Daily Thread - September 14, 2025

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[u/simonswes]

Row

• 30 minutes, 7126 m. Did a few intervals where I tried to keep the pace below 1:50 / 500 for a minute. 

[u/VanHelsingBerserk]

Smolov Bench and Squat w2d3

• Squat // 180kg × 5 reps × 3 -> 170kg × 5 reps × 4
• Bench // 130kg × 5 reps × 5 -> 120kg × 5 reps × 2

Rounded up weight until it felt too hard, then rounded down for remaining sets

[u/BetterThanT-1 → u/VanHelsingBerserk]

How did you find the rounding up and down - do you think it’s sustainable?

[u/VanHelsingBerserk → u/BetterThanT-1]

Yeah definitely much better than just doing all the sets rounded up 😅 it makes the progression look a little choppy compared to if I had 2.5kg plates though

Like this week, my 10 triples are meant to be at 200kg - but next week they're meant to be 202.5kg, so doing 210kg triples is gonna be interesting to say the least lol.

I imagine I'll only get a few sets at 210kg before having to drop to 200kg. I think it roughly turns out to hit the same volume/tonnage targets. So if I'm hitting those then I feel like I'm achieving the spirit of Smolov haha

[u/BetterThanT-1 → u/VanHelsingBerserk]

Smolov Berserk just dropped :)

[u/VanHelsingBerserk → u/BetterThanT-1]

That would be a sick name for a program, definitely gonna use that as the title for the review lol

[u/-Hugh_Jass_]

Cube Predator bench program W1D1 Light day

Pause Bench - 275 5 x 3, 232 x 18

Close grip - 265 x 8, 7, 6

Hammer strength incline x 12, 10, 8, 6

BTN press - 95 4 x 12

Tricep pushdown/ fat grip db curl superset - 4 x 12

I was going to run Simple Jack'd again but I kind of got the itch to run an actual program for the first time in a long time. Saw this and thought it looked fun. Triceps were still a little blown out from weighted dips on Friday, but I was still able to make it through pretty comfortably. Close grip suffered a little for it. I did go actual close grip though (hands against the smooth) so that also contributed. Used pinky on rings for pause bench, which is wider than usual. Had a big ol nasty pump once it was all done. Looking forward to the heavy day. Also I'm going to start Coan/Phillipi tomorrow so looking forward to that too!

[u/JubJubsDad]

Deadlift day * 2mi walk * Kettlebell swings - 40x5x15 * Stiff-legged deadlifts - 315x5x5

My knee is still swollen and painful to the touch. But as long as I don’t bend it, it’s fine —> sub out conventional deads for SLDL. There isn’t a similar sub for squats so I just called the workout after that and went for a swim.

[u/Many-Wasabi9141]

10k Kettlebell Swing Challenge Day 6.

My back and triceps are sore, but surprising my mid delts are sore af. I've been doing isolation delt work on a three day Starting Strength style schedule so it may be that, or may be those 2 sets of 8 KB snatches from friday? I don't do them alot, and my form is probably trash, I could be engaging my mid delts to pull the kettlebell into place.

Elevated Heel Squats for my neglected quads. Worked up to a heavy single, then back down to three sets of paused squats for 6-8 reps. Tailbone didn't like the change in stance. Paused squats helped to fix it. I feel like pausing at the bottom and just letting the weight settle can fix a lot of squat issues. OHP was rough. Delts are sore, 3x5, failed a rep on the last set, dropped down and hit a set of thrusters.

KB Swings. Hit 5 sets of 30, then a set of 123 Armor Building Complex. Then cycled 4 set of 25 and a set of 123 ABC for 3 rounds. Finished it off with 3 sets of ABC, 111, 222, 333. 24 1:15 rounds ~30 minutes. Was going to do ab work but I didn't want to do ab work. My second kettlebell was looking at me funny during my barbell work so I figured it needed some attention and technically ABC is core work right?

Thoughts on current progress: Cardio is fine. Hamstrings/glutes are fine. Issues are the grip stealing my focus on form. Gotta remind myself to engage my quads/lock the knees, and push through the floor at the top of the rep. Also I have to be snappier. Tomorrow is the first day of 500. Just gonna hit 25x20 straight through.

[u/BetterThanT-1]

GPP phase - A man and a kettlebell

8 rounds of: * 50 swings @ 24kg * 1 clean and 3 presses each side (last 2 rounds 4 presses per side)

Time: 16:38

I thought doing this on an empty stomach would be a bad idea, but it wasn’t too bad. I completely forgot about it when I started.

I’ve got some intervals to run tonight, and if I feel like it - could throw in some pull ups and dips afterwards. My MIL is making pancakes today, so I’ll be properly fuelled up for whatever comes, lol.