Reclamation - A GoldenTongue Respawn Journey

[GoldenTongue]

Log for 07/22/2022:

 

Squat: 275 x 3, 305 x 3, 340 x 5, 305 x 3, 275 x 3

OHP: 130 x 3, 145 x 3, 165 x 7, 145 x 3, 130 x 8

Deadlift Challenge Effort: 315 x 42 singles, with reps down every 30 seconds (so my rest period depended on how quickly I set and completed the rep).  Going to make a hard push to hit 315 x 60 singles next week.  I hadn't put a time stamp on when I'd reach a point where I could complete this (first time I tried, I felt like it would take months, lol), but now, I'd love to complete it by the end of the month.

 

KB Swings Rd 1: 52 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 swings/interval

 

Total KB Swings for the day: 330

Total for the month: 10,320

[GoldenTongue]

Log for 07/23/2022:

 

KB Swings Rd 1: 52 lbs x 30 Intervals x 23 swings/interval

 

Total KB Swings for the day: 690

Total for the month: 11,010

 

[GoldenTongue]

Log for 07/24/2022:

 

Squat: 280 x 5, 315 x 3, 355 x 7, 315 x 3, 285 x 8

Bench Press: 195 x 5, 215 x 3, 245 x 6, 215 x 3, 195 x 8

 

KB Swings Rd 1: 52 lbs x 15 Intervals x 23 swings/interval

KB Swings Rd 2: 50 lbs x 15 Intervals x 22 swigns/interval

 

Total KB Swings for the day: 675

Total for the month: 11,685

 

Observation: I feel like as the weight for the squats gets heavier, my rate of descent on the eccentric decreases, meaning that I'm using energy that could be limiting total reps on my AMRAP sets.  Going to work in a few sets of low rep speed squats for tomorrow's workout, and hope that it allows me to handle my heavy squats with more efficiency on Thursday.

 

Also going to adjust my diet a bit for the week: my midday protein shake is using a fruit mix a little higher in carbs, and I'll plan on drinking about half about an hour before my workouts, and am going to include ~2 Cups of sweet potato into my lunch (post-workout), to see if added carbs helps prevent excessive depletion of glycogen stores.  I may cut back on my protein a bit, just to ensure a healthy caloric deficit.

[GoldenTongue]

Note; I want to make loaded (aka Farmer's) carries part of my goalset for August, so I did an interval yesterday; I had also done one last week.  It seems like ~160 lbs is what my hands can handle right now when doing 30 seconds on/30 seconds off intervals for 15 rounds.  I'm going to try some limited LP this week, to see if I can get any feel for the magnitude of progression I can aim for in August.

 

Log for 07/25/2022:

 

Loaded Trap Bar Carries: 150 lbs x 15 Intervals (30s on/30s rest)

 

KB Swings Rd 1: 52 lbs x 15 Intervals x 23 swings/interval

KB Swings Rd 2: 50 lbs x 15 Intervals x 23 swigns/interval

 

Total KB Swings for the day: 690

Total for the month: 12,375

 

Looks like I'll hit my monthly goal for KB swings today, yay.

[GoldenTongue]

Log for 07/26/2022:

 

Squats (Done for speed): 275 lbs x 3 sets x 5 reps

OHP: 135 x 5, 150 x 3, 170 x 6, 150 x 3, 135 x 8

Deadlift: 315 x 5, 345 x 3, 385 x 8, 345 x 3, 315 x 5

 

Note: Yesterday was the first time that an AMRAP set for deadlift wasn't constrained by failure in grip strength, but rather exhaustion (and a feeling that my heart was going to explode from my chest, but in that good way).

 

KB Swings Rd 1: 50 lbs x 15 Intervals x 23 swings/interval

KB Swings Rd 2: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 21 swigns/interval

 

Total KB Swings for the day: 660

Total for the month: 13,035 : MONTHLY GOAL ACHIEVED.

[GoldenTongue]

Log for 07/27/2022:

 

Trap Bar Loaded Carries: 160 lbs for 15x 30s on/30s off intervals.  Really struggled with later sets until it occurred to me to try chalking my hands.  Instantaneous and huge improvement; I feel a bit foolish not trying it sooner.  Will try next attempt with 180lbs or so and see how that goes.

 

KB Swings Rd 1: 57 lbs x 15 Intervals x 23 swings/interval

KB Swings Rd 2: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 21 swings/interval

 

Total KB Swings for the day: 660

Total for the month: 13,695

[ParylPanda]

Hmm…chalk… ?

Good luck with today!

[GoldenTongue]

On 7/29/2022 at 4:35 AM, ParylPanda said:

Hmm…chalk… ?

Good luck with today!

Lol, shut up.  And furthermore, shut up.  ?

[GoldenTongue]

07/29/2022 Weekly Weigh-In: 278.1 (down 12.4 from 290.5)

 

Log for 07/28/2022:

 

Squat: 300 x 5, 335 x 3, 370 x 6 (did a 7th but I'm almost certain I didn't get close to proper depth), 335 x 3, 300 x 8

Bench Press: 205 x 5, 230 x 3, 255 x 4, 230 x 3, 205 x 8

 

KB Swings Rd 1: 57 lbs x 15 Intervals x 23 swings/interval

KB Swings Rd 2: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 21 swings/interval

 

Total KB Swings for the day: 660

Total for the month: 14,355

[GoldenTongue]

Log for 07/29/2022:

 

OHP: 140 x 5, 160 x 3, 175 x 6, 160 x 3, 140 x 8

Deadlift Challenge Effort: 315 x 65 singles, with reps down every 30 seconds (so my rest period depended on how quickly I set and completed the rep).  Goal accomplished.

 

From my training log, it looks like I made my first attempt at the DL challenge on Friday 6/17.  On that day, I got to 10 singles, and that was with some longer than 30 second rest periods.  Feels immensely satisfying that ~6 weeks from then, I was able to complete the challenge with the singles done every 30 seconds, ie, 60 completed in 30 minutes.

 

KB Swings Rd 1: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 21 swings/interval

KB Swings Rd 2: None

 

Total KB Swings for the day: 315

Total for the month: 14,680

[GoldenTongue]

Log for 07/30/2022:

 

Trap Bar Loaded Carries: 200 lbs for 6 x 30s on/30s off intervals, then dropped to 180 lbs x 9 x 30sec on/30 sec off, for a total of 15 intervals . The chalk certainly helped, but what I really need to do is find a better programming structure for loaded carries.  30 seconds on/30 seconds off absolutely wrecked my hands.

 

KB Swings Rd 1: 57 lbs x 15 Intervals x 23 swings/interval

KB Swings Rd 2: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 21 swings/interval

 

Total KB Swings for the day: 660

Total for the month: 15,340

[GoldenTongue]

Log for 07/31/2022:

 

DELOAD WEEK -

Squats: 245 x 5 x 5

Bench Press: 155 x 5 x 5

 

KB Swings Rd 1: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 21 swings/interval

KB Swings Rd 2: 60 lbs x 15 Intervals x 21 swings/interval

 

Total KB Swings for the day: 630

Total for the month: 15,970

[GoldenTongue]

8/1 - July evaluation

 

Squat: 1RM goal of 450, Actual 440 - Fell short of my goal, but still an improvement of 31 lbs from 413. 

Deadlift: 1RM goal of 480, Actual 488 - Goal achieved, improvement of 53 lbs from 435.

Bench Press: 1RM goal of 290, Actual 289 - Fell short of my goal, but still an improvement of 15 lbs from 274.

Overhead Press: 1RM goal of 215, Actual 210 - Fell short of my goal, but still an improvement of 9 lbs from 201.

 

Bodyweight: Goal of 8 lbs loss (from 290.5 to 282.5).  Actual loss of 12.6 lbs, based upon a weighin of 277.9 this morning.  I met the goal, and actually exceeded my upper end, which is a bit of a mixed blessing.  Weight loss is good, but I feel like a loss of 12.6 lbs has to represent a loss of some muscle tissue, which I really want to avoid.  For August, I'll be adding some carbs (sweet potatoes) to my lunch on lifting days to boost caloric intake while also (hopefully) aiding in recovery.

 

KB Swings: Goal of 12,500 with upper limit of 16,000.  Total completed: 15,970.  Goal achieved, despite losing several days to some notable back cramps.

 

Warm-Ups: Made good progress here.  Earlier in the month it was a bit hit or miss, but in the last two weeks, I've gotten into a solid routine of an effective and efficient warm-up routine which varies slightly based upon my focus for the day.  I cap it at ten minutes, focusing on spending as little useful energy as possible while still priming myself for the worksets.

 

Yoga sessions: Total failure.  I feel like if I hadn't set as aggressive a goal for KB swings, or maybe if I'd planned them out a bit, I could have achieved, this, but couldn't find/make the time to follow through.  I want to work on this for August.

 

Overall: Considering I lost about 4 days or so of training to a minor injury which also forced me to take an earlier than anticipated deload week, I'm pretty happy overall for the month.  I hit many of my goals, and got a lot of good feedback from my workouts on what I believe are realistic expectations for improvements for August on my primary lifts.

[GoldenTongue]

Will be continuing my updates in the 5-Week Challenge Thread, but here is a listing of my goals for the 5-week period:

 

Goalset 1: Bodyweight - To drop ~13 lbs, from current weight of 277.9, to 265 lbs.  This is with a concurrent goal of maintaining sufficient caloric intake and rest to support strength improvement goals, which helps toward doing as much as I can to make sure the weight loss is as much fat as possible, and not muscle tissue.

 

Goalset 2: Strength/Power - To improve my (calculated) 1 Rep Maxes for the following:

   Squats: Increase current 1RM of 444 lbs by 30, to 474 lbs

   Deadlifts: Increase current 1RM of 488 lbs by 45, to 533 lbs.

   Bench Press: Increase current 1RM of 289 lbs by 10, to 299 lbs.

   Overhead Press: Increase current 1RM of 210 lbs by 5, to 215 lbs.

   Power Clean: To (finally) stop allowing flexibility issues from preventing me from making this part of my regular training, by working on improving the flexibility and developing proper form. 

 

Goalset 3: Quirky fitness stuffs

   Deadlift Challenge: In July I completed a challenge of completing 60x315lb DL singles in 30 minutes (reps done every 30 seconds).  For this 5-week challenge, I want to improve on that, working toward completing 30x375lb doubles (2 reps), done EMOM (every minute on the minute).  So it's still 60 reps in 30 minutes, just with a heavier load and a slightly different interval structure.  

   Loaded Carries: I started adding these in to the end of my workouts as fat-burning boosters in the past week.  For this challenge period, I'm going to aim for reaching a point where I can complete carries of 300 lbs, for 5 x 60 second intervals (with 60-120 seconds rest between sets).

   KB Swings: Will push to complete 10,000 KB swings.  For July, I did ~16,000, but since I'm making loaded carries a regular part of my programming, I'm reducing the loading from KB swings. I usually do the swings in 15 minute interval sessions (15 intervals, each 30s on/30s off), using either 57 lbs x 23 swings/interval, or 60 lbs x 21 swings/interval.  I'll see if I can get up to 70 lbs x 22 swings/interval by the end of the challenge period.

[ParylPanda]

Nicely done on your goals!

It’s pretty amazing given that you restarted your month 2 - very proud of you!