Maroon's training log - take two

[maroon]

I am back from holiday!

I've been curling alchohol all week. Traveling is so much fun! But pretty unhealthy for both body and wallet the way I did it

November 16th - "Getting back into it.":

Squats:
Bodyweight 2x10
20kg 2x8
50kg 2x5

80kg 5x5

Not squatted at all for over a week. Just done lots of walking. Depth was great in my opinion, however my left knee was klicking akwardly. I had to remind myself I was squatting below bodyweight as it felt heavyish. My knees have felt 1000 times better since I started squatting, so I think it may be because the lack of squatting if anything. Happy I did not appear to have lost flexibility.

Overhead press:
20kg 2x5

40kg 5x5
50kg 1x1
55kg 1x1

60kg 1x1

40kg 1x8

Cool, I can now press the big wheels strictly. Bring this up to 5x5 and I've got one of my longer term goals in da bag
Last rep of last set of eight wasn't very pretty so stopped there.

Deadlifts:
50kg 1x5
80kg 1x5, 1x3

110kg 2x5, 1x1 (racking)

I am working on hip height to avoid SLDL. Added an extra set to compensate a bit for lack of intensity.

Chinups:
8, 6, 4

+ Some bicep curls with lightish dumbells, 10kg i think (Better than curling alchohol!).

Run home with backpack:
Last incline felt like self-violation.

Hope everybody are well, time to catch up on some logs I think.

PS: Found a perfect-height plastic box in gym today. May start to implement box squats to really nail my technique. But I finally feel like I am getting somewhere on squat technique with proper depth so may not be necessary.

[holvoetn]

What's with all the curling of pints over here lately ?
I mean, tjeez, come on ...



Welcome back

[maroon]

What's with all the curling of pints over here lately ?
I mean, tjeez, come on ...



Welcome back

Haha good to be back!
Must be the time of year Going to stick to water for a while now Maybe it will help up my squat and deadlifts yes

[maroon]

I just thought about something.

The OHP is the only lift I have managed to lift at my "goal" weight for a single rep. I think I can probably benchpress 95kg for a rep as well, although I've not tried that yet. Just some lower weights at higher reps, then fed into a 1rm calculator. For example I've done 80kg for 6 reps, and 72.5kg for 10 reps (after 4x5 at the same weight!).

Does this mean the goals for bench/ohp are to low for a long-term effort? Or are the lifts likely to even out once I get more confidence on squat and deadlift?
Right now I'm sure I can't squat 142.5kg for a rep, or deadlift 190kg for a rep.... 142kg would probably nail me in the hole, and 190kg would be stuck on the floor for sure. I've not tried though.
I feel much better off on ohp/bench.

So, does this mean I should increase the goals for OHP and Bench? Or am I likely to improve my squat/deadlift faster so that it "evens out"? In an ideal world I would like well balanced lifts all over and reaching my main goals on them roughly around the same time. I think squat/deadlift are the most important lifts for me to reach my strength/fighting goals, hence them being the worst is a bit frustrating... Any thoughts? Or maybe I should just keep my goals the way they are and then worry about increasing when I have nailed them? Also I am debating on reducing Muay Thai to once every week and increasing lifting instead. I really want to improve strength the coming year.

[holvoetn]

(this is going into the same direction as for Arthur )

Not everyone is the same. Some people will struggle for years to get a certain lift at par with someone else. You just need to accept this.
As a consequence this means some lifts will take a bit longer to reach a certain level.

In an ideal world I would like well balanced lifts all over and reaching my main goals on them roughly around the same time.

We are not in an ideal world, sorry for that

Your goal on OHP is 5x5 @ 60kg, right ? A 1RM of 60kg does not put you there yet, not by a long stretch. So keep lifting
Same on Bench, you still have some road to cover before you are there.

Goals are only valid for a certain period. They can never be set indefinitely.
Now, if you think your goals need adjusting, do so when the foreseen period is over (end of this year for the current goals ?). Assess progress and set new milestones as needed.
This is also a good time to do some number crunching / evaluation on the data you collected in your log (provided you have everything in an easily accessible electronic format. I keep everything in Excel)
How many sessions did you plan ? How many have you done ? If there is a too large gap, can something be done to improve that ?
How have your body measurements evolved ? Positive or negative evolution ?
How was your sleeping in general ? Does it need adjustment/corrective action ?
How was your eating ? Are you sure you are getting in the necessary nutrients ? Enough of them ? How do you know ?
etc etc.
You should get the idea by now

Re: squat and DL:
1- positive thinking !
2- PATIENCE, think long term ! Weightlifting is a marathon, not a sprint. You try to win most of the battles with the iron, you will loose some. One step back, two steps forward.

[maroon]

(this is going into the same direction as for Arthur )

Not everyone is the same. Some people will struggle for years to get a certain lift at par with someone else. You just need to accept this.
As a consequence this means some lifts will take a bit longer to reach a certain level.

In an ideal world I would like well balanced lifts all over and reaching my main goals on them roughly around the same time.

We are not in an ideal world, sorry for that

Your goal on OHP is 5x5 @ 60kg, right ? A 1RM of 60kg does not put you there yet, not by a long stretch. So keep lifting
Same on Bench, you still have some road to cover before you are there.

Goals are only valid for a certain period. They can never be set indefinitely.
Now, if you think your goals need adjusting, do so when the foreseen period is over (end of this year for the current goals ?). Assess progress and set new milestones as needed.
This is also a good time to do some number crunching / evaluation on the data you collected in your log (provided you have everything in an easily accessible electronic format. I keep everything in Excel)
How many sessions did you plan ? How many have you done ? If there is a too large gap, can something be done to improve that ?
How have your body measurements evolved ? Positive or negative evolution ?
How was your sleeping in general ? Does it need adjustment/corrective action ?
How was your eating ? Are you sure you are getting in the necessary nutrients ? Enough of them ? How do you know ?
etc etc.
You should get the idea by now

Re: squat and DL:
1- positive thinking !
2- PATIENCE, think long term ! Weightlifting is a marathon, not a sprint. You try to win most of the battles with the iron, you will loose some. One step back, two steps forward.

Very good post H.

I will keep my goals as set for now, but may introduce a deadline. This could push me into improving consistency and habits.

I never really set myself a deadline for the goals; as I simply strive towards this level as a minimum before I decide what to do afterwards. The time taken (within reason) isn't that relevant to me as long as I actually get there. My workouts have rarely been 3x a week consistently. My sleeping is very bad in periods, and eating is very up/down. For a while when I really focused on eating, it was brilliant. This is when I gained most of my weight. I realize I have many many things I can improve! I guess this sort of answers the question to a degree.

And I agree with you, ohp'ing 60kg for one rep is a long way away from doing it 5x5 - however I was comparing it directly in % to my other progress. My squats are definitely lagging, getting the form right has been a horrible struggle from day 1, but I feel I've finally made some good ground. When deadlifts get heavier I also tend to do SLDL, mostly lifting with my back. Something I'm trying to correct also. I never round my back! But want my hips lower...

I think I may set a deadline to work towards, it may be exactly what I need.

Every hour in the gym has been worth it though; I no longer appear skinny. Unfortunately I've not kept a record in excel or anything, but I'll probably plot everything in and crunch some numbers when I have time. I already know the overall picture though; progress has been a bit conservative due to endless corrections to form, so the graph won't be very exciting. A formal graph of form improvement would be more relevant huh

[Vlad]

I think your goals for the bench and OHP are not in line with your squat. Bench "should" be around 75% of squat, or 107 kg in your case. OHP "should" be around 50% of your squat, or 71 kg for you. DL "should" be 125% of squat.

This is basically the reason why you acheived a single rep with your bench and OHP goals, but not with the squat. Your squat goal is simply much stronger.

Hope this helps.

Vlad

[maroon]

I think your goals for the bench and OHP are not in line with your squat. Bench "should" be around 75% of squat, or 107 kg in your case. OHP "should" be around 50% of your squat, or 71 kg for you. DL "should" be 125% of squat.

This is basically the reason why you acheived a single rep with your bench and OHP goals, but not with the squat. Your squat goal is simply much stronger.

Hope this helps.

Vlad

That does help a lot

Should I reduce my squat and deadlift goal, or increase my bench/ohp ones? Or simply leave as-is? I'd like to set my goals in stone along with a deadline to help motivate me with consistency. I think "end of 2010" is a nice time aspect, but I'm a bit unsure of how realistic it is... However I have spent large amounts of effort to improve form and learn the lifts, with more focus on increasing loads I may be able to cover some ground faster than the past few months.
142.5kg squat for 3x5 or 5x5 / 71kg OHP for 5x5. I'm not actually sure which would be hardest. They both sound shockingly heavy. How realistic would it be for me to get to this level of strength within a year from now if I really picked up on the consistency? I want feasible targets that make me work hard. Right now it just feels like guessing... I need to nail the goals with a corresponding "deadline".
Appreciate your input as always.

[FiveByFive]

Well whatever you do with your goals, that's a massive OHP, especially relative to your other lifts. Nice work.

[maroon]

Well whatever you do with your goals, that's a massive OHP, especially relative to your other lifts. Nice work.

Hey Five! Nice of you to drop by.
It's not massive, but right now it seems to be my best lift. Which is weird, I sort of made it my enemy from the very start. I will be focusing hard on getting my squat/dead up. May also start to introduce more sets with less reps on pullups/chinups to get more overall volume in. I tire out after 6-10 on first set every time because I'm fatigued from previous workout (usually deadlift). If I do as many sets of 3 as I can, I will probably get a bigger total of reps in.

[Vlad]

I think that past the beginner phase it's better to base targets on 1RM (maybe 3-5 RM), but not 5x5 or 3x5.

If I were you I would set a realistic goal for squat as a single rep with 150 kg. That’s a good benchmark and would be close to 1.5 BW when you achieve it. The other lifts I would set according to the average expected results for this squat performance: BP – 115 kg, OHP – 75 kg, DL – 190 kg.

After you achieve that goal (150 kg squat), you can assess how the other lifts scale according to your squat. This scaling could be very different from the average lifter.

Then I would add +20% to whatever you achieved in your lifts as an ambitious (but still realistic) target for another year of training.

[maroon]

I think that past the beginner phase it's better to base targets on 1RM (maybe 3-5 RM), but not 5x5 or 3x5.

If I were you I would set a realistic goal for squat as a single rep with 150 kg. That’s a good benchmark and would be close to 1.5 BW when you achieve it. The other lifts I would set according to the average expected results for this squat performance: BP – 115 kg, OHP – 75 kg, DL – 190 kg.

After you achieve that goal (150 kg squat), you can assess how the other lifts scale according to your squat. This scaling could be very different from the average lifter.

Then I would add +20% to whatever you achieved in your lifts as an ambitious (but still realistic) target for another year of training.

This advice makes a lot of sense Vlad. What timeframe would you consider appropriate for 150kg squat? I guess I should find out what my max is first.

I'll have to get my ass back into the gym and under the bar

I am not going to switch to an intermediate program yet. Now that I have started to feel confident in my form on the main lifts I'm going to give the 2.5kg per workout another go. If I really push myself I think I can bring my lifts up quite a bit. My head is giving up before my muscle at the moment.
Setting a timeframe for my goals will be nice, I look forward to it.

[maroon]

Monday 23rd November:

Squats:
20kg 3x8
50kg 2x3
80kg 1x3
90kg 3x5
95kg 1x1
100kg 1x1
105kg 1x1
110kg 1x1

Still had some more in me. All below parallel. This lift is like a slap in the face with a wet badger.

Bench press:
20kg 3x8
50kg 2x5

70kg 5x5

Pure form work here. I still have some reps that don't go 100% straight, I'm not sure what triggers it. It's often the first couple of reps in set.

Inverted rows (feet elevated):
9 x 6 x 5

Dips:
8 x 5 x 4 PR

Run home with backpack:
RAIN.

1x Much needed shower.

So mr inconsistent is back, trying to be more consistent. Ridiculous amount of extra hours @ office last week (no excuse I know.)

[Vlad]

I think if you start strength training with zero experience, then at your BW it would take about a year before you can squat 150 kg for a single rep. IMO, there is no need to test 1RM, 5RM will do. Your 5RM should be around 125-130 kg in order to squat 150 kg for a single.

[maroon]

I think if you start strength training with zero experience, then at your BW it would take about a year before you can squat 150 kg for a single rep. IMO, there is no need to test 1RM, 5RM will do. Your 5RM should be around 125-130 kg in order to squat 150 kg for a single.

So seeing as I started training "properly" at around mid-march this year, I should tag 15th march 2010 as a deadline for 150kg squat x 1 ?
I would think that's very doable if I persist & improve my consistency. My squat form has increased exponentially past few workouts so I should be able to up the intensity without any risk while still going deep enough.