cmynhier's Intermediate Log

[Chad Mynhier]

This is my intermediate log. My novice log can be found here.

Stats:

Sex: M
Age: 46, for now
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 205, or thereabouts

PRs (at various reps):

Squats: 315x4
Deadlift: 350x4
Bench: 200x4
Press: 127.5x1, 122.5x3, 117.5x5

I've been transitioning off of a novice progression for a while. I've been doing bench, OHP, and dips each once a week as my press and chins, deadlift, and RDLs each once a week as my pull. The press was the first to move off of a simple 3x5 progression (I was rotating 5x5, 3x4, and 1x8 for about 3 months), and I've just recently gone to 5x5 on bench. But as long as I was doing some sort of LP on squats, I still considered myself a novice. I think I've run that out just about as far as it's going to go, so now it's on to intermediate programming.

I'm going to be doing HLM to start. (At my age, I think TM is probably contraindicated.) To start, my very straightforward HLM will look like this:

Heavy:
Squats: 5x5, descending sets
Bench: 5x5, individual sets, per Andy Baker
Chins/Barbell rows

Light:
Squats: 3x5 at 80%
Press: Rotating 8x4, 6x4, 4x4
Deadlift: 1x5

Medium:
Squats: 3x5 at 90%
Dips
RDL/SGDL

I plan to add weight to dips, and if I can get them heavy enough, I may swap dips and bench. If I do, I'll probably bench in the 8-10 rep range.

[carson]

I've been thinking about switching for several months since I've been doing Wendler's 531 for over a year. I tried the Texas Method for a while but it was whipping me. I've remained on the Starting level because I like to encourage the young ones.

Live long and Prosper as Spock says.

[Chad Mynhier]

My first intermediate workout. I'll drink a beer later to celebrate. (As opposed to what I do most nights, which is drink a beer because I want to drink a beer.)

Squats: 285x5, 275x5, 265x5, 255x5, 245x5
Bench: 170x5x5
Barbell rows: 155x8x3

Squats:

285x5: https://youtu.be/gqxa5QQQvus
275x5: https://youtu.be/OLbb1phZRT8
265x5: https://youtu.be/sDfCUXhYf1g
255x5: https://youtu.be/pYSSKuNy2mk
245x5: https://youtu.be/oFEH2WXSScM

Not much to say here. They're squats. At some point, I'll stop videoing every set, but probably not until I'm confident I'm hitting depth on every set. Then I'll probably just video the top set.

Bench:

https://youtu.be/wAi8X329yxQ
https://youtu.be/U7F23tOPkoc
https://youtu.be/W3In19sZLvw
https://youtu.be/QPoSAaOA2-0
https://youtu.be/Mo4x5PvssQs

Not much to say here, either.

Barbell rows:

https://youtu.be/eToqLg851vI
https://youtu.be/ZTfWcUAYA_k
https://youtu.be/mq_lJHaZ420

This isn't my first time doing rows. Early in LP, when I thought my anthropometry precluded power cleans, I did these for a while just to be doing something. (After Adam convinced me I could do PCs, I did those for a while. I was never very good at them, and they fell by the wayside at some point.)

[Strega]

Congratulations on your move to the adult table. Christmas won’t be the same anymore without you

[Chad Mynhier]

Although I understand the novice mentality that it wasn't a real workout if you didn't hit a PR, I'm ready for light days. There towards the end of LP, it was a bit wearing psychologically to always be lifting heavy.

Squats: 225x5x3
Press: 100x6x3, 100x8
Deadlift: 335x5

Squats (3 minutes rest):

https://youtu.be/1zGLJ_Vx0VI
https://youtu.be/L0Y_mXMaMEo
https://youtu.be/CemHTje2MuI

Press (4 minutes rest):

100x6: https://youtu.be/8FGpjx_qSGk
100x6: https://youtu.be/NvHMpKSuqcQ
100x6: https://youtu.be/xJj5ieqWK2I
100x8: https://youtu.be/EhSkrmRUW7c

Coach Skillin suggested I do AMRAP on the last set of these, if I could, so I did.

Deadlift:

https://youtu.be/XNccavcFBi4

These went up relatively easily (except for the first rep, which always goes up a little more slowly), so I probably could have done more. Oh, well, it's better to stick to the plan. I'll go for 345 next week, and then 350 after that.

[Chad Mynhier]

Squats: 255x5
Dips: 8/8/7
RDL: 190x5x3

Squats (4 minutes rest):

https://youtu.be/YL2Ua03Vef8
https://youtu.be/0WiMKlxFLIU
https://youtu.be/JUuciaHu8Nc

I'd originally thought to do 5 minutes rest on these, but decided to cut it down to 4. That may have been a mistake, as I may have worked myself harder than I intended. See "Dips" below.

I'm pretty happy with the depth on these. As long as I stay focused, I go deep enough.

Dips (7 minutes rest):

8: https://youtu.be/l0QlF-sCOzE
8: https://youtu.be/A2Z8kwnLdUE
7: https://youtu.be/ZwHfNmPQR24

These wore me out, but in more of an I'm-going-to-puke way than a muscular way. Maybe they wouldn't have been so stressful if I'd rested that extra minute on squats. Then again, maybe not.

I'm trying to work my way up to 10 reps. I've been trying to go a consistent number across the sets, but maybe I should just go for broke on the first set and just get what I can get afterwards. Alternately, I could go for more sets with fewer reps, cutting the rest between sets incrementally so that I'm doing the work with incomplete recovery. Or I could try a density block, which I guess would just be a free-form way of doing the same thing.

RDL (6 minutes rest):

https://youtu.be/amFC5xD2ZCE
https://youtu.be/0GJe1kIu67k
https://youtu.be/nrXtssZ0zww

I decided to use straps on these. After dips, I just wanted to make sure I got them done rather than worry about my grip.

I also originally planned on 3x8, not 3x5. I'll give 3x8 at 190 another go next week.

[Chad Mynhier]

Squats: 290x5, 280x5, 270x5, 260x5, 250x5
Bench: 175x5x5
Chins: 10x3

Squats (8, 7, 6, 5 minutes rest):

290x5: https://youtu.be/COxWrRp7oms
280x5: https://youtu.be/RknEAs1bVJg
270x5: https://youtu.be/Jq2ANInEe7g
250x5: https://youtu.be/6FdgrIARcSA

Forgot to video the set at 260. Doh!

It looks like I've finally gotten the hang of doing deep enough. Of course, now I need to watch myself for form creep to make sure I keep hitting depth.

Bench (5 minutes rest across):

https://youtu.be/JpydwPyF4OE
https://youtu.be/HOUX1B-lLbM
https://youtu.be/5dqXfnIYYwo
https://youtu.be/_bT_DdDJ_O8
https://youtu.be/Ff8ZKuDJ0Fw (ugly set with grinder on rep 2)

That last set was a bit ugly. I didn't get a good grip on that first rep, so I racked it to reset my grip. The second rep was a grinder, but I somehow managed to get the rest of the reps.

(Technically, I'm doing independent sets on these, but I haven't failed to get 5 reps on anything yet, so it still looks like sets across.)

Chins:

10 sets of 3 with 1 minute rest between sets. This is how I originally worked up to sets of 10 when I first started doing pull-ups (back when I was skinny). I'll try 10x4 with 1 minute rest next week, then maybe 10x5 as pairs, with 1 minute rest between the sets of a pair and more rest between pairs.

[Strega]

Squats look great, I was wondering if the rest you are doing was typically at lighter weight or just something you moved to as the weights got heavier.

[Chad Mynhier]

Squats look great, I was wondering if the rest you are doing was typically at lighter weight or just something you moved to as the weights got heavier.

When I started lifting, I started with very short rest periods -- until I hit 150, I was doing 1 minute rest for squats. Then I adjusted my rest period based on whether or not I could do the scheduled work. If I missed a rep, I'd bump up the rest and try again. At the end of LP, I was up to 9 minutes for the heavy stuff (from 285-315). (And once the rest started getting long enough, I'd start warmup sets for bench or press during the rest intervals.)

At this point, I'm just playing it by ear. On light day, I'm managing to do 3x5 on 3 minutes rest. I did 4 minute rest on medium day last week, but that wasn't quite enough, so I'll probably go to 5 minutes. And I'm doing descending rest to match the descending sets on heavy day. As the weights get heavier, though, I may start resting longer between sets.

[Mr. Bingley]

good stuff! we miss you at the kid's table in the kitchen!