A marathon swimmer lifts so he can swim long

[IronMike]

Great day today! Swam with the DD this morning. We're working on her getting her swim speed and power back. She twisted her knee skiing in the beginning of March, so kicking is difficult for her. We did some sprints with pull buoy, which was good for her and her knee. 2000 easy yards. We'll go back tomorrow and see how we do.

Went back to Cpl Smith gym's weight room with the wife and both daughters. Great family time!

Since the SL 5x5 app had me deload 10% after our 10-day no-working-out rush to move out of Russia, I decided now is the time to bring my squats back to 5x5. I had been doing 3x5 for a bit since 190# was getting incredibly heavy. I redid 170# today (same weight as Monday) but 5x5. Felt incredible.

Next up was bench press. 140# felt heavy, but doable. 5x5.

Finally, 140# in bent over row. Certainly was heavy. Worked on different grips (widths). Turns out I like the basic shoulder-width grip.

[IronMike]

Yesterday was another good day. Swam in the morning with my daughter, then had to go to work for a bit. Then worked out with the entire family again.

Squat was 5x5 at 175#. Very doable.

Right shoulder was feeling a bit wonky after the bench on Wednesday, so I was unsure how the OHP would feel. Didn't have to worry; it felt great. I have the micro-plates so did 5x5 at 72#.

Deadlift was programmed at 220# for 5. To make it easier, plates-wise, I just did 225 for 5 reps (after warm up of course). Felt heavy (was I really DLing 240 recently?) but doable.

I'm considering dropping bench and replacing it with either more OHP or push press. I want to lift heavy over my head as opposed to benching (long term goal is 135#). I was thinking of a few options:
a) Every time bench comes up, do push press instead at +20-30% of current OHP weight, 5x5;
b) Every time bench comes up, alternate between push press and bench, 5x5;
c) Every time bench comes up, alternate between push press and incline bench at -20-30% of bench weight, 5x5.

Anyone adjust their beginner program this early? I've only been on this program 13 weeks. My max lifts are (all in pounds):
SQ: 185 (3x5)
DL: 240 (1x5)
OHP: 80 (5x5)
Bench: 140 (5x5)
Row: 140 (5x5)

I feel like I can still go up in all the lifts, that's not the issue. I just don't want to aggravate my shoulder any more. It doesn't hurt in the OHP, just in the bench.

[IronMike]

Great day at the gym.

But first, 2500 in the pool with the daughter. Her knee is getting better and I'm getting my wind back. Looking forward to going back to my 3-4K per workout.

Did this at the gym today:

Sq: 180# 5x5 work set.
Push Press: w/u 45 and 65 both 1x5. Final "work set" was 5 reps each of 95, 90, 85, 85, 85.
Pendlay rows: w/u 115 for 5. Then work set was 145 for 5x5.

The squat felt heavy. Very heavy. Did at least 3 minutes between each set. But finished them all.

I overestimated my work set for push press, adding 30% to my military press. Big mistake. That 95 was hard. Going down by 5 was not much easier, which is why I ended up finishing the 5 sets with 85. Still hard. Next time bench comes up (Friday), I'm going to do incline bench. I'll w/u with the bar, then maybe 65 or so, then see what I think a good working set would be.

Rows feel strong. I still have far to go in them, I think. (knock on wood.)

[IronMike]

Hit my BW today in squat. w00t!

Squat work set: 185# for 5x5. Took forever but kept form up. This is where I was weeks ago (but only 3x5) prior to our being kicked out of Russia and having no time for lifting for a bit over a week. So very happy to get back to this with 2 more sets. Next stop at 190 will be the most I've done. Friday!

OHP at 74# for 5x5. Hard but doable.

DL work set was 230# for 1x5. Grip killed me early today, no idea why. I had to take 1-2 sec breaks during the warm ups. Gotta build those calluses up more.

Had no swimming last two days due to appointments today and my daughter overdoing her abs on Monday and not wanting to swim Tuesday morning due to that. And tomorrow morning she has some online tutoring with her teachers back in Russia, so we won't be able to go to the pool till around lunch time. Hope it is not crowded!

[IronMike]

Went back to the gym today after a long break. Friday night I was sick, and much better on Saturday, thank God. But Saturday was my bday and we had a beer fest to go to.

My work set in Squat today was to be 5x5 at 190. 1x5 was barely made, so for today I did 190, 185, 180, 175, 170, all for 5. Next time I'll start with 190 again, and try to do 190 at least for the second set, before moving down by 5s. I'll continue that until I can do 5x5 at 190.

Then I thought I'd try incline press. Not gonna happen. Right shoulder screaming, only lifting the bar. So today became another push press day. Still not sure where I am on that so went 45, 65, 75, 85, 90, all for 5 reps. I think what I'm going to do now, after reading in these forums, is move to HLM for press while continuing SL 5x5 for squat, DL and row.

Finally, pendlay rows, work set 5x5 for 150. Hard, but doable. Third and fourth set the bar didn't quite touch my chest, so I'm going to repeat 150 again in two workouts.

Pool time starts again tomorrow. Can't wait.

[IronMike]

Reading in another thread about a guy in circumstances much like my own, I decided to switch over to SS NLP. I have (well, my wife has) all the books and I've read SS and PP as well as the Barbell Prescription, seeing how I'm 51.

So today I started with workout A. I set it so that I redid 185 in the squats (not hard), 145 in bench (forgetting I hadn't hit 145 yet in SL5x5) and 240 on DL. Went well. Next will be workout B of course, and I'll start with squat at 187.5 (going up by 2.5 in everything but DL), OHP at 85 and pendlay rows (I can't do those Oly lifts) at 150 again.

As stated above, back to swimming. w00t! Still only at about 10k a week. Moving back up to my working 15k and as the season gets closer I'll ramp up to 20k a week.

[IronMike]

Took my daughters (15 and 18) to see their brother (21) at his university. Been kinda busy but found a gym nearby the school with drop-ins. The place was beautiful!

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Second day of SS NLP, did 187 for the work set for Squat. Next up was OHP with a work set of 77. Nice and strict. Finally the deadlift, again. No idea why the app had me do it again. I was expecting pendlay rows. Maybe because it's been so many days since my last session? Anyway, the work set was 245. Heavy but do-able. I managed 4 reps before the grip gave way and I had to reset for the final rep.

Not much swimming since Thursday; back in the pool Tuesday morning.

[IronMike]

As promised, back in the pool this morning. 3000 nice and quick. Well, not quick, but it was nice.

A couple hours, and a breakfast later, off to the gym. Today was workout B I guess? Anyway, I got to do rows today. First up was squat at 190 for the working set. Hard, but whoever in these forums mentioned "drive up through the heel," well, that really worked for me. Had some very nice reps in each set where I thought "Now, that was perfect form." We'll see how it goes with 192 on Thursday. Took about 4 minutes break btwn sets.

Bench press was heavy today. At least for me. Almost didn't make the last rep of the last set. Working set of 150 today. Also took 4 minutes btwn sets.

Finally, Pendlay rows. Love these. Working set of 5x3 at 150. Heavy, but I kept my form strict and now (4 hours later) I feel my back! 2:30 to 3:00 btwn sets.

New month, new way I'm gonna do this here log. Below I'll track my weekly swim distance and I'll try something from the app: strength:bodyweight.

Cheers all,
IronMike

Yards this week: 3000
Strength:Bodyweight
Squat: 1.03
Press: 0.42
Bench: 0.81
DL: 1.32
Rows: 0.81

[IronMike]

Today was heavy. Damn. Probably the worst I've felt after lifting, as far as worn out. Still feeling it now six hours later.

Squats today were supposed to be 3x5 at 195. Rep #4 of set 1, all of a sudden a felt a ping in my lower back, and learned from experience that once I feel that, I need to stop. So set 1 was only 4 reps of 195. I dropped the weight down to 192 and did the final 2 sets of 5 fine. Felt pretty good actually. 4 min rest between sets.

Did OHP next. 80# felt really easy. Did the official 180 seconds between sets. First and second sets easy. So I decided to start set #3 after only 90 seconds. Big mistake. Reps 4 and 5 were ugly. Like one arm fully locked out while the other only halfway ugly. I guess there really is a reason for the rest time.

DL after that. 250# today. HEAVY. I knew I was in trouble when the 2x215 warm up felt heavy. Really what I did was not 1x5 but 1x2 then 3x1. That was heavy, but my hands (grip, really) felt great, so I got that going for me.

And great swimming with the DD the last two days as well. Keeping it nice and short.

Cheers,
IronMike

Yards this week: 7600
Strength:Bodyweight
Squat: 1.04
Press: 0.43
Bench: 0.81
DL: 1.35
Rows: 0.81
Beer being drunk while writing: Devil's Backbone Vienna Lager

[IronMike]

Well, not gonna lift today. Still not recovered from that squat and DL last session. Wife, daughters and I will go tomorrow, so that's the start of a new week, so this post is solely to update the yards swum. As it is 0920, no beer being drunk while writing.

Cheers,
IronMike

Yards this week: 10,100
Strength: Bodyweight
Squat: 1.04
Press: 0.43
Bench: 0.81
DL: 1.35
Rows: 0.81
Breakfast eaten while writing: Pepperoni pizza casserole