Lo/Rez: From CGA to EGA

[LoRez]

Hey Jake, I replied in your thread. But no problem at all; I think that’s what we’re here for.

–

Messed around with overhead squat stuff, and just some squat stuff in general, after reading and watching some stuff by the guy who runs lifthard. Mostly experimenting with some ideas he shared from his experiences with the Chinese weightlifting system and visiting some of their camps.

–

Axle Overhead Press from Rack
40 x 8
50 x 8
60 x 8
70 x 8

• wraps
  110 x 5 x 3; 110 x 3 x 2

• wraps
  90 x 6,5,4,4,4,3
  70 x 10

It was extremely hot today, relatively. 85 degrees, when it was 55 yesterday. Spent a lot of the rest times in my car with the A/C blowing and door open. Not used to this.

Somewhat passed out on one of the sets of 3. Was experimenting with getting more air while bracing, but got too much, and had to set the bar down and recover. Whoops.

Also, I can’t remember my shoulders hurting at all during most of the sets. A little bit toward the last couple sets of 90, but just a tiny tiny bit. Did some of that band distraction stuff earlier in the day today and that just seems to help a lot. Only “pain” of note was a little bit of soreness in my low back, on the right side. Probably a bit too much arching during one of the first sets.

Good session.

Oh, and I finally figured out how to squeeze the bar with a false grip in a way that actually makes a difference. Or at least seemed to.

[LoRez]

7 Mat Pulls w/35lb Chains
135 x 7
225 x 5
275 x 3
295 x 1
325 x 5
295 x 5

Faster, more explosive.

Need to adjust something here though, programming-wise. At this rate, it’ll take nearly 4 weeks between PR attempts. I ought to get this back down to ~2 weeks. More volume and bigger jumps than 20lb a session, or something.

[Alpha]

[quote]LoRez wrote:
figured out how to squeeze the bar with a false grip in a way that actually makes a difference. Or at least seemed to.[/quote]

This is a great thing, it is the small stuff that makes all of the difference

[LoRez]

(Posted 2015-04-29)

Alpha: definitely, they do.

–

Been feeling weird the past few days, like I can’t fully wake up and everything is a dream. Not sure what to make of it.

Definitely wasn’t feeling it going in today.

Axle Overhead Press from Rack
40 x 8
50 x 8
60 x 8
70 x 8

• wraps
  110 x 6 x 3; 110 x 2 x 2
  90 x 6,5,4,4,4,3

• wraps
  70 x 10

Session got better as it went on, but I pretty much had to fight for every rep. Either way, it’s good to know these are brute-force-able.

The mass sets (90) I focused on explosivity, since I didn’t get that with the power (110) sets. Then the flush (70) set I cut the end range of motion and just focused on TUT. I think this is probably the way I should do this from now on out.

Finally did a good ATG overhead squat with the axle and 70 lbs. Tried to do the same thing with 110, but had my hands a bit narrow and lost the bar forward. And there’s my first dent in the safety bars.

[LoRez]

For the mat pulls, I played with the numbers a bit. I’m trying to keep the volume and average intensity about the same, and the “deload” after a max about the same as before. But, instead of 4-5x a week, 2x a week.

Before, I was doing basically this:

Session 1: 315 x 5; 285 x 5
Session 2: 330 x 5; 300 x 5
Session 3: 345 x 5; 315 x 5
Session 4: 360 x 5; 330 x 5

If you combine two sessions, it looks like this:

285 x 5, 300 x 5, 315 x 5, 330 x 5

The top set is 330 x 5, and I want to keep that. The rest is just “work” sets, so if I just average that intensity, it’ll look something like this:

Session 1: 330 x 1 x 5; 300 x 3 x 5
Session 2: 360 x 1 x 5; 330 x 3 x 5

So basically, 30lb jumps, then 90%/-30lb backoff sets for 3x5.

Same training load, same increase in intensity over the week. I think this will work.

[LoRez]

7 Mat Pulls w/35lb Chains
135 x 5
(185 x 1 Zercher Deadlift, in a tshirt, with a normal bar, ow)
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 1

• straps
  355 x 5
  325 x 3 x 5

That felt like a decent workout finally.

I’ve started adding in a couple sets of 5 with my dumbbell handle ab roller.

I’ll probably work some Zercher lifts in regularly somewhere, once I finish this current cycle. Things are on track to peak at at least 415 for a rep or 5.

CT’s much-awaited (by me) Zercher article came out yesterday: The Zercher Squat Complete Guide

[Alpha]

What sets did you find the different breathing & bracing technique that you mentioned in Pwnisher’s log? Emskee mentioned that type of set-up recently and I am excited to try it out on my next heavy deadlift day.

[LoRez]

[quote]Alpha wrote:
What sets did you find the different breathing & bracing technique that you mentioned in Pwnisher’s log? Emskee mentioned that type of set-up recently and I am excited to try it out on my next heavy deadlift day.[/quote]
It was pretty much all the warmup sets up until I threw on straps.

I think it was probably emskee’s log where I read that, so I wanted to try it out. It seemed to make a difference; they were light sets already, but they seemed to fly up even easier.

[LoRez]

Wow, I feel beat up. But the reps still went up and such.

Going on something of a vacation next week. Kind of a work-vacation, visiting my girlfriend’s family and some friends, and actually my first time back in my home office since I moved. Not sure what kind of training I’ll be able to get in.

Last night I went to a drug-rep dinner with my girlfriend. The speaker was one of the preeminent epidemiologists studying bordatella pertussis vaccines. It seemed like most people there (nurses, medical assistants, and even some doctors) were just using it for a free dinner.

However, he and I sat and talked for awhile after the dinner. I learned quite a bit about the disease, but also the difficulties in study design, evaluation, and discussed some of the problems in information-gathering with this conversion to electronic medical records. Pretty interesting stuff.

–

Axle Presses from Rack
40 x 8 (felt awful)
50 x 8 (felt awful)
60 x 8 (felt awful)
70 x 8 (felt a bit less awful)
110 x 7 x 3; 1 x 2
90 x 6,5,4,4,4,3
70 x 10

I’m relying really heavily on my wrist wraps these days for my right wrist. If things get bent even the slightest, I get shooting elbow pain, and I got a touch of that during the first set of 110.

The most interesting thing I’ve learned from this week’s horrible sessions was that regardless of how bad I feel, it’s still possible to get stronger and better.

I think I’ve just been undereating this week, so that’s likely it.

[LoRez]

Been awhile. Lots of travel.

I think the way I was training, and/or the way I was supplementing wasn’t working for me. Not because I wasn’t making progress, but because I was feeling worn down, and libido was basically gone. A few days without training at all, and things started to return to “normal”.

Not sure what’s going to change yet. I may just do what I was doing, but drop the frequency down. I may adopt loftearmen’s 5/3/2, with the 80% x3x5-8 backoff sets. I may do something else.

Still have a couple days before I’m actually at home to train regularly, so just got in a few things today, and set a few PRs.

Barbell Overhead Squat - not axle
Worked up to some single that was a PR, don’t really remember what. 115? 135?. This is much easier with a barbell than axle. What scares me is lowering the weight from overhead. Getting it up is no issue with a behind-the-neck jerk, but I’m not really sure how to lower it safely.

Barbell Strict Overhead Press
Worked up to some heavy-ish singles. Hit 135 really cleanly. Failed 155 a couple times. Wore myself out and failed 145. Did a really long hold overhead with 115. Getting pretty close to 1x bodyweight though.

Zercher Squat from Bottom Pin
Worked up to a single with 250. I was pretty hot at this point, since it was 77 out, and I threw on a fleece to get some extra padding. The height was something like 25-27". Not too low.

Right knee tendons/ligaments popped on my last rep. Feel like I pulled something in my left hamstring area too.

And then incline walked about 15 minutes on a treadmill.

All in all felt like I put good work in, and didn’t beat myself up.

[furo]

I’ve found that my current way of training works well for not negatively affecting the rest of my life. The whole Pavel /Dan John method of training with reasonable frequency but low volume and moderate intensity. I’ve made good progress by keeping things well within my comfort zone, although it’s not as rewarding a way to train and sometimes it feels half-hearted. Why don’t you do something like Dan John’s 40 Day programme for a bit?

[LoRez]

Now I’m back for real.

Needed a break to clear my head. Travel helped quite a bit.

I had some training out in Eastern Washington that I drove out for. Took the scenic route out there, and the more scenic route back home, through a couple national forests, and down past Mt. St. Helens. In addition to the expected trees and mountains and valleys, also saw some landslides and waterfalls. Very pretty.

That got me back into thinking “I’d like to climb a mountain” and/or explore these areas by foot. Spent the last couple weeks researching hiking boots, visiting stores, trying things on, researching some more, and just narrowing things down. I think I’ve settled on a pair of boots and insoles. Going to do some trail hikes, then probably some backpacking, then work my way off-trail and just start exploring. Should be fun.

Tonight was the first time back at my gym since I last logged. Been doing some other stuff, just hadn’t made it to the gym.

Barbell Overhead Press
Warmup with Axle (20lb)
Warmup with Barbell (45lb)
95 x 5
115 x 5
125 x 3
105 x 5, 2, 2

Slight Decline Barbell Bench Press from Pins
(3 mats at the foot, pins at “2”)
135 x 6
155 x 5

I think I might just train somewhat intuitively for a bit. Get some horizontal pushing and pulling in, benching and rowing. And probably work on overhead squats, zerchers, mat pulls and barbell pressing.

I really think I’ve just been overthinking my training, and should learn to rely on my experience, knowledge and intuition a bit more. I mean, I pretty much know what I want, and I have some ideas how to do it, so I’m just going to do that.

Also, completely lost any groove for benching. Very weird experience.

[LoRez]

Yesterday, did some landmine presses, and curls and close-grip presses with just the barbell. (This is the barbell the insurance company will be replacing, that was damaged during moving. Only one sleeve stays together.)

No idea what I did for the curls or close grip presses.

Landmine presses were 15lbs a side, 10 reps, then 3, 3, 3, 3. I’m experimenting with some myo-reps style rest pause sets.

Without being any more specific, one of the goals right now is aesthetics. I feel like I’ve put in some good work into the actually important areas like my legs and back, that I can now spend some time on the stuff to make it look like I lift [to a non-lifter].

[LoRez]

And today.

Barbell Presses
45 x several
65 x 8
95 x 5
115 x 3
130 x 3
130 x 2
130 x 1
95 x 8, 2, 2, 2, 2

While this isn’t technically accurate, my takeaway from the myo-reps system is to do a fairly hard set, then do cluster sets with ~1/4 of that for as many as you can with short breaks.

Also, I just decided to do 6 reps with the 130, however that happened. Kind of liked the “Do ‘x’ reps” approach.

3 Mat Decline Barbell Bench from Pin 3 (higher than last time)
95 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 3
175 x 3
195 x 2 - pretty shaky
135 x 5

With the higher pins, I really don’t feel it in the chest at all. Which makes sense.

Zercher Squats from Pin 1
20 x 1
110 x 2
160 x 2
200 x 2
200 x 2

Groin was feeling weird on the eccentric, so stopped it there.

All of this in oly shoes.

[LoRez]

Not lifting related, but the reasons I bought new boots:

And the boots themselves:

[LoRez]

Had to fly out of town for another few days.

Did something of a repeat of last week’s session. Didn’t use oly shoes today, so the bar was a little high when reracking; didn’t notice it until later.

Lifted late in the day, so I was in direct sun the whole time.

Barbell Presses
45 x several
65 x 5
95 x 2
115 x 2
125 x 2
135 x 2 – PR, probably; don’t know if I’ve done a double with 135
135 x 0
125 x 4 x 2 – with a few holds at the top
100 x 8, 2, 2, 2

Found the threshold where my body switches over to exercise-induced asthma or something. Basically start coughing and dry heaving for a bit.

Let that settle down first, then finished up with some decline presses.

3 Mat Decline Barbell Bench from Pin 2 (lower than last time)
95 x 5
135 x 3
155 x 3

My body is still pretty shaky holding the bar at the top.

–

I’ve been reading some stuff in the forums and reading through a few articles. As I get sucked into things here, it starts messing with my head a bit, with feelings of inadequacy and then confusion about what to do moving forward, along with a whole bunch of just overthinking things. Until I get that part of me under control, I’m probably not going to spend too much time here.

What I’m trying to do right now with these sessions is to push my pressing strength up by ramping, then getting reps in at heavy weights, then doing hypertrophy-focused backoff work. Then work on my chest a bit afterwards, and just generally get better at pressing.

[LoRez]

In some recent thread, someone posted a link to CT’s “20 Minute Muscle Builder” routine from last year: 20-Minute Muscle Builder

Based on where my head’s at, it seems like it should be a decent fit for right now.

Two days: one is Dead then Overhead, the other Bench then Bent Row. Do a set of 5, then two heavier singles, then drop and do an AMRAP set. If you hit 20 reps on the AMRAP set, increase the weight for next session, repeat. Do that 4-6 times a week.

This hits some of the upper body size stuff I’ve wanted, and gives me a way to work in bench and rows, which I’ve neglected. I’m not sure I’ll use the same programming with Deads (read: Mat Pulls), but I’ll try it and see. It’s also not too different than what I’ve been doing with the overhead programming.

Today:
3 Mat Decline Bench from Pin 2
warmup w/bar and 95
140 x 5
155 x 1
160 x 1
105 x 20 (only first rep from pin)

Yates-style Bent Row (underhand, standing, a tiny bit of english when necessary)
warmup w/bar and 95
140 x 5
155 x 1
160 x 1
105 x 20

Since I don’t really know my maxes, I just guessed. Figured my bent row is about where my bench is.

I thought about doing Pendlay-style rows, but I think I’ll benefit more from the bicep and lat involvement with this style. I mean, I know the mat pulls hit my upper and mid back pretty hard, so, for me, arms and lats could use some work.

That was kind of a fun session. Feels nice to do 20 rep sets again.

Just thinking about it, I think it could probably be “improved” a bit by using a myo-reps style rest/pause with the 20 rep set, but I’ll screw around with that another time.

[LoRez]

Yesterday went for a 5 mile roundtrip hike, up by one big waterfall and its creek, across to another creek, and down by another large waterfall. Lots of smaller waterfalls on the way. ~1700 feet elevation gain.

Boots performed well, but my feet aren’t quite conditioned for that. Not sold on the insoles yet, and I realized when I got back I got the “light cushion” socks rather than normal cushioned. Things worked fine, just feet were sore.

Plus, my cardiovascular system just isn’t quite up to snuff right now. I’m more out of shape than I realized; had to stop a couple times on the ascent. Just out of curiousity, my heartrate was running around 150 bpm, while my girlfriend’s was around 80. Bit of a difference.

–

I asked Alpha the other day about rucking, so I’ll just save his reply here:

[quote]Alpha wrote:
As far as rucking goes. I would start doing it like 3 times a week. If you have access to a treadmill, I would go on a 10 incline the first week, then 11 the next, 12 the following and so on. If 10 feels too easy, then you can always crank it up and back down as you feel. Speed wise, I would start at about 3mph and go on from there. I would do your best to never drop below 3. I usually take that time to read and if I am, then I have to rest the book on the face of the treadmill. If you are not reading then make sure you do not hold onto the treadmill even though you are REALLY, really going to want to. I would start with 15-20 minutes at the beginning and go up from there.

As far as weight, it is going to be a little tricky. Don’t train with anything over 40-50lbs as it beats up your legs and knees pretty bad. Anything less than 25lbs feels more like walking than rucking.

If you really want to hate your life, plan on doing 30 minutes. Every third minute kick up to 8-12mph and run for :60 seconds. then take the next 2 minutes to recover while regular walking at 3mph. Just be careful about doing this because the beating your knees and hips take are substantial. Your running form is completely different when you are weighted like that so take it into consideration.

I hope that helps man!
[/quote]

Going to get started on that today or tomorrow, mostly depending on whether I get new socks today or tomorrow.

[LoRez]

Well that was a new kind of suck. 93 degrees outside, fairly direct sunlight, and high-rep mat pulls.

7 Mat Pulls w/35lb Chains
warmups with 135, 185, 225, 275
325 x 5
370 x 1
380 x 1
245 x 15

Overhead Press
warmups with 45, 65, 95
115 x 5
125 x 1
130 x 1 – nearly lost my balance at the top; midsection wasn’t braced right, but it went up nice and smooth
85 x 13

I probably could have gotten 20 on the mat pulls, but I played it a bit conservative. I did this in mental sets of 5, instead of sets of 10, and so once I finished my third set of 5, I was mostly done. It seems 10s work better.

The overhead press, I just straight up hit muscular failure. Strength was fine, just fatigue.

Need to do better with the water intake next time.

[LoRez]

Just a couple shots from yesterday’s hike.