zep's intermediate log

[Kincain]

Ok, I'm glad to hear that, was a bit worried

But I had the same problem that the height of the plates weren't according to proper height, so I bought some rubber tiles to get it up. The problem with me is I still can't drop the weights. The facility that I train only has iron weights and the weightroom is on the first floor, the floor it self has also rubber tiles but I can't drop it from overhead. I saw a vid of pyrros dimas catching the bar on his chest that was 170kg, it was probably 25% percent of what he's capable of, maybe it is not suitable to do for us, but hell, 170kg! (http://www.youtube.com/user/IronMind...14/4N5HdkpFy2M)

So I really need to buy a olympic bar and bumper plates but wanting to have a proper one, that doesn't wear out in about a year, but it's a more a money problem. But probably the best advice I can give is try to construct the circumstances that you will be able to train. But I remember that you traveled, so maybe there are others that have experience with it that read your log.

[zepled37]

I did manage to get a workout in today.

Not going to post it, but stay tuned for what I believe will be an epic post of how I managed to lose about 10% of my strength over the last 4 months and hopefully how I'm going fix that problem. Have some more work to do to figure it all out.

[zepled37]

Still need to do more work to figure out my plan, but here's what I did this week. Pretty much a deload.

Monday
Squat - Barx10x2, 95x8, 135x5x2, 185x3, 225x2, 255x1, 275x1x4sets
Press - Barx8, 75x5, 95x3, 115x2, 135x1x4sets
Bent Rows - Barx8, 95x5, 135x3, 155x1x4sets

Saturday
Squat - Barx10x2, 95x8, 135x5x2, 185x3, 225x2, 255x1, 275x1x5sets
Press - Barx8, 75x5, 95x3, 115x2, 135x1x5sets
Bent Rows - Barx8, 95x5, 135x3, 155x1x5sets


Weights are pretty light, but don't feel overly strong. Squat felt much better on Saturday than on Monday so maybe some recovery has happened. I've also eaten more lately so that's probably part of it. Shoulder feels a little better Saturday than earlier in the week also. Still a little screwy.

Rested 2-3 minutes between sets on Monday, but only took about 1.5 minutes today since I felt better. I think the shorter rest today made me a little more fatigued than I expected.

I have some ideas of what to do from here, but not need to decide and commit.

[zepled37]

Haven't posted for a while but have been doing some training. I think I know what I'm going to do now and have been doing it for the past 2 weeks or so.

The short (?) history...was out of shape and not lifting regularly or intensely for quite a few years then in 2009, I lifted "bodybuilding style" and focused more on fat loss just because I needed a different goal to train for to not think about injuries, etc. I lost 30 pounds and about 10% body fat over 6 months. (see gay pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33725221@N03/ look on right side for comparisons) Then I got on the starting strength band wagon and followed that for about 2 months as I started eating more again. Went quickly through the novice program and then quickly through the advanced novice as I basically regained strength to a level that I had years ago (~8 years earlier?). From September through December I gained about 20 pounds back but was still in much better shape than before the diet and much stronger. I went on Texas Method for a while and made some slight "all-time" strength gains despite resetting to pretty light weights at first.

The beginning of trouble...One problem was that my diet went too much to shit. I got my protein, but pretty much started eating too much junk and too many carbs in general. Gained about another 10 pounds, but I think most of this was fat this time unlike the first 20 pounds. After about 10 weeks on Texas Method, I was feeling very tired and my knees were getting sore so though I didn't exactly stall, I deloaded and started messing with my program. At first I just modified the TM protocol with speed sets and fewer sets on the squat to try to recover better and let my knees heal up. This didn't seem to do the trick so I monkeyed around some more and went to a Starr model with ramped sets. Around this time I was restricting calories a little bit too, but not really committed to a diet yet. The combination of the Starr model program I followed (reduced volume) and the caloric restriction really negatively impacted my strength.

Since this wasn't working and my strength was in the toilet, I figured what the hell, let's try Justin's weightlifting program...I've never focused on the olympic lifts and just starting last fall was the first time I've even done power cleans regularly. Well, my strength was still not increasing, but it was kind of fun doing the lifts at least. Only problem was that I probably tried to go to heavy on the snatches or maybe both lifts too soon and ended up jacking up my shoulders. I was pretty sure no real injuries were there, I just have screwed up shoulders and snatches in general seem to aggravate them and especially when I've never done them and do 135 in the second workout. So, this program lasted about 3 or 4 weeks until I stopped because I figured my shoulders weren't taking to it very well. Shoulder is feeling better now.

Hindsight...Basically I realized what I should have done when I was running out of gas on the Texas Method the first time. I should have kept the volume in place (maybe even *added* a set) but dropped the weights back down and started working my way slowly back up again. Instead I wasted about 5 months screwing around getting fatter, losing some strength (10-15%), and even getting a minor shoulder injury after my shoulders had been doing pretty well for about a year. So, I'm going back to the Texas Method with some slight modifications based on what I think I need, what my goals are, etc. Here are some of KSC's thoughts he was kind enough to share with me on my dilemma: http://startingstrength.com/resource...t=8331&page=76

In addition, here's what else I think I know about myself:

• Pretty sure I need mobility work regularly to feel good and make progress on squats. If not, my hips get all jacked up and my squats suffer.
• I think I'm close to if not 20% body fat and don't really want to gain much (if any) fat without a huge strength or LBM increase. But I don't think this is going to happen without anabolics.
• I need to be careful about doing things that cause shoulder pain and stability issues to flair up.
• I seem to be pretty injury prone in general, but especially if my strength increases rapidly and / or I'm on caloric deficits
• Eating enough to recovery seems to make me fatter, but not eating enough causes me to lose strength
• I need lots of sleep. It actually seems like too much, but I at least need to make it more of a priority.
• I liked the very low carb diet I did for a few week, but I think it killed my strength.
• I travel quite a bit for work and personal reasons so that makes diet/training/sleep more difficult
• At this point, my goals are not competition related
• 3 days per week workouts are easier to fit in right now

The goals...Basically, my goal right now is to enjoy my training, stay healthy and drop some body fat. My plan is to be leaner than I was last year by the end of this year. I believe I have about 10 more pounds of muscle than then so this may only require 20 pounds of fat loss. Sorry for all the diet haters out there...I'm not old, but at 33 I don't need to be getting fatter. Really I need to keep my diet in check after this happens so I don't keep cycling through this too much. As I'm doing this, I'm basically going to just let my strength go to wherever it ends up. I'm obviously going to avoid doing things that are stupid and would cause me to lose huge amounts of strength and hope to maintain or even gain strength if possible, but my goal right now is physique related primarily and strength second. Whatever my body will support strength wise at the body fat level I want to achieve is where I'll end up. One possible strength goal is a body weight press. This might be achievable at the end of this.

The plan...

Weight training wise it is Texas Method with this basic protocol:

• Volume Day - Squats 5x5, Bench / Press 5x5, Power Cleans 3x5, Abs
• Recovery Day - Front Squats 3x3, Press / Bench 5x2, Pull-ups/Chin-ups 3sets
• Intensity Day - Squats 1 x 5sets, Bench / Press 1x5sets, Deadlift 1x2/ Round back GM's 5x3sets

One thing I'm going to do is start extremely light. Some may think this is silly, but I seem to do best with slow and steady strength gains if it goes too fast I just get worn out and injured. Plus, I think this will allow me to recover and get used to the diet portion of things. I'm basically going to add 5 pounds per week even though I'm starting really light. I may drop to a 2.5 pound increase on bench / press very quickly. Regardless of the rate of increase, if I can keep adding weight at all, no matter how small, I will end up ahead. Even better if I do this and end up at a lighter body weight.

Diet wise I'm going back to the carb cycling diet exactly as I used last year which is this:

• High carb days
  
  • Meal 1 - 50g C, 25g P
  • Meal 2 - 40g C, 25g P
  • Meal 3 - 50g C, 25g P (post workout meal)
  • Meal 4 - 40g C, 25g P
  • Meal 5 - 30g C, 25g P
  • Meal 6 - 30g C, 25g P
  • Meal 7 - veggies, 25gP
• Medium carb days
  
  • Meal 1 - 30g C, 40g P
  • Meal 2 - 20g C, 40g P
  • Meal 3 - 30g C, 40g P (post workout meal)
  • Meal 4 - veggies, 40g P, 5g F
  • Meal 5 - same as 4
  • Meal 6 - 40g P, 3g fish oil
• Low carb days
  
  • Meal 1 - 20g C, 40g P
  • Meal 2 - same as 1
  • Meal 3 - veggies, 40g P, 3g fish oil, 1 teaspoon peanut butter
  • Meal 4 - same as 3
  • Meal 5 - same as 4
  • Meal 6 - 40g P, 5g fish oil
• 1 high carb day per week on volume day. Other weight training days will be medium and off days will be low carb days.

For cardio I'm not planning on doing any high intensity intervals like I did before. I will just do low/medium intensity steady state (walking mostly) on possibly every day, but maybe not on high carb days. I'm going to start at 40 minutes per day and adjust based on weight / fat loss rate. I also want to do some mobility exercises as part of my warm-ups and after cardio.

I'm also going for a physical in a few weeks to get routine blood work done and I want to have T levels checked again. A couple years ago I was at the low end of normal and I seem to have quite a few symptoms (especially fatigue/tiredness and motivation issues) so want to get checked again. Even if this comes out relatively normal if I follow my plan very well, I'm thinking I will be fairly close to what is genetically possible for me at this age, body fat, weight, etc. so may consider testosterone supplementation in any case at that point. It seems like I should be able to gain more strength naturally, and perhaps if I would have done everything right when younger I would be further ahead than I am now, but gains are hard to come by. We'll cross this bridge when we come to it.

Can I do it?...This is the question...I think the plan will work for me if I follow it. It's just up to me to do it and stick to it. Hopefully, posting on this board again will help me hold myself accountable. Here's to getting in the best shape of my life by the end of the year!!!

[famendoza]

That is one complicated plan. You better be able to carry it out buddy!! And don't feel like you need to justify your plan to anybody here, check your results intermittently and at the end of the year, and if they're close to what you expected, then it was the right decision to go this path. Good luck budz.

[zepled37]

That is one complicated plan. You better be able to carry it out buddy!! And don't feel like you need to justify your plan to anybody here, check your results intermittently and at the end of the year, and if they're close to what you expected, then it was the right decision to go this path. Good luck budz.

Not too complicated...just made it long. Thanks for the support.

[zepled37]

This is what I did yesterday. Just going to list work set weights to keep it short. Normally I do quite a few light warm ups sets and some light back extensions and abs to warm up.

Squat - 240x5x5

Press - 100x5x5

Power Clean - 145x3x5

Abs - 3 sets


I was short on time so "supersetted" some of the squats and presses. Works ok for now, but don't want to make it a normal thing. Feeling a little sore today so I believe this workout is still giving me work with lower intensity.

Weight this morning was 201.0

[zepled37]

Tuesday - 40 minute walk
Wednesday - 40 minute walk

Yesterday's workout:

Front Squats - 150x3x3sets

Bench Press - 175x5x2sets

Chin-ups, band assisted - x10, x10, x8

Decided to try going with a band to get a few more reps on these. I started with the light band and didn't get a whole lot more than without any band. So I went to the average band this week and still didn't get too many more than with the light. I think it is mainly because of getting a lot more shoulder depression at the top of the movement. I like that a lot so will keep doing this plus the chin-up / pull-up is just an assistance exercise anyway.

Dips - body weight x3x2sets

These are generally tough on my shoulders so I'm just working in a few reps. Figure if I can get to the point of doing more of these it means two things for sure...I've gotten stronger and my shoulders are feeling good. Both good things so I'm just trying to work these in pretty slowly with low volume.

Abs - 3 sets

Thursday weight - 201.0

[zepled37]

Felt pretty good on this day last Friday.

Squats 290x1x5sets

Press 140x1x5sets

Bent over Good Mornings 135x5x3sets


Played some volleyball Saturday night and then filled in for a softball game on Sunday. That wore me out more than I would like and then got behind on sleep Monday night doing some work so volume day is not until tonight. Too bad, because as I said, I felt pretty good on the intensity day. Sucks walking such a narrow line between feeling good and being beat up and worn out.

[zepled37]

Squats - 245x5x5sets

Bench Press - 180x5x5sets

Felt a little weak on these either from the fact that I haven't lifted since last Friday or just that my shoulders were a little worn out from volleyball and softball over the weekend.

Power Cleans - 145x3x5sets

Whoops, looks like I was supposed to go to 150 this week. No big deal. On a positive note, the garage gym I go to now has a pair of 45 lb and 25 lb bumpers. Should be good enough for me as I can just add metal plates to get to whatever weight I need.

Abs - 3 sets