Time to add some size to the strength.

[gnuckols]

Hello! My name's Greg Nuckols, I'm 19 and have been training for powerlifting the past 5 or 6 years. When I started DC i weighed 195 with a 515 squat, 405 bench, and 605 deadlift raw. My goal now is to gain some strength, but push my weight up into the 240-250 range with DC. The slow eccentrics, sets to failure, extreme stretches, and DOMS have been killing me, but in a good way. All of this is new to me, so any advice is GREATLY appreciated. I have the weaknesses you'd expect from a PLer (horrible quads and a complete lack of biceps), so I'm excited about bringing those up and building, not only strength, but a balanced physique as well.

sept 25

strict barbell curls
45x13/6/5

biceps stretch

pinwheel curls
20x15/5/5 per arm

forearm stretch

leg press calf raises
200x12 (10 second negative, 10 second pause at bottom)

calves stretch

hamstring curls
80x12/5/3

hamstrings stretch

heels elevated squat
275x8
135x20

quads stretch


sept. 26

low incline press on smith machine
135x10/5/5

seated OHP
95x8/5/3

smith machine JM press
65x15/5/5

close grip pulldowns
80x15/5/5

rack pulls from knee
405x8
315x12



sept. 27th

so far i'm liking it. i can definitely tell that it's illuminating some weaknesses. by slowing a movement down, your muscles that fatigue faster let you know where you'll break down on a big lift.

barbell preacher curls
45x12/5/4

incline hammer curls
20x12/6/5

smith calf raises
225x12 (10 second negatives, 10 second stretch at bottom)

RDL with toes elevated
185x8
135x12

leg press (feet medium height and width)
490x8
290x20

slow negatives are KILLERS on leg press!



sept. 29th

DB press
60sx12/5/3

seated DB overhead press
30sx12/5/4

overhead triceps extensions'
55x12/5/4

neutral grip pulldowns
100x12/5/5

barbell T-bar rows (neutral grip handle, 25 pound plates)
4 quartersx8
3 quartersx12


tweaked my groin playing flag football today. i don't think it's anything major at all. no bruising at all. i guess i'll just have to see how it feels tomorrow.



Oct. 1

cable curls
60x15/7/6

reverse preacher curls
35x15/8/7

seated calf raises
25x12

wide stance smith machine GMs
135x8
95x12

smith machine front squats (heels elevated)
185x8
95x20


Oct. 2

incline press
125x12/4/4

OHP
105x9/4/2

EZ bar JM presses
55x15/5/5

pulldowns
100x12/5/5

deadlifts
315+120#chainsx8
315x12

everything went well! progress in every lift. the only tweak i'm going to make is with the DLs. 2 sets is just too much. i'll just pull one heavy set at the end of the workout and put everything into it.


Oct. 4

50x13/6/5

pinwheel curls
25x15/5/5 per arm

leg press calf raises
250x12 (5 sec. negatives, 15 second stretch)

hamstring curls
90x12/5/3

squats (heels elevated)
315x8
225x20




all the weights so far have been pretty conservative. since this style of training is so new to me, i wanted to give myself some wiggle room to feel things out first. i'm ravenously hungry, incredibly sore, and already up to 215 already though, so i think it was the right choice to start out.

[homonunculus]

Welcome, Greg!

I haven't dissected each of your lifts, but given your PR's (at least the DL was raw), I'm wondering how you're performing your repetitions.

For instance, for a 405lb bencher to be doing DB presses (flat?) with 60lb for 12 reps (1st failure point) seems a bit odd...

-S

[bernimx]

Hello! My name's Greg Nuckols, I'm 19 and have been training for powerlifting the past 5 or 6 years. When I started DC i weighed 195 with a 515 squat, 405 bench, and 605 deadlift raw.

:faint2:

[Glyder]

Hi Greg. I agree with homon, are you going really really slowly? If so, just realize that its a controlled negative, not a 4-8 second like some people have posted. Also, doing squats, deads and rack deads in the same blast isn't recommended, as your already seeing. Maybe drop one and cycle each other out each blast? From what I see, your doing Full deads, squats, and rack deads 3 workout days in a row. You won't see 6 weeks of your blast doing that.

Forearms are not rest paused...1 straight set of 12-20.

Also, you stated 2 weeks ago you weighed 195, and now your 215? Make sure your doing cardio. Eat the right foods, clean and utilize the carb cutoff. 20 lbs in 2 weeks is just going to make it harder to come off later. At this pace you'll be 250 by the end of your blast lol.

[DCBliever]

Welcome, Greg!

I haven't dissected each of your lifts, but given your PR's (at least the DL was raw), I'm wondering how you're performing your repetitions.

For instance, for a 405lb bencher to be doing DB presses (flat?) with 60lb for 12 reps (1st failure point) seems a bit odd...

-S

To be fair, homon, nevermind I was going to disagree with you but the more I thought about it it is odd because I squat 580 raw(belt and knee wraps and can do multiple reps 10+ with 405 on the box squat

[dakoose]

Welcome, Greg!

I haven't dissected each of your lifts, but given your PR's (at least the DL was raw), I'm wondering how you're performing your repetitions.

For instance, for a 405lb bencher to be doing DB presses (flat?) with 60lb for 12 reps (1st failure point) seems a bit odd...

-S

Agreed, initially I thought his weights might be in KG, but that can't be. 1 minute negatives?

[gnuckols]

My background is in westside, so slow negatives and high (5+) rep sets are completely foreign to me. To start with, I picked very conservative weights (except apparently my overhead press weight, but it guess that's what i get for neglecting my overhead in favor of a big bench), and I'm really accentuating the negative (I 10-count in my head) to get used to handling the weight in that fashion. Lifting the weight (concentrically) isn't an issue, and to be honest I've stopped several reps shy of failure a few times times, especially on pressing movements (as homonunculus pointed out with my DB press) because of shoulder inflammation issues with high rep sets. I'll definitely look to substitute the deadlifts, perhaps with yates rows?

I guess in short i'm breaking myself in slow because how how different this sort of training is. At first my weights should jump pretty consistently until I'm actually struggling to hit the top of the 11-20 RP range, and then I'll hunker down for war. But in the mean time, I don't want to accidentally pick starting weights too aggressively since I have no reference point, or end up getting hurt by causing my body to adapt too fast.

However, if my weights for biceps looks light..... well..... my biceps are really that weak. Laugh it up.

In the next month or two all my training weights should be moving up a lot.

[dakoose]

My background is in westside, so slow negatives and high (5+) rep sets are completely foreign to me. To start with, I picked very conservative weights (except apparently my overhead press weight, but it guess that's what i get for neglecting my overhead in favor of a big bench), and I'm really accentuating the negative (I 10-count in my head) to get used to handling the weight in that fashion. Lifting the weight (concentrically) isn't an issue, and to be honest I've stopped several reps shy of failure a few times times, especially on pressing movements (as homonunculus pointed out with my DB press) because of shoulder inflammation issues with high rep sets. I'll definitely look to substitute the deadlifts, perhaps with yates rows?

I guess in short i'm breaking myself in slow because how how different this sort of training is. At first my weights should jump pretty consistently until I'm actually struggling to hit the top of the 11-20 RP range, and then I'll hunker down for war. But in the mean time, I don't want to accidentally pick starting weights too aggressively since I have no reference point, or end up getting hurt by causing my body to adapt too fast.

However, if my weights for biceps looks light..... well..... my biceps are really that weak. Laugh it up.

In the next month or two all my training weights should be moving up a lot.

Better to start too light than too heavy, but it is odd to see such conservatism in-terms of weights in the first go around. Either way, you're a damn strong motherfu**er and I'm interested to see how DC goes for you. Good luck bro!

[gnuckols]

One more thing: Glyder, I thought I had read somewhere Mr. Trudel saying he uses 6-8 second negatives for most things and 5 second negatives for deadlifts. Am I just using old information? Mine have been 8 seconds+ to get used to actually doing negatives since my default setting is lowering the weight quickly for a good stretch reflex.

[DCBliever]

One more thing: Glyder, I thought I had read somewhere Mr. Trudel saying he uses 6-8 second negatives for most things and 5 second negatives for deadlifts. Am I just using old information? Mine have been 8 seconds+ to get used to actually doing negatives since my default setting is lowering the weight quickly for a good stretch reflex.

Negatives are slow and controlled i.e. not bouncing dangerously but not 6-8 seconds, the last rep CAN be a slow negative and/or static hold. For as strong as you are your weights a VERY conservatiove and with westside they do higher rep accessory stuff. Mine is in the 8-12 range

[trucelt]

im gonna call BS here...sorry kid 19 years old and weighing 195 but you bench 405 raw? Without vids we'll have to agree to disagree

[gnuckols]

Fair enough, I'm used to that. And I do need to take more vids, that's for sure. Everything I have is on the old side (around 2 years old) simply because I used to train with a crew and they videoed a lot.

but...

http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/node/7164
that's my total from RUM 1 - 516/371/551 at 213. that was a month after i turned 17

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WYY8JIQ2ic
that's from when i was 16

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDDFTSuxG2A
this was a week or so after turning 16

http://www.youtube.com/user/gnuckols.../2/rMTeaNhcilY
that's my only fairly recent video of benching. the weight in the video is 355, and i hit 385 that session.

i got a pretty serious back injury shortly after turning 17 that sidelined me for close to a year. then i spent some time getting my weight back under control, and have been training seriously again for about 10 months.

fair enough?

[gnuckols]

oh yea, and another old one:

http://www.youtube.com/user/gregcroo...31/ZU6F9nL7y9I

[gnuckols]

smith slight incline press
185x15/7/6 (up 50 pounds and 8 reps)

seated overhead press (behind head)
100x12/6/5 (up 5 pounds and 8 reps)

smith JM press
95x15/10/10 (up 30 pounds and 5 reps) (still too light)

close grip pulldowns
120x15/8/8 (up 40 pounds and 6 reps)

rack pulls (from knee)
425x8, 335x12 (up 20 pounds each set)

[gnuckols]

I realized in my first post I did not give a very thorough introduction. I'm sorry about that. Here's a more thorough write up. I started training when I was 14 when the manager at a local gym remarked that I was strong for my age, and I was lucky in the regard that Travis Mash was a trainer there at the time. He taught me a TON of stuff about lifting when I was starting out. I entered my first competition a few weeks after I met Travis because he was hosting an APF meet in town. I squatted 385, benched 285, and deadlifted 425 at a bodyweight of 176 at that time. I can't find a link to that, unfortunately. Not too long after that I competed in the 100% Raw nationals in 2007 and went 425/305/500 at 181 when i was 15. My next big meet was RUM1 where i totalled 1438, as I posted in the PLwatch link. I tore my QL not long after than and dropped off the map in regards to powerlifting. I hit an IBP meet around 3 years ago and went 475/375/575 or something like that after about 3 months of consistent training again, but my QL wasn't totally healed and my final DL attempt at 600 or 615 reinjured it, and i've been off the platform since. I didn't train much at all from late 2009 to december of 2010, so i've been back at it a little over 10 months, concentrating on keeping my bodyweight more in check this time. I've been trying to run westside, but I train with my girlfriend, and although I love her to death, I don't trust her to save me under a 500+ squat or a heavy bench with a lot of band tension. DC appealed to me because of the heavy emphasis on strength gains, but also because I've always been undersized for my height (5'9.5"), and i know that to compete in powerlifting at the highest level I need to be in the 242 class probably. So my plan is to continue making strength gains on DC over the next several years until I'm the size I need to be, and then focus my energies exclusively towards PL again.