Post: #1

Perspicacity fitness log first entry.

Rundown of past personal benchmarks and recent training:

Introduction post: /thread-5605-...pid1654365

Game journal: /thread-64978.html

Some background:

Late 2015 into early 2016 started training in boxing three times per week. Overeating a little bit, drinking heavily, and sleeping a fair amount but erratically, weight stabilised at about 165lbs (75kg), probably 13%-15% BF.

Did StrongLifts 5x5 seriously in 2016, especially second half. Started out fitting it around boxing and then in second half of 2016 wasn't boxing so took SL 5x5 seriously on its own.

Late 2016 started dreamer bulking just trying to get as big as possible (3000+ kcal per day from oats and whey, plus gallon of milk, as baseline, plus whatever else I managed to eat / felt like eating).

At peak of dreamer bulk, stats were (completely raw e.g. no belt, no weightlifting shoes, no chalk, no straps):

Age: 22
Height: 5'7" (170cm)
Weight: 205lbs (93kg)
BF: 20% (visual self-estimate, possibly way off)

1RM's (lower bounds):
Squat: > 308lbs (140kg) (ATG, messing about; never properly tested 1RM)
Bench press: > 193lbs (87.5kg) (5x5 max; 1RM was hopefully a lot higher)
Barbell row: > 220lbs (100kg) (5x5 max with questionable form; didn't test 1RM)
Overhead press: > 154lbs (70kg) (messing about; never properly tested 1RM)
Deadlift: 397lbs (180kg) (with chalk, close to true 1RM; 1RM without chalk was at least 353lbs (160kg))

5x5 maxes (180s rest between sets):
Squat: 243lbs (110kg) (ATG)
Bench press: 193lbs (87.5kg)
Barbell row: 220lbs (100kg) (questionable form)
Overhead press: 138lbs (62.5kg)
Deadlift: 353lbs (160kg) (1x5 max without chalk)

From early 2017 to now, haven't trained consistently in anything. Have been experimenting with keto/IF/water fasting/total fasting recently and trying to avoid gaining fat (or even cut) without training.

Current stats:

Age: 23
Height: 5'7" (170cm)
Weight: 152lb (69kg) (goes a bit lower or higher depending on water/carb intake etc. lightest I've been since about age 16)
BF: 10%-11% (visual self-estimate)

Had been eating more and training boxing a little bit the past month but got back into it too quickly and messed up some knuckles so waiting until it hopefully heals.

Past week been hitting singles a couple times a day for deadlift and OHP. No warmup, just to grease the groove. Can just about manage a rep or two of deadlift at 353lbs (160kg), of OHP at 60kg (132lbs), and maybe got a fair bit of the old 220lbs (100kg) barbell row in the tank. Haven't done any squatting/benching so don't know how they've regressed compared to 5x5 maxes.

Thinking it might take a month or two off striking (maybe keep sparring once a week) for hands to heal (even deadlift/OHP seems to set back recovery a little bit). In that time considering a short dreamer bulk and hopping back on supplements (especially fish oil and calcium/GOMAD) to get lifts up, recover quicker, and regain strength, then cut with boxing when recovered.

If I do focus on lifting for the next little bit, I'll probably start with regaining 5x5 strength then maybe transition to 3x5 since I (and seemingly many others) stall hard on 5x5.

Logistically:
Home to work: 6min walk
Home to current gym: 3min walk
Work to current gym: (3min walk, en route between work and home)

Cheers Gents

Post: #2

Great foundation of strength you've built for yourself. Seem to have an imbalance in your bench vs row - if you are rowing 220 lbs for a set of 5 especially without using lifting straps then your bench should be about there as well (unless you are severely cheat rowing with very low ROM).

What are your current goals?

Post: #3

(09-26-2017 12:17 PM)General Stalin Wrote:  Great foundation of strength you've built for yourself. Seem to have an imbalance in your bench vs row - if you are rowing 220 lbs for a set of 5 especially without using lifting straps then your bench should be about there as well (unless you are severely cheat rowing with very low ROM).

What are your current goals?

Cheers man. Great to see you comment, I always make sure to check up on your fitness log when I pop by the forum--gonna catch up to your lifts soon!

You're right on the money--the rows are strapless but are like this, maybe even a bit cheatier:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMMu9JTgvcT/

and also bench has by far always been my least favorite of the 5 main SL 5x5 exercises, and is a lot less intuitive than barbell row for me.

When I was more restrictive with the form on the rows, I maxed out at 5x5 198lbs (90kg) which was pretty much exactly my bench 5x5 max at the time.

Goals were actually to resume boxing and maybe get more into MMA, but this has been set back by overtraining my hands with striking. So next month or two I guess defaults back to SL 5x5 or similar.

Towards the end of last year, when I was doing SL 5x5 seriously and consistently, and I was a lot bigger, my goal (from memory), by the end of 2017, was to be able to do SL 5x5 3x/week on maintenance with:

Squat: ATG 1.5xBW or 309lbs (140kg, 3 plates), whichever is the greater
Bench: 1.25xBW or 220lbs (100kg, 2 plates), whichever is the greater
Barbell row: 1.1xBW or 220lbs (100kg, 2 plates), whichever is the greater
Overhead press: 0.85xBW or 154lbs (70kg), whichever is the greater
Deadlift: 1x5 at 2.25xBW or 441lbs (200kg), whichever is the greater

The absolute amounts seemed plausibly achievable in late 2016 when I was three stone heavier and focussing only on SL 5x5; seem less so now with three months left of 2017.

On the other hand, I'm 75kg right now, and could probably cut fat to 70kg by the end of the year and increase relative strength if I really wanted to. Then the relative weights would now be:

Squat: 1.5xBW = 231lbs = 105kg
Bench: 1.25xBW = 193lbs = 87.5kg
Barbell row: 1.1xBW = 170lbs = 77kg
OHP: 0.85xBW = 131lbs = 59.5kg
Deadlift: 1x5 at 2.25xBW = 347lbs = 157.5kg

The row and deadlift I'd more or less already have. The squat might be doable but the OHP and especially the bench would be tough.

Maybe the thing to do is spend the next month working off the rust and then re-evaluating at year's end what's realistic going into 2018.

Post: #4

First SL 5x5 workout in a few months. Cutting and fasting seem to have made this way harder than I expected, even with the weights dialled back a lot from my PR's:

Warmed up. Then:

Squat (ATG)
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5/5/5/3/5 198lbs (90kg)

Bench press
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x1 154lbs (70kg)
5/5/2/4/3 165lbs (75kg)

Barbell row
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 154lbs (70kg)
5x5 176lbs (80kg) (first set was strict but subsequent sets were sort of power row-ish with some deadlifting/momentum)

180s rest between all work sets, except 300s rest after failed sets.

Post: #5

Last workout my legs felt like jelly during the squats, and I had DOMS (and especially strong quad DOMS) yesterday and even stronger DOMS today. I hit the gym, knowing that the best response to crippling quad DOMS caused by squats...is more squats.

Warmed up.

5 rounds of mostly light/technical boxing sparring. 60s rest between rounds.

I should start asking the coach how many rounds we'll be doing up front. Usually five rounds of 3 minutes but sometimes the format changes. Knowing the format will let me calibrate my effort through each round to make sure I give 100% by the end of the final round but also not getting dangerously sloppy by that point.

Sparred mostly the same people as last week but didn't go as well as it did then; not sure if it was effects of alcohol and staying out late last night and not sleeping much, or my technique having rusted a bit more from not training due to hand injury.

Took a break and had a cheeseburger, large fries, and medium Diet Coke at McDonald's. Better might have been to have oats/whey at home and drop my gloves off.

Squat (ATG)
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5x5 198lbs (90kg)

Felt a lot better connected due to the previous workout and/or the DOMS.

Rested 300s before moving on to:

OHP
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x3 88lbs (40kg)
Thought I'd go for work sets at 116lbs (52.5kg), but that seemed ambitious after I failed the first set, so I dropped it down (but still only took 180s rest):
1x4 116lbs (52.5kg)
5/5/5/4 105lbs (47.5kg)

Technique/rhythm started coming back even in the course of this workout. Think it might be remembering how to exploit myotatic reflex to chain the reps together to get out of the rack position, sort of like not pausing in the hole in the squat.

Rested 300s before moving on to:

Deadlift
1x5 132lbs (60kg)
1x3 220lbs (100kg)
Recently I'd casually done a few singles/doubles/triples at my old 1x5 max of 353lbs (160kg) sort of messing about, so I chose that as my work weight. Turned out to be way too hard after the previous workout and the earlier bits of this workout, so it turned into a five-rep drop set:
1x1 353lbs (160kg)
1x1 331lbs (150kg)
1x3 309lbs (140kg)

180s rest between all work sets unless otherwise indicated.

Post: #6

Warmed up.

Squat (ATG)
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5x5 204lbs (92.5kg)

Rested 300s before moving on to:

Bench press
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
5/4/5/3/5 165lbs (75kg)

Rested 300s before moving on to:

Barbell row
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
Misremembered and thought last time I did 198lbs/90kg when in fact I did 176lbs/80kg. Went fine with a bit of momentum though:
5x5 204lbs (92.5kg)

180s rest between all work sets, except 300s rest after failed sets.

Post: #7

2017-10-05 Thu:

Squat (ATG)
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5/3/3/3/3 209lbs (95kg)

In future, might reduce ROM on these closer to parallel to eke out extra reps.

Rested 300s before moving on to:

OHP
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x3 66lbs (30kg)
1x2 88lbs (40kg)
5x5 105lbs (47.5kg)

Did not feel like I had much chance of failing, but I had more rest than I wanted for a few of the sets because another guy was working in and was chatting to some girl and losing track of time. Started showing him my timer and taking the piss out of them and they got the message.

That, plus my previous difficulties exceeding 110lbs/50kg 5x5 OHP without bulking, make it fairly likely on paper I'll struggle next OHP workout. I'm currently about 150lbs/68kg when fasted, which is the lightest I've ever been while lifting. Thus far my 5x5 OHP seems to stall-out proportional to my body mass--50kg when I was 75kg, and about 60kg when I was about 20% heavier than that.

That's on paper. I'm feeling pretty good and optimistic about it right now though.

Rested 300s before moving on to:

Deadlift
1x5 132lbs (60kg)
1x3 220lbs (100kg)
1x5 331lbs (150kg)

I think that getting back into my groove of breathing/making noises as needed, and not giving a fuck what other people thought, was the difference between passing the OHP and deadlift this workout, and not. Even though I failed the squats, all the reps after the first of each set were tough, and felt aided by proper breathing/weird noises.

Unless otherwise indicated: 180s rest between all work sets, except 300s after failed work sets.

Post: #8

2017-10-07 Sat:

Sparred four rounds of 3 minutes. Next time coach wants me to try training before sparring again but avoid bag work, and see if this avoids hand issues.

2017-10-11 Wed:

Warmed up.

Squat (ATG)
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5/5/5/5/2 209lbs (95kg) (second failure)

Rested 300s before moving on to:

Bench press
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
5/5/5/3/5 165lbs (75kg) (third failure; next time reduce by 10% to 149lbs/67.5kg)

Rested 300s before moving on to:

Barbell row
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5x5 209lbs (95kg) (not row-y enough for me so I'll stick with this weight next time and count it as a failure)

180s rest between all work sets, except 300s rest after failed sets.

2017-10-12 Thu:

Went climbing.

Post: #9

Gotta commend your dedication to this. Good work.

Post: #10

2017-10-15 Sun:

Warmed up.

Squat (ATG)
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5x5 209lbs (95kg)

Rested 300s before moving on to:

OHP
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x3 66lbs (30kg)
1x2 88lbs (40kg)
5x5 110lbs (50kg)

Rested 300s before moving on to:

Deadlift
1x5 132lbs (60kg)
1x3 220lbs (100kg)
1x5 342lbs (155kg)

180s rest between all work sets.

Was on a week-long bender (hence gap from previous workout) involving a lot of alcohol and irregular sleep hours. Started to look doughier and more androgynous so I forced myself to do this workout half expecting to fail every exercise.

(Weirdly, weights during/after the revelries were exactly the same--about 149lbs/67.5kg fasted, and 163lbs/74kg at fullest--as before, despite looking a lot puffier.)

Even without the past week, I'm surprised how quickly this much strength has become back, even at this lower body weight. Only mitigating factor is I'm taking longer breaks between warm-up sets and between the exercises, but other than that, seems to be pound-for-pound gains.

If I pass OHP next time at 116lbs/52.5kg, then it'll be a pound-for-pound 5x5 PR. If I pass the deadlift next time at 353lbs/160kg then it'll tie my 1x5 PR when I was a lot heavier. That said, before on the deadlift, I could firmly do 1x5 160kg but then couldn't even get the 162.5kg off the ground. Hopefully that doesn't happen this time round shooting for the 160kg.

Post: #11

2017-10-20 Fri:

Warmed up.

Squat (ATG)
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5/5/5/5/2 215lbs (97.5kg)

Rested 450s before moving on to:

Bench press
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
5x5 149lbs (67.5kg)

Rested 210s before moving on to:

Barbell row
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5/5/4/4/5 209lbs (95kg)

180s rest between all work sets, except 300s after failed work sets.

After failing after last workout, I managed to do dumbbell clean and bent press at 88lbs/40kg with each arm.

Post: #12

2017-10-21 Sat:

Quads felt sore so did some light active recovery--slow light back squats with form, a few slow heavy front squats, light clean & jerk and snatch then quick foam roll of the quads.

Also did a no-momentum ATG back squat at 265lbs/120kg. Wasn't easy or pretty but suggests I could go heavier on a squat with momentum or only to parallel.

Post: #13

Current plan: Per the official program, I'm going to deload exercises 10% when I fail them three times. When I fail again after deloading, I'll switch to 3x5, then similarly to 3x3, then similarly to 3x1.

I spent a while before at these sorts of work set weights trying to eke out small 5x5 gains. But at this point dammit I just want a 3xBW deadlift and 3-plate 5x5 squat, and I want my 5x5 1-plate OHP back, possibly at a body weight not much higher than that. To attain these I'll need to shift closer to maximum strength and getting used to higher weights at lower reps, and maybe even bulk for a bit then cut.

I now seem to generally be between 143lbs/65kg and 154lbs/70kg, rather than between 70kg and 75kg. Kind of surprised because I've been drinking a fair amount and getting goodness knows how many extra calories from that, and not really focussing on diet much. Would make sense if I'd lost muscle but I feel stronger than a couple weeks ago so who knows. Not complaining.

2017-10-23 Mon:

StrongLifts 5x5:

Warmed up.

Squat (ATG)
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5/5/5/5/2 215lbs (97.5kg) (second failure)

Rested 300s before moving on to:

OHP
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x3 66lbs (30kg)
1x2 88lbs (40kg)
5/5/5/4/4 116lbs (52.5kg) (first failure)

Rested 300s before moving on to:

Deadlift
1x5 132lbs (60kg)
1x3 220lbs (100kg)
1x5 353lbs (160kg) (lockout on last rep was questionable but call it a pass)

Dumbbell bent press on each arm at 30kg then at 40kg. A few clean and jerks and a few snatches at 30kg.

Post: #14

double post

Post: #15

Tuesday (quick OHP/deadlift max session) and Wednesday (SL 5x5 then boxing):

2017-10-24 Tue:

Nipped into the gym to try some maxes.

No general warm-up.

OHP did 10 reps at 20kg then a few reps at 40kg then rested a few minutes then tried 154lbs/70kg. Got it to about my nose but failed. (Surprised--was expecting either to be unable to unrack it from my chest/shoulders or to get the rep, not to fail halfway through.) Immediately dropped down to 132lbs/60kg and did two or three reps.

Loaded up 4 plates on the deadlift, waited a couple minutes, then tried it. Got it to just below the knee. (Again, surprised--expected to either not get it off the floor or to get the rep. The part I failed was essentially a low rack pull, which is normally much easier.) Immediately chalked up and tried again but got just as far before failing. Immediately dropped down to 3.5 plates which went up easy.

Waited a minute or two then tried the 154lbs/70kg again as an OHP but it went up only about half as far. Then tried it as a push press but didn't trust my stability at the top to lock it out. Was very surprised I couldn't comfortably do the push press. Possibly I was out of gas/breath at that point. Possibly lack of practice (recently and in general) with push pressing. (Fair chance I'd get a bollocking/ban from the gym owner if I were to try jerking it, failing, and bailing onto the low rail.)

2017-10-25 Wed:

SL 5x5:

Warmed up.

Squat (ATG)
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5/5/5/5/2 215lbs (97.5kg) (third failure; deload to 85kg)

I'm going to use this deload as an opportunity to reduce the ROM on the reps--starting from next workout, I'll go only to parallel, instead of ATG.

It was annoying I failed this since I was so close to 2 plates, and it sort of felt like I could have gotten the three remaining reps. On the other hand, I felt like I was going to fail by the third set because my lower back has been lagging in strength getting back into exercise, and aggravated by lots of sitting on a sofa recently. But I remembered how to dig into deeper reserves of core strength and ground through about 14 reps (some from the hole) that felt like certain failure. If I'd pushed even more I might have injured my back and failed anyway, so I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

Also, I haven't been doing the workouts as frequently as I should be (three times per week), so it's good I went in and did the workout on schedule even though I felt like I'd do horribly, and sure enough, it went better than it felt it would. At my 'peak' SL 5x5 I was actually doing every other day, and often did supplementary stuff on the other days, so I have a lot of room to get the frequency back up.

Rested a couple of minutes before moving on to:

Bench press
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
5x5 154lbs (70kg)

Felt easier than the 67.5kg in the previous bench press workout but still not particularly easy. Might have to bite the bullet and start practising bench press on off days.

Rested a couple minutes before moving on to:

Barbell row
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5x5 209lbs (95kg) (not happy with form hence third failure--next time deload to 85kg)

Weirdly the reps in the fourth and fifth set were mostly very good, almost as if I 'found' the technique a few sets in. The first three sets weren't great though, so count it as a failure.

180s rest between all work sets, except 300s after failed work sets.

Boxing:

Really nice workout to shake some rust off and ease back in. Liked the structure, minimalism, and focus on technique.

Couple 3-minute rounds of skipping (normal, high knees, sprints) with push-ups between rounds.

Round of shadowboxing.

3-minute rounds of padwork (first as padman then as puncher):

1 = Jab, cross
2 = Lead uppercut, opposite uppercut
3 = Jab, cross, hook
4 = Jab, power jab, cross moving forward
5 = Cross, hook, cross

Round 1: Padman calls 1, 2, 3, or combinations thereof.
'Rest': Padman 10 squats, puncher 10 push-ups then 10 of no. 3 as hard as possible.
Round 2: Padman calls 1, 2, 3, 4, or combinations thereof.
'Rest': Padman 10 squats, puncher 10 push-ups then 10 of no. 4 as hard as possible.
Round 3: Padman calls 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or combinations thereof.
'Rest': Padman 10 squats, puncher 10 push-ups then 10 of no. 5 as hard as possible.

Then reverse roles.

Round of shadowboxing.

If I applied pressure, my middle knuckles felt a bit tender after, but not terrible, and they feel mostly better today. So hopefully I can train at least once a week if I avoid bagwork.

Post: #16

Friday and Sunday:

2017-10-27 Fri:

StrongLifts 5x5.

Warmed up.

Squat
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5x5 193lbs (87.5kg)

Only went to parallel which felt really weird and maybe harder than ATG. Overall still felt fairly difficult.

Rested a minute or two then:

OHP
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x3 66lbs (30kg)
1x2 88lbs (40kg)
5x5 116lbs (52.5kg)

Rested several minutes then:

Deadlift
1x5 132lbs (60kg)
1x3 220lbs (100kg)
1x3 364lbs (165kg) (first failure)

Got the fourth rep to a tiny bit above the knee but ran out of grip/gas and dropped it. Still, this is two reps more than my previous raw, no-chalk PB of one rep at 165kg, when my BW was about 20% higher.

180s rest between all work sets, except 300s after failed work sets.

Dumbbell bent press on each arm at 30kg then at 40kg. A few clean and jerks and a few snatches at 30kg.

Left the gym and saw some kids doing parkour. Tried for ten or fifteen minutes to nail a standing horizontal kerb-to-kerb jump but didn't get it. Then spent ten or fifteen minutes trying to nail a running kerb-to-kerb jump and eventually got it just as they headed off.

2017-10-29 Sun:

StrongLifts 5x5.

Warmed up.

Squat
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5x5 198lbs (90kg)

Probably ended up going a bit below parallel (I'm surprised how small a ROM parallel feels like so am probably doing a bit more). Felt a lot easier than last workout which was at a slightly lower weight, so hopefully I'm figuring out the form a bit. Would have felt pretty nice if I didn't need to crap and hadn't just eaten too much.

Straight on to:

Bench press
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
5x5 160lbs (72.5kg)

Felt like I might fail the fourth set but ground through. Final set was probably the second-easiest after the first set, seemingly because I remembered the cue to think of rowing the bar to my torso and engaging the 'rowing muscles'.

Rested a couple minutes then:

Barbell row
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5x5 187lbs (85kg)

Form on a few reps was dubious but I'll call it a pass. Fair chance I'll get 'found out' next time, when the weight goes up.

180s rest between all work sets.

Dumbbell bent press on each arm at 30kg then at 40kg.

5 clean and jerks, then 5 snatches, at 30kg.

According to the scales at home (which I need to double-check against the gym scales), I'm down to between 147lbs/67kg and 156lbs/71kg. I'm going to reserve skepticism until I double check my weight against another set of scales under the same conditions, because I've been eating maybe twice as much, and less clean, than I have been for much of this year the past few weeks, but have lost 2.5-7.5kg, despite being visibly a lot flabbier. On the other hand, it's not implausible that my current higher consumption is still enough to lose weight on. (I've spent much of this year trying out various fasts, often on 900kcal to 1300kcal per day and still maintaining or increasing pound-for-pound strength, so even a significant increase in consumption might still admit weight loss.)

Post: #17

Tuesday 31st and Monday 6th:

2017-10-31 Tue:

StrongLifts 5x5.

Warmed up.

Squat
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5x5 204lbs (92.5kg)

Rested a minute or two then:

OHP
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x3 66lbs (30kg)
1x2 88lbs (40kg)
5/5/4/3/3 121lbs (55kg) (first failure)

Rested several minutes then:

Deadlift
1x5 132lbs (60kg)
1x3 220lbs (100kg)
1x3 364lbs (165kg) (second failure)

180s rest between all work sets, except 300s after failed work sets.

2017-11-06 Mon:

StrongLifts 5x5.

Warmed up.

Squat
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5x5 209lbs (95kg)

Straight on to:

Bench press
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
5x5 165lbs (75kg)

Straight on to:

Barbell row
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5x5 187lbs (85kg) (forgot that I counted last time as a pass at this weight, so redid it as unambiguous pass)

180s rest between all work sets.

Turns out scales at home were indeed wildly off--on the Tuesday I weighed in on the gym scales at 77.5kg (171lbs). There go my hopes of gaining strength while mysteriously losing weight despite looking bigger. Oh well. Bulk time perhaps.

Post: #18

2017-11-08 Wed:

Boxing and StrongLifts 5x5.

Boxing:

Was a bit late.

Diamond push-ups then 3min of skipping variations. (Missed earlier rounds.)

3min shadowboxing.

3-minute rounds of padwork (first as padman then as puncher):

6 = Jab, cross (body), hook
7 = Jab, cross (body), uppercut
8 = Jab, cross, uppercut
9 = (Jab, jab) moving forward
10 = Jab (body), jab, cross

Round 1: Padman calls 10, 9, 8, or combinations thereof.
'Rest': Padman 10 squats, puncher 10 push-ups then 10 of no. 6 as hard as possible.
Round 2: Padman calls 10, 9, 8, 8, or combinations thereof.
'Rest': Padman 10 squats, puncher 10 push-ups then 10 of no. 7 as hard as possible.
Round 3: Padman calls 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, or combinations thereof.
'Rest': Padman 10 squats, puncher 10 push-ups then 10 of no. 8 as hard as possible.

Then reverse roles.

StrongLifts 5x5

No general warm-up.

Squat
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x5 88lbs (40kg)
1x3 132lbs (60kg)
1x2 176lbs (80kg)
5x5 215lbs (97.5kg)

Straight on to:

OHP
2x5 44lbs (20kg)
1x3 66lbs (30kg)
1x2 88lbs (40kg)
5/5/5/5/3 121lbs (55kg) (second failure)

Rested several minutes then:

Deadlift
1x5 132lbs (60kg)
1x3 220lbs (100kg)
1x5 364lbs (165kg) (PB 1x5)

180s rest between all work sets.

Was feeling good so I gave 185kg (408lbs) a try and succeeded. Although I've never tested my deadlift 1RM, this is a new PB (+20kg) for raw, no-chalk deadlift.

I was still feeling pretty good so I tried 195kg but couldn't budge it, nor 190kg. I dropped down to 180kg and gave it several tries in quick succession, eventually managing it (albeit ripping my hand as focus was flagging). Weird that I got the last attempt despite being pretty gassed--looks like I have quite gains on the table from improving positioning and mechanics (let alone the fact I'm compensating for weak quads/glutes/hamstrings by using a lot of back and doing it near-stiff-legged).

I was using a barbell that has less aggressive knurling than the one I've used before, but is 1mm or 2mm less thick--maybe this gave me the extra reps/weight on the OHP and deadlift?

Tried to power clean and press 75kg (165lbs) but couldn't budge the press from racked on my shoulders, as expected. Dropped down to 70kg (154lbs) but only got the press about a third of the way up). Dropped down to 65kg (143lbs) and got it relatively easily. Dropped down to 60kg (132lbs) and got three overhead presses and two or three push presses with some in the tank.

I weighed in at 80.5kg (177lbs), two stone lighter than when I first deadlifted 165kg.

Post: #19

Been more busy with work but have bumped up the training--boxing three times (sparring once) per week, plus keeping on with StrongLifts 5x5 three times per week.

Current weight is 83.5kg (184lbs) from dreamer bulking.

Still planning to take the StrongLifts exercises from 5x5 to 3x5 to 3x3 to 1x3. To maximise gains from this, I would continue bulking while doing so, but maybe at a less extreme surplus.

Bulking and training so much is making boxing hard, but I'll keep pushing so long as that's all it's doing (and not e.g. injuring me). Specifically, the amount of shoulder and lower back fatigue makes it hard to maintain movement quality later in boxing sessions.

My knuckles seem to be fine. The middle ones are off-colour to the others if I look in the mirror, and right after boxing they feel a bit sore if I press hard on them, but not in the malevolent, sharp way they were before, and no pain during boxing itself, so I'm fine with this.

Hopefully if I press (heh) on, my work capacity and endurance will increase so I can handle it and make progress on both--there's no way I'm at the Pareto frontier of the boxing vs lifting curve. Ideally I want to buy a gi and add in at least one jiu jitsu session per week.

Making progress on it, but I'm still spending too much time on the computer after work, hence averaging 5-7 hours of sleep per night, and I need more at this point.

StrongLifts 5x5 weights (none of them are 3x5 yet):

Squat: Just did 112.5kg (248lbs; PB 5x5)--next time is 115kg (254lbs).
Bench press: Just did 82.5kg (182lbs)--next time is 85kg (187lbs).
Barbell row: Just did 90kg (198lbs)--next time is 92.5kg (204lbs).
Overhead press: Just had first failure at 60kg (132lbs)--next time is second attempt at the same.
Deadlift (1x5): Just had second failure at 175kg (386lbs; PB 1x3)--next time is third attempt at the same.

Post: #20

Have been feeling like I lost weight this week and indeed have dropped a couple of kilos to 81.5kg. Been slacking on the GOMAD. Feeling hard to keep up the weight gain with this amount of training without spending too much money or constantly guzzling oats and whey.

Life has become a cycle of eating, shitting (in toilets or in my pants), chugging milk, training, working, not sleeping enough (but substantial improvement on this front the past week or two), waking up in the night once or twice to piss calcium, and maybe an evening or two of dancing if I'm lucky. Hard to maintain the all-day mental sharpness I had when I was eating once a day at 900kcal-1500kcal and not training.

I'm kind of loving it, but still working on making it sustainable. (Next step: week-long chicken and broccoli meal preps?)

So far boxed three times this week (with a good sparring session; it's starting to come together a little) and carried on with SL 5x5 (including a close call where I shat myself a bit during squats--broccoli is powerful stuff--but it didn't make it to my clothes so I was fine to wipe up right after the set...)

Boxing footwork is getting better despite additional weight. Footwork and punches more explosive/powerful despite being fatter.

Knees have started getting a bit of pain. Not too worried yet since it usually occurs after sitting and it's probably just tight quads. OTOH I've never squatted this much and probably never trained so much overall work before, so maybe it's actual knee issues. If so, it will probably resolve itself when I start failing 5x5 and drop down to 3x5 then 3x3 then 1x3.

On that note: One of the coaches at the gym (who knows his shit) said if he were coaching me for lifting then he'd probably put me on 5/3/1 and have me squat only twice per week but deadlift twice per week and bench three times per week (three workouts total).

I reckon I still have gains to be made from 5x5 to 3x5 to 3x3 to 1x3, but this makes me more inclined to go with 5/3/1 after that.

Recent/next lifts are (all 5x5 increasing 2.5kg when passed except deadlift 1x5 increases 5kg):

Squat: Done 117.5kg (259lbs); next is 120kg (265lbs).
Bench press: Done 85kg (187lbs); next is 87.5kg (193lbs).
Barbell row: Done 95kg (209lbs); next is 97.5kg (215lbs). (These are not strict but right now I'm happy to just do them with what lets me pull the most weight.)
Overhead press: Done 60kg (132lbs); next is 62.5kg (138lbs). (Left wrist is twinging a bit on this, and occasionally during boxing glove pushups, which is an issue I had before.)
Deadlift: Done 175kg (386lbs); next is 180kg (397lbs).

OHP doubles at 70kg (154lbs) at end of boxing/lifting workouts becoming consistent.