ColoWayno's log

[ColoWayno]

Thursday (linear restart #10)
Weighed in at 199lbs
(sets x reps x lbs)
Squat: 3x5x270
Press: 3x5x125 (PR)
Deads: 1x5x295 (PR)

Ended my second 9 day "week". It was good to make 2 more PRs and still be in PR territory for squats after deloading.
The gym was busy and there didn't seem to be any good place to do floor work on the main floor. I hauled a bar off into a multi-purpose room (had punching bags, tv set for video workouts, matts, etc) and setup for dead lifts there. Unfortunately that meant doing a couple of decently long farmers walks with a 45 lb plate in each hand to get the bar loaded, then again to put everything away.

I don't feel terribly beat up but it might be a little soon to tell. Two days rest and back at it Sunday.
Still haven't done 1 assistance exercise (other than the farmers walks) or any conditioning work... hmmm? Maybe after I feel the need for a big reset I'll add some of that, but this all seems like enough for now.

[ColoWayno]

Sunday (Linear restart #11)
Weighed in at 201lbs
(sets x reps x lbs)
Squats 3x5x275
Bench 3x5x202.5 (PR)
Power Cleans 5x3x115
EZ Curl Incline Situps 1x10
Chins: 1x8
I recorded my Power Cleans but am having a hard time uploading them from where I'm at. It's pretty obvious I lose all of the momentum from the first pull as the bar stops almost completely before the second pull... the bar obviously forgets that I pulled it real hard after it stops. No wonder that's where I always get stuck when the weight goes up. I wish I had my copy of SS here but hopefully I can figure this out in the gym.

Here's the link, finally...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rt3zGDz99k

[ColoWayno]

Tuesday (Linear restart #12)
Weighed in at 200lbs
(Sets x Reps x Lbs)
Squats: no worksets, warmed up to one set of 5x265
Press: 3x5x127.5 (PR)
Power Cleans: 5x3x135

I've been getting some tips on Power Cleans on the Technique forum. I'm disappointed that I couldn't get it all fixed at once but I think I made some progress. Should be posting a video soon.

[ColoWayno]

Thursday (linear restart #13)
Weighed in at 200lbs.
(sets x reps x lbs)
Squats: 3x5x280 (PR)
Bench: warmed up only (shoulder nag)
Power Cleans: I did many sets at 95 lbs trying to reach full extension. I tried one last set at 135 but I guess I was too tired.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6V0qkhNjbM

Pathetically light weight but if I can't get extension with 95lbs what am I doing with 135?

Good new, I got another PR in squats. Right now I'm leaning toward trying 282.5 next workout. Otherwise I think I may be done with LP on squats since it's been over a week between PRs.
I may have to reset on presses due to my shoulder, but I think I may be able to have a little more time on LP there.
Just going to drink a bunch of milk and eat as much of the crappy food here as I can stomach (at least it's cooked for me and paid for).

[ColoWayno]

Sunday (linear restart #14)
Weight 201lbs.
(Sets x Reps x Lbs)
Front Squats: 3x5x135
Press: 2x3x95
Deadlifts: 1x5x305 (PR)

Got to use the York 100lb plates on my deadlift. That was fun except for hauling them over to the bar and getting them on the bar, oh, and the lifting part wasn't fun either. So pretty much just the idea that I used them was fun.
Well, things aren't progressing very linearly anymore (except deadlifts!). Mostly I'm trying shoulder friendly stuff or light weights (or both). The good news is my shoulder is about as good as it was a week or so ago.
I could have back squatted, maybe for a pr, but I didn't want to aggravate my shoulder. Didn't know if deadlifts would work for my shoulder but since there really isn't much ROM they worked fine. If nothing else I think I can keep progressing on those.
Got a shipment of my protein shake in the mail so that should help add about 100g of protein to my diet everyday.
I'm not quite ready to give up on LP yet. If I can get my shoulder happy soon I may be able to get back on track before switching to 531 for the last 8 weeks I'm out here.

[ColoWayno]

Tuesday
Weighed in at 200lbs.

I'm going to quit calling this a linear restart. I'm not sure what I'm doing right now but it's not very linear anymore. I could start 5-3-1 now and have 3 cycles before I go home or do a few weeks of TM. The good news is I got another PR on squats.
(Sets x Reps x Lbs)
Squats 3x5x285 (PR)
Bench 1x4x205 (shoulder)
Power Cleans 3x3x125

When I got to the gym there was a guy doing power cleans so I asked him about it. He was getting back into lifting after 6 years (hadn't lifted since High School football). I wasn't too sure his technique was all that great but I had him take a look at a few of my reps. He knew some good things overall but it didn't end up being that helpful. He also told me I shouldn't shove my knees out on squats, so...

[PVC]

I'm going to quit calling this a linear restart. I'm not sure what I'm doing right now but it's not very linear anymore. I could start 5-3-1 now and have 3 cycles before I go home or do a few weeks of TM.

My thoughts are leaning towards this as well. It's getting to the point where, if I decide to squeeze out every last drop of linear progression, I'll go through short periods of actual linear progression interspersed with long resets in between. At best my progress would be only slightly faster than it would be on an intermediate program, and at worst I would end up wasting months of training trying to facilitate linear gains that can't occur any more.

I'm thinking that the best course of action is to play it safe and switch to intermediate programming for slower but more consistent gains. I'm already in the process of switching my deadlift to intermediate training. My squat just started its last reset today, and my press and bench have just now PRed after a reset a month and a half ago. The minute one of these three lifts stalls again I'm switching it to intermediate. Just my $0.02 USD.

[ColoWayno]

Thanks PVC.
I'm playing with a 13 week schedule (the remainder of my deployment)
I have pretty much decided that I'm going to finish out this week just figuring out my 1 rep max's and start 5-3-1 next week. My shoulder will appreciate the reset. That should give me time for 3 4 week cycles.
Figuring out the 1RM's should make for good and interesting workouts. I'm ready for a change.
I need to start working in more assistance exercises and conditioning. I'll start with 4 days a week lifting on 5-3-1 and see how it goes. As I ramp up the conditioning I'll cut that back to 2 days.
Then... vacation in paradise... ok, California really, but compared to here it's paradise.

[ColoWayno]

Thursday

I'm spending the rest of the week just figuring out 1RM's. So here is where I am so far:
(Sets x Reps x Lbs)
Deadlifts 1x5x305 (from last weeks session) 1RM is somewhere around 350.
Press 1x2x135 1RM is somewhere around 143.

Saturday I'm going to do the test for Squats and Bench. Monday I'll start my first session of 5-3-1.

Warmup included some back squats with just the bar.
I did my first conditioning session last night. It was pretty wimpy. I did 6 circuits of barbell complex (95lbs), 6 box jumps and chins. The barbell complex was 3 deadlifts, 3 power cleans, 3 push presses.

Followed all of that with two sets of 10 EZ Curl situps (holding the bar straight up, no weights on it yet).

Want to get out and run at least once a week. I think I'll have to get up early to do that.

[ColoWayno]

Saturday:
Weighed in at 200lbs

Today I did rep max tests for squats and bench. I'm estimating from sub-maximal sets.
(lbs x reps)

squats 275x7 so my 1RM is about 330
bench 195x8 so my 1RM is about 242

I did a real easy conditioning session, 10 minutes walking at 4mph on a 3% incline on the treadmill. I hate treadmills but there really aren't any streetlights here for running at night. I'm going to get up early 1 day a week and run outside but I need to find shoes for that. I also did 2 10 minutes walks earlier in the day.

So here are my baseline weights for 5-3-1 (approx 90% of 1RM for 5-3-1)
Press: 125
Deadlift: 310
Squat: 297
Bench: 218

I will program power cleans as an assistance exercise and sometimes as part of conditioning (barbell complexes). I should be able to get a lot of practice and good work on that exercise using 5-3-1.