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Thanks, Geoff. I'm frustrated with myself that I ever let it slide, but I can't do anything besides move forward.
Saturday, January 25, 2020 - W3D3
Squat: 190x5x3
Bench: 155x5x3
Deadlift: 285x5
This was a good workout, and it's been a good training week. With bench hitting 155 today, I've officially completed by "sprint start" this go at NLP. Going forward it will be 5lb jumps on squat, bench, and press. The presses will drop to 2.5 soon enough (well....hopefully no sooner than 4 weeks out or so), but +5 for now.
Deadlift is still going to be +10, and next week will be my last week deadlifting 3x/week, with W4D3 deadlift being 315. From there I will add in power cleans and aim for still going +10 on deadlift as long as I can, which I hope will be about 360 or so. I've been doing hook grip for working sets so far. I'm going to see how long that lasts, though it is noticeably more difficult, and I have torn a thumb callus before.
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Monday, January 27, 2020 - W4D1
Squat: 195x5x3
Press: 105x5x3
Deadlift: 295x5
Good, solid workout once I got going. Getting going was slow. I really need a nap some day this week.
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Wednesday, January 29, 2020 - W4D2
Squat: 200x5x3
Bench: 165x5x3
Deadlift: 305x5
I thought I was supposed to go up by 5 on bench today, to 160. Turns out 5s start after now, and today was 165 (I verified 170 planned for next bench day). 165 was a push, but I got them all.
Squat was good, but as the weight goes up I keep wondering if I am keeping hips back and back horizontal enough, or am I letting the hips drop and more upright. It's probably time to start recording again.
Deadlifts were good, but more of 1 rep with a 5 sec pause followed by 4 reps. I decided I'm not getting my hook grip quite right and the bar needs to be more into the thumb webbing. I decided this just before my working set, and tried it right away. :| Anyway, it didn't go well first time at 305, so I repositioned to my usual hook grip. Felt some slight hitch at the end of the last rep, so again, camera time to watch for setup and low and behold back rounding. Overall doing well, just getting to weights that start to push against form.
I found out today I need to travel for work next week. Hopefully my schedule there will let me get to Cody Annino's gym. If not, then I'll probably repeat last week and this, or maybe just this week.
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Saturday, February 1, 2020 - W4D3
Squat: 205x5x3
Press: 110x5x3
Deadlift: 315x4** (see below)
Today was my first day using belt. I don't really need it at 205 for squat, but since I had it, I decided I might as well. I used it for last 2 warm ups to re-accustom myself to it as it's been a while. Squats felt solid and went up well, though I'm definitely starting to feel them getting harder.
Press was good, but hard. I'll be going up 2.5 lb going forward. This is largely to keep my wrists straight. As weight goes up, I start to tilt the wrists back a bit. I'm trying to avoid that, and that is what lead to a lot of the challenge today.
Deadlift was 4 reps total, but then went like this: 2 reps hook grip + belt (had to quickly readjust the grip after first rep, but it was very fast), then a switch to mixed grip for rep 3, belt still on. My pronated hand felt a bit weird in the bicep, so I stood up to walk away. Took my belt off, then got another rep in beltless, hook grip. Obviously this wasn't 5 reps, and not ideal. I think the main factors are lifting with the belt, lifting in the morning (1 meal in, about 1 hour after eating) when I normally lift around 3-4 PM with 3 meals, and adjusting my hook grip to be better situated on the pads of my thumb (I've been pulling with it a bit high, getting thick calluses just above the last joint from the bar rolling down into position).
As mentioned, I travel next week and hoping to get to a gym. I was supposed to start power cleans back up next week, but I'm going to push those off one more week. If i get 3 lifting sessions in next week, I'll be looking for 1-2 days of heavy deads, and light deads for multiple sets the other days. The main goal of the week will be getting to a gym and pulling 315 for 5 reps straight.
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Oh, and there's the fact that I'm eating in a deficit (2300 calories) on my way down to 220. Not that a deficit would impact anything.
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Monday, February 3, 2020 - W5D1
Squat: 210x5x3
Bench: 170x5x3
Deadlift: 315x5
Today was a very good day. Just making it to a good gym while traveling was a win. Everything after that was bonus awesomeness. Especially so since my traveling diet today was crap. Eggs and bacon for breakfast (ok, that was good), a sandwich for lunch, and way too many brownie pieces and cookies after that. Then, nothing until now when I am done lifting (it's 9:00 PM local time). So, felt like calories were low today, protein definitely is (hoping dinner helps there), and carbs had too much sugar/junk carbs.
In spite of that, I felt like all of the lifts were rocked. Deadlift was the most challenging (big surprise...it's DL), but even that went up without any breaks other than switching from hook to mixed grip after the 2nd rep. That was done without standing up or anything of the sort. It may have added a second to between reps, but it was a fast switch. I am pretty excited by this.
I'm hoping to make it on Wednesday, and expect I will do DL for 285x5 for 2-3 sets. I may do power cleans, but may just wait to do those when I am at home. Then, if everything goes right, I'll be hitting up the gym again on Friday and then fly home Saturday AM. Until that happens, I'll just be glad/content with this workout.
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Thursday, February 6, 2020 - W5D2
Squat: 215x5x3
Press: 112.5x5x3
Deadlift: 275x5x2
Given my lack of diet control this week, especially with lunch, and being really really tired, I'm happy with this workout. Squat and press hit their programmed weight reps and sets. Deadlift was a lift day for 2 sets, and they honestly were pretty easy. These replaced the programmed start of power cleans. They'll start Monday.
Traveling is never ideal, and I'm going to try something different next time for better diet control. I like being able to go to Cody's gym, even if it is about 25-30 mins from my hotel. It's a good place, and he's a real nice guy. Great people there.
Day 3 will be Saturday at home, if I'm up to it after the flight, otherwise this is a 2 day week.
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Monday, February 10, 2020 - W6D1
Squat: 220x5x3
Bench: 175x5x3
Deadlift: 325x2
Overall a good workout. Obviously deadlift fell short. It wasn't the weight, but rather lifting with a belt. It makes it a lot harder to breath as it mashes into my gut. My next workout is supposed to be power cleans, but I am thinking light deads like last Thursday, but belted the entire way up and through all sets. Hopefully that will set me up to complete this on d3 this week.
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Next Steps
When I restarted NLP in January, I still had my long term goal of losing weight while gaining strength. My weight goal was and is to get to at least 220 lbs at 5'10.5" tall. This is a drop from my current 311.5 lbs (as of this morning), so 90 lbs to lose. 220 may not be the end of the journey, either, but I will decide when I get there.
I had also thought I might be able to get up to 315x5 on squats and 405 on deads. I might have, but as I think of past training at a deficit (seems I always start training when I need a defecit), and where I seem to stall, I think I know what my limits are at such a deficit. Specifically, I have been to:
Squat: 295x5 for 1-2 sets a few times
Deadlift: 350-370x5 a few times.
Bench: 200ish a few times.
Press: 130-145 a couple of times.
Power Clean: 140-150 a couple of times.
Each time I've done this, I get here, fail a bit, reset, work up and either hit the wall at about the same spot, or start to spiral down due to a variety of factors. Thinking on this, I feel I have either found my limit while on a deficit, or I just become a wimp at these weights. I'm hoping it's the former. The answer to getting through these sticking points is generally to eat through them, and having trained after a few days of not eating on diet, the extra calories/carbs definitely help. I want to eat through them. I want that 3 plate squat and 4 plate pull. I want a 2 plat bench.
What I want more than all of that at this time, though, is to get down in weight. So, I am taking this time to focus on that. I will be switching to a very basic HLM program that front loads the week with all of the heavy lifts (though I may move Heavy Deads to Friday if Monday is just too much). Keeping in mind that my primary goal at this point is losing weight while minimizing muscle/strength loss, it may look like I'm messing around at some points. I hope not, but if it does, that's just where I am now and it will be back on course when I get where I am going.
My HLM program will look like below. I do not currently have a tested 1RM, so I"m just going with offsets relative to my heavy day lifts.
Monday/D1/H
Heavy Squat: 1x5 top set, 3-4x5 backoff sets at ~95%
Heavy Bench: 1x5 top set, 3-4x5 backoff sets at ~95%
Heavy Deadlift: 1x5 top set
Wednesday/D2/L
Light Squat: 3x5 @ 80% Heavy
Press: 1x5 top set, 3-4x5 backoff sets at ~95%
Power Cleans: 5x3 at whatever they are at.
Friday/D3/M
Medium Squat 4x5 @ 90% Heavy
CG Bench: 4x5 @ appropriate weight for CG Bench.
Deadlift: 2-3x5 @ 85% Heavy
Press: 3x5 @ 85% Heavy Press (light pressing day)
Anything in this is subject to change depending on how beatup I feel due to the caloric deficit. Fives may become triples or even singles as things progress. Sets may go from 5 to 4 and then to 3 (I don't expect less than 3 on Heavy or Medium day). The goal is to keep things going while losing weight and a decent pace. I am also starting lower than I initially planned with the intent of providing more headroom for growth as this is going to take me some time.
Diet-wise, I am going to follow the overall strategy outlined by Andy Baker on his blog and what is more-or-less a video version of it on youtube. Based on this, I am going to be eating about 1900-2000 calories a day Monday through Saturday. Sunday will be 2800-3000 calories with most of the excess coming from carbs. This will give me a daily average of 2000-2150 calories. I am aiming for 220g protein, 150-175g carbs, and < 50g fat. As with the lifts, this may change depending on results, but carbs will be the main variable adjusted. I am not going to stress about carb & fat timing as Andy describes in the video, but if results are poor, I may adjust to that.
As mentioned, my big goal is 220lbs, and I'm currently at 311.5. At 250 lbs, I will review where I am diet-wise, training-wise, and results-wise, to determine if I need to slow the weight loss at all. At 220 lbs, another assessment will happen. It is my target weight, but overall I'm looking at waist size. I want to get it down to at least 38", but with another round of NLP and actually eating for growth down the road, I may push for a 36" waist and plan to grow back the 2. If 220 is a 40+ waist, I'm going to keep going down until I am where I want to be.
I am looking forward to this journey, and expect it to take a while. 220 is 90 lbs away, which is 45 weeks @ 2lbs/week, 30 weeks @ 3lbs/week, and that would assume I maintain averages like that. I am also looking for to NLP while eating for growth. So if it looks like I"m on intermediate too soon, I am. If it looks like I'm screwing around at times, I probably am (or trying stuff to see what works).
Last edited by Adam Gottstein; 02-17-2020 at 11:13 AM.
Reason: Adding light presses to Friday for extra press-specific volume.
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Monday, February 17, 2020 - W1D1 - Heavy
Squat: 200x5, 190x5x4
Bench: 165x5, 155x5x4
Deadlift: 275x5
Lat Pulldown: 90x10x4
Workout one done. I decided to do a pretty liberal reset going into this new programming. This is primarily to accommodate the additional volume. It also deals with the fact I lifted once last week and missed a workout the week before. The last reason is that I've been tired lately. I'm hoping it's the caffeine withdrawal, which traditionally has taken me ~2 weeks and that's just about up. I'm really hoping the tired isn't borderline sick. Either way, I slept for about 40 minutes before lifting, and was slow throughout.
Weight is relatively light, so rest between sets was about 4 minutes except deadlifts, because they are deads and a single set, so they get 5-7 mins depending on what I'm feeling. Lat pulldowns are new, and I went 2 mins rest with them. I've been meaning to add them for a few weeks now while still running the weights up via NLP, so decided I need to do it now. I'm programming them according to how Santana outlines in the recent video, so these will be 3x/week. Currently I have pulldown straps that come with the Spud kit, so looking at pulldown bars that are cheap, but not total crap.
Squat was good. Due to feeling tired, and I didn't carb up yesterday (that will start this Sunday), 200 was more effort than it really should have been. I also may have done 5 back-off sets. It was at least 4, but I lost count. I didn't lose count on bench. Like 200 squat, 165 bench was heavier than it should have been. Interestingly, I feel like I managed to tighten my grip on these. A lot. It really felt different, but at the same time it felt more secure. I'm going to play with that as I continue to do these.
Deads were good. 3 warmup sets, 2 of which were belted to get used to feeling that thing there again when pulling. Working set @ 275 is pretty easy and was geared more towards belt readiness. It went well and go tall 5 reps quickly and without feeling too uncomfortable at the bottom. If too much mass mushed together causes me issues as the weight goes up, I am going to probably move my stance out. Toes are already out pretty far, so stance is the next thing to go. I want to keep it as close to where it ideally should be as possible, but I'm not going to miss reps/sets and weight increase because I got proud over 2-3 inches in stance. These were all hook grip
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