Geezer's Long March Toward the Elite Sneaking Up On the Finish Line

[Mark E. Hurling]

Off to hit the iron for a heavy day. Boy was it ever!

5 minute warmup on the bike.

Bench Press: 235 x 5 x 3. That was the goal anyway, it turned out to be 3-3-3-2-2. I could tell from the first set that this would be a tough session because the last rep was hard. Unlike the last few weeks though it didn't get any less hard just tougher to grind out rep #3. I failed on the 3rd rep in set 4 and barely squeaked out rep #2 in my last set. It went up slloooww. In fact I had pulled that last rep out of my ass so hard, I thought I had better take a break to take a dump since I had deadlifts coming next and I was wearing white shorts to lift in. An accident of the wrong sort just wouldn't look good at all and would be impossible to miss. I'd never be able to show my face (or anything south of that) there again.

Sumo Deadlifts: 325 x 3. These too were hard, probably because I had nailed my CNS on the benches. I wasn't worried about failure or hurting my back, but I had to really dig deep. My face was purple while I was unloading the bar. Good thing I took a break, it could have really ugly.

So, I have been working at not creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, but I had a feeling that about week 8 or so that things would get very taxing and here it is, week number 8. So Oldster, what advice now? Cut back to sets of 2 reps or keep going for the maximum number of reps in each set I can? Oh, and damn my pecs are sore. (whine)

[Mark E. Hurling]

Woke up at 0300 and never fully regained sleep. So I am running on fumes already and it's still morning. Off for a medium lifting session.

5 minute warmup on the bike.

Bench Press: 205 x 5 x 5. Chest was still a little sore from Sunday and I was nowhere close to missing reps, but heavy day has still left its "mark" so to speak.

Hammer Row: 370 x 5 x 5.

Claw Grip: 165 x 2 x 5. PR! I get some of the strangest looks from the morning gym rats when I hook this up to a weight stack pulley and grip away. Only questioned about it once though. He thought it might have been for rock climbing. Funny because Strossen at IronMind recommends it for that too.

[Oldster]

So Oldster, what advice now? (whine)

I DO appreciate the whine.....!

Pretty simple. For NOW, do the same weight again. Don't let your head get in the way and let the 8 week thing worry you. Just do the same weight again next week and we'll go from there. You 'may' have to do the same weight for 3 or 4 weeks even. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Don't get too worried about a set amount of weeks. There are a lot of choices after we decide if you are truly stuck.

Did you notice how even though you were sore a bit after yesterdays 5x5 and with little sleep you had plenty of strength and probably your fourth and fifth sets were your best? I bet your chest and triceps felt much better after your WO too.

[Mark E. Hurling]

I did a GXP today after two days of walking around like the living dead from bad sleep. I may be having a low-grade fever at 99F (98.4F is normal for me) from flu rebound. The wooziness feels like the earlier iteration of it from weeks back. Or it could be unsettled stress from my boss retiring this week and me sweating out his replacement. The latter turned out OK, for me at least, so tomorrow will probably be a good indicator of which was or is the real issue here.

Thanks as usual Oldster. I'm embarassed to say that your advice didn't occur to me immediately, but I had been doing single progression microloading for so long and then dipping my toe into 5/3/1 that I have no experience at this type of rep and set scheme. Not that it's new, any more than I am. I just never thought I was ready for it. Live and learn. You're right about the sets getting easier and the soreness diminishing too. Of course it came back later, just at a lower level of discomfort. I was almost thinking that my trip into the twilight zone might have been from overtraining. Doubtful, but the mind grasps at straws sometimes.

[RobCor]

Mark,

Any more stories like the one where you get obliterated and mildly concussed by the much larger competitor are appreciated. I got a good laugh out of that. Makes the work days go faster.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Glad you liked that. It's one of the better ones I have, but not what I think is the best. I've got a bunch that I'm working on sort of in parallel with the women's self defense book. The working title is Police Stories, took a lot of imagination for that one huh? I have silly ass tales like that and some of the other kind all through the draft. It starts with the obligatory (but I hope mercifully brief) formative influences in family and school through college to a summer internship at a juvie facility. All before I even got formally initiated into The Blue Religion. A number of my posts here have some indirect allusions to some of the stories already. If nothing else, it will be a somewhat narrow scope autobiography for our daughter to read. She always wanted "when you were a policeman" bed time stories as a little kid and I had to bowdlerize even the tamest ones quite a bit. These are the raw feed. Now that she's 21 and about to graduate from OSU, I've told her a few and she has recoiled in horror. But then she majored in sociology.

[RobCor]

Heed my unsolicited and unwanted advice. The title needs to include a term from police lexicon: Stories from the Blue Religion.

"'Blue Religion?' What's that? Sounds mysterious, and there are stories about it! Where is the cashier?"

[Mark E. Hurling]

Heh, too funny there RobCor. I wish I could claim originality for that, but Michael Connelly used it in one of his police novels with his character Harry Bosch. Great reads and ring very true since he was a crime reporter. He just might object. Good suggestion though, I hadn't thought of it and as time marches on, I may ask him if he might have a problem with it's use elsewhere.

As went to Gold's by King Harbor the sea lions were barking in the dark. Very unusual and made me wonder if the hound of the Baskervilles was out there stirring them up.

5 minute warmup on the bike.

Overhead Press: 180 x 5 x 3. (heavy) This went very well and the sets got easier as I proceeded. Just like you said Oldster. In my triumph I forgot to do the final 10 rep pump set with 60%. Very pleasing after Sunday's minor setback.

Bench Press: 155 x 8 x 3 + 15. (light) The speed sets are coming more naturally now so, good. I added some reps and might have got out some more but I didn't want to make this to failure. I'll add a few pounds next week.

Front Squats: 135 x 3 x 6. (light) I might have gotten more reps but the back was feeling iffy. Didn't want to jeopardize tomorrow's jujitsu session since I haven't been up to it earlier this week.

That brings me up to my "rebound flu." I think this was actually a stress reaction to my boss's retirement and his successor. I'm doing better today, so that might have been it. I didn't have any other symptoms than cotton packed eye sockets that I normally associate with fatigue. My sleep was better too. I have known him for over 20 years, he is a great guy and some of the possible replacements for him were really unsettling. Happily it all worked out well. I spoke at his party to a group of over 100 people and that was probably a stressor as well.

[Titanium]

.

[Oldster]

Bench Press: 155 x 8 x 3 + 15. (light) I added some reps and might have got out some more but I didn't want to make this to failure. I'll add a few pounds next week.

Don't. Add more reps until you eventually work yourself a little closer to 20 reps. THEN add weight.