I'm already strong, but smell isn't everything

[JohnRoman]

Starting a log. Not sure I should even do that here since INDTP.

A little (or a lot of) history. I only lifted weights seriously once before. About 20 years ago I lifted for 6-9 months. I was pretty much a bench bro but had some success. I could bench about 230# at ~140# BW. I warmed up with 135# 20 times. Never deadlifted at all but did squat (or something kind of resembling it) with HORRIBLE form to about 200#. Tore(?) a pec muscle belly (blood, bruise, etc.). Didn't know how to handle it and laid off lifting a month or so. Came back in and my bench had really fallen off. Lost my heart and desire to lift and put weights down for a LONG time. Got really involved in martial arts.

Fast forward to about a year ago. My teenage son started lifting and got me interested in it again. I didn't know any better, so I returned to what I knew. Bench bro'ing with a decent program that I had got results out of before. I don't remember what the program was called but you did 3-5 sets of 10 reps 2-3 times a week. The next week you added 10-20% wt and reduced reps to 8. Repeat adding weight and lowering reps for the next weeks through 6, then 4, then finally, 2 reps. Unload a week and go back to sets of 10 with your new weight for 10s and repeat. I got rid of the 10s and 2s and just did the 8-6-4 weeks modified by 1 rep less. So it was 7-5-3. If I would have known about Wendler's 5-3-1 it would have saved me a lot of trouble.

The program did okay for me but still no squats or deads. A PL friend at work got me started with those and around Dec 2011 I discovered Starting Strength. I DNDTP but was close. I still can't do some of the stuff but I'm working on it. I had the weight thing already handled.

Sleep sucks for me. If I get 5 hours of sleep I regard that as a wonderful night. Stress is not much better. One of my kids has gone through long term rehab and the ride still hasn't come to a complete stop yet. Hard on the finances, rough on the family and really bad on the relationships. So overall I would say recovery sucks for me.

I couldn't handle the 3 workouts a week but did okay with 2. A few months back I got to where I was bumping the weight once a week. Wasn't long after that I decided to jump the gun and move from LP to TM. I've got to unload every 4-6 weeks though for a week or the injuries seem to really start piling up.

At the start of the year I was at 240# (>30% BF), 5'9" and 44 years old. I want to hit a 1200 (200/300/400/500) total this year.
Squat Bench Dead Press BW
Jan 2012 300 270 300 135 240

[JohnRoman]

I haven't progressed much on the bench since Nov 2011. Bench bro shoulder (left & right), shoulder tendonitis and now severe right elbow tendonitis (tennis elbow, maybe some tunnel carpal also). Complete form changes : learning to use legs, complete body tightness, pinched shoulder blades, etc. have all improved my form but also has me slowed down.

Squats killed me at 20 years old, due to my ignorance, so I resolved to get them right this time around. Form resets, learning to squat with shoes, a huge belt, etc. all caused some lost time due to significant resets.

I have always had weak shoulders so pressed pretty much suck but I'm working on it.

Deadlift came up nicely but has recently stalled a little.

So I have an unrepaired umbilical hernia (surgeon says it is 1.5" by 1/2" hole) and my
guts are slowly trying to "titrate"out my belly button and the tendonitis is a pain the
butt but I'm trying to get back on the horse and get things going up and to the right
again.

Current programming:
I do a 4 day split on TM (DL intensity on 5-3-1).
Sunday - Squat volume
Squat 4x5
Speed Deadlifts
Accessories

Monday - Bench & Press volume
Bench 4x5
Press 3x5 (+ 2 back-off sets)
Accessories

I don't often do the recovery days.

Thursday - Squat/Dead intensity
Squat 1x5
Deads 5-3-1
Accessories

Friday - Bench & Press intensity
Bench
Press
Accessories

[JohnRoman]

Sun, 17 Jun : Squat Vol

Back Squat : wu + 285# x 5r x 4s
DE Deads : wu +
185 + black band x (2 x 5) Conv
195 + black band x (2 x 5) Sumo
Front Squat : 175 x 5 x 3
Good Mornings : 145 x 5 x 2

Mon, 18 Jun : Bench & Press Vol

Bench : 215 x 5, 225 x 5 x 3
Press : 135 x 5, 140 x 5, 145 x 4 (F5), 105 x 8 x 2
Lat Pulldown : 170 x 5 x 2, 170 x 7
Seated Rows : 170 x 5 x 3
CG Bench : 155 x 5, 165 x 5, 175 x 5
Bench Cable Tri Ext : 52.5 x 5 x 3
Shoulder stuff & curls for the girls
Tried Ab Wheel and the elbow wasn't having any of it

Elbow started complaining in bench warm-ups.
It amazes me how quickly upper body strength drains after a layoff. I hope it comes back just as quickly.

[JohnRoman]

Thurs, 21 Jun : Squat ID & Deads

Got good sleep, 6+ hours last night, but not getting to the gym until 9:30PM.

Squat:
wu : bar x 10, 95 x 5, 135 x 5, 185 x 3, 225 x 2, 275 x 1
335 x 5 (calc 1RM = 376)
tough!! I hit depth on all of them but I felt a little out of the groove form wise. 1 rep was a little to straight up back and I know my knees came forward a little (too much?) at the bottom. Bar moved a little on my back. Several breaths between each rep. Probably going up by 10# on volume and ID next week.

Deadlift:
5-3-1 : 3 week
Right elbow tendonitus doing well so far. Didn't bother me at all squating. Babying it loading/unloading plates.
wu : 135 x 5, 225 x 5 conv Yep spoke too soon. Elbow talking to me rather sternly now.
265 x 3 conv
305 x 3 sumo
345 x 3 sumo (no extra reps) (calc 1RM = 388, last 1RM [a few months ago] = 425)
Easy!!! Could have pulled many more but elbow was rather unhappy and didn't want to make it worse.

Took a break and massaged my arm to relieve the tendonitis a little. Stripped the bar down to 135#.
Power cleaned (with really poor form) the bar back up to put it in the rack. Suprisingly the elbow didn't complain. I'm happy with that progress at least.


Speed Squats
paused (2 secs) at 60 seconds apart
(5 sets x 2 reps) @ 165# + black and red bands
(5 sets x 2 reps) @ 165# + black and red bands

Front Squats
175 x 5
only did 1 set. My legs were rubber by this point. Tried to take another break to catch up but didnt, scratched the last 2 sets and the GMs.


Hoping my elbow will behave for Bench intensity on Friday.

[JohnRoman]

Saturday, 23 Jun : Bench & Press Intensity

Friday was a bust. Tried to catch up on sleep and clear some stuff up to lift on Saturday.

Bench
Warm-ups, 245 x 5 It was awfully grindy. Sad how quickly your bench falls off during a layoff.

Press
155 x 5 Grindy also. Pretty close to failing last rep.

Want to move up on both next time but we will have to see.
Lats & Back
Pulldown : 180 x 5r x 3s
Seated Rows : 180 x 5 x 3

Extra Bench Work
Nobody there to do board presses so tried to do Rack/Pin Bench presses. WAY too much strain on shoulders.
1 set was enough to show me this wasn't going to work. Next time, I'm going to raise the safeties and then band the bar from above to give me some help off the chest and see if that works better.
Speed Bench : 135 + black band * 3r * 5s with sets 60 seconds apart. Pausing at the bottom.
These were fairly easy but I don't know about the speed on the last few sets. Tacking these on at the end wore the speed down quickly.

Shoulder rehab & a few curls.

Elbow complained on the way in. Helped somebody with dead & power clean form and made my elbow worse.

[JohnRoman]

Sun, 24 Jun : Squat Vol

The heat has left me feeling kind of drained to get started. I really felt it during my workout. A lot of rest between sets. Lack of good sleep didn't help.

Back Squat :
295# x 5r x 4s
Starting to get serious. Quite a few grinds, 1 rep I almost lost letting it start going forward.

DE Deads :
2 reps every 30 seconds, 5 sets, black band doubled-up
195 + black band x (2 x 5) Conv
205 + black band x (2 x 5) Sumo
Elbow is not happy.

Front Squat :
185 x 5 x 3
Man!! These were hard. Even with the rest breaks after back squats I just feel like I don't have any energy.

Good Mornings :
145 x 5 x 2

[JohnRoman]

Mon, 25 Jun : Upper Vol

Well tonight sucked! Elbow was complaining a little but my hand was tingling a little because of the nerve acting up.

Bench Press:
235# x 5r x 3s, 225 x 4

Press :
140 x 5, 135 x 5 x 2, 110 x 8, 105 x 7

Lat Pulldown :
180 x 5 x 2, 180 x 8

Seated Rows :
180 x 5 x 2, 180 x 7

CG Bench :
165 x 5, 175 x 5, 185 x 5

Bench Cable Tri Ext :
52.5 x 6 x 2, 57.5 x 6

Shoulder reahab & curls for the girls. All of this is easy but making my elbow unhappy. Holding back on going up in weight until the elbow is a little happier.

[JohnRoman]

Thurs, 28 Jun : Squat ID & Deads

Got good sleep, 7+ hours last night. Deads @ Fred's and then picked up the rest of the program at my normal gym an hour or so later.
I really like doing deads earlier in the day, taking a break and recovering and then doing squats later. In a few cycles I may start hitting deads at lunch and then saving the rest for the evening workout.

Deadlift:
5-3-1 : 1 week
Scheduled to do 285 x 5, 325 x 3, 365 x1 but I'm bored with it and Fred has a really nice Elieko bar to dead with. I always seem to think it is good for at least another 50# over the bar I normally use at my gym.
warm-ups conv
315 x 5 sumo,
345 x 5 sumo
375 x 4 sumo (could have pulled at least 1 or 2 more reps but feeling the elbow with every rep.) Calc1RM = 420#
315 x 5 sumo
Both PLs provided me with good pointers and advice. Reviewed video and got more instruction. GOOD STUFF!

Back Squat:
345 x 5 (calc 1RM = 388)
Easier than last week but no cake walk. Add another 10# next week

Speed Squats
paused (2 secs) at 60 seconds apart
(5 sets x 2 reps) @ 175# + black and red bands
(3 sets x 2 reps) @ 175# + black and red bands
Couldn't make it through the 2nd series with good bar speed and form so I cut it. I was drained by then.

Front Squats:
185 x 5 x 3

Good Mornings:
145 x 5 x 2

[JohnRoman]

Friday, 29 Jun : Bench & Press Intensity

Didn't get into the gym until after 7PM but people was still there on the 1 power rack.
Haven't eat since lunch which is not good. Elbow talking to me a little bit.

Bench
255 x 3r x 2s
Last rep of both sets were bad. Grinders bad enough to fall out of the groove and drifted up towards my face but I got them. Paid the price as the first set tweeked my left shoulder a little.

Press
160 x 4 (5F) Failed on the last rep. Next week I'll probably go to 165 x 3 x 2 and work triples for a week or two, then singles for a week or two and then come back to sets of 5.

Lats & Back :
Pulldown : 180 x 5r x 2s, 190 x 5
Seated Rows : 190 x 5 x 3

Extra Bench Work :
Messed around quite a bit trying to get setup for a Reverse Band Bench.
225 x 3, 265 x 3, 225 x 3 More experimenting than actual work. With my shoulder tweeked and my elbow acting up I'm a little leary of stepping out too far since there is nobody around to spot me.
Started the first set of a series of speed bench and felt the shoulder, backed off for the night.

I'm scheduled for a deload next week but I'll probably have to take 2 weeks off in the middle of July so I think I'm going to push through until then. This is probably unfortunate because I think the dings are starting to pile-up because I greedily went through my last scheduled deload.

[JohnRoman]

Getting injured sucks!

Looking back through my log book, at Bench Intensity, I got 255 x 5 back on 13 Apr and then followed that with a 260 x 3 a week later. I'm still not back to that point. Discouraging, but maybe there is something to learn on the journey back.