Sleep. Lift. Eat. Grow.

[Eric K]

I'm entering a SS Log, to help keep me honest. Before I deployed I did a novice progression, eating until I felt a little sick and resting (I was on pre-deployment leave and I have an amazing fiance that enjoys cooking for me). I got up to (warning: I'm not sure if the way I write the # x reps x sets is correct but that's the format I'm using):

5'8" (didn't change, surprisingly)
Bodyweight: 175->198
Squat: 295x5x3
Press: 175x5x3
Deadlift: 375x5x1
Bench: 235x5x3
Powerclean: 185x3x5

Since I'm on my way back I'm restarting and hoping to break 200 lbs bodyweight and start repping with 4 tires on the bar for squats. I'm not sure if that will happen and I'm on a time limit, because I'll have to get ready for the PFT sometime at the beginning of next year, but I should have enough down time to make it work and pack on the weight. If I stay on schedule with modest increments I estimate that I can break 300 lbs on squats in early December.

Yesterday I did the following:

Warm-up: Bar muscle-ups and 60 lbs dumbell snatches 10 each arm. (Shitty warmup, I know, but there was only one squat rack at the gym and I didn't want to lose my place in line.)

Squat: 135x5x2, 185x3
Work sets: 225x5x3
Press: 95x5, 115x5
Work sets: 135x5x3
Deadlift: 135x5, Powercleaned 135x2, Deadlifted 225x1, 275x1
Work sets: 315x5 (used parallel grip, and it felt a little heavier than it used to... might stick with 315 or go down to 295 next time to make sure I'm maintaining proper lumbar extension)

Eating: I drank 5.1 liters of milk yesterday most of it was low-fat, unfortunately, but it's all I got here at the moment. I'll be back in California soon and will be able to drink raw milk again. I also ate the equivalent to a whole chicken, 8 pats of butter, 8 oz of tuna, 6 strips of bacon, a few ounces of steamed vegetables, and 3 servings of ice cream. Not very specific, but I'll record more accurately in the future.

This morning I had one 3-egg omelet, one 4-egg omelet, 2 hardboiled eggs, 12 strips of bacon, 8 oz. of tuna, 8 pats of butter and 700 mL of milk (200 mL of whole milk, 500 mL 1%). Eating for the rest of today will be a challenge as I will be travelling overnight.

I haven't been able to weigh myself, but I will when I get home. Feel free to offer any advice as I still consider myself very new to this. One area I'm still unsure of is my warm-up regimen. I usually do a few minutes on the rower (sometimes 3, sometimes 8 minutes depending on how I feel) then start with squats: 135x5x2, 185x5, 225x3, 275x1 (that's what I was doing when my working sets were 295x5x3). Happy lifting, everyone.

[Tiburon]

One area I'm still unsure of is my warm-up regimen. I usually do a few minutes on the rower (sometimes 3, sometimes 8 minutes depending on how I feel) then start with squats: 135x5x2, 185x5, 225x3, 275x1 (that's what I was doing when my working sets were 295x5x3). Happy lifting, everyone.

Sounds about right

[Eric K]

Thanks. I would hate to stall for something silly like an inadequate warmup.

[Eric K]

Haha, Kyrgystan, Bulgaria, Maine, Indiana, Northern then Southern California. 36 hours of travelling and a head cold to boot. Sweet lifting prescription... I already missed Wednesday (day two of my progression), but Life doesn't always allow for a perfect progression. I'll try again Friday, though...

[Eric K]

Ok, so a late post for Saturday's lifting session. It was supposed to be Friday, but I didn't have the time; I just redeployed back to California, and found out that my Jeep was about to explode so I had to get a new car which meant jumping around between Ramona, National City and Oceanside with the transmission slipping on the Jeep along the way. I also went to Disneyland with the family on Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon. Even though I missed Wednesday completely and moved Friday's lift to Saturday, I'm happy so far. Here it goes:

W/U - 3 min on Rower, 750 m

Squat:

W/U - 45x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1
Work sets - 235x5x3

Bench:

W/U - 135x5, 185x3
Work sets - 205x5x3

Power Clean:

W/U - 95x5, 135x3, 155x3
Work sets - 165x3x5

Lifted in my Chuck Taylors. I got a couple Rip's coming in the mail (hopefully). Not ready for the belt yet; I'm thinking that 275 is when I'll start wearing the belt (need to order one online). I also gotta get my own chalk; fortunately, I was able to use some from a group of guys doing a CrossFit work out in the gym.

Food was a little bit of a problem this weekend as I went to Disneyland, there's plenty of junk calories in Disneyland but not a whole lot of protein... I got some more Raw Milk by virtue of being home again, and was able to drink a gallon of that on Saturday, but not much on Sunday. Sunday I had a two 3-egg omelets for breakfast, a few ice cream bars on the park and a 16 oz. Ribeye for dinner. I need to eat more this week. Sleep has been ok, I got to sleep around 1130/midnight on Saturday and woke up around 7, and 9:30 pm on Sunday, and got up at 5:30 this morning. Had a 4-egg omelet with steak, ground beef, cheese, mushrooms, zuchinni and 6 slices of bacon.

I'm planning on lifting today to stick with the Mon-Wed-Fri routine. Got a half gallon of Raw Milk and a protein shake for after my lift. I should probably get some coffee, too; I prefer to lift after some coffee.

[Eric K]

All right, today's (Monday, 15 Nov) training:

W/U - 4 min row, 950 m

Squat:

W/u - 135x5x2, 185x3, 225x1
Work - 245x5x3; felt a lot heavier than it should have. I blame the lack of adequate eating over the weekend.

Press:

W/u - 45x5, 95x5, 135x3
Work - 145x5x3; I know I jumped too much, but I brought my new logbook without writing down the last weight used so I guessed. Heavy sets, but decent; I didn't see any red lights, at least.

Deadlift:

W/u - Power clean 135x3, DL 225x1
Work - 315x5; I got a video of it this time, because of how it felt last time. It didn't help that I still don't have chalk, and that I was using "stop sign plates" but it looks like the in the video I don't maintain lumbar extension. I'm concerned about that because I used to use 315 for reps on heavy conditioning workouts... I guess I'll have to take my time more on the reps and get the hell away from the stop sign plates, god that was annoying...

Food: Drank 3/4 gallon today, ate an omelet for breakfast, had a protein shake after the workout and I'm about to destroy a 3.5 lbs pork roast. (Well, I'm going to TRY to destroy it; it might very well destroy me.) I definitely have to up the eating if I want to maintain progress, this session was way too hard...

[Eric K]

So that roast beat my ass last night, but I was able to eat half of it and I counted about 296 g of protein for the day, plus a gallon of whole milk; not a total waste.

Today, I've had a protein shake with about 1/3 a gallon of milk so far, a 1/2 lb burger, a four-egg omelet with 10 oz of salmon and cheese on both the burger and the omelet, around 3 oz total. I'm also eating almond butter by the spoonful to make sure I get enough calories. I'll probably get some ice cream tonight; mostly because I like ice cream, but eating more is a great excuse, too.

Oh, and I did actually weigh myself Wednesday night when I got home: 174 lbs. Weight as of yesterday after my lifting session: 180, which might be about a pound a day (I say might because it could be a lot less considering that I didn't use the same scale... but at least I'm aware of it and will be consistent from now on: post workout, in my underwear with the same scale...).

As for sleep: I went to bed around 9:00 last night and woke up at 5.

[Eric K]

Two orders of carne asada fries for lunch. Delicious, but sometimes the eating is harder than the lifting...

I also need to get some chalk before I lift this afternoon; I'm hoping that I can get some at adventure 16 because they sell climbing equipment.

On a slightly different topic, from recent news: I like how fructose is linked to the increased proliferation of cancer cells and the initial inclination is to federally regulate the addition of fructose to food and to "develop a drug that might stop tumor cells from making use of fructose." Is there anything that people don't want regulated for them? And developing drugs that allow people to continue unhealthy habits, sounds like a great plan! Pathetic.

[Eric K]

Wednesday, 17 November session:

W/U - 3 min on rower, 700 m

Squat:
W/u - 45x5, 135x5x2, 185x3, 225x1, 245x1
Work - 255x5x5; put on the belt on the second set, I think I need to switch to 5 # jumps...

Bench:
W/U - 135x5x2, 185x3, 205x1
Work - 210x5x3; this seemed pretty easy and I think I've maintained a lot of my bench strength from my last SS attempt. I'm tempted to try 225x5x3 just to see...

Power clean:
w/u - 135x3, 155x3, 165x3
work - 175x3x5; seemed easy, but I got a video of myself and saw that I come up on my toes before reaching full extension. I did a few extra sets afterwards with a light weight (95#), to try and stress the "heels down" cue... I don't know if it worked, but this issue may be why I always stall at 205...

I only gained a pound and a half between Monday and today (179.4->181.0), so I don't know if I'm eating enough...

[Eric K]

Friday, 19 November training session:

Rower was taken so I warmed up with 2 rounds of 10 burpees, 10 kipping pull-ups and 10 Overhead squats with just the bar, felt all right but it's been a long time since I've done burpees...

Squat:

W/u - 45x5, 135x5, 185x5, 205x3, 225x1
Work sets - 260x5x3; I tried a different warm up scheme tonight because I'm finally far enough away from 225 that it will not be my final warmup weight much longer. I don't know if this was too much warm-up because the working sets were pretty damn hard. Again, like I've said every post so far, I think eating is the problem. For some reason, I feel nauseous all day. It makes it really hard to eat at all let alone get a surplus. I don't really know why this is, especially considering that I was much more successful last time I did a SS progression... It's really frustrating. I think i was in better condition last time I started this though; might that have something to do with it? I also continued using the belt. I had hoped I could avoid the belt until 275, but progress is more important than my pride; I'll have to re-read the belt chapter, but I'm unsure if this is too early to start using the belt or not...

Press:

W/u - 45x5, 95x5, 115x5, 135x3; definitely too much warmup and I paid for it on the working sets.
Working sets - 150x5x3; Used the belt on this and it's a good thing I did, I'm sure I would have lost it a couple times without the belt. I gotta get some micro plates; there's no way I can handle another 5 lbs jump on press.

Deadlift:

W/u - Power cleans: 95x3, 135x3; took video to see if I've fixed the heel problem I had on wednesday. It looked better but these weights are also real light.
Continued warm-up with deadlifts: 225x1, 275x1
Work set: 335x5; video looked like I lost lumbar extension on the pull off the floor. It felt fine, but it got worse for the last couple reps. I don't know if I should reset the weight or just start using the belt...

If anyone is still reading this blog insights would be very helpful. My biggest obstacle is still eating. I didn't gain any (appreciable) weight since Wednesday (181.0->181.6) considering the rate at which I gained weight last time. I'll get a lot of rest this weekend and (continue to) try and eat my face off; I just wish I could go a few minutes without feeling nauseous all day.