Tim's Antidote to Atrophy Log

[TimGarvey]

Hi my name is Tim. I live in Utah. I have been training for about 4 years and I'm 51. I have followed a variety of programs and had a log on another site, but hadn't updated it in a while. I thought that there would eventually be a rift between the BBM and the StSt group, but didn't think it would be so dramatic, with multiple certificate resignations. Aren't parents supposed to be proud when their children surpass them? I've been following this forum and have really enjoyed the free flow of ideas.

Height 5' 8"
Current weight 190 lbs
My weight is down 10 lbs since January 1, after trying the carnivore diet. After 1 month, I shrunk my gut from 40 to 36 inches, lowered my blood pressure 20 mm Hg, and was able to stop using my CPAP, after 1 month, so I'm a fan of the diet so far. No ill effects, and I don't have any horrible cravings.

Injury History: I had a big setback in 2017 after a distal biceps tendon rupture and endobutton repair. I currently have weightlifter's shoulder or distal clavicle osteolysis. I met with my arm surgeon 2 weeks ago. My rotator cuff is fully intact. He felt the bones would eventually remodel to a new stable state, and pain will eventually improve, so I didn't need surgery, but he would do it if I wanted it. He was a former NCAA athlete and coach and understand the importance of training for mental and physical health.

I just signed up for a trial week of Jiu Jitsu with my kids. I quickly realized my conditioning needs work. The snow is off my street, so it's time to bring out the prowler. Training is done in a compact garage gym, year round. I tried a local power lifting gym last year, for 1 month. They closed too early, 10 PM.

I had my best sustained progress in 2016 following Andy Baker's KISS program. I also had success with Shaf's Ladders program and enjoyed the low level of fatigue. I may try to implement a 1/2/3 ladders repetition scheme with an HPS program in the future. I recently completed a BBM hypertrophy GPP template. In the past I tried TM and wondered how the DL was supposed to progress with only 1 set per week.

Best lifts ever/within 3 months
Standard DL 385/385
LB Squat 370/345
Bench 293/280
Press 185/180

Goals:
200, 300, 400, 500 lbs
more consistent sleep
looking like someone who can still lift heavy things

I thought I would give a posted version of the Montana method a try, thanks @Hanley

HPS training Log
Day 1
3/19/18
Hypertrophy day, 70%
Sq 240 lbs: 3s x 5r, 6s x 4 r
BP 197.5 lbs: 3s x 5r, 6s x 4r
SGDL 185 lbs: 6s x 4r (no idea on percentage because I never pull this way)

Day 2
3/20/18
Hypertorphy
Press 125 lbs: 10s x 4r
DL: 275 lbs: 4s x 4r (counted 24 reps from day 1 to reach 40)

Day 3
3/21/18
Power 70x2, 75x2, 80x2, 85x2x1
BP 195 x 2, 210 x 2, 225 x 2, 237.5 x1,1
SQ 242x2, 260x2, 276x2, 295x1,1 (felt fatigued, after first Jiu Jitsu lesson)

[mgil]

Thanks for signing up, @TimGarvey!

[TimK]

Welcome to the forum! In addition to sharing the same first name as you, I also have the unfortunate distinction of having suffered a distal biceps tendon rupture. Currently six weeks post op. I had the endobutton repair too. Was yours from deadlifting or something else?

[TimGarvey]

Hi Tim. I ruptured my left biceps, over the course of 2 injuries in 2 weeks, during the 2017 ski season. The initial injury was sort of deadlift related. I had my hands below the back bumper of a car, and I was trying to help a woman get unstuck. All of her tires had been in ice ruts and I was trying to rock and lift. So, you could say it was a very poor form deadlift with bent arms. I had severe pain that day and noticed by left biceps were shorter. I skied anyway.

The next week I was skiing, and fell onto the extended left arm, and that was when I felt the snapping sensation. I had minimal bruising, and the biceps did not retract fully. I stopped skiing that day. The rupture was confirmed with ultrasound. I had the surgery about 1.5 weeks after the injury. The surgeon told me there was a tiny thread of tendon still attached, and that explained why my biceps didn't retract. My wife took picture of me mowing the lawn the day of my surgery. While I was wearing the elbow immobilizer, I continued to do some hill sprints and SSB squats. It was really hard to load plates with 1 arm. I wasn't cleared to lift real weight for 3 months after surgery. The surgeon didn't make me see a PT because he was convinced I would get stronger just fine on my own. I did not lose any range of motion but my repaired left biceps are about 2 inches shorter than the right. It seems to be just a cosmetic issue.

I still have not fully recovered by grip strength on the left side. I worry about reinjuring the left biceps if I supinate with the left hand while deadlifting, (which is what I was accustomed to) so I use a strap on that side to maintain a double overhand grip on working sets. I guess I could try the hook grip, but I lack the enthusiasm to do it.

[TimK]

I still have not fully recovered by grip strength on the left side. I worry about reinjuring the left biceps if I supinate with the left hand while deadlifting, (which is what I was accustomed to) so I use a strap on that side to maintain a double overhand grip on working sets. I guess I could try the hook grip, but I lack the enthusiasm to do it.

Yeah, I'm going to switch to hook grip but only because I want to compete. Otherwise I would just stick to straps without giving it a second thought.

[TimGarvey]

3/23/18
Strength Day 80% of 1rm
LB Squat 275lbs 4s x 3r no grinding, 2nd set faster than first
Bench 225lbs 5s x 3r wasn't sure if I was going to do this paused or T&G so alternated
DL 310lbs 4s x 3r, alternated standard and sumo sets. The weight did not move fast. I will either move this to exercise 1 or try 6 sets of 2 next week or maybe 12 singles EMOM.

[TimGarvey]

3/24/18
am weight 188.3 lbs
HIIT Airdyne 7 sets 20 sec work/ 100 sec rest
Strength 80%
Press 143.75 lbs. 4s x 3r
bw chin 10s x 4r

I have noticed 2 weaknesses over the last 3 months, upper back, and quadriceps. I'm trying to determine if this would be best addressed with extra assistance work or with alternatives of the main lifts. For example, I could substitute front squats or SSB in place of LBBS on hypertrophy day.

[TimGarvey]

3/26/18
1 hour of Jiu Jitsu
hypertrophy day 1, week 2
Squat 245: 10s x 4r, descent of first rep of every set felt bad, belted LBBS
Bench 200: 10s x 4r
BW chin: 10s x 4r
felt beat up, consumed protein and ibuprofen before bed

[TimGarvey]

3/27/18
hypertrophy day 2
SGDL 205: 10s x 4r left hand grip failing after set 6
Press 126.25: 10s x 4r all sets moved fine
Baker Row 135: 5s x 8r will attempt twice weekly rows and chins to address upper back lack of jack

[TimGarvey]

3/28/18
Power Day week 2
LBBS 185x2, 225x2, 245x2, 262.5x2, 280x2, 300x1,1 1-3 min rest between sets
BP 185x2, 200x2, 210x2, 225x2, 240x1,1 all reps crisp
DL 225x1,250x1, 270x1, 290x1, 310x1,325x1 last set felt slow, started to lose grip on L with 310
Assistance
LTE 80lbs 5,5 stopped due to elbow pain
Curl 75lbs 5s x 10r

3/30/18 Skipped exercise due to URI

[TimGarvey]

Missed 1 week due to URI with asthma complications
4/6/18
Week 3 Hypertrophy day
BP T&G 200 lbs, 10s x 4r
LBBS 245 lbs 9s x 4r much smoother than previous hypertrophy day, no pain on eccentrics
CGBP 170 lbs 4,4, stopped due to R shoulder pain
OHP 95x2, 117.5x2, 127x2, 136x2, 145x2, 155x1,1 the 85% (155lb) reps felt a bit slow
Chins +5 lbs: 4s x 3r, 7s x 4r; 40 reps total

[TimGarvey]

4/7/2018
Week 3 Day 2 (combined some Power and Hypertrophy to give a day to recover and get back on schedule Monday)
DL 275x1, 295x1, 315x1, 335x1
SGDL 210 lbs 6s x 4r
OHP 127.5 lbs 8s x 4r
Press and SGDL were superset to save time

[TimGarvey]

4/9/18
Week 4
Changed hypertrophy day squat to SSB to target more quad hypertrophy. I was not sure of my 1RM for SSB so I dropped weight 10% from last LBBS weight.
T&G BP 200 lbs all sets @6 to 6.5 4,4,5,5,5,5,4,4,4 done in 15 min
SSB 220 5,5,5,5,4,4,4,4,4 last 3 sets approached @7
weighted chins, +5 lbs, total weight was 202 lbs 10s x 4r, supersets with squat worked well but required longer interset rest, took 35 min to do both
curls 75 lbs 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5

[TimGarvey]

4/11/18 AM, this work was supposed to be completed on 4/10
OHP 127.5 lbs 10s x 4r, hit @7 on set 10, 15 min total
SGDL 210 lbs 10s x 4r, left hand grip did not start to fail until set 10 which is an improvement.

[TimGarvey]

4/11/18 PM
Week 4, day 3, Power day, 70%x2, 75%x2, 80%x2, 85%2x1
Comp paused BP 200x2, 212.5x2, 227.5x2, 242.5 1,1
LBBS belted 250x2, 265x2, 285x2, 305x2
BW chins ladder 30-60 sec rest between sets 5,3,2,5,3,2,5,3,2,5,3,2 40 reps total in 10 min

4/12/18 rest day
4/13/18 planned strength day
4/14/18
Week 4, day 4, Strength Day, ended up started at 0800 fasted, trying to get done before rest of family awake
LBBS belted
285 x 3@6.5
285 x 3@6.5
285 x 3@6.5
285 x 3@7
285 x 3@7
all sets felt good, got full depth, stayed tight
1ct belted BP
weight was supposed to be 227.5, but misloaded at 225 lbs
225 x 3@6
225 x 3@6
225 x 3@6
225 x 3@6.5
225 x 3@6.5
added some 70% work
202.5 x 4
202.5 x 4
202.5 x 4
Conventional Deadlift, strap for left hand
315 x 3 @7
315 x 3 @7
315 x 3 @8
315 x 3 @8 first rep slow, presyncope symptoms briefly after first rep of last 2 sets. Maybe best to eat before DL's. Workout done before taking BP med. Maybe a little dehydrated. BP 132/80, Wt 189 lbs

[Wilhelm]

Good work going on here, @TimGarvey.

Do you have any particular things you need to supplement on the carnivore diet?
Just curious, as i do a fairly non standard diet as well.

[TimGarvey]

4/16/18
Week 5, day 1, Hypertrophy

Squat-low back was tweaked on last warm up set on DL from 4/14/18. Started off with some good mornings for warm up. Goal was to get 225 lbs with SSB for 10s x 4r. Even slight low of back extension caused pain at bottom of squat. With my hands on the handles of the SSB I seem to have more trouble keeping my back fully rigid. Attempted a warmup with high bar squat and that was worse. Ended up setting a goal of LBBS for 10s of 5r at 65%. The repetitions all ended up being slightly high, and could be considered paused squats since I was moving so slow. Eventually made it trough 8 sets of 5 reps. First 5 sets on 90 seconds rest and lest 3 sets on 2-3 minutes rest. Hung from chinup bar between sets.

T&G BP
205 lbs 10s x 4reps, 60 sec rest on first 6 sets, and 90 second required for last 4 sets. All work done in 12 min

LBBS 2ct paused, unable to get full depth
230 lbs 8s x 5reps
No assistance, still recovering from cold, day 17

[TimGarvey]

4/17/18 null
4/18/18
Still working with low back tweak, front to avoid any flexion
Comp BP
205 x 2
215 x 2
230 x 2
245 x 1,1 @6.5 to 7
Front squat
115 x 2
135 x 2
155 x 2
175 x 2
185 x 2 @7 all sets went well, no back aggravation
Good morning c straight bar, in place of SGDL
95 x 10
105 x 10
115 x 10
125 x 10
135 x 10
Press 70%
130 9s x 4r in a superset c
Weighted chin, + 10 lbs, 204 lbs total
9s x 4 r completed press and chin in 20 minutes

4/19/18 off
4/20/18 woke up unable to stand straight with back spasm, will likely do prowler push only for lower body next week

[TimGarvey]

4/23/18
Week 6
Day1
T&G Bench 70%
207.5 lbs, 7s x 5r, completed in 15 min
Attempted front squat with bar
HBS with bar, unable to squat without back pain

Weighted chin
BW 194 lbs, +12.5 lbs 3s x 4 r 60 sec rest, +10 lbs 3s x 4r, +5 lbs 4,2 10 minute block timed out

4/24/18
Press Null
Slow air squat
no weight hip hinges

4/25/18
Week 6, day 3
BP Strength
60% 175 lbs 1s x 3r @<6
70% 207.5 lbs 1s x 2r @<6
77.5% 230 lbs 1s x 2r @6
85% 251.25 lbs 1@7
92% 272.5 lbs 1@8-8.5, bar definitely slowed down

Reread @Austin "Aches and Pains" article, and listened to the BBM training with pain podcast. I had no signs of radiculopathy, altered leg strength or altered reflexes, just spasms in the low back. Driving a manual transmission is less that optimal with spasm in this area. Determined the source of my low back pain was inappropriate volume on GM exercise on 4/18/18 thinking this would give me the hamstring volume I would miss by avoiding SGDL. Instead I got severe DOMS, on 4/20/18, in the lumbar spine, leading to spasms and altered posture.

Put on belt and did light squats with just the bar 3s x 5r, 65 lbs 2s x 5r, 95lbs 3s x 5r, 135 lbs 1s x 5r
RDL with, 3 sets of 5 reps
I had 1 full hour of relief where I could actually stand up straight after completing this work.

4/26
unscheduled low back weighted ROM work
SSB Squat with belt: 65 x 5, 85 x 5, 105 x 5, 125 x 5, 145 x 5, 165 lbs x 3s x 8r
DL with belt: 135 x 5, 185 lbs 3s x 5r
Minimal pain with work sets.

[TimGarvey]

4/27/18
Week 6 Power Day
BP 80% = 236.25 lbs
T&G followed by 1 2ct paused 3/1/3/1/3/1/3/1 in 18 min, paused singles were all easy
Still rehabbing low back
Trap Bar high handle 135x5, 225x5 concentric only, no pain
Chins 191.2 lbs + 12.5 lbs 5,5,5,5 +10 lbs 4,3 + 5 lbs 3,3,3,3 Total 39 reps in 13 min density block

4/28/18
Trap bar DL high handle, hips high, 220 lbs 5s x 6r in 6.5 min

4/30/18
Week 7 Hypertrophy Day 1
SSB to pins, 1ct pause, just above parallel
185 lbs: 8s x 5r, 60-75 sec rest between sets, 40 reps in 15 min, 7400 lbs tonnage
BP T&G, benching more than I squat
210 x 5@6
210 x 5@6
210 x 5@6
210 x 5@6
210 x 5@7 1.5 min rest all previous sets
210 x 5@8 2 min rest
210 x 5@9 all completed in 15 min, first time hitting @9 on BP hypertrophy, 7350 lbs tonnage
Revere grip curls, thumbless
Myo reps, Bar 15,5,5,5,5,5
Calf raises 2s x 15r, haven't done these for months