The Long Game - a Log

Training Training Logs
141

Another couple of workouts to report. Monday did bench with my boy AC. Got up to about 122kg for a single. Then did some rep work with 112kg.

And deadlifts today. Got a nice clean rep at 180kg. Decided to go for 190kg and got nearly all the way to lockout. I was concentrating on keeping the bar close to my body - my friend pointed out that it was travelling far from my body in the reps I was doing in front of him. Then did 150kg for 2 reps a few times.

I felt like doing bench also, but I thought I would save myself for another day.

142

Dips on the schedule today, but I started out with bench.

Did a warmup, then 120kg * 1, then 122.5kg * 1 and then 125kg * 1.

Very pleased with the last two singles.

Dips - warmup, *16, *11, * 9, *4

Motivation is high at the minute. I’m dreaming of competing again.

I want to do whatever I can to give God the glory. God has done so much for me in my life and I want to do my little all to pay him back. I’ve been thinking deeply about my life and I feel like God has called me to be a tutor and has given me the free time to pursue the weightlifting wholeheartedly. I just need to set some goals and stick to them.

My first goal will be to get back to PB level at hopefully a lower bodyweight than before. I just checked my bodyweight on the scales and I’m 14st 8 with my clothes and a jumper on so that’s probably about 14st 6.

What does motivate me is seeing progress in the big 3. The little 2 (OHP and chins) I will incorporate but while I will train them hard, I might not programme them as often as the bench, for example.

Tomorrow is chins, then Saturday is squat day, which I look forward to. Now I’m going to cook a chille con carne for dinner.

143

Chins and Bent Over Row today. Put equal emphasis into both of these movements. Did 3 working sets on each, so 6 sets overall, and a long warmup which included a bit of running. The studio is cold at the moment, so it’s important to warm up. So the whole workout took about 1hr 10m. That’s just about right. I’m well happy with what I’m doing at the minute - enjoying myself and happy to be lifting regularly again.

144

Squats today.

Warmup
130kg * 1,
140kg * 1,
142kg * 1,
145kg * 1,
120kg * 4
120kg * 3

I really g’d myself up, then surprised myself with the 142, it felt really good. So went for another 3 kilos. I got it, but it was probably the ugliest squat you’ve ever seen. I’m glad I didn’t injure myself. I’m in that slightly dodgy phase of quickly gaining back lost gains in strength where the form can suffer a bit, so I’ve got to be careful not to do myself an injury.

So I’m at -10kg on the bench, -17.5kg on the squat and -30kg on the deadlift if I give myself that 190kg attempt, relative to my PRs. Needless to say I’ve got some work to do, and I’m not going to get close to those numbers this year. It’s the first day of winter tomorrow, and officially it lasts 3 months. I think it’s a pretty reasonable timescale to expect that I can be back in PR territory before the end of winter. So that’s allowing myself 90 days to recoup 57.5kg to my total.

145

Bench today, earlier than programmed. It’s getting to the stage now where I might just say sod it, I’ll find something to do every day and just go for it.

Warmup
110kg * 1,
110kg * 1,
120kg * 1,
100kg * 5,
100kg * 5,
100kg * 5,
100kg * 4.5,
100kg * 4

The 120kg felt okay but not brilliant, so I decided to do some repetition work instead of chasing a 1RM. I’m glad I did - it felt good. 11 days ago I did rep work with the same weight and I managed round about 6 reps more this time out. Pretty good progress, I can be happy with that.

I thought it would be a good idea to give the CNS a bit of a break as I went heavy on the squats yesterday.

Overall I’m really happy. I will have to cycle my intensity a bit to keep things fresh. I should probably deload before I burn out, but not quite yet.

I need to change the way I snack. Start eating carrots and celery, for example. I’ve been drinking green tea instead of breakfast tea with milk, which should have fewer calories and make some difference overall.

My aerobic week starts tomorrow.

146

Running.

I was entertaining hopes of doing two laps but as soon as I got going and the more I progressed, the more I felt that Saturday’s squats were taking it out of me. So I did one lap, about 2 miles. I wasn’t going much above walking pace near the end. It probably took me 20 minutes.

Still, it was enough to get that endorphin rush. I’m going to do a pull workout later, too. Two workouts in a day. Arnold, Arnold, Arnold!

147

Bent Over Rows and chins.

148

Deadlifts today.

Warmup.
170kg * 1,
180kg * 1,
190kg * 1,
195kg * 1,
150kg * 3,
150kg* 3,
150kg * 4,
150kg * 3

In terms of technique I was executing the lift from a dynamic ‘dip’ down to the bar. I think this helps with speed off the floor. Form on the 195kg was not perfect but was quite good. I think this was the right weight to attempt given my current position. I will probably be gunning for 200kg next time out.

I’ll be doing bench tomorrow. Measured my waist yesterday, and I’m 40.25". I have been under 34" in the not so distant past. I’m determined to lose some belly fat, and I think the way I will do it will be by taking more care with my diet. I went to the grocery store yesterday and bought myself a load of carrots to eat as snacks :smiley:

149

Bench today.

Warmup
100kg*1,
105kg *1,
110kg * 1,
115kg * 1,
90kg * 7,
90kg * 7,
90kg * 7

Could feel that nothing big was going to happen today. I left a few reps out there - I decided I wanted to conserve energy. I’m going to go on a deload now. I’ve been going hard at it for 3 weeks. So a couple days of taking the dog for a long walk is prudent now I feel.

150

I’m going to set myself a challenge.

I’m going to do 50 pushups every morning, 5 sets of 10, and report on it in this thread over a morning coffee.

And I want to do stretches.
Windmills
Torso twists
Hip swivels
Groin stretches
Hamstring stretches
Quad stretches
1 min for each

And a 30 minute walk.

I work in the evenings, so it’s very easy for me to just lie in every morning. But that’s a great waste of time. I want to find myself a routine I can stick to.

151

Pressups, stretches and one 1hr 20m walk done.

152

Walked the dog for 1hr. Now nibbling a carrot. :slight_smile:

153

Been for a couple walks, yesterday and today. Had a snooze on the sofa in front of the snooker. Lovely deload time. That’s 72 hours of rest so far. I’m half thinking about putting a session in. The longest I’ll leave it is till Monday.

154

I’ve been a naughty boy. I did bench today when it wasn’t scheduled. I couldn’t help myself, I love this lift so much. I was very pleased with the result

Bench
warmup
100kg *1
105kg *1
110kg *1
115kg *1
120kg *1
126kg *1
130kg *1
100kg *7
100kg *6
100kg *6

1hr 40 m

So that’s 5kg off my PR. I’m glad it seems as though my deload has been perfectly timed and just what I needed.

I will deadlift or squat tomorrow.

And I will try to stick to working out every day, basically doing push/pull/lower on successive days. And going till I feel worn out and need to do another 3 day deload.

I think the art of the deload is something I still need to learn - I think had I used it more earlier in the year I wouldn’t have found it so difficult to get back to the training after going on holiday, it would have kept me more motivated.

After all this blog is called the Long Game for a reason - it’s about sticking to what’s good for you, i.e. training, good sleep, good nutrition, and good recovery.

I’ve added a couple supplements to my armoury - ZMA, taurine and HMB.

155

Squats today.

Warmup
120kg *1
130kg *1
140kg *1
150kg *1
120kg *5
120kg *4
120kg *4

I’ve been able to go to another level in psyching myself up for the big lift. Probably because of the deload. And being on fire for Christ. I think that target of being at PR levels before the end of winter is well within my sights…

156

Chinups today.
Warmup
Chins * 7,
*6,
*5,
*5,
*4,
*4,
*4

I used to rather lazily just do 3 working sets on the chins. I figured the only way to bring it up is if I do some more volume. Indeed, I’m doing a lot more volume now than I used to.

I’m working out with my workout partner Friday and we’ve decided to do bench. I’ll still do bench tomorrow so I have something to do, although I might reign back the intensity a bit. Then deadlifts Thursday. I’m in the groove of working out every day and I don’t want that to stop.

Sipping some whey protein and creatine postworkout.

157

Bench today
Warmup
100kg * 5,
100kg * 5,
100kg * 5,
100kg * 5,
100kg * 5.

1hr

Reps in reserve on all but maybe the last set. I was more aggressive with the fourth set and almost regretted racking out early. But I am doing bench with my workout partner on Friday, so I wanted to leave something in the tank for then.

Deadlifts tomorrow. Still got quite a lot of DOMS from the squats, but still expecting to push for about 200kg.

158

Deadlifts today
Warmup
180kg 1,
190kg 1,
200kg 1,
150kg 4
205kg 0.1,
150kg 5,
150kg 4
1hr 45m

Pretty pleased. Locked out the 200kg effort, although the grip in my left hand was going slightly. It’s important to point out that I use the alternating grip. When I did my next set at 150kg and reversed the supination, I found that my grip was more strong. So I thought I would have a go at 205kg. I got this off the floor and maybe a few inches off the ground but no more. Something to aim for.

But this has left me with a theory. As bars get old and more bent (I don’t always remember to take the load off the bar at the end of a workout), they have a tendency to want to twist a certain way when you pick them up. If you choose the wrong alternating grip this tendency is increased and the bar will twist and start to roll out of your hands. If you choose the right alternating grip the reverse happens, and your grip will be more secure.

Something to think about for future deadlifts.

So where does that leave me?

-5kg on the bench
-12.5kg on the squat
-20kg on the deadlift
-37.5kg total vs PBs

I was at -57.5kg 12 days ago. Wow, that’s some progress. 20kg added to my total in 12 days. At this rate I’ll be chopping and changing with PBs in January, far sooner than my goal of doing it by the end of winter.

I think I’m working out more intelligently now. Doing more volume than previously.

I’m really excited for the rest of this year, 2020 and the future. I just need to give myself a kick up the bum sometimes.

2019 I had a nasty bug in the winter, appendicitis, and some summer breaks in after which I kind of took a break from the lifting.

I really think that I could produce some big things in 2020 if I put my mind to it. I still feel that one day I may be able to pull 300kg. But there’s lots of smaller goals to hit before I do that. But goals are important, something I’ve under appreciated in the past. If we don’t set goals how can we be expected to succeed?

My first goal ATM is to get back into PB territory with the big 3. I gave myself the 3 winter months in which to do it, but it looks as though I might be able to do it some time in January.

Then it’ll be a 140kg bench.
180kg squat
~237kg deadlift (all the weights I have at home)

All of these I should expect to hit at roughly the same time.

I think my New Year’s resolution will be to workout 300 days of the year. This is about 5/6, so for every 5 days on I get 1 day off. What I may do is something like 15 days on then 3 days off. As I’ve said before I think the art of the deload is really important in keeping motivation up for the long haul.

There are always going to be days where you don’t much feel like lifting. I wasn’t particularly up for it today, because I have already gone pretty heavy 4 days in a row, but fatigue can be managed.

159

Bench today. With my boy AC at Xtreme. Felt good in the warmup lifts. Went for 3 plates a side while on video. Didn’t get it the first time, but got it the second time when we weren’t recording. My boy AC did the exact same, failing first time but succeeding the second. NB it isn’t 140kg, more like 130kg.

Link here
Instagram

Did 12 reps with 2 plates with the last one being assisted, then 8, then 7. Then we decided to call it a day.

160

Bent over rows and lateral raises today.

Worked up to the 35kg dumbbells with the rows. Lateral raises worked up to 7.5kg a side. Not done this movement before really so kept it light. I haven’t been doing OHP, choosing to just do bench and some dips.

Squat tomorrow.