Patrick's Novice Log

[Wilhelm]

My take is it can't hurt. And i'm using less overall that the common 5 gram a day number, so if all i'm doing is remaining saturated, i can afford to have a bit of it spread out over the day with my shakes.

I also take my magnesium and D3 with my meals.

[PatrickDB]

Week 2: Developmental

Monday, January 15.

Bodyweight: 162.5

Squat, with belt: 185x5, 205x5, 215x5, 225x2x5, 215x5
Bench: 145x5, 155x5, 160x3x5, 145x5
Block Pull (1.5"): 185x4, 225x3x4
Chins: 5x6
DB curls: 25x3x10 each side

Squats went fine. I'm working on bracing better. I thought I was doing a good job today, but on video (below) my bracing looks comically ineffective. The breaths felts bigger than they look, I swear. The tongue on the roof of the mouth thing is helping me a lot. I messed up breathing on the second set at 225 and felt some spittle come up, so I took a VERY long pause after that rep to let things settle. Benching was fine too, though I had trouble tucking my elbows on a few sets.

The olympic weightlifters took some of the mats I used as blocks for their own nefarious purposes, so I had to use just a 1.5" raise today. My legs were fried from all the squatting, so I threw two plates on and banged out the prescribed number of reps with somewhat sloppy form. Not my finest moment.

I used dumbbells for curls today because all the barbells were in use.

[PatrickDB]

Wednesday, January 17.

Bodyweight: 165.5

Press: 105x5, 110x5, 115x4x5
Front squat: 95x8, 115x8, 125x2x8
DB row: 45x8, 55x3x8
DB curl: 25x2x10

Still sore from Monday. Today is the “light day” for my HLM template. Just punching the clock and getting some tonnage in.

Bodyweight PR today, brought to you by the massive creatine loading I did last night.

I’m getting coached on the front squat by a nationally competitive oly lifter, so that’s fun. My template prescribed 8s. I think 125 is way too light, but the challenge is keeping the rack in place.

[PatrickDB]

Friday, January 19.

Bodyweight: 163.
(Note: I've been typo'ing 5 instead of 6 recently. I'm in the 160s. I edited some older log posts to reflect this.)

Squat, beltless: 185x4, 205x4, 215x2x4
CGBP: 135x4, 145x4, 155x4, 160x3 (failed 4th rep), 145x4
DL: 205x5, 225x5, 250x2x5, 225x5
Chins: 30 total, in small chunks
DB curl: 25x2x10

The Good: Got more volume in than last Friday on all the main lifts. Squats looked quite good on video -- it seems I have basically eliminated the "chest fall" at this weight. Not sure how I did it other than being conscious of bracing, pushing with the legs, and keeping my back angle. Maybe also descending a bit slower in order to keep tightness. And maybe the front squats helped?

The Bad: CGBP performance is down from last week. Perhaps this is expected, since I blew out my triceps Wednesday with all the pressing. Still annoys me. Also, the curls are giving me weird twinges in my right shoulder on later reps. I suspect bicep tendon fuckery. Will reduce frequency back to 2x/wk, and skip curling Monday.

Next week I might start doing a GPP day on Saturdays at the college gym. All the machines make it easy to get in quickly do cable rows, triceps, and biceps before some LISS on the exercise bike. Sticking the bullshit bro work on Wednesday and Saturday makes sense from a time standpoint, too, since Monday and Friday are the longer workouts.

[mgil]

Do you do allow your wrist to rotate during curls?

[PatrickDB]

Do you do allow your wrist to rotate during curls?

The dumbbell is in a neutral grip (the ends facing front/back) at my side, and I supinate on the concentric.

[mgil]

Do you do allow your wrist to rotate during curls?

The dumbbell is in a neutral grip (the ends facing front/back) at my side, and I supinate on the concentric.

That’s the best way to do them. Do your elbows hyperextend at all?

[PatrickDB]

Do you do allow your wrist to rotate during curls?

The dumbbell is in a neutral grip (the ends facing front/back) at my side, and I supinate on the concentric.

That’s the best way to do them. Do your elbows hyperextend at all?

No. I think it's a combination of too much frequency too fast and not keeping my shoulders back. The twinge went away when I focused on retracting my shoulder.

[mgil]

Gotcha. Curls should be slow. Probably the only movement that should be TUT-based

[PatrickDB]

Week 3: Developmental

Monday, January 22

Bodyweight: 165

Squat, with belt: 185x5, 205x5, 215x5, 225x5, 230x5, 225x5
Bench: 145x5, 155x5, 162x3x5, 155x5
Block Pull (2.25"): 235x4, 255x4, 275x4
Chins: 30 total

Felt good today. The prescription was basically to do the same workout as last Monday but increase the weights a bit, and I successfully did so.

I'm feel like I'm finally back up to speed squatting. There's still a little "chest fall" going on, and I need to work on bracing better, but things are coming along.

Bench went fine. I could always be tighter, use more leg drive, and push the bar back over my shoulders soon, but no major complaints. I'm now using a grip just slightly wider than I was a few weeks ago (pinkies on the rings instead of just inside the rings).

Block pulls were a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that 2.25" feels like a more appropriate raise than 3" (since I can mimic my actual deadlifts mechanics better, instead of just hip hinging the bar off the blocks using only my ass/thighs). The other good news I that 275x4 is a PR for weight I've ever held in my hands (well, straps + hands, shut up). The bad news is that I was, for the first time since starting lifting again, losing back position to a degree I would deem unacceptable (just on the top set). Not terrible, but not the flat back pull I'm aiming for. I know what's happening -- I'm just getting lazy and jerking it off the blocks instead of getting a big breath and creating tension before pulling. But I start to rush things when I get tired.

A friend watching me suggested using a belt. He said it didn't make sense to do overload movements beltless. In retrospect, he is obviously correctly, and I should be using a belt. I'll start on my next rack pull sessions. This might be a good way to "ease in" to using a belt on my actual deadlift. (Recall I ditched it due to problems setting up.) I will film these next time so you can yell at me to get tight. It'll be fun.

I'm keeping the total number of chins I do at the end of the workout the same and letting my weight gain serve as the progressive overload.

@mgil can I get your eyes on these squats for an RPE/technique check? They're my last three sets. I'd rate 8/9/9, and I don't see anything wrong with them other than a "chest fall" pattern and some "squish" at the bottom when I get fatigued and go too deep (e.g. last rep of the last set). (Btw, just saw your curl comment above -- thanks.)

[mgil]

RPE values look about right.

How hard are you shoving your knees out* at the bottom?

*corkscrew

[PatrickDB]

RPE values look about right.

How hard are you shoving your knees out* at the bottom?

*corkscrew

I'm not. But now that you mention it I see knee cave.

I've never really gotten the hang of these cues but I'll give them another whirl. Doing anything but pushing down on the floor is really unintuitive.

[mgil]

Shoving those knees out/corkscrewing them into the floor at the very bottom helps keep the hips from getting loose.

[PatrickDB]

Shoving those knees out/corkscrewing them into the floor at the very bottom helps keep the hips from getting loose.

Just made a note to implement this Friday. Will report back with results.

[mgil]

Try it even with a few air squats at random times or using the squat stretch from SSBBT3e. As soon as you actively shove the knees out, the glutes will bring a lot of stability to the lower back and hips.

[PatrickDB]

@mgil Does this (corkscrewing) work with deadlifts too?

[mgil]

Maybe? Mulling it over in my head, it would be far less impactful as compared to squats.

ETA:

Works okay for sumo. Not so much for conventional.

[PatrickDB]

Wednesday, January 24.

Bodyweight: 165

Press: 105x5, 110x5, 115x5, 120x2x5, 115x5
Front squat: lots of warmups + 155x4x4
DB row: 45x8, 55x3x8
DB curl: 20x2x10 per side

Everything was pretty good today.

Overshot RPE on the press a little. Last three sets were probably 9/10/9. It's easier for me to rate RPE for this lift because it fails so fast, so once the bar slows down appreciably I know I have only a rep or two more before I'm totally screwed.

DB rows felt awkward. I should try them mgil/Chinese style next time.

@mgil, @Hanley: peep me front squatting these reds. I'm liking this lift. You can see me lose the rack a bit at the bottom, rolling the bar forward. Not sure what to do about this.

[Hanley]

You can see me lose the rack a bit at the bottom, rolling the bar forward. Not sure what to do about this.

try:
1) looking up at a 45 degree angle the whole time
2) As you approach the bottom of the front squat drive your elbows to the ceiling (I self-cue something very, very weird: I imagine I'm sitting on some sorta pneumatic thing that pumps my elbows to the ceiling...a counter-movement ...I have no explanation for why this absurd cue works).

[PatrickDB]

@Hanley will do, thanks!

(Also note the switch from 2x8 front squats last week to 4x4 this week, motivated by our discussions. Gotta get that tonnage without being limited by the rack.)