Chris J - NLP Training Logs

[cjac9]

Have you had your technique checked? How is your diet and sleep?

Diet is decent. Getting enough protein most days. Possibly a shade low on calories since body weight has gone up. I’m in a particularly stressful period right now with work. Sleep is a little less than I probably need 7-7.5 hrs. most nights.

Haven’t had technique checked.

[cjac9]

Squat 210 3x5
Bench 155 2x5, 1x3
BW Chins 3, 3, 3, 2

Squats still “feel” heavy despite de-loading. Got them all though.

Just missed the last two reps of the last set of bench. Got them with the help of a spotter. Will try again next bench session.

Chin volume is going up.

[Petermac7644]

I'm where you were a month ago so I'm interested to see how you'll proceed from here.

I read awhile back about the transition from advanced Novice to Early Intermediate in PPST. I recall you can take each lift into HLM at different rates.

I think you can transition Squats into HLM by first simply taking a light day on Wednesday and trying to make progress twice a week. Eventually the Friday would be a Medium day when you can only make progress once a week. Eventually if you want the variety you could do front squats on your medium squat day.

You're still progressing on the bench press and still going up by 5's so keep that going and you can switch to the lighter increments if you need to. I think I read you can get a bit more LP out of the press by switching to heavy triples instead of 5's. When that runs out you could then try to progress by adding a rep each workout instead of increasing weight so those triples become fives and then increase the weight with triples and repeat. Eventually you would do those as your light bench variation and incorporate a medium bench day as well.

On the advanced Novice program in PPST I think you would be deadlifting every fifth session: DL, Chin, Powerclean, Chin, DL, Chin, Powerclean and so on. So maybe every other Deadlift session should be light or moderate weight for you in place of the Powerclean for now.

Just on the powerclean - you should give them a try sometime with lighter weight. I really enjoy doing them. I'm self taught and I'm sure my form isn't perfect but I don't feel I'm in any danger by doing them.

I'm not a personal trainer so this is just some food for thought. I've been trying to plan ahead for what I'll do when I start getting stuck too.

[cjac9]

Well... I fell off the wagon. Tried to pick it back up in December and then in January my personal life got fairly shitty and I managed to quit lifting altogether. Now it’s July!!

Such is life..

I’ve started from the bottom of my NLP again and will have more help this go round when I get stuck.

Here are today’s stats:
BW: 180

Squat: 85 x 5 x 3
Bench: 75 x 5 x 3
DL: 135 x 5

[cjac9]

Well... I fell off the wagon. Tried to pick it back up in December and then in January my personal life got fairly shitty and I managed to quit lifting altogether. Now it’s July!!

Such is life..

I’ve started from the bottom of my NLP again and will have more help this go round when I get stuck.

Here are today’s stats:
BW: 180

Squat: 85 x 5 x 3
Bench: 75 x 5 x 3
DL: 135 x 5

I didn’t log after this but here’s what happened on my second attempt NLP: I worked with Robert Santana and really learned how to eat. In 2018, I was not doing the program as far as diet was concerned even though I thought I was.

Here are the two biggest takeaways from Santana:

1.) Track your calories and weigh in fasted on Wednesday morning. If you’re not gaining at least half a pound a week, you’re going to get stuck early on your LP. Add 500 calories per day. Recheck weight each Wednesday. If it’s not going up you have to eat more. Linear progress on food. If you’re only eating 4 oz of meat per meal go to 5 oz for a month and then go to 6 oz. If you don’t drink milk, don’t go on GOMAD. Just add 2-4 oz per meal and then start going up. Everything can be progressed linearly.

2.) If you’re not doing the clean, you can’t just start alternating DL and chins. The pulling volume from the clean adds to your strength and helps your DL. Santana had me do 65% of 5RM instead of press.

But still, even with his help, my life got too stressful outside of training and I fell off the wagon. I went through major burnout in my career, my daughter was born, I got a new job and lived through COVID. I also got COVID and some nasty stomach bug and ate paleo for awhile. Between all of that I lost a lot of muscle and BW. I’m now back down to 163 and my back and left knee hurt again.

So I’m now a few weeks into my 3rd attempt at LP. I now know more about eating to fuel training and so I know I can do that right. I already know at which point I’m going to have to get a coach for programming help and I’m ready to pull that trigger. The other thing I’m doing is tracking HRV every morning. If I have to take an extra rest day here and there, I will. Life, career, family, training, etc is all stress and it has to be managed and recovered from. I wish I was an 18 y/o with no responsibilities but I’m not.

I’m determined to actually finish LP finally.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mr. Bingley]

good to see you back. yeah, life has been 'fun' for a lot of us this past year. Give what time you can to this iron game, I find it helps me get through all the rest; but time to your family is more important. congrats on the daughter! mine got married a couple months ago, it's one hell of a wonderful ride

[cjac9]

good to see you back. yeah, life has been 'fun' for a lot of us this past year. Give what time you can to this iron game, I find it helps me get through all the rest; but time to your family is more important. congrats on the daughter! mine got married a couple months ago, it's one hell of a wonderful ride

Thanks, Mr. Bingley! Absolutely. She’s amazing. Hard to imagine her growing up one day. She’s just walking and finding her first couple words!

I do find I’m more patient with my family when I’m training which is good. The recovery keeps my temper in check so I count it as the prescription for being a good dad.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cjac9]

7-26-21
BW: 170lbs.
Squat: 165 lbs. 3x5
Press: 82.5 lbs. 3x5
DL (65% of 5RM instead of clean): 135 lbs. 3x5
Chins: 1x7, 1x6, 1x4

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cjac9]

Here are the past couple training sessions:
7-28-21
Squat: 170 x 5 x 3
Bench: 95 x 5 x 3
DL: 215 x 5 x 1

7-30-21
Squat: 175 x 5 x 3
Press: 85 x 5 x 3
DL (65%): 140 x 5 x 3
Chins: 8x, 6x, 4x

Bar speed on the DL is still pretty fast even though I feel scared beforehand and like I’m dying during the set. DL is such a mind game. That’s probably the biggest obstacle to getting this thing to at least 315 by the end of LP. I’m going to continue 10 lb jumps every session until the speed slows or I miss a rep at which point I’ll drop to 5 lb jumps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cjac9]

Week 5

8-2-21
Squat: 180 x 5 x 3
Bench: 97.5 x 5 x 3
DL: 225 x 5 x 1
Chins: 8x, 5x, 5x, 4x (added another set to keep volume heading up)

8-4-21
Squat: 185 lbs x 5 x 3
Press: 87.5 lbs. x 5 x 3
DL (65%): 145 lbs. x 5 x 3

8-6-21
Squat: 190 lbs. x 5 x 3
Bench: 100 lbs. x 5 x 3
DL: 235 lbs. x 5 x 3
Chins: 8x, 6x, 6x, 4x, 1x (25 total)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk