Timothy Tedmanson's Log

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I started a variation on the Texas Method today so I decided it was a good idea to keep an online log to keep me accountable. I've been training with the barbell for over a year, but only started being somewhat consistent after my birthday in March. I was running Starting Strength until now. I'm currently dealing with an old ankle and back injury, which has held me back a little bit, but everything is starting to go uphill and now I'm hoping to have my first powerlifting meet sometime next year, so my training is going to be focused towards that goal. My first born child is due in March (on my 18th birthday ironically enough) so it will probably be a challenge to keep consistent, but I'm hoping I will find the right balance.

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Tuesday 15/12/2015 - Volume Day

Squat: 90kg/198lbs (5/5/5/5/5)
Bench press: 50kg/110lbs (5/5/5/5/5)
Romanian deadlift: 40kg/88lbs (10/10/10)
Chin ups: BW (5/5/5)

When I finished up on SS I was squatting 120kg/265lbs 3x5, benching 65kg/143lbs 3x5 and deadlifting 120kg/265lbs 1x5. Decided to start pretty light on the program and be conservative, just finished a deload week but still feeling a little on the downside. Introducing RDLs into the mix to get my hamstrings where they should be as they are quite lacking and I believe they will really help establish my deadlift. All the exercises went up pretty easy today and I made all my sets but my elbows were still giving me a bit of trouble. Because I haven't been squatting 5x5 for a while I felt a little weird afterwards, but felt fine with the rest of the exercises. Looking forward to seeing how my triples go on Intensity Day.

[Kyle Schuant]

The bench is a bit low to have finished SS novice linear progression on, I imagine you lack microplates, most do. Get some from gymdirect.com.au - they have 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1kg plates, so you can go up by as little as 0.5kg. They're necessary, and they make a difference. More than 4 years of training people at the Y, I never had someone go from untrained to a 100+ bench, but the first six months of my garage gym we had 5. Part of the reason was microplates. The rest was weights that actually weigh close to what they're supposed to, of course, which is another issue with mainstream gyms, so try to use the same barbell each time, and the same plates.

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Definitely seems like that. I just couldn't blast past 65kg/143lbs for some reason, even using microplates and increasing my food intake significantly. I'm thinking the extra volume will help me a bit with hypertrophy of the upper body (I might continue with the 5x5 on bench on Saturday, and see how I go transitioning back into 3x5 or Texas later, I didn't take into account total weekly volume when I first did the programming). 3x5 just wasn't getting me anywhere with the bench even after the resets and doing bench both Monday and Friday.

[Kyle Schuant]

Well, bench takes a while to mature anyway. Might be a weak point in the lift somewhere, would have to see to judge. You ever visit Melbourne? But generally, before the person goes onto something like TM, I'll have them bench Monday, press Wednesday, close-grip bench for high reps Friday.

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Rarely. Really wanted to go to the upcoming seminar but it's just too expensive for me at the moment. I'll see if the higher volume helps me, if not I'll send you a video if you'd be so kind as to review and help a brother out!

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Thursday 17/12/2015 - Recovery Day

Squat: 70kg/154lbs (5/5)
Press: 45kg/99lbs (5/5/5)

Moderate DOMS in my hamstrings for the first time in a while. RDLs did their job. Press went up fine, but feeling heavy, thinking of progressing the press .5kg/1lbs per week, had been increasing 1kg/2lbs per session on SS.

On another note, I've been thinking about my bench press. Going to stick with the 5x5 for both sessions increasing 2.5kg/5.5lbs per session at the current time, and then bring it down to 3x5 with microplates when I have exhausted that progression. I know I have a while to go before my bench is TM ready, VD bench was very easy on Tuesday, so the progression should be a breeze.

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Saturday 19/12/2015 - Intensity Day

Squat: 120kg/265lbs (3)
Bench press: 52.5kg/116lbs (5/5/5/5/5)
Deadlift: 120kg/265lbs (3)
Chin ups: BW (5/5/5)

Today hit 43°/109°, but despite the heat my workout went well. Hit a very easy triple on the squat, and an okay triple on the deadlift (upper back tends to round a little bit, and my baby hands need some grip work), but I expected today to go relatively easy as I used the same weight I finished SS on. I probably should have programmed the lower body lifts a little heavier today, but I wanted to ease in for the sake of confidence in the coming weeks. The 5x5 bench last session was pretty darn easy, but today felt a tad more challenging. I'm sure once I hit 60kg/132lbs 5x5 I'll be put in my place, but I'll stick with it for now. I forgot to add into my log that I am pausing the first rep of each set in the bench as per Justin Lascek's advice. I ran out of time and had to do my chins at the bus stop, which felt unexpectedly easy (must have been the glares from a bunch of randoms, or the difference in gripping surface). Will weight those chins in the next session, methinks.

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Wednesday 23/12/2015 - Volume Day

Squat: 92.5kg/204lbs (5/5/5/5/5)
Bench press: 55kg/121lbs (5/5/5/5/5)
Romanian deadlift: 45kg/99lbs (10/10/10)
Chin ups: 1.25kg/2.8lbs (5/5/5)

First up, thanks to Kyle for the help this week. Today's session went well. Squats and bench felt great today, perfect intensity. Romanian deadlifts went fine, lost a little focus and I could tell I wasn't loading the hamstrings on some of the reps. The chins went surprisingly well, will add 1.25kg/2.8lbs every second session and see how I go. Gotta see if there will be anywhere for me to do my next session which is meant to be on Christmas day, unfortunately just signed up with a gym that doesn't have 24/7 out-of-hour access.

[Kyle Schuant]

Tips helped, then? Good. Keep filming it for us.