On a side note, I really hate Sydney. I lived there for three years (end 2003 to end 2006) and hated it and it is still a complete and utter shit hole. Simply being here puts me in a low level state of simmering anger. It is greedy, arrogant and focused on image over substance to a frightening degree. The city centre has almost nothing but shops. At two pm on a Saturday, when tons of people are out there are barely any cafes or restaurants open.
I’m doing the best I can to be cheerful for my other half but it’s a losing battle at the moment. I can’t wait until checkout tomorrow when we can head home.
Next time, we’re going to Melbourne. Melbourne is great.
Moral of this rant: if you’re heading down under, don’t waste your time on Sydney. Go to Melbourne.
I hate crowds with a passion - except for Manhattan. Not sure why that is. Try to find a silver lining is my usual, I love food, weirder the better, so I always try to hunt down something strange to eat and that gets me by.
Hanging at the hotel while the other half is checking out Vivid (kind of a light show) with her friend. I headed out with them and got about 400 metres before I had to head back because I was close to clocking someone. More on that later.
Anyhow, I decided to check my average calories since I started the deficit - which was 32 days ago. I’ve averaged 2875. That’s rounding daily intake so anything under xx50 is x000 and anything over is x100. Maybe averaging 175 calories over target isn’t too bad, but I should work on getting to 2700 on the nose. For pure interest, given its been four and a bit weeks, average daily calories by week are:
Anyway, about me almost clocking someone. I wasn’t about to lash out at someone out of anger. I was just sufficiently on edge it wouldn’t have taken much to get me to the point where I saw someone’s actions as enough of a threat to react violently. It wasn’t fun. I’m not normally aggressive at all, until I feel boxed in. Then my instinctive reaction is to attack whatever is between me and the way out of the box and keep going until I’m out. I don’t know quite what it is about this place but it makes me feel constantly boxed in, so I’m constantly on edge. Probably something to do with when I lived here. Bad times. The tall buildings all over the place so I can’t see the sky well or the horizon don’t help. Which is odd, because I’m fine in basements and crawl spaces.
Quick update: still crook, but better. I’ll train tomorrow no matter what, definitely well enough for that.
The Sydney weekend messed me up, I had a panic attack in the hotel room Saturday night which hasn’t happened in years. Nothing huge but it still sucked. Don’t think my other half was impressed with me over the weekend, but I can’t say I blame her.
On a positive note, I think I may have hit on the ideal 531 variation for me.
531 sets
FSL 5x5-8
Between sets: pull aparts for bench and press, inverted rows for DL and push-ups for squat
Assistance:
Supersetted upper body push/pull for bench and press, squat variation for DL and DL variation for squat, 3-5x10
Between sets: jump rope
Last cycle was OK, but I felt like a single FSL AMRAP set wasn’t enough while supersets for lower body don’t quite do it for me.
Decided any FSL sets weren’t a great idea for DL today.
Added in press today because the gym was closed yesterday
5x121 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x137 lbs, 6-7 RPE
9x154 lbs, 9-10 RPE - rep PR, very pleased especially since I did this after DL
5x6x121 lbs, started at 7 RPE and ended at 8 RPE - short breaks
Still congested but close to normal. Decided to try thumbless grip and wider foot placement for bench which felt great. Finally felt right and locked in. Makes lats work hard, I now have a knot in my right side.
Squat
5x308 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x352 lbs, 6-7 RPE - bar kept moving so it felt like garbage
10x401 lbs, 9 RPE
5x7x308 lbs, 7 rpe until set 5 at 8 RPE
10 push-ups after every squat set
The plus set and FSL sets were taxing as fuck in a good way. I’m very happy with how my squat is going right now.
Snatch grip or any other kind of DL was not going to happen.
SSB good mornings, because that’s kind of similar to a DL
3x10 at 154 lbs, minimal rest - too light, but I haven’t done good mornings for ages. I’ll up it to 176 lbs next week.
Not to mention, I think my lower back could use some work.
Thanks brother! It was a good session. I’m happy with how my squat is going right now. Still things to work on, but much less than six or even three months ago.
Down the track I want 10x200 kg, as well as some time checking my max walked out in sleeves. So far it’s 215 kg as a joker set. If I can hit 225-230 kg I’ll be pleased. The more I can squat without wraps, the better.
Ran DL and bench together today, which I haven’t done in ages. This is because it sucks: whichever comes second suffers.
Today’s training:
Semi sumo DL
3x385 lbs, 6ish RPE
3x440 lbs, 6-7 RPE
6x495 lbs, 9-10 RPE - I did NOT want to do this before I did it and it was mentally hard. Physically, the last two reps were work.
10 fat man pull-ups after each DL set.
No FSL because of going into bench. Tried wrapping my thumb to grip because I think I have to in meet. Not as good as false grip, but close. Feels like I’m thinking way low, but also feels like I’m much more locked in.
Bench press
3x198 lbs, 7 RPE
3x231 lbs, 6-7 RPE
4x258 lbs, 9-10 RPE - actually felt pretty good, just no gas by the fourth.
5x6x198 lbs, 7 RPE for the first, 8 RPE for two and three, 8-9 RPE for four and five.
That is some damn good lifting, Mark. Did your hips, or ankles feel tight that day? I was noticing your heels during your joker sets were lifting up, (didn’t check for the other sets) and that when you were repping out 423 your squats looked a lot more solid when you were cutting your depth just to the minimum you needed.
Did you feel you were pitching forward a little at the bottom sometimes?
It might be worthwhile to do a little bit of mobility work, even though it is boring to do mobility work.
@Destrength I had not noticed that. Good catch, and thanks. No, I felt great. Possibly I was getting tired by the joker sets and my knees came in a bit, which I think could pull my heels up. I know for my FSL sets my knees were coming in because my quads and hips were tired and I really had to force my knees out as I came up.
