Som's Log - Manlet on a Mission

[Somnambulist]

Derp. Moving to 3x5 on squats still doesn't feel like it's helping that much.

Squats
Usual warm up sets (same as last time)
95 5x3

Haaaard, which is annoying as I was doing 100kg 5x5 before. I'm going lower than then though as I wasn't happy with my depth so probably explains it.

OHP
Bar 10x2
25 x 5
30 x 5
37.5 5x5

Had to force the last couple of reps out for the last two sets but overall pretty solid. Really helps if I set it up correctly and ignore the urge to watch myself in the mirror. I notice many people doing OHP use a much lower ROM that what I see in the Rip vids (i.e. they never bring it down to their chest).

Deadlifts
40 x lots
60 x 5
70 x 3
80 x 2
97.5 5x3

Felt pretty good, although some guy asked if he could jump in and was warming up with my max LOL, depressing. Should be okay for 100kg next time round.

Hammer grip chinny pulls
bw 10, 6, 5 - tough going after my deads

Plank x 3
Side plank x 2 (1 each side) - kinda briefly

Did a couple of sets of 8 curlz with a spare barbell for the lulz as I had 5 mins left.

Did a bf% thing with the callipers (probably worthless) the other day, came out at like 14.7% which probably isn't that accurate, but hey, when I calculated it back in June it came to like 26% so I guess that's an improvement. Tempted to go use a BodPod for £30.

 

[Somnambulist]

Squat:
20 kg 20x2
40 kg x 10
60 kg x 5
70 kg x 2
80 kg x 2
97.5 kg 5x3

Hard as ever. Find it weird I'm lagging on squats so much when before Christmas I was doing these for 5 sets x3 a week with less ill effect - no change in diet.

Bench Press:
20 kg 10x2
30 kg x 8
40 kg x 5
57.5 kg 5x5

Felt awesome the first 3 sets, 4th set the 5th rep was an effort, 5th set I did 4, reset myself and pushed the 5th out. Slowly staying tighter throughout the set.

Pendlay Row:
40 kg 5x2
50 kg x 3
62.5 kg 5x5

Still not happy w/form, blah. Might deload a touch to 60kg next time (2nd deload).

Dips
15, 8, 5 reps

Reverse Crunch:
12x3 - I kind of do these more like dragon flags, but as I can't do a dragon flag it's like stabiliser wheels on the bike. Slow negative, try not to end up horizontal too quickly etc.

Over and out.

 

[Delvis]

Nice work on the squats dude. As you've covered, its more than likely due to the added depth you're finding it harder now, same as me

 

[Somnambulist]

Thanks. Hopefully next week I should have some Oly shoes in my possession so I can see if they automatically improve my high bar.

Still can't make low bar feel 'right' when I do it. I need a little LiE on my shoulder barking instructions while I'm in the rack. I'm pretty sure my hamstrings suck extremely hard (no GHR machine in the gym either) so low bar would help get them out to play a bit.

 

[Delvis]

What can't you do with low bar? Get a video if you can

 

[Syla5]

Thanks. Hopefully next week I should have some Oly shoes in my possession so I can see if they automatically improve my high bar.

Still can't make low bar feel 'right' when I do it. I need a little LiE on my shoulder barking instructions while I'm in the rack. I'm pretty sure my hamstrings suck extremely hard (no GHR machine in the gym either) so low bar would help get them out to play a bit.

My hammies have seen a lot of improvement from just regular stretching, I use a band and lay flat my back and raise my leg up, I use the band in place of a super friend lol. Also regular RDL's I found I can get much better stretch through strict RDL's as we had no GHR machine at the last gym.

Having someone who knows what they are doing point things out to you is defiantly a help. Get yourself along to a meet I am sure many others can attest to this being extremely helpful.

 

[Somnambulist]

What can't you do with low bar? Get a video if you can

The thing with high bar is, it's probably one of the most natural movements the human body does - you squat down and get back up. The bar position is where 99% of people will put the bar automatically when you tell them to get under it. It doesn't require a huge deal of instruction either.

Low bar has way more variables, I read all the time about it requiring more coaching than high bar to perform correctly, and in my case I can read about bar position, hip drive etc but when I get under the bar it just isn't clicking.

Videoing myself is very difficult, because the squat rack is in a position where you can't place a camera anywhere that gives you a good profile. The only decent position is quite far from the rack and given the clientele... my phone would probably be gone when I went to pick it up. #excuses

In an ideal world I'd be mixing up HB/LB and front squats, just because it seems advantageous to do all three.

 

[Somnambulist]

Last couple of workouts have made me think that I've probably gone as far as I can with 5x5 reps on SL, and should probably switch to 5x3 if I want to eek more progress out of SL - as per Mehdi's instructions really.

I think personally it might be good anyway because it means a little less volume overall, which should help with recovery, as right now while I wouldn't mind lifting heavier, I really want to stop recomping. I've put on a little muscle and lost a decent amount of fat and just blasting the rest of my fat off ASAP seems the preferable option now, then clean bulk like a mofo.

Cliff Notes from the last two workouts were, got my deadlift back to 100kg, although 3 sets of 5 not 1 (w00t), bench back to 60 although I can generally only get 3 good sets out of it (why I wanna go 5x3 on that as well), and I'm planning my assistance stuff on the B workout a little smarter - on an A B A week I'll do hammer/semi-supinated chins, on a B A B week I'll do chins Monday (close-ish grip) and pullups + curlz Friday.

I'd quite like to try the Rip style tricep extensiony thing as well, probably best suited for a Friday on an A workout as I can get away with a bit more volume then since I have 2 days rest rather than 1.

Gym empty on Friday usually so may try and film lifts as less chance of phone getting nicked.

 

[Somnambulist]

Walked into gym tonight after work, raring to go and... found a guy doing partial deadlifts (like just the top half of the movement) in the squat rack. Went over to the bench and did some front squats with the bar. The squat rack became free, I moved to take my rightful place when... that's right, someone jumped in and started doing curls.

FFUUUUUU

Sulked for a bit, started with OHP instead. Terrible idea in hindsight..

20 x 10
25 x 5
30 x 3
35 x 2
40 x 5 5 5 4 3 - not too bad, expected to fail the last couple of sets tbh given I only just squeezed 37.5 out last week 5x5. Will have 2 more stabs at it then I'll go 5x3 and in truth I'd rather just skip to that now because I know I can do 40 for 5x3 confidently, but hey, stick to the program.

Squat rack became free, ran over... someone wanted to take turns, FUUUUUU. Fridays are usually dead, wtf?

Terrible warm up - 40 x 5, 60 x 5, 80 x 2, didn't feel ready and my quads were tight from OHP.... he was doing 60, 80, 100, 140... I planned on 97.5 but to save time I just thought, to hell with it, and did 100...

100 5x3 - this was a battle, although in truth my form felt good, just the actual lift itself was v. difficult and my depth wasn't great. That said, next time I attempt this Monday I feel quite confident I'll do it better with a proper warm up.

Also, I ordered my Oly shoes, hopefully they'll be a good fit off the bat! Go me and my bright Adipowers to be! I kind of want to go back to basics when I get them and squat ATG properly and work my way up the weights, because you don't really get dat bounce at the bottom of the squat unless you're hitting true depth.

Oh yeah, form thing I notice w/squats quite often - bar isn't secure on my traps enough - has a habit of shifting down a bit as I hit depth, very annoying. Need to shrug more and grip a little closer.

Oh joy, straight onto deadlifts (bad idea)
40 x 10
60 x 5
70 x 3
80 x 2
100 5x3 - first set was hard, 2nd was urgh, 3rd was even more urgh.

I asked someone to check my form 2nd set. Need to get my butt down a touch more at the start, and my upper back rounds right near the top of the lift which is weird (losing tightness?) as it's fine for 3/4 of the lift. Hard to take much from it because doing them straight after squats was... lol. I'll video myself soon.

Wide-ish grip pulls 9 5 4 - haaard, when you're used to doing ones only a bit wider than chins.

Plank x3

Did some quick curlz for the gurlz but gym was shutting so not really worth commenting on.

The weight belt the gym sell had 'Shock' on the front. STIFF leather jobby, it was proper huge around my midrift though lol, I'm such a manlet!

 

[Somnambulist]

A few workouts later aaaaand...

Decided I want to get leaner quicker (recomp is slow), but not change my training much. This is so I can start my clean bulk quicker from a base of lean goodness (around 7-10%) and only then strict cut when I get to 15% or so. Therefore, I'm going to up my cals on training days a bit, but from Monday I'm going to always have at least 2 days rest between workouts - so Mon|Thurs|Sun|Weds|Sat|Tues|Fri - this way I get more recovery time from doing heavy compounds on SL whilst effectively cutting LG style and more food to recover better PWO, but the calorie deficit over the course of a week will be greater.

Sounds good in my head. Once I start clean bulking I'll go back to a more bog-standard Mon/Wed/Fri type thing, I think.

 

[Somnambulist]

Holy crap, what a difference sleep makes.

So, between Sunday night to Thursday night I had about 5-6 hours sleep a night, felt crap, was crap in gym. Finished my last shift for a week (till I do nights on Thursday night) yesterday and slept from like 1am to 12.45pm today. Ate about 40% of my intake at 3pm, went to the gym at 5pm.

Got to the gym feeling chipper - not tired, food in my belly, and best of all, no rush to get everything done in 1hr.

Squats (Oly shoes, engage!):

Front squat:
Bar x 10
40 x 5
60 x 5

Just getting a feel for these - they're much harder than back squats - form is great IMO, it's just I lack a little flexibility in the wrists to really take them out of the equation of the lift completely. I seem to be able to rest the bar in the right place quite well.

HB Squat:
Bar x 15
40 x 10
60 x 5
70 x 3
80 x 2
90 5x3 - so, today I told myself now I have the shoes, it's ATG or GTFO. I think bar 1-2 reps, I was getting WELL below parallel to that region where you can really bounce out of the bottom. Felt pretty damn good.

Bench:
20 10x2
30 x 5
40 x 5
50 x 2
60 5x3 - bar the last rep of the last set these went up pretty well. I tried to focus on not being too slow letting the weight come down and putting my energy into the press itself. I'm still a bit iffy about how vertical my bar path is.

Oly shoes, disengage, Vibrams, engage.

P. Rows
40 x 5
50 x 5
60 5x3 - I usually have to rush these as I'm doing them at like 9:40pm and the gym's shutting. By gawd brahs, I threw these up like they were nothing. Felt like a boss. Best rows I've done in a long time.

Dips
14 9 7 - felt okay - I keep wondering if, being more the 'potatoes' part of SL if I should be weighing myself down for these and aiming for a rep zone, rather than just going to 1 rep short of failure

Reverse crunchy/vertical leg raises/negative dragon-flaggy things - 12 12 12 - I can't dragon flag but I'm working on it, and my abs kill from these so it's doing something right.

I even had time to find out what these Rippetoe lying tricep extensions he teaches are like - felt pretty nice to perform
EZ bar x 10
EZ bar + 5kg x 10
EZ bar + 10kg (is this 20kg?) 3x8

Easy. Just getting a feel for the exercise.

I felt epic leaving the gym, the best I've felt in ages, even had a bit of an endorphine rush. This is the first time in 2013 I've been able to go to the gym on a day off work, where I wasn't in a rush or quite tired. I don't think my lifts are going to magically fly up now, but certainly it's told me that I need to find a way of squeezing more sleep in when I'm at work, and that 5x3 is better than x5 purely at this point because I don't have to rush as much. I also think meal timing might be a factor - at work I usually end up eating at like 3pm then not working out till 9pm, unless I'm on 8-4pm shorts when I'll eat at 12-1pm and train at 5pm.

It's sucky getting up at 5:55am, being at work till 8pm then getting in the gym at 9pm - so I think this new method of train, rest 2-3 days, train, repeat is going to work well because when I'm on shift, I'll only have to train ONCE on a work day, and all the other times it'll be in the afternoon or morning (weekends). On short shifts, it's not as much of an issue as I'll be doing 'regular' hours (8-4pm, train at 5pm, or 12-8pm and train at 9pm but I can sleep till 9-9:30am unlike when I'm on shift).

EDIT - also ftw was seeing these two guys who looked pretty juicy struggle to squat 60kg to depth and were quarter squatting 100kg. I can do 60kg for fun and I probably weigh 10-15kg less, plus I'll hopefully be doing 100kg ATG soon.

 

[icecold]

I find lack of sleep not only hampers a session, but absolutely kills recovery and progress. If I've got a lot on and miss sleep for a few days, it's basically a weeks training down the drain!

I'm jelly of your shoes btw. I couldn't justify paying the premium for some of the tastier pairs as I won't ever use them for my regular squatting, but goddamnit they do look sexy as ****!

 

[Somnambulist]

In an ideal world I'd like to perform all 4 main squat types (front, HB, LB, overhead) and they help for 3/4 plus anything Oly related, so it's an investment for me, even if I could have got some of the cheaper pairs, like a typical nerd I had to go for the coolest looking ones.

It's hard for me to get enough sleep when I'm on 12 hour shifts.

Up at around 6am
Leave house at 6:30am to get to work in good time for 8am start
Work till 8pm - usually get out a bit earlier though
Get in gym at 8:40-50pm-ish - gym shuts at 10pm
Get home at 10:30pm
Eat a lot - usually takes 20-25mins
Shower and stuff...
Crawl in bed - usually this ends up being at 11:30pm or so, and I find it takes a while to fall asleep.

When I'm working nights I get in bed at like 9:30am, get up at 3:30pm and run out the door by 4pm so I can hit the gym fasted and be back, showered and fed to leave the house for 6:30pm.

This is why I'm thinking that training every 3rd day(4th on occasion) rather than Mon/Wed/Fri with weekends off, is going to be better for me, because I won't have to cram my gym in after being up for 15 hours:

Blue = 8am-8pm
Red = 8pm-8am
Green = 8-4pm
Purple = 12-8pm

4th week of shifts - can be Sun for month 1 of shifts, Sat for month 2 (as I'd be moving onto short shifts the next week).

9 sessions a month seems kind of low, but the main thing is that in a few months I should on paper achieve dat low bf% I've dreamed about forever, then I can change my routine and stuff to suit the clean bulky thingy and work on trying to look juicy as fuark.

Macros for cutty recomp (-30/+10) added. On training days, fat will be 35g minimum 50g max and carbs adjusted to suit (so F=50 C=270, F=40 C=290 etc). On rest days fat will be 55g-60g, protein adjusted to suit (P=150 F=60 or P=160 F=55). Pretty much what I'm on now except slightly higher cals training days. Hopefully the '1 on, 2 off' pattern should mean greater recovery, more sleep on work days/nights and better performance on the day as less rushing.

Thinking of something like:

A workout =
Squat, bench, p.row - 5x3
Dips, Rippetoe lying tricep extension, calf raise - not sure about rep ranges
Core work

B workout =
Squat, ohp, deadlift - 5x3
Chins/pulls, RDLs - not sure about rep ranges
core work

Agree? As I'm doing Stronglifts still, being a newb, I'm thinking it should work as I'll just be alternating A B A B A all the time rather than A B A, B A B per week.

 

[Somnambulist]

Changed the above a bit. Will see how this works out starting Monday.

 

[Somnambulist]

Pretty nice going.

Warmed up with some front squats and high bar... the usual progression
90 - 5 5 5 - getting lower than before, decent form. With the Oly shoes, I'm 'taller' so my point of reference for depth (the horizontal beam on the squat rack) is actually technically further down, which means my overall ROM is greater and therefore 90kg is a fair bit harder that before lol. I'm still not happy with my positioning at the bottom though, and I need to work on pulling my shoulders in more to get a better trap shelf for the bar.

OHP - warmed up with a little less volume than usual, I think sometimes I'm guilty of over-doing this which hampers my work sets, because ultimately the press isn't as big a movement as a squat or dead and form and doesn't require as much working in. I dialled back to 37.5kg just because I wanted to be sure I can do this with super form...

37.5 - 5 5 5 - not a struggle at all. I re-watched the Rippetoe vid and decreased the ROM at the bottom a tad, although I refuse to 'bounce' the weight at the bottom and try and do what Rip teaches with the hip trigger.

Deadlifts - now, I tried to do RDLs after this and it wasn't working, so I think I might use the RDL to warm up to my deadlift, perhaps, or maybe I was just trying to be a hero starting at 60kg (will do it w/just the bar next time). Usual deadlift warm up, feeling good.

100 - 5 5 5 - better than last time, especially on the last set (i.e. no snap city). I swapped my alt. grip around for the last two sets because I felt a little twinge in my shoulder, no harm done.

I wanted to do chins next but someone was using the Smith, so for some reason decided to grab a 10kg dumbbell and do some Turkish Getups, because they're a good movement.

10 - 8 left, 8 right, 8 left, 8 right. I've done these before with a kettlebell and a dumbbell is harder because the COG is further away (i.e. in your hand rather than between wrist and elbow). Still, a good balancing act. I think people were looking at me funny.

Chins - wanted to do these weighted but it was getting packed so I just wanted to finish and go

BW - 12 7 6 - I'll try weighted next time

Planks x3 - never count, just do them till it starts hurting!

Brisk walk to the gym and back also. Going to eat now.

 

[Somnambulist]

First time visiting a physio today, as I wanted an MOT of myself after getting into this weightlifting malarky in June. Learnt a lot of interesting stuff, my rhomboids are underdeveloped relative to the rest of me, my glutes need work, there's anterior pelvic tilt which needs sorting out, shoulder/neck tightness pulling them forward, deep core strength lacking - look forward to fixing it all! As expected also, my pecs are super tight which is part of the reason I find low bar squatting super hard. Lot of stiffness too - both laughed when my back went crack in 3 places. Feels good man.

She was very pleased to see that unlike most young men, I haven't been a broseph with completely over-developed shoulders and I was pretty aware of my own issues and was looking to work on stuff before it developed into a problem. £35 a time though, will need to be a monthly thing I think, while I work my issues out. Good thing the company I work for is predicted to hit it's targets for bonus/pay rises.

 

[mrthingyx]

Is the physio hot? Also, if she's actually good, then that £35 is probably very, very well spent.

Nice to hear about the shoes, too - it's funny how they make certain things much easier, but in doing so, make things a lot harder.

 

[Somnambulist]

Plain Jane, probably just as well when I was standing about in my underwear being manipulated lol, wouldn't want a happy accident.

Waiting for my email which will have stretches etc to work on. 'Lengthen then strengthen' is the mantra, apparently. Due to my shifts I'll have to do them at work no doubt, will be funny.

 

[mrthingyx]

Mmmm... my physio's a bloke, so anything is better. He's a brilliant physio, however, and understands that I want to destroy myself with Olympic lifting. And it's free.

Lengthen then strengthen? Glute ham raises, Bulgarian split squats...

I sense much horror in your future... XD

 

[Somnambulist]

The gist from what I remember is I don't want to go and start doing lifts and stuff specifically for these areas with weights - the first step is to work on lengthening the underdeveloped or weak areas to get imbalances corrected. She didn't use an analogy but I presume it's something like a building site where you want to fix the piling/foundations before you start throwing concrete and bricks on top of it. If the muscle isn't moving as it should I suppose it's not a great idea to start loading it heavily. I'm probably butchering her reasoning but I'll find out more next Wednesday as I'm going again.

I can't do GHRs at my gym because there's no machine and from what I understand, the alternatives that look similar (like using the lat pull down machine to lock your feet in) are more a 'reverse leg curl' in practice. There's other things I'm sure I could do though.

Also she encouraged me to go through with my idea of doing Pilates or something on my off days as my deep core and flexibility is turd, so I need to look at a cheap way of getting into that, although that's going to be worked on as well.

Gotta buy a hockey ball to go with my foam roller too - she prefers them as they don't have the stitching the lacrosse balls do.