Swing-Shift Trucker Testimonial
Age: 27
Sex: M
H : 6'4''
W : 243 lbs/(4/30/17) (227lbs 5/17/16, 253 10/1/2016)
SVJ : 18'' (5 minutes ago, best of three)
Avg. Caloric Intake : 4000-4100/day (last 8 months, tracked them every single day since October 2016, usually above or below this number)
Protein : 240g/day (tracked daily, no other macros tracked, I don't eat very good, lots of whole milk(Half-of-a-GOMAD), and too much road-food)
Started squatting and "training" hard in July 2016. I have no athletic background whatsoever. Did miserable half-ass good-morning squats until December 14th. Sick of being hurt and NO STRONGER WHATSOEVER, I read the books (slowly and carefully), and watched the videos over and over and over. Started my Squat LP over at 135*5*3 and did a bunch of stupid stuff alongside this until February 6th. Started a No-Shit-LP on Feb. 6th 2017. Kept a light Squat day on Wednesdays, added 10lbs a week to squat. 5 for Deadlift. 2.5 for press.
February 6th-
Squat: 255(lbs)*5*3
Bench: 187*5*3
Deadlift: 375*5*1
February 8th-
Press: 125*5*3
My job schedule centers around a constantly rotating clock based on DOT HOS blocks. I'm on what's called an "Extra Board", it's like swing-shift only I'm on-call with no guaranteed start-time. When I finish a run and punch out(whatever time of whatever day this might be), I have 10 hours (or12 if I choose) until Dispatch calls me with another run. Sometimes my work day is 5.5 hours. Sometimes its 14 hours. Sometimes I go home (to PA, where my gym is), sometimes I end up in a hotel taking my 10+ hours in North Carolina, Vermont, Maine, Indiana, etc. Sometimes I drive in ice, snow, insane daytime traffic (very fatiguing), overnight, etc. Some days are one long trip, others are many short trips with lots of dropping and hooking. There are no weekdays at this job, just "hours from" and "hours to". Sound sleep is a NEVER-ENDING struggle and fatigue management is like a side-job you do when you're not driving.
My Bench technique sucks, when I have the time and money to get a SSC, I plan to work on this. I just don't "get it" and I'm sick of resetting the same shitty weights (185*5*3 thru 217*5*3, up and down, over and over). I'm committing all my pressing work to Press overhead and running up my Dips instead since April 7th.
In April my training tempo got a bit off-track, missed a few sessions, sleep and food got out of whack, and I got a little scared of the weights too I might add. Ran the Lp for 8 weeks without missing a preplanned session up to that point though.
April 9th:
Squat: 315*5, 267*5*2
Negative Chins per the Nicki Simms article
nothing else..... X(
April 11th:
Squat: 240*5*2
Press : 135*5*3
Deadlift: 405*1
April 13th sleep/work/life cycle went off the rails for 10 days. Squatting heavy is hard AF and trying to lift this fatigued was not an option. April 23rd I decided to try and turn the LP into a sort of rotating SRA cycle to better fit my time/sleep constraints.
Current template:
1. "Heavy" Squat, "Heavy" Press, Band-Assisted Chin-ups, Back Extensions
-48hours-
2. "Light(80%)" Squat, "Light(ditto)" Press, Deadlift, Dips, Arms(10 reps or so per set; LTEs, Barbell Curls, repeat)
-48hours
3. "Heavy"Squat, "Heavy" Press, Negative Chins, Back Extensions
-48 hours-
4. "Light" Squat, "Light" Press, Power Clean, Dips, Arms
Started this rotation 4/23/17 with a slight deload.
5/2/17
Heavy Squat : 305*5, 270*5*2
Heavy Press : 150*5, 135*5*2
Assisted Chins : 4,6,7,7,5,3
Back Ext. : 10*3
5/4/17
Light Squat : 230*5*2
Light Press : 125*5*2
Deadlift : 385*5*1(weight flew up)
Dips : 3,3,5,5,5,5
LTE : 80*12*4
Tips: USE THE GOOGLE and Uber to find gyms with bars and racks. Turns out, there are gyms everywhere in the eastern US that provide these. Period. And they all will sell u a day pass. Sometimes it's stupid expensive after the Uber trip, and I'm not OK with what I have paid to use these facilities in some cases (25$ for a day pass, seriously???). Sometimes it's walking distance and sometimes it's free(buy a drink or a shirt or something if they let you in free).
Since July I have missed many sessions because of my schedule and it puts a strain on all the other duties in life as well. Sometimes you just can't train. But mostly, I've found that if the desire to do so is there, somehow time to train presents itself. The converse is true as well.
