Just came here to brag

[tiny&mighty]

Sounds like a great idea, especially after working on a brief ever since I posted here earlier tonight! Better half is out of town until tomorrow, but I'll let him know he's on the hook for a fancy dinner!

[tiny&mighty]

My last training session was on Friday and let's just say that it was a complete disaster. I didn't hit a single one of my numbers.

I have been working long hours and the job is so busy that I forget to eat lunch. When dinner comes, I'm starving but cannot eat as much as I normally do because my appetite is very low at the moment. I've lost weight and my clothes feel looser already. Sleep isn't good, I have a bazillion things on my mind and lack focus in the gym with my mind racing about work stuff. The situation is unlikely to improve until September.

I have therefore reached the conclusion that training for PRs in the 1-3 rep range is unlikely to be productive over the next weeks. Given my lack of focus and state of under-recovery, it might not be super safe either. And it is very frustrating. When I cannot hit my numbers, I end up not getting much done.

So this weekend I went on a shopping spree and bought most of Andy's programs to identify which one would best fit my unpleasant situation. It confirmed my intuition about GGW1. It's an HLM, press-focused, 3 days per week program, with short and simple training sessions, and higher deadlift volume. The only things I dislike about it is that it calls for barbell rows (meh) on the light day, and that I'm not convinced my press will react well to it. Intensity seems low at the beginning (I might generously round some numbers upwards), but taking a step back from limit intensity is the whole point of making this change, so I guess I cannot have my cake and eat it too.

Since the first weeks look pretty easy, I am pretty sure I can get this done successfully even if I'm tired, underfed and not very focused. By the time the program gets more challenging, hopefully my situation will have improved. Basically all I'm hoping for is to maintain my strength until I can get back to a more aggressive training program.

I'll get started tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on when my husband's next heavy falls. So be advised that my log will be more boring than usual more a while.

[tiny&mighty]

Reporting back after 1 week of GGW1.

Monday
Squat 170 X 6 X 4
Press 70 X 6 X 3
SG Deadlift 160 X 6 X 3

Thursday
Squat 145 X 6 X 2
Bench 105 X 6 X 4
Row 70 X 8 X 4

Today
Squat 180 X 6 X 3
Press 75 X 6 X 4
Deadlift 190 X 6

Pretty uneventful so far, but I was not expecting this program to be super exciting. Normally, doing any of those workouts would be a piece of cake, yet each felt surprisingly hard. Not limit hard, but harder than expected. This suggests this program is consistent with what I can handle at the moment.

The next 3 weeks are going to be intense work wise. After that I am hoping things will settle a bit. In the meantime this program seems like a reasonable strategy to limit my losses.

Pros so far:
- Squats 3 times per week;
- Workouts take less than an hour to complete;
- Higher deadlift volume and frequency;
- Bench only once per week.

Cons so far:
- Not a fan of barbell rows;
- Lots of callusogenic (?) work;
- Intensity seems low.

[tiny&mighty]

Reporting back after completing Week 2 of GGW1.

Tuesday
Squat 180 X 5 X 4
Press 75 X 5 X 3
SG Deadlift 180 X 5 X 3

Thursday
Squat 160 X 5 X 2
Bench 115 X 5 X 4
Row 75 X 6 X 4

Today
Squat 170 X 5 X 3
Press 80 X 5 X 4
Deadlift 200 X 5

Still unexciting, but at least this is something I am able to commit to and succeed at. The Tues-Thurs-Sat schedule seems optimal: that is only 2 workouts on work days, including the light day, a real joke so far (not complaining). Even if I don't get home until late, there's just no reason to skip or postpone the light day. Heavy day falls on Tuesday, which is not bad either since I carry over some of the recovery I get over the weekend.

Week 3 will be a bit harder, but the following week looks easy-peasy again. I just hope the outside-the-gym stuff improves by Week 9; otherwise I might have to repeat the loading phase before peaking and hopefully getting something out of this program.