BWare's Novice Training Log

[Bruce Ware]

7/26 Session 10--3, completing the transition from NLP 2A to NLP 2B, from Sullivan's BP:ST4L>40.

Squats --

Warm-ups: 45 x 5 x 2
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 2
275 x 1

Working sets: 290 x 5 x 3; plus 5 next time. The new belt is making a huge and welcome difference!

Bench Press --

Warm-ups: 45 x 5 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 3

Working sets: 155 x 5 x 3; plus 2 next time. I got them all, but it is still amazingly hard. Next week, I will introduce some assistance exercises during the pressing parts of the training to work on improving this lift.

BB Row --

Warm-ups: 95 x 5

Working sets: 130 x 5 x 3; plus 5 next time.

[Bruce Ware]

7/27 Rowing. A few nice drill exercises to warm-up, then we raced against the other novice boat. Coach put me in seat 5, still letting other folks try out different positions. This session was on my "other" side - a starboard oar, and I'm used to rowing on port, but it worked out fine. Coach did say he preferred to work with me on trying all positions, stating he thinks my rowing form is progressing very well.

[Bruce Ware]

7/28 Measurement Sunday

Total weight -- Spot = 191.2 (up 0.6 from last week, 8.2 from start of 2019, 5.4 from start of NLP); week's average = 190.5 (up 0.5 from last week); long-term average 190.0 (up 0.2 from last week)

LBM -- spot = 172.3 (up 0.6 from last week, 6.5 from start of 2019, 6.1 from start of NLP); long-term average 171.1 (up 0.3 from last week)

BF% -- spot = 9.89%, no change from last week; long-term average 10.0%, also no change from last week.

Fat pounds -- spot 18.9 (no change from last week, up 1.7 from start of 2019, down 0.7 from start of NLP); long-term average 18.9 (no change from last week).

Fat trend is flat, with all measures for the past 6 weeks within +/- 1 standard deviation; body-weight and LBM trend lines continue to show a strong up-ward movement.

Body-part measurements holding steady in normal range.

Food intake averaged about 2650 kcals per day this week, at 27% protein, 45% carb, and 28% fat. I'm gradually ratcheting the kcals in to 2800, and aiming to swing some of those fat cals over into the protein column. At least, that's the theory. In practice, however, my body composition appears to be moving so well in my desired direction that I really do not feel the need to make any major changes, except to increase my overall intake. I'm pushing to get my long-term total weight to about 192 and my LBM to about 172.

So far, rowing has not interfered with my recovery from lifting, and vice versa. This coming week will be my first week at the full "early novice 2B program" described by Sullivan, with assistance exercises to improve my pressing (both overhead and benching), as well as a reduced number of days on deadlift. My squat weight and deadlift weight are equal and moving together. Overhead press is doing very well, but the bench has become a real challenge.

[Bruce Ware]

7/29 Session 11-1

This week finishes the transition to Sullivan's "Early Novice Master" ("2B") training approach; I've elected to use the barbell floor press as an assistance exercise to help my bench and to do ring pull-ups as my pulling replacement for deadlift on this day.

Squat --

Warm-ups: 45 x 5 x 2
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 2
275 x 1

Working sets: 295 x 5 x 3; the next session is a light day, and after that, I'll be aiming for 300 on my next heavy day.

Press --

Warm-ups: 45 x 5 x 2
75 x 3

Working sets: 105 x 5 x 3; plus 5 next time. Still able to use strict 1.0 form.

Floor Press -- 125 x 8 x 3

Ring Pull-ups -- 10 x 3

Next session 11-2 will be a light squat day; I'll do a regular bench press, and add a close-grip bench for assistance on strengthening the triceps for better pressing in general; it will also be my deadlift day.

[Bruce Ware]

7/30 - Rowing. Nice session, some good drills and technique refinements. Not too strenuous but I worked up a good sweat in the early evening heat anyway.

[Bruce Ware]

7/31 Session 11-2, the light squat/deadlift day.

Squats --

Warm-ups: 45 x 5 x 2
135 x 5
185 x 3
215 x 2

Working sets: 245 x 5 x 3

Bench Press --

Warm-ups: 45 x 5 x 2
95 x 5
125 x 3

Working sets: 157 x 5 x 3; not too bad on this, getting good movement and control; plus 2 next time.

Close-grip bench -- 125 x 8 x 3; I will alternate between this and LTEs for triceps strengthening.

Deadlift --

Warm-ups: 135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3

Working set: 290 x 5; good, plus 5 next time.

[Bruce Ware]

8/1 Rowing. Good drills and a new routine the coaches call a "Utilization-1" drill -- rowing at a fairly relaxed pace for 2000 meters with two rate changes, repeated 3 times. So, I guess they are working on building up our endurance while fine-tuning our technique for holding the boat set rowing on the eights.

[Bruce Ware]

8/2 Session 11-3

Squats --

Warm-ups: 45 x 5 x 2
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 2
275 x 1

Working sets: 300 x 5 x 3; oh, baby I nailed this. First set, I was a bit concerned about not having gone deep enough, although I felt fine. Checked my play-back, and it was much better than it felt, depth-wise. Second and third sets, I focused on getting deeper and more hip drive, and it was solid. Plus 5 again next time.

Press --

Warm-ups: 45 x 5 x 2
75 x 3

Working sets: 110 x 5 x 3; first set was a bit wobbly, but on second and third, I concentrated on holding a solid stable lower-body, and managed to get all reps with no problems. It's heavy, no doubt, but I'm going to go for plus 5 next time.

Floor Press -- 135 x 8 x 3; plus 5 next time. Chest felt more solid and upper body more stable and engaged.

BB Row --

Warm-ups: 95 x 5

Working sets: 135 x 5 x 3; plus 5 next time.

[Bruce Ware]

8/3 Rowing; some good warm-up drills and then what coach calls another type of utilization drill - "U-2" - 500 meter sprints interval with 500 meter easy strokes. Crew shuffling again, so we had a new girl sitting in stroke seat and new people scattered throughout; I was sitting in seat 2 (bow pair). You get a lot of opportunity to observe other rowing performance while trying to compensate for it. LOL! I gave myself credit for a good 1h:10m worth of conditioning. Wasn't tired at the end, just a little ticked that I could not also work on my own technique and form.

[Bruce Ware]

8/4 Measurement Sunday:

Total weight -- Spot = 192.0 (up 0.8 from last week, 9.0 from start of 2019, 6.2 from start of NLP); week's average = 191.7 (up 1.2 from last week); long-term average 190.3 (up 0.3 from last week) -- I had a lot of days this week where my morning weight was strongly up, leading to this week's avg going up so much.

LBM -- spot = 171.4 (down 0.9 from last week, up 5.6 from start of 2019, up 5.2 from start of NLP); long-term average 171.1 (no change from last week) -- trend line is still up, but this week's point indicates a slowing of the rate of increase.

BF% -- spot = 10.7%, up from last week; long-term average 10.1%, small tick upwards from last week.

Fat pounds -- spot 20.6 (up (a lot) 1.7 from last week, up 3.4 from start of 2019, up 1.0 from start of NLP); long-term average 19.2 (up 0.3 from last week). Fat trend is flat.

All body-part measures for the past 6 weeks within +/- 1 standard deviation; body-weight and LBM trend lines continue to show a strong up-ward movement.

Food intake averaged about 2700 kcals per day this week (about 50/day more than last week), at 27% protein, 45% carb, and 28% fat (same macros as last week). I'm gradually ratcheting the kcals in to 2800, and aiming to swing some of those fat cals over into the protein column. Even though this week showed a bit of a reversal in composition terms, it was of such a small scale that no change in overall programming is being considered (yet).