Deload
Feet up Bench 60 x 3 x 8
Floor Medium Pin Press 80 x 3 x 3
Incline Bench 50 x 5 x 5
Overhead Extensions 4 x 8
Didn’t want to do anything that would remotely put stress on my back since i strained it on the max bench then maxed out squat and deads. Will do some lite legs tomorrow then some back stuff then some presses then start that alpha program.
Big day everyone; I’ve renamed my log, started my cut and gone back to school. Looking at the start of my log my maxes in 10 months have done this:
Squat 110kg > 150kg
Bench 85.5kg > 100kg
Deadlift 157.5kg > 180kg
Press 55.5kg > 67.5kg
Not bad progress. Also since I’ve done two powerlifting meets which are up there with the interest in watching grass grow while you don’t lift I’ve decided to go into the route of strongman-ish. This is because in Alpha’s program you can do strongman/conditioning so I’d like to get some more practice in with implements and other training apparatuses. My main aim will still be to get stronger in the 4 main lifts but I’d like to bring up other things like farmer walks, log etc.
Good job dude! Making some sick gains!
great Progress
Awesome work man
Worked out my Training maxes for Alphas Powerbuilding program. Is around 90-95% of max.
Dead 180 - > 165
Press 67.5 - > 65
Squat 150 - > 140
Bench 100 - > 95
Row 115 - > 105
Also did some light legs and went up to a front squat of 60 x 3 then left it, mostly to get my legs moving a bit.
AlphaBuild
07/09/17
Got bored of deloading and can’t sleep unless I train properly
Deadlift
100 x 8
115 x 8
135 x 6 on the 6+ grip slipped a bit
Paused Deadlifts light, 1 min boxing between sets
Beltless 5’s @ 60, 70, 80, 90
Farmers Walks heavy, dragging 2 heavy bags behind me, across basement
130, 170 recorded, 180
Conditioning
30 secs boxing then carrying heavy bag one hand bear hug for 3 rounds x 3
Finisher of rock bag one shoulder carry about 30kg while doing one arm punches for about 20 secs each arm
Videos
170kg farmer walk dragging 2 heavy bags on the floor, the bags are attached to my custom XL dip belt around my normal belt
You might need to address this
Agreed
Unless I exercise properly once every few days I get too much energy and will stay up till 2am, will probably go when I get older and lazier. Trained hard today and will be asleep by 10pm.
How much caffiene are you taking a day? How dark is your room? How long are you lookin at your phone/laptop/tv before bed? It seems you’re dependent on melatonin pills, how long has it been since you ditched those?
I had clinical insomnia for a long ass time and would go days without sleep, sometimes only sleeping for 12 or so hours every 5-7 days. It only went away after I addressed all this stuff along with other things in my personal life (stress, relationships, etc) that my insomnia cleared and now I have very few bouts with it.
Still, you should probably look into the reasons. Remember, there’s a difference between training to get better and training to have fun.
That farmers walk looked intense as hell and man you are looking massive!
I don’t take more than 400-500mg a day of caffeine and even during the deload where I took very little like a coffee in the morning it persisted. My room is quite light and I look at screens before bed, I tried those blue light filter things and they had minimal affect. I take melatonin prescribed from a psychiatrist which is 30mg before bed. That and training heavily that have helped my sleep and not much else. I find melatonin helps me get better sleep whilst training gets me tired so I want to sleep and also helps me sleep. Iidon’t have any issues sleeping just getting to a point where I want to sleep.
Just as a reference, I was ingesting maybe 300 mg of caffeine when I had insomnia and probably closer to 50-100 (and some days none) now with a full time job, full time school, a wife, and training. At your age I don’t see why you need 500 mg of caffeine. You don’t see an effect after a week because it’s still in your system. It’s hard to cut back and sleep even after a week because it’s essentially an addiction and your brain will tell you it’s not making a difference. Same with the melatonin imo. Unless you have a dificiency, I don’t see why you would NEED it, but if it’s prescribed, that’s that. I definitely would try and unwind more before bed, limit screens to an hour before you lay down, and cut back heavily on caffiene. You’ll see the quality and quantity of sleep skyrocket once you do this.
AlphaBuild Week 1 Day 2
08/09/17
Press hitting sets of 3 on chins between sets
42.5 x 8
47.5 x 6
55 x 6 on the 4+, think is a PR
Z Pin Press football bar, red and blue reverse bands, at eye level, medium
5’s @ 60, 70, 75, 75, 75, 75 hitting sets of 3 on chins between sets
Rack Pulls hitting sets of 10 on shrugs up to 180
220, 260, 300, med ball assissted pullups for 8 x 3
Strongman
Log Press amrap in 30secs wth 45kg got 5
Conditioning
Boxing for 30secs then putting a heavy bag overhead for 5 rounds
I will agree with everyone else here. I take it you’re my age. Youngsters like us do not need that much, if ANY that much caffeine. Turn your phone, screens, tv, and lights off. If you end up sleeping in pitch black darkness so be it, or at least pretty close to. Maybe some low white noise, but that’s it. When do you wake up? When do you go to bed? Do you take naps?
Do your best to wake up between 6-9 in the morning and just stay awake until 9-10 at night. Limit nap time to an hour or so.
What time do you train? Training late at night is one of the best ways to induce insomnia.
I put my maximum caffeine on there which is infrequent, today I’m at 200mg only. I wake up at 7 normally and go to sleep between 10-12pm. I train at 4pm usually.
Maybe switch it your training time up? If you can?
Maybe see how you fair with less than 100mg?
Swapping training times can’t really be done through the week as school but on Saturdays I train at 1pm. I am trying to cut down my caffeine usage as I got to something stupid like 800mg a day a while ago. Thanks.