Strength and Honor: Still trying to become a beast.

[MarineTom]

About me:

29 y/o Male living in NYC. Current 3rd year college student, formerly a Marine for 8 years. I ran a linear progression (not quite SS, closer to what was in 70sbig LP) for about the last year. Various setbacks and ups and downs like most of us I'm sure. Training goals are: Get Strong, be in shape for my various job aspirations (NYPD, FDNY, federal law enforcement/ search and rescue, and possibly another stint in military special operations).

Training Status:
I've reached either a intermediate or situational intermediate phase on my Squats. BP/PR are currently progressing linearly on a 3x3 with +2.5, and my DL is getting fatigued on 1x5.

Going Forward:

Given my goals that require conditioning, TM is not the right move for me. I tried doing Madcow 5x5 this last week on Squats, and it seemed to regress me. I thought the ascending sets of 5 would be better, but by the time I got to the second last set I was feeling done....now this is definitely influenced by the recent (within 2 weeks) addition of running 2x a week, but I wonder if my body just doesn't like sets of 5 all the way up, and the descending pyramid of my warmups doing LP was better suited for me. I may give next week a try with Andy Baker's HLM set up, using the 3x5 weight as what my backoff sets were. Alternative option is a book I have called Tactical Barbell, basically a advanced template that might work better with my running. But my Presses and Pulls will stay on PPST templates.

Stats:
March 2016 March 2017
SQ 85x5x3 ---> 290x5, 260x5x2
(This last week tried HLM: Heavy: [135,185,225,260,290]x5, Light:135x5,185x5,225x5x2. Medium: [135,185,225,260]x5, 295x3, 225x8
(Only got 3 on Heavy day for 290, Medium day I was gassed and couldn't do the 225x8)

BP 95x5x3 ---> 227.5x3x3
PR 75x5x3 ---> 140x3x3
DL 135x5 ---> 340x5

-Tom

[Agilic]

Welcome down! May the gainzz be with ypu

[MarineTom]

Welcome down! May the gainzz be with ypu

Thanks man! Settling into the long road of slow but steady hopefully!

[MarineTom]

3/27
Squat - Heavy
45x5, 115x4, 175x3, 225x2, 260x5x3
-Was hoping these would feel lighter

Press
85x5, 105x3, 125x2, 145x3x3 -Belt
Found that, like with BP, having at least 5 min rest makes all 3 sets possible.
I've also cut out the 45 warmup set, it originally happened with BP when I was impatient and working in with someone so I started BP with 95 warmup, and maybe it's all mental, but is it really possible that cutting out 45x5 is giving me just a tiny tiny bit more energy to continue milking 3x3's?

Was supposed to do DL since it's Heavy day, but the squats had me winded, maybe cause I've been out of sets across for a little while, or recovery is no good with little sleep and food. Will try and fix.

3/28
R-word...Running.

15 minutes, 9:50 pace on treadmill. Idea is to do 15-20 min Tu/Thur at a challenging but still comfortable pace...Started a few weeks ago at a comfortable pace of 11:45, so based on my breathing I've probably worked faster too quickly. Will monitor.

[Mr. Bingley]

i've switched the DL to the L day, that way I have enough gas for them. just a thought.

[MarineTom]

i've switched the DL to the L day, that way I have enough gas for them. just a thought.

When I was doing squats on just M/F I had DL on Wed, which would translate into Light day, so may just keep it there...

[MarineTom]

3/29:

Squat - Light
45x5, 95x4, 135x3, 185x2, 210x5x2

Bench
95x5, 150x4, 200x2, 230x3
-Asked a guy to spot, he was too in my business, only did one set felt so off. Switching Upper body to intermediate anyway.

3/30:
15 min Run @ 9:30 mile pace on treadmill

[MarineTom]

4/1:

Squat - Medium
45x5, 95x4, 135x3, 195x2, 235x5x3 -Beltless
-Felt solid
CGBP
45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 155x5, 165x5
-First time doing exercise, was way conservative. I'm sure I could be doing this ~185 for 3x5

[MarineTom]

4/3
Squat - Heavy
45x5, 115x4, 175x3, 225x2, 265x5x3
...I dont know, how should heavy day feel just starting out? This weight feels like the end of how LP felt and I thought I did a pretty big reduction already

Bench
45x5, 95x4, 135x3, 185x2, 210x5x3

[MarineTom]

~20 min run on Treadmill. Did the first 15 min at ~9 min pace...too fast for my fat and out of shape self. but a girl I know was running too so, you know...