Lifting to Live

[Cole Gorton]

Damn Biill, looks like you are kicking ass. i admire your consistency and dedication. glad to see you went to a seminar at the Mecca a few months back. I went to one in 2017 and I consider it the foundation of my training life still to this day.

[Bill Anders]

Cheers, Cole. Working as an apprentice here at SS OKC, I have a lot of very good examples to follow when it comes to consistency and dedication. I'm always amazed at the folks who have life smacking themselves upside the head, yet still come in to get their work done. I have zero excuses to fall back on, when my day consists of helping train clients, then using the free time between sessions to train. Much better than when I was solo in my garage, where it was much easier to say "eh, I'll get to it tomorrow."

I see that it has been awhile since you posted updates. Hopefully you are still getting your workouts in and moving in the direction that you want to.

Keep at it!

[Bill Anders]

6/10/24 - Monday
SQ L @ 3' 305x5x3
RP I @ 6' 425x5

Notes —
SQ - Light sets across. Unlike the previous few months, I did this full lift as programmed prior to the Rack Pull. After a weekend, these don't feel light, but I know that they are relative to the work to follow. Plus, doing these work sets after the heavy pull was just plain brutal for a light lift.
RP - Intensity set. All good. I did have some doubts about finishing as rep 4 went up, but I gave it the proper push on rep 5 and it slowly rose to lockout.

6/11/24 - Tuesday
OP I @ 4' 187.5x1x5
BP L @ 3' 235x5x3

Notes —
OP - Intensity Singles across. Intense focus on the setup made sure that each of these flew up with no concern. Five single reps, now 7.5lbs above my last tested 1RM.
BP - Light sets across. All good.

6/13/24 - Thursday
SQ I @ 5'+ 385x1x5
PC L @ 2' 54kgx3x5

Notes —
SQ - Intensity Singles across. All good. After the second rep, my phone rang. An issue (the real reason that I'm in OKC) came up that, once I determined it was not an emergency and not necessarily urgent, that I decided to finish the singles. However, that meant...
PC - Light triples across, that were cancelled so that I could deal with the issue just mentioned.

6/14/24 - Friday
BP I @ 4' 267.5x1x5
OP L @ 3' 145x5x3

Notes —
BP - Intensity singles across. All good. Similar to the OP on Tuesday, these five Singles were 12.5lbs above my last tested 1RM for this lift.
OP - Light sets across. All good.

[Bill Anders]

6/17/24 - Monday
SQ L @ 4' 310x5x3
HDL H @ 6' 345x8

Notes —
SQ - Light sets across. This is the second week that I reverted to doing the light squats fully prior to the heavy pull. So far, they haven't drained me for the pull, although this weight is still too high at 89%. For the first lift of the week, after a great weekend of recovery, I still had doubts on finishing each set. That's not right for a light lift.
HDL - Heavy set @ 6', all good. First four reps hook grip, the last four were mixed grip just to make sure.

6/18/24 - Tuesday
OP H @ 5' 170x5x4
BP L @ 4' 235x5x3

Notes —
OP - Heavy sets across. All good. This was the perfect weight for this day, as the 20th rep was a grind to lockout. This is a new 4x5 PR.
BP - Light sets across. All good.

6/20/24 - Thursday
PC L @ 3' 54kgx3x5 50x3x2 + 40kgx3x3
SQ H @ 7' 350x5x4

Notes —
PC - Light Triples across. Programmed for 54kgx3x5. I decided to switch these to be prior to the SQs, since I'm usually so gassed from the SQs that my form on these suffers early and often. At least that was my excuse. Today, since I did them first, I didn't have that excuse. Warming up, Chase stopped me at 50kg because my persistent arm pull was returning. After a couple of sets at that weight, he made me clear the extra plates down to 40kg and we started again from the hang position. The exasperation in his voice was apparent, as was my frustration. But we worked through it slowly and methodically. It's actually a good thing, as the Clean is the focus of my coaching videos that I have to submit for the online course. These experiences help solidify things in my mind. But the one thing that these were doing was making me doubt that I was going to get my SQs done. I was running out of time before the next client showed and I was getting tired from the prolonged holding of the full setup.
SQ - Heavy sets across. All good. Even with my doubts on these during the Cleans, they went fine and at no point did I have any doubt about finishing these sets, something that I couldn't say Monday during the light sets that were 40lbs lighter. On a normal day, I would have run out of time after my first set, but the client coming in is consistently late due to a scheduling conflict that keeps him from arriving right at the start of the session, so I was able to get the first three sets done before he arrived; I got him set up at his rack, then had him hold a moment while I finished my last set. As an aside, I checked to see where these were in the PR scheme of things and this matched my 6/19/23 PR at 4x5 for this lift. So a year of experimentation and learning is behind me. More to come.


6/21/24 - Friday
BP H @ 5' 250x5x4
OP L @ 3' 147.5x5x3

Notes — Friday workout cancelled due to unexpected circumstances (the event was expected, the timing was not). Otherwise, I would have compressed the training week and lifted four days in a row to get the work done. Now I won't get this one done, as I will be away next week, spending some much needed time with my bride.
BP - Heavy sets across. Not done. This would have been a 4x5 PR for this lift.
OP - Light sets across. Not done.

[Bill Anders]

6/24/24 through 6/28/24 - Monday through Friday

My first real training break since mid-February, which is a long period of consistency for me.

A week of floating in the lake, some touristy things, celebrating a fantastic family milestone, getting slammed around on some pretty intense rollercoasters, and more floating around in the lake, including getting drug around the lake on a tube behind a boat. Oh, and some floating in the lake.

The only weight lifted was my 15-year-old nephew, who is now half an inch taller than me and is solid at 85% of my weight. Not a hint of fluff on that kid. We recreated a photo that we've done since he was but a wee lad of 2 years old — him on my shoulders. I now have to search for a low wall or bench or something similar to get on my shoulders instead of lifting him up off the ground. Every time we do, his mother is concerned that he's going to hurt my back and I have to explain that his 200lbs is a very light warmup weight for me. Our little talk got her and her parents interested enough that I sent her and her father a copy of Barbell Prescription. Fingers crossed for them.

[Bill Anders]

Note — As the title says, I'm back home for now. There were lots of things going on in OKC that didn't make sense for me to hang around for. My bride was down there for a bit of a summer break and she suggested that I returned home with her. It didn't really take any arm twisting. So after last week's vacay on the lake, this past week was in OKC fighting one hell of a sinus issue, bad enough that I even considered a sledgehammer to the jaw. Funny enough, it cleared up the first day back home. But all's not roses...

7/5/24 - Friday (Garage 77F/Outside 92F/RH 15%)
OP M @ 5' 150x5 + 155x5 + 160x5 150x1 + 135x5x3
BP M @ 5' 250x5 + 255x5 + 260x5 225x5x3

Notes — I planned ascending worksets to get back in the groove, working up towards, but not to, the weights that I was moving two weeks ago before this break.
OP - Medium ascending sets. The warmups went just fine. First work weight of 150lbs felt fine out of the hooks. First rep went up smoothly, so I had made the right choice on weights. Then the second one, immediately out of the bottom, the room went black. Luckily I was just aware enough to get the bar against the rack and lean on it for a second for the vasovagal syncope to pass. It turned out that I didn't have the bar in the hooks, but hanging on the backing plate of the hooks and my weight was holding it there. Whenever I've experienced the syncope, it is always the last rep of a very, very heavy set, and never with such a quick onset. I knew that my sinuses were at play. I decided to unload and move to the bench to get the system used to lifting again.
BP - Medium ascending sets. Similarly, the warmups went just fine. The first work weight of 250 never happened. As soon as I braced and started to push the bar out of the hooks, the room started spinning. I've only had that problem after a heavy bench set when sitting up, not during a rep and certainly not while lying down. Lifting solo in the garage, I wasn't going to push my luck, even though the safeties were set correctly. I dropped to my last warmup weight and ran out sets across with no issues. I decided to do the same for the OP.
OP #2 - Like the BP, I dropped to my last warmup weight and ran out sets across with no issues.

7/6/24 - Saturday (Garage 77F/Outside 94F/RH 15%)
SQ M @ 5' 315x5 + 325x5 + 335x5 315x5 + 325x3 + 305x3
PC L @ 2' 90x3x5

Notes — Same as yesterday, planned ascending worksets to get back in the groove.
SQ - Medium ascending sets. Warmups went fine. First workset of 315x5 went fine, although the nose erupted on the second rep, so I had a bit of blood to clean up after the set. I loaded 325 and immediately felt much more discomfort in the adductors than I should have for this weight, so I stopped it at three reps. Deloaded to 305 and finished up with that set. I'm not concerned with any of this, as today was about getting the movement back in. Hopefully the DOMS isn't too bad.
PC - Light triples across. No issues here, just getting the groove back at this light weight.

[Bill Anders]

As the near future unfolds, I realized that the smartest thing to do for now is to go into maintenance mode, as I would for snowboarding season. That means one lift per day, focused on Intensity. With the last few weeks being very inconsistent, this week is a bit of discovery on the appropriate weights.

7/8/24 - Monday
RP H @ 8' 420x5

Notes — Garage 77° / Outside 101°
RP - Heavy set. All good.

7/11/24 - Thursday
PP I @ 5' [195-205]x1
OP L @ 3' 150x3x3

Notes — Garage 78° / Outside 98°
PP - Intensity Singles range. Started at 195x1, adding 2.5lbs for each single up to 205. The first 195 was a no-go right off the pins, lifting just an inch or so. I knew that it was a groove issue, not a strength issue. So I repeated it with better positioning and it went better. I repeated 195 and it was right in the groove, so it flew up. With that, I resumed adding 2.5lbs up to 202.5x1, which still flew up quite nicely. But I had done my six singles, so it was time to drop weight for my OP triples. The nice thing was that 197.5lbs has been my ceiling for a long time. No longer.
OP - Light triples across. All good.

7/12/24 - Friday
SQ I @ 5' [345-370]x1
SQ L @ 3' 335x3x3

Notes — Garage 78° / Outside 96°
SQ - Intensity Singles range. Started at 345x1, adding 5lbs for each single up to 370x1. All went well, but the six ascending singles were quite taxing. Each rep presented a different leg sensation that drew my focus from doing the work, but I still locked each rep out.
SQ - Light Triples across. The ascending singles were tough. The five minute rest period between each meant that this workout had already ran past the 90-minute mark. I unracked the 335 for the first set, descended, rose about an inch out of the hole, and got driven to the safeties. I called it.

7/13/24 - Saturday
PBP I @ 4' [275-287.5]x1 [275-280]x1
BP L @ 3' 245x3x4 245x3

Notes — Garage 79° / Outside 99°
PBP - Intensity Singles range. Started at 275x1, adding 2.5lbs for each single up to 287.5x1. The first three (275/277.5/280) went fine, with the expected slow press away from the pins before accelerating up to lockout, followed by a slow eccentric to put the bar back down on the safeties. However, 282.5x1 rose but an inch and stuck there. Reset to 275 to finish out the six singles, but even the 275 refused to budge off the pins. Usually that's a positioning issue with the bar relative to the chest, but not this time. I just picked too heavy. Before this latest break and inconsistency, I did actual BP Singles at 167.5x1x5 on 6/14/24, so a month ago. In hindsight, my selected range was too aggressive.
BP - Light Triples across. Originally programmed for 245x3x3, based on six Intensity singles, I bumped these up to four sets since I didn't get the last three of those Intensity singles (gotta get to 15). But there was some very distracting sensations in the anterior left shoulder that I didn't want to explore any further, so I called those, too. It looks like I have some re-thinking to do on numbers for next week.

[Bill Anders]

7/15/24 - Monday
DL H @ 6' 395x3

Notes —
DL - Heavy triple. Good.

7/16/24 - Tuesday
PP I @ 3' [195-205]x1x5
OP L @ 3' 150x3x3

Notes —
PP - Intensity Singles, ascending. Started at 195, added 2.5lbs each successive rep, 205 was too far forward and didn't go. A quick reset and it shot up quickly to lockout.
OP - Light triples across. All good.

7/18/24 - Thursday
SQ I @ 5' 375x1x3 375x1
SQ L @ 3' 335x3x4 225x8x2

Notes —
SQ - Intensity Singles. The nagging adductor sensation on the right leg appeared at 275#, so I was keeping an eye on it. First 375# single and a very sharp pain in the left adductor suddenly presented. No pop or any other sensation, just a pissed off adductor. I took my rest period, then as I was getting ready to get under the bar for rep #2, it really started making its presence known—which was likely all in my head—and I didn't want to risk anything significant. I dropped my backoff weight to a weight that I knew wouldn't piss it off and bumped up the reps. There was no change in tonnage, just intensity. That was the right move, as the issue resolved soon after.

7/19/24 - Friday
PB I @ 4' 280x1x5 280x1x2
BP V @ 4' 245x5x3 245x3

Notes —
PB - Intensity Singles. Instead of a range like last week, I went with the highest weight that I successfully moved last week. I still had very odd sensations in the left shoulder that I haven't experienced before this maintenance period, which tells me that I'm, 1.) not getting enough frequency at any weight, and 2.) I am being too greedy with these, still 10#+ higher than my actual BP Singles of mid-June. Anyway, the first two went fine, albeit a bit grindy. The third stuck to the safeties and wouldn't budge, so I called it.
BP - Light sets across. Same issue here, too greedy, as these are heavier than my early June Volume day for sets across. I'm going to be away for a couple of weeks, so that will force a reset to more conservative weights.

[Bill Anders]

7/23/24 - Tuesday
RP H @ 6' 425x5

Notes — An unplanned workout, as I was supposed to be on a cross-country flights today. Alas, the Crowdstrike mess screwed up those plans. Hopefully the rescheduling for later in the week actually works.
RP - Heavy set, strapped. Smooth and steady. It felt so good that I almost considered throwing in a couple of extra reps. But if the plans go right tomorrow, I should be on flights all day. Not the place to be if I tweaked my back due to being greedy.

[Bill Anders]

8/8/24 - Thursday
RP 430x5

Notes — Two weeks of crappy airline travel, cut short on the front end by the Crowdstrike fiasco, extended on the back end by institutional incompetency. Thankfully the filling consisted of great times with family and friends, although it also included a lot of sitting in the car time sandwiched by all of the sitting in airports and planes time. So today was going to be the first day back to training, with resets across the board on the lifts to get back at it. And then there was the phone call. Training plans vaporized as I'll be back on a plane this weekend. So I defaulted to the one lift that I know that I can give an effort and actually move forward a bit after such a break.
RP - Heavy set, strapped. Nowhere near as smooth and strong as 16 days ago, but then again, I shouldn't have expected it to be, considering that I didn't get under the bar once during that time. Shaky, but consistent reps. All good.