The Riddle of Iron

[CimmerianInTraining]

"Recovery Day" activities... had the day off because of April Vacation daycare confusion...

We celebrate May Day, so I walked into the woods with my boys (7 and 8) to find a May Pole. Ended up cutting down a much bigger and heavier tree then I expected... my boys and I dragged it out of the forest and through the neighborhood back to the house. I feel substantially more useful then I used to, this would have been a much harder project six months ago.

Then an hour and a half of football and wiffleball.

Folded laundry.

Played more football.

Walked around the neighborhood with my wife to so she could reach her "fitbit" steps goal.

Drank a few beers. My shoulder hurts, maybe repeatedly powercleaning a 14' log followed by pitching and then throwing a football isn't the ideal rehab protocol? Anyhow, the reason I lift is so I can do this shit. Time for some ice and some advil.

I'm giving serious thought to switching to a twice per week strength maintenance program through the summer, combined with more cardio and some calorie counting. I weight 214 and I'd love to weight 195-200 with the same amount of muscle and less belly fat. Any thoughts on how to program something like that? Lot's of backoff sets and maybe one work set instead of three, perhaps, with little or no increase on squat and dl and perhaps some bumps on bench and press as strength permits?

[peez]

You seem to have found a perfect use for that newfound strength!

Any thoughts on how to program something like that?

Maybe alternating heavy and light days, or heavy every time if going twice a week. Lift as much as you can - everyone (and every lift) reacts to a calorie deficit differently. For me its mostly the squat that suffers right now - not the upper body stuff with smaller muscle groups. Just try it out!

I'd go for a 500-1000 calorie deficit per day. I try to stay on the higher side to get it over with more quickly, once at target will gradually increase food intake.I don't count calories, just eliminate snacks & reduce all portions & esp. avoid carbs. It's not rocket science - consume more that you eat. Lift as hard as you can.

[CimmerianInTraining]

4/24

Started totally wiped from yesterday's log carrying "workout," with sore hips, probably from dragging the freaking thing.

Squat: 45x5x2, 95x5, 135x3, 175x2, 215x1
work: 240x5x3 -- rugged and tired, but another successful PR
backoff: 135x5

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 75x3, 85x2
work: 120x2, fail -- since my shoulders were tired to start the day, this is entirely predictable
backoff: 75x5, 55x8

PC: 45x5, 75x3, 95x3, 115x2, 125x1
work: 135x3x5 -- not too bad. These are starting to feel heavy.

Tomorrow I'll be helping my brother-in-law put a roof on my mother-in-law's antique shop, possibly painting a boat, carrying tons of stuff to a dumpster. It's good to be useful. But holy hell I'm gonna be wiped out!

[Mr. Bingley]

nice SQ!!!

[CimmerianInTraining]

S-H-I-T-T-Y --

As predicted, since I spent the weekend roofing, not eating right, and didn't sleep well last night.

Squat: 45x5x2, 95x5, 135x3, 185x2, 215x1
work: 245x2, 235x3 -- dropped rep #4 on the bars at the bottom of the hole
backoff: 185x5, 135x10

Bench: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 105x2, 115x1
work: 120x5, 120x4 -- fail
backoff: 95x5, 50x8

Deadlift: 135x5x2, 185x5.. I was planing to continue to 225x3, 225x1, 270x5 but by this point I was so fucking tired and my back was still a little sore from the squats that I decided to take it easy...
work: 225x5, 225x4
backoff: 135x5

I'm really beat. I noticed what looks like bags under my eyes in the mirror.

I've been thinking about adjusting my program, rolling around various ideas like a twice-per-week 3-2-1 variation. With all the warmups, it takes me just about an hour and a half, plus walking to the gym, changing, showing afterwards, walking back... it's like a two hour lunch and while my boss is super understanding I really do need to spend more time at my desk. I've also be toying around the idea of going every day but getting in an out in one hour sharp... something like:

M: squat
T: Power Clean
W: bench
Th: Deadlift
F: Press

I could do the main lift + an assistance lift in 45 minutes leaving 15 minutes travel / shower time. I'm just thinking this around. I'm gonna order microplates and a copy of PP:ST today.

[CimmerianInTraining]

That's pretty good advice. Then I'd go up 5/lb per week on each lift? So the next week's intensity would be Squat 250x5x1 and volume would be 225x5x5, for example? I just ordered two 1.25 york plates from Rogue -- $8 + $11 shipping, and a copy of PPST and some liquid chalk stuff.

[ssullivan]

After being tired all weekend you still set a squat PR!

The 1.25s will help immensely! Well worth it for the upper body lifts, power cleans and 5x5 squats.

[CimmerianInTraining]

I'm beat... plain beat. I had a busy week last week -- trained monday, wednesday, and Friday, helped my brother-in-law roofing all weekend, didn't sleep well, lifted yesterday, still didn't sleep well last night.

My legs are tired, my arms are tired, and the idea of lifting tomorrow has zero appeal. I'm afraid I won't sleep well tonight either despite being exhausted. I just feel totally flat. If I wake up and feel refreshed tomorrow, I'll train. But I'm 43 years old, I've been at this about four months -- during which I've raised my Squat from 85 to 240 and my DL from 105 to 265 -- and I feel old and beat, almost like I had the flu or something.

Might be time for a few days off. Anyhow, not to bitch or moan. Bottom line is I need to let myself recover. This must be what "overtrained" feels like?

[Piper]

Might be bud! take some time and try to eat and sleep well. An extra day or two between workouts at the novice stage shouldn't be enough time for any real detraining to occur! Fear not for lost gainzzz!

[artvandalay]

I'm beat... plain beat. I had a busy week last week -- trained monday, wednesday, and Friday, helped my brother-in-law roofing all weekend, didn't sleep well, lifted yesterday, still didn't sleep well last night.

My legs are tired, my arms are tired, and the idea of lifting tomorrow has zero appeal. I'm afraid I won't sleep well tonight either despite being exhausted. I just feel totally flat. If I wake up and feel refreshed tomorrow, I'll train. But I'm 43 years old, I've been at this about four months -- during which I've raised my Squat from 85 to 240 and my DL from 105 to 265 -- and I feel old and beat, almost like I had the flu or something.

Might be time for a few days off. Anyhow, not to bitch or moan. Bottom line is I need to let myself recover. This must be what "overtrained" feels like?

I have felt this way a couple of times. I have found that it goes away after about 2-3 days rest. I've been forced to take a couple of extra days off because of work a couple of times and have come back feeling better both times. I've been back lifting weights for 5 months but only doing SS for about 7 weeks, so if this is your first time feeling this way I'd say you're doing great!