Paul's slow and steady road to lean gains

Cyborg said:
Nice.. but noticed you're releasing your grip of bar, hence you will lose back tightness and weaken your core if you do this.
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Thanks. I've actually picked up on me doing this from watching my squat videos. I don't realise I'm doing it at the time.

I think you're right though. I seem far too relaxed through most of my lifts.
 
Wednesday Session:

I got to the gym a little early today so started warming up slowly before @smmcewan arrived.

Deadlift:
1x5 @ 60kg
1x5 @ 100kg - felt heavy - WTF? :'(
2x1 @ 125kg
2x1 @ 150kg

@smmcewan arrived, so started warming up with him.

1x1 @ 140kg - felt better.
1x1 @ 165kg - felt heavy.
1x1 @ 183kg - Not a very clean rep.
1x1 @ 194kg - failed - couldn't get it passed my knees.
4x1 @ 183kg - reps started feeling better. 2nd and 3rd reps were nice. 4th was tough.

Pendlay Row:
1x5 @ 100kg
1x3 @ 100kg

Weight was too heavy for these and felt like I was cheating quite a bit. Ended up dropping the weight for some BOR reps.

Bent Over Row:
2x10 @ 60kg - one set underhand grip, one set overhand grip.

Certainly not a good deadlift day. Not sure why really. Food has been good, energy feels good, weight is high today, just didn't have the strength. This week might have been a heavy session too far. I'm just trying to ride it out until Christmas and then will start a new plan, but training kind of feels like my first car at the moment. I'm just trying to get home for Christmas without it all falling apart on me.
 
Friday Session:

Trained with @smmcewan again today.

Strict Overhead Press:
1x5 @ 60kg
1x5 @ 70kg
1x2 @ 80kg
1x1 @ 90kg
1x1 @ 95kg - failed
1x1 @ 95kg - slight push press.

High Bar Back Squat:
I supersetted the first two warm-up sets of squat with my pressing as the weight was on the bar anyway.
1x5 @ 60kg
1x5 @ 80kg
1x3 @ 100kg
1x2 @ 125kg
1x1 @ 135kg
1x1 @ 140kg - failed
1x1 @ 140kg - failed

Feet together Squat:
1x3 @ 100kg
1x1 @ 140kg - failed - too much too soon.
1x2 @ 125kg
1x1 @ 140kg

Shaun and I used to do a 3-plate challenge at the end of deadlift days, so we've been joking about doing a 2-plate challenge at the end of squat days. Today it became a reality.

High Bar Back Squat:
1x17 @ 100kg - This was 10 straight, then 2,2,2,1 rest-paused to finish.

Finished with a superset of Face-Pulls and Lateral Raises.

Cable FacePull: 2x15, 10 @ 8
DB Lateral Raises: 2x10,10 @ 10kg

Squat's really took it out of me and I just couldn't get any oxygen in for anything decent at the end.

I had a bit of a frustrating squat session with me constantly failing the 140kg, but I really enjoyed the 2-plate challenge at the end.

I'm starting to plan out my next program for after Christmas so might get my thoughts up here.
 
Monday Session:

Flat Barbell Bench:
1x5 @ 60kg
1x5 @ 80kg
1x3 @ 100kg
1x1 @ 125kg
3x5,4,3 @ 110kg

High Bar Back Squat:
1x5 @ 60kg
1x3 @ 80kg
1x3 @ 100kg
1x1 @ 125kg
4x3,2,3,1 @ 135kg

Feet together Squat:
1x1 @ 135kg
4x1 @ 143kg

Bench felt heavy today, so thought I'd go for reps at 110kg. I was actually only aiming for 3x3 so was happy I got 5 reps on the first set.

Squat felt good. Again, thought I'd avoid keep going for the 143kg and get some reps at 135kg as it feel pretty comfortable. The aim was singles or doubles, so again pleased I got 3 reps for a couple of sets.

143kg feet together felt fast, especially considering it was after my back squat work sets. In the new year I might push this weight up a bit and see how it feels. It certainly feels like I could have 150kg for a single.
 
Last Session of the year.

Thursday Session:

Deadlift:
1x5 @ 100kg
1x3 @ 140kg
1x2 @ 165kg
1x2 @ 184kg
1x2 @ 194kg
1x1 @ 202kg - failed to pull it past my knees and didn't fancy grinding it.
1x2 @ 184kg

Strict Overhead Press:
1x5 @ 60kg
1x3 @ 70kg
1x2 @ 80kg
1x1 @ 90kg
1x3 @ 80kg

I felt good today. Wasn't planning on going too heavy if honest. I was pleased I went for the double at 184kg and 194kg as normally I would have just pulled singles. I didn't expect the 202kg but like pushing to that failure point.

I felt strong for the press, but as I was in my deadlift shoes (normally press in my AdiPowers) it all felt a bit wobbly. The 90kg went up ok, but was a grind to lock out. Didn't fancy doing any more today.
 
First session back since Christmas Eve.

It's been a great few weeks of eating and relaxing, but it's now time to get back into the swing of training.

I'm going to spend this week warming myself back up, and hopefully that'll give me enough time to plan a new routine for the week after. I think I'll start a new log with it for 2016.

Today was just really a feeler session to see where I'm at.

Feet together Squat:
1x5 @ 60kg
1x3 @ 80kg
1x3 @ 100kg
1x3 @ 125kg
1x1 @ 135kg
3x1 @ 143kg

- I was a bit apprehensive about squat today as my legs have been feeling stiff and tight all holiday. Probably too much sitting around doing nothing. Anyway, I was happy with that today. Squat felt nice and comfortable. Almost like I hadn't had a break.

Flat Barbell Bench:
1x10 @ 50kg
1x5 @ 80kg
1x3 @ 100kg
1x3 @ 110kg
1x1 @ 125kg
2x3 @ 110kg

- Bench didn't feel as comfortable today. I wouldn't say it felt overly heavy, but form felt a bit loose. The single at 125kg felt ok, but didn't feel good enough to continue on. The 3 sets at 110kg were simple enough though. In fact the third set felt best of all and started to feel more controlled.

Spider Curls:
3x15, 8, 6 @ 20kg

Barbell Reverse Curls (thumbs over bar):
3x5 @ 20kg
 
Right, this is my first draft at my new plan.

Just need to see how it fits for time.

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Wednesday Session:

Worked off the plan today. I have to admit it's tight for time, but I think I should be able to do it all. If anything, deadlift day will be the real test for time.

High Bar Back Squat:
1x5 @ 60kg
1x5 @ 80kg
1x3 @ 100kg
3x3 @ 125kg

I was feeling a bit unsure of squats today as my lower back has been sore from Monday's session. I nearly swapped Wednesday's and Friday's session around as I thought front squat might be easier on the back. Ended up giving it a go anyway and it actually felt fine.

I was happy with the 3 sets of 3 @ 125kg. I don't think I've done reps this heavy and certainly not for sets.

Weighted Dips:
1x5 @ bw
1x5 @ 25kg
3x3 @ 50kg

I haven't done these for a while so didn't really want to push it too much. 50kg was a good weight for it.

Seated Cable Row:
worked up in 10s to the full stack over 3 warm up sets.
2x10 @ full stack (think it was 47.25 or 67.25 - something meaningless either way)

Wide Incline Barbell Bench:
1x10 @ 70kg
1x10 @ 80kg

Decline Bench Weighted Sit-ups (plate held vertical above head):
2x10 @ 25kg
 
Diet has been pretty consistent and clean for this first week. The weekend was clean with Saturday coming in around 2200 calories and Sunday 2500.

My wife kicked up a bit of a fuss that I was "trying to get skinny" and "starving myself" Saturday because I didn't want a tub of ice cream. No reason other than I didn't want any though. Once we put the kids to bed and sat down I asked if she wanted us to have the ice-cream, to which she said she didn't. We ended up having a couple of protein truffles between us and I had a protein cookie.

Sunday my wife was being a bit awkward again not knowing what she wanted us to eat. The only thing she agreed on was a pop-tart, so I had a pop-tart and a Yorkie.

One good thing about me being a little OCD is that I have everything logged from last year, food logs, training and photos. I had a look at what I was eating this time last year on MFP and was actually quite surprised I was only on 2000 calories a day until the 26th Jan, but I was cheating every weekend on around 2500-3000 calories.

I'm hoping this time I can keep calories a little higher than that as I'm absolutely starving most of the time on 2200-2500. I'm going to try to avoid the cheats, but might have something within calories like this weekend.

This week will be much the same. I'll keep it clean and aim for around 1500 calories during the day which should leave me enough to account for dinner. I can top-up when required after dinner.
 
PaulAnderson said:
Diet has been pretty consistent and clean for this first week. The weekend was clean with Saturday coming in around 2200 calories and Sunday 2500.

My wife kicked up a bit of a fuss that I was "trying to get skinny" and "starving myself" Saturday because I didn't want a tub of ice cream. No reason other than I didn't want any though. Once we put the kids to bed and sat down I asked if she wanted us to have the ice-cream, to which she said she didn't. We ended up having a couple of protein truffles between us and I had a protein cookie.

Sunday my wife was being a bit awkward again not knowing what she wanted us to eat. The only thing she agreed on was a pop-tart, so I had a pop-tart and a Yorkie.

One good thing about me being a little OCD is that I have everything logged from last year, food logs, training and photos. I had a look at what I was eating this time last year on MFP and was actually quite surprised I was only on 2000 calories a day until the 26th Jan, but I was cheating every weekend on around 2500-3000 calories.

I'm hoping this time I can keep calories a little higher than that as I'm absolutely starving most of the time on 2200-2500. I'm going to try to avoid the cheats, but might have something within calories like this weekend.

This week will be much the same. I'll keep it clean and aim for around 1500 calories during the day which should leave me enough to account for dinner. I can top-up when required after dinner.
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Havent you got a new log mate or are you using both? haha
 
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