Old Age and Treachery Will Always Beat Youth and Exuberance

[Zak]

11/16

BPspoto
260/1@6.5 (296)
235/3@5.5
235/3@5.5
235/3@5.5
235/3@5.5

MP
140/5@6
140/5@5.5

N/G Pullup
30/6@5.5
35/6@6
35/6@5.5

DB Ext
35/12@9


Solid. Increasing roadwork at what I think will be a manageable rate. Calories need to go up, how much I do not know. I use Macrofactor for nutrition but it can lag a little bit when expenditure changes sharply. Obviously I am free to overshoot which I am going to have to do for a short while.

[Zak]

11/17

SQ2ct
375/1@6 (435)
355/2@6
355/2@6.5

DL
465/1@7.5 (513)
410/3@5.5
410/3@5.5

SLDLmat
405/6@4
405/6@4.5


Pretty good week. The more I run the better I sleep.

And now, a haiku:

He, who knew no match
With the waraxe, yet grew fat
And tired, and was slain

[DanCR]

And now, a haiku:

He, who knew no match
With the waraxe, yet grew fat
And tired, and was slain

Well I was enjoying this beer.

[Zak]

And now, a haiku:

He, who knew no match
With the waraxe, yet grew fat
And tired, and was slain

Well I was enjoying this beer.

Sorry bud. The artist is but a vessel.

[Zak]

11/20/23

BW: 179.5

BP
272.5/1@7.5 (300)
245/2@5.5
245/2@5.5
245/2@5.5
245/2@6
245/2@6

BPf/e
215/5@5.5
215/5@5.5

TBar
160/8@6.5
160/8@6
160/8@6.5

DB Curl
37.5/13@9.5


Nice to see that e1rm back over 300.

[Zak]

11/21

SQ
420/1@8 (455)
360/3@7
360/3@7

SQhbp
285/5@5.5
285/5@5.5
285/5@5.5

GHR (mech. drop)
B(pin4)/11
B(pin5/5


Not a lot of juice today. Think my hydration could use a touch more focus.

[Zak]

11/23

BPspoto
262.5/1@6.5 (299)
240/3@6.5
240/3@6.5
240/3@7
240/3@6.5

MP
142.5/5@5.5
142.5/5@5.5

N/G Pull-up
35/6@5.5
40/6@6
40/6@6.5

DB Ext
37.5/10@10


Never been a fan of the Thanksgiving spread.

[DanCR]

Never been a fan of the Thanksgiving spread.

I am so angry at you.

[Zak]

Never been a fan of the Thanksgiving spread.

I am so angry at you.

Turkey is just dry tasteless chicken.

Not crazy about soggy croutons either.

[Zak]

11/24

SQ2ct
380/1@7.5 (419)
345/2@7
345/2@7

DL
445/1@7.5 (491)
390/3@6.5
390/3@6.5

SLDLmat
385/6@5
385/6@4


This felt like a full on crash. Just slow, weak, and awful. Body just would not turn on.

Next week is the final week of the strength block, really interested to see if today was an aberration.

[DanCR]

This felt like a full on crash. Just slow, weak, and awful. Body just would not turn on.

Should’ve had more soggy croutons. And pumpkin pie.

[Zak]

This felt like a full on crash. Just slow, weak, and awful. Body just would not turn on.

Should’ve had more soggy croutons. And pumpkin pie.

Best I could do was load up on apple pie the last couple days. Which led to…

11/26

BW: 181

BP
280/1@9
280/1@8.5 (298)
245/2@5.5
245/2@6

BPfe
225/5@6
225/5@7

TBar
160/8@6
160/8@6.5
160/8@6.5

DB Curl
40/11@10


Went a day early because I had the time. Felt good warming up but was unsatisfied with the first top set so I took it again. Bench is creeping back towards respectability but it is slow going.

[Zak]

11/28

SQ
425/1@9.5 (435)
350/3@7


Bagged it here. Going to cut the cycle at this point rather than finishing out the week. Will take an easy day Thursday or Friday, then roll into a new cycle next week with an eye toward a February 3 meet.

New cycle I’m putting together will involve more work with the big supplemental lifts. For this cycle I’ll use high bar pause squats, snatch deads, closegrips / presses. Kind of higher set/lower RPE overall but nothing too far away from what I’ve been doing.

[Zak]

12/4

1.1

BW: 180

Deadlift
415/3@7 (496)
370/5@5.5

Snatch Dead
345/6@5
345/6@5

SSB Pause Squat
250/6@6
250/6@5


This cycle is going to use a 3 day-a-week schedule, which I'm kind of looking forward to. Switching to the deadlift bar which I must just not know how to use properly because I've never felt like I get any advantage from it. Have to be really patient with it off the floor.

[Zak]

12/6

1.2

Bench
257.5/1@6 (298)
230/5@7

Closegrip Bench
205/6@5
205/6@5.5
205/6@5.5

TBar
160/8@6.5
160/8@7


Felt good. Bench frequency is going to be once a week with a separate day of just presses (after squatting). Conventional wisdom these days is that that's a bad idea but I don't know man...bench has been such a grind to get moving at all benching 2x, 3x... I have some optimism this setup might give me some breathing room to drive this lift a little better.

[DanCR]

Felt good. Bench frequency is going to be once a week with a separate day of just presses (after squatting). Conventional wisdom these days is that that's a bad idea but I don't know man...bench has been such a grind to get moving at all benching 2x, 3x... I have some optimism this setup might give me some breathing room to drive this lift a little better.

Thanks to you, I've benched every eight days for many months - for awhile with incline on the fourth day in between but more recently with various DB pressing on that day, no barbell work - and by a number of metrics my bench is as strong or stronger than it's ever been.

[Zak]

Felt good. Bench frequency is going to be once a week with a separate day of just presses (after squatting). Conventional wisdom these days is that that's a bad idea but I don't know man...bench has been such a grind to get moving at all benching 2x, 3x... I have some optimism this setup might give me some breathing room to drive this lift a little better.

Thanks to you, I've benched every eight days for many months - for awhile with incline on the fourth day in between but more recently with various DB pressing on that day, no barbell work - and by a number of metrics my bench is as strong or stronger than it's ever been.

Wow. I need to take my own advice on this one.

I think there’s probably a lot of variation out there in terms of how long people can go between sessions of a given lift without losing a feel for the pattern. Over a decade ago a guy named Kelly Baggett who used to write articles about lifting/athletic prep described people along a continuum from “motor genius” to “motor moron”. It’s just neuroticism more than anything else that makes me nervous backing things down too far but I’ve really never been disappointed by backing off frequency and just letting the strength come to me.

[Zak]

12/8

1.3

SQ
385/1@6 (446)
335/5@7

SQhbp
275/6@5.5
275/6@6

MP
135/6@6
135/6@5.5
135/6@6

[Zak]

12/11

BW: 181.5

Deadlift
295/8
370/6
415/4
370/10

Snatch High Pull
135/5
135/5

BB Row from Hang
135/10
155/10

Ring Pullup
15/10


Of note, I decided to scrap the foolishness I started last week and begin anew with something a little more to taste. For the foreseeable future I am going all in on the old-school PowerliftingUSA approach of which I've always been so fond. I really like percentage-based wave type programs where you just put the big lifts on autopilot, add some load month-to-month, hammer some quick assistance, and go home. I also want to hit each powerlift exactly once each week and not hedge at all on this by putting supplemental work on a different day or adding a light day or whatever. Chief motivation for this approach is the snot-nosed internet dork who swears this can't work and considers me a mouth-breathing idiot, and who does not exist in real life, but whom I detest all the same.

I liked the "powerbuilding" wave thing I was using for awhile, and that DCR is now using to blow up his bench, so I started with that as a base and tweaked it into this:

Base
1. 60/8, 75/6, 85/4, 75/PR
2. 60/8, 75/6, 85/4, 90/2, 80/PR
3. 60/8, 75/6, 85/4, 90/2, 95/1, 85/PR
4. 65/5x5

Peak
1. 60/5, 75/4, 85/3, 80/PR
2. 60/5, 75/4, 85/3, 90/2, 85/PR
3. 60/5, 75/4, 85/3, 90/2, 95/1, 90/PR
4. 75/3x3

This does two things compared to the old scheme. First, it gets the backoffs a little heavier which I prefer, and secondly, the "peak" blocks are much closer in style to the base blocks, which I think is an improvement insofar as there's more continuity flowing from base to peak. Will plan on 2-4 base blocks followed by 1-2 peak blocks.

Schedule will be Deads Monday, Benches Wednesday, Squats Friday. Related supplemental and assistance after for a hard set or two.

I will call this the Functionally Illiterate Troglodyte (F.I.T.) Method and start pumping out ebooks depending on how strong I get.

[cgeorg]

Looks like a good bit less volume than the last set, I'm curious how it'll work out.