Lifting to Live

[Bill Anders]

looks like you are beating yourself up on the deads and squats my friend

I had to slowly learn that less is more. ����

Sorry that I missed these, gentlemen.

Yep, I am beating myself up with the deads and squats. I am doing that on purpose, especially now that I can do it under the constant watchful eye of a couple of SSCs. If it gets to be too much, they're quick to jump in and tell me. That's one of the great things - we check in on each other at the start of each day to see how recovery in all aspects is going. I get to watch their on-the-fly adjustments to client's programming based on their own specific recovery issues and goals, which helps inform what my experiments.

But it's not just the deads and squats. I'm driving up volume and intensity on the presses, too, just to see where I can get with those. Everything's moving in the right direction, so I'll keep going.

Hopefully all's well with y'all!

[Fred J]

All's good here. Just beating myself up with too much outside work but glad to get things done as they are improvements to the property.

I am glad you are enjoying your situation there under some SSC supervision. It sounds like you have told yourself it's now or never so let's get it done.

[Bill Anders]

4/29/24 - Monday
RP H @ 8' 445x5 445x2 + 405x3
SQ L @ 5' 305x5x3

Notes —
RP - Heavy exploratory set. I haven't done these since last summer, but my recent experiences with 400lbs told me that it was time to mix up my heavy pulls again. I was in that in-between world of not enough stress yet not quite enough recovery time between attempts, even at 10/11 days. So for an exploratory set, I bumped up my DL weight 10%—and somehow ended up at 445lbs—to give the RPs a try. The first two reps went smoothly, the third stalled right at the knee. Chase dropped me to 405 and after a few minutes rest I finished out the five just fine. Had I gone 425, it probably would have been just fine for five. But I won't know for a few weeks, as my Monday heavy pull is now the standard DL/RP/Halting rotation. I won't go for 425lbs next time, but 415lbs and see how that goes.
SQ - Light sets across. The typical "it sure didn't feel light" exclaimer here, but they all went.

4/30/24 - Tuesday
PP H @ 5' 190x5x4
BP L @ 3' 225x5x3

Notes —
PP - Heavy sets across. I also haven't done Pin Presses since last summer. But when I did those, it was just a couple of heavy singles before my Intensity Presses from the standard height. I topped those Heavy Singles at 197.5lbs, never able to break 200lbs, but now I suspect that is easily within reach. Maybe I'll try for it. Anyway, these were introduced to give me more stress in my Presses. Tuesdays are my Volume day and Thursdays are my Intensity/Volume day, yet I was starting to show signs of stalling midway up to lockout during my Tuesday sessions. My option there was to add another Pressing day, but that would mean that I was lifting five days a week. That's too much for these aging bones. So Chase suggested alternating out my Tuesday Volume day with Volume Pin Presses, which naturally would be heavier than my standard Press.
BP - Light sets across. All good.

5/2/24 - Thursday
SQ H @ 5-7' 335x5x4
PC L @ 3' 60kgx3x3 + 60kgx3 + 45kgx3

Notes —
SQ - Heavy sets across. Smooth and steady. All good.
PC - Light sets across. I worked up to the 60kg work weight. The warmups were looking good, with no hint of the arm pull that has been plaguing my cleans for awhile. After the first triple at 60kg, it reared its head intermittently. By the third set, it was present for all three reps, so Chase had me start from the Hang position (just below the knee) for the fourth set. Normally we'd reset to a lower weight to do this, but I just went for it. Bad idea. Down to 45kg, but by then I was exhausted as this workout was running just past two hours. I'll lower the weight and work on it again.

5/3/24 - Friday
BP H @ 5' 237.5x5x4
OP V @ 90" 165x2x12

Notes —
BP - Heavy sets across. All good.
OP - Volume/Intensity Doubles. These are programmed for 2' rest, but even if I work the OP warmups in-between the BP work sets, I start running out of time before the next group of clients roll in. So I have been dropping to 90" rest, which is really wearing on me at these weights. It's a conditioning workout, too. But they all went.

[Bill Anders]

5/6/24 - Monday
HDL H @ 8' 335x8
SQ L @ 5' 310x5x3

Notes —
HDL - Heavy set. Chase picked the correct weight for this. I haven't done Haltings since last summer and likely would have selected 365x8. That might have gone, but it would have been an absolute suffer fest for the last few, instead of the "oh my, these are getting quite heavy" for reps 6-8. The 365 would have been more appropriate for a 365x5 HDL set. Chase and I had a long discussion about the pros and cons of x8s (higher volume, lower intensity) vs x5s (lower volume, higher intensity).
SQ - Light sets across. All good.

5/7/24 - Tuesday
OP H @ 5' 175x5x4 175x4, 175x3x3, 175x2x2
BP L @ 3' 227.5x5x3

Notes — Poor recovery. We were up half the night, with the tornado sirens sounding right before midnight as the radar-indicated rotation passed right over the house. Luckily no damage, but power poles blown sideways on the way into the gym that morning.
OP - Heavy sets across. I just didn't have the juice for this. It quickly devolved into "get to 20 reps no matter what" and eventually I ran into time issues before our noon session clients started showing up. I wasn't gaining much from grinding through these last few reps, so I called it to get my light bench sets in. I'll repeat next week.
BP - Light sets across. All good.

5/9/24 - Thursday
SQ H @ 6'+ 340x5x4
PC L @ 3' 45kgx3x5

Notes —
SQ - Heavy sets across. All good. These are getting into heavy territory again, with the appropriate Frankenstein shuffle out of the rack and the hints of doubt rearing its head by rep 4 of each set. But I have a few more weeks to get into 4x5 PR territory again, so I will keep grinding along.
PC - Light sets across. Deload again to focus on my arm pull, which rears its head when I get tired. Doing Cleans after my Heavy SQs guarantees that I'll be tired and in survival mode. The focus today was to do these from the hang position, just below the knee. Better, but still seeing arm pull in the later sets. I'll keep working on it.

5/10/24 - Friday
BP H @ 6' 240x5x4
OP V @ 2' 167.5x2x12

Notes —
BP - Heavy sets across. All good. This ties my 4x5, 4x4, and 3x5 PR weight, but still well off my 4x3 PR (257.5x3x4). With this, I know that I could beat my 1RM of 255 measured back in December '22. However, I did crush that with a 265x1x5 back in January '24 and this workout wouldn't get me to that level if I was running the standard 4-Day H/L Split. So I still have some work to do.
OP - Volume Doubles across. Thankfully we had a light 0900 session, so I was able to get these started earlier than normal and could take full advantage of the programmed 2' rest periods. I needed every second of those. These were tough to get through and I can really feel the total combined pressing volume of this week. A change is a comin'.

[Bill Anders]

5/13/24 - Monday

DL H @ 8' 400x5 400x2 + 380x3
SQ L @ 5' 315x5x3

Notes —
DL - Third attempt at 400x5 (so far, 400x4 & 400x1). First rep was a first rep, feeling heavy AF. Second rep cruised smoothly, giving me hope for the set of 5. Third rep came off the floor smoothly, and just as smoothly ground to a halt right at the knee cap, where it hung for a long grind as I refused to acknowledge the truth. A reset to 380x3 and that went up smoothly. So it's time for a change on the actual DL day, keeping the Haltings and Rack Pulls moving upwards.
SQ - Light sets across. Of course, these were anything but light after that DL experience. All good.

5/14/24 - Tuesday

PP H @ 5' 195x5x4
BP L @ 3' 230x5x3

Notes —
Pin Press - Heavy sets across. All good.
BP - Light sets across. All good.

5/16/24 - Thursday

SQ H @ 7' 360x3x4
PC L @ 3' 47kgx3x5

Notes —
SQ - Heavy Triples across. These were to be 345x5x4, but I started a long programming discussion with Chase. As a few of you have noted above, and I have too, the combined volume of everything is really starting to beat me down. He suggested a three-week wave of keeping the same weight, but adding a set for a 3x5, 4x5, and finally a 5x5 before adding 5lbs to the bar the fourth week. So I got to work. As I did the warmups, I reflected on his comments last year about my 4-Day Heavy/Light Split and it being too slow for me, adding the same 5lbs every fourth week. With his new program, I would be adding 5lbs every fourth week, so no different. But it would be piling volume upon volume, which is really what's getting me. So I proposed returning to my previous "too slow" split programming, which has worked very well with its weekly decrease in Volume with big jumps in Intensity. I pled my case and he said "go for it", so I immediately switched to this 360x3x4. It was tough, considering that I haven't had that weight on my shoulders since last August, but I also have a deeper pool of strength from which to pull, so these went well. All good.
PC - Light Triples across that didn't happen. With all of the discussion and then the extra recovery time between sets, I ran out of time as our noon group of clients would be arriving before I could finish this. I will have to shift my workout timing for Thursdays, as this is becoming a common occurrence and I am missing Clean sessions, which is exactly what I don't need for something that I need this much practice performing.

5/17/24 - Friday

BP H @ 5' 260x3x4
OP V @ 2' 167.5x2x12 x8

Notes —
BP - Heavy Triples across. Following the programming decisions made the previous day, I dropped this to Triples. The Volume issues aren't just with the lower body lifts, but especially with the upper body. I have some tightness in my right triceps that's pulling on the insertions on the forearm enough that it makes me think that there's bone-on-bone contact in that elbow when I know there isn't. I can push the Intensity while letting the Volume drop.
OP - Volume Doubles. Always programmed for 12x2, I cut these at x8 as that right elbow issue was bugging me and I really didn't want to push it too hard, as my bride will be arriving in town this weekend for family graduation festivities. Since she's the Licensed Massage Therapist of the household, I will ask her to address my triceps issue and hopefully get it sorted out during her short time here.

[Bill Anders]

5/21/24 - Tuesday
OP I @ 5' 185x1x5 PR
RP H @ 8' 415x5

Notes — This is a combination of my normal Monday and Tuesday sessions. My bride was in town for family events, so I was focused on her. On Tuesday, she went with me to the gym to get some pointers on her own lifting.
OP - Intensity Singles. The five reps were achieved over six attempts, but I will count it. The "fail" was adjusting to a new cue that Chase gave me related to the timing, as I was rushing the timing on the first four reps to successful completion. In order to slow me down a bit to wait for the bounce, his cue was "throw a fat kid in the pool." Great visual that worked, almost too well, as I did just that and threw the bar just a bit forward of the groove for my fifth rep, which naturally stuck at forehead level. I re-racked the bar, waited a few minutes, and got it just fine. I probably dropped my elbows too far on that failed rep. It's marked as a PR because this 5x1 is 5lbs heavier than my last tested 1RM (180x1 on 12/12/22).
PR - Heavy set. A 10lb jump from the last time, which went fine. I felt a bit of rounding on the last rep, but overall, good.

5/23/24 - Thursday
SQ I @ 7' 380x1x5
PC L @ 2' 47kgx3x5

Notes —
SQ - Intensity Singles. It has been awhile since I was in this territory, mainly due to programming adjustments and changes. Now that I am back to my tried and true 4-Day Heavy/Light Split, I'll be back to doing these every three weeks. And like the OP above, I'll soon do this 5x1 heavier than my 1RM achieved the same week in 2022.
PC - Light Triples. Still working out the arm pull, but getting better with these. All good.

5/24/24/ - Friday
BP I @ 5' 260x1x5
OP V @ 2' 170x2x12

BP - Intensity Singles. All good. Getting close to the same situation as the OP above. I'll soon be doing Singles across heavier than my currently set 1RM. Chase and I had a talk about that during our programming discussion recently. He thought that I should adjust my programming to test my true 1RM for each of the lifts. I waved him off, explaining how I am doing singles across at or near my last 1RM and that's more meaningful to me than mucking up a month or so of progress to chase 1RMs. I'd rather get to exceeding that number for each lift in sets across than figuring out the single number.
OP - Volume Doubles. All good. Similarly, these Volume Doubles are now within 10lbs of my current 1RM. And that final 24th rep is going up stronger than that 1RM. That's what interests me more than the number.

[Fred J]

It looks like you are doing great lifting while at your new adventure! Have a great holiday.

[Bill Anders]

Thanks, Fred.

I have no excuse to not be consistent. I am in the gym six days per week and we have a few 90+ minute breaks between sessions throughout the day, so I have plenty of time. And I have the advantage of getting yelled at by the SSC who's there at the time (although it's often both).

And although I cannot be put up on the leader board (it's for clients only), I get a bit of smug satisfaction in seeing where I stack against them, especially since most are a fair bit younger. Yet there are a few up there older than me, so I have that motivation too.

Have a great weekend!

[Bill Anders]

5/27/24 - Monday
SQ L @ 3' 320x5 + 305x5x2
HDL H @ 6' 340x8

Notes —
SQ - Light sets across. Programmed for 320x5x3, but the first set felt brutally heavy, which led to doubts about finishing the three sets, which also happens to violate the intent of light sets, not to mention that I really wanted these as warmups for the HDLs that followed. So I dropped it to 305 (88%) for the remainder of the sets, which were heavy but went well.
HDL - Heavy set. The primary focus for the day. Mixed grip, and all eight reps went fine. I took my time resetting the hips and back between each rep and methodically worked my way through it. All good.

5/28/24 - Tuesday
OP H @ 5' 177.5x5x4 177.5x3 + 177.5x4 + 177.5x3x2 + 177.5 + 177.5 + 167.5x5
BP L @ 3' 235x5x3

Notes —
OP - Heavy sets across. I bumped this +2.5lbs from the last 4x5 of three weeks ago, even though that session was a struggle fest where I tried to get to 20 reps no matter what. I knew the extenuating circumstances that caused that, so I didn't worry about it too much. No extenuating circumstances this week, but as you can see, it became another "20 reps no matter how" session. I got to 15, then dropped it 10lbs to finish out with five.
BP - Light sets across. Light, but tough. All good.

5/30/24 - Thursday
SQ H @ 6'+ 345x5x4
PC L @ 3' 49kgx3x5

Notes—
SQ - Heavy sets across. Tough, but all good.
PC - Light triples across. On a normal day, I would have run out of time after the squats to get these done. Luckily, it was not a normal day in the gym, so I kept working out as a sole client showed for the noon session. I finished my workout as the SSC and I tag-teamed the client to get her through her work sets.

5/31/24 - Friday
BP H @ 5' 247.5x5x4
OP V @ 2' 162.5x2x12 140x5x3

Notes —
BP - Heavy sets across. A few reps had me wondering how my shoulders were going to hold up, but they were all good.
OP - Volume doubles across programmed. But the warmups were getting tough at 135lbs. Realizing how heavy the doubles would be relative to how I finished my heavy session on Tuesday, I dropped this to 80%. Even then, these were tough. Volume/Intensity have caught up with me on these, so it's time to rework some things.

[Bill Anders]

6/3/24 - Monday
SQ L @ 5' 305x5x3
DL H @ 6' 390x3

Notes —
SQ - Light sets across. I went ahead and did this full programmed lift before my DLs, a switch from the past few months, where I did my SQs up to 225, did my DL, then repeated 225 before finishing the rest of the warmup and work sets. It didn't matter, as these still felt pretty heavy, even after a good weekend of recovery on all counts. That convinced me that I had made the right programming calls about volume across the board.
DL - Heavy Triple. When Chase dropped me down to just triples instead of triples across or triples w/ backoff, I thought it wasn't enough Volume. He assured me that it would be fine, as I was making up the Volume and Intensity with my Haltings and Rack Pulls. These three went fine, but I saw the wisdom in his decision, as that was about all that I had for this lift today.

6/5/24 - Wednesday
OP I @ 5' 177.5x3x4 PR
BP L @ 3' 235x5x3

Notes — This was Tuesday's workout, but life events arose that made me slip this to Wednesday.
OP - Intensity Triples across. Back into 4x3 PR territory with these, which were all good. I really focused on getting very, very tight even before I rotated under the bar, then slowing my press to get it to move up faster ("wait for the bounce" or "throw the fat kid in the pool" are good cues for this).
BP - Light sets across. All good.

6/6/24 - Thursday
SQ I @ 6' 365x3x4
PC L @ 2' 52kgx3x5

Notes —
SQ - Intensity Triples across. Tied my 4x3 PR with this one. All went well.
PC - Light Triples across. The dreaded arm pull reared its head again early on, but focus on getting overly tight—almost painfully so—during the setup resolved this. All good

6/7/24 - Friday
BP I @ 4' 257.5x3x4 PR
OP L @ 3' 145x5x3

Notes —
BP - Intensity Triples across. Another 4x3 PR here. All good. Although there was a moment at the end of the third set. Even though my setup was the same as it ever was (or so I thought), I noticed that the bar drug the top of the pin on the liftoff, which it doesn't do. With the three reps done, I moved to re-rack the bar and the right side bounced off the face of the pin, then dropped under it. That made for an interesting moment while I reset my back and pressed the bar out and around the pin to get it in place. Just for peace o' mind, I dropped the pins a hole for the last set.
OP - Light sets across. All good.