Narvaez Family Starting Strength Log

[sking1001]

I did Madcow Intermediate for about 17 weeks after LP. It's a good program. You can adjust the percentage between ramping sets to make it harder or easier, and you can use the 2.5%/week increase or make it more constant, which I preferred eventually.

Tad has really mastered!

[Tom Narvaez]

I've taken the same dose for pretty much nine months without experiencing a reduction in effect. I guess this week without can kind of be an off-cycle just in case, lol. My main problem right now is not that jack3d isn't working anymore, it's just that I don't have any stimulants at all. I never realized how much they helped me.

Yeah, Steve, I'll probably do it with fixed increments, actually. There's no way I could make 2.5% jumps more than maybe once. For me, that's like 11lbs/wk and that's not happening. That's even faster than what I'm doing right now. I like the base 5x5 ramp with 12.5% jumps. This has worked very well for my squats. I've been messing around with it on bench as well and I'm not sure how successful it has been.

Recent bench history:
1) 230x5x3 /w Rip's technique
2) 235x4 /w Rip's technique
3) 235x5 /w PL bench technique
4) 240x3 /w PL bench technique
5) 240x5 /w PL bench technique

I've been having this weird problem with my presses where my left arm seems to want to take on more of the load than my right. I'm right handed. I have no idea what it is as I haven't changed anything really. I think it is related to my job, but I'm not sure. Sometimes I carry heavy bags on my right shoulder.

In any case, I've been trying to prolong 5# jumps for as long as possible on bench. If I stall at 245, I may drop back down to like 232.5, start doing 3x5 again, use 2.5# jumps, and also use PL technique.

[Tom Narvaez]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSzDBXZfg3U

Made this for an inside joke between me and a few buddies on BB.com, but if you're interdasted in seeing my 430x5 or 240x5 they are in the video.

[sking1001]

Can't really make out the audio...is that the joke?

[Tom Narvaez]

Can't really make out the audio...is that the joke?

yeah. My buddy was busting my balls because I always play that Ray Lewis song. I denied it and then another buddy playfully demanded vids of recent PRs. During both PRs, I was playing that Ray Lewis song, lol.

[Tom Narvaez]

4/28/12

Squats:
Tom: 435x5
Easy as hell. I had JACK3D today and I was able to get into a certain type of mode. I can't describe this mode, but when I'm in this mode, no one can beat me at anything. I had one of those moments on squats and I pretty much annihilated the set. I legitimately considered doing a sixth just because I knew it was there.

Tim: 295x5x2, 225x8
Tim had the genius idea of getting 5hours of sleep and playing two hours of handball before our workout today. I honestly can't believe he even got the second set, but I KNEW he would not get the third so we just had him do a back-off set. I'm a huge fan of those right now.

Tony: 255x5x3
I learned from my past mistakes and had him do more a major reset. Good thing. These were kinda tough for him.

Bench:
Tom: 245x4, 185x8 close-grip feet up
I couldn't have come closer to getting that 245x5. Seriously. I missed it by an inch. Sucks. My technique is starting to erode on bench in favor of psyche and I need to get that in check. More on my pressing later.

Tim: 160x3, 165x3, 125x8
Again, handball and the sleep thing. Foolish decisions. This should allow him to SMOKE 160 next time or even 162.5.

Tony: 155x5x3
Just a complete joke. Smoke show. It seemed like he could have done eight. I find it weird that upperbody strength seems to have maintained more easily for both Tim and Tony during their little absences.

Pulls:
Tom: 155x5x3 Rows
Pendlay style. Strict. More on this later.

Tony: 155x8x2 Straight-leg deadlift
Some issues prevented GHRs from being possible. He recently had a decent sized wound on his knee and our shitty GHR is so hard/uncomfortable that it just wasn't going to happen.

Tim: BWx15x2 Back Extensions
A clean PR wasn't going to happen today. It would have been demoralizing and retarded to even try.

Chins:
Tony: 195x5,5,2 no assistance
Yeah. Using the stretch reflex, upper-chest to bar

Tim: BWx5,5,2 /w grey average band
Upper chest to bar.



Overall:
I'm this close || to just switching to Madcow's for everything (still setting squat PRs 2x/wk while I can). The one top set suits my personality infinitely better. I can summon some incredible demons once, but over the course of three sets, my main advantage, my ability to psyche, just isn't there.

So here is the basic dilemma:
By switching to Madcows 5x5, I'm going to favor bench because it is done twice a week. Assuming I can get 5lbs a week, this would be faster progress than what I'm getting now. It seems like I'm at the point where I HAVE to microload my bench. By alternating with press, and microloading SS style, this is 3.75lbs of progress per week. Like I said, Madcows would be faster. Once I could no longer get 5lbs, it could theoretically become slower. 2.5lbs per week vs 3.75lbs per week. Plus, after talking to SR, he stalled around 265x5x3 on bench and microloaded to 335x5x3. I could feasibly do something similar by microloading. That said, going back to 3x5 and microloading would require a reset, I'm not a huge fan of resets at this point. Everyone wanted me to reset my squats and I said fuck that and have now seemlessly put 70lbs on my best 5 rep set. I also love the fact that Madcow's allows for more assistance than SS. I like curls and dips and this makes it easy to fit them in. So, that's my dilemma.

All that said, I AM going to do Madcow's for pulls. It is done. I'm doing it.
M: Rows: 3x5 until it stops working then 5x5
W: Deadlifts: 5x5, Chinups: 2x5, 1x5+
F: Rows: 3x5/5x5, Curls: 3x8

By the way, I'm kind of out it right now because I just finished lifting. I have little blank spots between thoughts. Having trouble stringing things together, lol.

I probably just left something out, but, anyways, let's make this simple:
1) I'm doing Madcow's for my pulls. See above for the template.
2) I'm either going to reset my bench a bit and microload 3x5 or switch to Madcow's and just continue with 250x3 on Wednesday.

Uh, yeah, that's it. I'll make this more concise, sensible, and articulate when my brain returns to normal after dinner.

[Brian Zahn]

Tom, at what point, weight wise did you stop doing sets across for squat?

[Tom Narvaez]

I was squatting heavy 3x5, 3x/wk until 370. I got 5,5,2. I added a light day and switched to 5x5 at that point.

[Tom Narvaez]

4/30/12

Deadlift:
Tom: 95x5x2, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x5
Was going to go 365x5, but then 315 was actually pretty damn difficult. I had to work hard to lock out the last two reps. I've learned my lesson. There is no point in grinding out a ridiculously hard 5RM deadlift because it just results in me getting zero the next time I go to pull. More on this later.

Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 105x5, 125x5, 145x5, 165x5
Not a true 5RM, but pretty close. IDK how much I care.

Chinups: Didn't do them.
Maybe next time. Rows are easier to program.

Overall:
Deadlifts continue to be a mind fuck. I could FEEL that my lower back and glutes were the weak link. I felt soreness at lockout. Probably fatigue left over from squats. Lower back started getting pumped after 135x5. Just ridiculous. Really not sure what I wanna do.

Things I'm considering:
1) Switching to sumo and running LP
2) Restarting novice LP deadlift completely. That means doing them every day until I stall, then cleans, then GHRs between Deadlifts and Cleans.
3) Just keep pushing up from 315 using Madcows.
4) Stick with weights until they're easy

I think at this point that I'm starting to care less and less about my deadlift. If I'm just patient, it will eventually catch up. In the past, I would have grinded the shit out of 365 and probably fucked up my next 2-3 workouts. Today, I didn't. I'm considering just doing it my buddy Joe's way (Catatonic); stay at the same weight until it basically feels easy as hell and then move up 10. I know Andy Bolton never pulls heavy in training and that seems to work well for him.

I messed around with using my squat stance to sumo pull and it felt way, way easier than conventional. That's a first. Probably because it avoided my lower back.

I could keep talking, but I feel like the few people who still read this don't want to hear about it anymore. I'll get it figured out on my own.

[hamburgerfan]

You could try what I've been doing for my deadlift. Went from failing a 455 deadlift single to repping it for 6 with one or two in the tank. In three weeks. Unless you want to exhaust simpler programming first.