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Thread: Pain is Inevitable, Suffering is Optional: Dave(DBD)'s Log

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    40

    Default Pain is Inevitable, Suffering is Optional: Dave(DBD)'s Log

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    Intro
    My name is Dave. I am strength enthusiast with a bit of a powerlifter slant. I'm not too tall at about 5'9" and I always keep myself at a lower bodyfat percent, well, vast majority of the time. At the time of writing this I am in my mid twenties and I live near Toronto, Canada. I was relatively athletic when I started my strength career with Mark Rippetoes Starting Strength program. I have tried a few different programs but I'm currently using my variation of the Texas Method. I'm decently versed in nutritional science and biomedical literature, I maintain a subscription to PubMED. However I am self taught aside from a few classes in university. I'm starting this log because I need a bit of extra motivation. I had a log years ago and I found I pushed myself a little bit harder when I displayed my progress to the world.

    Background
    I've played a variety of sports throughout my life, so I've always been relatively athletic. I started strength training during university after I decided I wasn't going to pursue any sports religiously. As I was used to having a physical dedication I needed something to fill the void and strength training was it. It was something I had a fascination with since I was a kid and basically knew it was something I would pursue someday. I began my career on Starting Strength (SS) with mild nutritional understanding. I finished SS with a very significant improvement in strength, a decent physique at a mildly higher bodyfat then I started with and a far stronger understanding of nutrition. I went from SS to a crude version of the Texas Method (TM) , I then tried a few other intermediate programs and about a year ago returned to the TM. I have a nagging knee injury from sports and I bulged a disc in my back late last year. About a month after bulging a disc in my back I had my Appendix removed. I then proceeded to take about 2 months off from the gym. This was the longest break I have had from the gym since I started and I now regret it. During this time I allowed my weight to climb to about 205 pounds and a relatively high body fat percentage. I have since been cutting and now weigh about 180 pounds at a very reasonable body fat percentage. I am also still suffering from back and knee problems.

    Stats (in starting this log)
    physical
    Height: 5'9"
    Current Weight: 181 Lbs
    Personal Records (in lbs):
    Deadlift: 460
    Squat: 355x5
    Bench: 260x5

    Over Head Press: 170x3x5
    Power Clean: 225
    Current Routine
    Monday
    Deadlift 1x5
    Bench 5x5
    Squat 5x5
    Wednesday
    Over Head Press 3x5
    Squat 2x5
    Barbell Rows 3x5
    Friday
    Bench 1x5
    Squat 1x5
    Power Cleans 3x5
    Until recently I moved Deadlifts from Friday to Monday and moved power cleans from Monday to Friday. I was previously doing Power Cleans at 4x6 on Mondays. This switch was inspired by Mark Rippetoes template for the Texas Method on T-nation.com. I have also been considering alternating Bench and OHP for the 5x5 set on Mondays. Oddly enough I wouldn't say my OHP is lagging to hard behind even though it falls on my recovery day (Wednesday) at a less work load then the bench so we will see. I tend to switch things up a bit. The barbell rows on Wednesday could switch to other things like pull ups and the 2x5 squats sometimes turn into front squats for periods of time. This is could change as I feel necessary.

    Injuries
    I have two major injuries: my right knee and my lower back. My knee was weak coming into starting strength from repeated sports injury. I made it a lot worse by squatting during SS with a narrow stance and poor form in general. Thus I have a case of patellar tendonitis in my right knee that can flare up if I go too hard in the gym or do something fucking stupid outside of the gym. I bulged a disc in my back at a power lifting meet late last year. In short I got a little too pumped and went a little to ape shit. I had a nagging pain in my back that has only very recently subsided. I also made a very poor choice of not dead lifting for about 4 months afterwards. Thus my deadlift has suffered horribly. It has only very recently begun its climb back to somewhere mildly fucking useful.

    Nutrition
    I currently employ carbic cycling to cut weight. I've seen gains well losing weight. Its been slow at about a pound a week but from everything I understand that's the most you can hope to lose without losing significant amounts of muscle. I usually have two high carb days, 1 medium and a bunch of low days. I have actually seen decent gains and fat loss well doing this so it seems to be working out. I would like to get down to about 170 lbs but that's just some loose goal. . I've debated employing leangains.com's method of intermittent fasting if carbic cycling runs out of steam either that or adding morning fasted cardio sessions. I tend to have a rigorous diet Monday through Friday and will either cheat on Saturday and/or Sunday or at the very least eat a less rigorous healthy diet.
    My primary food sources right now are eggs whole/whites, chicken, steak, some whey, a bit of tuna, tilapia, olive oil, almonds, bread, brown rice, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli and a few other things.
    I subscribe to Poundstone Powers method of consuming food. I blend and drink a whole lot of shit. Basically if I don't actually like consuming it then I add water and blend it: chicken, tuna, brown rice, and sweet potatoes are a few
    I usually balance my gains and my body fat percentage. I strength train because I believe it's one of the best ways to invest time and inevitably the feeling of progress makes me happy. I however find myself unhappy when my body fat percentage is too high, so I usually try and keep it a bit lower. Eating everything would probably have the best progress but I couldn't be happy being fat. Thus I balance progress and body fat.

    Goals
    I usually have a few short term goals here and there to keep me motivated. Right now it's to lose a bit of weight well still making gains. However I really don't have any concrete goals at the moment. I usually just want to make steady progress as best I can particularly on the squat, deadlift and bench. I may compete in amateur powerlifitng but I dont really have any goals of beating anyone just quite yet.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
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    Default

    Monday, September 12th, 2011

    Deadlift
    385x5

    Bench Press
    255x5x5

    Squat
    345x4x5

  3. #3
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    Aug 2007
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    Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

    Overhead Press
    175x5
    175x4
    175x3

    Squat
    275x5x2

    Barbell Rows
    245x5x3


    I went from 170 to 175 this week on OHP. I didn't really expect it to do all that well. 5lbs on OHP has proven to be a substantial jump and I dont have any methods for incremental weights anymore. I'll try it again next week.

  4. #4
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    Aug 2007
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    Default

    Friday, September 16th, 2011

    Squat
    365x5

    Bench
    265x5

    Power Clean
    200x3x5

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
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    Default

    Monday, September 19th, 2011

    Deadlift
    390x5

    Bench Press
    260x5x4
    260x1x4

    Squat
    345x5x5

    It was an interesting session. I had a bit of a wild weekend, drank like a fish on saturday and ate poorly sunday so I was expecting a very harsh money but overall it went well. I managed to pull something in my upper back enough that it was annoying and my lower back injury had a small dull pain which really worried me. I pulled 5 reps anyways, the last one was Really slow and probably slightly rounded. Its going to be an interesting challenge to get 395 next time. Which is sad because I'm still far from where I once was.

    I didnt get the very last rep of my bench because I dont have a spotter I trust and the 4th rep barely got up. I think I might do six sets of 5 at 260 next week.

    The squat kind of concerned me. My right knee had significant pain in my last set. Now this may be because of poor form, I was exhausted by this point and thus my form was probably shit. My patellar tendon has also been obviously stressed lately so maybe I just need to back off the weight for a bit to give it time to heal. I'll see how it feels during the week to see what I'll be doing. I've also had a knee wrap suggested to me which I may have to look into

  6. #6
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    Aug 2007
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    Default

    Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

    OHP
    175x5
    175x3
    170x4

    Squat
    275x2x5

    Barbell Rows
    250x3x5

    My OHP didn't quite work out. I clearly need to start alternating doing bench press and OHP on mondays as a work set like rippetoe recommended for the texas method or start using some sort of improvised intermediate weight.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
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    starting strength coach development program
    Friday, September 23rd, 2011

    Squat
    370x5

    Bench Press
    270x3

    Power Clean
    205x4x3
    205x1

    Not a bad session.

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