SSNLP Day 3 (A)
Squat: 120 x 5 x 3
Felt better. Looking forward to my Adidas Powerlift shoes coming next week, and the Squat Camp in February. Hope I don’t screw it all up too much until then.
Press: 80 x 5 x 3
Found the right grip width so they are vertical at the rack. Kept the elbows in front of the bar. I do need to work on the palm/finger placement to keep it right on the meat of the palm.
Deadlift: 260 x 5
Went up fine. It’s a bit more difficult at the end of a session, glad I started these back a bit.
SSNLP Day 4 (B)
Squat: 125 x 5 x 3
Still not sure about depth. Looking forward to trying with proper shoes, may arrive in time for next workout.
Bench: 110 x 5 x 3
Widened grip a bit, want vertical forearms at the bottom.
Power Clean: 135 x 3 x 5
I felt the full extension(s) better with a heavier weight compared to 95 last time. Still arm pulling, but this all felt better than the first round.
The power cleans:
YouTube
Body composition here at the start of the new year, and into the second week of NLP:
Weight: 220 (lbs)
Height: 6'1" (73")
Waist: 38.5" (below 40" absolute risk threshold for cardio-metabolic disorders)
Hips: 41.5"
Waist/Height: 0.53 (just below the ideal threshold of 0.43-0.52, or 0.50 rule of thumb)
Waist/Hips: 0.93 (just above 0.90 Low Risk threshold)
Body Fat %: 21.5% per YMCA Height/Waist formula
Fat Mass: 49.5lbs (220 - [.215 * 220])
"Excess Fat Mass": 4.5lbs (20% of 220 is 45.0, from 49.5 actual)
Non-Fat Mass: 170.5 (200 - 49.5 fat mass), my "frame" of bone, blood/fluid, organs, and tissue (including muscle)
At my (adult) leanest in May 2017 I was 198 @ 18.6% body fat, so ~161.2 non-fat mass...meaning since then I've gained about 9 pounds in non-fat mass as part of ~22 in total weight gain. I suppose about half-half fat/lean gain ratio is as good as it can get. I'm definitely stronger now and I'll take that over the alternative.
I'm also tracking my macros this week for a baseline. I'm sure I don't enough enough protein, and also that too high a proportion of my carbs are sugar, rather than grain/starch. I've had quick success with low-carb, but I was not training at the time, and in hindsight realize it wasn't the carbs per se but the absolute reduction in sugar+fat combination foods (the deadly combination) in a diet like that.
I don't want to see 40" waist ever again, so that's my main "red line". Ideally body fat percentage will remain the same or even decrease slightly even as body weight increases. I'm in an in-between demographic for the trainees discussed in SS and PPST: I'm not a skinny, underweight teen, but I'm also not an obese adult. Which I guess means I am in a pretty good position to quickly add strength to my frame (without having to right-size the frame while gaining strength).
Hi Sean, good to see you over here and I'll start tracking your log. Good work so far!
SSNLP Day 5 (A)
Squat: 130 x 5 x 3
Was hoping my lifting shoes would be here by today, should be tomorrow. So next session should be interesting by comparison.
Again, hit or miss on depth:
YouTube
Press: 85 x 5 x 3
Second and third sets were harder than I expected. Really have to get tight. Strange, because I can press 2x24kg (103lbs) kettlebells a few times. Is the “bilateral deficit” really that prominent?
I keep knicking the joists. Gotta figure that out before I need to use the big plates...
YouTube
Deadlift: 260 x 5
Brain-fart on the amount for today, should’ve been 265. Dang it!
Good Work Sean. Just a few observations: On both squat and press looks like you could straighten out your wrists a bit more. Depth on squat looks a bit high. I have similar issue with hitting joists in my basement, turned my rack so that the bar is perpendicular to the joists and then when I reach top the plates go in the joist bay. Even then, I can't use 35 or 45 plates , so i'll just double on the 25's when i get there....(i have a way's to go ;-). If you could get safety arms for your squat stand that might be a good idea as well.
I'll be interested to see how proper lifting shoes help achieve proper depth. They are coming today so I'll use them in tomorrow's session. I'll see if I can make a side-by-side comparison video from yesterday to tomorrow's lifts.
Will work on the wrists. Looking forward to proper hands-on instruction at the squat training camp in a few weeks.
I have a spot I could rotate the stand so the plates would run parallel to the joist cavities, maybe I'll go ahead and do that now.
Yes, those are next on my list (after shoes, check!). At +5 pounds a workout, I will still be below bodyweight squats by the time of the training camp. Will find a solution by then.