Sync and Spouse Training Log(s)

[synchronicity]

Sunday 9/9/12 workout.

Weight/BF% from 9/3/12 on (remember that I'm only 5'7"):
9/3 230.8/37.1
9/4 229.4/35.7
9/5 230.2/36.4
9/6 229.8/37
9/7 230.6/39.4
9/8 231/37.9
9/9 230.2/38.3

These are all off the Tanita scale, first thing in the AM after voiding. I weigh 3 times and basically take the average. Obviously, no trend, pretty much staying at ~230 lbs, ~38% BF. I should start aggressively limiting my carb intake while keeping my protein up.

Anyway, today's workout, starting at 11AM. Note that my last was Friday starting @ 8PM and that I'm on a Fri-Sun-Tues schedule. So my last workout was after 72 hours rest, while this was only on about 36. Limited AM food, almost no coffee. Why work out so early? Scheduling issues re: globo-gym and their "kid's room", had to take wife to work early. So, with that preface...

Squat: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 105x2, 130 5, 5, 4!! FAIL!!!!

My first true failure ever, and GODDAMN AM I PISSED!!! First 5 went up fine (OK, form was less than perfect on one or two, sure). Second 5 seemed even better than the first. My bounce out of the hole still needs work, although it was great on the 65x5 warm up. I need to get that down.

Anyway, last set, no problems on the first 4, went down for the last, started to come up and then...nothing. Like driving a car and suddenly no gas, dead stop.

CRAP!

BTW, I need to adjust the safeties, as I set them too low so I can't just bail the bar. Fortunately I could hold where I was at and slowly dump, but at higher weights I could seriously eff myself up.

I keep thinking that maybe another minute rest between sets, maybe a bit more sleep (I'm being a moron and not getting my full 8 hours), maybe if this was in the evening instead of the morning (which is fine although it's also a partial way to shift blame - if globo gym has issues, *I* need to adjust *MY* schedule to accommodate that until I can work out at home. Globo gym's limitations are NOT an excuse for MY failure).

Anyway, I was fucking right pissed and still am. ONE LOUSY EFFING REP was the difference between a good workout and not as good, between advancing and a stall. And THAT'S why all the little things are important.

OK, use that as a learning experience, then put it aside and on to the next exercise. Mental strength is about moving on and not dwelling.

Well, I'm mentally weak, dammit.

Press: 45x5x2, 55x5, 70x3, 80x2, 95x4...

Last time was 85, so another 10 increase is pushing it, especially given my squat. The warmups were tolerable, so I thought "well, let's try".

And yes, I got my 5 reps done, BUT, rather than LOWER THE BAR AND RACK IT PROPERLY, I went straight to the rack after the fifth rep, BEFORE lowering it, and only started to lower it AT the rack, almost dropped the darn thing and made a nice CLUNK on the rack.

I bet if I ever were to do something like that at WFAC, Rip would dropkick my head halfway from Wichita Falls to the Metroplex. Do something like that while benching and I might be one of those unfortunate idjits who drops a bar on their chest or head or throat, which would make for a bad day.

What was worse than looking like an idiot was knowing that mentally I'd fucked up, all because I was still letting my squat failure mess with my head.

So, step back, take about five minutes. Do the SMART thing, realize that this workout was NOT going to be perfect, but any progression would be good, CLEAR MY MIND, focus, and just think about pressing CORRECTLY, start to finish, EVERY REP.

Reset the bar to 90. Rest properly. Then, approach the bar, THINK, and act, and...

90x5x3.

Still worry that I might be subconsciously bending my knees slightly as I raise the bar rather than just moving snapping my hips back. I don't think so, but am not 100% sure.

Also, the fact that 90 was "lower" than my planned 95 may have been the mental trick to get me to do this correct.

So, deads. First time with first warm up over 65...

95x5, 135x5*, 175x2, 205x5

*- I keep doing 5 instead of 3 on my second warm up set of deads

Have been going up 20, but given my earlier results, decided that a 10 increase made more sense this session. Sure enough, it was uneventful. Am not certain of my back being properly set, but as a newbie form is always suboptimal. I'm sure it could suck worse.

At this point, every workout is new and teaches things. And I know you'll never succeed unless you're willing to fail. So in that light, today was fine. But I hate failure. HATE it! For my first time ever I experienced that feeling when you're under the bar and you're absolutely stopped, when you know that that fuckface gravity has won out and there's nothing you can do about it.

Next time, gravity. You may have won for now, but Tuesday is only 48 hours away. I'm coming for you.

23 workouts remaining til comp

[Gene61]

Sync, you've been killing it. Don't feel too bad about one missed rep. I think you probably diagnosed your issue right. Lack of sleep and recovery time.

[synchronicity]

Sync, you've been killing it. Don't feel too bad about one missed rep. I think you probably diagnosed your issue right. Lack of sleep and recovery time.

Thanks, Gene. We'll see how things go tonight. Meanwhile, I hope you're keeping on with your log and I'm eagerly awaiting your next entry. I've gotta maintain my progress here to prevent you from catching up!

[synchronicity]

As you may recall, my last workout had my first true failure. I've been waiting to avenge myself against gravity ever since. STILL not getting enough sleep, which is All My Fault. Need to get some other random crap in order, too.

Weight and body fat #'s
9/10 229.8/39.2
9/11 232/36

Daily numbers on the scale, ESPECIALLY BF%, jump around a bit. On my spreadsheet what tracks this stuff I use a multi-day weight average. According to that, nothing has really changed, it's still ~230/38.

Workout results...

Squat:
45x5x2, 65x5, 95*x3, 110x2, then.....

*-I intended for that to be 90, but misloaded the bar. Duh.

I decided to say a big Fuck You to gravity and did something kinda stupid, and INCREASED the weight by 5. Even tho' that 110 felt kinda heavy.

That's right, from 130 to 135. Big Wheels.

135x5x3

BIG WHEELS!!!

First set the last two reps felt heavy going up, but what the hell, I wasn't gonna let gravity win. As an aside, I'm finally understanding about the "mental strength" to get under the bar. You have to be disciplined, step back and be patient before doing the next set, get fully rested, but then you have to get to the darn bar, quit looking at it, GET UNDER IT AND GO! You can sit and fret and pause and make every excuse not to, and hey, who will really know except for you, right?

But no, not today. All before the second set I kept saying "don't look up. Bounce out of the hole. Hip drive." Repeating that and variants. "tennis ball, bounce up, don't raise your chest" ("tennis ball" for proper head position). And so on.

Yeah, the second set was tough. Really wasn't sure about the third, but said "yes you can. Count to five. You can count to five, right? Your DAUGHTER can count to five, why can't you?" Then back to the litany about head, hips and bounce. And that third set was tough and few reps were pretty slow grinds, but dammit, it went UP!

Onward:

Bench: 45x5x2, 65x5, 90x5, 110x2, 135x5x3 Big wheels again.

This was less eventful. Reread the book on proper position on the bench and grip width. Last set was done at an inadvertently narrower grip and so was tougher, but still pretty easy compared to my squats..

I'm not sure but it looks like my 10 lb jumps on the squat may be over. But the bench can probably keep going up that way (granted, bench is every other workout rather than every, but still...). I have no idea why my squat is weak relative to my other lifts. Maybe lack of flexibility. Maybe my form is better on the squat so I'm "cheating" less on it than on other lifts in ways I'm unaware of. Dunno. I've lined up another coaching session in two weeks, so that should help a lot in determining what bad habits I'm picking up.

As an aside, after my last squat session I got that lovely elbow/shoulder pain in my left arm, I'm sure it from my hand position while squatting. Again, no flexibility in my shoulders, really need to keep doing those flexibility exercises 3x10 EVERY day.

Deadlift. Last time was 205. Jump of 20 again?

95x5, 135x3, 180x2....hell, lets jump 20, make it an even 225. Two big wheels.

Set it up. Look at it. Gather my breath. Look again. Breath. Watch the clock. Make sure I'm ready.

"Well, any time, sweetheart!"

Mid foot, hands down, shins to bar, chest up, and STAND UP!!

225x5.

TWO BIG WHEELS!!!

Fuck you, gravity. FUCK YOU!!! Not THIS time!! ONE, ONE, AND TWO! BIG WHEELS!!!

And done, and out. Ya know, I bring 10 lb bumpers with me to the gym, they feel awfully heavy on the way in, and awfully light on the way out!

Four big wheels, total. Yay.

But ya know, before I get too full of myself...while I was working mightily to squat my one wheel, there was a guy at the rack next to me, pulling FIVE.

For five reps.

And then he added another.

Big wheels keep on turning, cause I've got a long road ahead

[synchronicity]

BTW, if there is anyone out there reading this, would you be kind enough to tell me what the warmups look like for Squat 135/bench 135/Dead 225 on Rip's warmup app? I've bought the app, but sadly don't have an iWhatever to run it on. Just curious how close those recommendations are to my spreadsheet.

[Oldster]

Really good stuff, Sink! I find myself grinning and chuckling as I read through it.

As to warmups, I don't have the 'app' you are talking about, not really sure what an app really is (I don't even text..) but don't over think warmups, or even lifting in general. Rocket science it ain't.

Warmups are warmups. Whatever it takes to warm you up. I like a lot of reps in the bench. My partner likes a lot of sets. My wife like few sets and few reps. Whatever works for you.

[Gene61]

You are really kicking it, Sync.

Here is the Squat and bench warmups from the app at 135lbs:

45lbs x 2sets x 5reps
75x1x5
95x1x3
115x1x2
125x1x1
135x3x5

For the DL at 225:

95x2x5
135x1x5
165x1x3
195x1x1
225x1x5

Weird that the setXreps convention on the app is the reverse from what people on this forum usually use.

This seems like a lot of warmup to me, but I'm guessing the time taken after the doubles and singles can just be the time it takes to change weights.

[synchronicity]

Thanks Gene. I wish I knew WTF is the matter with my squat. Form is one big issue, another possibility is weak legs from years of sitting, stronger upper body from at least lifting kidlet/groceries/random crap. Still drives me bats.

The warm ups run closer to workset than I expected, especially since SS cautions against warm up sets being so high that they interfere with worksets. (but obviously there's that taper to only 2 and 1 rep). FWIW, I follow a 2x5/1x5/1x3/1x2 model for everything but deads (well, and cleans if I ever do those), deads I do 1x5/1x3/1x2. It's worked for me so far, but who knows.

Thanks again for the numbers. I could probably reverse engineer the formulas pretty quick and plug them into Excel, but as Oldster says, there are times when one can overanalyze numbers and just has to go by how one feels (and I say this as a person who practically lives in Excel).

[synchronicity]

Worked out a day early (on a Fri-Sun-Tues schedule normally) because daughter's bday is tomorrow and the family is going out to celebrate. Unfortunately I wasn't planning ahead for this and so was not really prepared today (haven't slept enough, hadn't had dinner before lifting, some other things).

So today's goal going in was "don't lose ground and don't totally screw up".

Squats:
45x5x2, 70x5, 90x3, 115x2, 140 2,5,5

Working on getting the "bounce", and still frustrated by my relatively slow progress on the squat. 115 felt heavy. On the first set of 140 I let my balance go on the second, rep and had to step backward, so I called that set off, reset myself mentally, and did the last two sets of 5. They were tough but went up fine, probably better than 135 did Tuesday. I'm also more conscious of maintaining my tightness through each rep, but need to work on that. Kinda ticked because I probably could've done 5 reps on the first set if I'd maintained my mental focus.

Next workout will be Sunday morning, don't know if I'll stay at 140 or try 145.

Also, while squatting I felt that damn pain in my left shoulder and also elbow that many people have commented on. I'm sure it's from the way I'm holding the bar (and I still have no effing shoulder flexibility and NEED to do my 3 sets of ten shoulder-bar thingies every day). My arm HURT like a sunuvabich.

But then I think about people like BrianBrokeLegs and others who've dealt with a lot more than some soreness and little owies. And ya know what makes a sore shoulder and elbow feel better?

Pressing for a new PR!

Press: 45x5x2, 55x5, 70x5, 85x5, 95x5x3

First, I should have tapered to 3 and 2 reps at 70 and 85, but didn't. Went for 95 because 70 and 85 felt that easy, and up it went with little problems. Seriously, it felt LIGHT.

If anything, I'm worried that I'm somehow push pressing without realizing it. It felt easy enough that I wonder if I'm "cheating" in some way. Remember that 90 at my last workout was a bit of struggle.

Looking forward to the next coaching session in about two weeks which will be a huge help to clean up my form.

Last, deads.

105x5, 150x3, 195x2, 245x5 (??)

Last time was 225 (two wheels). I debated between 235 and 245 and decided WTH, why not do 245? Which is probably dumb, because my deadlift is progressing very well and a 10 lb jump would be fine for now.

It was damn heavy but went up. I'm not sure if I truly fully locked out on the last rep (hence the question marks), and on the way down the bar almost slipped from my grip just above the floor. Next time I may only do a 10 lb jump. No need to be a greedy pig - I want to be as strong as a bull and as powerful as a bear, and as the saying goes: "Bulls get fat, bears get fat, pigs get slaughtered!"

So, not bad It's late and I really should sleep (recovery, dammit), but I may eat something first. There's two 1 lb lobster tails sitting in the fridge, one might make a good meal. That would be a good 90 or so grams of protein.

21 more sessions til Comp.

[Gene61]

Sync, Watch out for the shoulder and elbow pain. If the elbow/arm/wrist position is wrong on the squat due to poor flexibility and these pains are due to holding up part the weight with your arms then it will not heal, it will not go away, it will get worse until you have to stop. Happened to me 3 months into SS, had to take off two months to get it fixed and basically had to start SS over.

Now this might be a good way for me to catch up with you (!), but it wouldn't be good for you.

You should shift the focus for a bit on getting enough fixibility into your shoulders to squat with proper form. What worked for me was using a broom stick and forcing my arms/elbows/writs into the right position, 5 seconds (hurts like a SOB), then 10 seconds, then 15 seconds, then 30 with rests in between.. I do this every day. On work out days I use the bare bar to get stretched out and dont put much weight on until I can get the perfect arm position.

Beware!