Everything's Lighter at 8000ft: Pat's Training Log

[HiCntry]

2/25/16

BW: 238.. Whoa! look what happens when you hit macros everyday and don't get lazy on the weekends!

Squat: 280x5x5

Press: 130x5x1, 110x10x2

SGDL: 290x5x1

CGBP: 160x8x2


I've been thinking I'm gonna need to eat my way through 130 on the press and 190/195 on the bench so I've actually been eating almost 4300 calories a day since Monday. Squats were fine, filmed a bunch of these sets and I really need to work on keeping my back tight and sitting back. I have a tendency to lean forward at the bottom trying to get depth but then the bar comes forward and means I come out of the hole a little too tipped over so I worked on that today.

Press was good. A little too much layback on the last 2 reps but I got em.

Really focused on pulling the bar into my legs on deads as I realized I haven't been doing a good job of that and have been letting the bar drift forward off the floor on my pulls, conventional or otherwise.

Narrowed my grip on CGBP but stuck with a weight I felt confident about. Definitely felt it in my triceps more today.

[HiCntry]

3/1/16

BW: 227.5

Squat: 325x5x1, 235x12x1

Bench: 190x5x1, 165x8x2

DL: 370x3x2, RDL: 245x10x1



This all felt pretty strong. the last squat rep was pretty slow but I managed to keep it moving. Bench felt strong, and bench never feels strong so I'm hoping I can keep 2.5lb jumps if I keep eating. I mean I might even break 200lbs finally! Only took 10 months, woohoo! (insert sad cat meme here).

DL felt pretty good but I think I strained something either on DL or the RDL's. I thought my back was just real sore since I had really worked on maintaining my back angle during the squat and nothing really hurt. But by the time I got back to the office it was tightening up. It's nothing terrible but it kinda sucks since 375 was where I tweaked my back before Dec. I'm thinking that maybe the pulling volume is too much. I'll see how my back is on Thursday and maybe do some really light pulls or cleans or back ext. But maybe I should just totally skip it this week and see how 375 feels next Tues.

[HiCntry]

3/3/16

BW: 239

Squat: 285x5x3

Press: 132.5x7x1, 115x8x2

Back Ext: BWx10x2

CGBP: 165x8x2

v-grip pulldowns: 150x10x2, 180x5x2


My back felt great this morning but by the end of squat warmups it was sore and starting to tighten up. Once I got my belt tightened up the worksets themselves didn't feel too bad but as soon as I got out of the rack and took the belt off it was feeling much worse so I cut it at 3 sets, we'll see if that's enough for 330 on Tues.

Press felt really strong, so strong I suspected the plates were off (using different ones than I have for the last few weeks) so I did extra reps and a higher weight for backoffs. Sure enough when I weighed them after they were each about a pound lighter than the others, so 2 lbs for the pair. I'm sure I would've gotten the reps either way but at least now I know.

[HiCntry]

3/8/16

BW: 239

Squat: 330x3x2

Bench: 192.5x6x1, 170x10x2

DL: 135x10x1, 225x5x1, 135x15x2

v-grip pulldown: 155x10x2, 185x5x2


Everything felt really strong but my back is still feeling cranky. It's a little frustrating since usually any back tweaks hurt the worst in the first 12 hours and then slowly improve but this one started to improve and now seems to have hit a wall over the last 4 days and all the usual stuff hasn't seemed to help. Obviously I could still squat heavy with the belt but there was some pain, particularly at the bottom, although better than last Thursday. I was starting to tip too far forward at the bottom after the first few reps and was feeling it in my back so I broke it up into 2 sets. I'm hoping to go back to 5's next week. My legs felt strong today and if my back had been up to the job I'm sure I could've gotten all 5 today.

Bench felt crazy strong, and it wasn't the plates like it was with the press last week. Who knew an extra 4-5lbs on the ol' love-handles could make such a difference. Last time I worked up to these weights I was doing 1.5lb jumps and 3x2 sets. After today I feel like I could keep up these jumps past the 200lb mark.

Started warming up deads but these hurt worse than squats and I tweaked my back last time at 375 so I did a bunch of light reps to get the blood flowing. It seemed to help a little but the ache and tightness is still there.

[HiCntry]

3/10/16

BW: 239

Squat: 285x5x5

Press: 135x4x1, 115x10x2 (real 35lb plates this time)

DL: 135xx15x2

CGBP: 170x5x3


My back is still bugging me but I managed all my squats. With the belt on there is very little pain or discomfort when squatting, except at the very bottom of the hole. Even so it kinda frustrating and mentally draining to be worried and hesitant and not feel like you can attack the weights. All this is to say I felt pretty flat mentally today and squats felt way too heavy.

Press felt pretty strong except for the last rep. The 4th rep was total 5-7 sec grindfest that went up all uneven. The 5th wouldn't budge past my forehead. I get good drive off the chest but when my triceps have to take over they say "fuck your monkey ass arms, we're barely halfway up, I quit." I'm gonna try again next week and then decide if I can keep making 2.5lb jumps.

My back still didn't want to deadlift heavy but these light reps did feel better than Tuesday and did seem to loosen things a little. But it is still sore and tight.

CGBP was good. I think this a good weight to start 5's, had a rep left in the tank for all these sets probably. I'll start 2.5lb jumps and hopefully keep it moving with my regular bench now. After maxing out press and then backoffs and CGBP my triceps feel swole as fuck. My wife says my arms have gotten so much bigger but I've got long ass arms so I never notice, except when I press and see them in the mirror. Gotta get me that big ass horseshoe back there.

[HiCntry]

3/15/16

BW; 239

Squat: 335x2x1, 335xF, 305x5x1, 305x1x1

Bench: 195x6x1, 175x8x2

DL: 135x10x2

v-grip Pulldowns: 160x10x2, 190x5x2


My back was still not 100% going into today but seemed a little better, with the belt tightened the pain was minimal. Well I flew too close to the sun on wings of Vitamin I. I had a brain fart or something and dropped too low too fast on the first rep and came loose. I managed to grind it out and make the next rep but my back was toasted after that. Dropped weight and managed one backoff set mostly out of pure frustration and anger, but the first rep of the next backoff said "this is not a good idea." I've had plenty of back tweaks over the years and since starting SS the 2 that I've had have cleared up quickly with vitamin I and a Starr-esque protocol for deads, but this one is nagging and just wouldn't go away. I thought I could squat around it but I was one form fuckup away from aggravating it, and that was today. Not sure what to do next since the usual stuff like ibuprofen and high rep rehab and some light stretching and rolling aren't working. It was getting a little better but it felt like I had hit a wall at like 80% of normal. I'm debating about just taking a week off from squats and deads/pulling from the floor and resetting like 10% and see if that helps. An entire week off from any squatting or pulling doesn't sound fun but if I can't shake this back thing I'm not going to make any progress on those lifts anyway.

On the bright side of things my bench has never felt stronger, hence the extra rep. My form is definitely much tighter than it used to be, my ass doesn't creep off the bench anymore and I'm getting better at getting my whole body tight for the lift. Last time I hit 195 it was only for 3 or 4 reps and they were ugy, so this was a rep PR!! I still feel like I can keep 2.5lb jumps for the time being. I think I'll just go "Bro" and see how swole I can make my upperbody for the next few weeks.

Pulldowns were fine, didn't seem to make my back worse. I also finally hung my old hangboard from my climbing days after like 6 years. Its great for pullups but since it's over a door I only get 1/2 ROM on chins. At least when I go back to deadlifting my lats will be ready to go. I'm pretty sure I tweaked my back this time by being lazy about pulling the bar into my legs on a deadlift and letting it spin away from me (I use mixed grip for worksets), so hopefully the extra back work will help.

[HiCntry]

3/17/16

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

BW: 240

Squat: 290x5x3

Press: 135x5x1, 115x10x2

DL: 135x10x2, 225x5x1

CGBP: 172.5x5x3

Chins back at the office: 4,3,3,3


Well my back was still bothering me but feeling much better this morning so I figured I'd warmup squats and see how it goes. There is still some pain and tightness at the bottom but less than there was. My form started to get a little sloppy, which usually means I get too far forward and end up as a squat-morning, and this made it hurt much worse so I cut it after 3 sets to be safe. We'll see how next Tues goes and play it by ear.

Finally get to use the big boy plates for press worksets now, I was pretty excited about that.

DL felt better than I expected but it still hurts worse than squats so I didn't push it. Definitely not ready for anything much heavier yet.

[HiCntry]

3/22/16

BW: 238.5

Squat: 275x5x1

Bench: 197.5x5x1, 175x8x2

DL: tons of reps @ 135 then worked up to 275x5x1

v-grip pulldowns: 165x10x2, 195x5x2

Back was feeling much better this weekend and today but I could still feel it wasn't back to normal. I resisted the urge to push it and just warmed up to a set at 275. Squats actually felt worse today than deads. I say it's my lower back but I think it's actually something in my hips or upper glutes since it hurts the worst at the bottom of the squat and first half coming up out of the hole. Lowering down doesn't hurt until the very bottom. It's frustrating because it feels better but then as soon as I squat it's painful again. Oh well, the lifting is helping I just got too greedy and was pushing too hard at first I think.

Bench gains continue, although today didn't feel quite as strong as last week.

Deads felt better than they have for the last 3 weeks but lowering the weight doesn't feel so strong. I'll just keep working it and pushing the weight up. Just sucks since these are the weights I worked up to before Xmas and then tweaked my back. Just have to be patient since I really don't want anymore nagging back problems.

[HiCntry]

3/24/16

BW: 239.5

Squat: Barx20 then 135x5x1, 185x5x1, 225x5x1, 275x5x1, 305x5x1

Press: 137.5x5x1, 117.5x10x1, 117.5x8x1

DL: 135x15x2

CGBP: 175x5x3

Today finally felt like progress as my back felt better going into today and felt much better during the actual squats. There was significantly less pain during all these sets. The last set definitely felt harder than I was expecting but I haven't squatted heavy for almost 10 days now. I may have been a bit greedy with the last set as I got too far forward on the last rep and my back didn't like it but it seems fine now so we'll see.

Press was good. pushing through to 240lbs BW seems to have helped my upperbody lifts and it's nice to be making strong progress on them finally. I know there are so many factors that go into making steady gainzz but I wonder if people reach a tipping point in terms of size and leverages. I don't expect to keep breezing through my upper body lifts or anything but since hitting 236lbs-240lbs BW my presses seem to have gotten much stronger all of a sudden. They're still pretty sad for someone my size but I'm interested to see how much progress I can make on them at this weight.

Took it easy on DL as my back was acting up after squats and these aggravate it more than squats usually.

CGBP was fine, nothing to see here.

[HiCntry]

3/29/16

BW: 238

Squat: 310x5x1, 225x10x1

Bench: 200x5x1, 175x8x2

DL: 315x1x1, 225x5x2

pulldowns: 170x10x2, 200x5x2


Back has been feeling much better and squats felt a lot better today. Squats were tough but I wouldn't say any reps were in doubt. The last rep was surprisingly slow. A reset like this is kinda frustrating but this back injury has made me realize how bad some of my form creep had become so at least I can work on all that as I work my way back up.

Finally hit 200lb for bench! Holy shit that took way longer than it should have but it feels good to get it. Definitely some slower reps this week but overall it felt pretty strong.

DL was a little disappointing. Strengthwise 315 felt as easy as I was expecting but there was a lot more pain and discomfort than I was hoping for, especially considering how good squats felt. The motion is the lotion though so I'll just keep slowly pushing it until I'm back to 100%.