Dwayne's Training Blog - Team Franco Bodybuilding Forum: Competition and Fitness Board

Yoster · The Truth!

RE: Dwayne's Training Blog

Joe · Beyond Nutrition - Co Owner

Have you tried elevated deads yet?

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Kind of...I have done deadlifts not using the 45lb plates but rather using the 35lb plates only and sometimes the 25lb plates only. Killer quad workout. Actually before my gym got the bumpers, i was doing my powerclean practice with 95 lbs using the small 25lb plates. The extra range of motion is a good accessory.

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

WEEK 6 IN THE BAG

Just finished up a brutal brutal session. For comparison look at workout posted on March 11th. In that workout my squat weight was 225 and my bench weight top set was 310. Well, in this workout I eked out an extra 15 lbs on squat and an extra 5 lbs on bench with the top weights being 240 and 315 respectively. So the gains have been made and I believe that I completely own 240 now in the squat. My bench groove really sucked today because my lats were so sore from the deadlift workout on Wednesday...couldn't seem to utilize them fully. Oh well got through it. Here's the story:

Major foam roll and lacrosse ball for hips, IT band, and lats

Mobility work

Squat: 2 warms, 160/5 190/4 225/3 3 240/3 3 3 3 3 3

Bench Press Torture Session: 2 warms, 185/6 225/5 260/4 280/3 3 3 300/2 2

315/1 1 300/2/2 280/4 260/5 225/6 185/7 (glad this was over with)

Flies: 5 sets

OHP's: 75/8 105/8 135/8 125/8 115/8 (135 went up with ease today, repped like a piston)

Squat again: 175/3 205/3 240/2 2 2 2

GM's: 140/5 sets of 5

Enjoyed two old fashioned donuts from Wawa along with my protein shake post workout. I love offseason!

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Tired today. Long trip yesterday to NE PA. Skipped the general warm up and got right into it.
Overheard some people talking about me and using steroids in the same sentence. Really lit my fired and got me amped. Killed the first couple movements but started crashing on energy then a couple of people came up to me and said that I'm looking bigger and one person (who was a complete stranger) said you work really hard and you have a really good body! So that envigorated me to finish with a bang.

Gonna schedule a full body massage on Thursday...I need it.

SQ: 160/5 190/4 4 225/3 3 255/3 3 3 3 3
BP:185/5 225/4 260/3 3 300/3 3 3 3 3
Flies: 5 sets
OHPs: 85/5 110/8 8 8 8 8
SQ again: 160/5 190/5 225/5 5 5 5 5
GMs: 140/5 sets of 5

-- Edited by winflex on Tuesday 30th of June 2009 12:20:00 AM

The Lioness · The Truth!

Praise from others about your hard work is phenominal Dwayne! You should be proud of that!! Bravo!!
Enjoy that massage....you deserve it!! :)

TenaciousA · Vertern Member

You always kill it. God I wish I could PL.
F'n genetics.

As mentioned previously, now that I cannot compete due to work travel, do you think that a 4 day regimen would be appropriate? Please advise as I really do value your input...

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Yes I do, I sent you a PM

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

So now that I'm as lean as I want to be for the summer, I decided to re-introduce some simple sugars back into my diet...specifically with my intra-workout drink. I was including the simple carbs in my intra workout drink since last summer and it really made a huge difference in how long and hard I could continue to push. But I took it out a few weeks ago to harden up a little bit and replaced it with really slow-go complex carbs throughout the day. I noticed that I have been able to cheat quite a bit and still harden up; so instead of doing that, I will just have more simple carbs. I noticed a significant difference tonight with the workout. I think somewhere in the middle of no simple carbs and a lot of simple carbs is probably just about right for continuing performance down the right path.

Yeah, so I blazed through this workout thanks to my intra-workout drink which consisted of 1 scoop Jack3d (w/ the other 2 scoops taken pre-w/o), 3 scoops Xtend, 1 scoop Creatine, and 30 grams dextrose. I may venture back to ABC after I finish this Xtend...just for a change of pace. The BP marathon which took place tonight felt like a mile instead of a marathon or even torture...and the deads were a piece a cake. Amazing what a couple teaspoons of sugar will do for ya!! Looked like this:

Foam roll, lacrosse ball, stretching
Powerclean practice: 95/3 115/3 135/3 155/3 3 3
DL to knee: 225/4 270/4 315/4 4 340/4 4 4 4
BP "mile": 185/6 225/5 260/4 4 280/3 3 300/2 2 315/1 1 300/2 2 280/3 3 260/4 245/6 205/7
Flat flies: 5 sets of 10
DL from upper shin (rack pull lowest pin): 270/5 315/3 3 360/4 4 4 4
High Bar Back Squat (supposed to do Fronts but wasn't feeling it today): 5 sets of 5
GHR situps (situps on glute-ham-raise machine..which is awesome): 3 sets of 10

Oh yeah forgot to mention the awesome new glute-ham-raise apparatus my gym has now. Where was this when I was doing westside? I will definitely make use of this awesome piece of equipment for my posterior chain development in the future!!

-- Edited by winflex on Thursday 2nd of July 2009 01:41:23 AM

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Great two days...still one day to catch up! First off a great 4th of July...had a lot of fun. Had a late night Friday and needed to get up early today; so I didn't get to post Friday's workout until now.

BP: 2 warms, 185/5 225/4 260/3 3 300/3 3 3 3 3
SQ: 2 warms, 160/5 190/5 225/5 5 240/4 4 4 4 4
BP: 205/6 245/6 260/6 6 6 6
Flies: 5 sets
GM:140/5 5 5 5 5 5

BTW, my massage on Thursday was great BUT I think it made me a little weaker on Friday. There's nothing like a heavy workout to undo all the relaxation I had created during that massage. Time to get back to reality. I also realized the double bench workouts are much more taxing than bench marathons for two reasons: 1. There are more reps in a set..which makes each set more loading. 2. There is are more reps performed in the 70-80% range. During the pyramid only about 8-10 reps are performed in the 70-80% range. During the double bench 15-30 reps are performed in that range. Big difference if you ask me!! Also, I noticed that I may be developing a little tendonitis in a few spots; so I'm going to be proactive about it instead of working through it without making any changes. The changes I'm going to make are #1 eat even more, #2 more sleep and better time management, #3 less extra stuff overall, #more release, activation, and stretch work on off days. Finally, I just finished week 7 of the program, and its going by pretty fast this time. Next is week 8 and then week 9 is the skills evaluation where each lift is worked up to 95%. It will be very important that I have my recovery regime down pat before then. Until then, I will work on continuing to train hard, but this time recovery even harder.

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Week 8 has begun. This workout was a ballcrusher. Holy canoli!

foam roll, dynamic stretches

SQ: 3 warms, 160/5, 190/4 225/3 3 255/3 3 270/2 2 2
BP: 4 warms, 185/5 225/4 260/3 3 300/3 3 3 3 3 (I hated this..also had a mishap on set 2)
flies: 5 sets
OHPs: 2 warms, 110/8 8 8 8 8
SQ again: 160/5 190/4 225/3 3 255/2 2 2 2
GMs: 5 sets

Second set of bench, pressing it up I hit the rack and had to re rack and start again. I really dislike doing extra work. Everything felt out of groove after that. I was happy I only had to bench once today, the 5 sets of 3 was getting old. I really enjoy overhead pressing; it is quickl becoming my favorite lift. SQ again: my legs did not like me after this and GM's although light felt like such a chore. I'm happy I'm done and eating!!!

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Hectic day. Had to go to work early so I slept horrible. Tire blew out on the way to work. Missed what I was going in early for in the first place. Had to stay late at work and got home and to the gym really late. But I got it done. It was a "shorter" workout but I moved some heavy weight.

BP: 3 warms 185/5 225/4 260/3 3 300/3 3 315/2 2
DL: 1 warm 225/4 270/4 315/3 3 360/3 3 385/2 2 2
BP: 1 warm 205/5 245/5 280/4 4 4 4
Flies: 5 sets
FSQ: 5 sets

Not a bad way to end a crappy day!

The Lioness · The Truth!

Dwayne...what an incredible workout you had! You are truly a champion.....Top champs have actually taught themselves to direct their attitude towards success! Your successes are limitless Dwayne. I remember you now....after like a month of figuring it out - thanks for the kind words on my journal...I REALLY appreciate that! xoxo

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Thank you Gina! You deserve it.

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Another short one for the books as I close out on week 8. The weeks are flying by now. Skills evaluation is next Wednesday; as I test out 95% range on the lifts. FUN TIMES!!

But here's how it went today:

SQ: 3 warms, 160/5 190/4 225/3 3 255/3 3 3 3 3 3

BP: 2 warms, 185/5 225/5 260/5 5 5 5 5

Cable crossovers: 3 sets of 25 (a little change up from the flyes)

OHP(went for a PR today): 75/5 95/3 115/2 140/7 (PR) 120/8 100/8 80/8 8

GM: 5 sets of 5

Kinda nervous about doing 6 sets of 3 with 255 but it really was much easier than I thought. It actually is a 15 lb improvement over the last time I did this workout where I did 6 sets of 3 with 240. Boom...Gains! Bench was smooth. I went for a PR on OHP's...wanted to get 8 on the 140 set but ran out of gas after 7...but still a PR as it is the most I've strict pressed overhead standing 140 for reps. I'll get 8 soon enough. I was actually thinking of making OHP's my major pressing exercise in a future cycle. Things to think about later down the line....

Taper on Monday. Evaluation Wednesday. Then vacation from Thursday to Wednesday...for much needed rest!!

-- Edited by winflex on Saturday 11th of July 2009 12:04:28 AM

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Mini-deload

SQ: 3 warms, 160/3 190/3 225/3 3 240/2 2 2
BP: 3 warms, 185/3 225/3 260/3 3 280/2 2 2

Squat warm ups were painful. My right knee was screaming. As I warmed up, it got a lot better. I figured out why it hurts. Has nothing to do with grains. Its the fact that I was incorporating Fronts and High bars squats on Deadlift days. I should know better that my knee doesn't like to be at that acute angle with the history I had with it. The upside is that I know that when the warm ups calm the pain, its nothing serious and it will subside in a few days with consistent ice and compression. Skills eval Wednesday then VACATION!!!

DelawareEd · Vertern Member

Dwayne - where / who evaluates the skills? Are you on a powerlifting team?

The Lioness · The Truth!

Nice benching Dwayne! .....where are you going on vacation?

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Ed - I video my 95% sets and evaluate my form. With the three lifts its simple. For squat, my hip crease must sink below my knee. For bench, the lift is made with all three points of contact: upper back, and butt on bench, and feet on the floor. For Deadlift, basically no hitching is allowed, should be one smooth lift. Other than that, I look for stall points and try to figure out why or what went wrong during the lift and keep it in mind for the next several weeks of training. No I am not on a powerlifting team. I'm an army of one at the moment.

Gina - Vaca in Fort Lauderdale. Its a family reunion weekend extravaganza!! Lots of food, fun, and family!!

Yoster · The Truth!

Dwayne,

Whats OHP and GM

BTW - nice improvements!!!

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Dave,
OHP = overhead press
GM = good morning

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Successful skill evaluation today. Everything looked mostly smooth at 95% which is a good sign. Vids to be posted. I thought about Ed's question and if you read this training log, I would love to get others input on what they think could be improved on my lifts. So please, give me your evaluation of what you think I could do better. My eyes can only see what I've been trained to look for, there may be other things that you guys out there see that I'm not (especially if you have a PL background). I really appreciate the input in advance. So here's how it went:

Foam roll, dynamic warm up

Squats: 2 warms, 160/3 190/3 225/2 2 255/2 285/1 300/1
Bench: 2 warms, 185/3 225/3 260/2 2 300/2 335/1 355/1
Deadlift: 1 warm, 225/3 270/2 315/2 2 360/1 405/1 430/1 **a little rounding on that last one...need to evaluate what went wrong in the setup..but the fact that I finished it with really good speed and pretty much no grind means I have a lot left in the tank..really excited about this lift in a few weeks.

on to the vids.....

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Squat 300:

Wore my knee sleeves to help keep my knees warm since my right knee had a slight dull ache all day (vacation will heal that, nothing like some good warm salt water from the ocean). Bar speed was good right up until I got right out of the hole but I had enough power to get through it with very little grind. With a more agressive deload in the coming weeks I will be able to knock that out. But as you can see I hit depth nicely...I loved it so much that I made it my new avatar. Also, check my new faux hawk..stylish..LOL. (Also, that's my long lost friend Nick in the background saying "push it up"...Haven't seen him in a while.)

-- Edited by winflex on Thursday 16th of July 2009 12:14:56 AM

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Bench 355:

Absolutely no grind on this one. Looking good for 375 in a couple weeks. When I see how skinny my arms look in this video, I am just shocked at how I can push this much weight.

-- Edited by winflex on Thursday 16th of July 2009 12:03:07 AM

winflex · Beyond Nutrition Sponsored Athlete

Finally Deadlift 430:

I was really confident on this pull. I pulled 360 and 405 very fast. My set up for those two sets was spot on for grip and rip. On this one though, I wanted to be a little more careful; so I didn't grip and rip. Instead I gripped and squeezed. It still moved pretty fast...but I think my set up was slightly off because the bar got a little ahead of me and then I had to round a little at the end to finish. Nevertheless, this would have gotten three white lights at any meet for sure.

Yoster · The Truth!

Two words - YOU ROCK
Very impressive man!! You just threw that BP around!! I did get a bit sea sick from the Dead Lift video though - HA.

Awsome job Dwayne!!

The Lioness · The Truth!

All I can say is this Dwayne....That was totally HOT!! Great job :)

Ben Aylor · Member

Great pull my friend..absolutely fantastic and inspirational!

Joe · Beyond Nutrition - Co Owner

Awesome my man!

But I am even more impressed with Nick! LOL

Seriously, great work.

DelawareEd · Vertern Member

Great job! Thanks for sharing.