bob g goes TM

[bob g]

Background: Elderly, 53 6’ 223

Lifts (singles) this year DL 335, SQ 345 (depth??), SP 190, BP 255, FS 225, Jerk 195, C&J 165

I’m not inexperienced in the weight room – I am inexperienced as a 50+ lifter, though. I had a long, inactive gap between my early 40s and last fall. I woke up one day 52, understrong and overwide. I looked around for something structured and got into scaled crossfit workouts. I met some nice folks but I simply didn’t get enough of the barbell work; it was always a tease when it popped up. I wanted more so I moved back to strength work as my main focus. Along the way I got the bug to learn the Oly lifts. I lost about 25 pounds drinking whole milk and eating meat. I tore into the weights and had great gains. But I had no program. By late March I had drilled myself into the ground. I’d never experienced overtraining before. I thought it meant you’d be exhausted. I never was totally dragging ass, wiped out but I got to the point that I was constantly sore. When it took more than a half hour to stretch out enough to pick up an empty bar I cried uncle. I backed off a ton, totally reset everything and in the last couple weeks am back healthy and ready to get going again. After buying and reading the books I’ve started the program. I tweak it to accommodate one night with Oly coaching as my volume night, Saturday mornings as recovery day and Monday nights for intensity at the local gym. This schedule fits well for work and family. All reps and sets are adjusted for my hard learned recovery needs and should allow for structured gains.

Thanks, all. Here goes:

THURSDAY 6/10 - volume
C&J
95 2x2, 115 2x2, 125 2x1, 135 2x1, 155x1, 165x1
C&P for fun
135x1
SP
125 4x4

SATURDAY 6/12 – recovery
Squat
45 5x2, 65x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x2, 155x2, 195 2x3
Front squat
45 5x2, 65x3, 95x2, 145 2x3
Push press
45x5, 95x3, 135 4x2
Assistance
Bar curls 65 5x2, Chins (assisted) 5x2

[bob g]

MONDAY 6/14 - Intensity

Squat
45x5x2, 95x4, 135x4, 185x2, 245x2x3
Bench
45x5x2, 65x5, 95x4, 135x2, 195x4
Deads
65x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x3, 245x2, 285x3x2

This doesn't seem too intense yet but I have plenty of time. I'm slowly raising the floor on these and should be able see an increase each week for a while.

[bob g]

Thursday 6/17 - Oly instruction and Volume

Oly work - Snatch progressions with dowel and 15# bar. I tweaked my left shoulder doing snatch drills at the end of March and this is my first day back with it. The only thing that I couldn't do in the mean time was overhead snatch grip movements. Eveything else was and is OK. So, these were the first snatches in about 10 weeks and went well. Extra light, but with full ROM and no pain. I'll take it.

Jerks - 95x5x3, 125x3, 145x1x2, 185x1. Need more speed. I'll do some lighter jerks on recovery day working on getting down faster under the bar.

Press - 135x4x4

Front squat - 155x4x4

The TM scheme seems perfect for me right now. We'll see how the progress goes.

[bob g]

SATURDAY 6/19 – Recovery

Squat
45x5x2, 65x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x3, 195x4x2
Bench
45x5x2, 65x5, 115x5, 165x4x2
Jerk
45x5, 65x5, 115x3x5
Assistance
Bar curls 75x5x2, Chins 2x4 (assisted, but less than last week)

Now off to cut and haul the trees and debris blown down in yesterday's storm. The neighborhood took a pretty good hit.

[bob g]

MONDAY 6/21 - Intensity

Front Squat
45x5x2, 95x5, 135x3, 185x1, 215x3x2, 205x2. I had a grip fail on the second rep, first set at 215; very humid, no chalk, note to self.
Press
45x5x2, 95x3, 135x1, 165x3x2
Deads
45x5, 65x5, 135x3, 225x3, 275x5. Brain cramp, I didn't notice that I set up on a high spin bar. Did I mention it's very humid? D'oh.

The TM routine is working great. I'm well recovered and crisp by the next work out. I'm eating and sleeping well and not very conciously dropping some BF in the last couple weeks at a steady body weight of 222. I'm looking forward to Oly work on Thursday.

[bob g]

Thursday 6/24 - Oly instruction and Volume

Tonight was high volume - light weight for the Oly lifts:

Singles below are DL @ 225

Snatch 1-10-1-8-1-6-1-5 with empty bar. These are the first ones I've done with a regular bar since late March. OK, no pain in the shoulder.

Cleans 1-10-1-8-1-6-1-5 at 75#. Seemed crazy light but was plenty by the end.

Press 135x3x4

Interesting, I really had to concentrate on form as the reps added up. Per the instructor, the best form lifts were in the sets of 6 and 5 where I had to pay close attention to loose arms and skimming the thighs on the pull. This was actually kind of fun.

[bob g]

SATURDAY 6/26 – Recovery

Squat
45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 135x3, 185x4x2
Bench
45x5x2, 95x5, 135x3, 155x4x2
Clean + CJ
W/U cleans only 45x5, 65x3, 95x1. Work, clean then CJ@125 x 4
Assistance
Chins 3x3 (assisted, but less than last week). Bar curls 65x5x2.

[bob g]

MONDAY 6/28 - Intensity

Press
45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 135x2, 180x2
Front Squat
45x5x2, 95x3, 95x4, 135x1, 185x1, 225x1,Fail - pinned on second rep, 205x2
Deads
45x5x2, 95x5, 135x3, 225x2, 255x2, 295x2

I'm really happy with the press. I changed the order to do these fresh and they popped right up. FS, on the other hand was a mess. 225 is too much of a reach right now. The first rep was shallow and the second gained some attention when I dumped it on the rails and landed on my ass. Deads simply felt great. Maybe this isn't too intense yet but I'll keep ratcheting up as I can.

[bob g]

Wednesday 6/30 - Volume

A bit of a change up this week. We have tickets to see Santana tomorrow so I had to cancel the Thursday Oly/volume work out with the coach and just go to the local gym tonight instead. Recent Oly nights have had plenty of reps and I add my own 4x4s at the finish but it's NDTP. So this is the first true 5-across volume night since starting TM. I'm going with 3 sets instead of 5x5 to keep on the sweet side of recovery. If 3x5 turns out to be too little I'll bump it up. Time will tell.

Squat, 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 235x5x3. 235 was about the right place to start. The last set was taxing but manageable.

Press, 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 140x5x3. I had to fight the urge for an occasional knee dip.

DL, 45x5x2, 95x5, 135x3, 225x2, 275x6. A good closer.

Assistance, bar curls 45x5, 65x5x2.

A good night and good experience with the 5x progamming.

[bob g]

SATURDAY 7/3 – Recovery

Squat, 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 135x3, 185x4x2

Press, 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x5, 115x5

Snatch, I did some twiddling around with the split snatch with some quick 65#and 95# pops. This was my first crack at it (ahem). I liked the dynamics and will give this some attention on Oly nights.

Deads, 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x5, 185x5x2

Assist, 45x8 bar curls

The weather is spectacular in southern Wis. Good holidays, all.

Edit: The Santana show was outstanding. It was a perfect night at Summerfest, the band is phenomenal and Carlos hasn't slowed a bit.
Steve Wynwood opened - outstanding. See this concert if you get the chance.