Alex's NLP log

[Alex K]

Greetings,

Starting stats:

Age: 32
Height: 5'9
Weight:185 lbs
Training history: cardio only
Injury history: bad knees from running, bad wrists from desk work and cycling incidents

First workout:

Date: May 7 2018

SQ: 85 lbs
PR: 65 lbs
BE: 85 lbs
DL: 95 lbs
Chins: 1 BW (185)

Training preparation:

Read blue book and PP. Read forums, articles, watched videos, listened to podcasts.

Training history:

3x week.
25 workouts and counting.
Elbow injury due to squat grip in week 4, corrected.
Upper back injury due to lack of tightness in press in week 4, corrected.
Bilateral hip flexor injury week 7 due to squat, working on it (getting better but more work to do on technique).
Sore left knee in week 7 due to squat, working on it.

Thinking of dropping PC as I'm not confident in my ability to avoid injury and make good progress the absence of quality coaching.

Following Niki Simms' chin up protocol for last three weeks.

Diet and rest:

Not counting calories, but eating more than usual and I was already 15-20 pounds overweight (for an untrained person), and I'm putting on weight and getting stronger. Getting about 170-200 grams per day in protein, I aim to minimise fat with diet choices, but I don't count it, and I avoid sugar.

6-8 hours sleep per night, hard to do better with family and work, but this is an issue I need to work on.

I commute 5 miles by bike 3-4 times a week.

Current stats (sets across):

Weight: 195 lbs

SQ: 230 lbs (5 pound jumps)
PR: 105 (2.5 pound jumps, sticking)
BE: 140 lbs (2.5 lbs jumps)
DL: 260 lbs (15 lbs jumps, missed last two reps at 275, will go to 10 or 5 lbs jumps)
Chins: 3*1, 2*1 BW (195)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

All movements are getting challenging now. Focussing on addressing technique short comings which I feel is the limiting factor, perhaps alongside insufficient sleep. I have no access to quality coaching, but have been filming and comparing myself to examples on these forums and the textbook models.

[carson]

With online SS coaching almost everyone has access to coaching. Try combining that with periodic travels to see a SS coach if you live within a few hundred miles of one. Have you checked the coaching section of this website? BTW for the knee problem(s) you may wish to purchase knee wraps from Rogue.

[Alex K]

Thanks for your reply and the info.

I can't afford the online coaching, hopefully some time in the future it will be possible. Nearest coach is about 200 miles away, not insurmountable, but a significant barrier. Then there is the cost factor again. I hope to attend some of the SS workshops in the future, which could be an affordable option for me.

I feel like it is possible (although not ideal) to do the main four lifts without a coach. It's really just the PC which is feeling beyond my reach while on my own, although I'm sure many others have managed it. My understanding is that it is most beneficial for younger athletes developing power to display in sport. I'm outside of that demographic, and will be happy to get stronger on the slow lifts for now.

For the knees, I am wearing knee wraps, which seems to help a bit. The issue I have at the moment is, I believe, due to knee slide at the bottom of the squat, but I will post a form check to confirm this.

[Alex K]

Regular gym was closed, talked my way into the globo-gym for a 'trial'.

SQ: 45*2*5,95*5,135*3,185*2,235*1*2,235*5*3 (PR)
BE: 45*2*5,75*5,105*3,125*0(bailed in last warmup set)
PC: -

Squat felt very bad today. The power rack had widely spaced holes so could not set the correct rack height. Also struggled again with grip width. In this LP, I originally had it too wide which was causing tendinitis, but I've found my narrower grip is now causing wrist pain due to a lack of flexibility and the resulting bad wrist angle. I'm working on finding a workable middle-ground, but have not found it yet.

A side effect of the grip issue, and the rack height issue, is that I lost focus on my knee slide and back angle issues which have been aggravating my hip flexors and knees. I worked through it, but by the end of the squat sets my left upper arm arm and both hip flexors were in 3/10 pain. I suspect I may have had some back rounding coming out of the bottom as well.

I attempted my bench sets, but I struggled to keep my last warmup set in lockout as I took it from the rack (I could feel strain through my left upper arm). Erring on the side of caution, I put the weight back in the rack and called it a day, as the elbows and hips would also limit the clean and I'm not chinning mid-weed.

After icing the arm it's feeling mostly better. I'm thinking of making up the bench and clean tomorrow, but not sure if that will impact my Friday workout...

Mostly, I'm worried about the squat, I think I may need to de-load and work harder on fixing my form issues. The weight is not the problem, except that it's exposing my form issues.

[Alex K]

Got back in to pick up the bench I missed yesterday. Arm was mostly better but still a bit sore.

BE: 45*2*5;60*5;85*4;125*2;135*1;142.5*5*3 (PR)

Pretty happy to get through these and get the PR with the arm not 100%. Rep 5 was a bit of a grind on sets 2 and 3, and the arm is a bit sore again, but not as bad as yesterday after the squat.

Warmed up with the bar for the clean, but it was a no go due to arm pain in the rack position.

I really need to get my squat fixed. Considering pressing first tomorrow in case the squat is not corrected.

[Alex K]

(Accidentally deleted yesterday's post while on my phone, reposting)

Switched order due to squat grip issue effect on my presses.

PR: 105*3*5 (PR)
SQ: 185*3*2;185*1*2 (20% deload)
DL: 275*5 (PR)
Chins: purple band 6;6;6;6 (2 minute rests)

Press felt good. Must remember to warm up legs next time when this goes ahead of squat. Last rep was a bit of a grind and need to focus on more hip extension and catching the rebound.

Squat was still painful even with the deload and I could not complete all sets. I'm not great with anatomy, but seems like its sore from where the hip flexors are around into the groin. Iced it and took some iboprofen and it feels better today. Left knee was also in pain near upper patella. Not sure whether to just keep deloading until the pain is not an issue, and work on form there, or to rest it for awhile before doing so. If anyone has advice on this I'd be interested to hear it!

Filmed the deadlift and the back was rounding, will deload and make sure that's fixed also. The deadlift is also affected by the non-round plates at my gym (they are do-decahedrons) this is a huge distraction with getting the bar straight over the midfoot between reps. Has anyone dealt with this before and can offer some advice?

All in all, last couple of weeks have been shown a bunch of form issues, some I was not aware of when I started, others have crept in with the increasing weights.

[Alex K]

BE: 145*5*3 (PR)
SQ: 185*5*3
PC: 105*3*5
Chins: 2*AMRAP (4,2); negatives 0-0-3 *4*3

Keeping the pressing move ahead of squat while I figure out the technique. Bench felt good, but bar path missed the groove a little.

I think the squat is improving a little, back angle and back extension looked better. Still had some pain below hip joint, but not near the groin, and it was not so intense. Will keep it at this weight until I'm happy with form and mostly pain free.

Power cleans went better than usual. Get a bit dizzy, so got to remember to take valsalva easy and breathe out slightly at the top, which seem to help.
Made 4 chins in a set for the first time in my life, and this is the most I've ever weighed, happy with that.

Much better workout than last week's. Here's to more progress ahead.

[carson]

If you can afford bumper plates or even technique plates they may overcome the damnable hexogons or whatever with which you must deal.

[Alex K]

That's a good point. If I can't talk them into buying a couple of bumpers, then maybe I could just get some trainers myself and leave em there. Thanks for the good idea!

[Alex K]

Although, I wonder how the round plates will like bearing all of the weight, even lowering mid 200's quickly could happen directly onto the single round plates if the non-round plates are misaligned.