Push It: Jacket's Diary

[Jacket]

16JAN19

General

Had another two exams today, and the second one was delayed, so gym was delayed. Gym was a bit of a disaster.

Squat

Warm ups then

1. 117.5kg x 4

Aborted

At first I felt like I just wasn't really with it. I got through the warm-ups ok, but then on the work set the bicep tendonitis set in, and it was the worst it's ever been. It was bad enough that after 10 minutes' rest I did not feel safe to do another set, nor any other exercise. I coached my friend a little on the press and the bench press, and got him to take some pictures of my grip from the rear in different positions. As suspected, my right shoulder has more mobility than my left shoulder. When I think I've got both 'up', the left one is lower. I think the excess 'up' on the right shoulder is acting as a fulcrum and overloading the slightly lower left shoulder, which pushes more of the weight into the hands. This would explain why it feels like I'm straining the anterior deltoids on the left side when I'm trying to assume the rack position.

The options are:

Lower both shoulders to symmetry; and/or
Work on left shoulder mobility.

The former seems easier as I'm a little clueless about how to increase shoulder mobility.

I'm going to drop the work weight back to 110kg. I'm also going to have my friend spot my shoulder position for the sets so that I learn the feeling of the symmetrical grip. If there's no resolution within the next 2 workouts, I'll give Carl Raghavan a call and then the parents, for the Christmas money I did not receive...

[Jacket]

18JAN19

General

Slept fitfully; I think I'm getting dehydrated in the night. I finished my exams for the week today, so I had a burger in a pub instead of my usual meal and went to work out after I'd eaten.

Squat

Warm-ups then

1. 110kg x 5
2. 110kg x 5
3. 110kg x 5

5 or so minutes' rest between sets.

The first set felt savage, but I pushed myself into doing the following two sets. I think the grip issue is actually in my 'up' position -the bar is not over the midfoot at the top, because I'm standing up straight. This is shifting the weight onto the arms, and with the difference in flexibility the left is taking more of the strain in the arm. I'm going to go back tomorrow and do some technique work to establish the proper 'up' position. I did notice a swelling ache in my left arm, but it was a very tolerable ache.

Press

Warm-ups then

1. 42.5kg x 4
2. 42.5kg x 4
3. 42.5kg x 5

3-4 minutes' rest between sets.

The missed reps were due to fatigue from the warmups -the squats took forever and I was a little conscious of the time. I'll keep the weight static until I get all 5.

Today's focus was elbows forwards in the return -ensuring that I bring the bar back down to the start position, and avoiding the wasted effort of adjusting into the correct start position whilst holding the bar. This was mostly successful.

Deadlift

Warm-ups then

1. 122.5kg x 4
2. 122.5kg x 1

The missed rep here was picked up within 30 seconds. I had a thinner bar today than usual and I was keen to try and use double overhand as far as I could. I also used some liquid chalk to assist the grip. On Rep 4 of Set 1 I could feel the grip slipping in my left hand, and I fumbled the reset at the bottom, which left me loitering in the start position and killed my drive. I stepped away from the bar, took a second to refocus, and pulled the last one with a mixed grip to ensure that I got the rep. Initially I was planning to use hook grip throughout in order to learn it, but the bar was thin enough to make it feel like overkill.

Chin-ups

1. 12 reps
2. 4 reps
3. 2 reps

1 minute's rest between sets.

These felt extremely hard after the deadlifts.

Training takeaways

1. Rehearse the proper 'up' and 'down' positions with the barbell in anticipation of Monday's lifts.
2. Ensure consistency of form in the press. Elbows forward.
3. Learn and utiliise the hook grip for deadlifts.

Post gym

I went to the pub for a little while with some friends; I don't drink so hopefully it won't impact recovery too much...

Spotted in the gym

Not a lot to see today at all. Odd!

Jacket

[Jacket]

21JAN19

General

I woke up with a cold today, and a sore throat. My lunch was provided by the work and was pretty average and a bit small. I took some ibuprofen and some cold lozenges before heading to the gym. I think the cold made things a little harder than they should have been.

Squat

Warm-ups then

1. 112.5kg x 5
2. 112.5kg x 5
3. 112.5kg x 5

5 or so minutes' rest between sets.

I made the effort to lean forwards more, but still some phantom pain in the elbow. The weight felt manageable, despite some grinding reps. The ibuprofen, taken for the cold, was masking the elbow pain and as a result I don't think my corrective actions were enough to avoid it whilst my pain perception was dulled.

Bench Press

Warm-ups then

1. 65kg x 5
2. 65kg x 4
3. 65kg x 4

3-4 minutes' rest between sets.

This was hard - I think the missed workout has led to a detraining effect. In addition, the benches in the gym are awful. They are almost all incline-adjustable, heavily padded, and narrow. My shoulders kept slipping out of the lock position over the sides of the bench. This was incredibly irritating. Rep 4 on the third set was a slow, slow grinder, with probably a 60% chance of failure as I was pushing it up.

Power Clean

Warm-ups then

1. 40kg x 3
2. 40kg x 3
3. 40kg x 3
4. 40kg x 3
5. 40kg x 3

These were okay, but my form is still variable. Sigh.

Chin-ups

1. 12 reps
2. 5 reps
3. 2 reps

1 minute's rest between sets.

These felt difficult after the power cleans.

Training takeaways

1. Fix the grip.
2. Find a better bench.

Post gym

I went to the pub for a little while with some friends; I don't drink so hopefully it won't impact recovery too much...

Spotted in the gym

It was really, really busy today. I'm considering going in the mornings, but I don't think I'd be able to fit my entire workout in before work.

Two new guys coming in, using cast iron plates in the bumper plate area for horrendous round-back 40kg deadlifts, seeing the 'no cast iron plates' sign and ignoring it completely. They then left their weight on the bar, of course. They did 4 40kg deadlifts each and then walked off to go on the assisted pull-up machine.

When trying to get on the one fixed bench (still poor quality) I asked the guy working how many sets he had. Another guy then said he was already waiting, so I asked him how many sets he had to do. There was this long, long pause whilst he 'thought', before he somewhat tersely said that he was going to do eight sets. Of bench. He did 8 x 4 and then left. The irony is that I got straight on to an adjustable bench in one of the power cages whilst he was sat waiting for another ten minutes for the original guy to finish.

Jacket

[Jacket]

23JAN19

General

I didn't sleep until 0200 and the sleep I got was broken and rough. The cold has subsided a little but I was still blocked nose and bunged up all day. I had another exam today too. That said, today's lifts went ok.

Squat

Warm-ups then

1. 115kg x 5
2. 115kg x 1
3. 115kg x 3
4. 115kg x 4

5 or so minutes' rest between sets.

Set 2 there was a false start -I tried a different, very narrow grip, and my elbows just shrieked. I switched back to the wider grip and it felt a lot more tolerable. My warm-up was somewhat disjointed as my two friends wanted to squat today too. Neither have particularly good form but I did my best to encourage them to brace the torso and hit the right depth. Instead of being able to throttle straight through to the work sets, every warm up set had a big rest period whilst they were lifting. As a result the work weight felt heavy when I first stepped it out.

All these sets and reps felt hard, and I think the lack of sleep and the cold showed themselves the most here. I'm going to try again on Friday and get sets across. I think I could have pushed myself a little harder today, but I'm wary of upsetting the elbow and of the fact that I am currently run down below optimum ability.

Press

Warm-ups then

1. 45kg x 5
2. 45kg x 5
3. 45kg x 5

3-4 minutes' rest between sets.

Every rep went up as it should and I actually enjoyed pressing today. I think I have the movement pattern down now!

Deadlift

Warm-ups then

1. 125kg x 5

I used the hook grip on all deadlift warm-ups and work sets today so I could get used to it. I found it pretty easy to get accustomed to, with almost no discomfort. The weight doesn't feel as heavy. On video review I noticed that my lower back was -very- slightly not set level at the start of the pull. I think that in focusing on the grip I forgot to cue 'chest up' as much as I should have, so that the extension of the chest becomes the start of the pull. I also think that the bar was possibly too close to my shins in the work set setup.

Overall I moved the weight with form that could be better, but was within tolerances for safety. I think a contributing factor is that the bar I used today for all my movements was absolutely ruined. The amount of spin in the collars was ridiculously slack, and as a result on lowering the deadlifts the bar was bouncing all over the place out of position.

Chin-ups

1. 13 reps
2. 4 reps
3. 2 reps

1 minute's rest between sets.

After the deadlifts I struggled with these and it was getting late.

Training takeaways

1. Fix the grip.
2. Ensure maximum 'chest up' in the deadlift to set the back.

Post gym

I came home and ate. Keeping up the ibuprofen for my bad cold and for the elbow pain.

Spotted in the gym

Some guy tried to pinch my bar whilst I was loading the plates on it... odd moment.

Jacket

[Geoff Bischoff]

Wait a second. You were actively loading plates on a bar, and some smacko came up and tried to take the bar you were loading? I don't get how this is possible.

Looks like you're moving along well! Sorry about the elbow tendonopathy; seems to be a rite of passage. I'm rehabbing some right now; it had gone into remission back in November but returned by early December ... I ignored it and pushed through to complete Nationals, but now I'm paying more attention to it. Pin-firing using lat pull-downs seems to be having positive results.

[positronbomb]

23JAN19
Some guy tried to pinch my bar whilst I was loading the plates on it... odd moment.

Jacket

Yes these people really exist, they are know as narcissists.
The best examples of these people make satan look good.
I lived with one for 16 years, it's finally coming to an end.

[hondotbt]

Just getting in and getting after it with little sleep and fighting a cold....hat's off to you.

[Jacket]

Thanks guys, it's been a rough week all in all.

25JAN19

General

A late post because I've been at away at work all weekend. Friday was a bit of a washout. I was still far from the end of this cold, and I had a stressful day with an exam slap bang in the middle of it before needing to head to work for 1900. I managed to eat and get into the gym at my unit at 1815, but there wasn't time and the shadow of elbow pain returned, so I didn't push it.

Squat

Warm-ups then

1. 115kg x 3

I was so fatigued that I just wasn't in it mentally. I abandoned the rest of the workout for time purposes.

I think the grip/elbow issue is improving slowly; I just need to keep my shoulders as tight as possible with minimal pressure on the hands.

I did realise that my 5RM squat is currently 1.49x bodyweight and my estimated 1RM is 1.7x bodyweight. Part of me wonders if I have begun to exhaust the seam of linear progression gains for the squat. Progress on the deadlift remains good, and on OHP. Bench press has suffered due to missed workouts, and power cleans are a struggle due to technique.

Sick and tired of being sick and tired! People need to stop giving me their colds!


I'm pretty tired and ill right now but I'm having an early bed and a late morning tomorrow, so we'll see what Monday brings.

[Jacket]

28JAN19

General

Still a little sick, but I had a long lie in today. I was rereading Practical Programming and caught a line in the Advanced Novice section about underweight trainees, saying roughly that the deadlift can be trained 3 days a week if it can be recovered from, instead of power cleans. As a result, I changed up today to include deadlifts and I'm going to see if I can make 3 days a week work. If not, I'll revert to power cleans.

Thanks again to all that have commented in this log with advice and support; I really appreciate the time you've given to read and respond.

Squat

Warm-ups then

1. 115kg x 5
2. 115kg x 5
3. 115kg x 5

5 or so minutes' rest between sets.

These were pretty good. Set 1 had a small gap between R4 and R5, but I attribute that to just getting used to the work weight. Some exertion was required in Set 3, but Set 2 flew up and I was genuinely surprised at how quick it went. I was so spaced I wasn't even consciously counting my reps. The elbow pain seems to have disappeared, but there is a... sensation that I know to be tendon-related, because I've had a similar thing in my knee several years ago. I've maybe pulled the tendon a little, but this kind of ache is something I recognise from the rehab stage of my knee injury, so I'm happy that the tendon is functional and I can continue lifting to strengthen it.

Bench Press

Warm-ups then

1. 65kg x 5
2. 65kg x 5
3. 65kg x 5

3-4 minutes' rest between sets.

I get so very, very bored of waiting for bench access. The January influx of gym goers shows no signs of fading. Set 1 was marked by some minor sensation from the left elbow tendon -not pain, but just a feeling of fighting to lock out the arm. Set 2's Rep 4 was a grinder, and R5 had a poor bar path but I moved the weight. I increased rest from 4 minutes to 5 minutes and Set 5 was fine.

Deadlift

Warm-ups then

1. 127.5kg x 4
2. 127.5kg x 1

I suppose that the cold was going to show somewhere... These felt hard. I was exhausted pulling the work set but I went back after 30 seconds' rest to get my missed rep. All warm ups were double overhand, with 120kg belted and hook gripped. My back form was better than last week.

Chin-ups

I had to miss these. There was some kind of women's exercise class going on around the big rig with the pull-up bars. I asked the class leader politely if I could use one of the bars for my chin-ups, and at first she agreed -but then changed her mind, because she'd 'already had to move someone off'. I couldn't tell whether this was somebody interfering with the class, or someone from the class dropping out. In any event, they weren't using the bars at all so it wouldn't have impacted the class. I didn't fight it, and headed out. Sigh. I'll get them tomorrow at the unit gym.

Training takeaways

1. Maintain the good squat form.
2. Ensure maximum 'chest up' in the deadlift to set the back.

Post gym

I came home and ate. I have a minor spice addiction it seems; first it was adding a little chili powder to my rice, then it's chili powder and hot sauce, and now it's chili powder and sweet chili sauce.

Spotted in the gym

It was so busy. Special mention to the guy and girl I believe to be doing a CrossFit workout, monopolising a squat rack and the bench press station for rounds of explosive press-ups, bench press, and high bar half-squats.

Jacket

[Jacket]

30JAN19

General

Felt okay today, little woozy when I went in but dug through it. Squats were hard and had a consequential effect on the rest of the workout.

Squat

Warm-ups then

1. 117.5kg x 5
2. 117.5kg x 5
3. 117.5kg x 5

5 or so minutes' rest between sets.

These felt pretty tough again, but I got them all and they felt easier than the last time I was at 117.5kg. Minor twinge in the elbow; due to the weight I struggled to keep my shoulders contracted. The last reps of Set 1 and Set 3 were true grinders.

Press

Warm-ups then

1. 47.5kg x 3
2. 47.5kg x 4
3. 45kg x 5

3-4 minutes' rest between sets.

The missed workout because of work on Friday hit me hard here. 47.5kg was savage and I struggled to move the weight. I also felt wiped out by the squats. Going to work from 45kg again.

Deadlift

Warm-ups then

1. 130kg x 2

I was just spent after the squats. The warm-up sets went up fine, but the work set was just beyond me today. I think I'll revert to power cleans on Day B to preserve deadlift progress.

Chin-ups

1. 12
2. 5
3. 4

These felt okay.

Training takeaways

1. Keep the shoulders contracted at all times in the squat.
2. No more consecutive deadlifting...

Post gym

Ibuprofen to ward off any problems in the elbow.

Spotted in the gym

A girl sashayed in for an exercise class with a full face of make-up, skintight leggings, and what was obviously some kind of thong underneath. I do not believe this to have been an error in wardrobe choice.

Jacket