Ironwill2008 V2.0

[moeheep]

I have been following your journal since I got here...it does not take any newbie who pokes around this site very long realize how knowledgeable, and well respected you are IW. I subbed just to make it a little easier to follow.

A lot can be learned from your, as well as your followers posts. I have been very successful in a lot of things I have done in my life, and one thing I have learned, is to realize when you don't know everything, and learn from those who do know more than you.

[Lou1se]

Fantastic journal IW. Subbed

Moeheep said it all.

[-=FLEX=-]

I've found a grip width that doesn't bother my wrists enough to make me quit, which is a bit of a surprise to me, actually.

I do recall the wrist issues you have. For me BB curls can aggravate my forearms and elbows. When they do I switch to an EZ-Curl bar with a narrow grip. But I've been OK with the BB for the last while and been making some progress there...

[ironwill2008]

Friday's training, bumped from the previous page:

Had a very good session today to close out the training week. Made progress across the board. Today's training was:

Deadlift
135x10 W/U
225x5 W/U
275x3 W/U
315x1 W/U
360x4
360x4
360x4
360x4
400x2
430x2

430x2

360x8 barely, but got it

360x8

Barbell Curl
bar x10 W/U
65x5 W/U
85x3 W/U
112.5x5
112.5x5
112.5x4

Smith machine Flat Press
95x10 W/U
135x5
165x5
185x5
205x5
225x5

Completed the session in an hour and thirty five minutes. Got all my required reps on Deadlifts; The 2nd rep @ 430 went up slow (but with no hitch), and the 8-repper was a boatload of work. I'll take all of it though, and bump again next week. That will put me back to my previous stall point, so it'll be interesting.

Picked up a tough rep on Curls, and managed to keep my form 'acceptable.' I'll need to be vigilant of form breaking down on these; I can see in the pic that my elbows are trying to sneak forward.

Flats moved along today, going to reps-across, so I'll bump them next week as well. This is my 2nd go-around on these too, after resetting them last week.

That's all she wrote. I'm pleased with the day's (and the week's) progress, and will go into the next two days' rest a happy camper. Monday, I'll work on Squats, Chins, and seated Presses. Onward.

PWO meal was a grilled herbed chicken breast, a plate of Mexican rice (really tasty), a small salad w/olive oil and apple cider vinegar, and a glass of milk.

[ironwill2008]

I am loving my 1 1/4 lb plates; thanks again for sharing the link.

yw, Tiffany; I'm glad they're working for you.

How's the weather your way?

We've had a lot of rain the last few days, off and on; it poured yesterday until about 2-3 PM. We were afraid our youngest grandson's (4 1/2 ) Tee-Ball game at noon today would be cancelled due to a muddy field, but it dried out enough that they could play.

It's a riot watching a hundred little kids running around in semi-chaotic fashion, having fun. We take Sherman with us and always have a good time at the games. He's always a big hit with all the kids (I've never seen a dog that loves kids more than him).

I have been following your journal since I got here...it does not take any newbie who pokes around this site very long realize how knowledgeable, and well respected you are IW. I subbed just to make it a little easier to follow.

A lot can be learned from your, as well as your followers posts. I have been very successful in a lot of things I have done in my life, and one thing I have learned, is to realize when you don't know everything, and learn from those who do know more than you.

Thanks; I appreciate the comments.

It was my great good fortune, after about 8 months of fumbling around on my own, to come under the guidance of a very knowledgeable mentor. He put me on the path of basic compound exercises in a balanced routine coupled with adequate recovery, and I've followed that path ever since. That, coupled with careful experimenting with many different methods over the years has made quite clear what works and what doesn't, and why. I feel I should pay-forward all the help and knowledge that been shared with me over the years by sharing it with others.

This past 3 years I've spent a lot of time re-learning everything I thought I knew about nutrition, following the lead of Alan Aragon's work. So I agree with you; the shortest path to knowledge runs directly through a more-knowledgeable person.




Something else I've come to realize this past few years is that the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know.

Fantastic journal IW. Subbed

Moeheep said it all.

Thanks; I appreciate the comments.

There's a great pool of motivated and knowledgeable posters in the 'journals' forum; it's the Crown Jewel of BBdotcom. And I'm fortunate to have many of them posting here.


Welcome to my journal.

I do recall the wrist issues you have. For me BB curls can aggravate my forearms and elbows. When they do I switch to an EZ-Curl bar with a narrow grip. But I've been OK with the BB for the last while and been making some progress there...

It's always been my opinion that Straight Bar Curls are best since you start out and stay in the same supinated hand position. It's unfortunate that they can cause us problems though, but that's the way things go sometimes. Like you, I'll run them as long as I can tolerate them, and then switch-up to something that puts my wrists in a less-painful position.

[mharrislove]

Good session, Bill. Yes, it will be interesting after you climb out of the resets and reach the stalled workload again. I like your approach to the whole thing though, it's as good as - if not better than - anything thing else that I've tried or read about. Have a great weekend.

[ArchAngel'73]

I have been following your journal since I got here...it does not take any newbie who pokes around this site very long realize how knowledgeable, and well respected you are IW. I subbed just to make it a little easier to follow.

A lot can be learned from your, as well as your followers posts. I have been very successful in a lot of things I have done in my life, and one thing I have learned, is to realize when you don't know everything, and learn from those who do know more than you.

This
All day long.

Picked up a tough rep on Curls, and managed to keep my form 'acceptable.' I'll need to be vigilant of form breaking down on these; I can see in the pic that my elbows are trying to sneak forward.

Did you feel your form "slipping" during the rep or just when looking @ the pic?
I ask as I can often tell things are going to sh*t right when they're happening but never have anyone watch my form on exercises I cannot watch.
Makes me wonder if I'm doing things right, even after all this time, kwim?

[ironwill2008]

Did you feel your form "slipping" during the rep or just when looking @ the pic?

Everything felt good during all the sets, Brian. I was even thinking about keeping my elbows back and they still eased their way forward. Just another example of how adaptable the human body becomes to stress of any kind; it will find ways of limiting that stress however it can.

Makes me wonder if I'm doing things right, even after all this time, kwim?

I'm with you. I think keeping good form is a never-ending battle. At one time, I thought that once I learned to do an exercise correctly, I'd just continue on forever with no form issues, but that quickly proved (at least in my case) to be untrue. I'm constantly working to maintain/improve how I do things. That may have held back my numbers in some lifts, but it's a fair tradeoff IMO.

[Bo_Flecks]

At one time, I thought that once I learned to do an exercise correctly, I'd just continue on forever with no form issues, but that quickly proved (at least in my case) to be untrue.

Did you ever find that you would have your form worked out on an exercise, think you had it just the way it needed to be, and at a later time start having-- say some elbow pain, or something like that-- and have to adjust the form?

^^^This has happened to me more times than I care to recall...

[wedjim]

Man, I miss a couple of days on line and there is TONS to catch up on.

In awe of the last session(The only one I had the time to look at for now). The deads and then 112 curls for reps = reps!

[Hibiscus09]

Hi Bill! Happy Sunday! Your workouts and food look great, as usual.

Here's a Luke photo for you :



Our pool/kitchen project has a few more weeks until completion (landscaping and fence), but the pool is complete for weekend swimming. He loves it!

[ironwill2008]

Good session, Bill. Yes, it will be interesting after you climb out of the resets and reach the stalled workload again. I like your approach to the whole thing though, it's as good as - if not better than - anything thing else that I've tried or read about. Have a great weekend.

Thanks, MH. I'm working as hard as I'm able, so the chips will just have to fall where they may.

Every time I've ever hit a plaueau or sticking point, I've always gone back to what I learned from the first time I ran Starr 5x5. If what he says doesn't work to get things moving again, then it's simply time to move on to a different exercise, because the stalled one, for now at least, is done.

It's interesting to me that, even after all these years, that other than my original RL mentor, the biggest influence on my training is from a guy who isn't even a bodybuilder.

Did you ever find that you would have your form worked out on an exercise, think you had it just the way it needed to be, and at a later time start having-- say some elbow pain, or something like that-- and have to adjust the form?

^^^This has happened to me more times than I care to recall...

Yes it has Steve. I've had to make some form adjustments on, of all things, machine presses, both for shoulders and chest. Shoulder problems are one of the main reasons I started training in the first place, and I've found over the years that what used to work for me (and be tolerated) has changed.

It's real easy to get stuck in a rut, and be closed-minded to realizing that things don't always stay the same. And this includes, stuff that used to work well in the past might not work quite as well today.




One very good thing about this site for me (other than all my journal friends here) has been to force me to step away from many of my old preconceived notions of things, and to be much more open-minded about looking at alternate viewpoints on training, nutrition, and supplementation. I've certainly learned to really dig into anything I read that seems to me to be controversial, or that smacks at what I previously thought to be written in stone.

Ten years ago, I thought I knew everything there is to know about bodybuilding. These days, I realize I might have a grasp of maybe 10% of it.

Man, I miss a couple of days on line and there is TONS to catch up on.

In awe of the last session(The only one I had the time to look at for now). The deads and then 112 curls for reps = reps!

Thanks, wj. I've had a good couple of weeks of training. I'm going to hit this coming week as hard as I'm able before deloading the following week. I always like to feel like I'm carrying some momentum into that light week.

Hi Bill! Happy Sunday! Your workouts and food look great, as usual.

Here's a Luke photo for you :



Our pool/kitchen project has a few more weeks until completion (landscaping and fence), but the pool is complete for weekend swimming. He loves it!

Hi, Diane! Good to see you and Luke in here!

Good deal on your construction projects nearing completion; We'll all expect pics!

[Codered92]

Hi Iron!

Thanks for your answers and advices!

[ironwill2008]

Hi Iron!

Thanks for your answers and advices!

Hello, Code!

yw; I hope I was of some help to you.

Thanks for visiting my journal.

[VoxExMachina]

Got all my required reps on Deadlifts; The 2nd rep @ 430 went up slow (but with no hitch), and the 8-repper was a boatload of work. I'll take all of it though, and bump again next week. That will put me back to my previous stall point, so it'll be interesting.

Great job on the deadlifts, Bill. That's a ton of work being done (thanks to our buddy the Ort.)

Put that previous stall point right out of your thinking. Don't let it become a mental block!

[ironwill2008]

Great job on the deadlifts, Bill. That's a ton of work being done (thanks to our buddy the Ort.)

Thanks! I know one thing for certain from these past few months of Ortmayer; my workload capacity is back up where I feel it needs to be.

Put that previous stall point right out of your thinking. Don't let it become a mental block!

I agree; it's all mental at this point. Adding a fraction of a percent to the bar isn't enough difference to physically keep the bar on the floor.

[billb7581]

Have a good workout today Bill.

[ironwill2008]

Have a good workout today Bill.

Thanks.

This is my week before deload, so I'm looking to hit it as hard as possible. I always try to carry some momentum with me into a light week.

[ironwill2008]

Started off the week with a good effort. Not lacking in motivation or effort, today's training was:

Barbell Squat
bar x15 W/U
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
325x4

Chinup
bodyweight x5 W/U
bw x5 W/U
bw +45x5
bw +45x5
bw +45x5 no problemo

Smith Machine Seated Press
95x10 W/U
125x3 W/U
157.5x4
157.5x3
157.5x3 heh-vee
115x12

157.5x4

Completed this session in an hour and fifteen minutes. The 5th Squat rep @325 still managed to elude me, but the 4 I got were solid, so I'll continue my pursuit of reps-across. I'm thinking I need to add a back-off set to these to get me over the hump, and will do so next time around, dropping back to 70% and repping them out. That'll teach 'em!

Chinups continue to climb back up near where I was when my shoulder started to squawk. I was able to bang them out today with literally no sweat, so next time I'll bump them a dime, and try for 3x3. Shoulder feelsgoodman.

Seated Presses were a bear; I was really pleased just to have hit last week's numbers and hang onto that 4th rep on the first set. I added a back-off set to these today, at 70% of my max (157.5). I'll continue to pound away at these. They're at my limit, so progress from here on out will be slow, and likely measured in grams.

That's it for this one. I'll rest tomorrow, and then go after a repeat of 275x3 on Lunges on Wednesday, along with Barbell Rows and Incline Presses.

Post-workout meal was a simple 1/4 pound grilled ground sirloin, baked potato with butter, steamed carrots, fresh green beans, and a glass of cold milk.

[fbcoach]

Workout still looking good. Changing up rep schemes is a great way to get over hurdles.

[hazto]

Strong work out, chin-ups look great bw+45 is strong, I am still working on the 1 unassisted.

[FastCatChamp]

Strong workouts Bill.

What is your programming plan with the deadlifts once you end The current program?

[geek23ka]

I agree; it's all mental at this point. Adding a fraction of a percent to the bar isn't enough difference to physically keep the bar on the floor.

Some days chickens, some days feathers. You'll get what you want to achieve. I totally believe it.

[geek23ka]

Chinup
bodyweight x5 W/U
bw x5 W/U
bw +45x5
bw +45x5
bw +45x5 no problemo

whoa.

[baker]

Weeks off to a good start. Looking forward watching the rest of the progressions!

[VoxExMachina]

Completed this session in an hour and fifteen minutes. The 5th Squat rep @325 still managed to elude me, but the 4 I got were solid, so I'll continue my pursuit of reps-across. I'm thinking I need to add a back-off set to these to get me over the hump, and will do so next time around, dropping back to 70% and repping them out. That'll teach 'em!

ROFL. I was almost going to suggest this a couple weeks ago when your 4th rep on the top set was a bit shaky.

I use back-off sets often. I think they're a great tool to add some bodybuilding volume while still allowing you to get in your heavy/strength work first.

[SeaSiren]

whoa.

my thoughts as well!

[ironwill2008]

Workout still looking good. Changing up rep schemes is a great way to get over hurdles.

Hey, thanks, Coach. I agree, usually a small change will get things moving in the right direction again. I think the trick is to not go overboard and throw the baby out with the bath water.





We've discussed this element of training in here before, that while progress slows to a crawl eventually in any program or routine, where the trainee then finds himself is actually at the point of the spear. Any advancement made when the training gets really 'tough' is actual progress. It's 'easier' to change to a different exercise, pick a starting weight for it , and then work on progressing it, but then, where's the progress?

I see comment in the open forums by the minute saying things like, "Change your training frequently so your body can't adapt." But making the body 'adapt' is exactly the point of weight training--making it have to change in order to get just stronger enough to get that one more rep than last time. If I step away from an exercise that I'm currently fighting tooth and nail with just to add an ounce of weight to the bar, and then start doing a different exercise with much less weight, there isn't any reason for the body to adapt.


All that rambling aside, of course no one can make even tiny bits of progress indefinitely. Sooner or later, a lift is going to stall as dead as 4 AM. All other avenues of strategy to continue to move forward have been exhausted, and that's the time when it's apprppriate to make some major changes. The trick, of course, is to know when it's a brick wall we're dealing with and not a paper bag.

Strong work out, chin-ups look great bw+45 is strong, I am still working on the 1 unassisted.

Thanks, David; I had a good day. I'm anxious to get Chins back up where I left off a month ago, but realize a more measured approach is the better path.

Keep working on them; it's exactly like that wise old Chinese guy said a long time ago, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."-Lao-tzu

Strong workouts Bill.

Thanks, Gale. I'm being tested at every session, and that's just the way I like it.

What is your programming plan with the deadlifts once you end The current program?

That's a very good question, and one whose answer I haven't completely decided on just yet. I've sketched out a couple of routine ideas, but won't settle on anything until I decide I've hit the end of the road with this current one. I'll then evaluate where I'm at, and put something together to address all my weak points.

As far as Deadlifts, specifically, I'll probably drop Conventionals, and go back to working very (for me) heavy RDLs as part of my leg training. Prior to this stripped-down routine I'm using now, I wasn't able to Deadlift more frequently than every other week; with all the other work involved in a 4-way split, I just couldn't recover adequately. The only reason I'm dealing with every-week Deads now is the vastly reduced volume in the rest of the routine.

Some days chickens, some days feathers. You'll get what you want to achieve. I totally believe it.

That's very true, G. The few 'bad' workouts I've ever had, I can trace directly to some outside issue, something that took my mind away from the job at hand. And as we all know, where the mind goes, the body follows. True story.

whoa.

Lulz. I'm working my way up to 90x5. Might take a while, but that's okay.

Weeks off to a good start. Looking forward watching the rest of the progressions!

Thanks, Bake. One good session almost always leads to another, and I'm going to need it tomorrow!

ROFL. I was almost going to suggest this a couple weeks ago when your 4th rep on the top set was a bit shaky.

I use back-off sets often. I think they're a great tool to add some bodybuilding volume while still allowing you to get in your heavy/strength work first.

Brilliant minds think alike!

I should have done it a couple of weeks ago, but I kept thinking that I was so close to breaking through without the extra work just yet that I'd just try to hammer it. But when all I can get is just a very few reps for several weeks, it's time to make one of those small changes to prod things forward.




Plus, I have to admit that I'm starting to miss the muscle pumps from more reps/more work. I bet that when I go back to a regular split with higher-rep stuff that I'll blow up like a baloon during the workouts!

my thoughts as well!

Thanks, Denise; I had a really good day!

[fbcoach]

[QUOTE=ironwill2008;894337051]Hey, thanks, Coach. I agree, usually a small change will get things moving in the right direction again. I think the trick is to not go overboard and throw the baby out with the bath water.QUOTE]

Lots of "Words Of Wisdom" here. Very well put.

[orca]

Loved the chins. bw + 45 = awesome

We've discussed this element of training in here before, that while progress slows to a crawl eventually in any program or routine, where the trainee then finds himself is actually at the point of the spear. Any advancement made when the training gets really 'tough' is actual progress. It's 'easier' to change to a different exercise, pick a starting weight for it , and then work on progressing it, but then, where's the progress?

I see comment in the open forums by the minute saying things like, "Change your training frequently so your body can't adapt." But making the body 'adapt' is exactly the point of weight training--making it have to change in order to get just stronger enough to get that one more rep than last time. If I step away from an exercise that I'm currently fighting tooth and nail with just to add an ounce of weight to the bar, and then start doing a different exercise with much less weight, there isn't any reason for the body to adapt.


All that rambling aside, of course no one can make even tiny bits of progress indefinitely. Sooner or later, a lift is going to stall as dead as 4 AM. All other avenues of strategy to continue to move forward have been exhausted, and that's the time when it's apprppriate to make some major changes. The trick, of course, is to know when it's a brick wall we're dealing with and not a paper bag.

more words of wisdom. Always good thoughts and advice in here.