Jakob Kopfeld

Hello I am Jakob, I recently changed my name, which used to be substix. After a while of being a ranger and training in rangery things I discovered that my favourite thing to do is lifting weigths. So I decided to join the noble ranks of the warriors. To keep this short and sweet, here's my goals: Number 1, Lift heavy hsit I'm doing SS as stipulated by mark rippetoe. I've been doing it for 5 workouts now, going to the gym 3 times a week. Progress so far has been good, and I hope to keep it at linear progression. Actual numbers to follow! +3STR +2STA Number 2, eat healthy I'll eat 100% Paleo for the next 6 weeks. I'm gonna allow whole milk as something as I've stayed away from before. I am also going to allow one single non-paleo meal a week for special occasions (like eating with at my parents') I'm not going to count calories, but I'll generally try to eat about 500cal deficit on rest days, and about as much as I require to maintain on workout days. +1CON +2CHA Number 3, do it right For my third goal I want to tape myself doing squats, deadlifts, overhead presses and power cleans, and get some advice on how to do them properly, aswell as Improve on my form. Therefore I shall tape myself at least 3 times and actively work on improving my form. +2CON +1DEX Lifegoal My lifegoal is split into two. The last two lifegoals I had in my challenges were: Quit smoking and Take important exams for my academic studies. I managed to quit smoking, but I did not manage to keep it that way, so I'm going to work on that again. Currently 1 week without cigarettes. The maths exames I completely failed, but there is another chance in 2 weeks, I am prepared to do it, and I'll give it my best. Want to get a B at least +2WIS +1CON +1STA Thanks for reading! Cheers, and good Luck

Thanks a lot! Very kind of you If I manage to hit every rep I should be able to get to 100x5 just in time for the bet. Definately pushing hard for this one. Lots of pride on the line here! I wanted to use the Failing grade as extra motivation so I at least do really (like REALLY) well on the one exam I'm taking (analysis/calculus). But you're right I learned a lot here, and I am proud of that. Thank you very much!

I feel your pain after starting out doing Overhead Presses for the first time this week. I desperately need a good stretch for trapeziuses. Lightning always comes before the thunder because light is faster than sound. If it was the first electric discharge of that particular thudnerstorm no headphones wouldn't have changed anything looking forward to your grading an general words of wisdom!

Very well done! Completely beat me for grade average! And almost got straigth As. You're doing really awesome! I hope you can keep it up for the next challenge, looking forward to reading your new goals!

Hello LeeAnn Sorry for not checking in for a while, I was crazy busy aswell! Your Challenge seems to have gone quite well! Except for the food goal (Where you were kinda harsh in gradin yourself as it seems to me). Practice makes perfect, and with a little bit more practise your eating habits will become perfect aswell! Just keep at it

Congrats on 2 As! I hope you med work on the second cycle! And that you can get back into exercising rather easily after your surgery!

End of Challenge summary: IAMSTRONG I hit 5x100kg on deadlifts last monday, so this is a solid A right here, giving me an A, +4STR Not much to say here, I followed linear progression, hit all my planned reps and sets and as expacted had an easy time Lifting 100kg 5 times. Sidegoal: Squat is currently at 60x5x3, I didn't really focus on in improving this, and considering the deload I did last week, the only way I'm gonna be at 100x5 by next wednesday is if I increase my Squat by 10kg every workout from now till the fifth. Which might be doable, I'll certainly try my best. IAMBALANCED 'Twas Friday, the last of my scheduled workouts for my thirds challenge and my Handstands were getting worse and worse after an exhausting workout which I mostly spent learning to do the Power Clean, as well as getting used to OHP. I already had done 7 attempts at handstanding, and usually I only do 3-5 after working out cause I get tired and the freestanding time goes down linear. Not in that day though. After hitting 8 seconds on the 6th attempt I just wanted to get to 10 once more. So I stayed at the gym for another half hour (and 11 more handstands for a grand total of 17) Until I finally, somehow, someway hit 11 seconds handstands. Not only a PR for me, but also a justification to give myself an A for this goal! A, +2DEX +1STR IAMALEAFONTHEWIND I totally did this. I participated in the 5k obstacle race (around 40minute) and ran the whole course without stopping. It was great (albeit cold and wet) experience, which has given me a new perspective to all the TM plans I had going on. I'm still a little bit sore in some parts of my body (mainly legs) 2 days and 1 strength workout afterwards. But thats just part of the game. A, +2CON +2STA IAMSMART! As it turns out I'm not as smart as I'd like to be yet. I didn't take any of the 3 exams I wanted to, and I am currently only preparing for one of the 3 ramaining this semster. I'm sad to say this, but this is a solid Fail, no way or words around it, from how I phrased the goal to what happened in between (even though I occupied myself with the material for quite some time during the challenge, and I really enjoyed it) I got no excuses here. F - nothing. I am a lazy bum and need to try harder the next time. Ain't nothing in this world for free.

Another Update: I spontaiously decided to do deload week on my squat to give my knee some more time to get better. Had to figure out how to do goblet squats since I haven't done that before. Took 3 sets to figure out how to hold the DB correctly It's working really well though, I think it's back to normal already. Still deloading on Friday just to be safe Handstands are still stomewhat troubling but I think I'll be able to crush another 10s easily on friday. Still have to actually log a 5k run, gonna do this tomorrow probably. Hope you have a good time! I'm doing well

With 1 Day delay, still a modnay update: IAMSTRONG Officially completed with an A grade! Did 5 Repetitions of 100kg, first three went really smooth, had a bit of a form issue on nr 4, did the fifth bu the book again. Felt really awesome! IAMBALANCED Wish the same would apply to handstands. I usually manage one 7-8seconds handstand every training session now, but I really want to crack the 10s once again. My main problem is that I get curious about time, so I shift my head, which makes me fall over 9 tims out of 10. The time keeping is developing to be quite the issue here :/ IAMALEAFONTHEWIND So I can run 5k (already did, probably) but haven't timed/measured it out yet. That part will come on the next rainy nioght I encouter. In the meantime my obstacle race is comer colser every day and I'm reallly looking forward to it! DATMATHGOAL Yeah so, I didn't take the exams. F, no excuses, no discussion. I studied a lot though, which is what I am immensly proud of. And! More importantly I'm actually enjoying my study time. Which hasn't happened in a long time, and gives me a good feeling for my academic future!

I did. Turns out he went out of his way to be as unhelpful as possible. That's just the relationship we have though. I just picked the one from his delivery site that sounded like it had the least chemistry crap in it. Also went for neutral flavour to keep it clean! Thanks for your advice tough! Appreaciate it a lot

When it comes to physical health better safe than sorry! The exam story is a bit longer: at first I though 3 would be easy as deadlifting 60k but turns out for one there's no script, only a 400 page book that I really can't afford right now. The 2 math exams had scripts and I thought to myself get the script, work it through, study some previous exams, pass easily. So I randomly chose one, which turned out to be double the amount of work of the other and I didn't even manage to work through it once despite all the time I put in (In all honesty that was about 75% of my maximum study effort). So I'm taking them at the next possible date which is mid june. This protein thing really seems to be way more work than I anticipated. When I get some time I'll definately do some reasearch on this.

w00t's gone mainstream ever since it's word-of-the-year award in ' 07. Although technically that's been long enough for it to be brought back. I liked their earlier stuff though. Before they came popular. congrats on picking a job kev!

Today at the gym: It was 8x4 day, and I was squatting, feeling good, when suddenly on the 7th rep of the 4th set (squatting 60kg) my knee made this freakishly uncomfortable cracking sound. I immediately reracked the bar and started to test range of motion. There was no pain, but more cracking when I moved it. I've had this before, I like to call it a minor hiccup, but just to be safe I didn't do my Deadlifts after that. Cracking is gone by now, as it usually does after a while. No reason for concern really, but I'm a little agitated that I couldn't finish my workout. rest of my goals are progressing fine. Handstands still somewhat of a loose end. Didn't take the math exams I was aiming to do, so lifegoal kinda failed.

The reason I want to get some protein shake stuff is that I have a really hard time getting my bodyweigth in g protein a day at the moment, even with eating eggs and meat every day. That and my brother has offered to pay because he had such great success. I try to be 100% paleo. At the moment I'm not, but starting next week it's gonna be priority one again. So ideally it would have to be 100% protein. Which I'm guessing is impossible, so whatever is closest to that with the least other stuff added is what I'm gunning for. Taste is irrelevant to me. As this is a thing I am doing out of neccessity, as long as it doesn't make me retch, I'm gonna drink it and enjoy it aswell. The blending a shake thing sounds like a good way to make it taste better, but in the end, once it is down the hatch, the taste is gone anyway. Thanks a lot for your advice, I'll look into it and find the one suited for me! Taste is really rather unimportant in this for me. Since it's basically water with the good stuff I'll just drin it. While holding my nose closed if necessary. But I've drank my fair share of disgusting liquids in my time, so no worries there. I'm more looking into a protein supplement as opposed to a whole meal supplement. I usually have time to get some cooking done in the evening. And I always got something frozen. Any sort of sugar/carbs/anything other than protein really, would make it a no-go for me. Has the food industry not managed to produce pure raw protein yet? Doesn't seem too difficult from an amateurs perspective. Thanks a lot for the advice! I'll keep it in mind when I make a decision. You've been really helpful!

Building habits (and getting rid of bad ones aswell) takes time! At some point you will be able to resist, until you can refues entirely. In the meantime get right back on the horse and finish strong!

I agree, there is a certain serenity to a tidily organized set of complete data. It's kind of like a different dimension of existence where a clear set of rules exists and every bit has it's assigned place. It is neat, clean and structured. Almost Ideal. Like math - only with more practical real world appliances. Pretty graphs is what happens when the amount of data becomes to big to extrapolate information from in a reasonable amount of time. They have their place, but it can be overdone aswell.

Another thing: I started thinking about starting to take some supplements for improved muscle growth. Proteins in particular is what I'm interested in. Do you have any experience or advise on that topic? I'd really appreciate all the opinions and tips I could get! my questions are: Should I buy? What brand? What to look for if buying? Does takeing supplements really make a difference? What is the best way to ingest said protein? and most importantly How does a protein supplement affect the gastro-internal tract of an average human?

Thank you very much! I hope to greatly increase that value by the time the next meet comes around Thanks a lot! I Hope to crush them with more than 1 rep rather soon! Bench should happen within the fortnight. Thanks a lot! I'm really looking forward to the next meet. My goal? Single digits positioning in the big 3 as well as overall! And breaking 150 on the DL. Getting stronger is definately priority nr1! Thanks! I was hoping for a bit higher max values, but with a realisitic viewpoint of where I am in training and what I managed to lift, I'd say my numbers were very much within reasonable amounts. So since my updates here have reached a bit of a irregular interval, I'm gonna stop numbering and just get on with it. First of all I'm insanely busy studying. This is my third attempt at university and I really want to make it count. Therefore I'm investing as much time as possible into my studies. Secondly: Growing up is really not that fun. I rarely have time to just sit back and relax anymore. Which is good because I guess that is how you get placed in life. You know? Work hard and all that? At least it makes the few times I get to just sit down and have a beer with friends all the more special. on to my goals: IAMSTRONG I am strong indeed. Following my strong PR on friday, I went to the gym Monday, and casually increased my DL working weigth by the scheduled 5kg for 5 solid repetitions of 95kg. Monday I'm hitting 100, I'm definately prepared and ready to cross this goal off my list. Sensing an A in my future right here. IAMBALANCED While still beeing balanced I've only managed to get some 6-8 second attempts at free standing handstands since the on 10s I miracolously managed in week3. I'm kinda worried that I will not hit another 10s one friday or next week. Still gonna put everything I got into this. I want an A here aswell. IAMALEAFONTHEWIND So this week I learned that I am indeed capable of running 30minutes nonstop, up/downhill even (the incline/declines are small, but nonetheless, uphill is uphill) All the training I put into it made it a little bit less of a surprise for me, but I was really glad I managed to do it so easily. Haven't really measured distance in a long time, but I'm supremely confident 5k will be easily achieved. Gonna get on a treadmill sometime in the next few days and test that out. Obstacle race is next weeking, really looking forward to it. ILOVEMESOMEMATHS I do. I really do. Math is wonderful. But I won't be able to take the exams tomorrow, there was not enough time to prepare. So I shall instead do it in June. Which is awesome as well. Not sure about grading here yet. I really did put in my time like a wellbehaved swotter. Still gonna think about this Thank's for the kind words and congratulations. Last week is a-comeing. I'm gonna buckle up and give 100% this next week. I want me some As. And I will get them or die trying (in the figurative way that is;))

Great that your surgery went well! I wish you all the best and a swift recovery I'm sure you'll have an easy time picking the right job for you! If it was my choice I'd go with the shorter commute just because time is the closest thing we as humans have to a limiting factor in life. Therefor less time lost just going from a to b, the more time you have for... well everything else This only makes sense if I exclude all other factors that are important in this decision (like work environment, future opportunities, salary, etc) though.

There's this site that lets you restrict your connection to only a few research relevant websites and blocks all social media etc. I believe you could certainly benefit from that. Now if only I could remember the name of that. helpmestudy.com or makemeproductive.org or something like that.

Looks like you're still going strong! Keep up the awesome Are you ready for a strong finish in week 6?

In my (limited) personal experience I have a way better time adhearing to a strict restriction of what I can eat. Way easier for me than to switch between indulging and being strict all the time. Thats just my though, whats best for you is whatever works for you! Have you made a decision yet whether you want to delve deaper into the visual basics book? Awesome that your pants now fit! How's the finger? I read a lot of DBs instead of KBs. Whats up with that?

A little story of my friday workout at the gym: Took me a little under 2 hours to get my 3 attempts at 1RM for bench, squat and deadlift. After I was done with that I did some chin ups as well as handstands, to cool down and round off the workout. Bench went well. I opened my first attempt with 60k (my current 5rm, pr) that was done almost effortless. Next attempt was 65k. Now the bar path wasn't so much straight here, more wobbly I'd call it. But down and up again it went. On the third I decided to go for 70kg (which is nearly my BW) but my spotter had to help for the last third of the lift. Next time I'm gonna crush it though Squat was even better than Bench. I opened with a solid 70k (old PR + 5kg), went AtG and exploded up like it was only a BW Squat. Well not really, but it felt that way. Short break, on to the next set, 80k. I figured I might aswell go +10 cause of how much confidence I had from the easy 70. Absolutely crushed 80. Seriously that one seemed even easier than the 70. Blood was running, heart pumping, testosterone maxed out. This may partly be due useing some bad memories from the day before to get some rage going aswell. Anyway, 8 minutes later I started thinking about the third attempt and if I should go +10 again. So I did! I have to admit, on the third lift with 90kg it was a battle, but I prevailed in the end. Clean Squat, all the way down once, back up with all my strength. Was an awesome feeling. So yea, 90kg is my new PR on the Squat! Then came the Deadlift. I spent the whole of thursday talking to my friends about how I was gonna go for a giant leap with my DL PR (then 100kg), so I casually opened up with 100k for some confidence. Ligth as a feather, I was thinking about doing another rep right then, but I decided against it to conserve my resources. I thought what the hell, lets go big in the second attempt, so I loaded +10 on each side for a total of 120k. Some epic Viking metal pumping in my ears I tried to get into the rage zone where I was with my squats again. But somewhere It went awry. When I started pulling I noticed how 120kg is a f!@#ton of weigth, and when I got the bar up to my knees, it refused to move any further. I threw everything I had into it, but to no avail. After some time just struggling to get it higher, my fingers gave in and I dropped the bar. So second attempt missed, I deloaded the bar to 110kg, and after some recovery time, I went for it, got the testosterone going again, pulled with everything I had in me. I hit the attempt, clean as could be. But really really pushing myself to the limit. By the time I got my legs straigthened my vision started to get blurry. No, not blurry, whatever it is that comes before blurry. The point beeing I think I found my 1RM here. After that lift I had to rest for a couple minutes before I even could deload the bar. Felt more exhausted, and better than ever before! Was a great workout! I really enjoyed testing my limits and pushing myself to the max. I can't wait for the next Lifting Meeting, I heard they were quarterly. I'm gonna work hard and crush soul the next time! Walked out with a huge smile and 3 new PRs on the Big 3 as well!

Thank you! Very kind If only I had the same kind of success in every aspect of my life.

Wednesday and friday workouts were awesome! Still par for the course on deadlifts and running. Handstands are improving as well, I'm confident that I'll make 10s in time for the challenge. Mathstudygoal is going decen as well. I'm really really busy at the moment so there's little time to post/read here.