back on my bullshit (that is, running a program)

[rjharris]

Stats:

Age: 32 (almost 33)
Weight: ~ 205 last time I checked.
Height: 5' 11"
Trade: astronomer. grad student wrangler.

Training history: Sporadic. The usual on-again / off-again SSLP. My log on the SS site is a testament to trying the same thing over and over. I expect this time will be no different, except maybe I'll switch to AN sooner / at all. I think my main problem is that I don't want to eat too much since I'm really averse to the idea of getting fatter. I was a fat, fat kid (225 freedumb units in 8th grade ...), and that was a bad time, haha. Eating is always a work in progress for me.

Non-training interests, since people obviously care: cats, ham radio / electronics stuff, bouldering, getting trolled from the South Pole on a certain Star Trek podcast.

PRs:

BS: 320x5(x3),325x3
DL: 375x5
BP: 185x5
OP: 135x5
PC: 140x3x5

The weights, especially the upper body lifts, are embarrassing. Need to do better.

Some goals of mine:
BS: 365x5 by end of calendar year.
DL: 405x5 by end of calendar year.

Frankly, any progress on the other lifts will just be peachy.

[rjharris]

Friday, September 22, 2017
----------------------------------

So fucking hot (mid 80s) in my apartment. I almost called it after squats, but then went on to do (and fail) some presses.

BS: 295x5x3. Tiring.
OP: 120x4x2,3.

Planning on hitting bouldering gym either later today or Sunday.

[rjharris]

Had an abortive session on Tuesday that I guess I should put here for honesty. And not a good day today.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017
------------------------------------

BS: 300x5,1

I was GMing the HELL out of these for some reason. I was told I GMed the rep on the second set that I completed, so I just called it.


Thurs, September 28, 2017
------------------------------------

BS: NA (last warmup 275x1)
BP: 170x5x3
DL: 320x5 (was supposed to be 325. misloaded the bar)

Chins: bw x 4 x 4

I've had an on-again off-again issue with my left tricep hurting like fucking hell after squats. Today it happened again, and my last warmup caused me a few minutes of pain. I really need to fix this. I have video of my squats, and it doesn't look like my grip is compromised, but maybe it is. After a few minutes, I was able to bench properly. I guess the good thing that happened today is that I finally got a sense of leg drive in the bench, so I got that going for me. Which is nice.

added the chins because i've been meaning to do so but haven't. probably could have done ~1-2 more on each set, but i tend to get dicky elbows if i try to grind them out.

[rjharris]

have been super stressed about student's postdoc application / getting papers out for the last week. didn't feel like bothering with squats today with my arm pain from last time, so i just pressed. will be returning to mwf schedule next week. EDIT: well, I was, and then this morning has been not great, so t/th/sa it is.


Sat, September 30, 2017
------------------------------------

OHP: 120x5x3

I am wriggling around at the bottom for some stupid reason. Need to get tight at the bottom and stay tight.

[rjharris]

Not on the last page. Almost on the last page.

Last week and a half has been an utter shitshow with work, people dying, and other various good / bad things. I almost quit my job twice! So that's cool. At least I've been drinking boatloads of beer to compensate...

Wed., October 11, 2017
------------------------------

S: 245x5x3
OP: 115x5x3

Took longer than I wanted because I stayed home from work worked from home to make pretzels, which were actually fucking delicious. Tweaked my neck on the second set of OHP.

[rjharris]

Last month has been, well, shitty. Down probably about 5 lbs, a girlfriend of 5.5 years, and a bunch of squat weight.

Wed. 2017, Nov 8
----------------------

S: 225x5x3
OP: 105x5x3
DL: 275x5

Notes: Things were fine.

[platypus]

Last month has been, well, shitty. Down probably about 5 lbs, a girlfriend of 5.5 years, and a bunch of squat weight.

That's a familiar story, man. Your weights will be back up before you know it.

[rjharris]

That's a familiar story, man. Your weights will be back up before you know it.

Thanks man. Getting back to the routine (kind of) has been good

Saturday, 2017 Nov 11
---------------------------

S: 235x5x3
BP: 155x5x3
DL: 285x5

Fine, except I hadn't eaten enough yesterday.

[rjharris]

Tuesday, 2017 Nov 14
---------------------------

S: 245x5x3

Slept like shit last night; probably got about 4.5 or 5 hours total. Got squats, but they were much harder than they should have been. Decided to call it after that and do presses / deadlifts tomorrow maybe?

[rjharris]

Fuck, got sick last week.

Wednesday, 2017 Nov 22
------------------------------

S: 225x5x3
BP: 155x5x3
DL: 295x5
Chins: BWx5x3. (must have lost weight...)

Okay, getting back on track.

[rjharris]

Saturday, 2017 Nov 25
---------------------------

S: 235x5x3
OP: 110x5x3
DL: 305x5

Going bouldering later so I decided to not fuck my arms with chins.

[rjharris]

Monday, 2017 Nov 27
--------------------------

S: 245x5x3
BP: 160x5x3
DL: 315x5

Notes:
7 minutes between work sets, 2-3 min between last warm up and first work set.

Workout start time: 8:50
Workout end time: 10:13
total time: 1hr 23 min.

Squat: knees came back kind of hard on the last couple of reps of the last 2 sets. I need to work on this.
BP: fine
DL: fine

There's an annual meet here in late April / early May that I decided to enter to give my training some focus. I've heard it's a fun one, so I'm going to give it a try.

Unrelatedly, I made this last night, and it's fucking delicious.

https://www.daringgourmet.com/szegedin- ... ly-gulyas/

I did not use all the rendered bacon grease (probably ~1/4 of it) so the macros for my dish aren't as totally fucked as they would otherwise be.

[rjharris]

Wednesday, 2017 Nov 29
------------------------------

S: 252.5x5x2 + 255x5*
OP: 115x4x2, 3 [supposed to be x5x3]
DL: 325x5

Notes:
Mentally unfocused today. Mis-loaded the bar on squats (first two sets were at 252.5, ugh) and almost deadlifted 335 instead of 325 today. Someday, I will be a competent presser. Today was not that day. I did not sleep well last night, was fairly congested, and I started feeling kind of sick to my stomach during OP warmups, which sure didn't help things. Grip slipped quite a bit on the last deadlift rep, ugh.

Time in 8:51 time out 10:40, total time 1hr49min

[Wilhelm]

I think these kind of days matter at least as much as the good, well rested days.

Your character is strong, @rjharris

[rjharris]

Thank you, @Wilhelm. I'm slowly getting better at dealing with these kinds of days.

[rjharris]

Friday, 2017 Dec 1
----------------------

S: 265x5x3
BP: 165x4x3
PC: 115x3x5

Notes:

I had to get some lab work done early this morning so that threw off my morning a tad. Squats were harder than they should have been. Hmm.

Took a while due to being distracted with work, the Flynn news, and preparing my place for a friend who is arriving tonight from the literal South Pole after working there for a year.

I could probably have done heavier for the pc, but I wanted to start things light because these are always so atrocious.

Time in: 9:50 -> time out 12:15. total time 2h25m (ugh. get. faster.)

[rjharris]

Tues, 2017 Dec 5
----------------------

S: 275x5x3
OP: 115x5x3
DL: 335x5

Notes:

M/W are fucked schedule-wise, so doing T/Th.

Time in: 9:43 -> time out 11:42. total time 1h59m

Wore belt on S/OP. Belt wasn't as tight as it was previously even on last hole. May need to drill another one.

Squats were hard-ish, OP easy. Hooked the last rep of the deadlifts.

[rjharris]

Thurs, 2017 Dec 7
----------------------

S: 285x5x3
BP: 165x4x2,3 (regression FUCK)
PC: 125x3x5

Notes:

Not awesome. Had a friend come by right in the middle of my session and stay for a while, so things took longer than normal.

Time in: 9:01-> time out 11:25. total time: 2h24m

Thinking about switching to 5 lb increases on squat. Dunno wtf is up with my bench.

[Wilhelm]

Dunno wtf is up with my bench.

i've gone to benching 3Xweek and also added drop sets.
Deloaded about 20lbs from where i was repping before, and further 10lb reduction for the drop sets.
So 5 sets of 3 w/ amrap 3rd set and 3 sets of 8 (for now) on the drop sets.
Then i'm periodically working up to a heavy single to keep my body used to the heavier range.

I'm not an expert on this, but everyone says bench responds to volume, and i do believe it.
I guess the wisdom is to do work between 65 or 70% to 80% of your 1Rm or e1rm and pile up the volume.

I'm sure you'll find your solution one way or another, @rjharris.

[iamsmu]

The 3x5 bench progression burnt out for me very quickly. I stalled hard and couldn't get it unstuck. I moved to 3x3 and that helped a little. There are lots of nice programming ideas out there, but a descending pyramid works nicely for a while. It's not a program, just a way to get a lot of volume and a little intensity.

Work up to a heavy set of 3. Drop a few pounds, try to get 4. Drop a few pounds try to get 5 (at rpe 8.5). and so on.. . . Once you get to sets of 8, you've done 5 sets. Then you can drop lower and get a set of 10-12. You'll get a lot more volume this way. You might only see improvement on the higher reps sets at first. The top set might not budge.

ex.

175x2-3 (this might be too grindy, so you might skip it)
170x3
165x4
160x5
155x6
150x7
145x8
130x12

Perhaps you have to make bigger drops. . . And you might have to build up to this over the course of a few weeks. At 45+ reps, the DOMS might crush you otherwise. . . And microload.

Perhaps there are good reasons not to do this, but it seems like a good compromise. The 5x3 or 3x3 just isn't enough volume. And grindy sets across are demoralizing and lead to rapid stagnation. I really hate grindy sets across on bench. Just awful. Joint and morale killing. 8,5,2 psychologically is not my thing. My wife can handle it. I can't. If I'm doing sets across it's at 75% and high rep, else I'm demoralized.