Briks log

[Briks42]

Just found out about this site last week and decided to start logging here. Used to log at SS as it seems a lot of people here did.

Here are some quick relevant stats and recent training history before I start logging:

Name- Bob or Bobby
Age- 36
Height- 6’3”
Current bodyweight: 203 lbs
Squat PR: 290x5 (337.9 e1rm)- Feb 2013
Bench PR: 345x1- Feb 2015
Deadlift PR: 400x5 (455.1 e1rm)- Dec 2014
Press PR: 205x1- March 2014 at 200.8 bw

As you can probably tell from how long ago my PR’s are, my more recent training history isn’t great. I have always had knee issues (3 scopes on left knee for removal of loose bodies due to tons of dislocations and 1 patellar tendon repair after it ruptured in August 2015.), and they are a convenient excuse for my bad squat numbers historically.

More recently though, other health issues have been more of a problem than my knees (which are actually pretty healthy now). In January of this year I started suffering from constant dizziness which was diagnosed as vestibular migraines and Ménière’s disease. I couldn’t train at all early this year, but once the dizziness subsided some I started back again. It is still a problem for me and prevents me from playing sports or anything, but I can train through it now so I have.

Then in late September of this year, I had a stroke. Turns out it was caused by a blood clot in a vein in my brain. It is under control now, but the genetic testing showed I have a mutation of a gene that makes me more likely to have blood clots. So I will be on blood thinning medicine for life. Not too bad all things considered.

But between those health issues and also the birth of my second baby in February, it’s been a sporadic training year. But I have stuck with it and continued to do what I could and never let myself get too weak or out of shape.

So now that all those things seem to be in the rear view I’m ready to get serious again. One of the secondary effects of the stroke was that on the blood thinning medication I can no longer drink alcohol. While annoying, as I enjoyed drinking, it should help my training because alcohol often screwed up my workout plans. So between no drinking and my knees/body feeling good right now, I’m expecting some of those old PRs to fall in the next 6 months.

My current program:

I just started week 2 of a scheduled 12 week training program.

Sunday- bench- 5x5 at 74% of e1rm, with sets starting every two minutes apart
Weighted chins- 2 amrap sets
Squats- LP 3x5
1 mile run

Tuesday- seated dumbbell shoulder press- 3 amrap sets
Curls- 4 amrap sets
Deadlifts- LP 3x5
1 mile run

Thursday- bench- 2 amrap sets
Weighted chins- 5x5 at 74% of e1rm, with sets starting every two minutes apart
Squats- LP 3x5
1 mile run

Friday/Saturday- 400m runs or hill sprints.

Weight used on the bench/chin amrap days are determined by using weekly rep targets and choosing a weight where if the rep target is met, the e1rm would go up. The “volume” days are done every two minutes for the dual reasons of keeping the weight used down a little bit and also to speed up the workout. Seated dumbbell shoulder press is used instead of press because press bothers my lower back too much anymore. The running is just to stay in solid cardio shape without putting in very many miles. I’m going to try to improve my times but it’s not nearly as important to me as my lifts going up. My one mile runs are done ona hilly loop located right near my parents house where I lift, so those runs will always be done in a fatigued state, right after squatting or deadlifting. And I just suck at running in general outside of sprinting.

So that’s the whole intro. I’ll log my most recent workout here now and hopefully continue to log here going forward.

Sunday- 10/28/18
Bodyweight- 203.0
Bench press (every 2 minutes)- 230x5x5
Weighted chins- 35 (238.0) x 8 (295.1 e1rm)
35 (238.0) x 5
Squats- 225x5x3
1 mile run- 8:42

Solid workout. This is the beginning of 8’s week so hit my target reps on the chins.

[Briks42]

Tuesday night- 10/31/18
Bodyweight- 202.6
Seated dumbbell shoulder press- 75s x 8
75s x 6
65s x 7
Dumbbell curls- 45s x 7
40s x 6
35s x 7
35s x 6
Deadlifts- 285 x 5 x 3

Run- .31 miles- 1:59

Solid workout. Will probably try the 80s for my first set of shoulder presses next week. On deadlifts I’ll make a 20 pound jump to 305 then probably switch to 10 pound jumps after that. My normal post-workout run is usually a mile but I just did a run around the block instead because I got a late start tonight. I wasn’t sure exactly what the distance would be so didn’t know how hard to start and I was probably too conservative. I finished strong though, basically sprinting the last 60m or so.

[KoolaidMannn]

Welcome to the forum! I look forward to seeing your progress!!

[Wilhelm]

Great determination, @Briks42.

It is good to see you have dealt with these big challenges,stuck with training, and are mounting a comback.
Even if it was a while ago, nice damn bench you got on you.
Congratulations on the birth of your child.

Welcome to the site.
And thank you for adding your log.

\o/

[Briks42]

Thanks KoolAid and Wilhelm. I’m looking forward to logging here and even more importantly, checking out all the other logs to get smarter and for inspiration.

[Shane]

Wow you went through a rough trot. Welcome, and happy progressing!

[Briks42]

Thanks Shane. I appreciate it.

[Briks42]

Thursday night- 11/1/18

Bodyweight- 203.8

Bench press: 255 x 8 (316.2 e1rm)
255 x 6

Weighted chins (2 minutes apart): 15 (218.8) x 5 x 5

Squats- 230 x 5 x 3

1 mile run- 8:27

Good workout. Hit my target reps on the bench to bump up my e1rm. Chins were chins. Squats started to feel moderately tough but still look easy on video. It’s also crazy how I can feel things during reps that don’t show up on the video at all. Like it felt like I got wayyyy out of the groove forward on the second rep of the last set, but on video I couldn’t even see it. I guess that’s a good thing that my body is dialed in to what feels right.

My 1 mile run time dropped 15 seconds from when I did it Sunday after lifting and 43 seconds from last Thursday after lifting (which was my first conditioning work post-stroke). At this pace I will break the world record mile by the end of November.

[stuffedsuperdud]

Whoa! Are you the same guy who used to post on the old strengthvillain site several years ago??

[Briks42]

Yes sir. What’s up bud? Good seeing your name here.

[Briks42]

Saturday morning- 11/3/18

Track- 400m runs (400m walk in between):
1:35
1:37
1:38

These sucked. I’m still very much out of shape. I also left my inhaler at the gym (I have exercise induced asthma) which probably didn’t help. Good feeling to be done a workout before sunrise though.

I’m taking my daughter to her first Sixers game today. Im pumped and she says she is too, but she’s only 3 so I don’t know how long she’ll stay entertained. They let season ticket holders enter the building 90 minutes before the game to watch shootaround from right down by the court, so I’m going to do that and then if she gets bored during the game I can just leave early and catch the end at home.

[gtl]

Damn, man. Sorry to hear of the health troubles. Welcome aboard and best of luck with the training!

[djl236]

Hey Bobby I remember you posting on SS and Strength villian. Good to see you're back at it despite all the shit life threw at you dude.

[Briks42]

Thanks GTL! Appreciate it!

Hey, DJL, it’s Dave right? You were using Steel’s programming for a while when you were posting at SS? I just checked your log and see you still have that strong squat I remember.

[djl236]

Thanks GTL! Appreciate it!

Hey, DJL, it’s Dave right? You were using Steel’s programming for a while when you were posting at SS? I just checked your log and see you still have that strong squat I remember.

Yep that's me. Thanks dude.

I had a grade 3 adductor/groin tear Dec 28 2014 so that set me back a little. I squat a little more narrow now but this year I finally PRed for the first time since then.

[Briks42]

Nice Dave. Way to make an adjustment and keep powering through.

Sunday- 11/4/18

Bodyweight: 202.4

Bench press (done every 2 minutes): 235 x 5 x 5

Weighted chins: 52.5 (254.9) x 6 (300.8 e1rm)
52.5 (254.9) x 4

Squats: 235 x 5 x 3

1 mile run: 8:03

Good workout. I’m in a good groove right now. The mile run was done about an hour and a half after lifting this time as opposed to the last few times which were about 20 minute after lifting. That may have contributed to the :24 improvement. The rest is probably just newbie conditioning gains.

[Briks42]

Tuesday night- 11/6/18

Bodyweight- 203.6

Seated dumbbell shoulder press- 80s x 6
75s x 6
65s x 8

Dumbbell curls- 50s x 4
40s x 8
35s x 8
35s x 7

Deadlifts- 305 x 5 x 3

Great workout. Back up to 80s on shoulders. Lifetime PR is 8 reps with those so not too far off. Gained some reps on curls. Deadlifts finally started feeling a little tough after another 20 pound jump so I’ll switch to 10 pound jumps now. I think I can take those for a while still. I feel like my form is dialed in there. No conditioning after this workout cuz i have a slight nagging in my ankle/shin and a little cold, so using it as a rest from running. I’ll be back at that Thursday after squats.

[Briks42]

Thursday night- 11/8/18

Bodyweight: 204.8

Bench press: 270 x 6 (318.6 e1rm)
270 x 5

Weighted chins (every 2 minutes): 17.5 (222.3) x 5 x 5

Squat: 240 x 5 x 3

1 mile run: 8:49

Another good lifting workout. Hit my 6 target reps on bench and got my chins and squats in without issue. Bodyweight up 3.6 pounds from 3 Thursday’s ago, so I’m gaining at the pace I want (1-1.5 lbs a week). Lifts are going up quickly and no nagging pain anywhere so far.

Went out real easy on the run with no plans on chasing a recent pr and for once I had the discipline to stick with it. Didn’t even look at my time until toward the very end. I’m happy with this. It was slower than my last few runs but not crazy slow and i felt very good afterward instead of being wrecked like usual. I think I’m only going to go for fast mile times once a week (on Sundays). Then I’ll do an easy mile like this 1-2 times a week plus a weekly speed or hill workout as well.

[Briks42]

Saturday morning- 11/10/18

200m runs (200m walk between):43, :40, :39, :44

I cut it after 4 cuz my legs were really getting tight and I have to squat and run tomorrow. These were tough. I’m still not in good shape and it’s cold and windy and I didn’t take my inhaler. I’m also being more conservative with my runs because I have lifting goals I wanna hit. I’m using the running as supplemental, not the main focus. I just wanna keep a baseline level of cardio as I gain weight and strength.

[Briks42]

Sunday- 11/11/18

Bodyweight- 206.2

Bench press (every 2 minutes): 237.5 x 5 x 5

Weighted chins: 40 (246.2) x 7 (297.9 e1rm)
40 (246.2) x 5

Squats: 245 x 5 x 3

Everything was tough and felt heavy today. Just one of those days. I also woke up this morning with my lower back sore (maybe from running yesterday?) so I skipped my run today. Missed my target 8 reps on first set of chins. E1rm didn’t drop too much though because I used a little more total weight than I needed to. Got all my reps on Bench and squat but they were both tougher than expected.