Lifting to Live

[Bill Anders]

Note — A complete relocation over the last couple of weeks. We packed the house, drove it 1,800 miles, and unpacked it. I was glad for the training beforehand, which really came in handy on the second day of unloading the truck. I was gassed, but could maintain strict form as we got to the front of the truck where all of the heavy/bulky stuff was. Bottom line - we got sick of maintaining two households as we did through the spring, so we loaded up and moved down here to OKC to be closer to family and help where needed, while I resume my apprenticeship at Fortitude Strength and Conditioning (formerly Starting Strength OKC - Moore) with SSCs Chase & Phoebe Lindley.

10/22/24 - Tuesday
SQ L @ 4' 265x5x3
OP L @ 4' 145x5x3
DL L @ 5' 275x5

Notes - My first multi-lift workout since 8/24/24, keeping everything light to adapt to the huge jump in volume while making sure I'm recovered from the move.
SQ - Light sets across. Chase had minor form tweaks for me as I had some issues, likely a combination of form creep and lack of frequency. All good.
OP - Light sets across. Same as above, with some timing adjustments. All good.
DL - Light set. Good.

10/24/24 - Thursday
SQ L @ 4' 285x5x3
BP L @ 4' 215x5x3
DL L @ 3' 225x5

Notes -
SQ - Light sets across, +20lbs over Tuesday. Some DOMS from Tuesday, with my right adductor most concerning. Chase had me widen my stance and point my toes more forward, which resolved the concern. All good.
BP - Light sets across. Shaky, which is not unusual, but all good.
DL - Real light. I wanted to keep the lower back loose for Saturday. All good.

10/26/24 - Saturday
DL I @ 2'+ 365/385/405

Notes - "Day of the Deadlift" at Fortitude S&C, an after-hours get together for gym members. It was a combination costumed get-together, chili cookoff, and deadlift-palooza. No competition, just a chance for everyone to get together, socialize, or meet (especially the early morning and later evening session folks who never cross paths). Some folks enjoyed the format and set new 1RM PRs.
DL - Intensity singles. We had six platforms set up, with lifters grouped based on their projected goals. I played it relatively conservative, as I haven't pulled heavy off the floor since my 360x5 on 10/3/24, just over three weeks ago. I did get plenty of volume at lower intensity during the move, but nothing anywhere near 400lbs the entire time (well, except when I decided to not unload the half-pallets loaded with 395lbs of plates each and just dolly'd them down the ramp off the moving truck, which was entertaining to control). Initially I was thinking that I would decide what my first attempt was going to be when I warmed up with 365x1, but my platform mates were both opening with that, so I decided to leave it at that. It went smooth. They both opted for 405x1 for their next attempt, which I thought was too aggressive a jump, so I went 385x1, which also went smooth. They pulled theirs, I rested for a few minutes and went 405x1 for my last attempt, which is just shy of my 1RM PR of 410x1. Again, with lack of frequency and volume, I didn't want to get greedy and hurt something. The 405x1 went so smooth that as soon as I set it down, I looked at my platform mates and said "I could have gone 10lbs more." They agreed. But it was a 3-attempt day. At least it gave me a good idea of where I am right now.

[Cole Gorton]

nice to get back in the swing of things i bet. glad youre all moved, moving sucks

[Bill Anders]

Cheers Cole! Yep, we're getting there. Slowly, but surely.

This move, the first in 8.5 years, is the longest I've gone between moves in my entire life. We did a good job of downsizing during that period, but also picking up new things. It's exhausting to do the work ourselves, but after pricing companies, we knew that we could do it for half the price and keep track of our stuff. So we did. Every time I do that I swear that it will be the last time, but I know better. I'm a nomad. At least until the kids (nomads also) settle down somewhere. Then we'll plant roots.

[Bill Anders]

Note — Post-move resuming of training, patterned after NLP. In hindsight, even this was too aggressive, considering the entirety of the past couple of months. I was on the road to good recovery after the move, then I programmed this week. Too much volume, sometimes too much intensity, too fast.

10/28/24 - Monday
SQ L @ 5' 305x5x3
OP H @ 5' 162.5x5x3 162.5x3x2 + 150x5x2
DL L @ 5' 225x5

Notes —
SQ - Heavy sets across. Straight out the gate, I felt the lack of recovery, especially from Saturday's "out of the blue" 405lb DL for "Day of the Deadlift." This was 20-25lbs lighter than I started out the month with, which was still relatively light compared to my spring/summer programming. But the move and everything involved with that took a toll. With that in mind, these were much heavier than they should have been, but they got done.
OP - Heavy sets across. Programmed as 162.5x5x3. The first two sets stalled after the third rep, but even then, they were a grind. Reset to 150x5x2 and finished out the reps.
DL - Light set. I just wanted to get the lower back worked out after Saturday's "Day of the Deadlift." Chase gave me a couple of minor form tweaks, which could have been preceded by form creep and/or lack of frequency and/or lack of recovery (I'm embracing the power of those two "ands"), but the set went fine.

10/30/24 - Wednesday
SQ L @ 3' 225x5x3
BP H @ 5' 235x5x3 235x4, 5, 5, 1
PC L @ 2' 95x3x5

Notes —
SQ - Light sets across. Originally programmed as 265x5x3, but I still wasn't recovered, so I changed this week's progression from HLH to HLM, where the 265x5x3 would be Friday's Medium day. I had some lingering DOMS from Monday's session, specifically my right adductor, so Chase made some stance modifications to mitigate those issues, which worked well. All good.
BP - Heavy sets across. I was benching this weight pre-move and I didn't really reset the weight, which wasn't the best idea. When I was doing this weight over the summer, I was running it as triples for reasons. So it's been awhile since I have benched fairly heavy for a full set of five. The first set was sufficiently rough because of that and I pussed out on the last rep instead of grinding it out. The next two sets of five went fine, although the last rep of the third set was a full-on body english, non-competition approved grind to lockout. A bit of rest and a single rounded out the reps.
PC - Light sets across. I ran out of time to get these done before our next set of clients arrived. Honestly, I did not have the juice to do any of these with the explosive power that I needed.

11/1/24 - Friday
RP H @ 8' 435x5 405x1
SQ M @ 5' 265x5x3
OP H @ 5' 152.5x5x3

Notes — On Thursday, I spent the majority of the day replacing the entry door on my MiL's house. It has been 30+ years since I've done that task, so we moved slow. Then it fought me. But we got it done. At a cost of zero recovery and even more physical stress. I ended the day with some quad cramping and DOMS that I haven't experienced in years, pointing to lack of hydration too. I woke up Friday morning completely shelled. I drug myself in to help coach the noon session, with my workout scheduled for the downtime between that session and the afternoon/evening sessions. During that noon session, I was not up to par, unable to concentrate and hobbling around the platforms.
RP - Heavy set. I pulled that 405 from the floor on Saturday, so theoretically pulling 435 from mid-shin should have been do-able. It was welded to the safeties. Not once, but twice. A quick consult with Chase concerning my complete lack of recovery for what's now going on weeks led me to just pulling a single at 405. It was rough, but my brain told me "you could do a couple more." I ignored it and called the rest of the workout, especially considering that the entirety of the warmup, the 435 attempts, and this single pull took over an hour to complete. I was dragging ass.
SQ - Medium sets across. I didn't do them.
OP - Heavy sets across. I didn't do them.

Note — Post-week analysis. As mentioned above, too much too fast. My summer programming had me doing "One Lift per Day" so that I could focus on getting everything ready for the move. So for those couple of months, my per-workout volume (tonnage) was 2,400-5,000lbs, slightly less than my per-workout volume during my 4-Day Heavy/Light Split, which is around 4,500-7,000lbs. This week's NLP, as initially programmed, had me at 9,838lbs/8,925lbs/9,188lbs. I saw that when I programmed it and thought that it would be manageable, but tough. I didn't calculate the door replacement in the middle of the week, which should have weighed heavy on what I had scratched out. So, a lighter run the next few weeks of my 4-Day H/L Split will be programmed so I can dig myself out of this hole.

[Fred J]

You may be in a hole but nothing some good rest cannot cure. Wishing you great luck there in OKC! Now you are close enough to go down and get slapped around by Rip himself.

[Bill Anders]

Cheers, Fred!

The hole is deep, but the climbing started immediately yesterday. As soon as our evening sessions were done, I grabbed a couple of burgers on the way home to go with the sushi that my bride picked up for me. With a couple of beers, that was an easy 2,000 calories on top of the similar amount from the rest of the day. Today I'm making sure to load up on calories and only do light-duty tasks. Other than one complete down-day after the truck was unloaded two weeks ago (where I sat in the hotel, drank beer, and watched movies), it's probably been two months since I've relaxed a bit.

When I was here for the first half of this year, I did make a run down to the Seminar. It's a great experience, that's for sure. And there may have been very direct feedback provided by Rip during that weekend. Just like you'd expect.

[Fred J]

I hope all's well for you. I just today found out about the storms that hit OKC.

[Bill Anders]

Yep. Just an exciting weekend around here. Saturday night was the first good night of sleep that I've had since we got here. My bride woke me up at 2:15am when the sirens went off, I checked the radar on my phone, and went back to sleep. Closest touchdown/damage was 7.5 miles away.

Then Monday morning, we were running the 5:30am session at the gym and the sirens went off again at about 6:15am. Not a single client made a move from their rack, and every one continued their workout. Nothing touched down that we have found, but there was enough of a threat through lunch that most of the clients cancelled, so we dropped the sessions for until later in the afternoon.

All is good for us. As far as the clients, only one lived near the touchdown site and lost power for a bit. So I guess we can call that a win.

Thanks for checking in!

[Fred J]

I'm glad things went okay for all of you. Stay safe!

[Bill Anders]

11/4/24 - Monday
SQ L @ 5' 265x5x3
PC L @ 2' 65x3x5

Notes — After a spicy early Sunday morning, we started off Monday morning with another tornado warning during the 0530 class; everyone looked at their phones and got back to work. But with continued risk through the morning, most clients dropped out before their session and we finally cancelled the rest of the morning due to ongoing risk until early afternoon. No need to have folks on the road to/from the gym if something popped. Thankfully nothing did.
SQ - Light sets across. Anything but light. I still felt beat down from the previous weeks.
PC - Light triples across. Scrubbed, as I was feeling beat down, then saw another line of thunderstorms headed our way with some pretty ugly cells, so I closed up the gym and headed home.

11/5/24 - Tuesday
PC L @ 3' 65x3x5
OP H @ 5' 140x5x4
BP L @ 3' 210x5x2

Notes —
PC - Light triples across. Carried over from the previous day. I also had a chance to have Chase coach me from the beginning, as I haven't been consistent with these, which needs to change. Plus, having this lift scheduled only one day a week isn't frequent enough for me to improve my form. After discussing how to fit more sessions into my 4-Day Split without adding another day, we agreed that Cleans will now become my warmup lift instead of lighter squats. I still have some arm pull, but it's present in the minority of cleans, unlike before.
OP - Heavy sets across. All good.
BP - Light sets across. Cut to two sets, as I was running out of time before the next group of clients showed. The extra time taken having Chase walk me through the teaching progression ate up that time for the last set, which won't be an issue going forward.

11/7/24 - Thursday
PC L @ 2' 70x3x5
SQ H @ 5' 295x5x4

Notes —
PC - Light triples across. Thursdays are my light pull days, which is where the Cleans reside every week. I walked myself through the teaching progression again, then added weight over Tuesday. Still some arm pull, but I'm getting better at these.
SQ - Heavy sets across. Still feeling heavier than it should at 30lbs heavier Monday. All week I have been focused on good recovery across the board, both eating and sleeping. I'm getting there. All good.

11/8/24 - Friday
PC L @ 2' 75x3x5
BP H @ 5' 220x5x4
OP L @ 3' 125x5x3

Notes —
PC - Light triples across. Continuing to use these as my primary warmup, which working on the technique and progressing the weight. Still some arm pull, but overall, good.
BP - Heavy sets across. All good.
OP - Light sets across. All good.