Daily training. Annual improvements.

[hector]

Christmas Day Lifting 2022 (abbreviated session)

Main
Ssb Squat: 280 x 5 x 5
Bench: 250 x 8s x 5r
T-Bar Rows (wide grip): 210 x 8s x 5r

Aux
Scapular Chins: 5s x 10r
Reverse Hyper: 160 x 5s x 10r

Tonnage
Ssb Squat: 7,000
Bench: 10,000
T-Bar Rows: 8,400
———————————
Total: 25,400

#################

Good times.
Merry Christmas.

[hector]

Ended up “selling” it to a super young firefighter. Right out of school. I just gave it to him, no money, bc I could immediately tell he was starting out in life and at a point where $40 meant more to him than me. He was beyond thankful, super polite.
This probably doesn’t sound like a big deal or something worth writing about. And for most people, probably isn’t. But it’s already a great Christmas for a boring fuck like me.

Definitely sounds like the kind of win I would've appreciated, especially at that stage of life.

Me too!

[hector]

Ended up “selling” it to a super young firefighter. Right out of school. I just gave it to him, no money, bc I could immediately tell he was starting out in life and at a point where $40 meant more to him than me. He was beyond thankful, super polite.
This probably doesn’t sound like a big deal or something worth writing about. And for most people, probably isn’t. But it’s already a great Christmas for a boring fuck like me.

Definitely sounds like the kind of win I would've appreciated, especially at that stage of life.

Same dude. I remember when I had to work like 6 hours to earn that much money at pizza hut. That dude's grateful.

Yeah. He was super appreciative. Made my day.

[hector]

And I think 1RM goals are dumb bc they incentivize you to do dumb things.

What I said on the 2023 goals thread. I do enough dumb things generally without further incentivization.

All that said, here’s a short term 1RM goal: I will join @Renascent in the 320 bench club before the year is out.

Sigh.

This probably doesn’t sound like a big deal or something worth writing about.

It does. You’re a good dude, Hector.

Yes! I read your comment in the thread! I also read something similar (different, but related) from Hugh Jackman describing how he hit his 315 bench. Or maybe 500 deadlift. He talked about how the 1RM goals were the wrong way to think about progress. You had to just get fully absorbed in the process and be disciplined.

I felt dumb writing the 320 goal a I wrote it. May not hit it. Still excited.

[hector]

Christmas Night

Quick 10k bike ride. ~22 minutes

[hector]

26 Dec 2022 (Off Day)

Squat: 225 x 5 x 5

First time back squatting in forever.
I greatly prefer SSB squats, and will continue to chiefly do them, but want to bring straight bar back squats back into the mix.

After not back squatting for several months, only SSB squatting instead, hitting depth was not at all an issue. squats were all almost ATG.

When I was daily squatting at least 225 x 5 x 5 awhile back the purpose wasn’t to up my 1RM. It was to get volume a little higher, get some movement in on my off days, and have something to do during my lunch break. I’m at a new office with now with no squat rack. I asked HR if I could donate a squat rack to our tiny fitness area, but after several inquiries there has still been no response.

[hector]

27 Dec 2022 Tuesday

Main
Ssb Squat: 300 x 3s x 5r
Ssb Squat: 250 x 5 x 5
Bench: 270 x 5s x 3r
Bench: 230 x 8s x 6r
T-Bar Rows (close grip): 210 x 5s x 10r

Aux
Scapular Chins: 5s x 15r
Reverse Hyper: 160 x 5s x 12r

Tonnage
Ssb Squat: (4,500 + 6,250) = 10,750
Bench: (4,050 + 11,040) = 15,090
T-Bar Rows: 10,500
——————————————————————
Total: 36,740

###############################

Squats felt surprisingly, stupidly light tonight.
Which I didn’t expect since I also squatted last night and the day before.
So, 3 days squatting in a row.

Res Ipsa Loquitur.

[hector]

28 Dec 2022 Wed (Off Day)

Squat: 225 x 5 x 5
Bench: 285 x 2s x 1r
Bench: 285 x 1s x 2r

##################

Read a great article on a guy’s journey to benching 405 x 5. (Link below.)
Big part of it was benching singles on off days. So I’ll do that for a bit and see how it goes. He would do 85% of 1RM for at least 4 singles on off days. Heavier if he felt like it.
Today I did 4 singles at 285. My 1RM is 315. So over 85%, still super easy. Will likely adjust upward as I go along. (I’ve actually benched 285 for sets of 5 before. So I’m not immediately sure what weight my singles on off days should be.)
May revise what I bench on my on days. Not sure. Yesterday I did 265 x 5 x 5, then 230 x 8s x 6r. May have to revise that.

[augeleven]

Uhoh. Hector is on PEDs (press ever day).

Have you looked at his other programs?

He did a cycle of Smolov for deadlifts while training for a marathon. Smarathlov. Good stuff.
I might pick your brain later about non lifting day exercise, because I know you have had some experience in it.

[hector]

Uhoh. Hector is on PEDs (press ever day).

Have you looked at his other programs?

He did a cycle of Smolov for deadlifts while training for a marathon. Smarathlov. Good stuff.
I might pick your brain later about non lifting day exercise, because I know you have had some experience in it.

Augeleven, thank you!
I just found this last night. So I hadn't read the Smarthlov yet, but just read it now. That guy is a machine. It was cool to see that someone accomplished (concurrent training that led to good outcomes) what I have failed at for so long.

My lack of success would suggest I can't tell you much about what will work with off day training. But, for sure, I can share my mistakes and tell you what I think doesn't work. And the tiny bit I know that worked for me, to the extent it did.

(1) I strongly recommend you keep your off day stuff short in time. 30 minutes max.
(2) It should be fun. If it becomes a "workout", something that seems like a chore, then it's not really an off day.
(3) So the challenge is finding something that address a weakness or goal, doesn't take too long, isn't terrible, yet is impactful.
(4) Your off day stuff can have real intensity. And it can have real volume. I strongly recommend it not have both.

Years ago I did this with squats. I did my regular M,W,F 3x5 or 5x5 or whatever. My worksets back then were around 340, maybe 350. So on my off days I started squatting 225 x 5 x 5. The 225 weight was easy AF. I could get all 5 sets done in 15 minutes. Maybe because I had a hyper-sedentary job, I actually felt much looser and healthier when I was squatting every day.
It worked pretty well at the time. I noticed that I didn't need many warm up sets anymore. I had no issues hitting depth. (Before, I would actually need a loaded barbell to hit depth. When the barbell wasn't loaded I would just barely hit 90 degrees. My preference is to go below 90.)
This led me to hitting my heaviest squat ever (425 or 435, can't remember) easily. For some dumb reason, after hitting my all time 1RM at RPE 8, I decided to abandon squatting and focus intensely on deadlifts.

[DCR]

Damn you for posting that! I had to stop reading after the first few paragraphs because I felt myself already wanting to toss out everything that I’m doing to try it.

Bookmarked, though.

[augeleven]

This is interesting. I was thinking of doing a daily bodyweight/banded circuit thingie, but I kinda wanna squat everyday.

[hector]

29 Dec 2022 Thursday Evening

Main
Ssb Squat: 300 x 3s x 5r
Bench: 270 x 3s x 5r
Bench: 230 x 8s x 6r
T-Bar Rows (close grip): 210 x 5s x 8r

Aux
Scapular Chins: 5s x 10r
Reverse Hyper: 160 x 5s x 10r

Tonnage
Ssb Squat: 4,500
Bench: (4,050 + 11,040) = 15,090
T-Bar Rows: 8,400
————————————————————-
Total: 27,990

#############################

5 days in a row squatting. Almost that many consecutive days benching.
Interesting sets tonight. Squatting and benching both felt lighter than they normally do. But I also felt slightly more fatigued than I normally do while lifting. IOW, the weights moved faster and easier even though I simultaneously felt more tired. As if my nervous system was tweaked to be a little stronger, but my muscles were a little worn.
Didn’t go wild with squat volume. Will go easy there until I figure out how to balance squats with increased cardio.
Normally after the 3 sets of 5 benching 270 I would have been tempted to do a few more sets. Since I’m planning on heavy bench singles tomorrow night, that temptation was gone.

Looking forward to going for that 320 bench single soon.

[hector]

29 Dec 2022 Thurs Late Night

Bike Erg: easy 10k. 23 minutes.

[hector]

30 Dec 2022 Friday (afternoon)

6 days in a row squatting. Week or two back I had a kidney stone. Luckily it ended. Unluckily, it was only a temporary reprieve. Discomfort returned. Turns out it had just gone dark for a week. X ray showed it is lower, but not yet expelled. F.

On the bright side, I like this nSuns program. I’m going half speed to ease into it, but so far so good.

Squat: 225 x 5 x 5
Bench: 290 x 4s x 1r

[hector]

30 Dec 2022 Friday (evening)

Bike Erg: Easy 10k, 23 minutes

[Renascent]

I'm a bit out of the loop: is that DadliftsnRuns guy the creator of nSuns?

[hector]

I'm a bit out of the loop: is that DadliftsnRuns guy the creator of nSuns?

Yep.
I think. Not sure why 2 screen names.

[augeleven]

There was some drama when he claimed some running and lifting achievements on the reddits. A lot of runners butt hurt that he was running on a ( the horror…) treadmill, and didn’t post Strava evidence of his runs. There may be more to it than that, but that’s what I remember/read

[hector]

There was some drama when he claimed some running and lifting achievements on the reddits. A lot of runners butt hurt that he was running on a ( the horror…) treadmill, and didn’t post Strava evidence of his runs. There may be more to it than that, but that’s what I remember/read

As a fatty non-runner, I have to ask. Why did they give him shit about the treadmill? Is that the runner’s smith machine?