Q- 1/17/11

bench:
45 x5, 95 x5, 115 x5, 135 x3
150 x4
145 x5
145 x5

deadlift:
135 x5, 185 x5, 225 x5, 275 x3
315 x3
315 x3
315 x3

pullups:
10 x3

Chris - 7/8

TM - Recovery
Squat:
Warmup: 45x5; 95x5; 135x4; 185x3
215x5; 215x5

Military Press:
Warmup: 45x5; 55x4; 70x3; 85x2
97x3; 97x3; 97x3

Pullups:
+0x4; +10x2; +20x5; +20x5; +20x6

No noticeable pain in lower back. Looks like Saturday stays intensity day and not "think about intensity" day.

Chris - 7/1

TM - Recovery
Squat:
Warmup: 45x5; 95x5; 135x4; 175x3
210x5; 210x5

Military Press:
Warmup: 45x5; 65x4; 80x3
95x3; 95x3; 95x3

Pullups:
+0x3; +10x3; +20x5; +20x5; +20x5

All easy...

Chris - 6/24

TM - Recovery
Squat (unbelted):
Warmup: 45x5; 95x5; 135x4; 185x3
210x5; 210x5

Military Press:
Warmup: 45x5; 65x5; 85x5
90x3; 90x3; 90x3

Pullups:
+0x9; +0x9; +0x10

Easy. Still feeling thrashed, though.

Chris - 6/17

TM - Recovery
Squat (unbelted):
Warmup - 45x5; 95x5; 135x4; 185x3
205x5; 205x5

Military Press:
Warmup - 45x5; 57x5; 72x5
87x3; 87x3; 87x3

Pullups:
+0x9; +0x9; +0x10

All pretty easy. Also I missed being able to play my own music over the speakers... sole benefit of lifting in a dorm gym, I guess.

Chris - 6/3

DELOAD WHEEE

Squat (unbelted):
Warmup: 45x5; 95x5; 135x5; 175x4; 215x3
240x5
280x5
320x5
Oof. Doable, though.

Military Press:
Warmup: 45x5; 50x5; 65x4
72x5
92x5
112x5
Doable.

Bent-over Rows:
Warmup: 45x5; 65x5; 95x5
125x5
157x5
187x5
No comment.

Pullups:
+0x8
+0x8
No comment.

Part one of my goodbye to SS.

I think the various flavors of SS (Rank novice, advanced novice, etc) are pretty aggressive, more so than I can handle at the moment; I've certainly been trying to bump up the weights and make the lifts, but they're just not happening. So I think my best option is Texas Method, and to see where routine weekly advancement takes me.

A plan will come with my next post or perhaps edited into this one, depending on when I get around to reading the relevant bit of Practical Programming.

Chris - 5/29

Squat (unbelted):
Warmup: 45x5; 95x5; 135x5; 160x5; 200x4; 240x3
280x5; 280x5; 280x5
Pseudo-heavy, as I wasn't very awake coming into the gym.

Military Press:
Warmup: 45x5; 50x5; 70x4; 90x3
110x5; 110x3; 110x5
Cleaned weight on first rep before pressing.

Bent-Over Rows:
Warmup: 45x5; 65x5; 95x5; 125x4; 155x3
185x5; 185x5; 185x5
No comment.

Pullups:
+0x8; +0x8
No comment.

Chris - 5/23 and 5/26

5/23:
Squat:
255x5; 275x5; 275x5
Felt way harder than they should have.

Bench:
135x5; 140x5; 145x5
No comment.

Deadlift:
335x5
Felt way harder than it should have.

Dips:
+0x10; +0x10
No comment.


5/26:
Felt terrible before I even touched the weight. Screwed around.

Front Squat because I haven't done these ever:
45x5; 95x5; 135x5; 155x5; 175x3
Lower back started feeling VERY iffy.

Back Squat:
225x3; 225x3; 225x3
No comment.

Military Press:
Warmup: 45x5; 50x5; 70x5;
90x5; 100x5; 100x5
Felt absurdly difficult...

Bent-Over Rows:
Warmup: 45x5; 95x4; 120x3; 145x2
170x5; 170x5; 170x5
No comment.

Pullups:
Warmup: +0x6
+20x5; +20x5; +20x4
No comment.

Something went very wrong after finals. I'm not quite sure what it is. Lower back is complaining a bit, but it always tends to do that after any decently heavy session. I'm tempted to take it easy for this week and then reevaluate my plan (i.e. milk Starting Strength for all it's worth).

Chris - 5/18

Squat (unbelted):
Warmup: 135x5; 185x4; 225x3
255x5; 275x5; 295x5
Felt absurdly hard.

Military Press:
Warmup: 45x5; 50x4; 70x3; 90x2
110x3; 110x3; 110x3; 110x3; 110x4
Again, felt really difficult.

Bent-over Rows:
Warmup: 45x5; 95x5; 120x4; 140x3; 160x2
182x5; 162x5; 162x5
Dropped down after realizing I wasn't quite ready to lift today.

Pullups:
+0x7; +0x6; +0x6

Pretty bad overall, but I think it should pass because I have no more finals to worry about.

Chris - 5/13

Squat (unbelted):
Warmup: 135x5; 185x4; 225x3
260x5; 260x5; 260x5
No comment.

Military Press:
Warmup: 45x5; 50x4; 70x3; 90x2
110x4; 110x5; 110x5; 110x3
-Cleaning the weight then pressing seems to be easier on me.
-Failed my first set hilariously by tipping over backwards as I pushed, bailing when I hit approximately 45 degrees of bend.

ONWARDS

Bent-over Rows:
Warmup: 45x5; 95x5; 120x4; 140x3; 160x2
180x5; 180x5; 180x5
No comment.

Pullups:
+5x5; +10x5; +15x5; +20x4; +20x4
SO WEAK

Chris - 4/27 and 5/1

4/27:
Squat (unbelted):
245x5; 245x5; 245x5

Bench Press:
Warmup: 45x5; 75x5; 95x4; 115x3; 135x2
155x5; 160x5; 165x3; 165x1
Still failing. I lose my arch very easily even across this tiny 5lb jump.

Deadlift:
Warmup: 135x5; 185x5; 235x4; 275x2; 315x1
355x2; 355x2
I almost did a 5th rep but it was rounded and I didn't lock out.

Dips:
Warmup: +0x6; +25x4
+47.5x5; +47.5x5
No comment.

Pullups:
+0x5; +0x5; +0x5; +0x5

Shanker thinks my upper back might be weak. Hmm.


5/1:
Squat (belted):
Warmup: 135x5; 185x4; 225x3; 265x2
310x5; 310x5; 310x5
I used Frank's belt. Still hard, but at least I got through it.

Military Press:
Warmup: 45x5; 70x4; 90x3
110x4; 110x4; 110x4; 110x3
Getting closer. Still not reaching 5, though.

Bent-over Rows:
Warmup: 45x5; 95x5; 125x4; 155x3
180x4; 180x5; 180x4
Retrying next time.

Pullups:
+0x8; +0x8; +0x8
My shoulder got tweaked and pullups were less painful than chinups so I did these instead.

I think it's about time I get a belt... with Frank's belt (a small), I use the 4th loosest hole, whereas with Shanker's (a medium), I'm at about the third tightest hole. I'm not sure if my waist can get smaller, but then again I'm not sure if it'll get much bigger either.

In addition, I think I've very much hit a sticking point across all of my lifts (at least, while I'm unbelted...) I wonder if I should introduce some variety in my routine.

Eric: 4-06-10

Weight is 182 lbs.

Back Squat: 3x5x185 @ 7

Press: 3x5x154 @ 10

Pull Up: 3x5x25 @ 10

Abs: 3x10x40
decline bench

Eric: 3-26-10

Weight is 182 lbs.

Front Squat: 3x5x195 @ 8, 8, 8
Changed form to feet and knees pointed forward. Heels come off floor when try to go all the way down.

Press: 3x5x145 @ 10, 9, 9
Slow bar movement at the end, but didn't feel hard.

Pull ups: 3x10xBW @ 9

Decline Crunches: 3x10x35

Eric: 3-18-10

Weight is 180 lbs.

Front Squat: 3x5x175 @ 8

Press: 3x5x140 @ 9

Pull ups: 3x8xBW @ 8

Ab Roller: 3x15
knees

Eric: 3-11-10

Weight is 177 lbs.

Squat:
5x205@8
5x205@8
3x205@8
too much yelling ">.<"
5x205@9
need more flexible some not at depth.

Press: 3x5x125@8/9

Pull ups: 3x7xBW@9

Ab Roller: 5x10
knees

Front Squat:
with and without bar for stretch

Gordon: 10/20 + 10/22

Weight is now 170, I really am not eating enough -.-

10/20/09 Light
Squat: 3x3@225
Press: 3x4@157 (slow, couldn't get 5th rep)
Pull up: 3x10@bw
Ab roller: 4x11 from knees

10/22/09 ME
Squat: 1@315, belted for rest of sets; 1@355; 1@385; 1@405 (SLOW, at parallel, PR+30)

Squat max singles day, to see how well this cycle of Texas Method is going. 355 felt ok, with a slight pause/good morning coming up. 385 felt surprisingly heavy on my back, I went too deep into the hole, and wobbled a bit coming up. Rene and Robert said I almost fell backwards, apparently my toes came up. I didn't go so deep on 405, but the bar paused for a sec out of the hole, and I had to get mad at it to stand up. My previous squat pr was 375, on 8/8, so I think I'll keep doing 5x5 squats for a while, since it helped me get to 4 plates ^_^ A real leather belt may also help.

Nathan : 9/8 & 9/9

▼ 1. 9/9/09 - Wed - BENCH

Time: 2:00. Weight: 222 (after dinner). Happy that I did not lose weight on vacation.

  First day doing a full RTS-style template. It is my first day back in the gym after going to the ER with heart palpitations, so I decided to keep things light. This will continue until next Monday, when I will wear a 24-hr heart monitor to make sure that nothing funny is happening during workouts.

  Saw general practitioner and cardiologist today (same-day referral, awesome). Diagnosis is supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). This is a non-life-threatening condition where my heart rate suddenly increases or starts acting funny, in my case during exercise. It is apparently caused by a "short-circuit" in the nerves that control the heart muscle. There are treatment options available, but since my case is fairly mild, the side effects or potential side effects of those treatments are worse than the condition itself. So unless things change, the plan is to just deal with it.

  Also, since my "attacks" last only a couple minutes at worst, drugs that break the tachycardia are useless. I was shown a couple things to try that can possibly help by inducing reflexes that drop the heart rate. To help with prevention, I will do a semi-long warm-up (for me, at least) and make sure to stay very well hydrated. Ultimately, this is the diagnosis I was hoping for and there is really no way that it isn't good news.

  It was a big relief to be back in the gym. Nothing worrying happened at any point in the workout, and it was cool to see how concerned many of the people were.

  With all of that out of the way, it was a fairly easy workout except for the stupid stuff at the end. We'll see if RTS gives me results. I didn't exactly follow recommendations for RPE in RTS because I am keeping things light for the short term.

• Warm-up bike x 10 mins

• 2-sec pause bench 45x10x3, 135x5x2, 185x5x2, 205x5x5 @ 8

This is my main raw movement. A regular-grip bench press with a 2-second pause counted out by the spotter. Will move up weight on these.

• Close-grip bench 135x5, 185x3, 225x3x6 @ 8

Raw assistance movement with full ROM. I was surprised at how easy this was, but it felt a little awkward after not doing any close-grip presses for over a year.

• Dumbell military press 50x8,8,8,7

I can't believe how terrible I am at overhead pressing after the long lay-off. 50 was supposed to be a warm-up. I was sitting up without any support from a bench and my stabilizers were firing like crazy. That still doesn't explain how terrible this was, though.

• Pull-ups BWx8,8,6,5

Also disappointing.

▼ 2. 9/8/09 - Tue - CARDIO

• Bike 30 mins

• Flexibility - soleus, gastroc, adductor on leg press, hamstrings, hip flexors, seated groin

Not stretching for a week makes me really inflexible.

Gordon: 8/20 - Light day

Light day for recovery:

Squat: 2x5@225 (medium)
Press: 3x5@150 (medium slow)
Pull up: 6,8,8,8@bw

Legs/hip were very sore today, probably from the squats last session. Even 225 felt heavy today for squats. Presses and pull ups felt ok today though. After consulting with Danny, I think I'll add more horizontal pulling (bb rows, seated rows) somewhere, since right now I don't do anything for back other than deads and pull ups.

Shanker: GVT Cycle 5 Chest/Back Workout 2

Warmup:
Jog 1/2 mile
Chest Jumping Jacks (arms in front going into a fly motion) 32

Working Sets:
Decline Dumbbell Press 70x9x9; 70x8
Weighted Pullups (Goal BW+25x9x10) BW+25x9x5; BW+25x6; BW+25x7; BW+25x8; BW+25x9; BW+25x3
These were total crap, however the goal was to exhaust my upper back completely, so mission accomplished I guess.
Incline DB Pec Flies 40x12x3
Wide Grip Cable Rows 140x12x3
Stationary Horizontal Wood Chop 60x40
Ab Roller BWx16x2

Gordon: 8/6 - Light day

Low volume, low intensity day.

Squat: 5@185; 5@225 (fast)
Bench: 5,3,3@175 (medium) need to keep arch between reps
Pull ups: 10@bw; 2x5@bw+15 (slow)

Left knee was hurting after 5x5 squats 2 days ago, but somehow the light squats today helped and it feels much better now.

Left shoulder still a little sore after bench, I'll ice + ibuprofen it. I also tried this thing where I let my spotter take most of the weight on lift off, and I just pull the bar forward, instead of pushing most of the weight up myself. I think it helps keep my traps/shoulders on the bench at the start.