Musician's Log

[musician]

I'm 6'3", 29 years old, ~250 lbs. I started off the program at about 230 lbs., probably ~20% body fat. Coming into the program, I had done some training while focusing primarily on cutting body fat. I managed to get from 250-220 lbs. over the course of about 10 months of off-and-on training while gaining some strength. However, since starting SSLP, I have put on 20 lbs. and probably ~5% body fat. After reading lots of Jordan Feigenbaum's stuff, I've come to realize that I shouldn't have to go over 20% while doing this program, so as of yesterday I'm counting macros and going on a small deficit (3750 calories/day).
My long-term (~1 year) goal is to keep running LP (2-3 months), cut my body fat down to 12-15% while maintaining strength (2-3 months), run Texas Method (4-6 months), and finally compete in a local powerlifting meet just for the fun of it. I'm not trying to become a serious competitor or anything, this is all just a hobby for me.
Progress so far:
Squat: 190-->265
Bench Press: 175-->210
Deadlift: 255-->315
Press: 105-->132.5
Power Clean: 65-->125

[musician]

Today's workout:

Squat: 265 3x5
Bench Press: 210 3x5
Power Clean: 125 5x3
Lat Pull-Downs: 13 3x10

I'm utterly incapable of doing a chin-up, even negatives, and even with heavy band assistance. I'm doing 3 sets of lat pull-downs or curls at the end of workouts just to get some upper-body pulling in until I drop some fat and get strong enough to at least to negatives/band-assisted chins.

[musician]

Squat: 270 3x5
Press: 135 2x5 1x4
Deadlift: 320 1x5

Squats are starting to feel extremely draining. I tend to let me knees slide forward coming of the hole which probably means my hamstrings are slackening a bit. I'm trying in vain to fix it on my own - it is probably time for a form check.

This is my second time in a row not making all of my reps on the press. Last time I got 5, 4, 4, and this time I got 5, 5, 4. I'm doing 2.5 lb. jumps. I'm not sure if it is a technique issue or a stall. It's probably also time for a form check on this.

I just switched to 5 lb. jumps on deadlift as 315 felt epic and I think my back was rounding on the last 2-3 reps. 320 felt difficult but not god-awful, which is probably about right, so I'm going to stick with 5 lb. jumps. If my squat catches up with my deadlift then so be it.

I'm going to ditch the curls at the end of this workout as the 10-15 minutes extra it adds to the already 90 min. workout is just not worth it for pure vanity work. I'll keep doing lat pull-downs and eventually band-assisted chins in the B workout until I can do chins.

[musician]

Squat: 275 3x5
Bench Press: 212.5 3x5
Power Clean: 135 5x3

For my squats, I focused on gripping the bar harder, tightening everything up, and keeping tight around the bottom where I tend to get loose. I'm going to post a form check because I just can't get my knees to stop sliding forward coming out of the bottom.

Bench press felt extremely easy today. Strangely, my bench press alternates between being a massive grind and absurdly easy. This pattern has continued for the past 10 or so workouts in a row, so it is not just a fluke. Today I felt like I could bench 5-10 lbs. more no problem. Whatever the deal is, I'm just going to keep going with my conservative 2.5 lb. jumps.

My power clean form is an absolute joke. I'm afraid to even post a form check because I'm doing so many things fundamentally wrong. But at least the weight is going up for now. I will keep reading about it and post a form check when I feel like I've made as much progress as I can by myself.

[carson]

Welcome. What do you mean when you wish to grip the bar harder on squats? Where's your thumb?

[musician]

I'm using the thumbless grip advocated in the book. I am just focusing on making sure I actually grip the bar, as opposed to just letting my hands drape over it. I was getting some pretty bad brachialis pain a while ago, and someone on the forum suggested this as a fix. It worked, but then I got lazy about it and the pain came back, so I'm fixing it again.

[musician]

Squat: 280 3x5
Press: 135 3x5
Deadlift 325 1x0

Squats felt good

Press felt better, except I accidentally mildly push-pressed the first rep of my last set. Nevertheless it felt quite strong, and I'm confident I can jump 2.5 lbs. next time.

My low/mid back has felt pretty stiff since my last deadlift session so I was a little worried. Today 325 got about 3 inches off the floor. I HATE failing deadlift sessions, there is no lift that is worse to miss reps on. Times like this I really wish I had a good coach. I guess I'll just try it again next time.

[musician]

Squat: 285 3x5
Bench Press: 215 2x5 1x4
Power Clean: 140 2x5 1x2 1x1

I think my misses today were a result of poor sleep for the past few days, although my shitty power clean form is also starting to hold me back from progress. Two or three reps in the first squat set were above parallel, and the very last rep was a massive grind.

I'm not too worried about this, I just need to sleep better.

[musician]

Squat: 290 1x1 285 1x1 225 2x5
Press: 237.5 1x2 2x3
Deadlift: 295x5

Well that was about the worst workout I've ever had. Not a single successful lift.

First of all, I had to use the barbell that I absolutely hate as the two I normally use were both taken. I absolutely cannot squat with this barbell, it is too thick, and it also feels 5-10 lbs. heavier than the other barbells. I made a go of 290 lbs. anyways, and I barely got one rep up. I took 5 lbs. off, and barely got one rep up with that. I knew there was no way in hell 5 reps were coming up with either of those weights, so I spontaneously decided to do a light day. I have been thinking of adding a light day anyways, and I think it's time. On the plus side, it is nice to see how easy 225 feels now. I remember how horrendously heavy that weight felt when I first tried it.

As I said, I think this barbell I was using is a bit heavier than the one I normally use, and that seems to have been proven correct because I only made 2 reps at 2.5 lbs. more than my last press workout. The 3rd rep wasn't even close to going up. Finally, after my first set, one of the barbells I like became available, so I switched. Unfortunately, the first set probably messed me up, and I only got 3 reps on each of the next two sets.

My back was tweaked a while ago so I knew going in that there was just no way in hell 325 lbs. was going to happen. I decided to go down 10%. This still felt surprisingly heavy, like a 5rm. At least I made one of my planned sets of the day.

Days like this make me want to give up this program. I got 10 hours of sleep last night plus an hour nap today, and that is in addition to eating ~300 grams of protein and 4-5000 calories per day since my last workout. But I will keep going and just hope the next session is better.

[carson]

Never give up! A light day is not a bad day. It's just a light day. Besides, your light days are heavier than I can lift. You are a young man and SS is the Gold Standard for strength training. Enjoy each step.