Part of the reason I say it’s “really high” is that my training hasn’t been in a vacuum. The biggest examples I can think of are
I took an extended break from deadlifting because I kept reaggrevating my back with it… then that abruptly stopped happening about four months ago
For that same reason, I made seated presses a primary lift for a while
I had the best squat day of my life, set a 35-pound PR (315–>350,) and was unable to match it for like half a year
I decided at one point to just take a break from benching because I was getting really frustrated with it, and pressed twice a week for a while
I haven’t attempted a PR in a few months; there would be many more bullet points if I magically knew exactly when I was capable to eeking out a 2.5-pound PR and did so every time I could.
For this amount of random stuff to exist in the data and the R^2 value to still average ~0.95 gives it some credence in my view.
The other part of the reason I say that is because this is probably much less important than what you’re working on lol.
That’s a good point - and I do admit that the first thing I noticed when I added the trendline is that my most recent PR’s are “beating” every one of them.
Also true. The first one that comes to mind is nutrition - my scholarship here covers 4 years of a meal plan, so that + vending machine protein shakes (also scholarship-covered, incredibly) make up the vast majority of my food. Once I start law school and am tasked with shopping for myself, I will be in a position where I have much more fine-tuned control over my diet and can employ a strategy better than “find whatever entree is being served today with the most meat/eggs/veggies and eat like three of them.”
Bodyweight is the other factor that sort of confounds that data. I don’t have nearly enough data points regarding my weight to do anything with it, but i’d be curious to see what the graph would look life it it tracked bodyweight ratios of PR’s instead of absolute weight of PR’s
That’s even more interesting that with the interruptions and the unpredictable unrepeatable PRs that a logarithmic trendline fits so well.
Regarding R^2, anything 0.9 and higher is actually really high. Surprisingly high in this case. (Also, apparently in finance, something as low as 0.7 is considered good (really??))
The thing I was working on was a weird case anyway. It basically came down to whether we should approximate something with a formula or just measure it. Since we only need to calculate it once a week, speed wasn’t really a consideration. However any error would end up magnified. So we decided just to measure it since it was the more accurate option.
Deadlift: 445x5 (PR)
Sleeveless Squat: 305x5/5/5
NG Chins: 25x8/8/6+4BW
Solid end to the cycle. A few days of mostly cardio will follow (my deload,) and if I’m feeling good I may try for a PR or two where I know I’ll have them.
Presented my paper at that research conference tonight - it went well! I got to field some interesting questions and feedback afterwards, and my prof for that class told me that I did well with the presentation itself.
The next few weeks are gonna have me writing a bunch more lol, which is the price I pay for only having 2 classes this semester with actual test-based finals. I’m gonna submit some of these papers to next year’s departmental competitions and see if I can get any awards for them.
First training day of this next cycle will probably be Friday. Really hoping that I can focus in on hitting my squats this time around, and might play around a bit with a backoff set and see how that feels.
Press: 170x5
Bench: 195x5/5/5/5/5
Machine Hammer Curls: 70x11+6+4 RP
Pushdowns: Max x10+5+3 RP
Incline Walk: 15:00
Changing things up a bit this cycle: 10/15/20 pound jumps week-to-week (still ending in an 5-pound PR each cycle) and two cycles back-to-back before my next deload.
Flew through this accordingly, since it was super light.
Squat: 350x5
Barbell Lunges: 225x5/5/5
Pull-Ups: 5/5/5/5/5/5
Leg Curls: 190x9+4+3 RP
Incline Walk: 15:00
First time ever trying barbell lunges, not 100% what to think of them yet. Repping out 225 on them feels cool though lol, I was expecting to use like a plate. May actually go a bit lighter next time.
Easy top set, and got through the rest in like 25 minutes. Turned in the first of the several essays that constitute my finals this semester, next up is a draft of my law school personal statement.
Deadlift: 420x5
Squat: 280x5/5/5
NG Chins: +25x9/6/6+5 (BW; RP)
Felt like I could’ve done ten on that top set. Maybe before my next Deload I’ll just absolutely send it with a set at 405 and see what I can do.
100% on a Chinese Politics test, wrote the draft of my law school personal statement, found two professors to write me rec letters. Going to try and complete essays #3 & 4 over the next few days.
I think it’s been about a year since I’ve posted one of these. How I look is pretty far down the list of priorities in terms of training goals, at least until I’m moving some numbers that I feel I can be content with (fully aware that this will never stop being a moving target lol).
Flexing upper body in the first and legs in the second
Press: 180x5
Bench: 200x5/5/5/5/5
Machine Hammer Curls: 80x9+5+3 RP
Pushdowns: Max x10+5+4 RP
Incline-Walk: 15:00
Today is “A-Day” at UA, which means that there’s a spring football practice with free tickets to watch, so the population of Tusacloosa swells like 5x past capacity. On the bright side, empty gym lol.
The Zercher ones felt significantly less unstable than when I did them with the bar on my back last week. But the weight was also a good deal lighter this time around, so that could very well be why.
