Zach's HLM Military Log

[Zach Metzger]

Hello guys, here's my brief introduction:

I wanted to start this log to help inform folks on how to balance running with lifting. Just some additional info to contribute.

Currently I am in the Army, working on my transition back to civilian life. As a result, I have a little more control over what I do for PT in the mornings. I'm going to focus on doing a Heavy-Light-Medium cycle inspired by PPST3. I've had several resets as a result of field training and such, but I have been lifting for about 4 years now. Right now my goals are to remain within Army PT requirements (40 pushups, 40 situps, 16:00 2-mile run), get stronger, and lose about 10 pounds, in that order. Currently, here's how I stand.

6'0" tall, 215 pounds, male. Kind of long arms and legs relative for my body. Did about 55 pushups, 55 situps, and a 14:30 2-mile run back in November. Currently my lifts are kind of all over the place. I'm running out an advanced novice program for my upper body lifts, which has worked out great for me. I'm probably early intermediate for my squats, I just haven't been disciplined with it. I'm probably best at my deadlifts, they regress VERY little while I'm in the field. Current breakdown of lifts are (reps x sets):
Back squat 335x5x3
Front squat 240x3x3
Bench press 222x3x3
Overhead Press 152x3x3
Halting Deadlift 435x5x1
Rack pull 450x5x1
Power clean 207x3x5 (I don't do these as often as I should)
Power snatch 145x2x8 (I actually really enjoy these)
And for backoff sets (I'm somewhere around) Stiff Leg Deadlift 320x7, Snatch Grip Deadlift 315x3.

[Zach Metzger]

Currently my weekly breakdown will look something like this:
Monday: Medium Pull, Adv Nov Press, Heavy Squat
Tuesday: Sprints
Wednesday: Light Squat, Adv Nov Press, Heavy Pull
Thursday: Mile run
Friday: Light Pull, Adv Nov Press, Medium Squat

Monday 18 Jan 2016
Bodyweight 215
Medium Pull: Power Cleans 207x3x5.
Adv Novice Press: OHP 152x3x3
Heavy Squat: Back Squats 335x5x3.

Power cleans have been giving me trouble for literally years now. Last week, I refocused on swinging my elbows through, and I was nailing 205. This week, after a couple sets, I just couldn't get 207 all the way up into the rack position. I've been resting about 1 minute to about 90 seconds in between sets, and now I wonder if I'm not resting enough. I'm going to give it some more time, and see what happens with that.

Presses were very challenging. I'm hitting a PR with these OHP, which really makes me happy. I don't think I'll be able to grind this Adv Nov out much longer, however. I've been doing it since about December.

Squats felt really hard. Rested about 5 minutes between each set. Afterwards, the general fatigue was pretty harsh, and my hands were shaking a bit. I don't think I've done 335 for THREE sets of 5 before, so that's pretty cool.

Right now, my PR goals for the end of February: Squat 390, Bench 250, and Deadlift 495. Very achievable if I don't have any sudden field surprises.

[Jeff Brophy]

Yep, more rest on the PC"s. Try 3 minute minimums on work sets. If your over 90% of 1 RM that may need to be 5 mins. You may want to switch to triples for awhile on squat. Keep pushing the weight up and come back to the 5's in a few weeks. see if you can squeeze more out of this run.

IMHO may as well round those numbers up to 400 and 500 for squat and dead. Good luck with the goals.

[Zach Metzger]

Thanks for the insights, guys. I recall reading somewhere on the site that the rest for cleans was somewhere around a minute... but that might be out of context, too. I'll see if I can dig it up later. The encouragement means a lot, too. ^_^

Tuesday 19 Jan 2016
Unmotivated for running, did a quick circuit:
10 close grip pushups, 10 rowers (a situp variation), and 10 mountain climbers (pairs). 5 rounds. Did this one in 5 minutes. Looking to increase by another round next week.

[Zach Metzger]

Wednesday 20 Jan 2016

Light squat: Front squat 242x3x3. These went really well. I enjoy front squats. It'd probably be better if I did 70% of back squat, but sometimes the variety is mentally refreshing.
Adv Nov Press: Bench Press 225 x 0. Zero! It came down and I nope'd my way out of it. There was a lot of elbow discomfort as well. Semi-tendonitis feeling, but it went away after pulls. I've noticed having the "tug" of the pull helps a lot in this situation. I'm going to reset this advance novice cycle and try to milk the run again for what it's worth.
Heavy Pull: Rack pull 455x4. Very difficult, took quite a while to get this set finished. I'm currently using a half-rack that's SLIGHTLY down-grade, which makes the setup kinda tricky. I'm thinking about making a jerk-block stand-thing.
Backoff set Stiff Leg Deadlift 335x2. I thought I could get at least 3 or 4, but that was all. Oh well. Gonna redo my last Halting Deadlift number and see if I need to reset on this too. Blech. lol

[Zach Metzger]

Friday 22 Jan 2016

Light pull: Power snatch 145x2x8. I like these, these are fun.
Medium Squat: Paused Back Squats 295x5x3. These felt challenging, but a good change of pace. I really like these, I feel it's good training to stay tight in the hole, which is tricky for me.
Adv Nov Press: OHP 140x3x3. I also backed off on these a bit to help refresh the bench press for monday.

[Zach Metzger]

Monday 25 Jan 2016

Medium Pull: Power Clean 207x3x3. I would have done 2 more sets, but I wanted to speed things along. Resting for three whole minutes helped a LOT. Thank you for the advice.
Adv Nov Press: Bench Press 210x3x3. Felt kind of hard for the back off that I did, but I hope to milk this to 230x3x3. We'll see. I haven't gotten there on a linear progression before.
Then I did some assistance pull work, working up to a Romanian Deadlift at 275 for four. I did just one set, I'm looking to work on my grip strength a bit.

I ran out of time, and had to wait till the afternoon to finish.

Heavy Squat: Back Squat 340x5x3. Went great. 5-7 minutes rest in between, and I"m working keeping my chest down so it's more of a "leg press" mechanic. I'm really looking forward to doing tree fiddy.

Then I did a quick conditioning workout, 500 jump ropes in 5 minutes.

[Zach Metzger]

Wednesday 27 Jan 2016
Light Squat: Front squat 245x3x3. I have 10lb bumper plates, so now all the plates on the bar were nice and trim.
Adv Nov Press: Went up 5# to 145#x3x3, went great. 2.5# next time.
Heavy Pull: Halting Deadlift: 435x6. Getting these over the knee was a little tricky, grip-wise. I was very excited to get these done, I plan to keep going in 5# jumps to milk these. As an assistance exercise, I did back off sets of Stiff Leg Deadlifts 315x8, I was a little surprised to get so many. I do these without a belt and using a double overhand grip.

[Zach Metzger]

Thursday 28 Jan 2016

I have an upcoming Army PT test, so I wanted to gauge myself. 1 minute of pushups: 39, 1.5 mile run, 11:34. Very, very meh. But I am confident I can improve quickly.

[Zach Metzger]

I have to focus on an APFT in the next two weeks, squatting is going to be minimized...

Power Snatch 147x2x8
Bench Press 175x10,10,8. 2 minutes rest each time, I think I might go with 3 next time.