fitness

2012-02-12 training log

/ hsoi

Yes… Tuesday.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 1

  • Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 230#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x95
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x3x140
    • 1x5x150 (work)
    • 1x5x175
    • 1x8x200
  • Assistance – Bench Press
    • 5 x 10 x 135/135/135/120/100
  • Assistance – Pull-ups (band assisted)
    • 5 x 7/7/7/7/5 x BW
  • Assistance – Stuff
    • Flat Bench DB Flies
    • JM Press
    • Hammer Curls
    • 3 sets, 8-15 reps, enough weight to make it hard

First things first: I went on Tuesday. Why? I’m going to try 4x week. The Wendler 5/3/1 program is traditionally a 4x week program, tho you can adopt it for other layouts. I’ve done 3x week out of schedule, but schedule is different and I must admit… between the CBL and this crazy itch to hit the weights a lot (addiction?!?!?!) I figure what the hey, try 4x. There was a time I did 2x and it was NOT workable for me; I think I didn’t hit the “training adaptation curve” just right and I think 2x was too much… basically I was doing things only once a week and I think it was too long between sessions. So hey, in the name of science and finding what works for me, let’s try 4x week. Yes, this was a whim; opted to do it last night before I went to bed. Or maybe it was just an excuse so I could down a bowl of ice cream before bed. 😉

On my work set, I worked hard at my grip and arms. I have read about how you should “break the bar”, but I guess I misinterpreted it. When they said “pull the bar apart” I took it to mean like I was pulling it such that it would stretch the bar like taffy. I read something last night from Spud (If I can find the article again I’ll post it) that lead me to think that instead it’s more like well… like the strongman trying to bend a steel rod into a U-shape? Like that. That does seem to activate the lats more, the triceps more AND also cause the upper arms to tuck more. So hey…. maybe that’s the thing? So I focused on that. That I hit 8 reps with 200 was pretty cool. When I look at past progress, I’ve certainly done more than that, but this is with my new technique. Plus, last cycle was 195 for 7, so 1 more rep and 5# more? Heck, alright!

Trouble is, I noticed while I was focusing so much on the grip technique, I totally lost my leg drive! Feet were on the floor, but there was no drive. So I opted to set the swiss bar aside for the assistance benching and instead just do some light benching for my 5×10 assistance work so I could focus on technique and experiment. I did some stuff with my feet that I think may be closer to finally a good position. I sit, feet/legs are at right angles. Most importantly, my feet/knees/legs are closer together than they would normally be if I just sat down. Furthermore, ensure my feet/toes are pointed straight ahead, instead of the slight toe-out cant that normally happens. When I do this, I can get a hell of a lot of drive and stability. I still need to tweak it, but yeah, this might finally be the road to my leg drive platform.

Anyways, everything else just chugged along. I am not going to do the “drop sets” at the end of things because I’m expecting I have enough work and with 4x week well, why push my luck eh?

So far so good!

2013-02-11 training log

/ hsoi

So why DID I run out of gas?

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 1

  • Work Set – Squat (working max: 295#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x120
    • 1x5x150
    • 1x3x180
    • 1x5x195 (work)
    • 1x5x225
    • 1x7x255 (rep PR?)
  • Assistance – Squat
    • 3 x 10 x 145
  • Assistance – RDL
    • something… see below
  • Assistance – Pulldown Abs
    • 3 x 15 x 120 (hold 1 sec at peak of each rep)

I was exhausted. My brain was screaming, wanting to do more, but my body just couldn’t move. I’m not sure why. Was it because I cranked like hell during squats? Was it because of CBL? Some other third thing? I don’t know.

On the squat work set, I worked hard. I pulled out 7 reps with 255. Last cycle week 1 was 7 reps at 245. Cycle 15 week 2 had 2 reps at 255. Cycle 14 was week 3 getting 3 reps at 255. As I keep flipping back, even to cycle 13 which holds my current squat PR (3×280)… I busted out more reps today than I have. So fuck yeah. But I had to work for it. I MIGHT have gotten 8 reps if I really felt like pushing it, but it would have been a gut buster and that’s not the point of work sets.

So then my assistance squatting. Recall that I’m trying to make every rep to be awesome form. This is the time to really focus on form. In fact, today was a huge focus on form. Didn’t plan on it, but it happened. I didn’t care so much about my lower body, just get into a stance that felt right. My upper body tho…. I worked HARD on keeping it tight, “inflated”, my lats were flared hard with every rep (well, I tried to… I would get tired, notice they were loosening up, then tighten then back up). I worked HARD at every rep. It was 10 sets of 1 rep, not 1 set of 10 reps. It wasn’t about pushing through just to get to 10, letting shit falter, letting the bigger stronger muscles do the work just to crank out the required number of reps. No, every rep was a reset. Every rep was the same (or greater) mental intensity. I wanted my weakest muscles to be involved and failing first, so I could make them stronger. And I’ll tell you… 3 sets of assistance work was enough. I was tapped.

Thus when I started the Romanian Deadlifts, it didn’t work out. I had no idea where to start, so 135 on the bar and off I went. But after about 6-8 reps I stopped. I wasn’t getting much depth before my back would fail. I tried a second time with 95 on the back — I’m learning the movement, better to be lighter. But even that was bad. Basically, my lower back was tapped out… just flat out exhausted and that’s not a recipe for learning a new movement. So after 2 sets I cashed it in and just did some high-rep leg curls — my hams needed something!

Also on the squats, I’m falling forward out of the hole. But you know what I noticed? The squat rack at the gym doesn’t face a mirror, but it does face a window. In the early morning, when it’s black outside, the window is basically a mirror… and I see myself. I have an old EliteFTS troubleshooting article and one of the cue points for falling forward is to NOT squat in front of a mirror. I noticed today that I was looking down… I was doing alright, because when I told myself to look up/forward, I saw myself and I think that fucked with my head. I can’t change the gym much here, but I have two thoughts 1. look to see if I can find something to put in front of the window so I stare at nothing, 2. close my eyes. I think I might try closing my eyes because I know that also puts me more in tune with what my body is doing. Could be interesting to try.

Anyways tho, I was happy at the intensity of the squat session. Sure the weights are far from elite, but it was a tough session for me. I was worked hard. I didn’t realize how I beat a bunch of rep records until I got home and looked at my spreadsheet. That’s alright.

If you’re not strong, you’re weak

/ hsoi

At a certain point as a lifter and athlete, as a worker or professional, as a business owner or a husband, father, or lover, we will come to the choice of staying comfortable in being good enough in our current state, or choosing discomfort in trying to be more. Some people are satisfied with just doing enough and no more than that. We are not those people, though.

…

This drive we have for strength is a choice. At some point in our relationship with lifting, we chose strength. We didn’t choose maintenance, we didn’t choose just being healthy, and we didn’t choose mediocrity. We are not satisfied with simply maintaining what we have but instead work to become more than what we currently are. We made a choice not to be weak; we would be strong.

Whether we realize it or not, this separates us from the vast majority of the population—not just people that go to gyms, but the general untrained population as well. How many people spend weeks, months, and years training themselves to be better? How many people wake up every day and ask themselves, “am I stronger than I was yesterday?” Most do not.

– Alexander Cortes, “Strength is a Choice“

Sure he’s talking about powerlifting, but strength is more than physical muscle. Making yourself better goes beyond iron.

Measuring progress

/ hsoi

Using the scale to measure progress is tough, because it just tells weight, not composition. If you lose fat and gain muscle, you could show no progress on the scale.

That’s my problem.

So you have to look at other things, like measurements, calipers, and so on.

I am not going crazy with measuring, tho I probably should. But here’s what I can say.

I look in the mirror and for sure I’m losing the muffin top. I’m not fat, never been fat, just had more flab on my body than I cared for. Muffin top, a bit of a gut, some smoothness in the jaw line. But I can see, while still there, they are diminishing.

My powerlifting belt was a 40″ from BestBelts. I’m now hooking it into the last hole. And with my fat loss something I certainly want to and that will continue, I know things will get smaller. So I just ordered a 36″ belt from BestBelts. I’d say this is progress in the right direction.

I can also tell because my pants fit differently. On the one hand, I cinch my belts a little tighter, a little more room around the waistband. On the other, the legs are tighter, the seat is tighter. Growth!

Another sign of growth? XL shirts are a little tight, a little uncomfortable. XXL shirts fit me better; a shoulders, arms, chest thing. They also hang different (so says Wife).

So I reckon this is all good progress in the right direction. 🙂

Dietary stuff

/ hsoi

I’ve been doing the Carb Back-Loading thing for what? 3 weeks now?

It’s not horrible. It’s tough in some respects, awesome in others.

I think overall it’s pretty awesome because I don’t have to make radical changes to my life and diet, but yet it is still a big change with a lot of required discipline.

It’s great because I don’t feel weak. I don’t feel drained in the gym. I can go in, hit the weights hard. No feelings of tired or just being out of gas. But this took me a little bit to realize that I do need to eat more carbs than I think. Can’t go overboard, but it’s more than the “restricted carb” type diet mentality that pervades every other type of dietary plan out there.

It’s great because I can join in with the family. The other night Wife couldn’t make dinner so I just ordered pizza. I ate with gusto (it was the night before a workout; recall I am on the adjusted CBL program due to morning workouts), and I didn’t care much. I didn’t bloat and overly stuff myself, but I didn’t fear it or think I had to eat just 1 slice… or maybe just scrape off toppings… or maybe let the family eat pizza and I scrounged around to find something else to eat that “fit my diet”. No, this was great. Great to just eat with the family, be part of the whole experience instead of being the “one off”.  It’s also nice on the mind and soul because there’s not this deprivation.

But that said, there is deprivation. There isn’t much breakfast eating any more, tho sometimes on off days I might have a late breakfast with the family. I do need to come up with better lunch options, especially in the veggie department. And man… for me… a guy with a big sweet tooth… it gets hard. Oh sure, I’ll have my ice cream before bed. But sometimes during the day I like to have a Jolly Rancher. Or have a Mexican Coke (i.e. sugar, not HFCS) since I’m fortunate the day job stocks those in the fridge. But alas, no. And that gets to you. When everything is savory. When you can’t just satisfy the sweet tooth. It gets hard. You know better, you push through it, but it still wears on you.

So I’m trying a few things with artificial sweeteners. Like some sucralose; because all the bitterness of the whey and casein, sometimes you just need something to counter the bitter. Or that maybe I’ll have a Coke Zero at work. I found this Crystal Light Pure stuff (with Truvia) which isn’t half-bad. I generally stay away from artificial sweeteners, but right now I’m trying to transition. I know it’s best, long term, for me to just ween myself off. But that’s the thing: ween. Cold turkey is just going to risk failure, and all the CBL changes as it is are tough enough. I have noticed the Coke Zero seems to give me headaches, and I have no idea if the bout of diarrhea I’m presently dealing with is because of these things or something else. I just don’t know. I am not going overboard, but things are there. I do need to do more reading on these. I think the best rule really is to have none of it at all: natural or bust. But if I’m going to, what could I have? It seems pure sucralose can be OK (be mindful, because things like Splenda and even Equal’s version bind to maltodextrin) and also pure Stevia (I just read that Truvia is kinda sorta Stevia but isn’t, and is bad). Well, we’ll see. Overall they aren’t horrible things to have, but they could stall progress amongst other side-effects. So… I just need to learn to ween myself off it all, tho if I’m going to have something, aim for sucralose (only) or Stevia. Thing is, read the ingredients list sometimes for “sugar free” stuff. Almost impossible to escape acesulfame potassium and/or aspartame.

All the caffeine kinda wears on me too. There are days I can tell it’s driving me too much. Since I got the caffeine anhydrous powder/capsules from TrueNutrition, I needed to pare back since those hit faster. I’m trying to take the low-end of the scale in any of the CBL recommendations. So that generally means 200mg at a time. I do find it works nicely, and makes a good pre-workout. All that other pre-workout shit is “meh”. Just take some caffeine and roll on. But keeping my doses down to the minimums, given you take a bunch throughout the day, seems to wear on me better.

Hydrolysates. Holy shit! These are gross. Ever blow up a balloon and get that powder and rubber in your mouth? Imagine that, times 100, then chase it with a burnt tire. That’s what they taste like. Everything I read said they are “bitter”. That’s a lie. This is beyond bitter to fucking gross. 🙂  I tried mixing a couple ripe bananas with it. Even throwing in dextrose. It might reduce the horrible taste, but it’s still there. I believe the recipe calls for 10-15 grams. I go for 10g, seems to help a little bit (vs. 15). Look, I am going to trust Kiefer here about taking these, but I cannot wait until I don’t need to take these any more. Bleah.

Coconut oil? It’s solid at current room temperatures, so I just swallow a spoonful straight up. If I drank coffee I’d probably mix it in. And yes, I’m going to see if I can keep doing CBL without coffee because if the main purpose of this is appetite suppression, I’ll live without coffee. I just am not a coffee person. But taking a spoonful of the coconut oil is kinda weird. Tastes fine, just a glob of it is a funny texture in my mouth.

So results?

Hard to say at this point.

My weight is holding steady around 235#. But I (and Wife) notice that there doesn’t appear to be as much flab around my middle – the muffin-top is shrinking. I’ve also noticed more muscle in my arms and chest and such; evident when I’m crossing my arms, or putting on a shirt. You really can’t go by scale weight. Looking in the mirror tho, at how clothes are fitting, etc.. I think things are slowly getting there. I reckon if this all goes right and well, it may take me 6 months before I’m where I’d like to be, but that’s alright as long as I get there. Plus if it’s 6 months, that’s time for things to become habit and “the way it is” which improves chances of long-term success, instead of a crash diet.

So far, so good.

2013-02-08 training log

/ hsoi

I don’t think I’ve ever been happier for a deload week in my life.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16 (mark 2), week 4

  • Work Set – Deadlift (working max: 355#)
    • 2x5x135
    • 2x5x185
    • 2x5x225
  • Assistance – Stiff-Legged Deadlifts
    • 3 x 8 x 135
  • Assistance – Pulldown Abs (kneeling)
    • 3 x 10 x 140

While I generally don’t like deload week (what’s exciting about deloading?), this week has been a blessing.

First, the split callus is healing well. At this rate, maybe another week (at least) before it’s fully healed. Work today was less painful than earlier in the week, but still wasn’t pain-free. So at least it wasn’t maximal weights.

Second, yesterday afternoon I started having uh… “digestive issues”. It hasn’t gotten much better; in fact, it in part caused me to wake up MUCH earlier than usual today. *sigh* Instead of walking to the gym I drove, so I could first hit the Walgreens and pick up some “aids” to help remedy my issues. I’m not sure what’s causing this problem. It may be just a fluke, it may be dietary stuff. Not enough information. Nevertheless, it caused me great caution in lifting today; again, maximal weights might have been a problem. Certainly there was no farting at the gym today. 😉

That said, after deadlifting I didn’t feel it was enough. So I dropped down to 135 and started doing stiff-legged deadlifts. I am trying to find something to help my glutes and hams, and lacking a GHR bench, that Good Mornings cause me some issues, well, let’s try this. I had no idea how much weight nor reps I could do, so I figured just start with 135 and see. 8 reps for 3 sets was good enough. I reckon I’ll try for 10-12 reps in general and probably can go up in weight some. Take it slow. I also did this off the floor: feet on floor, barbell on floor. not sure if I want to try something like standing on a box to get a fuller range of motion. We’ll see.

Anyways, that was that. Had to keep it short because well… I have my reasons. 🙂

Cycle 16 (mark 2) review, Cycle 17 preview

So looking back….

First, I had a false-start this cycle because of the flu, thus the “mark 2”. I think it was wise I just started the cycle over.

I am happy with the progress I made. I set a rep PR in squat (275 for 4), and a rep or maybe true PR in deadlift (340 for 5). I’m getting used to the new bench press technique, tho still working on it. Press technique needs some serious attention at this point, so it’s where I’m trying to focus some mental energy.

Speaking of mental energy, I’m very happy with how I’m approaching squats. The “not going to let this crush me” attitude is something I’m happy to be coming into. It’s a welcome change from years of baggage.

I am not sure how the Carb Back-Loading is affecting me just yet. So far so good, as I’m working my way into it. I do think it’s not holding me back, and may well be what’s helping me with some gains and progress. I’ll talk more about the diet stuff in another post later. But so far, so good.

Looking ahead to cycle 17.

I’m going to keep the routine mostly the same. I think my assistance bench pressing will be using the Swiss Bar to help further with easing my shoulders but also hopefully bringing a little more stress and work to my anterior deltoids and triceps, which are my bench weak points. Deadlift will likely see use of stiff-legged deadlifts instead of Good Mornings and probably also Pullthroughs.

I also am looking forward to setting true PR’s in deadlift and squat. I am not sure I’ll hit the 1000# club in 2013… within reach, but I’d probably have to grab for it by doing 1RM’s which I don’t see much need for; just that if I go by my 5RM’s (which is essentially what the 5/3/1 week ends up “testing”) that’ll typically total 100# less so, it’s a longer road. But whatever, as long as I keep going down the road. But I should be able to hit milestones along the way, like deadlifting 405 and squatting 300 (and if I can get to 315, awesome).

And I’ll be staying on CBL. I should get a better picture of it after the end of cycle 17.

2013-02-06 training log

/ hsoi

See? Sometimes deload week is welcome

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16 (mark 2), week 4

  • Work Set – Bench Press
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 2x5x95
    • 2x5x115
    • 2x5x135
  • Assistance – Bench Press
    • 1 x 15 x 135
  • Assistance – Pull-ups (band assisted)
    • 3 x 7 x BW
  • Assistance – Dips
    • 3 x 8 x BW

Went to a concert last night. Only got a few hours of sleep before the workout. Plus, I should have carb-backloaded (well, technically a front-load) last night but didn’t due to the concert… unless 2 beers count. 🙂

So I just didn’t have much steam this morning. But that’s alright, since it’s deload week. Huzzah.

Just did some basic benching. Opted to rep out at 135. Then hit some pullups… still difficult with the split callus, but that’s healing. Opted to do some dips too… more compound than a JM Press or DB flies.

Kept it simple and deloading.

2013-02-04 training log

/ hsoi

Sometimes you’re thankful for deload week.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16 (mark 2), week 4

  • Work Set – Squat (working max: 285#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 2x5x115
    • 2x5x145
    • 2x5x175
  • Work Set – Press (working max: 145#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 2x5x60
    • 2x5x75
    • 2x5x90
  • Assistance – Pull-ups (band assisted)
    • 3 x 7 x BW

Normally I don’t like deload week. I appreciate it, but it’s not fun. 🙂 But today, I was happy for a deload workout.

I woke up with no motivation. I didn’t want to get out of bed, didn’t want to go to the gym, didn’t want to go to work, didn’t want to get on with the day. Not sure why. Could be carb backloading is wearing on me. Could be the lazy Sunday wants to continue into lazy Monday. Could be I’m just worn out. I really don’t know. But you get up anyways and go.

As well, a couple weeks ago a callus started to split. It’s in the inside crease of my right middle finger, middle joint. I did all I could to manage it, to keep it from becoming a problem, but over the weekend it truly split. Ouch. It’s tough to extend my fingers, to curl them, to clench and grip things. My finger is swelling a bit, I’m sure from the body trying to heal. It hurts, it’s difficult to work with, and I can’t stress it to death because I type for a living so it’s more important for my fingers to type than to deadlift (deadlifting doesn’t pay the bills). So I did what I could, but I couldn’t do much. You can see I didn’t get many pullups in… I’m just hanging directly upon that callus, and while I tried to not put pressure on it, you can’t help it.

So I did what I could…. and it wasn’t much. A “jack shit” sort of approach.

I did work to focus on every single rep. I figure if I can’t lift much weight, I can ensure the weight I lift is done very solid and paying attention to every detail: make that 5th rep better than the 1st rep. Whatever I can do, especially with pressing.

Anyways, it was what it was. I will bench on Wednesday and deadlift on Friday, and hopefully my finger will be better by then.

2013-02-01 training log

/ hsoi

I need to focus on Press

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16 (mark 2), week 3

  • Work Set – Press (working max: 145#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x60
    • 1x5x75
    • 1x3x90
    • 1x5x110 (work)
    • 1x3x125
    • 1x5x140
  • Assistance – Press
    • 5 x 10 x 75/75/75/65/65
  • Assistance – Pull-ups (band assisted)
    • 5 x 7/7/7/7/5 x BW
  • Assistance – 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; tho on dips, bodyweight and push out all I can

There’s no question… Press needs to be the next place I focus on technique. I’ve always flip-flopped on things like where to breathe, if there should be a bounce at the bottom (the “stretch reflex”), hold and squeeze at the top with an ensured lock-out, or… just what. Lots of things, really. My recent drop in weight no question is due in part to technique change, trying to stress more at the bottom: breathe at the bottom, no stretch/bounce — bring it down, rest and reset a moment, breathe, then press again from a “dead stop”. It was brought on because I just don’t feel it in lighter sets, but in heavier sets it really comes out. When I was doing my heaviest set today I just felt myself all over the place, expending a lot of energy and costing myself a rep or two because of all this vacillation.

So Press I must focus on. And again, I used my assistance sets with lighter weights to ensure I focused hard on technique.

Happy that my pull-ups are going to 7 reps, almost 7 across; cool. 3x7xbw on dips too… doing more, doing more, very happy. Getting stronger is good.

I’ll have more thoughts on things later. Gotta run.

2013-01-30 training log

/ hsoi

Was it a true PR? Does it matter?

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16 (mark 2), week 3

  • Work Set – Deadlift (working max: 355#)
    • 1x5x145 (warmup)
    • 1x5x185
    • 1x3x215
    • 1x5x270 (work)
    • 1x3x305
    • 1x5x340 (PR)
  • Assistance – Pulldown Abs (kneeling)
    • 3 x 15 x 140
  • Foam Rolling

Was it a true PR?

The term “personal record” means that you set your own record (not necessarily a world record, national record, etc…. your own personal, your best). And by record it’s the best you’ve ever done. There seems to be mentions of “PR” and then “rep PR”. The implication then is that a true PR involves some sort of weight max, since any lifting PR is going to involve weight and reps.

So was today a true PR? or just a rep PR? Before this session the best I had ever done in the deadlift was 340# for 3 reps. So I guess today was just a rep PR because I did 340# for 5 reps. But it’s still the most I’ve ever done period.

So rep PR? true PR? Who cares about the semantics (other than it makes for some blog fodder) 😉 The bottom line is that today I did more than I ever have done, I pushed hard, it wasn’t as bowling-shoe-ugly as last session’s lifts were, and that next session will be an ever better PR. Onwards to 405.

Interesting thing tho… first time I ever felt like I might blow out my biceps. I did notice towards the end I was trying to curl the damn bar. First time I’ve ever noticed myself doing that.

But after this? That was all I could do. The calluses on the inner folds of my fingers? They recently cracked and are peeling a bit. Between that and the aggressive knurling on the bar I prefer to deadlift with well… my hands were hurting pretty bad. After the PR I opted to do what I’ve been doing this past “week 3” and do the same main lift with 50% weight to really have a “form/technique clinic”. But I got through a few reps and just had to stop — too much hand hurt. Even the pulldown abs was difficult due to this. I type for a living (software developer) so I really can’t afford to fuck up my hands.

So whatever. Jack shit-ish. PR. Onwards.