Lifting to Live

[Bill Anders]

ah, the DK's!!

great stuff

Yeah, I don't think that they put out a bad album. Several of them get frequent first-to-last play in this house.

As you'll see, I'm keeping the old school punk train rolling today. It's fun and gets me moving in a different way than the bride's current selection upstairs - The Enchantment by Chick Corea and Béla Fleck. Brilliant stuff there, but it just doesn't get me moving under the bar.

[Bill Anders]

9/6/22 - Tuesday

SQ H @ 5'
45x10x3
95x5 p
135x3 p
185x1 p
225x1 p
275x1
310x5x4

Chins - 0, 0, 0

Music — Bootsy Collins, Mug Push; Agent Orange, Bloodstains; Fear, Let's Have A War; TSOL, Suppose They Gave A War And No One Comes; Ramones, We're A Happy Family.

Notes — The saga of getting old and falling apart continues. Yesterday afternoon, I started noticing tightness in my left quad (vastus lateralus), which progressively got worse, no matter the amount of pressing, rolling, and working that we threw at it. It persists this morning. It couldn't have been the Press work yesterday, nor the deadlift/squat workout last Friday. At least it wasn't "well, it started after a nap" like the shoulder issue, but it's still "oh well, who knows." Some days I wonder if it would be better if these things spontaneously happened under the bar and I could point to what happened. Regardless, I just have to look at my peers, realize that I'm still doing great, and just get the work done.
- SQ - Heavy Volume Day. This would be the start of the next cycle, so +5lbs over three weeks ago. The great thing about the low-bar squat is that it doesn't really engage the vastus lateralus like a high-bar squat would, so no issues with this lift. A couple of reps got a bit noisy in the head, and that's not a bad thing. I actually kinda like it. All good.
- Chins - Zeroes again today with the shoulder still bugging me. It's a lot better than just a couple of days ago, but like I mentioned yesterday, I really need it for this weekend, so I let these accessories go.

[Fred J]

9/6/22 - Tuesday SQ 310x5x4

Notes — The saga of getting old and falling apart continues. I just have to look at my peers, realize that I'm still doing great, and just get the work done.

^THIS^

A whole lot of younger folks cannot do those weights and reps and sets...

[Mr. Bingley]

^THIS^

A whole lot of younger folks cannot do those weights and reps and sets...

I admit it's shallow and petty, which is most likely why I enjoy it so, but when I talk to the young stud muffins in the office who are in their 20s and go to the gym constantly and I ask them what they're lifting and they say "oh I did some kettle bell lunges and then I deadlifted 230 on the hex bar" well, it makes me feel pretty damn good.

[Bill Anders]

^THIS^

A whole lot of younger folks cannot do those weights and reps and sets...

I admit it's shallow and petty, which is most likely why I enjoy it so, but when I talk to the young stud muffins in the office who are in their 20s and go to the gym constantly and I ask them what they're lifting and they say "oh I did some kettle bell lunges and then I deadlifted 230 on the hex bar" well, it makes me feel pretty damn good.

Thanks fellas. I do like to keep things in perspective. As you'll see in a bit, I had several sessions with an SSC in the past week, and that was the first question when I broke out my log book to show my programming - "Why in the Hell are you doing 4x5's at that weight?" My response was "Ummmm, because I can."

[Bill Anders]

Like the title says, I had three sessions at Starting Strength Gym Oklahoma City in the past week while I was in the city taking care of family issues.

My session slots were scheduled at 9am with SSC Phoebe Hightower, who was fantastic. Drop in surprise coach during two of the sessions was SSC Chase Lindley. The class size was either 2 or 3, so we basically got very individualized attention. I was there for form checks and a bit of programming advice. It was well worth it, especially for someone like me who works out alone in the garage.

The red worksets are what I had scribbled as a planned program going into these sessions, with the adjustments the coaches made for me to work on technique.

9/14/22 - Wednesday
SQ (L) - 285x5x2 285x5x1 + 265x5x1 (Phoebe)
OP (H) - 145x5x3 130x5 + 115x5x4 (Phoebe + Chase)
DL (H) - 340x5 + 315x5 340x2 + 340x1 (Chase)

9/16/22 - Friday
SQ (M) - 295x5x3 275x5x3 (Phoebe)
BP (H) - 215x5x3 215x5 + 215x4 + 190x5 (Phoebe)
Split Snatch - 45x3x5 (Chase) (Completely new lift for me; my shoulder was still bothering me, so racking a clean wasn't going to happen)

9/19/22 - Monday (Phoebe)
SQ (H) - 310x5x4 290x5x3
Close Grip BP - 175x5x3
Snatch - 65x3x3 (focused on the snatch, not the split)

Notes
- SQ - So many notes. Each day was full of new adjustments. Perhaps the biggest one was my stance adjustment. On the first day, I commented that I often drift leftward coming out of the hole, so Phoebe gave me a quick eval and determined that my right leg was just a hair longer and gave the suggestion that I move my right foot just a hair forward of my left, with my right toes just a bit further outward. The next two sessions, under heavier loads, were steady like they have never been.
- OP - Focus was on the hip bounce, which I really didn't have as I was focusing more on the bounce off the lats. Chase noticed that I was pulling the bar down into my lats to get that bounce, so they had me focus on pushing the bar through the entire range of motion, which worked quite well.
- DL - Lots of discussion with Chase on this programming, plus my realization that during my heavy single weeks (where I have been failing my second single) that I hadn't been eating enough because "it's just singles, so I don't need to shovel calories." We laughed, then I proceeded to not complete my 340x5 for the same reason. Not enough calories, plus all of the heavy work I had been doing with the family.
- CGBP/PC/Snatches - My left shoulder has been improving, but there's still issues with twinges and range of motion. So the cleans were eliminated, the CGBP was programmed (all good), and the snatch was worked from the ground up to bypass that limited range of motion. I've always avoided trying them due to concerns about that left shoulder, but Chase, then Phoebe, proved that it's actually a great choice when I am having issues with that shoulder.

[Bill Anders]

9/22/22 - Thursday

OP @ 3'
45x5x3
75x3
105x1
125x3x3

BP @ 3'
45x5x2
95x3
135x1
185x1
210x3x3

Music — Slayer vs Dr Know, Mr Freeze; 45 Grave, Party Time; Crowbar vs Gary Wright, Dream Weaver; Buzzov*en vs ELO, Don't Bring Me Down.

Notes — After two weeks of heavy work in the heat and humidity, including three sessions at SS OKC, plus the trials and tribulations of the current air travel experience, I am beat. We returned late Tuesday and early yesterday morning I was up on the mountain doing trail work, which I will do again tomorrow. I needed to do this today, even if it's a truncated session. Otherwise, starting again next week will be much more difficult than it need be.
- OP - A lighter weight, a repeat of last week, as I continue to deal with some shoulder pain. Plus, I'm keeping the volume low due to the reasons listed above. But perhaps the most important reason was that I needed to be able to focus on the technique adjustments that both Phoebe and Chase gave me.
- BP - Ditto. The left shoulder started talking with each warmup rep in a way that it hasn't before. Nevertheless, I persisted.

And since I forgot to add this to the summary of my SS OKC workouts, here's how you know that you're in the right place:

IMG_20220916_085855254_edited.jpg

[Bill Anders]

9/26/22 - Monday

OP - H @ 5'
45x5x3
75x3
105x1
120x1
135x5x4

BP - L @ 5'
45x5x2
95x3
135x1
175x1
205x5x3
CGBP 185x5x3

Music — Buzzcocks, Fast Cars; Boston, Foreplay/Long Time; Beastie Boys, No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn; Paragon vs Slayer, Die By The Sword; Tankard vs Iron Maiden*, Iron Maiden; Helloween vs Judas Priest, The Hellion/Electric Eye; Gamma Ray vs Pet Shop Boys, It's A Sin.

Notes — There's still a bit of awkwardness in my left shoulder that started on 8/29/22, but I no longer protect it making any movements during daily living**. Regardless, there will be a slight reset (5%) on the pressing lifts for this cycle, not just to accommodate any lingering issues, but also to focus on the technique coaching that I received while in OKC. Unrelated somewhat, I updated my tracking spreadsheet over the weekend and realized that during those SS OKC workouts, with three lifts each session, my workout tonnage was 2-3x a normal workout for me using this 4-Day Heavy/Light split. On top of all of the other work I was doing with family, no wonder I was gassed once I got home.
- OP - Doing the sets, I took a longer interval between reps as I focused on the hip extension/bounce. For some reason, the 4th rep of the first two sets was all over the place. And I mean all over the place! I barely saved the second one, but they locked out fine once I got them under control, followed by solid #5's. I did think about stopping this at three sets to be a bit cautious, but went with four programmed sets. All good.
- BP - Immediate sharp pain in the front of the deltoid, even during the empty bar sets. I experimented with grips of varying weight, even going standard width (pinkies on outer ring) for the 175x1 set, which had some pain. Since this is a Light Day, I went with a CGBP at +10lbs over last week's session with SSC Phoebe. All good. I'll likely re-write my program to go with CGBP for a cycle or two (3- to 6-weeks) and see how it goes.

*Concert this Friday!!
**Ha! I typed that too early. Holy cow, the shoulder was very stiff getting under the bar for my typical 45x10x3 squat warmup, so much so that I couldn't get under the bar until I did a 45x5 overhead press set; no pain, just limited ROM that improved with each set. Apparently I needed to spend some time stretching it this weekend. The massage therapist in the house gave me the "well, no shit" look that I deserved.

[Fred J]

Bill what width grip do you use for CGBP?

[Bill Anders]

SSC Phoebe set me up about a finger-width from the smooth part of the bar, so that's about 18.5". It's easy to remember, since that's where she set my press width. I had previous had it so my index finger was right on the transition to the knurl, but that ended up being a touch too close together.

Granted, today was only the second time that I've done CGBP, so it might be adjusted, but it felt pretty good today.