Draco's Second Run

[Hank!]

whatever happened to Lesnar?

After the Frank Mir fight Lesnar was found to be very ill i think Diverticulitis or some bacterial thing, but he is scheduled to fight again soon

I read somewhere that he usually fights at 265lbs walks around 280lbs..

he is a beast

[TURBOFLEX]

He was diagnosed with diverticulotis, was going to possibly have surgery that would have been career ending, somehow it naturally cured it's self without sugery. He has been back to training and lifting for about 2 months, and will fight the winner of Mir/Carwin in late summer.
<Nevermind didnt see Hanks post >

[dracotdrgn]

There is a rumor floating around this forum that gains can be made in the maintenance phase. I'm here to add to that rumor.
First we look back at my first run, great strength gains but started 12 hour shifts and had a rough end in my maintenance. My 5 X 5 bench calced out at 295, I was unable to ever achieve this, by my final wo I was so tired I had to knock off 40lbs to achieve a 5 X 5 bench.

So we look at this run, made some good gains but always felt my bench was "lagging behind." Weigh in stayed around 230, never higher.

Today start of week 2 for maintenance and final week of second run. Weighed in at 232 and hit all 5 X 5 at 295 of bench, plus an extra forced rep on 5. Shoulder press went up a tad and my weighted dip static hold 3 seconds longer than last week.

Like I said last week, it will be hard to roll into another cycle bc I don't want to take a week off when things are going so well. Keep thinking BIG PICTURE BIG PICTURE!!!

[RobRegish]

Yeah man, great observation.

Actually, I touched on this in the Blueprint on page 24 noting that:

"Curiously, many people will find muscle growth ongoing during this "cruising " period, despite no longer overfeeding, dis-continuing use of performance related supplements etc. A happy coincidence but frequently reported by Blueprint trial participants.

I suspect the body is still playing catch up."

See, we really did test drive this thing...Good to know it's holding true for you Draco

[TURBOFLEX]

Thats awesome Draco!! You had one helluva run brother!! makes me even more pumped up for mine

[askmass]

It's happened to me too, twice.

Way to go Draco!

[dracotdrgn]

Tuesday did a pretty good ab/core routine, I was late to spin class so got about 15min.
Wed. 5 X 5 squat as before prettty much did 5 X 5 that was it for the squat. Rotated seated calf, sled calf, and deep squats for four sets then did static holds on sled with 90lbs more than last time 720+sled weight high one leg at a time then calf hold. Last week because of this my achillies was sore for the first time in a long time.. All good but today I am sore and tired. Since I've got two days left I will still go in today do heavy abs and spin class. Tomorrow is back then this run is done...

[RobRegish]

The static hold increase is impressive.

Folks, if you've never tried these please do incorporate in some part of your routine.

Incredible jumps in poundage, overload and thus growth will be observed, as Draco is proving above.

[Hank!]

Draco

What have you found is a good way to overload chest? Keep in mind i work out by myself most of the time

[TURBOFLEX]

Draco

What have you found is a good way to overload chest? Keep in mind i work out by myself most of the time

Check this out Hank https://bodybuildingsupplements.com/fun/sisco6.htm

[Hank!]

Draco

What have you found is a good way to overload chest? Keep in mind i work out by myself most of the time

Check this out Hank https://bodybuildingsupplements.com/fun/sisco6.htm

T-Flex in da hizzie thanks. I imagine this couple with BP and KA is a monster combo

[RobRegish]

I'll go one better than that: The strong range rack pull..

This isn't spoken too enough, IMO. You set a bar up in the rack such that you pull the last 1 or 2" of the movement and stand there with it.

Picturing it though, doesn't do it justice. You can imagine how much weight you can hold... If your abs are strong I see no issues with holding a thousand pounds or darned close to it.

That amount of muscle contracting under that load even for a brief period has a tremendous "hardening" effect. I speculate it also improves the golgi tendon threshold, which is outside the context of this discussion but has HUGE implications..

[Hank!]

I'll go one better than that: The strong range rack pull..

This isn't spoken too enough, IMO. You set a bar up in the rack such that you pull the last 1 or 2" of the movement and stand there with it.

Picturing it though, doesn't do it justice. You can imagine how much weight you can hold... If your abs are strong I see no issues with holding a thousand pounds or darned close to it.

That amount of muscle contracting under that load even for a brief period has a tremendous "hardening" effect. I speculate it also improves the golgi tendon threshold, which is outside the context of this discussion but has HUGE implications..

Rob to your point on Tuesday i really didn't do a rack pull as described above but more of a shrug with the 425, i get more activation and i feel in my traps , abs, shoulders more than if i do a traditional shrug routine.
I am looking forward to scaling up the Lbs and using the technique above.

[beachpirate]

I like this idea. I can't wait to try these out.

TURBOFLEX, thanks for the link. I also want to give the rack pulls that Rob described a try. I just started doing rack pulls not too long ago and absolutely loved them for back and traps. Nothing has hit my traps like the rack pull.