Dennis lifts things up and puts them down

[pyaarawala]

Nice lifting. I'm real jelly of your gym just casually adding 2 new power racks like that.

[dk240t]

Nice work man. I had actually considered doing an SS rebuilding type programming to transition from 5/3/1 back to Texas Method.

That's awesome about the 2 new power racks, more places to squat is always a good thing.

Between switching from pressing in the rack at the gym to cleaning the bar up to press at home, and cycling through like 4 different bars at home, and switching gyms with different bars, I'm constantly playing a guessing game of what grip width to use on press.

SS is highly underrated as a re-building tool for people who have trained into the intermediate stages but then fallen out of intermediate strength levels due to whatever reasons (schedule interruptions, injury, cutting, focus switch b/w bodybuilding/strength, etc).

[dk240t]

Nice lifting. I'm real jelly of your gym just casually adding 2 new power racks like that.

Actually, they are under new management, and another big gym in the area has closed recently, so adding in the January bump in activity due to New Year's resolutioners, the gym is crazy busy. They've added a bunch of equipment and it is getting crowded in our back room where we used to have a lot of free space. But lots of new bars and weights helps, too.

[dk240t]

Squat
45x8
45x5
135x5
185x2
230x5x2

4 mins rest, no belt.

Bench
45x5
95x5
135x3
175x2
210x5x3

7 mins rest, belted. Getting tougher but not too bad. Hard last reps but not really in doubt as to my strength to get them done.

Deadlift
135x5
185x3
225x2
275x1
335x5

No problemo.

Pull ups
5x3

198.8lbs at gym. Felt a little tougher today.

[dk240t]

Pretty good for morning, fasted training.

Squat
45x8
45x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
260x1
295x5x3

7-8 mins. Not too bad, felt it in low back more than legs. I haven't been doing any back extensions lately. Think I'm going to keep alternating 3x5 heavy squats with light squats 80%x2x5 for a bit more, and alternate power cleans and deadlifts on light day. Vid with press below

Press
45x5
65x5
85x3
110x2
135x5x3

Hard, but got it. Go to 2.5lb jumps. 1st set vid only. 7 mins rest. Not much more 3x5 work here, probably more on squats than on bench, and more on bench than press.



Weighted chins
(Bw+10)x5x4

197.2lbs clothed at gym. Tough last reps.

Back extensions
BWx14

One quick set before I head out to get some work.

[pyaarawala]

Nice session. Cut seems to be coming along just fine and you're still strong

[dk240t]

Couple of random things...

My 36 waist pants which were tight at the end of my bulk look like the after picture now. Have a bunch of extra room in the waist. Need to get out the 34 pants that I threw in a bag when I outgrew them before.

That shoulder pain I had never seemed to go away with continued work and stretching...so I started trying to massage that area in the past week and it really helped. Let's see how it feels when I bench tonight, but it feels completely healed now. Maybe some scar tissue or something in there from when I initially injured it that stretching and working didn't get rid of, but a little self massage broke up in no time. Will keep reporting.

[dk240t]

Light Squat
45x8
45x5
95x5
135x3
185x2
235x5x2

4 mins rest, no belt.

Bench
45x5
95x5
135x3
175x2
215x5x3

7 mins, belted. Slow last 2 reps on each set, probably should switch back to TM or 2.5lb jumps. This is probably close to my 5x3 PR, I'd have to go check...

Power clean
75x3
135x3
165x3
185x2
205x1x2 (PR, +7.5lbs)

Somebody else doing cleans, so I worked in with them, without a clear plan. He loaded up 205, so I went for it, which is a PR, at lower bodyweight than prior PR. Previously did 197.5x1 at like 196lbs bw, today was 191.5lbs morning naked weight or 196.4lbs clothed at gym, and a 205lb clean. If you can do it once, you can do it twice, so went for another rep and got it, but not as pretty. These were 2 singles separated by ~3-5 mins or so. Vid is only 1st rep.





Dips
Bw x5
Bw + 45 x8
Bw + 25 x8
Bw + 15 x8

196.4lbs clothed at gym. Dips not hard at all, despite not doing them lately.

[pyaarawala]

I'd suggest 2.5 lb jumps man. At least for me I think I wouldn't be stuck right now had I been doing 2.5 lb jumps on bench.

And great job on the PC. It almost looks like you're just jumping with the weight but you still managed to clean it. Great work

[12ccopeland]

Good stuff Dennis. Be patient with those squats; you're using even more back than I was when the strength and conditioning coach at my school (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dawn-strout/21/951/9a0) who was also the assistant s&c coach of USA olympic hockey team, told me to drop the weight and adjust my form to use less back. Ultimately it's your choice, but I've seen some guys on this forum squat 400-600 pounds with shiit form that continue to add weight. Just don't want to get in a groove.

[dk240t]

Good stuff Dennis. Be patient with those squats; you're using even more back than I was when the strength and conditioning coach at my school (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dawn-strout/21/951/9a0) who was also the assistant s&c coach of USA olympic hockey team, told me to drop the weight and adjust my form to use less back. Ultimately it's your choice, but I've seen some guys on this forum squat 400-600 pounds with shiit form that continue to add weight. Just don't want to get in a groove.

I understand the concern. They look ok to me - about half the reps good, half with a little more forward lean than desirable. But I'm pushing hard to rebuild SS style and haven't been doing as much low back accessory work. So just something to focus on and get some extra work in...I'll be switching back over to TM soon anyways and will be dropping the weight a bit and doing 5x5, so that'll fix the form right up and give me lots of practice.

Sometimes you have to take some reps without perfect form and keep plowing through to build or rebuild the strength.

[dk240t]

Squat
45x8
45x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
265x1
300x5x3

First set felt strong, bulletproof. Focusing on keeping back tight and with less forward lean. Video of 2nd set only. 2nd and 3rd set a bit tougher but still not that bad. Overall, felt stronger than 295 did a few days ago. 7 mins rest.



Press
45x5
65x5
85x3
110x2
137.5x5
137.5x3
137.5x5

1st set tough, but got it. 2nd set, 3rd rep kind of got out from my body too much and wore me out for 4th rep, which I failed. Form tighter in 3rd set and got it. Not sure if I'll do this weight again, or 140, or switch to TM style...

Weighted chins
(Bw+12.5)x5x4

Back extensions
+35x8x3

196.6lbs at gym. Added back in the weighted back extensions I haven't done in a while. This is with a 35lb dumbbell behind my head. Not bad, can easily go up to 40 next time.

[Sinaku5]

Couple of random things...

My 36 waist pants which were tight at the end of my bulk look like the after picture now. Have a bunch of extra room in the waist. Need to get out the 34 pants that I threw in a bag when I outgrew them before.

That shoulder pain I had never seemed to go away with continued work and stretching...so I started trying to massage that area in the past week and it really helped. Let's see how it feels when I bench tonight, but it feels completely healed now. Maybe some scar tissue or something in there from when I initially injured it that stretching and working didn't get rid of, but a little self massage broke up in no time. Will keep reporting.

All good news. Hows the shoulder feeling after bench?

I need to do some mobility work. I'm so bad about that, even though I have all the tools really.

You'll be right back to your old strength in no time.

Impressive OHP and 300lb squat for reps is awesome!

[dk240t]

All good news. Hows the shoulder feeling after bench?

Impressive OHP and 300lb squat for reps is awesome!

Shoulder still isn't 100%, right shoulder still feels a bit different than the left and still gets a little pain here and there, but it is pretty damn close.

[Woody-5]

Some fine squats n OHP fella

Bulk pants getting roomier is a good feeling

[GinjaNinja85]

Solid session there. Looks like you had a 110% day on squats. It feels nice when form clicks like that.

[dk240t]

Squat
45x8
45x5
95x5
135x3
190x2
240x5x2

5 min rest, no belt.



Bench
45x5
95x5
135x3
180x2
217.5x5x3 (PR for 5x3?)

Really tough today but banged them all out. This must be a 3x5 PR. Thinking I'll switch to TM on bench and press now, and maybe do just one more week of squat LP before switching.

Deadlift
135x5
185x3
225x2
275x1
315x1
345x5

Felt a bit sore in low back during warmups and didn't have high hopes, but work set felt better and I nailed it.



Dips
Bw x5
Bw + 50 x8
Bw + 25 x8
Bw + 15 x8

195.8lbs clothed at gym.

[Sinaku5]

Great work Dennis.

DL looked great and setting PRs while cutting, especially on BP is awesome!

[pyaarawala]

Nice work. +1 on switching presses to TM. Microload em too

[dk240t]

Yeah, I think my schedule is only going to allow for Tuesday and Friday lifting this week, so I'm going to do Press VD/ID and add 2.5lbs to the 137.5x5, x3, x5 I did last and just do 140x5 on Friday. Will do like 125x5x4 on Tuesday. Squats - will attempt to squat 305x5x3 on Tuesday and just do 310x5 for one set on Friday, shifting into TM next week for squats doing a VD and then 315x5 on ID.

That's the plan anyways...lots of things pulling my time right now so we'll see if I can still be in the gym as often as I like.

[Juggernaut0]

First jshaw's back on TM, now you too? Awesome.

[dk240t]

Getting there.

[dk240t]

A little bit of snow and everybody is going crazy around here in Atlanta area. Hope I can still make it to the gym without issue...

[MatTheCur]

A little bit of snow and everybody is going crazy around here in Atlanta area. Hope I can still make it to the gym without issue...

Welcome to my life up here in QC.

[jshaw5]

Good stuff man, glad to see you hopping back on TM again. Looks like we're right around the same lifts, should be interesting to see how our progress lines up over the next few months. Where do you stand with the cut?

[dk240t]

Good stuff man, glad to see you hopping back on TM again. Looks like we're right around the same lifts, should be interesting to see how our progress lines up over the next few months. Where do you stand with the cut?

I'm like 190, definitely still have a ways to go. So you should progress, I'm just going to try to hang tight and not get weaker. My schedule is looking like it is going to be tough anyways, curling, business travel, etc, going to keep me from 3x/week frequency I need.

Anyways, the 2 inches of snow turned GA into a state of emergency. Took me 50 mins to do my usual 11min commute. Staying home, not venturing out into the craziness to go to the gym. Won't get to go till Friday cause of curling league Wednesday and I got invited to a dinner with some bigwigs on Thursday.

[Sinaku5]

A little bit of snow and everybody is going crazy around here in Atlanta area. Hope I can still make it to the gym without issue...

Anyways, the 2 inches of snow turned GA into a state of emergency. Took me 50 mins to do my usual 11min commute. Staying home, not venturing out into the craziness to go to the gym. Won't get to go till Friday cause of curling league Wednesday and I got invited to a dinner with some bigwigs on Thursday.

I heard about that lol Derek (:P)

Living in the midwest my thoughts on it were the same as MatTheCur's. Basically LOL at the over reaction.

[dk240t]

I heard about that lol Derek (:P)

Living in the midwest my thoughts on it were the same as MatTheCur's. Basically LOL at the over reaction.

I know I was making fun of it from the start, but let's just say that it got really bad here really fast on Tuesday. The combination of Atlanta's size, population, and geography, the timing of the storm, weather around the storm, made this particular incident a huge clusterfxck.

Atlanta is huge and very populous. School and work wasn't cancelled anywhere, so when conditions got bad and school had early release, there was a huge amount of people on the roads. More than rush hour probably. On top of that, it was like 60 degrees the day before, so initial snow melted on the roads, then froze into a layer of ice. Finally, Atlanta is really woody, hilly, and there are practically no straight roads. So there is a lot of shade that kept things frozen, hilly roads that people couldn't get up, etc. And we only have snow at all every few years or less, so nobody has snow chains, there are very few plows and salt/sand trucks, etc.

So **** got bad. It took me 45 minutes to do my normal 10 minute commute home, and I had it great in the end. I know people who were on the roads for 8+ hours and walked the last few miles because they couldn't get home, someone who holed up in a rental house with some strangers because he couldn't make it home, etc.

Back to normal now, and you know if there is any forecast for snow they'll cancel school right away to avoid this cluster...but don't just think 2 inches in Atlanta is the same as 2 inches in the midwest or mid-atlantic and that it definitely should never be any sort of issue...

[dk240t]

Squat
45x8
45x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
275x1
305x5x3

Hard today, but that happens when I take extra days off. 8 mins rest after 1st set and 9 after 2nd. 3rd set, more mentally dialed in and felt better for the 1st 4, but last rep was the hardest of the day. I think I took a vid of the first set but am too lazy to upload it.

Press
45x5
75x5
95x3
120x1
140x5

Not too bad. Excited that my press hasn't dropped lower than this through cutting.

Deadlift
135x5
185x3
225x2
275x1
315x1
355x2

Just not feeling it today, after 3x5 heavy squats. Form felt like crap, back high and not using my legs as much as I need. Will retry this on TM ID next week, when I haven't done 3 sets of heavy squats...

194.2lbs clothed at gym.

[dk240t]

Squat
45x8
45x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
270x5x4

Morning fasted volume day! Belt felt loose at normal setting (4) for 225 and first workset so I tightened it up a notch for rest. 6 mins rest. Back on TM. Legs sore from doing 305x5x3 2 days ago after over a week off from heavy squats. This is like 88% of the 305x5(x3) I did before, and I'll just do 310x5 on ID.

Bench
45x5
95x5
135x3
165x2
195x5x4

Sloppy first set. Focused and tightened it up. This is like 89% of my 217.5x5x3 I did before. Will just do 220x5 on ID.

Dips
Bw x5
Bw + 55 x8
Bw + 30 x8
Bw + 15 x8

Top set real hard. Might want to keep it or do 2.5lb jump.
192.6lbs clothed at gym.