Inspirational LP at 33

[Kevin Pavon]

I am posting this to inspire others, because the success has inspired me. I started LP again after doing other programs and "silly"bullshit" and just finished my 6th week. I started very light on all the lifts and have been eating like Jordan's "To Be A Beast" article (muscle gain macros), but I have only been consistent with meals for the past week, as it has taken a lot of willpower and forethought to get in upwards of 400g carbs, 230g protein, and 100g fat with my work schedule. For a long time I have been very discouraged, as for the past 5 years my numbers never surpassed my first run of LP. But the simple additions of ZMA for better sleep and eating the correct way and amount make me feel like I can crush the weights every time I go in the gym. Just this past week I did 4 days instead of 3 with a rest day in between each day. I am doing the program strictly (no curls, cardio, or other silly bullshit). I did add chins, which the book says are okay, and just did a single the other day with 40lbs on my waist. I have never done that in my life.

33yo Male
Starting Weight: around 205
Current Weight: around 217
Height: 5'10"

12/11/17
Squat: 45x35, 95x5, 135x4, 185x3, 225x2, 275x1, 285x5x3
Bench: 45x35, 95x4, 135x3, 185x2, 225x1, 240x5x3
Power Clean: 45x10, 95x1, 135x1, 165x3x5

I am experimenting with very high reps on the warm-up with the bar and my joints like it. I have been adding 5 lb on squat, bench, press, and power cleans, with 10 lb jumps on the deadlift, and the gains have not slowed yet. Last worksets for press/deadlift were 150/345. I work weighted chin singles in with my squats on deadlift day.

[Kevin Pavon]

So the evening after the above post I came down with the flu and it kept me from the gym until yesterday. I kept trying to get in good quality meals all week, and I still felt crappy yesterday. But with bullish resolve I got in there to hit the iron. Today I decided to experiment with something called over-warmups. This was an idea I got from a book called Base Building by Paul Carter. Basically you just add a heavy single that is a little heavier than your work sets, and it is supposed to help you use the work set weight more efficiently. This made sense to me because my first work set usually feels the hardest. I went with jumps of about 10% over work set weight.

12/18/17
Squat: 45x10, 95x5, 135x4, 185x3, 225x2, 275x1, 315x1, 290x5x3
Chin singles (worked in with squats): BWx1, (BW+25)x1, (BW+45)x1
Press: 45x10, 65x3, 95x2, 135x1, 170x0, 155x3x5

So the over-warmup worked great for squats, not so good for press. I could only get 170 a few inches up and it was not going any further. When I tried 155, I failed at 3 reps. I had let this discourage me in the past, but not this time. So I decided to get the volume in with 5 sets of 3, and it worked. I will say that I have just discovered Press 2.0/3.0 videos and have been making adjustments to my form, so my form on the press is not nearly as good as on squats and deadlifts, which is probably a big reason I didn't hit the 5's. Moving on.

Deadlift: 135x5, 225x1, 315x1, 355x1, 390x1, 355x5

Over-warmup worked well for deadlift too. Overall, an excellent day of lifting after being sick all week and still feeling crappy at the start of the workout. I really did not want to stall or deload so I did everything I could to get in calories. Time to keep moving forward.

[carson]

Good to see you back at it. Your "over-warmup" seems like a good idea. I think most people have a hard time with the Press. Keep it up.

[Kevin Pavon]

Thanks Carson.

Today's workout sucked. I am still dealing with residual symptoms from this flu, and had a lot of soreness from Monday because of being out of my groove. This coupled with a variety of stress due to a planned trip out of town and inconsistent eating have prevented my recovery today. I am feeling very run down so I just did what I could.

12/20/17
Squat: 45x15, 95x5, 135x4

135 felt very heavy. I decided to just do 80% of Monday's workout for 2 sets of 5, as discussed in the books. This worked well and I think it was the correct choice. No over-warmup was done.

185x2, 225x1, 232x5x2

Bench Press: 45x15, 95x5, 135x4, 185x2, 225x1, 265x1, 242.5x3, 245x2

The single at 265 was pretty cool. My butt came off the bench a little, and it took forever grinding it out, but I got it. After waiting 5 min. I failed to get 242.5x5, so I was going to try 245x3x5 like I did with Press on Monday. However, after the first set I felt really drained and ended the workout. The five sets of heavy triples that I did Monday with the Press may have worn me out, or it could be any number of things. I will give this workout another shot and reset 10% if there is no progress. I'm going to can the over-warmups for now. Maybe I will try them out when I get back in my eat/sleep/train groove and start making steady progress again, but right now there are too many other things messing with my progress so I can't tell if the over warm-ups are hurting me. When in doubt, leave it out. No pulling was done this workout.

[Kevin Pavon]

I changed my mind about the over warmups and decided to stick with them. Today's workout was really good, but I am now on vacation at my parent's house and they have a crappy bar which I suspected was lighter than my B&R bar at home. I later weighed it and it came out to about 40 lbs. I didn't weigh any plates but I'm sure the plates I have at home are varied too.

12/22/17

Squat: 40x20, 90x5, 130x4, 180x3, 220x2, 270x1, 320x1, 295x5x3
Chinups: BWx1, (BW+15)x1, (BW+30)x1, (BW+50)x1
Press: 40x15, 90x2, 130x1, 165x1, 150x5x3
Deadlift: 130x6, 220x3, 310x2, 360x1, 395x1, 360x5

So I thought I was squatting 300, pressing 155, and pulling 365 for work sets. The press really flew at what I thought was 170. I could barely move it at 170 on Monday, which is what prompted me to weigh the bar. In the end, my lifts went up, except for the press which took a slight deload. Hopefully I am now unstuck on the press.

[Kevin Pavon]

12/26/17

Squat: 40x20, 90x5, 130x4, 180x3, 220x2, 270x1, 330x1, 300x5x3
Bench Press: 45x25, 130x1, 225x1, 265x1, 245x5x3
Power Clean: 130x1, 170x3x5

Unless the bar and plates are way lighter than I thought, I am no longer stuck. We will see what happens when I go back home.

[Kevin Pavon]

12/30/17

Squat: 45x30, 135x3, 225x2, 295x1, 335x1, 305x5x3
Chinups: BWX1, (BW+20)X1, (BW+40)X1, (BW+55)X1 (partial, didn't get the full rep but almost did)
Press: 45x15, 95x2, 135x1, 170x1, 155x5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Deadlift: 135x10, 225x3, 315x1, 365x1, 405x1, 370x5

Back home. Got a 4 plate deadlift! It was brutal, I need to eat more. Just ordered a change plate set (calibrated plates that have very little deviation from the listed weight) from Rogue Fitness. I want to be sure that even a 10lb jump is exactly 10lbs, as it can be the difference between a miss and a PR as I approach advanced novice phase. So now everything other that 45's and 25's will be very accurate. Also I caved and did some one arm preacher curls with an empty adjustable dumbbell (weighs like 13lbs).

dumbellx10x3

[carson]

Congratulations. Dumbells are fun to play with. Not to worry as long as you do the real lifts. It's sort of frosting on the cake, isn't it?

[Kevin Pavon]

Congratulations. Dumbells are fun to play with. Not to worry as long as you do the real lifts. It's sort of frosting on the cake, isn't it?

Pretty much. Starting real light so it doesn't affect the main lifts.

1/2/18

Light Squat: 45x30, 135x2, 225x1, 275x5x2
Bench PRess: 45x30, 135x2, 225x1, 270x1, 250x5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Power Clean: 45x15, 135x1, 185x1, 175x3x5
Reverse Preacher Curls: 10x10x3

[Kevin Pavon]

1/5/18

Squat: 45x32, 135x5, 185x4, 225x3, 275x2, 310x1, 340x1, 310x5x3
Chinups: BWX1, (BW+17.5)X1, (BW+35)X1, (BW+55)X1 (partial like last time), (BW+25)X1
Press: 45x16, 95x2, 135x1, 170x1, 155x5x3
Deadlift: 135x11, 225x3, 315x2, 365x1, 410x1, 375x5
DB Preacher Curls: 18x10x3

Chinups appear stuck but I have not been weighing myself. Dumbell for curls is loadable and about 13lbs empty. Deadlift was tough. Press is caught up.