Saturday, October 14, 2017 Training
Strength Block C3W4

1. Sumo Deadlift (kg):
TM145 75%x5, 80%x5, 85%x5+

107.5x5
115x5
122.5x1
122.5xnope

2. Press (kg):
TM48.5 5x5 @80%

39x5
39x5
39x5
39x5 @10

Training time: ?

***

Went into it fairly optimistically today. I still felt a little lower back pain, but no soreness in the area so I felt quite recovered. The 115 set was pretty hard but went well enough for me to try 122.5. I would have been happy to get 5, but it was just ridiculously heavy.

I was really rushed for time so I had to do the press sets with short rests. The @10 set was because I ****ed up; I'm certain that if I had time, 5 sets of 5 would have been there with some in the tank. I'm pretty optimistic that I'll hit a press PR on Tuesday.

As for this back thing, it's really taken the wind out of my sails. Beating my 105x6 squat and 120x8 deadlift any time in the near future seems difficult to imagine. I'm considering doing an extended restoration block (2-4 weeks of submaximal, higher rep training) for the lower body lifts while continuing what I've been doing for press and bench. Thoughts?

Sunday, October 15, 2017 Training
Strength Block C3W4

1. RG Bench (kg):
w/ Back Extension (rounded): 0kg x12x4, 5kg x12x4, 10kg x12x2, 7.5kg x12x2 (*)

TM71 4x6 @75%

54x6
54x6
54x6
54x6

2. Machine Seated Row (lb):

160x8
160x8
160x8
160x8
160x8

(*) done throughout the workout

Training time: ?

***

My back felt worse than ever. I felt every bump on my bike going to the gym. Squatting seemed out of the question. Instead, I opted for 144 reps of back extensions, which might have been a little much but they did make my back feel a lot better.

I had a decent day benching, with the linked set being one of my tightest sets in a long time. Also made more nice gains on rows, getting 5 sets of 8 at the same weight that I did 4 sets of 7 a few weeks ago. Maybe the law of conservation of gains will result in my upper lifts catching up to my squat and deadlift while I'm less than able to do those movements.

Really awesome results in here, congrats.

Kettle bell swings/cable pull throughs and the Donnie Thompson lower back protocol always helped my back pain the most, his videos on YouTube are really great for a bunch of different injuries.

Why reverse grip bench? And how are you gripping the bar, full reverse or cradle your hands along the length of the bar? I've tried this every which way and it always makes my wrists feel like they about to explode.

Thanks!

I don't have access to KB but they may sell them somewhere around. I'll check out the Thompson stuff, thanks.

I hurt my shoulder a few months ago benching. Underhand was one of the only variants of bench that I could do without pain (DB bench being the other, which I also do). The grip I use is thumbs-around, so fairly secure, but I still always bench in the rack with this style. I can't attest to the gains yet, but it feels great on my shoulders and allows me to bench with a far wider grip than I ever could use with a prone grip, which probably is a big plus for chest development. It is not a problem for my wrists, but maybe that's because I'm not able to use very much weight. I don't think my wrists are cocked back very far, though.

Week 80 Diet
Mass Phase Week 20



Decent week.

Nudes:



Measurements:



I dunno, maybe I look slightly better. Measuring variance maybe but +1cm waist for 1lb of weight gain is just wtf. I feel like I should be leaner than this after 8 weeks of decent training and being roughly the same weight. My gut *is* slightly smaller than the 8.19 side shot so maybe I lost a tiny bit of fat.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017 Training
Strength Block C3W4

1. Press (kg):
TM48.5 75%x5, 80%x5, 85%x5+

36x5
39x5
41x5 @9.5 [PR] {TM+1.5}
45x2 @9.5 [2r benchmark]
47.5x1 @10 [1r benchmark]

2. Back Raise (kg):

10x15
10x15
10x15
10x15

3. 2ct Pause RG Bench:
TM71 5x3 @77.5%

55x3
55x3
55x3
55x3
55x5 @9

Training time: 1:39

***

Pretty reasonable day. 39 didn't move that well so I was a bit worried that I wouldn't get 41x5. That set was kind of frustrating since the bar speed was so fast and it just ran into a brick wall at my sticking point. Maybe I felt a little gypped by that set, or maybe I felt like I needed to do more since I already decided not to squat today, but I felt like I had more to give so I went after some heavier weights.

The last time I tried to max out on the press, I got 40x1 (failed 2) and that was many months ago. I hesitate to call these PRs since literally anything over 40 would be a PR by default. The 45x2 was pretty smooth, while the 47.5 was the slowest grindiest rep ever and might not even count. I had a lot of trouble locking out my left shoulder but I'm counting the rep because, even if it wasn't a full lockout, I'm certain that I could have spent 20 seconds more grinding that lockout since it was well past the sticking point.

Bench was super easy. Unsurprising since I usually go into these sets after having done 5x5 squat.

Much grind, such WIM

Bar kept coming down on the 47.5.


No lift. Not even close bro, any downward movement means rack it, because it don't count.

lol. I mean I could see the argument if I got an advantage from the fact that the bar went down, like hitching in a deadlift.

Extra ROM, should count as 1.1 lifts.

Were this a competition lift, it wouldn't count for the reasons loco stated (and also because he started from the pins as opposed to the rack), but I think it's fine to count it as a personal best in this situation. I doubt the SE Asian manlet powerlifting class is going to have him as an entrant anytime soon.

If I were in the practice of doing singles on a regular basis, I'd probably not count it then either, but the fact of the matter is that it will probably be another few months before I attempt a 1rm press again. Also, if I had attempted it without the two prior @9.5 sets it would have been easier, etc.

You got it up there, that's what matters imo. Good job

No lift. Back to the drawing board.

Monte fix that post with your powers, please remove PR. We need standards around here.

lol, never called it a pr. even made a point to mention that it wasnt a pr

47.5xF

Get on it monte.

loco,

As an alternative, maybe when you cut down to ant size for the half marathon that I assume is soon coming, you and Renton could face off in the squared circle? That said, considering his location, Muay Thai might be an even easier sell.

Loco is coming on strong for a no lift for someone else when he accepts a BW press PR with a questionable lockout.

Stay out of this skeletor

Wow. loco the great caught attempting to defraud H&F. Are there no heroes left in this world?

Haters gonna hate. Its called a personal best for a reason, only you get to judge yourself. Well done!

Shouldn't your TM be lower if it's above your measured 1RM?

If you were starting a program, yeah it would be too high. If you're in the 13th week of a program and you've been hitting your sets/reps/%ages so far then there's nowhere to go but up. Also, these were not exactly ideal testing conditions. I could probably put up substantially more than 47.5 if I worked with 90+% weights regularly for a few weeks. I'm pretty thrilled to have been able to (almost) lift a weight this close to my TM without having peaked prior.

So I've been thinking all week about how to respond to this back pain in the context of my strength and body composition goals and I've come up with the following plan:

- Two weeks of no squatting or deadlifting. That'll be six more sessions since two are down already.

- After that I'll reintroduce front squats and conventional block pulls as my main squat/dl movements for a while. This was the plan all along but I was hoping be able to push my HBBS and sumo deadlift a bit higher first. I already got a ton of mileage out of hbbs, and maybe a more vertical torso squat will be better for my back. As for sumo, it seems like most of what I've read suggests that it's a better movement for demonstrating strength than for developing it. I also like the idea of starting up with new movements so I can make fresh PRs instead of trying to rebuild my hbbs and sumo brick by brick.

- As for programming, I'm going to keep it simple initially. No percentages, just starting with a non-trivial weight and doing 2x5 1x5+ with linear progress until things get heavy. I'll train each movement two days per week and on the same day, so my 4 day split will have two full body days and two upper body days. I made gains in the past on 2 days per week lower, and this will give me time to cram in more benching and lat work, which seems necessary since I haven't made a single chin-up gain in ages.

- As for body composition, there's probably going to be a cut in my relatively near future. The scale said 137.4 today and I'm not particularly keen to push very far past the 140 range.

The hate for the 47.5 kg is nuts. The grind was real on the 1RM, but that fifth rep at 41 kg was insane. It is crazy you had much less in the tank after that set.

Thanks, bros.


Thursday, October 19, 2017 Training
Strength Block C3W4

1. Chin-ups (@65kg):
w/ Back Extension (rounded): 0kg x12x4, 5kg x12x4

0kg x5
5kg x5
5kg x5
5kg x5
5kg x5
5kg x5 @8.5

2. Press (kg):
w/ Band Facepull: #0 x30x4
TM50 5x8 @70%

34x8
34x8
34x8
34x8
34x8 @9

Training time: 1:23

***

I completely spaced on yesterday's workout, forgetting which day of the week it was. This was the first time that I've missed a planned workout ever. It's IMO worse than if I'd just blown it off intentionally. ****. It doesn't screw up my schedule or anything, just did it today instead and there won't be a two-day break this week.

Anyway, today went alright. The chin-ups weights are small but I'm walking around with two extra kilos today, so that might actually be a volume PR. I flubbed the weight on the press but it turned out to be the right amount for today. 35x8x5 might have been there with longer rest intervals.

I'd planned to do cable crunches but those aggravated my back so I cut the workout a bit short.