Male 6'3" 23 years old
Weight 75kg (ish) - don't have a scale, but have lost 4-6kg in muscle since start of lockdown which should come back pretty quick.
Athletic Background:
Lots of sports (martial arts and fencing)! Been competing nationally since I was about twelve and supplementing with sub-maximal weight-room training for about six years. Now moving into full-time work and coming off a five-month covid layoff, I want to see how strong I can get for a change of pace.
Squats were easy again. First set of bench felt heavy (though still 2 reps or more from failure) but the next two were no trouble...I think maybe my last warm-up was too light? Deadlift, hookgrip hurts but the weight is no trouble - may get my belt out towards the end of the week/next week to start preparing for heavier things.
08-17-2020, 11:57 AM
TravisRatzloff
Welcome!
I gleaned warm up weights from the app months ago and setup my own spreadsheet. I realized that they are as close to
1. Bar Only (I do this nearly every lift), 5 reps
2. 40% of working weight, 5 reps
3. 60% of working weight, 3 reps
4. 80% of working weight, 2 reps
5. 87.5% or working weight 1 or 2 reps.
Rounding to the easiest plates. I know this looks like a lot of work but if you set up a spread sheet it makes life a lot easier. I have done very well these percentages. The days I "wing it" and do 135, 185, 225, etc. are the days I use more energy that I want on my way up.
Hope this helps a little.
Did warm-ups as suggested, press the 40% weight would have been less than the bar so I skipped it... similarly for deadlifts I started at 60k (54%) just because it was the lightest full-height plates. Working sets went well today. Squats remain easy, still no belt, but today I experimented with a thumbless grip which was easier on the shoulders but felt harder to control, practice needed. Press was again a little tough first set, but never within two reps of failure. Belt back on for deadlifts today working set only felt nice.
Squats were easy, but the final set especially so - the bench opened up as I was setting up for final set of squats and I was keen to get there before it went again, I don't know if this might have made the perceived effort on that set lower? Would be interested to know what anybody else thinks please? Bench was easier than normal cause I had the bright idea of chalking my hands... And deadlift felt great considering I think I did one rep too many.
08-23-2020, 03:39 AM
itsssme
W3D1
I go back to work in a week and a bit so will continue training on a six-day week till then since I currently have ideal conditions for recovery.
Good work today - squats and presses continue to feel no trouble at all. Deadlift went up fine, but my legs are beginning to feel the weight significantly. I feel like I have reached the time to switch to alternating power cleans (which is fun because they are my favourite thing to do!) May also drop the jumps to 2.5k for the deadlift (and squat after the next 1-2 workouts). Could someone please tell me whether next week (4) is too soon to start doing chin-ups? The blue book seems to suggest leaving a couple of weeks between switching to power cleans and adding chins, but I feel like I'm handling the workload just fine...? Thanks for all your help.
All felt nice, good to have a break from deadlifts. Might consider bumping final warm-up on squat to 90% of working sets cause the jump was a quite tough.
08-26-2020, 03:17 PM
itsssme
BW: 78.1kg today. Up about 7 pounds since starting. Good to know eating is on the right track