Michael's Log

[Michael Park]

I'm getting back into things after a bit of a layoff, so I thought it might be helpful to start a log here. Maybe it can help others getting back into the swing of things or people in the advanced novice stage who are wondering how or when they should switch to intermediate programming.

Name: Michael Park
Sex: Male
Age: 31
Height: 5'6.5"
Weight: 176.0 lbs

10/9/13

Squat: 45 x 5 x 2, 120 x 5, 195 x 3, 265 x 2, 340 x 5 x 3
Press: 45 x 5 x 2, 70 x 5, 95 x 3, 115 x 2, 140 x 5, 4, 4
Deadlift: 135 x 5, 205 x 3, 270 x 2, 340 x 5

The first working set of squats felt a bit heavy, so I asked for a spot on the next two, and they felt easy. Maybe it was psychological. I was disappointed in the presses. I let the bar get out in front of me several times, and I think it fatigued me prematurely. I'll try 140 x 5 x 3 again next time and start micro loading from here on out. The deadlifts were easy. I'll just keep adding enough to make sure that they stay at least equal to my squat, and when I have to reset the squat, I'll just keep chugging along with five pound jumps on the deadlift.

I didn't get much sleep last night. Maybe five or six hours. It was my first day back to work after taking off a week to go to the SSCA Conference and visit family in Oklahoma. I had some stuff to do to get ready for the day before I could go to work. I just got a phone call that said the flight schedule for tomorrow is canceled for the government shutdown, so I should be able to get plenty of sleep tonight. I'm really going to try to take advantage of being back in the novice phase by eating and sleeping my face off. We'll see how it goes.

[Michael Park]

10/11/13

I had a Combat Fitness Test this morning. I didn't do any specific training for it other than Starting Strength, and I got a 282/300. I'll take it. I'm sure I could have maxed it out if I conditioned beforehand. If you don't know what a CFT is, here's a link: http://www.military.com/military-fit...t-fitness-test.

My legs felt pretty smoked after this morning, so I decided to do a light squat day. I'm not moving to Advanced Novice programming yet. I just didn't think I would be setting myself up for success if I tried to squat 345 x 5 x 3 after this morning.

Squat: 45 x 5 x 2, 100 x 5, 160 x 3, 215 x 2, 270 x 5 x 2
Bench: 45 x 5 x 2, 85 x 5, 125 x 3, 160 x 2, 200 x 5 x 3
Power Clean: 65 x 3, 95 x 3, 130 x 2, 160 x 3 x 5

The squats were light, but my legs felt fatigued. The benches felt OK. I'll increase them by five pounds. The power cleans felt very light, but I felt very sloppy with them. I would loop one, arm pull the next, and then catch the third in my hands. I did the last two sets as basically a set of six, because I was frustrated and just wanted to be done. I'm going to add five pounds to these next time, but if my technique is sloppy again, I'll start micro loading them a bit earlier than I otherwise would have.

[Michael Park]

10/14/13

Squat: 45 x 5 x 2, 120 x 5, 195 x 3, 270 x 2, 345 x 5 x 3
Press: 45 x 5 x 2, 70 x 5, 95 x 3, 115 x 2, 140 x 5 x 3
Deadlift: 135 x 5, 205 x 3, 280 x 2, 350 x 5

Weight: 177.0 lbs

The last set of squats felt like the best. I had to resist the urge to shorten my rest periods. I just felt better today than I normally do. I imagine it had something to do with the light set on Friday. Presses felt significantly better. I narrowed my stance a little and focused on keeping the bar close as priority number one instead of focusing so much on trying to get a big transfer from the hips. I'm tempted to go with a five pound increase, but it's probably a better idea to start micro loading here and make sure I don't get stuck. The deadlifts were easy. If I can keep eating and sleeping enough, I should be able to string this out for a bit. Speaking of eating, I was doing really well, and then I only ate one meal and drank half a gallon of milk yesterday. That was stupid. I only gained one pound this week. I'll try to do better during the upcoming week.

[Michael Park]

10/16/13

Squat: 45 x 5 x 2, 120 x 5, 200 x 3, 275 x 2, 350 x 5 x 3 PR

That's all I had time for. I blew the seam in the back out of my boxer shorts on the first rep at 275. The second rep felt like I was flashing the entire gym, so I had to go to the bathroom and take the boxers off. I guess it's either briefs or the boxers made out of t shirt material from here on out. Other than that, the squats felt nice. It felt good to hit a PR again. I had to get out of there and go take a look at a house I was considering renting. The house was exactly what I was looking for, but the landlord was confrontational from the beginning, so I passed.

10/17/13

Bench: 45 x 5 x 2, 85 x 5, 125 x 3, 165 x 2, 205 x 5 x 3
Power Clean: 45 x some, 65 x some, 100 x 3, 130 x 2, 165 x 3 x 5

Weight: 182.5 lbs PR

My left elbow is feeling a little funny on the bench presses. It hurts on the way down, and with the bar four inches from my chest, it feels like my elbow is going to give out, but it doesn't. This happens on the first rep of each working set, and gets better throughout the set. I'll have to video them next time and see if something is screwy with my grip. I kept catching the power cleans in my hands, which didn't help the tender elbow an awful lot. I'm going to dust off the 1.25 lb plates and micro load the power cleans from here on out.

Today is the first day of flying after the government shut down. I'm on the night page. Here goes nothing.

[Michael Park]

10/19/13

Squat: 45 x 5 x 2, 125 x 5, 200 x 3, 280 x 2, 355 x 5 x 3 PR
Press: 45 x 5 x 2, 70 x 5, 95 x 3, 120 x 2, 145 x 5 x 3 PR
Deadlift: 135 x 5, 210 x 3, 285 x 2, 365 x 5

I got a really strong lower back pump after the 280 x 2 set of squats, and it would come back hard after every squat set. This happened the last time I was nearing the end of Novice Linear Progression, so I'm going to have to really focus on sleeping and eating well. Hopefully, I can string out Novice programming to at least 365 x 5 x 3, and then I should be able to push Advanced Novice a bit past that. 405 x 5 x 3 would be pretty sweet, but I'm not sure how realistic that is.

I forgot my 1.25lb plates for the press, so I just pressed 145 x 5 x 3 instead, and it wasn't that bad at all. I realized in between the second and third set that I forgot to put my belt on, so I just left it off for the third. I'lll try too keep up with five pound jumps until I can't.

I was supposed to deadlift 360 x 5, but I decided to do 365 instead. It was easy.

I've decided to start keeping track of my calories and macros to see if I'm within Jordan's recommendations for a male seeking muscle gain. My target was 3,650 - 4,563 kCal, 274 - 365 g Protein, 548 - 730 g Carbohydrates, and 91 - 128 g Fat. Yesterday, I actually ate 3,900 kCal, 235 g Protein, 274 g Carbohydrates, and 199 g Fat. Whoops! I only hit one out of my four targets. I've got my work cut out for me on the nutrition side of the house.

Go Irish! Beat Trojans!

[Michael Park]

10/21/13

Weight: 184.0 lbs PR

Squat: 45 x 5 x 2, 125 x 5, 205 x 3, 280 x 2, 360 x 5 x 3 PR
Bench: 45 x 5 x 2, 85 x 5, 130 x 3, 170 x 2, 210 x 5 x 3
Power Clean: 65 x 5 x 2, 100 x 3, 135 x 2, 170 x 3 x 5

[Michael Park]

10/23/13

Squat: 45 x 5 x 2, 125 x 5, 205 x 3, 285 x 2, 365 x 5 x 3 PR

I was pretty excited to hit this PR. I know it's just another number, but putting a new 45 or 25 on the bar always makes me smile. That's all I had time for. I had a long day at work, and the gym was closing.

10/24/13

Press: 45 x 5 x 2, 70 x 5, 100 x 3, 125 x 2, 150 x 4, 3, 4
Deadlift: 135 x 5, 215 x 3, 295 x 2, 375 x 5

Another five pound jump on the press was apparently too aggressive. I had another long day at work, so that might have contributed, but the deadlifts felt easy.

[Michael Park]

10/26/13

Squat: 45 x 5 x 2, 125 x 5, 210 x 3, 290 x 2, 370 x 5 x 3 PR
Bench Press: 45 x 5 x 2, 90 x 5, 135 x 3, 175 x 2, 215 x 5 x 3 PR

The first working set squat rep was slow and felt heavy. They got slower and felt heavier from there on out. It was a real grinder of a day. The first set of benches felt really heavy, but the second and third set felt easy. It was enough of a difference that I checked to make sure no one "borrowed" the five pound plates off of the ends of the bar. Maybe I need some more warmup volume on my bench. I ran out of time and didn't get the power cleans done. I'll do them on Monday instead of deadlifts.