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Ramen's SS Log
After about a year of being out of the gym (no excuse/got lazy), I finally started back up again back around March 17th. I started out running one of the PP programs where deadlifts were performed each workout up to the second week, then added power cleans to workout B. Here's my stats so far:
Age: 30
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 242 lbs
Squat (start->current): 155->255
Deadlift: 155->265
Bench: 115->150
Press: 95->120
Power Clean:95->115
So far, with four weeks in as of today, I've hit a failing point on all of the exercises except for the cleans (which I haven't been doing long). I'm trying to think of it as a way of diagnosing where my linear progress is slowing rather than outright bombing.
On the press, I bombed at 125 on 4/6; prior to that had been 10 lb increases and I'm thinking I pushed that increase too long (a recurring theme with me) and possibly started out too high in the beginning. I went 5/4/4 on reps. I dropped to 120 for the next workout on 4/11 and succeeded in getting all reps that time.
I bombed the deadlift on 4/9, failing on the third rep at 275. As before, I'd used 15 and 20 lb increases. I dropped back 10 lbs to 265 and made it through on today's workout.
Bench press, bombed that at 155 on the last rep of the last set the same day as the deadlift above (I wasn't having a good day, was I?). Dropped to 150 and got all my reps in good today.
Finally, the squat...ironically, I'd mentioned to my wife that I'd never failed a squat set. I should've known better than to say that. I attempted 265 today and failed out on the last rep of the last set. I went to drive up at the bottom and lost it part way up. It made an awful racket, but I managed to not injure myself when I dumped it. I'll drop to 260 on my next workout this Tuesday and work up from there.
Going forward, I'm planning 5 lb increases on all the exercises except for the deadlift which will go to 10 lb. That should get a bit more of a proportional weight spread relative to my squat.
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Another training session in the books. It didn't go so hot in my opinion.
Squat: 265 (completed)
Press: 125 (not completed, reps 5/4/3)
Power Clean: 125 (form questionable)
On the squat, I'm thinking I've hit the point of 5 lb increases; today's squat workout was dog heavy. On the last set, I started thinking that I wasn't going to make all my reps. I succeeded, but it took a lot out of me to do so. I conquered the weight though, didn't have to dump it.
I ended up blowing it on the press. I'm not sure if form broke down or what, but the weight just did not want to move today. I don't have them up to bat again until Saturday, so I'll retry the weight. If I blow it again, I'm planning to reset back to 95 and work back up by 5s.
The power cleans were ok, but on reviewing a video I took of my last set, form might be questionable. I'm thinking form check videos are in my future. The video I took of the cleans made them almost look like reverse curls rather than cleans, which wouldn't be good.
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Oh dear, oh dear. Today's workout was a real disaster. A moment of stepping on one's crank if ever I saw one. I'm starting to wonder if someone turned up the gravity in the weight room today. The weights, quite simply, did not seem to want to move for me today.
Squat: 270 (not completed, reps 5/4/3)
Bench: 155 (not completed, reps 5/3/2)
Deadlift: n/a (not performed, disaster/explanation below)
The squat was where it started...and where things started to go pear shaped. I took a form video of my last set, but in all honesty, it's a travesty of a set and I'm ashamed of it. From rep 1, it felt like I had double the weight on me. I ended up checking and rechecking to make sure I'd loaded the proper weight on the bar. It felt like someone doubled the gravity in the gym today. The first set went semi decent, but the next two were terrible. I couldn't seem to get out of the hole after the 4th and 3rd reps on the 2nd and 3rd sets, respectively. It seemed to take everything in me just to get what I did today; I've never felt so weak in my life.
The weak feeling carried over to the bench press. Like the squat, I managed five on the first set, but the second and third sets were disastrous. The bar simply did not want to move for me; 3 and 2 were what I squeezed out in the latter sets and even that felt like a struggle.
The coup de grace for today was in the deadlift. Today's weight was supposed to be 275. I warmed up on 135, then I loaded 225 for my second warm up of 2 reps. I couldn't even get that up today. I felt like jello at that point. I tried once more to get even a single on 225, but it wasn't happening. I might as well have been trying to lift 500. I've never in my life felt this weak...and I don't want to ever again. Horrible feeling. By that time, my energy was completely sapped.
Reading over that paragraph and reflecting leads me to a conclusion of a recovery deficit. I haven't been sleeping so well lately and my diet's left a bit to be desired. I've tried what I refer to as the 'Jack Webb' diet (the diet he rattles off at the beginning of "The DI" to an overweight recruit). It calls for a deletion of "bread, corn, pie/cake/desserts of any kind, whole milk, beans, butter, sugar, potatoes, candy, ice cream, salad dressings and peanut butter." At 5'11", 242 lbs and ~26% BF, I would firmly categorize myself in the overweight class. I've followed a diet of pretty much meat, veg, fruit, 1% milk and nuts for about 2 weeks now. In other words, eating like a bird. It's evidently starting to catch up to me, so I'm going to have to reevaluate my goals and work back up.
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Today's workout went pretty well. In consideration of my previous two workouts results and some form issues, I've decided a rehab period is in order for me. I did some math and it appears that I pushed the 10 lb increase string way too far than what I should have...and I think that manifested itself the last two workouts when the weights were a struggle at best and a disaster at worst. Time to back up and punt, as it were. Results:
Squat: 225 (cut from 270)
Press: 95 (cut from 125)
Power Clean: 75 (cut from 135, form issues still to work out)
Power cleans are still very much in a state of triage; definitely need to work out form issues before continuing on with them. I should have the SS book tomorrow, so I'm going to pore over it and try to learn it properly. Even at the lighter weight mentioned above, I still think I'm having trouble with arm rotation.
I cut my squat weight down to what it would be by this time if I had used 5 lb increases from the end of week 2 at a starting squat weight of 135. I had to mentally coach myself on form, keeping my head down to the floor and cueing myself to lead with the hips always. It's hard to do during the work sets compared to warmups. During warmups, it's easy to think about other things like "keep abs tight" or "keep your head down" or "drive your hips". When the work set weight gets on the bar, my mind simply goes "OMG, this is heavy, get it done and get it off me!" Getting the form firmly in place before this helps immensely at this stage.
On the press, I dropped to 95 for form and stalling issues; I'm thinking my form is questionable on the press and I've hit stalling at 125 twice already. As stated above, I ran progression at 10 lb increases for far too long and it caught up to me. As such, I went ahead and reset back to 95 lbs and I'm going to run 5 lb increases on that to see how it goes.
On the diet front, I've loosened up a little bit to allow myself to eat enough for adequate recovery. My body weight is consistently in the 242 range as of late and I believe my BF percentage is dropping a bit (judging by pants fit). I tend to carry nearly all of my blubber around the midsection, so I've been looking like I'm 11 months pregnant. People asking "when's it due?" gets old real quick. I'll have to do a body tape and see where I stand.
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Things are continuing to go pretty good; I received my copy of SS 3rd edition yesterday and I've been poring over it, particularly the chapter on power cleans. I definitely need practice on those, as what I've been doing has been completely wrong to this point. I'm having trouble figuring out the correct racking method and getting consistent with it. Anyhoo, on with the results of today:
Squat: 230
Bench Press: 135 (cut from 155)
Deadlift: 225 (cut from 275)
Squat and bench will get 5 lb increases going forward while deadlifts will get 10 lb. The last deadlift workout I did, I couldn't even get 225 to move off the ground (and it was for two warmup reps, my workset was intended to be 275). I'm slightly worried that my squats may be a tad high (either due to flexibility or my blubber), so I'm going to take video next time and see how it is. I'm thinking if I'm high on the squat, it isn't by much. Benches went pretty good, I adjusted my grip to keep my elbow/forearm angle at ~90 degrees when the bar contacts my chest. On the deadlift, 225 came up really easy this time, so I'll start back up on those again.
I did some power clean practice with an empty bar, practicing the rack position and the jumping position. I'm having particular trouble with keeping my elbows straight during the jump portion, but I'm also having trouble wrapping my head around getting under the bar and racking it in properly on my shoulders. I may end up having to spring for a coaching session if this keeps up.
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Today's workout was pretty good. I was particularly satisfied with my press and I've made 'slight' progress on my power cleans. I worry that I'm a bit high on my squats, but I really can't tell. I need to get a pair of grey shorts or sweatpants; the dark ones I have don't seem to provide enough contrast to judge properly. From the way I feel when I descend and drive up (and what little I can see in the mirror looking down), I'm getting plenty deep. The video, however, looks like I'm doing half squats. I feel ate up at the moment. Power cleans are still in learning stage. I've been trying to do hang cleans to get the racking movement down, followed with what essentially amounts to power shrugs to get the movement. Now if I can just figure out how to marry the two, I'll be sitting pretty. In the meantime, I've been repeating my deadlift weight from the previous workout.
Squat: 235
Press: 100
Power Clean: 115 (testing)
The clean movement is still somewhat ate up. I can get it right about 1 time out of 5, but that's better than what I was doing; trying to override the instinct to want to pull up with my arms is a bit trying. I'm also questioning whether I have the forearm/elbow flexibility to be able to rack properly, but that'll have to be evaluated when I get the rest of it correct.
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Everything went pretty decently today. As per the book, I made some adjustments to my squat form and my pressing grip to allow the bar to be pressed more against my forearm than in the palm. On my squat, I made mental cues to push my knees out further and try to get deeper; unfortunately, I didn't get a very good video of the last set, so I couldn't evaluate it properly. I'm thinking my depth is better though. Bench press went pretty well after adjusting my grip. In the past, heavy reps would cause my wrists to bend and thus place the bar in the palm of my hands rather than over the forearms. That ended up hurting my pressing ability and made my hands hurt like mad. Deadlifts went pretty well, although I'm going to take form video of that soon to make sure I'm right there too.
Squat: 240
Bench Press: 140
Deadlift: 245
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I hit upon some scheduling difficulties this week and only got in workouts this past Sunday and today; among other things, a work shift that ended up turning into a 24 hour pump will do that to you. The squat went pretty well, mainly trying to focus on getting proper depth and making sure to push my knees out properly. The press is fairly decent, but my grip started reverting back to the old, not so good way on the last set and that didn't feel very good. Power cleans are still questionable; I repeated 115 doing hang cleans at first, but I'm evidently still trying to pull with my arms. I managed to get about 2 out of every 4 reps or so correct. Practice, practice, practice.
Squat: 245
Press: 110
Power Clean: 115 (testing)
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Today's workout was pretty outstanding; it seemed like I brought a wave of energy with me to the gym today. On the squat, I focused on pushing my knees out as well as breaking at the knees first followed by the hips; I think I got my depth without butt winking (I started noticing a rather odd pain in my rear end, like the tail end of my spine). Bench press went pretty well. I focused on keeping my grip correct there so that my hands don't bend backwards and compromise form. The deadlift was the best lift of the day, it felt like I was trying to drive my feet through the floor and nearly succeeded. The weight nearly flew up off the floor.
Squat: 250
Bench Press: 145
Deadlift: 255
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Today's workout was fair to okay; I ended up failing on my last rep of the press, but the other two lifts came through decently. As always, I try to focus on keeping proper form in the squat, remember my cues and avoid butt winking. Power cleans are still quite meh; I'm thinking that if I'm going to use them effectively, I'm going to have to invest in some coaching if I can't get them down. I felt totally lost with them today. In the interim, I've been repeating my deadlift weight from the previous workout to keep things going.
Squat: 255
Press: 115 (failed on last rep of last set)
Deadlift: 255
Clean: 95 (testing)
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