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Thread: Wolf's Log: From Cub to Direwolf

  1. #821
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    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    Didn't have a particularly great Intensity Day today, but given how erratic my Volume Day work has been the last month or so, I'm ok with how today went.

    Squat
    Warm-ups to 500x2,2,1
    Notes: This was my previous best squat, done Dec 1, 2012 at a meet, today for two doubles and a single. So I'm happy about that even though it was supposed to be 3 doubles. I just didn't have a 3rd double in me today.

    Could be lots of reasons: I was distracted by the shouting of the trainer who was training her client right next to me, and was right in the spot where a coach would be were she coaching me - so it was hard to ignore her silly yelling and horrible cues (even though I knew they weren't directed at me). She was also moving in and out of my peripheral sight picture, which also fucked up my 2nd set when her client did that, and made it grind more like a 2RM (watch the vid when I get it posted).

    Further, I didn't do a good job of staying in my hips today. You can really see it on sets 2 and 3 in the vid.

    Not a great squatting day by feel or making reps, but given I still have a minor back tweak and that my volume days have not been consistent for a month, the progress is apparent nonetheless.

    Press
    Warm-ups to 225x2x3
    Notes: Got into my knees on the first set for no good reason. In terms of programming, I was going to re-set to 215x5 and work back up, but just decided to add weight and move to doubles instead of 5's and work them up as far as I can. Since I did 223x4 last time, 225 for three doubles was fairly easy. They didn't feel as fast as I wanted them to, but no real grindy reps.

    Power Cleans
    45x3, 135x3, 160x3, 185x3, 205x3, 225x3
    Notes: Planned to go to 245x3 for 1-3 sets, but the squat effort really took it out of my legs and back, so I was beat by this point. Just cut it off after 225 felt quite hard.

    Bro Work
    Tris: Standing EZ-Curl OH Extensions: Bar + 70x12x2
    DB Bicep Curls: 50x8x2

    Video of the heavies:
    Last edited by Michael Wolf; 06-21-2013 at 04:05 PM. Reason: added video

  2. #822
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    Strong work, Wolf. Congrats on the squat PR.

  3. #823
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    Nice work on the sqwats Wolf!

    Captain Kirk has some super important points there-- I especially like the doing everything the same way every time.

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Wolf View Post
    I had to read Camus' The Plague for freshman (college) english. Hated it. Maybe I'd appreciate it now, these many years later.
    I enjoyed The Stranger in High School. It was pretty readable, albeit hard to understand...

    Here's a little movie to help us break into Sartre!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-uQWNd540I

  4. #824
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    Impressive squats sir.

  5. #825
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    Quote Originally Posted by BMueller View Post
    Thanks for the reply. The pre-lift routine is a helpful thing to remember, it definitely emphasizes the necessary focus and would help eliminate some of the creeping doubt.
    Absolutely and I highly recommend it. The only downside is when something is different that is outside your control, which will happen occasionally, but you just ignore that and focus on what you can control.

    Quote Originally Posted by BMueller View Post
    I'm 33. So the same as you, basically. My herniations were at L4-L5 and L5-S1. Both were incurred before SS-style lifting. The L5-S1 injury was pretty bad, occurred about 8 years ago. It entailed several months of leg pain and numbness, muscle weakness, and general inability to do much of anything physically demanding. To this day, I get occasional recurrent sciatic symptoms, which are generally fairly tolerable, when my back gets taxed and/or recovery is insufficent. I can deal pretty well with the fairly minor tweaks and strains I get lifting (ones I would honestly get more often before I started squatting and deadlifting), but the fear of the more catastrophic back injury, the potentially life changing one, is really the one that holds me back. And the deadlift is really the exercise where this fear arises, I think because of the effort required to move a heavy deadlift and the strain I can feel in the hamstrings and lower back during the movement.

    I really started squatting and deadlifting mostly to get my legs and back stronger so that I would be less prone to injury. I think I've done a pretty good job of that, but I'm now at a point where I'm not just merely content with settling there. I'm also aware, though, that to keep pushing beyond the easy gains brings further injury risk and this is where I've gotten stuck a couple of times.

    Thanks for letting me crowd your lifting log with my issues.
    The bolded part is where you answer your own question. Only you can decide whether the personal accomplishment of getting your deadlift # to whatever it is you'd like to achieve is worth that risk. And it's difficult to know how much of a risk it is. We, especially those who have made their backs strong by squatting and pulling correctly, can generally tolerate more than we think we can and more than many health professionals think we can. But there is a risk, even if a small one.

    Only you can make that choice if it's worth it.

  6. #826
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Petrizzo View Post
    Strong work, Wolf. Congrats on the squat PR.
    Thanks JP, good work there yourself with your 5 singles @ 455 and pulling 535 for a triple. I better get my back tweak healed up or everyone's gonna start passing my pulling numbers!

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Israel View Post
    Nice work on the sqwats Wolf!

    Captain Kirk has some super important points there-- I especially like the doing everything the same way every time.

    I enjoyed The Stranger in High School. It was pretty readable, albeit hard to understand...

    Here's a little movie to help us break into Sartre!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-uQWNd540I
    Thanks RobIs! If only all of Sarte, and philosophy in general, were so accessible.

    Quote Originally Posted by rumblefish View Post
    Impressive squats sir.
    Thank you Mr. Fish of the Rumbles.

  7. #827
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    Feels good to be back in the volume day groove again, even if I still can't pull heavy quite yet. Soon though, maybe even next week. I hope.

    Squat
    Warm-ups to 395x5, 405x5, 415x5, 425x5, 430x5
    Notes: Last rep @ 430 may have been to-but-not-below parallel. No video, no witnesses so I'll assume it was good.

    May just be the lazy-boy in me but I'm enjoying these ramping sets. The first one or two are relatively easy so you don't feel like death for an entire hour of squatting: shorter rest periods between the first sets, but you still touch that heavy weight and get solid volume in. I did them last week since I hadn't been consistent on VD for a while, so used them as a test to see how my 5's were. I liked them so much that I did them again this week. The jump from set to set is so small as to be almost imperceptible, but over the course of a 5x5, you get a lot heavier. Avg rep weight for today is 414.

    As long as they keep bumping Friday's work up, I'll keep them.

    Bench Press
    Warm-up to 310x5x3
    Notes: Solid, fast. Could have gotten 315, but I'm sticking with the plan and 2.5lb jumps from here on out. I'll hit 315 in two Mondays from now.

    Power Clean - warm-up for deadlifts
    45x3, 135x3, 160x3, 185x1, 210x1

    DL
    275x3, 365x2, 455x1, 505x1, 455x5
    Notes: Back was still fried from Friday's squats (getting out of your hips early really makes the erectors work overtime, Jesus H Christ!). But as far as my tweak goes, feeling much better so I went up to 505 for a fairly easy single. Then back down to 455 for a fairly easy 5. Last rep I didn't set the bar properly and got an inch off my shins off the floor, but I was better about this for the first 4 reps at least.

  8. #828
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    If you like ramping sets, you should try the Israeli pyramid scheme at some point. 5 across just sucks after awhile. The great thing about the pyramid is that the last set feels LIGHT!

    Look, the bottom line is this volume. Sure you want to push your 5's up, but as we have discussed ad nauseam-- the key is the right right amount of volume, not the most volume possible.

    For me the psychological break of not doing 5 sets across makes any other setup worthwhile.

    Glad to hear you back tweak is coming along quickly. Bummed you aren't doing Heat Wave in Merrick-- it may be the only meet that I can do this summer.

  9. #829
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Israel View Post
    If you like ramping sets, you should try the Israeli pyramid scheme at some point. 5 across just sucks after awhile. The great thing about the pyramid is that the last set feels LIGHT!
    I might just do that. The great thing about the TM is that it's so flexible. The number of Volume/Intensity manipulations are just about endless. People can argue semantics whether or not something is still technically "TM" or not, but the basic idea of weekly volume/intensity workouts and manipulation with a planned weekly PR (or recent PR if working back up, or similarly appropriate thing) is the key, the nugget.

    Remind me of the Israeli pyramid scheme again - it's ramping up to a top 3rd set and then ramping back down, right? How do you calculate the weights for the 5 sets?

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Israel View Post
    Look, the bottom line is this volume. Sure you want to push your 5's up, but as we have discussed ad nauseam-- the key is the right right amount of volume, not the most volume possible.
    Exactly. And this seems to be an individual thing that each person discovers along the way based on their own failures and successes. I'm no volume whore for sure, but there is something cool and satisfying about hitting X for 5x5 across. But that kind of thinking is counter-productive because at the end of the day, the point of the volume is driving adaptation for a 5-or-less RM and ultimately 1RM, not how much volume can you survive.

    All stuff we all know, but sometimes I need to remind myself.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Israel View Post
    Glad to hear you back tweak is coming along quickly. Bummed you aren't doing Heat Wave in Merrick-- it may be the only meet that I can do this summer.
    Ya, it's still too early post-shoulder injury recovery. I'll just be back at my previous bench press level by then, and I'll be in Denver for the SSS that weekend anyway. Otherwise I'd come just to help out and spectate, which I had a ton of fun doing at the NJ Rumble in May. Even though I have never been so tired in all my life.

    Are you doing the meet?

  10. #830
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Wolf View Post
    Remind me of the Israeli pyramid scheme again - it's ramping up to a top 3rd set and then ramping back down, right? How do you calculate the weights for the 5 sets?
    I've done them two ways.
    Example one: 285x5, 305x5, 315x5, 305x5, 285x5
    Example two: 290x5, 315x5x3, 290x5

    The second set isn't a true pyramid obviously, but it provides a psychological break. First you can get to the 2nd and 5th sets faster and secondly the last set is always easy. That in itself makes it more enjoyable for me.

    I calculated the weights at the beginning cycle to be similar to sets across, but a tad less volume. I had intended on returning to sets across, but then realized I didn't need to. Example two was actually a little too much volume (for me that day), but I was intent on doing 3 sets across w/ 3 plates finally. Also, I have made the top set heavier than needed to drive my fives up and to make up a little volume, but essentially I'm lifting less than if 5x5, but only by a couple hundred pounds.

    The numbers geek in me did this:
    300x5x5= 7,500 when I successfully hit 355x3 on ID day in September.
    THEREFORE:
    280x5x2 (1st and last sets) + 305x5x3 = 7,375
    Close enough.

    I've also been feeling things out which is why I switch schemes. I left the weights the same only once this cycle and gave myself an extra dose a couple of times for more stimulus. But essentially the volume is pretty close to what I would be doing for sets across.

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Wolf View Post
    Are you doing the meet?
    I'm still on the fence-- I'm actually trying to arrange my vacation so I can do the USAPL meet in New Brunswick on August 10th... I'm less motivated to join RPS, especially if you aren't going to be competing at the event.

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