Creatine came in today. Took 5g and I've already had to piss twice during a 2 hour movie, the second time seemed like pure water. wth.

6/03, Week 3

2nd day of Creatine loading. The pissing is not as bad on second day, not really that annoying anymore. I drink 2 glasses of water with every 5g and down it with a glass of oj. It never fully mixes, so I just take a spoonful in my mouth and down it, whatever.

Started tracking my diet in livejournal again, eating ~2950 for maintenance, 30/40/30. Added fish oil.

Slept about 12 hours each night the last 2 days and still woke up tired, but that goes away after I get up and do stuff. I'm guessing it's recovery and just catching up on all the sleep I've missed during finals.

Squat: 255x5x3 Vids: Set 2, Set 3
- felt pretty good, but my back was noticeably sore after the last set. Took videos to form check.

Press: 100x4, 100x5x2
- First I tried it with a belt, but since I'm stretching out at the lockout, the belt sort of stops being effective. I think I was concentrating on that too much and missed the last rep. The last 2 sets were beltless and were pretty good, except the last rep of Set 3 was all WIM.
- Too lazy to take vids, but I tried to keep elbows under the bar and everything tight.
- going to 105 next time.

Hang Cleans: 115x3x5 Vids: Set 3, Set 4, Set 5
- Jumping back a bit and not much hip drive. I think I fixed the jumping in the last set. On the last rep, I tried to do more hip drive, but the bar ended up going too high and I felt it land noticeably hard on me on the way down. So I'm guessing I'll add more hip extension as weights increase.
- Going to 125 next time.

15 minutes on Ellipcital (level 9, speed ~5.2). Supersetted Abs/chin-ups (8/6/5) with 40 seconds break in between.

6/07, Week 4

Postponed an extra day out of laziness.

Tracking my calories on livestrong, and I bought a food scale to make this s**t empirical n' s**t.

Creatine loading complete, I haven't noticed any side effects and the pissing has subsided to pretty much usual level. If there's any bloating, then it's not enough for me to notice physically, and I'm only up 1lb since 2 weeks ago (181 from 180). I also can't say I've seen hulk-like improvements in my lifts, but looking back, my quads didn't really burn right after squats.

A local fencing tournament has been announced for this weekend, giving a total of 4 days' notice in the usual incompetent style of this year's division leaders. This is after I decided the local fencing season has ended, so I haven't gone to practice in 3 weeks. I'll go practice this Thursday and do SS without squats afterwards, then if the tournament has enough people I'll skip an SS day and attend. This sucks because that means I'll have to repeat today's squat weight and thus be pushed back a week on SS.

I have Beta-Alanine coming later today, so I'll start loading up on that.

Squat: 260x5x3
- really slow path on one of the reps.
- my back muscles are getting noticeably sore after the sets, like I had last year at around this weight.

Bench: 160x4, x5, x4
- bought a dish lining sheet (like a thin yoga mat) to put under my back for the slippery bench. That way I can set my back without it sliding around. The mat helped keep my back set, but that didn't translate into huge benching improvements obviously. I think there's form issues, but I didn't record a video.

DL: 295x5
- tough, but easy

Not doing anything else after DLs. Got home, foam rolled, ice bath+hot shower after, **** yeah.

6/16, Week 5(?)

So almost a week off SS. I have a good sleep schedule going the past few days, but eating was not so good (probably way under maintenance and less protein).

Squat: 265x5x3
- I probably should have stayed at 260 and I wouldn't be as tired
Press: 100x4x2, 100x3
- couldn't keep core tight for very long
Hang Cleans: 115x5x3
- could have gone higher, but after the Press fail I just wanted to get my form back

Did abs and new wrist roller apparatus. Length of rope with carabiner on one end and rubber shrink tubing on the other to grip the barbell. I did 3 sets of each way (up to 45lb palm in, 35lb palm out).

6/19, Week 5

2 days off from laziness and squat DOMS. Food intake going meh, but I'm taking my daily sups. Sleep is going well. Recovery is good (laying in bed most of the day not doing ****). I'm gonna do some light cardio on off-days to not feel like a lazy unemployed slob.

Squat 270x5x3
- not too bad

Bench: 160x5x2, 160x4
- left elbow pain after squat, but mostly on the way down.
- focused on leg drive, which I think made the lift easier. Fencing exercises the legs/squat movements fine, but not very much upper body, so I think this is a good result after a week off.

DL: 305x5 PR
- felt pretty difficult, and the negatives were pretty much slamming down.
- the limiting factor is definitely left hand grip.

6/21

Got a pull-up bar yesterday and started GTGing neutral grip chin-ups and some fencing-related grip work. Probably went overzealous and did too much (must have done 12 sets of 5 throughout the day)

Squat: 275x5, 275x0, 275x4
- bad setup for second set, so I failed forward

My left elbow was really bothering me after that, it was hard to even unrack the weights, so I just went home. I've had this for a while, but today was really bad. I think it's from clamping the bar down to my back, and it was probably aggravated by the chin-ups (though I didn't feel any pain during the day)

I'll do the Press and Hand Cleans tomorrow.

6/22

Hang Clean 125x3x5
- left elbow bothered me after the 2nd set, and was pretty bad after the 5th. Not as bad as after squats though.

I tried to press, managed to do the warmups, but couldn't do the work set. Iced when I got home and the pain went away, but I still feel a little discomfort. I decided I'll take a week off SS and see if that improves it. For now, I'll just do front squats, cardio, and random core crap that doesn't involve the arms.

The pain is on the top-inside of the elbow, and hurts mostly when I curl the arm in. I think what aggravated it initially is the bar on my squat work sets slides down my back a little, and I have to roll it up between reps. I'll read up more on it, but it seems a lot of people have similar issues.

6/26

Yesterday's meals consisted of 8 beers and a bag of spicy onion rings. I'll call that my cheat day.

My elbow feels fine, but that's how it felt before the last workouts too, and 1 hour after. So I'm trying to avoid arm-bending movements for one week and then be more careful. So:

Front Squat: 195x5x3
- recommended 70% of my low-bar to start. I'll jump 10lbs next 2 workouts, then return to low-bar with a hopefully-healed elbow.

Weighted isometric ab stuff.

Deadlift: 305x5
- I was a bit afraid of this, since I'm not sure how pulling on the arm would go. But it was fine, way easier than last 305. Next up: 3 plates.

70x10x3 oblique leaning thingies. 20 minutes light cardio watching man vs. food.

PS: form videos here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...postcount=1114

6/27

Weigh in at 179. Woot, sub-180!

Cardiotard and stretching. Some fencing grip exercises and other blade drills.

6/28

Contemplated OHPing, but decided it's best to let the elbow rest. Whatever it is, I don't want to WIM myself to the doctor's office.

I also have crazy DOMS in my obliques from the leans.

Front Squat: 205x5x3

Some abs stuff

Hang Clean: 135x5x3
- worked on moving the bar down more. Hit my dick during warmups; hip thrust too early.
- felt really easy

Wrist roll: 65lb 3 sets each direction.

Last time I had pretty bad elbow pain after cleans, but today I didn't feel anything wrong at all. I'll still skip benching next workout to be safe, but I'm glad it doesn't seem to be anything serious. Super excited about 3 plate dl next wo, should be a lock after front squats and no bench.

6/30

Front Squat: 215x5x3

Abs

Deadlift: 315x5 Vid

7/4, getting back to MWF

Squat: 270x5x3
- real squats again, repeating successful weight
- liberally chalked my back and hands so the bar wouldn't slide down, which I think was causing the elbow pain
- tried thumb-under grip, but the bar would just end up resting on the thumbs, which was really painful

Press: 95x5x3
- repeating successful weight after a week off, wasn't that bad
- I think I'll just micro from here on

Hang Clean: 145x3x5
- harder than 135, gonna move by 5s now, which feels kinda pussy for cleans

Supersetting 70lb wrist rolls with 35x8 hammer curls. Felt that sick pump yo!

7/6

Sleeping enough, but weird hours. Eating kinda meh, haven't tracked in a while. Should be getting enough cals though and probably more.

Squat: 275x5x3
- elbow pain back
- going to adjust next wo, then switch to high-bar if it still happens
- left quad started to feel sore at 45lb warmup

Bench: 160x4, 155x5x2
- elbow pain from squats, on the way down mostly

DL: 325x0, 320x0
- f***
- even warmups were tough
- will try 320 next time, then I don't know

7/9

So with my weird sleep schedule, I somehow ended up with 1 sleeping night between Wed-Fri, so I moved to Sat.

Felt pretty ****ty to start, but I think it actually ended up being a really good day.

Squat: 280x5x3
- so the last adjustment was rip-style fists on the bar, instead of holding it in any way. Felt pretty strange, but I didn't have any elbow pain after squats. I'm guessing I was holding the bar with my arms and that somehow translated to sore left elbow.

Press: 97.5x5x3
- felt a lot easier without elbow problems
- actually my microloading rigs are closer to 3.5-4lbs, so I'm gonna fix them up. It's just coils of steel wire I bought, but I got the most idiotic ones. It's steel coiled wire that's practically impossible to saw, and I have to break like 30 individual strands to rip the wire.

Hang Cleans: 150x3x5
- got some elbow pain back after this, but I think it's residual from last workout

Finished the last HC set with 5 front squats. Supersetted 67.5lb wrist roller (thought I did 65 before), 55lbx10 db rows, 80x10 side bends, abs.

Took over 2 hours.

7/12

Poor sleep, bad eating. No foam rolling or active recovery on off days. Going to fix that.

Squat: 280x5x3
- blah, forgot to check and thought I did 275 last time.
- still got some elbow pain afterwards

BP: 160x5x3
- elbow a bit distracting, but not too bad
- overall pretty easy, going up 5

DL: 320x5
- felt really hard
- almost singles, and I think I had some back rounding. Going up 5 next time and taking a video.

Tried belt with 275x2 warmup and threw up my pre-wo shake in my mouth.