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Thread: LP Reboot (starting in my basement)

  1. #11
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    WEEK 6

    Monday 9/14/2020

    Squat 265x5x3
    Bench Press 185x5x3
    Deadlift 320x5
    Pulldowns 165x10x3

    Wednesday 9/16/2020

    Squat 215x5x3
    Seated Overhead Press 120x5x3
    Power Clean 125x3x5

    Friday 9/18/2020

    Squat 270x5x3
    Bench Press 190x5x3
    Deadlift 330x5
    Pulldowns 170x8x4

    Still working my way back up after being sick last week. Still got residual congestion issues but it's fading away.

    Finally did light day squats this week. Helped with recovery for sure. Left knee is still a problem though. I have been told I am dropping down a bit lower on that side, I think it's because of whatever is wrong with my knee weakening the rebound on that side. I hope the new shoes will help.

    Only did one overhead pressing session, so I didn't make much progress back up there.

    Bench Press I moved back even though it'd been progressing smoothly, to account for the illness, but it's on its way back easy.

    Deadlifts were a strange case. 320 on monday felt kinda shaky. 330 on Friday was fucking SMOOTH. Must have been some residual issues from the sickness.

    Power cleans were mostly fine. Need to pay more attention to the start position and keeping the bar path more vertical, I ended up a bit back after the jump on one of them. Also may need to widen my grip more. Bar is pushing up against my neck and the natural "jumping position" feels a lot lower than it should.

    Moving pulldowns to only on days I deadlift. Saves time on the power cleaning days and makes them more of a light pulling day. Also moved the reps down and added a set. I'll see how progress goes.

  2. #12
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    WEEK 7

    Monday 9/21/2020

    Squat 275x5x3
    Seated Overhead Press 125x5x3
    Power Clean 135x3x5

    Wednesday 9/23/2020

    Squat 220x5x3
    Bench 195x5x3
    Deadlift 340x5
    Pulldowns 175x8x4

    Friday 9/25/2020

    Squat 280x5x3
    Seated Overhead Press 130x5x3
    Power Clean 145x1x3

    Week began encouragingly. Friday was a disaster. I did some light conditioning on tuesday and thursday and I think it may have fucked with my recovery by the time Friday rolled around.

    I managed to get all my squat reps at 280, although I was drained as hell. My low back felt like it hadn't come close to recovering, and long after the set was done I could very much feel muscles in the lumbar spine just straight up unable to exert much force. On the upside, I think I nailed down the cause of my knee pain. I had been descending into squats with my knees back behind the toes. Nick Delgadillo did a video where he mentioned this causing them to come forward to the toes more violently at the end of the descent, causing a lot of strain on the knees. So I slowed myself down and deliberately moved the knees out to the toes all the way through the descent, no more knee pain. The area still feels a minor discomfort during the movement, but nothing like what was going on before. It's probably still in the process of healing up.

    Overhead pressing was tough, but managed it. Even on Friday where I felt so beat up. If I were doing these standing, I'd officially have surpassed my old PR. But I'm sitting so I don't count that.

    Bench was more of the same. Difficulty felt the same. We'll see how next week goes. I'm looking forward to doing my old 5rm weight for 3 sets across.

    Deadlift felt hard, but also felt like I might've been able to squeak out one or maybe even two more reps at 340. 350 and 360 next week. If I succeed at 360 I'll officially be ahead of my old PR.

    Power cleans went alright Monday, absolute garbage Friday. Even though I'd already successfully (albeit with great difficulty) completed a full power clean workout at 145 weeks ago, Friday it was a 1rm. I felt about as explosive as a slow leak from a tire. My back and my legs felt so beat up and were unable to jump into action quickly. I suspect the culprit is the conditioning work I did on Tuesday and Thursday. I'm going to see what others think but I am leaning toward killing this conditioning experiment.

  3. #13
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    WEEK 8

    Monday 9/28/2020

    Squat 285x5x3
    Bench 200x5x3
    Deadlift 350x5
    Pulldowns 180x8x4

    Friday 10/2/2020

    Squat 255x5x3
    Seated Overhead Press 135x5x2, 3, 2
    Power Cleans 145x3x5

    Skipped wednesday this week. Stress levels were high, and I felt like I really overdid it monday. I actually managed to nail the 3 sets of 285, but rep 5, set 3 came very close to not making it. Because I'm not squatting with a setup that has any kind of safety net if the rep won't go up, I have to play it safe. I knew 5 more pounds was in danger of not making it, so I decided on a 10% drop to work on a bit better form to deal with my knee problems. I also decided to forego my belt on the 255, and maybe I'll work up without it. I think a 4 inch width might be a bit too much even though I'm a tall guy. Torso is short. I have a really horizontal back angle on my squats, and the belt seems to get pushed up when I'm at the bottom. All said and done, 285 for three sets across is an all time PR!

    Bench was also a PR. Did my old 5RM for a whole 3 sets. Difficulty creeping up a little bit, last rep of set 3 started to get shaky.

    Overhead worked out the first 2 sets, though the last rep of each was a very slow grind. Third set failed after rep 3. Waited a minute and a half, squeezed out 2 more. Trying this weight again next week, bumping up the rest times to 4 minutes from 3. See how that works.

    Deadlift was pretty hard, but I managed the 350. Didn't get the chance to try for 360. That'll be next week. I'm not sure if I'll have it in me, but it's possible.

    Power cleans I managed the 145. Made a shoddy selfshot video of my last set. I don't know if it'll be any useful for a form check.

    Also tried a little shoddy self administered SVJ test by jabbing at a wall with a sharpie to appease my curiosity once and for all. Best height I could manage was about 16 inches. Maybe I could get more with a better setup, but not a lot. Explains a lot though. I've always seemed to be a bit slower than everyone else at physical activity, never understood why everyone seemed to move quicker so easily.

  4. #14
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    WEEK 9

    Monday 10/5/2020

    Squat 260x5x3
    Bench 205x5x3
    Deadlift 360x5
    Pulldown 185x8x4

    Wednesday 10/7/2020

    Squat 210x5x3
    Seated Overhead Press 135x5x3
    Power Clean 105x3x5

    Friday 10/9/2020

    Squat 265x5x3
    Bench 210x5x3
    Deadlift 370x5
    Pulldowns 190x8x4

    Pretty good week. Reset the squat for safety reasons, took off the belt and decided to work on my form since the weight's lighter. Bench is still climbing so much better than my first run-through. It's got to be either my better diet, the clomiphene bringing my testosterone back up into the reference range, or both. 210 for 3 sets of 5 may not be much to brag about in real lifting circles, but for a guy who in his youth didn't think he'd ever even get a 200 1RM, it feels pretty awesome. Got all 3 sets on my overhead with the last weight by bumping up the rest interval to 4 minutes. I'm probably going to need to go down to 2.5 pound jumps soon, but I'm going to keep pushing until I have to do that. Power cleans are a notable drop to work on form with a slow start. Fixed pathing issues pointed out in a form check and hopefully it will allow me to keep going. I feel the fixes also allowed me to attain 2 deadlift PRs in one week. Did not think I was ever gonna be able to do that again. 370 was nasty on the thumbs and SLOW on the last rep, but made it. 5 pound jumps from now on for sure, no more 10s. I was already really pushing it with the jump from 360 to 370. Pulldowns barely getting down past the chin at the end, might need smaller jumps. See how 195 goes next week.

  5. #15
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    WEEK 10

    Monday 10/12/2020

    Squat 270x5x3
    Seated Overhead Press 140x5, x3, x2, x4, x1
    Power Clean 125x3x5

    Wednesday 10/14/2020

    Squat 210x5x3
    Bench 215x5x3
    Deadlift 375x5
    Pulldowns 195x8x4

    Friday 10/16/2020

    Squat 275x5x3
    Seated Overhead Press 140x5x3
    Power Clean 125x3x5

    I cannot seem to get the power clean right. I think what I do comfortably is called a "muscle clean". I can't seem to get the hang of making the "second pull" part work. Any time I try to hit it I end up with a weaker clean and missed reps. I think it's clear I'm not very explosive anyway, comparing my cleaning numbers to my 375 deadlift. I don't seem able to get enough muscle recruited in the movement for it to be a significant strength benefit anyway. I'll give the lift a chance again when I can get some coaching on it. Maybe there's something in the technique I'm missing that will let me get more out of it. I'll swap it for the barbell row for now in the program.

    Flew too close to the sun this week with the overhead press. 5 pound jump didn't work the first time. Repeat of the weight on friday worked. 2.5 pound jumps for the future.

    Bench Press is continuing to amaze me. It's basically the MVP of my lifts this time around. Still not hitting that super slow grind on the last rep of the last set. I can feel it on the horizon, though. But until then, I'm gonna keep going.

    Put the belt back on to squat this week, back was a lot more steady. Also, used ibuprofen to help with the unending knee tendonitis. Did the job and I could lift without sudden pain fucking with me.

    Only did 5 pounds more on deadlift this week. Good call, was a rough lift. Need to think on maybe if I wanna take the next step in reducing frequency. When I do, It'll be deadlift/rows alternating with pulldowns.

  6. #16
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    WEEK 11

    Monday 10/19/2020

    Squat 280x5x3
    Bench 220x5x3
    Pulldowns 200x8x4

    Wednesday 10/21/2020

    Squat 225x5x3
    Seated Overhead Press 142.5x5x2, x4, x1
    Deadlift 380x5

    Friday 10/23/2020

    Squat 285x5x3
    Bench 225x5x3
    Pulldowns 205x5x5

    285 squat was better this weak. It was still hard but it didn't feel like a skin of my teeth completion. 290 monday.

    Bench continues progressing well, but the very last rep of the last set got hung up and did a bit of grinding. Probably gonna flatten out soon.

    Overhead still didn't make a smooth jump with a 2.5 pound increase. Even the end of the first set is a nasty grind. Maybe I could keep this up if I go down to 1 or 2 pound jumps, but when Bench flattens out I'm gonna start doing the compressed texas method setup for the pressing movements. So until then, I'm gonna try and experiment and see if I can get a bit more out of other changes. Gonna try a five triples setup next week, see if I can squeeze some more progress in that way.

    Deadlift sets yet another PR this week. Ironically didn't do any rows even though I've switched programming to them instead of power cleans. First rowing session will be Monday. Spreading out the frequency seems to have been a good call, the 380 deadlift was quite rough. 4 more sessions to 400! After that, I don't think I'll be able to stack any more weight on the bar with what I've got here.

    Switched pulldowns to 5x5 on friday, made it a little easier to get through but probably gives me a bunch more room to progress.

  7. #17
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    starting strength coach development program
    WEEK 12

    Monday 10/26/2020

    Squat 290x5x3
    Seated Overhead Press 145x3x5
    Barbell Row 195x5x3

    Wednesday 10/28/2020

    Squat 230x5x3
    Bench 230x5x2, 225x4, 225x1
    Pulldowns 210x5x5

    Friday 10/30/2020

    Squat 295x5, 280x5x2
    Seated overhead press 147.5x3x2, x2
    Deadlift 385x3

    Squatting monday was a brutal affair. Had a lot of trouble keeping the back angle from collapsing out of the bottom, almost lost the last rep of the last set. Did a backoff setup on Friday's 295 for safety's sake since I have no safety setup for my squats.

    Tried a five triples setup on my overhead pressing to see if it had potential. Friday showed that it did not. I know I should've kept running out in broken sets, but I was running short on time and honestly I am probably going to re-program.

    Worked up to a weight of 195 on the rows, felt fairly heavy. Might have gone a bit far to start, but I'm not even sure I'm going to keep these in my programming.

    Pulldowns got hard, I don't know if it's because of the weight starting to approach my own a bit more or what. Might be I need to slow up, 5 pound jumps are too much now. Something to keep in mind for later.

    Bench seems to have hit the ceiling. First set was very hard, last rep trembled like an earthquake. Second set the last rep took over 5 seconds to get up. I saw where this was going, and stripped 5 pounds off for the third set. Wasn't enough, only got 4. Slapped on another rep after a minute or so for good measure.

    Deadlift failed to get more than 3 reps. The 4th got up past the knees but it just wouldn't get up any further.

    Overall, I think I'm calling this routine done. I could try and squeeze some more little droplets with resets and other measures, but I think it's time to switch to intermediate programming with a bit more volume behind less aggressive PRs. I'm feeling really beat up. I don't think there's any further things I can be doing to make any more progress like this. I sleep 8+ hours, I eat like a dinosaur(5000+ calories a day, 300+ grams of protein, something like 400-500 grams of carbs), and my weight is pushing 290. There's always possibility there's form issues holding me back, but I don't have the money coming in to justify pursuing coaching at the moment, though I'd like to. Hopefully I'll find some kind of employment soon. I've found I really like trying to coach others, and I think I'd learn more about it from being coached myself. I'm thinking I'll use texas method programming next, until I go on a 3 month cut planned for January.

    Final results on the "big 4" (or perhaps 3 and a half since I only could press seated) 5 rep PRs:
    Squat 195x5->295x5
    Seated Overhead Press 105x5->140x5
    Deadlift 245x5->380x5
    Bench 170x5->230x5

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