David's Strongman Log

[strong_over_matter]

03/27/2012 Recovery Day (started at 6:25pm / done at about 7:25pm)

BW = 222 (cutting food slightly now)

Recovery notes: I’ve slept good Friday – Monday nights so I’m feeling much better. I am not sore from the squats or bench. Biceps tendonitis is still not great – need to ice it more again which worked well before.

Squat
Warm-up / Foam roll
240x5x2

Press
Warm-up
135x5x3 (slight pause at bottom of each rep)

DB Row (bench supported)
70 x 15 each side x 3 (pulled reps fast)

Felt good tonight. All the weights moved easily.

[strong_over_matter]

0329/2012 Intensity Day (started at 6:30pm / done at 8:35pm)

BW = 223

Recovery notes: Feeling pretty good recovery and sleep wise. Stress and work are another issue. Really wanted to bag out tonight but glad I got in. Jenica and I both had good workouts and some laughs too.

Squat
Warm-up: 95x5 (and foam rolling), 135x5, 225x5, 275x2, 325x1(Belted)

Work: (Belted): 355x1x5

Bench
Warm-up: 45x15, 95x10, 135x5, 185x5, 225x2, 240x1

Work: 265x1x5 (5lb PR)

Superset (2 min rest between rounds)

A. Chins
BWx8, BWx7, BWx5

B. Reverse grip band press down
Orange band x 12 each side x 3 sets

My squats are going very well. Bench was ok. Biceps still not back to 100%.

[strong_over_matter]

4/1/2012 Volume Day (started at 11:00pm / done at 1:40pm)

BW = 223lb

Recovery notes: Well rested.

Squat
Warm-up/and foam rolling
310x5x5 (These were harder than they have been but they got done.)

Press
Warm-up
150x5x5 (These felt great. I’ve been waiting for this – the last time I made it to 150 with 5x5 I only completed the first set. So this was a 5x5 PR. My press is finally improving!)

DL (no belt)
Warm-up (all DOH): 135x5, 225x5, 275x2, 325x1, 355x1

Work: 385x4, 385x1 (after resting 60secs), Added 40lbs of chain and belt for 425x1.

Wasn’t sure how these would go since I took last week off from DL. These were better than 380. At the end of April my programming will change to 5/3/1 with an events day on Saturday. I’m really looking forward to deadlifting fresh, since the volume before DL is holding me back some here I feel.

[strong_over_matter]

04/03/2012 Recovery Day (started at 6:30pm / done at 7:30pm)

BW = 223

Recovery notes: Did not sleep at all again Sunday night after my volume workout. Not sleeping at all really fucks you up. All my normal aches/pains are worse and my ass and hams got fairly sore. The bright side is I slept at least 10 hours last night with no problem.

Squat
Warm-up / Foam roll
245x5x2

Bench
Warm-up
200x5x3

DB Row (bench supported)
105 x 10 each side x 3

Felt somewhat better after.

[Gillian Mounsey]

Mac and I had sleeping problems as well after volume days on TM last fall. We would both be a mess for hours and would be restless all night. We never adapted to the stress.

Keep up the good work. It's good to see other couples training together. Are you competing any time soon?

[strong_over_matter]

Mac and I had sleeping problems as well after volume days on TM last fall. We would both be a mess for hours and would be restless all night. We never adapted to the stress.

Keep up the good work. It's good to see other couples training together. Are you competing any time soon?

Thanks for stopping by Gillian. Training with Jenica is probably the happiest part of my life. There is a good comp coming up at the end of May that we might do together. Last year we went to it and just watched. But it depends on her dissertation progress and my weight progress. I need to get back down to 205-208 so I can compete in the 200lb open class. My goal is to compete end of June / first of July no matter what.

[strong_over_matter]

4/05/2012 Intensity Day (started at 6:10pm / done at 8:20pm)

BW = 224

Recovery notes: I’ve slept well Monday through Wednesday, so I’m feeling better again. Given the lack of sleep I feel like I recovered pretty well.

Squat
Warm-up: 95x5 (and foam rolling), 135x5, 225x5, 275x2, 295x1, 330x1(Belted)

Work: (Belted): 365x1x5

Jumped up 10lbs from last week. It was a good call. The last 2 singles were the best. I want more discrepancy from volume day so I’m also going to repeat 310 for 5x5.

Press
Warm-up: 65x10, 95x5, 135x2, 155x1 (belt on last – back was getting cranky)

Work (belt): 175x2 (F), 175x2, 175x1

Disappointed with this. Really felt good on volume day this week. I wanted 2 triples. On the first set I had the third rep ¾ way locked and could not get it. I tried so hard I came very close to blackout. So I blame four things: used the Texas power bar which has different feel than the B&R bar, did not breathe on first set, first set fucked me over to recover on next sets, and Jenica said I was not pushing through well. I’m going to repeat this next time. Meh...

Alternating DB Curls
40 x 10 each side x 5

[strong_over_matter]

4/10/2012 De-load Week (started at 6:15pm / done at 7:10pm)

Recovery Notes: I did not sleep again after my intensity workout last Thursday. After that I decided I needed to de-load for a week and see if that helps the situation. Even though I skipped volume day, I ended up being super stressed out for various reasons and did not sleep at all Sunday night, so the issues are more than just difficult training it seems. I also only slept 3-4 hours last night after the below fairly light session. Overall I’m feeling pretty discouraged and tired. It is especially difficult because my actual training was going fairly well. I’m planning to do a very light workout on Thursday and then start my new 5/3/1 based program with events day on Saturdays. No more Sunday training. I'll just have to see how it goes.

BW: 221.5lbs this morning, making some progress with no real changes yet.

Squat
foam rolling
De-load: 95x5, 135x5x2, 185x5, 225x5, 245x5, 265x5

Bench
De-load: 45x15, 95x10, 135x5x2, 185x5, 205x5, 225x5

DL
De-load (all DOH): 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5, 295x5

I did not take any real breaks to rest, just lifted and then loaded the next weight. Nothing felt very difficult, but I was sluggish. It did feel good to move and helped with some aches and pains – especially my lumbar spine.

[Michael Park]

I was also having trouble sleeping and generally feeling under recovered. I split my volume day up into two days, stopped my power cleans until after the meet, and switched to triples on the deadlift. I have felt incrementally better since then, and I feel the best I have in recent memory now. I think splitting the volume day up and decreasing my pulling volume allowed my body's recovery capacity to barely edge out the stress to which I was asking it to adapt. I imagine your deload week and switch to 5/3/1 style programming will help. Keep it up! Nice work!