ME Lower

Monday Sept. 28
W/ 4Board

Warmup
Deadlift adding chains to the bar until their were 3 ea. side (6 total) Warmup weights were 135 x2 sets of 5, 185, 225, 275, 315 (alternated between conv. & sumo). Conventional, from here up, 365x1, 405x1, 425x1, 455 miss, 365x1 x3 sets
Bulgarian split-squat: 3x6/ ea. side 55, 65, 75
Pull throughs: 3x12-15/ 100, 130, 150
Straight arm pulldowns: 3x15/ 50, 60, 70
Standing v-bar pulldowns: 2x12-15/ 110, 130
45* Reverse hyper w/ foot bar: 200x15, 400x15 x2 sets

In retrospect, the 30 pound jump (from 425 to 455) in the deadlift was too much. I let laziness dictate the weight selection (4Board had 455 on the bar so there's where I left it). The weight got a little out in front of me and it got about an inch off the floor and that was that.

The chains added approximately 120 pounds to the bar on top. We used caribineers (sp?) attached to spring collars set approximately 3" from the ends of the bar (to try to keep the chains out from underneath the plates) and linked the chains to them (in the middle of the chain). This works in a similiar way to the bands and the JumpStretch platform. Unlike the bands, it doesn't pull one down (as hard) as the bands do. I think it also allows one to lift in their own groove as opposed to the band tension dictating the movement.

According to Jim Wendler's "Max Effort Manual", he feels that it is best to use 90% of one's 1RM minus the chain weight, for the work sets. (Using Prilepen's Chart for set/ rep guidelines). Otherwise it is too easy to use weights that would exceed your actual (real or perceived) 1RM. Thus the 365 sets I did were more in line with 4Board's 1RM (565) than my own. For simplicity's sake, I chose to use his weight rather than change weights on the bar each set. Since it was the first time with these, I decided to push the bar weight just to see how it went for this training.

Kinda amusing story: After I missed the 455, 4Board looked at the bar a long time, then asked me to add a 10 and 5 to each side. I think I (probably) fired back a smart-a^% comment. Then I reached for another 45 and said I would not load anything smaller than that for him. He had an equally smart reply. So we loaded 45s onto the bar and then he pulled it! 495x1 plus 120 pounds of chain.

Exceeding my limits,
Ed T.