bean counter's Barbell Medicine Log

[bean counter]

this week is my refresh week. as you might expect a drop in volume with a slight drop in intensity. Tomorrow squats
1 @ 8
3 @ 8
3 @ 8

The second set of @ 8 is like a fatigue drop

I get that next week, after a slightly tougher week this week.

Monday 21 March
Cycle 3
Week 6, Day 1

Further to various grumbles over the weekend I'm definitely ill now. I struggled to eat my last meal yesterday and then slept terribly. About half an hour after waking this morning my mouth started filling with saliva as my stomach turned somersaults, but thankfully the seemingly impending vomit never actually came. I have a fair bit of lower back DOMS after Saturday's session too. Went to train anyway.

Bodyweight: 98.3 kg

Squat
℞ 1 @ 8, 4 X 4 @ 8
Belt, wrist wraps, SBD sleeves
150 kg: 1 X 1 @ 7
160 kg: 1 X 1 @ 8
145 kg: 4 X 4 @ 8, 8, 8+, 8.5
Totals: 18 reps, 2,550 kg

Wow. How I felt was clearly a lie today. Working up to 150 kg wasn't great, but the top single and work sets went unexpectly well. Not only did I get all the planned work in, but I did it on strict five minute rests. Technique felt good at times as well and 145 kg didn't feel too heavy on the back. I tried cueing a slightly more horizontal back angle for a couple of reps, but that just resulted in a squat-morning, so I think my existing back angle is fine (long torso benefits). The very final rep had a bit of an ugly lateral shift on it, but given the circumstances I'm very pleased with the overall execution of this slot.

TnG Bench
℞ 1 @ 8, 2 X 4 @ 9
Wrist wraps
107.5 kg: 1 X 1 @ 7
112.5 kg: 1 X 1 @ 8+
105 kg: 2 X 4 @ 8.5, 9
Totals: 10 reps, 1,060 kg

Fairly decent. Singles weren't great, but the first set of four was strong. The second set wasn't as good, with the third rep coming out of groove and the final rep resorting to a bounce off my chest. After doing a lot of my benching on a decent competition set up recently the shortcomings of the equiptment at my regular gym are becoming more of an irritation.

Pullup Dead Hang
5 X 15s

After that I'm shattered and just want to go back to bed rather than work for the rest of the day.

[bean counter]

Tuesday 5 April
Cycle 3
Week 6, Day 2

Bodyweight: 98.5 kg [PR]

Still sick. It's gone to my chest. Urgh.

Press
℞ 1 X 1 @ 8, 3 X 4 @ 8
Belt, wrist wraps
65 kg: 1 X 1 @ 7
69 kg: 1 X 1 @ 8
63 kg: 4 X 4 @ 8, 8+, 8, 8
Totals: 18 reps, 1,140 kg

Good again. Single up to 69 kg. I don't have the microplates for 69.5 kg, so the next jump will be 70 kg (my current PR). I held the weight for fours constant with last week, but actually found the last two sets were better than the first two, so I probably could have pushed the loading a bit.

Squat w/o Belt
℞ 1 X 7 @ 7, 1 X 7 @ 8, 2 X 7 @ 9
Wrist wraps, SBD sleeves
115 kg: 1 X 6 @ 6
117.5 kg: 1 X 7 @ 8
120 kg: 1 X 2+5 @ 9, 1 X 7 @ 9
Totals: 27 reps, 3,195 kg

Idiocy. I'm going to blame the illness for making me stoopid here. I forgot the Rx and only did six reps for the first set. Then I put on my belt for the first attempt at 120 kg and only realized after a couple of reps. Not too bad otherwise, although breathing was laboured with sevens while having a congested chest. A bit of right knee soreness.

+ Pullup dead hangs & hammer curls

[gtl]

Food Summary

Look at all those carbs... diabeetus.

What's your body weight?

[bean counter]

Look at all those carbs... diabeetus.

What's your body weight?

So many carbs. 217 lbs today.

[indigo]

Well done on your recent progress, very impressive.

I've got to ask you, since you've been doing this for a while now - do squat elbow / shoulder / bicep pains ever actually just go away ?

[bean counter]

Well done on your recent progress, very impressive.

Hey, thanks. Good to see you back here.

I've got to ask you, since you've been doing this for a while now - do squat elbow / shoulder / bicep pains ever actually just go away ?

My overall experience seems to be a fairly pain-laden one. I haven't had any nasty acute injuries that have actually stopped me training but I have a lot of aches and pains. I do currently have some shoulder and biceps issues, but I'm not necessarily sure those are squat related. The elbow issue is more persistent though and is definitely connected to the squat. At best that's had sessions where I haven't noticed it, but it's never something I'm able to totally forget about.

On the other hand, plenty of people have got past their own troubles, so don't assume you can't. And don't stop trying to find a solution, whether it's technical fixes to the main lifts, prehab/rehab exercises, supplements or whatever.

[bean counter]

Wednesday 6 April
GPP

Chest still bad.

Bodyweight: 97.9 kg

Elliptical
25 minutes @ c. 125 bpm

Switched back to elliptical from spin bike because my knees are achy after two consecutive squat days. HR was trying to get away from me a bit on account of my illness.

Planks [7 minutes]
8 X 30s = 4:00

Upper back [7 minutes]
Lat pulldowns

Tried to do a single pullup but my elbows hurt half way up so I aborted.

DB Hammer Curls [7 minutes]

Mobility [10+ minutes]

[Ryan Arnold]

61.25 kg: 1 X 5 @ 8.5 [video linked]

Hey Oliver, I noticed something on your Press that may be contributing to your low back fatigue. When you Press you are leaving your hips out in front, which is causing your low back to end up in an overextended position when the weight is overhead, which will overstress it. When you Press, make sure you bring your hips back to the start position as you move your head forward under the bar. You should end up in normal anatomical position with the bar positioned over mid-foot. Show this video to Jordan and see what he thinks. You may also want to take a video directly from the side and see what you look like in the finished shrugged position. Hope this helps.

Ryan

[bean counter]

Hey Oliver, I noticed something on your Press that may be contributing to your low back fatigue. When you Press you are leaving your hips out in front, which is causing your low back to end up in an overextended position when the weight is overhead, which will overstress it. When you Press, make sure you bring your hips back to the start position as you move your head forward under the bar. You should end up in normal anatomical position with the bar positioned over mid-foot. Show this video to Jordan and see what he thinks. You may also want to take a video directly from the side and see what you look like in the finished shrugged position. Hope this helps.

Ryan

Hey Ryan,

Thanks for the feedback. Overextension on the press is definitely a problem I've experienced. I showed this video to Jordan and his suggested cue was to lock down my abs more. I think that goes towards addressing the issue you picked up on. Since implementing this my 2.0 motion has felt shorter and tighter. I'm not sure how well I'm getting the hips back now though, so that's something to look at, although getting a true side-on view is difficult in my gym (pillar on one side, wall on the other).


Thursday 7 April
Cycle 3
Week 6, Day 3

Bodyweight: 97.6 kg

Woke up in the middle of the night for a coughing fit, but I'm feeling better overall. Today's main news is that I've signed up for a bench meet on 15 May. That goes some way to address my disappointment about the Starting Strength challenge falling through. Have any readers ever competed in a bench only meet? It doesn't seem like an especially Starting Strength thing to do.

Deadlift
℞ 1 @ 8, 4 X 4 @ 8
Belt
182.5 kg: 1 X 1 @ 8 [video linked]
165 kg: 1 X 4 @ 8-
+Straps
165 kg: 3 X 4 @ 8-, 8.5, 8- [video linked]
Totals: 17 reps, 2,825 kg

Finished strong. Warmups had their usual issues and the top single felt a bit slow, but then three of the 4 X 4 sets went surprisingly well. The third set was an exception, but given how well the last set moved there wan't really any fatigue present and I should have increased the weight. My groin, which was hurting a few weeks ago but has been OK recently got irritated on the single and continued to be a bit annoyed by the sets.

Press
℞ 7 @ 7, 7 @ 8, 2 X 7 @ 7
Wrist wraps, Belt
55 kg: 1 X 7 @ 7
56.25 kg: 1 X 7 @ 8
57.5 kg: 2 X 7 @ 8.5, 8.5
Totals: 28 reps, 1,585 kg

Good. My E1RM calculations indicated I was probably good for 58.75 kg on the top sets, but my historical experience has been that I'm not great at high rep press sets, so I was a little bit cautious on the loading as I didn't want to take the chance of failing a set. That didn't turn out to be an issue as all the sets went well. On the final set I found a really nice groove by pushing the bar every so slightly further back than usual. The only downside to this work was that the hip thrust on each rep pulled uncomfortably on my groin.

[bean counter]

Saturday 9 April
Cycle 3
Week 6, Day 4

Comp Bench
℞ 1 X 1 @ 8, 4 X 4 @ 8
Wrist wraps, belt
107.5 kg: 1 X 1 @ 7
113.5 kg: 1 X 1 @ 8 [video linked]
101 kg: 4 X 4 @ 8, 8, 8, 8
Totals: 18 reps, 1,835 kg

Better. Back to benching in my normal gym this week, but managed to get a decent set up going in the power rack. Top single still felt kind of hard, but it moved OK on video. Definite improvement from last week on the sets as I didn't really experience any fatigue. Last set was actually the best technically, but my leg drive pulled on my groin a bit.

Pin Squat
℞ 1 @ 8, 2 X 4 @ 9
SBD sleeves, wrist wraps
130 kg: 1 X 1 @ 7
135 kg: 1 X 1 @ 8
125 kg: 2 X 4 @ 8.5, 8.5
Totals: 10 reps, 1,265 kg

Pretty good. I managed to take the single heavier than expected. Groin tweak wasn't aggravated by squatting.

2" Deficit Deadlift
℞ 1 @ 8, 2 X 4 @ 9
140 kg: 1 X 1 @ 8? (in hindsight, much less)
130 kg: 1 X 4 @ 7
+ Straps
135 kg: 1 X 4 @ 8 [video linked]
140 kg: 1 X 4 @ 8.5
Totals: 13 reps, 1,760 kg

Good start. This was my first ever time with this exercise. The best equiptment setup I could manage in my gym was a 1.75" 10 kg bumper plate, which didn't provide a perfectly flat surface to stand on. I didn't seem to have much trouble setting my back with the lower start position; it just felt like I had a bit of quad extension to do before getting in to the regular pull. I failed to follow the Rx particularly well, but that's OK as I got a bit of work in and had a learning session with this new movement.