Lifting to Live

[Bill Anders]

May your new year bring great good and great lifts. BTW Sully tells me that my slogan is the opposite of yours. He says I'm "Living to lift." I do enjoy it because I enjoy competing, mostly with myself.

I do wish the same for you, carson.

I am similar in that I am my most favorite competitor. It has always been that way. Even if it's not a PR, the goal is to always be a bit better than the last time.

[Bill Anders]

1/1/2024 - Monday
Outside 34° / Garage 46°

DL H @ 8'
135x4
185x2
225x1
275x1
325x1 h
360x5 m

SQ L @ 5'
45x10x3
95x5
135x3
185x1
225x1 — —
255x1
290x5x3

Music — Die Haut ft Nick Cave, Pleasure Is The Boss; Lich King, Combat Mosh; Stormtroopers Of Death (S.O.D.), Milano Mosh; Pro-Pain, Death On The Dance Floor; Crisx vs Exodus, Toxic Waltz; Municipal Waste, Wave Of Death; Suicidal Tendencies, Slam City; Anthrax, Caught In A Mosh.

Notes —
- DL - Heavy set. SQ warmups through 225x1, which got the sweat flowing even in the cool garage, then DL warmups. The work set was good, if not a little rushed mid-way through, meaning that I started that third pull with the bar a bit forward, so it floated on the way up. Finishing up, there was the reminder that whenever my DL is in this weight range and higher, the lower back screams at me as I set down that last rep. Thankfully it wasn't bad enough to have to grab the rack to stay upright. Form check soon...
- SQ - Light sets across. All good.

[Bill Anders]

1/2/24 - Tuesday

OP I @ 5'
45x5x3
95x5
135x3
155x1
175x1x5

BP L @ 3'
45x5x2
95x5
135x3
185x1
215x1
235x5x3

Music — D. A. F., Brothers; Chris & Cosey, Obsession (Extended Mix); Depeche Mode, Strangelove (Maxi Mix); Tones On Tail, Go!; The Cure, A Japanese Dream (12-inch Remix); Revenge, Pineapple Face; Grace Jones vs Joy Division, She's Lost Control.

Notes — Lots of things going on, layered upon poor overnight recovery.
- OP - Intensity Singles. The first rep was a lie, mainly because dropped my elbows as I drove it up out of the bottom, so it rose just a bit forward of the groove, which made it a slow press to lockout. The second went fine. The third was slow too, for reasons unknown; I was focused on keeping the elbows in their proper space, so I'm not sure what else went wonky. For the fourth, I didn't focus on specifics and it locked out quickly. The fifth followed suit. Basically, I need to turn my brain off as I slowly approach PR territory for these singles.
- BP - Light sets across. All good.

[Bill Anders]

1/4/24 - Thursday

SQ I @ 4-5'
45x10x3
95x5
135x3
185x1
225x1
285x1
325x1
360x1x5

Rows L @ 4'
65x5x2
135x5
185x3
220x1
245x5x3

Music — Benny Benassi, Put Your Hands Up; Lords Of Acid, Mister Machoman; My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Disko Fleshpot; The Prodigy, Medusa's Path; Marilyn Manson ft Johnny Depp vs Carly Simon, You're So Vain; Incubite, Hell Instructor; Combichrist, 2045; Rob Zombie, Crow Killer Blues; KMFDM, Help Us, Save Us, Take Us Away; New Order, All Day Long; Garbage, Blue Betty.

Notes —
- SQ - Intensity Singles across. Heavy, smooth and steady. Rest time increased from 4' to 5' as the reps progressed, just to make sure every one went. They did. Although these are 15lbs off of my 5x1 PR (July 2023) and 30lbs off my all-time 1RM (December 2022), it still feels good to start getting into the noisy realm again. All good.
- Rows - Light sets across. Compared to my deadlift, at 68% this is a light pull. But it's still getting heavy, considering that my Cleans would be about 68% of these. Heavy enough that it's getting tougher to be explosive off the floor—especially after heavy squats—but not quite heavy enough that I'm starting to worry about missing reps. I just may continue to go +10lbs for another couple of weeks. All good.

[Bill Anders]

1/5/24 - Friday

BP I @ 3'
45x5x3
95x5
135x3
185x1
215x1
235x1
262.5x1x5 5x1 PR

OP V @ 2'
45x5x2
95x5
135x3
152.5x2x12

Music — Static-X vs Motley Crue, Looks That Kill; The Obsessed vs Black Sabbath, Tomorrow's Dream; Ihsahn vs Iron Maiden, Wrathchild; Ministry vs The Doors, Roadhouse Blues; Sonata Arctica vs Metallica, Fade To Black; Korpiklaani vs Motorhead, Iron Fist.

Notes —
- BP - Intensity Singles across. Smooth and steady. I was expecting the first rep to be a lie, based on how the 235x1 warmup rep felt, but it was explosive, as were the few following. Only the last rep was a bit slower. The BP 5x1 PR train continues, now set at 7.5lbs higher than my actual tested 1RM set in December 2022.
- OP - Volume Doubles across. Strict, smooth, and steady. All good.

[Fred J]

1/5/24 - Friday

BP 262.5x1x5 5x1 PR

Notes —
- BP - The BP 5x1 PR train continues, now set at 7.5lbs higher than my actual tested 1RM set in December 2022.

You must be eating your spinash!

[Bill Anders]

Haha. Now I just need to get back on track with the others. But this one is quite nice!

[Bill Anders]

1/8/24 - Monday

DL H @ 8'
135x4
185x2
225x1
285x1
325x1 h
365x5 m

SQ L @ 5'
45x10x3
95x5
135x3
185x1
225x1
255x1
295x5x3

Music — Iggy & The Stooges, Search And Destroy; Gang Of Four, I Found That Essence Rare; Bad Brains, Sacred Love; Gorilla Biscuits, Big Mouth; 7 Seconds, 99 Red Balloons.

Notes —
- DL - Heavy set. SQ warmups through 225x1, then DLs. The 8' between the last warmup and the set is getting too long at these temps (28° outside, mid-40's inside), but it didn't hinder me. Smooth and steady. Good.
- SQ - Light sets across. All good.

[Bill Anders]

1/10/24 - Wednesday
Outside 33° / Garage 44°

OP V @ 5'
45x5x3
95x5
135x3
145x1
157.5x5x4

BP - L @ 3'
45x5x2
95x5
135x3
185x1
215x1
237.5x5x3

Music — Gallows vs Black Flag, Nervous Breakdown; Richard Hell & The Voidoids, Liars Beware/Love Comes In Spurts; The Runaways, Cherry Bomb/School Days; Plasmatics, Master Plan/Butcher Baby; Cro-Mags, We Gotta Know/Show You No Mercy; The Adverts, Gary Gilmore's Eyes.

Notes — This was to be yesterday's workout, but it was a very late night prior at the gig followed by an very early alarm which led to no energy for an afternoon workout. I used that time to take a good nap. That means that the remainder of this week's workouts are shifted one day to the right.
- OP - Volume sets across. Not very smooth, not very steady, but all good.
- BP - Light sets across. All good.

[Bill Anders]

1/12/24 - Friday
Outside 0°F / Garage 0°C

SQ H @ 7'
45x10x3
95x5
135x3
185x1
225x1
285x1
325x5x4

Rows L @ 3'
65x5x2
135x5
185x3
225x1
255x5x3

Music — Death Angel vs Metallica, Trapped Under Ice; The Absence vs Testament, Into The Pit; Exhorder vs Black Sabbath, Into The Void; T-Pain vs Black Sabbath, War Pigs; Slayer, Dead Skin Mask.

Notes —
- SQ - Volume sets across. Smooth and steady, although the first set was a bit noisy in the head. All good.
- Rows - Light sets across. This is to be my last +10lb jump over the previous week. It's sufficiently heavy, yet still explosive; going 265x5x3 next week would likely not be. No need to rush these as I started conservative (205x5x3 on 12/05/23) and worked my way up to where I need to be, which is where I am now. Funny enough, I went into my programming spreadsheet to modify the weeks going forward and apparently I had already planned on starting my +5lb jumps next week. All good.