Herbison's Training Log

[DCR]

I’m not going to be logging most of these, but I'm doing more training on my non-lifting days. Yoga's been helping me, in particular with bracing. I've keeping my hips under me better recently, and that's most of the reason

Sean, would you mind expanding on this? What is the yoga strengthenimg and / or what are you cuing to better keep your hips under you? This has been my obsession over the past several months.

[SeanHerbison]

Sean, would you mind expanding on this? What is the yoga strengthenimg and / or what are you cuing to better keep your hips under you? This has been my obsession over the past several months.

It's not a strengthening thing for me, definitely cuing. The effect was immediate, though I definitely need more work to make it consistent. I'm trying to avoid anterior pelvic tilt, where my chest stays up but my hips pivot back, so I'm thinking about pulling the tops of my thighs forward/up. For deadlift, it has a lot of overlap with pressing my trunk into my legs at the bottom.

[DCR]

Sean, would you mind expanding on this? What is the yoga strengthenimg and / or what are you cuing to better keep your hips under you? This has been my obsession over the past several months.

It's not a strengthening thing for me, definitely cuing. The effect was immediate, though I definitely need more work to make it consistent. I'm trying to avoid anterior pelvic tilt, where my chest stays up but my hips pivot back, so I'm thinking about pulling the tops of my thighs forward/up. For deadlift, it has a lot of overlap with pressing my trunk into my legs at the bottom.

I too am trying to avoid atp. Semi-yearly back tweaks got old.

I’m glad that I asked, and that you responded before my last set of squats this morning. I thought that I had heard every cue imaginable for this issue, but never had heard of pulling the tops of the thighs up. That worked spectacularly on my one set - looking forward to really taking it out for a walk next time in. It’s interesting how focusing on knees forward always has pissed them off, whereas cues designed to get them forward, without the concentration, don’t bother them.

Anyway, thank you.

[SeanHerbison]

Back to real training. I had to take a couple weeks off entirely (booooo), then about a week of lighter training. I'm done with doing my own programming, at least for a few months, so I'm using the Average to Savage program I purchased from Greg Nuckols a few years ago.

Last week was a week 0, testing out what works and what doesn't with this setup. For instance, I'm giving up on usefully training deadlift with straps and a belt together. I just can't get set, so that's out, and I'm going beltless for this block's deadlift training.

I'm doing the 3x/week version. Here's week 1 day 1.

Tuesday, 26 Dec

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
LB Squat	317 x 5 x 4 317 x 10 @ 8.5
Beltless Sumo Deadlift	264 x 7 x 4 264 x 15 @ 8.5?
Incline Press	132 x 7 x 4 132 x 15 @ 9
Ring Chin-ups	BW x 5, 5, 4, 2, 3
Echo Bike	20 min - 6.20 mi

I thought that I had heard every cue imaginable for this issue, but never had heard of pulling the tops of the thighs up.

I'm still working on solidifying this. I'm trying to take it from a cue to a feeling, something I just recently realized I am terrible at, which explains a lot. I'm an extremely verbal thinker, so making that jump is not intuitive. I'm trying to keep the hip/trunk connection contracted, while expanding the hip/femur connection. It's getting better.

I'm trying to focus on better, instead of perfect. I'm realizing how not helpful the latter is.

[SeanHerbison]

Thursday, 28 Dec

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Bench Press	225 x 5 x 4 225 x 11
Overhead Press	117 x 5 x 4 117 x 9
Safety Bar Squat	225 x 7 x 4 225 x 15
Chest-Supported Row	30s x 12 x 4 30s x 16
Echo Bike	20 min - 7.33 mi

Saturday, 30 Dec

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Beltless Deadlift	309 x 5 x 4 309 x 12
Close Grip Bench	183 x 7 x 4 183 x 12
Paused Squat	238 x 7 x 4 238 x 10
Push Press	99 x 7 x 4 99 x 9
Ring Pull-Up	BW x 4, 3, 3, 2, 3
Echo Bike	20 min - 7.08 mi

I'm working on getting my rack position better, and that has the weird effect that my push press working weights are currently lower than my overhead press weights. I have to really crank my arm to get the bar to touch my left shoulder without being way up in my fingers, whereas I can just have the bar float on OHP. I'm limited by my ability to stand the position, rather than the weight itself.

[SeanHerbison]

Monday, 1 Jan 2024

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
LB Squat	331 x 4 x 4 331 x 5
Beltless Sumo Deadlift	289 x 6 x 4 289 x 8
Incline Press	143 x 6 x 4 143 x 10
Ring Chin-ups	BW x 5, 3, 2, 3, 2
Echo Bike	22:40 - 6.75 mi

Wednesday, 3 Jan

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Bench Press	240 x 4 x 4 240 x 8
Beltless Overhead Press	121 x 4 x 4 121 x 10
Safety Bar Squat	245 x 6 x 4 245 x 6 x 13
Chest-Supported Row	32.5s x 12 x 4 32.5s x 16
Leg raise	30 sec on, 30 off x 3
Echo Bike	20 min - 7.31 mi

I'm quite happy with my mindset recently, and a not insignificant amount of that is due to my yearly theme of moving forward. Monday's workout was dragging. I felt good going in, and then somehow the energy just wasn't there. I wanted to give it up, but I just accepted my performance, mostly measured by the last, AMRAP, set would be lower. Wednesday's workout was great. My energy level was above normal, and I got through it efficiently and enjoyed it. In both cases, I got done what I set out to do for the day (and added some abs on Wednesday). I'm learning that it's okay to have off days. Just because it's not optimal doesn't mean it's not moving me forward, and it's still worth doing even if I can't do it as well as I think I should.

@Manveer has been my Echo Bike muse, and I'm seeing good progress on cardio, finally. I've never particularly liked doing cardio. When I had others to compete against I managed to do it that way, but I've never been that successful at keeping it up on my own. In the past, I would figure that if I'm going to do something I dislike anyway, I'm going to do it optimally and get max results. I would force myself to go a little further or a little faster each time, and then when I got frustrated by not being able to keep that up, or just by how hard it was getting, I'd find some reason not to do it.

Now, I'm seeing improvements without hating it, and that's making me feel better about it overall, which makes it much easier to be consistent. I've been kind of aware for years that what is "optimal" on one level may not be optimal on a higher level, but somehow I've found it very hard to put that into practice. I've always wanted to push for optimal on that immediate, easiest-to-see level, but now I'm starting to make better progress by easing up on that.

[SeanHerbison]

Friday, 5 Jan

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Beltless Deadlift	335 x 6 x 4 335 x 9
Close Grip Bench	187 x 6 x 4 187 x 13
Paused Squat	245 x 6 x 4 245 x 14
Push Press	101 x 6 x 4 101 x 16
Ring Pull-Up	BW x 3 x 5
Echo Bike	20 min - 6.48 mi

Monday, 8 Jan

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
LB Squat	344 x 3 x 4 344 x 9
Beltless Sumo Deadlift	295 x 5 x 4 295 x 15
Incline Press	148 x 5 x 4 148 x 13
Ring Chin-ups	BW x 6, 5, 4, 4, 4
Plank	30 sec high/30 sec elbows
Echo Bike	20 min - 6.72 mi

Chugging along, on to week 3.

I'm making progress, despite many of my sets being in the 7-10 RIR range based on my AMRAP sets. For upper body, they're mostly actual AMRAPs, to failure or RPE 10. For squat/deadlift, it's to technical failure, or limited by something else, like how long I'm willing to stand there and breath with the SSB between reps.

Cardio is also coming along, much more than I expected. Focusing on consistency instead of trying to "optimize" it is working quite well. I didn't have any particular goal for today's bike, I even had my eyes closed for most of it, and I'm still up about 0.4 mi from my starting distances.

[SeanHerbison]

Wednesday, 10 Jan

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Bench Press	258 x 3 x 4 258 x 7
Beltless Overhead Press	130 x 3 x 4 130 x 9
Safety Bar Squat	265 x 5 x 4 265 x 7
Chest-Supported Row	35s x 12 x 4 35s x 13
Echo Bike	20 min - 6.74 mi

Friday, 12 Jan

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Beltless Deadlift	357 x 3 x 4 357 x 10
Close Grip Bench	203 x 5 x 4 203 x 13
Paused Squat	267 x 5 x 4 267 x 11
Push Press	112 x 5 x 4 112 x 13
Ring Pull-Up	BW x 4 x 5
Echo Bike	20 min - 6.59 mi

This is fun. I'm making sustainable progress. I've been doing yoga daily, and it's been helping my positioning and bracing.

[SeanHerbison]

Monday, 15 Jan

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
LB Squat	315 x 5 x 4 315 x 10
Beltless Sumo Deadlift	271 x 7 x 4 271 x 17
Incline Press	134 x 7 x 4 134 x 15
Ring Chin-ups	BW x 4 x 5
Echo Bike	20 min - 7.08 mi

Wednesday, 17 Jan

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Safety Bar Squat	225 x 7 x 4 225 x 16
Bench Press	234 x 5 x 4 234 x 9
Beltless Overhead Press	121 x 5 x 4 121 x 11
Chest-Supported Row	35s x 14 x 4 35s x 17
Echo Bike	20:09 - 6.31 mi

Friday, 19 Jan

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Close Grip Bench	183 x 7 x 4 183 x 12
Paused Squat	238 x 7 x 4 238 x 12
Push Press	101 x 7 x 4 101 x 12
Beltless Deadlift	331 x 5 x 4 331 x 6
Echo Bike	3 times over 1000 in 46 seconds
Ring Pull-Up	BW x 4, 4, 4, 3, 2

Monday, 22 Jan

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
LB Squat	339 x 4 x 4 339 x 8
Beltless Sumo Deadlift	298 x 6 x 4 298 x 16
Incline Press	146 x 6 x 4 146 x 16
Ring Chin-ups	BW x 4, 3, 3, 4, 3
Echo Bike	20 min - 7.61 mi

Set a PR for 20 minutes on the bike. Kept a 61 RPM average here.

Wednesday, 24 Jan

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Safety Bar Squat	269 x 6 247 x 6 x 3 247 x 12
Bench Press	251 x 5 x 3, hit RPE 10 229 x 5 229 x 7
Beltless Overhead Press	130 x 5 x 4 130 x 7
Chest-Supported Row	35s x 15, 14, 15, 14, 16
Echo Bike	20 min - 5.63 mi

Friday, 26 Jan

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Paused Squat	253 x 6 x 4 253 x 10
Push Press	108 x 6 x 4 108 x 13
w/Beltless Deadlift	335 x 4 x 4 335 x 7
Close Grip Bench	194 x 6 x 4 194 x 9

Tuesday, 30 Jan

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
LB Squat	364 x 3 x 4 364 x 5
Beltless Sumo Deadlift	331 x 5 x 3
Incline Press	161 x 5 x 4 161 x 9
Bike	40 min - 10.36 mi

Thursday, 1 Feb

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Bench Press	260 x 3 x 4 260 x 7

Saturday, 3 Feb

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Beltless Deadlift	357 x 3 x 4 357 x 7
Close Grip Bench	198 x 5 x 4 198 x 12
Paused Squat	267 x 5 x 4 267 x 12
Push Press	117 x 5 x 4 117 x 10
Ring Pull-Up	BW x 4, 3 x 4
Echo Bike	20 min - 6.15 mi

Still going on average to savage. This is the lightest lifting I've done in years, but I'm making progress, and not just on strength. My mobility and positioning/bracing are better, largely thanks to the yoga, and my cardio is definitely improving. I don't log my warmups, but I've got cardio in there as well as at the end. Either a jog or the echo bike most days, along with some ankle mobility work.

I considered not doing all this catch-up, but I couldn't deprive everyone of that many kitties.

[cgeorg]

Good stuff here, I think Jan 15 is the winner. I think I have some questions about how your 2024 theme actually works in relation to lifting, but it also seems that having a well-defined answer for that might be antithetical to the point of the theme.

[SeanHerbison]

Good stuff here, I think Jan 15 is the winner.

I agree.

I think I have some questions about how your 2024 theme actually works in relation to lifting, but it also seems that having a well-defined answer for that might be antithetical to the point of the theme.

Nah, go ahead. I'm figuring it out as I go, but so far I like it.

Monday, 5 Feb

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
LB Squat	265 x 5 x 5
Beltless Sumo Deadlift	227 x 5 x 5
Incline Press	110 x 5 x 5
Echo Bike	20 min - 5.77 mi

Nothing particularly exciting this week, as it's a deload. I did hit a 2024 PR on my warm-up jog without particularly meaning to, which was nice. I may have done it faster last year, but I don't feel like looking back at all my notes to check.

[SeanHerbison]

Wednesday, 7 Feb

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Bench Press	192 x 5 x 5
Beltless Overhead Press	101 x 5 x 5
Safety Bar Squat	183 x 5 x 5
Echo Bike	20 min - 6.14 mi

Not doing accessories this week, but still hitting the echo bike after each session.

[cgeorg]

I think I have some questions about how your 2024 theme actually works in relation to lifting, but it also seems that having a well-defined answer for that might be antithetical to the point of the theme.

Nah, go ahead. I'm figuring it out as I go, but so far I like it.

I guess it's around the idea of "moving forward" but not having specific goals, while tracking some specific metrics such as squat. You have some really big numbers in your lifting history, so ... what is the baseline that you're moving forward from? Dec 2023 numbers? Is forward a broad term that means you can look back at the end of the year, find some direction in which progress was made, and call that forward?

On the one hand, as mentioned I don't want to poison your thoughts on the theme. On the other, I do have a small group where we come up with similar yearly themes and getting some pushback has helped me gain clarity and refine the thought process.

[SeanHerbison]

I guess it's around the idea of "moving forward" but not having specific goals, while tracking some specific metrics such as squat. You have some really big numbers in your lifting history, so ... what is the baseline that you're moving forward from? Dec 2023 numbers? Is forward a broad term that means you can look back at the end of the year, find some direction in which progress was made, and call that forward?

I did a meet in November, and I'm using those numbers (480/320/595) as a baseline for SBD. I did a heavy but not max WL day in December, so I'm going with 220/265 there. None of those are numbers that should be hard to beat by just following intelligent (i.e. not my own) programming for a year. I have a spreadsheet with a bunch of other lifts that I track. I admittedly haven't been great at keeping it updated, but it gives me the gist of what I'm aiming for more broadly.

The "goal" is to make progress on all of them, or at least not move backward. They're not my all time maxes, because what good does it do to compare myself now at 225 BW to me at 260? I'd love to hit those numbers again, and I do think all-time PRs regardless of bodyweight are possible, but I've got a lot of intermediate goals to hit first.

The difference is in the mentality, mostly. If I had a strict goal PR on SBD, and I hit 481/321/596, that would technically be success, but realistically I'd be disappointed. On the other hand, if I hit 525/350/593, that would technically be failure, but I'd be happier with it. So instead of goals, I've got a theme, or you could call it a direction.

So I don't have a set of specific numbers that determine success/failure. 515/370/640 would be a definite win, since that be weight-class PRs in all 3, but it's more of an overall determination. Matching or exceeding 540/375/672 (sanctioned meet PRs) or 551/385/672 (military meet PRs) would obviously be a huge win, but those are unlikely this year, particularly if I don't want to gain 25+ pounds of bodyweight (spoiler: I do not).

Friday, 9 Feb

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Beltless Deadlift	242 x 5 x 5
w/Close Grip Bench	139 x 5 x 5
Paused Squat	143 x 5 x 5
w/Push Press	88 x 5 x 5
Echo Bike	20 min - 6.08 mi

And deload is done, yay! I'm looking forward to getting back to it. I was coaching some of my throwers on lifting today, and it made me sad that I don't get to lift for 2 more days.

My strength is probably actually about the same as it was at the start of the program, but other physical attributes are up quite a bit. That's the type of thing I'd probably be upset about if I had stricter lifting goals, but with a broader view, I'm cool with it. It helps that there were some things, mostly in my control, I could've done better in the first 7-week block. So I'm eager to see how training goes with those things fixed. I suspect I'll be noticeably stronger 7 weeks from now, while at least maintaining my cardio, mobility, etc. Time will tell.

[SeanHerbison]

Here are some examples of the broader physical goals I’d like to hit, beyond PL/WL 1RMs. Few of them are all-time PRs, but all of them are what I’d consider solid forward progress:

Zercher Deadlift from ground - 250 (more mobility than strength)
Front Squat - 365
DB Snatch - 120 w/each arm, or 140 with right
Overhead Squat - 220*3
Chin-ups - 10 reps in 1 set
Squat - 275 x 20
Bench - 230 x 15

And some other non-lifting fitness goals:

Warm-up run - 5:15 without going all-out (0.55 mi, slight uphill on the way out)
Echo Bike - 1800 max wattage
Splits - Hard to quantify, but ~150°
1 mile run - Completion. I haven’t done one in years
Seated box jump - 50”

Also, finally fully figuring out my pain would be great. I know it's not physical, but that doesn't mean I can stop it. I seem to always have 1 thing, just 1 thing at a time, that's not quite right. At the moment it's my right wrist.

The main way I know it's not physical is that it moves around. As soon as I figure out how to convince my brain that my Achilles tendon isn't injured, my lower back is suddenly sore. Then I figure that out, and my left shoulder's a bit iffy.

Also, as I realized about 2 weeks into my vacation in August, it went away the very day I started vacation, well before anything physical would've had time to calm down. I was stretching in the shower when I realized "Wait a minute, my leg hasn't bugged me once the entire time I've been here." Shortly after that, now that I was thinking about it again, I had a slight pain again, though I was thankfully able to quash it pretty quickly.

Getting rid of the last little bit I haven't figure out yet would be a huge step forward.

[DCR]

Squat - 275 x 20

You’ve got this anytime you want it. Just choose a day when you hate yourself.

[SeanHerbison]

You’ve got this anytime you want it. Just choose a day when you hate yourself.

Possibly true, though it would probably be borderline. I've done a single heavy set of 20 squats, ever. I walked in one day and decided spur of the moment to do 315*20. I got it, but that sucked. My squat max was about 530 at the time, and it's probably between 480 and 500 right now, so maybe.

[platypus]

Also, finally fully figuring out my pain would be great. I know it's not physical, but that doesn't mean I can stop it. I seem to always have 1 thing, just 1 thing at a time, that's not quite right. At the moment it's my right wrist.

The main way I know it's not physical is that it moves around. As soon as I figure out how to convince my brain that my Achilles tendon isn't injured, my lower back is suddenly sore. Then I figure that out, and my left shoulder's a bit iffy.

There's a Tnation article about Jon Broz that describes the exact same thing:

Fact is, when I visited Broz he explained that the previous week his wrist was so sore that he could barely warm up with the bar during split jerks, but he pushed through it, eventually felt warmed up, and ended up jerking 405 lbs. The following day his wrist pain had vanished.

He describes this phenomenon as "floating pain" – your body has to hurt somewhere. It will simply migrate from one place to the next while you sleep, and when you awaken you'll discover where it landed.

I think it's not an uncommon phenomenon. Unfortunately, the article offers no solution.

[SeanHerbison]

There's a Tnation article about Jon Broz that describes the exact same thing: ... I think it's not an uncommon phenomenon. Unfortunately, the article offers no solution.

Thanks for sharing that. I think I'm close to figuring it out, but I've thought that before and been wrong. I think what I need to do is identify the positions/movements where it tends to hurt, and then move through them without focusing on whether it hurts or not. That seemed to have been successful over the last couple days, but it's too soon to be confident.

Monday, 12 Feb

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
LB Squat	331 x 4 x 4 331 x 9
Beltless Sumo Deadlift	295 x 6 x 4 295 x 14
Bench Press	240 x 4 x 4 240 x 9
Cable Curl	66 x 20, 16, 12, 9

This was fun. Went up and lifted with my Dad.

[SeanHerbison]

Wednesday, 14 Feb

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Beltless Overhead Press	126 x 4 x 4 126 x 13
Safety Bar Squat	238 x 6 x 4 238 x 6
Incline Press	146 x 6 x 4 146 x 13
Chest-Supported Row	35s x 12 x 4 35s x 18
Echo Bike	20 min - 6.27 mi

Friday, 16 Feb

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Beltless Deadlift	331 x 4 x 4 331 x 11
Close Grip Bench	181 x 6 x 4 181 x 15
Paused Squat	242 x 6 x 4 242 x 12
Push Press	106 x 6 x 4 106 x 18

Monday, 19 Feb

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
LB Squat	355 x 3 x 4 355 x 6
Beltless Sumo Deadlift	322 x 5 x 4 322 x 10
Incline Press	157 x 5 x 4 157 x 12
Ring Chin-ups	BW x 4, 3, 3, 4, 3
Echo Bike	20 min - 7.32 mi

Wednesday, 21 Feb

Exercise	Weight x Reps x Sets
Bench Press	258 x 3 x 4 258 x 8
Beltless Overhead Press	139 x 5 x 4 139 x 10
Safety Bar Squat	245 x 5 x 4 245 x 11
Chest-Supported Row	35s x 16 x 5
Echo Bike	20 min - 6.74 mi

Today's presses seemed hard. That makes sense, since I was doing 5s, and later realized I was supposed to be doing 3s. Today's SSB squats started rough, and felt significantly better each set. Much better than last week, where they started rough and just stayed that way the whole time.

This is going well. With the one SSB exception last week, I've been hitting at least the rep out goal for everything. Still going RPE 9.5-failure on upper body, and technical breakdown on squat/deadlift. I could make faster short-term progress taking them to actual failure, but I'd feel worse and crash sooner. This is probably the best my form has been, overall, and getting that solidly set will definitely help long term.