The Road to 405

[Austin Baraki]

Excellent. Welcome back!

[Ryan Arnold]

Excellent. Welcome back!

Thanks Austin!

3/23/15

Squat: 105x5x3

105x5 - YouTube

Bench: 105x5x3
DL: 175x5

I somewhat questioned training today. The area of the hernia felt a bit tender but I convinced myself that's just normal. Its like anything else. The area got worked so its sore. I reminded myself that there is zero evidence of hernia recurrence related to activity. The thing is healed it just doesn't feel completely normal yet. That being said, the workout went fine.
I believe I detected less irritation at the bottom of the squat today, but I still stayed conservative with weight. Only made a 10lb jump, but that's ok. I'll know when its time to make bigger jumps. Form looks fine as far as I can tell. I'm not exactly exploding out of the hole yet for obvious reasons.
Bench was a bit restricted. Getting a normal arch and normal breath are not quite possible yet. Too much of a stretch on the incisions and hernia area. But I'm able to do it 90% correct so its fine.
DL again felt fine. Made a 20lb jump. I probably only have one more week of 3x/week DL, if that. Will play it by ear.
Overall feeling pretty good. Almost like a normal person again. Still holding out hope to be able to compete May 1st, even if I don't PR anything. Probably still need to show up and get the Meet experience.

[John Petrizzo]

Good to see you back to training, Ryan. Best of luck with the recovery.

[bean counter]

Looking forward to an awesome LP from this point!

[Ryan Arnold]

Looking forward to an awesome LP from this point!

Thanks guys! I'm actually looking forward to this block of training. Its going to be good experience to have to start super light at LP and progress optimally thereafter. And now I am of course..an expert on hernias.

I'm wondering actually - has anyone ever seen someone end up stronger after a break/re-start LP than they were previously?

My last workout before the pain got too much I squatted 350x3x2 and I was running a modified 3day TM. I wonder if there is any way I could end my LP with a 340/345x5x3? It may be a moot point since I may be interrupted by having to taper for a Meet (May 1st) but still curious to see how it all goes.

[HiCntry]

I'm wondering actually - has anyone ever seen someone end up stronger after a break/re-start LP than they were previously?

Check out Bostonrugger's log.(I think that's his name??). He was rerunning LP until recently and got up past 405x5x3, maybe 420x5x1+backoffs doing adv novice at the end iirc.

[Ryan Arnold]

Check out Bostonrugger's log.(I think that's his name??). He was rerunning LP until recently and got up past 405x5x3, maybe 420x5x1+backoffs doing adv novice at the end iirc.

Just read his log. Thanks. I admire his devotion to the LP. Most people are the opposite. He does need Intermediate programming now though. Evidenced by the fact that he squatted 435x5 one workout, then failed 440x1 5 days later and then stopped. That's a pretty big crash and he now needs a week to recover from heavy squats. I know he keeps having breaks for rugby season, wedding, etc so makes sense to keep starting with LP, but he does stay in it too long. I think he's done it 4 or 5 times now. Anyhow, it does give me confidence I can go pretty far with LP, having taken a whole month off

[Anthony King]

Hey Ryan,

I believe my original LP ended with 310x5x3, then I switched to a 5rm top set and got to 340x5.

During my (false) hernia scare injury I kept squats capped at about 300lbs for a single set of 5. After I was scanned and no hernia found I ran an LP up to 310x5x3, put in a light day and ran up to 330x5x3, then put in a medium day and in three weeks hit 345x5x3 on the Heavy Day. I remember it being very fast and much more solid than the original LP. I went two months with no missed reps or resets.

Another data point:
My wife ran LP and then had a long layoff of hardly lifting at all. She wanted to lean out and went from 138 to 121 bw over a few months, and started LP'ing again about six weeks ago. She's doing triples across on the squat with more weight than she did when she was almost 20lbs heavier, and I think she has a good month left in her. She's going to blow her old numbers out of the water and she's dropped a weight class.

Not a lot of data, but I think it is reasonable to expect to surpass your original novice LP by a considerable margin.

[Ryan Arnold]

Great, thanks for the input Anthony. That's what I'm hoping for. Although its probably not something I need to overthink. It should be intuitive when to switch back to Intermediate.

3/25/15

Squat: 135x5x3
Press: 95x5x3
DL: 205x5

Everything felt pretty good. After 2 days of rest I envision feeling close to 100% on Monday. So should be able to take some bigger jumps next week

[Ryan Arnold]

3/28/16

How long will it take me to stop putting 2015 as the date? Hopefully some time in 2016.

Squat: 155x5x3
Bench: 125x5x2, 135x5
DL: 255x5

255x5 - YouTube


Still feeling a slight pinch at the bottom of squats, but generally they feel fine. Will try for 175 or 185 Wednesday.
Still feeling the incision stretch while getting the arch/air on the Bench. But the weight did not feel heavy and was able to do a little more on the last set.
DL felt much better than expected. Basically no discomfort whatsoever even after a 50lb jump. This actually gives me some good confidence that I can PR my DL at the Meet May 1st. I'll be proud if that happens.
I think I've almost turned the corner to where I can lift with no reservations. Hernia area is still somewhat tender at times but its fading quick.