Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis

Training Training Logs
301

Yesterday’s lift.

Press
5x45
5x95
3x115
3x135
7x150 (*)
7x135 (Failed 8.)
7x115
(The set marked with an asterisk went like this…the 6th rep stopped just above my head, began to fail and then went up once it travelled back down 2 or 3 inches. The 7th rep went slow, and the left went up much faster than the right side. I held at the top and lowered it slowly. All reps were paused on my chest with at least a 1 count. The 7th was paused for a 3 count. No reps were failed.)

Pull Up
10/7/5/5
(I couldn’t breathe after some of these sets. I was coughing up a storm at this point. I was also experiencing some elbow and right hand pain doing these. I didn’t do as many sets as I normally would because I couldnt breathe… I will make up for that later today when I do chin-ups.

Dips
10/10/10/7/5
(Set 3 was felt in my pecs. Set 4 was all paused at the bottom and controlled reps. The last set was all paused and controlled well.)

This was a short lift, and it snowed a ton while I was in the gym. I did about 15 minutes worth of power slides in the parking lot afterward. When I see a giant, empty, snow filled parking lot, I cant resist the urge to go screw around.

I was tired, and my cough is getting worse. I can no longer cough up the crap that is in my lungs, and it was making me short of breath. I have a lot of work to do today, but I will go later tonight for my assistance day.

302

Yesterday’s lift.

Chin Ups at Body-weight of Around 208 lbs
Supinated grip for sets of 11/6/5/5 (Not sure if 11 is a PR or not. I cant remember for chins.)
Close neutral grip for sets of 5/4/4/5
(I have been getting elbow pain from these lately right over the medial side.)

Face Pull
10x50
10x70
80x10
80x10
80x10
87x10
87x10
87x10
95x10
50x20
50x20
50x10

Dumbbell Rear Lateral Raise
15 lb dumbbells for sets of 10/10/10/10/10/10

Standing Strict Straight Bar Curl
60 lbs x 10/10/10
(I really like these a ton. I get a great pump with them. I dont know why I ever switched. Plus I can load them well as opposed to other movements. Had a pump started after the first set.)

Rear Delt Pec Deck
100 lbs on stack for sets of 10/10
50 lbs on stack done “SuperSlow” style to increase TUT for sets of 10/15

Feeling very, very slight discomfort in my elbows and shoulders. I am talking almost non-existent, but I should mention it. It is only present when I move certain ways spontaneously. I can’t seem to reproduce the discomfort on my own.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.

303

Just got back from the gym.

Squat
10xBW
5x45
5x135
5x225 (Paused. All sets up to here felt great for depth and hips. It was odd. That never happens. I usually need weight to push me down.)
3x275 (Was supposed to be 260, but I misread it. I thought it was a warm up set. Felt ok. TNG.)
3x305 (Felt pretty good. Had to fight one of them up a tiny bit. TNG.)
6x340 (Felt light coming out of the rack. More on this at bottom write up. No failing.)
6x305 (Rep 1 was TNG, 2-5 were paused, 6 was TNG. Hip felt sketchy on first rep, so I started to pause. More at bottom.)
6x260 (All paused for at least a 1 Mississippi. The first one was a 3 count at least.)

(I banged the safety bar with the weights on the first rep of my top set. I just moved over an inch and kept chuggin. My face was red as hell after rep 6. I fell way forward on most of these reps. Given what I felt like today, I KNOW THAT IF I CAN GET MY FORM TO KEEP UPRIGHT, THE BAR TO STAY IN PLACE ON MY BACK, AND MY HIPS AND KNEES RIGHT, THAT I CAN DO THIS WEIGHT FOR 8. The strength is there. For my first back off set, my hips felt odd on my way down the first rep, so I decided to pause a few them, and if they were causing me pain, I was going to just set the bar down. For my last back off set, I moved my feet in a bit. I still felt like I was falling forward a bit, but I liked how a few of them felt down in the hole.)

Leg Press
10x200
10x400
10x490
10x580
3x670 (Just didn’t have it today to go for more.)

I have a headache and my hips feel a bit sore. My spotter that I found said that I hit “awesome depth” and that he had never seen anyone go that low. A trainer at the gym said that he saw my knees fall in a bit, which he thinks may be causing me to fall forward a bit, and that my second rep wasn’t as low as the rest, but it was still below parallel. I don’t know if I should listen to the guy or not. I have seen this guy half squat, and his clients half squat. He then asked me how long I have been lifting and then very slyly tried to inquire about the steroid regimen that I am not on.

I feel like my squat form is comparable to Pete Rubish’s third attempt at the Backyard Meet of the Century, except he goes freaky low. I don’t think I get that low. You can see the bar come forward and he has to fight it with his back instead of his legs.

If you are still reading, I may go to the gym early tomorrow to do some hack squats, front squats, and some other movements before I get DOMS.

Also, Dave Tate posted a great article on EliteFTS on squatting. You guys should check it out. A link to it is on the EliteFTS facebook page.

I am still working on getting a video of my form up. I would like to get input on it so that I can tweak it and try to mitigate the risk of having an injury due to squatting improperly.

304

Today’s lift. I may need to take a few days off to study.

Front Squat
5x95
5x135
3x185 (Right arm on top.)
3x185 (Left arm on top.)

(I have never done these before. I tried to pause them. I don’t know if I was making parallel or not. I felt like my hips were somewhat tight from yesterday. I need to play with my foot position and setup to make these work. I wasn’t in jeopardy of failing reps, but I just felt awkward. These felt way different.)

Hack Squat
1 pps x 10
2 pps x 10
3 pps x 10

Hack Squat Drop Set
4 pps x 5
3 pps x 5
2 pps x 10

High/Face Pull Movement
5x45
10x55
10x55
10x55
1x45 (Tried to hold it at top for a 20 count.)
(I tried to pause as many of these at the top for a second as possible. I like how they made my back feel, but I have to find a better setup with my wrists and hands.)

305

New years is coming up, and since I started lifting as a new years resolution in January 2012, I will contemplate my goals here.

First, some info I didn’t realize after my last lift.

I am pretty sure my last squat session was a big PR at 340.

On 9/25 I squatted 340 for 3 for a PR at that weight.

On 11/29 I got 340 for 6.

Second, I really want to hit my goals in the next year here, and then I am going to take some time to fix my squat form. I feel my bench and DL are acceptable for now. I feel like it is getting dangerous to consistently squat over 315 for reps with shit form. Still working on getting the video up.

I may switch up programs and take more moderate jumps during the time I try to unfuck my squat, then when I am ready, I will come back to the man-maker that has been 5/3/1, and make my gains again with a slight deload in order to keep my squat from reverting back to old habits. I am thinking that I can’t go wrong with running the 12 weeks of the Ed Coan program that has been posted on this site.

Goals before fixing squat:
Squat - 365 x 5 (Coming closer to this.)
Bench - 275 x 5 (Need to do some work here.)
Deads - 405 x 5 (Already got this one.)
Press - ??? x 5 (Not sure what to put here actually. Feel free to comment and make this goal for me.)

This will make my 5 rep maxes total 1045. I am thinking that for my first meet, these would be good opening attempts, and it would be awesome to know that I cracked 1000 with no problem at all, and then chase my 1200. This will be done without a weight cut in whatever weight class I end up in. This will happen twice before I start worrying about my weight. The following goal will be to hit 1200 at 181, and the following goal will be to make 1279 in the 181’s to total Master. This will be years from now of course, but that is the plan.

And…if for some reason I get bored or lose drive to do PL, I will just work to become the biggest 185 possible.

306

agreed on getting videos before you hurt yourself, I wish I did that when I ran smolov with caved in knees on every rep lol
nice on the goals too, mine go by year too with lifting. It seems like you’ll crush them given your lifts

307

[quote]browndisaster wrote:
agreed on getting videos before you hurt yourself, I wish I did that when I ran smolov with caved in knees on every rep lol
nice on the goals too, mine go by year too with lifting. It seems like you’ll crush them given your lifts[/quote]

I appreciate your confidence in me man. We are all gonna get strong as hell in 2014.

308

Tonight’s Lift. I was real jammed for time, but still got it in.

Bench Press
5x45
5x135
3x185 (Paused.)
3x210 (Felt heavy and awkward in my shoulders. Paused.)
8x235 (Barely failed 9. These were all paused with a 1 count. I think this is a PR.)
8x210 (Beautifully paused.)
8x185 (Paused for a 2 count.)

Incline Dumbbell Press
75 lb dumbbells for sets of 10/10/11/9 (Some of these reps were sketchy. I felt real odd on my last set so I cut it short. No PR’s here.)

Kroc Row
110 lb dumbbell for sets of 10/10/10/10/5 (Absolutely manhandled the third set. The last set was paused and I focused on form.)

Pretty good lift for only getting 3 hours of sleep last night. I will have to see if that is a PR or not.

I may have to miss days here and there for school. We shall see.

I have to weigh in sometime soon. I have a feeling I gained weight over Thanksgiving.

My joints are starting to feel odd. That is the only way I know how to describe it. I did a rotator cuff exam on myself, and it was ok, but I feel like I am going to deload soon to recover a bit, and then get back to it.

5/3/1 does have a deload written into it somewhere, right? =]

I may swap out incline DB press for actual incline press. That might be easier on my shoulders. Who knows.

309

As always, thanks for reading everyone. Have a good night!

310

Same OHP as trivium…not the same bench as trivium lol

311

I’m vegetarian, don’t send me the recipe. still friends???

also lol @ 1000 lb total. You’ll be able to hit that in your sleep

312

Tonight’s lift…

T Bar Row
10x25
10x50
10x75
10x100
10x125
10x150
5x175 (No PR here. Just didn’t have it.)
10x150
10x150
10x125
10x100
10x75
10x50
10x25

Rope Pushdown on Cable Stack
10x10
10x20
10x30
10x40
10x50
5x60
10x40
10x40
10x40
10x40
10x40
10x40
10x40
10x40
10x40
10x40 (Felt like my right got a better pump than the left, so I did 100 reps total with 40)

I’ll have to get back to you guys a bit later. I am really jammed for time with school.

Sorry. =[

313

[quote]trivium wrote:
New years is coming up, and since I started lifting as a new years resolution in January 2012, I will contemplate my goals here.

First, some info I didn’t realize after my last lift.

I am pretty sure my last squat session was a big PR at 340.

On 9/25 I squatted 340 for 3 for a PR at that weight.

On 11/29 I got 340 for 6.

Second, I really want to hit my goals in the next year here, and then I am going to take some time to fix my squat form. I feel my bench and DL are acceptable for now. I feel like it is getting dangerous to consistently squat over 315 for reps with shit form. Still working on getting the video up.

I may switch up programs and take more moderate jumps during the time I try to unfuck my squat, then when I am ready, I will come back to the man-maker that has been 5/3/1, and make my gains again with a slight deload in order to keep my squat from reverting back to old habits. I am thinking that I can’t go wrong with running the 12 weeks of the Ed Coan program that has been posted on this site.

Goals before fixing squat:
Squat - 365 x 5 (Coming closer to this.)
Bench - 275 x 5 (Need to do some work here.)
Deads - 405 x 5 (Already got this one.)
Press - ??? x 5 (Not sure what to put here actually. Feel free to comment and make this goal for me.)

This will make my 5 rep maxes total 1045. I am thinking that for my first meet, these would be good opening attempts, and it would be awesome to know that I cracked 1000 with no problem at all, and then chase my 1200. This will be done without a weight cut in whatever weight class I end up in. This will happen twice before I start worrying about my weight. The following goal will be to hit 1200 at 181, and the following goal will be to make 1279 in the 181’s to total Master. This will be years from now of course, but that is the plan.

And…if for some reason I get bored or lose drive to do PL, I will just work to become the biggest 185 possible.[/quote]
I’m sure you’ll get those. Oh, for the overhead press: 185 for five reps is a good goal. I personally want to hit body weight for six reps. :slight_smile:

314

Quick update.

Two days ago I did deadlifts, and stiff leg deadlifts. Played football afterwords. My right knee was killing me yesterday.

Yesterday I did leg curls. (Yeah I worked around the pain to get these. I’ll explain this later.)

I will log these workouts later. I am not happy with my DL work, or my stiff leg form (that is what I am saying hurt me).

The pain is starting to remit a bit. I will cover it when I have time to log.

I will pick up my routine right where I left off on tuesday of this week with the OHP day of my “5/3/1” week.

315

And, this happened recently…

I thought his squat was his opener. I have never seen anyone move over a thousand pounds that fast. If you look closely, he barely makes depth (top of knee over crease of hip), but I do think that the lift was good enough to pass.

316

[quote]chobbs wrote:
Same OHP as trivium…not the same bench as trivium lol[/quote]

You’ll get there man. I have heard that bench takes forever to get up.

317

[quote]browndisaster wrote:
I’m vegetarian, don’t send me the recipe. still friends???

also lol @ 1000 lb total. You’ll be able to hit that in your sleep[/quote]

Still friends man. I had no idea you didnt eat teh meatz. I’ll post it in a sec.

318

[quote]DSSG wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:
New years is coming up, and since I started lifting as a new years resolution in January 2012, I will contemplate my goals here.

First, some info I didn’t realize after my last lift.

I am pretty sure my last squat session was a big PR at 340.

On 9/25 I squatted 340 for 3 for a PR at that weight.

On 11/29 I got 340 for 6.

Second, I really want to hit my goals in the next year here, and then I am going to take some time to fix my squat form. I feel my bench and DL are acceptable for now. I feel like it is getting dangerous to consistently squat over 315 for reps with shit form. Still working on getting the video up.

I may switch up programs and take more moderate jumps during the time I try to unfuck my squat, then when I am ready, I will come back to the man-maker that has been 5/3/1, and make my gains again with a slight deload in order to keep my squat from reverting back to old habits. I am thinking that I can’t go wrong with running the 12 weeks of the Ed Coan program that has been posted on this site.

Goals before fixing squat:
Squat - 365 x 5 (Coming closer to this.)
Bench - 275 x 5 (Need to do some work here.)
Deads - 405 x 5 (Already got this one.)
Press - ??? x 5 (Not sure what to put here actually. Feel free to comment and make this goal for me.)

This will make my 5 rep maxes total 1045. I am thinking that for my first meet, these would be good opening attempts, and it would be awesome to know that I cracked 1000 with no problem at all, and then chase my 1200. This will be done without a weight cut in whatever weight class I end up in. This will happen twice before I start worrying about my weight. The following goal will be to hit 1200 at 181, and the following goal will be to make 1279 in the 181’s to total Master. This will be years from now of course, but that is the plan.

And…if for some reason I get bored or lose drive to do PL, I will just work to become the biggest 185 possible.[/quote]
I’m sure you’ll get those. Oh, for the overhead press: 185 for five reps is a good goal. I personally want to hit body weight for six reps. :)[/quote]

Ok, I will go for 185 for 5.

319

Deadlift session for 12/6/13

Deadlift
5x135
5x225
5x275
3x300
3x345
6x385 (No PR. I wanted 8 badly, but I was all messed up from not eating and sleeping during finals. Still angry about this lift. Missed 7 at top.)
4x345 (Failed rep 5. Used towels to grip bar.)
4x300 (Used towels to grip bar.
(The DL platform was all messed up. I had a space like 1ft x 7ft to work with due to how it was set up.)

Stiff Leg Deadlift
245 for sets of 5/5/5/5/5/1

Went to play football afterward. I was hyper-extending my knees during the stiff legs. My right knee was painful for the next 4 days. It has now calmed down. I won’t do them like that again. I think it was my PCL.

320

Leg session from 12/7/13.

Nautilus Lying Leg Curl
10x60
10x80
10x95
10x110
10x125
5x140
10x100
8x100
9x100
8x100
6x100
5x100
8x100

(Really liked this machine. I had some right knee pain during these. I warmed up well, and it was pretty constant, but didn’t seem to hinder my workout too much.)