbell press strength hasn’t translated to bench press was because hand placement is so different. When I dumbbell press, my hands start the bottom of the lift where they would be in a narrow grip barbell press and finishes with the dumbbells meeting above my chest like a dumbbell fly. That helps explain why the narrow grip incline press is seeing improvement. The numbers in the table above also show the how big the difference in terms of workload from dumbbell press to the flat dumbbell press, which I have been doing mainly for maintenance than top end improvement. It’s just really different.

Leg Press numbers also stand out because they are the biggest numbers on the chart. That is completely expected because the nature of the lift. It’s quite amusing to see the workload of it compared to squats because it’s exactly what I’d expect it to be. Leg press is a lift done purely for power output and to get the most amount of work done by the legs. I do it mostly for quad development but there is always some hamstring work in there too.

Realizations of Success

Mark Brown

March 9, 2022

March 8, 2022 I went to the movie theater after work. That day was a Tuesday. Tuesday after work is normally when I do isolation based lifts that include curls, pushdowns and pulldowns on biceps, triceps and lats, respectively. I was at the movie theater because my middle and lower parts of my back were sore and stiff. On the drive home, I was talking to myself out loud and stuff just came to me. I’ve been going exceedingly hard at the gym over the last nine weeks experimenting with a different program than I’ve ever used before. Instead of focusing on reps and sets, I’ve been lifting for workload. The goal has been to gain more absolute strength.

Every lifter knows that injury is a matter of when, not if. I came quite close to that last week. The feeling in my back developed the week prior when I was on vacation from work. I woke up Friday about 11 am and decided to get my lifting done for the day early, but my back was already feeling stiff and achy even then. I pushed though a my normal Friday routine of high bar squats, sumo deadlifts, leg press and all the accessories I do. I could feel my back stiffening up even further as I completed my set of sumo deadlifts. Saturday I decided to pass lifting to Sunday. It went well enough, but I knew I couldn’t press too hard. Monday, March 7 I woke up quite stiff, a little sore and very achy. I packed my gym bag like normal, but as the day wore on I wondered if I was going to actually lift that day. Mondays are a big day. It is the day that sets the tone for the week. I’m mulled the decision to lift even after I got dressed in the locker room at work. I ended up going to the gym.

I knew I didn’t have my normal Monday lift in me because of the way my back was feeling. I was aiming for March 7 to be a de-volume kind of lifting session. I told myself to put my best 8 sets of squat and a deadlift together. As much as I tried to warm up, it was just so damn difficult to get my back to loosen up. I started my low bar squat with my normal warm-up sets at 135 and 225 pounds then moved to 345 pounds for my first real set. I lifted that weight 6 times, which is 2 sets done without rest in between, 365 and 385 pounds for 2 sets of 3. The latter weight is the highest intensity I usually do at the gym because of safety reasons. I lifted a set of 2 and 3 at 405 pounds, which I haven’t done since the end of November 2021 when I maxed out at 415 pounds in the garage. I could feel my back was starting to really stiffen up and bending over to pick stuff up off the ground was beginning to hurt. I pushed on with my sets of traditional deadlift anyways. I lifted 2 sets at 315 and 345 pounds before I stopped after doing 1 rep at 365 pounds because I knew something bad was going to happen if I kept lifting. I finished the accessory lifts, which were all isolation based, and left.

What I just described is something that everyone who is serious about strength training will experience in their lifetime at least once. This marks the fourth time this has happened since I started lifting in 2013. So the realization I had in my car on the way back home from the movie theater on March 8 was the conversation that every lifter has to have with themselves at some point. The fact that I went to a movie after work on a day that I’m normally lifting is evidence that I can, in fact, listen to my body when it’s telling me not to lift. That is an important lesson to learn for all lifters and quite relevant to the realization I had in the car.

Over the last nine weeks I have increased my workload at the gym a crazy amount. What started out as 8-10 sets each of squat and dead lift in January turned into 13 to 14 sets of squats and 12 of deadlift by the end of February. Understand that a set is 2 or 3 reps maximum with 2 minutes between sets in my current programming. Not just doing it once, but twice a week. First on Monday then on Friday. I have already stated up above what my normal intensity range is for my normal lifting days. The amount of lifting done clearly shot through the roof in February. I will be making a more detailed post about the math part of this soon. My mentality in the gym is to always keep pushing, even in the face of potential injury. Something has to be quite serious to actually get me to stop lifting, even for a set or 2, because that’s who I am. It’s my greatest strength as a lifter and my greatest weakness.

What I realized on the way home from the movie theater was just how insane my lifting program had become over the last four weeks. I knew I was lifting very heavy in terms of workload but I knew I could handle it so I kept going. The 405 pound squat is what I was really drawn to in my thoughts. At the end of November I did a max squat in the garage and successfully did 415 pounds with all out max effort and failed at 420 using the same amount of effort. Monday’s 405 pound squat was definitely not max effort. It showed me that my level of focus was so honed in on the goal of increased absolute strength that I kept pushing until I lost sight of the bigger picture. The stiff, achy back that I am currently experiencing is from losing track of where I am going. That’s why I wasn’t at the gym on Tuesday and why deadlifts will be out of the program for at least a week or two.

I realized when I told myself on Monday “I want my best 8 sets” that I was actually doing what I had intended on doing in January. I had found that focus that I lost by doing a seemingly endless number of sets. Moreover, the stated goal that I had been seeking has been met. I can feel it in the lifts and Pete, the guy whose garage has our combined equipment in, said he can see a physical change. I was planning on peaking in early April in correlation with a return to the garage where I could test a max squat and bench press inside the safety of my power rack. I’ve found over the last 2 months that while I mentally focusing on deadlifts, my decision making was putting the emphasis of development on squat.

The only conclusions I can make are that I either my decision to ramp up volume in February made me peak too early than intended on paper or I was physically on schedule with my previous program last fall. After the completion of that program and resting a week after, I started lifting the second full week of December under a different training structure. Either one means I missed my intended mark on the calendar of a programed designed to peak after 16 weeks, not 12. I’ll just have to be more disciplined in the future. I am likely to continue this program until I get back to the garage. Once I get there, my programming will be radically different in almost every conceivable way. I have no real idea how long that will be. The air temperature hasn’t been that low all things considered but the bars will still be frozen until April I’m sure. I just want to accumulate as much strength as I can in the meantime. It’s already been an unequivocal success, but right now it doesn’t feel that way.

2022 Week 9 Training Log

February 28, 2022 – March 6, 2022

Mark Brown

March 6, 2022

Monday
Low Bar Straight Bar Squats – 135 x 8; 225 x 6; 315 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 345 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 365 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 385 x 2, x 2
Deadlift, Power Bar – 315 x 3; 345 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 365 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 385 x 2, x 2, x 2, x 2
Calf Raises – 100 kg x 30, 120 kg x 30, 140 kg x 25, 160 kg x 15
Barbell rows – 135 x 8, x 8, x 8, x 8
Straight Bar Good Mornings – 135 x 8, 155 x 6, 155 x 6
Single Leg Leg Curls, Each Leg – 35 x 10, 70 x 10, 80 x 8
Adduction – 295 x 50, x 50

Tuesday
Overhead Tricep Press – 45 x 12, 55 x 12, 65 x 12, 75 x 10
EZ Bar Curl, superset with above – 45 x 12, 55 x 12, 65 x 10, 75 x 8
Lat Pulldown 85 x 15, 100 x 12, 120 x 10, 140 x 10, 160 x 8
Tricep Pushdown, Pronated Grip -72.5 x 12, 80 x 10, 87.5 x 8
Tricep Pushdown, Pyramid – 50 x 12 57. 5 x 12, 65 x 12, 72.5 x 10, 80 x 10, 87.5 x 10, 95 x 8
Cable Curls – 42.5 x 12, 50 x 12, 57. 5 x 12, 65 x 10,
Preacher Curls, Machine – 45 x 10, 70 x 8, 80 x 8, 90 x 6
Weighted Crunches, Machine – 110 x 15, 125 x 15, 140 x 15, 155 x 15,
Walking on Treadmill – 73:25 minutes, 4.0 speed, No Incline, 4.06 Miles.

Wednesday
Flat Dumbbell Press – 75 x 12, 105 x 10, 110 x 8, 115 x 6, 120 x 4, 125 x 3
Narrow Grip Incline Press – 185 x 6, x 6; 195 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3
Seated Overhead Dumbbell Press – 50 x 10, 55 x 10, 60 x 8; 65 x 8, 70 x 4
Read Deltoid Flies – 85 x 12; 100 x 12, 115 x 12
Floor Press – 225 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 235 x 2, x 3, x 3, x 2
Bar Push-ups, super set with Floor Press – Bodyweight x 8, x 8, x 8, x 8

Thursday
Scheduled Day Off – Recovery

Friday
High Bar Straight Bar Squats – 135 x 8, 225 x 6; 315 x 3, x3, x 3, x 3; 345 x3, x 3, x 3, x3; 365 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3
Sumo Deadlift – 315 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3
Leg Press – 658 x 12, 748 x 12, 838 x 12, 928 x 12
Prone Leg Curl – 65 x 12, 80 x 12, 95 x 10, 110 x 10
Cable Rows – 35 x 12, 42.5 x 12, 50 x 12, 60 x 12
Calf Raises – 100 kg x 30, 120 kg x 30, 140 kg x 30, 160 kg x 30

Saturday
Unscheduled Day off – Weather

Sunday
Incline Dumbbell Press – 70 x 12, 100 x 10, 105 x 8, 110 x 8, 115 x 6, 120 x 3
Bench Press – 225 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 235 x 3, x 2, x 2, x 2
Standing Overhead Press – 115 x 6, 125 x 6, 135 x 3, x 3; 145 x 3, x 3
Floor Press – 225 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3
Arnold Press – 45 x 12, 50 x 10, 55 x 8, 60 x 6, 65 x 5
Cable Crossover – 35 x 15, 42.5 x 15, 50 x 15, 57.5 x 15
Side Lateral Raise, Machine – 80 x 10, 95 x 10, 110 x 10

Steps/Miles
Monday – 8,318 steps, 4.1 miles. Tuesday – 16,980 steps, 8.6 miles. Wednesday – 7,537 steps, 3.7 miles. Thursday – 4,700 steps, 2.6 miles. Friday – 8,044 steps, 3.9 miles Saturday – 6,714 steps, 3.6 miles. Sunday – 5,779 steps, 2.8 miles. Total – 58,099 steps, 29.3 miles.

Deadlift: Part 2

Chapter 2: Lifting Through the Eccentric Phase

Mark Brown

March 2, 2022

Deadlifts are done as part of game time and practice time for lifters. What that means is that there is different ways to approach training deadlifts. When done in competitions or to practice for competitions, usually only the concentric part of the lift is done. That is the part of the lift that is completed from the floor all the way up to the locked out position at the hips. For powerlifters, it has to be one complete motion from floor to the hip. Strongman competitors are allowed to hitch in order to lock out the lift at the top. What’s this entry is about is something that I see at the gym almost on a daily basis and it confuses me. I understand training deadlifts for competition, what I don’t get is why people slam the bar back down to the floor after completing a rep or dropping the bar. It completely eliminates the eccentric part of the lift, which is a major hamstring builder. The biggest part of it that confuses me is that there’s not much to do but simply resist gravity and move the body so it doesn’t get contorted in the process of doing so. I don’t think I will get to the bottom of this by the end of the entry but I just want to say that it’s ok to lower the bar back to the ground slowly.

Deadlifts in whatever form I do them are a major part of my leg development plan. I noticed years ago that my hamstrings were far weaker than they should have been. Now I realize that the lack of hamstring development is what was holding my squat back for so long. Romanian deadlifts are my first choice for a hamstring focused lift day. I have found that sumo deadlifts also have a similar effect so I have done at them recently while lifting in the gym rather than the garage. For me, that means every deadlift that I do involves doing the whole lift from the floor up to the locked out position at the hip then back down to the floor resisting gravity on the way to get as much out of the lift as possible. I do this with just about every lift that I do. In that way, I think of the lift as a bodybuilder rather than a powerlifter, who is only concerned about the rep success at the top. I believe it has definitely had a major impact on leg strength development over the last 8 weeks in addition to the shift in my plan to produce more workload through decreasing the rest time between sets down to 2 minutes.

Since their return to my core plan in June 2020, I have done squats before deadlifts. Part of that I found squats to be a harder lift so I wanted to do them when I was fresher. That hasn’t changed over the last year and a half. What has happened is that my ability to squat heavier weight over that time period has gone up with consistently heavy squat and deadlift work. I have always been hesitant to lift into the 90% 1RM range at the gym for fear of failure there. That is mostly from the half and open racks available there. Now, I no real problem going to that range and in heavy volume to increase absolute power. I attribute a lot of that to doing every rep fully as I possible can. I even see dumbbell press as an opportunity to get in a deadlift rep. So it confuses me when I see people deadlifting and failing to lock out then acting like they completed the rep, dropping the bar after a completed lift, or slamming the bar down to bounce the bar off the ground to get another rep done. I do get concentrating on the concentric part of the lift because it is the part that gets judged. Touch and go deadlifts I understand because they are part of CrossFit competitions so they have to be practiced. What I don’t get is ignoring the eccentric part of the lift in the process.

Last year was the peak for my consumption of fitness media on Youtube. Even then it wasn’t as much as it could have easily been and what I consumed really wasn’t related to lifts but to performance enhancing drugs and their effects mostly. I still do watch some lifting based videos here and there but it mostly on Dave Tate’s EliteFTS channel. I am more powerlifter than anything else, after all. I am very familiar with the bar dropping at competitions like World’s Strongest Man and Strongman based deadlift competitions. I’ve never thought to do it in the gym for the reasons already stated and one moment that always sticks out in my mind. Eddie Hall’s drop of a 461 kg deadlift at the 2014 Europe’s Strongest Man contest prevented him from setting the world record. It’s a stunning video to watch because of the way he has the record in his hands and drops it before he is given the good signal. I realize that I don’t do competitions so the same lessons don’t necessarily apply to me but the moment sticks with me as a lesson in doing whatever lift I’m doing fully. I have seen a lot of the hitches and bar dropping in the gym lately that leaves more questions than answers if the influence of Strongman is good or not on the deadlift. I cannot really comment on social media influencers, the ones who don’t compete, on the particular issue of lifting all the way through the eccentric phase of the lift because I don’t pay attention to that space on Youtube, Facebook, etc.

I know I didn’t break a ton of ground with this entry in the blog. I just wanted to give voice to something that I have seen and heard a lot of lately in the gym that has confused to hell out of me. Maybe that’s just the remnant of bodybuilder mentality that lives inside me coming through the powerlifter I like being. I would never actually say this to another lifter at the gym because it’s not my place to unsolicited critiques. I genuinely believe not putting effort into the eccentric phase of the deadlift is wasteful. I don’t have medically backed studies to show the benefit of resisting the bar back to the ground but I can say that it has significantly helped leg development in terms of power production and muscular development. One look at my logs over the last 8 weeks will show this. Resist the urge to only do the concentric part of the lift and it will help make gains in strength and muscular development.

2022 Week 8 Training Log

February 21, 2022 – February 27, 2022

Mark Brown

February, 27, 2022

Monday
Low Bar Straight Bar Squats – 135 x 8; 225 x 8; 315 x 6, x 6; 345 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 365 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3
Deadlift, Power Bar – 315 x 3, x 3 x 3, x 3; 345 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 365 x 2, x 2, x 2, x 2
Calf Raises – 100 kg x 30, 120 kg x 30, 140 kg x 20, 160 kg x 20
Barbell rows – 135 x 6, x 6, x 6, x 6
Straight Bar Good Mornings – 135 x 8, 155 x 6, 155 x 6
Single Leg Leg Curls, Each Leg – 35 x 10, 60 x 10, 85 x 8

Tuesday
Overhead Tricep Press – 45 x 12, 55 x 12, 65 x 12, 75 x 10
EZ Bar Curl, superset with above – 45 x 12, 55 x 12, 65 x 10, 75 x 8
Lat Pulldown 85 x 15, 100 x 12, 120 x 10, 140 x 8
Tricep Pushdown, Pronated Grip – 50 x 12, 57.5 x 12, 65 x 12, 72.5 x 12, 80 x 10, 87.5 x 8
Tricep Pushdown, Pronated Close Gip – 50 x 12 57. 5 x 12, 65 x 12, 72.5 x 10, 80 x 10, 87.5 x 8
Cable Curls – 42.5 x 12, 50 x 12, 57. 5 x 12, 65 x 10, 72.5 x 8
Straight Arm Lat Pulldown – 60 x 12, 70 x 12, 80 x 12, 85 x 8
Preacher Curls, Machine – 45 x 10, 70 x 8, 80 x 8, 90 x 6
Weighted Crunches, Machine – 110 x 15, 125 x 15, 140 x 15, 155 x 15, 170 x 10
Medicine Ball Over Shoulder – 6 minutes

Wednesday
Flat Dumbbell Press – 105 x 11, 110 x 8, 115 x 7, 120 x 5, 125 x 3
Narrow Grip Incline Press – 185 x 6, x 6, x 3, x 3; 195 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3
Seated Overhead Dumbbell Press – 50 x 15, 55 x 10, 60 x 8; 65 x 6, 70 x 5
Read Deltoid Flies – 85 x 15; 100 x 15, 115 x 15
Side Lateral Raises – 95 x 12
Floor Press – 225 x 2, x 2, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3
Bar Push-ups, super set with Floor Press – Body weight x 8, x 8, x 8

Thursday
Scheduled Day Off – Recovery

Friday
High Bar Straight Bar Squats – 135 x 8, 225 x 8; 315 x 3, x3, x 3, x 3; 345 x3, x 3, x 3, x3; 365 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 385 x 2
Sumo Deadlift – 315 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3
Leg Press – 658 x 12, 748 x 12, 838 x 12, 928 x 10
Prone Leg Curl – 65 x 12, 80 x 12, 95 x 10, 110 x 10
Cable Rows – 35 x 12, 42.5 x 12, 50 x 12, 60 x 12, 70 x 12
Leg Extensions – 115 x 10, 145 x 10, 175 x 10, 205 x 10
Calf Raises – 100 kg x 30, 120 kg x 30, 140 kg x 20, 160 kg x 15,
Leg Extensions – 115 x 10, 145 x 10, 175 x 8, 205 x 8
Abduction – 295 x 50, x 50
Adduction – 295 x 15, x 15, x 15, x 15

Saturday
Unscheduled Day off – Rest

Sunday
Incline Dumbbell Press – 70 x 12, 100 x 11, 105 x 9, 110 x 8, 115 x 5, 120 x 3
Bench Press – 185 x 6, 225 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 235 x 3, x 3, x 3, x3
Standing Overhead Press – 95 x 6, 115 x 6, 125 x 6, 135 x 6, 145 x 3, x 3; 155 x 2, x 2
Floor Press – 225 x 3, x 3, x 3, x 3; 245 x 3, x 3, x 2, x 2
Arnold Press – 45 x 12, 50 x 10, 55 x 8, 60 x 6, 65 x 4
Cable Crossover – 35 x 15, 42.5 x 15, 50 x 12, 57.5 x 10

Steps/Miles
Monday – 28,589 steps, 14.6 miles. Tuesday – 23,469 steps, 11.6. Wednesday – 21,845 steps, 10.8. Thursday – 24,814 steps, 12.3 miles. Friday – 20,925 steps, 10.3 miles. Saturday – 5,309 steps, 2.9 miles. Sunday – 7,227, 3.4 miles Total – Miles – 132,178 steps, 65.9 miles.