Grant's Training Log

[grant.meeker]

I've been doing Starting Strength for almost two years now after two degenerated discs in my back decided to herniated and completely screw up my walking, jogging, triathlon training that I had done for a couple years. I made good beginner gains for about 4 months, then just basically screwed around off and on and fought a couple injuries (IT band syndrome, post-squat shoulder pain) off and on.

I just recently decided to stop worrying about the weight on the scale, bump up the caloric intake a bit, and the gainZzZ have been plentiful.

Me:
Age: 25
Height: 6'2
Weight: 219 lbs

PR's
Squat - 310x5
Bench - 215x2
Pull - 370x5

Today was volume day so:

Squat
Barx5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x4, 245x2, 280x5x5

Bench
135x5, 155x4, 190x5, 195x5x2, 195x4x2 (I was sharing a bar with Baraki and mismatched my weights on each side between the third and fourth set)

2 Count Pause Pull
135x5, 185x4, 225x3, 260x5x2

It all felt good - the progress has been incredible with some changes in diet and not fighting injuries. I've put on 5-6 lbs in the last month and actually lost about .5" on my waist, which is nice to see for me.

[Austin Baraki]

Good work today. Big milestone coming up for this week's intensity day!

[NtG]

Subbed! Looking forward to tracking the gainz.

[grant.meeker]

Slightly sore for the first time on a long while. Squats felt a bit weak but doable.

Sq barx5 95x5 135x5 185x4 225x3 250x5x3 (No belt)

Been making some changes to my upper body programming (to conquer bench AIDS) and press form so it's still a bit off

Press
Barx5x2 65x5 95x5 125x4x2 120x5

Pull ups 2, 2, 2, 2, 1x12
Fun gym observations:
Why yes! You too can sexualize a stairclimber! Just walk sideways on it with a littler extra hip swing. Good for drawing in the casual admirer and completely tearing your gluteus medius

Instead of waiting forever for a rack, more people should ask to work in/let people work in with them. Can totally make you look strong and gives you a chance to judge them for 1/2 squatting more weight than you

I really want to start a tumblr called "bros touching bros" I think it could be a hit with enough pics of homoerotic spotter positions

[NtG]

Dat 315 squat on the horizon...

[grant.meeker]

Got stuck in the hospital for an extra hour tonight so everything felt a bit off going into the gym. First thought waking up this morning though...315.

Squat
Barx5 95x5 135x5 185x4 225x3 275x1
And then I got hype as fuck
315x5 done.

Grunted out the fifth rep, my BP must have been 360/280. My eyes ached and my head was throbbing

As such, the bench felt kinda weak.

Barx5x2 95x5 135x4 155x3 185x1 215x1 (bad liftoff got my shoulders out of whack plus...bench AIDS) and then got 215x2 the second try

Feeling weak as fuck for pulls, took a bunch of extra time between sets, chugged some water, just drained.

135x5 185x5 225x4 275x3 315x2 335x1 375x5

Mustered some serious fight on that last set. Slammed it down, and I was ready to fight a fucking tiger. A tiger my friends.

Gym observations:
They need an app for bros to share vids w one another easily and quickly. My phone was in use for the squat PR as an automated hype man so I couldn't use it for a vid and as such don't have a good quality vid of my squat PR. It kinda sucks.

[NtG]

I'm bummed I missed it, didn't get out of the office until 630. Nice work man!

[grant.meeker]

Yea. Definitely couldve used a hype man and proper lift on the bench

[grant.meeker]

.

[grant.meeker]

Took a week off because my life got hectic and scheduling and exhaustion and shit and yea...I'm making excuses.
Got back to it today, felt weak, changed one thing up but otherwise it went pretty alright.

Squat - barx5 95x5 135x5 184x4 225x2 280x5x5
Gotta focus on pushing my knees out the whole way up. That's going to be my cue for a while on every non-max set

Bench has been causing me issues lately with progression so I'm changing up the programming a bit. Decided to do some dumbbell flat bench press today since there were many, many bros in the gym.
20sx5 30sx5 40sx5 55sx5 65sx5x5
Definitely a different sensation but not one I altogether hated. I may see how far I can progress on this.

Paused pulls are still tough and I desperately need to order some straps, but they went well today

135x5 225x3 265x5x2

Gym observations:
The college bros at my gym have horrible game. Flirting with girls at the gym is hard enough when you're good at flirting with girls not at the gym, but some things I witness here is embarrassing for me to even watch

Also, I'd like to propose:
The theory of makeup-strength inversion
It goes like this. The more makeup you wear on your average day in the gym, the weaker you are. All the girls who show up dressed to the 9s in their fancy gym clothes with their hair all did and their makeup done are far weaker than their counterparts in yoga pants and a t shirt w their hair up, sweating, grunting out reps.

Took a week off because my life got hectic and scheduling and exhaustion and shit and yea...I'm making excuses.
Got back to it today, felt weak, changed one thing up but otherwise it went pretty alright.

Squat - barx5 95x5 135x5 184x4 225x2 280x5x5
Gotta focus on pushing my knees out the whole way up. That's going to be my cue for a while on every non-max set

Bench has been causing me issues lately with progression so I'm changing up the programming a bit. Decided to do some dumbbell flat bench press today since there were many, many bros in the gym.
20sx5 30sx5 40sx5 55sx5 65sx5x5
Definitely a different sensation but not one I altogether hated. I may see how far I can progress on this.

Paused pulls are still though and I desperately need to order some straps, but they went well today

135x5 225x3 265x5x2

Gym observations:
The college bros at my gym have horrible game. Flirting with girls at the gym is hard enough when you're good at flirting with girls not at the gym, but some things I witness here is embarrassing for me to even watch

Also, I'd live to propose:
The theory of makeup-strength inversion
It goes like this. The more makeup you wear on your average day in the gym, the weaker you are. All the girls who show up dressed to the 9s in their fancy gym clothes with their hair all did and their makeup done are far weaker than their counterparts in yoga pants and a t shirt w their hair up, sweating, grunting out reps.

Took a week off because my life got hectic and scheduling and exhaustion and shit and yea...I'm making excuses.
Got back to it today, felt weak, changed one thing up but otherwise it went pretty alright.

Squat - barx5 95x5 135x5 184x4 225x2 280x5x5
Gotta focus on pushing my knees out the whole way up. That's going to be my cue for a while on every non-max set

Bench has been causing me issues lately with progression so I'm changing up the programming a bit. Decided to do some dumbbell flat bench press today since there were many, many bros in the gym.
20sx5 30sx5 40sx5 55sx5 65sx5x5
Definitely a different sensation but not one I altogether hated. I may see how far I can progress on this.

Paused pulls are still though and I desperately need to order some straps, but they went well today

135x5 225x3 265x5x2

Gym observations:
The college bros at my gym have horrible game. Flirting with girls at the gym is hard enough when you're good at flirting with girls not at the gym, but some things I witness here is embarrassing for me to even watch

Also, I'd live to propose:
The theory of makeup-strength inversion
It goes like this. The more makeup you wear on your average day in the gym, the weaker you are. All the girls who show up dressed to the 9s in their fancy gym clothes with their hair all did and their makeup done are far weaker than their counterparts in yoga pants and a t shirt w their hair up, sweating, grunting out reps.