Nice meet results! Based on the bar speed, I definitely think you had at least 20 lbs in you on top of that last deadlift.
Thanks Shug,
Thanks Martha,
Thanks Buster,
6/12
Spent a couple hours today going through my last year's training. Came to the conclusion that my lifts haven't really progressed that much in a year despite training hard.
Quite frankly I think I was at my strongest at the meet I did in early January. In training for that I did a double squat at 455 and I struggled for 1 rep at a similar weight at last Saturday's meet. My bench press has remained unchanged since then, and although I did my best deadlift at Saturday's meet, I believe that was only because of increased confidence in my ability.
Going forward from today, I have been thinking about all the different programs out there, and which ones might be the best for me. I'm turning 54 years old in a couple months and think I'm starting to get sensitive to squatting volume which is causing my quads to always be sore. Benching and deadlifts seem unaffected by volume so far.
The programming that I have been following for the past year or so has had periodization built into the programming and a fair bit of variety of different lifts. Quite frankly it hasn't worked that well for me. I think I may try a more linear type of programming and have been considering Hepburn type programming for a few months.
Either that or hire a coach...
6/12
Actually have felt quite good since the meet on Saturday. Both my wife and son complained of being a little sore after the meet but I feel pretty good. No different than normal anyways.
I anticipation of my new programming, I thought I'd see where my overhead press is as I haven't really emphasized that lift for a few months.
OH Press - 185-1, 205-1, 225-1, 245-F, 235-1, 205-3,3,3, - 245 almost went which was quite surprising. 235 will be my baseline going forward.
Chins - BW +25# - OH-5,6, - UH-5,6,
Incline standing press at 70 degree angle - 185-5,5,5, - For some reason this is my favorite exercise now. It just feels comfortable doing this. It also forces me to press strictly.
Marc- As you've seen, I've been having some success with my own Hepburn type programming over the last few months as periodization hasn't yielded the best results for me either. It's a really slow progression so requires lots of patience. I've been doing a 2 day rotating scheme: Day 1- Bench, Squats, Press Volume Block, Chins; Day 2- Bench, Deadlifts, Press-3 sets of 2-3 reps/set. For bench, squats and deadlifts, I've been starting each given weight with 1 set of 3 reps and 5 sets of 2 reps and then cumulatively adding one more rep on one more set until I've hit 3 reps on all 6 sets. Then I add 5-10 lbs and start the progression again. I'm also doing the same type of progression on my 2nd press day but only with 3 sets instead of 6. I've been doing this scheme with 2 days rest between each day for a while, but just recently am switching to an upper/lower split of each day to minimize fatigue. I don't know yet whether that will pan out. Good luck on your programming.
Buster - I've been looking over the Hepburn programming and agree that the original 8 sets is a little much. 6 sets seems more reasonable and allows for quicker progress as well.
I was also concerned about the volume per week if I did the Monday/Tuesday and Thursday Friday workouts so taking two days rest between workouts seems reasonable.
I'm looking into a coaching option right now, but if that doesn't pan out I will go with the Hepburn type programming.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Marc
6/14
I did the Navy body fat calculator yesterday and I am sitting around 21% body fat according to the calculator. That means I'm carrying around 40 or so pounds of fat. I'd like to cut down to at least 15%.
I'm still resting up after my meet on the weekend, but thought I should do something since I am feeling not too bad. So, I did some 40 yard sprints.
40 Yard sprint at 50% - 6
40 yard sprint at 75% - 6
40 yard sprint at 90% - 6
All felt pretty good with the exception of a little pain in my iliacus muscle or hip flexors in my left hip. Groin felt fine. Going forward I will be doing some sprinting or prowler work once per week.
6/15
Warm up - 500M row in 2:05
Squat - 365-3,2,2,2,2,2,2,2, - Starting the Hepburn program since my coaching inquiry has gone unanswered so far. Woke up sore in my legs from my sprinting last night. Used 80% of my recent 1RM which seemed appropriate. Last few sets were difficult. I started with 3 minutes between sets but for the last 2 or 3 sets extended it to 4-5 minutes.
Bench - 275-3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3, - Used 10 pounds more (345) than my recent comp max (336) for my 1RM. These still seemed easy so I did a 2 second pause for all sets/reps. Did each set on the 3 minute mark for rest. I originally planned to do 1 set of 3 and the rest 2's but they went up very easy. I'll add weight for the next workout.
Chin ups on rings - BW-3,5,6,6,6,6,6 - Did these while resting between bench presses.
6/16
Warm up - 500M row in 1:46
Incline press at 70 degrees - 190-5,5,5, - Despite benching yesterday these went fairly well. Will add 5 pounds for next workout. I'm not normally sore after bench workouts, but doing all 24 pause reps yesterday brought on some soreness despite the weights going up easily.
Dips - 35-5,5,6, - I'm being cautious with these as these have bothered my shoulders in the past. Did face pulls between sets.
Cable press downs - 180- 9,10,10, - After all the press/triceps work not sure if I really need to do these...