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Thread: A marathon swimmer lifts so he can swim long

  1. #21
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    Mar 2018
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    Busy weekend with the girls, lots of driving around. Ugg...

    But back in the pool this morning (3000) and then the gym after lunch. Heavy day for me.

    Squat: Back to trying 195x5x3 for the workset. This time however, I did it! Felt strong too. Maybe one rep out of those 15 felt like my form got away from me. Otherwise I pushed from the heels and got that weight up. Still gonna stick to 2lb increase for Wednesday.

    Bench: I knew I was in trouble when one of the w/u weights (130) felt heavy. I managed 155x5x2, but in the third set could only push 3 reps myself. My spotter (wife) immediately took the 10s off each side and I finished with 135x2, which still felt heavy! I read recently Andy Baker's "5 Ways to 5 x5" and I think I'm gonna take a page out of that for my next bench: I'll try 160 for the first two sets and 155 for the third. Whichever sets I make, I'll go up 5# the next time and whichever ones I don't, I'll stay at that weight.

    Pendlay rows: I am still following SS's method from power cleans, that is 5 w/u sets then 5 sets of 3 work weight, so this is my longest exercise as I try to stick to the rest periods (90 sec for w/u's and 180 for worksets). 155# for the work set is heavy but doable. I messed around with my grip today to get some different areas of my back. We'll see if I'm sore later; last time I did rows, I felt it in my back a few hours later. (Writing this now only about an hour after finishing.)

    Cheers,
    IronMike

    Yards this week: 3000
    Strength: Bodyweight
    Squat: 1.05
    Press: 0.43
    Bench: 0.84
    DL: 1.35
    Rows: 0.84
    Music listened to while writing: Ti Amo by Phoenix
    Last edited by IronMike; 05-07-2018 at 06:02 PM.

  2. #22
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    Mar 2018
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    Today was good. No swimming, but we went to the gym early.

    Squats: 197x5x3 for the work set. Rough. Hard. I think I might be able to do 200 on Friday.

    OHP: 85 was rough. Couldn't make the 5th rep, so dropped down to 82 and did the final two sets of 5 each. Didn't look pretty, but complete. I think next time I might try 90x5 for the first set, the 85x5 for the second and third sets. Based on Baker's 5 Ways article.

    Deadlift. Well, 255 was hard, but didn't feel as hard as the 250 did last week.

    Got a package in the mail today. My microplates! (Thanks, Dan!) I've got old 0.5kg microplates from when I was in Moscow, and have been using them, counting each one as a pound to make it easier. But I think it will be great to be able to really increase in smaller increments. My OHP may need it!

    Cheers,
    IronMike

    Yards this week: 4500
    Strength: Bodyweight
    Squat: 1.06
    Press: 0.46
    Bench: 0.84
    DL: 1.38
    Rows: 0.84
    Music listened to while writing: Headmaster's Ritual by The Smiths
    Last edited by IronMike; 05-11-2018 at 04:00 PM.

  3. #23
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    Mar 2018
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    FRIDAY! Thank God.

    Great swimming week. Slowly moving the yards in the positive direction, and got the DD signed up for her summer league. Her PB times are good enough she doesn't have to show up to the try-outs on Mother's Day, so that's good.

    Today:
    Squat: Spoke with the wife about my squats on Wednesday. She told me they were ugly and I need to be careful of my lower back. I knew some of the reps were ugly, but apparently more were than not. So I decided on two things: cut my progression to 1# per workout and find articles on form. Found a great article by Rip in the Training Log section entitled "Knees out/toes out in squat." I've been doing it wrong all along.

    When I started this journey four months ago, when the weight was light, I tried a bunch of different stances. I settled on one that was apparently way too narrow. I switched today to the Knees out/toes out (really, feet shoulder-width apart was the key) stance and what a difference. Still heavy, but did the 3 sets of 5 of 198# with pretty good form.

    Bench press: So my plan today was to try 160# for 2 sets of 5 then 155# for the last set, based on the last time I did (and failed) bench. Couldn't even do the first set of 5, failed at 4. So dropped down to 155# for the remaining two sets. Set #2 I did all 5 reps, but only 4 reps for the third set. And this was with 5 minutes between each set. I'm going to reattempt 155x5x3 next time, and if I don't hit 5 reps in the third set, I'll have my wife take the 10s off each side and I'll finish up the set at 135#.

    Pendlay rows: Heavy today, but completed all 5 sets of 3 at 160#. No issues. Can certainly feel it during and after, mostly in the rhomboid major. At least, that's where I feel it.

    Cheers,
    IronMike

    Yards this week: 10,200
    Strength: Bodyweight
    Squat: 1.07
    Press: 0.46
    Bench: 0.84
    DL: 1.38
    Rows: 0.86
    Beer being drunk while writing: Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy

  4. #24
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    Mar 2018
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    200! W00t!

    Squat: Today was sked to be 199, but I thought what the hell, try 200. After all, I had 72 hours off since Friday was the last lift day. And I felt good. The final warm up (165 I think) was heavy, so that worried me. But with my new (proper) stance, I powered through all 5 reps in all 3 sets. Nice to have a 2 at the beginning of my squat weight. I'll keep going up by 1lb each session, but I think every Monday (or whenever after 72 hours off) I'll add 2lbs instead. See how I do.

    OHP: Broke through 85. Did 85x5x3. Last rep last set was ugly, but got it up w/o bending my legs or bending my back. Phew! Took a while. I'll try 87 next time, see how I do.

    DL: Programmed for 260 today and success! 220 was the last warm up and while that felt heavy, it didn't feel as heavy as it did weeks ago when it was my work set. In fact, this time I did the first 3 reps straight, waited about 10 seconds, then did the next 2 reps. Felt powerful. All that rest does a body good.

    Cheers,
    IronMike

    Yards this week: 2800
    Strength: Bodyweight
    Squat: 1.08
    Press: 0.46
    Bench: 0.84
    DL: 1.41
    Rows: 0.86
    Lecture listened to while writing: Detlev Blanke on Interlinguistics (Esperante)
    Last edited by IronMike; 05-14-2018 at 11:51 AM.

  5. #25
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    Mar 2018
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    Squat: Wednesday was supposed to be 201, but I thought I'd try 202.5. Hard. Unsure what to do Friday.

    Bench press: After my issues the last few sessions, I thought I'd try 155x5x3, and I was successful! Finally. Not sure if I want to try 160 on Monday or 157.5.

    Pendlay rows: 165x3x5. Ugly. And now (Thursday morning) my tendons on my left elbow (inside) are feeling pretty sore.

    I keep thinking about moving to HLM now. For many exercises I'm only going up 5# per week, so maybe it's time?

    Cheers,
    IronMike

    Yards this week: 8000
    Strength: Bodyweight
    Squat: 1.09
    Press: 0.46
    Bench: 0.84
    DL: 1.41
    Rows: 0.89
    Breakfast eaten while writing: one pound ham steak.

  6. #26
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    Mar 2018
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    Squat: Decided to do a medium day, so work set was 185x5x4. First time I've done more than 3 work sets in squat in weeks. Funny how 185 was so heavy back then. The 4 sets were no biggie; heavy enough to be work, but not debilitating.

    OHP: Likewise, medium effort today, but damn was 77.5# heavy. Again did 4 sets of 5. Form was nice.

    DL: Kept to the NLP for this today, which called for 265. Heavy! But the 2x220 last warm up was a breeze. Again, wudda killed me only a couple months ago!

    Monday will be squat, bench, rows. If I stick to HLM for those exercises, Monday'll be a heavy day, meaning squat work set of 1x5 at 205#, 1RM for bench at 172.5#, and 5x3 for pendlay rows at 140#. Hmmm...

    Cheers,
    IronMike

    Yards this week: 8000
    Strength: Bodyweight
    Squat: 1.09
    Press: 0.46
    Bench: 0.84
    DL: 1.43
    Rows: 0.89
    Sounds heard while writing: 3/4 of my kids, my sister & my nephew sleeping while birds chirp along the shore of Redbank Creek.

  7. #27
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    Mar 2018
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    Today I started HLM. I know I probably could have gotten more out of NLP, or at least some would say I could, having only done it for four months. But I just kept failing and deloading in squat and bench press, and hell, OHP. 15# a week in squat was just too much. And I was jumping only 1-2# each time for OHP and BP. I'm still doing NLP in DL as I think I still have far to go and 5# each workout has not been debilitating. We'll see what happens. Anyway...

    Squat: Today's work set was 1x5 at 205#. Absolutely do-able, and did-able. Never squatted that heavy before. Didn't go up easily, certainly, but was not impossible. Felt really good actually. Next Monday will be 210#. Wednesday will be L day so squat will be 2x5 at 145#.

    Bench press: Today was sked for a 1RM of 172.5#. Been years since I'd done even close to that, and this one went up easily. Next time with bench will be the M day and it's programmed to be 3 or 4x5 of 142.5#.

    Pendlay rows: The calculator had me doing a work set of 5x3 at 140#. 25# less than I did on the NLP, but those sets felt fake as I hardly (if even) touched my chest. I think this reset and work back up will actually improve my strength over time. Friday the rows will be 5x3 at 145#.


    Cheers,
    IronMike

    Yards this week: 0
    Strength: Bodyweight
    Squat: 1.1
    Press: 0.46
    Bench: 0.84
    DL: 1.43
    Rows: 0.89
    Thoughts while writing: Where the hell are we gonna live in Boston?
    Last edited by IronMike; 05-22-2018 at 02:17 PM.

  8. #28
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    Mar 2018
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    Wednesday was light day, except for DL.

    Squat: Work set was 2x5 at 145#. So easy. But then why do my thighs still hurt now, Thursday night?

    OHP: For some reason, the program calls for pretty much the same thing for press for two weeks, with just some adjustment to the work set. This time it was 77.5# 3x5. Next time I do OHP it'll be a 1RM attempt at 95# (yikes), then the next time after that will be 4x5 at 77.5# on medium day.

    DL: I'm continuing the NLP with DL and rows, so Wednesday was 270# for the usual set of 5 reps. Very heavy.

    I got rid of the bodyweight ratio thing below my sig block. My weight is going up. My wife says I'm not getting fatter, but I'm getting more muscular, so that's good. I'm at about 188 now, up from 185-ish when I started. As long as it remains muscle gain I'll be okay, but at 5'8", I'm kinda scared of getting so near 200 pounds.

    Cheers,
    IronMike

    Yards this week: 2000
    Current 5RMs:
    Squat: 205
    OHP: 85
    Bench: 155
    Rows: 165
    DL: 270
    Song listened to while writing: Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army Are Friends Electric.
    Last edited by IronMike; 05-26-2018 at 06:33 PM.

  9. #29
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    Mar 2018
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    Today I did M day.

    Squat: Work set was 3x5 at 185#. Heavy. I can feel it now, 8 hours later. Monday or Tuesday will be H day at 210#. Looking forward to it.

    Bench press: 4x5 at 142.5#. Felt heavy, but wasn't. Know what I mean? The first set I pulled it off the rack and for a second my arms went limp and I thought I was gonna drop it. Weird. After that, no issues. The five reps were doable each set.

    Pendlay rows: 142.5# also. 5x3. Felt good actually. Managed to hit my chest each rep.

    Cheers,
    IronMike

    Yards this week: 2000
    Current 5RMs:
    Squat: 205
    OHP: 85
    Bench: 155
    Rows: 165
    DL: 270
    Best song listened to while lifting today: Fair by Ben Folds Five.

  10. #30
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    Mar 2018
    Posts
    189

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    starting strength coach development program
    Good weekend.

    Sunday was the U.S. Masters Swimming middle-distance championships. I competed in the race, a 2-mile swim in lake Audubon in Reston, VA. Was very happy with my time: 1:09.46. Wrote the race up on my blog here.

    Swam this morning, a nice and easy 3000 yard workout. Felt great, no pain from Sunday.

    Then lifted the Heavy day tonight.

    Squat: 210 for the work set. The fourth and fifth reps almost didn't make it up. Damn.

    OHP: Today was sked to be a 1RM attempt at 95. I wasn't sure about that. That's heavy (for me). Damn if that weight didn't go up easy! Good sign.

    DL: Today's work set was 275 for 5 reps. Heavy, hard. But it went up!

    Cheers,
    IronMike

    Yards this week: 7000
    Current 5RMs:
    Squat: 210
    OHP: 85
    Bench: 155
    Rows: 165
    DL: 275

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