Seti's Training Log

[Róbert Kovács]

Felt sickly yesterday whole day after training (trained in the morning), today it's much better, so definitely it's the fatigue/stress caused by training, and not some illness. Does somebody have any tricks up the sleeve to recover better after a hard workout session? (I ate plenty afterwards on multiple occasions)

[bustermonkey2]

I just try to force myself to eat and go to bed early that night. When I was doing squats and bench in same sessions, I would sometimes need ibuprofen because my arms were throbbing so much that I would get a headache or stomachache. Sometimes it is just so exhausting to get through a workout that you don't feel great.

[Róbert Kovács]

12/05
Light

BW: 97.4kg

Power Snatch
20kg 1x5
40kg 1x5
45kg 1x5
50kg 1x3
52.5kg 1x3
55kg 1x3 (PR)

Press
50kg 1x5
55kg 1x5
60kg 1x5
67.5kg 1x5
74kg 1x4 (PR)
50kg 1x15 (PR)

Squat
60kg 1x5
80kg 1x5
100kg 2x5

Switched Goodmornings to Power Snatches, and reversed the order of the exercises. Good workout, although I failed once more on the presses. I'll keep my original weight plan and do 75kg next week, I'll try the 5, but realistically I'll probably have 4. The week after that while I'm on vacation I wanted to go to triples at 75kg anyway.

[bustermonkey2]

Even though you're not hitting your intended reps on press it still is a PR. I wouldn't be too disappointed with a PR.

[Róbert Kovács]

That's right, but you know how it goes.

12/06
Medium

BW:97.25kg

Squat
20kg 1x10
60kg 1x5
80kg 1x5
100kg 1x3
120kg 1x3
145kg 1x3
112.5kg 1x8

PG Bench
50kg 1x8
60kg 1x8
70kg 1x8
80kg 1x8 (PR)

Power Clean
50kg 1x5
60kg 1x5
65kg 1x5
70kg 1x5
77.5kg 5 reps

I missed third rep and sprained my wrist slightly, was gunshy afterwards so in the end the one set of five became a double, and sporadic singles rather.

Chins
18 reps (6,5,4,3)

[Róbert Kovács]

12/09
Heavy

BW: 97.15kg

Squat
20kg 1x10
60kg 1x5
80kg 1x5
100kg 1x5
120kg 1x5
145kg 1x3

Squats (and pretty much everything) felt crap today, so I stopped at a triple, and omitted the back-off set.

PG Bench
50kg 1x5
70kg 1x5
80kg 1x3
90kg 1x3
100kg 1x3
80kg 1x8

I misloaded the bar, as I wanted to go for 102.5kg. Not my day.

Deadlift
50kg 1x5 (PC)
100kg 1x3
140kg 1x1
162.5kg 1x2
172.5kg 1x1

Today was crap on so many levels, I need to think about possible reasons.

[Róbert Kovács]

A little meandering through my training log, and I saw the disappointing fact that my absolute squat PR was set in August 2011. I tied that 2-3 times since but couldn't exceed. By the way, 2 weeks after that I was after some flu-like simptoms, and had a miracle training session with 4 PRs.

Squat 170kgx1 (tied PR)
Press 82.5kgx1
Power Clean 100kgx1 (all time PR)
Deadlift 175kgx1

Now I was benching at pretty much the same level at that time as my current level is, although with a medium grip (105kgx4, 110kgx3). I improved slightly on the press (+2.5kg), and a bit more significantly on the deadlift since (+17.5kg).

Still the cold fact is that most of my major lifts hasn't improved since, except the deadlift, but there, the hook gripping and beltlessness changed the technique as well.

So what was my programming then? Mostly Texas Method, with grueling 5x5 (50 minute) squats on volume day, and Starr style 3-5 sets of 3 presses, and benches on light day. All this at a lower bodyweight (90-92kg), because after this cycle ran out, I put on an extra 10kg with H/M/L setup that had sets of 10 on the medium day. As my heavy squats I did 3 sets of 5, and pretty much kept the same strength level, then that slowly transformed into a classic ramped 5x5 that I'm doing now, but then my strengthbase was better. Also, the added bodyweight did not really help my main lifts, so I guess it was mostly fat.

My squat depth was questionable back then, since I didn't have a coach or a video camera. Now that I have a cam I can be honest about it, maybe that is also the reason for the not too stellar performances lately. I had some dodgy plates back when I did TM, so my max 5x5 weight was probably around 136kg. I tied the 170kg pr with proper plates since, so that's a given, although with a questionable depth.

Since I'll be dieting for 3 months from january, it's not the time to hammer myself with some high volume training, but I'll still try to do 3 sets of 5 accross once a week on the squats, to not get even more weak. Other days I'll go light and probably some singles the third day.

For deadlifts, triples and singles seem to work for me, fives not so much, which is lucky considering my diet.

For the Press, triples and a few heavy singles every once in a while will be enough to keep it up.

The bench I'll still do twice, as I feel therein lies the most undeveloped potential, as I've neglected them before, although with a diet they tend to lose strength, at least I'll try to shape my chesticles a bit.

This is just an observation, and the training plan itself during the diet might change, as I've never done the two together.

[Róbert Kovács]

I have something like this in mind for my next program:

Volume:
Squat 3-5x5
Bench 4x8 (medium)
2-3 Assistance (From: Chins, BB rows, DB rows, DB pullovers, DB inclines, DB bench, Goodmornings, RDLs, Kirk Shrugs, High pulls)

Light:
Press 3-5x3
Light Squat 1-2x5
1-2 Assistance (From: Press assistances, DB laterals, DB press, Back Extensions)

Intensity:
Squat 1x5/5x1/2x3/1x1
Bench 5x2/1x1/5x3/5x1
Deadlift 3x1/2x2/1x1/1x3
2-3 Assistance (From: Kirk Shrugs, Chins, BB curls, DB curls, LTE, Dips)

Assistance will be in the high-rep range, bodybuilding style, where applicable.

[bustermonkey2]

Your intended program looks solid if your intended weight loss isn't too drastic. I have found that competing every six months has put pressure on me to be honest about squat depth and whether I'm making progress on all lifts. I would say that you should think about competing somewhere in the next 3-6 months and use that as motivation to see how strong you can get.

[Róbert Kovács]

Thanks for the encouraging words!

Yeah, I begin to think that being somewhat pointless, doesn't help in achieving my goals. As for the weight loss, as I've told before, I plan to drop 10kg in 3 months, so I would say it's medium drastic, will see how I can handle the training under it.

I hope I'll learn about training and how my body reacts in these 3 months, and I can use that knowledge to better plan my progress. Hell, I might even think about competing after that!