Lava2007 Training Log

lava2007 · October 15, 2018, 9:05pm

15 October 2018 - PAIN FREE SQUATS Bodyweight: 216.2lbs

Warmup: side planks, soft tissue glutes, hip stretches, band clams

Beltless Back Squats 45x10, 135x10, 225x8, 275x5, 315x3, 315x5, 275x10
Back Squats w/ Belt 315x5, 335x3, 355x3, 315x5
Good Mornings 135x10, 135x10, 155x12 (beltless, beltless, belted)
10 second/breath breathing pause squats 5x1 225lbs
OHP 135x1, 155x1, 165x1, 175x1, 185x1 (PR)

Notes
Fun session today. I feel horrible for not sticking to 10x3, but I’m just having fun squatting with no pain. My hip flexor was a little tight, but that’s all. Overall today was fun. Good mornings were easyyyy money and I think I probably could’ve squatted 375-385x3 if I wanted to, but there’s no point in doing that. I’m just happy to be able to get under the bar and stand back up again and not suffer in pain because of it.

Also: PR in OHP today. A measly 5lbs, but a PR nonetheless. And a weight that I had been dying to get for a loooong time. I tried 195lbs after this, but it got stuck at my forehead. No worries. I seem to run out of gas pretty quickly at higher intensities.

So right now the plan is to cut religiously until Thanksgiving. I’ll be working a lot, with minimal opportunities to drink and sabotage myself. I’d like to see a morning weight below 210lbs by the time I’m done. Once Thanksgiving comes, it’s bulk season. By then I hope to have my hip flexor pain completely eradicated so I’ll hopefully be able to squat and deadlift regularly. I think the combination of squatting and doing good mornings regularly will preserve most of what I have on the deadlift. I do need to start working on some form of grip strength for the virtual meet we’re doing.

@losthog thank you for organizing that meet. I’m really looking forward to it and it helps give some purpose to my training and I already feel motivated by it. I’m really hoping for some PRs from everybody during that month. Thank you buddy

mortdk · October 16, 2018, 7:53am

Hell yeah pain free is were we want to be.
Awesome to read Lava.
Now don’t you go nuts on squats and DL ya hear. It’ll bite you in the ass if you do. Nice and easy does it.
Nice OHP PR congrats, and it looked solid too. Until I read you tried 195 I would have said there were more in you.
200 by the end of year that’s a nice round figure.

Frank_C · October 16, 2018, 1:55pm

Easier said than done.

lava2007 · October 16, 2018, 9:19pm

16 October 2018 - Bench Bodyweight: 215.0lbs
Pause Bench 45x10, 95x10, 135x8, 185x5, 225x5, 245x1, 265x1, 285x1 (2-3 RIR)
Pause DB Bench 30x10, 45x10, 65x10, 75x10
Skull Crushers 2x12 85lbs

Notes
Just wanted to test myself and see where I’m at with the pause. I think I’m going to start SGSS on Thursday, but continue to diet for the first 4-6 weeks of it. Thanksgiving will be my halfway point (literally to the day), so bulk season will start when I get halfway through SGSS.

I feel great man, thank you. @Frank_C said that SGSS starts off relatively easy so I figure that’ll be a good way to 1) prepare for our virtual meet, and 2) ease into squats and deadlifts in a controlled fashion.

I was really hoping to get more than a 5lb PR, but a PR is a PR. 185 felt SUPER easy compared to any other PR I’ve gotten within the last year, but 195 just got stuck at my forehead. I probably could’ve used a little more lumbar extension, but I’m totally okay with 5lbs on OHP because OHP is always going to be a long-term grind. The next goal is 100kg for OHP… that would be awesome (and probably bodyweight).

Definitely. I think I went a little overboard yesterday with squats, but they were feeling so good for the first time in such a long time that I just had to do it. Hopefully SGSS satisfies my desire to squat and keeps me at a level that I won’t get hurt at.

Got 2 midterms tomorrow and one on Thursday. 2 for anatomy & physiology, 1 for world religions. I’m fighting hard to keep my B right now, so I just need to study hard for the rest of the night and then get some good rest tonight. I’ll check in on everyone else’s logs later tonight. Gotta study, peace

Frank_C · October 16, 2018, 10:25pm

I had good luck by starting light, increasing weight by 10 lbs each week and 20 lbs from phase to phase.

I wanted to hit 365 on squat in week 12 so I used that and worked backwards from there. I went light on deadlift and finished at 465 with a 495 max/PR. I went on to hit 500 in week 12 (because 465 was smooth as butter) and then 545 the week after with a true deadlift bar.

I felt like my deadlift workouts were easier but I still had great results. Long story short - don’t be afraid to take it easy and be conservative.

lava2007 · October 17, 2018, 1:55pm

I plan on starting pretty light like you did and how you’re suggesting. Do you think a 90% training max is sufficiently conservative?

Frank_C · October 17, 2018, 2:17pm

The program calls for 70% for week one. Would starting at 70% of your Wendler max be light enough? Do the math and see where that puts you on week 12.

losthog · October 17, 2018, 2:55pm

Depends on where you are with the recovery ability. Honestly with the recent issues you have been having starting with a lower tm and letting the plan build you as you go may be more beneficial in the long term and reduce risk if reinjury.

The longer I do this and the heavier the weights get the more benefit i see in working in that 60-70% zone. While I was weaker I could get away with higher intensity and more volume because I wasn’t doing as much muscular or soft tissue destruction. The gains were due to cns adaptation. Now something is different and recovery of both systems is requiring more discipline. So I’m thinking I’m pushing the muscular and support systems more and I need more time in each “zone” of weights before moving ahead. Especially because of my age.

mortdk · October 17, 2018, 5:26pm

You could try a week with 10 reps first workout 3 sets second 5 sets.
Or just try to use 70% or a little less the first week then add for the second week, when you come to the third week comes around you’ve become familiar with the program. If you start to light the first week well then you can up it a bit more on the second.
What I’m trying to say don’t overthink it, just do it. Tweak the weight along the road.

Voxel · October 18, 2018, 3:58am

@lava2007 I’m a little late to the party but try to go conservative with your training max even if it seems boring. I did Look like a Bodybuilder, Perform like an Athlete for a while which has you training far away from the nerve and I

Progressed at a decent speed
Had the energy to work on my weaknesses inbetween sets
Could recover well between every session (daily sessions, sessions repeat every other day)
Could do other activities as well (more rock climbing etcetera)

Try it at least for one cycle, you might love it or hate it but cycles are short so you can switch back to a higher training max later if that’s something you need to do to stay motivated.

lava2007 · October 20, 2018, 6:54pm

@Voxel @Frank_C @mortdk @losthog
Thank all you guys for suggestions. I did one workout (my “first” SGSS) on Thursday. It was short, but good. I agree with the general consensus here, which is that I should probably start lighter than the program calls for.

My first lift (Thursday Oct 18) was at 72% for both lifts. I was short on time and decided that squat and bench were my two favorites, and the two I want to improve at the most.

Back Squat 3x8 285lbs (120sec)
Paused Bench 3x8 215lbs (120sec)

It was as satisfying as I hoped it would be. It feels good to be training for strength again. I won’t count this as my first SGSS workout. I wrote my whole 12 weeks out on Wednesday and Thursday, and it looks very good. I’m excited.

I worked all day yesterday and I’m about to go work from 2-12:30, so no lift yesterday or today. Depending on what time I get up (I’m usually trashed after 9-10 hours on my feet), I will start it tomorrow with lighter weights. My bench is fine, since I haven’t had any upper body injuries in years. I think 285lbs was a good weight for squats, but I may decrease it to 265lbs and do sets of 10 reps.

I don’t have time to get around to your guys’ logs today but I’ll be all over it tomorrow. Thanks again for the input and advice

Frank_C · October 20, 2018, 9:11pm

What was the RPE for the squats? 8? 6? I think a good place to start would be a weight you could do for 12, but still do 8’s. If you only struggle in phase four (5/4/3/2/1 reps) then you probably did it right. If you’re struggling every workout then I think you’ll hit a wall.

Don’t forget that you get to do 5 x 8 on four leg exercises. Squats might feel easy but you have a lot of volume after that. Let this have a cumulative effect. I vote for starting at 265.

lava2007 · October 21, 2018, 4:55am

For the first set, probably 5-6. 275-295 is usually on the heavier side of my warmup spectrum, so my first set I felt like I probably could’ve done a lot more than I needed to. To the point where I don’t think I could accurately estimate my RIR. My LAST set however was 3-4 RIR.

You and hog make good points though. It’ll definitely benefit me in several ways to start lighter and add a few weeks on to the beginning like mort did. I’ll rewrite my stuff (or just add some weeks onto the front end) as soon as I’m done here. Thanks Chief

mortdk · October 21, 2018, 7:05am

You could do as I did have a 10-12 rep week before with lighter weights to dial in the weights.
But start light do a weeks work, think about the last sets of every exercise the last (5 set day), then think how would those sets feel with the added weight 1 or 2 weeks later.
The first week is easy the second should be harder and the last week of that reprange should probably feel hard but not like 0 RIR.
Go have fun with it, those weeks of 8 on lower body is really a lot of work.

Frank_C · October 21, 2018, 1:22pm

I just remembered something that I didn’t discover until phase four. @mortdk, this could help you, too.

You finish week 9 with 5 x 3. You use that same weight for your set of 3 in week 10. So if you hit 200 for 5 x 3 then week 10 week be

? x 5
? x 4
200 x 3
? x 2
? x 1

The reason I put question marks for the rest is because it’s up to you to determine the increments. I did 20 lbs on squat, 30 lbs on Deadlift, and I 10 lbs on bench.

10 lb increments drained too much energy on deadlifts, but bigger jumps mean bigger weights on the final sets.

If you feel like the weights are too light on any given exercise then phase 4 is where you can push it. Bigger jumps means bigger singles at the end. It can be fun if you get it right. It can crush you don’t.

lava2007 · October 21, 2018, 8:56pm

I was having a little trouble deciding what I wanted to do with this. I ended up doing 10lbs for upper body and 15lbs for lower body.

I’ve decided that I’m going to do 12s for one week (2 sessions) for squat (255lbs) and deadlift (285lbs) with no belt. Week 2 for those will be 265lbs and 295lbs, respectively, also with no belt. One of the things I need to work on is my grip strength, so starting light should give me a fighting chance to do that. I’m not going to use straps and I’ll go double overhand as long as I can.

I’m already feeling that with bench. 3x8 today for upper body day 1 was a grind, but only because I’ve been vastly under eating over the last 48 hours or so. After my Thursday workout, I realized that CT wasn’t fuckin’ around when he said that SGSS needs to be done on a caloric surplus. There’s no way I can diet to week 6 and still be progressing and hitting all my reps.

liftangryordie500 · October 21, 2018, 9:36pm

God, that shit was hard to quit. But we did it. Cheers mate.

lava2007 · October 21, 2018, 10:10pm

21 October 2018 - Upper Body Day 1, Week 1 Bodyweight: 212.6lbs

Warmup: Soft tissue glutes/hips, band clams x40, side planks 45sec

Pause Bench 3x8 215lbs (Last Set RPE 8)
OHP 3x8 135lbs (LSRPE 9)
Barbell Rows 3x8 185lbs (LSRPE 5-6)
Close Grip Bench 3x8 185lbs (LSRPE 5-6)
Face Pulls 3x20 + 3x10 decline sit ups

Notes
My under eating the last few days clearly played a role in how I felt today. I had my lightest morning weight in about 3 weeks at 212.6lbs. I’ve been consistently weighing in around 215-216lbs every morning. RPEs were a little harder today than they were on Thursday for bench, even though I did the same weight and reps. I’m not worried about it though, because I’ll be able to get back on my normal eating schedule tonight and throughout the rest of the week.

Like I said in the previous post, I’m putting 2 extra weeks on the front end for squat and deadlift. Gonna work on grip strength and beltless squats. I’ll do oblique core work on leg days and medial abs on upper body days. Some days I might do both because extra core work is always good.

This is the RPE scale that I’m referring to from here on out. Seems to be accurate from what I’ve seen before.

So, squats 5x12 255lbs and deadlifts 5x12 285lbs tomorrow. I don’t think I fully understand how to deadlift conventional, so any tips for that would be fantastic. I’d like to start that, because I feel like I’d be able to deadlift more conventionally than I can with sumo. Sumo is nice, but the form doesn’t have to be great to lift a lot of weight. I think I have a higher ceiling for conventional (I pulled 445 conventional before I hurt myself in May) and my sumo max is only 30lbs higher. That was before I had started focusing on hamstrings very much, which I think (?) would help with conventional. I don’t know… LMK of any tips you guys have. I know @Frank_C and @losthog both pull conventional for sure, so I’m lookin at you guys hahaha

lava2007 · October 21, 2018, 10:20pm

It was difficult to get to the point where I said “I actually don’t need this anymore.” Once it was gone, it was more or less smooth sailing. The first 4-7 days were tough because it’s very habitual. On my way to school, after a big meal, and while I was studying were all times when I would just rip it without even thinking. So it was weird to make the adjustment but I’m happy that I’m done. It was fucking up my wallet and definitely my lungs

losthog · October 21, 2018, 10:43pm

My adductors are so weak I can’t sumo