Reactive Training Systems

Chad McMullin · Senior Member

RE: Big Mike's Training Log

Grant Gavran · Senior Member

Dang dude you smoked that pull. Hey i like that super mario(ish) deadlift suit you got there. Reminds me of underwood in his squat suit sophomore year.

MikeGagne · Senior Member

Hey Mike. I just wanted to say I was impressed with your 440X3 raw benching. As you know Im all about the raw lifts. Whats the most you ever got on bench raw?

Mike Tuchscherer · Guru

Week 12
Monday SBB
Suit Squat (10) +wraps
75x3 80x2 85x3 85x1x3
725 x 3 x 1 @ 7.5
805 x 1 x 1 @ 8
855 x 1 x 1 @ 8
855 x 1 x 1 @ 8.5

Bench
75x3 80x2 85x3 85x1x3
395 x 3 x 1 @ 8
425 x 2 x 1 @ 8
447 x 3 x 1 @ 9
447 x 1 x 3 @ 8

Pin 13.5 Lockout +90c
4x5 @8-9
355 x 5 x 1 @ 8
375 x 5 x 1 @ 8.5
397 x 5 x 1 @ 9
375 x 5 x 1 @ 8

Total Training Time: 134min

Squats today were right on the border of legal depth. It wouldve been a judgment call. Thats much better than a few weeks ago, but I need to do better still. The good news is I think Ill be okay for the meet. Felt pretty strong, too.
Bench felt better today than last week. Made a small PR, which helps confidence at this point.
Set a PR and just owned it. Feeling good!

Wednesday DBS
Suit Deadlift (1)
75x3 80x2 85x3 85x1x3
635 x 3 x 1 @ 7.5
685 x 2 x 1 @ 7.5
725 x 3 x 1 @ 9
725 x 1 x 1 @ 8.5
725 x 1 x 2 @ 8

Bench +180cc
75x3 80x2 85x3 85x1x3
305 x 3 x 1 @ 8
325 x 2 x 1 @ 8
347 x 3 x 1 @ 9
347 x 1 x 3 @ 8

SSB Squat +90c
4x5 @8-9
425 x 5 x 1 @ 8
455 x 5 x 1 @ 8
480 x 5 x 1 @ 9

Total Training Time: 129min

Pulls were strong today! I refined my suited style aand set a new PR. The weight really moved well. Im feeling good for Nationals in this respect.
Benching feels really strong today as well. I hit a small PR on set three, then woke up on my singles. Execution improved and I did better.
SSB work was a gut check as always. If you want a bar to make you hate life get a SSB. PRed, but form was starting to break down.

Thursday BDB
Shirt Bench (5/6)
75x3 80x2 85x3 85x1x3
535 x 3 x 1 @ 7
575 x 2 x 1 @ 8
610 x 3 x 1 @ 9
610 x 1 x 3 @ 7.5

Deadlift +90c
75x3 80x2 85x3 85x1x3
575 x 3 x 1 @ 8
615 x 2 x 1 @ 8
655 x 3 x 1 @ 9
655 x 1 x 2 @ 8
655 x 1 x 1 @ 9

Standing Military
4x6 @8-9
185 x 6 x 1 @ 7.5
205 x 6 x 1 @ 8
215 x 6 x 1 @ 9
195 x 6 x 1 @ 8

Total Training Time: 128min

Benching was pretty good today. I got really close to touching with my #6 shirt, which is pretty good. I would have liked to touch a few more, but Ill take care of that on Monday for sure. Feeling strong.
Started strong, hit a nice PR, and started to fatigue. It happens just use it as an indication for what training mods to make.

Friday SBD
Squat
75x3 80x2 85x3 85x1x3
555 x 3 x 1 @ 8
595 x 2 x 1 @ 8
635 x 3 x 1 @ 9
635 x 1 x 2 @ 8.5
635 x 1 x 1 @ 9

3ct Pause Bench
75x3 80x2 85x3 85x1x3
385 x 3 x 1 @ 8
405 x 2 x 1 @ 8
425 x 3 x 1 @ 9
425 x 1 x 2 @ 7.5
425 x 1 x 1 @ 8

SSB GM (bnt; str)
4x6 @8-9
315 x 6 x 1 @ 7.5
345 x 6 x 1 @ 8
365 x 6 x 1 @ 8.5
365 x 6 x 1 @ 8.5

Total Training Time: 115min

Started out with moderate to severe soreness, but AND/CNS tested pretty good. I seemed to get better as I went with more technique refinement. Set a nice PR and every rep was legal. Very good depth today.
I dropped my top weight by a little today because I was being much more strict with my pause length. I dont have much to compare it to, but it felt pretty strong.
Ive gotten a lot stronger with my good mornings.

Eric Talmant · Senior Member

I wonder if the Denver altitude will play any part in the meet...seriously.

?

Mike Tuchscherer · Guru

I bet it does, especially with the more poorly conditioned/non-acclaimated. That pace at Nationals is usually pretty killer, so I would expect that to certainly be a factor.

Andrew Hollenbeck · Senior Member

I actually remember learning about this in my sports nutrition class. I'll try and remember to look it up in my textbook to see. If I remember correctly, altitude only affects aerobic performance, not anaerobic, but I'll look into it.

Andrew Hollenbeck · Senior Member

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1483803

Mike Tuchscherer · Guru

Yes, but I don't think we can look at it in isolation. The performance of a single powerlift relies on the anaerobic alactic energy system, but the aerobic system must also be engaged to help replenish the anaerobic alactic stores. That's why you're out of breath after a tough squat or deadlift. This is where altitude will probably have an effect. Guys may feel that they don't have time to recover between attempts.

Cool topic for discussion, though!

BobW · Senior Member

FWIW, I find a huge difference in training at altitude, even low rep work. I've trained in Salt Lake City a few times, and recovery from ME work just plain takes longer, and I breathe (gasp?) for air much harder. I experienced significant adaptation to altitude within 2 weeks; I've talked to knowledgeable people who claim that 3 weeks is required for complete adaptation.

The other thing that is tough about desert mountains: there is no humidity, and I dehydrate extremely quickly.

Mike Tuchscherer · Guru

I know exactly what you're saying, Bob. That gasping for air is because your aerobic energy system is running to catch up. This is a common misconception -- low rep work is anaerobic during the lift itself, but after the lift is over, you will still have an increase in aerobic output because the energy systems are connected to one another. That's why it's still important for a powerlifter to be in good aerobic condition.

I went to college in Colorado Springs (which is a higher elevation than Denver, I believe). I know they say you become acclimated after X amount of time. I don't know that I ever felt acclimated. I always got out of breath when I went up the stairs, etc. And it wasn't due to being in poor condition either! Most of the other folks I knew felt the same way.

Brady Stewart · Senior Member

Mike. Thanks a lot. There is absolutely no way in hell I would have made it to the IPF Worlds without your help and your patient Q&As with me. You've helped me realize a dream and I am indebted to you. Anything I can do to help, please let me know.

I am running with training upper body 6x per week for a while to see what happens. So far it feels great! Training lower body 4x still. Going to try a tighter shirt as I have been swimming in my 50. Putting it on all by myself in less than 10 seconds. Anyways.

Hope you kick ass at nationals. You've worked even harder and we'd all like to see you hit that big total you've been training for. GOOD LUCK!!!!

BobW · Senior Member

Great job at Nationals, Mike! You rock, man.

Mike Tuchscherer · Guru

Mens Nationals 2009

Squat
859- miss, depth
859- miss, depth
859 (but asked for 881)- good.

Bench
601- good
645- good
660- miss

Deadlift
788- good
859- miss
859- miss

Total- 2292

Not a very good total and only went 4/9, but it was good enough to win my weight class and win best lifter as well.
Ill start with squats
If youve been following my training log, you know that Ive had trouble with depth pretty much this whole training cycle. I finally got it figured out about 2-3 weeks ago, so I didnt have many quality workouts in the suit before this meet. The frustrating thing is the weight was an absolute joke. We even went up to 881 on the third, but through some miscommunication, they only loaded 859. We didnt catch it until after the attempt. I could have re-attempted it, but if I had missed the re-attempt, then I would have bombed out. Bad stuff. If I had figured my depth issues out on the first attempt, I know the strength was there to try 915 or 920. Every attempt felt that easy to me.
Bench went well. I think I figured out why I have been inconsistent here in the past. In training, I take a breath in, lift off, and press. In a meet, I would breath in, lift off, re-breath while waiting for the start command, and press. The re-breath seems to have taken just enough tightness out of my chest to make my bench inconsistent. This seems like a dumb thing to do, but I just never noticed it until about a week or two ago. Benching in this meet, I held my breath after the liftoff and I did better than I ever have. I just didnt have the gas on the 660 bench. I tried to get all I could out of the shirt, but it just wasnt there.
Coming into deadlift, we knew I wasnt going to break the world record total. I hit my opener and that pretty much sealed up the win. We figured I had one more big pull, so we went for the record. I got it a few inches off the floor both times, but I was out of position.
My overall impression of my performance lukewarm. It certainly wasnt what I was hoping for, but it went okay. The real benefit for me is just getting in front of some tough judging before World Games.
Back to training.

TRON · Senior Member

Congratulations Big Mike!

Even though things didn't go 100% your way, your results were still nothing to sneeze at!

645 bench - I guess that is ok, I guess....

-- Edited by TRON on Monday 15th of June 2009 09:24:21 PM