This board seems to get some good traffic and constructive feedback. Bringing my log over here moving forward.
Stats:
M
Height - 6'1''
Weight ~ 245
Age - 29
I've been training on and off since 2012. Got into strength training to benefit my rugby. These days, I play a heck of a lot less rugby (and don't even live in Boston anymore, sweet username, bro). Looking to get my act together enough to play one more season on the A side before I get claimed by the Old Boys teams with my soon-to-be 30 year old ass.
Right now, I'm on my second time through the BBM General Intermediate program. PR's from last cycle were:
Bodyweight 242. I slacked on the eating after testing last week and just sort of ate what I felt like. Gotta get back on track.
4-5 minute rest periods on squats. 3 minute rests on bench.
RPE is jumping up too fast as sets accumulate. Going to get my conditioning back in line here to make sure I can get the work in without having it take all damn night.
Notes: I’m in Connecticut for a wedding this weekend. Trained at Lightning Fitness in South Windsor. Awesome gym. Extremely well equipped with plenty of space for lots of strong people working out. Benched on an elitefts comp bench with an Ohio Power Bar. Used the Westside power bar for squat and press. Nice to use quality barbells for a change.
Bench was a mess. Starting to think I have a higher drop-off from singles to higher rep sets than the standard RPE chart would indicate. Could also be a conditioning/rest thing. We’ll see.
Paused squats went well. No belt.
Re: BostonRugger's Training Log
Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 1:56 pm
by BostonRugger
11/4/17 - Saturday
Pre-Wedding GPP in hotel fitness room.
Curls - 8s w 35-45 lbs x 3 sets
Superset w:
Standingpulleytricepextension thing - 45lbs x 3 sets
Abs - Planks, hanging leg raises, cable crunches
10 mins on Eliptical
10 mins on bike
Notes: Post workout nutrition included prime rib that looked like it came fresh off the top of Fred Flintstone’s car.
DB Incline Bench Press - 50x8@6, 55x8@7, 60x8x4@8ish
Video:
YouTube
Notes: The dumb was strong tonight. I lost count on my first set of 5 on dead’s. Stopped at 4. I then got impatient and intentionally rushed the third set, leading to bad form.
I guess I learned to front squat in the past 6 weeks of not doing them?
I dialed back the load on volume sets (4s,5s) by about 2% compared to the rpe chart. Seems to be about right for hitting the desired RPE on presses. I also assigned (read: pulled out of my ass) a deadlift ‘training max.’ I want to base my DL work off of flat backed percentages/RPEs. Mixed success on that front tonight.
Notes: RPE chart prescribed 245 for the load on bench volume. Based on last week’s performance I went with 240. That allowed me to maintain that load across sets and to complete more volume at the prescribed RPE. Going to continue like this with pressing movements.
Based on feedback from a form check regarding my arm angle, I experimented with a thumbs-around grip (hands brought in maybe 3/4” on each side). Strangely, the bar still started to roll up on me on the 4th rep at 330. Having the bar gripped in my hands stopped the roll very quickly. I’ll keep experimenting.
Pressing betless, wrapless, non-2.0 after bench volume is humbling.
Notes: A few things threw off my squats last night.
1 - Farts. Despite my pre-lift BM, I had obnoxious flatulence during my squats. Couldn’t get tight consistently and was pretty distracted.
2 - Form. Based on feedback about my back angle on the ascent, I tried a thumbs around grip and moved my eye gaze out to about 8 feet. Improvement on back angle was marginal at best. This could be related to the lack of tightness mentioned above.
3. Focus. Had some life stress pop up about one hour before my workout. Between that and the issues above, my head was all over the place.
It took 85 minutes to squat. At that point I had to go. Still got 5 sets around the right RPE. Stopped at 4 on final set bc 4 was @8.
Squat ain’t feeling great. Could be a few things. Sleep and food yesterday was subpar (stupid Saturdays). The fact that bench was fine makes me think that’s not the problem. Usually my pressing takes a faster/bigger hit from that sort of thing.
The other issue is my right knee. Sometimes it gets a bit arthritic due to me having dislocated the patella 5 times playing football/basketball/rugby when I was younger. It usually doesn’t bother me these days, but has been cranky lately. Seems to coincide with me jacking around with squat form. Gonna throw Advil at it and hope it doesn’t mess up this training block too much. Thankfully I get a bit of a deload this week.