cwd's log: persistence, patience, gratitude

[cwd]

Male, early 50s, 5'10"
After being weak & skinny most of my life, I tried barbells and Starting Strength at age 45 and got hooked.

I'll never be truly strong, but I'm delighted to be much stronger than I was.

Persistence means no layoffs. Lift every week, without fail.
Patience means not pushing for PRs, strictly rationing how often I take a set to failure, and pushing the weight up gradually. This is essential to avoiding injuries -- I have shitty tendons it turns out.
Gratitude means not getting discouraged. Just being able to lift is an undeserved blessing.

Training history:

pre-1990: skinny nerd kid
- bw 145 or so
- no organized sports
- recreational bicycling/swimming/tree climbing/marching band/construction labor

1990-2011: sedentary adult nerd
- bw 145-160
- desk work
- intermittent mild LSD cardio and bodyweight calisthenics
- severely detrained, skinny & weak
- several low-back pain episodes
- episodes of crippling wrist tendonitis from computer work

2011.04.06 to 2011.05.10: first SS run, hip tendonitis acquired
- bw 152 > 163
- Squat: 65 > 145
- Dead: 65 > 145
- Bench: 85 > 110
- P.C.: 65 > 75
- Press: 55 > 72.5
- acquired hip-flexor tendonitis

2011.05.10 - 2012.07.11: hip tendonitis limits progress
- bw around 175
- many stupid programming experiments: SS variants, Texas Method, 5-3-1
- Squat: 170 5x, when I could squat at all
- Dead: 275 1x, 265 6x
- Bench: 160 1x, 145 3x
- PC: 100 3x5
- Press: 105 1x, 100 4x

2012.07.11 - 2012.09.14: 2nd SS, w/o knee slide
- bw to 181
- acquired home gym
- fixed knee slide problem, started leg swings for hip tendons
- ran SS again, pushing everything to failure & stall, multiple times
- Squat 215 5x3
- Dead: 280 5x
- Bench: 140 5x3
- PC: 105 3x5
- Press 100 5x3
- severely beat up, discouraged, and feeling fat

2012.09.14 - 2012.10.21: easy strength
- ran Dan John's "easy strength" for a while
- healed a bit

2012.10.21 - 2013.01.03: 3rd SS, with more food & seminar
- bw in low 180s
- Attended SS seminar in Atlanta during this run, met Rip, Jordan, Wolf, Stef
- Squat: 185 > 205 5x3
- Bench: 125 > 140 5x3
- Dead: 225 > 255 5x
- Press: 80 > 98.75 5x3
- PC: 105 > 122.5 3x5
- derailed in xmas season with colds, flu, holiday interruptions

2013.01.03 - 2013.01.21: 4th SS, this time for sure
- bw 185
- Squat: 185 > 200
- Bench: 135 > 140
- Dead: 225 > 245
- Press: 95 > 95
- PC: 115 > 120
- chronic aches and pains: hip, shoulders, etc.
- here's where I finally concede that SS isn't going to take me to a 300lb squat, ever

2013.01.21 - 2013.09.21: spinning my wheels with 5-3-1, and dieting
- bw low 180s, then down to 168 (!!!)
- tracked macros for a while, dieted for a while
- lots of fun conditioning experiements: hill sprints, sandbag carries
- ran Briks42's 8/5/3 variation for a while
- very slight strength gains at end of cut:
- Squat: 205 x6
- Bench: 142.5 x6
- Dead: 260 x4

2013.09.21 - 2013.11.6: 2-day SS while bulking
- bw 169 > 172
- Squat: 195 > 210
- Bench: 145 > 147.5
- Dead: 260 > 275
- Press: 100 > 100
- PC: 125 > 125

2013.11.6 - 2014.04.10: 4-day upper/lower split
- bw 172 > 181
- sort of like 5-3-1 but always 5s day
- Squat: 250 x5
- Bench 161.25 x5
- Dead: 295 x5
- Press: 112.5 x5
- Chins: bw+23.75 x6
- bunch of lifetime PRs here, but got really beat up.
- was maxing out each lift each week

2014.04.10 - 2015.01.04: Just screwing around
- bw 185 ish
- Dad got cancer, scary (he got better)
- started and stopped lifting many times, never consistently for long

2015.01.04 - 2015.03.24: geezer intermediate
- bw high 180s
- 2-day HL with ramping squats, backoff bench/press sets, chins/dl
- also sandbag carries and other assorted nonsense for conditioning
- Squat: 260 x5
- Bench: 157.5 x5
- Dead: 305 x5
- Press: 112.5 x5

2015.03.24 - 2015.10.07: frozen shoulder
- sit on ass for 4 months
- start lifting again, discover shoulder does not allow squats or presses
- get MRI and diagnosis: adhesive capsulitis
- try to work around it for a while
- Front Squat: 145 5x3
- HB Squat: 205 x5
- Dead: 315 x5
- chins: bw + 20 x5
- get discouraged

2015.10.07 - 2016.12.11: gloom, despair, and agony on me
- not even lifting
- frozen shoulder hurts, like, a lot
- lost weight w/o trying, probably all muscle mass

2016.12.11 - 2017.01.18: The Barbell Prescription SSLP
- bw 177 > 185
- Got The Barbell Prescription by Baker & Sullivan, start again
- frozen shoulder mostly resolved
- initially doing 9-day SSLP with LM presses and HB squat
- Goal: 100 sessions in 2017 with 10 or fewer missed
- HB Squat: 135 > 190 5x3
- Bench: 115 > 127.5 5x3
- Dead: 175 > 230 5x

2017.01.18 - 2017.03.29: SSLP-HL cross
- bw mid 180s
- Heavy/light squat programming with ramping sets
- other lifts still SS style
- experiment with low-bar and real presses -- try to regain shoulder ROM
- HB Squat: 225 x3
- Bench: 150 5x3
- Dead: 295 x3
- Press: 90 5x3

2017.03.29 - 2017.09.22: HLM
- bw high 180s
- Start tracking RPE here, using HLM weekly, then 3-week rep rotations
- give up on low-bar for now after tweaking elbow
- weights mostly manage 5/2.5 lbs per 3-week cycle, with some misses
- HB Squat: 205 5x4 @8
- Bench: 155 5x3 @9+
- Dead: 315 x3 @9
- Press: 102.5 x5 @9

2017.09.23 Start TRT

2017.09.23 - 2017.12.14 HLM with hormones
- bw jumps to 195, probably water weight
- waist is 38", falling gradually to 36" w/o weight loss
- lifts go up pretty reliably by 5 (lower)/2.5 (upper) lbs per 3-week rep rotation, sometimes faster
- HB Squat: 225 4 sets of 5 @8.5 on last set
- Bench: 162.5 4 sets of 5 @9 on last set
- Dead: 315 x5 @8.5
- Press: 102.5 4 sets of 5 @9 on last set

2017.12.17 - 2018-4-20: 4-day split, 8/5/3 rep cycle
- lifts continue to go up by 5/2.5 lbs per 3-week mesocycle
- slightly less bench and squat volume, much more volume on deads and chins, some more pressing and add dips, using density blocks for accessories
- HB Squat: 245 4 sets of 5 @8
- Bench: 172.5 4 sets of 5 @8.5
- Dead: 340 x5 @8.5
- Press: 117.5 4 sets of 5 @8.5
- Chins: bw + 27.5 lbs, 21 reps in 7 minutes

2017 consistency: 140 sessions kept: 5 skipped, 2017 total show-up rate for barbell sessions is 97%

2018-4-23 - 2018-7-2 Montana Method
- 2-week DUP style program, 5 days per week (but 2 of them are very short/easy sessions), higher volume than the split program
- bw ~195 and stable
- set some PR singles: Squat 300, bench 205, press 140, deadlift 365
- really good bench progress, but doing HB squats 3x/week made my hips hurt.
- interrupted by a vacation and the petering out of my recomp.

2018-7-2 - 2018-10-21 take control of bodyfat
- bw 196 -> 174, waist 37" -> 32", Navy 22% BF -> 15%
- alternating 2-week cuts with 2-week maintenance (MATADOR style)
- counting "hungry hours per day" rather than calories, 3-5 hours hungry for cut, 1-2 hungry for maintenance
- 16 weeks to bw 174, waist 32.5", Navy 15% BF, -22 lbs
- program is mish-mash of DUP/HLM/MM ideas with 3 days of lifting, 2 days of cardio/calisthenics. Chins 3x/week!
- maintain bw bench, 1.5x bw squat, 2x bw deadlift, 135 press
- chins improve to bw+43.75 lbs for 5x5

2018-10-22 - 2019-2-11 attempt slow bulk (went dirty)
- bw 174 to 186, waist to 36"
- continue to do 3x/wk barbell using DUP, plus 2x/wk bodyweight, plus 2x/week cardio (weight vest walks)
- tried 20-rep squats, did 200 lbs highbar for sets of 20,7,5,5 with 1-minute rests at one point, then decided it was insane and stopped.
- worked Zercher squats for a while, got to 230 lbs
- switched back to high-bar, set 315 lbs PR single
- tried Hanley-style HVLF programming on press, didn't work for me

2018 consistency: 171 sessions kept, 12 skipped. 2018 total show-up rate for barbell sessions is 93%.

2019-2-11 - 2019-5-25 cut to undo dirty bulk
- bw 186 to 173
- conventional diet this time, targeting 1 lb/week every week
- switched doctors for TRT, lowered dose from 180mg/wk to 100mg/wk
- tried HVLF on bench, hit PR of 215 lbs -- partly realizing gains from previous bulk

2019-5-25 - present slow bulk for sure this time
- bw 173 to 176.5 so far, goal is 0.5 lbs/week
- starting e1rms: s 295, p 139, d 393
- current program: 3x/wk barbells, 2-3x/week bodyweight stuff, 2-3x/week cardio

Code: Select all

 Monday: HB squat x1, 3x7, press x1, 7-11 sets of 7, RDL 3x7
 Wednesday: deadlift x1, 3x5, press 7-11 sets of 5, Zercher squat 3x5
 Friday: HB squat with chains 4x3, press 7-11 sets of 2, farmer's walk x4, Zercher carry x2

[cwd]

HLM 3-8-5, cycle 3, 5s week, light day
2017.09.19
bw 191

HB Squat: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x5, 185 x5,5 beltless @7
Press: 45 x7, 75 x5, 95 x2, 102.5 x5,5,5,5 last set @9+
Pullups: bw x6,6
Chins: bw x9,6

2017 so far: 96 sessions, 3 missed sessions

[KarlM]

Damn, you are tenacious! Keep up the good work! I'll follow your log for tips on how to stay injury free and how to deal with setbacks, for sure

[cwd]

I decided that avoiding setbacks and layoffs was more important than fast progress. At 51, recovery from an injury or layoff takes too long.

Once I decided on that priority, and started tracking it in my log (sessions kept vs. missed), all my other decisions sort of followed -- slow weight advances, rationing how often I take a set to failure, etc.

My program is very, very ordinary.

[Jugrock]

Wow, I may have met my match for inconsistent yet persistent lifting. I've taken at least 30 2-wk or longer breaks since December 2013 for a host of reasons not terribly different from you. I've really only run SS or HLM until recently though. I'm dead tired of 5s. Way to keep coming back.

[cwd]

'm dead tired of 5s. Way to keep coming back.

I'm enjoying alternating my heavy work with sets of 8s, 5s, and 3s.

This is from one of Andy Baker's HLM examples, where heavy data volume is 4 sets across every week.
At first this sounded wrong to me -- surely you'd want to use fewer sets of 8s than 3s, right?

But in practice, 8x4 is a "deload" from intensity (though grueling), and 3x4 is a "deload" from volume (though heavy).
And only increasing my target weight every 3 weeks keeps me from overshooting and having to reset.

I feel like I can run this program for a *long* time. Might do a cut soon, and just keep the program as-is but w/o increasing weights.

[cwd]

bw 189

HB Squat: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x5, 175 x2, 195 x5,5,5 paused @9
Bench: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x2, 150 x5,5,5 @9+
Deadlift: 135 x5, 185 x2, 225 x1, 275 x5 paused doh beltless @9
rows & curls

Miserably hot in the garage today, everything felt heavy.

2017 so far: 97 sessions, 3 missed sessions

[cwd]

2013 June, T measured as 371 ng/dL on a test where normal range is 348-1197
Proctologist says normal, no T for you.

2017 June, T measured as 283 ng/dL on a test where normal range is 241-827
GP says normal, no T for you.

2017 September, T measured as 137 ng/dL on a test that I don't have the normal range for, and started TRT (I think 250mg injected testosterone cypionate).
This is at a dedicated (i.e. $$$) T clinic. We'll see how much insurance will cover.

This is a "starter" dose, normal weekly dosing will be considerably lower I expect.
Goal is to break the "mental fog"/low ambition/low energy problem I've been suffering in recent years.
This is now affecting my work, whereas before my primary low-T symptom was poor response to strength training.

Plan to leave eating and lifting unchanged so I get good data from this once-in-a-lifetime experiment.
Current waist is 38", bw 190.
Currently have no male-pattern baldness, and almost no hair on lower legs.
Dick works fine, sex drive adequate though far below levels from my youth.

Results so far:
* Higher levels of ambition and energy noted already, same day as injection. This might be placebo effect.
* Also, sweating more than normal. But its warm today, so also possibly unrelated.

[cwd]

bw 190

HB Squat: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x5, 185 x2, 215 x1, 225 x3 @8, 235 x3 @8+, 240 x3 @9, 225 x3 @8+
Bench: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x2, 155 x3 @8, 165 x3 @9+, 170 x3 @10
Deadlift: 135 x5, 185 x2, 225 x1, 275 x1, 320 x2.9 @10 doh w/belt, dropped 3rd rep at lockout
rows & curls

Very hot in garage today, and a bit achy -- coming down with a cold possibly.

But still, 240 x3 is a PR for high bar squat, 170 x3 is a PR for bench. 320 x3 would have been a deadlift PR if I'd held onto it.
I'm currently about as strong as I've ever been, and healthy besides -- at prior high points I was beaten down and hurt all the time.

If I can retain consistency and resist pushing for PRs too often, I might be able to build from here instead of crashing like the previous two times I reached PR territory.
Especially since I'm supplementing T now.

2017 so far: 98 sessions, 3 missed sessions

[cwd]

bw 190

HB Squat: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x5, 190 x5,5 beltless
Press: 45 x7, 75 x5, 95 x1, 100 x3 @7, 105 x3 @8, 110 x3 @9, 110 x5 @10
Pullups: bw x6,7
Chins bw x9,6

Slight cold, been sleeping extra to combat it. Feel relatively well-recovered from heavy day. Possibly the TRT is working.
Tested my press triples RPE ratings -- once again I was overestimating.
Press is now very close to my lifetime PR of 112 x5.

2017 so far: 99 sessions, 3 missed sessions

[cwd]

2017.09.28
bw 191

HB Squat: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x5, 175 x2, 195 x5,5,5 paused @8
Bench: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x2, 150 x5 @7, 155 x5,5 @8+
Deadlift: 135 x5, 225 x3, 285 x5 paused, beltless, doh @9
rows & curls

Nice weather has arrived in Ohio. Generally felt strong this session, moved bench weight up.
Back rounded on first paused deadlift rep, during the pause. Rest of the reps were better. But my low back is sore the day after. Dummy.

2017 so far: 100 sessions, 3 missed sessions

[cwd]

bw 189

HB Squat: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x5, 190 x8,8,8,8 @8.5
Bench: 45 x5, 95 x5, 140 x8,8,8,8 @8.5
Deadlift: 135 x5, 185 x2, 225 x1, 260 x8 @8.5 doh beltless
Skipped my frivolous lifts, too tired.

Nice and cool in the garage this afternoon. Ah, fall.

2017 so far: 101 sessions, 3 missed sessions

[cwd]

bw 192

HB Squat: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x5, 175 x2, 190 x5,5 beltless
Press: 45 x7, 75 x5, 92.5 x8,8,8,8 @9
Pullups: bw x7,7
Chins: bw x9,7

2017 so far: 102 sessions, 3 missed sessions

[fishwife]

3 missed sessions

Considering we're in October, this is impressive.

[RdC]

I like the PPGs in your first post. It's inspiring to read.. no matter what happens...you return to the platform.

[KarlM]

3 missed sessions

Considering we're in October, this is impressive.

I agree with fishwife. It's also a great stat to keep track of.

[cwd]

Thanks! Achieving consistency was my only goal for this year. It's what I've never been any good at before.

Actually the goal was more modest -- 100 sessions in calendar 2017. I met that one.

My new project is to keep my program and diet *exactly the same* for several more months, but this time with normal human testosterone levels. I started TRT 3 weeks ago. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do the experiment.

Greg Nuckols claims natty vs. superhuman T levels is only a 10% difference in powerlifting. I wonder what the difference is between 135 and 600 ng/dL?

[cwd]

bw 192

HB Squat: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x5, 175 x2, 200 x5,5,5 paused @8+
Bench: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x2, 157.5 x5,5,5 @9
Deadlift: 135 x5, 185 x2, 225 x1, 275 x5 paused beltless doh @9
rows & curls

Low back is a bit sore from last week.

2017 so far: 103 sessions, 3 missed sessions

[cwd]

bw 194 (!!)

HB Squat: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x5, 185 x2, 210 x5,5,5,5 @9
Bench: 45 x5, 95 x5, 135 x2, 157.5 x5,5,5,5 @9+
Deadlift: 135 x5, 185 x2, 225 x1, 265 x1, 300 x5 @9 doh beltless

I've been gaining weight unintentionally. Doc says maybe it's water retention from onset of TRT. Or maybe I'm eating too much.
Things felt heavy today, but the work got done.

2017 so far: 104 sessions, 3 missed sessions

[vanslix]

Frozen shoulder is a bitch.
Any sort of tendinopathies are a bitch. And they tend to recur.
Low T is a bitch. And contrary to popular belief, the number one complaint guys have is not sexual. It's lack of that drive, that get up and go, that willpower which they tend to first notice in their careers. Usually after the fact, the spouse will say, his mood has improved a lot!

And if you're gaining weight with TRT, that may be estrogen mediated. The knee jerk solution is an AI. I never use AIs. I leave that to the endos. But I also found that the low T clinics tend to ride guys a bit high. If you stay in the physiological range with good symptom control, I've never seen the estrogens become a problem. Usually, the dose ends up being about 75-100 mg/week as the trough tends to be ~8x your weekly dose. And if your trough is riding 1,000+, your peak is way higher and you may get peripheral conversion to estradiols.

Keep up the strong work!