Dave's SS Log

[DL757]

Wednesday, March 16

Monday's session never happened. Was away from home until early Monday morning and missed my window of opportunity to get in the gym before the day's work-finding fun began. Actually, my knees were still VERY banged up from Friday and really responded well to the extra rest.

Squat
2x5x45
1x5x95
1x3x135
1x2x185
3x5x225 - This was the 10% reset (due to form errors) originally planned for Monday. The warm-ups were good, practiced shoving knees out hard and then (from the book) looking down at my knees on the way down to try and keep them in the same spot. Seemed to be ok, but as soon as I began my work set (#225) the weight felt HEAVY and I struggled to complete each of the 3 sets- WTF????? I don't know if I am thinking TOO hard about form during the lift, or perhaps my mind wasn't fully locked in to the sets, but majorly bummed at this point. Will do same weight again on Friday, until I get it right (or die trying!).

Bench Press
2x5x45
1x5x75
1x3x95
1x2x125
3x5x155 - ties previous bench PR. No real complaints here. Weight is feeling heavy but form remains good, lockout at the top is strong. Won't be making too many more 5lb jumps but all in all am real happy with this lift.

Deadlift
2x5x135
1x5x185
1x3x215
1x2x235
1x5x275 - Deads still improving week to week so yeah, happy with my progress.

Icing the crap out of my knees post-workout to try and get ahead of the swelling. Damn my crappy cartilage.....

[DL757]

Friday, March 18th

Squat
2x5x45
1x5x95
1x3x135
1x2x185
3x5x225 - Form was much better this time than on Wednesday, but work set still felt heavier than I think it ought to. I made sure to eat like a horse since the last session and sleep as much as possible. One revelation from this session is that when I unrack the bar I sometimes dick around with getting my feet set without keeping tight, which causes my balance to shift (forward) and load up my knees (bad). As soon as I am working again I will be replacing these Nike Free's with proper lifting shoes; based on forum comments I expect this to help out tremendously as I move into heavier (for me) weights. Gonna post video of today's work sets for critique as well. Bottom line: I feel ready to restart progression with 230# on Monday.

Press

3x5x45
1x5x80
1x3x90
1x2x100
3x5x120 - I had a sneaking suspicion that it was time to move to 2.5# jumps and today's session proved it, as I failed to lock out on the 5th rep of the final set. One second the weight was up and I was moving my head forward and locking out, next second my crappy left shoulder (impingement-city) said "nuh-uh" and down came the bar in a snap! What really took me by surprise was not just how quick I went from almost locked out to my brain saying "screw this", but how said brain also guided the bar safely to the floor without me killing or injuring myself! Time to dig out my large 2" washers and move to 2.5# jumps.

Performed back-off sets of the press as outlined in SS:BBT to consolidate gains made so far (until today's failure).
2x8x95 - done with strict attention to form, especially the lockout at the top. These felt great and went up very well. Feel psyched and ready to continue a slower but still steady progression. Chesticles here I come!

Power Clean
Took these off the menu today due to continued knee swelling problems. Scoured the forums yesterday and saw Rip had advised someone with similar issues to consider whether it was worth it to let a power movement interfere with strength movements. My answer: no effing way. Will continue to work on getting fire in my knees under control and as soon as thats handled, PC's come back in.

Looking forward to a nice weekend of recovery, and a sunny 70 degree Friday here in NYC to boot!

Nice weekend to all!

[DL757]

Monday March 21st

Squat
2x5x45
1x5x105
1x3x165
1x2x190 - pulled muscle under left shoulder blade while unracking this- DAMMIT!
3x5x230 - Seems that reset did the trick as these actually felt STRONG, as opposed to the last week/week and a half where i felt weak as a kitten. Glad to be progressing once again and gonna continue to focus on improving this important lift.

Bench Press
2x5x45
1x5x80
1x3x100
1x2x130
3x5x160 - New PR! I know 160# at my height/weight ain't nothing to write home about but I'll take it:-) Looking forward to conquering 165# on Friday.

Chins
2xBW (229#)
1xBW
1xBW - Someone needs to adjust his diet and cut out the crap. I've put ~20# on since starting SS at rate of 2.9# per week, good portion of that around ye ol' belly (there was too much there to begin with so maybe this isn't quite as bad as it seems). Either way, cleaning up my diet is a good idea. I REALLY miss my fast metabolism that I had during my twenties!

[DL757]

Yikes, forgot to update last workout....

Wednesday, March 23rd

Squat
2x5x45
1x5x115
1x3x175
1x2x195
3x5x235 - put video up on these and got some valuable feedback from forum members. head needs to be up, back is NOT tight (i thought it was...wrong!), depth could be better. that being said, these felt pretty good (compared to my last time at 235#) and more importantly, i was able to self-correct the flaws that were causing meniscus aggravation in both knees. progress.

Press
3x5x45
1x5x85
1x3x95
1x2x105
3x5x122.50 - switch to 2.5# jumps was a good call - these were a bear to get done! missed 5th rep on 1st set as a matter of fact. rested 5 minutes and repeated the set; got all three, but not without a struggle.

Deadlift
2x5x135
1x5x185
1x3x225
1x2x245
1x5x285 - at 285# i've developed grip problems for the first time; left thumb REFUSED to stay on the bar during these pulls, which of course made locking out more of a chore than it should have been. i really attacked this lift today and am happy with the results (another step toward ADULT MALE numbers!). gotta work on grip strength.....

[DL757]

Friday, March 25th

Squat

2x5x45
1x5x125
1x3x180
1x2x205
3x5x240 - incorporated the feedback from forum members and am very pleased with the results (although plenty more work to be done). kept head forward throughout and did feel the difference. keeping my back tight is definitely a work in progress though, i can't seem to hold it in extension through the entire lift. will work with some of Rip's recommendations in the book and see if i can make headway on this. knees continue to feel better and less injured so i know right there that at least some technique flaws are getting squished. psyched to be back on the march toward 3 plates....

Bench Press

2x5x45
1x5x125
1x3x135
1x2x145
3x5x165 - bench is getting much more challenging now at these working weights. made sure to rest adequately between sets and gritted these out. still think i have one, maybe two 5lb jumps left in the tank before we go to 2.5#'s.

Good Mornings

2x5x45
1x5x55
1x5x65
3x5x75 - chronic hamstring tightness and low back weakness make doing these important; need to be more consistent getting these into my program.

Have a good weekend all!

[DL757]

Monday, March 28

Wisely cancelled today's session out of an abundance of caution. Spent the weekend working a show involving 6+ hours driving, 2 hours sleep out of 48 and plenty of stress/poor food options. At 42 my body just cannot tolerate these demands the way it used to, not to mention the fact that both my knees are nicely swollen from being on my feet for so friggin' long. The good news is I was able to order some fish oil (Carlson's liquid) for the first time in ages; this will definitely help my hot knees, elbows and all-around decrepitude once the UPS man gets to my door.

Gonna do some rehab/prehab work later to get ready for tomorrow's workout.

[DL757]

Wednesday, March 30th

Squat

2x5x45
1x5x130
1x3x185
1x2x210
3x5x245 - Went into this session still feeling banged up from the weekend, particularly the low back and elbows. Fish oil getting here tomorrow night and will be going on Robb Wolf 3 week "max" dosage ASAP. I've done the fish oil thing before with success, but not at that high a dosage. Feeling like that will help alot of my inflammation problems. These sets were nothing to write home about in terms of form. Gotta spend more time learning to hold my low back in extension, as well as improve hamstring mobility (I have insanely tight hammies, always have, and these are tweaking my knees and killing me in the bottom of the squat).

Press

3x5x45
1x5x65
1x3x75
1x2x100
3x5x125 - This was a BEAR to finish. Kinda bummed that I struggled to do these with proper form so soon after switching to 2.5# jumps; would have hoped to have a week or two of steady gains. Will reduce weight increases even further for Friday's session and onward until form/strength improves.

Chins

BWx1
BWx1
BWx1 - 3 singles, meh. Its simply one of those days.

Did a couple of K-Star's 'mobility wods' to improve pos chain flexibility and give my knees a break:

Hamstring doorway stretch- 5min each leg
Calf stretch- 5 min each leg

Need to up the frequency/intensity of the stretching and mobility work (3x daily would be ideal, especially for hammies). These stretches (and his other stuff) always work, but I too often find excuses not to do them. Time to hold myself accountable and get these done.

Onward and upward.......

[DL757]

Friday, April 1st (9th Week of SS)

Squat

2x5x45
1x5x135
1x3x195
1x2x225
3x5x250 - (ties previous PR). Squat is improving, although I am FAR from satisfied with my form. Still plenty of work to do, but I am happy that the reset I did after hitting 250# last time has worked; no more knee pain during the movement and swelling in both knees continues to decrease/mobility improves.

Bench Press

2x5x45
1x5x75
1x3x105
1x2x135
3x5x170 - First set was a real bear to get thru, but the remainder were much smoother. I can feel the end of 5# jumps coming up very soon (if not here already), but I feel I have a shot at 175# next Wednesday so gonna push myself to get there. I added some back-off sets to work on form/build some volume in preparation for next lift:

2x8x135 - these were smooth, fast and done with good form.

Deadlift

2x5x135
1x5x195
1x3x235
1x2x255
1x5x295 - Gonna break 300# soon! Really had to summon the demons before hitting this set and it paid off nicely. Left hand grip was much less of a problem than last time, although it did start to fail on 5th pull. Will be adding some specific grip work to help with this. My damn wrists/forearms are still too friggin' wimpy for my size!

Looking forward to some nice recovery this weekend and getting back in the gym on Monday.

[5lifts]

Good luck on hitting 300#+! My grip is starting to slip but only at adolescence weak 260#, keep it up man.

[DL757]

Thanks for the kind words 5lifts! You'll bust through 260# with no problem (if I could do it, TRUST ME, you'll have no problem!)

If you look in the dictionary under "adolescence weak" you'd see my picture; reason why I started doing The Program:-)

Good luck with your training!