CrossFatter LP

[Itchysoles]

23 Aug 2017: 10:00 - 11:10a

Overall not feeling great. My whole body just beat up from the last couple 3x5 squats at 380# and 385#--not just the left elbow which only ached dully today. Basically everything but deadlift felt exceptionally weak today.

Squat worked up to a few sets at 275#--not hard, but everything just stiff and achy. Worse than previous light days by a long margin.

Press up to a few sets at 135#--same bad feelz.

Deadlift-- actually felt like I had some PRs in me with an aggressively knurled bar. 315# felt like nothing on the warm up, so I loaded 405# rather than the 395# I had planned to pull for 5. Pulled two really easily, which is probably a 2-rep PR, but then ripped my left pinky callus wide open. Shoot. Should be able to tape up and make up the reps on Friday.

Bench-- Planned 3x5 at 290#, but it felt terrible, so stopped at a single set of 5 at 275#

A few sets of ring pullups.

A few clean to front squats at 135.
----------------------------------------------------

May be time for a deload week all around then test competition lift maxes and call that the end of linear progression. Squat form and consequent elbow pain probably kept me from achieving all I could on LP, but I'm pretty happy with overall progress.

E1RMs on LP peaked for me at

Squat 456# up from 365# at start
Press 233 from 225#, but I think actual 1RM ability must have been a little lower at start
Dead 433 from 385#, and based on how 425# felt last week and 405# x 2 felt this morning, I think my 1RM now is def higher.

= E1RM strengthlifting total of 1122# up from 925#, a 200# gain to total in 12 weeks.

[Itchysoles]

BW: 206.5#, right direction

So I'm tapering off the fatigue.

Definitely need a change, body is hurting--which I am fine with as long as planned weights are going up, but long run I feel like less volume for a week or two could help. The other thing motivating this is that I'm realizing I am a total moron when it comes to gauging near maximal attempts. e.g., 405# deadlift has not felt that strenuous the last couple sessions, but then I only pull it for a set of 2. 405# squat (maybe for the first time ever?) didn't feel too difficult, but who knows?, maybe my true 1RM is only like 415#. Press, on the other hand, is pretty much falling apart; same weights feel heavier every time.

Thus here is my plan I'm tacking on the end of the LP to address both the fatigue and the motor-moron syndrome:
linearly increase weight,
linearly decrease volume,
Until I naturally get to the volume of just a mock meet.

Should be recovered from the volume pretty well by then, and I'll start something Texas Methodish at about 10# under my last 3x5 for all lifts.... or "The Pier", I hear great things about "The Pier".



Here da squat:


Here da bottom of da squat:

[Itchysoles]

Hurt my right arm in a slip-n-slide blunt impact accident on Saturday. A good way to go out, but I thought it was possibly broken for the first day. Just moving it around trying to maintain ROM, and I'm giving my lifts an extra rest day and going Tue, Thurs, Sat this week. Hopefully can still press as planned, but might have to keep it light.

[Itchysoles]

Tuesday, 29 Sept 2017, 12:00-1:15pm

BW: 207# -- did 3 beers last night help or hurt? A rare night for me.

Both elbows were feeling much better today, but I still went easy on the volume. Hopefully the timing of the healing works out well so that I can get in the intensity I was looking for this week, have a good mock meet a week from today, then be ready for intermediate programming in earnest within two weeks. The volume de-load feels really good so far despite the extra arm injury.

Squat:
45,135,185,225,275 more warm up reps than usual since my arms need it.

Competition style singles @
315, 365, 410.25# (because 410 was the record at the university gym I was in. It's a new gym, so I'm sure that will fall soon. Just tryin' to help them push it!)

Long paused singles at 390, 385, 365, 315, 315

Press
205# was supposed to be 210#, I misread it. Nice long hold at the top.

195# x 2
190 x 2
185 x 3

Bench practice at 135
BW pullups 3 x 5
Deadlift practice at 135

Then clean and jerks at 135 were the only thing that really hurt my right arm. May have to just cut that for the week.

[Itchysoles]

BW: 206#

Squat
Warmups 45,45,95,135,185,225,275,315 with shorter rests than usual, everything feeling great!

comp style singles at 365, 405, 425 -- felt great, great, great, much less awkward than usual, specific practice is nice.

But then my arms felt painfully fatigued. Not acute elbow pain, that seems to continue getting better, but fatigue the sort of which doesn't really let up at all for a couple hours. Messed me up for the other lifts...

Press up to 185#... feelz are bad

Deads, went for 395# x 5, after 1 @ 395# decided I need to just come back for this tomorrow.

Some other life stressors might be playing into this. Oh well, I'll do what I can and test all 3 comp lifts on Tuesday anyway. Real happy with how the squats themselves are feeling though. I think 450# is within reach for a mock meet.

425Sq.jpg



Cue in my head today was "pull shoulders down and back". Alan Thrall said something like that to Soylent Mike on vid yesterday.

[Itchysoles]

So den I goes back today to get the upper body reps I just couldn't do yesterday due to arm pain/fatigue. Didn't feel great, but at least I got some high intensity stuff in.

Press single:
215#, 195, 195, 185, 185

Deadlift:
Did these kind of density set of singles. Probably 2-3 minutes for 5 reps. 395#

Tested clean to front squat with a bunch of pausing to stretch out. Didn't feel to bad, should be fine to resume after the mock meet next Tuesday.

[Itchysoles]

Monday Sept. 4:

I did a light day practicing a few singles up to 90% or less on squat (405), press (185), deadlift (405) and coached a couple friends who are going to help me run the mock meet today (Tuesday). Before a real meet, I probs would have gone even lighter; unfortunately, I missed the planned light intensity day on Saturday because I'm working like a dog getting ready to move house. The move is likely going to really mess with Fall Classic preparation, but so it goes.

Despite an extra day of rest, I felt as mobile in the low-bar position as I have ever felt. There was very little elbow pain, so I'm hopeful my squat attempts won't interfere with the other two lifts. If I do start to feel anything on warm-ups, I may go out of order and squat last. Tested the time limits by having a friend surprise me about when exactly she would start the 1:00 timer--no problems with that.

Openers for today will be:
Squat 430#
Press 225#
Dead 441#

Preparing by overeating as usual, sleep wasn't great last night, but I don't feel too tired. Planning on a big, salty shake an hour before I go into the gym and 400mg caffeine. I didn't weigh last night, but I feel like I'm probably hitting a BW high right on time as well.

[Itchysoles]

Tuesday, Sept. 5, 5:30 - 6:45pm -- abbreviated mock meet

Well, it was a good learning experience. I'm not satisfied that I found my absolute max lifts under perfectly ideal circumstances, but that's not how a meet apparently works either. Showed up with mismatched socks and the wrong shirt, meant to have a thick t-shirt as that feels better for max attempt squats, but neither of those made much difference. The stupid wildfire smoke is back hard, but I don't think that makes a diff either-- maybe does for sets of five, but not for singles.

I got into the squats and realized just how long 3 attempts each was going to take, plus my elbow/arm fatigue started to come back, so I made it a 2-attempt per lift meet.

Squat:
First lift at 430# was maybe even too light for an opener, but it was a 5# PR, so happy with it anyway. Hopefully in a month that's an easy 200kg opener.

Second lift at 450# slowed down for sure. I think this is what a 2nd should probably feel like. Maybe puts my third attempt at about 465#? So 475#+ not out of question for Fall Classic? We'll see.

Press:
225# felt about right, but then 240# was garbage, garbage, garbage. I'll put it on the technique forum and see what people think; the bar locked out above my head, but I bent back at the knees instead of the hips to get it going. I'll make a good 240# press my goal for Fall Classic.

Deadlift:
445# moved pretty easy; that's a 20# PR, but obviously I am a moron at judging deadlift attempts because 475# just barely broke off the ground for a second attempt.


If the goal was to test max attempts according to USSF rules, this should count as a failure, but I'm actually pretty happy with having identified some weaknesses to know what to work on for the next 6 weeks.

Not sure of the exact program I'll run yet, but what I want is to deload squats considerably, place them last in the workout, fix my press form, and make room for more deadlift volume--my form is not terrible for deads, but I'm stupid about how hard it should feel. After Fall Classic I'll run a more traditional SS-style intermediate program, but whatever I do next needs to be specific to my two weak lifts, I think. Vids to come.

[Itchysoles]

And the vids/

450# squat:


240# press attempt:


445# deadlift:

[Itchysoles]

So it turns out I'm moving. Not exactly sure where, probably somewhere in the US PNW, so I'll be traveling for a while starting with a couple months in Germany. Will probably mean I'll miss the Fall Classic, but not canceling until I know for sure within the next week.

In the hubbub of moving plans and playing around with friends my training has gone off track. Still got in about 3 times a week, but I met with friends and did some random workouts, will probably even get in a CrossFat wod or two in the next couple weeks. Not paying as much attention to eating means I dropped from about 207# to 202#. When I can find a consistent gym, I'm going to give The Brig from Bluebell Medicins a try. Until then we'll see what I can do with roughly deloading 20% and making jumps if I can whenever I make it to a date with just me and the barbell.

Today:

Squat
315# x 5reps x 5sets

Deadlift
365# x 5 -- 30 seconds to tape my torn thumb after second rep.

Bench
275# x 3 x 5

3 sets of about 15 pullup, toes to bar, dips in about 5 minutes. yep, CrossFat style. Breathing too hard to talk all the way across the parking lot to my car.