Assessment of last cycle: sucked
Goals for this cycle: not suck
Seriously, I will experiment with first-thing-in-the-morning exercise, as I'm semi-convinced this is the only way I will ever get after it on a consistent basis. I will probably start with a simple 3x5 scheme, and set semi-challenging loads for the six main lifts, work up to the point where I can complete five reps per set, and then begin microloading, adding in some rep-count variation as needed.
---------------Week 1: Cycle II---------------
Sunday, 16.02.28
Monday, 16.02.29
Tuesday, 16.03.01
Wednesday, 16.03.02
Thursday, 16.03.03
AM
Bike Commuting
3.3 miles
Lifting
Finally made my way back to Anytime Fitness, at 4am. Just primed the six lifts. I'll try to add a bit next time, hopefully tomorrow. It's going to take a while to transition to early morning lifting, but I know it's the way to go long-term. Just have to make the short-term adjustments, mostly psychological.
Tried the assisted pullup contraption for the first time. I liked it a lot better than pulldowns or assisted pullups with bands. I think the weight was set at 70, which, given a body weight of 245, means I was lifting 175, right? That seems right. It felt like about 175 on a pulldown. It's pretty cool. I'll just keep dropping weight until I can do it unassisted. With the pulldowns, right around 200 pounds, I start to rise up, and my form becomes fetal. With the assisted pullup machine, my form felt pretty natural (the arc of resistance or whatever it's called seemed close to a real pullup), and there was possibly less stress on the shoulder and elbows.
PM
Bike Commuting
One mile.
Friday, 16.03.04
Saturday, 16.03.05
---------------Week 2: Cycle II---------------
Sunday, 16.03.06
AM
Lifting
More priming. Got the squat up to 2/2/2 @ 185 and did one rep of 135 for the clean-press. Then just dicking around with the RDLs, assisted pullup, 2DB Bench Press and 1DB Row, almost doing them as circuit training, which then occurred to me might be a good way to warm up first thing.
I debated hitting the gym while on the shitter, then realized if I don't get on top of this early morning routine pretty soon it's going to get harder and harder to get back into shape. Just have to suck it up for a week or two until I adapt and make it non-negotiable. It's too easy to find excuses first thing in the morning. So I went. My lower back felt pretty crunchy, so I rowed for five minutes after my first empty bar warmup squat set. That helped a bit, but I think I'll need to go in pretty much everyday to speed up the adaptation process. Might have to think about some kind of split.
Since the gym is on my prime bike route, maybe I'll try to combine biking and lifting into a single daily routine. 45-50 minutes of cycling a day would probably take the weight off quickly.
Anyway feeling great afterwards, just have to summon the mental fortitude to do something, anything, again tomorrow morning.
Monday, 16.03.07
AM
Lifting
Squat: 2/2 @ 225
Clean-Press: 1/2 @ 135
Assisted Pullup: 3 @ -60, 3/3 @ -40
Well, managed two days in a row. At least until I'm back in decent shape, I will probably work off of a split routine. That could be sustainable on a daily basis. So one day Squat/Press/Pullup, one day Deadlift/Bench/Row. I think the secret to a first-thing-in-the-morning routine is to do it everyday.
Everything felt a little better today than yesterday, but my lower back still feels a little stiff and unstable at 4am, so I'm going to continue to take things slow and just get everything primed and habituated to the early morning schedule. Assisted Pullups felt almost like real ones at -40 pounds. I'm about 245 still, so I was doing a pullup at a bodyweight of about 205 with the 40 pound assist. This will probably be my base and then I'll work on reducing the assist in five-pound increments.
I really like how good I feel afterwards. It really sets up the rest of the day quite nicely. Only problem is the afternoon drowsiness. Yesterday I was fighting sleep from 1-3pm before I got my second wind. I hope that improves as I adapt to the early morning schedule.
Tuesday, 16.03.08
Slept in until 6am. By the time I got to the gym, the little parking lot was already full and I could see all the cardio folks running on the treadmills while looking up at the 4-5 screens they have in front. That was enough, I turned around and went to my office. I know it's stupid, but I got to ease into a fuller gym vibe, although I doubt the power racks were all taken. Maybe in a few more weeks. At the moment, I'm really enjoying the desolate gym vibe. Like Charlton Heston lifting during the night while the zombies are out on the prowl or something. Anyway, found out that sometime between 5:30 and 6:30am the gym goes from deathly quiet (besides the piped in musak) to pretty lively.
Wednesday, 16.03.09
Felt like working out first thing, but I let obsession with class prep justify not going in. Regretted it almost immediately.
Thursday, 16.03.10
AM
Lifting
Squat: 2/2/3 @ 225
Clean-Press: 1/1/2/2 @ 135
Assisted Pullup (Supine, pronated, neutral): 3/3/3 @ -40
It felt a little less uncomfortable to lift first thing, my lower back felt less stiff and crunchy, and then on the third squat set I actually felt pretty good and considered going for reps. But I think I've committed, at least for a while, to a gradual, everyday, three lifts protocol. So I did my best to abide by it and just let the schedule adaptations come to me.
The focus has to remain on simply establishing the (nearly) everyday schedule for the next week or two. So I got set the agenda on low-effort until it starts to feel like a late afternoon workout, then start to push it. I was encouraged that on the third squat set I got a glimpse of some of that urge to push. So just gotta be patent and trust that it will come. Basically, there's two hurdles to overcome. First, when I wake up, fight the initial urge to head straight to my office for breakfast and coffee. Second, once I'm at the gym, fight the urge to quit before my body begins to warm-up. Once it's warmed-up, it takes a lot less mental effort to get through the sets. I think working off of a split routine will also help. All I have to do is nine worksets and then I can shower, eat, and have my coffee.
I really like the space at Anytime Fitness. When I'm in there alone, or with just a few people and it's almost like I'm all alone, I don't have any of that claustrophic crampedness of my garage gym. The body seems to want to fully extend into all that space when I'm doing the squat and press.
One guy seems to have the same early morning schedule as me. He's the serious lifter I think I mentioned before when I was complaining about the music a week or two ago. So that's cool. He was just coming in as I was leaving, but it's good to know there's a potential spotter around in case I decided to test a single once in a while.
Friday, 16.03.11
Felt like hitting the gym, didn't. Regretted it.
Saturday, 16.03.12
AM
Bike commuting
1.9 mi to gym
1.4 mi to office
1 mi to home
Lifting
Romanian Deadlift: 3/3/3 @ 225
Bench Press: 1/2/3 @ 185
One-hand Dumbbell Row: 3/3/3 @ 90 L & R
I got to Anytime Fitness sometime after 3am. I woke up at 2:30 very dehydrated with a slight headache. I ate a nice sized ribeye with wine for dinner the evening before but didn't eat anything else and only had carrots for lunch. So I just primed everything, still focusing on simply establishing the early morning schedule and the new three-lifts routine. Felt good to bench again. And I noticed they have a prowler, so might have to check that out at some point.
---------------Week 3: Cycle II---------------
Sunday, 16.03.13
AM
Lifting
Squat: 3/3/2 @ 225
Clean Press: 1/1/1/3 @ 135
Assisted Pullup, Pronated, Neutral, Supine Grip: 3/3/3 @ -40
Pretty proud I made it in today. I slept like a log from exhaustion and woke up with a kink in my back. Five minutes of rowing helped loosen things up, and then squats felt pretty solid. I felt a little light-headed on the first Press sets however. I think I'm still dehydrated from our family outing on Saturday. Assisted Pullups are definitely getting easier, and I think I may have lost a pound or two over the last week as well. Didn't ride my bike because it's supposed to rain and it's still cold enough to make that a little miserable, but yesterday I did manage to finally get the studded tires off so no excuses now, got start working the cyvling back in as well.
Didn't get in till after 7am, due to daylight savings time and sleeping in till 6:45 or so. 2-4 people in there with me, mostly doing cardio. Then one big guy came back to the free weights section and started doing half-squats while I was leaving. When I come in earlier I have the best of both worlds: the convenience and space of a health club together with the privacy and focus of a garage gym.
Monday, 16.03.14
AM
Lifting
RDL: 3/3/3 @ 275
Bench Press: 3/3/3 @ 185
P Row: 3/3/3 @ 135
Definitely getting easier. Maybe I can start to push things next week after another week of priming. I'll have to recalculate the loads and percentages, so far I've just been doing everything in 45- or 25-plate increments. It will all depend on how quickly I can get my squat back up. Even though I've switched things up a bit with the three-lifts, everyday protocol, I think it still makes sense for me to calibrate all the loads off the squat using the Iron Ratios.
I've lifted six out of the last nine days. Whoppee!
Tuesday, 16.03.15
AM
Lifting
Squat: 3 @ 225, 2/2/2 @ 245
Clean Press: 1/2/2/2 @ 135
Assisted Pullup, Pronated, Neutral, Supine Grip: 3/3/3 @ -40
Boosted the Squat up 20 pounds, probably should've come back down for one more set for reps at 225. I can't believe I used to be able to do 7 x 225. Still, the early morning routine is getting easier. I woke up once again debating whether to go, but by the time I was heading out the door, I actually wanted to go. I think I might have to experiment a little with pre-workout fueling though. So far, I've been pumping in a fasted state. But loading food and plates at the same time might be a shock to the system so soon after coming out of hibernation mode.
Now I've lifted 7 out of 10 days, oh yeah . . .
Wednesday, 16.03.16
Right knee a little unstable, probably shouldn't have gone up to 245 on the squats yet.
Thursday, 16.03.17
Friday, 16.03.18
Saturday, 16.03.19
---------------Week 4: Cycle II---------------
Just a day or two off to let my right knee recover, and now I'm back in slackerland. Came across this T-Nation repost Saturday morning:
https://www.t-nation.com/training/maxing-on-squats-and-deadlifts-every-day
The secret to daily training is to avoid arousal. Just make it workaday and let the gains come to you. So that's the plan.
Sunday, 16.03.20
My right shoulder started hurting Saturday while sitting at an odd angle at my desk, with my feet set up to my left and my right elbow a bit high on the arm rest while manipulating the mouse and keyboard. Today it hurts more. Crap, I'm definitely more injury-prone when I don't work out regularly. Now I'm regretting not going in on Wednesday even when my right knee felt a little unstable. I could've done some light RDLs and then upper body stuff. Probably would've prevented this from happening.
OK, I'll just take it as another sign to start really light and progress slowly, as per the Wendler dictum. The only thing that matters is establishing the every morning routine, because once a day or two passes without working out, it gets hard again to motivate first thing in the morning. And now I have the niggling shoulder for an excuse, just what a slacker needs.
Monday, 16.03.21
AM
Bike commuting
1.9 mi to gym
1.4 mi to office
1 mi to home
Lifting
Primed the Squat, Press, and Chinup at low weights, just to see how my right knee and shoulder react. Sucks to be injured again, especially for no reason, but I'm going to do my best to come in each and every day this week. That article by Nuckols on the Bulgarian Method was the last pitch I needed to hear to really sell me on the high frequency approach. I think especially for aging, doing something, anything, everyday is key to keeping everything loose and limber. I've lifted enough over the last several years to know that the gains will come through sheer consistency, no reason to push, just go.
Tuesday, 16.03.22
AM
Lifting
RDL: 3/3/3 @ 225
Pendlay Row: 3/3/3 @ 135
I was thinking yesterday's light presses may have been therapeutic but then I tried to bench with just the empty bar and it almost fell on my chest. Something is f*cked up in my right shoulder, yet I didn't even injury it. Just sat with poor posture for a day.
Anyway, back on the early morning schedule at least. Didn't even feel an inkling of not wanting to go; hitting the gym was the first thing on my mind as I regained consciousness. So that's good.
Wednesday, 16.03.23
Thursday, 16.03.24
Friday, 16.03.25
Saturday, 16.03.26
AM
Lifting
Squat: 3/3 @ 175
Clean Press: 3/3 @ 95
Assisted Pullup, Supine Grip: 3/3 @ -70
Right shoulder and knee have felt pretty normal for a few days, so I went in and primed my squats, press, and chinup. I'm pretty used to the 4am gym scene now, especially when it's completely empty like today. I'll use the excuse of not wanting to re-injure the shoulder and knee to try to put in a full week of just making sure I go in everyday without any performance expectations. So the strange, bad-sitting-posture shoulder injury could be a blessing in disguise. The right knee doesn't really merit this caution, as I've got pretty good at managing the meniscus tissue issue, but it did feel cranky after doing 3 x 245 ten days ago, so perhaps a week of just priming things will be good for the knees too.
Had my annual physical on Thursday. My cholesterol is better--normal--from last summer, but my blood pressure is a little high, as is to be expected considering my aerobic training has been in stasis for three months. I weighed in at 245. The doc said I should make 225 my first target weight, and then if I can get lower than that, it's bonus. I would still like to get down to 210, but it's probably best to just focus on getting rid of 20 pounds at first. Abide's progress has inspired me a bit. I think I'm going to try conditioning work after the weights, and also cut out the 1-2 drinks every night, and go back to making alcohol just a weekend thing, like it used to be before I got married.
I told the doc about the orthos I saw last summer, and how squats have seemed to be therapeutic for my knees. He was surprised of course, having been indoctrinated in the squats-are-bad-for-your-knees silliness. He said there was little hope for my lingering shingles to get better, although it does for some. I still notice it when I'm dehydrated, so it's my canary in a coalmine for hydration. Not painful, just annoying.
All the time off from steady lifting progress has got me in the right frame of mind to just focus on weight loss and general health now. I know the lifting gains will return eventually. The main thing is to set up a consistent routine that I can do for the rest of my lift. The time has come.
---------------Week 5: Cycle II---------------
Sunday, 16.03.27
AM
Lifting
RDL: 3/3/3 @ 275
P Row: 5/5/5 @ 135
Assisted Dips: 3/3/3 @ -100
Woke up at 2:00 am. Didn't even think twice about hitting the gym. It seems to be getting easier.
One other old guy in there when I arrived.
RDLs at 275 didn't seem like such hard sell. I tried assisted dips and my right shoulder seemed OK with it, so next time I'll try a -85 pound assist. I'm thinking with the three-lifts, everyday routine, I could work in some quick assistance lifts once in a while, probably pullovers and dips, maybe landmine twist as well. With just three mandatory lifts, the structure feels more open, like only the Squats on the A workout and Deadlifts on the B workout are really set, and always done first thing. After that, I could alternate dumbbell presses for barbell presses, or do some subbing on the machines, just for kicks. Anyway, I'll try bench press on my next deadlift day to see if the right shoulder is fully recovered from the crankiness.
Monday, 16.03.28
Right shoulder began to feel a little sore as the day progressed.
Tuesday, 16.03.29
Woke up with a really sore right shoulder. Man, didn't feel it while doing the dips on Sunday. How'd that happen.
Wednesday, 16.03.30
Thursday, 16.03.31
AM
Lifting
SQ: 1/2/3 @225
RDL 3/3 @ 225
Press: 3 @ 95, left shoulder a little something, so another set of empty bar and I quit.
Assisted Pullups -70 3/3
Just went in to prime things. Right shoulder is feeling normal, but I'm going to do the upper body stuff really lite until I'm sure everything's alright again.
---------------Week 6: Cycle II---------------
Tuesday, 16.04.05
Saw Dentist about lower left tooth ache.
Thursday, 16.04.07
Dentist pulled out my back molar and scrapped out all the infected tissue.
---------------Week 7: Cycle II---------------
Sunday, 16.04.10
Two miles
bike commuting.
Monday, 16.04.11
Feeling really soggy. Enough is enough!
Tuesday, 16.04.12
AM
Lifting
SQ: 3/3/3 @ 95
OHP: 3/3/3 @ 95
RDL: 3/3/3 @ 135
P Rw: 3/3/3 @ 135
BP: 3/3/3 @ 95
As. PU: 3/3/3 @ -55lbs (BW:245 - 55lbs assist = 190lbs)
OK, finally motivated. I'm going to spend the rest of the cycle just priming, no goals, make sure my knees and shoulders are good and lubed before I try serious loads. Try to end the cycle with 1U = 60, so with the Iron Ratio of
OHP = 2
P Row = 2.5
Pullup = 2.7
BP = 3
SQ/RDL = 4
DL = 4.6
I'll try to get everything up to
OHP = 120
P Row = 150
Pullup = 162
BP = 180
SQ/RDL = 240
DL = 270
Before I begin the microloading again in the next training cycle. Plus I have to get in 12 sessions per calendar month in order to get my insurance rebate of $20, so it will behoove me to go for a week straight without pushing it so much that I need a day of recovery.
Hmnn, wait a minute, the assisted pullups are too low. I might have to mess with the Iron Ratio a bit.
Wednesday, 16.04.13
Thursday, 16.04.14
Friday, 16.04.15
AM
Lifting
SQ: 2/2/3 @ 185
OHP: 3/3/3 @ 120
As. PU: 3/3/3 @ -25lbs (BW:245 - 25lbs assist = 220lbs)
BP: 3/3/3 @ 95
P Rw: 3/3/3 @ 135
RDL: 3/3/3 @ 225
More priming. Did assisted pullups with just a 25-pound assist, so I'm at where my bodyweight should be in a few months if I can ever get back to consistent training. Didn't feel to hard to hit the gym, the mental part has been vanquished, not I just have to train enough that I can do some serious loads first thing. Still holding off on that for a while.
Got one of Abide's colds. The kids have had the sniffles, but I've been a bit sleep deprived for many days, and I think that left me vulnerable. Oh well, one good night of sleep ought to take care of it.
Saturday, 16.04.16
Five miles biking, family outing. Great to cycle with the wife and kids.
Woke up with strange kink in my right hip. A combination of lifting on Friday and sleeping too well Friday night? Anyway, decided to take time off until it feels better. I don't want to screw things up again.
---------------Week 8: Cycle II---------------
Sunday, 16.04.17
Monday, 16.04.18
Tuesday, 16.04.19
Wednesday, 16.04.20
Thursday, 16.04.21
Friday, 16.04.22
Saturday, 16.04.23