IE's Log

[coleossus]

SQUAT:

• 60x5x2
• 145x5x1
• 230x3x1
• 315x2x1 (belted)
• 400x5x3 (belted)

OHP:

• 50x5x2
• 80x5x1
• 110x3x1
• 140x2x1 (belted)
• 170x5x1 (belted)

DEADLIFT:

• 140x5x1 (mixed hook grip)
• 225x3x1 (mixed hook grip)
• 315x2x1 (mixed hook grip)
• 400x1 (mixed hook grip)
• 400x3x1 (mixed hook grip)
• 400x1 (mixed hook grip)

SQUATS: blah blah
OHP: blah blah
DEADLIFT: Tired. Not stressing it.

CHATTER:

IE where be u?

Around. Still lifting, just... fucking around with things. Read on below...

TM, huh? You ready for that?... BTW warmup, for warming up anything under 60%-70%, it doesn't matter much what's on the bar... All of these weights are arbitrary anyway and rounded to what iron is available. Until you get to your max.

Actually, no. Before I get into that - I don't stress too much about warm ups. I mess counts up frequently (forever changing my spreadsheet to fix it) but I fudge numbers all the time because I hate moving plates around. What I hate even more is thinking I'm doing X, but I'm really doing Y, that's why I complain when it happens.

Regarding TM, I deliberated following my failed 410 deadlift, and decided to focus on weight loss. I contacted several coaches to see the feasibility of getting a program that would facilitate weight loss without losing many gains, and as expected the responses I received were exceptionally expensive, poorly suited to the volume of weight I need to lose (i.e. I'd have to purchase several new programs over time), and the general sentiment echoed between the coaches was "You'll lose some gains, it's a question of priority."

It's as I expected, but its prohibitively expensive. Did some scouring, and I decided I want to try HLM + lots of cardio as HLM appears to be the most advocated for cutting, and I think I'll be able to keep my numbers, push my pressing linear some more, while still maintaining energy for additional cardio throughout the day. I've successfully maintained nearly 2 hours per day of LISS cardio the last two weeks wedged into my schedule at work, so there's no excuse for non-compliance.

Obviously, diet becomes a priority and, after proceeding through the seven stages of grief and settling weakly into acceptance, I must finally admit: I cannot continue using fast food as an alternative to cooking my own meals. I feel stupid because it's obvious and I've been being told this for a long time, but have remained too foolhardy - no longer! I've found a palatable combination of long-grain brown rice, seasonings, and olive oil that give me a healthy carb and fat source, with whey filling my protein needs. Plenty of other meals are available for variety when I need it, but I'll be using rice & whey as the backbone - a sort of "chicken and rice" clean diet. I can prep several days worth of food in a couple of hours - solving the convenience issue, my biggest barrier to diet compliance, and eating it doesn't make me want to die (like that week I overloaded on spinach and dry, overcooked chicken).

Bottom line: I'm too fat to deadlift efficiently. Strong enough to pull with shitty form up to this point, but trying to fight it any further is a waste of my time. Been a constant thorn since my first failed 465 pull. Lost 15# since my last weigh in, and my blood pressure is back in healthy ranges. Light day Wednesday, try a proper 5x1 deadlift on Friday, hybrid HLM/linear pressing next week with lots of cardio. I'll post my weigh-ins on Monday mornings before heavy lifts. My goal is to be thin by 30, but - pending actual compliance and results - I think it's reasonable to believe I can lose the bulk of my weight by the end of the year or sooner.

Still deliberating the nature of cardio I'll be doing - 1.5 hours a day is easily attainable, and enjoyable when I weave it into my schedule instead of doing a big block at the end of the day (boring, tired). I want to get some HIIT in, but I need to see how much energy I have and what days it'll be best suited to. Gonna play that by ear.

[coleossus]

SQUAT:

• 45x5x2
• 105x5x1
• 150x3x1
• 195x2x1
• 240x5x5

BENCH:

• 45x5x2
• 90x5x1
• 135x3x1
• 175x2x1 (belted)
• 235x3x1 (belted)
• 215x5x3 (belted)

DEADLIFT:

• 140x5x1
• 150?x3x1
• 195?x2x1
• 240x5x5

SQUATS: ... I really like squatting from the ER racks. The fact that I can slide the rack arms inward a little really helps me get in a better squat position. I don't like squatting without the heavy pins in a power rack, though...
BENCH: Almost got 4 on 235, but my feet came off the floor. Probably could've done 220-225, but I decided to be a little conservative.
DEADLIFT: Don't really know how useful 5 across is, but today was at 60% intensity so I thought I'd try volume. Going to hit the programming forum for some advice.

CHATTER: Nothing of consequence. Weight fluctuating, think it's extra body water. I usually gain a pound or two when I hit the weights, then start to taper off. Got some decent cardio in yesterday, plan to today as well. Feet still feel a little rough from long periods of walking, so I'm going to give it a few more days of LISS before I try to add the HIIT in, as mentioned in last post. Diet compliance remains good.

Not super sure how I'm going to program the deadlifts with the increase volume, and I don't know if I have 400x5x5 in me for squats. We'll see. Gonna go poke around the programming forum for awhile.

ADDENDUM: All these numbers are wrong - wrong amount of deadlifting, wrong percentage for recovery, wrong wrong wrong. Should've done around a 20% drop, not 40%. Oh well - live and learn. Going to implement Andy's basic HLM suggestions from here: Simplifying the Heavy-Light-Medium Training System - Part 3: Pulling - Baker Strength Coaching

[coleossus]

SQUAT:

• 45x5x2
• 125x5x1
• 190x3x1
• 255x2x1
• 320x5x5

OHP:

• 45x5x2
• 80x5x1
• 115x3x1
• 145x2x1 (belted)
• 175x5x3 (belted) - PR

CLEANS:

• 145x???
• 155x???
• 185x3x1
• 175x3x3?

SQUATS: Real happy with the depth, the ER rack makes it a lot easier to drive my grip in and keep the bar steady. Nothing new here. Kept rests short, around 3m.
OHP: PR, woo. Fairly happy with the form, too, didn't have to lean way the hell back. Worth noting these are standard 1.0 presses, without that weird hip bounce (which I'll never figure out how to do).
CLEANS: Just kind of fucked around. Form on 170 wasn't bad, played around with 150 range to work on form, just a dynamic pull to keep things loose. Feels unproductive, but, you know, whatever.

CHATTER: Going to start a proper HLM program on Monday. Going to do different percentages for light and medium day next week, including the programming suggestions from Baker's blog linked in last post - some cleans on Wednesday and stiff leg deadlifts on Friday, see how it works.

My expectations for Monday are pretty low, frankly. 400x5x3 was challenging enough, adding two more sets sounds like a lot. Deadlifts have been spotty and I've been pushing myself too hard on them, like a bonehead, but I'm keeping an open mind that the extra rest I've been getting will make a difference in completing the pull. I'm going to focus on form and volume for 2-3 weeks and continue to work on my cardio implementation to find something that works before I worry about increasing the weights again. Once I find what works and what I can stick to, I'll start my Intermediate log.

This week I've improved my training spreadsheet and pulled in other documents for a one-stop-shop. Got a weekly agenda with all my times and stuff broken down, macro calculator cleaned up, a page for my supplement information, and the bar math calculator has been greatly improved (though I need to add some things for the new lifts). The point being that I'm trying to set myself up for success this time and re-prioritize my lifting regimen. It was a lot of fun when LP was going smoothly, but somewhere the exuberance got buried beneath my failed deadlifts and shoulder pain and I kept trying the same thing over and over again until I got burned out.

Anyway, Goal 1 is HLM+Cardio+diet to get down to ~240 @ 15-20% bf. Not going to worry too much about the gains, going to listen to what I was told - it's a question of priority, and I can't pretend like the extra weight isn't holding me back. If HLM+Cardio+diet doesn't work, then I'll just look for something else that does. Weighing in officially on Monday.

[chromoly]

Whoa, OHP PR is the best kind of PR (aside from a deadlift, maybe).

Also, don't you worry about squatting in the ER rack without safeties? I know you can use the safeties, but I figure with the amount of weight you're squatting, even if you gently place the weight on the safeties in case of failure, the rack is gonna tip... I'm a scaredy cat and don't like to squat without safeties.

[coleossus]

Moving heavy lift to tomorrow - had a rough weekend, haven't been sleeping well, just felt absolutely trashed and felt like if I forced myself to lift today it'd just be miserable. Tentative plan is to just skip the light day, do the medium day on Friday as planned. Weighed in, though, as promised. My previous, doctor's office weigh in (mid day, in full clothing, post-meal) was an even 390. Today's weigh in was 374.2 @ ~53% BF. Last weigh in from previous week was 376, around 54-55% BF, soooo.... Making progress in the right direction. Don't know how accurate my BF measurement is - one of those little floor scales with BF electrodes in it. Lots of people complain about the accuracy, but I'm using it as another regular benchmark to track progress. Just want to see progress in the right direction.

Whoa, OHP PR is the best kind of PR (aside from a deadlift, maybe). Also, don't you worry about squatting in the ER rack without safeties? I know you can use the safeties, but I figure with the amount of weight you're squatting, even if you gently place the weight on the safeties in case of failure, the rack is gonna tip... I'm a scaredy cat and don't like to squat without safeties.

Yeah, squatting heavy without safeties is pretty much asking to kill yourself. Only reason I was comfortable doing it was because the last two lifts were well below my max weights, and the big boy squat racks were full. For a heavy day, I'd wait for the squat racks. I'd looked into the possibility of stand-alone supports, but the only people using them are squatting in the low 200's, and complain about a lot of instability. The best ones I found were pricey, to the tune of $350. Saw some steel sawhorses, but I wouldn't even trust those if I had to drop 450# on top of them. So, just gotta deal with the rack. I think I've complained about this before, but it's a big problem for me to get into the squat racks. My gym used to have one with flat L-shaped rack pins, so I could place my hands on the rack and pull the bar out without an issue. One other squat rack has angled L-shaped rack pins, which makes the bar roll forward and makes it impossible for me to roll the bar out safely unless my hands are already in place on the bar. The other squat rack has really deep U-shaped rack pins, so it's not possible to "prep" my hands and roll the bar out - gotta put hands in place and lift it up and out. There's one of those hydraulic squat racks with sturdy loops of nylon, like they use in the powerlifting tournaments, but that takes two people to use and isn't really suited to training. There's also a wholly other squat rack that looks house-made, but the support pins are about the size of a large sharpie, and there's no way I'd risk dropping weight on those either. Fuck my shoulders and fat arms. So hard to get in position. It's been such a bear to deal with I've looked into building my own home gym, but I don't have access to a garage. No dice - just gotta deal with it and train around the slightly-less-optimal situation until I can get in a proper squat position with my arms/shoulders.

[coleossus]

SQUAT:

• 45x5x2
• 145x5x1
• 230x3x1
• 315x2x1
• 400x5x5 - Set PR?

BENCH:

• 45x5x2
• 95x5x1
• 140x3x1
• 185x2x1 (belted)
• 230x5x3 (belted)
• 230x3x1 (belted)

DEADLIFT:

• 145x5x1
• 225x3x1
• 315x2x1 (belted)
• 400x5x1 (belted)

SQUATS: On the big-boy squat rack. Not that big of a deal - kept tight, good bar control. 2 extra sets were kind of new, but not as bad as I was afraid they might be.
BENCH: Felt ambitious today - figured I'd get 4 reps on the first set but I pulled 5. Was supposed to do 225, but when my spreadsheet said 87.5 for each side, I didn't want to mess with extra plates so I just went right to 90. Final reps in each set were slow, but my feet stayed anchored and the bar didn't regress during the press, so I managed to complete the sets. Decided to try for 5x5 - definitely couldn't lol.
DEADLIFT: All sets mixed grip. Felt real strong today. Guess the extra rest does make a difference. Guess that's also why they tell you if you're not able to progress, YNDTP.

CHATTER: Down 2 more lbs and corresponding drop in bodyfat percentage - forget what it was exactly. Lifts felt real strong today, went to bed nice and early by like 6:45, sprung up at 3:15. Everything's on target - glad I waited an extra day. Needed the confidence boost.

Going to miss an OHP day this week, just do another Bench on Friday with an otherwise lowered intensity day - not sure if it'll be low or medium. See if I can pull 410 next week.

[coleossus]

SQUAT:

• 45x5x2
• 125x5x1
• 195x3x1
• 260x2x1
• 330x5x5

OHP:

• 45x5x2
• 85x5x1
• 115x3x1
• 150x2x1 (belted)
• 180x5x5 (belted - last rep push press) - PR volume + intensity

CLEANS:

• 145x5x1
• 150x3x1
• 160x2x1
• 190x1x1 (failed second rep)
• 180x2x5 - PR

SQUATS: Uneventful.
OHP: Another PR! Last set was really of 4, with a single of push-press. I waited too long trying to catch a breath, bungled the final rep. Feelin' strong, though.
CLEANS: Still working primarily on form with this, but I did get 10# over my last official PR. Some pulls were vastly easier than others, which leads me to believe I really just need more practice than anything.

CHATTER: Haven't weighed again, but macros have been irregular, so probably little progress this week. Probably been under a caloric total of 3K/day, but some days I've skipped some protein and had some extra fats. But I'm feeling strong, so...

Decided to do OHP today instead of another bench, because I like OHP and I'm so close to joining the 200# club. Can't wait. Shooting for a new Bench PR (finally) on Monday. Still unsure if I can pull 410 next week. We'll see.

Sleep patterns have been wildly irregular. Heavy days I end up grabbing 3 extra hours of sleep, then on rest days I spring up an hour or two earlier than my alarm so... Not sure how this will effect things - thinking about forcing myself to a specific 8-9 hour sleep cycle, but I feel like the extra sleep after a heavy day helps with my recovery a lot...

Anyone want to weigh in on what they think I should pull Monday? I feel like having a PR of 465 means I should be able to tolerate a 10# jump super easily, but with this new training methodology I'm just not really sure what to expect.

[coleossus]

SQUAT:

• 45x5x2
• 150x5x1
• 235x3x1
• 325x2x1 (belted)
• 410x5x5 (belted)

BENCH:

• 45x5x2
• 100x5x1
• 145x3x1
• 195x2x1 (belted)
• 240x3x1 (belted)
• 235x3x1 (belted)
• 230x3x1 (belted)

DEADLIFT:

• 145x5x1
• 230x3x1
• 320x2x1 (belted
• 410x5x1 (belted)

SQUATS: Used the rack with the little pins and L-arm rack today. Felt good. It's better constructed so if I get stuck in the hole I can more easily, and gently, retire the bar to the pins without letting it slam. 410 was hard - let alone 5 sets. Last reps in the last few sets were grindy, and I had to rest a whole lot today.
BENCH: No idea what went wrong today. I think I was too cold and a little dehydrated. Decided not to sweat it and take a swing again on Friday. Something was clearly wrong. Don't think it was tendinitis - arms felt fine.
DEADLIFT: Surprised I managed to pull 410 - it was easy. I was convinced that I'd ruin the pull after my benching performance. But all 5 flew up easy.

CHATTER: 2#'s lost from last week - came in about 372.

To resolve complaints last week, tentative goals for this week as follows:

• Reliably take BCAAs between meals.
• Reliably get extra cardio/walking in
  
  • Been slacking on this as I've been tweaking my program; been spending the extra time reading.
  
  
• Focus on a strict 7pm-4am sleep cycle, instead of allowing fluctuation
• Reliably maintain proper protein macros.

Really confused about the benching today - but not put in a bad mood over it. I was thirsty through the workout, and especially afterwards. Had plenty of carbs around 4:10, about 105g carbs and 21g fat; in accordance with To Be A Beast guidelines. Wondering if I needed more carbs. Or maybe the weird scheduling last week interfered? I'd think if there were a recovery or protein issue, I'd have failed that deadlift at least. Beats me.

[coleossus]

SQUAT:

• 45x5x2
• 150x5x1
• 235x3x1
• 325x2x1 (belted)
• 410x5x1 (belted)
• Vomitx1x1 (belted)
• 410x5x4 (belted)

PRESS:

• 45x5x2
• 85x5x1
• 115x3x1
• 150x2x1 (belted)
• 180x5x5 (belted)

DEADLIFT:

• 145x5x1
• 230x3x1
• 320x2x1 (belted
• 410x5x1 (belted)

SQUATS: Squats were a little grindy, felt dizzy after the last three sets.
PRESS: Incredibly easy today.
DEADLIFT: Deadlifting was easy again, today. Really building a lot of confidence back.

CHATTER: Got benched for a week and a half with the flu - probably why my last bench attempt failed and I felt so out of it. Just coming back with a repeat to get back in the game.

My stomach is a little sensitive in the morning, I don't take pills well, and the PWO usually sits poorly (too much potassium?). Typically I just ignore it and am fine, but I had the brilliant idea to swallow the gum I was chewing, and it just... yuck. Stepped outside and made it to a garbage can with nobody around, then went back to squatting.

Anyway, no increments today, just coming back from the illness-induced layoff. Felt pretty good all things considered, not sure if I'm going to increment on Monday or not. Thinking I probably will. Would be nice to have a new bench PR. Left some weight off the bar today being cautious, probably would've lifted heavier if I was feeling a little better but I'm trying to be consistent and successful, instead of intermittent and over-ambitious.

Not sure what my weight is, but I'm sure I put some weight back on over the layoff, since I was pretty much just laying around the whole time. Didn't even make it to work. Eugh. Still, no loss, so no real setback. Feeling good.

[Merkin Weaver]

Getting sick is the worst gains killer.
The first year I was lifting I got sick 5 times over that winter. Im surprised I made any progress at all.