Finding Out that the Iron Never Lies

[bustermonkey2]

November 29, 2017
Bodywt 235 lbs

Press @ 185 lbs-4,3,3,3,3 Rpe 8.5
Deadlifts @ 465 lbs-7 singles Rpe 8.5. Around 2-3 min/single

[bustermonkey2]

Dec 4, 2017
Bodywt 234 lbs

Bench, 1st rep paused @ 315 lbs-4,4,4,3,3 Almost failed the last rep. I'm not sure why as previous sets were Rpe 8.5-9 and last set was going fine until last rep when my arms almost gave out. It reminded me of when I used to do close grip bench press as an accessory and I'd knock out 8 reps quickly and then completely fail on 9th rep without warning. About 2 minutes/set

Squats @ 440 lbs-8 singles Rpe 9, about 3 minutes/single

Chins-8,8,8

[DeanT]

FWIW - I really appreciate your approach to programming. It just seems to make sense to me. Thanks for keeping this log here.

I was reading through your log and I have a couple questions. 1) How did you know when you needed to transition to 2 days rest and then to a split program? 2) I didn't see any deload weeks...I assume you just don't need them?

I ask because I'm on week 12 of a program similar to yours and I'm picking up a bunch of little injuries. I'm a bit older at 48 so that may be part of it. I'm considering a deload week and then coming back after that week with 2 days rest between sessions. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

[bustermonkey2]

I don't intentionally put in deload weeks as a general rule. If I get sick, injured or take a vacation, then I'll take a deload week. I guess I haven't found that I need to plan them in. If I feeling beat up due to minor injuries piling up, or if I'm not hitting my expected numbers, then I will sometimes opt for a deload week.

In terms of how I decided to switch to 2 day rest or a split program, it's based on how my lifting is going over an extended period of time, like several weeks. I switched to 2 days rest because it seemed like I wasn't fully recovering between sessions with only a day off. I switched to the split sessions because my sessions were getting too long. I find that I need to keep the sessions to 90 minutes or less. After 90 minutes, I'm too fatigued to get much useful work done. In any event, I try not to make these decisions based on 1-2 sessions, but rather over the space of a few weeks. Anyone can have a bad day or getting sick or missing sleep, and I try exercise patience in sticking with the program unless it's clear the program needs to get changed. One of the few advantages we have as older lifters is the ability to see long term and use that in making smart long term programming choices. I'd rather make slower consistent progress than deal with setbacks caused by rushing it.

[bustermonkey2]

Dec 5, 2017
Bodywt 233 lbs

Press @ 185 lbs-4,4,4,3,3 Rpe 8.5 About 3 minutes/set.

Deadlifts @ 465 lbs-8 singles. Rpe 9. I use hook grip and usually tape my thumbs but have been having issues with the tape pushing folds of skin at the base of my thumb into the bar. These are creating cuts in the skin which are slow to heal because I keep deadlifting on the cuts. After the tape slipped a bit on my second rep, I pulled off all the tape for my thumbs and did the remaing 6 reps tapeless. It hurt and felt strange but I'm going to try to continue deadlifting without tape and see if I can get used to it.

[Bryan Dobson]

The thumbs will callous with repeated bouts of volume with hook grip.

[bustermonkey2]

The thumbs will callous with repeated bouts of volume with hook grip.

It would be great if I could get that to happen, the sooner the better. I've been using the hook grip for deadlifts exclusively for about a year now without major issue until the last month. I've always taped my thumbs which kept them from really hurting, although they'd still hurt after 3 reps after multiple sets. About a month ago, I kept tearing my skin at the base of my left thumb, bad enough that it sometimes bled and was affecting my worksets. I tried last week for most of the sets to go without any tape, but that really hurt my thumbs. Today I tried taping just the first thumb segment with my thumbnail. That worked ok the first couple of sets but ended up hurting even more than going tapeless. I'm not sure if I'll try to resume taping the whole thumbs or going tapeless.

[bustermonkey2]

Dec 8, 2017
Bodywt 235 lbs

Bench @ 315 lbs-4,4,4,4,3 Rpe 9 Set/3 min.
Squats @ 440 lbs-9 singles. Rpe 8.5 Around 3 min/single

Dec 11, 2017
Press @ 185 lbs-4,4,4,4,3 Rpe 8.5 Set/3 min
Deadlifts @ 465 lbs-9 singles. Single/3-3.5 minutes. As noted in above post, this really hurt my thumbs. Grip issues affected these more than anything else.

[Bryan Dobson]

Do you use straps? If your thumbs are banged up give them a break, you can maintain grip strength other ways.
Then when the hypersensitivity has passed add hook work with lots of chalk and bare skin. If the skin is compromised you need to let it heal. If there is a tissue bruise or other things going on straps will let things heal.
When it is not painful you will have less inhibition and your pulls will get stronger.

[bustermonkey2]

That's good advice. Right now there's some bruising but no tears in the skin. I'll do a few sets with hook next time and then switch to straps when it starts to compromise the work sets. I will need to look into doing some extra grip work.