Brian's strength log

[Brian Stone]

Wed Oct 14

Still quite a bit of knee pain, mostly frontal ligaments feels like especially right MCL (recurring injury, aggravated when I don't push thru heels. Work right knee sleeve during working and was fine, but skipped squats. Switched it up a bit for that reason.

Warm-up: light eliptical

BP: 45#x5, 95x5, 125x3, 155x2, 175x5, 175x5, 175x6
Much better. I think I advanced too far in my BP early on and had to pull back to progress. 180# next time should be fine

DB Rows: (each arm) 45#x5, 65x5, 85x3, 100x2, 110x5, 120x5x2

HPC: (opted out of full PC as I didn't want to test my knees): 45x5, 65x5, 95x5, 115x3
Back strain. Think I'm doing something wrong, so stopped. Will do some research to see what's up.


C2: 1500m damper 7 - didn't record time

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Later: Ice on knee

[Brian Stone]

Thu Oct 15: Ice on knee

Fri Oct 16: Knee felt good enough. Going to work some front squats into my workout to try to balance things out. Didn't have a gauge of where I stand so this doesn't progress to a work set.

FS: 45#x5, 75x5, 115x5, 125x5, 135x5, 145x5, 155x5
Had a knee sleeve on last set, which I think actually hindered me and caused more stress to that knee as a crutch.

Press: 45x5, 65x5, 85x3, 110x2, 120x5x2, 125x4, 125x2
I was supposed to be doing 130 today, but I totally messed up counting the weights. The strength would not have been there anyway - my lunch was awful and I felt like crap all day.

DL: I watched a lot of instructional video on this and it was invaluable; my form was not correct before.
135x5, 185x5, 225x2, 255x5 (PR)
At least workout wasn't a total waste.

Chins: 5-6-6

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Later: Ice on knee.

Also of note I ordered some weightlifting shoes Wednesday - hoping they come in before Monday.

[Brian Stone]

Sat Oct 17
Ran 5k in about 25 min. Ice on knee later. Feeling much better

Sun Oct 18
Rest + tons of junkfood

Mon Oct 19
BP: 65#x5, 95x5, 125x3, 155x2, 180x5,5,7

Squat: I started working form here, so had to drop down in weight to correct everything. Doing box squats just a bit above parallel, as that's what my flexibility permits at present.
45x5, 95x5, 135x3, 175x3, 195x5, 195x2
Was having some issues here with form, too heavy too quickly. Dropped down
135x5, 155x5, 165x5, 175x5

DB Rows: (each arm) 55x5, 75x5, 95x3, 110x2, 120x6x3

[Brian Stone]

Wed Oct 21
Bowling in the afternoon, then about a 2 mile hike.

Workout:
Press: 45#x5, 65x5, 85x3, 105x2, 130x5x3 (PR)

FS: 45x5, 75x5, 105x3, 135x5x2, 145x5x2
Not as much a leg strength thing as getting used to the movement. I'm not sure whether alternating in FS is going to help or hinder my raw strength progress in the long run. Would appreciate input on this

DL: 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 265x5 (PR). VERY tough - will stay here next DL workout
backoff: 185x7

No energy left for chins.

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Weight: 221. Despite eating what I feel is a ton, I'm still actually losing weight v. slowly, but strength and body comp have gotten steadily better, so things seem ok for the moment.

[Brian Stone]

Thu night - steak and beer!!!! Didn't bode great for Friday's workout.

Fri Oct 23
BP: 65#x5, 95x5, 135x3, 160x2, 185x5,5,4
Could not squeeze out the last rep. Will stay here next week.

BS: Just got weightlifting shoes in the mail today. They're a godsend - wish I had gotten a pair years ago! Got a comfortable foot placement and box height for these going that eliminates my "good morning" issues; I descend to roughly parallel.
45x5, 95x5, 135x3, 160x2, 185x5, 190x5, 195x5
Still felt good afterwords but too tired for another heavy set. Can def up this next workout.
Backoff: 135#x10

PC: 45x5, 65x5, 95x3, 115x2, 135x5, 140x5, 145x5
I still have some form issues here in the transition; trying to consistently work in the shrug and hip drive.

Chins: 5-5-4

[Brian Stone]

Sun Oct 25
Run 4 Mi @ ~34 mins

[Brian Stone]

Week 5

Mon Oct 26
Press: 45#x5, 65x5, 90x3, 115x2, 130x5, 135x4,4
Made a mistake about my workset weight - should not have done that 130

BS: 45x5, 95x5, 135x3, 170x2, 200x5, 205x5x2
Backoff: 175x5

DB Rows - R,L: 55x5, 75x5, 95x3, 110x2, 120x7,7,6

Chins: 6,6

[Brian Stone]

Wed Oct 28

BP: Just started playing around with my bench form, per the Dave Tate video in this thread. It takes some getting used to, but I made my current BP goal for the day, despite a closer grip and totally different form.
45#x5, 95x5, 135x3, 160x2, 185x5,5,6 (PR)
Feels like I did minimal actual chest work. Had difficulty holding my shoulders into the bench through the whole thing due to hams and glutes. I have to imagine this will come with time - will inquire therein.

BS: 45x5, 95x5, 135x3, 185x2, 210x4,5,5 (PR)
Screwed the last rep on the first set - mind wasn't in the right place and I lingered too long in the hole. Only issue going on here is that I'm letting the box be a bit of a crutch, I think, as my butt sometimes hits it pretty hard. I'm trying to really push out my belly to control for this, but not sure if the bounce is something you just sacrifice for a box squat.

DL: 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 245x2, 275x5 (PR)

Parallel grip pullups: 5,4



Was a quivering mess after this workout, but made it out with 3 PR's!

[Brian Stone]

Fri Oct 30

Weight: 223
Still pretty sore from last workout. Putting off heavy workout until tomorrow.

Row: 2.5k @ ~10 mins.
My conditioning is pathetic compared to just about any point in the last 5 years, or at least for this particular exercise. Running didn't seem to take much of a hit, but I'm less aggressive when I run.

Also walked about 2 miles - nice day out.

[Brian Stone]

Sat Oct 31

Press: 45#x5, 75x5, 95x3, 115x2, 135x5,5,3
Have to stay here. Was a battle to get rep 5 on the second workset

BS: 45x5, 95x5, 135x3, 195x3, 205x2, 215,5,4,5
Was wobbly on all my sets here. Will repeat as Monday's workset. Form felt like an issue as well, although I don't feel any residual knee irritation.

PC: 45x5, 75x5, 115x3, 135x2, 155x2,5,5
Way insufficient intensity on the first workset, hence the 2 reps. 135 felt easy and I allowed myself to think 150 would feel comparatively easy. Not so much. OK to go to 155 next time

Chins: 5,4


As I've been progressing in SS with increasingly heavy weights, this is starting to feel like a lot of volume for the intensity I put in. I'm going to get the 12 weeks at least, or work this program until I stop making progress, but I'm thinking something like 5/3/1 might fit a better model for volume on each workout day. We'll see.