Quagmire911 Lifting Journal

[Kerpal]

Ahh good point. It is a deadlift/squat assistance exercise after all.

Do you ever wear a belt? I've been thinking about buying one but there are so many different kinds, I'm not sure what to get.

 

[Quagmire911]

Why are you thinking of a belt?

I've always been anti-belt to be honest. Changes the dynamics of a lift, and seems a bit like cheating to me. If I competed in a comp I'd wear one, but that would mainly be it. Developing the ability to do standing rollouts is more on the agenda for me.

Plenty of people get injured with the belt on, and from what I've heard, its usually worse. If you were to get one maybe look at Inzer, there a good powerlifting brand.

I'd be more interested in getting briefs I think from an injury prevention stand point.

 

[Kerpal]

Yeah I know what you mean about the "feeling like it's cheating" thing. But my weights are getting heavy enough that I'm starting to get more concerned from a safety standpoint. Also I hurt my back in November deadlifting and I'm always a little nervous when I deadlift now. I figure I'll only wear it on my heavier sets.

I was thinking about getting this Inzer belt: http://www.inzernet.com/detail_belt.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FOREVERBELT_LEVER13

Al ot of the guys at my gym use it, one guy let me try his once but it was way too big for me so I didn't really get to see how it felt.

 

[Quagmire911]

Monday

I've come to some conclusions about my lifting. When I take time off or go through a period where I only go to the gym occasionally a few things happen:

1.My deadlift goes down, but not by too much. One of my best lifts.
2.Military press holds up quite well, and recovers fast. Probably my best lift. My numbers are comparable with people whos bench is quite a bit higher than my own.
3.My bench seems to suffer a lot.
4.Not been squatting recently, but I would say it is similar to the deadlift, although my form messes things up.

I suppose this is pretty coherent with the fact that I carry a lot of my musculature in my shoulders/back/glutes.

Just some observations. Anyway here is today's:

Bench 65x3 67.5x3 72.5kgx5 - Could have got 1-2 more on the last set but I left some there. Everything felt heavy, first time benching in a while, so it is to be expected. My best is 90x5 so I'm quite a way of that. With drinking cut substantially and diet improved, less hope this soars. Muscle memory will hopefully contribute as well.

Chinsx5x5x5x6- Chin numbers are down quite a bit, but I am quite a bit heavier.

Db presses 24's 2x10 - Pretty bad. First week though, so to be expected. Was going to do another set but left it at that because I felt drained.

Well there it is. I expect things to pick up quickly here. Infact, make that all over the board.

I've decided since the first month or two of the 5/3/1 aren't incredibly taxing to attempt to cut down the fat. Since Thursday night I have cut out grains/sugars apart from post workout and a once a week refeed. The withdrawl has been horrible. Has an XL with chips and coke pwo and it was fantastic. Alcohol consumption is also way down, I've only drank once in the last week. The waist is down .5-1" which admitidley will mostly be water/bloat and the scale is starting to creep down a pound or two. Its hard work eating lentils with beef/eggs/chicken at most meals. Once I'm happy with the waistline it'll be time to muscle up.

Well that is it for today, until next time...

Quagmire

 

[frenchbeauty]

Quag good to hear you're back.
Doesnt it suck to get back to previous strength levels... sh*t feeling..
I'm pretty sure that in a few months you're be pulling PRs !
I've never heard of that Wendel routine, do you have a link?

 

[Quagmire911]

If I keep the alcohol down, food on point, rest well, everything will go peachy. I need to remember to quit going to failure or close to it, I keep burning myself out because of it. I need to keep stress in general down.

Here is the link for 5/3/1 manual : http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&pid=2976

I would highly recommend buying that. I can't afford it at the moment, but I know the basic principles which are layin out above in my log. He also talks about it in his log quite a lot:

http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/training-logs.asp?tid=63&__N=Jim Wendler

 

[Quagmire911]

Wednesday

Didn't know if I was going to go in today or not, on account of a pretty bad cold. I decided I would see how I felt a little while after I got up and ate something. Well it was on the fence but I decided to give it a go. Don't want to derail after one week on the job, and if the worst came to the worst I could cut the volume and/or intensity for the day. I always feel better once i'm up and about when I've got a cold anyway. Here it is:

Deadlifts 112.5x5 - This felt sluggish. Things were alright, but didn't feel great.
120x5 - This felt noticeably better. Decided to go the final set.
127.5kgx10 (281lbs) - Sniffed the ammonia and got some Manson going. First rep felt brilliant and I knew 5 was getting passed. Reasonably pleased with this considering it is the second week and I had a cold. Not terribly far off my best. Maybe had another one or two. However, after rep 8-9 the bar was still flying off the floor and slowing down a lot near lockout. Might add in a higher rep set after these of rack work.

Hip abductor 40x20 45x20 50x20 -Good
Hip adductor 60x15x15x10 - Went wider than last week which made it a lot harder.

One arm oh press 22x5 24x5 26kgx8 -Good. Still had a few in the tank.

WOD (knees)x6x6

And that was it. Overall strength had a big jump on last week. CNS coming online, muscle memory, reasonable diet, massive reduction in alcohol. Even with the cold shi* went well. Haven't drank since last Friday night. Will probably drink with friends two nights a week and see how I go. I've progressed well doing 1-2 nights in the past, but if it holds me back it will have to be cut further. I am determined now, 500 must fall. Well 400 must be reclaimed first of all.

I'll get back to my old numbers quickly and maybe then some and from then it may be a hard slog. Whenever I've done alternating rep patterns such as 5/3/1 before things have gone well though. I'm learning more about how my body responds to all of this, seeing patterns etc, so that will help. I'll also be deliberatley trying to gain muscle again once I'm lean and having everything on point so that will help.

By my calculations the magic number is 195kgx5 or 430lbsx5. Then I'll be able to get 227.5kg/501lbsx1. My best to date is 155kgx6/185kgx1 or 340lbsx6/407lbsx1.

Well that is all for today, time for some PR's. I've got the mindset back. Until next time...

Quagmire

PS- Song of the week: Manson, This is the new sh*t.

 

[Kerpal]

Nice work. I'm deadlifting tomorrow, it should be interesting because I'm pulling an all-nighter for a test tomorrow morning, and I almost never go over 5 reps What does WOD stand for? Also how many days a week are you training?

BTW I bought the 5/3/1 ebook. There isn't really much in there that you don't probably already know. If you want to know anything in there let me know and I will look it up for you.

 

[Quagmire911]

WOD= Wheel of death aka rollouts.

Right now I'm training two days a week. Don't know if he does a variation of that in the book, but I've seen one in his log which I'm following:

Day one

Bench
Squats (If the knee is good)

Day two

Deads
Overhead press

I'll keep in mind that you have it, although I can't think of much else I need to know. If I read it I'd maybe pick some stuff up but right now I don't really know what to ask.

Quagmire

 

[Being_the_Don]

Wednesday

Didn't know if I was going to go in today or not, on account of a pretty bad cold. I decided I would see how I felt a little while after I got up and ate something. Well it was on the fence but I decided to give it a go. Don't want to derail after one week on the job, and if the worst came to the worst I could cut the volume and/or intensity for the day. I always feel better once i'm up and about when I've got a cold anyway. Here it is:

Deadlifts 112.5x5 - This felt sluggish. Things were alright, but didn't feel great.
120x5 - This felt noticeably better. Decided to go the final set.
127.5kgx10 (281lbs) - Sniffed the ammonia and got some Manson going. First rep felt brilliant and I knew 5 was getting passed. Reasonably pleased with this considering it is the second week and I had a cold. Not terribly far off my best. Maybe had another one or two. However, after rep 8-9 the bar was still flying off the floor and slowing down a lot near lockout. Might add in a higher rep set after these of rack work.

Hip abductor 40x20 45x20 50x20 -Good
Hip adductor 60x15x15x10 - Went wider than last week which made it a lot harder.

One arm oh press 22x5 24x5 26kgx8 -Good. Still had a few in the tank.

WOD (knees)x6x6

And that was it. Overall strength had a big jump on last week. CNS coming online, muscle memory, reasonable diet, massive reduction in alcohol. Even with the cold shi* went well. Haven't drank since last Friday night. Will probably drink with friends two nights a week and see how I go. I've progressed well doing 1-2 nights in the past, but if it holds me back it will have to be cut further. I am determined now, 500 must fall. Well 400 must be reclaimed first of all.

I'll get back to my old numbers quickly and maybe then some and from then it may be a hard slog. Whenever I've done alternating rep patterns such as 5/3/1 before things have gone well though. I'm learning more about how my body responds to all of this, seeing patterns etc, so that will help. I'll also be deliberatley trying to gain muscle again once I'm lean and having everything on point so that will help.

By my calculations the magic number is 195kgx5 or 430lbsx5. Then I'll be able to get 227.5kg/501lbsx1. My best to date is 155kgx6/185kgx1 or 340lbsx6/407lbsx1.

Well that is all for today, time for some PR's. I've got the mindset back. Until next time...

Quagmire

PS- Song of the week: Manson, This is the new sh*t.

Considering that you're coming back after a long hiatus compounded by the fact that you've got a bad cold, you did a good job. Keep it up.

 

[Quagmire911]

Thanks Don.

Monday

Either Jim Wendler is a complete genius, or I had a serious bout of muscle memory. I amen't completely over this cold either, I'm at that stage of coughing up a half gallon of mucus per day, and had at least the equivalent of two bottles of wine on Friday night. Regardless of that here is what happened:

Bench 60kgx5- Felt heavy. Not overly heavy, just heavy.
65kgx5- Same really. Hadn't really psyched up yet, and I wasn't able to put good music on today.
67.5kg16- Sniffed the ammonia again, hit myself around the face a little bit. After rep 8-9 the bar just kept going. Probably had another 1-2 left after this. I actually think this might be a PR. My best repping is 75x10 I think, so this is on par or close to that. Most I've actually done with this weight I think though. Great stuff, considering its my second week.

Chinupsx5x5x5- Wasn't really feeling it on the third set so I left it at that.

Incline DB h.press - 24'sx12x12- Better than last week and on an incline this week. I decided I'd hit the upper chest a bit more, still works the tri's as well anyway.

And that was it. I'm at a bit of a loss with the 67.5x16. 72.5x5 felt pretty diffucult last week. S*** happens right?

Some things have come to light regarding the 5/3/1. Because I am running a two day, I've confirmed that Wendler says that you don't deload unless you need to. So I am thinking that I will deload every 7th week instead of 4th. I think stretching it to 11 would be a bit much.

Also he says that on every wave you up your max that you base your percentages off by 5lbs for bench. Here is why I am thinking that I will increase it more than that, for the INITIAL increase:

My PR - 102.5kgx1 back in August-September.
Estimated max- 90kgx1 - I did 90x1 in January and felt like I could have gotten 2-3, this was after not training properly for a few months. So considering I didn't bench in two months after this I went with 90x1.
5/3/1 max-80kgx1 - I then subtracted 10% to get this, like Wendler says.

So my reasoning is that because of muscle memory, evidenced by the 16 reps on today's last set, I should increase a bit more than 5 lbs. I'm also not moving poundages in the 3-400's. I'm not sure on Wendler's stance on this, if anyone knows, or someone more advanced has an opinion, feel free to chime in.

Well that is all for today, until next time...

Quagmire

PS- Had the f***ing gym manager come in and say to me that they can't let me use a cd player anymore because "you now have the flat screen tv". So im going to have to find money for an mp3, cause I ain't listening to the p****cat dolls or lady gaga when I'm working out. Some soft little powderpuff guy whined when I was changing the channel and looking for something kind of decent (which failed). Bah :cuss:

 

[I-tallionStallion]

OH GOD...a dude wanted to keep lady gaga on. I would have decked that idiot. My gym plays classic and metal so when I don't have my Ipod on me or friends I get a steady dose of good ol' metal in my gym.

You ever listen to any Power, Prog, Speed, thrash metal?

Muscle memory is amazing...don't you just love that? Sniffing the old ammonia eh...that's the quag I know. Good to have you loggin back you scottish bastard. Keep the drinkin low profile or I'll fly there and throw you're a$$ out the bar. I want to see you hit your goals

 

[Kerpal]

Quag, how often do you use the ammonia? I just got some and have used it a few times. I only use it for squats and deadlifts, it really lights a fire under my ass. I can't even see the bar for a few seconds after I hit it.

I don't want to become dependent on it though. I'm thinking about only using it a couple of times a month, on the heaviest squat and deadlift days of 5/3/1.

 

[Flyer]

This ammonia stuff sounds.. interesting..

Shame about the gym music though.

Anyway, keep it up! Good to see you logging again.

 

[Quagmire911]

Yes Stallion it really is depressing. Time for an mp3. I actually had one, cheap piece of s*** broke. Don't listen to a lot of different stuff to be honest, maybe I should branch out.

I'll keep the drinking in mind. Only twice a week the last two weeks, and the gym is going well. Will need to see when the old muscle memory runs outs. And its too early to say how much it is affecting fat loss. I wouldn't be surprised if I was putting on a little muscle starting back and all.

Kerpal:

I usually use it on the big three if I am in PR territory, overheads as well if I'm using it as the main exercise that day. So that's usually the last set of a big exercise, which is twice a week.

I shove the bottle under my nose and breath in like theres no tommorow. It gives that great rush and my eyes are gushing. Then I'll wait for a favourite line on the song that is on. Then I know, its time to grip and rip.

Using it twice a week, it seems to keep its effectivness- for me anyway. I am more concerned about stimulants- coffee and such. I think I was taking too much at one point and it f***ed with my cortisol. Most things are the same though, over-use and their good effects decrease and/or bad effects increase.

Flyer:

Read above- Ammonia= PR's baby

Deadlifts tommorow. Getting psyched thinking about it.

 

[Kerpal]

I shove the bottle under my nose and breath in like theres no tommorow. It gives that great rush and my eyes are gushing. Then I'll wait for a favourite line on the song that is on. Then I know, its time to grip and rip.

Wow, I have to hold it like 6 inches away from my nose and only breathe in a little when I use it, otherwise I think my head would explode :crackup: What kind are you using? I'm using Nose Tork.

Yes Stallion it really is depressing. Time for an mp3. I actually had one, cheap piece of s*** broke. Don't listen to a lot of different stuff to be honest, maybe I should branch out.

I don't think I'd be able to train without my MP3 player.

 

[Quagmire911]

Wow, I have to hold it like 6 inches away from my nose and only breathe in a little when I use it, otherwise I think my head would explode :crackup: What kind are you using? I'm using Nose Tork.



I don't think I'd be able to train without my MP3 player.

I just use old granny smelling salts out the chemist. I love getting a massive hit from it. You ever seen Benny Magnusson before a deadlift? That little "dance" he does is him grabbing the ammonia cap from behind his ear and and then just about shoving it up his nose.

I didn't think I'd be able to train without a cd player/music. What d'ya know? I took two months off because of the depressing tv and p***y songs I had to listen too. Talk about hosing out the fire. Will just gave to get a decent mp3.

PS- Maybe I am used to it

 

[frenchbeauty]

Quag I feel ya man... A week ago one of the guys at my gym started to sing along to Womanizer. Shocking...
That's why I purchased an mp3 player this weekend.

 

[Quagmire911]

Womanizer

Although I've heard worse in my gym...

 

[Quagmire911]

Bugger the 10 post limit, anyway...

Wednesday

The muscle memory magic continues. I've never had such a rebound effect when coming back from a layoff. The case for Wendler Wizardrom continues... Here it is:

Deadlifts: 120kgx5 - Felt sluggish, but not that bad.
127.5kgx3- Same again, sluggish but not bad.
142.5kgx8 (314lbs)- Sniffed the ammonia. Unfortunatley no Manson this week. This is just about a PR. I've done 145kg for 7/8 can't remember which. I'm pretty much back to where I was after 2/3 weeks training, which is insane. Maybe had another one here. Same again, can get it off the floor, but hard above the knees.

Hip adductor 60kgx10x15x20- Better than last week. These are a great accessory to the dead. Keeps the hips in good shape.

Hip abductor 45x20 50x20 55x20- Better than last week. Hope I got these the right way around.

One arm OH press 24'sx5 26'sx3 30kg'sx6 (66lbs)

Kneeling rolloutsx5x5x3- Starting to get spent.

Well that was it. So much for 142.5kg/30'skg being my my "1rm" on deads/ohpress (one arm). I'm still thinking to up slightly more than Wendler's 5lb/10lbs recommendation, on account of the muscle memory as evidenced by very high reps on the last sets of the main exercises.

Well that was it. Things are going well. After 2/3 weeks my numbers are nearly at my all time maxes which is nuts. 5/3/1 for the win?

Until next time...

Quagmire

PS- I've decided, one way or another I will have a 300 bench and a 500 dead before I am 20. 400 squat if the right knee is good again. 200 Oh press as well. 14 months incounting...