Adam’s Training Log

[Adam Stevens]

It’s time for me to start a log. I’m 27, currently in graduate school studying mechanical engineering. Before re-discovering running about 1.5 years ago and then getting into lifting, I was quite sedentary for ~7 years. SS is my start at changing that.

I’ve been on my LP for ~22 weeks now. Progress is intermittent due to schedule hiccups and plenty of training mistakes, but inexorable. As far as I can tell, I’ve still got some LP mileage left for squats, deadlifts, and power cleans; I sense I’m nearing the end for presses, almost time to add 9x% backoff sets after microloading the past few weeks.

Starting stats:
BW: 175 lb
BF%: Skinny
Squat: 95
Bench: 105
Press: 65
Dead: 155
P. Clean: 40 kg

Last Saturday’s session:
BW: 213
BF%: Less skinny
Squat: 240 x 5 x 3 - I missed training on Tuesday, and squats have felt “off” since. I must be a motor moron.
Bench: 200 x 5 x 3
Dead: 300 x 5

[Adam Stevens]

It's been a frustrating week.

5/22/18
Squat: 245 x 5 x 3
Press: 112 x 5 x 3 - Took a 10% reset after missing twice at 124
P. Clean: 50 x 2 x 7 [kg] - This is the one exercise I'm not exactly following SS on. I haven't had success teaching myself with the SS method, so I'm working with a local (non-SS) coach until I can get to a SS clean seminar.

5/24/18
Squat: 250 x 5 x 3 - Major aching in both biceps. I think it's tendonitis/tendinosis from carrying too much weight with my hands. Unloading the bar was a challenge.
Bench: 185 x 1 - Arms weak and achey, couldn't get two reps
Glute/ham raises: 12.5 x 10 x 3
Chins: Arms too weak to complete a rep
This is aggravating. I moved my feet in 1-2 inches before lifting the bar out of the rack, in an effort to reduce what I thought was overextension in my lumbar spine. I think this had the unintended side effect of changing how I receive the load, taking more on my hands. I'm starting the ibuprofen/massage/chinup routine.

5/26/18
Changed order to prevent possible arm ache from causing problems with exercises after the squat.
Press: 117 x 5 x 3 - Felt good
Dead: 310 x 1 - I could get the second rep ~1 inch off the ground, but could not go up from there. Biceps started to ache during deads.
Squat: 135 x 3 - Arms started to ache a lot here during warmup. Might need to switch to high bar for a day or so.
BW chins: 2, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2
Not sure what happened on the deadlift... my best guess is Memorial Day travel + diet interruption fatigued me more than I expected.

Till next time.

[carson]

Welcome. Keep up the good work. If you get a chance check in with a certified SS coach. There are some in your area.

[Adam Stevens]

Thanks carson. Good idea on doing a 1:1 check-in, I'll look into that.

5/31/18 - missed the session prior to this
Squat: 235 x 5, 5, 3 - lost tightness under the bar and aggravated lumbar back. Entirely operator error. Biceps/shoulders felt good.
Press: 119 x 2, 117 x 3, 115 x 2 - sleep/diet off due to travel, I expect that explains the weakness.
Glute/ham raises: Skipped these, back was feeling tweaked
Chins: 7, 8, 7 - bodyweight to failure

6/2/18
Squat: 235 x 5 x 3 - shoulder aggravation returns. I'm trying to make a conscious effort to apply my back to the barbell and drive it off the pins with hip drive, keeping my arms out of the load path. Work in progress.
Bench: 185 x 5 x 3 - shoulders felt better as this progressed. Deload due to shoulder aggravation & missed bench workout.
Dead: 300 x 5 - felt good
Had sports massage this evening.

6/5/18
Squat: 240 x 5 x 3 - shoulders feel good!
Press: 117 x 5 x 3
P. clean: 50 x 2 x 7 [kg] - Re-did weight before missed workout. Felt great.

6/7/18
Squat: 245 x 5 x 3 - low-grade right shoulder irritation
Bench: 195 x 5 x 3
Glute/ham raises: 10 x 10 x 3
Chins: 7, 7, 7 + 3, 2, 2, 2 (not to failure) to bring total to 30 as part of high-volume chin protocol for shoulders/bicep.
Open question: Are glute/ham raises hard on the knees? Especially if form decays and toes begin to point out a little.

6/9/18
Squat: 250 x 5 x 3 - shoulders good
Press: 119 x 5 x 3
Dead: 310 x 5 - New PR! Tore a callus, fortunately already healed underneath. Had wrong initial conditions for grip.
Had second massage this evening, worked on area around old back injury (from not following SS properly) and shoulders.

6/12/18 - Used auxiliary gym, main gym closed for spring cleaning
Squat: 255 x 5, 5, 4 - disappointed here, I know I have it in me. I think my knees slid forward at the bottom and hamstrings lost tightness. Dismount not graceful, but no injuries. Also the bar was rolling in my hands, need to revisit that. Probably contributing to shoulder pain as well.
Bench: 200 x 5 x 3 - floor was slippery underfoot, but made it happen.
P. clean: 55 x 2 x 7 [kg] - focusing on emphasizing second pull, felt pretty good.

Rest and diet have been good. With better form I think I can run the current squat progression at least another week before going to backoffs.

Till next time.

[Adam Stevens]

6/14/18 - still in the auxiliary gym
Squat: 255 x 3, 245 x 4, 225 x 4 - Gave up on the first set, failed on the second - dismount was hairy, gave up on the third. Feeling a little gun-shy. Deep localized ache in/around where right bicep joins the shoulder.
Press: 120 x 4, 3, 2 - Surprised about this
Back extensions: 12.5 x 10 x 3 - no roman chair in this gym
Chins: 6, 6, 4, +2, 2, 2 - added some doubles to bring volume up. Right bicep feeling weak.

I'm not sure what fraction of this is physical (form/fatigue) and what fraction is mental (self-doubt). I'm going to prioritize getting a check-in with a SS coach.

For now, considering moving squats and presses to one heavy set + 2 back-offs.

[Eric Schexnayder]

Deep localized ache in/around where right bicep joins the shoulder.

This could be caused by your grip. There are quite a few resources around this site to give advice on resolving and preventing this kind of pain. Definitely post a video and get some feedback from the coaches / community. Or go see a coach. Trust me, this is resolvable.

Don't give up, you're doing great so far (you're ahead of me on squats and deads - I'm jealous).

[Adam Stevens]

Since I last posted here, I've worked twice with SSC Cody Annino at Annino Strength & Conditioning. He's great, I highly recommend him for anyone looking for coaching in the New England area. I'm running TM for all my lifts now, MWF.

Latest workout, intensity day
Squat: 305 x 1,1,1 - Running out TM, next week I'll go for 1 heavy single if I'm feeling strong, then back to fives on Friday.
I'm having trouble staying in my hips as the weight of my singles is increasing. Coming out of the hole, I can feel my upper back slightly leaving extension and my hamstrings contributing less.
Bench: 237.5 x 5 singles
Dead: 330 x 3, 1 - Ran out of gas real fast here, surprisingly. Was attempting two triples.

About three weeks ago I started logging my daily calories and macros. For reference, I'm 6' 1" and currently 215 lb.
Daily averages for this past week:
Calories: 3,600
Carbs: 405g
Protein: 272g
Fat: 136g

[Adam Stevens]

Today was dissappointing.

I tried to make a minor squat grip adjustment while also keeping a prouder chest. Not sure I'm getting the chest right, and I managed to get a strained L bicep somehow. Not a good start.

Squat: 260 x 2, 3, 2
Felt very heavy, had trouble accessing hips and couldn't get my head in the game. Maybe an off day, fatigue from a near-miss last Friday, or changing too much grip-wise.
Dropped to 230 x 5 x 2 to get some volume

Press: 120 x 5 x 5, new volume PR

P. Cleans [kg]: 72.5 x 3, 1, zero
Really struggled to control the bar and keep it close my body. I was surprised, last Monday felt good at 70.
Dropped to 60, couldn't put anything together here either.

Recovery day on Wed. This might be the last week of my TM phase 2.

[Adam Stevens]

Tuesday: Schwinn airbike conditioning, 5 rounds 20s max effort, 140s rest
I added conditioning Tues/Sat a few weeks ago to reduce the gasping for air during the squats. It's helped quite a bit.

Wednesday: TM recovery day
Squat: 205x5x2
I got some good feedback on my squat form here, reread many of the squat grip articles, including this article, and something clicked. I haven't been consciously engaging my traps at all. That makes a big difference in keeping my chest up.
Bench: 185x5x3
Chins: 12, 9, 7 bodyweight (might be a bit off on last two sets, don't have my log on me at the moment)

I expect I'll have to reduce the weight on the bar for squats as I get used to the new form. I'll see what I can do for a set of 5 tomorrow (intensity day) and program forward from there.

[carson]

I tried TM for a few weeks after LP. It about killed me. I settled back to 531 and now on HLM. Being in my 70s that's about the right speed.