10-week pre-NLP plan (A.K.A. watch me do everything wrong!)

[Adam Levine]

Before:
Doing tricep bench press and tapping way too low.


After:
Better - still tapping too low a lot, but better. Good enough to begin NLP.

[Adam Levine]

Re-read BBP, and ran across this quote for self-coaching/self-instruction.

Although practicable for some individuals, this option will likely result in a much longer learning curve and slower progress, with false starts and resets for form. For older, weaker, and more detrained individuals, it may be positively unsafe.

Gotta say, that doesn't make me feel good... Already have one false start and experiencing the longer learning curve... But still not changing plan...

-->Adam

[Adam Levine]

10-week plan is being extended.

I'm going to get umbilical hernia surgery. I haven't identified a surgeon or scheduled it yet, but I certainly can't lift during recovery from that.

I'd have to restart NLP after the recovery anyway, so I might as well not start. More time for form work and losing weight. Also need to read PP.

-->Adam

[Adam Levine]

Week of 9/17 - Week 5 - This week went for *#@#&it
Notes:
- Only one workout this week due to work and family constraints.
- Two feast holidays + leftovers. Totally off the wagon on diet.
- Taking a mulligan. Will focus on press net week.
- 10-week plan is now indefinate length - I have to wait for hernia surgery and recovery.

Monday, 9/17
Doing press before bench due to "focus on press" week.
Press: 70x5x3
Bench: 130x5x3



Tuesday, 9/18
Active Rest: 40 minute stroll

Thursday, 9/20
Active Rest: 73 minute stroll

Diet Stats are invalid this week - didn't track well enough to report them

Body Stats:
Age: 47
Height: 5'9.7"
Weight: 181.8lb (down 0.8lb)
- skewed by early week numbers, I report average morning weight over 7 days to reduce variability
- expecting gain to show up next week
Neck: 16" (down 1/8")
Waist: 35.5" (steady)
Body Fat (by Navy Calculator): 18.5% (up 0.2%)
LBM (by Navy Calculator): 148lb (down 1 lb)
Average morning/fasting blood sugar:111

Goals for next week:
Rework schedule - work schedule getting in way of workouts, need to fix.
Work on press form. Have advice from Coach's forum that I need to implement.
On bench, tap high on chest consistently.
On squat, knees out, back straight
Get weightlifting belt to hold in hernia.

-->Adam

[Adam Levine]

Week of 9/24 - Week 6 - Refocusing
Notes:
- Only one workout this week due to work and family constraints. Clearly schedule isn't working.
- Corrective action: negotiated with wife and work to get Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 5:30AM-7AM to work out. Back on standard NLP workout plan instead of 4-day barbell prescription plan.
- Diet off this week. Ate badly, my fault, but for some reason waist went down.. Odd..

Friday, 9/28
Squat:
0x10x3 (some not hitting depth)
45x5x2 (partial - didn't hit depth)
45x5x2
65x5
105x2
120x5x1
120x5x2 (didn't hit depth)

Press: Slowed down a great deal to focus on form. This cost me my last rep in worksets. Still very dissatisfied with form - need to examine video more closely
45x5x2
55x5
65x3
70x218
75x4x3


Diet Stats are invalid this week - didn't track well enough to report them

Body Stats:
Age: 47
Height: 5'9.7"
Weight: 182.0lb (up 0.2lb)
Neck: 16" (steady)
Waist: 35" (down 1/2")
Body Fat (by Navy Calculator): 17.6% (down 0.9%)
LBM (by Navy Calculator): 150lb (up 2lb)
Average morning/fasting blood sugar:111

Goals for next week:
Get back on track.
Examine press video and chinup position. Try to work on lockout position.
On bench, tap high on chest consistently.
On squat, knees out, back straight - try to hit depth (again)
Searching again for a local coach. Have a few leads.

-->Adam

[Adam Levine]

Week of 10/1 - Week 7 - Back on track
Notes:
- Having serious trouble with depth on squat. Only about 1/3 of sets reaching depth. Seemingly random, and usually whole sets, not reps.
- Press having serious issues. Stretching to improve lockout. Will be long-term project to improve.
- Missed Friday workout - went Saturday instead and was very rushed

Monday, 10/1
Squat:
0x10 - 1 missed depth
0x10 - 8 missed depth
45x5x2 - 1 set missed depth, 1 set hit depth
65x5 - Missed depth on 1 rep
85x5 - Hit depth
105x2 - Hit depth
120x5 - Hit depth
120x5 - Hit depth
120x5 - Missed depth

Bench:
45x5x2
65x5
85x3
105x2
130x5x3

Deadlift
135x5x2
160x5
185x3
205x2
215x4 (missed last rep)

Intervals:
3x30sec, 3:40 rest between intervals

Wednesday, 10/3
Squat:
0x10x2 - All hit depth
45x5 - Missed depth
45x5 - Hit depth
65x5 - Missed depth
85x3 - Missed depth
105x2 - Hit depth
120x5x2 - Missed depth
120x5 - Hit depth

Press:
45x5x2
55x5
60x3
65x2
70x5x3


Chins (first time chins):
1 + 2,3 second negatives
1 + 2,3 second negatives

Skipped intervals

Saturday, 10/6 - Very rushed workout. Low on time, and there was a bootcamp class going on...

Squat:
- Skipped unweighted warmup squats
- Didn't use my bunjee depth sensor. I highly doubt I hit depth on any sets
45x10
65x5
85x3
105x2
120x5x3

Bench:
- Decided to attempt 135 instead of 130, just so I could use big plates.
- Was interrupted - boot-camp class needed the bench... Did full first set, only had two minutes rest before second, missed third because no bench...
45x5x2
65x5
85x3
105x2
135x5
135x4 (missed last rep, but only took 2 min rest)

Deadlift
- OOPS! Used unevenly weighted bar for first three warmup sets. 45 on one side, 35 on the other...
125x5x2
150x5
185x3
205x2
215x4 (missed last rep)

Intervals:
3x30sec, 3:40 rest between intervals

Diet Stats:
Average calories/day: 1,916
Average protien/day: 200g
Average carbs/day: 179g
Average fat/day: 45g
Protien from dairy: 259g (19%)
Calories from dairy: 1,930 (14%)
Supplementation and drugs:
- 5,000 IU of Vitamin D per day
- 5 herbal fat-burner pills/day
- 1 Flintsones multivitamin/day
- 250mg Magnisum Citrate/day
- 500mg Metformin/day
- 40mg Atorvastatin/day
- 1 OTC Omeprazole/2 days

Body Stats:
Age: 47
Height: 5'9.7"
Weight: 179.7lb (down 2.3lb)
Neck: 15.875" (down 1/8")
Waist: 35" (steady)
Body Fat (by Navy Calculator): 17.8% (up 0.2%)
LBM (by Navy Calculator): 148lb (down 2lb)
Average morning/fasting blood sugar:106


-->Adam

[Adam Levine]

Losing track of my goals from this plan, so comparing them to post #1 and assessing progress:

Goal #1: Learn the four main lifts with adequate form (good enough that I'm not going to end up in traction)
- Squat is yellow. Form is much better, but still a long way to go. Fixed knees, but can't hold lower spine or hit depth consistently. Hoping squat camp on the 20th will help.
- Bench is green. Still having difficulty tapping low enough, but good enough to progress.
- Press is red. Shoulder flexibility prohibiting adequate form. Attempting to stretch and gain mobility. The result of two weeks focus on press has been to identify the problems, but none of those problems have been solved.
- Deadlift has not yet been assessed. Will focus on deadlift next week.

Goal #2: Learn to analyze my videos well enough to know when my form is degrading.
I'm getting a lot better at recognizing what I'm doing wrong, so that's a plus. I usually can't fix it, but I can recognize it's screwed up.

Goal #3: Get under 17% body fat. 17%bf will enable me to gain 10-15lb of fat on NLP without becoming obese.
Status green and on track. Went from 19.9% to 17.8% using Navy estimator, which is good enough to start NLP with confidence I can do so without becoming obese.

Goal #4: Read PP and learn more.
Status yellow. Bought it, haven't read it yet. Just not seeing the urgency in learning about intermediate programming, since I haven't started novice, especially since I have so many other form issues to learn about... But I have learned a lot from the SS and Barbell Logic videos and articles.

Goal #5: Develop a sensible NLP nutrition plan, factoring in my diabetes.
Status yellow. I haven't done that, but I'll have plenty of time for that when recovering from hernia surgery.

Goal #6: A nice to have would be to learn form well enough that I can teach it to my wife and son.
Status red: Yeah - not even close. I can't teach myself, certainly can't teach others. Maybe after squat camp.

Timeline:
My 10 week limit must be extended. Need hernia surgery and recovery, which is good because I certainly wasn't going to hit the goals above in the planned 10 weeks.

Reminder: Get stronger is not a current goal. That's good, because I don't think I have (not that I could tell, since I'm not progressing weight...).

[Adam Levine]

Hernia surgery date is set for October 29th.

I won't be able to do heavy lifting until about two months after that (December 29th), so I figured I'd set my official NLP start date as the first of the year.

I'll see if I can get an appointment to see a SSC the week before.

-->Adam

[Adam Levine]

Week of 10/8 - Week 8 - Focus on Deadlift/Chins
Notes:
- Original plan was to focus on DL, but I'm only doing them every other workout, so also focus on chins.
- Learned how to hit depth in squat this week (narrower stance). Not sure it's right yet, but I'm doing it.
- Decided to progress weight on bench
- Surgery date set for October 29th. Will not be able to lift for 6-8 weeks after that, but will continue to log.
- I seem to be getting weaker on deadlift. I used to consistently get 5 reps at 215#, now I'm only getting 4.

Monday, 10/8 - Didn't have time for full workout. Skipped squat
Bench:
45x10,70x5,90x3,115x2
135x5x3
Chins:
Explaining notation:
0x1 = One full unweighted chin (0 lbs, 1 rep)
0-1-3x3 = Slowed negatives 0 second delay on the way up, 1 seconds hold, 3 seconds down, 3 reps
(0x1+0-1-3x3)x3

Intervals:
Deadmills - 3x30sec, 3:30 rest between intervals, peak HR 175
Active Rest:
61 minute stroll
Form Notes:
Need to figure out how to stop swinging on chin negatives.

Wednesday, 10/10
Squat:
0x10 - Missed depth
0x10 - Hit depth
45x5x3 - Missed depth
45x5 - Hit 3/5
65x5 - Hit depth
85x3 - Missed depth
105x2 - Hit depth
120x5x3 - Missed depth
Press:
45x5x2,50x5,55x3,60x2
65x5x3
Deadlift:
135x5x2,155x5,175x3,195x2
215x4 (missed last rep)

Intervals:
Deadmills: 3x30sec,3:40 rest, peak HR 180
Form Notes:
Deadlift is terrible. Need to learn to set back.

Friday, 10/12
Squat:
0x10x2 - All hit depth
45x5 - Hit 3/5
45x5 - Hit depth
65x5 - Hit depth
85x3 - Hit 2/3
105x2 - Hit 1/2
120x5x2 - Hit depth
120x5 - Missed depth

Bench:
45x10,70x5,95x3,115x2
140x5x3
Chins:
Explaining notation:
0x1 = One full unweighted chin (0 lbs, 1 rep)
0-1-3x3 = Slowed negatives 0 second delay on the way up, 1 seconds hold, 3 seconds down, 3 reps
(0x1+0-1-3x3)x3
Intervals:
Hop on/hop off treadmill
15deg,6.0MPH,3x30sec w/3:30 rest. Peak HR 160
Form Notes:
I can hit depth on squat if I use narrower stance as shown in film. Back is still screwy.

Sunday 10/14
Active Rest: 47 minute stroll


Diet Stats:
Average calories/day: 1,696
Average protien/day: 180g
Average carbs/day: 157g
Average fat/day: 42g
Protien from dairy: 183g (15%)
Calories from dairy: 1,430 (12%)
Supplementation and drugs:
- 5,000 IU of Vitamin D per day
- 5 herbal fat-burner pills/day
- 1 Flintsones multivitamin/day
- 250mg Magnisum Citrate/day
- 500mg Metformin/day
- 40mg Atorvastatin/day
- 1 OTC Omeprazole/2 days

Body Stats:
Age: 47
Height: 5'9.7"
Weight: 179.2lb (down 0.5lb)
Neck: 15.875" (steady)
Waist: 34.875" (down 1/8")
Body Fat (by Navy Calculator): 17.3% (down 0.5%)
LBM (by Navy Calculator): 148lb (steady)
Average morning/fasting blood sugar:109

-->Adam

[Adam Levine]

I'm noticing that some of my lifts have been getting weaker...

Before starting this 10-week plan, I "froze" my Deadlift workset at 215lb, and had never failed a set of five - I progressed to that point.
Did that for several weeks, and started losing reps. 4 reps, 4 reps again, then two reps. This last workout, I downed my workset weight to 200lbs.

Then on Bench, which I recently tried to start progressing...
I successfully did 140x5x3 last week.
Tried 142.5 this week. I got 142.5x4, 140x3, and 137.5x4. I was resting 5 minutes between sets.

I'm not quite sure why this is bothering me - strength isn't a goal at this time. I just wasn't expecting to get weaker.

It may be my somewhat extreme (1400-1600 cal) calorie-deficit diet. I have lost significant weight. At least that will help with chins.

-->Adam