DaveT's Training Log

[guru]

I know this is not true SL5x5, but it seems to work for me - maybe a steady 2.5kg increase once a week is the way forward.

Oh well, it probably means that you're advanced. The SL advanced has a weekly increase.

On Friday, someone was on the normal bench and my impatience got the better of me and I decided to use the Incline Bench and do the same weight that I would have done on the normal one. Not such a great idea, as I hadn't thought about how it might use my muscles slightly differently and maybe even use different muscles. Anyway, I managed to squeeze out the 5 sets, but some of the reps in the 4th and 5th set were not good.

Dave, that's a different exercise, & it targets the shoulders more. It is expected that you'll have lower weight / reps on that. Good that you managed to achieve 5x5 there too.

Bridges
Wed - 3x60secs (Right/Left/Prone)

I decided that I would do some side bridges to mix it up a little. Didn't really think about it too much and just went for the 60secs. The last 10-15secs on my sides were agony, probably should have done 40secs and worked my way up.

Side bridges are way harder than regular ones. I know - have been doing them to make the exercise tougher.

I realised that I'd been cheating myself with these. The chin up bar is at a height of about 210cm, and as I'm 194cm, I grab hold of it and then bend my legs until my arms are straight. I then do my chin ups from that position, keeping my legs in the same position. Initially this sounds fine, but I realised that at the bottom of every rep, part of my body weight was being supported by my legs.

Other side of cheating - the chin bars on the cable pulley machine are too tall for me, so every time I jumped up, I ended up doing a jump chin, which is easier since you're using momentum. I realised this & corrected it. Of course my 3 on first set dropped down to two.

[markg]

Maybe what you're doing with squats is SL 5x5 at the moment Dave. If you're form wasn't right on the first two attempts, you count those as failures and keep the same weight for next time. You got it with correct form third time so then you up the weight. Following the programme without realising it. You must be a natural

[excylist]

Good chin #s Dave! And ain't it a glorious thing to have to trade in your clothes because you've become more muscular? The signs of progress aren't always have to be in the weight room- way to go!

[DaveT]

Completely forgot it was the 2nd Monday of the month this week and turned up at my gym to find it was closed for cleaning. So it was the T/T/S workouts this week.

Squats

Warm up - 50kgx5, 60kgx3, 65kgx2
Tue - 72.5kg 5x5
Thu - 72.5kg 5x5
Sat - 72.5kg 5x5

Continuing with doing the weight three times each week. This seems to be working for me. What I am having problems with is my shoulder flexibility. Even though I do shoulder dislocations, I still have to go through several minutes of torment when I first get under the bar, so that I can get my elbows up and my hands in a narrow grip with my wrists straight. However, the distance between the knots in the rope I use for the shoulder dislocations is coming down, so some progress. As to the weight, no real problems, especially by Saturday.

Workout A

BP
Warm up - 30kgx5, 40kgx3, 50kgx2
Thu - 57.5kg 5x5

After last week's effort on the Incline Bench, I was a little worried, but these were tough but ok. Form was a bit iffy in 4th and 5th sets so going to repeat the weight.

BB Rows
Warm up - 30kgx5, 40kgx3, 50kgx2
Thu - 57.5kg 5x5

These felt slightly heavy for the first time, and I could feel the muscles in my back working.

Rev Cs
Thu - 3x12

Dips
Thu - 4x4, 4x3 (28 total)

Pleased with my progression with these. Don't think I'm going to catch up with Guru, but the friendly rivalry has definitely made me push myself a bit harder than I might have done.

Workout B

OHP
Warm up - 20kgx5, 30kgx3, 35kgx2
Tue - 40kg 5x5
Sat - 40kg 5x5

Starting to get better at getting under the bar. I think I'm ready to move on to 42.5kg.

DL
Warm up - 60kgx5, 80kgx3, 90kgx2
Tue - 95kg 1x5
Sat - 100kg 1x5

Great to do more than 1xBW on Tue, then good to reach the 100kg point and put 2 big plates on each end of the bar, as well as hitting my March 31st goal early. So big smiles all round this week.

Bridges
Tue - 3x60secs (Right/Left/Prone)
Sat - 3x60secs (Right/Left/Prone)

Side bridges are still feeling tough, so I'll continue with these for the moment.

Chin/Pull Ups
Tue - Pulls 7x2, 3x1 (17 total)
Sat - Chins 1x4, 5x3, 2x2 (23 total)

I realised I had been dong the same thing with my pull ups as I had with my chin ups, so it was back to reality and slightly lower numbers - aiming for 10x2. I overestimated my ability on my chin ups and was going for 8x4, when it's obvious I should have been going for 8x3, so that's what I'll aim for next week.

Tabatas
Wed - Squat Thrusts (3.5kg DBs) 9/9/8/8/8/8/7/7
Fri - Squat Thrusts (3.5kg DBs) 9/9/9/8/8/8/8/8

Done these for two weeks now. I will add in a 2nd exercise (Renegade Rows) next week with a 4min break in between.

I ordered a Gymboss online which arrived and I found very useful for the Tabatas, as it is much easier to go all out and just stop when you hear the beep rather than having to clock watch. However, it has also been good for SL exercises as I stuck to more definite rest times between sets, and this cut down my gym time by about 10-15mins.

My other slight worry is that after Workout A on Thu, the outside and inside/top of forearm of my left elbow was hurting. I'm wondering if I have pushed myself on the BP and dips too much, as well as doing the squat thrusts for Tabatas - maybe I have caused some 'tennis elbow' / RSI? It seems to hurt when I do exercises where my elbows are pushed back the most. I had no problems on Sat when I was doing the OHP, so I will see how it goes on Monday and make a decision then.

[guru]

The log has again started to show some heavy numbers Dave, great. That deadlift must've felt superb. Two plates on either side of the bar...wow.

As for the elbow, I've had an elbow pain in the left arm since before my week off. The rest didn't do much good to it, but Vlad's advice has been somewhat helpful. Now it's almost healed, but I still feel the pain during the Inverted rows, nothing on the press & BP. Hope it clears up fast for you.

[WillJG]

Congratulations on the 100kg deadlift Dave!

[Vlad]

Great progress, Dave!

I would suspect that exercises where your grip is employed most, like DL and chin/pull-ups, are the real cause of your problem with the forearm muscles. You should massage them. There are many effective ways. I just found one really simple and effective way for outer muscles of the forearm: stand in the doorway, bend your elbow (about 90 deg) and bring the forearm to your ribcage, press your forearm muscles against the door frame by leaning with your BW against the frame. It's best to press aginst the edge of the frame so that it hurts most. Massage from very close to the elbow and down forearm. For the inner forearm, sit on a chair, take a cup of a suitable shape and size in your right hand and press the bottom of the cup into the inner forearm of the left hand which is supported on your left thigh. Quick and effective. Takes 5 min most and you will feel better right away.

PS: Press hard (should hurt a lot if there is a triggerpoint) for 5 sec, release, repeat 5 times, move to another spot.

[DaveT]

Thanks for the info Vlad, but I don't think its the muscles themselves that are hurting and suspect it's the tendons as the pain is close to the elbow joint on the inside and pretty much on the bone on the outside. I started feeling it again a little when I was coaching basketball this afternoon, but went to the gym anyway tonight, and it wasn't as bad as last week, so things seem to be improving. I'll see how it goes this week. If the pain gets worse, then I'll back off on the weights, otherwise I'm just going to continue for the moment.

[guru]

Hi Dave,

Yes, I agree that the tendons are most likely to be hurting, but this is Vlad's theory (I'm only repeating it here) behind that - Trigger points in the muscles are essentially knots formed in the muscle fibres in the process of rapid stretching & contraction. Because of these knots, the length of the fibres reduces. If the knots are in a major fibre, then the tendons get stretched all the time & do not get rest. That causes pain in the tendons. So massaging trigger points actually relieves the tendons from the continuous tension.

I hope I have understood it well. Correct me here if I'm wrong Vlad.

[Gvonf]

Wicked deadlifts mate! Good for you. :) Sad to hear about the elbow, though, hope it goes away within reasonable time.

How's the side bridges work for you, by the way? At what time did you happen to start doing them and why? I'm curious because the regular prone bridges are beginning to feel easy, and I've been wondering about possible alternatives.

[excylist]

Dave- Agreed- great work on the deads. I'm almost there and know how hard that 100k lift is. About the elbow- mine started hurting from doing the chinups. You've moved into numbers I had when the elbow started huring me. If you are "greasing the groove" by doing extra chins on your days off, you might want to reconsider. I stopped doing them and felt better. Good luck!

[Vlad]

Hi Dave,

Yes, I agree that the tendons are most likely to be hurting, but this is Vlad's theory (I'm only repeating it here) behind that - Trigger points in the muscles are essentially knots formed in the muscle fibres in the process of rapid stretching & contraction. Because of these knots, the length of the fibres reduces. If the knots are in a major fibre, then the tendons get stretched all the time & do not get rest. That causes pain in the tendons. So massaging trigger points actually relieves the tendons from the continuous tension.

I hope I have understood it well. Correct me here if I'm wrong Vlad.

Yes, that's correct. At first you get tension in the muscle (you do not feel any pain at that moment), and then you get pain in the tendons as a result of that tension. BTW, this is not my theory. It's textbook knowledge.

Dave, just try the two methods above (you have nothing to lose, except for 5 min). Search for the painful spots, and you will notice that pressing in the middle of your forearm might produce (or reproduce) your pain in the elbow. You might need to press rather hard to get to the triggerpoints. Do not be afraid of pain. It's good if it's painful. It shows that you found the right spot. Sometimes it could be quite tricky to find it.

It is very common that pain due to triggerpoints in the middle of a muscle is felt as if it is inside the joint, but the pain in the muscle itself is NOT present unles you press on it.

[DaveT]

@guru and vlad
Thanks guys for the explanation - that makes much more sense now. I will try the two things vlad suggested earlier.

@gvonf
I started to do side bridges a couple of weeks ago, as I had reached 1min on my prone bridges a while back and was finding them easy. However, I started doing the side bridges for 1min straight off, which was probably a mistake, as the first time had my muscles aching like crazy. I would probably have been better off starting at 45secs and building up to 1min. Thing is, once I had done it once, I knew I could do it again, so I never bothered to drop back!

@excylist
I only do chins/pulls on workout days, but I have recently started the Tabatas on days off, so I'm just wondering if I'm not giving myself enough time to rest and repair.

Loving that deadlift! I seem to be lucky that I don't have the grip problems that seem to plague others. I put it down to years of sailing on large yachts where I was always climbing rigging and pulling on ropes. You soon learn to grip onto stuff really hard when the winds blowing 30+ knots! 100kg was heavy, but I feel I've got a little more in me before I stall. However, I'm going to increase by 2.5kg instead of 5kg from now on. Should probably also take the camera down to the gym and check my form to make sure it hasn't gone awry now that the weight is heavier.

[nburge]

Hey Dave - awesome progress! I just got to one big plate either side on my squat, and was thinking how cool it will be to get two of them on! Great effort.

Vlad's advice helped me no end with pain in my shoulder (historic, rather than related to sl5x5) so it's worth listening to. Like he says, you're only losing 5 mins even if it doesn't work.

All the best!

Neil.

[DaveT]

Found the trigger point in my muscle that was causing the elbow pain and have been masaging it like a demon, but still have had pain of different levels through out the week. I'm finding that it starts after my squat, and I guess that's because I'm really stretching the tendons and putting the muscles under tension as I try to get my grip as narrow as possible. I'm going to keep going for the next couple of weeks as I want to reach my 31st March goals, and the pain is not getting worse, but I'm going to stop the Tabatas for a couple of weeks just to give it more rest.

Squats

Warm up - 50kgx5, 60kgx3, 70kgx2
Mon - 75kg 5x5
Wed - 75kg 5x5
Fri - 75kg 5x5

Squats are going well. Really starting to feel these in my abs as I concentrate on keeping my chest up. Went with the advice of others and haven't been going quite as low as I was before to avoid the buttwink, but still going below parallel.

Workout A

BP
Warm up - 40kgx5, 50kgx3, 55kgx2
Mon - 57.5kg 5x5
Fri - 57.5kg 5x5

Monday felt heavy, but bar speed and form was good on Fri. 60kg next week.

BB Rows
Warm up - 40kgx5, 50kgx3, 55kgx2
Mon - 57.5kg 5x5
Fri - 57.5kg 5x5

I was red in the face after the first 3 sets and realised I have been doing all 5 reps in one breath. Last 2 sets, worked on timing my breathing as I put the bar down and before lifting for the next rep.

Rev Cs
Mon - 3x12
Fri - 3x12

Dips
Mon - 8x4 (32 total)
Fri - 4x5, 4x4 (36 total)

Tried to keep the mentality that I'm still trying to catch up with guru on these and so really pushed for as many sets of 5 as possible.

Workout B

OHP
Warm up - 20kgx5, 30kgx3, 40kgx2
Wed - 42.5kg 5x5

Doing the 42.5kg was easier than the last time I was at this weight. Still working on form, and I find that my weight is shifting onto my toes as I try to get my body under the bar, almost to the point where I feel that I'll fall forwards. Repeat the weight next time.

DL
Warm up - 60kgx5, 80kgx3, 90kgx2
Wed - 102.5kg 1x5

Decided to go up by 2.5kg from now on, as these are feeling heavy.

Bridges
Wed - 3x60secs (Right/Left/Prone)

Really feeling the side bridges still, so going to continue with these.

Chin/Pull ups
Wed - Pulls 1

Started to do these and the pain in my left elbow had returned. It had been bothering me throughout the workout, but after the DL and some massaging it was still pretty intense. Thought it was better to back off rather than try and plough through it.