2011-06-29 Dead, Bench, and Programmy

Dead Day

Warmup - Same, but only 8 reps on bridges and ghr

Deadlift: 185, 225, 275; 315, 365 (1 rep only)
405lbs - 5, 3, 3
Lockouts were...somewhat unsatisfactory. I think I'm going to start doing my rows Kroc style.
Loaded it up as 365 with 2 extra 10s each side, made a point of not thinking about the weight, and very consciously calmed myself down whenever I started getting psyched up. I have now learned something very important about psyching yourself up: It doesn't help with 5s. In fact, it probably hurts them.
As far as I can tell the benefits run out after rep 3 and once they do you just run into a brick wall and anything you do after that is going to suck. It's great for forcing yourself to keep going on a 1RM or 3RM and might be useful for a 3x3, but I think my habit of forcing myself to calm down back when I was squatting in the 275 range was surreptitiously improving my numbers. 335 is going to be fun next time.
I also suspect that the "don't use the 45s" trick helped here.
Tore one of my calluses horribly, too. It's the same one that ripped a bit on Friday but now it's actually bleeding seriously.

Floor Press: 45x2, 95, 135, 185
225lbs - 5, 5*, 4 (5F)
*Spotter mistakenly started helping slightly towards the end of the 5th rep; however, it was far enough past my sticking point that I know I would have gotten the rep regardless, so I'm still counting it.
Sweet.
Wonder how high I can take this bitch.

GHR:
2x10x10lbs
May go back to 3 sets given that I'm not doing anything else at the end of these workouts anymore.

(went home to do...)

DB Rows:
95lbs - 5/5, 5/5, 5/5
Switching to Kroc style in future, as state.
Also, screw clamps are fucking awesome.

Program-wise, I'm having another idea - 3x5 but rotate the exercises out somewhat more frequently.

See, this is why I try to avoid thinking about it. A few days ago I was thinking 5-3-1 would probably be a decent choice...mostly because I hadn't thought about 5-3-1 in a while and then read that thread asking about it.

So...yeah, thinking about that bridge after I cross this one.

2011-06-27 Squat and Press

Warmup - As usual

Squat: 45x2, 95, 135, 185, 225, 275
335lbs - 5, 1, 2, 1
Had some falling forward on reps 4 and 5; the 5th one was bad enough that it was essentially a max-effort GM and completely annihilated me.
If I'd had people there I might have gone for more reps on set 2, but I was alone and tired etc. and my quads felt dead, so I reracked it. The singles were easy, and even the 2nd rep of the third set was pretty tame.
So:
1) Dropping TF2 completely.
2) Returning program to what it was; GHR on Deadlift day and abs on Squat day. Nothing else.
3) Probably cheating a fair bit while I'm in LA for Anime Expo.
If I can get at least 3x4 next Wednesday I'll go up. If I can't, I'm changing the exercise. Need to go in before then to find out if I can leave shit there.
If I start making solid progress again I'll play around with stuff to see what was causing the problem. I think it's just the same old story about my quads sucking, but I could be wrong.

Press: 45, 95
147.5lbs - 5, 5, 4
The fives were fairly hard (probably due to the squats more than anything else) but meh. Going up!

Pull-Ups:
BW - 4, 4, 3.5
Shoulder prehab must be done.

Diet Updates

High-Carb Days:
Gallon of milk - probably split as a half-gallon in the morning and a half-gallon about 2 hours after training
3 meals of Rice and Mince (1 Cup white rice, 8oz 90% lean ground beef) - at least one after training
Berries (10.5oz Strawberries, 3oz Blackberries) - after morning walk (once I start taking these)
Post-workout shake (45g Dextrose, 45g Maltodextrin, 50g Whey, some salt) - post-workout (duh), not counted towards calorie or macronutrient totals

Med-Carb Days:
Half-gallon of milk - currently doing this in the morning
2 meals of roasted chicken thighs - one before training, one after
Berries (10.5oz strawberries, 3oz Blackberries) - after morning walk (once I start taking these)
Post-workout shake (45g Dextrose, 45g Maltodextrin, 50g Whey, some salt) - post-conditioning, not counted towards calorie or macronutrient totals.

Low-Carb Days:
Half-gallon of milk in morning
2 roasted chicken thigh meals
---
Prospective changes:
If my recovery still seems shit, I may try moving the berries to post-conditioning or taking the walk after the conditioning work on those days.
If I appear to be gaining weight too quickly, I'll start cutting milk from the Low-Carb day and replacing it with nuts or something

Cals total -
Low-Carb and Med-Carb Days: ~4000 (60/30/10 F/P/C) <-Ok, it's not a low-carb day right now. Once my performance is back on track I'll start eliminating milk from low-carb day.
High-Carb Days: ~5400 (30/20/50 F/P/C)

Those are all excluding the post-workout shakes - as far as I can tell, those don't make up for the loss of the calories.

If my performance still seems shit I will ACTUALLY just try going back to what I was doing a week ago (no Post-workout shakes, just milk and solid food) and seeing how that goes.

2011-06-24 Dead and Bench

Warmup - As usual

Deadlift: 185, 225, 275 (DOH); 315, 365 (Mixed)
405lbs - 3, 2, 1
Definitely under-recovering. I'm going to go back to what I was doing before, only now I'll be waking up earlier and having a post-workout shake (which I will not count towards my daily intake of protein, carbs, and calories).
These all looked better than the single from a while back, and I held the last one for around 10 seconds at the end.

Floor Press: 45, 95x2, 135, 185
220lbs - 5, 4 (5F), 4 (5F), 2
Going up next time.

DB Row:
92.5lbs - 5/5, 5/5, 5/5
Easy enough.

RDL:
205lbs - 10
Might go for 215 next time.

Hack Squat:
205lbs - 3
Not sure what I'm going to do here; I definitely can't do Hack Squats, 'cuz the bar keeps smacking into my hamstrings and getting stuck.

2011-06-23 Sled

160lbs, 200ft, 50sec between, 10 trips

I have officially graduated from the 160lb club. Going up to 180lbs (4 plates! Whee!) next time.

The only truly unpleasant part of this was in my calves (due to fatigue) and the base of my spine (due to tight hips). Quads, hams, glutes, etc. felt nothing, though now that I'm done I do feel a slight unpleasant sensation running into my elbow from my forearm.

2011-06-22 Squat and Press

Warmup - As usual. 9 reps for GHR and Glute Bridges.

Squat: 45x3, 95, 135, 185, 225, 275
335lbs - 4, 3, 3
I suspect this was more due to a slight reduction in caloric intake and my getting back into TF2; not enough food for recovery, and another direction in which I'm expending my mental energy, respectively.
If I weigh in lower tomorrow and Friday, I'll go back to a full gallon of milk on training days (today I only had a half-gallon). I'll probably also have a very, very aggressive cheat meal over the weekend. Possibly two (one each day).

Press: 45, 95
147.5lbs - 5, 4, 4
Progress.

Pull-Ups:
BW - 3, 4, 3
Wasn't close enough to the bar, so I couldn't get my lats engaged properly. Need to get a bigger box next time. Managed it a bit better on the second set, at least.
SOME DAY I WILL DO FIVE OF THESE.
Probably while I'm maintaining, lol.

GHR:
8lbs - 10, 10
Decided to do a slight weight PR.
Doing 10lbs next time.

Weighted Plank:
65lbs - 3x30sec, 30sec rest
I'm feeling these more in my chest and arms than in my abs now.
Maybe I should just buy/make some kind of loadable weighted vest and go back to rollouts.

Started using a post-workout shake again.
Need to declog my shower drain so I can consistently contrast shower.

2011-06-21 Farmer's Walk

4 trips, 110lbs each hand, 100ft each way, 10 sec rest when turning around

Need to get more weight