Pack Mule - Josiah's Log

[Josiah Moye]

Squat: 395x1, 335x3x2
Press: 180x1, 165x2x3, 155x4, 170xF - a bit overambitious here
Unsubstantial amount of pullups and dumbbell presses

Felt drained today. Empty. Although I did get my squat depth fixed. Feels like a half squat but it is passable on video. Much better on the ASIS.

180 went up slow as shit on press. I wanted 155x5 on that last set. 4 was rough though. Shoulders were fried after the 165 sets. I want to do some kind of overhead assistance work in the future but not sure if I'll do DB presses or what. Maybe 1 arms just cuz they're cool? Dunno yet. Did a few pullups--just felt good on my fried shoulders.

[Josiah Moye]

Squat: 395x1, 355x2x3
Deadlift: 405x1, 425x1, 445x1

Back got pissed off as soon as I put the 445 down. Shoulda probably stopped at 425 with my recent dogshit. I thought about it, but was like "Fuuuck that, 445 is nothin." It was probably an 8 or 9 out of 10 difficulty. Anyway I checked the video and my form was absolutely fine, so my back should probably stfu. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. I'm off work tomorrow and will probably sleep 10+ hours and maybe eat a ridiculous amount of food.

Still been inconsistent fucking around with my squat. Pretty sure I'm going to just keep the bar where I've had it and be at peace with the fact that I have stubby femurs so I'll be a more vertical backed squatter. Stubby femurs rock.

Wanted to do chins but we were running out of time. Hit em tomorrow. Decided I'm not going to take a day off. Always felt shitty the day after a day off so fuck the day off!

[Josiah Moye]

Sunday Funday.

Squat: 385x1
One arm DB press: 60x1, 70x1, 80xf, 60x5, 65x5, 80x1 - right arm only, left arm failed. lame.
Pullups BW 3Xreps: 15, 10, 10 - little ugly on the last couple reps but cry about it

Sundays are gonna be just fucking around with fun stuff for the most part. Still squatting just so I don't get all stiff and in case I have a good day I can still PR.

And of course my elbows hurt a little bit from trying to squat with the bar lower. And of course my front of my hip hurts from relaxing for too much depth. Lol. These aren't bad yet but they are reminders for why I can't do these things. Annoying reminders.

Oh and yesterday I rolled my spine with this PVC roller I made and man I felt amazing after. Haha. Did it at work too, people were laughing.

[Josiah Moye]

Squat up to 405x1 - super ugly though, 395 was fine. Probably just fatigue/mental breakdown. Then 365X2X3
Press: 175x1, 180xf, 155x2, 160x2x2, 165x2x2 - somethin like that

Gonna start practicing presses outta the rack now. Supposedly people can press more from the clean, which I normally do, but the comp is from the rack so I'll be practicing that.

OH and I kinked the shit out of my neck on 175. So damn annoying. What's also annoying is I hit 190 the first week I started but now I'm stuck under 185.

I think I'm going to retire from eating these rotisserie chickens unless I need one in a pinch. I wanted to come back and try to blast through 2 of them but I just finished 1 and I'm tapping out. Might be able to knock down another thigh but its not worth it. Chicken sucks. Only 1000 calories for a whole one. Gonna have to stick to beef. Or maybe just thighs/wings if I do go with chicken. I want to up my calories on this keto stuff cuz I'm sittin in the low 190s and it sucks. If I could gain a solid 2 pounds per month I'd be right where I need to be come meet time. I have yet to have a refeed since I legit started Wednesday so that should help once I get there (scheduled one is Friday).

Shit's too fun hah.

[Josiah Moye]

7/3/12 - feelin wrecked due to lack of food/rest, takin it easy

Squat: 365x1
PC: 195x2x3
Chins: +25x8,8,7

7/4/12
Squat:405x1, 365x2x4
Bench: 265x1, 275xF, 245x2x4
Dips: +70x3x5
Curls: 40x8x3

Squats felt good, easier than before, a little upper back rounding though. Felt good overall- still went too deep however. Should be good for 410-415 soon.

Bench was shit. Was in a different gym and the bars felt goddamn weird and the rack was shaky.

[Josiah Moye]

You know I got about a billion bitches to plow so you could fuck 'a me later but you should fuck 'a me now!



Haha. I love this song.

Today's training rocked.

Squat: 415x1, 365x3x2
PC: 235x1, 245xF - totally mental here. Mind crapped out on these at 235, plus my elbows were a little achey.
DB rows: 150x8 (broken reps, each side) - Right hand held on for 3 full reps with no drop. Left hand sucked, had to drop it each rep and after 4 reps had to hook grip.

Feels good hitting 405 pretty clean then hitting 415 the next day. 415 wasn't the prettiest but it was passable, could get more but there was enough form breakdown to call it a daily max. I'm still trying to find my sweet spot with depth. Trying to cut it off is fucking hard just because I'm not used to it. I feel like I'm half squatting when I do, but it makes the rep so much better form-wise. Hip tendinitis doesn't hurt at all either when I do it right. Great session though.

Oh and I appear to still be leaning out with this keto stuff. Measured in at about 16% the other day. Bodyweight hovering around 193. I know. Super low. But I seem to be maintaining muscle pretty well at this point. I feel like my previous diet was fucking stupid compared to this. Wish I woulda done it this way the whole time, but I had to keep carbs in for conditioning I guess. Blah.

[Josiah Moye]

So I'm at work and just daydreaming about this shit again. Wanted to throw out some ideas here, excuse the run-ons as this will be very stream of consciousness.

I'm still thinking about this whole 5s thing, and how to work them into this training style I'm using. My dilemma is this: after doing a heavy single, or what ends up being multiple heavy singles because I have to find what "heavy" is for each day, which means ramping up by 10lbs or so after it starts to get a little grindy, I really do not feel like doing a damn set of 5. There are several reasons...1) it feels like it would be a waste. I mean, it would be very light compared to the single. 2) grinding out 5s sucks, especially when you're tired from rapid fire singles. 3) I'm on a very low carb keto diet, which gives me about zero energy for higher rep stuff. Or maybe this is just mental? Maybe 5s are extremely beneficial for people eating a shit ton. People who are actively bulking?

BUT, Rip and others are huge proponents of 5s, so it can't be totally useless. Plus they definitely know more about training than I do. I feel like I have to do 5s somewhere.

In trying to fit them in, I've thought of this idea. I could do 1 or 2 workouts using 5s per week. Now that I'm pretty much used to the frequency squatting heavy daily, it should be OK to fit in and monitor the results. I'm thinking that the best time to do it would be Saturday, the day after my Friday night refeed. I'll do a heavy single then backoff and start with 1 or 2 sets of 5. The refeed will have given me a good carb load to properly fuel this effort, and possibly allow for better intensity on the 5s. I would treat my 5s just like I treat my normal backoff sets of 2s and 3s--trying to add more weight or more sets than before. I picture it as kind of a backwards wave...start with what you can max today, then drop back for volume. Trying to do more and more volume, making your doubles eventually your triples, triples eventually your 5s, what was once a heavy single is now your minimum, what was once your minimum is now a double, and on and on til you squat 800lbs for a single. Bwahaha.

I imagine the day after doing these 5s will suck ass but it could give me the good benefits of using 5s, while sticking to the overall high frequency style. I'm sure it will take a while to find the right weight to drop to from the single. So these may be ramping sets. Eventually it'd be pretty badass to hit like 3-6 sets of 5 on my 5s day. A volume explosion guaranteed to spur future awesomeness.

So yeah I think I'll start with that. Just once a week. I may eventually go to twice a week using 5s but that may be a ways down the road when I am fairly lean and add in a second refeed day.

If someone actually reads this, maybe it is completely obvious to you. Whatever though, I have never been a big diet freak, nor a programming master, I've always just tried to train as hard as possible and not worry about the details too much. So tinkering with both of them combined like this is new to me. Excited to see how it plays out.

My guess is that I'm just overthinking things, and that any rep scheme can work as long as you're busting ass consistently. I suppose if 5s are really awesome I will find out. And my job is so boring (read: pretty much pointless) it gives me plenty of time to overthink these things, hahaha.

[250orBust]

Makes sense, exactly what I'm doing. I do it completely based off how I'm feeling at the time, whether a double triple or 5. And like you said, trying to push last weeks double into a triple and triple into a 5. Judging what lifts I'm capable of based off the bar speed of my 1rm of the day.

[Josiah Moye]

Today:

Squat: 425x1, 375x2x3

Gym was legit closing, had to hurry up and get out. Dogshit. But its ok cuz 425 felt awesome. I mean it wasn't the prettiest, my knees caved pretty bad but I got it. 415 however went up much better than yesterday, which is cool. Makin progress.

Today is my first refeed, or "rampage day" as Jamie calls it on CnP haha. Goal is to get around 6-700g of carbs, with most of it in the rampage meal, a 3 hour window of ridiculousness. I've got a medium Dominos Meatzza, some bagels, and 3/4ths full box of triscuits to try to plow through. Earlier today I had sushi and a sandwich and I was goddamn stuffed. I'm not used to smashing food anymore, so this has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. And makes me realize how I don't really give a shit about carbs. Fatty meats are where its at.

Alright, well, let the feast begin.

[Josiah Moye]

This came to me on my way to the gym. It was more eloquent at that moment, but I can't write and ride. May be a bit cheesy but whatever:
Without strength there is no freedom. Without pain there is no strength. I'd rather have painful, struggling freedom than comfortable stability. The quest for stability is borne of fear and weakness. Comfort breeds complacency. Forget comfort; do hard, painful things that are right and have zero tolerance for those who won't.

Another damn good day. Keep piling them on.

Squat: 425x1, 335x5 - form on 425 was drastically better today.
Press: 175x1, 145x5, 155x4 - wanted 155x5, probably coulda got it fresh.
DL: 475x1 - Boom! Form was solid.

Probably had 430-435 in me for squats but I had about 30 mins left to finish my workout at that point. May have to change something up soon with these presses, it's killin me right now with the lack of progress on them. I'm thinking I just need to hit more volume on em. Will blow the shit up next week. Deadlifts were not bad for weighing in the low 190s and after back injury. I know I got more its just a matter of getting it back and feeling the weight on me.

Really feeling good about training right now.