On nights this week, which is pretty sucky but on a minor positive note I can train before work without getting up horribly early.
Today’s training:
Press
5x137 lbs, under 6 RPE
3x154 lbs, around 6-7 RPE
5x170 lbs, 9 RPE - let it come away from me on four
Fucked up the filming. Felt good enough for some jokers.
3x181 lbs, 10 RPE
1x187 lbs, 10 RPE
Initially got mildly concerned because my right arm was locking out so much more slowly than my left on the grinding reps. Then I realised it was because my right hand tends to drift away from me, so once I remembered to bring it back that improved.
7x137 lbs, 7-8 RPE
4x6x137 lbs, 7 ending up at 8 RPE
I was checking if my leave for my meet in October was in the pipeline, so being my usual careful self I double checked the GPC website to make sure the date I put in was correct. Guess what? The date got changed, from 30 October to 2 October. That’s a whole cycle. This pissed me off.
Now, I know I might have gotten the dates mixed up initially, but I know I didn’t because there’s no way I’d set out my training months in advance without first making damn sure I know when the meet is.
Anyway, I’m pretty annoyed because there’s no good reason a) for this to have happened and b) for the state rep not to have announced it. I’m on the GPC mailing list and the most recent newsletter didn’t mention the change; I follow the state rep’s gym Facebook page, and I’m subscribed to get updates on all the events there. I also follow the GPC Facebook page. So, if there was an announcement I’m pretty sure I’d have noticed.
As to there being no good reason to change the date: the venue is the state rep’s own gym. He has total control over when things happen there. It isn’t like he has to book a venue.
The bottom line is that I’m beginning to get the impression that’s he’s arranging (and changing) meet dates at his gym to suit himself and is only telling his team at his gym, who generally make up one third to half the competitors at GPC meets in Canberra.
As far as I’m concerned, that’s not on. If he absolutely must change the date, fine. But the very least he could do is make a bit of noise about it so anyone in the area who might want to compete knows.
It isn’t like this is the first time either. I remember in March at the end of the meet he talked about the Winter Cup and said it was on 19 June - when the GPC website had it listed as 24 July. About a month later, the website had the date changed to 19 June. If I hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have found out until the website changed and I’d have been training based on the idea that I’d compete on 24 July. That’s why I picked the October meet: I didn’t feel like March to June was enough time.
Either way, I think it’s a pretty average way to do things. There’s a GPC meet in Sydney on 23 October, which is only a week earlier than I’d planned for. That’s a change I can easily work with.
Found it a bit hard to get up this morning/afternoon. That should have given me an idea what to expect going in. Also decided to stop sooking and compete on 2 October.
Today’s training:
DL
5x412 lbs, 7-8 RPE - these felt like garbage
1x467 lbs, 10 RPE apparently because that’s all I got
Switched to sumo
3x467 lbs, 8 RPE - first set that didn’t feel like crap
2x522 lbs, 10 RPE - tried a third and couldn’t move it
No FSL sets for obvious reasons. In fact, I haven’t done a single FSL set for DL this cycle. I need to look into this and consider what to do. Maybe SSB squats or front squats for 5x5-8 instead.
3x10x242 lbs hack squats
25 GHRs without the back raise bit.
Pretty underwhelming session, but I generally have good sessions so I can’t complain.
Just bought two new pairs of knee sleeves from Loaded Lifting. Checked their site on a whim and saw that their training grade and old model stiff sleeves were on sale at 50% off, so I bought a pair of each. Cost me what a single pair normally does.
My Eleiko sleeves are getting ratty after two odd years constant service, so I think they’ll retire to shin guard status.
I got the stiff pair as an experiment to see if they really do give anything out of the hole. If they do, I may use them instead of wraps in meet. The other pair are for regular training.
Last time I posted about it was 11 June, so, 18 days ago. In that time, I went over 2700 calories four times. On a few other days in that period I actually hit 2600 or so (not deliberately, and not compromising minimum protein intake). At any rate, it looks like so far I’m managing to keep more on track.
On waking, scale weight was 216.5 lbs. I think I’m looking marginally leaner, spare tyre may be shrinking slightly.
In terms of performance, I’m saying the effect has been minimal to non-existent except for bench (and that will be put to the test tomorrow). I’m putting yesterday’s DL issues down to lack of sleep.
Tired. No escaping that. Glad this is my last night for six weeks.
Today’s training:
Bench press
5x214 lbs, under 6 RPE - shoulder knot making arching my upper back very uncomfortable.
3x242 lbs, 6-7 RPE
4x269 lbs, 9-10 RPE - pretty damn ecstatic, because this is the first time in two months my bench has moved in the right direction.
5x5x214 lbs, 7 RPE - shoulder knot making me pretty miserable
20 pull aparts after every bench set
Superset DB incline/chest supported rows, both 70 lbs
10/10
Superset DB incline/v-bar row same DB and 132 lbs for the rows
10/15
10/15
Right shoulder very angry by the end.
Jump rope after each set, leg to leg: 80, 80, 110
Around 10 minutes jamming a golf ball into my right lats/traps/rhomboids
Every rep felt slow as fuck. Back worked super hard. On the plus side, it seems like feeling I’m falling forward doesn’t bother me. Couldn’t concentrate either, kept forgetting bits of my setup.
5x5x352 lbs, 7 RPE at the start, 8-9 RPE at the end.
10 push-ups after every set. Well, 20 after my 401x3 because I missed the first 10 and 12 after my last FSL set because I only did eight for the previous set for some reason; but 10 apart from those.
I saw a post by Jim Wendler in his forum here about doing it, which is where I got the idea. I don’t have a ton of time to train right now compared to what I used to have, and that’s one of the best things to have happened to my training because it has forced me to become a lot more efficient.
Doing something between sets is part of that. I get 80 push-ups in per squat session. The reps are hard, but I can’t imagine the volume not somehow contributing to my pressing; not to mention the increase in work capacity. Same goes for pull aparts between pressing sets (which is also good for my shoulders), fat man pull-ups between deadlift sets and jump rope between assistance sets.
@The_Myth it’s an AMRAP set. My deload is essentially a stripped down regular week. So, instead of multiple FSL sets I do a single AMRAP set. Same for assistance, only do a single AMRAP set of each. The main lift loads are low, so the AMRAP set is pretty much the only one I have to do any work for.
