Wednesday, August 24, 2016

60 min walk


Thursday, August 25, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x5
30x4
40x3
50x2
50x2
55x5 [PR]
55x4

Today I really focused on having a pre-set routine and getting a consistently solid setup every time. The first 50x2 set had too much tucking. The second 50x2 (linked) looks like some of my best bench press form yet. Unfortunately, I failed to replicate that in the 55 sets. It seems like no matter how hard I focus on not doing it, the bar drifts too far forward when the weight approaches my 5rm. I feel as if I certainly would have gotten five reps in the second set if my form were up to par.

Front Squat 60kg (0, 4) [+2.5kg]

I insta dumped it on the pins in the first set, lol. That probably psyched me out a lot. After doing the same thing again after 4 reps, I felt like I'd endured enough fail for one day. I'm gonna hang around the 52.5-57.5 area for another week or so and work on staying more upright.

Lat Pulldown 130# (9, 10)

Superset:
DB External Rotation 15# (8/8, 8/8) [+1 rep]
DB Lateral Raise 20# (8, 9) [+5#]

The one time I dumped something to the pins it was only like 6 inches but it was still a jarring event (granted it was a bit more weight than you but still).

When you're not used to hearing the banging around sound, it can be an "event" in your gym that everyone looks up at.

Friday, August 26, 2016

60 min walk


Saturday, August 27, 2016

60 min walk


Sunday, August 28, 2016 Training

Press:

10x10
20x5
25x5
32.5x2
36.25x4
32.5x7

Front Squat:

20x5 two-finger
30x5 two-finger
40x2 paused two-finger
50x3 paused two-finger
50x1 straps
50x2 straps
50x5 straps
55x5 straps

DB Bent-over Rows 55# (11/11, 12/12) [+1 rep]

Facepulls 85# (12, 12)

***

Uneventful day. I decided that the crossed-arms rack position of the front squat wasn't stable enough so I tried other techniques. I hated the two-finger rack as it put a lot of stress on my wrists. Holding the bar with straps was awkward as hell at first, but felt a lot better once I got the hang of it. 50kg was super easy so I finished with a set at 55. My plan is to do 57.5 on Thursday and make another run at 60 next Sunday.

I also used straps for the rows and it felt a bit better. I found last week that my grip was nearly the limiting factor in the last few reps of the set.

Week 20 Diet, Week 6 Cut



So ends phase one of the cut. I lost 8.6 pounds in six weeks. Weight loss was stubborn in the last three weeks, probably due to me eating more carbs, sodium, and potassium. This week will be a maintenance week, which I've estimated is about 1850 calories. It will be a welcome respite from dieting for months on end.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x8
20x8
30x5
40x4
50x2
55x2 - 4' rest (back cramped up after 2 reps)
55x3 - 4' rest
55x3 - 4' rest
55x3 - 4' rest
55x1 - 2' rest (lost tightness after 1 rep)
55x3 - 4' rest
55x3

Deadlift:

60x4
60x4
75x3
85x1
95x4 mixed - 6' rest
85x5 straps

Chin-ups (3 [PR], 2, 2, 2, 1.5) - 2.5 min rest between sets

***

I tried something new today for bench press. Form breaks down severely for me at loads near my 5rm, especially the 4th and 5th rep. So I decided to essentially do triples with ample rest until RPE 9-9.5. This way, I gradually approach the level of fatigue of those 4th and 5th reps and am able to rack up a lot more high-quality reps. It also gives me more opportunities to practice setup. I think this worked really well, so I have a mind to alternate this treatment with the days where I attempt 2x5.

Deadlift felt like absolute **** today. It's like I forgot how to do them or something. I seem to reliably lose 2.5kg of strength every week since I began cutting. I decided to do another set at 90% just to rack up some additional volume and practice.

Thursday, September 1, 2016 Training

Press 33.75kg (5, 5)

Lat Pulldown 130# (10, 10) [PR total reps +1]

Front Squat 60kg (4, 5 [PR])

Facepulls 85# (12, 12)

***

Decent day. Press was weak but I didn't feel fully recovered from Tuesday's bench press volume so no big deal. I intended to do 57.5 for squats but someone was using the 1.25 plates and 50kg felt very easy. In the first set, I felt a little faint after 4 reps so I racked it to be on the safe side. The second set felt really hard but looked really easy in the video. Using straps seems to be optimal for me.

Gonna be doing this program for the remainder of the cut. It allows for a slower rate of progression on the bench/ohp, and more consideration to the fact that I can't handle as much volume on the middle day. Now I'll be going for bi-weekly progress on the presses, though I'll still be able to attempt rep PR's on Tuesdays. We'll see how it goes.

Sunday, September 4, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x8
30x5
40x4
47.5x2
55x3 - 4' rest
55x3 - 4' rest
55x3 - 4' rest
55x3 - 4' rest
55x3 - 4' rest
55x3 @10


Front Squat:

20x6
35x5
45x3
60x5
60x5

DB Bent-over Rows 60# (8/8, 12/12) [+5#]

Superset:
DB External Rotation 15# (6/6), 10# (13/13)
DB Lateral Raise 20# (9), 15# (12)

***

Benching went well. I think my form is really improving. Squats went okay, but I'm still not very comfortable with the depth. I'm gonna hang out at 60 for another workout. DB rows continue to get stronger very quickly.


Week 21 Diet, Break Week



Interestingly, I lost more weight this week gorging on 1000+ calorie meals every night (with no cardio) than I lost in the previous week on the Hitler diet (with 4+ hours cardio). Back to the grind this week, with another 6 weeks of cutting.

Hi Renton,
My personal experience has been that it has been more effective to move up in weight despite possible minor depth issues and then once you reset (which should be pretty soon in that case) work really hard on achieving depth on the lower weights and move your way back up from there.
Also, and I don't mean to sound too harsh, but your log reads a bit as if you're not really pushing yourself in the gym. A lot of "I gave up, because"-excuses if you ask me.

I don't know. I've never been an athlete so I don't have anything to compare my experience with. I feel like I push myself, but what would I know about it? I think there's a gray area between what you would call "not pushing one's self enough" and what I'd call prudence. I'm not sure where I fall. I'm eating 1300 calories a day so it's not realistic to expect fast gains, and I think at least my programming has to reflect that fact. I am slowly getting stronger in spite of myself, though.

Fair enough.
I don't have any experience on the topic of adjusting training programme to diet

Tuesday, September 6, 2016 Training

Press (last Thursday minus 2.5kg):

10x8
20x5
25x3
31.25x5
31.25x9

Deadlift:

60x3
60x3
75x2
85x1
95x5 @10 mixed grip - 6' rest
85x6 @9 straps

Chin-ups (3, 3, 2, 2, 2) [+2 reps]

***

Solid day. Big gains on chins. I finally stopped backsliding on deadlifts, gaining one rep on each set from last week . I'm happy with the form on the top set. The second set is sloppy, with my shoulders too far forward as I start the pull. I'll fix it next time. Might have something to do with not being accustomed to straps.

Thursday, September 8, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x8
20x5
30x5
40x3
47.5x2
55x4 @9.5 - 5' rest
55x4 @9.5

Front Squat:

20x5 paused
30x5 paused
40x3 paused
40x2
52.5x1 paused
52.5x1
62.5x5 [PR] - 5' rest
62.5x5

Lat Pulldown 130# (10, 10)

Facepulls 85# (12, 12)

***

Bench press was a bummer. I'm pretty happy with my form but the strength just wasn't there. Squats went really well. Better depth and easier than 60 was 4 days ago.

Friday, September 9, 2016

60 min walk


Saturday, September 10, 2016

45 min walk


Sunday, September 11, 2016 Training

Press:

10x8
20x5
25x4
30x2
36.25x3 @9 - 4' rest
35x3 - 4' rest
35x3 - 4' rest
35x3 @9 - 4' rest
25x2 w/ narrower grip (1.5" of knurl)
25x3 w/ narrower grip (2" of knurl)
25x3 w/ wider grip (4" of knurl)
30x2 w/ wider grip (4" of knurl)
35x1 @10 with same wide grip, bit of pain in left shoulder
30x3 w/ 3" grip
30x4 @8 w/ 3" grip

Front Squat:

20x5 pause
20x5
35x3 pause
35x3
55x1 pause
55x2
65x1 (ridiculously hard, bad form)
57.5x3
50x4

DB Bent-over Rows 60# (11/11, 12/12) [+3 reps]

***

Abysmal day.

Bad form plagued my OHP sets, so I stopped in the middle to experiment with different grip widths. I also tried doing a more standard strict press instead of what I've been doing up until now: the Rippetoian press 2.0 style with the hips whipping forward to initiate the movement. I've been watching a lot of press videos and almost nobody does this who is actually strong, so it seems to be a case of Rippletoad cult behavior. As for grip width, I was previously using a fairly wide grip, about 3" into the knurling, but today I felt like the bottom was unstable. Narrower grips were just painful to hold the bar, and wider ones, while more comfortable, led to some pain at lockout. I ended up settling back on the familiar grip width. I think doing the reps in the more strict style is just going to take getting used to.

Squats went even worse. I should have known during warmups that performance wasn't going to be great. 55 felt way heavier than it should've. After I barely was able to unrack 65, I kind of mentally checked out. It's frightening how much of this stuff depends on mental arousal and how much weaker one can be when it just isn't there.


Week 22 Diet, Week 7 Cut



Back to the grind. No looking back until I'm into the 130s.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016 Training

Bench Press (last Thursday minus 3.75kg):

20x8
30x5
42.5x3
42.5x3
51.25x5
51.25x6

Deadlift:

60x3
60x3
75x3
85x1
97.5x3 @10 mixed grip - 6' rest
75x2 straps
87.5x4 @9 straps

Chin-ups (3, 2, 2, 2, 2)

***

Another crap day. I got 8 reps on bench at this weight 5 weeks ago, and my deadlift is weaker than ever. Peaks and valleys indeed.

I've decided to increase calories to 1400 a day. The increase will be entirely protein. Essentially, I plan to eat the same diet as before with an extra scoop of whey each day. I will "top off" protein to 130g daily even if it goes over allowed calories.

Thursday, September 15, 2016 Training

Press:

10x8
20x4
20x4
27.5x2
33.75x5 - 5' rest
33.75x6 @9.5

Front Squat:

20x5 paused
20x5
35x3 paused
45x3 first rep paused
55x5 - 5' rest
55x8

Lat Pulldown 130# (11 [PR], 10)

Facepulls 85# (12, 13)

18' Elliptical

***

Pretty decent day. Matched reps for the last time I pressed this weight, but since I'm doing them more strictly now, I'm okay with getting six reps. I'm resetting the squat for the first time so I decided to start repping out the last set. According to the video, it looks like I had more reps in me, but with front squat it's so hard to tell since the limiting factor (for me) is uprightness, not legs. 55x8 seems stronger than 62.5x5 so I'm definitely pleased.

It was pissing down rain when I finished so I got in some cardio.

You should edumacate that guy in the background about proper deadlift form. He's snapping his back up without using any glute whatsoever it looks like, and then wtf is he doing lowering the bar and bending his head down like that?


As for your fronts - things look OK except your head position, it looks like you're craning up a little. Could get more depth but not terrible.

^nah don't be unsolicited advice guy

I know, just saying.

Typo here: I only got 9 in the second set. I'm still very pleased with how my chins/pulldown/rows have been progressing.


Thanks for the input. I'll fix the head position thing. It's something I catch myself on pretty often, but it's also one of the last things I care about when I'm trying to not dump a heavy ass bar. During reps I'm working so hard to keep my elbows pointed forward and sometimes I forget to pack my neck properly.

As for depth, that set was def economical, but I generally rate my depth based on whether I do that thing where I don't commit to the descent and cut the reps off too high. You can usually tell when I do that just by how unstable I look at the bottom (regardless of whether parallel is reached). In today's sets I felt pretty stable and like I had a decent stretch reflex.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

90 min walk


Sunday, September 18, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x8
30x5
40x3
47.5x2
55x2 - 4' rest (bad set)
55x2 @10 - 4' rest
45x4 - 4' rest
50x3 - 4' rest
52.5x3 - 4' rest
52.5x3 @9 - 4' rest
52.5x3 @9.5

Front Squat:

20x5 pause
35x3 pause
35x3
45x1 pause
45x2
57.5x5 - 5' rest
57.5x6

DB Bent-over Rows 65# (10/10, 10/10) [+5#]

Superset:
DB External Rotation 15# (7/7, 7/7)
DB Lateral Raise 15# (13, 13)

***

Bench press continues to be my nemesis. I think in the future I need to spend a bit more time on the heavier warmups. Once I reduced the weight to 45 and worked back up to 52.5, my form improved quite a bit.

I goofed the 6th rep of the squat amrap, wasting a lot of gas. I think 7 reps would certainly have been possible otherwise.


Week 23 Diet, Week 8 Cut



Some pleasant scale variance coming my way this week. Increasing protein to 130 has been tedious. I just hate the taste of whey protein powder in water and now I have to drink twice as much of it to hit macros. I could probably up my grilled chicken breast game a little to reduce the need for that I suppose. Satiety has not been a problem, at least. I think I've just become really accustomed to eating not very much food at this point.

This is actually the 28th week of logging my calories (I started 5 weeks before this log). It feels so natural at this point that it's hard to imagine not doing it.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016 Training

Press:

10x8
10x7
20x5
25x3
32.5x5 - 5' rest
32.5x7 @9.5

Deadlift:

60x3
60x3
75x2
85x1
95x5 @9.5 mixed - 6' rest
85x6 @9.5 straps

Chin-ups (4 [PR], 3, 3, 3) - 3' rest between sets

***

Can't complain too much today. Maintained reps on press and deadlift, more big gains on chins.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

40 min walk


Thursday, September 22, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x5
30x5
40x3
40x2 paused
47.5x2 first rep paused
52.5x5 @9.5 - 5' rest
52.5x6 @10

Front Squat:

20x5 paused
30x5 first two reps paused
40x3 first rep paused
50x2 first rep paused
60x5 - 5' rest
60x7 [PR]

Lat Pulldown 130# (10, 11) [+1 rep]

Facepulls 85# (12, 12)

***

I was unsure what weight to try for bench today since it's been going so poorly. 52.5 turned out to be a good call. I found some WIM on fronts. All in all a solid day.

Sunday, September 18, 2016 Training

Press:

20x4
20x4
25x3
30x3
35x3 - 4' rest between work sets
35x3
35x3 @9
35x3 @9
35x3 @8
35x3 @9
35x3 @9
35x3 @9
35x4 @9.5

DB Bent-over Rows 65# (11/11, 11/11) [+2 reps]

Front Squat:

20x5 paused
30x5 1st 2 rep paused
40x3 1st rep paused
52.5x2 1st rep paused
62.5x5 - 5' rest
62.5x2 - 4' rest
62.5x4

Superset:
DB External Rotation 15# (9/9, 8/8)
DB Lateral Raise 15# (12, 11)

***

Really interesting day. I tried some new cues for the press, including switching to a thumbless grip which I think I like a lot more. First couple of sets were rocky, but once I found the groove the sets kind of got easier and easier. I generally want the Sunday sets to be at a weight that I do 5-8 sets of three, so it became apparent by the 6th set or so that I'd chosen too light a weight. My PR for 35kg is 5 reps so I'm looking forward to beating that handily this Thursday if all goes well.

Squats were way harder than they should've been, and I think it's just because I wrecked my core and upper back on the rows and press sets. Not gonna sweat it too much. The second set I just got psyched out and wanted to start over, lol.


Week 24 Diet, Week 9 Cut



I've settled into a decent routine of being able to easily hit 130g a day protein and stay under 1400 calories. The scheduled cut is 75% over and I've lost nearly as much weight as I'd planned to lose by now. I wanted to get to 141 by the end of the 12th week, probably it will be more like 142-143.

I've been putting in a lot more hours at live poker so it's been harder to find time for hour long walks. More cardio would help though.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Training

Bench Press:

20x8
30x5
40x3
45x2
52.5x4 @9 - 5' rest
51.25x4 @9.5

Deadlift:

60x3
60x3
75x2
90x1
97.5x4 @9.5 mixed - 6' rest
87.5x5 @9 straps

Chin-ups (3, 3, 3, 3)

***

Slept poorly and woke up feeling ill with diarrhea etc. My upper back, core, and triceps were still quite sore from Sunday's session. I thought about not even going in, but since I haven't yet missed a workout in 7 months I decided to gear up and prepare for a suboptimal day.

On bench I intended to lift 51.25 and loaded 52.5 by mistake. Both were unnaturally hard, especially to lock out. Deadlifts didn't go so bad though.

I just tried to view your one press youtube and it tells me
But I can view your front squat video so...huh? What music is playing in the background loudly enough that their filters caught it without warning you? Or did it and you never responded?