Witty log title

Alf Veedersane

gvn wrote: »

Yep, that's right. I've squatted 140 for a single (last December), 130 for 3x3 (in January) and 127.5 for 5x5 (end of March). All were low bar, borderline parallel, incredibly tough and very ugly. Closer to squat-mornings as someone said in another thread lately! Squat feels 10x more solid now and they're a lot deeper too. So fingers crossed for a decent number next Wednesday.

I did find technique improved immensely on Smolov Jr. I diidn't set a huge PR or anything after it but I felt my squat was a lot stronger.

Yep. The frequency is great for greasing the groove, as they say. Looking forward to (hopefully) running it again from Monday week.

Woke up and decided I wanted to run. First time doing cardio in about a year, and first time running really in 2+ years. Did 5k in 29:09. Paced myself badly... did the first 4k at 6min/km pace, then only started to ramp it up, and I did the final 400m at 4min/km. I wanted 5k in 28 min by the end of summer, but I'll get that easily enough next time I think.

End of year goal: be able to back squat 2x BW, run 5k in 25 min and 10k in 55 min. And be able to do either one at any given moment.

Alf Veedersane

gvn wrote: »

Woke up and decided I wanted to run. First time doing cardio in about a year, and first time running really in 2+ years. Did 5k in 29:09. Paced myself badly... did the first 4k at 6min/km pace, then only started to ramp it up, and I did the final 400m at 4min/km. I wanted 5k in 28 min by the end of summer, but I'll get that easily enough next time I think.

End of year goal: be able to back squat 2x BW, run 5k in 25 min and 10k in 55 min. And be able to do either one at any given moment.

You never really know how to pace yourself if you haven't run the distance before or in a long time so you end up conserving energy longer than you probably need to.

BUt now you know what pace you can run at so know your km markers and keep at an average pace you now know you can manage.

Alf Veedersane

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

You never really know how to pace yourself if you haven't run the distance before or in a long time so you end up conserving energy longer than you probably need to.

BUt now you know what pace you can run at so know your km markers and keep at an average pace you now know you can manage.

Yep, will do. I probably won't run again until this day next week, but I plan on going for 5:30 min/km pace for the first 3km, and then slowly increase the pace for the last 2km. 27 minutes or thereabouts is the (perhaps optimistic) goal for my next go. As you say it'll take a few runs to figure out what's comfortable.

Alf Veedersane

Next time try running at a constant pace without ramping it up towards the end. It'll give you a better idea of how much you have in the tank at the end and when you could start ramping up the pace if you started at that pace.

OHP
Bar x10
30 x7
40 x5
50 x3
60 x2
70 x1
72.5 x1
75 xF ... bah
75 x1 ... pushpress
80 xF ... pushpress

65 3x3
62.5 x5
60 x6
57.5 x5
55 x6
52.5 x5
50 x5

So weak overhead. I've decided that I don't really give a shíte about benching, so I'm gonna focus on OHP for the next 3/4 months and if I can bench once per week that'll do. OHPing from a sort-of clean-grip now too... my mobility has gotten to the point where I can rest the bar on my shoulders/upper chest and still keep my forearms close to vertical.

Pull Ups
BW 3x10

Back Extensions
BW x8
+10kg x8
+20kg x8
+22.5kg x8
+25kg x8

DB Rows
e/s
26 x10
30 x10
34 x10
38 x10
42 x10
38 x10
34 x10
30 x10
26 x10

Face Pulls
6x10

Pull Aparts
Lots

15 min on the bike to loosen out my legs. Weight was 90.5kg this morning.

Light day today ahead of testing on Wednesday.

Back Squat
60 x8
75 x6
90 x4

Front Squat
60 x5

Bench
50 x8
62.5 x6
75 x4

Pull Ups
BW 3x3

25 mins in the sauna.

Testing...

Weighed 90.5kg this morning in clothes with food.

Bench
Bar x15
40 x7
60 x5
80 x3
90 x1
97.5 x1

107.5 x1 ... paused. 2.5kg PB
112.5 xF ... spotter lifted the bar way too far out, it nearly came down on my stomach...
112.5 x1 ... paused. 7.5kg PB. Arse lifted up off the bench but I don't care, I'm counting it.

Back Squat
Bar x10
40 x7
60 x5
80 x3
100 x1
120 x1
132.5 x1 ... I did 10x3 with this 6 days ago and I could barely do 1 rep today. I could tell there'd be no big PBs.

145 x1 ... 5kg PB. Horrible grind. Couldn't have done 1kg more.

Decided to drop back down and build up more slowly because that seems to work for me.

100 x3
110 x3
120 x3
130 x2
135 x1
140 x1
142.5 xF ... first time to ever fail a squat.

Front Squat
60 x5
80 x3
100 x1
110 x1
115 x1
120 xF ... another fail on my previous PB.

80 3x5 ... paused for 3 seconds at the bottom.

GHR
BW 10x10 ... was pissed off so took my anger out on my hamstrings.

Disappointing day really. At least I know my maxes now so I can build from here. My core is weak as hell. I've to move home from Dublin this weekend so I've to check if the shíte gym in my hometown has a squat rack. If not then that'll be a disaster... if it does then happy days and I'll start Smolov Jr. for front squat and OHP on Monday using 120kg and 72.5/75kg as my maxes.

Alf Veedersane

Bottom line: new PRs.

The one drawback to Smolov Jr is you get notions of setting big new PRs. I certainly felt like that going for it on the bench - started that with a 1RM of 67.5 andt he last week I was doing triples at that. Testing I got 70, went for 75 and failed and then failed at 72.5 So I'd a PR by 2.5kg. Most píssed off I've ever been. But that was because I'd had it in my head I'd get 80.

You've probably improved your technique a lot and that will stand to you in the long term.

RidleyRider

I think you could have organised yourself better to warm up for the lifts. I wouldn't count the front squat at all because look at the shear volume you did before hand.

Maybe it wasn't your day. I think that if you warmed up better you'd have had a better day but I saw you say you hadn't truly had a test day before but at least you know for next time!

I think frustration will get the better of you and you'll have another pop:P

Alf Veedersane

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Bottom line: new PRs.

The one drawback to Smolov Jr is you get notions of setting big new PRs. I certainly felt like that going for it on the bench - started that with a 1RM of 67.5 andt he last week I was doing triples at that. Testing I got 70, went for 75 and failed and then failed at 72.5 So I'd a PR by 2.5kg. Most píssed off I've ever been. But that was because I'd had it in my head I'd get 80.

You've probably improved your technique a lot and that will stand to you in the long term.

Yep, that's the important thing. I know what a good squat feels like now, and my form has become consistent. And a PB is a PB so can't really complain!

RidleyRider wrote: »

I think you could have organised yourself better to warm up for the lifts. I wouldn't count the front squat at all because look at the shear volume you did before hand.

Maybe it wasn't your day. I think that if you warmed up better you'd have had a better day but I saw you say you hadn't truly had a test day before but at least you know for next time!

I think frustration will get the better of you and you'll have another pop:P

You're right. My warm up wasn't brilliant. I was conflicted between my usual warm up, which seems to work for me, and what people had recommended (i.e. only a few warm up reps and get to singles as quickly as possible). In hindsight I should have kept to my usual structure... changing it on a day of testing was probably silly.

And nope, I won't be testing again! Plan is to run Smolov Jr for front squat from Monday, then I'm away for a week, then it'll be another run of it for back squat. After that I'll test again, so that'll be about 2 months away. Bit of a wait...

Alf Veedersane

If you're not doing back squats when you run Smolov Jr for front squats, make sure to get in some RDL and good mornings, for example, to keep on working your hamstrings as hip extensors because the front squat doesn't work them that much.

Turns out the gym at home isn't actually all that bad! There's a powerrack and oly barbell, at least. But I see they've just had this installed:



Outdoor astroturf with prowlers. That should be fun!

Back Squat
100 10x10

GHR
BW 10x10

Run
1.61km in 7:42 ... had intended to run 5k but called it quits at a mile because my left glute basically stopped working

Weighed in at 90.0kg for my platelet donation yesterday (compared to 94.2kg 8 weeks ago), and that was in clothes with food and a good bit of water. Can't stop losing weight despite eating 4200 to 4800 kcal daily. I guess I shouldn't really complain, because whatever I'm doing is the holy grail... I'm losing fat, getting stronger and eating as many calories as I like. Must write a PDF and become rich.

Alf Veedersane

gvn wrote: »

Back Squat
100kg x 10 x 10

That must've been fun.

Alf Veedersane

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

That must've been fun.

Wasn't too bad actually. I took a good bit of rest between sets (about three minutes) so it's nothing like as bad as it would be with GVT. The hardest part of it is mustering the mental determination. I find the mind quits sooner than the body.

Alf Veedersane

gvn wrote: »

Wasn't too bad actually. I took a good bit of rest between sets (about three minutes) so it's nothing like as bad as it would be with GVT. The hardest part of it is mustering the mental determination. I find the mind quits sooner than the body.

Ah. My most recent memory is of doing it in 26 minutes and I did not enjoy it.

You're right...it's very easy to give yourself a pass to not see out the 10 sets.

Alf Veedersane

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Ah. My most recent memory is of doing it in 26 minutes and I did not enjoy it.

You're right...it's very easy to give yourself a pass to not see out the 10 sets.

26 minutes? Sure that's practically cardio! Anyway, today...

Last day of my current gym membership before moving home tomorrow so I thought I might as well use it despite being in bits from yesterday. No real structure, just lots of messing around.

OHP
Lots of triples in the 60-65 range. Could barely manage a single at 67.5, just had no energy.

Push Press
Spent about 30 minutes playing with technique before it clicked. Worked up to a single at 82.5kg.

Pull Ups
+32.5kg x1 ... PR
+20kg x3 ... PR
+10kg x6 ... PR
BW x10

Was delighted with that given my back is in bits from yesterday. Pull ups have become considerably easier since I've shed 5/6kg!

Back Extensions
BW x10
+10kg x8
+15kg x8
+20kg x8
+25kg x8
+30kg x8

Face Pulls
5x10

Will post up the details of my next 3 week training block in a bit.

Plan from next Monday is to run an experiment... I'll be running Smolov Jr. concurrently for front squat and overhead press. Could be a stupid idea, could be great. Either way it should be interesting, at least... I've used 120kg for my max front squat and 75kg for my max OHP. Plans for both are as follows (for my own reference, really):

FS:


OHP:


Week 3 for OHP looks tough, so I might have to use fractional plates for a smaller incremental increase, but I'll see when I get there. Everything else looks grand.

Overall structure for the three weeks will be something like this:

Monday
OHP
FS
Bench
Pull Ups

Wednesday
OHP
FS
GM/RDL
Pull Ups ss/ Dips

Friday
OHP
FS
Pendlays (first week or two)

Saturday
OHP
FS
Back Squat
GM/RDL
Pull Ups

Everything other than FS and OHP isn't set in stone, so if I'm feeling good I'll do it, if not then it's no loss. I want to bench and back squat once a week to keep them fresh, but I won't go all too heavy, and I want to do pull ups at least twice a week. The extra volume will drop off in the third week. I know it's not well balanced: far too much pushing, not enough pulling, but I can't really factor more pulling in without potentially doing too much. I'll see how it feels as I go.

Day 1/12

OHP
55 6x6 ... was meant to be 52.5 but the gym has no 1.25kg plates so I'll have to improvise the next day

FS
85 6x6

Pull Ups
BW x5
+20kg vest 6x3
BW 3x8

YTWLs 2.5kg 5x10
Pull Aparts 10x10
Weird shoulder swing thing I saw Donny Shankle do

Ab Wheel Roll-outs
From knee 3x10

Didn't bench because my left shoulder has been feeling slightly iffy since Saturday. If it doesn't feel better after a few days I'll call this OHP exercise off.

I destroyed myself with Friday and Saturday's workouts. I've never been so fried, especially my lower back. Hopefully a few days of good food and good sleep will cure me.

Day 2/12

OHP
55 7x5

FS
90 7x5

RDL
100 x6
110 x6
120 x6

Pull Ups
BW 6x6

Rear Delt Flyes 5kg 3x12
YTWLs 2.5kg 3x10

Not sure what's wrong, but I'm not recovering. I'm eating north of 4000 clean kcal daily and getting a solid 8 or 9 hours sleep each night, so if my food is right and my sleep is right then my training must be wrong... I've trained 20 days (and squatted basically all of those days) from the past 34 or so, which might be a bit high for me as a mere mortal. I'll see how I feel Friday and Saturday, and if either day goes plop I'll take a few days off. Being sore constantly is no fun.

Day 3/12

OHP
60 8x4

FS
95 8x4

Pendlay Row
70 x5
75 x5
80 x5
85 x5
90 x5
95 x5

Alf Veedersane

How was the recovery?

Alf Veedersane

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

How was the recovery?

A good bit better! I seem to finally be climbing out of the drain that last Friday's 10x10 dropped me in to. Not looking forward to day 4 tomorrow morning at 9am, though... ~13 hours recovery doesn't sound too appealing. Just focusing on eating as much as I physically can now and getting 8 hours of sleep. I might regret tonight's Pendlay rows in the morning. On the plus side all of these front squats are working the hell out of my core, it's been constantly sore since Monday. Congrats on the FS PBs, by the way!

Alf Veedersane

You just needed a rest. You've done a lot of squattage lately and it probably just caught up on you.

Day 4/12

OHP
62.5 10x3

FS
102.5 10x3

BS
120 x3
130 x3

Got the gym closing time wrong (thought it was half 11, turns out it's 11) so I was left with only 30 minutes for FS and BS, including warming up. Got through it all okay with about 2 mins rest between sets. Kind of disappointed though because I wanted to do a good few more triples on the BS. Ah well, first week over with at least.

Day 5/12

OHP
55 6x6

FS
90 6x6

BS
100 x3
110 x3
120 x3
125 x3
130 x3
135 x3
140 x1

They all flew up fairly easily. The triple at 135 (which is a token reps PB) was probably the nicest triple of the lot—probably the most upright I've kept out of any set I've ever done. I was tempted to either try to double or triple 140, and/or go for 147.5 but I'll play it slowly... Patience.

Pull Ups
+20kg vest
5x4
Will aim for 3-4 sets of 5 next Monday.

Roll-Outs from Knee
3x10

Rear delt flyes 5kg 3x12 supersetted with 3x12 scap pull ups
YTWLs 2.5kg 3x10

Day 6/12

OHP
57.5 7x5

FS
95 7x5

RDL
60 x6
80 x6
100 x6
110 x6
120 x6
100 x8

Didn't get time to bench so I'll have to make time Saturday. Front squats were tougher than they should have been.

Day 7/12

OHP
62.5 8x4

FS
100 8x4

Pendlays
70 x5
75 x5
80 x5
85 x5
90 x5
95 x5