MarkKO's training log

[MarkKO]

It's week three of block four, also known as time flies.

Monday bench
4x292 lbs, this was unplanned but I figured either it would go very badly, in which case I'd know something was up; or it would go well, in which I'd have an indication that things are where they should be. Given I hadn't been confident in getting a fourth rep so far this cycle, this went very well.
5x5x220 lbs in seven minutes and 21 seconds
10, 8, 7 pullups
2x15 pushups using the cambered multigrip bar, which I'll be doing again
2x15x132 lbs T-bar rows
2x15, 10 chain flys with failure on rep 11
2x60 facepulls



I'm very pleased with how this went. Not just the top set getting through a full session was good. I'm going to work very hard on building on this.

[JohnHelton]

Nice benching!

[MarkKO]

Nice benching!

Thanks. I tried really hard to get my setup right and it paid off.

[Renascent]

It's week three of block four, also known as time flies.

Monday bench
4x292 lbs

Hell yes.

[MarkKO]

It's week three of block four, also known as time flies.

Monday bench
4x292 lbs

Hell yes.

Yeah, that put a grin on my face.

[MarkKO]

It's Wednesday but I keep thinking it's Friday because I get a four day weekend due to Australia/Invasion day tomorrow and my boss figuring too many people would suddenly be sick on Friday to make it worth opening the workshop. Why the hell we don't celebrate federation instead I don't know. Fine, so it's January first, just do a QEII and pick a date when the weather's nice and celebrate it then.

Anyway, I digress. What a surprise.

My left knee has been feeling quite a bit better so I decided to postpone squats till Friday so it can improve even more. It also feels like Friday, so why not do Friday?

Wednesday (Friday) DL on stiff bar and secondary upper
3x523 lbs with room for another one or two, very similar to last time I hit it (except that was on a DL bar). Like Monday, this wasn't planned but I figured if I was going to get a data point now was about the only time it wouldn't be too likely to mess things up if it went south. It didn't go south, and I have a data point.
5x5x396 lbs in seven minutes and 41 seconds which I'm quite pleased with.
4x8x154 lbs incline bench
supersetted with
7, 7, 7, 5 pullups, which is just to save time now that the session has deadlifts
15x44 lbs, 20 pushups
3x10x66 lbs chest supported T-bar row. Fuck but that's a humbling machine
12x55 lbs, 12x36 lbs, 12x32 lbs, 17x20 lbs tricep pushdowns and the weird jumps are because I use whatever is on the machine. It's plate loaded for standard plates, is older than I am and I'm very fond of it
2x50 facepulls



This was another good session. Energy seems to be back to normal. I'm still having to eat a bunch more to hold weigh though, between 500 and 1000 calories extra.

[MarkKO]

It's Friday and I'm off work for the day so training happened earlier, around lunch. My back is still feeling tired from Wednesday but not in a hurt sense.

Friday bow bar squat
3x490 lbs, moved about the same as when I last did it. Another unplanned top set, but again figured that this week was the last one when anything like this was feasible and working up felt fine so I went for it.
5x5x396 lbs in nine minutes and 33 seconds so a bit slow but I was quite deliberately letting myself recover a little more between sets. Back was feeling pumped after so probably a good thing I had that little extra time. The planned load was 385 lbs but it was just easier to load 396 lbs after the top set.
3x25x308 lbs reverse hyper
3x12x132 lbs lat pulldown
2x25 back raises
2x50 facepulls



This has been a GOOD week. The top sets put me essentialy where I would have expected to be assuming I didn't have that strongman detour. Maybe I might have been a little ahead, but honestly I couldn't say that for sure because all my percentages this cycle have been pretty much based on my actual max rather than a working max (that's getting fixed next cycle, I had a good run pretty much constantly increasing load for around 18 months on the top sets).

My left knee seemed pretty happy with today as well, which is more good news. How well it'll respond to squatting again in two days I don't know but as it is now it's still feeling pretty good which bodes well.

I will need to change the order of days to squat on Monday and bench on Wednesday because while this week I got away with a day between squat and DL, I doubt I'd be able to do that indefinitely. That's no problem at all, because now that Friday's upper work is all lighter there won't be a recovery issue between bench and it.

I also put in lat pulldowns instead of barbell rows because while on paper they worked in practice I won't be able to use a productive load on the rows after squatting. The risk/reward ratio is way out of whack.

This week has actually jumped me a week or two ahead in the sense that all the lifts look like they're where they need to be to go into peak, and last week I seriously doubted that was going to be the case until the end of the block in two weeks time at best. Now I'm in a much better position where I'll just push the 5x5 for each lift next week to get in under 10 minutes and ideally get in under eight or nine across the board. In week five I'll see how I feel, and either keep doing that or back off very slightly. I do want to go into peak carrying a decent amount of fatigue just to have something to recover from, so chances are I will push the 5x5 again, but it's nice to have the option to do otherwise just in case.

[MarkKO]

Well, this is what I get for a day between a heavy triple on deadlifts and a heavy triple on squat.

My lower back, especially on the right side is tight AF. Nothing's damaged as far as I can tell, but it is locked up. This isn't remotely a surprise, because I could feel that area tightening up immediately after squats.

I did some buttwalks earlier today which did loosen it up somewhat and did some very, very cautious stretching that hit my hamstring and glute which also seemed to open things up. I'll go for a walk later when it's cooled down to open things up as well, and repeat tomorrow if necessary.

This is why I made the changes to squat Monday and pull Friday because I strongly suspected this would be something that could occur.

I'm pretty sure being at work on Monday will open things up even further and worst case I'll have a slightly uncomfortable time squatting, although if everything pans out I'll be fine.

[MarkKO]

Fairly obviously I didn't train on Monday, nor today but that was due almost entirely to other things than my back. Which, it turns out, is probably not my back. I'm almost certain it's something in my right glute, hamstring or whatever the shit that general area is called that covers the bottom of the lower back, the glutes and the side of your hips. Either way, I'm pretty sure it's some incarnation of what I referred to as an IT band issue that cropped up leading into the meet I bombed in mid 2021.

I'm still pretty stiff in the right side of my lower back on waking but within a few minutes everything opens up. By the end of the workday everything is pretty much fine but there's still a nagging in the outside of my right quad running behind into my glute and hip area.

I'll bench tomorrow, then squat on Friday. Means I miss a deadlift day but I don't need to be aggravating this thing.

Which, of course, I caused last week.

Anyway. I knew the risks going in, I just didn't expect *this* to be the result.

I could absolutely have squatted yesterday or today for the record. I didn't because yesterday I had something more important to attend to and today two nights of very subpar sleep didn't do a whole lot for my determination to train.

Tomorrow I'll have to knuckle down and bench whatever may come, but I have what hopefully will be a very productive meeting immediately prior.

[Renascent]

I'm almost certain it's something in my right glute, hamstring or whatever the shit that general area is called that covers the bottom of the lower back, the glutes and the side of your hips.

Thoracolumbar fascia?

[MarkKO]

I'm almost certain it's something in my right glute, hamstring or whatever the shit that general area is called that covers the bottom of the lower back, the glutes and the side of your hips.

Thoracolumbar fascia?

I had to google that, and quite possibly yes. At least, the bit towards the bottom. A bit more to the side though, not as central.

[MarkKO]

Well, knuckling down didn't happen.

The meeting was very promising and ran on till about 1630. By that stage my options were to absolutely rush through benching or be very late picking my stepson up. I disliked both options and to be honest the last few days my priorities have been elsewhere anyway, which is very rare for me.

This is a very stupid time to suddenly let that happen but it is what it is. There's a chance I'll have time to train tomorrow as well as Friday which would be great, but I'm not going to count on it.

In case all this seems very arbitrary, it is.

This is how it works in my head.

If I want to train, I need to finish work no later than 1530. It means I'll get to the gym and be ready to go before 1600, which means I'll be done by 1800 at the latest and home by 1830 which gives me enough time for chores and a couple of hours to unwind.

That's much the same the two weeks we have my stepson, although I try to finish at 1500 so I can collect him before 1800. Until very recently he would go to his grandmother's after school but he's now walking to his father's place and letting himself in. I know it's fine for him to he home alone for a couple of hours but honestly, it's unnerving as I get used to it and that's played into this week somewhat.

The other aspect is the meeting, which was with my old job. I miss the people and the work itself and I'm very, very bored at my current job although the money is good. I started feeling like that towards the end of last year but I put it down to being a bit burned out and figured the break would fix it but all it did was give me time to reflect.

So I'm going to try to negotiate my return with the only proviso is that I need to make enough money. I'm cautiously optimistic as the project manager I spoke to seems to be on the same page. All I need to do now is talk to the actual boss, although the PM told me they had already spoken about my potential return and they both want me back. It'll just be a matter of working out a middle ground where what I need to get paid and what I'm worth to them intersect.

[MarkKO]

I actually made it today. I got to stay out of the workshop and go back on site so I was in a much better mood by the time I knocked off. I almost told my immediate boss to go fuck himself in the first hour of work though.

Also, apparently I was seen going into my old job yesterday and the big boss asked me if there was anything he needed to know and if the company had done anything wrong to which my response was no, I'll tell you if something is up. Technically this is true. Maybe it's just me, but that made him seem a little jumpy. In his position I don't think I would have been as blatant. I probably would have just scheduled a review early next week to ask how everything is going and if there were any issues I wanted to raise.

I'm not so stupid as to say I went to my old job to talk about going back there. That would be idiotic. If I can arrange acceptable terms to return, THEN I'll tell my current work and give a decent notice period.

Thursday bench
5x5x231 lbs in nine minutes and 50 seconds or so (probably accurate within 10-20 seconds) which included working in with a mate so he did two sets in between sets two and three and four and five.
9, 6, 5, 5 pullups
2x15 pushups using the cambered multigrip bar
2x50 facepulls



I did almost no warming up today: 15 hanging leg raises, some pull aparts and 25 hand curls was it. Then I went straight to my working weight because that's what was loaded.

Back and knee acted up a little bit, but tolerably. Squatting tomorrow should be fine. I did a few air squats a couple of days ago without issue.

[MarkKO]

In a shocking development, I didn't train today. Work ran on past four and I was pretty beat by the end of it. I'll squat tomorrow morning and then Tuesday and from Wednesday next week return to normal. That's the last week before peak starts

I got a call from my old boss this morning, and he said he'll send me a letter of offer over the next couple of days which is when I'll find out what the offer is. Ordinarily I'd just go and see him, but he's overseas working at the moment. He said we could wait till he comes back in a couple of weeks or sort something out now and I said whatever he was comfortable with works for me. I'm glad he's willing to do it now. Hopefully the offer is one I can work with, but I keep reminding myself not to get too hopeful.

[MarkKO]

Ok, so I'm about to just write this week off and start again next week.

I slept plenty on paper but woke feeling like I got about two hours. I did drive to the gym in the late morning but left within five minutes of arriving there. I just didn't want to be there. For some reason I decided to bring my weighted vest and benching shoes back with me

I'm not really sure what's going on right now but in practical terms it doesn't really matter.

I'm fairly certain the whole work thing is playing a part, but that situation is all but resolved because I actually applied for a position at a different company yesterday and the owner called me this morning and at the end of the conversation offered me a job which I accepted. Same pay I'm currently on, with much more interesting work. I know two guys working there already who moved there from my old job, and I suspect that may be why I was offered the job so quickly. I'll hand notice in at work as soon as I get the written offer which should be on Monday. Icing on the cake would be my old boss offering me the same pay too but knowing him he won't.

I think the other part is that from last Sunday night I slept badly and too little every night except Wednesday so for the whole week I was on the back foot.

Combine those two factors and I don't have a lot of willpower to spare. I can't hide from that. I'm pretty good when it comes to doing what needs doing but there comes a point where my resolve just isn't strong enough and something, somewhere has to suffer. It can't be what pays the bills, so that leaves either my family or training and that's not even a choice.

I'm not all doom and gloom despite what it may sound like. Last week was very positive and too far out from the meet to seriously impact the peak. I've got the capacity, I just need to put it together for five weeks of peak. What I need to focus on doing this coming week is working enough so I'm not absolutely recovered going into week one. That's it. My back/hip/whatever seems to have settled into this workable state where it isn't one hundred per cent but isn't really stopping me doing anything. When I squat I'll find out if that's workable but all indicators are that it will be. Won't be comfortable, but should be doable. Deadlift likely will be the same.

[Hardartery]

Sounds like a recovery issue. It happens. Push too hard a little too long and then you are just shot and your overall just needs a break. Being sick, then sorta injured and overworked on top of it adds up in more than just measureable muscle recovery. Bump the calories for a day or two and go out of your way to get some sleep.

[MarkKO]

Sounds like a recovery issue. It happens. Push too hard a little too long and then you are just shot and your overall just needs a break. Being sick, then sorta injured and overworked on top of it adds up in more than just measureable muscle recovery. Bump the calories for a day or two and go out of your way to get some sleep.

It sure does.

I've been bumping calories, until this week it was all I could do to not lose weight. That's turned around this week but I'm almost certain the only reason my waking weights have been higher is the shit sleep.

I had a nap today which helped a bunch and I'll try to get one in tomorrow. I'll make sure to eat as well.

[MarkKO]

I did actually go and take a walk with the vest just after the last post. Went for two kilometres in about 24 minutes and feel better for it. Windy as hell, to the point I was walking past a house under construction only to see a window shatter from it.

[Renascent]

I'm not really sure what's going on right now but in practical terms it doesn't really matter.

Whatever it is ... it happens sometimes.

When too much shit is in flux, sometimes it's kinda hard to have lifting be the only anchor, and, as you said, you might have to redirect your energies for a time until you know mentally that you can move forward with hobby stuff.

Comp deadlines aside, it'll always be there when you come back to it.

Anyway... congrats on the job offer!

[MarkKO]

I'm not really sure what's going on right now but in practical terms it doesn't really matter.

Whatever it is ... it happens sometimes.

When too much shit is in flux, sometimes it's kinda hard to have lifting be the only anchor, and, as you said, you might have to redirect your energies for a time until you know mentally that you can move forward with hobby stuff.

Comp deadlines aside, it'll always be there when you come back to it.

Anyway... congrats on the job offer!

Years ago, it would have freaked me out. Now it's just something notable that I accept and I log it because it's part of the process.

Also thanks.

It blows my mind just how in demand trades are right now. It's nice to be in a position where the market favours the employee, or at least evens the balance. It also doesn't look like that will change for the next five to 10 years with the combination of construction somewhat booming and there being fewer and fewer people getting trade qualifications.