Guru's training log

[guru]

Hi all,

I started 5x5 three weeks back after coming out of a shoulder injury & 6 weeks' rest. Due to the injury, I started low on all the exercises except squat, so my squat figures are higher than others. The figures on friday, 12/12 are -

Squat - 40 kg - 5x5
BP - 20 kg - 5x5
BB rows - 25 kg - 5x5
Push ups - 3x11
Rev. crunches - 3x12

I am 41, male, 160 cm. at 55 kg & looking to gain 5-6 kg doing 5x5. I hope to squat my BW by end of the year.

[guru]

Today was workout B. It went like this -

Squat - 42.5 kg - 5x5
Press - 20 kg - 5x5
DL - 40 kg 1x5
Pull ups - 3x2
Prone bridges - 1 set with both legs, 2 with one leg, alternating.

The squats are slowly getting heavy. I had to take longer rest between sets today, 60 seconds. Earlier I did the press with shorter barbell. Today doing it with the 7 ft. barbell posed some problem. I am short, with a small frame, giving me a narrow grip. So balancing the bar while pressing it overhead was somewhat difficult. But I am hoping this will smooth out with a little practice.

[dylanamus]

How's the 7foot bar treating you now, Guru? Post up some more logs!

[guru]

dylanamus,

Thx. Wait till friday when I have workout B. I have had no issues with the 7 ft. bar in my squats, rows or bench press. Let's see how the OHP goes. I will be posting my logs regularly.

[dylanamus]

OHP is by far the hardest weight exercise on the program in my opinion. I've been borrowing an 8kg small bar and haven't had any balance issues so far per se, but I'm upgrading to an olympic bar like yours soon. Would you recommend 6 foot for our builds or just a second smaller bar just for OHP? I probably have an even narrower grip than you.

I'll be tuned in for your next workout entry.

[guru]

Workout A today - easier day for me.

Here's how it went -

Squat - 45 kg - 5x5 - Getting really heavy. Feeling tough coming out of the hole.
BP - 22.5 kg - 5x5 - easy, much easier than the OHP.
BB rows - 27.5 kg - 5x5 - easy again, nice reps, bar touching lower chest, back feeling tight at top.
Push ups - 3x12 - somewhat hard, at the end of third set, but no problem adding a rep.
Rev. crunches - 3x12.

One worry during the squat. I should, repeat should remember to squeeze the abs & glutes when coming out of the hole. It must be happening automatically, but I should do it consciously. That will help the rise.

5 minutes of treadmill on hitting the gym, warming up before each exercise with about 50-60% of the weights. Stretching at the end. My favourite stretch - I hang from the chin up bar. Being short, I can hang without legs bending. I stay about 2 minutes. Feels good after the workout. Other stretches afterwards.

[dylanamus]

Nice workout. You're only a week and a half away from hitting your body weight on the squat! I'm afraid I can't help you with technique, as I'm still working on my own form. It's hard to override subconsious movements. I'm getting my brother to watch correct form on videos and watch me and yell at me when I break out of form. It's not a bad idea while the weight isn't crushingly heavy.

Were your pushups until fail? Because mine decrease with each rep for eg 22/20/12. Your warming up and down routine sounds good. I've been doing a series of movements my old man said he learnt from yoga, called "worshiping the sun". Really good for your back. Keep up the good work, guru. I will start posting logs in a couple of weeks when I get my power rack and can follow the programme accurately.

[guru]

Thx dylanamus,

Yeah, do the sun worshipping or sun salutation. It's a 12 step thing & needs to be done with concentration. When done correctly, it stretches virtually every body part, not just the back. I am planning to do a yoga session in the morning. Have to get up early for that.

For push ups, I stop a rep or two before failure. If you are failing at 22 in the first set, your strength goes down quickly & is difficult to recover for the next set. So my advice will be to stop at maybe 20 or even 18, then try to match the reps in the next sets. Increase a rep each workout.

If you can do 3x20 reps with good form, try adding weights.

Nice news, you getting your own power rack. Do announce when you get it.

- Guru

[guru]

Workout B today - tough day, made tougher by the 2.5 kg added on the squats.

Squat - 47.5 kg - 5x5 - very heavy, almost GM'd on the 4th & 5th rep in the last set.
OHP - 22.5 kg - 5x5 - no balancing issues this time.
DL - 40 kg - 5x5 - Did 40 kg last time by mistake instead of 35 kg, so maintained it this time. Grip problem with right hand, may have to use mixed grip after 50 kg.
Chin-ups - 3x3
Did not do the prone bridges, was a bit short on time.

Stretched well & got out of the gym.

Let's see how the 50 kg squat goes on Monday.

[dylanamus]

The weights are getting up there! Good work. When I do reps until failure, I usually still have a couple more in me, but I lack the energy to do them with the same explosiveness and form, so I consider that a fail. I've improved to 27/22/15 now, so I'll need weight.

I've inspired my brother to start the program with me as soon as I get the rack. Should be interesting to see how two completely different body weights with the same genes progress. I got him to do 3xF pushups out of curiosity and he managed 44/31/20 straight up pushing 95kg 168cm. I think we'll need the 140kg rack set not the 100kg haha

I look forward to your next results and I'll be reading into the yoga in more depth - it's really good!

[guru]

Workout A today - I know last time I wrote that this was an easier day for me, but today it beat the shit out of me.

First the statistics -

Squat 50 kg - 5x5
BP - 25 kg - 5x5
BB rows - 30 kg - 5x5
Push ups - 3x13
Rev. crunches - 3x12

Squats were more than hard. I still don't believe I completed them. I just cannot believe that 2.5 kg addition can make it so much difficult. After set 4 I thought I would not be able to finish set 5. After it was over, I sat there breathless for a long 5 minutes. A few form issues, but I noticed them quickly &I think I was able to correct them in time. Some staggering while rising up, God, I didn't know the meaning of tough before today.

BP was okay, but I definitely stalled on BB rows. I did complete 5x5, but a couple of reps in the last two sets, bar did not touch the chest. So I consider that a stall. Am going to repeat the weight next time.

Again managed to add a rep on the push ups, though the last set was a bit too close to failure.

Let's see if I can up the weight next time on squats.

[guru]

Workout B today. Since I staggered a bit on the squats in the previous session, I took advice from the forum & continued with the same weight for them.

Squats - 50 kg - 5x5
OHP - 25 kg - 5x5
DL - 45 kg - 1x5

Did not do the pull ups & bridges - two reasons - one, I was short on time & the other one is that I have a right hand grip problem. When the weights are heavy, bar pressure on the palm / fingers causes loss of strength in the ring finger & the small finger, which means I have only three working fingers on the right hand to lift the weight. This was especially prominent during the deadlifts today. In fact. after the DL, I was not in a position to grip the bar for pull ups.

It's a chronic problem & I have started Ayurvedic (herbal) treatment for that. But it will take time. I probably will have to live with a light DL till then.

[dylanamus]

You're almost at your body weight: the going gets tough from here on. On the upside, at least you can FEEL the results speaking for themselves everytime you finish a strength exercise breathless! hehe

As for your grip. Speaking from experience and not a background in medicine, it is common in smaller people who consequently have smaller wrists, that the median nerve can be interrupted temporarily by heavy stress performed on certain angles. Your little and ring fingers are likely to be the first to be affected by weakness and eventually numbness if you persist, followed by your middle finger and possibly your index to a lesser degree.

I don't think it's clinically considered "carpal tunnel syndrome, as it's exclusively aggrivated by heavy angular stress and goes away afterwards, rather than being the result of a consistant inflamation of tissue surrounding the median nerve path.

It might help to try whatever remedies you prefer to focus on de-inflamation, because even if your wrists are only inflamed a little, any lack of freedom for the median nerve can make all the difference while performing heavy tasks on angles. There are also exercises you can do to strengthen your wrists and relax the tissue...

I'll let you know how my grip goes on the deadlift and chinup bar when I get my rack. Keep up the good work

[guru]

Workout A today. I stalled on two exercises on this workout last time.

This time it was like this -

Squats - 50 kg - 5x5, Good form except last two reps, but that was not bad either.
BP - 27.5 kg - 5x5, Today it felt like a workout on the bench.
BB rows - 30 kg - 5,5,5,5,3 - If I don't make it next time, I will switch over to inverted rows.
Push ups - 3x14 - The last rep was slow......
Rev. crunches - 3x12, did a dragon fly after the last set for fun.

Stretched well & packed up.

Today I weighed 57 kg. That's 2 kg gain in less than 5 weeks, and 1 kg of it has gone up in maybe 10 day's time. My thigh size has gone up from 19.5 inches to 21 inches. The heavier workouts are paying off , although it is also moving BW squats a little farther away.

BTW, I used gloves today to cushion my nerves, whether it really helps I will know next time.

[dylanamus]

You must be rather lean to be gaining weight already! Congratulations. What is your body fat %? For your reference, mine is 18-19%.

You are at the stage in the program where everything is getting hard. I can't wait for that hehe I expect to see your body weight in squats in a week, guru!

About the gloves: the main nerves that control your fingers are situated roughly in the centre of your wrists, just before the palm. There's a small "tunnel" through all the bone and tissue called the carpal tunnel where the nerve "cable" safely passes uncompressed. However, if you bend your wrists, you are essentially narrowing the tunnel by bending it. Adding heavy weight to this scenario can cause the tissue surrounding the tunnel to expand and cause subtle, yet progressive nerve message dampening - which, as I mentioned, results in weakness or numbness to the affected fingers. Gloves won't help unless they restrict motion, which would inhibit your ability to lift anyway.

I recommend using chalk and try working on your grip with a grip strengthening device.

The rack should arrive sometime before the 10th of Jan, at which point I'll power up my own 5x5 log.


I expect to see your body weight in squats in 7-10 days, guru!