Hey, nice job on the Ph.D. It’s good to see other mathematicians lifting. I myself just finished my first year as an Operations Research phd candidate (I have quals in October), and realize how much lifting takes away from study time, haha. You seem to be progressing well…
[quote]TheDudeAbides wrote:
You might want to reevaluate your caloric intake - are you eating enough for your current progression? As you get stronger and more muscular, it is inevitable to increase your calories.[/quote]
I had not even considered this. Thanks for the heads up!
I was also having some difficulty eating enough in the 2 weeks surrounding my defense, but at least that is past now.
[quote]osterm38 wrote:
Hey, nice job on the Ph.D. It’s good to see other mathematicians lifting. I myself just finished my first year as an Operations Research phd candidate (I have quals in October), and realize how much lifting takes away from study time, haha. You seem to be progressing well…[/quote]
Thanks for the kind words.
I’m glad to know I’m not alone. Most people I know seem to think being an academic and lifting weights is some kind of contradiction!
Best of luck with your upcoming quals! I wasn’t lifting yet when I took mine, but I wish I was. No doubt it’s a good way to get your mind off of work for a bit. Heh.
Wed., July 2nd. Workout A:
squat - 3x5x66kg (145 lbs)
bench - 3x5x51kg (112 lbs)
bent-over row - 3x5x50kg (110 lbs) (superset w/ dips)
dips - 5+5+3 @ bw
seated external rotation - 3x15x3kg (6 lbs)
Great workout! I’m happy with the deload. Things feel better than last week’s struggles.
I’ve decided to put the rows on workout A and DL on workout B. This will keep rows and chins separate. I also supersetted the rows and dips. I usually rush through the dips anyway. Figured they’d get enough rest if done between some other lift. So far I’m liking the change.
The rows are now full from the floor. Last time they were not.
Fri., July 4th. Workout B:
squat - 3x5x67kg (147 lbs)
press - 5,5,4x41kg (90 lbs) (superset w/ chins)
chins - 4,2,2xbw
deadlift - 5x80kg (176 lbs)
lying leg raise - 3x15
Squat progressing well. I’m still troubleshooting form. My depth is good, but my knees still go farther forward than I like.
I’ll hold the press. Before I would have incremented, but I don’t think that strategy was good for me.
Supersetting presses and chins was nasty. I’m going to try without next time and see if I get any more chins. The main problem is that my chins have stalled and I’m going backwards. Maybe I’ll do pullups next time just to keep things fresh.
The deads felt great. I was able to do them with a much faster tempo than when I was using the small blocks.
Sun., July 6th. Workout A:
squat - 3x5x66kg (150 lbs)
bench - 3x5x52kg (114 lbs)
bent-over row - 3x5x51kg (112 lbs) (superset w/ dips)
dips - 5+5+4 @ bw
seated external rotation - 3x15x3.5kg (8 lbs)
Strong session. Turns out my knees are just fine on the squats. A closer reading of Rip shows that having your knees pass your toes to some degree is normal.
Bench speed was great. I’d like to clear 60 kg over the next few weeks.
My upper arms are very close to parallel to the floor on the dips. I expect to be hitting a nice depth soon.
Wed., July 9th. Workout B:
squat - 3x5x69kg (152 lbs)
OH press - 3x5x41kg (90 lbs)
deadlift - 5x82kg (180 lbs)
chins - 4,4,4xbw
lying leg raise - 3x15
Great session. Squats felt sturdy. I should go right through the 70s. My press speed was a bit slow. I expect two sessions to get through 42kg.
Deads are still extremely easy. However, I’ll continue to conservatively add 2kg for awhile.
I forced myself to take 2 mins rest between the chins and it worked! I don’t think I’ve ever done 12 over three sets before. Nice.
Fri., July 11th. Workout A:
squat - 3x5x70kg (154 lbs)
bench - 3x5x53kg (117 lbs)
bent-over row - 3x5x52kg (114 lbs) (superset w/ dips)
dips - 5+5+4 @ bw
seated external rotation - 3x15x4kg (9 lbs)
Squats basically reached my pre-deload level. They are feeling much better than a few weeks ago. I’ve improved my form too. My knees are following the line of my feet correctly. So, my hamstrings are finally more involved (no more standing leg-press). I’ll keep going by 1kg; it’ll be nice when I finally hit bw range.
I dropped too low on the last dip rep and couldn’t get out. Otherwise I would have had all 15 at my current depth (just above parallel).
Might do another session at 4kg for the ext rots. I finally reached a pretty tough lvl.
Looks like your deload really did you some good! And I bet you’ve started eating more, too. Keep up the awesome work!
Sun., July 13th. Workout B:
squat - 3x5x71kg (156 lbs)
OH press - 3x5x42kg (92 lbs)
deadlift - 5x84kg (185 lbs)
chins - 4,4,2xbw
lying leg raise - 3x15
Solid session. No prob on squats. Got presses sooner than expected. DLs were still pretty easy.
Not as many chins as last time, but I can live with that.
Wed., July 16th. Workout A:
squat - 3x5x72kg (158 lbs)
bench - 3x5x54kg (119 lbs)
bent-over row - 3x5x53kg (117 lbs) (superset w/ dips)
dips - 5+5+5 @ bw
seated external rotation - 3x15x4.5kg (10 lbs)
I’m basically past my pre-deload levels now. Everything seems to be progressing well. Hopefully I can continue this at at least till I reach a bw squat.
I’m considering swapping back in power cleans instead of rows. Hrm.
Fri., July 18th. Workout B:
squat - 3x5x73kg (161 lbs)
OH press - 5,5,3x43kg (95 lbs)
deadlift - 5x86kg (189 lbs)
chins - 4,4,1xbw
plank - 3xfailure
Pretty decent session despite feeling weak throughout (I think I starting lifting too long after my last meal - easy fix).
Not surprised I got stuck on the presses. I think they are my strongest relative lift at the moment.
DLs still pretty easy. Chins were not. Who knew elbow planks could be so brutal? Ouch. I think I might start doing a circuit for ab work. Might be fun. Hah!
[quote]donpalmero wrote:
I’m considering swapping back in power cleans instead of rows. Hrm.[/quote]
I always “feel it” more in my upper back after doing cleans. Never had that same feeling with rows. They are more technical, but are so worth it.
Sun., July 20th. Workout A:
squat - 3x5x74kg (163 lbs)
bench - 3x5x55kg (121 lbs)
power clean - 3x5x50kg (110 lbs)
dips - 5+5+4 @ bw
seated external rotation - 3x15x5kg (11 lbs)
Tough workout, but good progress. Squats were hard by I don’t think I’ll get stuck yet. Not sure about the bench though. A few months ago I probably would have had trouble with 100 lbs for 5. So hitting 120 is nice.
I changed back to cleans. This weight is well under my best, but wanted to keep em light and have very quick bar speed.
I’ll probably do the ext rots lying down next time. Just wanna mix it up.
Wed., July 23th. Workout B:
squat - 3x5x76kg (167 lbs)
OH press - 3x5x43kg (95 lbs)
deadlift - 5x89kg (196 lbs)
chins - 4,3,4xbw
ab work - hanging leg raise, lying leg raise, 2x elbow plank
lying external rotation - 2x12x2kg (4 lbs)
Excellent session. I made a 2kg jump on the squats. I also did a single at 80kg and 2 sets at 66kg before I realized the bar was 10kg short. Oops.
Press was tough. I’m guessing it’ll take 2 sessions again to get through 44. No big deal either way. I tried a heavy single for these. I’m not sure either way if it helps me on the press.
Made a 3kg jump on DL. Still easy. I’m sure I can pull a fair amount more, but I’m going to stick to this pace.
Better that last time on chins. I’m still hovering around 11-12 max, but I suspect they’ll go up at my general strength gets up.
Ab work was pretty good. Tough enough in just a few mins. I also decided to do some lying ext rots as I was having a bit of pain in my right shoulder. 2kg was plenty of weight. I’m convinced I’ve been cheating on the seated ones (it’s pretty easy to do so) and in the process hurting my shoulders (exactly the opposite reason I decided to do them). It’ll be lying from now on and with low low weight.
Fri., July 25th. Workout A:
squat - 3x5x80kg (176 lbs)
bench - 5,5,3x56kg (123 lbs)
power clean - 3x5x51kg (112 lbs)
lying external rotation - 2x12x2kg (4 lbs)
Rough. My left elbow and right shoulder are all banged up. This is why I left the dips out. I can probably do without them in general anyway. Gonna have to go into recovery mode for a bit.
80 kg squat was a 4kg jump. I did a single at 80 and just stuck with it. Not too bad. I’ll probably keep to a 2kg increase max from now on though.
Bench was hard. My shoulder didn’t help.
What kind of warm-up do you do before your training? I was getting joint problems when the weight was going up. So now I do light shoulder work before every workout (prehab?).
1 set of each, 6-8 reps, no more than 15 lb dbs
lateral raise
front raise
bent over raise
This has really helped. My loose shoulder joint is starting to strengthen and not be a problem anymore. I was starting to get pain from doing pull-ups, but no longer.
That is the one drawback with Starting Strength - there is not a lot of needed isolation movements. Then again, it is geared toward the younger inexperienced crowd that don’t have joint/recovery issues.
[quote]TheDudeAbides wrote:
What kind of warm-up do you do before your training? I was getting joint problems when the weight was going up. So now I do light shoulder work before every workout (prehab?).
1 set of each, 6-8 reps, no more than 15 lb dbs
lateral raise
front raise
bent over raise
This has really helped. My loose shoulder joint is starting to strengthen and not be a problem anymore. I was starting to get pain from doing pull-ups, but no longer.
[/quote]
These days for warmup I usually do some mobility complex. Lately (with an empty bar):
8xOH squat
16xlateral lunge
16xreverse lunge
8xRDL to hang snatch
8xSots press
This does a great job prepping my hips and lower back for squatting probably not much for my shoulders.
My right shoulder joint is particularly loose. I think I’ll try the shoulder prep you’ve been doing. I like the idea of doing at the beginning too, cause my shoulder complains even on the squats. Thanks for the advice, man.
What’s up Don. It’s awesome you’ve kept at the program. Nice stuff so far.
Just letting you know Otep started a general Starting Strength thread over here:
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=2348713
If you have any questions about the program in particular, shoot them that way and a bunch of people can tackle them.
Keep it up, man.
(And please forgive the thread-whoring.)
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
What’s up Don. It’s awesome you’ve kept at the program. Nice stuff so far.
Just letting you know Otep started a general Starting Strength thread over here:
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=2348713
If you have any questions about the program in particular, shoot them that way and a bunch of people can tackle them.
Keep it up, man.
(And please forgive the thread-whoring.)[/quote]
Thanks for the heads up. The thread looks good. I’ll chime in over there sooner or later.