13 Sep Brian Carroll | 10/20/Life new Offseason | Week 4 Bench press with video voice-over
I'm currently training in an offseason approach using the 10/20/Life method. I've only been back to training for about 20 weeks, and shoulder has been excellent (Sub-scap and Supra tears), with very few roadblocks and setbacks along the way. I've been working on a lot of things this year, one being building my powerlifting Team (Team Samson) here at PRS HQ in Jacksonville, FL. Another big focus has been my health, odd; I know since I'm 300lbs, but my blood work is outstanding.
I haven't posted a total at 308 ever, so I'm going to do that along the way somewhere, which will be fun. Hell, maybe even SHW to make it five classes with top totals. Just to say I did it.
As of now, I would like to be able to shoot for a qualifier late this year and then maybe the Semi-finals at the Arnold Classic convention center.
I will be attending the WPO Finals this year in IL. It will be enjoyable to sit back, watch, and have no pressure at a high-level meet.
Week 4, Monday’s Bench Session 9.9.19
- Flat DB presses (doing these 3-4x a week as a warm-up
- Suitcase carry
- McGill big 3
- Cervical/Thoracic MobilityÂ
- Lock pull-downÂ
- Shoulder big 3
- DB bench 4×10 (getting some extra work to stimulate bench muscles)
Training:
- Bench w/ average band under bench: top set of 3 290, single with 325
- Close grip bench with same bands: top set of 235×5
- Incline Swiss bar with chains: 3×5 – was gassed by now
- Chain Triceps extensions: 3×10
- Spud strap press-down SS Hamer curl: 3×10
- Forward and backward sled drags: 4x50yd
Good news! I didn’t miss a lift this week. I had a couple weeks of overestimating what I could do. I tripled what I missed for a double just 2 weeks ago, so that’s solid progress. The 325 plus the bands was pretty heavy, but Blue tripled it. My goal is to *try*to hang with Blue on the raw squat and bench over the next bit of time, so when I’m 100% back in the game, and in gear, I will see a nice carryover. Dude is getting big and strong right now.
My strength is climbing pretty fast, but I’m pacing myself. I’m back on my prescribed HRT, and things feel so much dang better. I didn’t have a pump for over 6months. Felt like I was almost wasting my time, though I was not; I was putting down another great base of strength.
My plan is to do another week of bands, beating what I did this week and then deloading before moving to chains. At this point, I may add in some shirt work as assistance work (close grip), maybe some briefs too.
I’ve been religious about pulling the sled, no matter how I feel after training. This has been a nice change instead of doing only carries for a long time; I admit that I became stagnant. I’ve changed a lot with my training details, though the principles are the same and consistent; I’ve enjoyed adding more bands, more chains and switching up assistance work. Steve, Shane, Blue, Tom and Dave have been fantastic training partners.
One more heavy week to go, then a well deserved deload.
Looking forward to having a couple of the older crew come join us in the coming weeks.
Brian Carroll
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