Luco's log - 2nd try- Rebuilding after injury

[luco]

Thanks for the motivational help, guys! I know that for every bad workout I have at least 2-3 good ones, so in a way, having a bad workout gives me the promise of good workouts to come.. If that makes any sense.

I'm gonna be shooting for 5x52,5kg on the OHP and 125kg on the deadlift on wednesday so I'm placing all my hopes on my OHP improving. Would make for a good week altogether as 50 kg's has always been a sticking point. Deadlift shouldn't be too tough (famous last words).

[luco]

Big whoop! I got the OHP, which was what I was after. Made it my first lift to make sure the squats didn't tire me out too much. I accidentally left my ball of chalk in my gympants when I washed them and I was sweating my ass off, so unfortunately, deadlift was a no-go. Here's what I just did:

OHP:
10x 20
5x 30
5x 40
3x 45
1x 50
5x 52,5 PR - Form felt very solid. Tried for a 6th rep, but missed it, which was to be expected.

Squat:
10x 20
5x 60
5x 80
5x 90
2x5x 100 - Just recovery work, tried to keep breaks between sets to a minimum and focus on lifting speed and form.

Deadlift:
5x 60
5x 85
5x 105
1x 115
3x 125 - Grip was slipping straight away on the 4th rep, got it up to about my knees before I had to let it down. Chalk is vital cause I tend to sweat buckets during my workout. No worries, retry next time with new chalk .

Dips:
8x BW
2x7x BW+15KG - Decided to keep it 15 kg and up the reps to 3x8 first. Skipped the last set cause I still had the TGU's to do and was pretty drained already.

TGU:
14KGx 6 on both sides - Was going for 10, but my left arm couldn't keep up. Dumbbell in right hand=up in about 5 seconds, dumbbell in left hand=up in about 20 seconds, it's terrible. I just start out with the left side and let that guide my numbers of reps. Don't want to get lobsided by doing 6 left and 10 right .

Very very happy with the OHP. The 55 is gonna be tough, but my 60kg goal is getting closer. Friday I'm gonna repeat the 120 kg on the squat.. Fingers crossed.

[holvoetn]

Good workout !

Was that deadlift using mixed grip already ?
Totally hear you on sweaty hands though, have the same problem

[luco]

Thanks, H! Yeah, I was using a mixed grip for the last set, but to no avail.. Didn't feel too straining on my back or legs, so I'm not too bummed about it. Confident about next week!

[helm]

hey luco, good to see you back!

crappy workouts are actually not that bad, because most of the time the next workout will be awesome

are you planning on going back to a full 5x5, or are you just going for the 1x5? nice OHP, btw! and TGUs always get the fellow gym people looking at you strangely...they just don't know what's good

[luco]

Thanks for dropping by, Helm. I'm currently sticking to the 1x5. I seem to progress faster and when I try the 5x5 I end up having 2 hour workouts cause I need my rest in between heavy sets. I'll probably keep this up long as I progress and then switch to an advanced program (maybe SL's) or maybe do Smolov. I tend to go by feel a bit too. If I feel like I'm about to stall on a lift I might make a mini-deload of 2.5 to 5 kg and increase sets/reps for a week or two before attempting the higher weight.

[helm]

sounds reasonable, to get back in shape first. I'm at the point where I need 2h, sometimes more, mostly because of the rest between heavy sets. plus travel, food, rest etc. it takes quite some time off the day...

[saukkis]

We seem to be both on the same line so I'll start keeping an eye on your log. I might also steal the Turkish Getup from your program to strengthen my upper torso which is really lacking compared to my core and legs.

[luco]

A little friendly competition is always good for motivation, Saukkis, I'll be watching your log closely . TGU's are definitely a good addition. What parts are you lacking in in your upper torso? TGU's are mostly core far as my experience goes. My entire midsection is burning after completing them. I do feel like they help the OHP a great deal though, cause of the stability they give you, so indirectly your upperbody strength will increase undoubtedly.

[saukkis]

Mostly my abdominen and chest are lacking.

[luco]

Just got back from the gym. Not great, didn't eat beforehand which didn't help energy. Was 80kg today, gonna up my calorie intake.

Squat:
5x 20
5x 60
5x 80
3x 100
1x 110
1x 115
3x 120 - tried for 4, but failed a little before halfway through the lift. Depth and form were spot on though, better than last time, so I'm seeing this as progress nonetheless. No worries, try again on monday.
8x 102,5 - Tiring as hell, amazing how much more effort those 3 little reps take.

Bench:
5x 20
5x 40
5x 50
5x 60
3x 70
1x 80
4x 82,5 - Damn! I had a good spotter, who let me try the fifth rep for what seemed like an eternity (probably only 10 seconds) with me pushing the bar at about 30cm (1ft) off my chest without it moving. Again.. Monday it is.
12x 60 - Was going for 8x 70, felt it was very light, made 12 and discovered there was only 60 on the bar..
5x 70 - Just for friday's sake.

BOR:
5x 50
5x 60
5x 70
3x 77,5 - Got worse. Need to eat more for sure.

Powerclean:
5x 50
5x 60
3x 62,5 - Finding it hard to fit both the BOR and the powerclean in my program and keep them both increasing. Either I do each once a week, I do both in one workout or I do PC's one week and BOR's the next.. All seem to lead to lack of progress. Any thoughts on this?

TGU:
14kgx 9 both sides - Improved by 3 reps a side! On the 10th(left side) I couldn't finish the third part of getting on my right elbow. 10 on monday!

[holvoetn]

Squat: If you had skipped from 100 to 120, I am sure you would have made the 5 on 120.
You may want to give it a try next time

Bench: that's the spirit !

BOR and PowerClean don't really mix and as far as I understood, PC should be done first since it requires the most explosiveness (even before squat but it might be you do not want to focus that much on it).
If you really want to work on both over time, alternate them every week.

[luco]

Thanks, H, some very useful advice there. I'll try that on the squat next monday, I'll just throw in 2 more low weight warmup sets to be on the safe side.
I'll try your suggestion on the BOR and PC. This week will be BOR cause I seem to be closest to stalling on it and it's more related to my bench, which I'm also close to stalling on.
I train with a 100m sprinter sometimes and he's all about explosiveness and he always does powercleans before anything else. But as you said I know it'll take away from my squat, which I'm definitely more focused on until I reach my set goals.

[holvoetn]

For 1 set of 5x120 working weight I would do as follows (you may have to modify this for your own purpose):

5x60kg (I always start with a big plate on each side for squat, deads and BBRows )
5x100kg (scale down to 3 if working sets would be 5x5)
5x120kg

If I was going over 120, let’s say 130:
5x60
3x100
1x120
Xx5 130

There is a part in the Stronglifts e-book about warming up, you might want to have a look at it too

[luco]

Well the thing is.. It's cold outside and when I get to the gym, I'm also cold. The squat is the first exercise I do and I want to make sure I'm properly warmed up. So I usually do a couple of sets of BW squats, a set of just the bar and then built up to what I want to lift. Should I just do the BW and bar squats for a couple sets and then do 5x 60/5x 100/5x 120? I'm pretty comfortable with the 100 on my back, but the 120 still feels HEAVY, so I kinda get used to the heavy weight by adding in the 1x 110 and 1x 115. I can see how that'd take away from some power though, seeing how close to my max it is. Thanks again for the advice, H!