Am I getting weaker on the Press? It feels like it… 😦

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16, week 1

• Work Set – Press (working max: 145#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x60
  • 1x5x75
  • 1x3x90
  • 1x5x95 (work)
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x8x125
• Asst. #1 – Press
  • 5 x 101/6/10/8/10 x 95/95/65/65/55
• Asst. #2 – Chin-ups (band assisted)
  • 5 x 6/6/6/5/5/ x BW
• Asst. #3 – Stuff
  • Upright rows
  • Dips
  • Preacher Curls
  • 3 sets, 8-15 reps, enough weight to make it hard; on 3rd set immediately drop weight and keep going to failure
• sled drags
  • 10 runs, 75 yards each
  • 75# on the sled
  • 20 seconds rest every other run
  • attach sled around hips, walk forward with large, purposeful strides

Am I just sucking at Press? I used to be so good at it, but I feel just massive regression. Right now I’m just post-reset, and it feels horrible to only crank out 8 reps with 125. Yes, I’ve got some technique change. One thing is bringing it out of the rack, pausing for a bit to (re)set myself, then deep breath and hold, press up, come back down, reset and breathe, repeat. This may be having some effect on me because there’s energy taken up to wait and reset and hold that “down” position. But I’d like to do this instead of breathing at the top. While there’s something “natural” feeling about breathing at the top, a Press is more akin to a deadlift than a squat. It’s starting at the bottom and going up — that’s the nature of the movement. Plus doing it this way, there’s no rebound effect at the bottom, like you get from a squat. So, it may just be a technique change and I just have to live with it.

I also decided in my assistance work at the end to use dips. Any other sort of triceps exercise feels either like it’s pointless or just hurting my elbows. But dips… well, hard to argue with how awesome they are. I only did 3×5 today and didn’t kill myself, tho that was certainly taxing for me. Mostly I wanted to feel out how my shoulders would take it, especially by that point in the session after all that other heavy pressing. So to get 3×5 was acceptable. I’ll just push from there.

Sled drags got a slight intensity boost. Since today hit upper body, I decreased the rest time to 20 seconds (from 30). That certainly made things tougher. I’m also trying to ensure every stride is long and meaningful, and that I’m moving at a fast pace… not running, just keep the walking pace brisk.

In diet news….

If you read my logs, you know that diet is the hardest part for me. I struggle here. The hard part is finding a protocol I can stick to and not do for a couple weeks then regress. I’ve found some things in the past, but then for some reason the protocol doesn’t work out (e.g. too much depletion). I recently read this little tidbit from Jeremy Frey:

Wow, you want to lose weight? Eat protein with every meal, limit your carbs to around your training, make sure that on days off you back down your carbs by half, and don’t worry about fat because I’m guessing you get enough.

Calorie burn: 200-300 kcals.

I know you are trying to be super scientific with this, and I can appreciate that… but at the end of the day, follow the simple guide of higher protein, vary carbs around training and off days, and take in good fats. And, of course, EAT CLEAN!

– Jeremy Frey

I’ve been trying to follow this sort of protocol for ages, but somehow this wording just sits better and gives me a clear and simple protocol. So I’ve been trying this for the past well, almost week. I try to get about 1g protein per pound of lean bodyweight on workout days, allow myself carbs on workout days, mostly centered around my gym time (since it’s in the morning, after lunchtime I pretty much cut out the carbs), and on my non-workout days strive for no carbs but given how things eat around the house here that doesn’t get to no carbs but certainly a LOT less than normal.

It was rough over the weekend… my body started to scream at me for carbs. Funny thing is I tried having 1 beer and didn’t get through 2 sips before my body said “no thank you”. I did find another way, but kept it measured and light, and that was enough.

And now? I’ve got this horrible taste in my mouth that won’t go away, and my pee smells funny. Could this be the start of ketosis? Not sure….

But given all that, I finally opted to by Keifer’s Carb Back Loading book. I’ve been reading a lot of stuff about it for many months, and from what I can tell it’s pretty legit and works well for folks, especially doing what I’m doing — that is, lifting and living life, not just sitting in front of the computer and tv all day and night but still wants to lose weight. My problem has been that I read the basics of CBL, it talks about working out in the late afternoon, how to adapt for morning workouts has received mixed responses (even from Keifer himself, but likely that’s due to time and refinement of protocol).. and I just always got hung up on it. Well, I realize that I’ve missed a lot of the concepts because I focused on the wrong thing. So, buy the book, read it, and well… we’ll see.