Dylan's Intermediate Training Log

[dylanamus]

mpetry: thanks, mate.

muddy: I guess the squat situation boils down to total weight vs total muscle involvement. I expect going all the way to the floor (dropping 2 spotter holes) will cut 10-20% off my squat weight.

I guess deloading to squat ATG will give my body a much needed break, so I might do it after 3 minor deloads at current weight/technique or after the next cycle, whichever comes first.

I agree on the rack pulls, so I do deadlifts for the warmup (80,100,120,140) and that seems to do the trick!

PG is right hahahaha

[dylanamus]

BENCH WEEK 3

RECOVERY
Front Squat: 87.5kg 3,3,3
OHP 55kg 3,3,3
Standing DB Press: 21kg 5,5,5
DB Rows: 21kg 5,5,5

Front Squats are getting challenging ATG. I have been using a towel to dampen the collar bone crushing factor.

OHP was fine this time 'round.

Forgot all about my plans for shoulder press, and just upped the weight by 1kg. Will aim for more reps instead of more weight next time.

I dropped rack pulls as I feel my lower back could do with the extra recovery more than more CNS stimulation this week.

Calories: 2206kcal | Carbs: 54.4g | Fat: 144.9g | Protein: 187.1g

[dylanamus]

BENCH WEEK 3

INTENSITY
Squat: 140kg x2: BWx20 55x10, 80x5, 110x3, 130x1, 140x2
Bench: 77.5kg x3: 20x20, 40x10, 60x5, 70x3, 77.5x3
Deadlift: 140kg x2: 77.5x5, 100x4, 120x2, 140x2

Broke parellel on squat, but it was no ATG. This was definitely a 2RM! There's something perfect about 140kg. Not quite as perfect as 180kg... perhaps some day...

Bench was definitely the easiest of the three. This was more of a 4 or 5RM lift. Not bad considering this weight was my 1RM at my previous strength climax!

Deadlift was laborious, as usual. I struggled quite shamefully to pull both reps, but roughed my way through each.

Calories: 2582kcal | Carbs: 72.8g | Fat: 145.3g | Protein: 241.5g - whoops on the carbs - not a bad day to slip though - probably helped out.

[guru]

There's something perfect about 140kg. Not quite as perfect as 180kg... perhaps some day...

That day will surely come, no doubt about it.

Great squatting. In fact the squat numbers are so good that the bench & deadlift pale in comparison.

[dylanamus]

Ok so I disappeared for a couple of weeks. I have been rather sick on/off plus I had a visitor from interstate...

I am still a bit ill, so I am going to hold off until Monday to get back into it all. I'm going to take this opportunity to deload the squat and work back up with ATG ROM. I suppose I should echo this technique in the 1RMs too? Not sure here... It will be somewhat disappointing to be unable to move around such amounts of weight.

Anyway, I'm back! And I look forward to getting back under the bar.

[pangram]

That's the spirit Good to see you back, and get well soon!

[guru]

Ah, so there is something that keeps you away from the bar. Seriously though, it must have been quite something to have lasted two weeks.

Ease back into it Dylan, missed you terribly.

[pagangoddess]

Good to see you back Dylan. I hope you're feeling better soon. I concur with Guru, we missed you!

[natew]

Welcome back, buddy. Missed your advice around here.

[holvoetn]

Nice and slow and you'll be back in no time

[dylanamus]

OHP WEEK 3

VOLUME
Squat: 100kg 5,5,5,5,5 - ATG
OHP: 57.5kg 5, 55kg 5,5,5,5
Seated DB Press: 14kg 12,12,12
BBR: 55kg 12,12,12
Pullups + 10kg: 5,5,5


I was 3 weeks out of the groove, exhausted and my training room was over 30 degrees celcius. It was a battle just to muster the motivation to continue at all, so I used rep range changes to minimise time between sets.

Squatting ATG is immensely more difficult than just busting parellel - although it's hard to say how much other factors contributed to this extra difficulty. Today DOMS is intense: I am walking around like a criple. This is a good thing and I will continue squatting this way.

While I managed the first set of OHP at 57.5, I decided to lower the weight as my shoulders were making a lot of noise and not feeling quite right, probably due to an inadequate warmup resulting from my lack of motivation.

On the seated press, 14kg was already on the dumbbells, so I went with it and increased reps suitably to compensate for the lower than forecast weight.

Same deal with the BBR - I went with what I had left on the bar from OHP. I suppose this is better than abandoning the exercise, but I feel unusually disinterested in lifting at the moment... hopefuly it was just a once off.


So now I must reconsider if the Texas Method remains the most suitable program for me. Particularly in this hot weather; and yet hotter to come. More importantly fat loss remains my focus and volume day is becoming extremely burdensome...

I will have to dwell on it further... One option that springs to mind is a 4 day split with one main exercise and two assistances each day - similar to the 5-3-1 layout, but with a straight forward weekly weight increase and 3 strikes deload method. Three exercises should keep things short and sweet and bring the deadlift back on the table. It remains just an idea for now though...

I will continue with the TM for now, but I can't help but feel I'm trying to squeeze too much into it for my own good.

Thanks everyone for your well wishes!

[Leot]

I know what you mean about the heat, really tires you out. Don't forget you need to drink a lot more when you are sweating like a horse.

[dylanamus]

I actually forgot to do my recovery workout, would you believe. That said, I could barely stand up off the sofa due to DOMS from Monday, so I guess I wasn't missing much.

I have given more thought to the situation and conlcuded that I need to change programs. Given that fat loss remains my primary focus for now, a program with less emphasis on progress and performance will be less dampening on my motivation and more enjoyable over all. Quicker, more focused workouts will further improve my consistency and motivation. Right now, these two things are severely lacking and have become much more important than chasing numbers under the bar.

Getting past 12% bf won't happen easily, so I feel I can't rely on diet alone anymore and HIIT is mind-crushing to maintain with any consistency. My vital processes are very efficient with energy consumption and it would seem that despite eating under maintenance while in ketosis, additional fat burning stimulation is needed to accelerate the process. I have borrowed an exercise bike from my folks and intend on spending quite a bit of time on it. I can pedal as fast or slow as I feel like at the time. Consistency is the key again...

The program I have created is as I suggested in my previous post and goes like this:

Monday
BENCH 3x5
Dumbbell Floor Press 3x10
Weighted Dips 3x5
Dumbbell Flys 3x10

Tuesday
SQUAT 3x5
Good Mornings 3x8
Dead Stop Squats 3x1
Reverse Crunches 3x12

Wednesday
OHP 3x5
Dumbbell Press 3x10
Weighted Pullups 3x5
Chinups 3xF

Thursday
90 Minutes YOGA

Friday
DEADLIFT 1x5
Dumbbell Rows 3x10
Rack Pull 3x1
Weighted Spinal Decompressions 3xF

I have dropped back to 3x5 on the main lifts. I have once again found 5 sets of max weight is too time consuming and too large a burden to deal with. Also, I have spent the whole week attempting to recover from ATG squatting 5x5. Harsh!

Dead Stop Squats are where you start with the bar sitting on the spotter bars in the sump of the squat ROM. In my case, this is in the "grass" position. I have added 3 singles of this exercise to help improve my ability to drive out of the hole, while stimulating my love for higher intensity/max weight action.

Similarly, I have added 3 singles of the rack pull to keep those ego demons away from the deadlift.

The weighted spinal decompressions are to work on grip and help my back, as I find deadlifts leave it feeling rather "compressed".

The fourth exercise on each day could easily be scratched if need be, but I'll see how I go first.

It will be interesting working out 3 days in a row in the beginning of the week, but this will theoretically accelerate the transition into ketosis after the weekend carb loading phase. I can't really think of a better way to structure it anyway, given that Thursday is tied up doing Yoga (otherwise I'd go Mon/Tue/Thur/Sat for weights).

I will add 2.5 to barbbell lifts and 1kg to other exercises each week, following a simple 3 strikes deload system. Advanced programming is wasted on me while I am eating so little, so I don't see any reason to complicate things.

Any comments/opinions are most welcome!

[Leot]

I can understand why you want to switch - training 5x5 heavy takes a long time and takes a lot of energy (which reminds me I really need to get on top of my diet), but the DOMS you are experiencing is likely just because you have changed to a new exercise and are using your muscles in a new way, it should abate if you kept the ATG squats going for a few more sessions. Seems we are at roughly the same place on deadlift atm, perhaps a gentlemens challenge is in order :p

The SLDL really get onto your hamstrings very effectively, might be worth throwing in a couple of sets on your DL day. Takes a little bit of experimentation to figure out exactly how much knee bend is best, but they seem to be helping my deadlift.

[holvoetn]

Forgive me for asking (maybe it is somewhere in your log and I have missed it) but why do you want to go from almost 14% to below 12 ?