How far right on the bell curve is this? To me it seems pretty damn far right.

My buddy, 6ft, 30yo, starting weight 174 (now 2-4 lbs heavier), over 4 months of doing SS/SL-ish is up to a 5x5x215 bench and hasn't stalled yet (on any of the lifts for that matter). 1RM est of 250 ish.

He came in fit, but his last weight lifting was during his teen years I think and his 1RM at that point was around 200lb or something. He does jiu jitsu and some odd pullups and pushups but certainly nothing to explain the success with bench imo.

His other lifts are like 3x5x255 DL, 5x5x210 SQ.

7/27
SQ 5x7x235
Hip thrusts 4x10x140
RDL attempts, lower back was happy
GHR 10,10,10,8 ss curls 4x7x35

7/28
Bench 5x6x175
Sup Rows 4x6x155 ss flys 4xRPE9x30
OHP 4x5x105
W. Chins 3x6x25 ss BW Dips 3x10

Was watching this Kevin Oak vlog where he was saying low bar SQ, that he's been doing for a year, has been ****ing his **** up--shoulders--bench, and also lower back. Hmm

7/31
Bench 5x7,7,7,7,6x170
Sup rows 4x5x175
Inc steep BN 4x8x115
Chins 4x5/4/4/4x45
Dips 4x7x25
Lat PD ss T.Ext 3x10

8/1
SQ 5x5x245
Thrusts 4x10x140
GHR 4x10xbw
Lunges 3x10x40 ss curls 3x12x25

climbed after.

Prob will get in a climbing sesh tomorrow then I have a surgery on 8/3 thats been postponed 3x now. Prob be out of commission for 10-14 days.

So yesterday was my gynecomastia surgery. My case was pretty minor but it's something I've always been insecure about since I was 12 yrs old. It just never went away after puberty. It was the gland that was enlarged thus doesn't change in size based on BF %. You can probably see in some pics/videos, but its more noticeable if its warm--just looks puffy and pointy. They usually kind of retract a bit if I have a pump or during exercise. Left was worse than right, around the size of my big tow, right about thumb, or so.

Another major reason I wanted to do this is I think I'll be more comfortable carrying around a higher BF % with this gone. Which I'm just going to have to do to improve my strength.

The Dr said he thought he could get rid of it with VASER lipo, and if that couldn't remove it all, then cut it out. After the surgery I was told he removed it all pretty easily with the VASER. I'm hopeful that's true but I won't know for sure for a while. Pretty mixed opinions online about the efficacy of VASER for this. I guess it just depends case by case.


He went in by the fold of my arm near the armpit and the holes are super small, so I doubt I'll have any scaring but I'm not concerned about that really. The pain has been shockingly little. As I type this I'm in 0/10. If I move around I can feel it some obviously but not bad at all. I'll have to wear a compression wrap for a while. Not going to do anything strenuous for a while of course but I was really expecting to be in much more discomfort this early on.

The cost was $4.5k, which is a lot of $ but seems pretty cheap compared to other estimates I've seen online. Went to the best guy I could find in my area.

I have a follow up today so I'll know more later. Overall it's been a great experience so far with this Dr and his staff so I'm hopeful for good results down the road.

So its been 13 days since the surgery. Pretty much completely healed as far as bruising and soreness. I still do have 2 marble size hard lumps under the areola. To me it seemed like he just missed getting all the gland... When I brought this up at the week-after follow up he said when he was done I [even] had a slight concavity to the areola and he was confident he got it all. He thinks its scare tissue or hard tissue that's still going to heal. Apparently it takes some time for all the swelling to dissipate. He also mentioned we might have to do kenalog injections to get further results. Idk, as a betting man I'd bet that what I'm feeling is the gland and there's still a good bit left in there.

It's pretty annoyed if it does turn out he didn't get it all and he could have by a simple excision. I mean this was all crystal clear on both sides as the game plan going in. It's possible he got enough of it to where I'll be ok with the results down the road... time will tell. If there's no more improvement from where I'm at now I will likely have a revision surgery done.

8/14 climbed, poorly. SQ 3x8x185. Was really surprised how weak I felt climbing in such a little time off.

8/15 climbed, felt much better than the first day back but still weak. BN 3x6x155. Had a silly amount of DOMS in my legs for how light the prior day was lol.

8/16 climbed, felt similar to yesterday. SQ 5x5x225 (felt decent). Messed with DL, forms good at 225, rounded back at 315... idk man, I mean the weight is so light compared to what I could maximally pull I don't get what I'm have so much trouble keeping lumbar flat. GHR 4x10 ss curls 4x10x30

Nice man, congrats on the surgery, and good luck returning to climbing

Thanks Jeff.


Climbed a bunch last week. More or less back to the strength I was pre break for surgery. Oddly my power-endurance is way up... I don't get it. There was a super long problem that for half it is almost completely overhung. It's fairly juggy but I think because of angle and # of moves gets a 4-5. I could only manage to get about 70% pre surgery. The other day I sent it np and had gas left in the tank. Pretty strange.

8/21--Bench 5x5x175, accessories don't remember.

8/22--SQ 5x5x245, 275 (felt pretty easy).
Hip thrust 3x10x135
GHR 3x10xbw ss curls 3x10x30
Leg ext 3x10
Leg curl 3x10


Played tennis over the weekend with a guy I met climbing. I haven't hit in prob 2 years but used to be decent. I was considering playing for this d3 in college, maybe could walked on d2--somewhere around that level. He played 3 or 4 singles for Stamford which is a d1. He cracks the **** out of the ball. Hoping to get back into tennis more, will be fun.

8/29 Felt like *******. Was supposed to be upper day buy my shoulder/arms been cranky, did a few sets of bench, SQ, DL. I did like 3x6x225 on SQ and it felt annoyingly slow. Sleep was bad the night before.

8/30 Felt awesome!
SQ 4x4x280, which I'll call a PR
Thrusts 3x10x145
GHR +10lb 10,10,8
Leg Ext 3x12
Leg curls 3x12

Climbed. Getting close on I think what would prob be the hardest problem yet. Was supposed to go to Grayson Highlands, VA for a few days to boulder but got rained out.

I've been keeping schedule though haven't been updating the thread as often.

Got outside for the first time this year. Smacked a tricky v4 that eluded me last year (found a very subtle detail I missed), and put down a dyno v5 that I also whiffed last year. Repeated a v6 I use as a benchmark pretty smoothly and easily. Today I sent close to if not the hardest gym problem I've ever done. I am def stronger than I was at this time last year, despite 25lb lighter hah.

9/5
SQ 5x3x285, 1x295, 1x305, was hoping to do 4s but didnt quite seem there on this day.
Accessories etc

On the bad side, getting some pretty annoying shoulder pain from I think bench, and its transferring to climbing too. Idk I've tried every different grip and position I can think of. I've just not seen hardly any progress on it in a long time. Rarely feel like my chest gets a good workout from flat bench. I think I'm going to switch to dumbells and more of a body builder routine for upper/pushing.

As far as deadlifts, started doing them again some. I think sumo in general is going to be better for lower back stress. Just going to keep stretching hip flexors/hams and working on accessories for glutes/hams.

Got outside again this past weekend. Sent another v5 and v4 that eluded me last year. Have already gotten most of the v4-6 that were on the to do list from last year, and it's only been 2 warm weather sessions, stoked. I hopped on a v7, prob soft, and put down most of the moves just need to link them all. Also got on this slopper v8 and it felt like...possible. Looking forward to giving them some burns in cold weather.

9/12
SQ, 4x4x285 (PR)
DL 4x5x315 sumo, felt pretty good with lower back, was easy/good bar speed. looking forward to working on these again.
accessories etc.

-Shoulder and arms are feeling much less achy now that I haven't benched in a week.

-Weight has stayed in 177-178 range for several days, may have finally gained a bit.

-Chest from the surgery is looking good, actually starting to be somewhat hopeful that the hard lump was/is scar tissue as its reduced in size quite a lot now and after a kenalog injection. I'm like borderline happy with it, but still hoping for some more results. Still early recovery wise (in swelling/scar tissue terms) for this type of surgery. 6 weeks out.

Are you running a program?

Not really.

I made this and was going to run it for a while but with tweaks/injuries and taking time off from that surgery haven't been able to follow it closely.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...gid=1303433138

In principle I'm doing similar, 1 heavier day with lower reps and 1 lighter day with higher reps for each muscle group with the bigger movements, eventually ending up at heavy singles or 1rm. Specifically with SQ/DL/BN (though I'm using dumbells now), but will also try to alternate rep/set schemes with chins/rows/OHP during the week.

Eventually I'd like to get back to following a set program more closely.

Ideally:

Monday: Heavy lower, climb
Tuesday: Medium upper
Wednesday: Climb, very light SQ/Chest optional
Thursday: Medium Lower, climb
Friday: Heavy Upper
Sat/Sun: One climbing day optional

SQ 5x7x255, a little harder than I was aiming for but **** it finished it out.
Sumo DL 4x5x315 filmed them and my lower back was fairly tight. My hips rose a bit before the weight left the group so I'll try to get it set a bit higher but I think I can make this work for DLing.

Accessories etc.

Headed to Grayson highland, VA this weekend for some bouldering. Apparently wild blueberries grow there and also there is a wild pony population. Not a typo lol. Temps in the mid 60s. Gonna be sweet.

Still getting 2 upper/lower a week just don't feel the need to log my dumbell presses etc. I'll log anything note worthy on those days tho.


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Had a good trip up to Grayson Highlands, it's beautiful scenary up there. Conditions were not as good as we'd hoped, it was slightly damp with high humidity and around 70 degrees. The climbing was pretty stout but managed to get a few good sends @v5. It's mostly pretty steep, sharp, and crimpy. I'm not sure what kind of rock it was, not granite, but a much different feel that the sandstone I'm use to. On a couple problems there was a recently broken hold but we managed to figure out some different/new lines that work, with one of them being super cool and better than the original IMO.

Caterpillar shaming us.


Frontman. Epic boulder and line.


Horizontal Line, v6. This problem was very strong and shut us down pretty bad. Managed a few moves and later spoke with some other climbers that gave us a little better beta (move sequence/strategy) to try in the future.


View from the actual highlands part. Where the ponies roam. They were hiding on this day.

9/19
Shoulders are much happier with DB pressing.
4x5x110 OHP moved pretty quick. Will do this at least once a week.
Barbell ab rollout 5x135. Pretty hard. Core is sore today. First time doing core specific exercise, prob gonna keep this up and add in some kind of twisting ab work. Pretty minimal effort for some potential climbing gains.

9/20
SQ 4x4x290 (PR). The first reps were super fast. 16th rep was a little slow but overall pretty damn solid. Had a good past 20 days, 3 squat PRs, no surprise my BW is up a legit 3-4lbs. Think I finally found my +200/300 cal surplus.
Sumo DL 5x315, 5x325, 2x5x335. Think they went pretty well. Trying my best to not let my lower back get loose and take over.

I'm going to start tracking some body/CNS metrics and try to find some patterns and make adjustments to training. Got a grip dynamometer.

1hr resting HR measured 52bpm
Right hand squeezed 64.2kg (no correlation to climbing ability apparently FYI)


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9/22
DB flat 5x8x65
Chins, 15x10x8. Cannot hit 20 atm.
OHP 3x5x115 (15th rep a little slow but that's pretty good for me). Shoulders are happy.
1 arm Lat PD
Flys
Cable pulls
Dips 4x5xBW+25. Pretty easy

Climbed a bit. Really need to control myself and not do this. Should just leave climbing bag in the truck so I won't be tempted.

9/23
SQ 5x8x245
DL 3x10x275
Accessories etc.


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I'm lucky my climbing gym doesn't have any weights, I could see myself doing that a lot.

Any shoe recommendations? I'm about over my initial pair of beginner shoes and looking for something a little more aggressive but I don't want to have to rip them off in between every attempt.

I'd go to a good store and try out a bunch of shoes, it's so dependent on feet shape you can't really recommend a pair imo

Those are 8 sets of 10 chins + 15lbs?

Would highly recommend la sportiva solutions. Have had multiple pairs and I love them (Daniel Woods wears them and many top boulders). I wear around 11.5 US normal, 10.5 solutions are my ideal fit. Also have a pair of butora acro orange, I like them I went just a hair too small on them @ size 11. I may try to break them in a bit more outdoors, they had a gnarly heel for hooks. 5.10 hiangle are beasts too (avoid the mostly blue for blue foot stain break in period). Evolv makes good shoes too, just get something aggressive, downturned, and rubber on the top of the toe.

nah typo 15,10,8 @bw. Chins have been lagging, I've done almost all +25-45lb for the last several months, and didn't even realize I couldn't hit 20 until the other day. I'm going to focus more on BW now until I get back up to 20.

Gonna write some measurements for future reference, have no old ones.

Chest: 41.5
Waist: 32
Quad/leg: 22.5
Arm: relaxed: 13 elbow up:14.5
nec: 16.5
calf: 15
wrist: 7
forearm: 11.75