Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Frank (10/20): RTS Volume, Deadlifts

My back still felt pretty sore today as I was going to the gym, and the plan says to do deadlifts. Ugh.

Deadlift
5x405@8
5x405@8
5x405@9
5x405@9
5x405@10
There was some very slight rounding on the last few sets, but otherwise this felt pretty easy. I'm a little surprised at how heavy the last set felt, but I haven't done multiple sets of deadlifts in a long time. I hate doing them, which probably means I need to do them more often.

Reverse Band Squat (double purples)
3x405@7
Fx455@Inf
3x455@10
3x425@8
3x425@8
3x425@8

3x425@8
I borrowed Nate's bands for the reverse band squats. There were maybe 40lbs of tension at the top and 200 at the bottom, making the bottom portion very, very easy. I think these are still worth doing, however, as having a heavy weight on my back feels very different from having a heavy weight in my hands. The very top portion of the squat is where I'm strongest, which is not a huge surprise given where my hips start on the deadlift.

Ab Pulldown
15x190

My abs are still pretty sore from the rollouts on Saturday. I haven't done direct ab work in a while, and I'm always pretty sore for a couple weeks upon returning. I called it short. Plus, it was already getting pretty late.

8 comments:

  1. You are selling yourself short on the rev band squats. There is a LOT LESS than 40 lbs tension at the top -- I would say hardly any at all. This is obvious because the bands themselves were moving around slightly at the top on some reps.

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  2. I also don't think your last rep on deads was a 10. But you hit the RPEs correctly this time probably, so whatever.

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  3. Maybe try a different setup with the reverse-band squats. A difference of 150-200 is huge, if you are looking at this as percentage of max. Why not green bands from below, for example?

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  4. That would be ideal, but we had to work with my purple bands and didn't have many options.

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  5. Did anyone ever try to squat against purple / mini bands doubled twice (like in deadlifts)? Assuming that the bands can hold, this should be a shit load of tension.

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  6. @Nate: Yeah, I forgot that I have to stand up a bit from where the pins are set. I was judging this by the fact that the bar left the pins when I unloaded the plates.

    And the 10 on deadlifts is the whole "mind wimping out before the body" thing. I think that if I had to, I could have done a few more.

    @Danny: I'm actually in the middle of hunting around for some powerlifting gear, including a belt, bands, and the RTS manual. I'll probably post in a day or two looking for your guys's input before I make my final purchases. I've been putting this off because while I have money to spend, I hate spending money...

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  7. @Danny...noo, but I shall try. Now if you hear about a shanker sized hole in the floor...

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  8. I have tried this. I think at UCLA we would do doubled purples with greens also just to be ridiculous. It was *very* difficult.

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