Dipthong

6 days of full-day seminaring coming up, so probably no gym until next Monday. Hoped to go out with a bang today, lots of volume, but it was just too hot. And smoky from nearby grassfire!

S: 5x5x140
P: 3x5x55, 1x4x55, 1x3x55
B: 1x1x75 (Was supposed to be 5x5, but... nup. Too tired and slippy bar from prodigious sweating.)
D: 1x5x120

Planning on riding most of the week except tomorrow, but not going to bother talking about that unless something particularly interesting happens.

Atonement

What better way to atone for a crappy session, than with 1RMs? There is none, absolutely correct!

So squats I was aiming for 180 - a 15kg PR. Well, actually, I amended that to 182.5, just because that would officially get me over the 400lb mark, for precisely as much as that matters!

So I worked my way up, singles at 140, 160, 170 before attempting 182.5kg. First attempt I rose maybe three inches out of the hole. Second attempt...

Better, if not exactly pretty. But I felt sure I could lift the weight, just had to control and stabilise. Not exactly minor issues, but I wasn't going to give in. But I took the 1.25kg plates off the end - even if just for the mental feeling that it was that tiny bit lighter (all of 1.4%!) and went at it again:

Again, not entirely pretty. But by Gads it went up, and produced a happy chappy at the end!

Bench... meh. 90kg again, felt heavy. Have to nail down my technique. Who cares, they're only chesticles!

Deadlift... goal here was 200kg, a 20kg PR. I'm nothing if not ambitious. Coming in to my final 'warmup' at 160kg, I thought 'unrealistic' as well. Went for double overhand, no chalk, no belt, and could hardly move it. Of course I'd had no rest, either. Switched to hook, got it above the knees but lost the grip. Ah well, continue on!

The next obvious step was to skip straight to my previous 1RM of 180kg. Belted up, chalked etc. got set... and it went up really fairly easily! I wasn't shocked - only 10kg more than my 5RM of a week ago. Still, it was pleasant.

So 190kg was the next cab to depart from the rank, only the first time, it didn't depart! Got it about an inch off the ground, just wouldn't come. I realised as I stood back up that I hadn't really done a valsalva - just a general sort of tightening. So I reapplied some chalk, got myself set, and ripped it up - felt damn good, nice speed, and locked it out solidly. Grip slipped a little on the left hand as I started setting it back down, and tore a little hole, a tiny speck of blood. I had been intending to leave it at that, partly because I was running a bit late, but the lure of 200kg was just too strong!

So I whacked a couple of 'half' plates to go with the 4 plates on each end, and took a quick breather. In the end, perhaps slightly too quick - but I couldn't hang around too long. I grabbed the bar, set myself, big breath, and pulled - damn solid. Sliding up the legs. Barely felt heavy (this may be a lie.) But then as I passed the knees, my left hand began to slip. I kept pulling... closer, closer... an inch or so from the top, just about to lock the knees out, and my left hand started giving way, and I had to take it back down so as not to completely drop it from the top (no bumpers, no platform!) Damnit! So close to a 200kg pull, but not quite any cigars on offer for this chappy. Just a ragged hole on my left thumb where the knurling had chewed away a bit of flesh as the bar slipped.

I wish I had video, but I someone was in the rack so I had to go elsewhere to dead, and there were no convenient camera-propping locations.

Still, quite pleased with the session - a total of 460kg - over 1000lb -  and a bit of work on my bench would bring that to 500kg pretty easily. And there's still a ways to go on my squat and dead, without question.

And we won't mention my lack of racing at SSS R5. I'll be back! Much stronger, hopefully leaner, and with some of my bike-handling skills returned...

Grass

Took the camera to the gym today to video my squats and deads. Sadly the memory card ran out of space before I actually got to the deads (though it faithfully recorded for a minute and a half while I walked back to the rack, put the belt on, chalked up and so on.) Aside from general form, I wanted to recalibrate my depth perception; I felt sure that I was getting down below parallel, but it's sensible to check every now and then when you don't have a coach to keep an eye on such things.

Yeah, I reckon I about managed to get down below parallel there.

Good session except for bench - I even asked for a spot so that I could push for the second at 90kg - and needed the spotter. Bit annoying, that. Perhaps a legacy of the fact that my coach never really focussed on bench and I've not hit upon better form since? Or perhaps just not my strongest point and I've never really focussed on it either. It's getting to the point though where it's almost an imbalance, and imbalances are bad, mkay?

S: 1x5x157.5
B: 1x1x90
D: 1x4x170, 1x1x170 (Did 5 reps, but just missed locking out the 5th, so paused, re-chalked, and did an extra rep and held it at the top for a few seconds.)

11 Tonnes

There's a reason they call this 'volume' day. Especially when you do more than you're supposed to do...

Squats at 137.5... hmm. They didn't feel too heavy, but my form wasn't quite dialled in. Again, it took until the third set or so before they really got in there. I think it's a matter of mental focus and engagement, rather than actual motor patterning, because I only do one set on 'heavy' day and I've been finding that usually, I can find the right form straight off - or at least, closer to it. I shouldn't need to go at it with full beast mode engaged at 88% of my 5RM. And to do so would be counter-productive; I'd probably burn out before rep 25. But clearly I need better focus.

Bench at 75... again, felt harder than they 'should' have, 83% of my 1RM. But bench is something that I've never perfected, form-wise, and I'm still working on it. So I'm not concerned, and I got through them. And of course it's the presses that I tend to skimp on volume-wise, because I haven't been doing the light day often enough. So hopefully improvement will continue...

Deads again, trying to get more volume in, partly for the mus-cles, mostly for form. It does feel like it's working, getting better at keeping my back flat and dragging the bar up the legs; not getting the shoulders too far in front is the main facet of that work.

And then I decided to do some rack pulls as a bit of grip work, since I feel that that's been lacking a bit lately, too. I couldn't quite remember how you were meant to do them, and started them too high, above the knees. The ROM was probably about right, but the starting position was quite poor. So I'll give these a bit more thought, investigate other ways of working on it. Needs to be something a bit more 'accessory'-ish, since 64% of 1RM for 25 reps is not going to do the job!

S: 5x5x137.5
B: 5x5x75
D: 5x5x115
Rack Pulls: 1x1x200

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Nothing very exciting today. Just a 'light' session, but it was good to actually get to the gym to do such a thing. It's easy for these to feel pointless, but it's a good way of working out any stiffness after volume day, and it's imperative for actually progressing my presses I suspect.

S: 2x5x115
B: 3x5x60
PC: 5x3x60
P: 1x1x60
BE: 3x10
CU: 1x2

Almost...

A day of... not quite. But in a good way.

TM Intensity, trying to get back just to expressing the strength that I have, in preparation for actually increasing it. Couldn't find my 1.25kg plates, so squat and deadlift were 2.5kg higher than planned. Got 4 reps on the squat, but the 4th was so ugly it didn't feel safe to do a 5th, so reracked. On to bench, worked up to 90, hoping for a double, but could just manage the one - and that, rather ugly and uneven. So forward to deads, and made it through, though it was a set of 3 and two singles, rather than a set of 5. No problems. In a run of good workouts, this would be disappointing; as a culmination of working back to where I should have been if I'd not been sick/injured/overly Christmassed, I'm happy with that, sets the stage for a good week.

S: 1x5x155
B: 1x1x90
DL: 1x3x165, 2x1x165

Back in the gym. Regularly. No, really. Stop laughing!

Was determined to get in a good workout today, without going too far given how ratty my lifting was over Christmas/New Years. Felt pretty good in the end.

S: 1x2x150, 3x5x135, 2x6x120
B: 5x5x70
DL: 1x5x120

Double felt fairly good - a bit of a struggle, but not excessively so, and form, while not perfect of course, was fairly solid. Aimed to do 5x5x135, but after the first 3 sets I'd run out of endurance in the sets, and the last couple of reps were not so good. So decided to drop back to 120 to preserve the form, upping the reps slightly to preserve the volume. Bench felt okay, though bar path was a bit wonky. Not surprising, and strength-wise it was okay.

Deadlift I was planning on doing 3x5 at whatever weight I could manage, but the volume got to me in the end. Even at just 120, with a hook grip, I couldn't hold on to the bar solidly. It was slipping as I got up past the knees, so I locked out each rep with the bar in my fingertips. Which wasn't a problem, but it was a clear sign that I'd had enough for the day. Which is probably good really, in giving me something to grease the groove without wearing me out, leaving something for Friday.

There goes the year...

So last day of the year, and back in the gym. Started off with squats, as you do, but had to abandon during the warmups as my knee was restricting me from getting full depth, and didn't want to push it. Did deadlifts instead, more volume than usual, to get some work in for the posterior chain. Also did bench, with a little too much weight - still tweaking the TM program, just had too much on the bar for the volume. Finished up with cleans, which mostly felt pretty good, only looped a few, which is pleasing given how infrequently I've been doing them.

D: 5x5x100
B: 3x5x77.5, 2x5x60
PC: 5x3x70

So it's the end of the year and, frankly, I'm not much stronger than I was at the start. But it's been a difficult year, and I've got a good programme laid out ahead of me which I feel I can stick to pretty well. Just have to keep a balance with the rest of life!

TM Light

So I decided in the end to go with the Texas Method. For the moment, more or less 'straight', but that will probably change. The main reason was that the weights are getting too heavy for my inconsistency; having to reset or struggle through a couple of weeks if I miss a week is just too hard - and much, much slower than the starting strength linear progression is meant to be anyway.

Doing TM, it feels easier (over this period at least) to be more consistent and if I do miss a day here or there, there are more variables to manipulate (and, of course, potentially fuck up) to keep moving on. Obviously that's to be avoided as much as possible, but... well, it doesn't take much reading back through this log to note what my training can be like...

S: 2x5x105
B: 3x5x67.5
Back Extensions (Hypers): 3x10

Should've done chins too, but ran out of time. And the back extensions are unusual enough for my body that a more gentle introduction to 'accessory' work is probably not a bad idea... not meant to be sore or tired after the light day, after all...

1RM

Today was the first time I've ever gone in to the gym with the specific intention of working up to 1RMs in the 'big three' lifts - squat, bench and deadlift. Partly this was because of the time out of the gym, and the lower weights on Monday, so as to feel heavier weights before returning to 3x5s next Monday. Partly it was because of racing on Sunday, to keep the volume lower. Though it now looks as though I might not be able to race anyway - family stuff, which is a bugger. And partly it was... well, just wanting to get some decent and specific PRs. Because sometimes, that's nice.

Squats I set my sights just above the 1RM of a few weeks ago. I thought about shooting for the 170 again, but decided to stick with 165 as the target, and to go for 170 if it felt really good. So I worked up to that, got the 165, but decided against attempting 170 - 165 had felt very heavy, but I didn't really grind or get stuck. Just a little bit. I thought though that 170 might take a bit too much out of me with deadlifts to follow, so I opted not to. If I was just doing squats, I would have done it, and I think I probably would have gotten it.

Bench I wasn't really sure - I figured probably 85, but I've not really done much benching lately, and mostly it's been 5x5 at lower weights. But I aimed for that, comfortable that it wouldn't be nearly so taxing to 'overextend' a little if I felt I could. And I did - 85 was fairly easy, and then 90 was slower, but still smooth. I was wondering whether or not to ask someone for a spot at 95, but there was noone around that I knew, and I wasn't too concerned about leaving one in the tank. Again, I think I could have got the 95, but not certain enough to try without a spotter.

So on to dead, and I was feeling pretty pleased with my efforts. After the last time I deadlifted, I wanted to make sure that I had better form and kept the back solid. I had the camera with me (which is also how I can be certain that my squats were deep!) and it told a disappointing story - back rounding, and not keeping the bar back against the legs. Obviously I knew this, but seeing it on video is not so pleasant! Just the same, I worked up to 180 and felt pretty good with it - I could have tried more, but my grip was failing on the last rep at 180, and I didn't think I'd lock it out. That, and my thumbs were feeling rather stripped and compressed! Going back to workset weights though, I'm really going to have to focus on keeping the bar back and the back tight, shoulders not too far forward. Hopefully I won't need to drop the weight back, but if I have to, I have to. Don't want to fuck around with that!

So a 'total' of 435kg, or 957 pounds - just a little shy of 1000 pounds. Nice to set a total, and something to aim for next time I give it a go - perhaps in the week before the February round of SSS. I reckon I'll get it that time!

Routine?

Yeah, well, anyway. You know me. Semester's finished now, and it's only minor distractions like Christmas coming up, should be plain sailing from here...

S: 5x5x122.5
P: 5x5x50
PC: 5x4x60
B: 5x5x65

Back to routine

Well, I hope.

S: 3x5x145
B: 5x5x65
DL: 1x5x157.5

Sensible

Two days out from racing (though my pre-entry hasn't been recorded yet... perhaps I shouldn't have said anything about not 'targeting' the SSS this year?) is an excellent time to go to the gym, no? Especially after not having been for just over a week (after having said that I wasn't 'tapering' because it'd mean I wouldn't get to the gym. But still, had I not gone today, it'd have ended up being 2 weeks...)

So squats were a bit tough. Especially the first workset, because my technique just wasn't dialled in well. I got them all up, but they weren't pretty, and no two reps were the same! Next 2 sets were much better, but endurance wasn't so good - 5th rep in the 2nd set I lost my hamstring tension, knees slid forward, and I really had to battle it back up. But it got there, and the third set was pretty good - still really tough though.

Because I'm sensible, and because I was so rooted, I did powercleans instead of deadlifts. They actually felt pretty good, timing on the jump was on, and I was brushing my thigh on the way up. Good-o!

S: 3x5x142.5
B: 3x5x72.5
PC: 3x4x67.5

Benzine

S: 3x5x135
B: 5x5x65
PC: 3x4x65
P: 1x1x65

Circus McGurkus

So it turns out that doing a 'circus' at your daughter's school at drop-off time, which essentially means 20 minutes of hang-cleaning and pressing 25-35kg children is not, in fact, a good warmup for going to the gym. Squats at 130 felt like 230, and by the time I got to the deadlift, I was done. Perhaps not surprising, considering that my deltoids were still burning by the time I'd travelled the hour between school and gym. Oddly enough, benchpress was the easiest thing I did all day...

S: 3x5x130
B: 3x5x70
DL: 1x1x152.5

Five by

Back in the gym - it's amazing how quickly missing one session and then a taper turns in to two weeks off!

Anyway, decided to do 5x5 for the first time, at 80% of what would have been my squat workset, so I was lifting 105kg. And, I must say, it was easy. Okay, 105kgs is not heavy, but despite only taking 3-4 minutes at most between sets, I didn't experience much in the way of cumulative fatigue, which was nice. I suspect I might feel it a bit more tomorrow!

Of course, being me, I then got a bit carried away - did 5x5 on bench as well, except this time at 100% of the scheduled workset. Oh well, I actually think it mightn't be a bad idea to do a bit more volume work for bench and press anyway, see how my body reacts to it.

And then I did a full deadlift workset, which was nice. Actually, my form wasn't great - back kept rounding. Not a lot, but enough. Still, got 5 up at 150kg without many problems. Probably should just have stayed at 125, but oh well, can't be helped!

Oh, and Tuesday, got two PBs on the biggest hills on my commute (one each way) so that was nice. May have had something to do with not wearing a 5kg backpack.

23 July

File this one under interesting interaction, unsolicited advice. A guy who I think is the owner or manager of the gym came up to me today, talking about my squat form - after my first warmup set with just the bar. This set I do super-slow and often hold at the bottom for a few seconds, just for general warming/stretching/balancing purposes. So anyway he comes up, starts chatting a little, and tells me that I need to be looking up - not at the ceiling, but at the far (~50m away) intersection of the wall and warehouse roofline. So we have a discussion about keeping a neutral neck, he suggests that my balance is too much on my toes and that that's because of looking forward/down as I do. So I take that on board, and because I'm a nice chap (and it's still an unloaded bar) I do my next warmup set looking more upwards. And the balance does actually feel slightly better, and I can feel it more in my quads than my hamstrings.

But of course that's not where I want to feel it, and a loaded bar (even at my current workset weights) balances vastly differently than an empty one. So I don't change for my worksets, and though he's wandering around still, he only briefly comes up a little later to ask if I tried it, and almost ruefully (but genuinely) comments "Still want to do it your way, that's fine!"

And it is.

S: 102.5 (Starting with the belt already for worksets, helps me to remember to do my valsalva properly more than anything else at this weight)
B: 57.5
D: 125

Plus an extra powerclean (I do these, by the way, partly to shake my legs out slightly, partly to remember how to do them, and mainly so as to get the bar back up on the rack to take off the last plates, as it's easier that way.)

Proper PC worksets start back again on Thursday.

16 July

Back to school tomorrow, back to riding up silly little hills. Hopefully it won't get in the way of training too much.

S: 95
B: 55
D:115

Still going

Highlight of the day was someone asking to work in with me, saying they remembered me from a couple of months ago and how he couldn't believe how strong I was. I helped him with his squat form, which was a weird combination of high and low bar techniques. Nice feeling for the day.

S: 85
B: 50
D: 105

Grundle

So back to... well, not heavy singles (not that they're actually that heavy anyway) but doubles by and large. 147.5 squat, 60 press, 60 clean (yes, I agree it's kinda ridiculous that I'm cleaning the same as my press, but that's technique and lack of practice for you) for 4, double at 75 on the bench and a full set of 5 at 160 on the deadlift - I did a double at 150, felt good, so decided to do a full set of them, just to get full value from the day! As you do.