I’m currently in meet prep for the 2016 XPC Finals at the Arnold Sports Festival on March 5th, in Columbus, Ohio. I will be competing at 132 pounds, raw with knee wraps.

For programming and coaching inquires, please email SmitleyPerformanceSystems@gmail.com


Tuesday's training session was much better than my previous two Tuesday's I've had of this meet prep training cycle. Like I mentioned in my other log last week, I just seemed to overshoot my SSB squat training max considering I was running off an approximate 8RM vs running off a good 1-5RM. The SS Yoke Bar just really fries my upper back, and I have a hard time holding the arch under heavier loads, so my training max was flawed. So what I opted to do was drop my training max by 15%, and add in a box to make sure that I'm; A) getting proper depth as I tend to cut this close with the SS Yoke Bar, and B) work more on driving my head out of the hole (or in this case off the box). Well this turned out to be a very wise decision, as I hit a rep PR off the box, and I did a much better job holding my arch and getting in more quality work.

However, during my warm ups, my gas heater ran out of gas, and I didn't have the garage near as warm as I prefer. Matter of fact, the garage was only 18 degrees, according to lovely Snapchat (feel free to add me @bsmitley to witness my battles of trying to beat trains). Anyways, I had to layer up good and keep my session moving at all times. It was cold, but not cold enough to stop me from training. Unfortunately it was cold enough to make me put my grip training back another day. I'm not too pleased with that, but it is what it is.

A much better training day, and I think I've found a good supplemental movement to keep my deadlift and squat progressing without destroying me in the process. Cheers to that. And my hot cocoa post workout.


[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzJiABq4I3g]


Items Used in this Training Session Average Bands SS Yoke Bar Box Squat Box Monster Mini Bands

Warm Up Reverse Hyper - 3x15 Standing Cable Crunch - 3x15

A1) SSB Speed Squats vs Average Bands 65x10 65x5 - add bands 95x5 115x5 135x5 150x5x5

B1) Sumo Speed Deadlifts 135x5 185x3 245x2 295x1 325x1 355x10x1

C1) SSB Box Squats 65x5 155x5 205x5 230x5 265x5 305x12 - PR

D1) SSB Good Mornings vs Monster Mini Bands 65x5 65x5 - add bands 115x5 135x5 155x3x12

E1) GHR 3 sets of near failure

F1) Reverse Hyper 4x30

G1) Standing Band Crunches 5x30


Brandon Smitley
Tagged: Training Log

EliteFTS Table Talk— Where strength meets truth. Hosted byDave Tate, Table Talk cuts through the noise to bring raw, unfiltered conversations about training, coaching, business, and life under the bar. No fluff. No hype. Just decades of experience — shared to make you stronger in and out of the gym.

Join the Crew!

Support us and access premium content monthly!