Less weak than last week

[David Hooper]

13 September 2021
Weight - 215
Squat - 360
Bench - 180
(Deadlift - 385x1)
GHR - BW+15 (12, 12, 12)
Chin - 6,6,5

I repeated the squat weight because I didn't feel comfortable with how the squats went on Friday. They were unsteady, which means a high likelihood of floating high to compensate. Today felt much better so I can move on up.

Bench went well. What a difference a properly loaded bar makes. I'll move up by 2.5 lb increments now.

I wanted to test my hamstring, so I added in a run-up of deadlifts. 315x2 felt okay and didn't have the hamstring complaints that it did last week. 365x1 was a little talkative, but I felt comfortable adding 20 lb more for a single. Now we'll see how it feels tonight and tomorrow. I honestly don't know if it's a soreness that's workable or something more serious. If I'm good to go on Wednesday, I'll repeat 395.

GHRs went, but were probably tougher than necessary due to deadlifts. The next weight up is 20 kg (if I stick with single weight plates) so next week will be more telling.

I was gassed by chins. Not surprised they regressed a bit. They'll also be better diagnosed next week.

[David Hooper]

15 September 2021
Weight - 214
Squat - 255 (light)
Press - 130 (4,4,3,3,3)
Deadlift - 395x2*

Press continues to be better than before. Again, very close to the 4th rep on the third set, but I had definitely misgrooved the 3rd one. That bought me an extra set of three as punishment.

I ran deadlifts up to 395 to see how the hammy would fare. (Aside, it feels like the semitendinosus is strained.) 315 had no issue but at 365 I could feel it. I got the first two at 395 just fine, but the hamstring kept talking louder and louder. Halfway up the third, it got to the point of concern so I bailed out. I'm trying very hard not to be impatient about it. I assume it'll be fine by next week, so long as I don't do something stupid before then. The question will be whether to repeat 395 or do 385. Either way, my squats are creeping up on my deads yet again.

[David Hooper]

17 September 2021
Weight - 215
Squat - 365
Bench - 182.5 (5,4,4)
Clean - TBD
Chin - TBD

First set of squats felt surprisingly strong and crisp. Fatigue made quick work of that, but all three sets were solid as usual. The hamstring didn't speak to me during the sets so I'm optimistic about deadlifts next week.

I wonder, though, if I'm carrying squat fatigue into the other lifts. I was still really gassed through the bench press warmups despite taking a bit of an extra break. I don't know if that was the reason for the bench failure, but it seems reasonable. I'll repeat on Wednesday after light squats and see how it goes.

I was doing alright-ish on cleans. Had it working at 140, but I had one that landed really awkwardly on the shoulders and jarred me pretty good. It was painful enough that the next attempt was all out of sorts, so I'll come back in the morning on Saturday to try them again. (The shoulders are feeling better now, about an hour afterwards.) The catch is definitely my make/break point right now. If I get UNDER correctly, I catch it. I still have some re-training in my brain on that, but it's slowly getting better. Slowly.

Edit: PC update -- I was really stiff and sore this morning, but got in to work on cleans anyhow. Unsurprisingly they didn't go well at work weight. I spent a lot of time at 115 and then 125 breaking things down. It turns out that I hang clean better than I clean. For one, I'm much more vertical in my back from a hang clean, and it just feels so much easier. I played around a bit with adding a hinge between RAMP and JUMP (RAMP/UP/JUMP), and it seemed to really help. I was too stiff to do much at 135 with it, but it's yet one more thing to overthink. I'll need to re-read the books and see if being too horizontal is a thing.

I really, really need to get to a coach. Hoping soon. If the virus numbers have peaked, I can probably convince the better half that it's alright to go.

Chins on Saturday too. Edit: They'll wait until this evening or maybe not at all, depending on recovery throughout the day. My shoulders are really sore. No chins today, unfortunately. Shoulders are still very sore. Recovery is definitely in order.

As a side note, I saw this weekend that the well-executed novice started modifying the squats at around this weight by adding the back-off reduction. It may be time to start looking at advanced novice modifications to squats. I'll have to think long and hard about that this weekend. I kinda don't want to modify it; I like the struggle of the squats.

[Bill Anders]

I was doing alright-ish on cleans. Had it working at 140, but I had one that landed really awkwardly on the shoulders and jarred me pretty good. It was painful enough that the next attempt was all out of sorts, so I'll come back in the morning on Saturday to try them again. (The shoulders are feeling better now, about an hour afterwards.) The catch is definitely my make/break point right now. If I get UNDER correctly, I catch it. I still have some re-training in my brain on that, but it's slowly getting better. Slowly.

Chins on Saturday too.

As a side note, I saw this weekend that the well-executed novice started modifying the squats at around this weight by adding the back-off reduction. It may be time to start looking at advanced novice modifications to squats. I'll have to think long and hard about that this weekend. I kinda don't want to modify it; I like the struggle of the squats.

Embrace, nay, squeeze the hell out of that UNDER cue. Not so much that you end up doing a squat clean, but drop those hips quickly as soon as your feet (or heels) return to the platform (depending on how much of a jump you are getting now). Now that I've tied my 5x3 PR, I'm noticing that I really need to focus on that part of the cue, especially as I got tired for the last few sets. It's a very good thing that these are 5x3s, not 3x5s like the rest of the lifts (except DL).

re: squat back-offs - I hear ya. Just know what the tradeoffs are if you keep running 3x5 at your full work set weight. It looks like you found it today.

Keep at it!

[David Hooper]

Thanks, Bill. Based on how I feel this morning, it may very well be time. The joys of self-directed training.

[Bill Anders]

That it is. But I think that in the long run we gain a greater understanding of the issues and corrections than if we were just following a coach's guidance verbatim. Sure, we may get there faster, but would we really understand all of the issues?

For me, I spent all summer looking forward to running Nick's press protocol again. But now I'm stalling on my bench while the press continues to go up. Granted, I'm right now stalling at 5lbs under my all-time 5x3 PR bench weight, while I still have 15lbs to go for the same for my press. So now I'm mulling over just jumping right into his increased frequency protocol once I return from this break. That will probably give me greater gains over the coming months than running out singles. But we shall see.

Keep at it!

[David Hooper]

That it is. But I think that in the long run we gain a greater understanding of the issues and corrections than if we were just following a coach's guidance verbatim. Sure, we may get there faster, but would we really understand all of the issues?

For me, I spent all summer looking forward to running Nick's press protocol again. But now I'm stalling on my bench while the press continues to go up. Granted, I'm right now stalling at 5lbs under my all-time 5x3 PR bench weight, while I still have 15lbs to go for the same for my press. So now I'm mulling over just jumping right into his increased frequency protocol once I return from this break. That will probably give me greater gains over the coming months than running out singles. But we shall see.

Keep at it!

I do think that, with a good enough coach, we'd gain an understanding of the issues. I do prefer to struggle a bit on my own as I believe it sinks in better and sticks longer. But I'd also love to have a good coach around that I could go to after struggling a bit. Maybe a once a month thing, and add a session as needed. It'd marry my desire to do my own research along with expert evaluation.

I'm still feeling Friday's squats this morning, so it's probably my cue to adapt them for recovery management. I wish I could move to a frequency reduction, but the gym is closed on Sundays. The next option I like from the grey book is the back-off sets (e.g., Monday at 370x5, 345x5x2). I may also reduce the weight increases to only 5 lb/week (e.g., add the new 5 on Monday and repeat on Friday, with a light squat day on Wednesday). Once my deadlift is back and up to 405, I'm almost certainly reducing it to 5 lb/week, so that'd let me keep the dead slightly ahead of the squat for a while longer. It's also a minimal change from my current approach.

I'll keep an eye on your presses. I really want to string out my overhead/bench pressing LP as long as possible so any tricks are definitely welcome. If my bench becomes too stubborn, I may move it to a 3x5. That would reduce the 'time under tension' effect I get since I cannot lock out at the top. We'll see. The press seems to be improving with the Nick protocol and an occasional back-off to regain sets.

[David Hooper]

20 September 2021
Weight - 215
Squat - 370x5, 340x5x2
Press - 132.5 (4,3,3,3,2)
GHR - (BW+15)x15x3
Chin - TBD

Implemented the advanced novice back-off on squats today. It feels strange to think that this linear progression carnival ride is nearing its end.

On the press, I was a bit worried as the squats seemed to irritate a shoulder. (I think I wasn't quite tight enough on the first back-off set.) I had a couple bad grooves on the second set and almost didn't even get the third rep. Cleaning that up, I almost got the third rep on the final set. The shoulder didn't seem to complain. Onward.

The next convenient weight for the GHR is 25 lb, so I decided to bump the 15 lb to sets of 15 rather than 12. I am clearly not used to volume. (Feel that pump!) Next week I'll increase the weight to 25 lb and reduce to 3 sets of 10 or 12.

Time was short and my back was really tired, so I decided to wait on chins until later this evening.

[David Hooper]

22 September 2021
Weight - 215
Squat - 265 (light)
Bench - 182.5
Deadlift - 385

Bench felt much better today. Next week, I may try moving the bench ahead of the heavy squats and see how that treats me. I do believe squat fatigue is carrying over to the presses on Mondays and Fridays. (I have the conditioning of a 40-year old lifetime desk worker.)

I think I guesstimated the deadlift weight appropriately today. After two weeks of simply running the weight up to find the point where my hamstring complained, I felt good enough to go for a full set. 395 might have been there, but it would have been a war. I can continue LP on deads now for a little bit. Still hoping for 10 lb jumps to 405 and then perhaps 5 lb jumps afterward.

In other notes, I had my body fat measured by one of those handheld bioimpedance thingies yesterday, and it came out just under 30%. That's probably pretty close, to be fair. I can shave down some carbs in the afternoon/evening after workouts, and that should hopefully help reduce the BF% without interfering with lifting. I'll do it gently and see how it goes. (Most of the BF gain was early on when I was overestimating calories. I've been pretty stable for a long time now.)

[David Hooper]

24 September 2021
Weight - 213
Squat - 370x5, 350x5x2
Press - 135 (3,3,3,2,2,2)
Clean - 140 :-)
Chins - 8,7,6 (25 Sept.)

Pseudo-repeated the squat from Monday. I wanted to slow down the weight a bit to allow the deadlift to get back ahead for a couple weeks. Also, I'm still figuring out the right set point for the back-off weight. 350 was manageable, so I'll keep closer to a 5% reduction for now.

I had a sore left shoulder but I honestly don't know if it affected the press. I did notice that breathing caused a loss of tightness so I just held my breath all the way through the doubles. I'm not sure I could do that on a triple.

Cleans finally went up! In chronological order, my two main problems are (1) keeping my back too horizontal, which probably makes me look like Mario doing a crouch jump, and (2) not getting under the bar. I focused on the first today and was suddenly catching 140 cleanly. I still need to work on the catch. I had a few misses because I wasn't getting under. I also have permission from the better half to go travel to coaching, so I'll get that set up for October.

I did chins on Saturday morning and added them here. First time ever getting 8 in a set.