Dillon's Intermediate Log

[Dillon Spencer]

12/23/18
Bench ID 237.5x2x3 (PR)
Press VD 147.5x5x5
Rows 185x8x3

Grindy first sets today. Kind of like I needed the first set to wake up or something. Got inadvertently acquainted with the Olympic press when I had to rescue the last rep of my first press set! After those everything moved much better.

[Dillon Spencer]

12/24/18
Squats ID 355x1x5 (PR)
Deadlift VD 345x3x1
Sled pushes/backward drags 5xTurf @270 60s rest

First day of singles on the squat plan, and these felt about as easy as the heaviest thing I've ever had on my back could be expected to feel. The triples felt like a bit of a break from fives, and the singles felt like a bit of a break compared to the triples. Hopefully after acquainting myself with some heavier weights, I'll be ready to crush a new five rep PR next week! Calling this deadlift "volume" day seems inappropriate, seeing as how it was just a sub max triple, but I'm going to test for a 1RM(ish) on Friday so it's a bit of a taper. Unfortunately, I still wasn't thrilled with how my deadlifts felt. When I go back to hitting fives next week, I should probably get some video for a form check. Finished off with some conditioning, and now it's time for a couple of days of Christmas recovery meals! Merry Christmas to all!

[Geoff Bischoff]

Nicely done, sir!

First time at 355 and you punched it five times (with rest each time, granted)? That's gotta feel like walking on water.

[Dillon Spencer]

Thanks Geoff! Yeah it was a great feeling! I'm already liking rotating intensity rep ranges. I was getting impatient to lift some heavier things, even if it was for fewer reps. On the lifts I've been running out for a while now, I'm getting impatient to go back and set more fahve PRs. Think I'm really going to like it when I'm rotating rep ranges on all my lifts.

12/29/18
Press ID 167.5x2x3
Bench VD 205x5x5

Presses were pretty slow. Think I'll go for 170 for the sake of round numbers, then switch to singles across. Bench form felt a little weird. Was having trouble finding a consistent touch point, almost brought one down on my neck somehow. Just one of those days! Normally would have been a day for chins as well, but I decided to leave the lats fresh for testing out my deadlift.

12/30/18
Deadlift 1RM testing 405x1 (PR) 425x1 (PR) (Video)

Today was all about the deadlift! I had basically finished Wolf's suggested run out, but condensed the last couple of weeks just so I could test it out before the end of 2018. The goal was to hit four plates, but that moved so well I went ahead and pulled 425! I was even reasonably happy with form, which had been a little hit and miss lately. Now I'll just have to come back tomorrow to do my squats, I guess.

[Dillon Spencer]

12/31/18
Squats 305x5x5

Just didn't want to do these after trying to max out my deadlift yesterday. Came back today to get it done. Not sure if that was better or worse than just doing them yesterday. Perhaps the suckitude would have been equal either way, but these sucked. Felt like form was fine, but I did not have a good time. Happy New Year to me!

[Dillon Spencer]

1/2/19
Bench ID 240x2x3
Press VD 150x5x5
Rows 190x7x3
21-15-9 push-ups/TRX rows

Bit of a weird one today. I did my benching at my dad's gym when I went out to give him some coaching this morning. Moved pretty easily despite the fact that the equipment is pretty shit, particularly the bench itself. That's all I got done there, so I had to head back to my gym hours later for the rest. The press volume day has crept up over 90%, and was pretty grindy on fifth reps today. I'll either hold it steady or reset a bit next time. Dropped down to sets of seven on my row LP. Channelled my inner CrossFitter with a little upper body based conditioning stuff at the end.

[Dillon Spencer]

1/3/19
Squats ID 340x5x1
Deadlift VD 315x5x2
Sled pushes 5xTurf @270 60s rest

Squats actually went up pretty easily! I feel like the rotating rep ranges were a good idea. 335 was pretty rough, but after having experienced 345x3, and 355x1, this was no big deal. Not too sure how to handle deadlift volume day now that I'm done running it out and going back to set rep PRs. Just decided to keep it at 315x5x2, which is 90% of my next planned intensity day rather than 80%, but resetting to 280x5x2 didn't seem like it would be much of a stress. These went up pretty easily, so we'll see what happens. Might take some tinkering. This morning I watched Rip's video about how to push the prowler. I hadn't been doing it that way, and it was definitely harder than what I'd been doing. Barely got these done, and collapsed into a puddle afterwards. Turns out Rip knows a thing or two, I guess.

[Dillon Spencer]

1/12/19
Press 170x1 (F) 165x1 (F) 155x1x5
Bench VD 205x5x5
Neutral chins BWx8,6
Lat pull downs 135x12

Well this has been a dog shit week on the training front. Missed a couple of workouts just because of life, and then got sick for the rest of the week. Couldn't even take any time off work, because it's the first week back at school and I knew covering for me would have been a shit show. Lost three pounds not eating right.

I expected I wouldn't be at my best, but I greatly overestimated what I'd be capable of on the press. Last intensity day, doubles at 167.5 went up reasonably well, so I figured I might be able to knock out singles at 170. Gave it what felt like a 10 second grind, but it was a hard nope. Said some bad words, got some funny looks from my fellow gym goers, and took 5 pounds off. Another fail. Said fuck it and went down to 155 and knocked out my singles just to get some work in. Pretty frustrating since my last volume day was 150x5x5. Probably could have handled a bit more weight if I hadn't gassed myself on the first two fails, but this was one of my most frustrating days since I got into the barbell game.

Repeated my last weight for bench volume. Got it done, it just felt heavier than it should have. I'll take it after the press debacle.

Elbow was really barking on chins today, so I decided to do my last set on the pulldown machine that has handle that move independently. Lets you rotate your hands, kind of like rings. That felt way better. Thinking about starting to bring my rings to the gym for chins. I've done battle with golfer's elbow before, and it's been flaring up a bit recently. Don't want it getting any worse!

[Geoff Bischoff]

Rough day. New Year's Week, though, everything crashed for me. I was seriously thinking as I drifted off to sleep the 4th, "Will I ever be strong again?"

I slept, ate, healed up. Following week, I made 45 total lbs in PRs.

It's desperately hard in the middle of a shite week to believe that it's just temporary. But objectively, it's usually temporary.

Rest up and kill it, brother. The victory is that you showed up and did what you were capable of, instead of just bagging it altogether.

[Dillon Spencer]

Thanks Geoff! I read about your rough week, and used it to console myself while I was there. Hopefully I can bounce back just as strong!