BWare's Intermediate Training Log

[Bruce Ware]

5/22 Measurement Sunday

After a long-ish break, and having contracted the Wu-flu -- some variant anyway that manifests as short-lived fever and heavy coughing for like 10 days now, plus a loss of appetite -- I weighed in this morning and got my numbers.

TotWt (spot) 197.0 (-4.0 from 5/8); (week avg) 199.5 (-1.2); (long avg) 197.0 (-3.2) ** A major Rule 1 process shift was recorded today.

LBM (spot) 178.7 (-3.6); (long avg) 181.3 (-0.1)
FAT (spot) 18.3 (-0.4); (long avg) 15.7 (-3.1)

Yields an est BF of 8.0% (spot was 9.3%).

This process shift in TotWt has some very wide process limits so far, and the next few weeks should tighten them up and balance out the swing.

Eating x-bar for this week: 91/208/74 for 1950 kcals. Obviously, way too little food.

I'm happy that Lean Mass didn't see a shift as well, although the drop was just above the neg-3-sigma line (it was close to signaling). I plan to resume lifting tomorrow, since I need to finish out the last week of this wave - only deadlifts and bench press remain. Rowing season is fast approaching -- I did an introductory lesson on sculling today in a quad, and it was very nice -- maybe a motivation to trade off some of my sweep rowing for some sculling, although the summer is going to be very busy. Anyway, after completing these last 2 sessions, I'll have one more 3-week wave to go to complete the Peak meso-cycle, and then transition back to foundational training. Right now, it looks like it's going to be the 4-day Split Texas Plan.

[Bruce Ware]

5/24 Session 16-3; Deadlift

Warm-ups: Standing Leg Curls -- 80 x 12 x 2 with 6 drop-sets -- 75 x 12, 70 x 12, 65 x 12, 60 x 12, 55 x 12, 50 x 12; go to 8's next week and add weight

Deadlift warm-ups:

135 x 5; 225 x 3; 275 x 2

Working sets:

335 x 3; 320 x 2; 285 x 5; 5 mins rest between sets

Kneeling banded ab crunch -- 1 x 10

Duration - 44 mins

A decent workout considering I am still thrashing thru my spasmodic coughing; also will be sweep rowing this eve (weather permitting) so wanted to get this done.

[Bruce Ware]

5/30 - call it "Measurement Sunday" even though it's Monday (I was AFK for the long weekend)

TotWt (spot) 198.8 (+1.8); (week avg) 196.9 (-2.6); (long avg) 197.9 (+0.9)

LBM (spot) 180.3 (+1.6); (long avg) 181.2 (-0.1)
FAT (spot) 18.5 (+0.2); (long avg) 16.7 (+1.0)

Yields an est BF of 8.4% (spot was 9.3%)

Eating x-bar: 121/254/79 for 2210 kcals; a lot better as the week went on, the first couple of days were still low-eating/low-appetite days recovering from covid.

[Bruce Ware]

6/6 Composite report:

Last week, as I was still recovering from my attack of the Wu-Flu (nothing major - a lot of coughing, which made me sound like just another allergy-suffering resident of Northern Virginia), I did a basic lifting "test", sort of a de-load week.

Squats were the most adversely affected of the lifts - I just could not get enough air to support a second or third set of 5's. So I completed 1 set at 275. Video review shows that I am drifting slightly toward my toes on the descent, so I need to work on driving the hips back and doing a better job on knee-spread.

Press worked well, although I still have a tendency to leave my hips slightly forward at the top of the shrug, rather than pull them into straighter alignment. I'll work on that. Top set of 3 was at 125 for 5 reps.

Deadlift also worked well, but I think I could drop my hips just a bit more to get a flatter back. Top set was 5 at 315.

And Bench Press wasn't too bad either, weight-wise, as I got a top set of 5 at 180. However, video review shows that I may be tucking my elbows a lot closer to my torso than I ought, so I am going to work on keeping them out a bit more.

Measurement Sunday (6/5) recorded a full set for the month:

Wt tot -- (spot) 197.8 (-1.0); (week avg) 197.7 (+0.8); (long avg) 197.9 (nc)

LBM -- (spot) 178.4 (-1.9); (long avg) 179.2 (-2.0) **
FAT -- (spot) 19.4 (+0.9); (long avg) 18.7 (+2.0)

Yields an est BF of 9.5% (spot was 9.8%); ** this drop was a Rule 2 process shift signal -- that is, 2 out of 3 points sequentially below the -2sigma line. The chart for FAT also has currently a string of 8 points below its middle line, so if next week's metrics hold a similar pattern, that will be a Rule 4 shift down for that number, although the shift (if it is signaled) would only be for a half-pound or less.

Eating x-bar: 108/236/69 for 2000 kcals on average. Not bad, considering I had very little appetite still. Plus, the rowing season has started and, given the typical heat and humidity of the area at this time of year, I expect to continue sweating off some of those pounds.

Body-part measures indicate I have lost some bulk in my legs (q.v. regarding rowing season) but everything else seems to be pretty much status quo.

This week starts a new "foundation" meso-cycle, where I'll be using a modified 4-day Texas split mixing volume and intensity through the week.

[Bruce Ware]

6/6 Session 18-1, Lower Day - Volume

Warm-ups:

Leg Extensions -- 110 x 8 x 2 with 6 drop-sets -- 105 x 8; 100 x 8; 95 x 8; 90 x 8; 85 x 8; 80 x 8

Squat warm-ups:

45 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 3

Squat working sets:

225 x 8 x 2; 225 x 1; 4 mins rest between sets; intended to get 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps, but ran out of air on third set due to remnants of COVID

Deadlift working sets:

225 x 3 x 5; 90 seconds between sets

Duration -- 50 minutes

NOTE - Since I had missed more time than expected from my training over the past couple of weeks, I'm recording this as "Week 18" in the training year.

[Bruce Ware]

6/7 Session 18-2, Upper Day - Press Volume

Warm-ups:

DB 1-Arm Incline Side Delt Raises -- 40 x 8 x 2 with 3 drop-sets -- 30 x 8, 25 x 8, 20 x 8

Press warm-ups:

45 x 5
75 x 3
95 x 2

Press working sets:

105 x 8 x 3; 5.5 mins rest between sets; should add 5 pounds to next week's volume

DB Bench-supported Prone Incline Row -- 80 x 10 x 3; 2 mins rest between sets

Duration -- 48 minutes
++

Evening training - Rowing in quad scull, first day of the rowing season. I'm going to be doing sculling this season instead of sweep and sometime along the way should move into a double with my wife. Good session as I am getting comfortable with the smaller, lighter shell and slightly different rowing technique/movement patterns. I give myself about 70 minutes of "cardio" time for tonight's work.

[Bruce Ware]

6/9 Session 18-3, Lower Intensity

Warm-ups:

Leg Curls -- 85 x 8 x 2 with 6 drop-sets -- 80 x 8, 75 x 8, 70 x 8, 65 x 8, 60 x 8, 55 x 8

Deadlift warm-ups:

135 x 5
225 x 3

Working set:

255 x 5; no problems at this weight, will add 20 pounds to next week.

Squat, Working set:

255 x 5; no problem at this weight still working on depth improvements; will add 10 pounds for next week

Duration -- 30 minutes
++

Evening training - Second major session sculling in the quad, and a whole new set of drills. I was able to get a bit closer to a full stroke and am getting my arms wider to the catch, so my comfort level is increasing too. I'm giving myself a good 70 minutes of "cardio" for this session.

[Bruce Ware]

6/10 Session 18-4, Bench Press Intensity / Press Volume

Warm-ups:

Decline DB Bench Press -- 100 x 8 x 2 with 3 drop-sets -- 90 x 8, 80 x 8, 70 x 8

Bench Press warm-ups:

45 x 5
95 x 3
135 x 2

Working set:

175 x 4; I was aiming for 5, but also working on getting my elbows a bit wider from my torso as I had been tucking them in too tight; felt good, but bar speed on that 4th rep convinced me to end the set

Press:

85 x 5 x 3

DB Incline Bench Press: 80 x 8 x 4

Chin-ups (assisted): 150 x 8, 8, 5; was aiming for 3x8 but ran out of gas on the last set

Duration -- 45 minutes

This concludes my first week of the 4-Day Texas Method (mod); next week, lower days will stay the same w.r.t volume and intensity; upper days will flip-flop in that day 2 will be bench volume with no press while day 4 will be press intensity with a light bench.

[Bruce Ware]

6/12 Measurement Sunday

<First, though, a brief report of my third session sculling in a quad. 6/11 Saturday AM practice and we did mostly rowing by 4's after some warm-up drills. Coach continues to say how much she has observed my improvements in learning this mode, and told us she is going to move me into seat #4 - the stroke seat - for next practice. I had been sitting in seat 3, right behind the stroke. The session was somewhat shortened as one of the rowers needed to attend to some sort of family event, so we came back to the docks a few minutes earlier than normal. I am going to credit myself with about 45 minutes of "cardio" time from this session.>

Tot wt -- (spot) 199.0 (+1.2); (week avg) 197.6 (-0.1); (long avg) 198.2 (+0.3)

LBM -- (spot) 179.2 (+0.8); (long avg) 179.2 (nc)
FAT -- (spot) 19.8 (+0.4); (long avg) 19.0 (+0.3)

Yields an est bf of 9.6% (spot was 10%)

Eating x-bar: 147/311/100 for 2730 kcals. Up quite a bit from last week, but primarily as a result of some dining-out events during the week. Weather-wise, this has been an odd week for my region, much cooler and wetter than usual, so the week's rowing practices didn't take nearly as much sweat out of me as the norm. I fully expect that the coming week will be back up to the usual high temps and humidity in the afternoons, leading to major sweat and that feeling of "just too drained to eat" that I often experience at this time of year. Looking forward to the coming training week, though, and to moving into the stroke seat at practice.

[Bruce Ware]

6/13 Session 19-1, Lower Volume day

Warm-up:

Leg Extensions -- 110 x 8 x 2 with 6 drop-sets -- 105 x 8, 100 x 8, 95 x 8, 90 x 8, 85 x 8, 80 x 8

Squat warm-ups:

45 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 3

Working sets:

230 x 8, 8, 6; 6 mins rest between; add 5 pounds next week

Deadlift:

235 x 3 x 5; 2 mins rest between; add 10 pounds next week

Duration -- 52 minutes