ColoWayno's log

[ColoWayno]

Hi folks, I'm a recovering runner who began SS in May of 2008 at about 5' 11'', 160lbs and age 45. I've been doing the Texas Method since June of 2009. I'm now 185 lbs. My wife and 3 of my sons (18, 22 and 24) are all doing SS or Texas Method now. My fourth son (20) is in the Army. I'm now the de facto "Coach" of the family.
I tried my brand new Chuck Taylors last night for the first time (yes I've been using the dreaded "Gel" running shoes all of this time). I've had problems with high arches in the past. I think I noticed my Power Cleans were easier to rack, though I felt some cramping in my feet. My guess is it is better to just let my feet adapt, as long as it's not creating debilitating problems rather than go out and buy arch supports. Is that reasonable?
Thanks for any input you might have for me.
I'm interested in increasing all of my lifts but would like to concentrate on getting my Power Cleans commensurate with the other lifts (at least to body weight). My bench and press have not gone up for quite a while so I've just decided to focus on bench for a few weeks and not alternate weekly.
I'm being deployed in March (as a contractor) but I should have access to good facilities where I'm going.
Here are the work sets from my Monday (2-15-10) workout (sets/reps/weight in lbs):
Squat: 6x3x238
Bench: 5x5x185 (PR)
Power Cleans: 6x3x138 (PR)
Then I did 2 circuits with BW + 35lbs of:
Dips 8
Situps on a 45 degree slant: 15
Chins 6
Then, although I'm focusing on bench for a while I felt the need to get in some presses:
Press 1x8x93

I'm going to try to post a video of my Power Cleans as I'm sure this is my most messed up lift.

Since I first posted this I've noticed that my chest is much less sore, now that I'm not alternating presses weekly. The tops of my traps are more sore for some reason. Also, I should have eased into the new shoes as I think I bruised my heel (or aggravated my plantar). Just ordered some of Rips shoes to try out. Hope I get them before I leave the country for 4 months.

[ColoWayno]

Weighed in at 186 lbs.
Yesterday was recovery day. I checked the weights I had been using against the "level of effort" chart in PP and realized that I'd been going extra light, even for recovery day, so I upped the squats.
(sets/reps/weight in lbs)
Press: 2x5x80
Squats: 2x3x225

I went back to my old gel shoes but I've got some of Rip's shoes on order. When I change shoes again I'll have a plan to ease into the transition as I think there's some legit adaptation that's going to need to take place.
My foot is still a little sore, but overall this is about the best I've felt on a Thursday for a long time. Next week I'll do 5x5 squats which seem to cause that lingering hamstring pain. Maybe I'll do those a few weeks in a row instead of alternating with 6x3's to see if I can adapt to them a little better.

My 18 year old son came with me to the gym last night (he usually works out in our garage but lately that's been too cold for him, it's been too cold for me since about October). He's been coming along nicely on his squats, getting really good depth and discovering how hard it really is to put 200lbs on your back and go nearly ATG. It was interesting for him to see (and fun for me to watch him see) what goes on at a typical gym, guys loading 1200lbs on the leg press, or 400 lbs in the squat rack and getting 6 inches of depth.

[ColoWayno]

Not going to whine about why I couldn't do my Friday workout on Friday.
(Sets x Reps x Lbs)
Squats: 1x3x273
Speed Bench: 10x3x140
Power Cleans: 2x3x140, 1x2x140 (FAIL! )
Pullups: BW + 35# (Set of 6, Set of 4)
Today was intensity day. I'm probably going to start trying speed reps on my squats since I've backed off of my previous PR and the weight still feels extremely heavy. I've been doing speed reps on my presses for a few weeks now. Even though I'm barely passed the "untrained" status in my power cleans they were really tough today. For the first two sets I felt very dizzy and missed a rep on my third and last set. I stopped at three partly because I'm nursing some sore back discs.
I didn't think about my sore heel until just now so that's good. Still wearing gels and waiting for the postman to deliver my new shoes.
Played two Chopin Waltzes while waiting for my computer to boot, right after working out. Tell that to the people who won't lift because they can't bulk up for their sport.
AFTERTHOUGHTS (Day after):
The Speed Bench press actually made me a little sore. This is the second time I've tried it and must be getting a little better explosion. Decided to buy a lifting belt. I won't go cheap (like I tried to do with my shoes). Just re- read the section in SS on Shoes and Belts and feel a little foolish for not getting shoes sooner. It's time for the belt also as my lower back is chronically sore and I'm afraid to challenge myself under the bar because of that.
Probably going to try my Chuck Taylors again tomorrow, at least for some of my lifts.

[ColoWayno]

USA beats Canada 5-3 ... what a game!

[misspelledgeoff]

I won't lift in anything but Chucks. And that's after dropping nearly 250 bucks on two different sets of weightlifting shoes.

Welcome to the forums!

Not going to whine about why I couldn't do my Friday workout on Friday.
(Sets x Reps x Lbs)
Squats: 1x3x273
Speed Bench: 10x3x140
Power Cleans: 2x3x140, 1x2x140 (FAIL! )
Pullups: BW + 35# (Set of 6, Set of 4)
Today was intensity day. I'm probably going to start trying speed reps on my squats since I've backed off of my previous PR and the weight still feels extremely heavy. I've been doing speed reps on my presses for a few weeks now. Even though I'm barely passed the "untrained" status in my power cleans they were really tough today. For the first two sets I felt very dizzy and missed a rep on my third and last set. I stopped at three partly because I'm nursing some sore back discs.
I didn't think about my sore heel until just now so that's good. Still wearing gels and waiting for the postman to deliver my new shoes.
Played two Chopin Waltzes while waiting for my computer to boot, right after working out. Tell that to the people who won't lift because they can't bulk up for their sport.
AFTERTHOUGHTS (Day after):
The Speed Bench press actually made me a little sore. This is the second time I've tried it and must be getting a little better explosion. Decided to buy a lifting belt. I won't go cheap (like I tried to do with my shoes). Just re- read the section in SS on Shoes and Belts and feel a little foolish for not getting shoes sooner. It's time for the belt also as my lower back is chronically sore and I'm afraid to challenge myself under the bar because of that.
Probably going to try my Chuck Taylors again tomorrow, at least for some of my lifts.

[ColoWayno]

I won't lift in anything but Chucks. And that's after dropping nearly 250 bucks on two different sets of weightlifting shoes.

Welcome to the forums!

Thanks.
I'm giving them another try tonight (at least for a few lifts).
So far I've only spent money on a floor for my garage rack, a few extra plates and my Chucks. (Not to mention SS and PP!). Someone gave me the rack, bar and basic weight set.
I'm trying to get my feet figured out before I deploy for 4 months and I haven't thought about that in almost 2 years of this stuff. I've kept them happily cocooned in gel where I thought they belonged.
As a result I pretty much don't have a Power Clean or strong feet.
Anyway, it feels good to be alive and learning even if it costs a few bucks and a little pain, doesn't it?

Oh, happy friggin' Birfday. Mine is Tuesday (Feb 23).

[ColoWayno]

Volume day (Monday, Feb 22)
(Sets x Reps x Lbs):
Squats 5x5x233 (1 lb off of PR)
Bench 6x3x194 (PR)
Deads 1x5x235
2 Circuits of BW + 35# of
Dips x 8
Slant Situps x 15
Chins x 6
Practiced pattern waltzing with my wife at the gym right after those sets.
Weighed in at 185lbs.
Wore a belt last night and it felt great. Coming back from a big offload on Dead Lifts, I think the belt will help me get to where I was (1x5x287) and beyond. Also wore my Chuck Taylors for all sets. Last time I didn't notice any pain in my feet until the next day... so far so good on that.
Starting to feel a little overuse from so many bench press reps and not alternating weekly with the OH Press. I think next week I'll go back to OH Press for a bit. I may see if I can do a Low Rep Max PR on Bench Press on Friday instead of speed sets.

Birfday today.
Afterthoughts: Hams are quite sore, but also noticing some pain in the quads. Used to be pretty much just the hams and I'm taking that as a sign that the hams are adapting and now the quads are getting to do more work. Feet are still fine.
Celebrated at Old Chicagos with the family.... Pizza, Pool and 1554.

[ColoWayno]

Recovery Day.... needed it
Weighed in at 186.4 lbs.
(sets x reps x lbs)
Squats 2 x 3 x 220
Press 2 x 5 x 100 (felt heavy)
Power Cleans 3 x 3 x 90
Wore my Chucks for everything... so far so good. I'm worried about power cleaning in them but last night was light.
Then it was off to The Outback for a second birfday dinner with the wife and friends. 1554 to drink of course.
Everyone will and should play with training variables, but I just wanted to say how impressed I am in how well they are defined in SS and PP. When I change a little thing here or there it's not long before I notice I'm getting some trade off in benefits. For example, I stopped alternating presses weekly. I think my bench press will go up a little, but I'm also getting sore elbows and shoulders from just repeating the same exercise. So another slight course correction is in order soon. I think I'm pretty average everything (genetically speaking... except my good looks are way above average ), so I imagine it's a little different if you are way above average... but overall SS/PP seems to hit the sweet spot pretty well.

[ColoWayno]

Intensity Day:
Weighed in at 185.8lbs.
(Sets x Reps x Lbs)
Squats 1x5x255 tie for PR)
Bench 1x4x204 (5 reps would have been a PR, but I failed on the 5th rep)
Deads 1x5x240.5

Ok,the reason I have so many funny weights is because the gym I use has weighed all of their bars and only one of them is 45lbs. I also have micro-plates down to 1/2 lb so I can load any 1lb increment. I also have some 1 1/4lb plates. So it all depends on the bar I use and which microplates I grab from my bag and how close I care to getting to a certain weight. It is what it is.
Made up my mind to get to 190lbs by the time I deploy in a few weeks.

[ColoWayno]

Sunday: Team USA loses in overtime.
Breakfast: Small bowl of cereal, French Yogurt, Milk, Huge Apple Chicken Sausage, Latte
Snacks: Greek Yogurt, Whey Shake with Milk, Sleeve of Nuts, Mandarin Orange
Lunch: (3rd Birfday Dinner) Fish & Chips, New Castle Brown (pint) 90 Shillings (pint), Some kind of chocolate decadence.

I was so stuffed I had to go play frisbee with my son to get my appetite back. Ordered him to not make the old man run too much. I was 20lbs lighter last time we did that. Felt good to get the heart rate going doing something for fun.

Time to go make a shake and look around the kitchen.

Maybe snowing soon.