Will Lift For Chocolate- Aimee's log.

[Aimee]

Forewarning: I swear heaps.

Hello all, long time no see. I kept a log in the Starting Strength forum, but fell out of the habit of logging my shit last year. I literally didn't even write anything down either. I ran out LP late last year and did a novice comp at the 12 month mark of when I started lifting. My numbers there will serve pretty well as the starting point for my intermediate journey.

Everything shall be in proper measurements

Dec, 2015
BW: 64.4
Squat: 87.5 w/sleeves, belt
Bench: 47.5 w/belt (50 is my TnG PR)
Deadlift: 110 w/belt. I did stand up with 115 successfully but was red lighted for hitching. I consider 115 my 1RM for percentage calculation purposes because I believe that lift would be considered a successfull 'gym lift.'
Comp total: 245.
Gym total: 252.5

Right now I am preparing for the states meet in April. I don't think I will actually qualify for nationals, but I am getting this comp in now because I will probably be too busy later in the year to be able to compete again, and honestly comp prep is good for me. I need things to help me stay focused.

I'm currently about to start week 4/12 of my meet prep. I am having some knee issues so I may have to reprogram, but for the moment everything is going well and I haven't missed any of my big 3 lifts. I am running HLM. I train 6 days a week not 3 though, I give bench it's own 3 days a week since I find it too hard to do after another big lift, and I just enjoy going to the gym every night. I live by myself and I have depression, going to the gym and hanging out with my friends is seriously a very good thing for me. I also just enjoy focusing on one lift a day...

Squat HLM:
H: Volume
L: TUBOW, and I pull my deadlifts on L day too
M: Form/speed work, sometimes I do paused squats

Bench HLM:
H: Volume work.
L: Dumbell bench
M: Comp style paused bench, low volume- same weight as the H day, then CGBP for extra gainz

My week looks like this:

M: H squats, chins
T: H bench, face pulls
W: Deadlift, L squats
Thu: L bench, DB rows
F: M squats, chins
S: M bench, SGDL

Anyway, log starts tomorrow with H squats, which may or may not occur as planned due to my knee.

Food diary lives here

[chromoly]

Welcome back to the boards. I look forward to seeing you progress on HLM. I'm planning to switch to HLM soon too, so I may take some notes from you on how to structure my template.

[Emily]

Good to see you back again Aimee. I will be following and cheering you on. What are your rep ranges for each lift?

Where is your meet in April?

[Aimee]

Hi Emily, my rep ranges are 5x5ish for squats, higher volume work for bench (it normally ends up being a total of 30 reps but the actual s x r changes weekly) and deadlifts are cycled through rep ranges over 4 week periods.

Squat 12 week meet prep program (H days shown only. L day is TUBOW at 40-50kgs, M day is 90% of H day OR 80% with a 2 count pause.)

W1 5X5 @ 70 (complete)
W2 5X5 @ 72.5 (complete)
W3 5X5 @ 75 (complete)
W4 5X4 @ 77.5
W5 5X3 @ 80
W6 is a deload week, will squat M rest M instead of H L M
W7 5x5 @ 75
W8 5X5 @ 77.5
W9 5X5 @ 80
W10 5X4 @ 82.5
W11 5X3 @ 85
W12 H day practice openers (85 should be a comfortable opener at this stage), L day foam roll and eat/sleep all the things, M day comp.

[Aimee]

Monday 08/02/16

Macros: C180 F56 P164
Sleep: 8+ hrs

Well today was tough as I went straight to TAFE after work, got home late and was at the gym by 2030. Got my workout done quick and was out by 2145, but meant I had a bit of a late night by the time I had dinner etc.
So squats were especially tough and I was so grateful for the small volume reduction I had scheduled today.

Squat: 77.5x4x5 * (technically a PR since I've historically only done 3's at this weight..)
Chins: 4/3/3 (recently swapped to a neutral grip to give my elbows a break, slowly building my chins back up)

Final squat workset:



Need to cut the depth a touch but not too bad.

Experimenting with post workout supplements because I have been so fucking sore after volume days. Minutes after squats I consumed 50grams of dextrose monohydrate and 30g high quality WPI.

Knee feeling 85%

[Aimee]

Glad the knee is coming around!

So am I. I was really worried about it. Every squat rep I did I had this vision of my knee like exploding at the bottom. I am very happy to say I was able to successfully rehab a minor injury while maintaining my program with only few small sacrifices (light day 2x and M day 1x, and missed one SGDL session) over two weeks. I guess the reason why I like HLM so much is the flexible template can evolve with you, and as long as you get your H day gains in you are still moving forward.

[Aimee]

Tuesday 09/02/16

Macros: C:179 F:56 P:164
Sleep: 7.5hrs
BW: 65.6

TnG Bench: 47.5x3x10
Face pulls: Red theraband, 3 sets of 10ish

Recovery drink: 30g WPI, 45g Dextrose Mono, 5g creatine.

Definitely wasn't feeling as sore today from the H squats as I normally do. Probably a combination of good macros, good sleep and hopefully post workout nutrition helping.

Happy with my bodyweight at the moment (my weight class will be 67.5) so will continue on 'maintenance' calories. I really should have tried to start my program at a lower bodyweight and been able to be at a higher calories in the middle and end of program where it's hard. Good to know for next time.

[Aimee]

Wednesday 10/02/16

Macros C:172 F:58 P:164
Sleep: 8+hrs

L squat: TUBOW 40x3x5

Today would normally be deadlift day however my program has it as a week off heavy pulls and suggests some non pulling lower back/hamstring work instead.

Goodmorning: 15x5x3
Back ext: 10x3

Just used the light bar for the Goodmornings as I have never done them before and it was quite an odd movement pattern.

[Aimee]

Miscellaneous commentary:
Sorry about the poor descriptions of muscles and tendons. I am still learning all this stuff as I go, I tried to look up things where I was really lost.

How I fixed my elbows before they were a real issue-

So a few weeks ago I started getting what any reader of this forum fears, achy elbows. My left was worse but both were bad. Hands supine, the large proximal finger flexor muscle of the forearm was really sore and tight, almost sore to the touch. My triceps also hurt and my biceps felt torn up. The brachioradialis had some sore points that I could relieve with self massage. There was also a deep ache within my joints. Lots of stuff was going on basically.

I immediately did many searches on this site and decided I probably had the very beginnings of golfers/tennis elbow (I am still not sure which.) This is what I did:

- Ibuprofen 3200mg x 5 days then stopped.
- Took note of what hurt it- chins, dumbbell rows, deadlifts, squats, benching.
- Swapped the chin up supine grips out for a neutral grip and did a small deload
- Started using straps on my dumbbell rows. This felt silly but it was an instant relief. I think I was pulling poorly before with too much biceps. I will transition back out of straps and work on pulling from my elbow not pulling with my arm if that makes sense.
- Started stretching out my forearm muscles several times a day while I was at work
- Tied an elastic band around my fingers and did some finger extension training. These were actually amazing. After about 20 reps with long holds under tension I would get a nice warm feeling throughout my forearm and the pain would start to melt away, then I would do the static stretches, and it would feel fantastic.
- Checked my squat form for any wrist extension or any other tell tale signs of excessive loading of elbows- I didn't find much, and I didn't change anything except how I actually get under the bar a bit
- Used wrist/elbows wraps when they were needed. Not every session. Just when my elbows were feeling shithouse.

It's been about 2 weeks and I feel like I have new elbows. I still do the finger extensor exercises at my desk and they feel awesome. I guess when you spend so much time gripping stuff, the other muscles need to occasionally do something too. I am not big on muscle imbalances or any of that stuff, but this really worked.

I am by no means suggesting that what I did was the perfect answer to this problem, I am sure many many other people on this board could give you far better advice then I. I just want to get this info down for my future self and maybe someone will find it useful...

[Simon Rest]

Hey Aimee, good to see you still training. Are you still working with Kyle?

Squats looked good, depth control got better as the set went on.