The big blue experience.

Training Over 35 Lifter
341

Changes …

A few weeks ago i posted a diferent thread (questions and answers) and got some really good feeddback that set me to re thinking some of the things taht i was doing, and thinking about things that i clearly wssn,t doing !!.

Thanks all.

So today was the start of a new training plan, mainly on the back of a decent holiday with time to think about stuff and work up a plan.

Having said that the shifts that i have worked since getting back (4th night tonight) have been nothing short of exhausting and with really poor sleep to add to the mixa s well.
So not expecting great things tonight.

Tonights work :
Warm up complex 2 rounds.

Main work deadlift alternating sets with secondary lift (bench). Main difference in the workot being to go for shorter heavier quality sets earlier on.
So :

Deadlift 132 lb warm up set 1x10
Bench 66lb warm up 1x10

Deadlift 176lb 1x8
Bench 88lb 1x10

Deadlift 198lb 1x5
Bench 110lb 1x5

Deadlift 220lb 1x5
Bench 110 1x5

Dedalift 226lb 1x5
Bench 110 1x5

Deadlift 220lb 1x5
Bench 116 1x3

Deadlift 230lb 1x5 (higher than my usual previous working sets and still felt like there was more to come).
BENCH 116 1X3

Finishing work
Dips 5x10.

Th other major change has been to take a more detailed look at my nutrition and with the practical change that i have for the first time had a protein shake and carbs (banana an dates) immediately after a workout.

Given how rough i felt on the way in to the gym i was surprised how smoothly the session went and how much more there seemed to be ‘in the tank’ during the deadlift. I was somewhat worried that the new pr set inarna wouldn’t translate to higher working sets…but ni…it was solid.

Chuffed.

342

Punch the ticket !.

Today, first day off after 4 night shifts straight through, a huge sleep defecit and a a huge sleepathon.

Walk to the gym feeling groggy and tight.

Two rounds of a 6 move complex to get moving.
One with bare bar
One weighted (25kg) feels like i might be ready for a bit more weight on the weakest move ie ohp.

Main work today : squat paired with lat pull down.

Squat warm up 88lb 1x10
Lat pull warm up 121 lb 1x10

Squat 110 lb 1x10
Lat pull 132 lb 1x8

Squat 132 lb 1x5
Lat pull 136 lb 1x5

Squat 143 lb 1x5
Lat pull 143 1x5

Squat 154 lb 1x5
Lat pull 150lb 1x5

Sqaut 154lb 1x5
Lat pull 150lb 1x5.

finishing/conditioning work
3 rounds of :
Chins (5) dips (10) squat (25 kb) 10 and press ups (10).

Post work out feed : dates,cake bar,latte, chicken drumsticks x2.

Walk home–pretty shaky.

343

[quote]big nurse wrote:
Chuffed.[/quote]

It’s been YEARS since I’ve heard anyone say that… you made my morning!

344

Good work, Nurse. What’s with all the supersets? Are you trying to recover muscle groups? And no one complains if you leave the bar in the rack?

345

Cav–it,s basically a way of getting a reasonable amount of work done in as little time as possible without getting completely smoked by it.

Not so much today but when i train in the evening before work i have to get as much done as i can in the 30-40 minutes that i have available, then pairing up exercises just seems to be the one method that works for me.
I have to accept that while it might not be the best it is what i can do.
This weeks work and training left me with a massive sleep deficit which will really mess the rest of the week up.

My current plan/template is a 3 day per week routine but isn’t fixed days, can be 2 days together or spaced out and :

Day 1 main work is deadlift, secondary lift is bench, bonus/finishing is just about any bwe but starting with chins/pull ups and press ups.
Day 2 main work is squat, secondary work is any pull down (lats today) bwe was as you saw in the log.
Day 3 main lift will be bench (weakest so getting most work) secondary lift will be any row (probably db row this week) bonus/finishing will be conditioning work ,depending on what space/kit is free.

As long as i get the main work done i am happy to say that i have punched the ticket for that day !
Having said that though i do notice lots of guys in the gym (especially when in twos and threes ) who ‘work out’ together–although it seems like one does a set while everyone else watches–i noticed that during one set of their workout (curls) i had done 2 sets of deadlifts and 2 bench !!.
Maybe being older we have a better work ethic or just know how to get stuff done.

346

[quote]Canada_K wrote:

[quote]big nurse wrote:
Chuffed.[/quote]

It’s been YEARS since I’ve heard anyone say that… you made my morning![/quote]

It’s the yorkshire climber coming out in me again !!.

Aye happen.

EDIT…Todays work as edit rather than bump.

Sleepless night after sleepathon yesterday and feeling really groggy today. Really felt the need to be outdoor today.

Mornings work :
Fasted walk 45 minutes.
Afternoon work :
Longer trail walk 2hrs 10.

For some reason (mainly time ad lack thereof) i have been neglecting the walking recently and it’s just coming into my favourite time of year to be out there. If i wasn’t working tonight i would have picked a bivvi and stayed out for the night.

347

Bivvi???

348

[quote]cavalier wrote:
Bivvi???[/quote]

Sorry cav, milspeak for bivouac. I tend to camp out bivoauc style ie just under a tarp, hoochi or basha (whichever language option fits)

349

Excellent results!
Great to see experimentation with time saving / intensifying strategies…

350

Luxury day ! i.e plenty of time to work out without having to watch the clock.

Short version = new bench pr. long time in the making…

Plan : main lift today =bench paired with any rowing lift and with the general idea of trying a maximum effort on the bench to see if i have made any progress.

Warm up complex x2 rounds. Some progress here in that instead of the first round being bare bar i went up 10% ie 22.5 kg (50lb) and increased to 60lb for the second set.

So main work.
Bench warm up 66lb 1x10
Bent over barbell row warm up 88lb 1x10

Bench 88lb 1x10
Bb row 99lb 1x10

Bench 110 1x5
BB row 110 1x8

Bench 115.5 1x4
BB row 121 1x5

Bench 121 . 2
BB row 132 lb 1x5

Bench 126.5 lb 1
BB row 132 1x5

Looked around the gym and managed to get someone to safety spot me for an all out 1rm on the bench with strict instructions to keep hands off unless i lost control completely.

So…
Bench 60kg 132 lb s…1… wow it went up,slowly but up it went.

SO—NEW BENCH PR !!!

BB row 132lb 1x5.

Chuffed !!.

Then :
Bench 88lb 1x10
Bb row 88 1x10
Bench 99 lb 1x5.

Finishing/bonus/extra work.

5 rounds of :
5 chins
10 press ups
10 dips
5-10 reps of supported db row from 57lbs (10) up to 75lb (4)

Just plain roog at the end.
Stretched out.

Post workout immediate nutrition :
Protein shake in 250ml of whole milk.
I full fat latte
1 banana
1 cake bar.

Walk home
1 beef sandwich. nom nom…

351

Bonus day.
Wasn’t expecting to train today but the days plan for boat work wasn’t going to happen (rain) so.

Usual walk to gym and warm up.
Absolutely nobody in the free weights section, just as well as my workout kit had been festering in my rucksack for a couple of days !!

Slightly heavier on the warm up complex ie one set at 25kg and one at 27.5 so 55lbs and 60lbs, limiting factor is still the ohp element buthitting it every workout is slowly bringing it up.

Main work today :deadlift and bench with the main effort being to try to do the whole 5x5 routine in the deadlift at working sets of 100kg (220lbs).

So short version
Deadlift
3x10 with ascending weights : so 1 set @ 132 .1 @ 176 and 1 @ 198 lbs.
Then :
5x5 @ 220 llbs. Fading a bit at the end but managed to get through it.

Seems to have been a productive week with a new bench pr, even a good month with the new deadlift pr as well.
Encouraging.

Bench
3x10 @ 99lbs
5x5 @ 110lbs.

Other work :
Lat pull downs
5x5 @ 158lbs
5x10 weighted dips.

Quite pleased with the working sets on the deadlift at a solid 100kg straight through, feels like a significant jump in overall work capacity.

Post workout …protein shake and banana…then taken straight out for treat lunch.

352

Congrats on the bench PR!! Wow, you’re doing great. It only took you a few months to get the same level I reached after 20 years.

353

[quote]cavalier wrote:
Congrats on the bench PR!! Wow, you’re doing great. It only took you a few months to get the same level I reached after 20 years.[/quote]

As you can imagine i was feeling all ‘cock a whoop’ and then some bastard came along and warmed up on my just achieved max…why oh why did i have to see that.

354

Hey, that happens to me ALL THE TIME. Just tell yourself in another year or two you’ll be at that level.

355

Start of a new week , and because of having got in a bonus day yesterday felt that i was already ahead of the plan.

So : slight change today ie doing the workout as a conditioning orientated one.

Warm up complexes at 55lb and 60.5 lbs. done ‘at pace’.

Main work , squats but done as rounds alternating with chins and press ups so : squat 1 set, chin x5 and press ups x10.

Squats done as a 3x10 + 5x5 routine :
3x10 sets : 2 with barbell at 99lb rear squat a and 1 set with the 53lb kb as a goblet squat.
5x5 sets done as : 3 with barbell at 132 lbs and 2 sets with a db at 88lb (goblet sqaut).

Almost done ‘for time’ but forgot to time it…doh !!

356

Hi Big Nurse! I just read your intro. Way to go. I like the idea of lifting weights to prevent osteoporosis. Are you still doing those kettleball swings? ttyl!

357

[quote]Reconstruction wrote:
Hi Big Nurse! I just read your intro. Way to go. I like the idea of lifting weights to prevent osteoporosis. Are you still doing those kettleball swings? ttyl![/quote]

Actually…no.
I have at least temporarily backed off on 2 things ie the kb swings and the rower. I was doing a conditioning set once a week that had kb swings and rower as a major part of a posterior chain based conditioning set.
Unfortunately the combination would almost always give me some degree of back discomfort.

Secondly i had a rethink and realised that my main goal was simply to get a lot stronger at this stage and that the met con could take a back seat–i do instead one of my workouts each week as a faster higher intensity workload session that will keep me pumping throughout the whole time.

We did touch on back health on another thread recently when another member was specifically asking about similar problems with the deadlift–trying to find it but can’t remember who it was.

On back ‘rotational’ exercises–i do still do these but mainly at home and with a resistance band, something very similar to chops but almost purely in rotation, while i think about the same move i am also quite happy to swing a meduim weight axe–although havn’t had the chance for a while.

358

My stuff today :

No lifting but felt the need to be out on the trail so had a couple of hours out walking in the woods, sun appeared for the first time in nearly a week too which was good of it !!.

Jax work today :
I didn’t get the full story of sets and reps but she has definitely just set herself a new deadlift 1rep max of 60kg (132 lbs) which she is very happy with .
Sounds very good to me.

359

lol cock awhoop or what ever it was ~~~too funny you are.

A nice trail walk is something Ive been enjoying here too.

Nice on the wife, congrats on her PR!!

360

The days work :

Going onto nights tonight (4x12 hour shifts) just as some decent weather comes along !!, however :
Late start and fasted cardio (walk) about 45 minutes out on the forest trail.

Later :
Walk to gym, nice day.
Usual warm up complexes 1@ 55lbs and 1@ 60.5 lbs.

Main work today = bench press. Today i decided to mx things up a bit and just play with a different idea and having read up on the 8x8 routine gave that one a try out.
Now–i know that i can get through a 3x10 at 99lbs and 5x5 at 110 lbs so set the initial weight at 105lbs, which immediately felt a lot more of a struggle than expected so dropped it down to 99lbs again.
So :
Bench bare bar 1x10
66lb 1x10
105lbs 1x8
99lbs 7x8
The whole story though is that the first 6 sets were ok-ish with not much left at the end of each set, set 7 started to fail around the 6th rep and i had to rack the bar,rest and reset and then complete the last 2, the final set my arms were just spaghetti and the bar was going all over the place so ended up as 5+3.

Amazingly hard routine !!.

For the record : each set was followed by the secondary lift ‘de jour’ , today was row.
So : bent over barbell row 3x10. 1@88lbs . 1@99lbs and 1 @110lbs.
Then 5x5 bench supported dumbell row (actually mixed reps descending with increasing weight) something like :
1x8 @ 62lbs
1x8 @ 66lbs
3x5-6 @ 70lbs.

Today, being another luxury (time) day i had yet another crack at trying to teach myself to barbell front squat, still feels horrible and i think i am just going to have to video and post to see if anyone can offer suggestions.

Finishing work .bwe
3 rounds of : 10 dips, 10 press ups and 5 chins.

Protein shake and ommelette at gym.
Walked home.