Reply With QuoteSmaller, more frequent meals? Whole milk? Coffee with a fuckload of half-and-half?Originally Posted by Eric K
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You use it if you need it. You're fine
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Smaller, more frequent meals? Whole milk? Coffee with a fuckload of half-and-half?
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I think I need to do more meals. I'm already drinking whole milk, I just hope that isn't the problem; I have never had a problem with milk before but I also didn't drink any on deployment, because they served mostly soy milk and. I'll continue with the belt, thanks.
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Ok. So I definitely need to switch to the alternating deadlifts/powercleans and doing chin ups/back ext. on the B days... My back was wasted after squats and I think it was the deadlifts on Friday.
Eating is getting better, I weighed in at 185.8 after my workout today which is a 4.2 lbs gain from Friday. Hopefully I'll start sleeping better soon, too, ha.
W/u - 4 min on rower (810 m)
Squat:
w/u - 135x5x2, 185x3, 225x1, 245x1 (w/ belt on last set)
work sets - 265x5x3; These were very hard. I don't think the problem is the eating anymore. I think I need to decrease the deadlift frequency. My back was sore all weekend and it got trashed after this squat workout. I had a belt on, but it was one of those shitty, wider-in-the-back belts, so it didn't help a lot. My belt is still in the mail and I should get it before the next workout. I may do a light day Wednesday and then get back on schedule on Friday.
Bench:
w/u - 135x5, 185x3, 205x1
work sets - 215x5x3; need to start micro loading. I think majority of my trouble with these sets was because of the squats, I was pretty trashed after that, but I'm getting close to where I left off and it would be good to maintain the progress.
Power Clean:
w/u - 95x3, 135x3, 165x1
work sets - 185x3x5; These felt better than I had expected. I split and landed forward a couple times, but not too bad and I kept my heels down. I put my hips a little lower than I normally do because it looked like they were too high from my videos; I think it helped a lot. Because my back was still bothering me, I put the belt on for my fourth set and the bar caught the belt on the first rep and I tweaked my wrist. I took the belt off and finished the last two sets; I missed the last rep but racked it on a second attempt.
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Happy (belated) Thanksgiving, all. I didn't lift Wednesday and I don't think I'm going to do it today, either. I'll start back on Monday at 255 and go from there. I'm still playing with the idea of using Wednesdays as a light squat day. I don't really feel like I'm at an "advanced novice" stage yet considering 265 is really not a heavy squat and I was using 295 before I deployed. I think I was in a lot better shape prior to starting back then, and I had been eating a whole lot better for a longer period of time prior to starting the program. It was only like 8 months ago, but the deployment took a lot out of me, I think. If next week is as hard as the past couple workouts I may go to a light squat on Wednesday just to make sure I can continue to add weight.
Oh, and my belt didn't arrive yet (unless it's sitting out in front of my house right now while I'm at my parents' for the weekend...).
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So I am actually still doing this thing...
Monday, 29 November:
W/u - Row, 3 min, 700 m
Squat:
W/u - 45x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 245x1
work sets - 255x5, 245x5x2; I deloaded a little from having missed two workouts. After the first set I realized that it was too heavy and I remembered what a hard time I had had with 260 and 265, so I figured I should stop being greedy and be realistic. Hopefully this will improve my performance through the next few weights. Still considering the light day on Wednesday, but 245 wasn't bad, so maybe next week. Anyone had good experience with using the "advanced novice" so early? I'm just frustrated because I shot up to 295 only 8 months ago in a very short period, and I was pressing 175 and benching 235 both for 3x5... Sigh, I'm just being impatient, I guess.
Press:
w/u - 45x5, 95x3, 135x1
work sets - 145x5x3; didn't deload as much on the press as the squat, but it felt fine.
Back ext. 3x15
Weighted chins (25 lbs) - 8, 7, 7
I actually stretched after this session, too. I haven't really been paying much attention to that, but I'm racking my brain trying to figure out why I did so much better last time... I was doing weighted dips back then, but I don't feel like the solution would be to do MORE work right now...
BW went up to 187.0. Not a big jump from last week, but I figure the last few pounds up to 200 will be slower than the last 10-12 lbs.
I got my belt today as well. I'm looking forward to using it, but it's pretty stiff. I rolled it and reverse rolled it several times tonight, I'm going to leave it rolled inside out tonight, roll it a few more times tomorrow and then leave it rolled up tomorrow night so that it's hopefully ready for my lifting on Wednesday.
Any suggestions on wearing in the new belt? Anyone have feedback on going to an "advanced novice" approach? I certainly don't feel "advanced," even for a novice... All feedback is greatly appreciated.
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Went with the light squat day today.
I know that I can progress faster if I get enough rest and enough food, but the last time I did this I was on leave and it was a hell of a lot easier to just sleep as long as I wanted, eat everything my fiance cooked for me and not do any extraneous crap. However, my leave block hasn't started yet and we just did a hike on Tuesday (with another one on Saturday), so I did a light day today in the hopes that I will be able to maintain a slow progress until my leave block where I intend to "get huge." Haha... Speaking of: BW today was 185.2, so I lost 1.8 lbs since Monday. I'm certain that the hike and a lack of eating are to blame. At least I know what I'm doing wrong (I hope).
Anyway:
W/U - Row, 3 min, 730 m (first 2 min took it easy, last minute focused on a long, hard pull)
Squat:
W/u - 45x5, 135x5x2, 185x3, 205x1
Work sets - 225x5x3; Felt pretty easy, which I assume it was supposed to. Legs felt better afterwards (they were still sore from the hike).
Bench:
w/u - 115x5, 135x5, 185x1
work sets - 215x5x3; Bench is probably one of my stronger lifts, so I didn't really reset it, I just used the same weight as last time I did bench (because I missed the two workouts last week). It felt fine, and I did all the sets unbroken so I think that was conservative enough. My micro-plates are in the mail and I will probably need them by or after 225...
Deadlift:
w/u - Powerclean 135x3, Powerclean 185x2, Deadlift 245x1, 275x1
Work - 315x5; I like to powerclean for deadlift warmup because it offers more practice at the lift. I think doing 185 for two might have been too much, though, considering that's my working set weight for that lift... didn't have too any problem on the working set, though. I finally got my belt and used it for the working set on deadlift (not on any of the other lifts, because it was light squats and I don't think I need it for bench yet), but I think it might be too wide... I'll have to see after using it for a while (it's still wearing in), but I would feel pretty dumb if I should have gotten a 3" belt and I got a 4" one...
I made a bunch of food tonight, too. That will really help me to actually eat like I'm supposed to tomorrow... I need to get the balls to start working out in the morning instead of the evening so I don't get home so late and get a good dinner and enough sleep... Haha, we'll see.
Happy lifting, everyone.
Edit: All deadlift work was DOH.
Last edited by Eric K; 12-02-2010 at 12:50 AM.
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Hey, if I am not mistaken the light day for squats which is usually recommended is 2x5@80% of your working sets. So if you were 245x5x3 before, you would be doing 195x5x2 on the Wednesday. My apologies if I am mistaken, but this is the scheme I think I recalled reading about.
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Yeah, I just read that lurking around... Thanks for the head's up. Hopefully it won't be too big a deal this time, but I'll remember that for next week. I guess it helps to plan intelligently, huh? Haha
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Haha, I'm sure all your muscles won't fall off and your spine won't shoot through your skull because you did it this one time. Don't do it again though, then you're just tempting fate :P.
Congrats on all your lifts by the way. Pretty impressive.
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