The anti-patterns training log

[hbw96734]

Greetings! My name is Brian - I'm closing down my old log in the competitive lifter section as I'm no longer training to compete and restarting down here. This will be my log of trying to at least maintain strength as I head towards middle age while balancing work with a return to school.

Current stats:
Male, 37, 238 pounds, BF - unknown, but high

Lifetime PRs (1RMs):
Squat - 475 (gym), Bench - 370 (gym, paused), Deadlift - 540 (competition), Press - 212 (gym)

About the title:
Skilled computer programmers utilize "patterns" - time tested solutions to common problems whose correct use in the right scenario proves the programmer's skill and makes for better code. On the flip side, the novice or unwise programmer will unknowingly utilize "anti-patterns" - common flaws and dumb decisions that make the code less reliable, harder to understand, harder to improve and harder to maintain.
By analogy, the "programming" in my training history is filled with anti-patterns. My last log (here) is filled with Smolov Jr, hacked up versions of 5/3/1 and experiments with squatting every day as I gave into training ADD and tried to find the "perfect" program.

Today's improvised silliness:
Bench - 3@275, 19@225 (ties rep PR, one week left to improve my total for the 2 wheels competition up in the training thread), 2x10@225
Pull-ups - 5x5
Press - 5@95, 5@135, 3x5@157
Curlz

School starts Tuesday so next week will be figuring out when and how much time I have to lift

[caveman]

In before everyone else!

What are you going back to school for?

[hbw96734]

In before everyone else!

What are you going back to school for?

I'm going to be working on an MS in Information Security. During orientation it was clear that I was by far the oldest student in the room which should be interesting. On the one hand, I've been out of school for a long time and getting back into the habit will be challenging. On the other, I'm hoping that 15 years of real world experience helps me understand the material quicker.

8/20
Bench - 1@365, 18@225, 2x10@225
Deadlift - 5@135, 5@225, 5@315, 5@405
Press - 5@95, 5@135, 3x5@160
Curlz

Still just screwing around with no real program in place.

Bench - Experimented with trying a very heavy single before my AMRAP set to see if the greater weight differential would trick me into thinking the bar was lighter and thereby move faster and get more reps. Didn't work.
Deadlift - bar moved well until 405 and then it got really slow. Got tunnel vision on the last rep so called it a set earlier than I would have liked
Press - feeling better each day and that's with my triceps fairly fatigued.

[hbw96734]

8/25
Bench - 18@225, 2x10@225
Pendlay row - 3x5@230
Press - 3x5@162

8/27
Squat - 5@315, 3@365, 2@405 (failed 3rd), 2x5@315
Bench - 19@225, 10@225, 12@225
Deadlift - 5@135, 5@225, 5@315, 5@410
Press - 3x5@165

First week of school in the books. Definitely not yet adjusted to the realities of my new schedule - trouble getting the sleep I need as I try waking up and going to bed earlier. Also not getting enough to eat particularly protein. I need to get into the routine of scheduling a week's worth of meals and getting them assembled the weekend before. This will be particularly important if I try to continue getting any lifting done after work - days are so long now that I'll need to eat a full dinner before going. Alternate plan is to try and squeeze in some time between classes but that only gives me about 60 usable minutes if I'm lucky.

Lifting today was frustrating in the sense that my squats are absolutely terrible but otherwise helpful in de-stressing.
Squats - first time in two weeks since the meet. Pain in my left quad is not really going away - at this point it's a feature, not a bug so I need to figure out how to train through it. Detraining is real and happens quickly. Noticed by the end of the week how loose my jeans were fitting me and I easily tightened my belt an additional notch today. Recorded all work sets and form was poor. Trouble hitting depth, knee slide all over the place, weak hip drive. Time to make an appointment with an SSC and get this sorted out.
Bench - one last try to improve my position in the max reps competition. Time to go back to more intelligent programming
Deadlift - tough today - trouble controlling my lower back - still some lightheadedness
Press - solid reps - happily mini-LP is continuing successfully

[hbw96734]

Pretty busy lately - I've fallen behind on logging and haven't been lifting too consistently.

8/30
Squat - 3x5@345
Bench - 18,10,12@225
Pendlay row - 3x5@230

Dropped weight on squat trying to correct form mistakes as well as because I was darn sore.

9/3 - at Atlanta Barbell
Squat - 5x5@275
Bench - 3x5@295

Was fortunate to be able to get some time with SSC Alex Kennedy to work on my squat. He narrowed my stance, moved toes inwards a bit, tweaked hand placement and had me lean forward more. This is the hardest part for me - realized how much I have been keeping my torso vertical at higher weight because of pain and weakness in my lower back. Kept the weight light and just did lots of reps to drill technique.
Bench - first time going "heavy" after a couple weeks of going for max reps. No problem with this weight.
Gym was closing at this point so had to punt on deadlifts.

9/5
Squat - 5x5@280
Bench - 4x5,7@300
Deadlift - 3x5@355

Happy to have a day off from work and to get to lift for an extended period of time. Did nothing but stare at screens full of hex digits on Sunday so I needed the break physically and mentally. Back at my usual gym.
Squats - staying light and making sure I'm keeping technique correct.
Bench - felt strong - weight is still a bit light to be "heavy" sets of five but I'll hopefully rebuild quickly.
Deadlift - Dropped weight, decided to do more reps, hopefully keep perfect form compared with last time. Still couldn't consistently do it. Getting seriously tempted to go over to the dark side and experiment with sumo deadlift.
Press - skipped - ran out of the time I had given myself for lifting - needed to go home and finish reading for class.

[hbw96734]

9/7
Squat - 5x5@285
Bench - 5x5@302

Really long day at the office - got to the gym way late - just glad I forced myself to go

9/10
Squat - 5x5@290
Bench - 5x5@305
Deadlift - 3x5@335
Press - 5x5@167

Squat - feeling confident that I'm drilling the correct motor pattern and hitting each rep consistently. Finally seems like I'm getting real hip drive without shooting my hips way back at the bottom of the rep.
Bench - good bar speed every set on reps 1-4, 5th reps were all a bit slow.
Deadlift - Took more weight off the bar today - I've got to get back to zero low back flexion at light weight. Finally achieved that today. Start building up from here.
Press - reps fast & strong on all reps all sets

Obviously 5x5 three days a week on squat/bench is not a sustainable program for very long. If I can actually consistently get in three days a week I'll adjust. But, if as I suspect I wind up averaging more like 2 days/week then 5x5 probably isn't so bad. Given up on the idea of lifting between classes - wind up using that time for reading/research/meeting with project team members too much.

[hbw96734]

9/12
Squat - 5x5@295
Bench - 5,5,4@307 (couldn't lock out 5th rep/3rd set)

Squat - Having to fight hard against the tendency to want to keep my back more vertical. Low back is noticeably sore between sets.
Bench - just not enough energy this late in the evening - first set was strong but bar speed dropped off quickly after that. Gives me a baseline to start a slower and more reasonable progression.

[hbw96734]

9/14
Squat - 5x5@300
Bench - 4x5@310

Noticeably better energy compared to previous session - not sure what the difference was.
Squat - much less tightness and soreness in my low back - much easier to get appropriate back angle
Bench - very busy in the gym tonight - had to work in with others so longer rest between sets probably helped here. Most reps were pretty fast though the 5th rep on set 4 was a grind. Spotter/other guy working in commented that 3rd and 4th reps were so strong he figured I could get 6-7 and then 5 was shockingly slow. Never understood how on bench in particular strength just seems to suddenly "switch off" rather than say a linear decrease with each rep. Whatever. Didn't plan on 4 sets going in so getting it was bonus anyways.

[hbw96734]

9/18
Squat - 5x5@305
Bench - 5x5@312
Deadlift - 3x5@340
Press - 5x5@170

Squats - felt off balance several reps but managed to fix that and was generally okay last couple of sets
Bench - all reps felt strong and smooth. Given all the small plates needed to add up to 312 and the micro-loading I've been doing lately somebody jokingly called me Zeno because my bench infinitely approaches 3 plates but never quite reaches it.
Deadlift - unremarkable
Press - as excellent as bench was today, press was just the opposite. Bar felt heavy all the way through. Lots of reps that almost got stuck and had to be grinded out.

[hbw96734]

9/21
Bench - 5x5@315 (PR?)
Squat - 5x5@315

Bench - busy night in the gym - all racks taken including the wobbly two post one so I did bench first. Did not feel nearly as strong and smooth as Sunday. Last rep in particular barely happened. Looking through notes - this may be the first time I've successfully done 5x5 with 3 plates which is a cool milestone.
Squat - went from memory instead of checking notes and added 10 pounds instead of 5. Oops, oh well. Reps were surprisingly slow. Used to having to fight to keep lower back in control but generating power has not been an issue - weight is still pretty light. But weight actually felt heavy this session. Weird. Not sure if that is just general fatigue (which I have plenty of these days) or from swapping the order of lifts or both.