Just to be accountable for my time, this week I came down with some horrible summer flu/malaria. Monday, felt bad, throat scratchy, tuesday, fever, sounded like “the Dark Knight,” left work at 9:00 AM, nearly fell asleep at a stoplight then nearly shyte-ed myself. Wednesday, stayed home, fever, no voice (very bad news for a Headhunter) double-down on nyquil, watched the worst biker reality show for hours, mildly R-tarded all day.
Today, made it through work, voice still rough, some fever, but not puking out of the wrong end anymore but still feeble and weak.
That summer cold was damned hell. I still have a hacking caugh, but feel much better, but just short of 100%.
Strong Lifts, Sesion 4
Squats, 170 5x5 (should have been 150, but it felt like it wasn’t even there)
Overhead Press 70 5x5 (I lost balance sligtly on the very last one but it was a stumble, not a loss of form due to being “gassed”)I’m startin like these.
Deadlift…Welp, I was supposed to do 165, but warm up at 135 felt baby weight-ish, and I hate that SL has only one set of DL’s tacked on like an after thought. That and it’s saturday and I dont have to walk until Monday so…
165 x 5 as soon as I felt the bar scrap skin off my legs I felt a big T dump
185 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 4 this felt great! I had another rep at least in me, but better safe than in traction.
In the sauna after I was just about buzzed with Deadlifter’s high. Thinking about exchanging “The Kraken” to Camalas, Kelt, Scottish God of War and Sky.
Squats, jumped up to 185 5x5–thank you new guy gain!
Bench, 140 5x5 I’m always cautious on bench becuase my shoulders are not “right.”
Barbell rows, 135 5x5 thats going to hurt tomarrow, but I knocked right through it.
I’m not crazy about SL, but it is effecient. I feel like I could use more assistance work and liked the “wave” volume of shieko with sets and weight going up, then falling off to squeeze out everything from the tank.
Sounds like you’re doing well. Try adding another, lighter back exercise if you’re worried about your shoulders, like chest supported rows or pulldowns on squat/ bench days. Also don’t be afraid to hit abs as well.
[quote]vali wrote:
Sounds like you’re doing well. Try adding another, lighter back exercise if you’re worried about your shoulders, like chest supported rows or pulldowns on squat/ bench days. Also don’t be afraid to hit abs as well.[/quote]
For the record i do hit the abs.
SL 6
Squats 190 5x5
OHP 65 5X5
DL 225 5,5,3
SL 7
Squats 195 5x5–wore shorts that restricted ROM incredibly stupid on my part it really thew me off for the whole workout.
Bench 140 5, 3 (dont know wtf happened, bar stopped on my chest and my shoulder felt “weird,” had to get help re-racking finished on Hammer Strength
Barbell Rows, 140 5x5 nice and slow, no momentum, whole postierior chain sizzling.
[quote]vali wrote:
Sounds like you’re doing well. Try adding another, lighter back exercise if you’re worried about your shoulders, like chest supported rows or pulldowns on squat/ bench days. Also don’t be afraid to hit abs as well.[/quote]
For the record I do hit the abs, as well as stay tight throughout all the lifts. I usually feel my abs after heavy lifts ether way.
SL 6
Squats 190 5x5
OHP 65 5X5
DL 225 5,5,3
SL 7
Squats 195 5x5–wore shorts that restricted ROM incredibly stupid on my part it really thew me off for the whole workout.
Bench 140 5, 3 (dont know wtf happened, bar stopped on my chest and my shoulder felt “weird,” had to get help re-racking finished on Hammer Strength
Barbell Rows, 140 5x5 nice and slow, no momentum, whole postierior chain sizzling.
Still going at it, but actually taking a de-load week this week.
I modified the SL program and traded one squat workout for a DL 5X5 on middle day and added some assistance work to better assist my issues.
Also added 20 minutes on the stepper with 5,30 second sprints mixed in
Workout I is sq 5x5, military press 5x5, good mornings 5x5 bro curls unstructured
Workout II DL 5X5 Bench 5x5 barbell rows 5x5 dips, or tri kickbacks 5x5
last workout
Sq 245 5x5
Mil Press 125 5x5
GM 165 5x5
Bro curls til I get sick of it generally 5x5
last workout
Workout II
threw a temper-tantrum in DL’s (bad day at the office)
DL 5x225, 5x275, 1x 315, 1x315, 1x315
bench 215 5x5 total struggle
standing rows 145 5x5
dips 5x5 on the hammer strength, 180, 5x5
…so, still lifting, and still enjoying some nice new guy gains. I stuck with SL?s through August and September and continue to grow/get stronger. I started getting off track of SL, adding some assistance and a heavy triple, double or singles. I like the program but I uncovered some major weaknesses (shoulders and upper back holding back my bench, hams slowing squat and DL)
I switched to 5/3/1 triumptive. Frankly I’m torn, I love the program but I miss the volume and longer time in the gym. I will complete my first cycle tonight of 5/3/1 with a DL set. I feel stronger and actually adjusted my maxes a little and still haven’t missed a rep, but I miss coming home drained, soaked and listening to my muscles sizzle like bacon in the pan. I benched 225 4x, on the 1+ set the other night and still had more in the tank. My recruiting cycle at work is going to slow steadily until after the holidays?so I am really tempted to return to the psychotic embrace of Sheiko. Maybe I just miss the cold war habit of having a Russian adversary.
I also started carb-backloading which I love. I?m a fat strong guy, (traps and a gut) would like to lose the fat and keep the strong. I?ve done well in the past with low carb diets and if I wasn?t married to a carb loving women I?d never see pasta again and be happy. The CBL is great! Losing fat and gaining muscle every Tnation posters? dream. I don?t usually load real hard, no post gym cherry pie binge, but eat by feel and according to my workload. All this, and my wife can spontaneously make Swedish meatballs and know they won?t go to waste. She’s Italian and can metabolize that stuff and still look good.
Also, I started experimenting with powercleans. I use them mainly as a warm-up and/or a finisher and assistance for DLs. I’m sure my technique is off and I mainly focus on getting the bar off the ground with as much speed as possible so I can rack it. According to my YouTube research, I’m doing the old school version without the hop…acceptably…as in I haven’t hurt myself. 135lbs comes off the floor like a rocket, and it feels great doing it!
If you managed to get through this wall of text, thank you. T-Nation, thank you. When I joined in December of 2011 I was unemployed, out of shape and generally resigned to life. Now on a bad day I am a fat powerlifter. At a lunch with a recruit I said, “Don’t feel like you we’re on a budget here because I am going to eat an ample lunch and lift several hundred pounds this evening.” I look good in a suit, my posture has improved noticeably. I lied about my weight by a lot in a physical but my blood pressure was still in the “very healthy” range. I feel great, and now I am grouchy if I don’t get to the gym. The job is great and I am a one man press gang for financial services in my area…which is what they pay me to be.
congrats on your success. I love carb backloading too!
sheiko is awesome but its quite a step up in terms of volume from strong lifts or 5/3/1.
If you don’t feel done at the gym then just do more assistance, IMO. When i was doing 5/3/1 i usually combined triumvriate with boring but big, or just did more if i didn’t feel done afterward.
Or you could try the wendler 100 rep challenge that was posted on here about a month ago 100 Rep Challenge
Thanks zeno, I did Sheiko for a while and although I felt pretty pounded by it, mainly becuase I was trying to do strick low carb at the same time, I loved it.
Since my last post I pulled 335lbs (after 3 misses, Slayer’s War Ensamble is what was missing on the first 3 attempts) and I have decided the timing is right, my diet is more balanced so I’m starting, or restarting #29 again tomaorrow.
I’ll try to be a better logger here so I can track progress, be accountable and complain.
DL
1X3 167
2X5 205
2X3 235
3X3 255 this set was rough
bench
1x5 135
1x5 185
4x5 205
Tri ext. 5 x8 (should have been dips but I was drained and the dip bar was occupied)
hammer strength lumbar extensions 5x8 (should have been DL from the pins)
Very poor diet day, and a lot of personal distractions. I was a soup sandwich as a result but I got the major work done. The day after, sore but not a zombie.
Hey Kraken, good stuff, I’ve enjoyed reading your log. I’ve heard about Sheiko and have been drawn to trying it soon, so I will keep following to see how you are enjoying the pain. At the moment I’m in Week 6 of Pendlay 5x5 Intermediate and loving it! Good luck and Happy lifting!
Bench
1x5 135
1x4 155
1x4 175
1x3 195
2x2 205
2x1 225
2x2 205
1x3 195
1x5 175
1x5 155
Squat
flies and facepulls
1x5 155
2x3 185
5x3 235 (I suck at math when I’m lifting, this should have been 70% of 315 or 220 so I stuck with it for extra sets instead of a proper set of 2x3 @ 70%, the 4x3 @ 4x3 75% but I got the work load “on the books”)
tri pushdowns (one of my favorites leaning forward to recruit abs at the same time)
I noticed after during the marathon benching that I was feeling the support muscles as much as the main muscles. I think that is the genius of Sheiko. The volume uncovers weaknesses and works them like other programs would with accessory work. My bicepts were sore the day after from benching.
The bench was a lot but I didn’t miss anything. Squating after bench sucked.
First Sheiko week complete–feeling great although a little tired. The volume is a shocker, but manageable.
Had an office happy hour last night. I’ve alway prided myself on being the guy who people look at when I’m with my wife (or girlfriends in the past) who people say “how did that fat fuck get that girl?” The answer is that I can talk, I’m funny and confident but not arrogant. Last night one of the office ladies (epic MILF) felt my arms and gave me the “oh my!” look. A little while later her friend came by and rubbed up against my back and arms with a flirty smile. They know I’m married but it’s nice to be more than just charming.
Great work in here. How is the body re-comp coming with CBL? I haven’t lost any fat on CBL–I need to stay ULC for that–but I like CBL for maintenance and gaining strength.
[quote]jjackkrash wrote:
Great work in here. How is the body re-comp coming with CBL? I haven’t lost any fat on CBL–I need to stay ULC for that–but I like CBL for maintenance and gaining strength.
[/quote]
Thank you. I really appreciate knowing that people are following here. I try to be painfully honest here so I can see the direction I’m going in over the longterm.
I’m loosing fat on the CBL but it shows more in the mirror and in how my clothes fit than the scale. I am also eating more becuase of the sheiko volume so I could probably do better overall, but I tried a resticted diet with Sheiko before and started to fall apart quickly. I wish I could see lbs of fat measured in an concrete measurable way, but I’m seeing results.
If the progress on fat loss is slower than you want, you could always cut the back-load days to every other work out, or go balls out and do one carb night a week. I personally think you can make strength gains on one night a week until your fat levels are where you want them, but this will limit packing on lean mass. That’s the beauty of CBL, you really do have control over the rate of the recomp.
[quote]jjackkrash wrote:
If the progress on fat loss is slower than you want, you could always cut the back-load days to every other work out, or go balls out and do one carb night a week. I personally think you can make strength gains on one night a week until your fat levels are where you want them, but this will limit packing on lean mass. That’s the beauty of CBL, you really do have control over the rate of the recomp. [/quote]
You’re absolutely right, you can manipulate CBL to make it work for a true cut. I am happy with the results, I was saying it is much more of a recomp than a cut. I’m visably more muscular and thinner around the gut, but I weigh the same. I have always been an easy gainer. I can pack on muscle and I think that genetic advantage cancels movement on the scale.