IronGeek's Training Log Part Deux: Striving for Mediocrity

[irongeek]

7/12/17 - GGW week 10 recovery day

Squat - 340 x 4 x 2 (paused)
BP - 240 x 4 x 4 (2 seconds down, 1 sec pause)
Rows - 235 x 4 x 8

No accessory exercises today. Just punched the ticket.

[irongeek]

7/14/17 - GGW Week 10 - Heavy DL/Press Day

Squat - 365 x 4 x 3 (paused, beltless)
Press - 160 x 4 x 4 (beltless)
DL - 425 x 4 (paused, beltless)
CGBP - 225 x 4 x 4 (beltless)

Today is nature boy day. Everything was done naked (without a belt).
Next week is ultra-high intensity/low volume day. 95% 1RM lifts. Oh boy...

[irongeek]

7/17/17 - GGW Week 11 - Heavy "Everything" Day

Squat - 460 x 2 x 4 (Some kind of PR)
Bench - 280 x 2 x 4
Press - 170 x 2 x 3
DL - 455 x 2 x 3

Last set of last rep on squats I got too low and lost tension in my hamstrings. Thought about putting the bar on the pins but ground it out. It was very slow, but I survived - probably did me some good.
Bench press moved well after first set - first set was a bit loose. Tried my belt on the bench press for the first time ever after the first set and it seemed to tighten things up, so I kept it on the remainder of the BP sets.
Press was just a medium day press - nothing special.
DL - These just keep getting better. I'm actually starting to like the deadlift!! This program has me deadlifting more, so maybe its just that practice makes perfect.

Overall, a very taxing day. Program called for heavy bench on Wednesday, but I did them today as I'm travelling on Wednesday. Not sure what (if anything) I'll do on Wed, but Friday is looming, along with 500+ lb deadlifts!

[irongeek]

7/19/17 - GGW Week 11 Recovery Day

Squat - 365 x 2, 3 (3 second pause)
CGBP - 235 x 5 x 3
Rows - 245 x 6 x 4
Dips - BW x 10

Had to train at a community center in Chicagoland. Small free-weight area with one crappy squat stand. This stand had the safeties bolted too high - couldn't get depth. I had to take 3 steps back out of the safety area to allow me to get to a full range of motion for the movement. Looking forward to training at my own home gym again.

[irongeek]

7/22/17 - GGW Week 11 Heavy Press/Deadlift Day

This day had me a bit apprehensive, as the weights are higher than anything I've done before for press and deadlift.
Targets for today:
Squat - 415 x 2 x 3 (85% of E1RM - I expected no problems here)
Press - 190 x (1 to 2 reps) x 4 sets (95% E1RM)
Deadlift - 505 x 2 (95% E1RM)

I'm proud of how I've progressed. Here's what I ended up doing:
Squat - 415 x 2 x 3 (paused)
Press - 190 x 2,2,2,3 (Had to try an extra rep on the last set. Got it, but a bit grindy)

What I'm most thrilled with is my deadlift: 505 x 3 PR PR PR!!!!
I got it on video and couldn't believe that was me lifting this weight. Here it is:



I remember back on my LP when I failed at 350 x 5 (got 4 and couldn't get 5). I remember saying to myself:
"There's no way I'll ever pull 500." But I stayed the course. And here it is. Damn!!! What a day!

Looking forward to a week of deload then finding my maxes on the lifts!

[Meshuggah]

Congrats on the Awesome Deadlift PR!! And... hot for teacher

[irongeek]

Congrats on the Awesome Deadlift PR!! And... hot for teacher

Thanks,Shug! I still can't believe I did that - still pumped about it.
The Van Halen came on Pandora just in time, too!

[irongeek]

7/25/17 - GGW Week 12 (deload)

Squat - 395 x 3 x 3
Press - 160 x 3 x 3
Bench - 285 x 1, 235 x 3 x 2
Rows - 225 x 5, 255 x 5

The program called for squat and press only. I, in my infinite wisdom (not), added some bench and rows. The idea is that I don't want to detrain my back or bench too much, so just give them a touch of stress, not too much.

I should just stick with the program, but I can't help myself.

[irongeek]

7/27/17 - GGW Week 12 (Deload day 2)

Squat - 365 x 3 x 3
Press - 150 x 3 x 3
Curls - inconsequential bro weight x 3 sets.

No more workouts til next week. I plan on doing testing next Tuesday - Press and DL. Thursday, I'll test bench and squat.

For Press and DL, I'll target the following weights and see how it goes:

Press: Last warmup rep at 180. First PR attempt will be 200. I plan on getting that. We'll see how heavy 200 feels before setting a second attempt weight.
DL: Last warmup rep at 475. First PR attempat at 525. I think I can get that because I did 505x3 pretty easily. We'll see how heavy that feels before setting a second weight.

[irongeek]

8/1/17 - GGW TESTING DAY 1

Tested my press and deadlift today.

Press
After warmups up to 185, tried to get a PR of 205 on the press.
Here is my successful attempt:



Tried 210 after this attempt but didn't get it. Got a 10lb PR nonetheless.

Deadlift.

Warmups up to 475. Then my first PR attempt was 525. Here it is:



Got it. Now to bump up to 550:



Got it. I stopped there. Bar was moving slow and it felt like my back was rounding, though it didn't look like it on the video. It strained my back more than anything I can remember.
Also, it looks like I wasn't holding the bar firmly to my legs - it was kinda bobbing about a bit. Have to fix that next PR attempt.
But I got it. I'm pretty happy.

Two weeks ago, I had never deadlifted over 500 lbs. Now, I've got a 550 lb deadlift in the bag. 600lbs is now a real possiblity!