itsbruce's log

[itsbruce]

Good work. Can you go to the gym at night all the time?

james

I can, but it was very convenient to go to the gym at 7am. Problem is, I'm rarely rested enough if I get up at 6.

@coryK: Heh, yeah, that was a dumb day. I think I only got those PRs cause I was too blasted to know better.

[itsbruce]

Went to the gym at 10am this morning, having got up at 7:30.

Squat: 90kg stall for 5/4/3/1/fail. This is a technique issue. If I get my posture right, it's just a matter of concentration and timing to lift this weight; if I don't, I find myself stuck halfway up with my back rounding. I really need to fix this.

I know it's not an energy issue because...

Press: 50kg 5x5 success! Wow, that made me feel good! I could have done more of those. Really felt in control of that. I think my strength here has reached the point where the weight I'm lifting is spurring significant muscle growth in my upper body.

Inverted rows: 10/8/6 with bent knees. Meh. Can improve on that.

Push ups: 10/8/6 also, oddly enough. Did almost no gtg with this in the previous week because i wasn't feeling good.

Reverse crunches: Done with no anchor weight and really is not an effort any more. Will look at moving on to the next stage.

Did no cardio because I had to go.

Bench progress really left me feeling good

[itsbruce]

Telescopic chin-up bar arrived. Now I can gtg on that.

[muddy]

Squat: 90kg stall for 5/4/3/1/fail. This is a technique issue. If I get my posture right, it's just a matter of concentration and timing to lift this weight; if I don't, I find myself stuck halfway up with my back rounding. I really need to fix this.

What's your warmup set&rep scheme look like? I find that a great way to practice technique and get my mind where it needs to be.

[itsbruce]

At 90kg, my warm-up is 5x5 on the empty bar, twice, then 3x40kg, 3x60kg, 2x75kg, 5x5 on 90kg.

[itsbruce]

Another evening session. Didn't get to the gym till nearly 20:00. And I forgot my chalk, stupid me.

Squat: 90kg 5x5 success! Really improved my technique over last time. Powered through that. The fact that some guy was hanging around, waiting to get the rack next and not hiding his impatience, only helped spur me on.

Press: 40kg fail for 5/4/3/1/1. Really going to have to concentrate on this lift. Don't know what the story is, here.

Deadlift: 110kg 1x5 success. Was harder than it would otherwise have been because of no chalk, but I did still manage it with a double-overhand grip. That said, I think it pulled all the remaining strength out of my arms...

Chin-ups: 4/0/0 Did 4 and felt a bit stretched. Tried to do another set, arms wouldn't move. Was like trying to deadlift too much - body just refused to co-operate.

Prone bridges: Feeling washed out, so just did 3 sets of 30 seconds as normal, 30 seconds on one leg and 30 seconds on the other.

Ho hum, so I still have not mastered the press. Squats and deadlift keeping me happy.

[itsbruce]

Sobering day in the gym.

Squat: 92.5kg - well, I did something 5x5 but it wasn't good form. Looked at objectively, my form in squats really sucks. My back is rounding half the time and I'm pushing through it with sheer force that is just going to break my back if I continue. I've been less than honest about myself with this in the drive to keep notching up that weight, but I'm really going to have to go fix my form. On Sunday, I'm going to deload right back to 75kg, which is now just over my bodyweight (hovering around 74kg) and see how I progress from there.

On the one hand, I'll be able to concentrate on the form knowing that there's nothing intimidating about the weight. On the other, its going to be difficult to be honest about good form knowing I can just cheat and push through.

Bench: 52.5kg stall 5/4/5/3/3. Wobbly but I'll do it right next time.

Meh.

[itsbruce]

Deloaded Squats so I can concentrate on form.

Squat: 75.kg 5x5 success. Form good, back straight. Glad I went back down to this weight - it's not intimidating but it's not so easy that good form would not be a challenge.

Press: 40kg 5/5/2/2/2 stall. Hitting another plateau with this one.

Deadlift: 120kg 1x2 stall. And serves me right for misremembering and jumping 10kg. 115kg next time but I think that will also be a challenge.

Chin-up: 3/3/1. Not progressing with this. Need to look at ways to build up.

Prone bridges: Same as last time. Too tired to go for one-arm one-leg

[atypical1]

Couple of ways you can increase your chins. You can simply add reps. So say you wanted to do 10 pull ups. You would do as many sets as you needed to in order to get there. You can do negatives. You can also do them throughout the day if you have access to a bar.

james

[mjh]

I can recommend rubber bands for chin ups. They allow you to do more reps through a greater and more fluid ROM. But I also agree with James, that going for total volume is a good idea too. At 3/3/1, 10 total reps would be a challenging first step. You might find you have enough to do say 3/3/2 and then finish off with 1/1. Next time, your goal is to add a single rep to any one of those sets, though I'd argue against trying to get the extra in the first or second, as it might have a negative effect on the following sets.

We're working with similar weights. Keep on pushing, but also good on you for prioritizing good form.

[itsbruce]

I have a bar but gtg hasn't been doing me much good with that.

[itsbruce]

Good day, today, overall

Squat: 77.5kg 5x5 success. Form was fine. I will have no problems with 80kg on Friday, either, I'm pretty sure. If I can keep the form tight like this, I may get back to 90kg and wonder what all the fuss was about.

Bench: 52.5kg 5x5 success. Feeling good about that. I hope 55kg on Friday will be as smooth.

Inverted Rows: 10/10/6 with bent knees. I'm close to pushing this to 3x10, at which point back to straight legs and see how that goes.

Push-ups: 8/8/6. I stopped gtg on this - will be working hard at it during my break.

Reverse crunch: 3x12 with no anchor. I should look at dragon flags or similar.

[itsbruce]

(Writing a day after)

Final day of the twelfth week.

Squat: 80kg 5x5 success. But this is definitely the weight at which my form becomes a little unsure. I may stay at this weight during my break and just concentrate on form.

Press: 37.5kg s 5/5/5/5/4 stall. I'm beginning to think that I was only able to do 37.5 because I was hungover Progress here is going to require assistance work.

Deadlift: 115kg managed 3 of 5. I think this is another where I should drop back a bit and concentrate on technique.

Pull-up: I went to the assisted pull-up machine and did 8/6/4. If any purists are insulted, I can only say that I was making consistent progress on that machine before I started Stronglifts and I've made almost no progress since. If I can get down to no assistance on the machine for 8/8/8, I'll be better off than I am now and in the process I'll have done work that helps build arm/shoulder/lat strength, helping my press.

Going to take a two or three week break now. I'll keep doing squats but otherwise it'll be cardio, push-ups, pull-ups.

Prone bridges: Just did longer bridges - 60 seconds pluss each time.

[itsbruce]

Technically I'm still on a break, but today was more or less a regular training day - Squats, bench and bodyweight exercises.

And today I benched 55kg 5x5. So woot.

[itsbruce]

So I've been doing "Stronglifts Lite" on my break; still 3 gym sessions a week, squats every time, either bench or press and then pull-ups/push-ups. No deadlifts. And it's been really good for me. No feeling of pressure and dropping back to 75kg on squats really helped concentrate on form.

So today....

Squat: 90kg 5x5 and form was OK but could do with a little polish. I feel so much more confident, though - just a little knee-wobbling to worry about, not the terrible back curvature I was seeing at this weight just a few weeks ago. I think I'll stick at this weight for one more session and then push up just 1.5kg.

Press: Amazing. 37.5kg 5x5 with no trouble at all. Really seem to have gotten something right (or at least better) with the technique. Time to have another go at that 40kg plateau.

Another week of "rest" and then I may go back to the full routine.