Carry on Wayward Son

[sergeant_81]

Friday numbers (weight-reps-sets)

Squat 275-5-3
Press 115-3-1, 2-2
Pull-ups 4, 3, 3

Squats were brutal tonight, but I got 'em done - felt solid and in the groove for all three sets.

The press - 'sigh' - looks like a regression. I'm planning on an extensive reset starting next week to get this lift under control again.

I suck at pull-ups. Always have. Hated the damned things in the military - I could do 15 or so back then, but I was also all of 140 pounds bodyweight in those days.

I'm down to 191 pounds bodyweight tonight. I have to make a confession - I have not eaten well the last four days. I have a problem with forgetting to eat when I get very busy, and with the year-end going on at work (I'm a financial analyst and internal auditor), the workload is absolutely insane. I imagine the presses are being directly affected by this.

Until Monday,
-sergeant-

[sergeant_81]

Squat: 280x5x2, x4x1
Bench: 180x4x2, x3x1
Deadlift: 315x3x1

Looks like the big stall tonight. These are about the numbers I was at when I had my first stall in my previous training a year ago. The deadlifts were a surprise - the first three reps went up with a grind but were not too entirely difficult, but rep 4 didn't even budge off the floor.

The situation has been complicated by long work hours and inattention to proper recovery. I am going to give special attention to my diet over the next two weeks while I figure out whether this is a true stall.

Would that I could do this shit for money and give up the career life...

[sergeant_81]

Alright, so epic fail in keeping up with the log.

Long story short, a couple weeks off here and there due to personal issues and the usual bullshit excuses has led to no real progress. I regressed a bit and am now back at my previous working weights. I've been consistent over the last three weeks.

Bodyweight is 201 at 5'10".

Last night:

Squats 285 x 5 x 3
Very freakin' tough. Almost didn't make the last rep. I think I saw Jesus at one point.

Press 90 x 5 x 3
You all know my problems with this one. I reset back to a ridiculously low weight and am working back up. They seem to be progressing a bit better this time.

Power Clean 115 x 3 x 5
Pretty easy. Working these up slowly as when I initially began I started way too high. I like to finish off the last rep of each set with a jerk - maybe that will aid my pressing a bit.

Bench is currently at 180 for 5 tough reps, DL at 300 with an eye for 320 on Friday.

[sergeant_81]

As an aside, I've noted that I'm one of those guys for whom leg and back strength progresses fairly well, but upper body (chest/arms/shoulders) is a bastard. I will be a happy son of a bitch if I ever make it to a 225 bench press and 135 press for reps.

I hate the idea of microloading as much as Rip recommends it. I just might have to break down and get a couple of small plates.

[fnet]

Damn it, Sergeant. Your line about seeing Jesus during some heavy squats had me lauging earlier in the day. I wasn't laughing later, however, as I had my own devine revelation while squatting 330 lbs for 5 and a pain in my side since rep 2. As for the press, I too struggle with it. Microloading will help. I bought some large washers from Fastenal. http://www.fastenal.com/web/products...u=96017&ucst=t
They are 1 1/4 lbs a pair. With 6 you can make 1 1/4, 2 1/2 and 3 3/4 LB jumps. It'll set you back around $20. Iron Woody sells a fractional plate set for around $50 http://www.ironwoodyfitness.com/fractionals.php
Happy lifting.

[sergeant_81]

Thanks for the advice, fnet. The "Jesus" comment is actually borrowed from Rip himself, when he was discussing 20-rep squats in a thread here a couple years back. Credit where credit is due.

'Nother big stall tonight. Squats at 290 went for four, two, and 0 reps. The weight was just pinning me to the friggin' ground.

Same on bench at 185. 4, 2, 2 reps.

Did pull-ups tonight instead of the usual deadlifts, as squats and benches had me fried. I'm not sure if this is a recovery thing or if I am, in fact, seeing the end of my novice progression.

[sergeant_81]

Started in with Justin Lascek's modified novice program for the Olympic lifts today. I'm familiar with the lifts and decided it would be fun to give them some focus here at the tail-end of my novice progression. While I'm introducing the lifts I'm working an extensive re-set on the squat and bench, and am at normal progression on the press and deadlift.

Today - heavy C&J, working towards a single, and snatch across, 15 reps w/ 1 minute b/t sets.

Topped out on the C&J at 86 kg, although the jerk itself left something to be desired.

I attempted the snatches at 43 kg, but only managed about half of the reps. I had trouble locking the snatch overhead and kept losing it forward. I'll probably back off on these for sets across next time.

As an aside, I have plenty of videos for all this stuff, but my camera cord is currently AWOL and until I find it I can't upload.

[Kincain]

I was drawn by the title of your thread, awsome song

nice to see that you also try the Justin Lascek WL program, I'll be following your log to see how you like it.

[sergeant_81]

Squat:
45x5x2
100x5
155x3
205x2
260x5x2

Last training session for the squat reset. Next squat session will be 260 for all 3 sets. The 260 felt good and fairly easy, but I decided not to push it considering how hard I crashed into the wall at 290.

Press
45x5x2
65x5
85x2
100x5x3

Presses were tough on the last set, and there was noticeable pain in the right shoulder. I imagine I've tweaked something after the snatch session yesterday. I need to take more rest between sets on these.

Chins 5,3,3

I just suck at chins.

As an an aside, 204 pounds bodyweight tonight. Goal is 215 by end of June (will probably shoot beyond that easily), 225 by end of summer.

[msingh]

I dont know how well you are progressing on bench/press but i recently ran a smolov jnr bench cycle and got a lot of good things out of it. Might be worth a shot. The higher volume can help force your upper body to improve.