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Thread: Giving a go at HLM

  1. #11
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    Nov 2016
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    Okehampton, Devon, UK
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    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    I'm with Dillon, belt for last warm up set and work sets, but I try to go as long as I can without using it and not on 'light' days.

    Some days when I'm feeling stronger I can for example deadlift all the way to work set without a belt but other days I'll belt up maybe last two warm ups, I play it by ear

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
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    Sahuarita, AZ
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    Geoff, carson, Dillon, and Big-Green-Mud-Machine, thank you for your feedback. I have traditionally done light day unbelted (light day has been 185-225 for me still) with heavy and now medium days belting the last warmup and working sets. The reason I was asking, though, is because I find that I can feel the difference without the belt both in my lower back and in them feeling harder than they should (or than I think they should). I decided that since it's light day and intended to be not too stressful, I am going belted on working sets.


    Wednesday, May 22, 2019
    Light Squat: 210x5x3
    Overhead Press (light press day): 130x5, 120x5x4
    Rows (light pull): 185x5x3
    Power Cleans (light pull): 145x3x3

    Today was good. Big change here was the overhead press top set and back-off vs. sets across. Because of this change, I went up 5 lbs on the top set instead of just 2.5. This worked out well, and I am thinking of doing a 135x5 as my top set next week before going back to 2.5lb increases. Will see how I am feeling then since I will be traveling and not at my garage gym.

    Squats were light/easy, so they went good. Rows are getting heavy, but still going up. Power cleans were a reset down 10lbs as I've had trouble at 155, and 150 & 152.5 had some misses as well. Goal is to solidify what I can do near 150+, and hopefully get what I'm missing now. 145 as appropriately challenging, but all of the pulls racked good.

  3. #13
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    Oct 2018
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    Sahuarita, AZ
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    Saturday, May 25, 2019
    Medium Squat: 235x5x4
    Heavy Pull - Deadlift: 295x5
    Heavy Press - Bench: 190x5, 175x5x4
    Light Press - Press: 110x5x3

    I had some minor pain in my lower back starting about mid-day Thursday and carrying into Friday. I probably could have/should have lifted Friday but decided to give it one more day, so I lifted today. Today I could still feel where the back was effected, but it was more of a stiffness than soreness, which made it an easier decision to lift today. By the end, though, I was feeling it slightly (probably from use of corresponding muscles, not injury) and feel it most when the hips come back on the press 2.0. It's definitely better and should be perfectly normal by Monday's heavy squat.

    Had some circumstances that swapped my deadlift and bench, which worked out ok since the deadlift weight is lower than max right now to work on keeping the bar against the leg. I also ended up deadlifting with the weight resting in the seam between slabs in the garage. Down side is a slightly lower start position, but the upside was a consistent starting position.

    Relative to the pulls, squat was good. Only thing of notice here was that my left quad was feeling a bit strained the first two sets, though third and fourth that was gone. Deadlifts were good, and stayed pretty well against my leg. There was one rep that started a bit away, but not far enough that I'm concerned. Going to push this to 315 next week and probably go by 10's after that until 5's are needed.

    This is my first time doing bench with back off sets, and like the press, I was benching a bit more than this (literally 192.5 max so far), so felt I could jump 5 lbs for the top set from last week. That worked and wasn't bad at all, though 175 felt heavier than I was expecting.

    Light press weight is a repeat of last week because I dropped it to 85% of the light day/maximal effort press earlier in the week. Last week I did it @ 90%, and felt like a bit too much. I have to admit that I was most concerned about this lift with swapping deadlift and bench, but it wasn't an issue. I do lift these beltless and wrapless for now, and the reps just flew.


    I'll be traveling next week, but luckily don't leave until Monday evening, so I plan to get Monday's workout done in the morning. I'll be back Friday night, so can get in Friday's workout on Saturday. The plan now, given the schedule is to head to a gym w/ a SS coach (I believe it's an affiliate gym) about 30-40 mins from the hotel and get my light day session in on Thursday. Time constraints may lose my power cleans, but you do what you can.

  4. #14
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    Oct 2018
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    Monday, May 27, 2019
    H. Squat: 265x5, 245x5x4
    Close Grip Bench (M. Press): 170x5x4
    Deadlift (M. Pull): 265x5x4


    Today was tough. I did not eat the best all weekend, and especially ate below calories yesterday (estimate maybe 1500-1800 total, definitely low in protein). Follow that with a morning workout after only 1 meal, and squats in particular were miserably difficult. Top set wasn't too bad, but definitely harder than I was expecting. After the first back-off set, I almost called off the rest of at least squats, if not the workout. Instead, I kept going and even though I felt like I was going to fail after rep 2 or 3 of the next 2 sets, I didn't. Set 4 of the back-off sets actually felt half decent, and it was worth going through everything else just to get here. I give this an RPE 11 :P- I absolutely couldn't do 1 more rep, but I did and then some.

    Things started to turn around at close grip bench. The only thing I had to do was move my grip a couple of fingers wider. I had been trying to use press grip for cg bench, but for whatever reason I feel it in my left shoulder, and today that was translating a bit down to my elbow (or maybe it's elbow to shoulder). So while I'd like slightly closer grip, I'm happy with where it is now if it means my shoulder and elbow don't complain. It was never pain, but just not right, and glad to avoid it before it is pain.

    Deadlifts were at 90% of my last heavy deadlfit day (295), and I suspect as the heavy day ramps up again, I'm going to drop these back to 80-85% of heavy day as I'm still adjusting to volume. Part of the reason my heavy and as such medium day are as low is because I'm working on keeping the bar against my legs better. Out of 20 reps today, I'd say about 4-5 or them weren't against the leg as well as they should have been, but it also felt like they were closer than I have been in the past. Overall I am pleased with this. I am taking heavy day up to 315 this week, and will probably switch heavy to +10/week as I get back to 345 and beyond.

    So overall for a tough day it ended good. Hit all of my reps and ready to move on from here. I'll be traveling later today through Friday, so hopefully get my light day in on Thursday (Wed already out), and then my Friday workout will be on Saturday. Nice to not miss any of them.

  5. #15
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    Nov 2016
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    Okehampton, Devon, UK
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    Voluntary hardship pays off my friend sometimes when need to do 5 x5 but persuade myself that I'll settle for 5x3 or even juat pack up and go home telling myself I'm not strong enough day, I find my cave man genes wake up and fire me through the sets.

    You most definitely can do a hell of a lot more with your body then your mind will let you

  6. #16
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    Oct 2018
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    Sahuarita, AZ
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    Thursday, May 30, 2019
    Light Squat: 210x5x3
    Press: 135x5, 125x5, 4, 5, 5, 6

    I was traveling and only got to the gym (Annino strength and conditioning) about an hour before they closed. Limited in time I only got squats and presses in. Squats were good and pretty easy today. Top set was tough, but a great PR. Missed a rep on my 2nd back off set, but picked it up at the end. All-in-all, a good workout if not a bit short.

  7. #17
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    Saturday, June 1, 2019
    Medium Squat: 240x5x4
    Bench (H. Press): 195x5, 180x5x4
    Deadlift (H. Pull): 315x5
    Press (L. Press): 115x5x3

    I was tired today. Got home from traveling and in bed just after midnight, and woken up by one of my dogs a bit after 6 and couldn't get back to sleep. Add in that travel diet was less than stellar, and this was a challenging day.

    Squat was hard, but good. First set was the toughest one, but the weight still moved.

    195 for bench was an ambitious +5 this week for top set. Will be back to +2.5 next week. Back off sets weren't too bad.

    Deadlift was really tough today. Even warmups at 225 and 275 just felt heavy. Still, 315 went up well, and only my last rep had the bar travel away from my legs at all. It wasn't by much, and it was primarily my supine hand. Going to be increasing by 10 going forward.

    Light press was good. I was really beat at this point, so they were harder, but good.

  8. #18
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    Oct 2018
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    Tuesday, June 4, 2019
    Heavy Squat: 270x5, 250x5x4
    Close grip bench (m. Press): 175x5x4
    Deadlift (M. Pull): 270x5x4

    BW: 297.6#
    Waist: 49"

    I really didn't want to lift today. That's not entirely true - I wanted to lift, but didn't want to get going. Luckily, my wife was still lifting and needed me to coach her to my feeble ability to do so. That got me out there and doing it, and I'm really glad. Today was great!

    I had a really hard time with squats on Saturday at 240. Today, I would say 270 felt much easier than those 240s, and 250 was even smoother. Today really felt great all around.

    Saturday bench was actually pretty solid, and today's close grip actually felt easy.

    Saturday was also very difficult for deadlifts with the warmup single at 275 just being hard. Today, 270 flew up. Any slowness I had was ensuring form was on point, and crappy conditioning gassing me after 3 reps or so.

    Bodyweight has been pretty much stationary since late February. This is due to lack of compliance on my diet, which is targeted at 2200cal/200-220p/200-220+c/<=50f. Some days were good, some we're eating out or a snack I shouldn't have had. Whatever it was, I lucked out and didn't go beyond calorie neutral overall.

    I am now on a drive to 250 with somewhere between and 42-44" waist. I started since I've been home from work travel, and will be focusing like I did the first 3.5-4 months. We will be camping tues-fri next week and out overnight the following Monday. Those shouldn't be too bad, but will be the few days I'm not stressing about tracking.

  9. #19
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    Thursday, June 6, 2019
    Light Squat: 215x5x3
    Press (light press): 137.5x5, 127.5x5x4
    Rows (light pull): 185x5x3
    Power Cleans: 145x3x3

    Light squat day. Feels great, not hard, but enough to feel it.

    Press was great. Last week was a PR on my top set and the PRs should keep coming. 137.5 wasn't easy, but I definitely felt there are a lot more to come. Here's looking at 150.

    Rows and power cleans were missed last week, so I dropped back a week or so. These went well.


    I will be missing light day next week, so trying to figure out when to do heavy press. May just do the top set and 2 backoffs and figure it out.

  10. #20
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    Oct 2018
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    starting strength coach development program
    Saturday, June 8, 2019
    Medium Squat: 245x5x4
    Bench (Heavy Pressing): 197.5x5, 182.5x5x4
    Deadlift (Heavy Pull): 325x5
    Press (85% light pressing day): 117.5x5x3


    Today was tough. I'm not sure if it's anything more than a morning workout w/ less food before lifting, but regardless, it was tough. Everything ended up happening, so that's a win. I almost quit deadlift after 1 rep, but after admitting to myself I was quitting and that it wasn't something I couldn't do, I pulled the remaining 4 reps. It was hard like everything else, but overall went up smoothly, and I did well keeping it against my legs, which I've been working on.

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