Loggerboots workout journal

[shaneinga]

It might be time for a deload LB. Take a week off to rest and then pick back up where you left off after you recover.

[DocJekyll]

Per Shanes response above, when is the last time you de-loaded for a week?

Are you hitting 2,700 calories a day? What has been happening with your weight and the mirror?

[Marius_Ursus]

I'm with Shane. Don't take a week off but do just light workouts and eat a lot for one week to reset.

[fittofattofit]

^^^^ yes, just back off the weights and maybe relax the cals for a week. You want to keep the movement patterns happening.

[loggerboots]

Thanks for the support, guys. After still not having a good night's sleep all week despite not working out since Monday, I've concluded that my sleeping issues are probably not weight training related after all. I think it is stress related, though more to do with work/relationship stress, of which I have plenty. Heck, the weight training might be offsetting some of that. With that in mind, I went back to training today and had a good workout. Only missed Wednesday and decided to stick with 5x5.

To answer some questions - I haven't done and official de-load at all since I started lifting weights, though there was a long stretch (more than a month?) between the end of my calisthenics/sprint/weight loss regime and Strong Lifts starting to become challenging. I've been doing SL for about two months now and it's only started to become very challenging these past two weeks or so, and the challenge is mainly from the squats.

I'm easily putting away 2700 calories. My tracking is not as diligent as it was when dieting, but I'm guessing I'm getting 3000+ calories most days. Diet is still clean, just eat a lot!

Weight is up about 4-5 pounds since I ended the diet. Lowest I got on the diet was 174-ish and I'm hovering between 177-180 these days. Most of the weight gain has occurred in the past couple weeks however, coinciding with the squats becoming difficult.

Mirror progress hasn't been huge, but that's because I don't have a full length mirror so can't see my lower body. I think most of the gains I've made have been in the lower body, especially the posterior chain. Jeans are fitting tighter in the thighs and seat. Upper body gains have been minimal, though my torso looks thicker (probably not great for aesthetics, but what can you do?). Chest and shoulders seem to have more definition while abs have a little less and love handles are filling in just a bit.

Anyway, thanks for the advise, guys. I ended up not taking a de-load week, but that's only because think the sleep disruption is coming from other sources of stress, not the workouts.

Today's workout (workout 'A' - same as Monday - skipped workout 'B' this week). Weight 177.8

Squats - 3 minute rests between sets

10x45
5x135
5x225
5x245
5x245
5x245
5x245
5x245

effort - Hard

Felt no easier and no harder as previous 4 or so squat workouts. But weight has gone up 20 pounds over that time, so I guess that's progress! I'm working on not pausing at the bottom of the squat - not really a bounce, but I'm trying to turn it around quicker rather than just stopping at the bottom. Felt stronger out of the hole for the first three work sets, but back to struggling on the last two. I'm getting used to that, though.

Standing Overhead Press - 3 minute rest between sets

10x45
5x95
5x135
5x135
5x135
5x135
5x135

Effort - Moderate

One plate! Was going to record for posterity, but didn't. You'll have to take my word for it. Will record soon though because I need a form check on these. I think my form has really improved since I missed a rep back at 125 pounds. Hitting the groove more, keeping everything tight and getting my damn chin out of the way so I can keep the bar on a vertical track has really helped. This set was no more than moderate - a little slowing of the bar on reps 4 and 5 on the last couple sets, but that's all.

Deadlift

5x135
5x225
5x240

Effort - Moderate

Ok, effort is moderate in that each rep is the same pace as the last, but I'm definitely working hard on these. Starting to feel a lot more in my hamstrings now that the weight is getting higher.

5 minute rest

Chins

BWx10
BWx10
BWx12

Got another rep - so two PRs in a row on chins. Didn't short the warmups on deadlifts like I did last time, either, so it's legit. Not sure how I'm going to ramp these up. I reckon I should weight them, that' what strong lifts calls for, but I like bodyweight stuff.

All in all, a good workout! Felt strong despite being very sleep deprived. Missing a workout was a good move. Hopefully I can sleep soon and keep progressing.

[fittofattofit]

Thanks for the support, guys. After still not having a good night's sleep all week despite not working out since Monday, I've concluded that my sleeping issues are probably not weight training related after all. I think it is stress related, though more to do with work/relationship stress, of which I have plenty. Heck, the weight training might be offsetting some of that.

Those RL issues have a habit of stressing us for a long, long time. My sleep was a lot like yours for most of 3 years .... I'd be fed tired, flake out, then wake up in the early hours and ruminate. Training was and is my stress relief

To answer some questions - I haven't done and official de-load at all since I started lifting weights, though there was a long stretch (more than a month?) between the end of my calisthenics/sprint/weight loss regime and Strong Lifts starting to become challenging. I've been doing SL for about two months now and it's only started to become very challenging these past two weeks or so, and the challenge is mainly from the squats.

I'm easily putting away 2700 calories. My tracking is not as diligent as it was when dieting, but I'm guessing I'm getting 3000+ calories most days. Diet is still clean, just eat a lot!

Weight is up about 4-5 pounds since I ended the diet. Lowest I got on the diet was 174-ish and I'm hovering between 177-180 these days. Most of the weight gain has occurred in the past couple weeks however, coinciding with the squats becoming difficult.

Mirror progress hasn't been huge, but that's because I don't have a full length mirror so can't see my lower body. I think most of the gains I've made have been in the lower body, especially the posterior chain. Jeans are fitting tighter in the thighs and seat. Upper body gains have been minimal, though my torso looks thicker (probably not great for aesthetics, but what can you do?). Chest and shoulders seem to have more definition while abs have a little less and love handles are filling in just a bit.

2700+ is a good intake and at a lean 177-180 you've done a great job of building mass. Sounds like the weight is mainly going on in the right places so I'd keep doing what you're doing while you are still making the strength gains

Great lifting today with 5 x 5 x 245, and no tougher than the 5 x 5 x 225 from a few weeks back, and always cool to be pressing the big wheels overhead

[Marius_Ursus]

20 pounds added to the squat is great progress.

[DocJekyll]

Sounds like the real life issues could be whats got you off at night. Stress, anxiety and an over active mind can be a killer. Hopefully the training will help you remove some of that.

Your OHP numbers are standing out to me. Strong numbers for moderate effort. Yes, putting 20 more pounds on the bar and hitting reps is progress!

[loggerboots]

Thanks guys, feeling better! Got some sleep over the weekend, Tom Brady is the indisputable GOAT qb after notching regular season win #187, and blew off steam lake fishing with some buds on Sunday (caught a bunch of nice cut-throats off friend's boat). Feeling good atm.

DocJekyll, Yeah, the OHP is probably the exercise I look forward to most. When I was doing calisthenics, shoulder days was handstand pushups (against a wall). I love those things. When I started, I could do 2-3 (at well over 200 pounds body weight) but towards the end, could do 20 CC style (top of head touching ground, but at 174-ish lbs). A couple less if I touched my nose or used parallelettes.

Standing OHP is harder than handstand push-ups, though. The additional range of motion makes a big difference, and you lose more energy though the legs and core than in HSPUs, too, I think. I was surprised to struggle early on with these at a weight much less than body weight, but it's a different movement!

Today's workout - workout - weight 179.9

Squats - 3 minute rest between sets

10x45
5x135
5x225
5x250
5x250
5x250
5x250
5x250

Effort - Hard

What can I say? It was difficult, but I made all the reps and the weight keeps going up. Interestingly, felt like really squeezing the bar, almost pressing it into my back and man-handling the barbell, helped a little. Engaging core hard for each rep. I think I could use a belt at this point for bracing. Thinking hips first, even if it means my hips start up a bit before my shoulders (and the bar) seems to make things a bit easier. Not sure this is great for, though...

Incline Bench press - 30 degrees - 90 seconds rest between sets

10x45
5x135
5x155
5x170
5x170
5x170
5x170
5x170

Effort - Moderate - finally! These are starting to feel like I'm getting some work done. I actually added 10 pounds to the bar this workout because I did not bench last week due to wednesday's skipped workout. Plus, these have just been too easy compared to the other exercises. 10 additional pounds did the trick as these finally feel 'moderate' in effort with 90 seconds rest. Definite slowing down of the bar in the last couple reps of sets 4&5. Probably just a couple more workouts at 90 seconds rest before I have to go to 3 minutes, I reckon. We'll see. Nice to feel something in my tris, chest and shoulders.

Pendlay Rows - 90 seconds rest between sets

5x135
5x135
5x135
5x135
5x135

No warm up set. Bad, I know. These still feel pretty easy, though I felt a little more than I should in my lower back after making some form adjustments. Need to tape again next time and see how they look. Don't know why the form on these is giving me so much trouble!

hanging knee raises - 2 minute rest invervals

BWx10
BWx10
BWx10

Didn't want to do dips as I wanted to see if I actually feel any soreness from the bench alone. Interested to know since this was the first bench session that felt like work. That said, I still wanted to do something 'hanging' to decompress my back after squats, so decided to do a few sets of hanging knee raises. Man, these hurt like hell in the final few reps!!! Abs can ache like no other muscle, I swear.

All in all, a good workout. Felt strong throughout after the weekend. On it goes...

[fittofattofit]

Yeah, the OHP is probably the exercise I look forward to most. When I was doing calisthenics, shoulder days was handstand pushups (against a wall). I love those things. When I started, I could do 2-3 (at well over 200 pounds body weight) but towards the end, could do 20 CC style (top of head touching ground, but at 174-ish lbs). A couple less if I touched my nose or used parallelettes.

Standing OHP is harder than handstand push-ups, though. The additional range of motion makes a big difference, and you lose more energy though the legs and core than in HSPUs, too, I think. I was surprised to struggle early on with these at a weight much less than body weight, but it's a different movement!

Very interesting comments about the HSPUs ... I think calisthenics is a great background to have for weight training: body positioning and awareness and core control are all very important for proper weight lifting. You've made great gains quickly so you're doing something right
HSPUs are also a CrossFit classic

Today's workout - workout - weight 179.9

Squats - 3 minute rest between sets

10x45
5x135
5x225
5x250
5x250
5x250
5x250
5x250

Effort - Hard

What can I say? It was difficult, but I made all the reps and the weight keeps going up. Interestingly, felt like really squeezing the bar, almost pressing it into my back and man-handling the barbell, helped a little. Engaging core hard for each rep. I think I could use a belt at this point for bracing. Thinking hips first, even if it means my hips start up a bit before my shoulders (and the bar) seems to make things a bit easier. Not sure this is great for, though...

I think that maintaining that tightness from neck down to heels is the key to squatting heavy and I grip tight and pull the bar down onto my shoulders, in fact my shoulders and grip fatigue when I'm squatting. Great work on the squats
And I'm very jealous of your benching strength!

[DocJekyll]

^^ Listen to this guy here. He has some of the nicest looking squats i have ever seen done on a consistent basis. and they ain't so light.

Inclines look pretty strong. Keep it rolling!

[Marius_Ursus]

I'm another vote for listening to the tightness advice. I'll add that you want your hips to be the primary movers during descent and recovery, so keep your attention there. If it feels like the bar or your shoulders are moving first or even at the same time, you're probably rounding your spine. Glutes need to fire first in the recovery phase to keep your spine erect throughout recovery. That's how you avoid "butt wink", and the last thing you want to do is a good-morning-squat.

[loggerboots]

Thanks guys! fittofattofit posted a vid of his squat in his journal and that was helpful. I can see he's doing the same thing that I described - basically the hips start up and get a fraction ahead of the shoulders and bar, but then they catch up. So, it gives me confidence that that's ok to do. All that said, today I failed... I have my excuses lined up, see below

Weight - 179.8

Squats - 3 minute rest between sets

5x45
5x45
5x95
5x135 *mistake - should have been 3x
5x185 *mistake - should have been 3x
5x225 *mistake - should have been 2x
5x255
5x255
5x255
5x255
3x255 <==FAILURE!!!

Effort - Insufficient

Had to happen eventually... Just could not get out of the hole on rep four of the last set. On the bright side, at least I got to practice failing and using the safety bars on my cage - first time ever, and it went fine.

Ok, excuses - I ended up upgrading the SL 5x5 app from the free to the paid version. There're some features in the paid version that I wanted. Including warmup sets. So, I went by the app's warm up sequence, or, thought I did, but I actually cocked it up... I did 5 sets each of the warmup weight. However, upon review, the app actually had fewer than 5 reps for several of the warmup sets. So, that's first excuse - I over-warmed up! Not going to make that mistake again.

2nd excuse, didn't sleep well last night, again, ugh. Also, forgot to take my creatine the prior day (not sure if that really makes a difference since I've been taking creatine for like six months now) and didn't finish my pre-workout coffee!

Last excuse, I think I gave up. Sucks, but true. last rep of set 4 was a grinder and I think I just didn't want to go to that dark place again. The call of the safety bars was too strong and I think I gave in mentally...

In any case, as the app told me "failure is part of the game". Have to repeat this weight again next workout... I'll not screw up the warm up this time, hopefully that'll make the difference. I thought that warm up seemed excessive!

Standing Overhead Press - 90 seconds rest
5x45
5x45
5x95
5x115 *mistake - should have been 3x
5x140
5x140
5x140
5x140
5x140

Effort - Hard

Messed up the warmup again, not as bad as I did for squats. At least I didn't miss a rep on the work sets, though I struggled with the last few reps of sets 4 and 5 (esp set 5). Felt much harder than last OHP workout. 5 pounds makes a big difference in this exercise. As does probably being crushed by squats. Will do 3 mins rest starting next workout.

Deadlift
5x135
5x185
5x215
5x245

Effort - Moderate? Hard? Not sure. These are weird, effort wise. They feel extremely hard when I'm doing them, but every rep is the same speed and I'm not really close to failing, I don't think, so, moderate, I guess? Didn't mess up the warmups for these.

3 minute rest

Chin Ups - 90 second rest between sets

BWx10
BWx10
BWx10

Couldn't PR this time. In fact, lost two reps. I did slow down the reps as I didn't want to benefit from any recoil out of the bottom position, more dead hang. Also, went with the SL rep scheme instead of the normal 2 minutes, so that was a factor, too. Since I have the accessories feature in the app, now, may as well use it, including the timer...

BW exercises can be subjective that way, hard to really have a uniform rep and the tendency is to use momentum to make things a bit easier. In any case, I unlocked the accessory portion of the SL app, and since I completed 3x10xBW, it now wants me to start weighing them (but starts off real easy). Guess I'll buy a belt and go with it.

[fittofattofit]

Thanks for the rap
Nothing wrong with failing, as long as it's done safely and you don't injure yourself. My squat fails are always at the bottom and that's also the safest place to bail. Still very strong squats to get 23 reps @ 255 and all that work is going to build your base of strength. Great OHPs as well

[Marius_Ursus]

I concur^.

Bad sleep will bollocks up everything...and you're spot on about the deadlift being "weird". It's hard to gauge effort on that lift. To me it's the most evident where your sticking point is, but you can think you'll pull easy and find it difficult or pull hard and find it easy. It's the most difficult for me to predict.

[loggerboots]

Weight 182.4 <== Wow, weight shot up again. Would love to know what's causing these spikes! Going with muscles super-compensating by storing my glygogen and H2O, but what do I know. Also have a cold, drank yesterday (a beer and two glassed of wine) and had NyQuil before bed. Also had a huge club sandwich and french fries at the bar. Maybe some are all of those things had something to do with it...

In any case, the weight is making me a little nervous, but was hoping it translated back into strength as I rebound from my squat setback. Was optimistic for this workout as I also had a good night's sleep for once.

Squats - 3 minute rest between work sets

5x45
5x45
5x95
3x135
3x185
2x225
5x255
5x255
5x255
5x255
5x255

Effort - Hard

Boom. Breezed through this. Amazing what a difference a day makes. Also, scaling back the warm-up probably helped. Really focused on breath (and bracing) and relaxing at the bottom of the squat and just focusing on the hips rising up. No panic, no struggle, just relax and a steady push from the bottom. Didn't worry about my hips getting a fraction of a second ahead of my back and just focused on staying cool and rising up. Visualization, relaxation, or whatever - it helped. This was the best set of squats I've had in a few weeks. It was hard, and I struggled on the last rep or two of each set (and especially the last two reps of set five) but not worse than before. I'm still learning how to do these... On to 260...

Incline Bench Press (30 degrees) - 90 second rest between sets

5x45
5x45
5x95
5x135
5x175
5x175
5x175
5x175
5x175

Effort - Moderate

No issues. Working, but plenty of headroom remaining. Will keep at 90 second rests for now.

Pendlay Rows - 90 second rests

5x95
5x140
5x140
5x140
5x140
5x140

Effort - Easy

No issues. Still fairly easy and still feeling it more in my arms than back... will do another form check next week!

Dips - 90 seconds rest

BWx10
BWx10
BWx10

Added these as an accessory to the app and went with the prescribed workout. Wasn't hard, but that's ok, will now be weighting and going with the app's progression.

All in all, very strong workout. Felt great to redeem myself on those squats. A little alarmed about the weight gain, but I know that's part of the game. I was hoping to "bulk" through the holidays, but not sure I'm going to be able to hold out if the weight keeps shooting up. Going to watch calories a little closer going forward...

[fittofattofit]

Awesome day! Smashed the 5 x 5 x 255 squats and the inclines at 175. Nothing wrong with a few extra pounds while you're making 'newbie' strength gains either

[loggerboots]

Thanks man! Felt good.

So, I decided to not take the weekend off and workout today (Sunday). I am having trouble recovering fully between workouts, so I decided to shift from a M-W-F schedule to a W-F-Su schedule. This way, my hardest day of the week (3rd workout) comes on a Sunday, where I will have benefitted from sleeping in two days in a row. Looks good on paper, hope it helps.

The bad news is I had to do an extra workout, working out today (Sunday) instead of taking the weekend off. But it went ok...

Today’s workout - weight 182.8

Squats - 3 minute rest between sets

5x45x2
5x95
3x135
3x185
2x225
5x260
5x260
5x260
5x260
5x260

Effort - hard

Grueling set. Several very long reps, but made it.

Standing Overhead press - 3 minute rests

5x45x2
5x95
3x115
5x145
5x145
5x145
5x145
5x145

Effort - hard

Not too bad, but hard. Getting close to failing again, probably next week of the week after. I have micro-load plates, might be time to use them. I reckon I’ll wait until I have a deload and work my way back up, though. It ain’t broke right now.

Deadlift

5x135
5x185
5x225
5x250

Effort - hard

Really feeling these now. No reps are slowing down, but would be disingenuous to rate the effort anything less than hard. Getting winded. Feel great, though. Dig these.

chins

BWx10
BWx10
BWx11

Still no weight belt, so decided I should start formalizing a profgression until I do. Did bodyweight x 10 and went for 11 on the 3rd set. Barely got it, btw, don’t have a lot of strength left at the end of this workout... next week, will try 10,11,11 and then 11,11,11, the 11,11,12 and so on. Until I get a belt.

Good workout, definitely looking forward to two days off. Will resume Wednesday with the new schedule.

[ElrondHubbard]

That's a really impressive set of work, very well done! Lots of hard sets. I'm impressed that you could add a chinup rep on the third set. That would be out of the question for me.

I think your schedule switch may be a good idea. At least in theory. I've found that I don't sleep in during weekends nearly as much as I always intend to. I'm probably busier on weekends than during work days.

[fittofattofit]

Workout went 'ok'

5 x 5 x 260 and 5 x 5 x 145 .... that's a huge workout when you're pushing the squats, OHPs, deads and pull-ups all during the one session!
And 182.8 .... your body just wants to grow

[DocJekyll]

Lol - yes, i would say the beers, wine and salty bar food had something to do with it. That will all go away once you stabilize your intake again.

---> " (a beer and two glassed of wine) and had NyQuil before bed." <--- thank god no training was planned for Saturday morning! hahaha! Hope you feel better!


Lifts look good. Squats are moving up and your moving some real good numbers on OHP and the pull ups.

[loggerboots]

Ok, so I'm a day late. Got a call from a friend, she wanted to meet up for happy hour, have some drinks and hang out. Sounded better than crushing myself under massive (to me) weights in my cold, dank garage... so I postponed wed's workout 'til this morning. I know, I know, I need to put myself first, and almost did, but I'm sure you guys understand...

In any case - despite 3 Pyramid Outburst Imperial IPAs the prior night (which I highly recommend, look at that APV! and they taste good, too), had a great workout!

Weight 183.8

Holy **** - Dangerously close to 10 pounds up over my weight at the bottom of my diet phase. Been doing Strong-lifts for close to 3 months now (was doing it prior to starting the log), though it's only been challenging for about a third of that. Most of that weight has come on in the last month. I guess that's ok. Mirror and clothes fit tests seem ok for now. A little extra fat but still look good. Noticeable increase in arm and ass size, but in a good way. Will continue, nervously.

Music - 'Hot Rocks 1964-1971' - The Rolling Stones

Squats - 3 minute rests between sets

5x45x2
5x95
3x135
3x185
2x225
5x265
5x265
5x265
5x265
5x265

Effort - Hard

Same story, different day. Difficult, but not too bad, really. An extra days rest, perhaps? In any case, focusing on staying calm and relaxed and not rushing out of the hole in a panic. Serenity is key, on these. Had only one real gut check on the very last rep, but realized that staying calm, just keep applying the upward pressure, and the weight goes up. It's different than failing in calisthenics where the pain can be overwhelming. These don't hurt, and unlike failing a calisthenic rep, you don't feel like you're collapsing under the weight - at worse, it just doesn't move up readily, but stay calm, keep pushing, and it moves. Cool.

Incline Bench Press - 30 degrees - 90 seconds rest

5x45x2
5x95
5x135
5x180
5x180
5x180
5x180
5x180

Effort - Moderate

Starting to feel heavy. Decided to keep rest at 90 seconds until I fail a rep and have to repeat a weight. That will be the signal to move to 3 minute rests. Not sure how close I am, these are starting to feel heavy and I had one or two slow reps at the end, but nothing serious yet.

Pendlay Rows - 90 seconds rest between sets

5x115
5x145
5x145
5x145
5x145
5x145

Effort - Easy

WTH, still can't figure these out. Maybe it's just that the weight isn't challenging enough yet? Feeling these in the forearms, a little in the biceps, but barely feel anything in my traps. This, despite "taking the slack" out of the bar by flexing my traps at the beginning (not that the bar has any slack at this weight). Will keep motoring on...

No accessories today, morning workout and pressed for time!

Good workout. Felt strong throughout. Extra rest helps. I'll end up only doing 2 workouts this week. If I'm being honest, that's probably what I *should* be doing, but I'll go back to the SL prescription next week and won't let myself get derailed by any happy hour invites!

[fittofattofit]

Awesome ..... 265 x 5 x 5 squats! I'm feeling wary at 265 x 3 x 3 so you are rocketing past
Smashing out the incline bench
Pendlays 145 would be pretty light for you so because you can move it using your bis you will. When the weight gets up around 200 then you'll feel it through your lats
Great that you're at 184 now and still looking good, and even better that you got to catch up with an old friend

[loggerboots]

Late Sunday workout after watching six hours of football. Need to hit the sports bar to watch my beloved Pats some times, no love for them where I live now out here on the west coast.

Pre-workout meal consisted of pancakes and eggs, so plenty of carbs! With only two workouts prior week (as I adjust my schedule), I felt good to go.

Weight - 182.8 - feeling bulky and unaesthetic. Ugh, not sure how long I can take it, but here's hoping I'm getting close to the ceiling of my newbie gains so I can reverse the trend soon!

Squat - 3 minute rests between sets

5x45x2
5x95
3x135
3x185
2x225
1x245
5x270
5x270
5x270
5x270
5x270

Effort - Hard

Not so bad! Definitely have gained strength, esp considering haven't failed a rep since 255 pounds. Continue to feel like I'm on the edge, but the lifts keep going up, so good. Extra rest last week helped, for sure. This week will be the better test as I get back with the regular programming...

Standing Overhead Press - 3 minute rest between sets

5x45x2
5x95
3x125
5x150
5x150
5x150
5x150
4x150 <== missed a rep!!

Effort - Hard

Felt heavy throughout, but felt like I was gonna make it. Had some form issue on the last set and got a little squirrely under the bar and missed the last rep. Just couldn't get past the stick point. Not surprised, knew it was coming and happy with the progress (last time I missed a rep on OHP was back at 125 pounds). We'll try this weight again next time...

Deadlift

5x135
5x185
5x225
5x255

Effort - Hard

These are getting legit difficult. I have the strength everywhere but can feel my back starting to round ever so slightly. I filmed the working set and it's very subtle, but there. Need to reign that in asap.

5 minute rest

Chinups - 2 minute rests

BWx10
BWx11
BWx8 <== haha

Well, the plan was to go 10, 11, 11 (last time was 10, 10, 11), but that didn't go so well. Felt like my biceps and forearms were getting hammered and just ran out of gas. Doing these after deadlifts suck, even at my modest deadlift weight... maybe need to take longer rests...

Good workout! Felt strong on squats and OH press (even though I missed a rep, first few sets weren't too bad). Deadlifts need attention so I don't snap something in my lower back.

Looking forward to stalling so I can cut!!! Not sure I've got what it takes mentally to get really strong as the associated weight gain is bumming me out. But, for now, we'll see it through.

[shaneinga]

Nice squatting LB. You have a ton left in the tank on deads if you are squatting 270 for 5 reps.

Maybe post up some vids and see if we can help get you sorted. I am no expert, but we can see the obvious issues.

[fittofattofit]

Look at those squats .... I'm going to have to up my game!
And no biggie on missing a rep on the OHPs ... 150 is a big weight for reps

[DocJekyll]

Lol. IF the mirror keeps telling you to go, then its all good!

Nice looking OHP numbers. Very strong.

[Marius_Ursus]

Squats are looking good.

I'm glad you're taking good care of your back, looking for deadlift issues and fixing them before they really become big issues.

[loggerboots]

Thanks Guys! I'll post a DL video next time I do them so you can tell me if you see anything off.

fittofattofit - Yes, Bring it, buddy! Though you're stronger in the squat than I am still - while also being 20 pounds lighter - so I have a ways to go to catch up, if I'm being honest.

Today's was a morning workout, first of the week with my new (W,F,Su) schedule. Felt ok, a little hungover from eating a massive amount of Halloween candy the night before. No breakfast, sun not even up - just went at it.

Squats - 3 minute rest between sets

5x45x2
5x95
3x135
3x185
2x225
1x255
5x275
5x275
5x275
5x275
5x275

Effort - Hard

Probably hardest set of squats since I failed a rep back at 255. Heck, probably harder, but I made it - just barely.

First set:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6...1hROTcwNEpnczQ

Last set (sorry about the noises, geez - so much for relaxation being the key! Sounded like I was giving birth, haha):
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6...0NqV2NqTkZjWHc

Incline Bench Press - 30 degrees - 90 second rests between sets

5x45x2
5x95
3x135
3x165
5x185
5x185
5x185
5x185
5x185

Effort - Moderate/Hard

First several sets were moderate, fourth set was a bit tougher, last one was hard and almost got stuck on the very last rep. Nice to really be working on these, finally, at least at 90 second rests. The plan is to stick with 90 second rests until I fail a rep, then move to 3 minute rests. Should come some time in the next week or two. Considering switching to flat bench, not sure if inclines are really doing what I intended (focusing on the upper chest) and I could probably do more weight flat...

First set:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6...zVZWE5jSDBCLTg

Last set:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6...VI5VVpEMjh2Q0k

Pendlay Rows - 90 second rests

5x115
5x150
5x150
5x150
5x150
5x150

Effort - I dunno, moderate? Maybe? Still don't know wtf I'm doing on these. What do you guys think?:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6...E51V2NVUlQtaE0

Good workout, I guess... Felt strong, but maybe wasn't as strong as I felt. Squats felt very difficult compared to last time (does 5 pounds make that much a difference?), finally starting to work hard on bench, and Pendlays continue to mystify. Next workout will be hell. I know I'll be sore and under-recovered because squats were so hard today and only one day rest, plus, have to repeat OHP at the same weight I failed at last time...

Anyway, that was it. Did a few random sets of pullups (nothing close to failure) and hanging knee raises (can't do hanging leg raises) to stretch out the spine, but no formal accessories today.

[fittofattofit]

Squats look great ... kept the form tight all the way through, even with the last rep needing a little more effort.
Incline benching looked easy on that first set and the same deal with the squats on the last set ... kept it tight. Nice that you're keeping it to 90 secs rest ... that's going to keep the muscles challenged and you'll see more hypertrophy.
Pendlays looked very good ... no kipping there. The weight still looks light for you, so it will be when it gets heavier that you'll start to feel the lats really getting involved in the power movement
And looking jacked in the vids ... all solid muscle