Happy in Sweden

[gamedog]

Ahhh the holidays... There's nothing in the world more likely to fuck up our progress than the holidays LOL It's hard, maintaining momentum under the threat of office parties, family parties and gym closures. I feel you. It sucked not being able to get to the gym the day after Thanksgiving. But no worries dude, you're gonna be just fine :-) Take it as it comes and hit the gym when it's open and you can and plan accordingly. One missed workout or one shitty one due to a hangover isn't gonna screw things up too badly. You've been doing well, and just keep it up the best you can! Good luck!

[happyfred]

Thanks for the encouragement gamedog. I've been following your log since before your first reset and it's one of the few I follow and look forward to your updates. Hoping I can do as well as you!

[happyfred]

- TODAY'S WORKOUT -

Squats:
110kg x5x3

Bench Press:
95kg x5
95kg x5
95kg x2

Power Cleans:
57.55kg x 3 x 5

Notes:
Haven't been feeling the best lately. It's been busy at work and I've had a few Xmas things to attend to. Nutrition - quality and quantity - hasn't been what it normally is. Felt shitty all week. That said I got a burst of energy this afternoon before going to the gym and didn't feel totally horrible in the gym. I was actually thinking about just going and working on squat form today, I was feeling so ordinary before, but managed a proper workout.

Squats are feeling heavy. My form is breaking down because of it. It's hard to know what to do. I did some light squats at the end of my workout to focus on form and they were good, so I know I can do a good squat. I'm thinking I will push on for a bit longer and when I reset I'll have the chance to work on form again.

Bench was looking okay, as I got the first two sets, however the 5th rep in the second set really took all I had. I didn't have much left for the last set. I'll give this weight one more go and if I don't get it I'll reset.

Power cleans were good. Starting to feel like it's a little bit heavy but got all the reps with good form.

Here's is my second set in the squats, I stuffed up the video of the last set. Form is not great but I will push on for now and try and fix it up as I go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJhjhaPxXNs

[happyfred]

YNDTP son!
- TODAY'S WORKOUT -

Squats:
112.5kg x3
100kg x5
100kg x5

Press:
67.5kg x5x3

Dead Lift:
135kg x 5 x 1

Notes:
The squats really sucked. Not sure where to start. Had to work on the weekend so missed my Saturday workout. Last two weeks I've only had two sessions, each week, and it'll be the same this week and next due to the holidays. I've gotta be honest, I've NDTP the last two weeks. As I've missed workouts I've been eating less and most days I've just been having my three solid meals. Furthermore I'm just not sure about my squat form and seem to be trying new stuff every session. I lack the confidence in my form. Anyways, I need a plan to move forward with this shit.

I'm happy I got my press sets done though! I think that's a PR for me. My old log book is back in Oz. The last rep of the third set felt like I was stuck in the middle part of the lift for about 30 seconds, just fighting to lock out. I would like to have the same tenaciousness and aggressiveness in my squats.

Deadlifts were heavy, last rep was hard. I think I'm keeping my lower back in extension but I'm sure my upper back is not tight. I should video these.

The plan..

Ok, so in my mind I'd planned on doing the following when I started this go at SS six weeks ago. I thought I would continue on this traditional SS schedule until my squats stalled and then I would switch over to the Greyskull Linear Progression. Only thing is that I'd hoped that my squats would be around 125-130kg region and not 110kg. I'm thinking I'm going to have to take a dose of humility, suck up the fact that my squats blow and start on the Greyskull LP sooner than I would have liked.

The next two weeks are buggered due to the holidays so I think I'll start on the new program first week of the new year. Until then I'll work hard on my squat form and continue with my other lifts as best I can. Looking back in my log the last time my squats looked solid was at 97.5kg.

[gamedog]

Infrequency, and not eating enough caused the squats to suck. NO worries, just deload after the holidays, eat more, ramp back up and start crushing it again.

[happyfred]

I'm not an experienced lifter but from what experience I do have I know how important food and sleep are. When I'm doing these things right I feel like I can just keep progressing. I notice from your log, gamedog, that you take these things very seriously and I'm sure that they are in a big part due to your good progress. There's a reason why the first thing people on this blog ask is 'how much are you eating?'.

[gamedog]

I'm not an experienced lifter but from what experience I do have I know how important food and sleep are. When I'm doing these things right I feel like I can just keep progressing. I notice from your log, gamedog, that you take these things very seriously and I'm sure that they are in a big part due to your good progress. There's a reason why the first thing people on this blog as is 'how much are you eating'.

Indeed, these are serious matters, the eating and the sleeping, but not just for weight-lifting you understand, but for proper management of life in-general.

Believe me, my eating has run the gamut from being a Clean-Eating-Clean-Food-NAZI, to Eat-Every-Thing-In-Sight-No-Matter-What, and back again LOL And it's the same, for sleeping...

Eating enough of the right kind of food is the way to go, and sleeping at least 8 solid hours a night is too.

I find that with enough good food and enough good sleep, I feel better in a general way. My mood is better, I feel better physically, and I can recover from working hard in the weight room.

I find that avoiding things like bread and sugar help me feel better, too. Plus, they allow me to eat more protein and veggies whilst burning fat, too.

Here's a typical Training Day eating schedule, that I do:

6AM: Protein shake

9AM: 4 Hard-Boiled Eggs, 1 cup oats in 1 cup milk, 2 cheddar cheese sticks, 1 cup pistachios, 1 banana

12PM (post-workout): Protein Shake

3:30/4PM: 3 large pork chops, big spinach salad, 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

7:30 PM: Porterhouse steak, big spinach salad

10PM before bed: 5 scrambled eggwhites

...That right there is typical eating for me, on training day. If it's not training day, I don't eat the oats and milk with breakfast, and have more cheese or nuts instead (usually cheese).

I like this eating plan a lot. I still get hungry BUT I'm not sore all the time and my blood sugar doesn't spike. PLUS, I never get heartburn anymore ;-) And that is a BIG bonus!

Eat eat eat, but eat the right kind of food. 300 grams of protein per day. All the water you can drink. All the sleep you can get. It's the only way to go.

[happyfred]

Gamedog, your diet is pretty low carb. Have you felt any difference in your training with the low carb as apposed to when you ate more?

Reason I ask is that before I started SS I was eating Paleo, which is lowish carb by default almost, and felt great but I wasn't doing linear progression. When I started on SS I had a consult with JP and he got me onto 300gm protein too but also a lot more carbs than I was used to. I found the carbs really helped with energy (obviously! haha) when training.

Now that I'm kinda at a point where I don't really wanna put on any more weight I'm thinking about dropping the carbs to pretty much just training days - not too dissimilar to your diet.

[happyfred]

Haven't updated my log last couple of weeks, however only had two sessions each week, due to all the holidays. I've reset most of my lifts and really working hard on squat form.

As I posted earlier I'm going to do the Greyskull Linear Progression starting today. That said I'm going to move my log over to SV. I like hanging out here but will keep my log over there.

Happy new year - and may your squats be deep!