Jesse's Quest For Master Class (Yet another TM training log)

[enlightenedsnipe]

Volume Day:
Squat 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x1, 335x5, 335x1x10
Bench 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 175x5, 175x4, 165x5
Deadlift 135x5, 225x5, 315x5, 405x3x1
Dumbell Rows: 80x5, 100x5
Barbell hip thrusts: 135x2x5


I was scared of the weight yesterday. I made it though the first set, then bombed out on rep two the second set. I realized on the way out of the gym that I've been ramping up the weight on Volume day too fast. I'll dial it back the next week or so, and go from there. Was out of my mental groove as well, different time, and without my usual workout partner.

[enlightenedsnipe]

Recovery Day

Squat: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x1, 300x2x3, 275x3. Hamstrings felt tight going in, and tired coming out. My ass kept falling backwards, which kept messing with my back angle. I'll get a video up soon, it's weird.
Push Jerk: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 145x2x3. - Elbow was acting up on these. Got thrown around and pounded on last night at martial arts, and my right elbow was still inflamed.
Power Cleans: 135x5, 155x3x3. These never seem to get any lighter. Frustrating.

Assistance:
Barbell Hip Thrusts 135x5, 155x5, 175x5, 225x2x1
Back Extensions: BWx10, +45 lb plate x10 - haven't done any isolation back work in... 6 months or so, figured some couldn't hurt for variety.

Almost passed out at the end, need to start upping my carbs. I'm getting 200-250g protein every day, but only around 30-50g carbs. My body's adapted to eating paleo, and my recovery has been loads better, little soreness and great energy levels. Not eating enough Kcals total though. Weight's down to around 201.5, so 5 lbs in a week and a half, which is more than I really wanted. I just haven't been hungry (shocking).

[enlightenedsnipe]

(late Posted) Intensity day (Last Saturday)

Squat: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 275x1, 315x1, 335x1, 355x1- back felt exhausted, weight felt heavy, just rough all over. Scared of the weight.
Bench: 45x5, 95x3, 135x1, 155x1, 165x1, 175x1, 185x1, 195x1, 205x1, 210(f), 210(f)- felt great until 210, got a weird liftoff on the first one, was totally out of the bar path. The second one sat 4 inches off of my chest for almost three seconds, before beginning to drop.
Deadlift: 135x5, 225, 315, 405, 455(f)- heavy and exhausted. Ran these too quick.


So.. I'm realizing that I've run into the specter of overtraining. I've never really run into this before, so it took me two weeks of pounding my head against the weights until I got it. Heck, it wasn't until I read Rip's article on the TM on fricking T-Nation and saw the percentages he said that I realized just how much over I've been with my weights.

Volume day: 5 sets of 5 reps at 90% of your 5RM- my 5RM is 335, so a good number would be 300.
Recovery day: 80% of Intensity day for 2x5. I've been attempting 3x5 at 275 or more, should be down around 240-250...
Intensity day: don't go into technique failure, instead try to set a new 5RM and use that for the next week, gradually building up. I've been going for 1RMs almost nonstop for close to two months...

*facepalm*

[enlightenedsnipe]

Even more annoyingly, I had just about given up on TM and was ready to switch to 5/3/1 next week when I read that and realized that it was my own dang fault for being greedy. In fact my girlfriend had already bought into 5/3/1, and is now going to be starting that, so I'm probably going to switch over anyway, and have to chalk it up to lesson learned.

Can't win them all, I suppose, especially since I'm doing all this without a coach of any kind. Just need to keep hitting the weights and accepting small but steady increases. Less greedy over the long term = consistent gains.

[enlightenedsnipe]

So, after not touching a barbell in a week, I'm still not a (too) puny weakling.

Bench Day, Week 1 5/3/1
Warmup- Foam roll, stretch, pullups, air squats

Bench- 45x10, 95x10, 95x5, 120x5, 140x5, 160x10 (had a couple more in the tank)

BBB Assistance
-Bench 5x10x95
-Dumbell Rows 2x20x50 (really light, wanted to get used to it)

Hill Sprints: 1.25, then I died. Well, collapsed until it started raining on me, then I got up and staggered to the car.

[enlightenedsnipe]

Note to self: Don't do hill sprints the day before Squats/Deads

Week 1 Squat Wendler 5/3/1

Squat: 45x10, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 220x5, 250x5, 285x5 (technique thing, my ass started coming up before my back on every rep, and I felt smoked from the day before)

BBB Assistance
-Squat 5x10x135 shot my legs, but good
-Back extensions 5x10 w/ 35 pound plate- totally fried my hamstrings, tired my glutes, and errectors


I'm sure of it today, my hamstrings are my weak point in the squat, and the reason my butt is coming up early is because they're not able to keep from lengthening. They were exhausted from sprints yesterday, and so my squats were heavy as hell. I was wondering why until I remembered reading never to do hill sprints the day before Squats/DL work. Oh well, lesson learned.

[enlightenedsnipe]

Just a quick note. Hitting the gym tonight for more lifting... but Jesus, my legs have hurt like nobody's business since sunday. Usually my soreness peaks the next day and gets better, but this stuff got worse yesterday. I think it's just been bad sleep, and last night was great, but hey, it's all good. My arms have felt fully recovered since monday, so looking forward to hitting Presses tonight!

[enlightenedsnipe]

Alrighty, recap from yesterday.

Week 1 Wendler 5/3/1

Shoulder Press: 45x10, 65x5, 90x5, 100x5, 115x10

BBB- Shoulder Press 65x5x10
-Dips, 25 total.

Superset every pushing set with at least one pullup/chinup. Chins felt great, arms felt great, good session.

Conditioning: 500m rower repeats, 1:43, 1:47.

In and out of the gym in under an hour. Great session!

[enlightenedsnipe]

Deadlift Day Week 1 Wendler 5/3/1

Deadlift: 135x10, 185x5, 265x5, 305x5, 345x8

BBB- Deadlift 185x5x10
-Situps 5x10x25lb weight over head. Tried behind head but it was just too hard to do 50 with.


Deads were heavy but good tonight. Really liking getting in and out of the gym in under an hour. Bonus, girlfriend likes the program as well, and is doing it with me. Having a great week, both lifting and otherwise. Sleep's been well, food's dialed in (though I could do to eat a little more). Life's good.

Cheers!

[enlightenedsnipe]

Alrighty, after an extra rest day due to coming down with a cold that left me with wicked body aches, back to the gym!

Week 2 Bench Day Wendler 5/3/1

Bench: 45x10, 95x5, 135x3, 155x3, 165x12 (PR!)

BBB- Bench 95x5x10
- Dumbell Rows 5x10x75 each arm

I feel great today. Was achey this morning, but good food and some recovery work set me right. Hit the gym hard, hit a solid PR, and then went to a birthday party. Still working on supersetting my pressing with pullups/chins, but doing 3 between each set is getting pretty easy. Got my conditioning wrestling half a dozen kids (including a Jujitsu blue belt who kept trying to choke me) for half an hour at the party. Talk about being tired after!