Stuffed Superdud: Bumpy road to respectable lifting

[stuffedsuperdud]

12/1/2013
So this whole week was a wash. Between the holiday, poor sleep/diet, bad times at work, and some crap in my personal life (nowhere near as bad as some of the shit in the divorce thread above, thank goodness), I went to the gym today feeling like garbage. Tried to get some work done anyway.

Push

Squat

Sn/CJ
CJ:
50kgx3
60x3
70x3
80x3
90x2

All felt easy and my jerks in particular were clicking, but given that I was malnourished and detrained, I cut it off here.

Pulls
Eccentric clean pulls: 90kgx5, 110x5, 135x5x2
Deadlift: 160kgx7 Rep PR, I think
I had probably 2-3 more in the tank but decided not to totally fry myself unnecessarily.

[stuffedsuperdud]

12/2/2013
Short on time so just one lift and done.

Push
Press VD:
Press 155x2, 145x5x2, 150x5x2
I dialed up the press another 2.5 lbs from last VD and knew right away that something felt off. Ground out two reps and then that. fucker. wouldn't. budge. Dropped 10lbs for the next two sets and then back up 5lbs for the last two. Let's see what happens come ID.

Squat

Sn/CJ

Pulls

12/3/2013
I had only a small window between work assignments today, so I figured I'd just check to see if I remembered now to snatch.

Push

Squat

Sn/CJ
Snatch:
40kgx3
50x3
55x3
64x3
70x3x2 (missed some)

Tendency today for the weights to slip backwards and I can tell from the minor bruising that my hips are out of position and banging the bar. By the time I corrected it though, I had to get back to work. Note to self: do the lifts more often.

Pulls

[stuffedsuperdud]

12/5/2013
Push

Squat
Squat: 330x5x3
Not every rep was beautiful. As you dear readers can see, for the last few weeks, I've had squat-only days. That's because 3x5 at the tail end of LP has been disruptive enough that I'm no good for anything else afterwards. Going ahead, when my LP runs out in a few sessions (probably around 350 or so?) I will switch to a TM setup; when that happens, probably the volume day will be a squat-only day, and on recovery and intensity day I can do other stuff. Just looking ahead a bit.

Sn/CJ

Pulls

[stuffedsuperdud]

12/7/2013
Push
Press recovery:
Snatch push press: 40kgx5, 50kgx5, 60kgx5

Squat
Front squat: 255x5x3
Most emotionally draining set of 255x5x3 in the history of lifting, probably. Not sure why I was so angry the whole time but hey, I'm not going to argue with excess adrenaline. Note: recall this stalled me with 4,1,0 several days ago so it's nice to push through it.

Sn/CJ

Pulls

[stuffedsuperdud]

12/8/2013
I went to the gym but was pretty beat up with a fried posterior chain, poor sleep, and some crud in my respiratory system. An assload of warmups later (foam roller, dynamic movements, bodyweights squats) and I realized that it was going to be a shitty session at best....so here's the part where I did something really fucking stupid.

I went to the shed behind the gym and dragged out the Prowler sitting there collecting dust/rust.

Prowler: 140lbs for 40yds x 6 with 1:00 rest periods from the high handles

I hadn't used this in two years and forgot how hard it was. Wanted to use the low handles every other set, but with my old running shoes, I couldn't generate enough force off the ground to even start the damn thing, plus I figured I didn't want to get too bad a case of Prowler flu anyway. Spent 10 minutes crumpled on the ground afterward. Now sitting around drinking hot chicken noodle soup and trying to shake the headache.

NOTE: Why is this shit so hard? Intervals with a barbell or just unloaded sprinting aren't particularly hard, so what is it about adding a sled that makes the whole thing a bile-flavored nightmare? I've read Stef's article and have some background in biochemistry, but the thing is still much harder metabolically than the theory suggests, as far as I can tell.

[stuffedsuperdud]

12/11/2013
Still kind of sick so training sucked + the sleep hasn't been on the ball.

Push
Press ID:
Press: 170x4 Rep PR
Recall the volume day was a mess so I kept the weight the same as last week, but gutted out an extra rep.

Squat
Squat: 335x1, failed on rep 2
Knee felt okay but I knew during warmups that something was wrong. 135 and 225 moved easily but 275 slowed way down, and 315 was a grinder. Said a prayer to all the gods (well the ones that dabble in reward and punishment anyway, that is to say, the Abrahamic ones), but I guess they called me on my BS because rep two drilled me into the ground. Went home before I could do any damage to myself. Guess I'll go fist bump that landmine now.

No, but more seriously, this is very close to where I ended LP previously, so failure wasn't totally surprising. I'll grind at this for a week more or so before I depart for two weeks and won't be able to train, and then switch to a TM setup when I get back.

Sn/CJ

Pulls

[stuffedsuperdud]

12/12/2013
Went in with the crazy notion of attempting a CJ PR, but the knee would have none of it.

Push

Squat

Sn/CJ
CJ:
50kgx3
60x3
70x3
80x2
90x1
100x1

Pulls
Eccentric clean pulls:
120kgx5
130x5
140x5

Deadlift:
165kgx6 6RM PR (with at least 1-2 reps in the tank...but I am not that stupid)

[stuffedsuperdud]

12/14/2013
Push
Bench for peace: 135x5, 175x5, 185x5x2
Since my calf freaked out today (see below) my plan went to shit so I decided to just engage in some controlled fuckarounditis. Haven't benched since the summer so I took it light. Right rotator cuff still problematic but whatever. Bar went up fast on every rep.

Squat
Bunch of bodyweight squats just to stay loose. Noticed today that in the full squat position my left quad is till noticeably smaller despite the strength returns. Must be ovarian cancer.

Sn/CJ
Snatch: 40kgx3, 50kgx3, end.
My right calf has been threatening me for the last few weeks and it finally struck at full force today. I caught a snatch and the damn thing seized up. I suspect I have a chronic tear in the muscle belly, possibly from my asymmetries due to the left knee injury. Did a shit ton of eccentric calf work to try to work the kink out...I suspect I will be doing this for the forseeable future. It's always something though, isn't it?

Pulls

[stuffedsuperdud]

12/15/2013
The calf is still problematic.

Push
Hehehe I am sore from the whole first-time-benching-since-the-dinosaurs session.

Squat
Squat: (275,285,295)x5, 305x4

I was hoping to condition myself for 5-set days in prep for TM, but the calf would have none of it at Set 4. Happy with my form at the lower weights though; I've apparently fixed some of the bad habits that crept in due to the knee.

Sn/CJ

Pulls

Bonus points: Prowler 140lb x 40yds x6 with 1:00 rests.

[stuffedsuperdud]

12/18/2013
I didn't train M/Tu due to work commitments, which worked out with the calf needing some rest anyway.

Push

Squat
Squat: (275,285,295,305,315)x5
More conditioning for 5x5 days in prep for TM transition. Knee felt good and I finally for the first time since getting hurt felt like the left leg was actually doing its job driving the weight up.

Sn/CJ

Pulls