GoldenTongue

Training Log for 08/31/2022: Squat: 295 x 3, 340 x 3, 385 x 3 Trap Bar Farmer's Carry: 300 lbs (with straps) x 5 intervals x 60s/interval with 120s rest between each It felt good doing that to meet one of my goals for the month, although having to use straps feels a bit like cheating, lol. But I feel like doing the carries in my squat/deadlift shoes may have been a mistake; my feet have been in pretty constant pain for most of last night and this morning.

Training Log for 08/30/2022: Squat: 345 x 3, 385 x 3, 430 x 1 OHP: 105 x 3 x 5, 105 x 5 x10 Deadlift: 275 x 3 x 5, 250 x 5 x 10

Training Log for 08/29/2022: Squat: 295 x 3, 340 x 3, 385 x 3 Face Pulls: 100 x 5 x 10 (with 3s iso hold at end of each concentric) Lat Pulldown: 140 x 5 x 10 Shrugs: 270 x 5 x 10

Training Log for 08/28/2022: Squat: 275 x 5, 315 x 5, 355 x 10, 225 x 5 x 10 Bench Press: 160 x 3 x 5, 135 x 5 x10

Training Log for 08/27/2022: Squats: 275 x 5, 315 x 5, 355 x 10, 225 x 5 x 10 Bench Press (Deload): 160 x 3 x 5, 135 x 5 x10 Glute Ham Raises: 0. Oof, how humbling. I'd thought that I should be including these in my programming to address what I suspect is a notable strength imbalance in my legs, Will definitely be looking for a good progression program to work up to being able to do these. A few controlled eccentrics had my hamstrings feeling like they were on fire. KB Swings Round 1: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval Total KB Swings for the day: 330 Total KB Swings for the month: 10,245

Training Log for 08/26/2022: Squats: 325 x 3, 365 x 3, 410 x 1 OHP: 145 x 4, 165 x 3, 185 x 3, 95 x 10/10/10/10/9 (ran out of gas for the final set, which felt strange, being unable to lock out a 95 lb press, lol). Barbell Bent-Over Row: 185 x 5, 205 x 3, 230 x 5, 135 x 5 x 10 Training Log for 08/27/2022: Nothing, beyond remaining pretty physically active throughout the day, first getting ready for a party, and then during the party.

Weekly Weigh-In: 274.8 (Down 3.1 lbs from last week, and down 3.1 lbs overall for the month). Despite a scare from what I thought would be a back strain, it's been a good week of training. I realized yesterday that in terms of absolute strength, I am probably stronger now than I have ever been in the past; this week is the first time I'd done a 5RM of 250 for bench, and a first for 430x5 on the squat. Hoping to see something similar from today's OHP session.

Training Log for 08/25/2022: Squat: 345 x 5, 385 x 3, 430 x 5, 225 x 5 x 10 Bench Press: 200 x 5, 225 x 3, 250 x 5, 135 x 5 x10 KB Swings Round 1: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval Total KB Swings for the day: 330 Total KB Swings for the month: 9915

Training Log for 08/24/2022: KB Swings Round 1: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval KB Swings Round 2: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval Total KB Swings for the day: 660 Total KB Swings for the month: 9585

Training Log for 08/23/2022: Squat: 320 x 2 x 5, 320 x 1 x 4 (Felt a twinge/spasm in my back on the 4th rep, reracked and didn't try for a 5th) OHP: 140 x 5, 155 x 3, 175 x 6, 95 x 5 x 10 Deadlift: 335 x 1, 380 x 1, 425 x 0 (couldn't complete the pull, urgh), 225 x 2 x 10. Back was feeling iffy so I didn't try to complete a full 5 x 10.

Training Log for 08/22/2022: Face Pulls: 100 lbs x 5 x 10 Cable Biceps Curl (4040 Tempo): 60 lbs x 5 x 10 KB Swings Round 1: 61 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval KB Swings Round 2: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval Total KB Swings for the day: 660 Total KB Swings for the month: 8925

I’m going to try doing them at a minor deficit. I’m still well over 25% body fat, so the hope is that by closely controlling my macros and timing of when I get my carbs (within two hours of training, etc.), that I can work the programming without an excessive buildup of fatigue, although I can see the possibility of having to adjust the working percentages of the 5x10 downward for squats and deadlifts; my Bench and OHP are lagging sufficiently that the percentages aren’t at all taxing unless I really slow down the movement and emphasize the eccentric.

So, heading into the final week of the month, I'm hopeful that cutting out the DL challenge from last Friday (which, looking back, really was a huge volume of work each week) will let me see some solid improvements on my main lifts so I can look back and say that I met the lifting goals, or came close. Weight loss goal, virtual certainty that I'll miss that, but oh well. I have a feeling that the physical/tape measure measurements will show some progress which is just as validating, and after this week, I have a nice deload week in which to get ready for a shift in my programming (which I've actually started to an extent, adding 5x10 to my main lifts for additional volume at sub-maximal levels). Special thanks to @ParylPanda for continuing support and for listening to my gripes and frustrations throughout the week.

Training Log for 08/21/2022: Squat: 320 x 5, 365 x 3, 410 x 5, 225 x 5 x 10 - W00t, first time doing a working set of 400+ lbs for squats in I don't know how long. I probably had another 1-2 in me, but didn't want to burn out since I was planning on doing 5 x10 of 225 afterward. Bench: 185 x 5, 210 x 3, 235 x 8, 135 x 5 x 10. KB Swings Round 1: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval Total KB Swings for the day: 330 Total KB Swings for the month: 8265

Training Log for 08/20/2022: KB Swings Round 1: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval Total KB Swings for the day: 330 Total KB Swings for the month: 7935

Training Log for 08/19/2022: OHP: 140 x 3, 155 x 3, 175 x 5, 155 x 3, 140 x 3, 95 x 5 x10 Barbell Bent-Over Row: 170 x 3, 195 x 3, 220 x 7, 195 x 3, 170 x 3, 135 x 5 10

Training Log for 08/18/2022: Squat: 315 x 3, 350 x 3, 395 x 7, 350 x 3, 315 x 8 Bench: 195 x 3, 220 x 3, 250 x 3, 220 x 3, 195 x 10 KB Swings Round 1: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval KB Swings Round 2: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval Total KB Swings for the day: 660 Total KB Swings for the month: 7605

Training Log for 08/17/2022: KB Swings Round 1: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval KB Swings Round 2: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval Total KB Swings for the day: 660 Total KB Swings for the month: 6945

Training Log for 08/16/2022: Squat: 315 x 3 x 5 OHP: 130 x 3, 145 x 3, 165 x 7, 145 x 3, 130 x 10 Deadlift: 320 x 3, 365 x 3, 415 x 0, 365 x 3, 320 x 5 KB Swings Round 1: 71 lbs x 15 Intervals x 21 Swings/Interval: Felt really rough, going to back down to the 60# bells in the gym. KB Swings Round 2: 70 lbs x 15 Intervals x 21 Swings/Interval: Felt very rough, back to 60# for the PowerBlock weights I go. Total KB Swings for the day: 630 Total KB Swings for the month: 6295

Training Log for 08/15/2022: KB Swings Round 1: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval Total KB Swings for the day: 330 Total KB Swings for the month: 5665

Wow. Didn't realize that it had been a full week since my last update. Last week was pretty discouraging, on the whole. I completely missed on a top end set of deadlifts (could barely get the weight off the floor), fell WAY short of what I should have been able to do on the bench on Thursday, managed to gain some weight (putting me even with my 8/1 starting weight), and was feeling pretty fatigued and unmotivated for a lot of the week. I have a feeling that my programming has become inconsistent with my goals, to an extent. Too much top-end work (very low reps at relatively high percentages of my 1RM), and I have a feeling that the weekly deadlift challenges have been catching up with me, in terms of the toll taken on my body and CNS. So, I skipped the DL Challenge on Friday, and whether that made an actual difference or not, I'm feeling much less fatigued now, than I did at the start of last week, despite a decently high volume of work yesterday. I'll post the workouts now, just for the sake of consistency.

Oh, I was using chalk for the DL's; I use it now for any movement where I am closing my hand around the bar. With the DL challenge, it was strange; I was having some difficulty finding the right hand/grip position on the bar. It might have stemmed from the feeling of discomfort of using the hook grip for so many reps. But for several reps, the bar rotated in my hand during the rep, which is where my thumb took the most abuse. On the last hook-grip rep, the callus itself had this sort of squishy feel, as though the callus tissue had come loose from the layers of skin below. Really a rather interesting feeling, or it would have been if I wasn't semi-terrified that I was dangerously close to tearing the callus off entirely, along with several layers of skin around it. On the KB's: I do want to maintain a degree of progressive overload, but I'm being really cautious about it. I've done enough to recognize when I'm ready to increase the weight, in terms of considering number of swings/interval I can achieve, maintaining/preserving proper height on each swing, maintaining neutral spine and good hinge on each swing, and being able to maintain a safe grip through the end of the round, all while considering how that day's workouts are impacting the effort/RPE for the KB round. I did pick up a 98# KB after the first round of yesterday's swings. I was able to get to ~25% swing elevation, so definitely not ready for that jump, lol. But to answer your question, yeah, I know I can continue progressing on the KB swings and so I'd like to continue until I top out on what the gym has (which I think is 110 lbs, although I'm not certain), and/or what I can do at home (which I believe is 125#).

I mentioned to a friend (our own @ParylPanda) that I'm thinking I may modify my programming a bit in two weeks, to something that follows more closely to the 5/3/1 BBB (Boring But Big) template, which, while maintaining the 5/3/1 powerlifting periodization for the main compound lifts, includes programming for hypertrophy-focused complimentary movements in the form of 5x10. It will ease back a bit on the ultra-heavy focus of my current training (doing AMRAP programming for two movements, 4 days a week, is pretty fatiguing to the joints and CNS), and the increased rep scheme can help me really work on better refining my form for bench press and OHP, both of which could use some improvement. It feels like a good point to make an adjustment to my programming, as it will coincide with the completion of three full 5/3/1 monthly cycles (actually a bit more since I did a partial reset after hurting my back in July). And I'm hoping that modifying the nature of the stress being applied during training sessions, along with the nature of that change (considerably increased training density), will help to increase EPOC to continue stimulating fat loss while encouraging muscular/strength development. And, because I can never simply focus on one thing at a time, I'm going to start gradually doing some push-up work each day, and see if I can, for either October or November, complete a new challenge which I learned of when reading through one site or another last week: doing 300 pushups/day, every day for a month. I've got a long way to go in just reaching a point where I can do 300 in one day, let alone doing it day after day, but it feels like a good goal to work toward.

Training Log for 08/14/2022: Squat: 295 x 3, 330 x 3, 375 x 8, 330 x 3, 295 x 10 Bench Press: 185 x 3, 210 x 3, 235 x 8, 210 x 3, 185 x 12 Farmer's Carry: None for the day, when I tried a warm-up set, the trap bar handle ran close enough to my thumb to make me feel a bit nervous about trying a full work set. KB Swings Round 1: 71 lbs x 15 Intervals x 21 Swings/Interval: Getting some better height on the swings with 71lbs, should hopefully be able to increase to 22 swings/interval this week. KB Swings Round 2: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval: I feel like I might be ready to jump to 70# on the PowerBlock KB swings, although the narrower handle really makes these much more challenging than true KB counterparts. Total KB Swings for the day: 645 Total KB Swings for the month: 5335

Training Log for 8/12/2022: OHP: 130 x 5, 150 x 5, 170 x 6, 150 x 5, 130 x 7. Still struggling a bit with maintaining proper form with the OHP under a heavy load. DL Challenge: 345 x 25 doubles, done EMOM. I might have been able to finish if I'd swapped over to straps, but around rep #46, I realized that I was perilously close to ripping the callus on my left thumb from using the Hook Grip for most of the reps. I did the last four reps double overhand, but after that, my grip strength failed me completely. I ended up with a pretty decent blister which starts slightly above the callus (which is right in the crease of knuckle), and extends down to about the bottom of my thumb. I've kept blister bandages on it throughout the weekend to keep it dry, and am hoping it heals soon, although I have a feeling that I'll need to use straps for some of the worksets on Tuesday's deadlifts. KB Swings Round 1: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 Swings/Interval Total KB Swings for the day: 330 Total KB Swings for the month: 4690 Training Log for 08/13/2022: None, took a rest day from training and just did work around the house in preparation for the inlaws to come over on Sunday (staying at our place for the night before leaving for a cruise out of NYC this morning).