Big PR mate well done. To pull that with everyone else going on in your life is even more impressive. Keep it up, all you can do is keep going.
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As the year comes to a close (yes, it is November already), I feel as though I’m doing a bit better with my mental health, and I think it came from my decision to finally get sober, at least for the time being. After my latest tweaker combination of Adderall, LSD, and marijuana, I realized that I was no longer in control of how high I got - once I start, the addict in me can’t stop. So, it’s just easier to avoid drugs altogether - I also get to save money from not indulging multiple addictions. I also put down the smokes and am only sticking with the juul, so that’s definitely helping my depression (just to know I’m not killing myself with a pack of smokes a day). My stomach issues are present, but they are somewhat mitigated and tolerable if I eat healthy and stay clean (I cannot tell you how badly Adderall fucks my stomach…black stool and severe constipation along with not eating/drinking for days on end sucks). I’m finally becoming interested in weightlifting again! I’m hoping to find some strongman training partners soon. Not sure if I will, but I’d love to have some. I’m also working and still getting good grades, so I feel as though my life is salvageable. When I’m 18 in 6 months, I get to make a fresh start for myself. I can’t wait for that. In the mean time, though, I’m getting back to my roots and getting stronger.
So, with that all being said, it’s time for an analysis of my weightlifting progress over the last year/programming for the significant future!
Beginning of this year:
Deadlift: 340 x 3
Trap Bar Deadlift: 385 x 1
Squat: 275 x 10 (to an above parallel box with terrible form)
Press: 115 x 5
Right now:
Deadlift: 350 x 12 (one more rep in tank)
Trap Bar Deadlift: 405 x 10, 405 x 8 (dead-stop)
Squat: 275 x 8 (done after my 405 x 8 PR set)
Press: 130 x 10 (haven’t pressed in a while).
Last year:
This year:
Programming: TBA.
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@T3hPwnisher any ideas on what program(s) I should run next? I’m looking to branch out a bit, and I’m recovering fairly well. I do have an axle, a trap bar, and an SSB to work with.
With that variety of stuff, you’d be pretty well set to try Westside Barbell for Skinny Bastards. Be a good fit while your strength and health are on the upswing while accounting for occasional bad days. Your max effort days are just about maximal strain, so even on bad days you can get in a good workout. You’ve got a decent enough variety to be able to swap out the ME lifts, to say nothing about playing with stance/grip widths too. Version III is 4 days a week, while Version I is 3 days, so you can fit in conditioning as needed.
Cube Method for Strongman is similar too, but I can’t specifically vouch for it.
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Thank you. I will look into it.
Is there any way I can customize it for strongman (in terms of the main movements)?
I was considering substituting a vertical press for my ME/DE days.
Absent a competition looming, it’s already there. Squats and deads carry over to many events, as does pressing (overhead, incline, bech, etc).
There’s no upper body DE day to speak of with the program. For ME, you just need to pick a movement that you can strain with. If you want that to be pressing overhead, that’s totally fine, but I wouldn’t make it anything with leg drive.
Remember: you’re going to vary the ME movements every 1-3 weeks anyway, so don’t get too married to them. It’s just about learning to strain. You can always get overhead work in your supplemental and repetition effort stuff too.
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That’s an excellent way to look at it. Thanks for clarifying!
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Programming: WS4SB #3
Gonna give it a whirl Saturday, hoping to hit 335 x 5 on Squats.
From what I’ve seen throughout my most recent training, I can do it.
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You can do it man. Glad you are feeling better.
Good luck homie. It’s one of my favourite programs
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This is pretty remarkable progress. Lifting always feels like it is just going nowhere, but being able to look at your strength differences over time really shows how huge those small progressions ass up to be. Nice work
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Huge man, great job.
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I think I’ve figured out why I’ve been doing better lately. I don’t have anything left to lose, and with that being said, I’m free to be me.
I don’t need to worry about putting on a facade for my parents anymore. I know they don’t care about me regardless of how hard I try, so I don’t need to waste my time and energy trying to be the son they always wanted. I’ve already failed them in that regard, so there’s no going back, haha. Who would want to have a gay drug addict for a son? I don’t even blame my parents. They’re both crazy, and so am I. We just don’t talk, and things work out. I’m living at home again after I got kicked out of my aunt’s place for smoking weed (this was a few weeks ago, I’m still sober). They don’t really want anything to do with me, and I feel the same way about them. So, life goes on. Fuck it, right?
I also don’t need to worry about trying to be somebody other than myself for anybody else. I don’t talk to anybody outside of T-Nation…I have zero - and no, I am not exaggerating, that number is 0 - friends in real life, because I stopped trying to please other people. People see me for what I am in reality, and that person is not a good person to be around. I’m generally perceived as a creep, a nerd, a loner, a weirdo, or a nobody. I’m okay with that. I’m terribly socially awkward (even though I don’t ever believe that I’m being awkward, others do, so I must be missing something), my mannerisms come off as creepy and fear-inducing, to put it lightly, and I’m seemingly unrelatable to everybody. Even the cashiers in stores stare me down as if I’d just threatened them, or as if I were a homeless drunk stumbling up to the cash register. Enough people, throughout the course of my lifetime, have gotten this impression of me for me to realize that I am the problem. Ex-girlfriends have seen me for what I am, and that’s why they’ve all left. That’s fine, if I were them I would have left too.
But, I can’t change who I am because I’m not aware of what I’m doing. Logically, I’m aware of it, but I only know who I am and what I do because of others’ reactions to me. Have any of you ever heard the saying, “If someone is an asshole, they’re an asshole, but if everyone is an asshole, you’re the asshole”?
It’s that simple. I’m happier because I’ve accepted that I am the asshole. I also don’t feel pressured to kill myself (although it is still definitely an attractive option) because, now, I get to make a fresh start. I can be me, with no holds barred. With nobody of significance in my life, I can be myself without fear of reproach from anybody. Loneliness can’t hurt me anymore, because I’m used to it, and I can perpetually run away from it by keeping myself occupied. Lost love can’t hurt me anymore, because I love nobody. Betrayal can’t hurt me anymore, because there is nobody who can betray me. Nothing can hurt me anymore, and I think this is preferable to me.
Yes, that’s a terrible way to live, but it’s heavenly compared to being betrayed and broken to your core. It’s happened to me too many times, and I’ve finally accepted that I’m simply unfit for basic societal interactions. There are people like me, I just haven’t found them yet.
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A good bad day performance.
Deadlifts - worked to a top set of 375*7
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4oI7LglCya/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
This was my last ever session, and I’m proud to have stuck it through to the end. I even pulled 405. Weightlifting kept me alive for a long time, and so did you guys. I’d like to thank everyone for that.
My stomach and bladder pain/nausea have been a consistent 7-10/10 for the last two years, 24/7. There isn’t even an escape in sleep, because when I’m not up using the restroom or puking, I’m dreaming about it. My life has literally turned into one never ending trip to the bathroom. 5 doctors haven’t been able to figure out what’s wrong with me, and I’m only getting worse by the day. So, what do you do when there is nothing to be done? Well, there are three options. You can either:
a.) keep searching for a solution (in my case, this would be to no avail)
b.) simply suffer with your condition (this is something that I have chosen to not do for any longer)
c.) stop playing
I’m finally ending the never-ending game of thinking I’m finally getting better only to fall directly back into the symptoms I’ve tried so hard to fight through and escape. There is no trigger, no food, and no specific thing that sets my stomach/bladder off. It simply happens, and I am absolutely powerless to change it. It is utterly humiliating, indignified, and, at the end of the day, pointless. That is the sobering reality that I have had to face and accept. The only way for me to win is by simply not playing the game I’ve been forced into. There is no other tolerable option to choose.
Once my affairs are in order, I will simply leave. I have no assets and nobody who financially or emotionally depends upon my existence. I will not be leaving a “void”, per se, in anybody else’s life.
I’m finally happy.
@Chris_Colucci @Mod_Starr any way we can refer that post to local LEO or something?
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Seriously @liftangryordie500 don’t do this. If it turns out not to fix the problem, there’s no do over
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strong lifting, looking good, keep up the good work, first to 200 kg remember?
How would death fail to fix the problem? It certainly does. There’s just a hefty price to pay. Shit, I don’t even want to die. I love weightlifting and Tetris. But, if death is the price I have to pay in order to relieve my suffering, then so be it. To be honest, I’m not speaking to you right now in a state of mind where I am depressed and self-pitying. I’m simply looking at the situation and making a decision to rectify it.
Fine. I’ll stick around another two weeks so I can pull that 200 kg single. But first, I’m in dire need of a deload, haha.
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