So I was somewhat skeptical about working out today since I'm sick (head cold) and feel like ****...but I also haven't lifted since Monday...so I decided to get out of the house...pretty good lifting day...

Squat 255x5x3.

These felt pretty good...my hips are still killing me...i either need to religiously foam roll (don't even know if that will work) or go see some specialist...but I guess as long as I can keep squatting I should?

1, 2, 3

Press

So really wasn't sure what to do about this, last time I pressed was over a week ago, but I was still nervous about 135. The first set I totally missed the last rep, and didn't even try. Everyone at the gym was like WTF, you could have completed that, the rest looked easy. Last two sets went up much easier... Video is set 2....set 3 was even easier...1 plate. sweet.

2

PC

150x3x5

Apparently these are ugly. An Oly guy at the gym was telling me how I pull with my back too much and don't use my legs enough...so have a few sets on video then spent the rest of the time trying to pull his way...not sure what to think...Didn't feel extremely difficult even if I am doing it wrong, so will probably just keep going...thoughts?

2, 3.

They were closing and I was starting to feel it so I just left, no other work.

Went home and bought 1 lb of salmon, crushed that and bought a foam roller, will probalby foam roll and do some agile 8 stuff while watching olympics.

Apart from your elbows/rack the cleans look ok to me. Maybe the hip extension is a little soft but I dunno, I could just be seeing things because of what you wrote. I know there are some guys like John Broz and the Bulgarians who advocate being really aggro and slamming the bar with your hips but that's hardly universally agreed upon. But catching it with the elbows pointed down and the weight looks to be on your toes is the biggest thing I'm seeing.

Nothing jumps out at me about the PCs, but that is a really bad angle for the camera to be at. It's better if it's at an angle to your body as opposed to directly to the side. It's hard to see the bar path and your hip action because the bar is in the way and the camera is so low.

Got it. Will change it around next time...so ideally where do you want to see it, in front of my body but not directly head on?

Still getting over this cold...

BS 260x5x3. They went up, but knees are starting to cave in as I come up out of the hole...guess i will try to work on this more in warm ups...

BP 175x5x3. Fast/Easy.

DL 285x5. This was pretty hard...It went up but I feel like I had a lot of thoracic rounding...I think I might start doing these barefoot as it just feels weird still doing it in weight lifting shoes...probably ******ed but whatev.

Doings lots of research on lyle's forum....definitely some interesting ideas with regards to nutrition making me rethink a lot of stuff...

So over the last two days I have probably spent 12 hours reading lyle's **** and on his forum...I've managed to compile a pretty good working draft of the successful IF protocol that both 'Work' and 'Blade' have put together over a dozen or so threads on that forum...so I was all set to do this, as its not that difficult since I resumed IF about a week ago but with no regard for macros...

I was basically going to do

Work out days: 16/8 feeding window, BCAA prior/during. Break-fast with as many meals to consume 1g/lb protein, tons of carbs, minimal fat...ideally maintenance + 25%.

On non-workout days: 16/8 feeding window. PSMF at 50% maintenance. 1g/lb protein. More fat. <80g carbs.

They also suggest lots of slow state cardio, but I don't really have the time during the day while I'm fasting.

I also wasn't really sure I wanted to count calories as I cook a lot and I have no idea how to count calories when you actually cook your food.

Anyway....I told them all this...and they laughed at me...

The conversation went somtehing like this (for those that have ADD, see this video clip from: Old School. Just instead of seatbelt, and backseat. We used the terms Starve and SS.

Me: I'm fat. I'm doing (everything I outlined above) it.
Them: You're ****ing ******ed. You are doing SS. Eat and Sleep for it. Cut after
Me: Yeah, but you don't understand, I don't fit into any of my clothes and I'm getting married in 2 months
Them: So lift as much as possible, and then we can do a little cut 3 weeks out.
Me: Meh. I'd rather Squat 365#180 then 440@220.
Them: hyachhahahahahah. Embrace your genetic potential. You should either be in the 94kg weight class if you do OLY after this or weigh 240# if you do PL. You are not a 155 lb CFer. You never will be. Get over it.
Me: No abz?
Them: overated. You have all the time in the world to starve yourself.

You get the gist.

So I worked out. They obviously have a point as for hte next two months there is nothing that is stopping me from going to the gym every other day and getting unlimited food and sleep. Afterwards, my schedule will suck. So I can "cut" when I'm in residency.

Anyway...on to the training.

Squat 265x5x3. Hard as F. But it went up.

Press 140x5x3. Yeah.

Power Clean 155x3x3. Then just drilled tons at 135 since I tend to either have the bar too far out front when I pull or I somehow use my back to slingshot the bar up instead of using all legs.

Kipping C2B pull ups. 5,5,3,5,4.

So then I went out and decided (since I've been eating like an anorexic the last two days) to go get BBQ.

Nomnomonom



Crushed all of it, but the creamed spinach sucked. They were out of bacon fried greenbeans... WTF.

**** me. awful day at the gym today...

worked out at school but still just wasn't really feeling it...very different feel then the typical garage/cf gym...

BS 270x5x3. failed on the last set after the 4th rep. basically my hips shot up and i good morninged the bar so didnt even bother with a 5th rep.. meh. phone call interrupted filming of 2nd set and phone died on 3rd...but i assure you they were much uglier than the first

video

BP 180x5x3. This felt super heavy

DL 295x5. Grip slipped at 4th rep...had to regrip...

Given that I just didnt eat much today, and all exercises suffered, i'm chalking this up to a bad day and not actual stagnation on the squat...well see what happens next week....obviously with 2 days of rest i expect to crush mondays workout...

i knew i had commented on your squats before, and i did after you posted video on 1/19 when i said they look good. technique is much different now. much less sitting back, major loss of lumbar extension at the bottom and as a result, the knees are sliding forward pretty badly.

should i drop down in weight? really focus on sitting back/umbar extenstion at bottom during warm ups? thoughts?

i think it might also be because ppl were telling me i needed to bounce more out of the hole...and ever since doing that my form has felt different....

well of course you should warm up with the same technique you plan to use during work sets. it's unlikely you will be able to do this same weight without these habits you've picked up, so a small drop is probably in order. not much can help other than cues to remind yourself.

bouncing comes from the hamstrings. your hamstrings get to relax slightly because your lower back stops pulling on your pelvis. think about "winning the war" on your pelvis. on the way down, try your hardest to stick your ass up in the air and arch at the lumbar, and keep it that way. you'll feel much more stretch in your hamstrings at the bottom.

wtf. it's way easier than when eating out.

might be wrong here, little hard to tell, but I think your upper back could stand to be more rigid with more of a chest up. It's hard to tell these things from vids, but you seem pretty relaxed under the bar in general.

True with most stuff...but harder with soups, stews. cut up a bunch of meat, veggies, oil, throw it into a pot, blend it together, pour a cup...how much is that?

It's easy when you take out an 8 oz steak and put salt and pepper on it and serve it with a lb of broccoli...

Not so easy when you make chicken tikka masala and you are using all this butter, yogurt, +/- coconut milk...

I think I might try and iron this out in the warmups on monday...maybe also try a belt...2 days of rest + food are automatically going to equal a better training session....Friday's are hard! I'll try and do vids..if I completely crash and burn i'll drop down in weight.

Do you not measure food you use in recipes?

I can't recall the last time I ate something out (seriously) and its not that hard to guesstimate what is in a meal and then create a custom item on a calorie site and then divide it up.

If i've never cooked something before, i follow the recipe exactly. Now that I've gotten fairly comfortable with a few soup/stew recipes, chicken salads, so i don't...

85% of my meals are lightly seasoned piece of meat + steamed/broiled veggies....so pretty easy to measure...even though I will cut up 2 bags of brussel sprouts and drench them in EVOO before broiling inoven...so no idea how much EVOO I used, nor how much made it on to the tray and not sprouts...so difficult to measure...

15% of my meals (mostly weekends) when I have time to cook/experiment are drawn out... if you marinate 4 lbs of chicken in yogurt, then cook it in butter, then divide that meal up among 2 (i obv eat 2x as much as my fiance) and you get 2-2.5 meals out of this...what is the macro nutrient breakdown? not easy.

It's really cause I have so much time right now that being strict calorie counting wise isn't realistic...when I have less time, meals will simpler...meat/vegetable+EVOO so will be easier to count...

Also, cooking eggs for example...I just throw pats of butter in pan...sure I could measure all this stuff out, but it takes extra time and whats thepoint...plus not all the butter is sucked up by the eggs....

A lot of your arguments are ******ed. You don't bother because you can't be perfectly accurate? When you do count calories do you like your dishes to make sure you don't miss femtocalories?

yes. i know. it's the perfect combination of too ocd therefore just be lazy...it's why zone never really worked either when I was CFing....

When I eat I also like to stuff my face...so 4 block meals were laughable...that is like one bite for me...that's why I think IF was fairly successful a while back... I'd rather eat 1k calorie meal then 2 500 cal meals...

I had a quarter life crisis/dream/nightmare last night and realized I can't just go to the gym 3x a week for the rest of my life...I need to start playing sports again. I haven't played ice hockey in about 6 years. I think I should join a men's league. Plan is to wait until residency starts, see how bad it is, and then possibly join a league. I'm putting this in my log to remind myself 6 months from now what a pathetic lazy sob i am...

Also, just made a huge veggie frittata with sausage (awesome) and pork chops tonight....crushing tons of food so that I can squat 275 tomorrow and actually have a good form.

BS 275x5x3. Only reason I think I was able to do this was because of the 2 day rest....tried to eat a ton...I think my form was better, but you be the judge... this is the last set..

275x5

Press

145x5,4,3.

meh. I think I'm going to have to reset this, given my total failure and decent food/rest... Going to reset to 130, then go 135, then 140, then probably use fractional plates 1 or 1.5 lb plates and see how far it can go....I think this makes the most sense but I could also see doing push presses or something...not sure...

Cleans... practiced from the hang 95,115,135,155... A couple from the floor at 155, and a couple 3 position cleans....

Still just trying to drill the explosiveness of this movement...at this point I think this is probably more important than increasing the weight?

Pretty trashed at this point from the squat and press....kinda just fall apart during the cleans... didn't have anything left for chins ups....

Hanging leg raise

3x5. Will likely increase this to 3x8-10 and maybe start adding weight... not sure to add weight to my legs or just dead weight to make the hang more difficult?

Was talking to another lifter tonight about eating enough and I thought I was, but maybe not?

This is a pretty standard day...

Breakfast: 4 egg veggie frittata
Lunch 1/2 lb of salmon + broccoli
Snack pork chop
Snack pork chop
Dinner 1/2 lb steak + huge salad

A whole bunch of fat in there mostly in the form of EVOO on the salad/broccoli....

I thought I was getting a g/lb protein easily but now I'm not so sure... eitherway, guess I should start eating more if I really hope to reach these goals...might have to start protein shakes (gasp)

A local CF gym is also having bodpod bf% scanning tomorrow, its $40 for both before and after...thinking of maybe doing it now, then seeing what happens in 2 months...not sure...

Good day at the gym. 202#.

280x5x3. Nose started bleeding on the last few reps of each...basically I get chronic nosebleeds during the winter months (once a month) due to being congested and always blowing my nose/dry air....had a nose bleed on saturday...so then Monday and today squatting I get a little trickle of blood but not a full fledged bleed....going to get my nose zapped since I am sick of dealing with this ****. Squat video here

Bench 185x5x3. Getting harder.

DL 305x5. this is a 5rm PR. holla. Was not difficult...so this is promising...

Hanging leg raise 3x8.

Started GTG Chinups at home since I am too wiped at the gym to do them... will basically GTG Chins til I hit 10, then maybe GTG L-chins til 10....we'll see...

warm up: some rowing, some random KB stuff to keep my workout add at bay...mostly some swings, clean and press, snatches....

BS 285x5x3. Hard. It feels the same pretty much everytime...like omfg, how am I going to squat this...and then I squat it...and it's hard as ****, and feels super slow, but goes up...and then it's like ok add 5 lbs for next workout...the other guys said that 285->315+ will feel exactly like this all the way until linear progression breaks you or you give up...

Press 130x5x3. Reset this from last workout. It was hard as ****. WTF. I was def expecting this to be way easy from my 145f but not so much.

Cleans. So the 5x3 isn't really working for me and I don't think makes much sense since this is a fast lift. It should probably also be done before squats but I guess since it isn't the emphasis of the program, that's why it isn't. Eitherway, in my next program this will likely be done first. I don't think you can keep adding weight like the slow lifts...so I think I'm going to work up to a heavy clean, then back off 10-15% and do like 5 singles or 3 triples or something... is this ******ed?

95x2x2, 115x2, 135x2, 155x1x2, 175x1, 195xf, 185xf, 185x1. 155x2x2. It's easy to see how unstructured you can get and probably not get the necessary training stimulus when you deviate from the 5x3 notation... It's really easy to just work up to a heavy single and then quit. I think by logging my cleans though I'll know what # to shoot for that will prevent me from doing this.

Starting to brainstorm about intermediate programming since I am not willing to gain 20-30 lbs to keep progressing linearly... as stupid as it is, I hope to squat 315, then drop down to 2 SS workouts a week and either 2 days of olifting, 2 days of metcons or 2 days of running (CFE style). Given that I would like to trim down a bit before my honeymoon...I might do the running and start a caloric deficit....since I probably don't have the will/OCD to actually count calories on a daily basis, I'll probably try EOD refeeds, since I think there is more room to screw up and still get a net deficit for the week..., basically starve myself except for protein+fat+greens on off days and gorge after SS workouts on workout days....

when i tried to reset my press on SS, it wasn't any easier when i got back to the same weight.

Some of the guys at the gym are saying I should microload it...70s big says <5 lb increases are ******ed...though I'm 95% sure they are refering only to the squat/dl.

What about doing something like 8x3 instead?

I'm digging through your log but I forgot what you ended up doing...

edit looks like you did 2.5 lb jumps...i'll give that a shot...

after that i just switched to texas method. added about 20lb to my 5rm in 4-6 months or something.