Manimal's Over-Analyzed Intermediate Log

[Manimal]

BW 204

Long time since posting. I did a mock meet 2 weeks ago hoping I would be able to go on vacation and come back and make the meet. I felt like shit so I didnt compete. At the mock meet I squatted an esy 445, bench w/pause 245, and failed 445 on DL. I went rock climbing the day before and havent squated heavy before DL in a long time. I'll be ok with that for now.

It's been 2 weeks since the mock meet. I've been focusing a shit load on keeping my chest up to help with postural issues that cause some of my shoulder problems. I applied it to squats today and found something htat I've been missing for a long time. Despite the rust I felt really solid. My legs were the limiter which excites the shit outta me. With the rust off I'm looking forward to doing some base building and see where this goes. I hope i was being intelligent and calling it before I felt done. Bench and press to come tomorrow.

Squats 145x5 195x5 235x5 285x5 325x5x3 55lbs bar

[Manimal]

BW 202

Today was day 1 at LA fitness. Getting over being in there is going to be hard, but it makes the most sense. The gym I go to doens't over th ekind of hours of availability I need, so I'm going to lA fitness to bench,press, and do my back work. 2 days a week at the PL gym, 2 days a week at LA. Its so packed with clueless people. It's quite sad really. My first upper day back in over 2 weeks didn't go badly, actually the opposite. Everything was rusty, but I'm really not in a bad spot. Whats more is that my shoulder felt fucking good and still does after.

Press
65x5 85x5 105x5 135x5x3 All paused

Bench
95x5 115x5 135x5 165x5 185x5x3 pause everything up to work sets and then just first rep

Lat Pulls
100x20x3 chiro told me to go super high reps for a bit to heavily increase tone in the muscles (the real tone)

Rows
90x16 12 and 70x10 shit was hard after all the lat pulls

Face pulls
20x20x3 felt perfect to make sure I wasn't arming it after all the other shit

[Manimal]

BW 200

Rough heavy day. Kinda expected it. I was still super sore. Squats felt a bit more wonky than Monday because of it. Supports were a bit low DLs suffered the most. I was done after squats, just needed to go ahead and break into it. Next week will be better. Upper day tomorrow.

Squats
135x5 185x5 225x5 275x3 315x2 345x1 375x1 385x3 365x3

DL
135x5 225x5 275x2 315x1 365x2x3 straps 315x5 straps no belt, just wanted to make sure I was still holdin form

[Manimal]

BW 204

Gym'd on Friday and felt good. pressed 175 for an easy triple. Benched 185 for 3 sets of 5 again. Just gonna take bench slow until I'm sure I am in a position to progress faster.

Today was tough. I feel tired and weak still. My DL and squat are off. Formwise I feel great, everything feels heavy. I took an rpe approach to this week and i'm hoping to push it further. Hit a top single that I feel I could do for a triple. Then do 80% for 5 sets of 3 on DL or 3 sets of 5 on squat. Monday DL then squat, thursday sq then DL. I'm hoping to cycle this with 85% and 90% then deload going forward. I'm not concerned about the competition. I'll competition PR all my lifts and likely DL but it still feels slightly hollow. This year has been very much the year of experimenting and I was hoping to have more answers by now. I should be stronger than this.

DL 135x5 185x5 225x3 275x3 315x2 365x1 405x1 325x3x5, short rest this felt appropriate

Squats 135x5 225x5 275x3 315x2 345x1 375x1 315x5x3 totally gassed, felt hard technically I should have been doin 305 so I'll accept it.

[Manimal]

Confirmed out of the ordinary hard workout followed by being sick. I've not been to the gym since last Saturday. I had a good day today despite still being on meds. Decided to take it easy and just squat up to a heavy singe. A heavy single turned out to be 405 and it moved well. I let that be the end of it and skipped DL. Tomorrow will be press and bench. DL will likely hold until monday.

[Manimal]

Training has been going pretty well lately. i would like to see where I would be a week before the SS meet in Atlanta if I hadn't been sick, but there is no use in overthinking it. The RPE efforts have gone well though. I'm not totally sure if I've made appropriate progress on the program, but I expect to set 2/3 all time PRs at this meet. My second attempts will likely be the 3rd attempts from April. I'll refine it more given some more time after the meet. Will likely continue to increase volume to prevent myself from overdoing intensity efforts like programs past. I love the idea of doing intensity often, but not at such a tonnage that it breaks you. I'm hoping to weigh 198 but that wont happen. I'll likely weigh 200-202lbs.

[Manimal]

Meet report USSF Fall Classic

TLDR: I totaled 467/192/471 at 90kg on the dot. The squat and DL were all time PRs, and the press was a meet only PR.

The Meet

I had an energy drink as really the only source of caffeine and calories I was going to allow myself for the day. That and a role of lifesavers. I regret the energy drink, I was definitely not feeling good with that being the only shit in my stomach. Despite that squats went well. I opened with 186kg/410lbs and smoked it. This went way better than I expected it could. I made the planned jump to 1 kg above my last meet PR to 197kg/434lbs. I smoked this 1 as well and knew I was in a good place to blow away my previous PRs. I called for 212kg/467lbs and crushed it too. I could have done 480.

By this time I didn't feel so sick from the energy drink and was just overall tired from the lack of nutrition. Warmups for the press went well. I havent pressed well lately despite training it more often. My opener went well at 82kg/180lbs. I thought this would position me well to hit near 190 then jump to 200lbs. I failed my second attempt at 87kg/192lbs. Alex helped me out, he told me the bar got too far infront of me and to "aim back." He was dead on. 3rd attempt at the same weight and the bar moved as it should, a grind but never a doubt.

By this point I was panting just sitting down and couldn't catch my breath. I figured DLs would all be on 2 attempts tops. I failed 445 in a mock meet for PL for pups a few months back and didn't expect better. I opened with 188kg/415lbs and smoked it. It moved faster than my 385lbs warmup. I dont think I've ever moved it that fast. I was still only planning on 2 good attempts and wanted to better last meet. I called for 201kg/443lbs, because it was enough to break a 500kg total and would be a 10lbs meet pr on DL. I still had no trouble with this. I was not sure where the strength was coming from, I was cramping and blasted the entire time yet the bar kept moving. At this point I had everything I wanted from the meet except the elusive 200lbs in meet press. I called for 214kg, becuase I wanted to DL more than I squatted and to put on a show by grinding one out. I gave it my all and it still looked like I had more to give. I locked it out pretty easily. By the looks of the video, I could have locked out 485-495.

I stripped off my singlet and weighed 90kg on the dot. I couldn't have asked for a better meet than last time and yet still got it. It feels absolutely amazing. I was expecting to only hit what I hit in April, validating my assumptions of a wasted year. I wanted to blame the new job, the inconsistency, the poor nutrition and go about my business. I've had the excuses prepped for months. I was fully prepared to do mediocre at best. I didn't get it, I got what I needed instead. I hit 2 all time PRs and awareness that my recent programming changes are indeed spot on. I am absolutely motivated and cant wait to get back in the gym tomorrow. I want to destroy next April. I want to open my press over 200lbs and squat and DL over 500lbs.

[Manimal]

Its snowed 7 inches in Atlanta so there isn't much to do today. Figured I'd update my lost log.

Training is going well. 4 days a week I've been consistent until recently. I did however PR on DL yesterday which is always a good sign. Volume and intensity has been moving up. The biggest hindrance at this point seems to be my comfortability with previous 1rms being a good 8 on intensity. In short I'm being a wimp about it. 405 is no more than a warmup at this point and it's taking me some time to get passed that idea.

BW is on the bounce. I sit around 207 currently. I'm not comfortable with it, but I am riding this strength wave currently.