Update

1/7/14

Squat: 3 x 5 x 265
OHP: 3 x 5 x 125
P. Cleans: 5 x 3 x 150

1/9/14

Squat: 3 x 5 x 270
Bench: 5, 3, 3 x 205
DL: 5 x 265

Also ran a 5k on a treadmill for time the other day. Kept it at 7.2 mph for most of it and increased it progressively for last 0.5mi or so.

5k: 25:13 (8:07 pace)

Numbers above say Jan when it should be Feb

2/11/14

Wanted to test squat 1RM, so I did:

warmup...1 x 225, 1 x 265, 1 x 315 (barely made it but v good depth)

That's a 20lb PR over last time, so definitely happy with where that's headed.

2/13/14

Squat: 275: 1, 3, 2 (miserable)
Bench: 205: 5, 4, 3 (one rep improvement over last time)
DL: 5 x 275

2/14/14

5m warmup, 20m jog, 5m cooldown

Total Distance: ~2.4mi

2/15/15

Weighed myself last night (241ish) and then this morning (237.3). Think that's the lowest I've been in a few months.

Ran today, 5m warmup, 30m jogging, 5m cooldown at 5.7mph (~10:35 pace).

Total Distance: 3.4mi

If you want to increase your bench, press, or whatever other upper body lift du jour, you need to do more volume -- a lot more than is proscribed by SS. Good assistance work is incline bench, closegrip bench, and weighted dips; doing something like TM for upper body and tossing in some intensity work and weighted negatives would probably help too. Honestly, it doesn't really matter what specifically you do, as long as you do more of it. Unleash your inner bro and make every day (more of an) upper body day.

Nice work on the squat PR, btw.

Thanks monte, I think you're right. Been stagnant bench-wise for too long and don't think 3 x 5 is getting the job done anymore.

For assistance work, how much are you doing on a program like TM? I know for 5/3/1, Wendler recommends doing 3 x 10 and slowly increasing the weight. Curious what you rec.

2/16/14

Squat 275: 5, 2, 2
OHP: 3 x 5 x 115
DL: 5 x 285

Light run: walking and jogging

Total Distance: 2.2mi

Huge improvement in the squat over last time but still got crushed on 2nd and 3rd sets. Got to lift with PapaMariogs, though we were doing diff routines. He was super confused when I failed on squats and heard 275# come crashing down onto the supports. Pretty funny to see the look on his face.

Decided to reset on OHP but, like Monte said, think it's about time to head over to TM. Think I've definitely exhausted linear gains on upper body and lower body. Probably should have switched bench/OHP to TM earlier, but live and learn.

Forgot:

Was waiting for PapaMariogs so started on front squats:

5 x 135, 5 x 155, 5 x 175

Definitely find them harder than regular squats but think that's expected.

Read something from Rip just now re: TM. He says,

“If five months of novice progression took you from a 95-pound squat at a bodyweight of 140 to a 315 x 5 squat at a bodyweight of 200, the Texas Method will take you to 405 x 5 squat at a bodyweight of 225 in a year.”

So...

1) 60lbs seems like a lot to put on in 5 months

2) 5 x 95 --> 5 x 315 in 5 months sounds ridic hard...I've gone from 5 x 95 to 5 x 275, 1 x 315 over 18 months (that's a guess time-wise)

Have other people done this? I don't think I've ever seen someone do 3 plates for reps any time I've gone to the gym. Granted, most people don't squat but Rip makes it seem *relatively* easy to attain...

2/17/14

3m warmup, 40m run at 5.7mph, 5m cooldown

Total Distance: 4.2mi

Found it tough going but managed to get through it. Have finals in linear algebra and abstract algebra 2nd day back after break (8 days from now), so have started studying AA a bit. LA exam was postponed due to snow so was in a good position material-wise last Thursday, will keep reviewing, but focusing on AA.

Took Complex Analysis exam last Thursday. Thought it was hard, 6 questions, think I answered 4 correctly? No idea what that means...we'll see.

2/18/14

Felt lightheaded during workout.

Squat 275: 5, 2
Bench: 5 x 5 x 175, wanted to take it a bit easier
Front Squats: 5 x 135, 2 x 5 x 175

Gonna take a day off tmrw, body's feeling a bit run down and I have to switch to TM anyway.

2/20/14

Easy run, 1.5mi outside

2/21/14

3m warmup, 45m run at 5.7mph (10:36? pace), 10m cooldown

Total distance: 5mi

2/22/14

Front Squat: 3 x 5 x 175
Bench: 3 x 5 x 185 (focused on pausing longer at bottom, avoiding bouncing)
OHP, very light: 3 x 5 x 95

2/22/14 (cont'd)

Ran total of 2.5mi (walking included). Kept it light but wanted to get a little work in since I'm taking Sunday off.

TM starts Mon, looking forward to it.

Abstract Algebra midterm Tues, Linear Algebra midterm Thurs. Feeling pretty good about both, tho I think Abstract should be a bit more challenging. There are 7 sections covered for this midterm and think I have a good grasp of 6/7. Been focusing more of my studying time on cyclic subgroups, the section I'm having more trouble with.

Also been reading a bunch about objective-c. Big Nerd Ranch has a good book and so does Kochan so been going through both. Finding it much harder than languages I've learned in the past (mainly JS, ruby). Not surprising since it's lower-level, you have to deal with memory management to an extent, etc. What *is* cool though, is that it forces me to understand better what's going on behind the scenes.

Ordered two Oly lifting books but was at my parent's this weekend so UPS still has it (no idea why they don't just drop at my doorstep. no one's taking my stuff...) Will be good to read through technique and start working with heavier weights once I feel more comfortable with the lifts.

2/24/14

C1a, D1

Squat: 5 x 5 x 240
Bench: 5 x 5 x 170
DL: 5 x 245

Took much less rest between reps than I usually do on squat, though still found it pretty challenging for a "volume" day. Bench was challenging, but mostly because I paused at the bottom. Trying to get better about not bouncing off chest. DL felt relatively easy.

Got complex back today: 88. He said grades were high all around. I misread one of the problems and lost points, which kinda sucks. Having said that, I also got away with one: On one of the problems he wanted some result about gradients blah blah. I said “well, it’s well known that a line through the origin is perpendicular to a tangent line blah blah” (essentially just restating what he wanted proved).

Full credit. He brought it up in class: yeah, wasn’t expecting that as an answer, but i suppose it’s true...

He asked our class if we wanted a second midterm in between now and the final. Class was silent but can't imagine anyone wants a second one because a) grades were high and b) it's just a bunch of work to prep for. We'll see.

2/26/14

Played squash last night, lotta fun as always.

C1a, D2

Squat: 2 x 5 x 190
OHP: 3 x 5 x 90
Pullups: 3 x f = 6, 3, 2
GHR: 5 x 10

GHR felt easy, tho this *is* a light day so I suppose it should. Will likely start adding weight to it, not sure how TM advocates doing so...

Prob just increase by 5 or 10lbs / week.

Forgot to add:

Took Abstract Algebra midterm on Tues. Good news and bad:

Good: Think I got 100, def 95+.

Bad: It's worth 12%, effectively nothing...

Taking Linear Algebra midterm today which is worth 20% and will likely do worse than abstract...we'll see!

3/3/14

Squats: 5 x 5 x 245

Pretty challenging but took less rest between sets (~5m) and much less rest between reps (~3s). Trying to get away from having to wait ages between reps with the weight on my back.

Ran out of time so going back later to do OHP and DL.

AA Midterm: 100
LA Midterm: 95

Class avg on LA was 66/100 pre-curve and he only gave us the post-curve grades. I don't get how the avg could be so low given that the HWs are significantly harder...pretty sketch tbh...

3/13/14

Nothing today but squash in the evening.

Been lifting regularly just bad about logging. Eating's been mediocre but am still < 240 so not horrific.

Yesterday I did:

Squat: 2 x 5 x 200
OHP: 3 x 5 x 100
GHR: 5 x 10 x 10
Pull-ups: 5, 3, 3

3 x 10 x 20 for curls

Tmrw's intensity day, squat is 5 x 275 which I've done before. Next week will be a 5RM PR which I'm pumped about.

3/21/14

Been bad about logging but good about working out.

Today was intensity day so did:

Squat: 5 x 280
OHP: 3 x 125 (program calls for 2)
Miscellaneous Clean/Jerk work with light weights

Did 5 x 3 x 165 cleans on Wednesday (mixed up schedule for this, was supposed to be on intensity day)

3/24/14

Squat: 5 x 5 x 255
Bench: 5 x 5 x 180
DL: 5 x 285

All went smoothly, DL was easier than expected (not easy but *easier*).

LA Midterm this Thurs, AA Midterm a week from today. After that it's smooth sailing until May 5th/6th for finals.

I've been looking around for an oly-lifting gym because, while I've been reading Everett's intro book on it, it really is hard to figure out what I'm doing right / wrong. I know my technique is miserable though, was reading online about %'s and Takano says:

Back Squat = 1.31 x C+J

So my best back squat is 315, 315/1.31 = 240...and I haven't cleaned 205 yet (much less jerked it).

So yeah.

5/23/14

Have moved into a Legs / Push / Pull routine.

Today was legs:

Squat: 3 x 8 x 195
DL: 3 x 3 x 225
Curls: 3 x 10 x 80
Extensions: 3 x 10 x 80
Calves: 3 x 10 x 70

Afternoon jog: 5m on, 2m walking, 10m on.

School update:

Applied Linear Algebra:

Final was actually pretty challenging. I messed up a couple problems I thought I should have had. Test was out of 200 points, luckily 30-40 of those points were tricky-ish proofs that I was able to get. Average was 121/200; I got 174/200.

Overall LA Grade: A

Abstract Algebra:

Was pretty worried about this one. The last several sections of Fraleigh were very challenging (much moreso than anything we had seen earlier). Just didn't feel comfortable with the material. Took the final and felt I got absolutely worked on several questions. This was pretty nerve-wracking as it counts for 38% of our overall grade. I have no idea what the average was, but I got a 74 (which is actually better than I was expecting).

All told I ended with 88 in the class. I emailed the prof to ask if our overall grades were curved. I sorta thought it would be given that I had beaten the average by a good bit on the two midterms (thought my class would struggle with the final). In effect, he said no, he doesn't curve.

Overall AA Grade: A

Will be applying to CS MS programs this fall and think I'll have both of these profs write on my behalf. Am interested in machine learning which is v. math intensive, so hopefully these grades help the cause.

I start Intro to Java in a bit over a week. Data Structures after.

Gogogo!

OP u started off with 240 pounds yea ? whats the weight now ?

Started off at 245 I think?

Mm think I'm 237 now. A bit misleading though, as body comp is completely different. Am (according to Navy calculator) ~17% BF now and was god knows what when I started.

Strength totally diff as well:

Lift: Start --> Now

Bench: 5 x 85 --> 10 x 180
OHP: 5 x 55 --> 5 x 135
Squat: N/A --> 10 x 225
etc.

Waist has gone from 40" to 36.5" or so.

Sidenote to the above:

I went as low as 218 and then started putting on more muscle than the fat I was losing (so added weight)

5/23/14 (Legs day was 5/22)

Bench: 5 x 8 x 155
OHP: 3 x 8 x 50
Incline: 3 x 8 x 110
Tri Pressdown: 5 x 8 x #7 (weight not listed)

Need to get a scale. Am gonna browse around but really just need the basics.

Weight all over the place:

In the last 48 hours, been as low as 231.8, as high as 238.0. Couple cheat days not helping, but back on the wagon.

5/27/14

Squat: 3 x 5 x 215
DB Bench: 3 x 5 x 85
DL: 1 x 5 x 225

5/29/14

Squat: 3 x 5 x 220
DB OHP: 3 x 5 x 65
Bent-Over Row: 3 x 5 x 135

Accessory:
Upright Row: 5 x 5 x 85
DB Curls: 3 x 5 x 35, 2 x 5 x 30

5/31/14

Weight (upon waking up): 233.8

Will report later on lifting.