Back from vacation, back in the gym

Last 'official' training session was May 5th, in the interim, Vivian and I went on a very excellent vacation.  We flew to Rome, spent the day walking around seeing history and stuff.  Took a fast train to Venice the next day and got on the Norwegian Jade and cruised around the eastern Mediterranean seeing places that blew my mind.  It was my first time in Europe and my first time on a cruise ship and it was awesome.

We got back Saturday night and took a few days to re-adjust to our timezone, play a round of golf with the in-laws and slowly get back into our routine.  I made it to the gym tonight with the intention of just 'priming the pump' so to speak.  The ship actually had a far better equipped fitness center than I would have guessed and we got in three workouts on the cruise.  No barbells though so I was limited to machine work and dumbbells up to 80 lbs. We also did a ton of walking around in Rome, Venice and on our port stops in Dubrovnik, Croatia, Athens, Greece, Ephesus, Turkey, and Split, Croatia.

Trevi Fountain, Rome

Where the Pope works

The Norwegian Jade, we had to take a tender into Split.

Piazza San Marco as seen from our ship

The main street in Dubrovnik as seen from the wall surrounding the city.

The Acropolis, Athens, Greece

Vivian and I in front of the Library of Celsus, Ephesus, Turkey

We had an excellent seafood lunch in Split, Croatia

one of many pics from our day in Venice after we left the ship

I took over a thousand pictures of all kinds of things since both the destinations and the mode of transportation was such a novelty to me.  I also tried to eat all the things since the ship had food everywhere and all the ports offered an awesome array of local specialties but I managed to only gain 3 lbs when all was said and done.  I guess it was all the walking.  It probably wasn't a coincidence that we saw very few over-weight locals in the cities we visited.

The training session today was just a feeling out process since I had been away from barbells and anything heavy for two weeks.  Squats felt great and the time off left my elbows feeling better than ever.  Weirdly, my right knee squawked loudly on my first set with 405 and I only did two reps before I shut it down.  The pain was unlike anything I've experienced, not in severity but in location.  Right under the kneecap.  Anyways, I moved on to bench presses and those felt fine.  I sped through the session in about 45 minutes and was very surprised to find out my knee didn't want to go down the stairs at all.  Extremely sore.  I had to go down one step at a time with no weight on my right leg while bent.

I'm guessing the fat pad under the kneecap was irritated by my squats since it hadn't sustained any loads at acute angles for 17 days.  I figure it should be back to normal in a few days.  Strength-wise I felt better than ever but I guess the old adage, "if you don't use it you lose it" still hold true.

Squats:  135x10, 225x5, add belt 315x5, 365x3, 405x2

Bench Press:  all reps paused, 135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 275x3, add wrist wraps, 295x2, 315x1x3 sets, 275x3x2 sets

Kirk Shrugs:  225x6, 275x5, 275x5, 275x5

Rope Pushdowns:  60x15, 60x10  super-setted with
Face Pulls:  50x15, 50x15

Cruise ships think of everything!

Training, bench press and working around inability to deadlift

Not many training sessions left before vacation so just trying to keep moving.  Went to the driving range with Vivian yesterday and hit a bucket of balls.  That irritated my back (my SI joints more specifically) so I ended up not being able to deadlift today (again).

Got in some bench press volume and worked around the inability to deadlift heavy by doing some assistance work instead.

Bench Press:  all reps paused, 135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 275x3x8 sets

Deadlift:  225x5, 315x5, 405x5, add belt, 495x1

Barbell rows:  225x6x3 sets

Leg Press:  360x30, 450x30

Squat gym PR and the "Avi Silverberg challenge"

Last training session was April 26th, in between Vivian and I finally got out on the golf course and I took some days off from the gym.  To be honest, the opening of golf season always distracts me since I'd much rather be playing golf than lifting weights.  In addition, our big vacation is less that two weeks away and the excitement is building.

Since I'll be away from the weights for about 10 days, I decided that the last few sessions before our trip would be a good time to hit a mini-peak.  After I get back, I'll have just enough time to ramp up the volume and then mini-peak for my meet on June 15th.

Being away from the gym for 5 days left me feeling quite recovered and not the least bit rusty.  I'm going to take that as a sign that the ramp up in weekly volume was a beneficial loading scheme and will return to it when training resumes in a couple weeks.

My goal with squats was to work up to 4-5 heavy singles.  I could tell from my last warm-up set with 405 that it was going to be a solid session.  455x1 was nice and comfortable.  475x1 went up without much drama as well.  I decided I might as well load up five plates and giv'r.  495x1 was a near limit lift, not sure I had another 5 lbs in me today.  But it was a gym PR and a nice confirmation that the training leading up to this week had resulted in positive adaptation.  I did one more back-off single with 455 but I was fatigued and  I didn't have as much speed out of the hole.  I finished up with 405x3.  I finally feel like I'm 'mastering' that weight.  Not because I can rep it out at will but because I'm comfortable with that weight and can do the reps without compromising form.

While hitting the gym PR was gratifying, I was more satisfied that every single felt grooved and that my form was consistent.  I feel very confident that I'll be able to take 227.5 kgs as a third attempt in June.

After squats, I decided that I would try something called the "Avi Silverberg Challenge".  I don't know Avi Silverberg personally but I do know that he's one of the top bench pressers in the CPU.  I've seen CPU lifters on facebook posting about the challenge and since I can barely qualify to give it a shot, I decided to try it.

As far as I can tell, it's a rep out with 3 wheels, rest, a rep out with 2 wheels, rest, and a rep out with 1 wheel.  Since I rarely if ever train the main lifts with more than 10 reps, I knew it would be trouble.

I managed 315x3 for the first set.  I only got 225x12 for the second and 135x22 for the third.  My rep endurance is definitely not adapted for this loading scheme.  Still, it was nice to get a deep burn from the sets with 225 and 135.

Squats:  135x10, 225x5, 275x5, add belt, 315x3, add wrist wraps, 365x3, 405x2, 455x1, 475x1, 495x1 gym PR, 455x1, 405x3

Bench Press:  135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 275x3, add wrist wraps, 315x3, 225x12, 135x22

Squat:  20 total work reps     Bench Press:  28 total work reps

Bench press overload and aborted deadlift single day

Bench press overload day went pretty well but I could definitely still feel the effects of the bench shirt work last weekend.  Since I don't have any equipped competitions any time soon, I won't be getting back in the shirt for a while.  The extreme overloads from shirted bench work are just a bit too much right now.

The plan on overload day is to work up to a heavy paused single, throw on the Titan Ram and do 3-4 sets.  Today I was feeling good with the raw work and went up to 345 for a paused single.  It felt light on my chest and came off the chest quickly but slowed down through lockout, something I wasn't really expecting given how it felt at the bottom.  My lack of speed in the latter half the lift also showed up in the Titan Ram work as I did 4 doubles with 375.  I'll chalk up the lack of speed to some residual structural fatigue from last week's shirt work.  Hopefully things will be back to normal next week.

I was also supposed to work up to heavy deadlift singles but I think working a bit harder than usual on the bench presses aggravated my lower back.  My back just wouldn't loosen up and every rep of my warmup sets hurt at the top when I locked out.  Strangely, my back doesn't ever hurt at the beginning of the lift, only at the top when I get my hips through.  So, after my last warm-up set, I aborted the planned heavy singles and did a couple high rep sets of leg presses to help loosen up my back.  Whatever issue I have, it's extension intolerant so leg pressing tends to help balance things out since my lower back is in more of a flexion position under tension.

Bench Press:  all reps paused, 135x10, 185x5, 225x5 , 255x3, 285x3,  add wrist wraps, 315x2, 335x1, 345x1

add Titan Ram, 375x2, 375x2, 375x2, 375x2

no ram, paused reps, 285x4, 285x4

Deadlifts:  315x3, 405x3, add belt 495x3

Leg Press:  270x30, 270x30

wk 3 of increased volume, squat and bench press

Starting my third week of increased squat and bench press volumes but this week will be a bit less than the previous two since Vivian and I finally have a tee time booked for Sunday.  Finally getting a start to our golf season means I'll probably not have a weekend training session so my squat and bench press repetition volumes will be one session short.

I used the same progression as last week's heavy squat day but kept the intensity a little higher on the last three sets.  Despite feeling a little tired, the bar moved faster with the weights this week than last.  I did 34 total work repetitions compared to 37 the previous week but the average weight used was higher.

For paused bench press sets, I set a goal of getting my 8 work sets done in 12 minutes and was able to hit my goal.  I will probably keep that timing as my norm for my bench volume days as it helps me fit my training sets into the roughly 75-80 minutes I have at the gym.

I finished up with kirk shrugs but with short rest periods, my grip really starts to fail.  Still, it's starting to get easier to hold onto the bar and stronger hands are a big component to hitting a golf ball farther so I'll keep up the pace on these as well.

Squats:  135x10, 225x5, 275x5, add belt, 315x5, add wrist wraps, 365x3, 385x3, 405x2, 425x3, 425x3, 405x3, 405x3, 405x3

Bench Press: all reps paused, 135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 275x3x8 sets in 12 minutes

Kirk Shrugs:  225x8, 275x5, 275x4, 275x4

34 total Squat work reps, 34 total Bench Press work reps  (work reps = all reps at greater than 50% of my 1 RM)

I predict the "next big thing" in training articles

With so much marketing going on in the corners of the internet that house strength and training bandwidth, there's an ever-increasing need to re-market old concepts.  These concepts are laundered, accessorized  and given catchy names so they seem new and innovative.   We've got cubes, juggernauts, westsides (and probably eastsides), exotic routines (sheiko, smolov, bulgarian, german volume), methods named after states and then renamed with new wrinkles, routines using odd numbers (because "2, 4, 6, and 8" were already claimed by the cheerleading industry?), and a whole bunch of variations of linear progression schemes.

There are plethoras of articles about training frequency, from very little to very often, articles about training at very high intensity and extreme definitions of muscular failure to articles that recommend leaving a rep in the tank.  Some recommending a PR everyday, some recommending PR's only be hit on the competitive platform. What they almost all contain as their goal is measurable progress in 1 RM, in most cases, a wave or sawtooth pattern of progressively higher lifting achievements.  They avoid what all lifters seem to want to avoid and that is the dreaded plateau.

Search any internet forum geared towards strength or hypertrophy training and there is post after post about what to do to avoid or break a plateau.  The word "plateau" is so reviled that internet lifters come up with alternative terms to avoid writing or saying it.  "Stall" is a common substitution.  Its reminiscent of how many golfers hesitate to speak or write of a "shank", probably the most horrifying shot in golf.  Instead of "shank", players refer to "hosel rockets" or "laterals".  "Plateau" is the "shank" of the lifting world and both are akin to saying "Candyman".  Say either too many times and something bad happens to you.

Because internet marketers need to continually find new territory to mine, my prediction is very soon there will be claims staked on rich veins of "plateaus".  Rather than pushing to hit new PR's every day, there will be training programs that actually chase the plateau.  Already there are some that are touching on the concept, calling their programs "base building".   What I envision will be the next wave of guru-articles that embrace the plateau.

Here's how I think it will go:

First it needs a metaphor.  The metaphor is critical because it paints a picture that neither science or practice can satisfactorily describe.  For my Plateau Program, my metaphor is a step ladder.  Without a step ladder, one can only reach so high.  And for a brief instant, on tip toes and reaching as high as possible, one can momentarily touch as high as possible.  However due to fatigue and loss of balance, that ability to touch high is fleeting.  That represents the PR one just hit.  The plateau is represented by the ground.  The base.  Given enough time to rest and enough attempts, one can reproduce that highest touch.  However, while standing on the ground, one will never touch higher.  Popular programs emphasize a trainee's attempts to stretch and reach higher because the gratification is instant rather than delayed.

In order to touch higher, one needs to raise off the ground.  That's a new plateau.  The idea behind the plateau program is not to increase the ability to stretch and reach but to build a step on the ladder so one's current ability to stretch and reach is augmented.  

This fictional program will give the internet hand-wringers hope because instead of seeing a "stall" or "plateau" as something to despise and a reason to program hop, impressionable lifters will be re-assured and continue with their lifting.  They will embrace the plateau and continue putting in time and repetitions with loads that result in their body adapting to the stress.  This program will succeed because time and consistency matter almost above all and it is virtually impossible to narrow down the reasons for progress to single factors.  It won't matter if the trainee progresses due to skill development, work capacity improvement, adaptation of bone and connective tissue, or good old-fashioned hypertrophy.  The only thing that will matter is the trainee will stick with a consistent schedule and remain patient and as a result, they will make progress that they wholly attribute to the new "program" that they're on.

In the end, the programs will look exactly the same as all the programs that came before it but the key word emphasis will be new and that will draw trainees to it like moths to a flame.  

squats and bench presses again

Trained again today because Vivian wanted to go to the gym since she didn't train with us yesterday.  I was going to do some back work but I felt good so I decided I'd just pause squat and bench press again to make up for volume I missed earlier this week.

Everything felt good so hitting the lifts two days in a row went fine.  I reduced the weight but was still able to get in some decent work.  The bench shirt work from yesterday left some nice shirt bite marks but my shoulders felt very good.

Pause Squats:  135x10, 225x5, 275x5, 315x3x5 sets   all reps paused, no belt

Bench Press:  all reps paused, 135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 245x4x5 sets

Rope pushdowns:  50x15, 50x12, 50x10
 supersetted with:
Face Pulls:  50x15, 50x12, 50x12

Total work reps for the week:  Squats:  75 (+12 from previous week) , Bench Press:  87 (-7 from previous week) , Deadlift:  0 (-25 from previous week)

Pause squats and back in a bench shirt

It's been something like 5 months since I've been out to train with my Toronto Rex teammates at the Boyle's garage but it was good to be back.  There's a new team member now, baby Boyle. I got to hold him and instead of crying like most babies, he actually smiled a little (although I have no photographic proof).

the baby did not start crying

It was good to train with Tannis, Kinnon, Mark and Trish again.   We're all entered in the upcoming UTM Classic competition on June 15th so there will be a lot of Toronto Rex action on the platform.

Since I was training with the team, I brought a bench press shirt to hit some bench overload work and also to see where my equipped bench press was now that my shoulders were healthy again.  I also planned to get my paused squat work done as well.

Despite squatting two days ago, the paused squats went very well today.  I cut the volume back a little bit since the training pace is always a little slower with multiple lifters and rack time was limited but I was happy with the speed of the lifts. Next week, I'll be back on my normal heavy squat/bench volume, bench overload/deadlift, pause squat/bench volume schedule.   If I'm able to make it back out to train with the team, I may switch the bench overload and bench volume days to get in another day of shirted benching in before Vivian and I leave for vacation.  The bench shirt bites hard and Vivian doesn't want me to show up at the ship's pool sporting bruises everywhere.

The last time I used this shirt, a size 48, straight sleeve Titan Super Katana, I weighed about 15 lbs less.  Even then, I couldn't touch 455 to my chest but more importantly, couldn't press it back up either.  With added bodyweight, the shirt fits even tighter but I'm also a lot stronger.  On the advice of Keith Old, a top lifter in New Zealand who just totaled an equipped 865 kgs in a meet this past weekend, I stuck with board work to get re-accustomed to the shirt and to acclimate to the overload poundages required.

365x2 to a 3-board was a tough touch but a super easy press.  405x2 was just as easy.  435x2 to a 2-board was also easy.  455x2 to a 2-board was fast but it was still very hard to touch.  I finished up with a 475x1 to a 2-board that didn't quite touch.  The press was easy but I was starting to fatigue and couldn't fight the shirt hard enough to touch.  All in all it was a good session.  I'm definitely much stronger than the last time I used a bench press shirt but I need to take it slow since it's clear I'm going to need to use a lot more weight.

Since I don't anticipate competing in a bench shirt any sooner than November, I'm going to take it slow and let my joints get used to handling weights 150+ lbs heavier than my current raw max.  Since I'll be 20 lbs lighter by then, the shirt will be easier to use so that should make touching weights a little easier.  Assuming my shoulders do not start to complain, I hope to up my current equipped bench press PR by a significant amount.

Pause Squats: 135x10, 225x5, 275x5, 335x3x5 sets

Bench Press: all reps paused, 135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x1

shirted board presses:  3-board, 365x2, 405x2, 2-board, 435x2, 455x2, 475x1 2-board PR

post-Vegas squats and bench presses

While I only missed one training session while in Las Vegas for business, the lack of sleep and over-eating and drinking made it feel like I'd been away from the gym for a week.  I did get to the hotel fitness center one morning so I broke a sweat even if I didn't have access to anything heavy.  Between the salty food, lack of sleep, and constant irritation of cigarette smoke in the casinos, every day in Las Vegas feels like 2-3 days in the real world.

view from the plane

another shot from the plane

view of the pool from my room at the Rio

It was a good trip though, in addition to learning a thing or two at the conference and eating and drinking well, I managed to even leave Las Vegas with a couple hundred more than I brought.

Despite feeling a little jet-laggy today and having quite a bit of stuff to catch up on at the office, Vivian made sure we made it to the gym.  I figured I wasn't going to be de-trained after only missing one session but I was interested to see how the overall feeling of tiredness would affect my squats and bench presses.

I would normally hit bench press overloads and deadlifts today but since I missed squat/bench press day, I decided to hit that day and just pull my deadlift off-week one week forward.  I think that was a good plan because I was able to build on last week's squats with some increased intensity at the same repetition volume.  I also continued on building my bench press volume with 34 total work repetitions.  

Squats:  135x10, 225x5, 275x5, add belt, 315x3, 365x3, 385x3, 405x3, 425x3, 425x3, 405x3, 385x3, 385x3, 385x3     35 total work repetitions

Bench Presses:  all reps paused, 135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 275x3x8 sets  34 total work repetitions

Kirk Shrugs:  225x8, 275x5, 275x4

Pause squats and bench volume

Finished up this week with a total of 29 repetitions in the squat at 50% of my 1 RM or higher and 32 repetitions in the bench press at 50% of my 1 RM or higher.  Total repetition volume in the squat increased from 49 to 64 and from 79 to 94 in squat and bench press, respectively.  Everything feels good, no aches or pains. It's too bad I'll be out of town for the beginning of next week but at least the break will allow me to ease into this higher volume of work.  I definitely want to string together 2 or 3 weeks of this kind of volume to see if anything starts to hurt.  If nothing does, I should be able to make some nice strength gains.

As it is, I increased total work repetitions while also increasing the total weight lifted and my various old bodyparts haven't felt better so I think I'm in a good place to start pushing harder.

Pause squats went very well, even with some residual back fatigue from hitting a bucket of balls at the driving range earlier today.  We've had a terribly long winter and I couldn't take it any longer so I bundled up and hit some balls in intermittant rain and ice pellets.  It felt good to swing the clubs again but since it's been about 6 months since the last time I played, things got tired.

I increased total work sets from 6 sets of 3 to 8 sets of 3.  My form seems to be settling in and I've been able to concentrate on some advice passed on by a lifter whose performance and coaching I trust.  Greg Nuckols, when asked about advice on squatting given to him by lifters stronger than he, said they told him (and I paraphrase), 'stand up hard and when the weight is heavier, stand up harder'.  Succinct and to the point.  And really one of the 'secrets' that the really strong lifters all know even if they don't know they know it.   For my work sets at 335, I thought less about my form and more about 'standing up harder' and wouldn't you know it, the bar moved faster.

After paused squats, I worked up to my 8 sets of 3 paused bench presses with 285.  This was an increase in number of sets and an increase in the weight used but it felt fast and there were no residual aches or stiffness from the overload work two days ago.

I also managed an extra rep on my work sets of kirk shrugs and tried out some meadows rows for the first time.  Since the dumbbells in the gym only go up to 100, meadows rows will end up being a staple of my single arm rowing work.  

Tomorrow I'm off to Las Vegas for a convention.  I'll be eating too well, probably not sleeping enough and also having a few adult beverages.  I'll try to find the hotel fitness center at least once but I don't expect to get in my normal heavy squat volume work.

Paused squats:  135x10, 225x5, 275x5, 315x3, 335x3x8 sets

Bench Press:  all reps paused, 135x10, 185x5, 245x3, 285x3x8 sets

Kirk Shrugs:  225x8, 275x5x3 sets

Meadows Rows:  90x10, 115x10, 115x10  I just counted the weight of the plates, I have no idea what lifting one end of an olympic bar weighs and I'm sure it doesn't really matter.

Bench Press overloads and Deadlift volume

Tonight was a good bench press session.  From the first warm-up sets, the bar felt super light and everything felt better than it has in a long while.  The paused double with 315 was very comfortable and fast.  After hitting 385x1 with the Titan Ram, I was looking forward to trying 405x1.  The sets with the Titan Ram were just as fast as the paused reps that preceeded them.  I only did 385x1 to save energy for 405 but it felt like I could've doubled or tripled it.

My first single with 405x1 stalled when the Ram's support dialed out but I was able to push it to lockout.  I was pretty happy since my best bench press with a bench shirt 3 years ago was only 435.  Since the Titan Ram gives a whole lot less support than a bench press shirt, I'm pretty confident my shirted max would be significantly higher if I were to train it.  Since the single with 405 went so well, I did it again and surprisingly, it went up much easier than the first time.  One thing I really like about the Titan Ram is it encourages a lot of speed off the chest since you need the momentum to carry the bar to lockout once the Ram's support leaves about half way up.  On my second single, I made sure to push hard off the chest all the way through to lockout and that made all the difference.  It felt easy enough that I probably could've doubled it.

I did two back off, touch and go sets with 315, no Ram.  Overall my total work reps and average intensity was much improved over last week's overload day.  

After bench press overload work, deadlift sets of 5 were next.  3 sets of 5 with 495 was the plan and perhaps because I had upped my squat volume on Tuesday, the second and third sets of 5 were pretty tiring.  I felt like I got in some really good work though and my back, knock on wood, feels really, really good.

Bench Press:  all reps paused, 135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 275x3, add wrist wraps, 315x2

add Titan Ram:  all reps paused, 345x3, 365x2, 385x1, 405x1 PR, 405x1

Bench Press:  all reps touch and go:  315x3, 315x2

Deadlift:  315x5, 405x5, add belt, 495x5, 495x5, 495x5

Total bench press work reps (everything 50% of my 1 RM and higher):  28

Total deadlift work rep (everything 50% of my 1 RM and higher):  25