Briks' Log

[Briks42]

7/30/10
Bodyweight- 198.6

Squats-250x5x3 (PR)
Bench- 240x5x3
Weighted Chins-6x40
5x40
5x40

Good solid workout. I am still having issues with my left knee slipping out of place a little on random reps in the squat. The good thing is that the sleeves seem to limit the amount it can move, which makes it less painful and allows me to fight through the set. It definitely throws me off though, and even though I'm able to deal with it now, it might become more of a problem when I'm using real weight.

Bench felt fine. Fairly easy. My bench PR is 245x5x3, so I'll be trying to match that on Wednesday.

Chins were chins.

My slight back injury from Deadlifting Wednesday has healed up pretty quickly. I can still feel it slightly but I am planning on doing my powercleans as planned tonight. I ate pretty poorly over the weekend due to being out to 4AM Friday night, waking up at 5:30 to go crabbing, then coming home and sleeping before going to a concert Saturday night. I am hoping to weigh in at around 196 or 197 tonight, and be up to 200 by Friday night.

[Briks42]

8/2/10
Bodyweight- 196.2

Squats-255x5x3 (PR)
Presses-132.5x5x3 (PR)
Powercleans-135x3x5 (matches PR)

I made squats a little more difficult for myself than they should have been by letting my weight shift forward during a few reps. That tends to happen when I try to concentrate on hip drive. I just have to make sure my hip drive is straight up and not forward. Still got the sets with no real problem, so 260 should be even easier Wednesday if I can keep the bar in the "slot". Also, no issues whatsoever with my knees so that was a big bonus.

Presses were fairly easy. As I am getting used to doing them standing, I think they are easier than the seated ones I was doing. That makes me think I should be able to progress with 2.5 pound jumps for a while without a stall.

Powercleans were solid but not great. I am not as consistent as I'd like to be with my form, as I think I rush the 2nd pull on some reps, but at this weight I am still able to finish the reps. When the weight gets heavier it is going to make me fail, so I really have to get the form down quickly.

Overall a good workout though, and my lower back pain from my poor deadlift last week is pretty much gone.

[Briks42]

8/4/10
Bodyweight- 197.0

Squats- 260x5x3 (PR)
Bench Press- 245x5x3 (matches PR)
Chins- Skipped

Squats were the hardest I've ever done without failing. The 5th rep of the 3rd set felt like it took I everything I had. I actually think I am going a little too deep. I could probly cut an inch off the bottom and still be below parallel. I am going to try to have one of my sets videotaped in the next week or so to find out.

Bench Press was tough, but not life or death. I am getting a hamstring cramp sometimes during my sets which might cost me a rep at some point. I'm gonna ask the forum how to keep this from happening.

Chins were skipped due to ain infected fingernail from an ingrown nail. It was killing me all workout but Squats didn't make it worse and even bench was bearable. But the pressure put on it when i tried doing chins was too much and I had to stop. Hopefully this is fully healed by deadlifts on Friday night, or they are gonna be a real bitch.

[gamedog]

8/4/10
Bodyweight- 197.0

Squats- 260x5x3 (PR)
Bench Press- 245x5x3 (matches PR)
Chins- Skipped

Squats were the hardest I've ever done without failing. The 5th rep of the 3rd set felt like it took I everything I had. I actually think I am going a little too deep. I could probly cut an inch off the bottom and still be below parallel. I am going to try to have one of my sets videotaped in the next week or so to find out.

Bench Press was tough, but not life or death. I am getting a hamstring cramp sometimes during my sets which might cost me a rep at some point. I'm gonna ask the forum how to keep this from happening.

Chins were skipped due to ain infected fingernail from an ingrown nail. It was killing me all workout but Squats didn't make it worse and even bench was bearable. But the pressure put on it when i tried doing chins was too much and I had to stop. Hopefully this is fully healed by deadlifts on Friday night, or they are gonna be a real bitch.

I've been there man, when it comes to that last rep for the squats ;-) Good on you for pit bullin' your way through it and coming out on top! :-D Make sure to get your rest and eat your food and recover well this weekend ;-)

You've got a good bench press going there. Shit when I got to 200 I was thrilled. And at the same time, the 240/350 range seemed so out of reach as to be 1,000 miles away. Now it feels more like 10,000 LOL but I have my washers! Anyway, good bench as well, nice work.

As to your nail. Here's what Uncle Gamedog recommends...

Emu Oil and tea tree oil. Go to one of those hippie "Wellness/Vitamin" stores and get some Emu Oil and tea tree oil. Take it home, wash the affected area thoroughly, then apply the Emu Oil, and cover with an appropriately sized bandaid. Then, in the evening, remove bandaid, wash the area again and this time, treat it with some tea tree oil. It will burn like a motherfucker. Let it air out for an hour or so, then re-apply the Emu Oil, put another bandaid on, and go to bed.

This works like a charm for minor infections. However, if puss is running, or there are red "lines" in your skin emanating from the area, go to the doctor, get the shit lanced, take your anti-biotics AND treat with Emu and tea tree oil ;-)

Good luck buddy! And nice job again today in the gym!

[Briks42]

8/6/10
Bodyweight- 198.0

Squats- 265x5x1
265x2x1

Presses- 135x5x3 (PR)

Ugh. Really rough night on Friday. First set of squats went well, tough but not a max effort. I had no doubt I was going to get all 3 sets at 265. Of course, thats when my knee decided not to cooperate. It cracked on each of the first 3 reps of the 2nd set. On the first two, I was still able to get the rep, but it makes it sooo much tougher. By the time it happened on the 3rd rep, I had nothing left to fight it. I got pinned. I had nothing left to try the 3rd set, especially since I had no confidence my knee would hold up anyway. I was experimenting with air squats afterward to see exactly what happens to my knee, and I actually don't think its the kneecap sliding out of place like I originally thought. Its actually a ligament or tendon or something that gets out of place and comes above the knee cap as I squat down, then when I rebound, it snaps back into place, which is painful and takes a lot of my strength away. I have all kinds of loose stuff in that knee from dislocating it so many times, so this makes sense that it could happen. I just have to keep working though it, as the sleeves have helped a bit. I will repeat 265 again tonight.

Presses were fine. Tough by the end, but I think I should be able to keep making 2.5 pound jumps for a while.

Deadlifts were skipped. My lower back is still giving me problems and I think getting pinned under my squats exacerbated the problem a little bit. I tried warming up with the deadlifts and it just didnt feel right. I know my setup and form are fine, but my back is just having issues right now. I think I am just going to work back up with pretty light weights starting next deadlift workout (225 for my 1x5), and hopefully just strengthen the back up as I move back up toward the 300 level. Its a long-term game we are playing here, and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Programming changes:
I am switching my programming in 2 ways going forward. First is related to my lower back weakness/pain. Since I am going to be going back to light deadlifts, I want to go back to doing them a little more frequently. So I will be doing powercleans every monday, chins every wednesday, and deadlifts every friday.

Along with this, I also had an embarrasing non-lifting workout experience Saturday. I played basketball with a co-worker and his friends Saturday morning and was more out of shape than should be humanly possible. I have pretty bad lung capacity, so I always tend to get out of shape easily if I am not working on it, but this was insane. I was dry heaving halfway through the first game and basically had to stop running or jumping the rest of the time we played. I was just able to walk up and down the court and play token defense. My whole body was over-heated and I had chills the whole time despite the 85 degree weather.

It is fine to be out of shape to reach your lifting goals, but that was a bit too much for me. Plus I am going to be playing flag football in the fall, so its probably a good time to start adding some short distance runs into my life. With that in mind, here is my new plan. It will mean my squat will not improve quite as fast as it has, but I don't think it will be too much for me not to be able to recover.

Monday- Squat, Bench, Powerclean
Wednesday- Press, Chinups, shuttle runs/suicide runs
Friday- Squat, Bench, Deadlift
Saturday- Hill sprints

This schedule will mean squatting twice a week instead of 3 times, but each squat workout will be at least 2 days removed from a running workout, so I think I'll still be able to recover. And the running workout shouldnt burn too many calories so I should still be able to keep adding weight. My only fear here is the tendonitis in my right knee being too much for me to handle with this squatting and running, but I am just going to try to ice it every night and hope that helps.

[Briks42]

Game, thanks for the advice on the nail. I didn't see it until now though and it has mostly healed already by soaking it in salt water a few times a day.

[gamedog]

Game, thanks for the advice on the nail. I didn't see it until now though and it has mostly healed already by soaking it in salt water a few times a day.

Right on man! Warm salt water is great for minor infections, too. And other things... I blast my sinuses out with warm salt water every morning, keeps the colds, sore throats and allergies to a tolerable level.

[Briks42]

8/9/10
Bodyweight- 200.2 (Adult Male Status)

Bench Press- 250x5x2
250x4x1


Ugh. This is getting ugly. I was excited to weigh in over 200 pounds finally (I think I had done this only once previously, back in like May). But my lower body is a mess right now and my excitement quickly faded.

I tried warming up for squats and the pain in my right knee (tendonitis) and lower back (not healing from a faulty deadlift a few weeks ago) told me to stop. It was just too much. I can deal with the knee pain, even though it really hurts, but the lower back pain is getting worse and doesn't feel right at all. I am just going to skip all lower back stuff for the rest of the week and then hopefully start working the Squat, Powerclean, and Deadlift all back in next week at some re-set weights. I hope this does the trick.

Bench Press was so close to a PR, but just couldn't get through the sticking point on the 15th rep. I am going to start taking an extra minute rest on the bench press now that I am dealing with some pretty heavy weight. I don't think I was fully recovering between sets. I will press and chin on Wednesday (assuming my lower back doesn't hurt too bad on the press) and give 250 a try on the bench again Friday.

I'm really upset about my back and knees right now, but I guess I gotta just deal with it.

[Briks42]

8/11/10
Bodyweight- 199.6 (no longer adult male)

Press- 137.5x5x3

Just did the Press tonight as I am still taking the entire week off from lower body. Press felt easier than 135 did, maybe because I wasn't tired from squatting beforehand. Either way, I like my progress here using the 2.5 pound jumps. 200 pound 1-rep max by year end is achievable, especially if I can get my bodyweight up to around 220 by then

Plan is to re-try 250 on the bench press Friday, then do some weighted chins.

Also, I am debating the idea of doing the pins into pillars program for a month starting Monday. I figure the higher volume with lighter starting weights might help me work on form issues and give my lower back a slight rest as it is still bothering me. I'd much rather be training heavy still, but I figure getting some muscle growth and working on form is better than doing nothing. Also, hopefully I will begin powercleaning again monday and going back to the "pull every other workout from the floor" programming again, with a drastically re-set deadlift.

This isn't ideal to get my squat and deadlift numbers up, but if I can heal myself over the next month or so and get my form down, I can make big strength improvements from September to December and still finish the year strong. In the meantime, I can keep my Bench and Press going linearly and hopefully get to 300 (paused) and 200 there.

[gamedog]

I'm sorry to hear about your back and your knee bothering you... That SUCKS. Good press yesterday, though.

I remember back before I started SS I had tweaked my back out, and a week's rest and lots of food and sleep set me right. I was able to jump back into linear progression with no problems.

Perhaps a rest is all you need...