Cole's Data Driven Strength

[JohnHelton]

Looking good! What are your planned openers?

185, 145, 205 (about 405, 320, 450)
Those were my 3rds last meet. Should be fairly easy

Sounds great! Nice to see that kind of progress.

Thanks John, its easy bc I've been here before, but still nice to see some movement in the right direction.

I think there is a lot of value in a reset where you can start to feel momentum again. Hitting your head against a brick wall isn't fun.

[cole]

2/7
Planned Openers

Squat - worked up to 405x1
Bench - worked up to 315x1


--> Squat single was easy and smooth. Actually thought to myself "I could hit that for 5". Bench was a little slower, hit the upright, wasnt as strong, probably more like an opener actually than the squat. Wont pull anything til meet time, I do better completely fresh for pulls and dont get rusty if I dont lift it for a week like I do for squat and bench. Openers looking like 185, 145, 205

[cole]

2/9
80% of openers

Squat - 325 x 2 x 3
Bench Press - 250 x 2 x 3

--> Last session until meet. Platform Sat morning.

[JohnHelton]

Good luck and have fun!

[slowmotion]

Good luck!

[cole]

@JohnHelton @slowmotion thanks gents!

[cole]

2/11
Colorado State Championships, Thornton Co

weigh in: 103 kg (226lbs)
div: Masters 1A, 110kg class


Squat - 440 (185f, 190, 200)
Bench - 341 (145, 150, 155)
DL - 501 PR! (205, 215, 227.5)
TOT: 1282 (582.5) ties PR!

--> went 8/9, only missing my very first lift of the day due to depth. Squats finished with 440 (200), which was the right call, pretty slow and probably didnt have the next jump. Bench went smooth, like always and finished with 341 (155), maybe had another jump in me. Then, the highlight of the meet and my best lift yet, the milestone Ive been chasing for a long time....500 DL! Super pumped about the PR and it went fast. I think I had another 15 pounds in me. I have only been getting 6 working reps per week of DL for the past 2 months and it seems to be working for me. Past programs have called for much more DL volume and have not been as effective. All in all it was an excellent meet for me, and I tied my all time meet total so I can say im as strong as Ive ever been. It was different being in the Masters division and definelty not near as competitive, but there were around 130 lifters and it was a good showing for USAPL

Next up, Elevate meet in FTC next month. I am going to continue with the TM for PL, so more singles to come next fridays intensity day.

[JohnHelton]

Awesome! I know how long you have wanted that 500 lb pull. Congrats!

[houzi]

2/11
Colorado State Championships, Thornton Co

weigh in: 103 kg (226lbs)
div: Masters 1A, 110kg class


Squat - 440 (185f, 190, 200)
Bench - 341 (145, 150, 155)
DL - 501 PR! (205, 215, 227.5)
TOT: 1282 (582.5) ties PR!

--> went 8/9, only missing my very first lift of the day due to depth. Squats finished with 440 (200), which was the right call, pretty slow and probably didnt have the next jump. Bench went smooth, like always and finished with 341 (155), maybe had another jump in me. Then, the highlight of the meet and my best lift yet, the milestone Ive been chasing for a long time....500 DL! Super pumped about the PR and it went fast. I think I had another 15 pounds in me. I have only been getting 6 working reps per week of DL for the past 2 months and it seems to be working for me. Past programs have called for much more DL volume and have not been as effective. All in all it was an excellent meet for me, and I tied my all time meet total so I can say im as strong as Ive ever been. It was different being in the Masters division and definelty not near as competitive, but there were around 130 lifters and it was a good showing for USAPL

Next up, Elevate meet in FTC next month. I am going to continue with the TM for PL, so more singles to come next fridays intensity day.

Awesome stuff mate! Congrats on the 500lbs pull. I remember reading your log previously that you were chasing 500lbs so thats great that you got it. I always think that your body gets a sort of "wake up call" when you hit something notably heavy for the first time. Your body learns how much force to exert, and your mind learns that it is possible to do.

[Renascent]

Nice pull!

[slowmotion]

Congrats! Great work!

[cole]

@slowmotion @Renascent @houzi @JohnHelton Thanks guys! It was the most fun Ive had at a meet yet.

[cole]

2/13
Volume

Squat - 345 x 5 x 5
Bench - 275 x 5 x 5


--> Back at it. repeat of last volume day I did before the meet. Goal is to hike this up to 365/285 by week 5, then a week 6 taper for the upcoming meet. May have to bump rest times from 5min to 6min at some point along the way, well see.

[cole]

2/15
Recovery

Pause squat - 275 x 5 x 3 sets
Press - 145 x 5 x 3
Chins - 5,5,5

--> Pretty uninteresting recovery day. Left knee a little chirpy. Hips 100% better now that I've been doing TM as opposed to 4 day full body. Lots of room to grow on OHP

[cole]

2/17
Intensity

Squat - 405 x 1 x 5
Bench Press - 315 x 1 x 5
DL - 455 x 1, 365 x 5

--> Squats and bench went well....last set of squats was a little grindy. Raised chest too early. By the time pulls were up I was a little hungry, fatigued, low back a little achy....455 went really slow. Thats ok bc 6 days ago I pulled 500. Looking back I prob should have taken a light week, or maybe just skipped the pulls today. However, I do think there is some value in pushing through some fatigue, developing mental toughness, work capacity....I will monitor the low back achiness which tends to just be fatigue presenting as dull, achy discomfort. May have to adjust volume day squats down a bit or possibly skip next pulls. Cant complain too much becasue I just had a perfect 2 month meet prep leading up to this last meet.

[cole]

In hindsight, I should have taken the week off after my meet, or at least an intro week. I went directly back into a volume day one day after the comp, then hit intensity singles less than a week out from the meet. That ended up frying my low back, especially noticeable on pulls. I knew from the warmups that deads were not feeling good, but since I have OCD I wanted to do the program as written, no exceptions. Low back really fatigued, always feels "pumped" when bending over, low back joints achy and stiff...just basically too much fatigue. I know what it feels like by now, and I can usually push through that fatigue with squats and bench, but sure as hell not pulls. Well, mental note: NEXT TIME TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS! No big deal, I will end up taking a few days to recover, then get back into it. Just would have made more sense to take the rest directly after the meet, especially since I have one coming up again so soon...Cant complain too much since I had a near perfect meet prep for the last one. Also, wife has covid, son has stomach flu, all 3 kids home from school anyway due to some holiday, so Im doing everything today and lifting just doesn't seem fun right now. Will assess tomorrow. Carry on fellow lifters!

[cole]

Monday, Feb 27th, 2023
1.1

Squat with Belt

275lbs x 5 @ 6
295lbs x 5 @ 7
315lbs x 5 @ 8
Total x Stress: @ 1.78,
Central x Stress: @ 1.31

Notes: Strength down after last weeks stomach flu. Coming back into week 1 very gently

1ct Pause Bench Press

225lbs x 4 @ 6
235lbs x 4 @ 7
245lbs x 4 @ 8
Total x Stress: @ 1.91,
Central x Stress: @ 1.75

Notes: Strength down after last weeks stomach flu. Coming back into week 1 very gently

-->Been a long 10 days. Thanks to my 9 year old, I got a violent stomach bug that set me back a bit. I invited a bunch of his friends to a trampoline park and ordered a bunch of pizza, which I also partook in, unwisely since Im sure I got it from some kid that was touching all the pizzas and had probably not washed his hands....next time ill pass on the poop covered pizza I guess. Anyway, both kids caught it too but obviously bounced back the next day. All this while the wife has had covid for 10 days so I still had to try to manage the house. It was fun. Anyway, strength way down today. No meet ahead, I withdrew from the Elevate Barbell Meet coming up this month since I just had one, motivation is low, and obviously this last bout of the flu kicked my ass. Dont think I could make it back to previous levels. I did register for the Staying Alive Classics in Ft Collins this September, so I will shoot for new PRs then.

[BostonRugger]

@cole nice pull, man. Congrats on 500

[cole]

@cole nice pull, man. Congrats on 500

Thanks Rugger!

[cole]

Tuesday, Feb 28th, 2023
1.2

Deadlift (conv)

315lbs x 5 @ 6
340lbs x 5 @ 7
365lbs x 5 @ 8
Total x Stress: @ 1.75,
Central x Stress: @ 1.26

Notes: Pretty conservative here since im not so used to pulling volume or back to back days like this.

Bench Press with Chains

185lbs x 5 @ 6
185lbs x 5 @ 6
185lbs x 5 @ 6
Total x Stress: @ 1.44,
Central x Stress: @ 1.11

Notes: chains are fun

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