Another Old Man is ready for Intermediate

[Paddy Murphy]

Hello all!

This is my first post. I’m switching over to intermediate programming and thought an introduction would be nice before I start logging.

Who am I?
Live in New England
Root for University of Rhode Island Basketball (we’re gonna be good this year, watch out!) Tottenham Hotspur, Sox, Celts, Bruins, & Pats.
Hate Yankees, Lakers, Montreal Canadiens, pink hat Red Sox fans and anybody that doesn’t regard John Hannah or Steve Grogan as the greatest Patriot of all time.
Married, 52-year-old male, Actuary with 4 kids (23, 21, 20 & 11) & a dog
Height: 6’1” but people think I’m 6’2” because so many people lie about being 6” when they really 5’10”
Weight: 237.2 MMNAP*
Body fat%: Too much
lift in my garage with a squat rack/bench setup I bought from Modell’s for my son when he was in high school, basic 310 Olympic set with 2- 1.25lb micro plates.
Music when listening for enjoyment: 70’s/80’s Punk, New Wave & Ska, The Jam & all things related to Paul Weller, Bob Marley, Neil Young.
Music when lifting: Aerosmith, Van Halen, Metallica, AC/DC, Godsmack, Slayer. If it makes you want to run through a wall I like it.

Athletic Background:
Good enough relative to my cohorts to play Baseball & Football in High School, much better at baseball. Could dunk a volleyball from a standing start into my early 30’s but then I got fat when the kids started popping out, weighing 260+ by 2000. I managed to play Softball with/against younger guys until 5 years ago. Other than fucking around with dumbbells & the occasional spurt of pushups I hadn’t lifted since the late 80’s.

Currently Lifting?
Yes, I started a novice LP in march 2016.

Do I eat enough?
Let’s just say that creating “an environment for growth” isn’t going to be an issue given my eating habits. Getting enough Protein is another story that I am still working on.

Do I sleep enough?
When I remember to wear my CPAP I’m close, but NO I don’t get enough sleep. Can you name a 52-year-old with 3 daughters, 2 in collage that does?

Did I do the Program?
YES, but I did Greyskull LP and have been religiously posted on that forum since March, here is my log:
JohnnyPainLive.com ? View topic - Another Old man starts GreySkull Log

Due to my special snowflake status (see below) Squats have been an up & down struggle. Tightness & atrophy have taken a toll over the years, so I did the GSLP instead of SS more for the squatting twice a week, than the AMRAP stuff. To this day I can’t get below parallel without at least 135 on my back. Getting old sucks.

What have I achieved so far?
Bench 3x5 has gone from 65lb to 207.5lb, 3rm 215, 1RM 225
Press 3x5 has gone from 45 to 160 (my best & favorite lift relative to others by a mile)
Squat 3x3 has gone from 85 to 265
Deadlift 1x5 85 to 300, 3rm = 312.5 which is all the weights I currently own.
Weight has gone up 5lbs since March and I’ve been stuffing my face like a motherf@cker.

I touched a basketball rim in August for the first time in forever so there’s still some residual athleticism left in there that squatting has helped reawaken. In truth, “touched” might be a slight exaggeration, it was more of a slight grazing of the underside of the basketball rim with the tip of my middle finger but I swear I touched it even if my kid says I didn’t. And before somebody chimes in, yes it was a 10’ rim.

Why I am a special Snowflake:
As Coach Rip has said, most people in their 50’s will have some accumulated pathology & as usual, he isn’t wrong. When I do presses, I hear crunching sounds in my left shoulder from separating it 3 times back in the day. Last year I was out of commission with a C-8 Radiculopathy from shoveling snow. Pinky, portion of my palm, arm from elbow to palm all NUMB, constant funny bone pain, upper back was in spasm, etc… That sucker took 6 months to get rid of with lots of ultrasound & other PT treatments.

Had Cortisone treatment for right elbow tendonitis 10/21/16, too many curls & other assistance work too soon killed me.

I’m also “the stiff guy”; can’t get within 6 inches of touching my toes, have trouble getting my knee wide enough “to go deep”, and forget about my shoulder flexibility, I just do high Bar with a bent wrist and live with it.

Why I am not as special a Snowflake as I once was:
You won’t hear me bitching about the 20+ years of constant Labrum & Rotator Cuff issues because I played too much baseball in my lifetime. Pressing for the past 8 months seems to have cured up a lot of issues & diminished the pain considerably. Dr. Sullivan is right about Barbell Medicine!!!!


Am I an Intermediate?
I think so, it’s been 8 months on an LP and max weights are doing a job on my joints. My Squat sucks but it’s improving and I’m not a fucking quitter.

What are my goals?
When I started, this I figured 150/225/310/310 were doable and they were. Besides never quitting, I only have 2 hard goals left this year, 225x5 on Bench & Squat 300+ for reps.

What am I prepared to do to get to my goals?
Switching to Texas Method. I'm deloading/taking it easy this week to let the cortisone do it's job. TM starts in full this Saturday!

Will I ever post anything remotely long as this again?
No, but thank you for indulging an old man

regards,
Paddy



*MMNAP = Monday morning naked after pooping

[Paddy Murphy]

10/25/16 Pre TM test ID day

Squats
135 2x5, 170x3, 205x2, 225x1, 245x1, 265x3 3RM PR

Press
45 2x8, 70x5, 100x3, 120x5, 140x1, 160x5 tied 5rm PR.

No deadlifting until I trust my right forearm tendon is healed.

I'm going to do light Bench & Squats Thursday and then start full bore on Saturday with HD. Due to work constraints, weekends works best for long HD session so a Sat/Mon/Wed lift week cycle it is.

[Paddy Murphy]

10/27/16 Last Pre-TM workout

Light Squats
135 1x5, 160x5, 185x2, 205 3x3

Sort of Light Bench
45 2x8 (close & wide grip), 95x5, 135x3, 160x2, 185 3x5

TM starts for real Saturday.

[Paddy Murphy]

TM Week 1 HD

Squat
135x5, 160x3, 185x2, 205x1, 225 3x3, 2x5


Bench
45 2x8, 95x5, 135x4, 165x2, 195x1, 215x1, 185 5x5

so far so good....

MMNAP Weight 238.8, up a bit because I broke into the Halloween supplies during Walking Dead last night...

[Paddy Murphy]

TM Week 1 RD

Light Squat
135x5, 160x3, 185x3, 205 2x5

I'm always amazed how the only real way to get rid of DOMs from a squat workout is by doing more squats.

Light (90%) Press
45 2x8, 70x5, 100x4, 125x2, 145 3x5

[BrooklynJerry]

Thanks for letting me know you started your log.here.Great intro.I will follow along. I have mine in the general area @ PapaJerry. Good luck with the goals

[Paddy Murphy]

TM Week 1 ID

Squat
135x5, 175x3, 210x3, 230x1, 250x1, 270x3 = 3RM PR


Bench
45 2x8, 95 2x4, 135x3, 165x2, 195x1, 215x2, 205x5

[Paddy Murphy]

11/6/16 TM Week 2 HD

Squat
135x3, 175x3, 210x2, 230 1x3, 4x5

Bench
45 2x8, 95x4, 135x3, 165x2, 190x1, 205x1, 220x1, 185 4x5 AMRAP 8

Deadlift
135x5, 175x5, 210x5, 240x5

MMNAP Weight 237.4

Very good & fulfilling workout yesterday, bench felt strong so I "Greyskulled" the last set for 8. I'll bump to 190 5x5 next week.

Same thing with Squats, I was able to add 5lbs to last week and do an extra set of 5. My 52 year old arse was sore as hell this morning, but I think it's more because I deadlifted for the first time in a few weeks.

Deadlifts: Cortisone has done it's job & elbow tendonitis pain is almost gone. Taking it easy for a few weeks and will do 4 sets of ramping 5's up to 80% of my 5RM on volume day going forward & shoot for 3x2 at 100% on ID and increase reps if symptoms stay away...

[slowmotion]

Welcome! I'll be following your log, then.

[Paddy Murphy]

TM Week 2

missed recovery day workout due to
1. my ass was killing me because I hadn't deadlifted in two weeks to let arm heal.
2. laziness/work/yadda yadda yadda, excuses are for losers....
3. sleep patterns fucked up due to staying up to late watching election and subsequent elation at outcome.

11/11/16 ID
Squats
135x5, 165x3, 195x3, 225x2, 255x2, 275x3 = 3RM PR!

Bench
45 2x8, 95x5, 135x3, 165x2, 195x2, 205x1, 215x1, 225x1, 207.5x5 Ties 5RM PR!

All done after blowing leaves around the yard for 5+ hours, back said no way we're deadlifting today.

MMNAP = 237.2 burned off a few calories this weekend with yardwork. First fall season with new found strength and I feel great today. last year I was hobbled for 4 days with sore back/legs/arms/shoulders, etc...THANK YOU IRON!

Shifting to M/W/F this week...