Not much to add but if you see my journal you’ll see that we’re are in similar boats, I think the crazy busy lives is a factor in sapping motivation/desire.
I’ve started just doing 20 min sessions on the timer, they’re long enough to hit the big 4 for a proper ramp up to top set and 3 sets of back off with all supersetted with accessories. Maybe not perfect, but I can force myself into it mentally, and I can almost always find 20 mins in a day, so that excuse is gone.
Funny thing is when you’re on the clock you just get it done so the sessions are usually pretty quality. I’m sure you could still make great headway towards your goals doing something similar.
Either way hoping you stay lifting and keep realising the gains!
Not an actual lifting session, but I did press 95x5, 115x1, 135x1 just to make sure I could still do 135. Did it beltless and not psyched or really warmed up, so I think I have that one down pretty solid. Could still use some more practice to master that weight.
Also, noticed some new delt soreness which I may attribute to holding the BSS weight overhead last Friday. Interesting if true - I’ll need to keep that up for some bonus gains.
No weekend workouts for me this weekend. Some family walks of course, and yard work.
Wife and I have been discussing how both of us feel lower energy since our trip. Hard to wake up in the mornings!
Notwithstanding the recent discussion here, though, I’m not quitting, and not significantly scaling back my lifting efforts, in the foreseeable future. I still think my goals are attainable and if they aren’t, the effort will be worth something and I can give up later, but not right now!
A bit of an idea occurs for the next 3 weeks of squatting, keeping the same overall format I’ve been on but:
Week 1: 5’s up to 220
Week 2: 3’s up to 230
Week 3: Up to a single at 250
Week 4: F off, no heavy lifts and lots of DB/cable/machine stuff
Or something like that.
And on the Fridays, keep with 5x5 and keep adding a bit per week.
Alternative suggestion, using these numbers, just to give you another way to look at it. For the next few weeks, squatting twice a week (or every 4 days if that makes it easier).
Warmups, etc.
5 reps at 220
3 reps at 230
1 rep at 250
Do that every time you squat. It works. These weights will become routine for you if you do them….routinely.
The weights and % I used were fairly random, but my experience with squats has always been that if you feel that they just really suck - I mean, not just the weight you are moving, but that they just don’t feel strong at all - is because you are not doing them often enough and/or heavy enough. Squats just have a way of feeling super shitty until you break through a specific barrier, and then all of a sudden they magically suck less and get easier. I mean, they will always suck, they just suck less. You have to train your body to work in concert in a way that it does not have to do with other lifts
You are probably already able to squat more than you think you can. You could hit 3 wheels in 3 months if you really got after it, especially with your work ethic.
That’s extremely encouraging. I hope to experience this! The climb from 95# squats at 20 years old to 225# squats at 32-33 has been, um, sucky. So I sure hope I cross that barrier and
Or at least in 8-9 months!
Just making sure- the @cyrrex plan is to work up to those weights in both weekly squat sessions, same for 3 weeks; and then up the weight in the same format or do something else?
I am a fan of 531 as a rep scheme - I do not follow it as a program very often in accordance with all of Jim’s rules, but I basically always use it on a day to day basis. There are a lot of varieties, but I find myself doing two flavors in different blocks:
-The original 531 BBB AMRAP FSL Beefcake WTF version. Basically the brutal version where you AMRAP the topset and do 70% minimum on the backoff sets (5x10). I then will usually do those same backoff sets during another session later that week. It SUCKS, but holy crap does it tune your body for those lifts. This is a great way to spend a couple months jumpstarting yourself and making some good gains. I am of the unpopular opinion that the non-AMRAP version doesn’t work very well, unless you are already balls strong and doing it close to your maxes.
-Training Maximally. You start at 90% of your 1RM and never go below that, but often going above it. It is way, way easier than Beefcake (or whatever you want to call the above) and it lets you take advantage of those gains and convert it into big strength increases. Now, I never read the books, so I have no doubt purists will tell me I am doing it wrong…but I push it with jokers, I constantly increase the weights, and I am actually lifting my 1RMs (or close to it) all the time. You will never lift 3 plates if you only ever lift 2 plates.
No doubt there are other approaches, but this always works for me, at least to a point. Usually the only thing that stops me is that I feel like I am getting too big (and thus unhealthy).
and now today:
Really cool delt soreness, like I may have never experience before and certainly not from pressing. Really makes me think there’s an “angle” of the delt I’ve just never hit, and I’m stimulating it as a side effect of making BSS more miserable.
And, unrelatedly, I still had 135 racked in the garage, so before work this morning I walked out there in my work clothes, cold, and strict pressed it once. It was a bit slow but I got it, no warmup. Huge milestone crossed there in that what was once unattainable is becoming routine.
9/29/2021, Wednesday.
Today is my day.
Press: 5’s pro: 5x100, 110, 125 - last set was on the Simo scale
More Press: 1x135, 3 sets! 135 was a lifetime PR just a few months ago, so doing it 3 times and not being dead is a big deal. I was seeing stars though.
Felt freaking strong and unstoppable. The progress I’ve made in a year, two years, is significant. It gives me hope that my goals are indeed attainable.
Were I you, I would try to make 135 routine going forward. Do it every time at least once. Start attempting to double it. Shoulders are resilient, it should not mess up any other plans you have.
Bench press: Worked up to a single at 215 or 220, and felt so strong I went for 225.
225 is a lifetime goal and is the “2” in my log title.
I GOT IT FOR 2 REPS.
It wasn’t even hard… went up smoothly.
Squats:
Worked up to 5@220, 3@235, 1@255.
I must have gained weight, last couple weeks my belt feels too tight. Eat your way to a bigger squat LOL.
BSS: 5x10 with 40lb overhead.
These continue to suck.