Staving off the decline, part deux

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JimRiley
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Staving off the decline, part deux

#1

Post by JimRiley » Tue Sep 26, 2017 11:20 pm

So I figured what the heck, might as well participate a little on this site by keeping a log.

The obligatory backgrounder:
I'm 63, 5'11", 181 lbs. I started StSt in June 2015 doing 35/65/65/135, and my current 1RMs are 96/145/225/255. I'm currently doing an HLM program I got from Andy Baker. I started doing that program last fall, but then had a long sick spell right after Christmas and went two and a half months without working out. During that time, I lost about 20 pounds and my strength regressed to about week 6 of my original LP, so I ended up doing a fresh LP that lasted until August and then restarted the HLM.

Sunday, 9/24/2017

Body weight: 181.0

This was the first workout of a microcycle where heavy means 4x4 at 85% of 1RM. I'm using the 1RMs listed above except 92 instead of 96 on the press. (Andy said to use conservative 1RMs, and 96 was kind of a last-ditch effort for me).

Squat ("heavy"): 45x5x3, 75x4, 105x3, 135x2, 165x1, 175x1, 191.25x4x4
Bench (medium): 45x5x2, 65x4, 85x3, 105x2, 116x4x3
Body weight rows: 40 (9, 9, 8, 8, 6)
I do the rows hanging from straps. Andy recommended TRX straps, but I bought Woss straps instead at about a fifth the price. (Despite being one vowel away from an unfortunate name, they work just fine.) Over time I'm doing the rows with my feet increasingly far behind the straps to get closer to horizontal.

Tuesday, 9/26/2017

No lifting today; just rode the bike for 40 minutes at a LISS pace.

I hadn't been on the bike since August 31, because of having a whole lot of work to do and being more willing to skip bike rides than strength workouts. Of course, my aerobic fitness had completely disappeared and I was gasping like a sedentary person! Just kidding, of course - it went fine. The notion that aerobic fitness rises and falls dramatically over periods of a few weeks strikes me as one of the strangest bits of the StSt canon. To be fair, though, I've been a cyclist for a long time, so maybe that explains why it takes a good while for my performance on the bike to decline.

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#2

Post by JimRiley » Thu Sep 28, 2017 9:52 pm

Thursday, 9/28/2017

Body weight: 181.6

Squat (light): 45x5x3, 75x4, 105x3, 135x2, 155x1, 168.75x4x2
Press (heavy): 35x5x2, 45x3, 55x2, 65x1, belt, 73x1, 78.25x4x4
Deadlift (heavy): 105x5, 135x3, 165x2, 195x1 (all DOH), belt, 216.75x4 (alt.)

I guess it's kind of CDO to record weights to the hundredths of a pound, especially when the accuracy may be plus or minus several pounds, but my excuse is... um, oh yeah, repeatability.

Also, the notation "belt" signifies a shot of Laphroaig 15.

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#3

Post by JimRiley » Fri Sep 29, 2017 10:37 pm

Friday, 9/29/2017

Bike intervals, indoors. Did 6 cycles of 20 seconds on, 100 seconds off. Gearing was 50x17,17,16,16,16,15. Next week, 53x11!

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#4

Post by JimRiley » Sun Oct 01, 2017 8:33 pm

Sunday, 10/1/2017

Bench (heavy): 45x5x2, 65x4, 85x3, 105x2, belt, 115x1, 123.25x4x4
Squat (medium): 45x5x2, 75x5, 105x3, 135x2, 165x1, 180x4x3 (no belt)
Body weight rows: 48 (8, 8, 9, 8, 8, 7)

I was sleep-deprived and bleary-eyed from grading exams all weekend, so naturally the weights pretty much flew up. I ended up pausing the last set of bench presses because they still felt easy.

One thing I've noticed on this percentage-based program is that a given percentage of 1RM feels hardest on squats and easiest on bench presses. I suspect that's due at least in part to the difference in body weight being moved. For somebody like me who can't squat a whole lot more than they weigh, body weight is a big part of the force required, so doing a squat with 85% of 1RM on the bar probably takes over 90% of 1RM force production. On the bench press, though, the body weight being raised represents a much smaller percentage of the total force, so benching 85% of 1RM probably requires very little more than 85% as much force production as the 1RM. That effect, if it's real, should drop off as the weights get closer to 1RM, and I confidently predict that 100% of 1RM will require exactly as much force as 1RM!

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#5

Post by JimRiley » Mon Oct 02, 2017 8:09 pm

Monday, 10/2/2017

Cycled 53 minutes. LISS/MISS/HISS.

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#6

Post by JimRiley » Wed Oct 04, 2017 7:57 pm

Wednesday, 10/4/2017

Body weight: 184.0 (ties PR, but not on purpose)

Squat (light): 45x5x3, 75x5, 105x3, 135x2, 155x1, 168.75x4x2
Press (medium): 35x5, 45x5, 55x3, 65x2, 73.75x4x3
Deadlift (medium): 105x5, 135x3, 155x2, 175x1, 191.25x4x3 (all DOH)

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#7

Post by JimRiley » Fri Oct 06, 2017 9:33 pm

Friday, 10/6/2017

Cycled 35 minutes on the indoor trainer. Did 7 cycles of 20 seconds on, 100 seconds off. Gearing was 50x16,15,15,15,15,15,14.

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#8

Post by Chebass88 » Sat Oct 07, 2017 5:48 am

Hi Jim! It is interesting to read how you are combining lifting and cardio work. Keep making progress!

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#9

Post by JimRiley » Sun Oct 08, 2017 7:17 pm

Thanks, Chebass88. It's nice to know someone's following! I do cardio not only because it's a lifelong habit but because my blood pressure starts climbing when I don't do it.

Sunday, 10/8/2017

Body weight: 183.0

First workout of microcycle where heavy means 4 sets of 3 at 90% of 1RM.

Squat (heavy): 45x5x4, 75x4, 105x3, 135x2, 165x1, belt, 185x1, 202.5x3x4
Bench (medium): 45x5x2, 65x4, 85x3, 105x2, 115x1, 123.25x3x3
Body weight rows: 34 (8, 7, 7, 6, 6)

Squats felt pretty hard. Those were the heaviest I'd done for reps since July. Seems like a long time, but this HLM program I'm doing takes 14 weeks because of only lifting twice a week. Sometimes it feels like it's too long, but I'm trying to just relax and trust in the program.

Paused my last set of bench presses again, since they still felt easy. By far the hardest part of each set is getting the bar from the hooks to the start of the first rep, sans liftoff. Rogue's J-hooks are about 4 inches deep, so it takes quite a horizontal excursion to get set up.

On rows, my heels were 2" closer to the wall than last time. Translation: I was a little closer to horizontal, so the rows were a little harder.

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#10

Post by Culican » Sun Oct 08, 2017 7:57 pm

Hi, we are about the same age so I will be following your log.

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#11

Post by JimRiley » Wed Oct 11, 2017 10:08 pm

Thanks for the visit, Culican. I'll follow your log too!

Wednesday, 10/11/2017

Body weight: 183.6

Squat (light): 45x5x3, 75x4, 105x3, 135x2, 165x1, 180x3x2
Press (heavy): 35x5x2, 45x4, 55x3, 65x2, belt, 75x1, 83x3x4
Deadlift (heavy): 135x5, 165x3, 195x2, belt, 215x1, (all DOH), 229.5x3 (alt.)

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#12

Post by JimRiley » Sun Oct 15, 2017 10:13 pm

Thursday, 10/12/2017

Cycled 37 minutes on the trainer. Did 8 cycles of 20 seconds on, 100 seconds off. Gearing was 50x17,16,15,15,15,15,15,15. Was doing 36 to 40 revolutions in 20 seconds, or 108-120 rpm. (I was a high-cadence cyclist long before that all-around nice guy from Texas made it popular.)

Friday, 10/13/2017

Did a few chinups with bodyweight rows as warmups. First time I ever warmed up for chinups, but I still could only do one at a time. Andy Baker recently suggested taking on chinup sticking points by having a partner help out at those points only, so maybe I'll ask my wife to do that next time.

Sunday, 10/15/2017

Body weight: 181.8

Bench (heavy): 45x5x2, 65x4, 85x3, 105x2, belt, 120x1, belt, 130.5x3x4
Squat (medium): 45x5x2, 75x4, 105x3, 135x2, 165x1, belt, 180x1, 191.25x3x3

Was planning to do a bunch of bodyweight rows but ran out of time. I'll do those, plus some LISS on the bike, mañana.

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#13

Post by JimRiley » Wed Oct 18, 2017 8:28 pm

Monday, 10/16/2017

Bodyweight rows: 43 (8, 8, 8, 7, 7, 5)

Cycled 32 minutes on the road. Did 6 cycles of 20 seconds on, 100 seconds off. They were kind of slow because of a headwind; gearing was 50x17, 50x16, and 50x15. (Did intervals instead of LISS like my previous entry said, because I decided to swap the days I'm doing LISS and intervals.)

Wednesday, 10/18/2017

Body weight: 183.0

Squat (light): 45x5x3, 75x4, 105x3, 135x2, 165x1, 185x3 (misload for 180), belt, 180x3
Press (medium): 35x5x2, 45x4, 55x3, 65x2, belt, 72x1, 78.25x3x3
Deadlift (medium): 135x5, 165x3, 195x2 (all DOH), belt, 216.75x3x3 (DOH, alt., alt.)

Squats felt terrible. That was partly because of a dumbass misload, but even after I fixed that they were still really bad. I was doing these long wayward descents, pausing instead of rebounding at the bottom, and then struggling on the ascent. I have a deload week coming up, so maybe I can schedule a coaching appointment and get my mind right. The week after that my heavy squat day is supposed to be 214x2x4, which would have been out of the question today.

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#14

Post by JimRiley » Mon Oct 23, 2017 9:58 pm

Sunday, 10/22/2017

Body weight: 183.2

First workout of deload week (all lifts 3x3 at 80% of 1RM).

Squat: 45x5x3, 75x4, 105x3, 135x2, 165x1, 180x3x3

Squats felt quite a bit better than last time. Was supposed to bench too, but it got late.

Monday, 10/23/2017

Finished what was supposed to be Sunday’s workout

Press: 45x5, 55x5 because I’m a dip and thought it was a press day until I double-checked my program
Bench: 45x5, 65x4, 85x3, 105x2, 116x3x3

The bench presses were easy enough that I normally would have paused them and/or used a close grip, but since it's supposed to be a deload week I just let 'em be easy.

Cycled 37 minutes on the road at LISS pace. Temperature was 91F (33C), which felt awesome.

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#15

Post by JimRiley » Wed Oct 25, 2017 8:56 pm

Wednesday, 10/25/2017

Body weight: 184.6

Squat: 45x5x3, 75x4, 105x3, 135x2, 165x3 (intended a single but had a senior moment), belt, 180x3x3
Press: 35x5, 45x4, 55x3, 65x2, belt, 73.75x3x3
Deadlift: 135x5, 165x3, 190x1, belt, 204x3x3

That's it for the deload week. For the next two weeks, heavy will mean sets of 2 at 95% of 1RM. That seems kinda scary, as those 1RMs are from August and I've spent most of the last couple months lifting much less, but I just have to get under the bar and - hopefully - let the program work its magic.

I told my students (math students at a community college) back in August that I'd try to squat 255 by the end of the semester. Now I wish I'd just said 235, but anyway I'll be giving it the old college try in a few more weeks. I was going for a solidarity thing, as in "If you feel like you suck at math and always have to work really hard to meet your goals, well, I'm in exactly the same boat when it comes to strength training, so let's all just do our best." The students seemed to like that; one even sent me video of a 315 deadlift the other day and asked if he could get extra credit. (Um, no, but it looked pretty good.)

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#16

Post by JimRiley » Sun Oct 29, 2017 7:13 pm

Sunday, 10/29/2017

Body weight: 182.0

First workout of microcycle where heavy means 2x4 at 95% of 1RM. After this microcyle comes a deload week followed by 1RM attempts.

Squat (heavy): 45x5x4, 75x4, 105x3, 135x2, 165x1, belt, 195x1, 213.75x2x4
Bench (medium): 45x5x2, 65x4, 85x3, 105x2, 120x1, 130.5x2x3 (put on belt after first work set)

Squats went better than expected. Those were the heaviest squats I've ever done for more than a single. It was a relief to get through them since I struggled with 180 less than two weeks ago.

Bench press was a little shaky for some reason. It didn't feel all that heavy, but it seemed like the bar was all over the place. Guess I needed more squoze.

For benching I used a set of J-hooks that I "customized" with strapping and duct tape so that I can place the bar out at the ends of the hooks and not have to carry it so far horizontally at the start of a set. I don't know why a Rogue R-3 comes with such long hooks, but to me they're a pain for benching solo. Not a problem for squats and presses, of course, because you have to take a step back anyway.

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#17

Post by Wilhelm » Mon Oct 30, 2017 6:11 am

JimRiley wrote: Thu Sep 28, 2017 9:52 pm Also, the notation "belt" signifies a shot of Laphroaig 15.
Ha!

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#18

Post by JimRiley » Wed Nov 01, 2017 10:20 pm

Thanks for the "Ha!", Wilhelm - and welcome to the forum.

Wednesday, 11/1/2017

Body weight: 182.0

Squat (light): 45x5x3, 75x4, 105x3, 135x2, 165x1, 180x2x2
Press (heavy): 35x5, 45x4, 55x3, 65x2, belt, 72.5x1, 80x1, 87.5x2x4
Deadlift (heavy): 135x5, 165x3, 195x2, belt, 215x1, (all DOH), 242.25x2 (alt.)

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#19

Post by JimRiley » Sun Nov 05, 2017 10:39 pm

Sunday, 11/5/2017

Body weight: 184.4

Squat: 45x5x3, 75x4, 105x3, 135x2, 165x1, 185x1, belt, 202.5x2x3
Bench: 45x5x2, 65x4, 85x3, 105x2, belt, 125x1, 137.75x2x4

Those were the heaviest bench presses I've done for more than singles. Nothing to shout about, but a minor milestone.

Squats were all over the place (on one rep I even had to take a step forward), but they didn't feel unreasonably heavy.

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Re: Staving off the decline, part deux

#20

Post by Wilhelm » Mon Nov 06, 2017 2:57 am

Nice progress, Jim.

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