Quest For Strength

[Ken_L]

I missed Mondays workout, 5/28/2018. Friday through Monday we made the move to the new house. It is about 3 miles away from where we are currently living. I ended up moving everything myself because my family was all but useless, they are all WEAK. Furniture and all the associated junk for 6 people plus appliances up and down flights of stairs. After all the work I needed a couple of recovery days before lifting. The unrecovered state that I was in very easily could have resulted in an injury. Last week I attempted a volume workout while in an under recovered state and failed on the bench and squat. In fact, on the squat I couldn’t hold my back straight the result was rounding and a slight tweak, lesson learned.

A few observations about the move. Everything was either carried or wheeled on a hand cart. The hand cart is a big help on stairs! The single exercise that helped me the most with the move was without a doubt the deadlift. When pulling furniture up stairs I found myself assuming a similar stance as you would in a deadlift, setting my hips, bracing, chest up, tight back, and pull. Of course none of this is done in the ideal position as a deadlift would be but the movement and execution were the same. When carrying items leg and back strength are important, so again deadlifts are key. Deadlifts develop the leg, back, and trap strength that are required to do this type of work. They may not be my favorite exercise but as far as everyday useful working strength there is nothing better.

Today I look forward to setting my rack and weights up in the new house. I have a room in the basement for the equipment and it is air conditioned and heated! The space will be smaller than the garage but climate control will be so nice.

Today (Thursday) I feel good and well recovered. The last 2 nights I averaged 10 hours of much needed sleep! My belt went an additional notch after all the work over the extended weekend so I know that I lost some more weight. We will see if this effects my performance in the weight room. I have been running around 20% body fat and have been wanting to drop to about 15% over the summer anyway, so this is a good start. I will do a volume workout today split into 2 sessions. My normal schedule will be resumed next week.

[Ken_L]

5/31/2018

I was recovered from the move and felt great today. Since I missed Monday’s workout because of the move I am doing a volume workout instead of intensity. This was a lot of volume for one day so I split it up into two sessions. It went great and I feel good, in other words not all beat up. Next week will be a normal schedule. The higher rep scheme that I have been following for about the last 2 months seems to have run its course. I am moving back to lower reps of around 5.


Morning Session

Bench 4RG20 210(8,6,6,5-25) Beat the goal of 20 reps by 5 so I will go up in weight to 215lb next week.

Squat 4RG20 225(7,6,6,6-25) Much better than last week’s failure! No problems bracing and keeping a straight back. Passed the rep goal so next week will be 230lb.

Incline Bench Press 2RG20 135(15,13-28) This is the first time that I haven’t made 15 on the second set but I am still way above the 20 rep total.


Afternoon Session

Press 4RG20 125(6,5,6,5-22) I tried the press 2.0 on the second set and it didn't work as well. Went back to strict on the third set. On warm up sets I can preform the press 2.0 but when I move up to working weight it doesn't go so smoothly. I will just stay with a strict press and will someday have to see a coach to get the kinks worked out of version 2.

Deadlift 305X5X2 These felt good except for having to concentrate too hard on my grip during the second set. My thumbs came off the bar and only my fingertips were holding on. I think that it is time to invest in some straps and start using them on the second set, first set no problem.

Barbell Row 3RG15 180(7,7,7-21) Next time will be 185. I may start alternating between dumbbell and barbell rows.

[Ken_L]

6/5/2018

My workout should have been yesterday but had to be moved because of work on the new house. Also Thursdays workout will be moved to Friday.

I was able to set up an area to lift in the new house. It is not finished but functional. I still need to work on a deadlift platform and extend the platform in front of the rack. There is a drain that needs to be dealt with in order to deadlift. The floor slopes down around a drain and the platform will need to be shimmed. When it is finished I will post a couple of pictures.

Today’s workout was done in 2 sessions. The first session was at home and the second at work during lunch break. Interestingly the weights that I have at home feel heavier than the ones at the college gym where I work. I am going to have to weigh them to see what’s going on. I suspect that each 45lb plate that I have is about 2.5lb heavier. The difference was very noticeable in the squat, bench, and press.

Bench 4RG20 215(5,5,5,5-20) 215 at home feels more like 220 in the college gym.

Squat 4RG20 230(5,5,5,5-20) These were done at home and felt about 10 lbs. heavier then the weights at the gym.

Press 135X5X1 (3,5) At home 3 reps, later at work 5 reps. It feels good to finally press 135 for reps!

Incline Bench 2RG20 145(11,10-21) Form was good so I made a 10lb. jump.

Dumbbell Row 3RG25 75(12,10,10-32) I need to bring a plate loadable dumbbell bar to the college gym so that I can incrementally load the one arm DB row. In order to get 75lb. I had to hang two 2.5lb. weights on a 70lb. kettlebell. Yes we are talking about those pink girly weights. This is the only legitimate use I have ever found for them!

Barbell Curls 2RG20 85(8,8-16)

[Ken_L]

My scale has a broken foot but I did manage to weigh myself with and without one of my 45 pound bumper plates. The plate came in at 45.2 pounds. This means that the plates at the gym probably don't quite make there stated poundage. I will have to get a new scale and check all the plates to be sure. The bad news is that I am probably a few pounds behind where I thought I was. A few months ago I marked 6 of the 45 pound plates at the gym so that the loading would be the same despite any weights being off. The marking system is L1, L2, L3, R1, R2, R3. Either way progress is still being made on a weekly basis. I just need to know the exact weights of all the plates so that I can make proper loadings at home verses at the gym.

[Ken_L]

Did some more weighing today. I find it amazing how sensitive we become to be able to notice small differences in weight! Lets take last weeks Intensity 1X5 Squat that was done at work. A 250 pound loading added up to only 245.4 pounds. Today's Intensity 1X5 Squat was done at home with a 250 pound loading. It weighed in at 254.3 pounds. So when I use the gym at work weights are about 5 pounds shy of what is loaded and when at home about 5 pounds over. The bar at work is light at only 42.2 pounds. There are a pair of metal collars and when put on the bar it weighs exactly 45 pounds.

When lifting at work in the college gym, if I add the collars and a pair of 2.5's the weight will be in the ballpark with my loadings at home, which will be about 5 pounds more then what is actually loaded. The weights don't have to be perfect just close at home verses in the gym so that I can make progress by adding weight.

[Ken_L]

6/8/2018 Friday

From now on I am going to keep track of where I lift so that I can sort out any weight discrepancy in the plates between mine and the ones at work.


Morning Session @ Home

Bench 227.5X5X2

Squat 254.3X5

Chinups 12,11,10


Afternoon Session @ Work

Press 122.5X7X3, 127.5X6 I wrote the wrong weight down for the press today. After 3 sets I finally figured out why they felt too easy. The last set had the correct weight.

Deadlift 315X5, 280X5X2 Finally a lift with 3 plates! Next goal is 4 plates on DL. Still working on the third plate for squats and eventually bench.

Laying Triceps Extension 2RG20 95lb(10,10-20) These are getting harder. The 10th rep of the second set was a hard but not a grind. It may be time to switch to 2.5lb increments. Today I felt fatigue in my triceps for the first time from this exercise.

Run 2 miles @6.2mph Time 19:12 I backed off from 6.3mph since I have not run in two weeks because of moving. I will need to run one more time at 6.2 before moving back to 6.3.

[Ken_L]

Today was a milestone for me. It is the first lift that I have completed for reps with 3 plates on the bar.

[Baldrick]

Today was a milestone for me. It is the first lift that I have completed for reps with 3 plates on the bar.

Congrats on the milestone Ken_L. That's some crazy looking weight.

[Ken_L]

Thanks, it's not really that much weight but is good progress for a 50 year old. The next deadlifting video I post will be 405lbs.

[Ken_L]

6/11/2018 Monday Presses (At Home)

The weekend was a mess! I was sick with a stomach virus. My wife was the first to get it, then me, and now the kids one at a time, 2 out of 3 so far. With my last workout being on Friday and a rather intense one I didn’t expect to be recovered enough to complete a workout. But by Monday night I was feeling pretty good so at about 9:00pm I gave it a shot. To my surprise it went well!

I have also decided to try a 4 day split using the same exercises that I have been doing. I was preforming 6 exercises twice a week dividing them into a morning and afternoon sessions of 3 each, so making the switch was easy.


Bench Press 4RG20 220(5,5,5,5-20) I was debating whether or not to try 220 since 215 was hard to complete all of the sets last week. In addition, recovery was in question because of the stomach virus. I had left my fractional plates at the work gym so I decided to try it for one set. To my surprise it wasn’t that hard!

Press 120X5X3, 125X5 The Press felt too easy so the last set was done at 125.

Incline Bench 2RG20 145(10,10-20) Last week these were done at the work gym at 145. Since my weights are heavier it is still about a 5 pound jump.