gramboh's Journal

[gramboh]

Week 7 - Day 2 - May 14, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x230

Benchpress:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x95 - warmup
5x5x185

Bent-over rows:
12x65 - warmup
5x5x155*

Dips:
3x5x35

Squats felt good, I am getting more comfortable with the low bar position and I like it. It's a different feeling being more bent over, but it feels more stable and it is a huge difference in how much you use your glutes and hamstrings to push out of the bottom. I have to continue working on my hamstring and shoulder flexibility here as I move up the weight. I think I will get back to 275 no problems though, with correct depth this time.

Bench I was pumped up on and told myself I was not going to fail at 185 today. The last rep of the last set I semi failed, my friend had to put his fingers on the bar and help it up slightly, but I will count it as a rep and try 190 next time. Felt a lot better than Friday when I failed the last 2 sets multiple reps.

Rows I accidently did 155 instead of 165 (what I failed on last time). We were using bumper plates and I was in a hurry and thought that 15kg + 10kg on each side was equal to 60 pounds (fail at math) when it's 55 pounds. No wonder it felt light 🙂

 

[gramboh]

Week 7 - Day 3 - May 16, 2008

Squats:
OH Squat with broomstick x10 - warmup
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x235

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x65 - warmup
5x5x110

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
5x275

Pull-ups:
1x6
1x4
1x3

Felt good today, 275 on the deads was a PR, did normal grip and felt strong, had a friend watch my back and said I stayed tight, chest up. For me, deadlifting is mental, if I am psyched and confident it comes up smooth and strong, otherwise I struggle, moreso than the other lifts.

 

[gramboh]

Week 8 - Day 1 - May 20, 2008

Switched to Tues/Thurs/Sat this week, because on Saturday I got a vicious sunburn on my back during the last week of skiing shirtless (Sunshine resort, near Banff). Who knew that being pale skinned, exposed for an hour at the peak sun of the day (1pm), at 8,500 feet elevation with the sun reflecting off snow would do damage. Even on Tuesday it was painful getting the bar on my back to squat. I'm so dumb.

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x240

Benchpress:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x95 - warmup
2x4x190
1x190
3x190

Bent-over rows:
12x65 - warmup
2x5x165
4x165
2x5x165

Dips:
3x5x40

Squats felt pretty good other than the pain of my stupid sunburn.

It was amateur hour on the benchpress today. First my friend accidently loaded just 45lbs on one side of the bar, while I had 72.5 on the other, I go to derack with his help and one side shoots up, luckily we noticed right away. Next set, I tell him to load 77.5 rather than 72.5 for some stupid reason, so I derack 200 instead of 190, can't even get one rep up, I try again immediately before noticing it's 10 extra damn pounds. That killed my energy so the next few sets at 190 sucked. Going to try 190 again PROPERLY next time.

Rows I missed one rep in the middle. I think my form is starting to go, although I felt stronger than last time at 165. Going to have to get my form critiqued (my friend had left at this point).

 

[gramboh]

Week 8 - Day 2 - May 22, 2008

Squats:
OH Squat with broomstick x10 - warmup
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x245

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x65 - warmup
5x5x115

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
5x285

Chin-ups:
1x7
1x5
1x3

Felt strong and fast on squats. 115 is where I stalled before my deload on OH press, I felt a lot better this time, struggled a little bit at the end. I'm finding that if I concentrate hard and lift as fast as I can on OH press it makes a huge diff in getting the weight over my head.

Went up 10lbs by mistake on deadlifts, I got all 5 reps with reasonable form but my grip was starting to let go, going to have to work on mixed grip I think.

Was beat down by the time I got to chin-ups.

May 23, 2008

Tried a modified (read: pussy version) of the Murph CrossFit workout today. The actual workout is:

For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

We did:

1km run
100 modified pull-ups
200 push-ups
300 squats
1km run

We broke it down into sets of 10 mod pulls/20 push-ups/30 squats. Total time 1:04:49. The mod pulls were probably too easy, but there is no way I can do 100 pull-ups in a workout right now, I need to learn Kipping technique properly for that. The push-ups were the hardest part by far, my arms were in pain at the end, the squats part was actually 'recovery'. Felt beat to crap at the end but it was a great workout. Hoping to do it with real pull-ups sometime.

 

[saechaka]

that crossfit program sure seems interesting. i think i'll give it a try. i'll shoot for your 10/20/30 w/a 2min. rest in between. good job on your workout

 

[gramboh]

Originally posted by: saechaka
that crossfit program sure seems interesting. i think i'll give it a try. i'll shoot for your 10/20/30 w/a 2min. rest in between. good job on your workout

Thanks, it is a great workout. I think the idea is to rest as little as possible, the first few sets we did with zero rest, but by the 3rd set I was resting during the reps (the push-ups). Resting more inbetween each set would probably reduce the overall time actually, which is the goal of that specific workout. The only bad thing about that day was that my chest was too sore to bench the next day, oops.

 

[gramboh]

Week 8 - Day 3 - May 24, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x250

Benchpress:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x95 - warmup
0x190

Bent-over rows:
12x65 - warmup
2x5x165
5x5x170

Dips:
2x5x45

Had to skip bench due to muscle fatigue from the push-ups the night before, oops. Couldn't even get one rep up.

 

[gramboh]

Week 9 - Day 1 - May 26, 2008

Squats:
OH Squat with broomstick x10 - warmup
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x255

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x65 - warmup
3x5x120
2x4x120

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
2x225
5x285

Pull-ups:
1x5
1x4
1x3

Struggled a bit on OH press. I think I am letting my elbows fall in and losing power off the start position. Going to focus on keeping forearms directly above biceps next time. Deads felt awful the last 3 reps, my form was weak as my friend observed, having trouble not rounding back, I don't think I was making a big enough chest/keeping shoulders back so I was pulling too much with my back. Next time on deads I will do a few lighter sets maybe 225 and 235 instead of one heavy to work on form. Was dead for pull-ups.

 

[gramboh]

Week 9 - Day 2 - May 28, 2008

Squats:
OH Squats warmup
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x260

Benchpress:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x95 - warmup
4x190
3x3x190
2x190

Bent-over rows:
12x65 - warmup
2x5x165
5x5x175

Dips:
2x5x50
3x50

Squats felt good today. I was thinking about "hips up" rather than just standing up, it makes a HUGE difference when you get one solid rep that way. On the later reps in sets, I sometimes lean forward a bit on the way up (knees slide forward, tension off hips). When I thought about driving hips vertically it made it so much easier to stay back. There is a Rippetoe video about this somewhere but I can't find it now. 260 actually felt easy, hoping to go past 275 this time around.

Bench I wasn't confident on for some reason, didn't complete any sets. Will try at least 1 if not 2 more times at 190 before a 20-25lbs deload.

Rows I am starting to 'hump' the weight up if that makes sense (open at hips and kind of shrug it up) on most reps, probably going to have to deload soon and tighten up form again.

Holding a 50lbs dumbbell is not comfortable for dips, definitely have to order a belt. I waste of energy messing around trying to get it comfortable and hop onto the bars.

 

[gramboh]

Week 9 - Day 3 - May 30, 2008

Squats:
OH Squat with broomstick x10 - warmup
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x265

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x65 - warmup
2x5x120
3x120
4x120
3x120

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
5x225
5x245

Chin-ups:
1x7
1x5
1x3

Stalled on OH press again at 120, pretty frustrated as I just deloaded at 115 recently. I'm going to try to finally videotape my form on all the lifts, as I suspect I am screwing something up, again some reps feel easy and some are just not happening. Had to cheat with knee drive (push press style) on the last few reps of the last 2 sets.

Deloaded on deadlifts and did 2 sets to work on form as I felt awful at 285 last week. Both sets felt fine. Used overhand grip at 225 (no problems) and mixed at 245 (more to practice/get used to mixed grip).

 

[gramboh]

Week 10 - Day 1 - June 2, 2008

Squats:
5xBW OH squats - warmup (broomstick)
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x270
5x45 OH squats

Benchpress:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x95 - warmup
5x2x190
4x190
4x187.5
3x190

Bent-over rows:
5x65 - warmup
5x115 - warmup
5x5x175

Dips:
2x5x50
0x50

Squats felt great, zero lower back pain, had a tiny bit of knee pain I think from the first set when I forgot about hip drive (duh). Rest of the sets felt good, fast bar speed, excited to get past 275 where I deloaded last time.

Bench I was pumped to get the first two sets at 190 up all 5 reps (third time at 190). Next set I needed help on the last rep (friend said he just fingered it, but the bar was not moving until he helped). Next set my friend forgot to put a 2.5lbs on one side, I pushed out 4 reps pretty easily, amazing how 2.5lbs makes a big difference, I was kind of annoyed but whatever. I'm going to deload to probably 160 or 165 on Friday and work my way back up. hoping to get BW 5x5 this time around (205). Just wanted to play SL 5x5/Rippetoe SS, I struggled at 135 on bench forever (10 rep sets) and dreamed about being able to do one rep of my BW some day. I think I could probably do it now although I haven't tried, but the program and book has helped me move up on this lift a lot.

Rows I stayed at 175 since I wasn't happy with my form. The oly platform was full so I was doing them in a power rack without bumper plates and wasn't dropped the bar as much as I usually do. Better form than last time although the last rep of the last two sets I was humping the weight with my hips a bit. Will probably try 180 next time.

Dips first two sets felt ok, other than a bit of pain in my elbows (from bench I think, need to fix that). Last set just did not feel right hopping up onto the bars. Holding a dumbbell in my legs really sucks, I need to get off my ass and order a dip belt.

 

[gramboh]

Week 10 - Day 2 - June 4, 2008

Squats:
OH Squat with broomstick x10 - warmup
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x275

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x85 - warmup
5x5x125

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
5x225
5x250

Pull-ups:
1x6
1x4
Kipping practice

Got back up to 275 where I deloaded from after May 9 about a month ago. Felt WAY easier this time with low bar and hips farther back, didn't really struggle at all, hoping to get to 300+ this time.

OH Press finally got 120 5x5 on my third attempt. I finally 'felt' a really good rep, I found the secret is having the bar as close to my face as possible at the start, like way back on my front delts, it's easier to press vertically from there, makes a huge difference. Still struggled but got all reps locked out.

Deadlift felt good, overhand grip on 225, mixed on 250, finally getting used to mixed grip, no back pain, friend said form was good.

Pull-ups I was tired, decided to try to learn kipping motion from my friend, kind of felt it but will have to practice a lot.

 

[Koing]

Looking good mate.

On the OH press as the bar gets past your face, push it further towards the backof your head. NEVER let the bar go 'away' from you. it makes it MUCH harder.

Koing

 

[gramboh]

Originally posted by: Koing
Looking good mate.

On the OH press as the bar gets past your face, push it further towards the backof your head. NEVER let the bar go 'away' from you. it makes it MUCH harder.

Koing

Thanks Koing. I've been trying to focus on this, making a vertical bar path, I'll try focusing on pushing it back behind me. I think sometimes I try this too much and feel off balance, like I'm going to fall back (I go up on my heels) or I'm going to lose the bar backwards. Maybe I need to shift my torso faster under the bar?

 

[gramboh]

Week 10 - Day 3 - June 7, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x280 (PR)

Benchpress:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x95
5x5x165

Bent-over rows:
5x65 - warmup
5x5x175

Dips:
12xBW
2x10xBW

Had to workout on Saturday as I was out of town. Went to a local YMCA which had decent equipment. 280 is the most I've squatted before, so I was happy to get 5x5, found it a bit harder in a different gym (diff bars/racks etc) but overall not a big deal. This YMCA had actual iron plates (my gym all the plates are rubber coated) so rows were a bit noisy as there were no bumper plates/platform to use, oh well. First day deloading on bench, still feeling pain in my left elbow. They had a dip belt so I tried that with one plate, but was feeling tight pain around my clavicle so I just did BW for reps which was easy.

 

[gramboh]

Week 12 - Day 1 - June 9, 2008 (My Excel log was screwed up and I had two week 6's or something, too lazy to edit all the posts, this is actually week 12)

Skipped a workout as I was on the road (helping GF move back home for the summer from school). Not happy about skipping but it happens once in a while.

Week 12 - Day 2 - June 11, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x285 (PR)

Benchpress:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x95
5x5x170

Bent-over rows:
5x65 - warmup
5x5x180

Dips:
15xBW
12xBW
10xBW

Squats felt good. Still having some pain in my left elbow on bench. Rows felt good, last few reps really hard though. Again dips with just BW due to pain in my clavicle area.

 

[gramboh]

Week 12 - Day 3 - June 13, 2008

Squats:
OH Squat with broomstick x10 - warmup
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
2x225
5x5x290 (PR)

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x85 - warmup
5x125
5x120
2x4x120
3x120
2x120

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
5x225
5x245

Chin-ups:
1x7
1x4
1x3

Squats feeling heavy but still good. OH press I was confused, I correctly tried 125 the first set and got 5 reps although the last was a struggle. Then I convinced myself I was supposed to be doing 120 and it went downhill from there. Still having problems getting the bar in a vertical path. Will try 125 one more time before another deload. Deadlift I was supposed to be doing 255 on my working set but incorrectly loaded 245, it felt easy (used a mixed grip anyway, 225 was double overhand).

 

[gramboh]

Week 13 - Day 1 - June 16, 2008

Squats:
OH Squats x12 (broomstick) - warmup
Bar x8 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
5x5x295 (PR)
OH sqauts 2x5x45

Benchpress:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x95
5x5x175

Bent-over rows:
Skipped

Dips:
Skipped

Still going up on squats. Felt heavy but good, bar speed is still ok. Getting so close to finally having 3 plates. Today (Tuesday) I'm feeling a bit of dull pain in my hamstrings/glutes, I haven't felt that in squats the day after for a while, it's a good feeling for sure. Bench is weird, the weight is no problem at all for all 5 sets (deloading from 190) but I still feel a pain in my left elbow, but only when I take the weight down for the first rep. I don't really feel the pain much after or the next day. I'll keep watching it, but it seems to be getting better (although I feel it every set). If it gets worse or doesn't go away I'll take a few weeks off benching. I'm focused on getting my goal of 205 (bodyweight) for reps but I don't want to hurt myself getting there.

Had to skip rows because the gym was stupdily busy with a lineup for power racks/oly platform and I had a dinner to be at. Tried subbing t-bar rows with 115lbs but the fixed plane of motion felt bad and was hard on my lower back so I just called it a day. Should've done seated cable rows instead but I wasn't thinking (haven't done those exercises since I started SL 5x5).

 

[paulxcook]

Nice job on the squats, that's a serious PR. I don't think getting to 1000 is nearly as out of reach as you think it is if you can squat 295 at 5x5. I don't like subbing in Tbars either.

 

[gramboh]

Thanks Paul, the way I figure if I want 1000 it would be 225 bench, 370 squat and 405 deadlift. The deadlift is going to be the hardest part although I think it is possible by year-end, we will see, always good to have goals 🙂

Week 13 - Day 2 - June 18, 2008

Squats:
OH Squat with broomstick x10 - warmup
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
2x225
5x5x300 (PR)

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x85 - warmup
5x125
2x2x125
2x2x125

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
5x225
5x260

Pull-ups:
1x5
1x3
1x2

Felt good to finally get 300lbs in a lift, feels heavy but I think I can make it to 3 plates without having to deload on squats. OH press I only got one set of 5 up, the next 2 sets I got 3 reps up but had to push press the last 2 reps, then the last 2 sets only 2 real reps each, still struggling.

Deadlift felt fine. Was tired for pull-ups.

 

[gramboh]

Week 13 - Day 3 - June 20, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
4x5x305 (PR)
3x305
5x45 OH squats

Benchpress:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x115
5x5x180

Bent-over rows:
5x65 - warmup
5x5x185

Dips:
3x5x35

Was a bit tired and decided to skip the last 2 reps on the last set of squats, just didn't feel right for some reason and decided to play it safe. Did a set of OH squats with the bar after, taking a ridiculously wide snatch grip which helped with depth, but I cannot seem to sit back properly on OH squats (knees coming way forward), going to have to practice these more in the future (along with trying front squats).

Bench I had the recurring pain in my left elbow, although it is on the top of my arm not down in the actual joint so I think it might be muscle or tendon related. Going to take next week off bench or try lighter DB bench.

Rows felt fine, decided to switch back to weighted dips, felt good other than some pain around elbow (as described above).

 

[gramboh]

Week 14 - Day 1 - June 23, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
1x225 - warmup
1x275 - warmup
5x5x305 (PR)

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x80 - warmup
2x5x125
2x3x125
2x125

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
1x225 - warmup
5x265

Chin-ups:
1x8 (PR)
1x6 (PR)
1x4

Had a great workout today. The public area of the gym with power racks was super busy, so my friend and I went to a section that is usually reserved for PT classes until 8:30pm but was empty so we had it to ourselves (2 squat racks, benches, db's etc). Got 5x5 305 squats today with no problem.

Managed 2 sets of 5 OH press at 125 which was an improvment from last time (only 3 reps on second set). Still had to push press the last 2 reps on set 3/4 and only 2 reps on set 5. Going to deload OH press again (last deload was May 7 from 115 down to 100), kind of frustrated as I wanted to make it to 135. Going to re-read the OH press chapter in Starting Strength and really focus on form, probably deload to 95 so I have 5 workouts to focus on technique before it gets heavy again @ 120, I really want to be pressing a plate overhead 5x5 this time.

Was a bit gassed for deads (truly realized today why it's 1x5 and not 5x5) so I just did one rep at 225 for warmup then mixed grip at 265, back felt 100% fine.

Got a PR on chins with 8 first set (7 previous best) and 6 second set (5 previous best). Tempted to do chins/pull-ups on off-days/cardio days since I want to be able to do 10 of each in the first set and it's taking forever to reach that goal since I'm so tired by the time I get to them on SL 5x5.

 

[lucasorion]

I'm really jealous of your progress on squats. I've been doing the SL 5x5 about the same amount of time as you (not nearly as consistent though, with travel for work and illness getting in the way) and I only just managed to do 3x5 at 275 last week. I tried for a full 5x5 on sunday, but stupidly I played basketball beforehand, and my legs were worn out, so I had to drop the bar onto the braces halfway through the second set (new rule: no more leg-tiring cardio before squats)

Do you go for maximum depth with them? Yesterday I decided to go lighter (255) and try to get my butt closer to touching my calves. I noticed two things about going deeper like this, it helps circumvent any lingering knee pain, and it makes it more tempting to use bad (and dangerous) form when getting back up again - so I have to be on my guard. I've always gone for getting my hips below level, but never before did I try to go all the way down, basically.

 

[brikis98]

congrats on the squat PR, that's some good weight, and just 10lbs short of three 45's per side. however, why is your deadlift so much less? for most people it's the other way around.

 

[gramboh]

Originally posted by: lucasorion
I'm really jealous of your progress on squats. I've been doing the SL 5x5 about the same amount of time as you (not nearly as consistent though, with travel for work and illness getting in the way) and I only just managed to do 3x5 at 275 last week. I tried for a full 5x5 on sunday, but stupidly I played basketball beforehand, and my legs were worn out, so I had to drop the bar onto the braces halfway through the second set (new rule: no more leg-tiring cardio before squats)

Do you go for maximum depth with them? Yesterday I decided to go lighter (255) and try to get my butt closer to touching my calves. I noticed two things about going deeper like this, it helps circumvent any lingering knee pain, and it makes it more tempting to use bad (and dangerous) form when getting back up again - so I have to be on my guard. I've always gone for getting my hips below level, but never before did I try to go all the way down, basically.

I have really big legs and they have always been strong relatively to the rest of my body, maybe from playing hockey as a kid and skiing all the time (plus genetics). I used to go for maximum depth, basically ATG, with a high bar position, but I found I was rounding my back. I got up to 275 5x5 with that style, but had back pain after squats every time. I switched to low bar, and now I don't go quite as low, I think my hips pass my knees by a few inches (I really need to video myself to check). It's harder to go absolute ATG on low bar position, but I like the feeling of hamstring/glute recruitment, plus no back pain unless I screw up.

I'd definitely avoid any activity like basketball before heavy squats. I don't do anything before lifting other than active warmup. I don't think I'd be able to get any heavy reps after running/soccer etc, even running on off-days my legs feel a bit stiff hehe.