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Thread: Strength Engineer Log

  1. #101
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    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    7/18/17

    Deadlift: 182 x5, 210 x5, 238, x5, 182 5x5
    Front squat 95: 3x10
    Chin-up: 30
    Push-up: 30
    Band pull-apart: 45

    Thoughts: Lower intensity deadlifts this week were a welcome break, as I can tell my body is starting to accumulate some fatigue. I swapped out sit-ups in the core/leg accessory slot for front-squats to help my ailing back squat. I kept accessories at 30 this week since the front squat is a new exercise for me, and I'm especially not sure how my body is going to handle 10 rep front squats from a recovery standpoint. I actually think that 3x10 @ 95 was a pretty good starting point this week. It wasn't too heavy, but it definitely wasn't easy either. The last 3-4 reps in each of those sets took a little resolve to get up, but I always had at least a rep or two in the tank at the end of each set. My legs felt a little shaky after, but that's to be expected with doing a new variation for 10's. My CNS typically adjusts to new variations within a week or two at most. I had to do the cross grip as I just don't have the mobility for clean grip, I tried clean grip on my warmup and my wrists were very unhappy with me. I might try to dig up my straps and try to use the straps next week to see how that feels, as the cross grip isn't exactly the most stable grip in the world. Either way, I think front squats are a good addition to help my back squat.
    Last edited by StrengthEngineer; 07-18-2017 at 09:10 AM.

  2. #102
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    Wrist pain can last for a while, but if you're going to be doing many FS I think even a two-finger clean front rack is much more comfortable than the other grips. It took me about a month of cleans and FS before I could get all the fingers on comfortably, I imagine getting to a full hook grip in front rack is even better.

    Andy Baker has a recent video about using straps for front rack

  3. #103
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    Quote Originally Posted by Itchysoles View Post
    Wrist pain can last for a while, but if you're going to be doing many FS I think even a two-finger clean front rack is much more comfortable than the other grips. It took me about a month of cleans and FS before I could get all the fingers on comfortably, I imagine getting to a full hook grip in front rack is even better.

    Andy Baker has a recent video about using straps for front rack
    I'll try the two finger out next time. I was doing a full clean grip. If that doesn't work I am going to try the straps like Andy did in the video. Thanks for the input!

  4. #104
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    7/20/17

    Bench: 101 x5, 116 x5, 132 7x5
    Chin-up: 50
    Tricep pressdown: 50
    Situp: 50

    Thoughts: once again the first week of the cycle bench feels almost too easy, so I auto-regulated in two extra sets of FSL. It's really shocking to see that my bench is the one lift that's been the most resilient through my cut, it's the only lift that I haven't lost any strength on. Oh, and I also ordered a dip attachment for my power rack from Rogue earlier this week. That should be here this weekend. So on press day I'm going to trade the push-ups out for dips, that should help both my bench and press. I had a little lower back tightness today, I could really feel it when I was arching in the bench, so I made an audible and swapped my bent over barbell rows out for chinups, and since I was doing one hanging exercise I swapped hanging leg raises out for situps today. I really need to get some loadable dumbells for rows, as doing either deadlifts, squats, or bent over barbell rows 4 days a week is an awful lot of volume on my lower back. Swapping barbell row for a dumbell row where I can support by back by leaning on a bench would probably be a good thing. Maybe next month I can budget it in.

  5. #105
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    7/21/17

    Squat: 140 x5, 161 x5, 183 x5, 140 5x5
    Pull-up: 50
    Push-up: 50
    sit-up: 50

    Thoughts: I decided to do the standard 10 lb jump this cycle even though I was grinding a bit at the heaviest week of last cycle, hoping for some adaptation. Today is obviously the lightest week, and it felt fine for the most part. The last rep of the last 183 set ground a bit in the sticking point. That's where my trouble always hits, it's just above parallel. Bar speed is fine coming out the hole, and fine once I get past the sticking point, but right around parallel bar speed just goes way down and I lose momentum. I think that my cut has really screwed with my leverages on my squat. I'm down 10 lb now, and 183 was a warmup weight for me that I could rocket up at the end of my LP and now a couple months later it's a bit of a grind. Really strange. Oh well, I guess there's no point in harping over the fact that my squat really sucks ass right now, I built my strength up once and I can build it up again. Right now the most important goal is leaning out, and progress is being made there, so I guess I can't complain. I've lost a lot on my deadlift as well, but strangely my presses are doing just fine... most people have it the other way around where presses plummet but squat and deadlift are stable in a cut. Really strange.

  6. #106
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    7/22/17

    Official Weekly Measurements:

    Weight Average: 162.49lb
    Average Weight Change: -1.02lb
    Waist Circumference: 33in
    Body Fat Percentage: 14.9
    FFM: 138.28lb
    Fat Mass: 24.21

    Thoughts: My weight was all over the map this week. It was my fault too, as I stated in here on Monday I went down to 1800 calories mid week, then over the next two days I dropped 1.5lb, so I went back up to 1900 calories thinking I went too far. Then there was also a day in there that I forgot to eat something that I was supposed to and didn't realize until the next day, so that day was only 1820 calories. My weight was just fluctuating up and down almost everyday between 161.8 as the lowest, and 163.4 as the highest. This is not normal for me, my weight may fluctuate a few tenths of a pound per day, with the occasional woosh of about 1lb that usually sticks, but I have not had this wild of a roller coaster fluctuation thus far. Now, the main thing that changed in the days I ate lower calories were that I ate less carbs, so my hypothesis is that the fluctuations were just water weight caused by changing carb macro levels. This shows itself even more when you look at the changes in FFM and Fat Mass between last week and this week, as most of the weight I dropped was from FFM, I lost less than half a pound of Fat Mass, and only 1/4 inch off my waist (the least amount I've lost on my waist in a week yet) even though the average weight I lost was one of the higher weeks thus far. So my conclusion is that most of the weight change and fluctuations were water weight. I need to stop being dumb, I'm going to eat 1800 calories this week (145g protein, 55g fat, 170g carb) and not make any changes until next Saturday when I have a full weeks average to draw conclusion from.

  7. #107
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    7/24/17

    Press: 75 x5, 85 x5, 95 x5, 75 5x5
    Row 135: 50
    Dip: 50
    Hanging leg raise: 50
    Curls 50: 50

    Thoughts: Good day. I felt strong today, stronger than I've felt since I started my cut, and that's a really good sign. I started supplementing last week with both nascent iodine (2mg in the morning on an empty stomach) and chelated magnesium (200mg before bed) and wow has it really made a difference! I have felt like a new man; tons of energy, depression gone, anxiety gone, moods have been great, sleep has been wonderful. I wish I would have started with these earlier. The iodine especially, as I've never used iodized salt (at least since I moved out of my parents house 15 years ago) so I've got to be terribly deficient. If you're reading this and you don't use iodized salt on your food on a daily basis then you are deficient; trust me, take an iodine supplement, you'll feel nothing short of amazing! I felt it seconds after I took the first dose, and have been feeling better and better every day since. I think that had a lot to do with me feeling so good out there this morning. The press numbers were the exact same as two weeks ago and I had to take longer rest periods two weeks ago, and it felt much easier in general today. I also really like the assistance with dips instead of push-ups, as I got my power rack dip attachment from Rogue this weekend. This makes it so much more difficult. Push-ups were almost like an active rest between rows and abs, with the dips it really pushes my conditioning because super setting three tough movements like barbell rows, dips, and hanging leg raises really takes the wind out of me, lol. The dips are going to be a much more productive assistance move to help my press and bench as well. The last time I attempted dips (probably a couple years ago now) I couldn't even manage to do 2, so considering I just knocked out 5 sets of 10 no problem today, I've definitely come a long way over the last couple of years, haha. All in all, it was a good day. Let's see if I can take this momentum into deadlifts and front-squats tomorrow!

  8. #108
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    7/25/17

    Deadlift: 196 x5, 225 x5, 252 x5, 196 5x5
    Front-Squat 95: 5x10
    Chin-up: 5x10
    Push-up: 5x10
    Band Pull-Apart: 5x15

    Thoughts: Wow was it nasty outside this morning. It was 80% humidity here in Phoenix, that's rare! 85 degrees with absolutely no wind. Needless to say there was no point using my swamp cooler as anything other than a fan at that humidity level. It's a good thing I've been making sure to prioritize getting extra sodium and water the last week or so as I was just sweating buckets out there. Other than that, workout went well. I decided to wear my belt for all deadlift sets today instead of just the top set, as I don't think my beltless bracing has been very good on the deadlift. Using a belt helps give me some feedback on how good of a job I did inflating my stomach. Probably going to stick with that for awhile, at least until I really get it ingrained. Also think I'm going to belt up on my bent over rows as well as I think I have the same issue there. I will say that 5x10 front-squats have their own special place in hell, lol. The quad volume is good though, especially since I'm such a posterior dominant back-squatter. Hoping this will help me with my issues in the back squat at the sticking point. We will find out soon, next week is the last week of my volume leader block, then I have a deload week and then I go into a 3 week anchor block where I get to lower the volume, up the intensity, and test my rep maxes. If my cut is not done by then I'm thinking of going back up to maintenance for that three week block, and then going back down into a deficit again after to finish the cut off during my next volume leader phase. Might be a good idea, not only for my testing results, but to let my hormonal environment and leptin levels stabilize again so the last part is a bit easier, I can tell that my body is adjusting to the cut now and it's starting to be a grind.
    Last edited by StrengthEngineer; 07-25-2017 at 09:29 AM.

  9. #109
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    7/27/17

    Bench: 108.5 x5, 124 x5, 139.5 x5, 108.5 5x5
    Row 115: 5x10
    Tricep pressdown (blue band): 5x10
    Situp: 5x10
    Curl 50: 5x10

    Thoughts: Bench is still chugging along. The extra upper-back work I've been doing the last few weeks has really helped my bench form, as I'm able to lock my scapula's in place much better. I used to have some problems with my left shoulder floating a bit. That being said, I can tell as I'm getting towards the end of this volume block that my body is starting to accumulate a lot of fatigue, and it's most noticeable in my back. My back exercises have felt especially weak lately. I decided to pull the weight back on rows a bit, as the last set or two of rows has pretty much been an RPE 9.75 at 135. There's no need to be going that high of relative intensity on my assistance work especially since I'm doing 4x per week frequency on upper back right now, so I decided to check my ego, pull the weight back a bit, and focus more on slow and controlled reps as opposed to more quick and explosive reps. I used a belt today as well, and it felt much better on my lower back. Going to belt for all squat sets tomorrow too, as I can tell it's helping my bracing to be using the belt more, when I get the feedback from the belt I do a better job of inflating my gut. I also changed my curl form a bit, after watching Andy's YouTube video the other day when he was talking about curling the bar to your chin as opposed to your collar bone to bring some shoulder flexion into the movement I decided to give it a shot. Yeah, that definitely is good, I really felt my biceps screaming today from that, lol. Going to keep that form. All in all, it was a good day.
    Last edited by StrengthEngineer; 07-27-2017 at 09:13 AM.

  10. #110
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    starting strength coach development program
    7/28/17

    Squat: 150 x5, 172 x5, 193.5 x4, 150 5x5
    Chin-up: 5x10
    Dip: 5x10
    Ab-roller: 4x10

    Thoughts: I'm really bummed right now. I just failed to squat 5 reps at 193.5. When I tested my squat a little over a month ago before swapping programs I hit 205 for 5. I also was up to 235 x5 back in the spring. It's so hard to believe that I could be putting in consistent hard work for months and actually be getting weaker. I know I've dropped 10lb body weight, but it's pretty much all been fat. My legs are still the same size they were before, matter of fact the only part of my body that is measuring smaller than it was prior to my cut is my waist (the only place on my body I hold fat), I've lost 2.5 inches on my waist so far. You wouldn't think that was functional weight, at least functional enough to lose over 20% on my squat. I really don't know, I'm bummed and I feel like total shit right now. I know I'm carrying a lot of fatigue right now, so that probably has a lot to do with it. I probably should have done a deload week after completing my last macro-cycle, but I guess hindsight is always 20/20. In a cut I probably should do a deload from now on after every macro-cycle instead of the typical every other, though it's probably a little late for my current training block as my cut is almost done. I'm going to recalculate my TM for squat off of 193.5x4, which will drop it down from a TM of 215 to a TM of 180. As much as I hate to say it, it's probably where I need to be, as both 150 and 172 felt much heavier than they should have as well. I'm going to do that for next weeks workout, then the week after is my deload week so I'll be able to shed some fatigue, thank god. It probably is for the best that I drop the weight as much as I hate to do it, I do tend to stress a lot when I know I'm getting close to that failure point on a lift. I have literally been stressing about squats today all week long, ever since 183 was a grind last week. Worrying about failing at a weight that a couple months ago in the advanced novice phase was "light" squat day weight for me, and at sets across instead of one top set to boot. I have pretty much lost all confidence in my squat over the last couple of months, dropping the weight down where it's light and slowly rebuilding will give me some time to rebuild confidence and get some momentum going in my squat. I'm not happy about it, and I don't want to do it, but I see no other choice than to just accept my failure and drop my weight back down to super weak beginner weights. At least by the time I'm back to this weight again I'll be back to eating in a surplus and I'll be able to blow past this point with ease. The squat has always been my arch-nemesis, no other lift gives me so much grief. I hate it!
    Last edited by StrengthEngineer; 07-28-2017 at 10:37 AM.

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