29 Year Old Newbie -- Anthony's Log

[Geoff Bischoff]

Doing great, man.

On the squat: Certainly, see the SSC, but consider this: Do you video your sessions? If not, it helps. If so: Your toughest, most mentally taxing squats. How long do they take?

Not many weeks ago, I really started to feel like my squats were dying out. This was like at 330 lbs I think? But in video, the toughest squats were still only taking 4, 5, or 6 seconds (with basically half that on the eccentric and half on concentric). So I convinced myself it was nearly all in my head -- the hard squats, though they were mentally tough, were barely slower than the easier ones, objectively speaking.

Eventually I DID fail (at 350 lbs, and now at 360), but everyone does, if they follow the program far enough. If God smiles on my recovery variables, I should be squatting that 360 successfully this coming Monday, after a prescribed reset.

This process of time dilation is discussed somewhat in the Barbell Logic Podcast, one of the first couple episodes. Episode 3 or 4 maybe? Sorry for my lack of precision. Where they talk about Austin Baraki's concentric phase on a limit squat taking 8+ seconds, so basically, don't freak out. Totally made my day to hear that podcast BTW.

Blessings on your journey!

[Anthony.Rove]

Thank you! This is actually incredibly helpful stuff. It's nice to know that these problems aren't unique and are just part of the path to getting stronger.

I'm not recording my sets. This is partially because I'm doing my workouts in a Globo-Gym type setting. I don't feel comfortable setting down my phone or asking someone to hit the record button. That's an interesting point about the timing. clearly I've gotta start listening to the Barbell Logic Postcast. I can't imagine my squat movements are slower than 8 seconds, but I'll start paying more attention to this variable. Thanks!

Doing great, man.

On the squat: Certainly, see the SSC, but consider this: Do you video your sessions? If not, it helps. If so: Your toughest, most mentally taxing squats. How long do they take?

Not many weeks ago, I really started to feel like my squats were dying out. This was like at 330 lbs I think? But in video, the toughest squats were still only taking 4, 5, or 6 seconds (with basically half that on the eccentric and half on concentric). So I convinced myself it was nearly all in my head -- the hard squats, though they were mentally tough, were barely slower than the easier ones, objectively speaking.

Eventually I DID fail (at 350 lbs, and now at 360), but everyone does, if they follow the program far enough. If God smiles on my recovery variables, I should be squatting that 360 successfully this coming Monday, after a prescribed reset.

This process of time dilation is discussed somewhat in the Barbell Logic Podcast, one of the first couple episodes. Episode 3 or 4 maybe? Sorry for my lack of precision. Where they talk about Austin Baraki's concentric phase on a limit squat taking 8+ seconds, so basically, don't freak out. Totally made my day to hear that podcast BTW.

Blessings on your journey!

[Anthony.Rove]

Your contact with a SS coach is invaluable. Just out of curiosity, what squat problems are you experiencing? Bar placement on your back? Depth of the Squat? Have you thought of placing a video on the technique section?

I'm really grateful she's around and able to help. She's really been fantastic. Honestly, I'm not sure, what my form problems might be. I'm guessing I have some knee slide, but I've been consciously working on that.

The concern I've notice is just that the weights are getting really damn heavy (which they should). I'm just nervous about failing a set for the first time. I know it needs to happen eventually.

I upped my protein intake significantly, so hopefully I can eat through it.

[Anthony.Rove]

I keep thinking I’m going to stall, but I manage to keep chugging along.

Last week I met with my SS Coach. She was incredibly helpful. She (very kindly) told me I was being a pussy (my words, not hers), and that I should still be putting 5lbs on the squat every workout. She also reviewed, tweaked, and OK'd my form.

We also decided to switch up my BP. I'm adding 5lbs every workout now (instead of 2.5lbs) to try to get it caught up to my other lifts. I know this is objectively lame, but I'm 100% gonna throw myself a little party as soon as I manage to get some a pair of damn plates on my BP.

Current numbers are:
Squat: 185 lbs. (increasing 5 lbs every workout)
OP: 85 lbs. (increasing 2.5 lbs per workout)
BP: 115 lbs. (increasing 5 lbs per workout)
DL: 210 lbs. (increasing 5 lbs per workout)
Rows: 95 lbs. x 8 x 3
Chins: BWx3x3
BW: 176 lbs.

Now that I'm squatting more than my body weight, I feel like I can start wearing a belt without feeling like a poser. So, that's been a fun little change-up.

My belly's starting to poke out a little bit, which bothers me. But, I’m trying to think of it this way: over the last 11 weeks, I've gained ~15 pounds and added ~1 inch to my waist. All things considered, that's not too bad. Especially considering my strength gains.

Finally, something mildly interesting happened. This has nothing to do with the training log, so feel free to stop reading here.

Back in January—when I was 200+ pounds of jiggle-jiggle-funtime—I bought a FitBit and started running a lot. Fitbits have this “Cardio Fitness Score,” thing. It tries to measure your VO2 max and it rates you on a scale from like 30–65.

In February, when I started running, my score was around 42—which on the cusp of “below average.” By June, I had been doing regular 3 mile runs and had lost about 40 pounds, but my score was still only something stupid, like a 44.

I stopped running in June and jumped to SS. Around the same time, my girlfriend’s cat ate my FitBit charger. So the FitBit got stuffed into a drawer.

A few days ago, I finally got a replacement charger and started wearing the FitBit again. Out of curiosity, I checked my “Cardio Fitness Score.” Since I stopped running entirely two months ago, I figured my score would’ve dropped back down to 42.

My Fitbit’s telling me my score is 48—nearly almost “above average.”

This tells me either: (1) never trust a FitBit, or (2) SS has done more for my cardiovascular health, than literal running.

Somebody’s been lying to me. Whether that’s FitBit or the American Heart Association, I don’t know. Frankly, I don’t care. SS has been way more fun than running ever was.

[positronbomb]

Increasing your lean body mass to fat ratio will always lead to a more efficient machine.
You've effectively increased your power to weight ratio. Everything improves under those conditions.

[Geoff Bischoff]

Good stuff, brother. I'm glad to see you enthusiastic after meeting the SSC.

Was it your choice or hers to do rows instead of PC?

I'm doing PC now but still wondering if I'm an idiot for doing them, since I'm old and slow and I'm only PCing like 115 lbs last go. So that's my next question when I see the coach next month: "Should I do something different?"

Regarding your cardio score: I bet it goes even higher. I breathe harder, for longer, after a limit-set of squats than I do after a 2-mile jog. I bet you're already feeling it now that you're doing BW+.

[Anthony.Rove]

Good stuff, brother. I'm glad to see you enthusiastic after meeting the SSC.

Was it your choice or hers to do rows instead of PC?

I'm doing PC now but still wondering if I'm an idiot for doing them, since I'm old and slow and I'm only PCing like 115 lbs last go. So that's my next question when I see the coach next month: "Should I do something different?"

Regarding your cardio score: I bet it goes even higher. I breathe harder, for longer, after a limit-set of squats than I do after a 2-mile jog. I bet you're already feeling it now that you're doing BW+.

Thanks! It was the SS Coach's idea. Although, this was partially because: (1) we didn't have time to go over proper PC form, and (2) she wanted me to get a little bit stronger before going for it. I'm deferring 100% to her judgement. Her advice has been amazingly helpful.

My squats are definitely starting to get my breathing going. So are the DL's. It's just not a benefit I expected from this program, at all. But I'm pleased about it all the same.

[Anthony.Rove]

That’s what I get for shooting my mouth off.

My Sunday workout was effin’ hard. Before even starting the workout, I felt warn-out. I’m eating a lot (>3k Calories; >200g Protein), and sleeping as well as I can manage (9-10 hours in bed, which usually translates to 7-8 hours of actual sleep for me). But I just felt like crap from the very start.

Squat: 190 lbs. x 5 x3;
Press: 85 lbs. x 5,5,4;
DL: 215 lbs. x 5;
Chins: BW x 3x2;
Chin Negatives: 0-0-3x4;
BW: 175.

I barely got through my Squat sets. I lost a rep on the press. My DL was fine. But it was discouraging. I considered a deload of my squats and press, but then I looked back through Practical Programming.

Rip doesn’t do a great job of clearly explaining what to do when you start to stall on any particular lift. Based on the info in Chapter 6, it looks as though you continue each workout until you fail it. Simply feeling tired or worn-out isn’t enough to justify a deload. So, fair enough, I’ll keep adding weight to my Squats and stop complaining.

Moving Forward On the Press
When you DO eventually fail a rep, how you proceed depends on the particular lift. For the Presses, it seems like, once you miss a rep, you immediately deload 10%. So I’ll deload my press to 75 lbs.
From there, I’ll increase the weight every workout by 5lbs, until I hit 85 lbs. If I successfully finish all my reps at 85lbs, I’ll move up to 87.5lbs, and start micro-loading again.

Moving Forward on the Squat
The rule on the Squat seems to be that you keep increasing weight until you fail a rep. Once you fail a rep, you try the Squat at the exact same weight the very next workout. If it fails a second time you de-load 10%
Once you’ve reset your Squats one time, you can introduce a lighter squatting day in the middle of the week. So I’ll keep pushing ahead.

[positronbomb]

If you fail a rep, you're meant repeat the same weight on 2 more successive workouts before deloading.
I hope you're eating good before your workout. Plenty of easily digestable carbs.

Half a bottle of gatorade and Berocca and I'm usually restored back to my normal animal self.

[Anthony.Rove]

If you fail a rep, you're meant repeat the same weight on 2 more successive workouts before deloading.
I hope you're eating good before your workout. Plenty of easily digestable carbs.

Half a bottle of gatorade and Berocca and I'm usually restored back to my normal animal self.

PositronBomb, are you an Aussie? I'm 100% unfamiliar with Berocca, but I'm willing to try anything on this point.

Maybe eating before workouts is the problem. I typically get my workouts early in the morning before work. I'm usually nauseous for the first few hours after waking, so I just skip breakfast and eat a big ol' post-workout meal.

For the next few weeks I'll try to gulp down some early-morning carbs. Maybe that's the magic I'm missing. Thanks for the suggestion!