Dylan's Intermediate Training Log

[dylanamus]

BENCH WEEK 2

RECOVERY
Front Squat: 85kg 3,3,3
OHP 52.5kg 3,3,3
Rack Pull: 140kg 1x2
Standing DB Press: 20kg 5,5,5
DB Rows: 20kg 5,5,5

Front Squats were quite heavy - at least the knees thought so. Depth was ... maximum!

OHP was annoyingly hard - feels like years ago since I last did OHP!

20kg was a large jump on DB shoulder press. 5 reps was suitably hard for a recovery day, although I think I could squeeze out 10 with a lot of effort. Might just add a couple of reps each fortnight on this before adding weight.

Did Rack Pulls from the lowest pin and it was quite a bit harder. Hopefuly I will be recovered enough to perform on the DL this Friday.

Decided to do 3x5 instead of 3x10 at same weight as Volume day on the DB Rows - this at least follows the pattern applied to the main lifts, although I'm not certain it's the best method.

Calories: 1657kcal | Carbs: 39.1g | Fat: 93g | Protein: 166.6g

Leot: still sort of getting a feel for assistance exercise weights/reps, and don't have an other 1RM attempt until Friday week. Sould be interesting...

LN: I have thought about buying a length of steel rod, cutting it into 4 and heating each peice up and hammering one end into a hook and a 3/4 ring on the other, then hammering the ring side flat. This could then slide up against the dumbbell shoulder and be locked in by weights. It's a theory I can't put into practice at my apartment though.

[guru]

85 kg on front squats is monstrous, but then you're hardly a human being anyway. I agree with the depth on these. I too tend to go all the way down to ATG.

[dylanamus]

BENCH WEEK 2

INTENSITY
Squat: 125kg x3: 20x8, 60x5, 90x3, 110x2, 120x1, 125x3
Bench Press: 82.5kg x2: 20x8, 40x6, 60x4, 70x2, 82.5x2
Deadlift: 130kg x3: 87.5x5, 110x2, 120x2, 130x3

I had a handful of cashews and my whey+water pre workout and I got through the lot in under an hour, so I was alright for energy, but I felt low on strength in general. My back in particular felt very unrested. This could very well be linked to the hour of Yoga I did yesterday.

Yoga on Thursdays will be a part of a routine now, as I paid a 10 week membership ($40USD Bargain!). My main goal is to gain some flexibility from setting aside the time to do some stretching. Hopefuly its interference with Intensity day diminishes as I become accustomed to the poses.

Calories: 2429kcal | Carbs: 25.1g | Fat: 161.1g | Protein: 205.4g


Guru: hehe I am but a mere mortal, my friend! Humbled by the front squat, evidently!

[atypical1]

I think you'll find that the yoga helps out considerably. It not only helped with my flexibility it also made me more aware of my body (yeah, that sounds strange, I know...).

james

[dylanamus]

OHP WEEK 2

VOLUME
Squat: 122.5kg 5,5,5,5,5
OHP: 55kg 5,5,5,5,5
Seated DB Press: 21kg 8,8,8
Rack Pull: 140kg 1x2
BBR: 65kg 5,5,5
Pullups + 10kg: 5,5,5

Ran out of time tonight, so I dropped some sets on Rack Pull and BBR. I took a while getting through Squat and OHP and setting up the Seated Press.

I managed to get the bench inclined to around 88 degrees so today my chest was totally out of the equation on shoulder press. Incidently 21kg was extremely difficult, and for safety reasons, I decided to drop reps to slightly before failure. I think I will deload to 18kg and go back to 10 reps and build up in 1kg total increments. (I have 500g weights).

Rack Pulls were hard. Probably because the squat took it out of me! Hope so. It's back to 1RMs this Friday.


Calories: 2183kcal | Carbs: 17.9g | Fat: 129.3g | Protein: 236g

James: I have a feeling you are right! I also hope to improve my ability to ignore distractions. I just so happen to find a room full of people snoring and farting extremely annoying, so it's a perfect landscape to work in. In a masochistic kind of way...

[muddy]

I just so happen to find a room full of people snoring and farting extremely annoying, so it's a perfect landscape to work in. In a masochistic kind of way...

You're not making me miss training in a commercial gym anyway.

[dylanamus]

OHP WEEK 2

INTENSITY
Squat: 152.5kg x1:65x10, 100x4, 120x2, 135x1, 147.5x1, 150x1, 152.5x1, 155x0
OHP: 65kg x2: 20x12, 40x5, 55x3 60x1, 65x2
Deadlift: 150kg x1: 65x5, 100x4, 120x2, 140x1, 150x1

I missed recovery day this week and I still felt unrecovered for today's workout! Monday was definitely volumatic and yoga was even more demanding yesterday. Lots of core work and poses that involved long periods of spinal erection.

I loaded up 147.5kg after my squat warmup, thinking I was being a little bashful and it came up easy! I was quite surprised and was excited at the prospect of getting my old PR back. I did, and then beat it. 155 attempt resulted in me plumeting to the spotter bars as soon as I hit parellel. Maybe next month!

I was feeling stiff and a little uncomfortable in the neck, scapulae and rotator cuffs, which was amplified after my DL warmup and again, I just didn't enjoy the deadlift. However, after a bit of wrestling with the bar, I managed to lockout 150kg after a very straight to the point warmup. I'm not as miserable with this result, but there is certainly room for improvement!

Still 59.5kg body weight today. The exact same as at my bench 1RM, comfortably lifting my powerlifting total to 390kg - my old max. This time however, the bench press is carrying the deadlift! A slightly auxillary milestone, but still quite sweet to the taste!

Calories: 2125kcal | Carbs: 27.2g | Fat: 146.1g | Protein: 184g

Muddy: the instructor had to split us into two separate classes because there were too many of us! Now all the snorers are gone, but there were some realllllly explosive farts coming out of some of the women hahaha I'm definitely feeling more and more optimistic about the yoga.

[Vlad]

Great workout! Congratz with getting onto the leaderbord in the Strongest thread!

[pangram]

Looking good Dylan! Very impressive squat! Congratulations.

[AbleArcher]

Hi Dylan, just wanted to say your log is extremely well organized. Will be following this one!

[muddy]

Nice job on the new numbers! Two points... man.... And I just did my current best too. It's weeks out before before I'll even take another crack at a PR, and I dont think that's gonna get me two points.

Try drawling a slow, introverted "yuuuuuup" after someone lets one go in yoga. I bet that'll put a stop to it within a week.

[mpetry]

>2.5x BW squat. that is some great lifting!

[dylanamus]

BENCH WEEK 3

VOLUME
Squat: 125kg 5,5,5,5,5
Bench Press:70kg 5,5,5,5,5
DB Flys: 13.5kg 10,10,9
Rack Pull: 150kg 2,2,2 (second lowest)
DB Rows: 21kg 10,10,10
Dips: 7.5kg 5,5,5

Squats were ridiculously difficult and they made me analyse and question my depth. I am definitely not going "ass to grass", although I am breaking parellel. There seems to be a big distance between the two. This poses a question; would it be more beneficial to deload and squat ATG or is the extra weight I can manage at just past parallel equally as good?

I can feel my progress on bench - this weight wasn't a bother.

Flys went from difficult to impossible. I was bending my elbows quite a lot to manage the latter half of each set and couldn't break the floor on the last rep of all. Will repeat this weight.

I decided to do the rack pulls on the second highest pin this week. Next volume week I will repeat the weight at the lower pin.

Rows were executed Kroc style. I will continue the 1kg increments, although this is not a challenge yet.

Dips were actually quite hard. I'm not sure how deep to go, but I'm definitely feeling it at this weight and depth.


So volumatic! I was going to drop back to 3x5 for the big lifts, but someone promised me a reward if I got through it as prescribed, so I pushed on for over 2 hours to complete this epic challenge.


Calories: 1950kcal | Carbs: 18.1g | Fat: 115.5g | Protein: 174.1g[/quote]

[holvoetn]

As far as I understood, and I did not find any empirical references on this, squats need to be done at least breaking parallel.
ATG will envolve more muscles BUT this is not at all linear. ATG IS more difficult than simply breaking parallel (and this I do know from personal experience).

Below parallel (crease of hip below knee) is for me the reference since this is how I was thought by Stronglifts 5x5.

Racks pulls should ideally be done after real deadlifts so you got the move in your ‘fingers’ at that moment.
It is otherwise possible to pull in a way which is not how you do this movement when you’re in the deadlift-trenches.
Just a remark but I am sure you already heard this before

What was the reward BTW

[pagangoddess]

What was the reward BTW

Be careful what you ask for H. It may be more than you wanted to know.