The Long Game - a Log

Training Training Logs
282

Full body workout

Bench -
150kg x 1
130kg x 4, 4, 3

Rows

C&P
60kg x 8, 6

Deadlifts
182.5kg x 5, 5, 4

Plank - 82s

Side planks

Kinda left a rep out there on my final deadlift set, but felt like the form was going to break down, so the better part of me won out and left the weight there. I don’t need to stretch myself too much - I just need to trust that results will come in time. My ego needs to realise that I’m not ever going to be setting any world record. I’m not that gifted and I’m not enhanced. I’m a little better than average. I need to see the weightlifting as a nice distraction from the day to day, a good focus to have - something to be enjoyed. It’s always nice setting a new PB.

I got a little bit concerned today about peaking out and what it will be like when I do peak out.

283

Just upper today

Bench -
151kg x 0,
110kg x 10, 9, 7

Rows

Pullups - BW x 9
Dips - +10kg x 15

I missed the groove slightly on 151. I got it halfway - and thought I could do with pulling it higher, but I was already quite high and felt like I’d be hitting the underside of the catchers. So, I failed, but it was close.

After doing upper body, and it taking about 1hr 50m (I was slow today for some reason) I thought I would leave lower body. I thought I would adapt my routine. For a long time it’s been:

Monday - upper and lower
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - upper and lower
Thursday - rest
Friday - upper and lower
Saturday - rest
Sunday - rest

Basically I thought, why not move my lower to the alternate days? So it looks like this:

Monday - upper
Tuesday - lower
Wednesday - upper
Thursday - lower
Friday - upper
Saturday - lower
Sunday - rest

I’ll be doing the same amount of work - perhaps slightly more - but it’ll be more spread out. And I’ll be working out virtually every day.

I thought of a couple of advantages. I look forward to the working out. My days are empty - I’m working occasionally in the evenings, so why not make it my routine, of working out virtually every day? Gives me something to do, at least. Also, if I want to, I will now have the time to go heavy with the squats and deadlifts, maybe test the 1RMs. Before I was doing them at the end of the workout and I just wanted to get to the working weight as soon as possible because the workout was already 2hrs +.

I kinda feel stoked about my working out now after going over the changes. Excited. I was feeling pessimistic earlier. I am worried about getting near my natural limit, with the progress on the bench slowing. I shouldn’t worry - I was going at a lightning pace before. Whereas before I was going up 1kg per workout, I am going to aim for 0.5kg a workout now. I have the micro plates to do it.

Just had my post workout nutrition. I had some oatmeal drink, with some salt and some whey protein. It tasted really good, actually.

284

OK, well.

I went for a run!

First time I’ve done cardio in ages. I ran for 9.5 minutes - well jogged, really. I went a little further than I was expecting. I’ve just checked out Google Earth for where I went. I did 1.4km.
And burned 130 calories.

I’m a bit wheezy now.

I’m going to try to add a run on the days I do upper body in the mornings. We’ll see. I want to cut up double quick. But I need to be patient. It’s not going to happen overnight.

285

Lower body

Squat

165kg x 1
150kg x 4, 3, 3

So I came across a video by that awesome dude, John Meadows, on intra-workout nutrition.

Basically it showed that the trainees that were taking intra-workout nutrition had something like double the gains than the placebo group. I can’t remember the exact figure but it also stated that cortisol in the no-nutrition group was like 137% higher or something. Big difference.

For like the last 10 weeks I’ve been having NO intra workout nutrition, and sometimes nothing post-workout either. This is gonna change! Today I had myself an oat drink with water and a little salt added. Tasted great. I can almost feel the difference already - I have been feeling a little bit stressed, as though my cortisol was high. I think I can tell the difference, and I don’t think I’m imagining it. Should lead to gain city.

So 165kg levels my PB I think. It felt pretty straight forward. Next session I could perhaps try 170kg. One difference I’m no longer going ATG. I’m going to parallel.

286

So, I’ve gained 4.6 lbs in like 48hrs! My waist circumference has not changed.

Bodyweight is now 219.4lb.

I’ve been reading about the benefits of salt for health, so I’ve been adding a little to my drinks and I’ve been having pickled tomatoes and gherkins which are salty.

So I’m guessing my muscles have drawn in extra water - I’m looking a bit bigger in the mirror. I watched a couple videos on salt and how it can be good for your health on the youtube channel ‘What I’ve Learned’.

I need to do a bit more research. All I can say is I’m looking forward to benching tomorrow. Hoping I’m gonna be dead strong!

287

Well, I’m disappointed.

Tried 151kg on the bench and got it no more than a couple inches off my chest. I was closer last time out. So I’ve got weaker.

Upper

Bench
151kg * 0
100kg x 14.5, 12, 11

Rows

Clean and strict press - 65kg x 4, 3, 3

I’m pretty sure it’s the cardio. I’m gonna knock that on the head I think. I want to be strong!

288

Yesterday’s workout

Deadlift

215kg x 1
190kg x 4, 4, 3

215 didn’t feel like the limit. But I didn’t want to push it too far as this is the first time doing singles on deadlift for a long time.

I’m tired. I haven’t been sleeping well for about 4 or 5 days.

There’s a couple of things I’ve changed today, which might make a difference. We’ll see. Hoping to workout tomorrow morning.

289

Upper

Bench
151kg x 1 (PB)
120kg x 7, 6, 5

Rows

Pullups - 9

Dips - +10 x 16

Very pleased to get the PB on the bench. It moved well - I was anticipating more of a battle. It felt like I produced 152kgs of power. So at this stage I might try 152 next time out instead of going with my plan for 0.5kg increments. We’ll see. Anyway, I’m going to enjoy this PB. I’d been stuck on 150kg for a little while so it’s nice to start making inroads into the 150s.

290

Lower

Squat

167.5kg x 1 (PB)
150kg x 4, 4, 3

Mixed feelings. I ummed and arred about going for 170kg but decided in the end I’d leave it for another day. I do feel like it’s in the bag.

Nevertheless, 167.5kg is a PB. Arguably not as hard as 165kg ATG which I did before. If I were to guess I’d say that an ATG squat is about 5% harder than parallel.

The nice thing is I’m feeling more confident with the movement than before. Going to parallel just feels way more secure.

180kg isn’t too far out of reach. I’m feeling really confident with all my lifts. Particularly squat and deadlift I know I can improve a lot.

Kinda got a little of the right leg numbness, but less than previous times which is telling me whatever it is, seems to be healing. Very relieved.

291

Upper, non maximal effort

Bench

(152kg x 0.5)

130kg x 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

Rows

Clean and strict press
60kg x 4, 4, 4

So I thought I would try not going to failure every set (my default since I started training). Last time out on 130kg I did 4, 4, and 3. So this time I thought I would go for 2s and do the same number of reps just spread over more sets.

I kinda wanted to go to failure on my C&P, but thought I would keep the experiment controlled, so I could see what it feels like having less failure in a workout. Note to future self: do a couple warm up sets next time at least!

I watched this vid on YT: Why training EASIER can drastically increase strength from Johnny Candito.

Well I certainly feel less fried. It was quite a long workout - 1 hr 40 minutes. I kinda feel less like I need a nap.

I’m going to give this style of training at least a week, and see if I like it. Maybe two weeks might be better to see if I get results. Obviously it’s not pure training without failure as I went for a 1RM and failed. The 152 was seriously close; I got to midway through the rep and then stalled at that point for what seemed like an eternity.

The theory with the style of training where you don’t go to failure is that not all reps are created equal. They showed a video of the insanely strong C3 Muscle guy doing a set of 10 to failure. It sounds logical but it really hit home watching the vid that the first reps in a set are a lot faster than the last reps in a set. And they invoke the rule of specificity, saying that the first reps in a set are more akin to when you go heavy. I don’t know how true this is, it kinda seems right and it doesn’t at the same time. What they were saying is that the earlier reps fatigue the super fast twitch muscle fibres whereas the later reps in a set build the slightly less-fast muscle fibres. And the rule of specificity says that you should train what you want to improve. If you want to improve your 1RM, you need to train it, or as close to possible. I guess the thing with the 1RM is that you start from a position of having the super-fast glycolytic fibers rested. Whereas with a 10RM attempt those fibers are fatigued sometime before the end of the set. I guess I have been in the ‘failure crew’ for a long time, because you can feel the effects of the set more, and it’s easy to gauge where you’re at. Training to failure induces the most muscle damage and taxes the CNS the most. I guess this is great if you’ve been dossing and need to make a comeback (which happens to me every 6 months it seems!). But when you’ve been training for a time you accumulate fatigue more, maybe to the point where it’s too much. Particularly now I’m training 6 days a week, fatigue is something I need to manage. In all likelihood what I will do, if training this way (not to failure) proves to be useful, is alternate between the two types of training. It’s always nice to know precisely how many reps you can do with a weight to the max.

292

Lower

Deadlift
220kg x 1
190kg x 2, 2, 2 ,2 ,2 ,2

3 Planks - 60s

Just as a side note I always take about 7 or 8 sets warm up before I hit the heavy single but I don’t normally bother to report them.

220 felt pretty good. I reckon I have a little bit more in the tank. I’m not pushing it too hard at the moment as I haven’t been doing singles for a while. It sure is nice to be going heavy on the squats and the deadlifts again. I feel like I will be passing a 500lb deadlift (227kg) soon, and 230kg. A reasonable long-term goal for me would be 600lb (272kg). I don’t want to talk about that too much because I don’t want to emphasise it, I’d rather focus on the smaller goals first.

I’m happy with where I’m at now. A video popped up on my youtube of a guy deadlifting 410kg at a bodyweight of 107kg. Impressive. I checked out a video of him in competition. There’s no doubt his lifts were impressive, but the funny thing is he wasn’t in great shape - he looked as though he didn’t lift. I guess he focuses on the strength rep range and not at all on the hypertrophy range. There are some freaks out there, like the guy that was about 150 benching something like 400. I used to compare myself to other dudes all the time and still do a bit. It’s not really a useful exercise though. God gives us different talents and different physiques.

My waist came down about 5cm and is now trending side-ways. My bodyweight is up 7 lbs and seems to be going up slowly. So evidently I’ve put on quite a substantial amount of muscle. I’ve been figuring recently I need to decide whether I’m on a cut or bulk - I guess I was cutting before even though the strength was going up. But I’d really like to hit that 160kg bench and take a video so I can show the boys. So I guess I’m on a bulk now. And then if I do hit 160, I might go on a cut, and do a bit of cardio and just try and preserve the strength. I’m 24% bodyfat now. It would be nice to get that down a bit, because you look better.

I guess there’s an analogy with training types - hypertrophy or strength. And I’ve kinda been doing both on that too. It might be time to focus on the strength side for a while. But my body is good at adding muscle so I might do that too in time.

293

Upper

Bench

152kg x 1 (PB),

Non-maximal sets: 110kg x 5, x 5, x 5, x 5, x 5, x 5,

Rows

1 hr 45m

So I hit a PB on the bench, woop woop. I got my aunt to film the attempt. The workout was quite long, 1 hr 45m, so I didn’t squeeze in the pullups and the dips, for better, or worse, I’m not sure. My bench is very precious to me, but maybe I should fit in a session where working another plane is the priority. I don’t know. It’s not possible to have the perfect programme, and I suppose you should focus most on what you most want to improve. I always wonder if the body doesn’t let you develop more than your weakest chain, or whether it’s ok with some parts being stronger than others.

Take me, for example - I’m benching 152kg but the OHP is, at a guess, around 85. Does that mean that my chest is disproportionately stronger than my medial deltoids? Is this bad or is it ok?

Another factor I guess is that we all change over time. When I was at uni, benching around 120kg and the deadlift was about 220kg, so twice as big. Now my bench is 152kg and my deadlift probably around 225kg. So my bench has gone up massively while my deadlift has hardly gone up. Might be something to do with the muscles of the upper body developing last - I played a lot of football and was quite explosive in sprinting. And then I train the bench twice as often as I deadlift, so this is probably the major reason. It’s easier to train smaller bodyparts more frequently. I suppose if you were to count the squat as a deadlift accessory, then I train deadlift as often as bench.

It’s just not quite what I envisioned when I was starting out again. I thought all the lifts would go up in roughly the same proportions.

So the bench goal of 160kg is not too far away. I’m 8kg out. I reckon, having looked at my chart, I might be able to do that in about 7 weeks, so mid April some time. We will see. It’s getting harder, and I definitely can’t add 1kg to the bar each workout like I was doing for a time. In my mind I’m wondering about the merits of going to 0.5kg increments but I think I will probably stick at 1kg increments for now. I sort of reckon I will have a 50% hit rate with the 1kg increment - missing it the first time, and succeeding on the second attempt, on average. Missing a lift aint a nice feeling, so I guess if it gets to the point where it takes me 3 or 4 attempts per 1 success I’ll then drop down to 0.5kg increments.

294

Well, back to the working out today. It’s been an eventful couple of weeks. I had my coronavirus jab on the Friday. I became feverish in the night time. And achey and tired. So I thought I would see it out. One week passed and then I took a big overdose of my medication. And ended up in hospital. Thank God I survived. But needless to say I’m not quite myself. I think if anything it shows how much I need my routine working out.

So got back into it with squats today. I’m not going to note the weights performed, as they’re nowhere near what I’m normally capable of and it will demoralise me. I’ll just say I did squats.

Squats

35m.

295

Upper body today

Bench and Rows.

It feels good to be back working out again. I measured my right arm and it’s down 0.5 inches from where it was - down to 16".

It’s going to take some time to recover my former strength and size. It kinda sucks, but then again, it’s inevitable that you will have setbacks, it’s just how you recover from them that tells. More than anything, it’s a blow to the ego. It’s a nice feeling, thinking that you are the strongest you’ve ever been. Then life gets in the way and you feel fucked. Cos the nice thing about lifting weights is you can expect to see progress when you put the work in, and it’s linear.

In my mind I’m going to allow myself 4 weeks to get back to where I was at. Then when I am back at my old strength, I’ll think about the big 160kg bench.

296

Lower body

Deadlifts

35m

So just trying to reacquaint myself with the iron. Not going to heavy or hard. My thighs are aching quite a bit from the last squat workout.

Instead of taking a break tomorrow (Sunday) I think I will do an upper body session. I want to get back to where I was quickly. I guess I identify too much with the numbers I can put up, but that’s just the way I am.

297

Upper

Rows and Bench
60m

140 for a single on the bench. I could feel a bit of an ache in the muscles from the last workout 2 days ago. If I were to guess, 145 would be a struggle, and possibly a miss. So I’ve probably lost ~ 10kg from my bench in the 2 weeks I had off. And I’ve lost 1/2 inch in the thickness of my arms.

Nevertheless, it feels good to be back, resuming my war with the iron. I have to be patient. Hitting 152 for the second time will feel even better than the first time. I’m still going to give myself about a month for that. I guess I have lost about a months’ worth of progress.

I guess at least my expectations are low, and I can only surprise myself.

298

Lower

Squats

Quite good today. Just grinding away.

299

Upper

Rows and Bench

Got 142kg for a single. It’s amazing, in 13 days of not working I’ve gone back about a month. I did OD. Ah well, I’ll bring it back.

300

Lower

Deadlifts
160kg x 4, x 5, x 4, x4

Just a short workout. Getting back into it. I’ve decided I’d better write the numbers down so I know what I did last time out.

Keeping the momentum going. It won’t be that long till I’m back where I was.

301

Upper

Rows
Bench - 144kg x 1, 120 x 4.5, x4.5, x4

Not feeling at all powerful on the heavy singles. It is going to be some time before I’m back to where I was. But I have to say I’m enjoying it in the mean time.