AcftW’s Progress Thread

Beaaast. You finding these heavy hypers having a big carryover to your deadlift?

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(11-07-2018 12:06 PM)AcftW Wrote:  Got a still shot of 315 on hypers.



315x3
315x2

I haven’t been so anxious about a milestone in a long time, but it went up fairly easily so I did a set of 2 a few minutes later.

Sick! That's really awesome, Bro! Very impressive, but are you concerned there is gonna be a price to pay later? I can't imagine this being good for your spine in the long term.

On a side note, do you have Netflix? There is a new documentary out on/with Ronnie Coleman. Cleverly titled "Ronnie Coleman: The King" lol. I used to love watching him as a teen. 8-time Mr. Olympia like Lee Hainy, but much bigger. You should check it out. It's very inspiring, but he is super fucked up health-wise (still lifts heavy 6 times/week). It was very interesting and he's just a super role model IMHO. Highly recommend the movie.

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(11-08-2018 12:09 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  Beaaast. You finding these heavy hypers having a big carryover to your deadlift?

Thanks! It’s difficult to say, as it’s been so long since I tried pulling from the floor. I do think it’s making up for me NOT deadlifting though, in terms of physique. The most I can find someone lifting on YouTube is Pete Rubish (the inspiration for me starting them) and he’s doing a 1 rep hyper with 455 I think. He’s also got a 900+ deadlift, which probably carries over to the hypers, but I doubt much the other way around.

I think people usually just stop at 1 plate in their hands and don’t really push the exercise to the limit.

(11-08-2018 06:00 AM)Dulceácido Wrote:  Sick! That's really awesome, Bro! Very impressive, but are you concerned there is gonna be a price to pay later? I can't imagine this being good for your spine in the long term.

On a side note, do you have Netflix? There is a new documentary out on/with Ronnie Coleman. Cleverly titled "Ronnie Coleman: The King" lol. I used to love watching him as a teen. 8-time Mr. Olympia like Lee Hainy, but much bigger. You should check it out. It's very inspiring, but he is super fucked up health-wise (still lifts heavy 6 times/week). It was very interesting and he's just a super role model IMHO. Highly recommend the movie.

Haha, it’s funny you say that because I was actually wearing my Ronnie Coleman “Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but don’t nobody want to lift no heavy-ass weight” shirt in that pic.

I don’t watch much TV actually, don’t have Netflix. If I get the chance I’ll check it out though!

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(11-08-2018 06:00 AM)Dulceácido Wrote:  Sick! That's really awesome, Bro! Very impressive, but are you concerned there is gonna be a price to pay later? I can't imagine this being good for your spine in the long term.

I'm gonna answer this question for OP as this post illustrates an incredibly common misconception with back/pulling exercises like this:

You are not going to damage your spinal vertebrae pulling or deadlifting. In fact it's almost impossible. The only lift that poses any sort of potentially serious risk to your spinal cord is squats.

The reason why pulling and deadlifting doesn't hurt your spine is because you aren't loading weight on your spine nor are you putting it in any kind of harmfully compromised position - your back muscles and arms are taking the load. Your spinal erector muscles will fail FAR before your bones will fail. If you hurt your back deadlifting, it is a muscle-related issue 99.9% of the time.

On that note, squats are really the only lift that put you in danger of getting bulging/herniated and damaged discs and sciatica, because you are loading heavy weight directly on top of your spinal column vertically which can cause compression. Lots of power lifters have experienced disc injuries related to heavy squatting.

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Reading back over my last couple weeks of posting, it probably looks as thought I haven’t done anything besides rack pulls and hypers lol. I’ve actually been doing Chest/Back (lats) days as well, as I’m building up my bench from the ground up as well as paying more attention to my weighted chins, having not pushed myself with them in several months. For bench I won’t really post much until I get up into somewhat significant numbers, but I’m working with sub-200 while I get my form locked in.

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Mentioned cutting back hypers to twice a week, and I’m doing the same for rack pulls. One heavy day working up to a 1x3 set and one volume day doing ~70% of my 3 rep max for 9 sets of 3.

A few days ago that was 235x9x3 on hypers, and then today that was 405x9x3 on rack pulls. That’s more than double my total volume on heavy days, and it gives me a break from doing both of those 3x per week, even if the volume was lighter. The days off in between are worth it.

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(11-08-2018 11:51 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  

(11-08-2018 06:00 AM)Dulceácido Wrote:  Sick! That's really awesome, Bro! Very impressive, but are you concerned there is gonna be a price to pay later? I can't imagine this being good for your spine in the long term.

I'm gonna answer this question for OP as this post illustrates an incredibly common misconception with back/pulling exercises like this:

You are not going to damage your spinal vertebrae pulling or deadlifting. In fact it's almost impossible. The only lift that poses any sort of potentially serious risk to your spinal cord is squats.

The reason why pulling and deadlifting doesn't hurt your spine is because you aren't loading weight on your spine nor are you putting it in any kind of harmfully compromised position - your back muscles and arms are taking the load. Your spinal erector muscles will fail FAR before your bones will fail. If you hurt your back deadlifting, it is a muscle-related issue 99.9% of the time.

On that note, squats are really the only lift that put you in danger of getting bulging/herniated and damaged discs and sciatica, because you are loading heavy weight directly on top of your spinal column vertically which can cause compression. Lots of power lifters have experienced disc injuries related to heavy squatting.

I've pinched a nerve and also felt a disc shift a bit doing heavy deadlifts a while back. My entire left leg went tingly and I couldnt bend down for like a week. I think 99.9% is a bit of an exaggeration. Maybe 80%?

I also slipped a disc just looking at that pic! Just kidding, that's some serious weight bro.

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^^ I’ve has some sciatica in the past from rack pulls, but it’s been a while. An Athlean X video helped a lot with it, basically cobra pose from yoga makes it go away within seconds for me.

Got 320x3 on hypers today. Over the hump.

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Weighted chins with 50 lbs for 3 reps, feels good to be focusing on bringing them up.

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(11-14-2018 12:11 AM)Repo Wrote:  I've pinched a nerve and also felt a disc shift a bit doing heavy deadlifts a while back. My entire left leg went tingly and I couldnt bend down for like a week. I think 99.9% is a bit of an exaggeration. Maybe 80%?

I also slipped a disc just looking at that pic! Just kidding, that's some serious weight bro.

I'd wager that whatever spinal injury you experienced was likely pre-existing and deadlifts just exasperated it, or your form was so wacky and you were doing so much more weight than you should have been doing that you compacted something just from holding the weight while standing up (this phenomenon explains why ActfW experienced sciatic while doing rack pulls as doing that you can have more weight pulling on your vertically than you can actually handle).

Not saying you are full of shit, but I suspect the issue was possibly initially caused by something else as it just doesn't make sense mechanically when you look at your body's movement in the deadlift and where the load is. If you already have bulging disc(s) then heavy deadlifts certainly aren't going to help.

I've hurt my back twice deadlifting, but both times it was just me pulling a muscle in my lumbar area.

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Hypers, 245 for 9 sets of 3.

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Been an ok day, 560x6 on Rack Pulls, had to come home to watch Michigan lose to OSU which was disappointing.

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(11-08-2018 11:51 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  I'm gonna answer this question for OP as this post illustrates an incredibly common misconception with back/pulling exercises like this:

You are not going to damage your spinal vertebrae pulling or deadlifting. In fact it's almost impossible. The only lift that poses any sort of potentially serious risk to your spinal cord is squats.

The reason why pulling and deadlifting doesn't hurt your spine is because you aren't loading weight on your spine nor are you putting it in any kind of harmfully compromised position - your back muscles and arms are taking the load. Your spinal erector muscles will fail FAR before your bones will fail. If you hurt your back deadlifting, it is a muscle-related issue 99.9% of the time.

I've embraced this "new technology" and I've added 80 lbs to my dead lift since you posted this--2 weeks ago. I was being way too cautious (I do have bulging disks, but not nearly as bad as I thought). My spine isn't as nearly as fucked up as I thought. I just had limited mobility from a ton of jacked up muscles. I've been stretching relentlessly and doing a lot of mobility exercises. Shit's getting better every day.

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Accomplishments in the last few days:

Weighted Chins for 3 reps with 55 lbs.
Hypers for 3 reps with 325.

Might have to switch to mixed grip or use straps for hypers from here on up, last rep was slipping.

Weight is still fluctuating between 212 and 215.

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255x9x3 for hypers. I’ve been able to add 10 lbs per week since I started with 225 early this month, but as I close the gap between my 1x3 day (325 currently) I’ll have to dial it back to 5 lbs to continue making progress on my high volume day. Probably somewhere around 275.

Bench is going up quick, nothing respectable for my size yet, but form is dialed in well which is what I’m going for starting so light. I’m convinced I’ve got the musculature necessary to reach 315 in the next year or so with hard training (thanks to heavy dips), but my nervous system needs to catch up.

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330x3 Hypers. Just maintenance for everything else.

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Last couple weeks I’ve been running again, trying to get my cardio back where it should be after several months of neglect. I’ve got 335x2 for hypers, and taking a week off lifting.

Also, in the last 8 weeks since starting Bench from scratch I’m up to 195x3, steadily going up. 3x per week, but I’m going to change the light day to a dedicated Pin Press day to focus on the bottom part of my bench range. I think I’ll be able to hit 225 within the next couple months, after that I’ll probably have to switch up my volume.

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Hit 570x5 rack pulls a couple weeks ago.

I’m pretty pissed right now. New gym I’m at in the Middle East has two hyperextension benches and both of them are some weird type I’ve never seen with handles that are too close for me to do my hypers with a barbell. Tweaked my back when my arm bumped it suddenly and I lost some tightness. I’m tempted to order the one my gym has back in the States and assemble it.

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1x2 with 575 rack pulls.
9x3 with 455 rack pulls.

I’m managing the hypers by bringing my hands into shoulder width grip. Doing so means that my index finger is off the knurling entirely, so my grip was suffering a little. Thankfully I bought some straps that I never use and all I can say is wow. Total game changer, and had the most intense lower back pump I’ve had in a while. I’m going to coninue using straps with my hypers, as my grip will be getting enough work elsewhere.

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Been a while since I updated, not too much to report except on the couple lifts I’ve been focusing on.

580x5 rack pulls @knee

350x3 on hypers. I’ve been doing one day/week of higher volume as well. 225x10,8,6. Lower back pumps are unreal.

I’m giving it a couple weeks before I go for the 585 milestone for rack pulls.

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Hit 585x2 reps rack pull a couple weeks ago. Different gym now and they’ve only got bumper plates in the area with the power racks, so I haven’t been able to go over 495 and still fit clips on the bar. I’ll have to carry some regular plates quite a distance to get them to the rack.

Finally taking the plunge with PEDs (not including prior sarm cycles). Simple 10 week cycle, probably not going to do a lot of updating, though I will keep a log for myself to maybe use here later. 6’1 219 at the start.

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