Lifting to Live

[Bill Anders]

3/11/24 - Monday
OP I @ 5' - 180x1x5
BP L @ 3' - 215x5x3

Notes -
OP - Intensity singles across. All good.
BP - Light sets across. All good.

3/12/24 - Tuesday
SQ I @ 5' 350x1x5
PC L @ 3' 40kgx3x3

Notes -
BP - Intensity singles. All good.
PC - Complete retraining continues. Fixing the arm pull, I was jumping too early, so I overcompensated and started pausing above the knee as I overthought the timing. Got that worked out by the last set.

3/14/24 - Thursday
BP I @ 5' 250x1x5
OP V @ 2' 157.5x2x12

Notes -
BP - Intensity Singles. All good.
OP - Volume Doubles. All good.

3/15/24 - Friday
SQ L @ 3' 290x5 + 255x5x2
PC L @ 3' 40kgx5 + 40kgx3x4

Notes -
SQ - Light sets across. Because we have a few clients who use the SSB, I decided to make those my light day so that I can understand what it feels like. So I did my first set at my regularly programmed light weight day (290lbs). That was a mistake, as the shift to a more vertical back meant that this was too heavy. So I reset to a lower weight, which fixed the immediate stress that could have been problematic.
PC - Light sets across. Complete retraining continues (including learning how to read my log book so that I actually add 2.5kg over the last workout). Got the timing and arm pull issues worked out, finally got the shrug nailed during the last couple of sets.

[Bill Anders]

3/18/24 - Monday
DL H @ 8' 390x5
SQ L @ 3' 295x5x3

Notes —
DL - Heavy set. Progress continues, which is good. Since the beginning of the year I've schedule these so that I have 10 or 11 days recovery instead of a standard 7 and that seems to have done the trick. This 390x5 cruised up as if it was 50lbs lighter and I didn't feel like I had to grab anything upright to stay upright as soon as the set was done. The "downside" to that recovery period is that I only pull heavy twice in a three week period, but I've also put 25lbs on this lift since the new year. Considering that I often hit a wall on this lift once I reached 365lbs, the fact that I'm progressing means that this was the right programming move.
SQ - Light sets across. I ran my warmup to 225x1, then did the deadlifts. I resumed the warmup with another 225x1 and moved up to these worksets. All good.

3/19/24 - Tuesday
OP H @ 5' 162.5x5x4
BP L @ 3' 217.5x5x3

Notes —
OP - Heavy sets across. All good.
BP - Light sets across. All good.

3/21/24 - Thursday
SQ H @ 5' 315x5x4
PC L @ 2' 43kgx3x5

Notes —
SQ - Heavy sets across. Minor corrections to form, as apparently I picked this day to shoot my hips back while coming out of the hole. All good.
PC - Still re-working this lift. Form getting better overall.

3/22/24 - Friday
BP H @ 5' 232.5x5x4
OP V @ 2' 157.5x2x12

Notes —
BP - Heavy sets across. All good.
OP - Volume doubles across. All good.

[Fred J]

3/18/24 - Monday
Notes — DL H @ 8' 390x5

Since the beginning of the year I've schedule these so that I have 10 or 11 days recovery instead of a standard 7 and that seems to have done the trick. The "downside" to that recovery period is that I only pull heavy twice in a three week period, but I've also put 25lbs on this lift since the new year.

Slow and steady. It's not a race especially at your age young man. You have plenty of time to get to 5 plates. Congrats on getting it figured out.

[Bill Anders]

It's all part of the interesting experiment, Fred. And I have a couple of months of pretty much guaranteed consistency coming up, which will be different for me, so we'll see how that goes.

[Bill Anders]

3/25/24 - Monday
OP H @ 5' 165x5x4
BP L @ 3' 217.5x5x3

Notes —
OP - Heavy sets across. Very unsteady throughout the first set, but the rest were good.
BP - Light sets across. All good.

3/26/24 - Tuesday
SQ H @ 5' 320x5x4
PC L @ 2' 45kgx3x5

Notes —
SQ - Heavy sets across. First set, minor caving in right knee, fixed for the rest of the sets. All good.
PC - Getting better, focused on delaying the jump.

3/28/24 - Thursday
BP H @ 5' 235x5x4
OP V @ 2' 157.5x2x12

Notes —
BP - Heavy sets across. All good. The fixes a few weeks back have solved my "Rep 20 fails".
OP - Volume doubles across. All good.

3/29/24 - Friday
DL H @ 8' 395x5
SQ L @ 5' 295x5x3

Notes —
DL - Heavy set. Hips forward for first rep, fixed, each rep got easier as the set progressed.
SQ - Light sets across. Back into the "no way in hell these are light" after the deadlift.

[Bill Anders]

4/1/24 - Monday
SQ L @ 5' 295x5x3
PC L @ 3' 47kgx3x5

Notes — Both lifts skipped. My bride flew into town the night before and I worked the evening sessions at SS OKC. I made my choice (said in Homer Simpson's voice).

4/2/24 -Tuesday
OP H @ 5' 167.5x5x4
BP L @ 3' 217.5x5x3

Notes —
OP - Heavy sets across. Minor tweaks to form - kept elbows tighter (squeezed biceps) and slowed my forward head movement under the bar, which was too aggressive and would throw me towards my toes.
BP - Light sets across. All good.

4/4/24 - Thursday
SQ H @ 5' 325x5x4
PC L @ 3' 47kgx3x5

Notes —
SQ - Heavy sets across. Working on throwing my knees forward, as I had been freezing them too early during the descent. The key is to not let them go too forward.
PC - Light sets across. Still working on these, gradually increasing the weight. Tying it all together, they are getting better.

4/5/24 - Friday
BP H @ 5' 237.5x5x4
OP V @ 2' 160x2x12

Notes — Sinus pressure made these fun. Getting up from the first BP workset, I had to grab the uprights because the room was spinning. It slowly subsided through the rest period and didn't return that bad after the rest of the reps, but still made its presence known.
BP - Heavy sets across. All good (other than the note above).
OP - Volume doubles across. A few sets in, I dropped this to a 1.5' rest period as I was running out of time before the next session. All good and thankfully the room spinning had subsided completely by the time that I did these. I cleared the rack just as the clients started flowing through the door.

[Bill Anders]

Short week this week, cutting back on volume to get ready for the Seminar at WFAC. That, and springtime in OK has lived up to my experiences, with brutal sinus congestion and draining, poor sleep and feeling drained overall, it has been a tough week. That's going to make the Seminar that much tougher. :/

4/8/24 - Monday
DL H @ 8' - 400x5 400x4
SQ L @ 5' - 295x5x3

Notes —
DL - Heavy set. First time pulling 400+ for reps. I was feeling drained from the sinus crap described above, but went for it. The first three reps went well and I was confident on the set. Then the fourth rep slowed considerably above the knee and it took me forever to get the hips forward to lockout. I mean forever. I could have just dropped it with my slightly rounded lumbar back, but I was not letting it go that way. Full lockout or nothing. Did I mention that it took forever? After that, rep #5 wouldn't even break the platform. Speaking of forever, I ground it out against that bar for what seemed like half an hour, but it was only 6-7 seconds. Even after the SSC called me on it, I kept pulling. And I feel that effort in my lower back three days later. I was hoping to get this one behind me so that I could go for four plates at the end of next week. Instead, I'll try this one again.
SQ - Light sets across. Anything but light after that pulling.

4/10/24 - Wednesday
OP H @ 5' - 170x5x4 170x5x3 170x3x5 170x3x2 + 2
BP L @ 3' - 217.5x5x3

Notes — This was to be Tuesday's workout, but I woke up Tuesday morning wanting to do nothing but roll back over and sleep. But that wasn't an option. It was a combination of being drained from Monday's deadlifts and the overall sinus issues. I laid there and realized that I really needed to conserve my energy for the Seminar, so I pushed this to Wednesday, giving me a better chance of completing my heavy OP sets. Alas...
OP - Heavy sets across. With the Seminar coming up, I cut one set so that I didn't have too much volume here. Then the first set, rep #4 just stuck right above the head and I had no juice to keep pushing. So I decided to go 170x3x5 for the workout. Second set went fine, then the third set failed on #3. I was gassed, so I called it.
BP - Light sets across. I did them, and they were fine, although getting up off the bench with the sinus issues was fun, as the room would spin as if I had had a rough night with a bottle. No fun.

[Fred J]

Bill the same sinus crap and poor sleep are abundant here also. Still that's good work at 400 pounds regardless. Here's hoping this crap passes soon. When is the seminar?

[Bill Anders]

Thanks Fred. It's one of the main reasons that I told my bride when we were dating that we'd never live here again. Her response? "OK!" Yet here I am.

Seminar starts tomorrow. Runs Friday evening-Sunday, with Saturday/Sunday running 8am-8pm+. I will be wiped. It's only two hours down the road, but I will not be driving back Sunday night.

[Fred J]

Good luck at the seminar. Kiss Rip for me haha!