Raskolnikov's Log

[Raskolnikov]

12/5

Squats:
45 x 2s x 5r
95 x 5
135 x 5
165 x 3
185 x 2
205 x 1
225 x 3 x 5

Bench
45 x 2 x 5
95 x 5
135 x 3
155 x 2
175 x 1
185 x 3 x 5

Deads
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 2
265 x 1
305 x 5

Basically a repeat of 11/29's workout, but I'm still trying to take it kinda easy. I'll lift next on Tuesday so between now and then I'm going to eat my ass off and hopefully get things back on track.

[misspelledgeoff]

Power Cleans: Felt great to power clean again. Form wasn't rusty. As it turns out, I started quite a bit lighter than I really needed to. Should I make 10lb jumps until things get difficult, or should I stick with 5lb jumps?

I try to keep mine at about 50% of deadlifts and move them up as the deadlift moves up. by that standard, you could stand to increase by 10 a workout or so for a couple of workouts.

[Raskolnikov]

I try to keep mine at about 50% of deadlifts and move them up as the deadlift moves up. by that standard, you could stand to increase by 10 a workout or so for a couple of workouts.

Sounds good. Thanks for the advice!

[Raskolnikov]

12/8

Squats:
45 x 2s x 5r
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 3
210 x 1
235 x 3 x 5

Press:
45 x 2 x 5
70 x 3
95 x 2
120 x 3 x 5

Power Clean
95 x 3
115 x 3
145 x 5s x 3r

Notes:

Ever have one of those days when everything feels off? Well, that was today. It's like I forgot how to squat, press, and clean. My form was all over the place. Anyways, the workout wasn't particularly hard or anything, things just felt off.

[Raskolnikov]

Evidently, I'm not eating anywhere near enough. Body weight this morning is 191, a net 2lb loss since starting SS. Diet has always been an issue for me. Before I started lifting I was the type who couldn't eat breakfast and would usually skip lunch. It took considerable effort to train myself to eat large amounts of food regularly and once I quit lifting I reverted back to my old self pretty quickly. I'm back to eating again, and there haven't been any issues with recovery yet (although, with the sickness and deload, I don't have much to judge that on other than no lingering soreness), but obviously I need to eat more if I'm going to make continued progress.

I'm going to start trying to log my daily food intake for a while. Any suggestions are welcome.

Food log 12/10

Breakfast: 8 am
8oz steak
1/2 bag of spinach leaves
1/2 cup of oatmeal w/honey
16oz full fat milk

Pre-workout snack: 10 am
24oz whole milk
apple
orange

Post-workout meal: 12:30
Double double
Fries
16oz milk

Dinner: 5 pm (I had a final today at Uni, so I went a bit longer than I like between meals.)
8oz ground beef
2 cups frozen brocolli
Couple oz cheddar cheese
24 oz milk

Snack: 9 pm
cheese and summer sausage
16oz milk

[Strato]

I just looked through your log and saw we are at basically the same place in most our lifts. Interested to see if you hit 240x5x3 in your squats today (going for the same myself). Get after it!

As far as eating, some of us are just blessed with larger appetites. But if you're having trouble getting down large amounts of "clean" food, you may want to try "dirtying" up your diet a bit and adding in some more calorically dense foods (cheeseburgers, ice cream, shakes, etc.), if you're not already doing it. Maybe not the best option long term, but at this point meeting your caloric needs may be more important until you can stomach larger amounts of the cleaner stuff.

[Raskolnikov]

Thanks for the advice, Strato. After my workout today (which I'll get to in a second), I came to the same conclusion about "dirtying" things up, so I had a nice big hamburger for lunch :-)

12/10

Squat:
45 x 2s x 5r
95 x 5
135 x 3
185 x 2
215 x 1
240 x 3 x 5

Bench:
45 x 2 x 5
95 x 5
135 x 3
155 x 2
175 x 1
190 x 3 x 5

Deads
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 2
270 x 1
315 x 4

Notes:

Squats were pretty easy. Easier, in fact, than 235 last workout; my form was better, the reps were faster, and things just generally felt more solid. But, for some reason, I really struggled with bench and deads. My first work set on bench my set-up was off so I struggled more than I should have. But, feeling sort of shaky, I asked someone for a spot for set 2... big mistake. I told the guy I should be able to get it just fine, so only touch the bar if during the concentric phase the bar actually starts to go back down. Well, big shocker, he touched the bar unnecessarily on rep 4 and 5 -- I would have had both easily. Anyways, for the final set, I didn't ask for any spot and got all 5 reps with a little bit of struggle on rep 4 and 5. Still, it was much tougher than it should have been. Deads, as you can see from the number of reps, didn't go well. 305 last workout was easy; 315 this time was a grind. Reps 1 and 2 were pretty quick, 3 and 4 were slow as shit -- no way I could make 5.

I will spend the next two days doing nothing but eating and sleeping with the hopes of nailing Saturday's workout.

[kittenSmash]

Try adding some pork to your diet, bacon, sausage, etc...lots of calories, and delicious. I supplement with milkshakes. I didn't eat sweets until SS, but I like the way they increase my appetite.
Put some ranch on that spinach too, lots of fat there. Over 1000cal in a cup.
Like Strato said, "clean" only gets you so far, then it's got to take a temporary back-burner to junk. Just enjoy it while you can, that's what I'm trying to do, haha.

[Raskolnikov]

Thanks for the tips, kittenSmash.

Food Log: 12/11

Breakfast: 6:30am
4 large eggs
4 strips bacon
1 cup oatmeal + honey
16oz milk

Snack: 10am
Half bag of spinach
feta
walnuts
olive oil
16oz milk

Lunch: 1:30pm
10oz steak (fresh, grass fed, spicy dry rub, pan seared and baked... fucking delicious)
Mango (sprinkled with chili powder)
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (really fucking delicious)

Snack: 3:30pm
Apple
16oz milk

Dinner: 6pm
8oz ground sirloin
Broccoli
cheddar cheese
16oz milk

Snack: 9:30
Cheddar cheese
apple
16oz milk

[Raskolnikov]

12/12

Squats:
45 x 5
95 x 5
135 x 3
175 x 2
215 x 1
245 x 3s x 5r

Press:
45 x 5
65 x 3
85 x 2
105 x 1
125 x 3s x 5r

Power Cleans:
115 x 3
135 x 3
155 x 5s x 3r

Notes:

Squat: Moderately difficult. I'm actually starting to worry about depth. I've never done much low bar squatting, and with high bar squats I used to just go as low as possible, so depth was never really an issue. Now that I'm trying to stop just below parallel, I don't feel I have any reference. I need to figure out a way to video tape myself -- might be a good idea to do a form check anyways before it starts getting heavy.

Press: Very difficult. The second set was a grind; first and third sets were okay. I definitely have some form issues. On a few reps the bar got out in front of me and, generally, I'm not getting under the bar quick enough. Also, towards the end of a set, I tend to rest at the top, which can't be the most efficient way to press.

Power Clean: Pretty easy. I still have a lot of room on these -- I feel like I could probably handle 185 for 5 x 3. Still, I might start 5lb jumps just to avoid over doing it considering how much I'm starting to struggle on my other lifts.

Food log:

Breakfast: 10am
5 eggs
3 strips bacon
1 slice of toast + butter
32oz milk
half grapefruit

Pre-workout snack: 12pm
16oz milk
apple

Lunch: 2:30pm
8oz ground sirloin
2 servings brown rice
24oz milk

Snack: 5:30pm
16oz milk
apple

Dinner: 9:00pm
Pizza and cupcakes