Tuesday, November 1, 2016 Training

Press:

20x4x2
25x3
31x2x2
36x4
36x5 [PR]
36x3 (f)
31x6

Deadlift:

60x3x2
80x2x2
90x1x2
95x1
105x3 (f)
80x3 (*)
80x3 (**)
80x3 (**)

DB Incline Press (#):

30x13
30x13
30x12

Face-pulls (#):

75x15
75x15
75x15

Chin-ups (3' rest) (5, 5, 4, 4)

***

A small PR for press, though I was hoping to get 5 reps for more than one of the sets.

I did kind of a deadlift workshop today, getting input from one of the only smart people who trains at my gym. That said, I think he kind of ****ed me up. I showed him this set from last week, and he saw a lot of problems with it. Mainly, he thought my hips were starting too high, but also he claims to have seen the bar drift forward and some lower back rounding.

Today I recorded my warmups and top set from a direct side view and noticed no forward movement of the bar. As for my lower back, if it's rounding, it's only rounding a little. Ultimately I ended up going with my old setup for the top set. Afterward, I tried using a narrower stance so I could potentially start with a less-vertical shin and lower hips. He's an advocate of sitting straight down and maintaining tightness like an RDL as one assumes the starting position, while (*) my way is to just round over, set my grip, and get tight from there. When I did it (**) his way, it seems like I can start with lower hips, but then my hips just rise to the same location when the bar breaks off the floor.

I'm not sure about the narrow foot position. It does allow me to start with a bit lower hips, but it's not as "comfortable." One thing I definitely need to fix is my neck. For some reason when I cue "chest up" it's hard to avoid tilting my head up.

I guess I should reset the deadlift.

Thursday, November 3, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x5x2
30x5
40x4
50x2x2
57.5x5 [PR]
57.5x4
57.5x5
50x9 [rep PR]

Front Squat:

20x5x2
45x5
60x2
72.5x5
72.5x3 (wim fail)
72.5x3 (actual fail)

Leg Press (kg + sled):

111x12
111x12
111x12

Machine Chest Fly (#):

120x15
120x15
120x12

Pull-ups (2.5' rest) (4, 3, 3, 3, 3) [+2 reps]

***

More easy gains on the bench. Six reps may have been possible in the first set, maybe 40% likelihood. I got a handoff for the third set and the fifth went up pretty slow, so I doubt there was a sixth.

I'm going to reset the squat along with the deadlift and work on form for both. 72.5kg is already slow from the first rep, and I think it's harder to work on technique when I'm this close to my max.

I'm making some minor tweaks to the program. Mainly shuffling around the assistance work and adding a bit more of it. It seems like my press and deadlift are lagging a bit behind bench and squat. That might be because it's the middle day, but it might also be because I'm not getting enough glutes/hams/shoulders training in. So I added RDL and delt raises to the Sunday schedule. I also changed the %s to display a range of %s, indicating progression and resets.

The other thing I want to start focusing on is making more efficient use of gym time. I spend way too much time warming up and working up to my top sets, to the point that it sometimes take me an hour to bench or squat. I think this is due to a lot of factors. I'm lazy and unconditioned, so I get winded if I rush through my warmups. I also probably just do too many warmups. On the one hand, if it helps improve my performance, I'm all for wasting a couple of extra minutes. On the other, this is going to become a problem once it becomes impossible to further increase volume without having to put in three-hour sessions.

Sunday, November 6, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x5x2
30x5
40x4
50x2x2
55x2
59x2 (f)
45x5
45x5
50x5 (front view)
52.5x5 (side view) (*)

Front Squat:

20x5x2
40x5
55x2
62.5x5
62.5x7
55x8

SS1: DB Bent-over Row (# each arm):

60x12
60x12
60x12

SS1: Machine Chest Fly (#):

120x15
120x15
120x13

SS2: Romanian Deadlift (kg) (**)

50x13
50x11
50x12

SS2: DB 3-Way Raises (#): (***)

10x10-8-7 (front-lateral-rear)
10x10-7-5

SS2: Standing DB Overhead Press (#):

15x17

***

All winning streaks must come to an end. Last bench workout I noticed a bit of pain in my left shoulder. It gave me pause but didn't adversely affect my performance. Today it was worse. Basically a dull pain in the side of my humerus near the shoulder. The easiest way for me to cause the pain was to do band pull-aparts with my arms pointed at a downward angle. I did a little more stretching and warm-up sets than normal but the pain persisted and was accompanied by being much weaker off the chest than usual.

I've also been noticing a little pain in my left knee that occurs when I'm near the end of my knee flexibility. Generally, this pain goes away once I'm warmed up but I think the shoulder stuff made me more cautious about it during squats. There were reps in the tank in both of the rep-out sets. Just gotta make a greater effort next time.

* Something went awry in the last rep of this set. I got a bad feeling about my shoulder .

** I've done RDLs before but it's been a while. These felt awkward as hell during the concentric phase. I have a tendency to shrug and/or hyper-extend at the top. Practice makes improvement I suppose.

*** I absolutely hated these. I don't even think my shoulder flexibility permits doing rear delt raises in a meaningful range of motion. I replaced the last set with standing DB OHP, but I think going forward I'm going to do a back-supported DB OHP in the 12+ rep range to round out this superset.

Week 30 Diet, Week 14 Cut



Dead-on calories and macros this week. I'm back in the dieting groove. I have a hunch that I'm holding onto a bit more water than usual, as the day-to-day fluctuations weren't as predictable as they've been in the past. For example, losing no weight at all (actually gaining weight) after the 54 carb day on Friday. So here's hoping there's an imminent weight drop.

Nice PR!

Drive those heels down and think "back back back!" on the way up

Thanks, will do.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016 Training

Press:

20x5
20x4
27.5x2
32.5x2
36x4 (f)
32.5x5
32.5x5

Deadlift:

60x3x2
75x3
90x1
92.5x5
92.5x5

DB Incline Press (#):

30x13
30x13
30x13

Chin-ups (3' rest) (5, 5, 5, 4) [+1 rep]

***

Weak day in general. Felt slightly ill this morning. When I couldn't get 5 reps on press for a weight I've been on for 3 weeks, I decided to take it easy in light of the shoulder issue. That said, I had no shoulder pain at all today. The 32.5 sets were reasonably hard (maybe RPE 8.5).

The deadlift is annoying me a lot because I kind of feel like my form wasn't bad before and now second guessing it is costing me progress. I went with a narrower stance, which I liked. I also tried a slightly less vertical shin, which I didn't so much like. It seems like no matter how I set up, I appear to be built to deadlift with very high hips and that's just the way it is. Just gonna go back to normal deadlift programming starting with next week, resetting to 95. Today's sets were not very close to failure.

Yeah, it's just an arbitrary number. But I've never been sub 140 in my life since puberty, and it feels good. Unfortunately, I had to catch the flu to lose that last pound.

I'm gonna postpone today's workout to tomorrow assuming I feel better, otherwise I'll just skip it and start fresh on Sunday.

Being sick, I've had some extra time to think about all this stuff, and I've been thinking about parallels to my last failed log on 2p2. In that log, I dieted down to 141 and lifted for about 6 months before falling off the wagon. I also had the same shoulder issue slow my progress on upper body lifts, a major contributor to my lack of motivation in the latter months.

There are some key differences, too. This time around I've lasted over 8 months, and I'm significantly leaner and stronger than I was then. My form is dramatically better on all lifts now than then. I have much better cardio fitness and work capacity, though those still could make much improvement.

So now I'm sitting here thinking of tactics to head off the possible demotivating things before they become critical. I need to be wary of my shoulder. I also need to feel like I'm accomplishing something whenever I go to the gym. I've just had to coincidentally reset all of the main lifts, which could lead to me feeling stagnant about my goals.

To prevent this, I've decided to switch back to the LBBS so I can make easy progress on something new. If you recall, I switched to the front squat in order to treat my squat-morning issue for the LBBS. After working up to a 72.5x5 front squat, I should now be in a position to make some easy progress on the LBBS (my previous PR was only 80x5). I anticipate that this will be highly motivating to me while my DL, OHP, and BP emerge from the toilet during the ensuing weeks.

Sunday, November 13, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x5
30x5
40x5
50x5
50x5
52.5x5

LBBS:

20x5x2
40x5
50x5
60x5 (*)
60x5
60x5 (**)

SS1: DB Bent-over Row (# each arm):

50x12
50x12
50x12

SS1: Machine Chest Fly (#):

110x15
110x15
110x15

SS2: Romanian Deadlift (kg)

50x12
50x12
50x12

SS2: Seated DB OHP (#):

20x12
20x12
20x12

***

I took it very easy on the weights today, as I still felt pretty bad from the previous 4 days. Benching felt great, no pain at all and several reps left in the tank in the 52.5 set.

First time LBBSing in a few months. My plan was to work up to 70x5 (previous PR was 80x5). When I couldn't reliably hit depth at 60, I just decided to do some sets of that. Here's what I discovered:

* This set is what it looks like when I instinctively descend to a position that feels very strong, and then squat. These reps look tight and snappy to me, if slightly shallow.



** This set is what it looks like when I make sure to go below parallel. Forward lean, non-straight bar path, not as strong.



It's making me wonder whether I should be devoting a lot of time to improving my depth or if I should just do my 15/16 squats and move on.


Week 31 Diet, Week 15 Cut



Pretty decent week for weight loss. Given I was sick and dehydrated, I'm not sure how much of it is real. We'll see this week.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016 Training

Press:

20x5
20x5x2
27.5x3
34x5
34x5
34x5

Deadlift:

60x3x2
75x3
85x1
95x6
85x10

DB Incline Press (#):

30x13
30x13
30x12

Chin-ups (3' rest) (5, 4, 4, 4)

***

Another not 100% day. Press was way too hard considering the weight. Deadlift wasn't bad. I left a bit in the tank on the 95 set. Performance loss isn't that surprising given how poor my nutrition was last week (as well as being sick). I'm just getting back into the swing of things.

Thursday, November 17, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x10
30x5
40x3
50x2
54x5
54x5
54x8 [PR]
50x9

Pull-ups (2.5' rest): (4, 3, 4, 3, 3) [+1 rep]

Rope Triceps Pushdown (# each arm, 1.5' rest):

35x15
35x15
35x17

LBBS:

20x5x2
40x5
60x2
65x5
70x5
70x5

SS: Leg Press (kg + sled):

115x11
115x11
115x12

SS: Facepull (#):

75x15
75x15
75x15

***

A surprise PR on the bench. Squats went okay, though 70 seemed a little harder than it should have been.

Sunday, November 20, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x10
30x5
40x3
50x2
55x5
55x5
55x7 [rep PR]
50x8

LBBS:

20x5x2
40x5
60x2
72.5x5
72.5x5
72.5x5

SS1: DB Bent-over Row (# each arm):

55x12
55x12
55x12

SS1: Machine Chest Fly (#):

120x15
120x15
120x14

SS2: Romanian Deadlift (kg)

55x12
55x12
55x12

SS2: Seated DB OHP (#):

25x12
25x12
25x12

***

Benching went well. LBBS is still fairly easy. I lowered the weight a bit on the rows because it's easier to have tidy reps. I'm not that concerned about going super heavy on those anyway. The point is to wear my upper back out and 55x12x3 is accomplishing that.

RDLs are still way below what I can do for 12, but I'll be sore from them tomorrow nonetheless. They look and feel less awkward now so maybe I'm getting better at them.


Week 32 Diet, Week 16 Cut



Kind of soft on protein this week. Oh well. Weight loss is still steady.

Subbed

Tuesday, November 22, 2016 Training

Press:

20x5x2
25x3
30x2
35x5
35x5
35x6
30x9

Deadlift:

60x4x2
75x3
85x1
97.5x8 [PR]
85x10

DB Incline Press (#):

30x9
30x7

Chin-ups (3' rest) (5, 5, 4, 4)

***

Solid day. I matched my PR for press from a few weeks ago. Deadlift is a pretty significant PR, but it raises a question of where I should be cutting these sets off. In the 97.5 set, I could certainly have pulled an ugly 9th and maybe even a 10th. My sticking point is from the floor to about 5cm off the floor. Past that point it may not be friendly to my vertebrae, but it always goes up. Right now I'm leaning toward allowing some form breakdown but not too much. Subjective as hell, but oh well. Also, I'm still doing that terrible neck thing. God damn it, I need to pay more attention to that.

The same shoulder pain from a few weeks ago came up during DB incline presses. Major bummer. Hopefully, it doesn't show up when I bench on Thursday.

My progress on chins and rows is disappointing. It's not practical for me to GTG as I'm not home often enough, but I'm considering adding a couple of short chin-ups/pull-ups workouts. Maybe like 4x4 chins on Fridays and 5x3 pull-ups on Sundays.

I think you'd have ground out 1-2 more reps with acceptable form, but certainly no harm in stopping where you did.

Pfft not home enough gotta call you out when you post stuff like that.

Takes 10 min to do a quick 3-4 sets.

Right, but thats not really gtg. And its what im gonna do. What i mean is that it's more feasible for me to just bang out some sets in a mini-workout than it is to do a bunch of gtg sets all day long. I didnt do either of these things before because i was making great progress already.

The tiniest of brags. I finally cracked into "intermediate" for one of the big four. Squat should be coming relatively soon. Bench/Press are really far away still.

Where does that graph come from?

Congrats! What are your goals within 6 months to 1 year?

http://www.strengthstandards.co

Thanks. Right now, my goals are mostly body composition related. Diet down to around 58kg while gaining/retaining as much strength as possible. This will probably take about 3 to 4 more months. After that, I'll be able to eat more and I really have no idea how my lifts will respond to that.

I don't know where my lifts will be in a year, but I'm looking forward to 90x5 squat, 60x5 bench, 120x5 dead in the fairly near future. Which will be about 1.5/1/2x body weight respectively. Not so bad.

Thursday, November 24, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x10
30x5
40x3
50x2
56x5
56x5
56x7 [PR]
50x11 [rep PR]

Pull-ups (2.5' rest): (4, 4, 4, 3, 4) [+2 reps]

LBBS:

20x5x2
40x5
65x2
75x5
75x5
75x5

Rope Triceps Pushdown 1.5' rest (# each arm):

35x16
35x16
35x17

Leg Press 3' rest (kg + sled):

120x12
120x12
120x13

Facepull 1.5' rest (#):

75x20
85x13
75x15

***

Awesome day with gains all around. I think my bench press form is better than ever now. No misgrooved reps.

75kg was disappointingly hard for the squat. The gains are going to be harder-fought than I was hoping. I'm going to take smaller jumps from here.

I couldn't superset the accessories because the gym was too crowded. Doing my pull-ups prior may partly explain why the squats were so hard.

If you're benching with a spotter why not ask for a handoff? May help with staying tight.

1) I'm not that accustomed to getting hand-offs yet, so it may do more harm than good.

2) This was the first time I got a spot from this guy and I didn't really trust him to do it right. I've got a couple of hand-offs from a smart guy who works out here.

Fair enough