A Weak Squatter's Road To Redemption

[pyaarawala]

Nice work forcing yourself to do the weight. I wish I had a training partner doing a strength program to motivate me like that. All I got is my brother but he's on Cycle 1 of Allpro's squatting really light weight. But I guess it's something.

Deadlifts could look a little better but still a great lift nonetheless. 160 kg DL is quite strong. Squats looked great too.

As for the warmups, just do more sets I'm sure you know. Better safe than sorry.

[GinjaNinja85]

Nice work forcing yourself to do the weight. I wish I had a training partner doing a strength program to motivate me like that. All I got is my brother but he's on Cycle 1 of Allpro's squatting really light weight. But I guess it's something.

Deadlifts could look a little better but still a great lift nonetheless. 160 kg DL is quite strong. Squats looked great too.

As for the warmups, just do more sets I'm sure you know. Better safe than sorry.

Thanks mate. DLs didn't look great. I just felt so weak that I couldn't get tight in the setup. I probably need to do some smaller jumps on ID and do more singles on squats too. My last few IDs have sucked form wise but this last one felt ok.

Training with other people really helps when you're not 100%, even if they're weak. Nobody wants to pussy out of a rep in front of their brother either

[dk240t]

Big goals! Nothing wrong with those goals but I think your weight gain expectations are a little unrealistic. To bulk to 205 this year is not enough to support those gains. That's like 1lb a month. Realistically, I think to gain enough weight to support those gains you'll be looking at being more like 220lbs at a rate of ~3lbs a month. I'm speculating of course.

If you added 5lbs a session you'll reach your squat goal in 13 weeks if uninterrupted.

Nice ID man.

I think you misunderstand how my goals are linked. The lifts and bodyweight are separate goals. Point is, I'm not going to cut until I meet the strength goals. I may bulk to 205, maintain for a bit, keep bulking at the same pace, keep bulkin at a different pace. Dunno what I will do. But I will keep bulking until at least 205. And I wouldn't cut until I met those strength goals. Not saying I will hit all those and then start cutting. I don't know what my goals past those will be. I just know I want to be at least that strong and at least that heavy before I set my new goals. I may decide to cut to 185 then or bulk to 225, or just keep bulking with no weight target until I meet the strength goals.

I'm not sure I'll get those this year, with everything else going on, but I'm going to keep focusing on strength until I meet them.

[GinjaNinja85]

Nice ID man.

I think you misunderstand how my goals are linked. The lifts and bodyweight are separate goals. Point is, I'm not going to cut until I meet the strength goals. I may bulk to 205, maintain for a bit, keep bulking at the same pace, keep bulkin at a different pace. Dunno what I will do. But I will keep bulking until at least 205. And I wouldn't cut until I met those strength goals. Not saying I will hit all those and then start cutting. I don't know what my goals past those will be. I just know I want to be at least that strong and at least that heavy before I set my new goals. I may decide to cut to 185 then or bulk to 225, or just keep bulking with no weight target until I meet the strength goals.

I'm not sure I'll get those this year, with everything else going on, but I'm going to keep focusing on strength until I meet them.

I think this is a good approach. Playing it by ear is probably the best way. If you feel like sh!t and you feel fat then cut. If you feel ok and you're enjoying the gains then keep bulking. Alot of it comes down to an emotional decision.

I didn't look at them as seperate goals. In the long term, you'll reach those goals. You're gonna need to cut sooner or later, I guess it's best to not let the goals rule your mentality. I definitely think you'll reach those goals this year regardless!

[Woody-5]

Nice ID work fella! Strong squat triple, impressive grind on that last rep!!
Sweet PR on those deads

[GinjaNinja85]

Thanks Woody!

It's my birthday today. I'm celebrating by saying a big fu*k you to keto and having a sausage, bacon and egg baguette for breakfast and a truckload of Spanish tapas later. I guess now would be a good time to compare my current lifts to those from a year ago...

Mar 20*
Squat 87.5kg PR
Press 57.5kg PR
Row 57.5kg PR

Mar 22
Squat 90kg PR
Bench 85kg PR
Deadlift 117.5kg PR

Mar 25
Squat 92.5kg PR
Press 60kg PR
Row 62.5kg PR

It's getting tough, especially bench & press. I found by tensing my body tight and snarling towards the end of the set I can push out the presses. It's not making me look very approachable round the gym though. I'm now having to hold my breath to stay tight during squats. Rows are getting easy so I've increased the jumps. I hope I don't stall on the press or bench next week...

My chest is up 1" to 43". Legs have stayed the same but glutes are rock solid! Arms are shrinking slightly. I'm also struggling to keep my chest up during squats so to counter all this, next week I'm gonna start phasing in light good mornings, chins and dips. Here goes...

Edit: Scrap the good mornings, I'm just gonna concentrate on form

TEXAS METHOD #13

INTENSITY DAY

color code:
blue = pr and completed all reps
red = fail

SQUAT
5 x 60kg b/l
3 x 80 b/l
2 x 100
1 x 110
1 x 120
1 x 100
1 x 115
3 x 130

OVERHEAD PRESS
5 x 40kg
1 x 50
5 x 55
5 x 55
5 x 55

DEADLIFT
3 x 100kg DOH b/l
1 x 120 DOH b/l
1 x 140 DOH
3 x 160
1 x 145 DOH b/l grip hold ~10 secs

T BAR ROWS
20 x 72.5kg

COMMENTS
Tonight took ages. I didn't carb load last night as I knew I was gonna have a vegetarian, potato laden stew tonight. I paid for it. Everything felt brutally heavy.

I had been working in the cold (it ain't fu*king Spring) for hours and I just couldn't get warm. My knees were cold and clicking and I spent a good bit of time bottling the heavy triple and doing more warm ups. While I was trying to get warmed up properly the guy I've been training with managed only one rep of his 5 rep set. It was bullsh*t. I was like "dude this is all in your head, it's all mental. You have this. You've had your light day, today you do this. It's yours etc etc". Anyway, he came back and smashed it for 5 and that was it. I was motivated to fu*k and smashed every lift. Still felt weak as hell and took forever though, but this was all win

TIME
1:20

VIDS
Squats and deads...

[dk240t]

Thanks Woody!

It's my birthday today. I'm celebrating by saying a big fu*k you to keto and having a sausage, bacon and egg baguette for breakfast and a truckload of Spanish tapas later. I guess now would be a good time to compare my current lifts to those from a year ago...

Nice progress. Happy birthday.

[HunterMC6]

Nice grinders on those squats and deads man really impressive. Are you micro loading bench and press?

[pyaarawala]

Yup nice progress from last year! Keep it up! Happy Birthday and enjoy with your favorite meals.

[InspecktaDeck]

Have you squatted 3 plates yet?? If not it looks like your ready for it. Nice squatting

[Sinaku5]

Everybody's birthday seems to be in March (mine is too).

Happy bday Ginja.

Strong lifts too. Whens the cut going to be over?

[GinjaNinja85]

Nice progress. Happy birthday.

Thanks mate

Nice grinders on those squats and deads man really impressive. Are you micro loading bench and press?

Cheers bro. Not microlading yet. Still making my way back from my shoulder injury last year.

Yup nice progress from last year! Keep it up! Happy Birthday and enjoy with your favorite meals.

Thanks fella. I had a good tapas then things went bad

Have you squatted 3 plates yet?? If not it looks like your ready for it. Nice squatting

I squatted 145kg at the end of last year so it's done! Pretty ugly...

Everybody's birthday seems to be in March (mine is too).

Happy bday Ginja.

Strong lifts too. Whens the cut going to be over?

Thanks man. The cuts over when the mirror says so. I'm still not that slim, it's crazy! I'm just gonna keep going. I'm on a mission to get lean now. All the best people are born in March

[GinjaNinja85]

Sorry for the lack of updates. I went out for tapas for my birthday last Sunday with my brother. I walked in this restaurant looking for a table for two and there were about 20 of my closest family and friends waiting there like 'surprise'! It was amazing. My cousin came from London. My mum came from Spain. It was insane. Such a beautiful gesture by my brother and all the more crazy as I'm only 28. I stayed out til the early hours just riding the wave, drinking and partying. The night before my other friends had taken me out and we'd partied til late. All this is good, except I'm working 7 days a week and it turned out to be too much for me to handle.

I had sickness and diahorrea all last week. I could barely eat a thing and I still had to work as my business had jobs that simply had to be done. Every day was spent struggling through the next hours at work before I could get home, sh!t 5 times and go straight to bed. It was the most brutal week I've ever known. I lost alot of weight and obviously training was out of the question.

Anyway, I've been resting all Easter and I feel good again. I've been well for 2 days now so I'm gonna restart nice and light with SS style programming and re establish my weight with a carb diet before switching back to keto when I'm ready to resume cutting. I was gonna do a PL meet this month but not now. I just need to get back into the groove again so from tomorrow it'll be squat, press, deadlift and chins. Good to be back BB brahs

[Sen8or]

Thought it had been quiet on your log.

I hear ya on the business thing, no such thing as sick leave, ****s just gotta get done.

Happy Birthday for the other day, good to get a surprise party like that.

[GinjaNinja85]

Thought it had been quiet on your log.

I hear ya on the business thing, no such thing as sick leave, ****s just gotta get done.

Happy Birthday for the other day, good to get a surprise party like that.

Yeah, it was really special. A great surprise I'm looking forward to training and getting in everyone's logs. Hope the training is going well Sen!

[pyaarawala]

Haha what a story! Glad to see you had a nice birthday but sucks about what happened afterward. Oh well, they're memories. How much weight did you lose? Where are you at now?

+1 on SS-ing the numbers back up. Good luck

[GinjaNinja85]

Haha what a story! Glad to see you had a nice birthday but sucks about what happened afterward. Oh well, they're memories. How much weight did you lose? Where are you at now?

+1 on SS-ing the numbers back up. Good luck

I went down from 83kg to 81kg. I'm eating whatever I want at the moment and the weight is coming back. I'm really enjoying Nutella on toast Thanks man, doing my first session now. Back on team SS.

[GinjaNinja85]

LP #1

color code:
blue = pr and completed all reps
red = fail

SQUAT
4 x 60kg b/l
1 x 80 b/l
5 x 90 b/l
5 x 90 b/l
5 x 90 b/l

OVERHEAD PRESS
5 x 30kg
3 x 40
5 x 50
5 x 50
5 x 50

DEADLIFT
3 x 100kg DOH b/l
1 x 120 DOH b/l
5 x 140
1 x 140 +13 secs DOH grip hold

CHIN UPS
3 x b/w
3 x b/w
3 x b/w
3 x b/w
3 x b/w
3 x b/w

DECLINE SIT UPS
10 x 10kg
8 x 10
8 x 10

COMMENTS
Randomly picked the weights and was weak, predictably. All lifts were just the right amount of tough. Never in doubt but had be mentally prepared for the sets.

Done chins for the first time this year. The shoulder does not like. The last set didn't hurt though so I'll give these another go soon. Went for volume while keeping intensity low.

TIME
1:30

VIDS
None

[GinjaNinja85]

I'll be using this template if anyone's interested. It was based on wanting to do the Starting Strength template with rows swapped in for cleans but with added chins and some accessory lifts from my previous programming decline sit ups, hanging leg raises face pulls and curls.

Increased deadlift frequency means there's no room for RDLs and chins replace T Bar Rows. Side laterals can go. They were a waste of time probably and I only done them for my ex, who for the record, can rot in hell

A1
Squat
Press
Deadlift
Chins
Decline Sit Ups

B
Squat
Bench
Pendlay Rows
Curls
Face Pulls

A2
Squat
Press
Deadlift
Chins
Hanging Leg Raises

Rolling like;

Mon: A1
Wed: B
Fri: A2
Mon:B
Wed: A1
Fri: B
Mon: A2
Etc, etc...

Just means I get to alternate the ab work on A days, not trying to be flash I'll deal with light squat days and reduce deadlifts to once a week as it comes. I'll be back on TM within the month I should think.

[GinjaNinja85]

LP #2

color code:
blue = pr and completed all reps
red = fail

BENCH PRESS
5 x 50kg
5 x 60
5 x 60
5 x 60

SQUAT
3 x 60kg
2 x 80
5 x 95
5 x 95
5 x 95 - all beltless

PENDLAY ROW
5 x 60kg
5 x 75
5 x 75
5 x 75

EZ CURLS
12 x 27.5kg
12 x 27.5
12 x 27.5

FACE PULLS
50 x 22.5kg

COMMENTS
Squats were ok. Looking forward to getting back to where I was before. Bench was pretty light. Rows were hard.

I've decided to switch to 3 sets of 8-12 on curls. Poundstone's are cool and all but I'm gonna give this new scheme a try. Heavier and more volume.

I've been a pretty lousy member of BB.com lately. When I joined a year ago I had alot of time on my hands and I spent alot of time in the open forums and in logs. As time has gone on, my business has grown and it's got to the point where I'm struggling to run my regular job alongside my business.

This is great, but it means I'm not gonna have much time for vids and supporting everyone in their logs. When I finally quit my job and go full time with my business things will change so I'm keeping this log as I'm sure I'll be more active in future. Thanks for all your support so far guys. I hope you can still find time to check in every now and then.

TIME
1:20

VIDS
None

[pyaarawala]

It'd be boring if I don't check anyone's logs and I know people could always use the support. I got a lot of free time on my hands so it's no problem for me. I agree with keeping the log to make sure you'll be active in the future. I noticed several friends of mine who don't keep logs are so inconsistent with their training, always forgetting how much weight they did the last time and which exercises.

You'll be back up there in no time. +1 on going beltless.

[HunterMC6]

good working getting back on the horse after being sick, sounds like an awesome surprise party though and well worth it I would imagine! Get those numbers back to where they were before your sick days. What do you run for a business?

[GinjaNinja85]

It'd be boring if I don't check anyone's logs and I know people could always use the support. I got a lot of free time on my hands so it's no problem for me. I agree with keeping the log to make sure you'll be active in the future. I noticed several friends of mine who don't keep logs are so inconsistent with their training, always forgetting how much weight they did the last time and which exercises.

You'll be back up there in no time. +1 on going beltless.

It can't hurt to have some accountability in your training, even if it is just an online log, it really helps.

I'm only beltless this week. It's definitely harder though

good working getting back on the horse after being sick, sounds like an awesome surprise party though and well worth it I would imagine! Get those numbers back to where they were before your sick days. What do you run for a business?

It was awesome I would've trained sick but I would have sh!t myself for sure lol.

It's a plumbing and heating business. Mostly fitting boilers, heating systems and bathrooms and servicing or repairing gas appliances. I'm saving for a nice van and some tools at the moment as I use my employers van currently.

[GinjaNinja85]

LP #3

SQUAT
3 x 60kg b/l
2 x 80 b/l
1 x 90 b/l
5 x 100
5 x 100
5 x 100

OVERHEAD PRESS
3 x 40kg
5 x 52.5
5 x 52.5
5 x 52.5

DEADLIFT
3 x 92.5kg DOH b/l
1 x 122.5 DOH b/l
5 x 145
1 x 145 +~15sec DOH grip hold

CHIN UPS
3 x b/w
3 x b/w
3 x b/w
3 x b/w
3 x b/w
4 x b/w

HANGING LEG RAISES - hanging from a bar, slow and controlled to just above parallel
6
6
5

COMMENTS
Belted up for squats this time. 5-6 minutes rest and pretty easy going. Feels like I'm finding my feet again.

Press felt so off to start with. This has always been my best lift. I approached the bar more aggressively over the sets and the last set was easy. Definitely mental.

Deadlift was actually really hard. I've either lost 12.5kg of strength or I'm fatigued. I should be able to handle a 2.5kg increase. If not I'll reduce to once a week.

Added a chin to the last set. Very comfortable and no shoulder pain.

TIME
1:25

[GinjaNinja85]

w/e Apr 7: 82.0kg
w/e Mar 31: 81.0kg
w/e Mar 24: 84.0kg
w/e Mar 17: 84.7kg
w/e Mar 10: 85.4kg
w/e Mar 3: 86.2kg

- Haven't updated for a few weeks. Everything was going well until I got sick after my birthday weekend. I lost so much weight. Nearly half a stone. The weight has bounced back a bit but my strength has taken a hit.

Not setting a target. I'm just gonna eat 3 good meals a day and see where my weight settles.

[pyaarawala]

Yup, health is pretty important, but don't wait too long to set a goal. Gotta keep on moving towards that weight loss goal! Lifts are looking good too, keep it up!

[HunterMC6]

22 days an no posts whats going on GN?

[tazui1982]

Hey, nice log man. Subbed. It's late here but I'll definitely check in to ask questions.

[pyaarawala]

Damn, you sure went MIA. Hope you're alright. I just took my first step into TM and it would've been fun competing w/ you! That is, unless you're secretly lifting w/out telling us.

[GinjaNinja85]

22 days an no posts whats going on GN?

2 months and no training!

Hey, nice log man. Subbed. It's late here but I'll definitely check in to ask questions.

Thanks man, hopefully I can get back to updating this.

Damn, you sure went MIA. Hope you're alright. I just took my first step into TM and it would've been fun competing w/ you! That is, unless you're secretly lifting w/out telling us.

No, just working sadly!



Right, so I haven't trained for 2 months because my business started getting so much work in that I've been doing private jobs after work most nights and working almost every weekend. Which is awesome as it looks like when I go full time in Autumn (fall) I should be able to survive.

Summer has well and truly arrived here though and as a result, work has dropped off slightly, which gives me time to breathe and work out what I wanna do with my free time. I wanna lift

I'll get back on some of dat dere LP in the next few days or so. On the plus side, my shoulder hasn't bothered me at all so hopefully I can come back stronger than ever.