Two wheel squat incoming. Make sure to take vidya. Such milestones should be recorded.

For the second time. I've already passed 225 but failed to progress past 230.

Where is the vidya?

Didn't happen.

Lifting day, with new and improved washers!

The washers from the FAQ arrived today, earlier than expected. They turned out to be important.

MrWookie:

Squats:
45x5x2
95x5
135x3
185x2
225x5x3

Back on top of my previous best pass. This wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.

Press:
45x5
50x5
65x3
80x2
97.4x4x3

Not a pass, but I was close. Thanks, washers!

Deadlift:
175x3
250x2
295x5

Passed. My butt was really, really tired after this one, but I got it done.

MrsWookie:

Goblet squats:
30x5

HBB Squats
50x3
65x3
80x3
95x2
105x5x3

Passed. She marches to the beat of her own drum on warm ups, but no one can complain about the results.

Press:
2x15x5 dumbbell press
45x3
52.4x4x3

Like me, almost there on the washer progression. Looks like those hunks of metal were a pretty good purchase, because at this point, either of us progressing by 5 lbs w/in 3 tries appears to be dicey. We'll get it next time, albeit with the washers, but hopefully no more consecutive failing for a while.

Deadlift (<135 RDL):
70x5
115x3
160x2
190x5

Passed again. Really impressive.

Mrs is almost deadlifting my weights, pretty impressive.

Yeah, she's approaching a bodyweight deadlift. I'm coming up on 1.5x.

You really shot up, pretty impressed. Gotta work on my lifts to stay ahead!

Were those washers easy to order? I need to get those things. I just passed 95 on OHP Monday. I think I can get through 100 after 3 attempts but don't want to do it that way, and I should have them anyway.

Your squats and DL are pretty beastly already.

Yeah, they were easy. Went to the website in the FAQ, searched for the model number, filled out billing/shipping info.

Got lazy/busy on posting here, but not lazy or busy w.r.t. lifting or logging for our own records.

Lifting day, 10/31

MrWookie:

Squats:
45x5x2
95x5
135x3
185x2
230x5
230x3
230x2

Kinda frustrating. I still couldn't pass 230 here, even after the reset.

Bench press:
45x5x2
80x5
110x3
140x2
160x5x3

Passed. This was the highlight of my day. I also was in a minor biking accident today, acquiring a painful bruise on my hip. Getting through the squats, even as poorly as I did, was pretty painful.

Deadlift:
185x3
255x2

And that was it. I felt too tired to even attempt 300

MrsWookie:

Goblet squats
30x5

Squats:
50x3
65x3
85x3
100x2
110x5x3

Pass!

Bench press:
30x5
50x3
60x3
70x2
80x2
80x3
80x2

We thought about going to the washers here, but after she passed 75 on the first try, we figured we'd go for a 5 lb jump. For the Greek/lit nerds, this was a hamartia caused by hubris. She'll be doing 77.4 next time.

Deadlift (<135 RDL)
70x5
115x3
165x2
195x0

Off the floor, but no further. Her first DL failure ever.

Lifting day today!

MrWookie:

Squats:
45x5x2
95x5
135x3
185x2
227.4x5x3

I pulled out the washers for squats. That's now a new high water mark for a weight I've passed. It's been just less than a month since I've passed a new high for squats.

Press:
45x5
50x5
65x3
80x2
97.4x4x2
97.4x5

Not sure how I found 5 reps in me on the last set, but this was kinda frustrating to not be able to make any material progress since last time.

Deadlift:
185x3
255x2
297.5x2

Yes, 297.5 I forgot the 2.5 lb weight on one side. Oops. It took everything I had to do the 2nd rep, but maybe part of the trouble was the unbalanced load.

MrsWookie:

Goblet Squats:
30x5

Squats:
50x3
70x3
85x3
105x2
115x5x3

Another impressive squat pass.

Press:
30x5
45x3
52.4x5x2
52.4x4

Failed just the last rep. It's frustrating to fail the last rep, but she gave it her all. I guess we need just one more week.

Deadlift (<135 RDL):
70x5
115x3
165x2
195x5

She took a few extra breaths between the last couple reps, but she got this up 5 times. Another impressive pass.

I guess I should add also that I wasn't particularly good about eating yesterday. I was 655 calories over my target and only 157 g protein. Prior to that, I can't recall off the top of my head when I was under 190 g protein, but oh well. Part of this was a deliberate decision to skip any biking cardio so as to rest. It didn't totally pay off, but at least I made some progress. I should have eaten more protein, at least. We've largely been on target the last couple weeks, but maybe I'll go back to reporting daily numbers.

This SS on a Cut update is brought to you by Pink Floyd



Today, I kinda knew something was a little off. I'd been a little sore since Sunday, despite the fact that I'd had an extra day's rest, but that wasn't what really tipped me off. I'd been sore before. I've also been more hungry this week than I've been a while, but at the same time, I've been hungry before.

I had a fairly typical breakfast of 4 eggs and 2 coffees with protein powder, and when it came time for lunch, I had some Costco rotisserie chicken. Let me tell you, I like Costco's chicken, but this tasted better than would ever be reasonable, and I was just about to eat the whole damn chicken. I stopped at 1 lb of meat+skin, but man, there was still more chicken there, and I wanted it. I didn't eat it, though.

Lifting day!

MrWookie:

Squats:
45x5x2
95x5
135x3
185x2
230x1
230x0

Yes, that is abject failure. I couldn't even get back up on the 2nd rep of my first set, and I couldn't even get up on the first rep of my 2nd set. I didn't attempt a 3rd. Despite today being a day with extra recovery, I'm clearly not recovering.

Bench press
45x5x2
80x5
110x3
145x2
167.4x5x3

Curiously, I passed here. Good news!

Deadlift:
185x3
255x1

Yes, only 1, and that's a warm up set. The first time I attempted the "warm up set" at 255, I didn't even get it up. I was completely exhausted.

I think I have found the wall that we all knew was coming. I had some extra chicken for dinner, bringing me to 3419 food calories on the day, -559 biking calories, -??? lifting calories, and 297 g protein.

I guess I'm not sure what the next step might be. Should I just switch to eating more if I want to lift more weight, should I switch to a different program from which I can recover better, or both?

MrsWookie:

Goblet squats:
30x5

Squats:
50x3
70x3
90x3
110x2
120x5x3

Nailed it. Looked easy for her

Bench press:
45x5
60x3
70x2
77.4x3x2
77.4x2

She still struggled with this despite stepping down in weight.

Deadlift (<135 RDL)
70x5
120x3
170x2
200x2

Couldn't get a pass here, but this was a new weight.

Yeah you're at a crossroads. Pretty much have to choose what you want - lose more BF, or get stronger, which at this point entails eating more and not losing BF? As long as you're on a deficit, imo the program itself is a small rock and changing to an intermediate program won't help much, if at all. Basically you gotta choose what you want to aim for.

Also looks like it's time for MrsW to do the 10% reset thing the program calls for.

She hasn't failed anything three times ever, though. This is only her second consecutive bench press failure.

But yeah, I guess I'm deciding to switch to eating at ~maintenance or ~maintenance+250, and I'd need to decide whether to stick with SS or if switching to some sort of intermediate br0gram would be better at this point.

Do you DL every workout?

Yeah. Been meaning to take up power clean, but I haven't.

I just decreased my DL from 3x to 1x per week. I feel like I have a lot more energy now. My N=1 experience is pretty much worthless, but it seems like a lot of people recommend to switch to 1x per week when you start stalling (or earlier).

What did you replace it with?

I'm doing this now. It's close to Phrak's GSLP, but with some accessory abs exercises.

I'm certainly no expert and maybe someone else can chime in, but I'm impressed you've been able to push through with 3x DL for three (?) months on a deficit. I think that would've destroyed me. Maybe decreasing DL frequency, allowing for longer recovery and slower progression will allow you to progress on a deficit for a little while longer? I'm just guessing here.

Nick that looks good but add neck harness if you do any type of contact sport and do Chins everyday imo

I'm not. Wouldn't mind doing more chinups/pullups though.

Daily frequency chins are pretty elite and a great way to get good at them relatively quickly.

So we're talking daily and not just every workout? That's even better, the chinup bar I bought will finally pay off.

Don't DL 3x/ week IMO, unless you mix it up and do Sumo/speeds at least 2x.

Do you pendlay row? I didn't see any. I'm a fan.

Don't Power Clean, do full cleans. Consult Fredd-bird.