Sgsolberg Finishing Strong

[Gottatri2lift]

I agree with your opinion about leaving Linear Progression too early, I am 70" 230# and currently 365x3x5 squats hoping to hit 400 on linear as well, just the basic form though. Like the advanced novice program, good call on shifting.
When did you decide on shifting?

[Sgsolberg]

Nice squat, Gottatri2lift.

I switched over to the modified advanced novice program mid-January, right after I hit 315 lbs for the first time. I probably could have kept progressing a little longer on the basic program, but it was turning into hell to recover.

I was having trouble with keeping my deadlift progressing after squatting heavy in the same session (which is why it’s closer that I would like to my squat).
I was also having little success with squatting Fridays, but felt fine on Mondays. This indicated that I needed a bit more time to recover between heavy squat sessions.

The current program felt great before I got sick, and it feels very easy to resume the weights now that I’m back in the gym.

[Sgsolberg]

Once again, I'm returning from illness, so I had dropped my numbers a bit. I think I could have come back a little faster, but I don't want to fuck my recovery. I will repeat any of my previous PR's Friday, and resume setting new PR's Monday.

Squat: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x3x3. Minimal rest between sets.
Today is my light day, and it was certainly welcome after Saturday and Monday. I definitely feel my strength returning day by day. All reps and sets fine, no belt used.

Press: 95x5, 105x5, 115x5, 135x5x3. ~3 mins between sets.
I shouldn't have dropped the weight for this lift, despite feeling like I want to make sure I don't overdo it after last week. All reps went up easy, and I put up an extra 3 reps for the last set (total of 8 reps for set 3).

Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x5, 365x8. ~3 mins between warmup sets.
I used no belt for the warmups. Belted up for my work set, and 365 came up way too easy. I should have jumped to 375 or 380. I am a little pissed at myself for being a pussy and not pushing this one forward.

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Misc. Notes:
9 hours of sleep last night.
Still eating ~4000 calories. I started a creatine cycle earlier this week, and weighed in at 220 tonight. This is about 3-5 lbs over what I normally walk around at.

[Gottatri2lift]

Since reading about your shift to advance novice I shifted and THANK YOU. Recovery is much better.
I did recovery day yesterday and it was 300x5x3 and it was cake.

Playing the speed of recovery game sucks - sometimes think it is more mental then anything. But if you think of it as a Starr rehab, you will come back stronger, even though it isn't.

[Mr.City]

I like your log, Sgsol. It's charing the deep end of SS, the place where most dare not enter. However, I feel like I'm doing something wrong with my programming when I see the lifts in this log. I shouldn't be stalling at 350 lb on my deadlifts or 130 lbs on my press at a bodyweight of 230 lbs. Best of luck. If Justin and the 70's big crew can hit a squat in the low 400's, so can we.

[Sgsolberg]

Thanks for the kind words. I've been reading some of Dan John's stuff lately, and I've been impressed with how serious recovery is. Seriously. Recovery is harder than the lifting at this point.

I've started logging my sleep and trying to get at least 9 hours per night during the week. I'm shooting for 12 hours of sleep per day on weekends. What this has done for me is that I have a singular focus after lifting, I eat, hot tub -> cold shower, bed. I don't have much social life right now, but it's only going to be for a few more months (at least that's what I'm telling my wife).

I think this is what a lot of people fail to do... it's relatively easy to have the mental discipline to lift heavy things. It's exhilerating. It is the monotonous, minutes laying in bed staring at the dark room before falling asleep that is truly hard.

[Mr.City]

The sleep bit worries me. I live in a college dorm and my asshole roommates stuck me with the top bunk. The mattress sucks and other noisy, drunk asshole wake up in the middle of the night. Who would of thought getting stronger would turn me into an old man?

[Sgsolberg]

Have you tried napping? If not, I used to have good success with some earplugs, a nip of the bottle, and very serious threat to kill my roomates if they woke me.

I have also become convinced of the value of supplementing zinc and magnesium. Try something like ZMA, alternatively I think Walgreens carries some sort of supplement for these. This really has a positive boost on how I feel, and clinical studies (yeah, I know) have shown it can help maintain higher Test levels.

[Mr.City]

I've been taking a couple of cal and mag tablets before going to bed, although I might try the earplugs and nip of the bottle advice. God knows I love whiskey. How do you dose your cal and mag? I find that if I take too much at once, I get a terrible headache.

[Sgsolberg]

I use a 30mg tab of zinc and about 400mg of mg in the evening. I try to take it about an hour after dinner with some liquid calories.