Still trying to lift more at the shore

[Agilic]

Ahhhh good memories of playing that one as a kid. Great feeling when the ball is on fire and you feel like anything you put up is going in. Even my missed attempt at a 6th consecutive 3 felt good out of my hand, even though it wasn't even really close.

[Agilic]

Woke up and downed 10g BCAA and got right on the weights....first time trying to lift with no real food. Saturday's are far from ideal training conditions for me (as is pretty much everyday, for that matter). Oh well.

Weighed in at 199.0, which means I'm down about 8-9 lbs in ~6.5 weeks. Slightly faster than I wanted but it should slow down a little. I would estimate I'm down to around 19% BF or so, and I'd like to be in the 15 range for bball playoffs 8 weeks from now. I promise I am going to do an epic bulk after summer, where I want to get up to 220+.

Press (I)
+1.5 109x5
Lost another rep. 6th attempt was half hearted and barely lifted from my shoulders, if at all.

Bench (V)
+1 162.5x5x5
Transitioned from 3x8 to 5x5 so this was easy. Right shoulder been cranky for a little while and letting me know more and more each session, so I moved bench grip in a touch and it seemed to help.

[Agilic]

Our injured guy from last year went to the docs and won't be able to play until June so the 5 we have now are the 5 we have for the season...I like our team so hopefully no one gets injured.

Squat (H)
+5 245x5,x2, 230x2x5
Stomach issues and I barely grinded out the first set, some form breakdown on #5. Should have backed off right away but I wanted another crack at 245. Had to give up 2 reps in and take another trip to the bowl. Backoffs were okay, technique and getting leaned over felt pretty good today. I'm just going to program next Sunday for 250x3 with backoffs to stay in front of a stall. I really don't like to let form creep happen at any costs.

Deadlift
+5 280x2x3
Same damn issues every week. Trying to squeeze into position I feel so much gas buildup in my chest that I can't take a breath. Took like 4 or 5 tries setting up to pull an uncomfortable beltless first set. Then I burped it all out and pulled a slightly better belted 2nd set. All of these were mixed grip as I couldn't even budge the bar DOH even though I just did 275x1 DOH as my final warmup. I loaded up 240 for an easy backoff, belted up, and then decided extra DL volume is stupid right now given everything I have going on. I'll just stick to my top work on these for the next 8 weeks and will move to singles at the first sign of triples being strenuous. Concessions probably have to be made somewhere, and the deadlift will be where I make mine right now, given how taxing it is on recovery.


Few hours later...

Chins
6, 6, 7

[foothills_g]

That sounds right re deadlift. They really can put you in a hole. When I started training again this winter I was really perplexed about how to program the DL but I wound up just doing a simple LP; it's worked way better than I could have hoped for.

How'd your fasted day go yesterday? Were you fasted again today?

[davetooch]

whats with all the gas lol are you giving yourself any time to digest whatever you eat or drink before you lift?

[Agilic]

Sometimes, when I have the time!

BW this am = 198.6

Rolled the heck out of my right shoulder (and left while I was at it) with the lacrosse ball the last couple days, need to keep at it.

Bench (I)
+1.5 179x5
Hard. Debating whether I should move to triples at 180. Right shoulder let me know it was there, but nothing too bad.

Press (V)
+1.5 99x2x8, x7
Time to move to 5x5. 1st set wasn't even too bad, 16th rep was grindy, then 23rd rep was real grindy so no attempt at last rep.

Chins
3x7
A little bit of progress finally. Only took losing nearly 10lbs to get it.


1st regular season game tonight @ 8:45. I don't anticipate this team being very challenging but the following 2 weeks will be our toughest competition. Gonna tell the guys tonight we need to use this game to figure out our communication, how we're gonna defend, and how we're gonna attack as a team. Plus I plan on running and defending very hard to get my conditioning up. Idc if we're up 30, sorry.

[Agilic]

69-57 W. Not the opponent I thought it was. Meh, they weren't bad, but this game should not have been a single digit game with under 10 minutes like it was. I stunk up the joint, going ofer about seven from 3. Only scored 2 points on a layup. In my defense, I took about 3 of those 7 in the last 2 minutes after we were up 10, but after I realized I didn't have it tonight, I focused my efforts on defense, running the court, and also created some plays which resulted in at least 5 assists I can remember.

The 3 new guys really carried the scoring load. They all like to shoot. Id really like to see us establish a better team game as the season progresses, but if we're winning can't complain too much. The next 2 weeks should be very competitive and we're going to have to play better than we did tonight to win.

Only good news for me is my legs felt a little better than last week, so I made sure to keep running hard both ways, and even played some 1v1 after for some additional burn.

Edit: I suppose since this is a strength forum I should post something strength related. One of their big guys, super solid, had to be 6'3", 240+...when our big guy took a rest I switched onto him and he immediately headed to the post to try to establish position. Well, I lowered down for some leverage, legally deterred him outward with my hips and midsection, and I don't remember him trying to come down low again after that. Definitely notice a difference defensively especially getting and keeping position in front of guys trying to drive. Moral of the story basketball kids out there...get strong. (In my case, just a little bit stronger than my pitifully weak self was the last couple seasons)

[Agilic]

Less than 12 hours between bball and lifting today...very tired legs, plus a charlie horse in my left thigh from taking a knee there. AM BW = 197.6

Squat (M)
+1.5 216.5x3x5
Hard but no grinders. Form felt hit or miss (aka inconsistent). Widened my grip another finger width, right shoulder still achy.

SGDL
+2.5 135, 185, 192.5x5
Easy. Just gonna microload these by 2.5 until after bball season to prevent the stress level from getting significant.

[foothills_g]

Great stuff! Love the game recaps and look forward to more as the season unfolds.

It's obvious through your tone of voice that you're stoked on what you've got going on right now, which is awesome. Keep it up.

[Agilic]

Thanks man. I'll definitely keep doing them and will take the time to go into more detail if I know I'm not typing to myself