I have no idea what's going on anymore.

[ThePman]

And what's another log, right?

A little about me: I'm a former skinny guy who became a fat guy and now wants to reach some happy medium.

I come from a very strength-influenced background, lots of powerlifting and such, and I incorporate that into the "bodybuilding" I do.

I'm currently just under 90kg, having dieted down from 97 back in July. I've been doing a pretty straightforward diet and exercise routine up until a few weeks ago, since my wife and I started training for the PHouse Open/BBro at the end of November.

Dieting isn't 100% on hold, but meet-training and recovery are taking priority for now so any losses are expected to be slow.

As far as strength levels, I'm also (pretty much constantly) recovering from a slew of old and new injuries, which I've learned how to work around, but to put it bluntly I haven't set a real PR since 2006 and it will likely be another year or so before I'm in any position to do so. Baby steps!

I'd like to hit at least a 180-185 squat (with belt + old wraps), a 150-160 range bench (in a moderately-tight F6), and at least a 240 pull. I hit 230 a few weeks ago at the dead-log strongman comp we did, and I figure a 10kg boost is reasonable enough.

[ThePman]

Recent workouts:

4-October

Shirt BP, 125x1, 135x1, 140xMiss, Miss

3-BP, 115/2x5

Chinups (w/ gorilla grips), 4x6

T-bar rows, 3x8

Hammer curls, 20kg/2x8

5-October

Power Cleans, worked up to 62.5x3, 72.5x3, 82.5x3, 85x2

Squats, couple sets at 100*

Rack DL, 160x5

20' recovery ride on the bike

* My legs/hips were not recovered enough from Friday to attempt the weights I'd planned, and the adductor I tore last year was really telling me not to push it so I played it safe here. I'll make up for it by hitting a few heavier singles on Friday after the lighter stuff.

7-October

Push Press, 65 / 3x5 @8

2-BP, 95 / 8x3 @7

Chins, 3x7, 6x3 (39 reps)

alternated with pushdowns for 5x10

Weight's creeped back up a tad, to 90.2, but that's expected right now. 2-boards felt good, no shoulder issues, but the 90 sec rests did cause a little fatigue in the wrists. No biggie otherwise.

9-October

Box Squats (belt), 90+purples / 10x2 @7

SQ (belt + wraps), 125x5 @7, 145x5 @8

DL (65%), 150 / 15 singles @7-8

45* back raise, 3x15

11-October

Shirted BP, singles with 125, 135, 140 @9, 145 @9-10

added 2-board, 150xMiss, x1 @9

added 3-board, 150x2 @8, 160x1 @9

close-grip 3-BP, 120x5 @9

Chins w/ gorilla grips, 5x6

face pulls, 3x10

rope triceps, 3x8, 1x12

Zottmans, 2x8

Lots of volume today, mainly working on getting my groove and a solid grip with the shirt. I'm definitely starting to get a feel for the shirt and getting more confident with each rep, which is making me feel a little more optimistic.

Weight was down a notch, to 89.7, and I calipered at 15% by the 3-site formula I've been using since I started dieting a few months ago (down from my original 97kg and 22%), so I'm pleased all around.

12-October

Power cleans, some warmups, 80x3, 85x2, 90x1

SQ, warmups, 145x3 @8 (belt), 160x3 @8-9 (belt + wraps)

Rack DL, 185x3 (crap knurling, made this way harder than it had to be)

GMs, 60x10, 100 / 3x6, 60x12

[rose]

Good luck with your goals Pman.

[ThePman]

The way my joints like to explode, I need it!

[rose]

LOL, exploding joints :shock: Pix please! May I ask what injuries, how they affect your training and what your strategies are for working around them?

[ThePman]

Where to start.

Both shoulders have had minor tears of the subscapularis, which means I can't bench full-ROM and have to do a metric ton of thoracic spine mobility work, upper-back strengthening/stability work, and shoulder mobility work to keep them from screaming.

Right side hamstring likes to tear at inopportune times, though it's been behaving lately. This doesn't seem to bug me much as long as I stay on top of the hamstring work.

Left adductor tore up near the groin last December, at the bottom of a squat. I had to lay off any heavy squatting until July, so I just did lighter front squats instead. It's been mostly playing ball lately, but any kind of wide-stance squatting or sumo pulling is out of the question.

Agitated something in my upper lumbar spine about a month ago while playing with the log clean & press; it seems to be an inflamed facet joint. This is more irritating than anything but it does give me fits during overhead pressing, and I had to pretty much bail on that event in the dead-log comp a few weeks back.

And finally, my right knee has decided to start being a jerk the last two weeks, probably because I'm squatting on it fairly heavy again. Which means tons of ankle mobility work, tons of quad/hip flexor stretches, and the fun of foam-rolling the IT band.

I can do most things, I just have to be really careful with my lifting, and stay on top of my rehab/corrective/recovery stuff.

[rose]

Wow. ACC must love you. Lucky there's generally an alternative option to work with. I'm trying to make sure my shoulders live as long as I do without falling apart. This may or may not be successful. I gave up fighting to try and minimise the risk etc. Are you looking forward to BBro?

[ThePman]

Wow. ACC must love you. Lucky there's generally an alternative option to work with. I'm trying to make sure my shoulders live as long as I do without falling apart. This may or may not be successful. I gave up fighting to try and minimise the risk etc. Are you looking forward to BBro?

ha, I'm American and have only been here since May, so I'm not burdening everyone's tax dollars just yet. :pfft:

And yeah. I do lots of 2-board presses and floor presses, which take the strain off the shoulders, and a whole laundry-list of rehabilitative exercises. This pretty much sums up the strategy I follow.

Looking forward to the BBro just to meet some new folks and start inching my lifts back up step by step. My wife's going to be doing the interesting lifting.

[rose]

ha, I'm American and have only been here since May, so I'm not burdening everyone's tax dollars just yet.

I wouldn't care, rather your injuries than some dole bludging loser, oh wait, they're not all like that aye :roll: :pfft:

My wife's going to be doing the interesting lifting.

Go the girls! 8)

[SoaringSwine]

Welcome on board. I'm DaveH from the PH forums. There are going to be a few of us from NZBB lifting in the BBro. Your squat and deadlift aren't too dissimilar to mine, I might be around the same weight as well.

I see you're utilising some RPEs, are you using them to regulate your training? Or just a general indication of how hard something was?

[ThePman]

Welcome on board. I'm DaveH from the PH forums. There are going to be a few of us from NZBB lifting in the BBro. Your squat and deadlift aren't too dissimilar to mine, I might be around the same weight as well.

Awesome 8)

I see you're utilising some RPEs, are you using them to regulate your training? Or just a general indication of how hard something was?

I've been using RPEs for quite awhile now, but I didn't really start tracking them in detail until I read through Mike Tuchscherer's book. I do use them to regulate things, but going by my own system (which is a combo of things I've done for awhile and some new ideas I shamefully stole from him).

Mike's method ends up being a bit too much volume for my liking, I've found. Maybe one of these days if I get the inclination to build my work capacity back up I'll give it a proper run.

[Draft]

Recent workouts:

face pulls, 3x10

Haha, even though I know what this is I still can't help but smile - guess it shows my maturity.

Good luck with working around your battered body. I can definitely sympathises with ongoing (and temporary) problems though I don't think mine are anywhere near as bad as yours.

[rose]

I like that shoulder health article you posted, smart Matt :wink:

"Inverted (or supine) rows are the bread and butter exercise for the mid-back. I stole this idea from a drunken Irish swim coach, but damned if it doesn’t seem to help with a lot of shoulder problems. These are dirt-simple and only require minimal equipment; they’ll also make you realize how weak you are in that area."

[Laver]

Cool! Another strength journal! Nice to see some power cleans in there too!

Keep it up, and go Olly work

That is all, welcome aboard.

[ThePman]

Thanks folks

[ThePman]

14-October

Push Press, 72.5 / 3x3 @8

2-Board, 102.5 / 8x3 @7 (90 sec rests)

Was meant to do some chins and tricep pumpin', but it was apparently International Chest Night tonight and I didn't feel like interrupting the intense conversations that were taking place on the cable equipment, so I just did a 15' recovery ride on the bike.

[ThePman]

Going to consider taking an off-loading week either this coming week or the next. I'm getting my usual signs of overloading so I may need to scale the volume back a tad.

[ThePman]

Friday 16-October

Box SQ, warmups, 100+purples / 8x2 @7

Speed DL, 160 / 12 singles

45* back raise, 10kg / 4x10

I had to cut out two of my planned box squat sets because this right knee has decided to be my new pet injury. Fortunately it's not severe (I don't think); it just feels like a case of tendinitis or maybe something pulled in there. Aches during a squat but I think I can just work through it.

I'm heading straight for a nice 8 weeks of easy rehab after this meet, though.

[ThePman]

Sunday 18-October

Had a crap session in the shirt, missed one off the shirt, and missed my first 2-board set, so that was it for shirt benching.

close-grip 3-board, 125x3 <-- this was also way too hard, and pretty much confirmed "CNS burnout" (lol), so I just called it a day on benching.

Did a few sets of pullups and two sets of pushdowns and went home.

Monday 19-October

Power Cleans, 70x3, 80x2, 90x2, 95x1, 100x1

SQ, 140x3 (belt), 160x1 (belt+wraps), 170x1 (b+w)

GMs, 60x6, 100 / 2x8, 60x8

This made up for yesterday. I don't think I've done a power clean over 90kg for several years now.

My knee (VMO really) is having some tendinitis issues (I think), and as a result I'm shifting my weight on to my left leg. Not good, so I had to abort my attempts. I had the strength for 180+ easy, if it weren't for that.

[ThePman]

Weds 21-October

"Speed" 2-board, warmups, 110 / 6x3 @8

DB row, 50 / 3x6

Chins, x3/4/5/6 (2 rounds)

tricep pushdowns, 4x10

20' light tempo ride on the bike

then tenderized my right IT band and quad with the foam roller

[ThePman]

Friday 23-October

Box SQ, warmups, 110+purples / 8x2 @7-8

Speed DL, 172.5 / 10 singles @7-8

45* back raise, +10kg x10, +20 / 2x10, 1x15

20' LI recovery ride on the bike

Miscellaneous foam rolling (IT band, quads), stretching/mobility stuff (hips, OH squats, ankles), and a couple sets of loaded crunches to finish up. Gotta remember to keep on top of this crap.

My VMO or whatever it was feels way, way better today. No idea if it was just laying off it, rolling it out with the foam, or what, but I'm glad it's not giving me fits.

I've been playing with some Konstantinov-style pulls on these "speed" sets, and I think I'm actually a tiny bit stronger that way. It's not a huge gain but it feels like it could make the difference between locking out a max attempt vs. losing it at the mid-point. Will have to experiment with heavier weights.

[SoaringSwine]

Miscellaneous foam rolling (IT band, quads), stretching/mobility stuff (hips, OH squats, ankles), and a couple sets of loaded crunches to finish up. Gotta remember to keep on top of this crap.

Don't remind me

[ThePman]

It makes all the difference between lifting good and some joint asploding

[poos_n_wees]

Pman! Great to see you've started a journal round these ways \:D/

Good luck with this.. Hope the other half is well :grin:

[Gym rat]

Pman welcome to the land on journals and good luck with reaching your goals