Ed's SS training log

I’ve been lurking for a little.

Male, 42, 5’9”, 195 lbs

My background came from distance running. I competed in college in cross country and track, I was a better middle distance runner than long distance. My weight lifting background consisted of higher rep, lower weight was it was believed in the 90’s that doing so would get you strong without adding bulk, and during off and on weight lifting going through adulthood, that’s what I did.
Fast forward to after I turned 40, I had stopped running for several years since my achilles tendons would inflame frequently, and I had gone from where my body weight was in the 150’s and I was over 210 and that extra weight was not muscle. I had a few friends die of heart attacks and decided I wanted to get back into shape and started to try to lift weights again around Dec 2017 and tried to run 3x a week instead of my 7 days a week that I had always done before. I followed no program and wanted to get more structured.

I started using All-Pro from the bodybuilding.com forums around February 2018 but I found that I just had a hard time with some of the 10% jumps and the incrementing reps just didn’t seem to get responses from my body. Around August I moved to SL 5x5 and followed the instructions to start with just the bar so the first two months was pretty much regression. When my weight started getting higher, my form on the squat was horrible and I suffered a goin pull, and after I got over that, I had a lot of pain in my hip flexor which would get bad enough that I have to keep taking time off and deloading.

Around February of this year I found SS and bought the book. I deloaded, moved to low bar squat as prescribed and worked heavily on form. I still had hip pain, and groin pain which seemed to keep getting the better of me. I stopped running completely and it seemed in just one week, that seemed to have solved that pain. I believe I’m getting close to going intermediate for the bench and press. I’m going to milk LP as much as possible but even micro-loading is still pretty darn tough, at least for the bench. I’m going to include my workouts since going to SS for brevity.

2/18/2019
Squat 3x5x175
Bench 3x5x190
Power Clean (first workout with it so I wanted to learn it) 5x3x45

2/20/2019
Squat 3x5x180
Press 3x5x120
Deadlift 1x5x260

2/22/2019
Squat 3x5x185
Bench 3x5x195
Power Clean 5x3x55

2/25/2019
Squat 3x5x190
Press 3x5x122.5
Deadlift 1x5x265

2/27/2019
Squat 3x195
Bench 4,0,0x200 First fail at this weight
Power Clean 5x3x65

3/1/2019
Squat 3x5x200
Press 3x5x125
Deadlift 1x5x270

3/4/3019
Squat 3x5x205
Bench 5,5,3x200 Second fail at this weight
Power Clean 5x3x75

3/6/2019
Squat 3x5x210
Press 3,3,4x127.5 First fail at this weight
Deadlift 1x5x275

3/8/2019
Squat 3x5x215
Bench 5x3x200
Power Clean 5x3x85

3/11/2019
Squat 3x5x220
Press 127.5 4,4,4x127.5 Second fail at this weight
Deadlift 1x4x280 tweaked lower back.

Knew that my form wasn’t great, and I was rounding my back. Paid the price for not correcting it. Next two weeks off doing Starr protocol with squat to address it. Took a big deload

3/25/2019
Squat 3x5x185
Bench 3x5x165
Power Clean 5x3x85

3/27/2019
Squat 3x5x190
Press 3x5x105
Deadlift 1x5x230

3/29/2019
Squat 3x5x195
Bench 3x5x170
Power Clean 5x3x95

4/1/2019
Squat 3x5x200
Press 3x5x107.5
Deadlift 1x5x235

4/3/2019
Squat 3x5x205
Bench 3x5x175
Power Clean 5x3x105
Chinup 4,4,3 (weak)

4/5/2019
Squat 3x5x210
Press 3x5x110
Deadlift 1x5x240

The next week I hiked the AT section of the Great Smoky National Park. Following week I had taken a few days off, but then due to work list that entire week, so two weeks off. I took a deload to stay on the safe side

4/22/2019
Squat 3x5x195
Bench 3x5x170
Power Clean 5x3x105

4/24/2019
Squat 3x5x200
Press 3x5x105
Deadlift 1x5x225

4/26/2019
Squat 3x5x205
Bench 3x5x175
Power Clean 5x3x115
Chinup 3,3,2 (Darn...)

4/29/2019
Squat 3x5x210
Press 3x5x110
Deadlift 1x5x235 (As no issues with back at all and had been working on form, I went to 10 lbs increases)

5/1/2019
Squat 3x5x215
Bench 3x5x180
Power Clean 5x3x120
Chinup 3,3,3 (OMG, I suck at this...)

5/3/2019
Squat 3x5x220
Press 3x5x115
Deadlift 1x5x245

5/6/2019
Squat 3x5x225 (big mental milestone for me hitting that 4 plates on the bar)
Bench 3x5x185
Power Clean 5x3x125
Chinup 3,4,3 (Am I going to ever see improvement in this?)

5/8/2019
Squat 3x5x230
Press 3x5x117.5 (went back to 1.25 micro plates for the lift)
Deadlift 1x5x255

5/10/2019
Squat 3x5x235
Bench 3x5x190
Power Clean 5x3x130
Chinup 4,4,3 (horrible...)

5/13/2019
Squat 3x5x240
Press 3x5x120
Deadlift 1x5x265

Went on cruise this week. Worked out on the ship using the dumb bells that they have as they didn’t have free weights to just make sure I didn’t lose anything. Seemed to work.

5/20/2019
Squat 3x5x245
Bench 3x5x195
Power Clean 5x3x135
Chinup 3,3,12* (Last rep started using green elastic band, I need some volume or there will be no improvement)

5/22/2019
Squat 3x5x250 (getting to be a real killer, in terms of being almost totally exhausted following this)
Press 3x5x122.5
Deadlift 1x5x275

5/25/2019
Squat 3x5x255 (Very hard, but got it up, but even with long rests feeling wiped out from this)
Bench 3x5x200
Power Clean 5x3x140 (Not happy with my form, think I was using my arms, planned on deload to put a little more focus on performing correctly)
Chinup 12,12,10 Green band (will do one more with Green band before I move to the next lighter band)

5/27/2019
Squat 3x5x260 (Had debated on waiting to hit a stall, which I was probably heading for quickly before I added a belt, but decided after reading how the best way get unstuck is to not get stuck and it seemed I hit a weight where some posts by Rip and others indicated adding a belt wasn’t going to be a negative, and I am over 40 so this was the first time I used a belt, as I had one I had purchase for when I would need it. Felt like cheat mode was engaged. Allowed me to get my core REALLY tight like I had never had it before. I had never really felt the bounce that much when coming up from bellow that much, but after dropping below parallel and coming up this time, it felt like I was shooting up and the plates rattled at the top of the lifts, which I something I hadn’t done since the mid 150s. I was also not completely dead. I don’t know if this is just a newbie thing, but wow!)
Press 3x5x125
Deadlift 1x5x285 (Used belt on this one. Weight still felt heavy as hell and it wasn’t some magical experience like the squat but I did feel the really tight core contraction.)

5/29/2019
Squat 3x5x265 (squatting with belt didn’t feel as magical as last time but still feel the bounce when coming back up)
Bench 5,3,2x202.5 (moved to micro 1.25 lbs plates. The first set I got 5, but that last one was a grinding slow lift that could have gone either way so the first set should probably be considered a 4) First fail at this weight
Power Clean 5x3x130 (Cleaned up a little bit but felt like jump position was not right. I think I’m going to repeat at this weight and try to clean that up)
Chinup 3x12 Green band (moving to the next lighter band, which in my gym is blue, next workout)

5/31/2019
Squat 3x5x270 (Magic is almost gone, but still feeling bounce and not exhausted but the weight is definitely feeling heavy)
Press 3x5x127.5
Deadlift 1x5x295 (Felt very heavy, but I pulled and it came up.)

And now you’re up to date.

Welcome. You have made solid gains. Keep up the good work. I recommend that you check in with a certified Starting Strength coach. He or she can keep you moving in a proper direction and one that avoids injury.

Thanks Carson. I would like to, but the closest SS coaches are in Atlanta, and that's over 2 hours. Not impossible but it would take a special effort and time is at a premium for me right now. I have been considering the online coaching. I will just have to find a way to hide that charge from my wife...

6/3/2019

Squat
Warm up
2x5x45, 1x5x105, 1x3x165, 1x2x220
Work sets
3x5x275
Notes: Very hard workout. Got all the reps but was requiring more rest, and the exhaustion followed me.
Bench
Warm up
2x5x45, 1x5x85, 1x3x125, 1x2x165
Work sets
3x5x202.5
Notes: Felt wore out from the squat. I'm surprised coming off my failure last week at this weight and just how I was run down from the squats that I finished this. I did make an adjustment to my form where I did a better job of driving back with my quads pinning my shoulders down so I think that helped and I was happy to have success at this weight.

Had to stop after the bench as my wife needed the vehicle so I had to rush home from the gym. I'll try to get my power cleans and chinups tomorrow. I was taking a lot of rest between the squats and it wore me out. I figure now that I'm starting to hit heavier weights it's just the name of the game. I'm going to see how this affects me on Wednesday. If I don't feel like I recovered, and especially if Friday is bad I'll switch to advanced on the squat where I'll make Wednesday a light day going forward but I'll see how things turn out first.

6/5/2019

Squat
Warm up
45 2x5, 105 1x5, 165 1x3, 225 1x2
Work sets
280 3x5

Press
Warm up
45 2x5, 70 1x5, 90 1x3, 110 1x2
Work sets
130 3x5

Deadlift
Warm up
95 2x5, 150 1x5, 200 1x3, 255 1x2
Work sets
305 1x5

I was presently surprised that the squat did not wear me out like last time and I felt pretty strong, even though the last rep on the 3rd set was a bit of a grind. No need for now to move to advanced novice on it. I'm not sure if last workout I was just having a bad day or what. Press felt good too. Had more in the tank for sure. The deadlift... That was the toughest work set. I felt like I wasn't going to get the bar off the floor, but I kept pulling and it came up. It's almost like you have to suspend your disbelief and just pull as even though it feels like there is no way it will make it up when you start pulling it just seems to come up.

6/7/2019

Squat 285 3x5
Bench 205 5,5,4 - first fail at this weight
Power Clean - 135 5x3
Chin up with green band (in prior posts I was actually using the blue band, bad memory sorry) - 6,6,4

Had a Dr.'s appointment this morning so worked out following that. Squats were heavy, and the last rep was a grind. When I was doing my warm ups for the bench it felt like I hadn't really recovered from the squat yet. Took a 6 min rest between warm ups and work sets but still kinda felt worn out. Was taking between 6-7 minutes rest between the sets and just felt used up. While benching it seemed like the first rep of each set was really hard then I would get going and I just hit failure on that last rep. I might experiment with a 10-20 break between finishing the squat and starting warm up for the bench. However I was thinking I was coming close to using up LP on the bench.

6/10/2019

Squat 290 3x5
Press 132.5 5,5,3 first fail at this weight
Deadlift 315 2 first fail at this weight

The squat was heavy and it was a grind to get the last rep but I wouldn't call it a bad workout. The press I just didn't seem to be able to get the arch and bow motion going. Completely stalled in the last set. The deadlift, I got it off the ground and it was very tough. On the third rep, ran completely out of steam and it came back down. I tried to reset up just to see if I could get it up, and I couldn't budge it off the ground so I called it. So today was a little success with a large helping of fail. While I can't say for certain it was the cause, I got my updated tetnus shot on Friday right before my last workout where I failed my bench. I felt completely crappy the rest of Friday and pretty much the entire weekend so I am wondering if my body responding to it wasn't recovering. I don't want to blame everything on it but I've been eatting a lot, and I've been getting decent sleep and I do not skimp on the rest between sets but I'll see if I need to adjust those. Also I do not think I can do 10 lbs jumps on the deadlift anymore so if I make it past this weight I'll be doing 5 lbs jumps going forward. The only thing I'm concerned about is that my squat is poised to come really close to my DL however I'm thinking if I am having this amount of difficult with the DL my squat might stall soon. I had planned that when I get a missed set on the squat I would deload and move to advanced novice on it so I guess I'll keep following that plan.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by epurvee

6/10/2019

<>While I can't say for certain it was the cause, I got my updated tetnus shot on Friday right before my last workout where I failed my bench. I felt completely crappy the rest of Friday and pretty much the entire weekend so I am wondering if my body responding to it wasn't recovering. I don't want to blame everything on it <>

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Not long ago, I got my booster shot, and I felt awful for several days after -- feverish, shakes, chills, nauseous, etc. It was bad enough that my wife was getting close to taking me to the hospital, concerned that I might be having an adverse reaction to the booster. I'm almost sure it was a DPT shot that I had to get before going on a vacation to Belize. So, I wouldn't be too quick to discount the possible effects of the tetanus shot on your performance. Give it another try in your normal rotation, and if the lift doesn't improve as you feel better post-shot, then consider your transition to the next phase.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by beware03

Not long ago, I got my booster shot, and I felt awful for several days after -- feverish, shakes, chills, nauseous, etc. It was bad enough that my wife was getting close to taking me to the hospital, concerned that I might be having an adverse reaction to the booster. I'm almost sure it was a DPT shot that I had to get before going on a vacation to Belize. So, I wouldn't be too quick to discount the possible effects of the tetanus shot on your performance. Give it another try in your normal rotation, and if the lift doesn't improve as you feel better post-shot, then consider your transition to the next phase.

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Wow, sounds like you had it a lot worse than me! For me, I felt run down and all my muscles ached through Sunday, and not the post workout soreness type of feeling. I didn't have the achy feeling Monday so I'm hoping that if the tetnus shot was an issue that I'll pass my bench.

6/15/2019
Had a business trip, and despite my plans of working out while traveling and not drinking too much, I ended up drinking too much every night and dragging myself into the meetings each day. Got home later Friday so I worked out Saturday morning.

Squat - 295 3x5
Bench - 205 3x5
Power Clean - 140 5x3
Chin up - green band 7,6,5

The squat was a killer. I was hitting what almost felt like muscle failure, but was still able to grind it out, by the 3rd rep of the 2nd and 3rd set. I then took a 10 minute rest following the squat before starting the bench warm ups. I think that probably helped. The bench didn't seem like a big deal. Everything was moving and nothing was slow until the last rep of the last set. For the Power Clean I'm still concerned about my form. When I use weights under 130, its like I can make the bar come flying up. About when I get to about 135 and up I feel like I'm cheating and using my arms. Feeling like I really need in person coaching on that lift but the distance to the closest coach (Atlanta) is large enough its just not something I can do with my current schedule. Chin ups still suck but hopefully I'm getting enough volume in to see some improvements there.

6/17/2019

Squat - 300 3x5
Press - 132.5 3x5
Dead lift - 315 1x4 2nd fail at this weight

Squat was definitely a challenge. My last rep I thought I was going to fail as it seemed I was stuck at midway up but it slowly started moving and I finished. That could have easily gone the other way. The Press was not what I would consider a challenge. The last rep was slow but I was never in any danger or concern that it would be a failed set at all. On the dead lift, I thought I had it. First 3 reps were hard, 4th was slow. The 5th was coming up, about midway my muscles in my legs seemed to start doing the sewing machine and the weight came back down. I was wondering if my form had just broken down so I quickly reset my setup and tried for the 5th but I couldn't budge it off the floor at that time. I'm confident that next round I'll pass that, however I'm looking at the squat potentially catching up and overtaking the dead lift. However I'm wondering if that's not realistic as the squat might stall before that happens since if I'm getting my butt kicked on the deadlift at this weight I'm wondering how I would fair with a squat at that level. I am wondering if my issue is not downing enough food. I do typically throw a protein shake down right before bed but for the past 3-4 days I haven't as dinners have been late and i just felt full so now that weights are heavier I think I need to be more disciplined on making sure I eat enough.

6/19/2019

Squat - 305 3x5
Bench - 207.5 5,5,2 first fail at this weight
Power Clean - 145 complete dud
Chin up - green band 8,6,5

Squat was very challenging, and the last rep was slow but it wasn't a nail biter like last time. On the bench, I had taken 10 minutes before starting warm up, but my arms felt achy, like from the out part of my elbows up the edge of my triceps and also a little in my biceps. I had this feeling right after my tetnus shot and thought it was just that. I'm wondering if my arm placement on the squat is doing this. I tried taking longer rests on the warm up but it didn't go away. When I did my work sets on the bench, the first rep each time would come down super slow just burning me up. After the first two reps the tightness would go away. The weight didn't feel that bad it just felt like the first slow rep just destroyed me. I took a longer 10 minute rest after my second set. On my final I had the same super slow first rep, then I'm not sure if I did two more before failure or not. When I failed the bar rested on the safeties of the power rack and I started rolling it forward so I could get up and it felt like I started seeing fuzzy like I was on the verge of fainting, while lying on the bench. I'm not sure if the pressure of the bar as it applied pressure to parts of my body above the safety caused it. I've had failures on the bench before and this was the first time I've had this.
On the power clean, I just didn't feel on it. When I got to the work sets, I just had no power in my jump and didn't get the bar up enough to get under it. I reset and attempted again and failed it so I called it for that workout.
I don't know what to do about the bench. The way I was able to move the weight after the initial rep makes me think I should have easily been able to finish this. I'm wondering if 10 minutes following the squat isn't enough. These workouts are taking a long time as is. I am almost considering doing squats on M,W,F and then doing the rest of my lifts T,Th,S, or maybe I really need to move to advanced novice.

6/21/2019

Squat - 310 5,5,2 first fail at this weight, but resetting
Press - 135 3x5
Dead lift - 315 1x5

So had my first fail at the squat. My first set was really tough. Last rep was a grind. Second set I just barely finished. The last rep barely made it up. Took a long rest and I was able to get two reps. For a third I did get it up, but form went to crap and it was probably more of a good morning than a squat. Went for a fourth and wasn't coming back up, let the bar come off my back onto the safeties of the power rack. My legs were quivering like jello for a little bit after that. While I might be able to come back and make it next time I'm resetting and moving the squat to advanced novice. Taking just under 10% off to go to 280 next week. Press was all things considered an easy pass. Last rep was slow but I did not feel in any danger of failing. Finally on my third attempt at 6 plate I passed the dead lift! I think I may have been failing the last two times partially due to form. Specifically I don't think I was dragging the bar up my legs where it was just slightly in front of them. Today I dragged it up and really felt my hamstrings engage and while it was definitely a challenge it was easier than other passes I have had before. Moving to 5 lbs increments on this lift going forward.

6/24/2019

Squat - 280 3x5
Bench - 207.5 3x5
PC - 145 5x3 *I really think my form is crap. I'm going to reset to 120
Chin ups - 3,3,3

I am on another business trip so I'm not at my regular gym. Just as I thought, the deload on the squat was pretty easy in terms of faster recovery and certainly didn't feel "easy" but this wasn't what I would call a struggle and didn't wipe me out. The bench was a decent pass. The thing I found most annoying was the height of the bench I was using in this particular rack felt way too darn high. Next time I'll drag a shorter one from another room over rather than do that again. For the power cleans, I was getting my jump today but I wasn't keeping my elbows high enough when catching it and I just felt like I was using my arms the whole time. I don't want to practice these with crap form or I'll make crap form permanent. I didn't have bands available that I could find, but more depressing is it seems like my chin ups have gotten worse. I'm not sure if that is from putting on more weight or what.

6/26/2019

Squat - 225 2x5
Press - 137.5 3x5
DL - 320 1x5

My first light day doing advanced novice. Squats were very easy, and I felt good on the rest of the lifts. The Press was a challenge today, but not a nail biter. The dead lift, which was hard, is almost what I would call an easy pass. At no time was I in a position where I thought I wasn't going to get the weight up. So overall a pretty good day, and it was weird to not have the workout take more than an hour. That alone almost makes me wish I had switch to advanced earlier...

One thing that confused me about the gym I worked out in was that the diameter of the bars was smaller. I didn't think a whole lot about it but when talking to some friends, I think the gym I was working out at threw the 35 lbs bar on everything. I think my last two workouts were actually 10 lbs lighter. It kinda ticks me off, but I'm going to going to treat the last two workouts as fails since I didn't actually do the weight. I'll be paying attention to bar diameter when I'm at a different gym from now on.

Due to snafus traveling home, didn't get Friday's workout in, had family visiting over the weekend so wife had me promise to not take off to workout.

7/1/2019

Squat - 280 3x5
Bench - 207.5 3x5
PC - 120 5x3
Chinup - green band 6,6,5

Since I was 10 lbs light on my lifts last week, I went back to where it should have been. Squat was good. Bench was a relatively easy pass which I was happy about. Power Clean I'm still noticing I'm cheating using my arms. I'm thinking I'm going to have to do really back to basics exercises to try to brake that habit. I don't want to give up on it but I have to think doing the exercise wrong is worse than not doing it.

7/3/2019

Squat - 225 2x5
Press - 137.5 3x5
DL - 320 1x4 first fail at this weight

Had the 5th rep of the deadlift almost all the way up but failed to get lock out. Had a bit of an issue where my belt slipped and my held breath escaped near the top. Tried resetting to get a good 5th rep in, but could get the weight off the floor. Pretty pissed about it overall. Once I get 320, which will be next time, I'm considering going advanced novice on it where I'll do it every other workout B. However I do have a bit of a worry about getting almost no volume on it.

7/5/2019

Squat - 285 3x5
Bench - 210 3x5
PC - 125 5x3
Chin Up - green band 8,6,6

Squat went pretty good. Felt the most strong on my third set. The bench went pretty good and I felt strong. Last rep went up slow but really didn't feel in danger of having a fail. For the Powerclean I focused much more on my jump, but on the work sets I think I may have still been using my arms to bring the bar up more so than the jump. Not as bad as other times, but I really want to do it correctly. In the chin up, I'm glad I did better than last time but I would like to make some real progress and get to the point I'm adding weight.

7/8/2019

Squat - 290 3x5
Press - 140 5,4,4 first fail at this weight
DL - 320 1x5

Squat went well. Failed the press, wasn't near misses, barely got the weight up on the last two 4th reps, and on the 5th attempt on both, didn't even get the weight above my nose. Made sure I had some sweat pants on for the deadlift to really drag it up my shins. It was a difficult pull for me but I felt strong. Also went into it pissed off and had the attitude I was going to attack that bar. I had made one adjustment I made over last time where I wore my belt slightly higher up after doing some reading and talking to people about belts slipping and getting in the way. Having the belt up slightly higher made it a lot easier and I had no issue with the belt slipping and felt like I was maintaining my pressure the whole time.

7/10/2019
Weight: 203.6

Squat - 230 2x5
Bench - 212.5 3x5
PC - 130 5x3
Chin Up - green band 9,6,5

The easy squat day felt pretty easy. Felt completely fresh for the bench. Last rep was a grind but I felt strong the entire way through and no discomfort coming off of the squat like what I sometimes feel following a heavy squat workout. Still think my power clean form sucks but I think I was doing a little better. I'm glad I seem to be adding reps on the chin up, so as long as I'm making progress that way I won't be too upset with it. Tentatively I've scheduled a session with a SS coach to get the form on my lifts look at while I'm out of town for my daughter's dance competition so maybe I'll get that power clean form corrected and identify if I have any other issues.

7/12/2019

Squat - 295 3x5
Press - 140 4,4,4 2nd fail at this weight
DL - 325 1x5

Squat went well with the exception of the wardrobe malfunction I had. I've had the shorts I was wearing since 2000. Never had a problem with them being too tight or anything. On my very last rep as I went down I heard a very audible "RIIIIIIIIIIIP!" and felt the shorts fan out around my ass as they split all the way up. Finished grinding out that rep, hoping no one had noticed, only to be greeted with about 10 women who had just finished a spin class walking through the weight area in various forms of snickering and outright laughing at me over in the squat rack. Luckily I had a set of sweat pants that I use for the deadlifts that I quickly threw on. The press was a spectacular fail, where I didn't even get 5 on the first set. I sure hope things improve over the weekend cause right now it looks like a deload may be in this lift's future. I was very happy with the deadlift. Felt strong. It was very hard but I felt like I could have had another 10 lbs on it, but I'm sticking with the plan.

7/15/2019

Squat - 300 3x5
Bench 215 1x5, 205 2x5

Out of town for my daughter's dance competition. This gym had a squat rack but it was on that wasn't set up where you could bench. I did my squat workout, then since I had no one to spot and no safeties, I did a single heavy set of 5, and two back offs. The only set at my working weight was a nail biting grind. Considering this a fail for purposes of repeating this weight. Didn't have time for the power clean or chin ups due to morning schedule so got the two big lifts in and then ran back to the rental.

7/17/2019

Squat - 240 2x5
Press - 140 4,4,4 *3rd fail at this weight
DL - 330 1x5

Easy day on the squat felt easy. Pretty strong 3rd fail on the press. I'm going to deload 8%. I am very frustrated as I didn't hit 5 for any of the sets. I mean, I would consider moving to intermediate with a single heavy 5 and back off reps, but if I don't even hit a single set of 5, then I'm not sure that even does anything. I guess I'll see when I come back around this weight coming off the deload. Deadlift felt relatively strong, but last rep was very tough as it felt like the belt was slipping but I'm not sure that it was. Either way, got the workout done.

7/20/2019
Weight - 207.1

Squat - 305 3x5
Bench - 215 3x5
PC - 95 5x3
CU - Green band 6,6,4

Back in my regular gym again. Squat went well. Reached the last pass I had before deloading, and I wasn't really in any danger of failing. I don't want to put the cart before the horse but judging from this workout, I think I could have passed 310 today if I had thrown it on. I am probably about 4 lbs heavier this time around so might have some more muscle mass this time around. Bench was a pretty good pass. While the last rep was slow, it wasn't a nail biter. Happy about that as a big goal of mine is to be at 225 for the bench before I need to move it to intermediate. For the power clean I am trying to break my arm pull defect in my form. I think I made progress but I'm staying light until I un-fuck my form. Chin ups regressed, which was probably from the missed workout on monday which I didn't make up.

7/22/2019

Squat - 310 3x5
Press - 127.5 3x5
DL - 335 1x5

Didn't sleep well and woke up feeling miserable. Dragged myself into the gym. Had a relatively safe pass on the squat, but was almost feeling nauseated. First day of my deload on the press, and the slightly nauseated feeling continued. I was really dreading the deadlift as I was worried with as bad as I was feeling I might be looking at a fail. While I had to fight a little to lock out on the last rep, it wasn't that bad. Also following the deadlift, suddenly I started feeling good. Like whatever the funk was I was in the deadlift kicked it out of me. It was a pleasant little surprise.

7/24/2019

Squat - 250 2x5
Bench - 217.5 3x5
PC - 95 5x3
CU - green band 7,6,5

Easy day on the squat felt easy. Bench was a difficult pass. Last rep was definitely a nail biter, but I'll take it! Power Clean continues to seem me doing an arm pull. I have been using lower weight to try to brake that habit and it just seems really really hard to stop it. I real close to dropping this damn lift all together since I'm not doing it properly and I wonder if I'm getting anything out of it at all right now. I'm going to move down to an empty bar until I have no arm pull, then I'll move to just 10s and progress that way. I'll give it at most another month, however I'm concerned without actual coaching to help me correct in a frequent basis it will always be screwed up, but not giving up on it yet. However to say that I'm very fucking frustrated with it would be to put it mildly. On the chin up I feel like I made some progress over last time, but not super happy with it. I was hoping that I would hit 10 on at least the first rep and then move to just pure body weight. I happy that at least my big lifts are still seeing progress.

7/26/2019

Squat - 315 3x5
Press - 130 3x5
DL - 340 1x4 *first fail at this weight

Squat went well overall. Last rep was a grind. Press while it felt heavy none of my reps were slow. Deadlift I am most disappointed with myself with. I believe my fail was from not maintaining form more than anything. On my last rep, I was 95% there but couldn't lock out. On that rep, I did not have a good set back and really think that contributed. I am beginning to think it is sometimes more hard to mentally maintain form when tired then how difficult the lift physically is.

On another note, it looks like I only have one more week as a novice as with school starting back up in Georgia on Aug 7th, I need to take my daughter to school in the morning and the scheduling doesn't allow me my the two hours that I currently have. So that week I'll be moving to the Andy Baker 4 day split for guys over 40. While I certainly think that I have more gains in me, realistically I am only looking at 3-4 weeks at most in NLP considering how much additional rest I am needing (10+ minutes on squat, 8+ minutes bench) and the fails that are creeping in. I would have liked to have seen how far it would go, but I do think I am far enough along that moving to an intermediate program isn't going to hurt me. I think I've heard this described as "intermediate by situation?" Hoping for a great final last week of hitting PRs.

7/29/2019

Squat - 320 4,5,3 *first fail at this weight
Bench - 220 4, 205 2x5 *first fail at 220
PC - 65 5x3
CU - 5,4,4

Pretty bad day overall. On Squat, my arms slipped forward where my wrists were resting on the bar right around the 3rd rep, tried to get my arms reset, was standing with the weight for a little. Quickly re-racked and get my arms back in position and did my 4th rep but I was shaking and decided to abort that set. Second set I barely, and I mean barely got the 5th rep up. Final set after I grinded the 3rd rep, I went down with the weight and never made it out of the hole. Honest fail. I was feeling completely wiped out. Even after a long rest, I was still wiped out on the bench. After the fail on the first set, decided to do two back off sets to ensure that I did get some volume. On the powerclean, I was pretty much exclusively working on trying to fix my arm pull. With the light weight I think my form was decent. I'll slowly bring this up.

I had considered moving to a novice version of the 4 day split instead of jumping to intermediate next week however if Friday is also a bad day, this really might just be the end of NLP for me. If it is, I think it was a decent run. I'll see how it goes.

7/31/2019

Squat - 250 2x5
Press - 132.5 3x5
DL - 340 1x4 *second fail at this weight

Wow, this week is shaping up to be a giant heaping of fail. I guess no one ever moved on to intermediate because they were passing all their lifts. However considering I failed at the same point in the deadlift, just trying to get lockout on the last rep, pisses me off to no end.

8/2/2019

Squat - 320 1x4, 300 2x5 *2nd fail at this weight
Bench - 220 5,5,4 *2nd fail at this weight
PC - 85 5x3
CU - Greenband 6,5,4

If this workout convinced me of anything, it's that even if I might have a little bit left in NLP, it isn't enough to matter so I'll be moving to 4-day split of HL so this may be my last log entry in this log. I thought the squat was going well my first two reps, 3rd got hard, 4th was a big grind, on the 5th I thought I was going to make it, got out of the hole and just about to quarter squat position and was digging deep to get the bar up but then started heading back down. Dropped 20 lbs to do some backoff sets to keep some volume but was really fried. Did not feel strong at 300 at that point. At all. Took a big break before starting bench, first set barely got 5th rep up, second set, I don't know how the 5th rep made it up, it was a special digging deep effort. Final set 4th rep was that same effort. I wanted to make 5 so I went for it, and didn't get the bar two inches over my chest when trying to press it back up and that was that. Powerclean I'm still working on trying to fix my arm pull but I think I'm abandoning ship and will go to something like RDL in my new program. Unless I'm getting coaching regularly I don't see how I'm going to fix that lift and I'm so light I'm getting absolutely nothing out of it. Chin Ups didn't really see any improvement but I'm not horrifically worried about that.

Well, it's been a good run. I wanted to get my squat closer to 350, wanted 225 on bench, and wanted 405 on deadlift, but came into it older. I'm looking forward to continuing to progress in my next chapter.

I've transitioned to intermediate. I'll be posting to my new log in the intermediate training log area here for the time being.