Bluebirds, Butterflies, and Barbells - A Starting Strength Journal

[chazzy1864]

Crazy shrugs.

I'm actually thinking of turning my off-wednesday into a trap and calf day, since those two are severely lacking.

With your 20 reps, do you do closer to power shrugs or are they crisp form?

[jshaw5]

With accessories today! Not sure why I was wanting to do everything in one session this week, but it worked out.

Nice work Jason. Hudson makes for some long sessions with all the assistance lifts, especially considering it suggests up to 3 additional accessories. I like getting it all done in one session, except shrugs are getting moved to my OHP day.

[PeterGibbons316]

Crazy shrugs.

I'm actually thinking of turning my off-wednesday into a trap and calf day, since those two are severely lacking.

With your 20 reps, do you do closer to power shrugs or are they crisp form?

Closer to crisp with pretty much full ROM, but I definitley have a good bit of bouncing. I'll usually bounce 5 reps, pause for a sec, repeat until I'm finished. I'm definitely not holding at the top though.

Nice work Jason. Hudson makes for some long sessions with all the assistance lifts, especially considering it suggests up to 3 additional accessories. I like getting it all done in one session, except shrugs are getting moved to my OHP day.

Yeah, trying to lose weight I'm not really adding any additional accessories.

[dk240t]

Nice work.

We should pass each other in weight pretty soon, me bulking and you cutting!

[chazzy1864]

Closer to crisp with pretty much full ROM, but I definitley have a good bit of bouncing. I'll usually bounce 5 reps, pause for a sec, repeat until I'm finished. I'm definitely not holding at the top though.

Noted.

[MatTheCur]

Makes for a long workout, that's for sure! Good stuff

[ngolsen]

i train/live with a weightlifting coach... coaching his son through some SS. Instead of doing a Deadlift, we do a "Clean Pull" (hehehehehhe) which is I suppose the WL version of a power shrug where you do a clean with the weight you would a DL, but its done like a Clean. In that its on oly shoes, butt stays back and you explode into the "second pull" being the shrug. But its held at the top as well... Would build sexy traps sooooooo quickly.

[PeterGibbons316]

Conditioning - Week 28 Others
BW: 204.6

Color code:
Estimated 1RM PR (weight + 0.033 x weight x reps)
PR for reps/weight

Power Clean / Leg Press (PWO)
45x15
95x5
135x3 / 90x10
135x3 / 180x10
145x3 / 270x10
145x3 / 360x10
155x3
155x3 / 450x10
165x3
165x3 / 540x10
175x3
175x3 / 630x10

Can't squat, but leg press didn't bother me as long as I didn't go super deep. Was nice to finally hit the quads a little. Power cleans were not so great for the first few sets, then things really started clicking, then they got a little heavy for me I got them, but my rack was not perfect on a couple of the 175 reps.

Pendlay Row / Seated DB Press
135x5 / 25s x 5
185x5 / 50s x 5
225x5 / 65s x 5
225x5 / 65s x 5
225x5 / 65s x 5

One of the regulars comes up to me and says "dude, can you really row that much???" Felt fantastic. There was another guy in there that was about my size that had 235 on a bar on the floor and I though maybe he was going to show me up.....he was deadlifting it. I was interested in him because he had loaded two 35s and a 25 on each side instead of the usual plates. I didn't bother asking him why he was doing them at a deficit, just assumed he knew what he was doing. The 65s for a 3x5 on DB press was about the perfect weight I think.

Basketball
~1 hour

Forgot my heart rate monitor, but I was kicking ass today. I can vividly remember 3 awesome rebounds where the ball bounced long off the rim and I was able to jump and reach over 2 defenders to grab the ball and then jump over them again for a layup. Another one early on where I swear I was close to a dunk tip - ball came off the front of the rim really softly and I jumped over another guy and just tipped it right back in. So yeah, great day playing basketball.

Vid:

No vids.

Notes:
Knee is hovering around 90%. I've been better about taking my ibuprofen regularly, even though I have been missing my rehab squats. The leg press today helped a lot I think though. And after I finished playing basketball I was still able to jump up and grab the rim - so I haven't lost too much on my vertical at least.

BW is down pretty low. I really want to see something under 200 before I start bulking again, so maybe another 4 weeks or so. I'll probably wait until the knee is healthy as well.

[PeterGibbons316]

Conditioning - Week 29 ME Day / Hudson Week 5
BW: 205

Color code:
Estimated 1RM PR (weight + 0.033 x weight x reps)
PR for reps/weight

Deadlift
95x8
205x5
295x3
385x1
455x1

Probably harder than it should be at this point....stupid cut.

RDL
385x3 (DOH)
345x5

Got the first set DOH which was incredible really. Took these a little deeper and they felt better I think.

Bench Press
45x5
45x5
135x5
225x2
255x3

These were really tough today for some reason.

Rack Pulls
335x1
455x1
465x1
475x1
485x1

Not easy, but not crazy hard either.

Vid:

Got an official deadlift vid for some kind of competition going on.....



Notes:
Tired.

[ngolsen]

175kg x3 doh... bro... sick grip.

[FastCatChamp]

I'd sleep for two hours after all that weight.

That is a man's session right there.

[-Lucifer]

Dude, can you really row that much?

[jshaw5]

One of the regulars comes up to me and says "dude, can you really row that much???" Felt fantastic. There was another guy in there that was about my size that had 235 on a bar on the floor and I though maybe he was going to show me up.....he was deadlifting it. I was interested in him because he had loaded two 35s and a 25 on each side instead of the usual plates. I didn't bother asking him why he was doing them at a deficit, just assumed he knew what he was doing.

Not sure what your gym is like, but that's a bold assumption in my gym lol. I've seen many bros in my gym, much bigger and leaner than me, deadlifting less than BW with atrocious form. Why were you lifting in a gym anyway?

Nice pulls man, your grip strength is crazy.

[PeterGibbons316]

175kg x3 doh... bro... sick grip.

Yeah, I haven't been training my grip as hard as I have in the past, so it was nice to see that I haven't lost much.

I'd sleep for two hours after all that weight.

That is a man's session right there.

Thanks! I drew inspiration from all of you guys running Hudson concurrently with other programs.

Not sure what your gym is like, but that's a bold assumption in my gym lol. I've seen many bros in my gym, much bigger and leaner than me, deadlifting less than BW with atrocious form. Why were you lifting in a gym anyway?

Nice pulls man, your grip strength is crazy.

When we were building the house I started going to my church gym and I like to go there on Saturdays to play basketball, and usually lift beforehand. It is nice to be able to do certain exercises that I can't do in the home gym as well.

[PeterGibbons316]

Conditioning - Ultimate Frisbee/Update
BW: 205.2

Avg Heart Rate: 157 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 188 bpm



Notes:
Most games I don't score much, or sometimes at all. Makes me feel like I should be trying harder. So today I decided to try to make a mental note of both assists and scores. We lost our first game 7-5, I had 3 assists and 2 scores. We lost the second game 5-2, I had 1 assist and 1 score. So every time my team scored it was from me either catching or throwing the disc. So even though I lost both games, I feel really good about my play today.


Took a little time off to let my back heal up. It's back to 100% now. I have been squatting again as well. Saturday I did 135x10, 155x10, 175x10 to depth without much issue. I will probably do something like 185, 205, 225 tomorrow for sets of 8 or maybe just 5. I will probably deadlift first for Hudson, but I'm not going to push it.

[PeterGibbons316]

Conditioning - Week 31 ME Day
BW: 204.8

Color code:
Estimated 1RM PR (weight + 0.033 x weight x reps)
PR for reps/weight

Deadlift
95x8
205x5
295x3
385x1
460x0

I broke it off the floor, but it didn't feel right, so I just dropped it. Maybe I'll try again next week....maybe I will just drop Hudson all together - we will see.

Bench Press
45x5
45x5
135x5
185x3
225x5

Easy.

Squat
45x5
45x5
135x5
185x8
225x5
275x5 (vid)

These felt incredible. I've got about 90-95% ROM in my knee with no pain. ATG squats hurt. Sprinting hurts. Most everything else is fine.

Vid:

Sorry about the auto-focus. Got a new phone and haven't figured the camera out yet.



Notes:
So for winning that APPNUT DL challenge I got a bottle of their Uncut Pre-WO that I just started using this week. I took two before starting tonight (which was probably a mistake since it is so late and it has caffeine in it), and it seemed pretty comparable to some of the other Pre-WOs I have used. Not sure if it was just because it was late, or because I was amped from the Uncut, but I flew through my workout tonight. Got that last squat set with maybe 90 seconds of rest. Not nearly as upset about skipping the deadlift as I am excited about squatting something somewhat respectable without pain.

[jshaw5]

Glad the knee is getting close to 100%, it's good to see you squatting more than second week of SS weights

Tough break on the deadlift. Do you think you could've completed the rep if you went for it? What exactly did you do to your back again? Would it maybe have been wiser to take a few weeks to work back up to where you left off on Hudson, rather than just jumping right back in?

[PeterGibbons316]

Glad the knee is getting close to 100%, it's good to see you squatting more than second week of SS weights

Tough break on the deadlift. Do you think you could've completed the rep if you went for it? What exactly did you do to your back again? Would it maybe have been wiser to take a few weeks to work back up to where you left off on Hudson, rather than just jumping right back in?

I tweaked my back warming up for some rows 2 weeks ago - same injury I have always had. This was probably as bad as it has been in over a year, but seems close to 100% now. I feel like I could have gotten the 460, but it would have been ugly. I'll drop back to 405 and work up from there. Just makes more sense.

[-Lucifer]

Sorry about the knee. Where exactly did you hurt your back? Was it the mid trap region? And which phone did you buy?

[PeterGibbons316]

Sorry about the knee. Where exactly did you hurt your back? Was it the mid trap region? And which phone did you buy?

My L5 vertebrae is broken, so when I get pain it is usually in that area. Still not sure what the exact mechanism is that causes the pain, but it also causes inflammation and massive amounts of ibuprofen make it go away.

I got a Samsung Galaxy S4. I like it, but I'm pretty simple - probably spent more money than necessary to get what I really needed. I tend to keep my phones for ~3 years though so when I do upgrade I typically get something pretty high end so that it lasts me the full 3 years.

[Woody-5]

nice squatting mate, good to see you back at em with the knee!

smart move to ditch the deadlift when it started not feeling right. no sense pushing it and fukking up your back more

[-Lucifer]

My L5 vertebrae is broken, so when I get pain it is usually in that area. Still not sure what the exact mechanism is that causes the pain, but it also causes inflammation and massive amounts of ibuprofen make it go away.

Then stop deadlifting ASAP. Maybe even ditch the bentover rows and do inverted rows for the time being.

[PeterGibbons316]

Hudson Accessories
BW: 203.0

Color code:
Estimated 1RM PR (weight + 0.033 x weight x reps)
PR for reps/weight

RDL
135x10
225x5
315x3
365x3
385x3

Easy enough.

Rack Pulls
315x1
405x1 (DOH)
425x1
445x1
465x1
485x1

Honestly these were easier than I was expecting.

Shrugs
315x20
335x20

Always feel like Bruce Willis in Unbreakable when I do these.

Seatd DB OHP
25s x 5
35s x 5
50s x 5
65s x 5

Easy enough.

Basketball
~45 minutes

Vid:

No vids today.

Notes:
Everything felt good today. Legs were still sore from squats on Thursday. Makes sense - it has been a while since I have done anything that heavy.

Basketball was awesome today. Only played two games, but I scored more than half my teams points both games - even after lifting.

[Woody-5]

Nice work on the basketball court MJ.

Solid lifting. Strong RDLs
Good to hear the racks weren't too bad.

[HunterMC6]

My L5 vertebrae is broken, so when I get pain it is usually in that area. Still not sure what the exact mechanism is that causes the pain, but it also causes inflammation and massive amounts of ibuprofen make it go away.

How did this happen? Sounds like a recipe for disaster with deadlifts, did you have an athletic specialists look at it and clear you for lifting or is this something that happened a long time ago and isn't a problem any more?

[PeterGibbons316]

How did this happen? Sounds like a recipe for disaster with deadlifts, did you have an athletic specialists look at it and clear you for lifting or is this something that happened a long time ago and isn't a problem any more?

I actually don't know when it happened - doctor said likely sometime in my early teens. It never bothered me until 3-4 years ago when I hurt it lifting something heavy at work. Instructions from the doctor were to take NSAIDs when it bothered me, and do what I could to strengthen my back. I'd say it is safe to say that my back is sufficiently strong at this point

[HunterMC6]

I actually don't know when it happened - doctor said likely sometime in my early teens. It never bothered me until 3-4 years ago when I hurt it lifting something heavy at work. Instructions from the doctor were to take NSAIDs when it bothered me, and do what I could to strengthen my back. I'd say it is safe to say that my back is sufficiently strong at this point

Sounds like you are doing the right thing then if the doctor approves of strength training. Back is something I have never liked to play with but I have had so many problems with mine. Oh as far as the knee thing mine is a strain of some kind so nothing real serious and we have had a ton of the same symptoms. I am going to see a specialist in about a week to get some more info and hopefully get some tips on healing and prevention.

[PeterGibbons316]

Conditioning - Week 32 ME Day
BW: 203.8

Color code:
Estimated 1RM PR (weight + 0.033 x weight x reps)
PR for reps/weight

Deadlift
95x8
205x5
295x3
385x1
405x1 (vid)

Something is off with my setup I think. Bar seems too far from my body at the start - need to work on it.

Squat
45x5
45x5
135x5
225x5
275x5
295x3
315x5 (vid)

Wow - just incredible. I was originally planning on doing a 5/3/1 type of scheme today, but the 295 felt really good so I figured I would go for 3 again on 315. The first rep felt fantastic and I knew I was going to get 5. Feels great to be squatting again.

Bench Press
45x5
45x5
135x5
185x3
225x1
245x5 (vid)

This was absolutely unbelievable. For probably the past 6 months my bench target has been 255x3. Recently I've been struggling so I dropped the weight to 225 last week and got 5. Figured I would try for 245x3 this week - 3rd rep was easy, so I went for a 4th.....still had more in the tank, so I got a 5th. Still can't believe it.

Pull-Ups
Neutral Grip x 10 (vid)
Wide Grip x 5 (vid)

Never taken a vid like this before, but these really made me feel good about my current level of fitness.

Vid:



Figured out how to keep my vid from constantly auto-focusing - just need to touch the screen when the vid starts to get it to stay focused on one spot the entire vid.

Notes:
Really incredible day today. Heavy squats with solid depth and no pain. Bench was nuts. Pull-Ups look great. Hoping the knee gets back to 100% here soon. Thinking of doing something extreme for the next few weeks to try to get my BW below 200 and then start bulking again once I am healthy. Back feels 100% as well.

[FastCatChamp]

Glad to see some good health beginning to return!

[PeterGibbons316]

Glad to see some good health beginning to return!

Thanks man, feels like a relief.


In other news - about to go take my son to get his learners permit.....