TM & a little nonesense

[AidenBloodaxe]

I'm 20years old, 5'7", 210lbs & a fresh intermediate. I intend to compete in OL July this year for fun, I've so far only lifted one PL meet. I intend to use the basic TM model to get stronger for 12 weeks which will leave 4weeks to focus on the O-lifts before meet time.

21/02/11 - Monday

Training:

Volume/Stress Day

Today I had planned to squat a conservative 170kg for 5x5 because last week I injured my back & decided to have a little reset to allow it to recover. I got my 5 sets quite easily & was happy with my overall performance during the workout considering how anxious I was about lifting due to the injury, but before I get to the rest of my workout I should take some time to mention who I squatted with today.

When I got to the gym, I got changed etc. I looked over at the (only) squat rack & saw some large guy doing 60kg deadlifts supersetted with seated calf raises(soleus raises?) & thought "great, how long is this guy gonna take?". I took a seat & watched him, waiting anxiously to get squatting. He was pretty damn fast. I counted 5 sets of 20 for both exercises. He then cleaned the bar & put it in the rack. I was ready to go & dive in, but then he came over to near where I was seated & asked the owner for a belt, he handed him a belt, he tried it on, but to no avail, he was too 70sbig, or rather the belt was too 90s small. This is when I said "Here, my friend. Use mine."
He took it tried it on & said "Thanks, are you squatting?"
"Yeah."
"Com'on then."
We went over to the bar & got acquainted.
"Ollie"
"Aiden", I replied.”
*Colossal handshake*
"How much can you squat?", he asked.
"I squatted 200kg for my 3rd attempt in my first & most recent meet which was an international record for that division. You?"
"Nice, I squatted 220kg for 4 in jail the other week."

Ollie is about 1/4inch taller than me(making him ~ 5'7"+1/4), with a buzz cut at about grade 2, a neat line of facial hair around his jaw line with a huge goatee & weighs at least 250lbs. He is pretty damn huge with a comparatively small waist, 36-37 maybe & lean. He told me that he's been in jail for 10months & gets out in 2. At the gym in jail he has been training with an ex-strongman & he hopes to start competing. With a 220kg x 4 squat I thought that it's a good squat, but pretty far off yet. I wasn't going to discriminate, he would know this anyway. But I was about to find out that his squat is much more impressive than it seems at first glance. Bearing in mind that before squatting he had leg curled & leg extended unknown weights for 10 x 10, Deadlifted 60kg & calf raised for 5 x 20, he started with 60kg for 10 & proceeded with 100kg, 140kg, 160kg, & 180kg all for 10 reps, which if isn't enough volume for you, he then did 4 reps with 200kg & did a back off set of 100kg for 20 reps. That's quite a lot of volume. On top of this, Ollie is so big that he has to use a wide as hell grip, but because the rack wasn't wide enough, he had to unrack with a painful, narrow grip & then after walking out & setting up change it so his fists are touching the collars. Each time he racked the weight he almost always trapped his fingers, but he didn't give a damn, he's brutal. That's dedication to squatting. All of this was done in socks, no shoes & he used some light knee wraps for his heavy squatting. After this he went on to leg press & machine-hack squatted Darwin knows how much, I was busy with my last set or two. I then proceeded to bench an insignificant 95kg x 3 x 3 & Deadlift with my nextdoor-but-one-neighbour, Aeddan(A more exotic spelling of my name). Yesterweek I taught him how to deadlift & he asked me if I was deadlifting today becaues he was training “back”. So we pulled together, Aeddan pulled 100kg for sets across at 8,6,4. It was painful to watch, I knew he was going all out with reckless abandon, which is badass. I then went on to pull a moderate triple with 183kg, no back pain which I was happy with.


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23/02/11 - Wednesday

Light/Recovery day

Light Squat – 140kg x 2 x 5
Light Press – 60kg x 2 x 5
& just a few Chins – 8

Trained with friends today. I was sore as hell from Monday, but felt good afterwards from the blood flowing. Navid & Ryan trained hard as well with me there to push them; they're my friends who're currently on SS(Starting Strength).


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Thoughts on Self-service

I don't socialise enough as it is without selfservice machines adding to the problem. When I go up the road to my local Tesco Express to waste £s on NewScientist magazine, The Economist & occasionally Milk, I want to get served by one of three people: A friend, a friend or an attractive woman. I have two friends that work up there & there's at least a few good looking women who work there. I want to exchange pleasantries with them & maybe even feel the touch of their soft skin on my calloused hands for a brief moment, not scan my own items, club card, insert my visa etc. Although the automated machine-voice is quite hot & I'm not lazy.

Don't get me wrong, it is probably a good idea gradually switching to the mass & exclusive use of the credit card as opposed to carrying cash around. Apparently my local store hasn't had to lay anybody off either even though they've added 2 self service machines & the remaining till is usually left unattended, so does this mean they work less for the same amount? Maybe they have to replenish stock as soon as one item has been removed from the shelf?

Self-service machines (un?)fortunately make it easier to steal things, I've done it by accident once. Also, isn't there something sinister feeling about machines slowly taking over?


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25/02/11 - Friday

Intensity Day

Clean – 85kg x 2
Bench – 100kg x 5
Squat – 180kg x 5

Cleans were okay up until 85kg where the rack started hurting, first set of 2 was fine.I missed it 3 times after that. Terrible.
Bench was pretty easy, I had some room left & I lifted with Ollie today on bench, as well as Navid & Ryan. Training is a lot better with friends who train similarly. Squats were pretty explosive, I was tired, but they felt as easy as 180kg can feel. No back pain.
Navid & Ryan trained hard. Nav is getting his squat back up to 130kg for 3x5 after getting smashed in the face with a hammer at the start of the year, he squatted 110kg today. Ryan squatted 112.5kg, Benched 75kg & pulled 130kg I think. Nav pressed 45kg x 3 x 5 which was a pretty big jump for press, but he smoked it. I hope we all continue training this hard & dedicated.


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26/02/11 - Saturday

Went to the butchers & fishmongers today & bought:
1lb of Swordfish
1/2lb of Salmon
x12 Minted Lamb Burgers
1/2lb of Cow
1/2lb of Pig

On my way home I took a seat on the bench I always sit on when Squirrel spotting & admiring the view through the trees onto the river when I saw a pair of hands desperately struggling, it was a man trying to climb out of the river onto the grassy bank. I got down the hill & pulled him out, he told me he was Canoeing & all of a sudden he capsized. I asked him if he wanted any help pulling his Canoe out because it was full of water & he declined my offer, I understood though, he wanted to regain a little of his dignity, so I went back to my bench. I watched him struggle for 8minutes trying to pull his Canoe out & by now his friends/fellow club members where passing by shouting to see if he needed any help to which he always replied “No, carry on without me.” After they had all gone by I went back down & offered my services again & this time he accepted. The lean old, greying man was beaten & unfortunately too weak. I grabbed hold of the cockpit & pulled the Canoe out with one hand due to my superior strength. He thanked me, we shook hands & I patted him on the back saying “That looks like fun”.

Proceeding to walk home in the corner of my eye I saw a few leaves suddenly move, I stopped & inspected closer to find a trio of the cutest little voles ever! I stood as still & as silent as I could so I could admire their beauty. The runt of the group carefully came half a foot closer, stood up, looked me right in the eye & then made quick his escape with the other two following suit. This made my day.


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28/02/11

Squat – 173kg x 5 x 5
Press – 71kg x 3 x 5
Deadlift – 185kg x 5
Press backoff set – 50kg x 12
DB Curls – 20kg x 2 x 10
BB curls – 40kg x 10


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1/03/11

Ahhh...

McDonald's upstairs window-seats are the perfect place to peer down onto the town street & witness the human race in all of it's diversity. Plenty of strange looking people & plenty of women's breasts to observe from a birds-eye-view whilst getting your eat on.

[AidenBloodaxe]

02/03/11 - Wednesday

Light/recovery

Light Squat - 140kg x 5 Easy, I'm not as sore as I usually am after volume today.
Front Squat - 60kg x 2 x 3 Learning how to front squat, playing around with stance etc.
Light Bench - 80kg x 2 x 5 Bicep tendons hurt a lot today for some reason, so I didn't do the 3rd set.
Chins - 8,7 These hurt a lot too.

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

Aiden,

DO you use switch grip for deadlifts? DO you use low bar or high bar for squatting?

[AidenBloodaxe]

Aiden,

DO you use switch grip for deadlifts? DO you use low bar or high bar for squatting?

I use a double overhand hook grip for my work sets, I try to use a normal double overhand grip during all of my warm-ups. I use the low bar technique as described in SS.

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

I thought your bicep problems could be due to switch grip. I've had elbow problems from poor hand placement/holding the weight with my hands on low bar, but not bicep.

[AidenBloodaxe]

I thought your bicep problems could be due to switch grip. I've had elbow problems from poor hand placement/holding the weight with my hands on low bar, but not bicep.

I have used the alternate grip in the past when grip strength was an issue, but I don't think it's that. I think it's just my shoulder anatomy/flexibility as well as arm flexibility. My shoulders & biceps are really inflexible, it's a struggle for me to fully supinate my hands to do BB curls. I've tried various stretching methods, but I think it's the actual attachments, which I'm not keen on attempting to stretch.

[AidenBloodaxe]

04/04/11

Intensity day

Shoulders/biceps were hurting from LIGHT Bench, haha?

Cleans - 80kg x 4 x 2,70kg x 2 Racking hurt & was slow, ugh!
Press - 78kg x 3 I wanted this for 5, but hurt my back on the 3rd rep by letting my abs relax. I push pressed the last two reps anyway.
Squat - 180kg x 7, I wanted 8, but this is still a rep PR. I probably could've got it, but the bar was mashing me down by the end of the set, plus I got too excited & did a dodgy 3rd rep which strained my calves somehow which are still hurting now. I went to descend, did half a rep, but knew that if I did the rep I'd have to dump the bar afterwards & I'm sure my spotters wouldn't have appreciated that.

Several problems this session, but I still feel damn good now it is over. I need to rest up good & make sure nothing is hurting for volume on Monday.

[Carnivroar]

"I squatted 220kg for 4 in jail the other week."

that's badass

[AidenBloodaxe]

07/03/11 – Monday

Volume

Certainly hadn't recovered enough, everything was painful. Luckily I trained alone so I couldn't spend my workout whining like a bitch about how everything hurt. I really didn't want to squat today, but I would have killed myself if I didn't.

Squat 175kg x 5 x 5
Bench 95kg x 3 x 5, back-off close-grip 60kg x 15
Deadlift 187.5kg x 3
DB 'Arm penises' 22.5kg x 3 x F @ ~ 60secs

[AidenBloodaxe]

09/03/11 – Wednesday

Light/Recovery

Squat – 140kg x 5
Press – 60kg x 5
HP Snatch + OH squat – 20kg x 2 x 2, 30kg x 2, 40kg x 2. Working on my flexibility.
HP Clean + Front Squat + Power Jerk – 40kg x 2, 50kg x 2 x 2, 60kg x 2.
Chins - 7

Apparently my hair made me look like Rocky (Like in Rocky 2,specifically) today. I took it as a compliment anyhow.