▼ 1. 8/5/09 - Wed - SHEIKO #23
Weight: 221 (after gym, dinner). Time: 2:15.
I really wanted this to be a light day after Monday. Alas, it wasn't to be.
• Deadlift to knees 135x5x4, lungesx15x3, 225x3, 275x3 (50), 335x2x2 (60), 365x2x2
(65), 385x1x3 (70)
These sets/reps are really random.
• Bench 45x10, 155x3 (50), 185x3 (60), 215x3x2 (70), 245x3x2 (80), 260x2x3
(85)
Not bad. Carlos said one of the 85 sets looked good.
• Dumbell flies 30x10x5
• Deadlift 275x3 (50), 335x3 (60), 385x3x2 (70), 440x3x5 (80)
First two heavy sets unbelted, rest belted. The second and fifth sets were harder. I think this is entirely because I was less mentally engaged for these sets. Dee said that my back was rounding in the middle off and on between sets and reps.
• Stretching - hamstrings, seated groin
Do you mean perceived as a "light day" or a light day in your training schedule? 80-85 percent looks rather "light"...
ReplyDeleteRene -- here is why 80% - 85% is not "light" sometimes. Suppose that your competition bench is 100; just need a round number. This lift was (or at least should have been) achieved in peak condition, meaning at the end of a peaking phase, 1-2 weeks of recovery time, and with more motivation. When you are beat up from previous workouts, less motivated, and possibly had a heart attack a few days earlier, 100 is no longer your max; maybe something like 90-95.
ReplyDeleteHa, thanks Danny. But yes, 85 is NOT light with Sheiko's volume. Also keep in mind how many sets I had already done by the time I got to the 80% deadlifts.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Danny: Let's assume my comp bench is 280, then 80% equates to 224. Even at the end of a workout I assume that 224 for a double should be easy.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I can see Nate's point. On DL and Squat, 80 seems to be much more taxing to me then bench - esp. at the end of a workout. Yet, I am a special case since I barely ever deadlifted before RTS.
Anyway, it is interesting to see how often Nate stays below 85%. I will try too keep track and be more disciplined about staying lighter in my volume blocks.
On another note, I did not find my check book since I practically never use it. This will put me into late fee territory, i.e., $100 contest fee. I like the idea to pay to lift less and less. Considering rental car and hotel expenses, I might run into $200 for one day of lifting. I will contemplate this a little bit more, given the fact that $200 buy me 5 month at TPS.
Rene -- this is not necessarily the right logic. Suppose that your competition bench is 280. Unless something is screwed up, this number should be much better than your training max (which you may not try to hit anyway); for a natural lifter, I would take off ~10% on average, making this number ~255. How easy would 225 be for a triple, after a lot of work in the 185-200 range? Shouldn't be difficult, but not easy.
ReplyDeleteNate -- can you please write (sometime) the pros and cons of sheiko, as you see them?
I will think about this a little more and do a post-mortem after the meet when its better thought out, but off the top of my head...
ReplyDeletePROS:
- You know what you are doing, so training time is always productive.
- Keeps you disciplined in doing work even when you feel "off" that day.
- Lots of work with lower intensities, which I think is beneficial to form.
- The high volume on bench press has improved my bench more in a shorter amount of time than any other training program I've done.
- Three days a week, which I find convenient.
CONS:
- Extremely boring, you only do the "big three" with any kind of weight.
- Extremely boring, you never really push yourself with heavy weights.
- I feel like the strictness in the program is also limiting. That is, is it necessarily the case that I am only good for improving all of my lifts by 2% every 3 months? Or could I have done better on a different program?
- Doesn't give you the flexibility to try new exercises to focus on weak points.
I should note that it is possible in Sheiko to swap out exercises for others, but this is all supposed to be planned in advance. I find the template is discouraging of experimentation.
Also, Rene ... meets cost money. This one might end up costing a little bit, but think of it as a fun weekend and then its really not that expensive. But much more importantly, you need to figure out if you want to compete at some point or if you just want to stay in the gym. If you want to compete, this is a great opportunity to get started.
ReplyDelete@Rene: The way I see it, meets make you more disciplined, and they also force you to go out and meet strong people, which will eventually make you stronger. It's fun being a big fish for a while, but I figure that if I'm going to spend so much time per week doing something, I might as well excel...
ReplyDelete