Road To Strength

[Toasterleavings]

I'm still mentally fucked. My body just feels absolutely drained, hopefully I'll feel better after a good night sleep.

Ha! Yeah that's an ugly number of reps for deadlift. You sure it was only an @7?

[Gumboots]

strength-wise yea, it was a 7, maybe 7.5 I definitely could've gotten 3 or more reps had the conditions been better. I came into the workout dehydrated and hungry, so it just intensified the feelings. At least with 20 reps squats you get a stretch reflex at the bottom. 20 rep deadlifts? (I got at least 15) Well, imo, 20 rep deadlifts could actually be used as a torture device. 20 reps is commonly said to be around 60% of your 1RM. That would put my e1RM at around 490ish, which is bullshit. I know that I couldn't have pulled more than 465lbs completely fresh today. So I did 20ish reps (maybe 18-19) with 63-64%ish of my max.

never again. hopefully I remember this experience for a long time so I don't try to repeat it anytime soon. still have some brain fog 5 hours later.

EDIT: I am sure someone thinks I am exaggerating about the difficulty of the set. I'm not. 355lbs Squat - YouTube I squatted 355lbs here about 3 minutes into the video for a grindy 1RM. This set of Deadlifts hurt worse than that. far worse

[transom]

I worked out with 2 other guys today. One guy got a Bench PR (210lbsx1) and the other guy repped out 185lbs for 21 reps. So yea, that was pretty sick.

That wasn't part of the problem was it? I find I cut my rest times short when I have buddies around, or I get cold and unfocused when they need something.

[Gumboots]

That wasn't part of the problem was it? I find I cut my rest times short when I have buddies around, or I get cold and unfocused when they need something.

Haha no, that was definitely not part of the problem. Having training partners has yielding nothing but good, as far as training results go. It is mostly because I pushed too hard, combined with improper attention to hydration, imo.

[Toasterleavings]

At least you've established that you're not a big fan of crossfit!

[Simon Rest]

Without Quest Bars I would not have hit my protein goal today. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough actually tastes pretty good. Adjusting my calories from 3000 to 3100. Protein stays at 200g.

so does double choc chunk. they're mostly too sweet for me though

[Gumboots]

Haha yea, death to crossfit. And thanks Simon, I'll definitely try that one out too.

[Gumboots]

Yesterday's Nutrition
: 3250 calories
: 202g protein
: 14/14 (+/- 2%)
: 100% compliance

I'm going to skip GPP today. Much needed rest day. Slept 8.5hrs last night.

[Gumboots]

Tuesday's Nutrition
: ????
: ???
: 14/15 (+/- 2%)
: 93% compliance

Had a cheat day today. Wasn't a super huge cheat day though, so that's good.

[Gumboots]

My body is rebelling against me. I woke up with a hug headache, and after slamming ~6 cups of water, 800mg of ibuprofen, and 100mg of caffeine it started to go away. I NEED to start taking recovery more seriously. I need to increase my sleep from an average of 7 hours to 8 or 9 hours, I need to eat higher quality foods (IIFYM is a bullshit excuse) and I need to be more careful with hydration. These things should all strengthen my immune system, health, and performance in the gym.

I am thinking about keeping track of all macronutrients instead of just protein. Not right now, tracking calories and protein is annoying enough, but in the future. I think that even with my subpar recovery I could still hit 3/4/5 without changing anything. But what about hitting heavier numbers? Need to think long-term and start to improve my recovery situation.

EDIT: Also, I was thinking about my set of Deadlifts on Monday, and I concluded that there is another factor in why I felt like death immediately after that set (and during the rest of the day). This factor is the hyperventilating & valsalva combo. I get my adrenaline pretty high before my top sets and this often causes hyperventilation. I hold a valsalva on the big 3, resetting between reps. This combined with dehydration and huge amounts of exertion are what caused my experience. I highly recommend everyone read through Mark's Q&A from the very beginning. I found the info on hyperventilation & valsalva in a thread back in 2008. Thank you very much Rip.

In the future, I will attempt to keep adrenaline slightly lower and keep myself hydrated at all times. Hopefully this helps (I suspect not doing sets of 15+ will help also)