Lifting to Live

[Bill Anders]

11 degrees...fu**!

Apparently it had been down to 5°, but had warmed up. I don't know, I was snug as a bug in bed.

Apologies for missing this earlier--nice job!

Thanks J. This is your year!

[Bill Anders]

2/2/23 - Thursday
Outside 38° / Garage 41°

SQ H @ 5'
135x5
185x3
225x1
275x1
315x1
345x5
315x5x2

BP H @ 5'
45x5x2
95x3
135x1
185x1
222.5x5x3 PR

PC H @ 3'
65x5x2
95x3
115x1
130x1
140x3x5

Music — Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble vs The Beatles, Taxman; Aretha Franklin vs The Beatles, Eleanor Rigby; Phil Collins vs The Beatles, Tomorrow Never Knows; Earth, Wind & Fire vs The Beatles, Got To Get You Into My Life; The Beatles, Twist And Shout (Live at Shea Stadium, NYC); Rolling Stones, Jumping Jack Flash (Live at Tokyo Dome, Tokyo); Frank Sinatra, My Way (Live at Madison Square Garden).

Notes — A change to the warmups starts now. Previously, I would do 10x3 empty bar squats to get the blood flowing regardless of the lifts. But yesterday we took delivery of a rower, something that we've been discussing for a while now. So now I'll hop on the rower for 10' of steady effort, then hop straight into the weights, just like I used to when I lifted at a gym. The advantage is that I'll be able to do good HIIT workouts in a few weeks, once I get the body used to the idea. And my bride likes to row, too.
- SQ - Heavy with 91% backoff sets. Heavy, heavy, heavy, but all good.
- BP - Heavy sets across. A bit wobbly to start off, bouncing the last rep of the first set off the hook just before lockout, but kept it under control. Focus on tight lats for sets 2 & 3 fixed that. All good.
- PC - Heavy sets across. Getting back into the groove with these. All good.

[Fred J]

Great PR! Your keeping the streak going well.

[Bill Anders]

Thanks Fred. Two plates @ 5x3 next week!

[Bill Anders]

2/4/23 - Saturday
Outside 44° / Garage 43°

OP H @ 5'
45x5x3
75x3
105x1
140x1
157.5x5x3 PR

RP H @ 5'
135x4
185x2
225x1
275x1
315x1
355x1 h
395x5 s

Conditioning Row - 8 x 30" / 1' easy. Score = 112m

Music — Suicide Silence vs Deftones, Engine No. 9; Thy Art Is Murder vs Rammstein, Du Hast; Fit For An Autopsy vs Nine Inch Nails, The Perfect Drug; Enterprise Earth vs Lamb Of God, Now You've Got Something To Die For.

Notes —
- OP - Heavy sets across. Brutal first set, wobbly but locked out each rep. The second set was more solid. As was the third, for another nice Press PR.
- RP - Heavy single set. Tough, but smooth.
- Conditioning Row - Reading through BBRx and articles here and over at Andy Baker's site, I decided to go ahead and throw some quick intervals in today, based on Testify Strength and Conditioning's programmed workout for this week. Nothing too taxing, but more than anything, to get the body moving that way. Plus, a chance to start getting used to how the rower's computer menu is laid out and acts. Yesterday I did an easy 30' row.

[Bill Anders]

2/6/23 - Monday
Outside 37° / Garage 43°

OP L @ 3'
45x5x3
75x3
105x1
125x1
142.5x5x3

BP L @ 3'
45x5x2
95x3
135x1
165x1
205x5x3

PC L @ 2'
65x5x2
95x3
120x3x3

Music — Between The Buried And Me, Aspirations; Bloods, Button Up; Ikigai, Abiotic; Gojira, Amazonia.

Notes —
- OP - Light sets across. The first set was not light at all. I first blamed it on yesterday's 30' row, but realized that I just wasn't keeping tight. Fixed that for the following sets, which went fine. All good.
- BP - Light sets across. Focused on tightness. All good.
- PC - Light sets across. All good.

[rkjohns1]

Hi Bill, you keep saying you're in maintenance mode while in snowboarding season, yet I see you're still making PRs along the way! Congratulations!

I'm transitioning to HLM next week and I recall seeing some comments of yours on how grueling it was. Do you happen to recall where in your thread you started HLM? I'll like to read through your logs and get an idea of what I'm getting into. Thanks!

[Bill Anders]

Ryan - I'm in "just hanging on mode" right now. Not even getting much snowboarding in, even though the snow has been good for a while. Too many life events going on.

As far as PRs during this maintenance season, for the presses, I'm still doing the same amount of volume and frequency as I was doing during my training season. So those PRs are still rolling along. For now. [ETA after today's workout: I didn't want to mention that I was thinking that today would be the day, because you never know. But today was the day (see below)].

re: HLM - it's pretty much at the beginning of this log. I started this log coming off of the winter 2020-2021 maintenance season, did a quick NLP to get back used to the increased frequency, then started the HLM before you get to the bottom of that first page. After that, it was a summer of disruptions for several different reasons, but even with resets, the volume of that 3x/week program really did me in once it got heavy. Between the squats and pulls, I was painfully getting out of chairs and the car like an old man for most of the week. I didn't have that experience in 2022 with the 4-day Heavy/Light split, even with the same (and heavier) weights for both lifts.

Good luck!

[Bill Anders]

2/9/23 - Thursday
Outside 39° / Garage 43°

OP H @ 5'
45x5x3
75x3
105x1
130x1
145x1
160x5x3 160x2+1, 160x3x4

BP L @ 3'
45x5x2
95x3
135x1
165x1
207.5x5x3

Music — Thievery Corporation, Forgotten People (Live); Bronski Beat, Smalltown Boy; Pet Shop Boys, It's A Sin (Extended Mix); Talk Talk, It's My Life (Extended Mix).

Notes — Life events and scheduling have kept me off the fantastic snow lately. More of the same over the coming weeks may mean that I've already met the end of my snowboarding season, or it may not. I'm not giving up on it yet. But thinking about this weekend, I realized that I could squeeze in a standard 4-Day Heavy/Light Split program like I do during the warm months. So here it goes.
- OP - Heavy sets across. And the x5 PR train ends, pretty much on schedule, especially since recovery (mostly sleep) hasn't been good this week (see note above). The first two of the first set weren't smooth, the second even stalling a bit on the way up and the third stuck just above the head, so I took a moment, reset, and pressed the third, but knew that another wouldn't follow. So I switched to triples to get to 15. I decided during the second set to see if a 4th (and perhaps 5th) was there, and it wasn't. The next three sets were not very smooth, with rep #3 of the last two sets being a proper grind above the head to get to lockout. Funny enough, I have missed those grindy ones, because the lockout is so satisfying once there. So while this was the end of the x5 PRs, this is the first time that I've done sets across at this weight for reps (having only done 160x5x1 on 8/8/22), making this a reps across 4x3 PR, beating the 155x3x4 of 12/4/22. However, this one won't be marked as such, since it wasn't programmed, unlike those just mentioned.
- BP - Light sets across. But they sure didn't feel that way. After the first set, I considered dropping this to two sets, but took myself out behind the woodshed and had a talk. Good thing, too, as that third set was smooth as butter.

[Bill Anders]

2/11/23 - Saturday
Outside 46° / Garage 43°

SQ H @ 5'
45x5
135x5
185x3
225x1
275x1
315x1
350x5
320x5x2

OP L @ 3'
65x5x2
105x3
120x1
130x1
145x5x3

PC H @ 3'
65x5x2
105x3
125x1
142.5x3x5

Music — X, Hungry Wolf; Infernaeon f/ Oderus Urungus vs Metallica, Creeping Death; Sonata Arctica vs Metallica, Fade To Black; Sabaton vs Metallica, For Whom The Bell Tolls; Trivium vs Metallica, Master Of Puppets; Amon Amarth, Put Your Back Into The Oar.

Notes — Ha, so much for running a 4-day. Yesterday went sideways and I ran out of time as external pressures popped up that needed to be addressed. Today isn't much better, but I will get this done.
- SQ - Heavy w/ 91% backoffs. That first set was rough; I went in telling myself that it would be a lie, and it almost wasn't, as the third rep slowed, the fourth rep really slowed, and the fifth was a grind so much so that I completely blew my Vasalva about 3/4 of the way up, which made lockout real tough. The second set (backoff) sure didn't feel that much lighter, but I do know that the reps went quicker. And third didn't feel much better than the first. But they got done.
- OP - Light sets across. Sticking with a 4-day program, this would be tomorrow. But the next few days aren't looking so good, either, so I shoehorned these in. They felt a bit heavier than they should, just two days after my 160's fiasco. But all good.
- PC - Heavy sets across. The first set was sloppy and I was catching it on my collarbone. Refocused on complete tension on the floor, resulting in proper explosive lifts and catching it on the delts. Just as it should be. All good.