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Thread: CJ Gotcher Log- "What is Best in Life"

  1. #11
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    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    • starting strength seminar august 2024
    Hey CJ. Looks like some good lifting and an even better log name. May you "Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women."

  2. #12
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    Ha! It's good to know someone else out there appreciates the wisdom of Conan. Sometimes I think I could get through 95% of my day on nothing but Arnold quotes...

    08SEP14
    Warmup with weighted pullups, bar pullaparts, knuckle pushups, and 5X5 BP @45#.
    BP: 5@95; 3@135, 155; 5@190, 205, 215 RPE8; 2X5@190
    Press: 5@135, 140, 150, 160 RPE9; 2X5@135
    Weighted Pullups: 20X5@20# spread between pressing sets

    Picked up a cold and took 2 rest days leading into deload week. For the first deload day, I chose to keep BP at 5/3/1 min-reps (because the last month's sets were easy), and deloaded the press by 10# since I've been struggling to meet the targets at a 200# training max. Cut accessory volume to minimal- no dips and dropped from 45-20# on the pullups. This was as much due to watch schedule as anything- I find that on deload week, the easiest way to control volume is to limit my time-in-gym to 1 HR. This also gives me an extra half-hour on deload days for rest and mobility work.

    Training adjustments out here in the sandbox are definitely interesting. To stay fresh for the 12HR watch cycle (1800-0600) and still get in a good work out, I end up training after watch, grabbing breakfast, sleeping through lunch and dinner, than eating a double serving of MIDRATS with a protein shake thrown in there somewhere. This keeps me at ~8 HRs sleep and weight maintenance @175 (after losing an initial 5 pounds), but it's working. 5/3/1 with modifications (last set first and some other major sets) has been slow-going, with only monthly increases when I could probably tolerate weekly or biweekly increases at my training level, but it's been great for deployment- it's very adequate for recovery management. I don't have any days when I'm just brutally sore or worn (IE TM Volume Day or Smolov), and it doesn't require much more than the basics in the way of equipment. I want to milk this program out until the meet, but I'm thinking I'll probably shift to TM afterwards.

  3. #13
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    09SEP14

    BS: 3X5@45; 5@95, 135, 185, 210, 225, 235, 205
    DL: 5@265#, 285#, 305#

    Second deload day- min reps for the '5' weeks with a 20% weight deload, no belt. Slight twinge in the right lower back. Technique was fine, I just feel tight as a board. Definitely need to spend some time on this deload week for mobility work. Strep throat is gone, so... good joojoo.

  4. #14
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    11SEP14

    Marmup with knuckle pushups, bar pullaparts, weighted chinups
    BP: 5@95; 3@ 135, 155; 5@ 190, 205, 215 RPE9 , 190, 190
    Press:5@140, 150, 160, 140, 140
    Weighted Chinups: 5X20 between pulling sets

    Deload day number 3 for the week. Bench press felt like a struggle compared to Monday, but the press felt much easier- focus was on widening the stance for balance and practicing taking the breath at the bottom of the rep. It still feels more comfortable to breathe at the top, but I'm experimienting with it. Apparently, they're getting rid of the gym in the next few days, so I'm about to face the traditional 'deployed servicemember challenge' - how do you strength train with no gym...

  5. #15
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    12SEP14

    BS: 3X5@45#. 3@95, 135, 185; 5@210, 220, 235, 190, 190
    DL: 1@225, 315, 405, 455

    Supposed to be a deload day, and the squat deload actually went pretty well- form felt solid, weight moved quick, and I didn't get the lower back twinge like the last lower body deload attempt on Tuesday.

    Then I had to go full retard and go for a 1RM DL. Worked up to a 455#1RM (10#PR!). Weight was heavy as hell, but it was still up fast- no more than 3 seconds. I probably could have gone 5-10# heavier, but I wasn't interested in going double full retard- I'll save that for the Ironfest!

  6. #16
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    14SEP14

    "Everywhere in the West there are subversive minorities who, sheltered by our humanitarianism and sense of justice, hold the incendiary torches ready, with nothing to stop the spread of their ideas except the critical reason of a single, fairly intelligent, mentally stable stratum of the population." - Carl Jung, "The Undiscovered Self."

    Warmup with bar pull aparts, knuckle pushups, weighted chinups, and 5X5 paused BP @45#.
    BP: 5@95, 3@135, 155, 185; 5@200, 210 RPE8, 225F5 RPE9.5, 200 RPE9, 200 RPE9
    Clean to Presses @135#: 12, 10, 9
    Weighted Dips @50#: 10, 10, 9
    Weighted Chinups: 20X5 spread between pressing sets.

    Lost focus after the first set of 200 and starting losing tension in the right trap/lat, flattening on the right side and bumping the safety bar on the 225- I suspect 265# is still a good training max and will hold onto it unless I fail again this month. Cleans to presses stayed all right- still starting to push away from the body on rep 8ish. Need to work on hip rhythm on higher rep sets. Chinups went well.
    Last edited by CJ Gotcher; 09-14-2014 at 12:37 PM.

  7. #17
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    Officially signed up for the Ironfest at Westminister! My goal is to minipeak for the event (light day and 2-days-off) and use it to work out first-meet warmup/equipment/lift attempt issues. Thanks to Beau Bryant for working through the registration challenges so quickly! (It's hard to sign up the normal route when you're halfway across the world)

    15SEP14
    WU with 500m row in 2:00 and 4X5 BS @45#.
    BS: 3@95#, 135, 185, 225; 2@245; 5@265, 280, 300F4 RPE9; 3@300 RPE 9.5;5@265 RPE8
    Speed DL: 1@325#, 12X1@325# w/25#plate deficit, 1:10 rest.
    GM: 3@135, 2@155, 4X5@165

    Tapped the safety bar on the left side on the F4 squat, which was inherently frustrating. At the top of the 3, I felt like I honestly could make the 5REP. The TM is approaching my top limit, but I'll hold it here unless I fail the minimum weight again.

    Speed DLs felt great- smooth, no injury, decently fast. GMs surprised me, too- I've been hesitating raising the weight as the BS/DL volume has been increasing, but today they felt great.

  8. #18
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    "It's not a tumor!" Detective John Kimble

    Seriously, though, it feels like it- between going from an 1800-0600 shift to a normal day work routine and catching a gnarly head cold, I had to put myself down for the last 3 days. The cold's not quite done with me, but if I can recover tonight, these off days won't put me off my schedule.

    19SEP14
    W/U with BP@45#, band pullaparts, knuckle pushups, and weighted chins
    DEBP: 5@95, 135; 12X3@165# OTM
    Press: 5@45, 95; 3@135; 5@155, 165, 175F5, 155, 155
    Upright Rows: 3X10#135#
    Weighted Chins: 17X5@45# in between work sets

    1:28 total gym time.

    DEBP focus felt better than last time at the same weight- technical focus was on keeping the shoulders tight and the back arched against the bench. Technical fault was lateral stability- for the next DE, I'll need to slow down the bar slightly, lower the weight, or (if possible), focus my way into a more stable leg drive and even lowering phase.

    I've been experimenting with the suicide grip in the press (despite the direction not to in SS:BBT- sometimes you just have to learn for yourself...) I actually like it for lower weights. The slight forward rotation of the wrists makes it almost impossible to push the weight away from my body, and I'm not feeling any loss of power from being unable to grip all the way around the bar (as suggested in SS:BBT). My issue with it is that, at heavy weights, I'm squeezing the ever-loving life out of the bar and my thumb is in a position where, today, it actually rolled the bar inside my grip when it was about 80% of the way to lockout. I recovered, but I can see how that could have easily gone sideways fast.
    Survey says... not worth it.
    Last edited by CJ Gotcher; 09-19-2014 at 07:22 PM.

  9. #19
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    "You must learn its riddle, Conan, you must learn its discipline, for no one, no one in this world can you trust, not men, not women, not beasts... This you can trust." [points to his sword]

    20SEP14

    BS: 5X5@45#, 5@95; 3@135, 185, 225, 225, 245; 5@265 RPE8, 5@280 RPE10, 3@265 RPE9

    Total gym time: 43:12.

    Poor sleep and food discipline means I went in tired and underfed. I kept sliding forward on the foot, couldn't get the pace right, belt had to tighten in an extra notch just to provide resistance, all in all, bad juju. I've clearly not yet learned the secret of steel. I've maxed out straight progression on 5/3/1, but to keep educating myself and avoid butterfly programming, I'll back off the TM and and continue a 5-3-1 progression until the December meet, then shift to a powerlifting-specific advanced novice program.

  10. #20
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    starting strength coach development program
    "It is wrong to think the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about nature." - Niels Bohr

    A lot has happened in the last ten days:
    Sprained my right ankle (has since mostly healed)
    Left Afghanistan and returned to the states
    Got a really bad head cold
    Lost 7 pounds (now 170#... not trying for it, either)
    Lifting for the first time in olympic shoes
    At a new gym, so all weights are in KG (+lbs at the 2.5-10 range... yes, my gym has a weird supply)

    My first day back has been an exercise in reeducation. I dialed back my 5-3-1 X5 values ~80% and started on a powerlifting-specific novice progression to 'feel out' where I am now that I'm back in the states... and I've definitely got some repairs to make.

    BW: 170.5
    2315-0700 (8)

    30SEP14
    BS: 3X5@20KG, 5@40, 60; 2@70 | 2X1@90; All at 110KG+10#: 5@8; 5@9; 5@9 - <3MIN RBS
    BP: 5@20KG, 40; 3@60; 2X1@80 | All at 80KG+10#: 6@9, 6@9.5, 6@9.5, 5@9.5, 5@10 - <3MIN RBS
    DL: 3@60, 90, 110; 1@140KG | All at 140KG+20#: 4@9, 4@9 - <5MIN RBS

    BS form felt terrible- need to learn to adjust to the shoes and loosen up the hips- after all that flying and the distorted gait from the messed up ankle, my hips/lower back feel tighter than a Terminator neck choke. BP felt all right- hard fatigue hit noticeably at set 4. I need more experience with multiple-rep sets in the DL: I reset every rep from static, but it felt like RBR was too high- I might shift to a ground-tap... or just accept the slightly longer rest to take advantage of the dead-stop specificity. We'll see.

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