Som's Log - Manlet on a Mission

[mrthingyx]

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.

Lat pull down machine for ultimate GHR pain.

And if your core is turd, planks, candlesticks, rollouts, dragon flags, etc...

 

[Somnambulist]

I'm already doing planks and trying to work on my dragon flags (at least the negative portion lol). She said the superficial core muscles are looking good (ooo er), but it's the deep ones that need to be built up more - no doubt I'm in for some fun next week.

 

[Somnambulist]

So. 'Week 2' of shifts - 4 nights (at my desk now). I got up around 11am and decided that although I wouldn't be going to the gym until 3pm, I'd go fasted because I wanted to eat stuff at work. Had a coffee, jogged to the gym and then necked my BCAAs and 3rd world squatted while I waited for the rack to free up. I felt a bit sore from the physio (she said I'd probably start feeling it the next day!) but wanted to power through.

Squats:
90kg 5x3 - still working on my form but got all the reps out and decent depth on the vast majority of them. I think a problem I'm still too slow on the descent I think, which makes the bounce and power up harder than it needs to be.

Bench:
60kg 5x3 - hardish, might be the fasted training vs going into the gym with a belly full of food. It was more like 3 sets of 4 reps, with a pause and a 5th rep, as I kept losing tightness.

P.Row:
60 5x3 - peace of cake, going up to 62.5kg next time

Dips:
BW + 5kg 10 6
BW 6

I can always get to about 12-14 on dips, so thought I should start working in the 6-10 range, I can't decide if I should do 8-10 or 6-8, or if it matters much. Anyway, got 10 solid reps +5kg (whilst I watched someone benching 220kg - srs), 6 and then just went down to bw for the last set which gave me another 6.

Rippetoe LTEs:
Warmed up with what I was playing about with last time (10kg bar 2x5kg - so 20kg total)
30kg (bar plus 2x5kg and 2x2.5kg) - 8 8 8

Can definitely go heavier with these, although may need a spotter to give me the bar rather than faffing about to get into position.

Did a couple of sets of hanging knee raises (10x2) and then worked on my reverse crunches/attempted dragon flag negatives (12x2) Christ those are hard.

Had a bit of time to kill, so grabbed a 20kg plate , put my toes on the weight tree and did 2x10 (slight) decifit calf raises each side, easy.

Went home, showered, ate a load, now at work. Feel like doing pushups and eating MOAR. Wearing a fitted sweater and not feeling fat is nice.

 

[Somnambulist]

So, worked nights Thursday to Sunday. Went to bed Monday morning, got up at 4pm after about 6 hours sleep to do a couple of bits, weigh and measure myself, had some dinner then went to the gym not feeling super great and wondering how 3 days rest would affect ze lifts.

Weight - 61.7kg/136lbs - down from last week as predicted. Slightly smaller in a couple of areas. Expect this trend to continue as I get on the road to cut-ville, plus I've been slightly stricter with odds and sods (i.e. no vanilla lattes at work on rest days).

Squats - 90kg 5x3 haaaaaard. Got them done though.
OHP - 40kg 5x3 - form wasn't pretty on the last set but I was pleased to grind these out as weighing less all the time I don't want to lose strength and these are up from 37.5kg last week. 42.5kg won't be touched till I get 15 perfect reps though.
Deadlift - 100kg 5x3 - form also not pretty last set. I decided that having the weights on 2 mats (as is needed to stop it being noisy) puts the bar up higher than is probably 'official', so I stood on 1 mat as to make the overall height more like deadlifting the weight off the floor (around what I'd imagine a 25kg plate's height would be rather than a 20kg). I think this also forces me to get down a bit more (short arms) which in terms encourages getting my butt down more so probably a good thing. It's very hard to decide if the Bodymax weights the gym uses are the 'right' size.
Hammer chins BW 10 7 5 - Smith was in use so couldn't do close grip, which meant...
Barbell Brocep Curlz - just for extra bicepy goodness - 8 8 8 - just the bar
Did some planks, went home, ate a stupid amount very quickly.

Day off completely tomorr... well, today I guess. Weds is physio so a bit of bike riding, Thurs I need to run an errand so a bit more biking - nothing strenuous - then gym, then off again till Monday afternoon since I'm working 3 days in a row. Pity the gym isn't open till late weekends but nothing I can do about that.

Oh yeah, I tried some GHRs using the lat pulldown machine. My hams are crap, I might as well have not bothered. Better work on them with leg curls or something lulz.

 

[mrthingyx]

Oh yeah, I tried some GHRs using the lat pulldown machine. My hams are crap, I might as well have not bothered. Better work on them with leg curls or something lulz.

Stop whining: GHRs aren't meant to be easy.

Start with an inclined bench in front at nearly vertical so you have something to work towards, and slowly lower it as your Grammies get stronger (I.e. you can lower yourself further).

 

[Somnambulist]

Yeah I'm not giving up that easily! Shows how quad dominant my legs are though.

 

[Somnambulist]

Physio kicked my butt! Or more accurately, my glutes lol.

I can't hip bridge without hanging off my hamstrings, which shows how weak parts of my glutes are, and my hams aren't much better. Spasmed my hamstring just keeping the bridge up which was lol. Cracked another bit of my back which was nice too, getting looser!

First job is restoring neck flexibility because I'm pretty tight there - got a few stretches to do twice daily (15-30 secs per stretch, so of course I'll aim for 30), which aren't very exciting but consist of:
Ear to shoulder lateral stretch - x3 each side
Rotating neck stretch - x3 each side
Forward flexion stretch - x5
Levator scapulae stretch - x3 each side
Seat neck retractions x5 (10 secs not 15-30)
Parallel arm shoulder stretch x10 each side (30 secs) - this one is only once daily

That should help get my head back where it's supposed to be instead of craning forward slightly (a consequence of hunching over a monitor for years)

Core stuff (x3 sets of 8-10) - the focus is on activating my pelvic floor (i.e. the 'stop yourself from peeing one) and creating the neural link for activating my glutes, because my medial and minor glutes aren't firing when they should be IIRC, so I need to make the connection and work on strengthening it. These burned lol, which is funny when you consider I lift heavy weights, but just raising my leg.... youch.

Can't do hip bridges yet as my glutes are too pathetic, soon though.
Hip clams
Side leg lifts
Side leg circles (anti-clockwise, foot slightly behind)

Look for the Pilates vids on YouTube for demonstrations. Next Friday we'll add more stuff in. Apparently she thinks I'll probably only need about 6-8 sessions to get it all on course to be fixed (won't be once a week after these first couple of weeks), just a case of me applying what I'm taught. Interesting stuff.

Bike ride there and back would have been nice if I wasn't freezing my ***s off.

 

[mrthingyx]

Ah, the results of an office-bound life.

Great to hear you're getting it sorted because glutes are the source of your power. Just imagine how uber you will be in a few weeks' time!

 

[Somnambulist]

Yeah, gluteus maximus are good, it's the medius and minimus that need work! It's kind of funny because I have good mind/muscle connection to my maximus (can make them jump about etc) and when tensed they're rock solid, but when doing those side leg lifts for example, it's hard because those muscles are weak as fuuuaarak - too much sitting about.

The core stuff is something I need to get used to, because when squatting etc I'm used to pushing my abs out and bracing, but with the hip bridge, I need to squeeze my glutes together whilst engaging my pelvic floor, which is more an inward movement (but not sucking my abs in), and it's a right job atm. Should come with time.

 

[Somnambulist]

Beef. So between cycling and the physio my glutes and quads felt tired before I'd even got in the gym. Uh-oh.

Squats - decided to try low bar again to take some it easier on my quads, I did the bar/40kg/60kg low bar in my Vibrams just trying to get the feel for it. My feelings are - I don't find the squat itself weird, it's just I can't seem to find a position where it feels like my hands are doing nothing but keeping the bar in place. I can grip the bar although there is still wrist bend, and pack my shoulders together, but at 60kg it still felt like my arms were taking some of the weight, grrr. I know I limited pec flexibility and some other issues that need fixing, but this does annoy me. Switched to Adipowers for a couple of reps at 70kg and 80kg, then did my usual 90kg 5x3 which sucked the life out of my already tired legs. For some reason I punished myself further back at 60kg going as ATG as possible for a couple of 5's. It's taught me that IMO my legs have the power to push up heavier weight, but it's my core stability letting me down, because as the weight gets heavier I'm just not as solid at the bottom.

Bench - did my usual warm ups, 60kg 5x3 - these were harder than last time. Whenever I drop more weight, my bench is always the first thing that suffers - it's like as I get less fat around my chest line, I have to move the bar further which = more work = harder. Or something. I'm not losing strength because...

P.Rows - 62.5kg (warmed up with a couple of 5's at 40kg and one at 50kg) - back to my PR weight and the best form I've done for it as well, felt tight and solid and wasn't moving my body too much (e.g. getting more vertical or coming down to meet the weight). A moment of joy after grinding through the first two lifts.

Dips:
BW+10kg - 8, 6
BW - 6

Did 10 w/5kg on the belt last week and decided I might as well try 10kg. Still not sure if I should do 6-8 or 8-10, but hey. Will probably microload from 10kg up though.

Then did a couple of sets of deficit one leg calf raises with a 20kg plate

Rippetoe LTE:
30kg - 8 8 8

May try 35kg next time, nobody about and I think any heavier and I'm going to want someone to hold the weight up for me to start with rather than shuffling it up my body and getting into the starting position with it.

Reverse crunches:
3x12

Not too bad a day. It's weird how I can improve on my row but suck more on my bench, it's definitely my worst lift.

Going to shower and do my physio core/glute work now.

 

[mrthingyx]

Going to shower and do my physio...

Was about to suggest logging this in the Powerlifting Achievements thread until I actually read the sentence.

Nice workout., regardless. To force yor hamstrings and glutes to join the party, try deficit Bulgarian split squats. This will bring in all your glutes because of the massive stabilising effort required. Plus they will make you feel like a legend.

 

[Somnambulist]

I was thinking of adding them into the B workout - will try them on Monday evening - I take it it's easiest to use a couple of dumbbells since you get a grip workout too. We don't actually have any steps in the gym so I'll have to nick a few mats to stack.

The core stuff the physio gave me is humbling lol.

Do you reckon with the assistance stuff I should go for 6-8 or 8-10 btw?

 

[mrthingyx]

Good physios always pick out your weak spots.

Regarding the assistance work, my preference is 6-8 reps and crank the load as and when you've stabilised. There is no right/wrong way to do it, subject to your objectives (strength? Hypertrophy? Cardio?), but there we go.

For example: I've just done some deficit BSS with 14-16-18kg dumbells at 3*8, just because I felt like it. My primary goal is explosive power over 1-2 reps, so assistance work in the hypertrophy range (provided the speed of the movement is good) is fine.

 

[Somnambulist]

Yeah, I'm 5x3 on my main lifts, so 6-8 on the assistance then. Sorted.

Goal atm to be honest is just to maintain/make minor gains while I get my bf% right down so I have a lean base to bulk from. Given I'm training x3 per 10 days ish I have more rest days per week, and I'm on a -30/+10 split, so hopefully this should happen at a decent pace.

 

[Somnambulist]

Urgh, super tired after 3 days at work and not enough sleep, and had to get up early for the dentist. Now at work for the next 3 nights, oh joy. The saving grace is weight down again a bit 61.2kg and waist down to 72cm. Starting to see a bit more of my core in normal light.

Various things meant I went to the gym and trained fasted (bar Xtend) at 3pm as I wanted to eat something at work. Got the gym and felt awful but tried to persevere. This job sucks.

Squats - 90kg 5x3 - really hard work. Depth has been better
OHP - 40kg 5x3 (4+1, 3+2, 3+2) down from last week, just felt weaksauce. Need to find a way to sleep more lol).
Deadlifts -100kg - 5x3 - (5, 4+1, 3+2) again, very tired and crappy.
Chins (bw + 5kg) - 8 7 6 - first time doing weighted chins, felt quite nice!
Planks x3
Didn't have much time left so gave DBSS an quick exploratory go holding two 10kg plates since the bros were using all the 10kg dbs. Not sure on positioning, have to look up some vids, didn't really do them for reps or sets.
Pullups (bw) - 6 5 4 - just because I felt I needed to do something else.

At work now till 8am and feel crap. Blarggggh. At least on nights I can sit in this data centre in trackies and try to doze off at some point.

The extra rest days seem to be giving me the fat loss I wanted and bar today (which I blame on tiredness) my lifts aren't going down... given the slow drop in weight I guess my strength/weight ratio is actually going up slowly too, but the main thing is I don't want to get weaker! I'm dying to get clean bulking but until I get my body fat down... (well, my moobs mainly but they seem to be holding off till the very end - may be a hormonal thing - my fat distribution ****s me off! - worst place for stubborn fat).

Going to do my physio stuff at work at some point. I only have one real job to do tonight and the rest of it will be spent twiddling thumbs/staring at the screen. It's nice to be paid to do nothing, but tbh I'd rather do a 9-5 job now where I'm getting paid do something existentially gratifying, even if it's harder.

 

[Somnambulist]

Well, slept for a couple of hours at work (my shift mates are understanding lol), then slept coma-like till 5pm once I got home. Nice. Just did my physio stretches when people went for lunch a min ago and for some reason decided to try pistol squats - wahey, can now get to the bottom and up with both legs, albeit with not the straightest most upright leg (not that flexible!). Feels good man!

 

[opethdisciple]

Good progress!

 

[Somnambulist]

Was about to suggest logging this in the Powerlifting Achievements thread until I actually read the sentence.

Nice workout., regardless. To force yor hamstrings and glutes to join the party, try deficit Bulgarian split squats. This will bring in all your glutes because of the massive stabilising effort required. Plus they will make you feel like a legend.

They also give me a walk like John Wayne, holy chit my glutes felt like I'd never squatted before.

 

[Somnambulist]

Btw as far as training goes, it's going okay. Nothing going backward although I did deload a bit to work on form for a few things and am working my way back up, and obviously ATG squatting makes the same weight much harder than just parallel.

 

[Somnambulist]

Some newer pics here (scroll down)

It's ridic how I have lower ab veins on show but a bunch of fat elsewhere still. Funny hormones, possibly a gyno-brah? Not sure, aren't you supposed to be tender/have a swollen gland behind the nip-nip with that? I asked my doc about it once and she said I was just fat lol - at least those days are behind me (ish).

One the road to leanness. As I posted in the thread in SA - I'd really appreciate some help coming up with an alternative to the 'squat erreh training day' Stronglifts, although I do want to
a) keep it to mostly compound lifts
b) take into account my Mon/Thurs/Sun/Weds/Sat/Tues/Fri/repeat style training days
c) take into account my -30/+10 diet plan