From Urkel to Stefan with Front Squats, Deadlifts, Overhead Press

Training Training Logs
83

[quote]isdatnutty wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
You seem to change your approach quite a lot. I get the appeal of changing things up, and I’m as guilty as the next person of doing it, but in my experience it’s not a very productive way to train.

To combat this, my approach recently has been to work in 6 week blocks in which I stick to the plan, the trade-off being that every new idea I come up with in this time can be “included in my next block”. Odds are, by the time I get to my next block, I’ve forgotten all about them and my program will look largely similar. So far, I’m making the best progress of my life because I’m letting the basics do the majority of the work.

Not saying for a second this is how you should do things, I’m far from the biggest/strongest/best at O-lifting on this site (My approach had always been brute force and ignorance, what I lack in brute force, I make up for in ignorance), but it’s something to think about.[/quote]

You know man, this weekend I was thinking about this. I think in today’s world, especially being a fan of lifting in general its easy to get caught up with TOO MUCH information. I’ve always been a person that’s thirsty for knowledge, so when I learn something new that makes sense to me I want to try it out.

But even in my lifting infancy the one thing I have noticed is keeping things simple and sticking with the basics will net the most results. So I decided starting this point until the end of November I’m not going to change a THING. No extra exercises added at all during this time. I have to just stick to the plan. I’ve gotten to a relative strength level just changing things all the time. So I’m SURE if I just really stick to the program and PUSH myself it will work. At the end of October I’ll assess where I’m at.
[/quote]

I keep learning this lesson myself, I get distracted by shiny new things so easily.

What your doing seems to be working so far, so keep doing it. I would make sure you have a few points along the way before November to honestly evaluate whether it’s still working though, and if anything needs tweaking. However you choose to go, good luck with it and I’ll be following along.

84

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
I keep learning this lesson myself, I get distracted by shiny new things so easily.

What your doing seems to be working so far, so keep doing it. I would make sure you have a few points along the way before November to honestly evaluate whether it’s still working though, and if anything needs tweaking. However you choose to go, good luck with it and I’ll be following along.[/quote]

Thanks man. I know this whole lifting things is changing my life in more areas than just my health. You know I learned A LOT today.

85

[quote]isdatnutty wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
I keep learning this lesson myself, I get distracted by shiny new things so easily.

What your doing seems to be working so far, so keep doing it. I would make sure you have a few points along the way before November to honestly evaluate whether it’s still working though, and if anything needs tweaking. However you choose to go, good luck with it and I’ll be following along.[/quote]

Thanks man. I know this whole lifting things is changing my life in more areas than just my health. You know I learned A LOT today. I’m just going to stick the basics until it just doesn’t work anymore. I want to lose a bit of bf% while still getting stronger, so now that I know my maintenance level, I’m going to mess with cutting out carbs on my non lifting days from my breakfasts and lunches. I eat typical Nepali/Indian dinners, so this will allow me to still eat good but drop some bf% in the process. If I can go from my 20% to ~15% percent while I’m still getting stronger I’ll be a happy man. I’m going to start AM workouts now, so lets see how this goes!
[/quote]
I totally hear you on this, lifting has changed a lot of how I view life, if only I’d discovered “real” lifting earlier.

I’ve personally never had any problem getting stronger on a calorie deficit, and I’m far from the most genetically gifted guy out there. I’ve found that to do this I keep my focus in the gym on getting stronger with simple, bare bones workouts (like 5/3/1 full body, full boring), and let the fat loss happen outside the gym.

I think you have a great attitude and I’m excited to follow along to see you getting stronger. Good Luck

86

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

I’ve personally never had any problem getting stronger on a calorie deficit, and I’m far from the most genetically gifted guy out there. I’ve found that to do this I keep my focus in the gym on getting stronger with simple, bare bones workouts (like 5/3/1 full body, full boring), and let the fat loss happen outside the gym.

I think you have a great attitude and I’m excited to follow along to see you getting stronger. Good Luck[/quote]

Thanks man. I’ve always heard attitude is everything, so I try to stay positive and keep chipping away. I’m glad I’m making ALL these mistakes early in my career because it’s helping me learn so much about my body. The main thing I’ve learned is the human body can adapt to any process you throw at it. All we gotta do is put in the work/time, eat well, and recover!

I think my daily calories are fine, but in the past 3 months I’ve taken my “Recovery” to literally where I’m doing NO cardio. I think if I add in some sprints/walks/hikes in my week, I’ll see a substantial amount of fat loss. Last summer I was just running routes for a friend 3x a week to get ready for flag football and with not even thinking about diet my waist area was shrinking so quickly lol. I’m blessed with a high metabolism naturally, so I think lifting, cardio, and clean eating will serve me well.

Excited you have you on board man, I’m hoping I can get to my goals of 225 FS and 315 DL by end of november!

87

[quote]isdatnutty wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

I’ve personally never had any problem getting stronger on a calorie deficit, and I’m far from the most genetically gifted guy out there. I’ve found that to do this I keep my focus in the gym on getting stronger with simple, bare bones workouts (like 5/3/1 full body, full boring), and let the fat loss happen outside the gym.

I think you have a great attitude and I’m excited to follow along to see you getting stronger. Good Luck[/quote]

Thanks man. I’ve always heard attitude is everything, so I try to stay positive and keep chipping away. I’m glad I’m making ALL these mistakes early in my career because it’s helping me learn so much about my body. The main thing I’ve learned is the human body can adapt to any process you throw at it. All we gotta do is put in the work/time, eat well, and recover!

I think my daily calories are fine, but in the past 3 months I’ve taken my “Recovery” to literally where I’m doing NO cardio. I think if I add in some sprints/walks/hikes in my week, I’ll see a substantial amount of fat loss. Last summer I was just running routes for a friend 3x a week to get ready for flag football and with not even thinking about diet my waist area was shrinking so quickly lol. I’m blessed with a high metabolism naturally, so I think lifting, cardio, and clean eating will serve me well.

Excited you have you on board man, I’m hoping I can get to my goals of 225 FS and 315 DL by end of november!
[/quote]

Race you on the FS, squats have always been my most obvious weakness.

88

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

Race you on the FS, squats have always been my most obvious weakness.[/quote]

Yup it’s on! Yeah me too man that’s how it’s been. That’s why I’m squatting 3x a week now lol. I want to build a big Front Squat without much back squatting assistance. I think this will take me longer than going the back squat route, but I think the strength it will give me core/back wise outweigh any negatives.

I’m FS 165-3x5 right now (this week I lowered the weight to make sure my glutes are firing properly and my form is still tight), but I think by end of November doing +5lbs per week, I should be at 225 at the LEAST even with some setbacks. I think now that I’m adding BS on my middle workouts, this will help assist.

89

WEDNESDAY 8/12/15 - New AM Workout - Wake up at 530 start lifting by 630. I’m not gonna list warm up sets anymore, only the working sets.

-Front Squats → New form with a bit wider setup and REALLY focusing on activating my glutes
135x5
155x5
145x5
115x5 (Back off set)

-OHP + Pull Ups
115x5 + 9
115x5 + 5
115x4 + 4

-BB Row
160x5 (TOO MUCH Body english, I want these to be strict so dropped weight)
135x5
135x5
135x5
135x6

-Abs (Dead Bug variation)
12
12
15

-Planks
Front - 1 Min
Sides - 30 sec each

TODAY was a great workout. I remember Evolv telling me I should always look to remove something from my workout before I try adding it. Today it hit me that I’m working my lower back/glutes already from squats and rows and I’m doing hip thrusts during my lunch stretching that it’s completely unnecessary at the level I’m at. So I removed that and won’t be doing them at all.

I opened up my hips a bit more with FS and it felt a bit odd because I’m use to a more narrower stance (1 inch on each side, have markings on my wooden panel I lift on), but I could definitely feel my glutes a bit more. Eating like crap for past 5 days including minimizing carbs last 2 days REALLY made things feel heavy and sluggish this AM. But it’s ok since now I know what I have to do and how to follow it. This weeks workouts are ALL about setting the tone for the next 3 months.

My first set of rows I used so much body English it was ridiculous. I told myself it’s all about FORM and being strict as possible. I feel like rows are one of those. Today was the first time my back was on fire.

The only thing I’m going to mess with are the ab exercises because I feel my lats and lower back too much on ab wheels so I think I’m in all honesty not ready for them. So I’ll do classic BW abs for now and today I could REALLY feel it in my lower abs.

Can’t wait to lift FRIDAY!! I had NO energy after the workout to do anything. I wanted to sleep even when I got to work lol.

90

THURS 8/13

Snatch Pulls
Clean Pulls

Getting use to the bottom position and all the cues to make sure I extend correctly.

91

Man after this week is over, I think I might need to transition to my Oly program instead of waiting. All of my UB lifts have stalled. I’m thinking a 4 day push/pull with Oly emphasis would work.

MON - Snatches, Squats, Presses
TUE - Cleans, Pulls

THU - Snatches, Squats, Presses
FRI - Cleans, Pulls

I’m going to push for a few more weeks to verify I can milk out EVERYTHING left before I decide to completely transition now.

92

MONDAY 8/17/15

-Snatch
x
x
x
x

-Front Squats
145x
145x
145x

-OHP + Pull Ups
115x
115x
115x

-BB Row
140x
140x
140x
140x
140x

-Abs
x
x
x

-Planks
Front -
Left -
Right -

95

What happened to this log? Are you still training for the same lifts? Only asking because those are favourtie 4 lifts too. So was looking for a program that incorporated all of them. Did you find a tried and true template or end up designing your own. Hope you see this as it been a while since last post.

97

Nice one dude. Il check that log and post there🖒