Manveer's Log

[manveer]

Attended SS Level II Seminar in Lexington over the weekend. Excellent experience - highly recommended. Karl Schudt suggested I post a log, so here I am.

I've been stuck for a long time. Hopefully the improvement in form I've learned from the seminar in combination with a small reset and better eating will continue my gainz. Rip told me to gain a bunch of weight, as shocking as that may be.

All numbers will be weight (lbs) x reps x sets.

Current state after ~2.5 years of training (injuries, travel, etc have slowed progress):
Male, 29, 6'0"
218# BW (up from 160# before LP)
Squat: 380x3x2 (failed 385x3x2 on 5/8, got pinned twice, several inches below parallel)
Bench: 295x2 on 5/8
Deadlift: 365x5, 385x3, 395x2, 405x1
Press (v1.0): 170x2
Power Clean: 185x? (PR at seminar, don't normally clean)

Goals by end of 2014:
BW: 250#
Squat: 495x1
Bench: 345x1
DL: 495x1
Press (v2.0): 220x1
Power Clean: 225x1

Following Texas Method right now - will be resetting by 5% this week.

[manveer]

Establishing a baseline for nutrition.

5/19/14
Breakfast:
3 packets instant oats
Tea (1 cup)
20 oz milk w/ 2 scoops whey protein

Snack:
PB&J sandwich

Lunch:
Chicken tikka w/ rice and channas (garbanzo beans)
Yogurt (1/2 cup)
Mixed nuts (1/4 cup)

Snack:
3/4 large steak quesadilla from Chipotle

Dinner:
10 oz salmon filet
Quinoa
20 oz milk w/ 2 scoops whey protein

Total water intake: ~1L

MyFitnessPal says this is:
4468 calories
Protein: 335g
Carbs: 388g
Fat: 168g

[Karl Schudt]

Welcome! I'm looking forward to watching your progress.

[manveer]

Thanks, Karl! My enthusiasm has been renewed by you as well as the seminar staff and other participants. Looking forward to lifting tonight.

[Brodie Butland]

Glad to see you on here--you were really fighting some good weights at the seminar. I believe we're going to see some pretty big-ass numbers here in a short time.

FWIW, I would consider increasing the water intake. 1 liter of water and two 20 oz. glasses of milk is pretty low for total liquid intake.

[manveer]

Glad to see you on here--you were really fighting some good weights at the seminar. I believe we're going to see some pretty big-ass numbers here in a short time.

FWIW, I would consider increasing the water intake. 1 liter of water and two 20 oz. glasses of milk is pretty low for total liquid intake.

Hey Brodie - great meeting you at the seminar. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I know I need to work on drinking more water...really just laziness and not wanting to have to hit the bathroom every 1-2 hours. Should help with feeling less shitty after volume day once I get better at this.

[Walter Palmer]

Great to meet you this past weekend and concur with Karl and Brodie - you have some big progress ahead of you. We will be watching.

[manveer]

Thanks, Walter! Appreciate the encouragement and it was great meeting you as well.

Tonight's workout - light day

Squat
255x5x2
Felt even easier than normal, focused on fixing my grip. Bar was very secure. Nagging injury that is still bugging me - pain in my calf (fibular head?) from a couple of weeks back when I failed two squat sets.

Press
125x5x3
Probably a bit heavy for a light day - last set wasn't easy.

Cleans
Warmups and 135x3x1 just to reinforce the form learned at the seminar. Still feeling beat up from the weekend. Triceps were aching and traps (esp right side) were very sore after cleans. Knees still bruised from jumping early.

Meals for the day:
Breakfast
8 oz water
3 packets instant oats
Tea (1 cup)
20 oz milk w/ 2 scoops whey protein

Snack:
PB&J sandwich

Lunch:
Homemade chicken curry, rice and channas
Yogurt (1/2 cup)
Mixed nuts (1/4 cup)
1/2 apple
Some kind of nut bread/cake (leftover from a meeting)

Dinner:
1/3 lb ground beef with kidney beans and rice and a little bit of yogurt

Post-workout:
20 oz milk w/ 2 scoops whey protein
600mg ibuprofen

Total water intake: 3L (+tea, milk)

3918 calories
Protein: 267g
Carbs: 382g
Fat: 141g

Late workout…probably going to get 7 hrs sleep max tonight.

[manveer]

Checked out the fitness center at work to see if it had improved since I last took a look at it three years ago. It hasn't. One power rack, two benches, a sea of machines.

Also checked out another gym on the way home that was a bit more promising - basically a warehouse with a couple of Rogue power racks, bumper plates, tires, etc. When I came in the guy made sure to warn me that it was almost all free weights. I chuckled to myself...told him I thought I could manage. Like most gyms with decent equipment in the area, they are geared towards personal training with only a few memberships set up right now. Hours aren't very convenient, but maybe I will change my schedule around so I can use a 28mm bar instead of the shitty 32mm bars I've been using at my normal globo gym. He said they were working on getting set up for memberships where you didn't need to always work with a trainer. He invited me to come back tomorrow night and try it out…should be interesting if it's hot and humid as I'm expecting it to be.

Meals for the day:
Breakfast:
8 oz water
3 packets instant oats
Tea (1 cup)
20 oz milk w/ 2 scoops whey protein

Snack:
PB&J sandwich

Lunch:
Chicken tikka w/ rice and channas (garbanzo beans)
Yogurt (1/2 cup)

Snack:
1/2 apple
Mini Baby Bel cheese

Dinner:
Baked teriyaki chicken with veggie stir fry and beef fried rice
Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
20 oz milk w/ 2 scoops whey protein

Water intake: ~1.6L (+tea, milk)

3894 calories
Protein: 271g
Carbs: 393g
Fat: 125g

[manveer]

Tried the new gym today. They have Rogue equipment (bars, bumpers, racks) but not enough plates for multiple people lifting a substantial amount of weight. The bumpers are in English units and the iron plates are in metric. The owner (and trainer) also tried to tell me that my toes should be pointed straight forward while squatting because if they were out I wasn't "engaging my glutes" … after about a minute of trying to explain to him why my toes were out I decided it was more productive to just nod and carry on with my workout. He did lots and lots of curls after that.

It was about 80F and 40% humidity with only fans blowing air around - got pretty hot, so I can only imagine what it will be like during actual summer.

Today was a 5% deload, which worked out for squats and deadlifts, but I misloaded the bench weight because I wasn't used to the damn metric plates.

Sleep has been good this week: 8 hrs/night, 7 hrs minimum. Drank a little too much water before bed last night and consequently woke up an hour early this morning…managed to make it back to sleep

Intensity Day
Squat
355x5x1
Easy - the correct size bar as well as correcting my grip helped make it feel easier than normal.

Bench
286x2x1 (misloaded - meant to do 275x3. Failed 3rd rep of 286, which is interesting considering I hit 295x2 a couple weeks ago)

Deadlift
348x5x1
Backed off a bit on DL since I last deadlifted 365x5 at the seminar on Saturday. Fairly easy set.

Food
Breakfast:
12 oz water
3 packets instant oats
Tea (1 cup)
20 oz milk w/ 2 scoops whey protein

Snack:
PB&J sandwich

Lunch:
Homemade chicken curry, rice and channas
Yogurt (1/2 cup)
1/2 apple
Mini Baby Bel Cheese

Dinner:
4 Tandoori chicken "tacos" - my wife's creation, actually delicious
20 oz milk w/ 2 scoops whey protein
6 oz more milk for good measure

Total water intake: ~1.8L (+tea, milk, probably more before bed)

4146 calories
Protein: 348g
Carbs: 385g
Fat: 127g

BW: 220.6# yesterday morning, 220.2# this morning.