Lo/Rez Training

Training Training Logs
161

Ha, the internet is awesome.

The whole “multiracial mix” subtopic in that one thread reminded me of a girl I used to know. She was an ex-girlfriend’s best friend and roommate; when my ex and I broke up, she and I hung out for a bit. And then she went off and did the whole internet technology show thing.

But apparently some guy made a montage of her. Which I think is hilarious that she’s got internet fan-boys.

She’s… Korean mixed with something. At least I think Korean.

Smart girl though.

I’m amused that the montage exists, but I’d be lax in not sharing it.

162

Back onto training…

Over lunch:
SGHPs:

Ramp to 3RM: 95, 105, 115, 125, 135, 145
Clusters: 130 x 6, 5, 6

First cluster I ripped open another spot on my left hand.
Second cluster I broke the barbell. One end came unscrewed and the sleeve slid off about 6"… not all the way off, but totally screwed up that rep. I ended up taking a break to tighten everything up.
Third cluster was good after I taped up my hand.

After work:
HDL: 105 x 3 x 54321

I had to stop in the middle of the earlier workout since I had to make it to a meeting. Bad timing.

Overall, these actually felt… really good. Also, shoulder pain seems to basically be gone now, as does that low-back pain.

Form is improving. Explosiveness is improving. The actual movement is making more sense to me; the beginning is a bit of a slower pull and then it really explodes when over my hips.

Felt this in my glutes, calves, back, and traps. Not my hamstrings, but I think that will happen eventually as I get heavier and my form improves.

163

looking good lol

164

Lol about the vids of Shannon. Oh… another one. A girl I knew in middle school became a playboy playmate.

She, however, wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box. As you can tell from the video.

–

Today I worked on standing OHPs. I’ve not done these for awhile, having focused on BTNs exclusively for the past couple months.

I decided to try a “strength-focused” layers format, rather than a hypertrophy-focused one.

Ramp to 1RM: 75, 85, 95 x 3; 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125 x 1
2 Clusters at 90% 1RM: 112.5 x 2; 105 x 4
Ramp from 70% to 2RM: 85, 90, 95, 100, 105 x 2
2 Clusters at 90% 2RM: 95 x 5, 5
Ramp from 70% to 3RM: 85, 90 x 3; 95 x 2
1 Cluster at 90% 3RM: 80 x 7
Max reps at 70%: 85 x 6

This felt different. My shoulders still weren’t at 100% when I started this, but a training max of 125 when my last 1RM (with bad form) was right at 130 seems just about right.

If I did things right, I should see pretty rapid gains in strength with my shoulder pressing. I’m a little hesitant to set any actual goals at this point though.

Total reps were 65. I need to find a better measure for “work done”. Maybe I’ll start counting total load or something. I want to get to the point where I can start graphing some of this stuff.

I added it up in a spreadsheet; total load was 5965 lbs. Not sure how useful that number is though.

165

neat

166

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
neat[/quote]

lol

167

[quote]LoRez wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
neat[/quote]

lol[/quote]
lol

168

Can’t figure out what I want yet, goal-wise.

Three things on my mind:

  1. Increase my press, a lot. Focus on this seriously until I can get to 1xBW. Then revisit. Eventually 250+.
  2. Recomp. I’m “only” 151-153 at 5’10, but I’m starting to get uncomfortable about the fat in my lovehandle region. Really, I’m just thinking of pushing strength/size and keeping my weight steady for a couple weeks.
  3. Sticking with CTs “Max Muscle Layering” approach, as written.

I’ve been scouring the web for information on increasing my press all day today, and off and on for the past couple weeks. Plenty of different schedules; plenty of different exercises, etc. etc. Just need to come up with a plan.

Maybe I should do all three. Why is this so hard to decide?

I also ordered some supplements to focus on intra-workout nutrition. I want to know if there’s some real validity to this whole “no soreness” and “great recovery” hype surrounding Plazma/MAG-10… at least with casein hydrolysate + a good carb source. I’ll eventually give the Biotest products a chance, but I’m trying a cheaper homebrew alternative for the moment. I really have nothing to compare to at this point.

If recovery is really as awesome as they claim, I probably will seriously focus on my press, every. single. day. Maybe even 2-3x a day.

169

Dude, you have like no fat!

170

Intra workout wise…pump wise, dextrose has been better than any pre workout I’ve ever tried. I might get wild and crazy and throw in some beta alanine, citrillune malate, or agmatine. Carbs are cheap a’f also.

171

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
Dude, you have like no fat![/quote]

Eh, what I do have goes to my low-back and sides. But ok. I think I’ll just drop the calories just a bit for now – from a gallon of milk + other food to maybe 1/2-3/4 gallon – wait until I get somewhere in the 160-165 range, and then “recomp” around there. That was the original plan all along.

[quote]chobbs wrote:
Intra workout wise…pump wise, dextrose has been better than any pre workout I’ve ever tried. I might get wild and crazy and throw in some beta alanine, citrillune malate, or agmatine. Carbs are cheap a’f also.[/quote]

Yeah, there’s things I probably should have tried before ordering this stuff.

What I’ve ordered: highly branched cyclic dextrins + hyrolized caseinate + creatine + beta alanine + citrulline malate + electrolyte powder. Actually pretty expensive ingredients. Considering that Biotest uses an even higher grade of ingredients than this, I now understand where they’re coming from price-wise.

Either way, I’m really pretty excited to try it. If this works well, I’ll then give Plazma a whirl. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Plazma, both on and off this site. I’m just not quite ready to make that leap.

172

Long time, no see.

My shoulders have been bugging me, so I took a week off. Any type of pressing aggravates them, and even holding the bar for squats didn’t feel right. I was pretty restless and annoyed at the whole week. I did some static holds with the bar overhead, and I think that just made things worse.

My workout powders arrived today; without the flavoring, it tasted pretty nasty. It was strange though, I did feel better during the workout, intra-set recovery-wise. Basically was able to just go into each set like it was a completely fresh set. While I expected things to feel better, I didn’t expect it to feel like I was actually fully recovered.

I did deadlift layers today, since it didn’t seem to bug my shoulders. I… haven’t done true deadlifts for a long time either. I think the last time I did a deadlift in training was 10/3/2011. So… nearly 3 years ago. I’d only worked up to 190lbs back then, back when I was doing stronglifts. All 4 weeks of Stronglifts that I did.

Deadlift Layers

Ramp to 1RM: 135, 155, 185, 215, 235, 265, 285, 295 x 1; 305 x 0; 305 x 0; 305 x 1. Lol, persistence.
Clusters: 275 x 3; 265 x 4, 4
HDL: 215 x 1 x 5,4,3,2,1

I only did one HDL set. I just didn’t quite have the groove down, and I was feeling some slightly pulled muscles here and there. That’s what happens when you don’t do deadlifts for 2 years, nor squats for a few weeks, nor any training at all for over a week. Nothing major, just, figured I’d be better off cutting it short. The Ramp and Clusters matter most with these.

In other news, I have achy legs at night, and generally low energy, poor focus, etc. I’m getting my blood tested for iron deficiency. Turns out calcium/milk can hinder iron absorption. It’s possible I could have low-grade iron anemia. Lab results will be back in a few days.

173

How’s the training been recently buddy?

174

Training has been on pause for awhile due to just seeing how well time will help my shoulders. And… after a certain point, time hasn’t helped any. I’ve also been doing pullups and scapular pullups (straight-arm) here and there.

Yesterday though, I decided to do a session of power clean, push press. Shoulders felt kinda bad in the rack position. I cut the session short, mainly because I hadn’t lifted for awhile and need to adjust.

Ramped to a 1RM: 65lbs → 145lbs
1x3 at 125lbs

And stopped there. Scapular pullups between sets.

Shoulders didn’t hurt any worse after (or today) than they did before. I guess that’s good?

Good news is I actually maintained weight during the time off. Still in the 148-152 range, but at least I didn’t drop out of it. I was afraid of that.

175

Medically, no iron-deficiency anemia. That’s good.

Aching/restless legs-wise, I was moved to gabapentin. That’s been screwing with my sleep a lot – serious oversleeping… another few days before I give up.

176

Sorry to hear about your health problems, I hope they get figured out soon.

I find that my shoulders are really fragile lol, and I’ve ended up cutting out all full range of motion overhead pressing. Barbell, dumbbell and kettlebell pressing all make them really ache deep inside the joint. Now I’m working on handstand push-ups and my shoulders have been fine so far, I think thanks to the close grip and the partial range of motion.

To be honest I hate to say it but I think I’m just really fragile in general lol. My knee joints ache with most squatting movements and my lower back is very temperamental. Most of my training over the past couple of years has been focused on finding ways around these problems, I’ve had to get pretty creative lol.

I’m sorry but I haven’t really been following this layer system, how does it work broadly?

177

[quote]furo wrote:
I’m sorry but I haven’t really been following this layer system, how does it work broadly?[/quote]

Basically, one lift is layered per session, and there’s a progression of different methods (the layers) with that lift.

Everything starts out with a ramp to an X RM max. Some setups are a 3RM, some are a 1RM. But start at around 60% of your known X RM max, and then just do X reps, add weight, and keep doing that until you reach a training max. The max you hit before form breakdown, still capable of lifting explosively with no grinding.

Now that you have a training max, the “layers” are done at a % of that max, depending on which setup you’re using.

For instance, with the ‘power clean, push press’ that I’m currently focusing on, the recommendation is…

Ramp to 1RM
3x3 at 85-90% of 1RM
10x2 at 60-70% of 1RM

For some other stuff, if you’re focusing on strength, it’s more like:

Ramp to 1RM
3x Clusters at 90% of 3RM
Starting at 60% of 1RM, ramp to 2RM
3x Clusters at 90% of 2RM
Starting at 60% of 1RM, ramp to 3RM
3x Clusters at 90% of 3RM

Clusters are basically… do a rep, wait 7-10 seconds, do another rep… repeat until you can’t do any more reps. And that counts as one set.

Another more hypertophy focused setup:

Ramp to 3RM
Clusters at 90% of 3RM
HDL at 60-70% of 3RM

HDL = high density lifting, and there’s several approaches to this one too. But one common option is “do 5 reps, rest 7-10 seconds, do 4 reps, rest, 3 reps, rest, 2 reps, rest, 1 rep”.

The specific combination of layers you use is pretty much just based on your goal, and sometimes on the exercise selection. Deadlifts can be layered the same way as bench press, but cleans or snatches are layered differently.

For the most part though… it’s “ramp” and then do some other stuff.

178

Now that I’ve been careful how I sleep… my shoulders are finally feeling better. The pullups are probably helping too.

I attempted another power clean, push press session (henceforth, PCPP) and my shoulders felt like shit during them. An hour or so after, they felt fine again.

I’m working on my clean form, the rack position especially. I’m having some trouble transitioning between the “bar on my fingertips” of the rack to “overhand grip” for the push press. Having trouble means… I nailed my chin with the bar, then lowered it badly, it bounced, hit the back of my thumb, and left it all bloody.

Ramped from 85 to 120, and stopped there.

Kinda feel like giving up, but this is just a learning experience at this point. Pretty much just getting punished for bad form.

179

Ah right, thanks for explaining that to me! I had the rough idea but that clarified a few things, thanks. So I’m guessing you have a very limited selection of exercises to do right? As you have to spend so much time on each one.

Sorry to hear about the injury and the technique problems. If it’s any consolation a friend of mine actually broke his nose doing a snatch lol. I think the thing with more complex lifts is just practicing the technique, perhaps it would help if you did light practice cleans every single day just to get the movement nailed.

Don’t give up buddy - push through! Good luck with it all.

180

[quote]furo wrote:
Ah right, thanks for explaining that to me! I had the rough idea but that clarified a few things, thanks. So I’m guessing you have a very limited selection of exercises to do right? As you have to spend so much time on each one.[/quote]

Yeah, most of CTs programs are based around lifting 5-6 days a week, with a bang-for-your-buck exercise selection.

One such example:
Slight incline bench from pins
Snatch grip high pulls (SGHP)
Slight decline bench from pins
SGHP
Trap bar deadlift
rest

You can do supplementary exercises after the main ones, but that’s usually optional. He doesn’t seem to be a fan of back squats or pullups in most of his programs. One of his suggestions was front squats done 5x5 after the deadlift day.

But then there’s these random threads like how the “power clean push press” is one of the best exercises he’s found for overall development, but never gave a real recommendation for how to work it in. (Although, he did give a suggested way to layer it.)

Right now, I’m just curious how much I can get out of doing just that lift with pullups between sets, every other day. If this is what he thinks is best for overall development, I want to give it a try doing this almost exclusively, just to see what happens. So far, they seem to make me look more “athletic”, which I think is a good thing.

I’m not in a rush anymore since my initial goal of “I’m tired of feeling skinny” is pretty much met.

[quote]Sorry to hear about the injury and the technique problems. If it’s any consolation a friend of mine actually broke his nose doing a snatch lol. I think the thing with more complex lifts is just practicing the technique, perhaps it would help if you did light practice cleans every single day just to get the movement nailed.

Don’t give up buddy - push through! Good luck with it all.[/quote]

Oh, I won’t give up… just temporarily frustrated. I’ll be back doing them tomorrow. I don’t feel ready to really get truly back in the swing of things, at least not until I’m convinced my shoulders are actually getting better.

Light clean practice daily might be a good idea though.