Hedgelifting

[max]

Hi, name is Max, just like it says on the tin.

Pertinent information regarding training:

• Age: 35,
• Height: 5'10"
• Weight: 226lb

Found Starting Strength 6 years ago. Since then had about 3 constructive training periods of about 6-9 months each. Last one gave me:

• Squat 385 x3
• Deadlift 405 x5
• Bench 235 x1
• Press 155 x3?

Lurked on the Starting Strength forums most of that time, but didn't really post. Bummed programming from @hanley before it was cool.

Currently, coming back to training after ~10 month break. This time in the comfort of my own home, so I expect greatness. Really like the quick lifts, but really suck at them and really don't have time for them right now.

[max]

2018-02-20

• Squat 240 5/3
• Press 115 3/5
• Deadlift 265 5/1

• Need to get organized. It took me about 40 minutes total to get my shit ready and then put away.
• Did some jerk and snatch fuckery with the bar. it did not feel productive and took forever. Let's pretend this was warm up.
• Squats and presses where generally good. I think I finally figured out the Press 2.0 thing but I felt the same about front rack last time. Nevertheless, all reps were consistent and without overextended lumbar.
• Deadlifts were ok, but need to work on keeping the back tight on the way down.

[Wilhelm]

Good to have you here, @max o/

[max]

@Wilhelm \o!

[max]

2018-02-22

The slow comeback continues. I promised myself last time I was in this position I would be faster.

Squat 245 5/3
Bench 185 5/3
RDL 205 ~15

Squats and bench felt all over the place. Easy but trunk wasn't tight and the bar was a bit wobbly.
For pulls, I thought I would focus on lower back. Decided to try RDLs today. Eh. Lowering the bar on the count of 3 felt better. Eccentric deadlifts?

Again, took forever. 1.5 hours total? Wondering about just focusing on the total number of reps per sessions and banging those out as fast as possible.

[max]

Yesterday I did:
Squat 250 5/3
Press 117 5,5,4,3
Deadlift 275 3/3
Plus olympic fuckarounditis

Squats and presses went "well". I could probably chug with squats up to 315. Press was a grind, but I successfully ground limbo presses without hyperextending lower back. IIRC, set 1 was press 2.0, set 2 was strict and sets 4 and 3 were 2.0 as well.

Deadlift was a bit of a shit show. I was tired by then. Good-bye, NLP, I suppose.

[max]

What now?

I don't know what to focus on. Or rather, I strongly suspect that things I want are not unreasonable concurrently. That does not help me to weed them out. Let's see if writing it down will help.

Where I am now:

• Limited time
• limited recovery
• Not chinning because I have no grip strength (see lack of recovery?)
• squat, bench, and press are feeling good
• deadlift sucks
• Snatch positioning sucks
• Everything about jerks sucks
• Cleans are good enough for my jerks

What do I want:

• Training 5-6 hours a week.
• Snatch and jerk technique to "catch up" to my strength.
• Get back to chinning regularly.
• By the end of the year:
  • Squat 405 for reps
  • Deadlift proportional to squats (430?)
  • Bench what I squat right now for reps(255)
  • Press proportional to bench (170?)
  • Body-weight under control ( <= 100kg). Under 95 would've been fantastic.
• Not feel like shit while doing it.

[max]

Oh yeah, I would like to compete in some no-name local powerlifting meet in the fall and be proficient enough to compete in a weightlifting meet next year. That would probably mean attaching myself to a weightlifting clique.

[max]

All in glorious pounds.

What	Work set	Warmup duration, min	Workset duration, min	Comment
Overhead squat	65 3/5	--	12	Most reps were paused at the bottom. Did some "high pulls" after. Bar definitely loops away from me.
Rack power jerk	65 3/5	--	12	Need more practice. Figured out the rack and lockout but the whole thing still feels awkward.
Squat	255 3/5	10	15	Times are a lie but total is correct. Form was not consistent an all reps buy generally held.
Bench	185 3/5	9	13	Easyish? Form was consistent.

Total time is 1 hour 20 minutes. Seems too long, but I think what I can expect with this approach.

Feeling kind of fatigued today. That is not what I expected.

[max]

Yesterday and tomorrow are a bit of special snowflakes, but that's what the plan going forward will look like: alternating workouts with weightlifting and strength components.

Workout A is squat and press. Workout B is deadlift and bench.

ATM, I'll be doing.... HPS-style loading because my recovery is crap and all the cool kids are doing it. I'm sad that weights will be increasing only every two weeks but at least every day is different.... ?

Reps and sets are sort of in the air. I'm hoping H - 4/6, P - 2,2,2,1,1 ascending thing, S - 3/5 will be sustainable and manageable for squat, and presses. Deadlift will be slightly lower volume. Loading will be... I dunno.. relative to the top single in the last cylce? I hope strength day will march along at 5lb/2.5lb every two weeks for a few months.

Weightlifting is even worse. My self-diagnosed top three issues are: jerk everything, snatch recovery, snatch bar path (it's looping).

I was planning on having 2 slots each session (one for technique and one for positioning), but I keep trying to work on those three things. I think the following are worthwhile options:
1: A - rack jerk, overhead squat, B - power snatch, front squat.
2: A - rack jerk, overhead squat, B - rack jerk, power snatch.
3: rack jerk, overhead squat, quick power snatches every session.

I was planning on 1, but, now I think 3 will help with technique the most. Since that's what's holding me back it seems like the best option. The goal is to get the reps in at the heaviest weight I can in 40 minutes.

TLDR

Day	Weightlifting	Strength
H A	Rack jerk 3/5 Overhead squat 3/5 Power snatch 3/3	Squat 4/6 @ 70% Press 4/6 @ 70%
P B	Rack jerk 3/5 Overhead squat 3/5 Power snatch 3/3	Deadlift 2, 2, 2, 1, 1 "from 70% to 90%" Bench 2, 2, 2, 1, 1 "from 70% to 90%"
S A	Rack jerk 3/5 Overhead squat 3/5 Power snatch 3/3	Squat 3/5 @ 80% Press 3/5 @ 80%
H B	Rack jerk 3/5 Overhead squat 3/5 Power snatch 3/3	Deadlift 4/4 @ 70% Bench 4/6 @ 70%
P A	Rack jerk 3/5 Overhead squat 3/5 Power snatch 3/3	Squat 2, 2, 2, 1, 1 "from 70% to 90%" Press 2, 2, 2, 1, 1 "from 70% to 90%"
S B	Rack jerk 3/5 Overhead squat 3/5 Power snatch 3/3	Deadlift 3/3 @ 80% Bench 3/5 @ 80%

Strength day for each lift will start where my LP left off and go up by 5lb each cycle for squat and deadlift and by 2.5lb for the presses.
The other loads will be calculated from those.

Let's hope I can ride this till the end of the year.

[max]

And that was post #10. Now I can shitpost! Whole reason for this log.

[Wilhelm]

Shitposting is so February 2018

[max]

What	Work set	Comment
Overhead squat	70 3/5	Decent but do that again. Was a bit floppy at the bottom. Did hang power snatches, muscle snatches as part of warmup. Reading about snatching for the past two days definitely helped.
Rack power jerk	70 3/5	Yeah, rack and lockout sucked. But realized that I can drive the bar all the way to lockout. Basically push press, but the weight is light enough that there is no press out. Seems handy to work on the drive. Half way through this my son decided that it was a good time to wake up crying. So I picked up half an hour later.
Front squat	70 4/3 95 4/2	Not planned but I wanted to work on the rack. It clicked half way through.
Limbo Press	115 3/5	Lame. Completely forgot how I set up last time 90% of these were bounce by the lower back. Last rep of the last set finally clicked, I think..
Deadlift	265 3/3	Not bad. By the end of the warmup figured out how to set my back and these were pretty straight-forward. Glad I scaled down from 275 3/4 -- I was falling asleep by this time.

I spent most of this session in hyperextension, so half the exercises were off but snatches and deadlifts were pretty decent. Small victories.

[max]

Shitposting is so February 2018

True. That forum was not as exciting as I hoped.

[max]

And again, I'm feeling it more than I expected the day after.

[max]

Squat	255 4/6	Lower back was achy in places. Finished the worksets in well under 20 minutes
Press	100 4/6	Remembered how to do the hip thing half way through work sets.

Realized that it may be easier to do 6 40-50 minute sessions instead of three hour and a half ones.. Especially since three of them are "active rest". Tomorrow is busy, so decided to train today.

[max]

My rotator cuffs say "no crossfit".

Sticking to squat/press/bench/deadlift for the next little while.

Also feel that rows and "abs work" are missing from my life.

[max]

Deadlift	2's - 235, 250, 265 1's - 280, 295	Warmups were feeling heavy but the work sets went up.
Bench	2's - 165, 175, 185 1's - 195, 205	How do bench? Could not get tight for the life of me...
(Hip Thrusts, Mntn Climber Plank)	(135 8, 7+7)/3	Trying this out . Hip thrusts were ok, but mountain climbers weren't as "absy" as they were last time I tried them.

Traps still hate supporting weight. They stopped being achy half way through the day but made themselves known during warmup. I hope they'll be ready for pressing on Wednesday...

I was going to row, but decided to find something (quick) that did not involve holding the bar.

The main stuff took 50 minutes, so that's nice.

[max]

Either I forgot how recovery days feel like or lack of decent sleep or reasonable nutrition are making themselves known. Time for JOWAD - a Jar of Whey a Day.

Besides that I'm feeling fairly optimistic about my training.

[max]

Squat	260 3/5	Warmups were a bit off and couldn't get very tight but these were easy. Did at 3 minutes per set.
Press	120 3/5	Again form was iffy. Tried it both 2.0 and stricter way. 2.0 did work well. I think getting mid-back tight before taking the bar will lead to a better 2.0 press. I will try next time.
Underhand Grip Barbell Rows	135 5/3	I was planning for an 8... Also wanted to superset these with knee raises but they just felt off. Perhaps unsurprisingly, transitioning from back extension to hollow body will need practice.

Traps/rotators still weren't to happy but this was easy. The whole thing done in ~60 min.

Next week training Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday.