retired LACROSSE Player gets STRONG(er)

[optomisticmind]

After ending my professional lacrosse career and taking 2 years off of training, I decided to get back in the gym. My motivation lead me to Rip and PPST3. I added 8-10 pounds of BW and increased my squat, dead, press, bench, clean, and chins. That progress was documented HERE.

Now that I have come close to exhausting LP, I have transitioned to the 4 day Texas Method #3 (Volume/intensity) as described on page 152 on PPST3. I live in Southern California, work 40-60 hours a week in an office, and my current numbers look like this:

Body Composition
Age = 29
Height = 6'0"
BW = 186

Lifts
Squat = 295 x 5RM
Bench = 180 x 5RM
Press = 135 x 5RM
Dead = 295 x 5RM
Hang Clean = 155 x 5 x 5


Current [honest] Goals
Squat 315 x 5 x 5
Bench 185 x 8 x 3
Deadlift 365 x 5RM
Add 1 inch to arms and add mass to shoulders


Please comment with your feedback, because I am writing this to learn and be held accountable.

[optomisticmind]

Lifts
Squat: 265 x 5 x 3 (Cut the volume from 5x5 since I took 11 days off)
Hang Clean: 155 x 3 x 5

Recovery and Body Composition
BW: 188
Sleep: 7.0 hours.

[optomisticmind]

Lifts
Press: 135 x 3 x 1 (Cut the volume since I took 11 days off)
Bench: 145 x 8,8,6

Recovery and Body Composition
BW: 187
Sleep: 8.0 hours
5g Creatine before workout

[foothills_g]

I'll be following along as I'm always interested in lifting paired with athletics or generally active people. Are you still playing lax at all? I grew up playing in connecticut.

[Sick nimpson]

Welcome. I'm a laxer too (d3 in college ).
I really wish i knew all of this stuff back when i was playing competitively!

[optomisticmind]

Welcome. I'm a laxer too (d3 in college ).
I really wish i knew all of this stuff back when i was playing competitively!

Thanks for the support Sick Nimpson. I was a DIII guy too.

[optomisticmind]

I'll be following along as I'm always interested in lifting paired with athletics or generally active people. Are you still playing lax at all? I grew up playing in connecticut.

I still play men's league and coach a bit.

[optomisticmind]

Lifts
Squat: 275 x 3RM (sever shoulder pain is causing me to re-evaluate bar position. I will need to adjust to a slightly higher bar)
Dead: 305 x 4RM
Pendlay Row: 135 x 10 x 3

Recovery and Body Composition
BW: 187
Sleep: 7 hours night before
Other: 5g creatine + 6 uni-liver tabs before workout, 6 uni-liver tabs during workout


**Current Goals**
Squat 315 x 5 x 5
Deadlift 365 x 5RM
Bench 185 x 8 x 3
Add 1 inch to arms and add mass to shoulders

[foothills_g]

just looked through your old log -- yikes, you were getting yelled at for not keeping the log properly?!

feedback: I don't necessarily know what I'm talking about, but there's a small chance you're lifting your chest rather than committing to hip drive in squats (although the video was from july, obviously). This is what Andy has to say about that: "See how you stop driving with the hips, jack your head up, and start trying to raise the chest at a nearly identical point each rep? It's no coincidence that you start cratering at that same point."

you will receive the same advice here about increasing BW. you will also hear that your goals are too modest, especially the squat. the people that will say this are almost certainly correct and know much more than I do, although I don't always agree (is that hubris?). personally I would love to have a 315# squat but not if it means I can't do anything else besides prepare for and focus on squatting, so I'm hoping to get there someday but not anytime soon. when I was benching I would approach a 225x5x3 on the bench with more confidence than almost the same weight on squats -- just genetics I guess.

all the best. what do uni-liver tablets do for you? they look interesting.

[optomisticmind]

just looked through your old log -- yikes, you were getting yelled at for not keeping the log properly?!

feedback: I don't necessarily know what I'm talking about, but there's a small chance you're lifting your chest rather than committing to hip drive in squats (although the video was from july, obviously). This is what Andy has to say about that: "See how you stop driving with the hips, jack your head up, and start trying to raise the chest at a nearly identical point each rep? It's no coincidence that you start cratering at that same point."

you will receive the same advice here about increasing BW. you will also hear that your goals are too modest, especially the squat. the people that will say this are almost certainly correct and know much more than I do, although I don't always agree (is that hubris?). personally I would love to have a 315# squat but not if it means I can't do anything else besides prepare for and focus on squatting, so I'm hoping to get there someday but not anytime soon. when I was benching I would approach a 225x5x3 on the bench with more confidence than almost the same weight on squats -- just genetics I guess.

all the best. what do uni-liver tablets do for you? they look interesting.

Thanks for the feedback. I would like to increase BW, but I am not trying to hit a specific weight, so I kept it out of the goals section. Maybe I should start documenting macros on here. I have kept the other goals at a level that I expect to achieve in the next few weeks or months. This was always my approach with lacrosse and it worked well.

The uni-liver tabs are just an easy way to get a few grams of protein in (each tab = 1.5 grams). They also have aminos, etc. that I am not an expert on, but I took Rip's advice and just keep them handy for when I want to supplement.