Hi you’re my new best friend. 
Addendum to yesterday’s workout:
I don’t normally talk about my non-lifting workouts. I do/teach Krav Maga 3-4 days a week. It’s my second-favorite form of cardio. I also do the occasional CrossFit workout because a) I love them, b) they’ve good for metabolic conditioning, and c) I love them.
So yesterday I lifted at 7 am, took a Krav Maga class at 6 pm, did CrossFit at 7 pm, and taught Krav Maga at 8 pm. Today is a Rest Day.
As part of the CrossFit workout, I did a total of:
34 power cleans @ 55 lbs
38 modified hand-stand push-ups
42 deadlifts @ 95 lbs
46 modified pull-ups
45 burpees, which can bite me
The power cleans were supposed to be squat cleans, but my front squats are terrible. Like, I was having trouble with 55 lbs while I can backsquat 130 lbs. The point of the workout was to keep moving (hence the low weights), so I modified.
I’m wondering if I should add front squats to my training. I’m inclined not to, but mostly because I hate them.
Down the track, absolutely. I don’t know of a better deadlift builder. Now, not sure. They are very good at building upper and middle back strength, which is never a bad thing and will most probably help everything.
Today’s workout:
Squats: 5x5 @ 130 lbs
Bench: 5x5 @ 85 lbs
Row: 3x5 @ 70 lbs, 2x5 @ 80 lbs
Still sore from Monday, especially my traps. Oh good god between the handstand push-ups and the pull-ups, my lats, traps, and rhomboids are just tired. Still, squats felt good. Heavy, but good. You can see the heart rate peaks in the beginning on my workout that correspond to eat set of squats.
NAILED the bench. It was hard, my 5th rep on each set was pretty slow and on the 5th set I almost went to failure. So I’m going to stay at this weight and just reduce my rest time between sets until I feel more solid. I may increase weight if my spotting buddy is there on the right morning.
Was running out of time, so I dropped weight on the rows for the first 3 sets.
Tonight is another Krav Maga night. Two hours of training and 1 hour of teaching. I teach tomorrow too, but otherwise it will be a rest day.
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Today’s workout:
Squats: 5x5 @ 135 lbs
OHP: 5x5 @ 60 lbs
Deadlift: 5 @ 135 lbs
WHAAAAAT!??!? 5x5 with one plate? Who’s feeling like an adorable little badass this morning? Me, that’s who. Stayed at 60 lbs for the OHP and was able to put them up quickly (for the most part) and had only 90 seconds rest between sets. Time to move up to 65 lbs. Deadlifts felt good, I should move up to 145 lbs next time.
I had wanted to get some videos of each of these lifts for a form check, but there’s nowhere to really put my phone and I am too shy to ask someone to film me.
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Today’s workout:
Squat: 3/4/5 @ 135 lbs
Bench: 3x5 @ 85 lbs
Rows: skipped
Rough weekend. Rough morning. Tried to get my head in the game it was just not happening.
Actual conversation in my head: “Ok Jay, come on, get on this, just down and up, you’ve done this before, you can totally do this, down and… oh hey what are you going to do about dad falling off the wagon and drinking again?”
Trying to re-set my brain. Teaching Krav Maga tonight and kicking people in the groin always makes me feel better. Wednesday’s lifting session is going to be epic.
Today’s workout:
Recumbent bike for 20 minutes.
My plan for today was to do the barbell rows I missed yesterday, do some light squats, and then do the bike for a bit. My babysitter cancelled last night so I never made it to Krav Maga so I never got my groin kick therapy that I so desperately needed. But a mom plans and children laugh. My morning started out with 2 crying 5 year olds and a shattered highball glass (unrelated). It was pretty late by the time I got to the gym, so the bike it was.
Still planning on an epic lifting session tomorrow.
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Today’s workout:
Squats: 3x5 @ 135 lbs
OHP: 4/3/3 @ 65 lbs
Deadlift: 5 @ 145 lbs
Squats felt solid. It was amazing. I warmed up a bit more slowly today than I did on Monday - I made sure I did a few reps at 125 lbs to remind myself that yes, I actually can lift that weight, instead of jumping from 115 to 135. I definitely have a mental thing going on with the 45-lb plate. The “big boy” plates scare me still.
OHPs can bite me. I know I needed to move up, that this is how we get better, but I will side-eye those things all day long.
DL felt great. Going to stick at 145 lbs for a bit, but it feels super solid.
I need to stop stepping on the GD scale. Every time I’m feeling really good and I’m like “I HAVE to have lost weight” I’m actually up in lbs. Observe this photo essay called “f the scale”:
I realize it’s not the same exact outfit, but I think I look smaller in the second one. I think these pictures are about 2 weeks apart.
So progress is going very slowly, but I’m ok with it. I’m increasing weight in my lifts and I’m feeling good(ish) about how I look.
But seriously, f the scale.
I used to be afraid of missing a lift, until one day I got stuck at the bottom of a 305lbs squat and I gladly dumped that crap onto the safety bars without hesitation lol.
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Yeah ignore the scale for day to day weigh-ins, a number of different factors can cause weight fluctions, not just fat or muscle gain. My wife weighs herself every day and all it does is make her miserable when she feels that she should be lighter than yesterday but the scale tells a different story. Alarm bells should be ringing however if your weight is trending in the wrong direction over a longer period of time. To me your waist looks a little smaller in the 172 pictures so even though you are heavier you have probably still lost some fat. Also with progress photos I try not to take them too often, I’d usually go for every 8-12 weeks, I found myself agonising over them to try and spot the smallest changes when I was taking them more often.
I weigh in about once a week, but I never really know if it happens to be a daily flux or a trend.
I thought so too. So I’m overall pretty happy, but man the numbers on the scale can do a number on your head.
You’ve gotten smaller but heavier. There isn’t really a better combination. You’re doing well.
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Today’s workout:
Squats: 5/3/5 @ 135 lbs
Bench: 4/5/5 @ 85 lbs
Rows: 3x5 @ 70 lbs
I was totally beat today. Fridays are always a rough lifting day. Yesterday I had a particularly intense cardio and shoulder-heavy Krav Maga class and I am probably still recovering. I know my right shoulder was pissed off during my first bench set so I didn’t push it for the last rep. Also someone came up behind me to spot me for squats during my second set and it screwed with my focus. While I appreciate the sentiment, suddenly having a man standing over me is jarring.
I’m thinking about tinkering with my programming. It all comes down to goals.
Like if my ultimate goal was weight loss… I’d count calories and do tons of cardio. I’ve done that before.
If my ultimate goal was lifting… I’d be eating more and resting more.
But right now my focus is Krav Maga. I am training for my instructor certification and I am willing to miss lifts every once in a while because I’m tired from hard Krav training. I love lifting and I love seeing my progress, but maybe I need to re-adjust my lifting schedule to be complimentary to my Krav training. This would mean making my workouts more metabolic (lower weight, higher reps). I want to train for endurance but not lose strength and muscle.
I have never ever done this on my own, but here’s my logic:
5x5 @ 135 lbs = total volume of 3375 lbs. 5x7 @ 95 lbs = 3325 lbs. 5x9 @ 75 lbs = 3375 lbs.
Are these truly all equivalent?
If I drop to the 5x9 scheme and just move faster and take less time between sets, would that maintain the strength I’ve gained so far?
If it were me I’d continue with the 5x5 if I was still getting rapid strength improvements.
I’ve found that my top end strength does drop off if I stay too far below my training max for too long. I’ve had best results maintaining my strength while trying to lose fat when I cycle my rep ranges and adjust the weight accordingly so that I don’t keep out of touch with the heavier weights for too long.
There are a number of ways you could cycle the weights and rep/set scheme, in blocks for example where you do 3 weeks of 4 x 6 then another 3 weeks of 3 x 10-12 reps then another 3 weeks of 2 x 25. You could vary the rep ranges throughout the week and do 3 full body workouts and each one is dedicated to a different rep scheme. You could even vary them through a single session where you have 20 minutes dedicated to strength, 20 to size and 10 for endurance/conditioning. The numbers suggested are just an example I’m not a trainer I’m just speaking from personal experience and have tried all of these approaches in the past. I’d definitely have done things differently when I started training if I knew then what I know now. There are a lot of articles on T Nation that go in to detail about the various training parameters you can use to support your goal, be it strength, size or endurance. I have also seen articles regarding training for MMA which may also support your Krav Maga. An article I really liked regarding training parameters was this CT one:
Information overload! There are so many different patterns I want to try. I DID notice that for the 5x5 its says to alternate heavy days (80-85%) and lighter days (75%). I’ve been doing only heavy days.
Thanks so much for the article/advice! I think I’m going to play around with it and see what works best.
Nooooooo… no size. I’m plenty hefty.
You’re most welcome. It’s always a good idea to try out different approaches as in the end the benefits of each approach complement each other.
Training for size won’t make you hefty. I can promise that, especially as you’re dieting. It has a number of other benefits. It will be easier on your joints when you need to back off a bit and it strengthens your tendons and ligaments which will allow you to lift more weight in the long run, it even helps to burn a lot of fat even after you’ve finished your training session. I’ve also read that training in the bodybuilding rep ranges helps to alter your body fat set point. I’m not sure if the concept of a body fat set point is mumbo jumbo but it’s supposed to be the level of fat that your body tends to go to when you’re eating your maintenance level of calories. So training for size isn’t the only reason to use body building rep ranges.
So if I’m going to be futzing with my programming I need a way to record it, plan it, etc. I googled “workout log” or something like that and came across this page:
Women. Are. Crazy.
I mean, I’m a woman, and yeah I am crazy in general, but this is insane.
So how do all of you track your workouts? I assume the training logs on these forums aren’t your only spot.
Excel spreadsheet for yearly planning, which gets updated as I go. Day to a page A4 diary for day to day.
Today’s workout:
Squats: 5x5 @ 135 lbs
OHP: 5x4 @ 65 lbs
Deadlift: 2/3 @ 135 lbs, 5 @ 145 lbs
Squats felt good. I had to talk to myself a lot, but I got it done.
OHP I decided to only do 4 reps per set after not being able to get the 5th on my first set. Figured I wouldn’t kill myself to get 5 in, just keep doing 4 until I’m ready to move up to 5. I don’t want to go back down to 60 lbs - it’s a crutch.
God I love deadlifts. What a way to kick Monday in the teeth.
I think part of my success on the squats this morning has to do with the fact that a) I got plenty of sleep over the weekend, and b) I ate big (for me) yesterday. Dim sum for brunch and BBQ for dinner. I may have to plan out my weekly training schedule to take food into account. Mondays, lift heavy, and then do accessory and metabolic work during the week? My boyfriend actually has 20+ years of workout/lifting/personal training experience so I may ask for his help with programming. He doesn’t offer unsolicited advice, which is one of the things I love about him, but I feel like I’ve hit a wall with the 5x5.
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