Lachy's Log

[Lachy]

Hmmmm, don't think I'll be working out in the morning. Feeling worse as the day goes on (it's just after lunch now). Hope I'm not getting properly sick!

[Lachy]

13/02/2012 Workout B

Squat: 5 x 5 @ 100KG

Press: 5 x 5 @ 45KG

Deadlift: 1 x 5 @ 125KG

Well, I hadn't had a work out since last Monday becuase I've been feeling like shit. Almost like bad jet lag, if I got up and did anything for 5 minutes, I'd suddenly get dizzy and light headed. So I took the rest of last week off the workouts, and got plenty of sleep. On Thursday night I hit 12 hours! Feeling fine again now. It was hard to get out of bed this morning at 4:50 though!

So, squats, I did a reset here as I was stalling last time at 107.5KG, I might go straight to 105 on Wednesday, skipping 102.5 and hitting 107.5 again on Friday. Was fairly easy today, only took 90 seconds rest between sets.

Press and deadlifts were repeats of last time as I cleared them both without issue. Press was a bit of a struggle, took a 3 minute rest before the final set. Dead was a challenge, but I cleared it.

Hopefully back to full health and progression again now!

[Pat G]

Good to see you're back on your feet. Let the iron motivate you.

[Lachy]

15/02/2012 Workout A

Squat: 105KG 5/5/5/5/5

Bench Press: 72.5KG 5/5/5/4/5

Barbell Row: 80KG 5/5/5/5/5

Dips: BW 12/10/8

Change of information formatting up there. Think it makes it easier to read now that missed sets are becoming common.

So squats jumped by 5KG as planned, only taking 90 seconds rest between sets, so I'm confident of breaking the little platau I had last week come Friday. But the big news for me is they were all done low bar! Had to rest the bar on a lower set of pins, that made a difference, but I think building up to it by doing my warmups low bar the last few weeks (working sets were still high) really helped too.

Goddamn bench press! And dips! Damn them both to hell! I know how bprime feels! I don't hate bench, I actually kinda like it, and dips. But it doesn't like me. In fairness I was only taking 90 seconds rest, when I probably should have chagned to 3 minutes after set #3. But I didn't, and the roll of shame followed. Took my 5 minute failure rest, then pushed through set #5. Dips, what the hell! I'm blaming my sick week.

And, thanks Pat, I'm happy to be back to regularly scheduled training. Getting my ass up at 4:50 is hard again though!

Rows, no problem. 90 seconds rest, pow, pow, pow.

[bprime]

Dude, it's 5 pounds. Not kgs. Unless you're on roids, you won't beable to keep up 5 kgs jumps past another couple workouts. Take it down to 2.5kgs.

And like I've said so many times, fuck the bench press.

EDIT: Hahahaha, I didn't even see the shout out. I swear, bench form is the hardest thing for me. I never feel that I'm arched enough, or my shoulder blades are pulled back, or the correct path of the bar, or pulling apart apart the bar/external rotation, or elbows to lats, or correct grip width. It doesn't help that any of my friends don't have the same mentality as me, so they think my form is great. Blah. I have so much more confidence in my (shitty) squat and deadlift form.

[Lachy]

It's only 5KG bump on the squat this time because I reset by 7.5KG due to missing a week due to sickness. I went from 107.5 (in which I only hit 4 reps on the last 2 sets) back to 100, then 105 today. Friday will be 107.5 again (confident I'll smash it), then progress will continue in 2.5 increments.

Yeah, I question the same things in my bench. I can pin my shoulder blades at the bottom, but when I extend I'm sure they're slipping out of that pinned position! My form is OK, I do it as well as I can, but I'm sure if I had someone who knows their stuff they could give me a few tips.

How is your squat shitty? Your numbers seem pretty damn respectable to me.

[bprime]

Ah okay.

And I've heard from people on other forums, who squat much more than me, that they've had to retool their squat multiple times. My form works, but I also really haven't worked with any huge numbers. 365 is really small in the grand scheme of things.

[Lachy]

17/02/2012 Workout B

Squat: 107.5KG 5/5/5/5/5

Press: 47.5KG 5/5/4/5/4

Deadlift: 130KG 3

Pullups: BW 5/5/5/5/4

Got through those squats! My lower back is very tight though, wondering about my form now :S

Press caught me out, but I had a feeling it would. I'll muscle through soon.

Deadlifts... wow... It took me a few attempts to just get it off the ground. I felt week during my warm ups too. Hope to clear it next time. Might change to 2.5KG increments instead of recommended 5KG (only on deads is 5KG recommended).

[Lachy]

Argh! No workout today. Spent the weekend moving house, and felt the rest was more important. I'll start my workout week tomorrow and to TTS instead of MWF. I will get all 3 in!

[Lachy]

Fail! Didn't go this morning, I suck! Can't go tomorrow, my car sucks! Thursday, come on!

[bprime]

Hope you've been mobbing atleast.

[bprime]

Deadlifts... wow... It took me a few attempts to just get it off the ground. I felt week during my warm ups too. Hope to clear it next time. Might change to 2.5KG increments instead of recommended 5KG (only on deads is 5KG recommended).

Sounds like you need a deload day. But if you can't get back into the gym until Thursday, taking a week off serves the same function. So you should be good to go.

[Lachy]

Not yet ... I keep meaning to look into the MWODs. I just moved house and am currently 'netless when away from the office, and when I'm in the office I don't get youtube. Must get into it though!

[Pat G]

Check the lower back tightness before it turns into pain man.

Overly tight leg muscles and therefore poor flexibility were causing my back to round out slightly at the bottom of the squat. Hip flexors, glutes, hamstrings, calves.

[Lachy]

Back all good now, lasted about 2 days where I tried not to tax it much (but was hard to avoid with moving house and heavy furniture)

[Pat G]

Sweet. awaiting your next set of workout stats from tomorrow.

[Lachy]

23/02/2012 Workout A

Squat: 110KG 5/5/5/5/5

Bench Press: 72.5KG 5/5/5/5/4

Barbell Row: 82.5KG 5/5/4/4/3

Finally, back in the gym! Kinda annoyed with my consistancy lately, even though a lot of it was out of my hands. Really felt like I was slipping back into complacancy. But I made it, back on the horse! On with the notes/analysis.

So, today as I was warming up my squats, I thought I'd deload because I'd been away. Then I though I'd continue progression and only do 3 sets this session. Then I just did the full 5 at the proper progression. Here starts and ends my awesomness for today.

Bench Press, you and I don't see eye to eye. Each set was a struggle, took 3 minutes break on most of the rests, 5th set I didn't go for the 5th rep, it just wasn't there. Argh!

I've noticed I'm cheating my form on the rows, so that must stop! I'm kinda whipping the weight up, standing up a bit as I go, then lowering my chest quickly to meet the bar. My trunk should be pretty static, mostly horizontal, the work should come from the back and arms. So when I noticed I was cheating I didn't count that rep. I'm thinking a deload to focus on form might be in order.

No dips, this workout took way too long! Next workout is Saturday, followed by more house moving joy.

[bprime]

So, today as I was warming up my squats, I thought I'd deload because I'd been away.

Taking a week off serves as a deload.

And I'd say bump the weight up in the bench next time around.

[Lachy]

Bump the bench you think? Hmmm I guess I can see what you're thinking. I'll give it ago, thanks. I've had enough of 72.5KG, it's pissing me off!

With my row, I think "reset" is a better term than "deload". I really want to go back an ensure good form, then build it back up.

[bprime]

Bump the bench you think? Hmmm I guess I can see what you're thinking. I'll give it ago, thanks. I've had enough of 72.5KG, it's pissing me off!

With my row, I think "reset" is a better term than "deload". I really want to go back an ensure good form, then build it back up.

Yeah. If you're within 1 rep, or even 2 maybe, go bump it up. There could easily be other factors that played a factor in your workout that day.

And well in that case, you would be resetting. Resets and deloads are two different things, and too many people, around here I've seen, use the terms incorrectly/interchangeably when they're not.

[Lachy]

17/02/2012 Workout B

Squat: 112.5KG 5/5/5/5/5

Press: 47.5KG 5/4/3/4/3

Deadlift: 130KG 5

Lachy wins 2 out of 3 rounds! Got smashed by the press, but squat and dead were serious triumphs. Didn't think I was gonna pass on squats today, but there you have it. Gotta stop the pessimism.

Then I went and moved furniture for 6 hours. Now I am broken.

[Lachy]

Monday off. Didn't exactly get a rest day this weekend due to moving house stuff, trips to the dump, moving furniture, etc. This week will be TTS. Gonna be so happy when this turmoil is over.

[Lachy]

28/02/2012 Workout A

Squat: 100KG 5/5/5/5/8

Bench Press: 75KG 5/5/5/4/4

Barbell Row: 75KG 5/5/5/5/4

Dips/Semi Grip Pullups: 10/5, 10/4, 8/3

Body just wasnt keen for squats today. Almost the opposite to Saturday, I thought I'd hit the full weight no troubles (but with heaps of effort), but when I tried it just wasn't there. Warmups were hard and an attempt at 110 was really off balance, I re-racked, then set back up and tried again, felt really wobbly, like I would tip sideways. So I decided on a light day a 100KG, 90 seconds rest to keep the intensity up though. Did 8 reps on the last set. Next time we'll be back to regularly scheduled progression.

Upped the bench as suggested by bprime, gave 180 seconds rest between each set, except after the 4th I took 5 minutes. Felt good, didn't feel like too much, I'll stick with this for another session or two and try to move on.

Reset the row as mentioned previously, 90 seconds rest between sets. I did the full 5x5 but, I wasn't 100% satisfied with form, so I'm repeating the grade.

Through in dips and pullups to finish it all off. Went semi pronated instead of wide grip because I just doubted I had the strength to do too many wides today.

[Lachy]

01/03/2012 Workout B

Squat: 115KG 5/5/5/5/5

Press: 47.5KG 5/5/5/5/5

Deadlift: 135KG 5

Dips/EZ-Bar curls(35KG): 10/10, 10/10, 10/8

Lachy WINS! All goals smashed. I'm a happy little vegimite. Especially happy to finally break through that damn press!

Took the 3 minute rests between squats and 2 minutes between Presses, except for 3 minutes before the final set. I had planned to up the deadlift by only 2.5KG, not the full 5 as suggested, but then I thought fuck it, if I wasn't able to move it this time, I would next time. But I did it this time! 3 big boy plates next time!

I couldn't get the pullup bar, so I did curls. Sue me.

[Lachy]

I was hoping to be back on MTF this week, but after another full weekend of house moving crap, I need a proper day's rest. Didn't get a workout in over the weekend either

Hopefully that's the end of disruptions for a while.