Dad strength log

[Leif]

This thread will chronicle the adventures of a guy who wants his kids to have the strongest Dad in the daycare/school/neighbourhood/whatever.

Some background:

Norwegian. Current age 38, married, one child (age 2.5), trying for more kids. University-educated, office-type job (programming, excellent flexible hours), etc. Have previously alternated between periods of physical activity and inactivity. Until a couple of years ago, my main form of activity was martial arts, on and off ever since 1987 -- two or three different strains of karate, kickboxing, a bit of BJJ, even some Aikido way back. "Lifted" a little in university, but that was typical ignorant bench press + machines and over a dozen years ago anyway. After the birth of Monkey #1, it soon turned out that attending organized kickboxing classes two or more times per week at set times wasn't practical anymore and the fat was beginning to pile up, so I looked around for useful things I could do on my own schedule and was by some smart people pointed towards the free-weight corner of the gym and also the Starting Strength book.

Brief summary of lifting history:

December 2008 - May 2009: Starting Strength novice program, until squatting heavy three times per week became counterproductive. Started out with a body weight around 115 kg, eating at a slight deficit with an aim towards reducing the amount of dad flab.

Summer 2009: Some experimentation; hurt my back trying to lift a damn suitcase on vacation, spent a couple of months rehabbing with light weights/high volume.

Fall 2009: Bill Starr linear 5x5, then a couple months of a powerbuilder program because I wanted to try something slightly different. Body weight approached 100 kg (220 lbs) around September; after this I started eating slightly above maintenance.

January 2010 - May 2010: Eric Cressey's "Maximum Strength" program, which was pretty fun. Did my first proper 1RM testing before and after this four-month program. Began to develop an interest in powerlifting.

June 2010 - December 2010: Wendler 5/3/1.

Now: Planning to enter my first little powerlifting meet in March, trying out a peaking program designed by the coach for the Norwegian powerlifting team. It's pretty different from what most people on this forum have probably seen or trained before. More on that later.

Physical stats:
Height: 6'3" / 191 cm
Current weight: 270ish lbs / 122-124 kg
Fatness: Cannot really see any abs at the moment, have about a fistful of fat around the belly.

Recent-ish PRs (all raw):

Squat: 185 kg (407 lbs) 1RM tested in late May; got 3 reps at the same weight in December.
Bench: 132.5 kg (291 lbs) 1RM tested in November.
Deadlift: 210 kg (462 lbs) 1RM tested in December.

Limitations:

Moderate non-specific back pain ever since I was 18 or so, used to be worse (exacerbated by the 1990s "common wisdom" which said to avoid activity; after 2000 I started up with regular martial arts again and this helped; the last couple of years after lifting properly have been even better). Have to take prescription painkillers on occasion, but a box of 50 little white pills lasts me for over a year.

Sleep deprivation and general scheduling constraints: Have a toddler and a wife who often works evenings/nights (typically 2 or 3 nights per week), so am housebound on those evenings. Also, am lucky to get six good hours of sleep on a weekday, due to having to work. This will not change unless some radically faster mode of personal transportation is invented, or I win the lottery or something so I no longer have to work full-time.

Advantage:

There's a pretty okay gym in the basement at work (at least it has proper barbells and a squat rack with fixed safeties), and we get one whole free hour per week to use it on the clock (and can use it more off the clock).

[Leif]

All right then, a quick explanation and recap of the program I'm running at the moment:

It's a 12-week peaking cycle designed by the coach of the Norwegian national powerlifting team, intended for general use (not for the team members, they get personalized programs). It comes in the form of a huge spreadsheet where you plug in your desired meet maxes, adjust various loading percentages (and fiddle a bit more if you intend to lift raw, as I am) and then the spreadsheet tells you exactly what to lift in every workout up until the meet (which is on the last day of week 12) and even suggests openers and second attempts.

I've set the desired maxes such that the suggested openers are weights I can already do on a shitty day, the second attempts would be modest little PRs, and the third attempts would be good but not astonishing PRs. Also I started on it with only 11 weeks to go before the meet I'm planning for, so jumped into week 2 (all the first three weeks are basically the same with only small differences in weights, anyway).

The program is three days per week (the traditional Monday/Wednesday/Friday) and on most but not all days I'll be doing a squat variant, a bench variant, and a deadlift variant. Plus some accessories. I'm deviating from the program as written in one respect: It has barbell and/or machine rows as an accessory, I'm doing chin-up ladders instead (continuing with a progression I'd been doing for a while before jumping into this program).

[Leif]

Week 2: 2010-12-19 through 2010-12-23

Day 1: 2010-12-19
Low-bar Squats: 6@107.5 kg, 5@117.5 kg, 4@125 kg, 3@135 kg, 3@140 kg, 2x3@147.5 kg.
Bench, middle grip, paused: 7@67.5 kg, 5@75 kg, 4@82.5 kg, 3x3@87.5 kg.
SLDL from deficit: 5@52.5 kg, 3x5@65 kg
Press: 5@32.5 kg, 2x4@37.5 kg, 2x3@42.5 kg
Chins: 2x(1,2,3,4,5), 3x(1,2,3,4)
Leg Curls, each side: 12@50 kg, 10@60 kg, 8@70 kg.

Time: 1:25

Day 2: 2010-12-21
High-bar squats, wide stance, paused in the hole: 5@65 kg, 4@75 kg, 4@80 kg, 3@85 kg, 2x3@87.5 kg
Bench press, regular, paused: 5@77.5 kg, 4@90 kg, 3x(3@97.5 kg + 6@85 kg supersetted)
Rack Pulls: 4@117.5 kg, 4@137.5 kg, 3x3@157.5 kg
supersetted with
Deadlifts: 4@117.5 kg, 4@137.5 kg, 3x4@147.5 kg
Chins: 3x(1,2,3)
Skullcrushers: 3x10@35 kg
BB curls: 3x12@35 kg

Time: 1:26

Day 3: 2010-12-23
Dietmar peaking cycle, week 2, day 3

High-bar squats, narrow stance: 4@72.5 kg, 4@90 kg, 3x(3@100 kg + 6@90 kg superset)
Close-grip bench: 5@62.5 kg, 5@67.5 kg, 4@72.5 kg, 2x4@80 kg
Deadlift from ~8 cm deficit: 5@92.5 kg, 4@107.5 kg, 3@117.5 kg, 2x3@120 kg
BTN Press: 5@32.5 kg, 2x4@35 kg, 2x3@37.5 kg
Chins: 5x(1,2,3,4)
Pushups: 3x12 against purple band

Time: 1:13

At this point, all weights felt almost like air, but the amount of volume was a bit more than usual for me. Relatively short breaks means sessions don't go on too long despite the number of worksets.

[Leif]

Week 3:

Day 1: 2010-12-26
Low-bar Squats: 5@107.5 kg, 4@125 kg, 3@135 kg, 2x3@145 kg, 2x3@152.5 kg
Bench press, middle grip: 6@67.5 kg, 5@80 kg, 2x4@85 kg, 2x3@90 kg
SLDL, deficit: 5@52.5 kg, 5@62.5 kg, 2x5@65 kg
Military Press: 5@32.5 kg, 4@37.5 kg, 3@42.5 kg, 2x3@45 kg
Chins: 3x(1,2,3,4,5), 2x(1,2,3,4)
Leg Curls: 12@50 kg, 10@60 kg, 8@70 kg
Time: 1:26

Day 2: 2010-12-28
High-bar squats, wide/paused: 6@65 kg, 5@77.5 kg, 4@82.5 kg, 3x3@87.5 kg
Bench press, regular/paused: 5@75 kg, 4@87.5 kg, 3@95 kg, 3x(3@100 kg + 5@87.5 kg supersetted)
Rack pulls: 3@117.5 kg, 3@137.5 kg, 2@157.5 kg, 3x3@167.5 kg
supersetted with
Deadlift: 4@117.5 kg, 4@137.5 kg, 3@147.5 kg, 3x3@157.5 kg
Skullcrushers: 3x12@37.5 kg
BB Curls: 3x12@37.5 kg
Chins: 3x(1,2,3)
Time: 1:30

Day 3: 2010-12-30
High-bar squats, regular: 4@72.5 kg, 3@80 kg, 2@92.5 kg, 3x(3@102.5 kg + 6@87.5 kg supersetted)
Close-grip bench: 6@62.5 kg, 6@67.5 kg, 5@72.5 kg, 2x4@80 kg
Deficit deadlift: 6@92.5 kg, 5@112.5 kg, 4@120 kg, 2x3@125 kg
BTN press: 5@32.5 kg, 2x4@37.5 kg, 2x3@42.5 kg
Chins: 5x(1,2,3,4)
Dips: 8@bodyweight -> elbow hurty -> done for the day
Time: 1:09

More of the same as the previous week, nothing really remarkable.

[Leif]

Week 4 so far:

Day 1: 2011-01-04
Low-bar squats: 4@107.5 kg, 3@125 kg, 3@135 kg, 3@145 kg, 2@147.5 kg, 2x2@152.5 kg, 1@162.5 kg, 2x2@162.5 kg
Mid-grip bench, paused: 4@67.5 kg [1], 4@80 kg, 4@85 kg, 3@90 kg, 2x3@95 kg.
SLDL from deficit: 5@52.5 kg, 4@62.5 kg, 3@65 kg, 2x3@70 kg
Chins: 4x(1,2,3,4,5), 1x(1,2,3,4)
Leg Curls, each side: 12@50 kg, 10@65 kg, 8@80 kg.
Time: 1:20

Day 2: 2011-01-06
High-bar squats, wide stance, paused: 4@65 kg, 4@77.5 kg, 3@82.5 kg, 3@87.5 kg, 2x3@92.5 kg
Bench press, regular, paused: 6@75 kg, 5@87.5 kg, 4@95 kg, 2x3@100 kg, 2x3@107.5 kg
Deadlift: 6@117.5 kg, 4@137.5 kg, 3@147.5 kg, 3@157.5 kg, 2x3@167.5 kg
Military press: 6@32.5 kg, 2x5@37.5 kg, 2x4@42.5 kg
Chins: 3x(1,2,3)
Skullcrushers: 3x10@40 kg
BB curls: 3x10@40 kg
Time: 1:32

And that was today's workout. In this week there are no more supersets and it's beginning to move slightly toward more but shorter and heavier worksets. Everything still feels pretty light.

[Leif]

Yesterday was week 4, day 3

High-bar squats: 6@72.5 kg, 5@85 kg, 4@90 kg, 3x3@95 kg
Close-grip bench: 4@62.5 kg, 4@72.5 kg, 4@80 kg, 3x3@85 kg
Deficit deadlift: 5@117.5 kg, 5@137.5 kg, 3x3@147.5 kg
Military press: 5@32.5 kg, 4@37.5 kg, 3@42.5 kg, 2x3@45 kg
Chins: 5x(1,2,3,4)
Pushups: 3x12 against purple band

Time: 1:18

Light weights once more. The program actually has behind-the-neck presses but I don't want to do those anymore. Doing strict military presses (heels together) instead.

Next week is similar to this one, a bit less volume, slightly heavier weights on a few exercises. Then the couple of weeks after that start to become interesting.

[Leif]

Monday was week 5, day 1

Low-bar squats: 6@107.5 kg, 5@125 kg, 3@145 kg, 3@152.5 kg, 2x2@162.5 kg
Bench press, middle grip: 5@67.5 kg, 4@80 kg, 3x3@90 kg
SLDL, deficit: 5@52.5 kg, 5@62.5 kg, 2x4@65 kg
Military press: 6@35 kg, 2x5@37.5 kg, 2x4@42.5 kg
Chins: 5x(1,2,3,4,5)
Leg curls: 10@60 kg, 8@70 kg, 4@100 kg

Time: 2:02

The reason for the long time this workout took was that I did it with the local powerlifting club, which I am joining now. Got a couple of hints for refining squat technique (first time I've ever actually had a qualified coach there). Good times.

[ColoWayno]

Welcome to the board.

[Leif]

Thanks!

Yesterday was week 5, day 2

High-bar squats, wide stance, paused: 4@65 kg, 4@77.5 kg, 4@82.5 kg, 2x3@87.5 kg
Bench press, regular/paused: 5@75 kg, 4@87.5 kg, 4@100 kg, 3@107.5 kg, 4x2@112.5 kg
Deadlift: 5@117.5 kg, 4@137.5 kg, 3@147.5 kg, 3@157.5 kg, 3@167.5 kg, 2x2@177.5 kg
Chins: 3x(1,2,3)
Skullcrushers: 3x10@40 kg
BB curls: 3x10@40 kg

Time: 1:47

So far the program has mostly been:

Day 1: Heavy-ish squat, medium bench, light DL variant
Day 2: Light squat, heavy-ish bench, heavy-ish DL
Day 3: Medium everything, more or less

In later weeks it begins to mix up the scheduling a little.

[Leif]

Saturday was week 5, day 3

High-bar squats: 5@72.5 kg, 4@85 kg, 3@90 kg, 3@95 kg, 2x3@102.5 kg
Close-grip bench: 5@62.5 kg, 4@72.5 kg, 4@80 kg, 3@85 kg, 2x2@90 kg
Rack pulls: 5@117.5 kg, 4@132.5 kg, 3@147.5 kg, 2@162.5 kg, 2x2@177.5 kg
Military press: 5@35 kg, 5@42.5 kg, 4@45 kg, 2x3@47.5 kg
Chins: 3x(1,2,3,4)
Pushups: 3x12 against purple band

Time: 1:25