Benching up

Ah, yes, the Thursday bench press.

I guess from all the years I started every workout with the bench press, I look forward to the bench press days as the "easy" workout. And that's odd, considering I'm never, ever satisfied with my progress on the bench press.

Today I did pretty well. No, not satisfying, but the progress according to the plan I've sketched out is right on schedule.

I felt a lot better today than I have on recent days. I've really felt rundown lately, so to go into a workout feeling energized was a nice change. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with my caloric intake. I have always had a problem getting enough to eat. I always plan on eating at least 5 meals a day—mostly chicken and vegetables—but I often end up missing one of those meals. So I've taken to snacking on peanuts during the day to make up for it. I think it's working.

Today I maxed out at 215 on the bench press for three reps. I was hoping to do five, but it just didn't happen. According to Fitocracy, that's a personal best since I started tracking my workouts on the site. As impatient as I am to move forward, it's still solid progress, so I'll take what I can get. I'm a long way from my all-time best, however, and I hope to get back into that range before the end of the year. I figure I'll have to eat a lot more steak to make it happen, though.

I did a sort-of reverse pyramid after the max on the BP and finished up with four sets of 10-12 reps at 135. During the reverse pyramid, I supersetted in sets of bent-over row and single-arm dumbbell row.

I've been wimping out a lot lately on the assistance work, so I was pleased to get in a full workout with assistance work and high volume on the main lift.

All in all, things are looking up. I need to be more disciplined with my diet to ensure I'm eating enough. Tomorrow is squat day, so I'm going to shovel in as much food as I can.

Dreadlift Day

This was one of those days a part of me was looking for an excuse not to work out. The little voice inside my head said, "It's--it's deadlift day, isn't it?" Still too sore from the last couple of workouts, the voice said. Need a little more rest, the little voice said. That bar is going to get really heavy, really fast, it croaked.

The little voice was right in many ways. I was in fact still stiff from the previous workouts. I felt fatigued, and all I'd eaten to that point had been a couple of eggs and a couple of chicken breasts.

I was, however, also still hyped up on the frozen coffee beverage I got at Java Brewing Co. So I told the little voice to go take a little nap while I finished the workout.

Okay, I openly and unashamedly admit I did not complete the full itinerary.

At the start of the workout I felt like a dried up tree frog on Dixie Highway. With warm-up set one in the books, the little voice was saying its I-told-you-so's. Maybe I'll just go light today, I told myself, ignoring the snickering from Little Voice. Yeah, fine, I said, maybe some higher-rep, lighter-weight sets for today until I fully recover and get some good solid meals under the belt.

By warm-up set three, I was feeling a lot better. The tightness had gone away for the most part, and the fatigue was fading. I think I can do this, I told myself. We'll see what the next few sets feel like.

When I did five easy reps at 275, the idea of doing a few light sets was gone altogether. I followed that up with three reps at 295 as an acclimation set and then did a full five reps at 315.

Now, I've deadlifted more than 315 before, but I don't ever remember doing more than a few reps. Those were five big reps made all the bigger because all I wanted to do was curl up with a pillow.

I finished up with a reverse pyramid back down to 235. I had thoughts of doing a few sets at 205, but, frankly, after the last set at 235 my hamstrings were quivering, and Little Voice was accusing me of  being a masochist. Fearing Little Voice might be right, I quit for the day and didn't even bother with the hanging leg raises or the Pendlay rows. After hitting five reps at 315, I figured I'd done enough for one day.

Yes, Fitocracy, until another day.

Still going--just not the same way

I'm a little off my schedule these days. It's mostly because other responsibilities tend to intrude on the workout regimen, which necessitates adaptation.

Once upon a time such intrusions usually meant derailment for me. Once the schedule was thrown off kilter, chaos ensued, I got frazzled and took a hiatus.

Not this time.

This time, I continue to follow the same pattern, and I'm working out the same number of days per week; I'm  just not doing the workouts on the same days I used to.

What tossed my schedule against the wall this past week was an afternoon meeting with our insurance agent. The longer the meeting dragged on, the less likely it became that I'd complete the scheduled workout.

I have this little problem with my workout timings: If it doesn't happen at the same time it usually does, then it probably won't happen at all. The later in the day it gets, the less likely I am to do anything. The fact is, I arrived home on Tuesday after that meeting completely worn out—mentally more than physically—and I simply could not summon the energy to do anything.

So I made it up later, but that tends to have a domino effect. I took Friday off as well (normally my squat day) and did the squats instead on Saturday. I think taking that Friday off was actually a smart decision. I had more energy Saturday morning and it turned out to be a solid workout. I did the working sets as planned—a bit heavier than intended—and then followed a pyramid scheme down to finish up with the assistance work. I performed a total of 14 sets of squats. That's a lot more volume than I typically do, but I did a gradual warm-up and then focused hard on the lighter sets at the end.

On Sunday I decided to throw an even bigger monkey wrench into the works by jumping ahead to what would normally be the Monday overhead press workout. I finished the working sets at 130 for 4 reps and then supersetted the lighter work with chins and bent-over barbell row. I didn't feel as strong as I did in the last OHP workout, but it still turned out pretty well, all things considered, so I can't complain. I have a feeling that I'm not really eating enough these days, so I may have to work more on micro-managing the diet.

 So now what to do with Monday? I'm weighing two options right now: Go ahead with the deadlift workout, which always follows the day after the OHP, or take Monday off and do the deadlifts on Tuesday on the normal schedule. I'm still feeling some delayed soreness from the Saturday squat workout, so option 2 is a few points ahead of option 1 right now. I'm going to play it by ear and see how I feel when I arrive home from work. If I think the soreness will interfere with the workout, forget it, I'm taking the day off. Otherwise, I'll push through and see what I can accomplish.

BBB: Day One

I decided to try something a little different this week, so I switched to Wendler's Boring but Big (BBB) program. It's the same split as the Triumvirate, the only real difference being that the focus is more on the primary movements. There's little in the way of assistance work.

I deliberately set my sights high for this cycle. I want to push the envelope hard in week three this time around.

Today is OHP day, and I wanted to go as high as I could while still being able to get in some good rep work. Yes, that's counter to the plan, but I just feel it's time I tested the boundaries a bit more. The 5/3/1 program always goes below maxes anyway, so I always know I can lift more. I intended to go up to 125 today, but I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and lifted 135 instead. I made up for it by dropping back down to 115 for five reps before continuing with the plan.

The "assistance" work consisted of five more sets of OHP at 75 lbs. supersetted with hanging leg raise. I hate hanging leg raises, but I did them anyway.

After completing three reps at 135, I know I can go up to 120 or 125 in next week's Monday workout, so I'm on track with what I intend to accomplish.

I like doing the extra sets of the primary movements. I believe this will help me progress better.

As always, it's logged on Fitocracy.

Deload is over

Week 4 is in the books. Now I'm mentally preparing myself for BBB next week, the first week of cycle 3 for me on Wendler 5/3/1. I have a feeling I'm going to like BBB a lot. I'm thinking now maybe I've done things in reverse order of what I should have. I should have started with BBB and then cycled over to the Triumvirate after a few cycles. So I'm backwards. I still think it will work well.

Today I honestly wasn't quite sure exactly what I was going to do for my squat workout; all I knew for sure was that I'd made up my mind to skip the assistance work and do more sets of squats instead. The plan I'd sketched out using Black Iron Beast called for three sets of squats, topping out at 140. Instead, I topped out at 155 and then proceeded to do two more sets at 155 followed by three sets at 135 and finishing with a set at 95.

I knew I was working light and I knew I was performing more reps than usual, but it wasn't until midway through the workout that I realized I could make it an even 100 reps of squats across those ten sets. All I needed to do was average 10 reps per set. Since I did 5 reps in the last warm-up, that meant I needed to make up those 5 reps in the remaining sets. So I did 12 reps in two of the sets at 135 and finished with 15 reps at 95. In the end, it wasn't an even 100 reps; I think it was more like 104. Success!

I'm very seriously considering picking up a copy of Randall J. Strossen's Super Squats. I've already experimented in 20-rep squatting, and I think it could form the foundation of a solid workout plan. I may make a impulsive decision to quit Wendler midstream in cycle 3 to focus more on the squat. It certainly wouldn't hurt, given that the squat is by far my weakest movement proportionally.

Well, that's it for two cycles of Wendler. We'll have to wait and see what the future holds.

Check it out on Fitocracy.

Yes, I'm still here

I had a lot going on this weekend, so I ended up skipping the Friday squat workout, intending to make it up on Saturday, but then all of the Saturday activities prevented from getting to it. And Sunday, well, Sunday I just wasn't up to it.

Now I'm starting day one of the deload week a workout behind. To make up for lost ground, I'm combining what would have been the Friday/Saturday squat workout with the Monday deload overhead press workout. And, yes, I still plan to do the deload squat workout on Friday as scheduled. If I were going to make the mistake of missing a workout, I picked the right time to do it. It will be easy to make it up as part of the deload plan.

As had been scheduled for last Friday, I worked up to 225 on the squat for three reps (since this is week 3, the plan called for one+ reps). Since I'm working this into the OHP workout, I skipped the leg presses and leg curls and instead threw in a couple of warm-down sets on the squats at 175 and 155. I think it's a fair compromise.

The OHP workout called for a max of 80, but I'm doing 95, since it's pretty light. I supersetted OHP with chins and dips across three sets. A good workout without overdoing it, which is exactly the intent of the deload week. This is recovery time for the muscles after having gone heavy last week.

I've decided to switch to Wendler's Big But Boring (BBB) plan starting next week. There's no particular reason for it other than it will give me additional work in the big movements themselves rather than splitting the emphasis with the assistance movements. The assistance exercises are great, and I'm sure I'll go back to the Triumvirate at some point; I just feel what I really need is more work on the really big stuff. So, starting next week, boring it is.

Today's log is, of course, on Fitocracy.

Doing that bench thing and thoughts on weight acclimation

As with some other exercises recently, I'm feeling the need to make some minor adjustments to the progression pattern. Today, for example, my warm-up sets were to go from 90 up to 135, with the working sets starting at 165. I know I may be a little neurotic about this, but I didn't like the 30-lb. jump from the last warm-up to the first working set, so I decided to squeeze in another set at 155 before the set at 165. That's a more gradual progression, so I think it gets my body better acclimated for the heaviest working sets.

I believe that weight acclimation is a highly underrated—and perhaps misunderstood or even unrecognized—concept. Yes, it's almost entirely psychological and thus will largely be dismissed by many, but it certainly can have an impact on your workout.

Try this experiment some time with an unsuspecting test subject:  Empty an opaque milk jug and then put it in the refrigerator. You could wait for someone to go for a bowl of cereal or you could just ask someone to pour you a nice cold glass of cow juice. What happens when they pick up the jug? Surely, everyone has done this at some point. You think a jug is full and when you grab it, it nearly flies to the ceiling.

Afterwards, try the opposite. Fill a jug full and tell someone to "throw that empty away." Again, what happens? Exactly the reverse of the previous experiment. If you think the container is empty, you exert less force against it than is actually required.

I firmly believe the same principle applies exactly the same in weight training and weight lifting. If you go into a lift cold and attempt your 1RM, chances are, you'll fail. It's not necessarily because you're incapable of lifting that much, but because your body just isn't ready for it.

Never mind the fact that trying to lift heavy without warming up leaves you vulnerable to injury.

Yes, I believe the progression matters. As I've stated before, it doesn't really matter that you only do one rep in that acclimation set as long as you do something to prepare your muscles for the heavier weights. Also consider what it feels like in reverse: After you've done a working set at your heaviest weight, drop back down to your heaviest warm-up set and see what it feels like. It seems a lot lighter than it did when you were warming up, doesn't it?

Today I again employed the additional warm-up set to acclimate myself before the working sets. My goal was to do at least one rep at 205. Instead, I did two at 215 and then dropped down to complete the bench press workout with a set of three reps at 205. I'm not going to say that the acclimation set helped me exceed my goal. The fact is, I simply knew I could do more. I opted for two heavy sets at the end just to give me some forward momentum. I'm deloading next week anyway, so why not?

I finished up with supersets of incline dumbbell press and single-arm dumbbell row. This is the first time I've included incline DB press, so I figured it was about time. It will probably become a permanent substitute in place of flat DB press.

And it's another workout in the books at Fitocracy.

Week 3 Day 2: Deadlift

If zombies decided to start lifting weights, would it be called the undeadlift?

I think I like Tuesdays the best because it's deadlift day, and there's just something kind of satisfying about moving really heavy stuff.

Yesterday, I made a couple of minor adjustments to the workout. The important one was that I decided to top out not at 295 as I'd planned, but at 305 instead. I've done 5 reps at 295 before, so I know I can do more. I was able to complete three reps at 305 and very well could have done 5. I want to continue to improve and, since this is the peak week of the cycle, there's no harm in going a bit heavier. Next week is the deload, so no worries on pushing it too hard.

The other tweak I implemented was supersetting hanging leg raise, good mornings and then ab crunches on the PowerTec Workbench. And, yes, I openly confess that part of the reason for making this change is because I hate hanging leg raises, so I don't want to do any more than three sets of the damned things. And, yes, I hate them so much that I'm more than willing to do supersets of three different exercises just to get out of doing two sets of them.

I finished up with three sets of Pendlay rows since I wimped out on Monday and didn't do them when I'd planned.

Besides, I like to do the rows on deadlift days because the two work so well together to strengthen the back. When I was following my hardgainer minimalist routine years ago, I liked to do seated row and bent-over row after deadlifts. It did a lot to strengthen my lats and traps. And I did not mind at all when doing the bent-over row that I had a tendency to allow my upper body to move upward from parallel to the floor because it just meant activating the traps more. With the Pendlays, I remain parallel, but there's still some activation of the traps. I may want to work the shrugs in more as I'd planned and some upright row.

For a little variation I will occasionally mix in underhand barbell rows, which some refer to as Yates rows.

It was a tough workout, and I'm ready for my rest day today before moving on to the bench press tomorrow. It might be time for me to push a little harder on that one as well. In two weeks I'll be starting another cycle, and it's about time to shake things up and raise expectations.

Oh, yeah. It's logged on Fitocracy.

Okay, I wimped out

It was a Monday like any other Monday. I dragged myself out of bed and prepared myself for the ordeal that is work, knowing that ugly surprises awaited me. But Monday is also OHP day in my current routine, and that's fine. The only problem is, between work distractions that followed me home and the behavior of two ornery kids, I just wasn't into it.

That means I cut things a bit short. I had expanded the OHP workout to include Pendlay rows in addition to chin-ups and dips, but yesterday I did only three sets of chins and dips and skipped the Pendlays altogether.

Yes, I wimped out.

On a positive note, however, I was able to complete a full five reps at 125 on the press, 10 lbs. more than the most I've done recently, and I could've done more. I'm in the peak week of my second Wendler cycle, so this week I will be doing the heaviest lifts on the big movements. If I had completed only one rep or two at 125, it would've been considered a successful workout, but I did five, so that's a real accomplishment.

Next week is supposed to be the deload week, but I'm seriously tempted to see what I can do at 135. But maybe not.

The plan hatching in my head right now is to deload next week and focus on reps and volume for the assistance work, which means doing all of the extra movements I decided to add for this cycle, but have, ahem, occasionally skipped.

It looks like I'm well on track to hit some recent personal bests on the main lifts. I say recent personal bests because I'm still not close to my all-time bests on any of the main lifts. But I'm still making progress. This should give me some good momentum going into the deload week to be able come out on the other side rested and ready to take some big strides forward.

Squats too

Vanilla.

That's all I have to say about today's squat workout.

I worked up to 215, did 5 reps (Wendler says 3+, so I did 3+2). Not bad. Will get better. I slipped in a couple more sets along the way because a) I know that I need more of a warm-up than most people (old, poor circulation, etc.) and b) because I didn't like the big jump from 145 to 190. I firmly believe that weight acclimation sets are needed before you go to your heaviest set, even when that isn't your 1RM or your 5RM. And the acclimation set doesn't have to be any more than one rep, just to tell your body the heavier stuff is coming. But that's just me. And I always, always do the first set with just the bar to loosen up a bit and to lubricate the ol' knee and hip joints.

Most "gurus" will tell you to do two or three warm-ups and then hit the working sets. I actually like to do four or even five. You just have to know your body and know what feels right, but the important thing to remember is not to fatigue your muscles on warm-ups because that's all they're for—to warm up the muscles and get the blood circulating.

Instead of 365 on the leg press, I dropped down to 345 for some rep work and supersetted with standing leg curl. Increased the weight on the leg curl incrementally to 25. Can probably do more, but I'm taking my time. And what the—? My left hamstring is stronger than my right. Or maybe just less fatigued.

In case I haven't mentioned it before, my leg presses are performed on the Yukon Fitness Vertical Leg Press.

Will do some lunges and step-ups next week. I didn't want to overdo it this week because I'm heading to Red River Gorge for a Zipline tour tomorrow morning. The last thing I wanted was to be hobbling around stiff and sore the whole day.

And, yes, I overdid it last week. I was sore for at least three days afterwards. A bit too much volume, and the one set of lunges and step-ups I did after the leg presses and standing leg curl (not to mention the extra several sets of squats) really killed my hamstrings.

Since I'm off to the Gorge tomorrow, it also means no farmer's walks, which is just as well since I haven't purchased any handles yet, and I won't try the dumbbell handles with collars ever again. It was fine with the 65-lb. hexheads, so if that's all I have, that's what I'll use. I'll just have to go for lots of volume.

You can check out the vanilla squat details on Fitocracy.