note here: the 119 x 4 was a rep PR and also a real grinder on the 4th rep. IT doesn't actually look quite as bad on video as it felt, but sheeeeeit was it not textbook.
I've found that this is how a lot of my lifts go. I will feel like something is slow as fuck and a real grinder, and then I look at the video and I'm like "fuck, that was easy." I really don't know how to strain through a lift whatsoever.
The thing is, it's pretty important on me with bench NOT to really grind it out, because I tend to really lose position when I do so. It's just not something I want to be doing excessively, so I try to keep the RPE's reasonable. BUT this was a freaking AMRAP so okay. It's all good.
Chris Anderson Anabolic Furnace
Posts : 3023 Join date : 2011-11-02 Age : 31 Location : The City of Iowa
I very rarely grind anything. The majority of my "heavy" work is around 80-85%, at most.
Yeah, this really became my policy on bench (and squat, but even more bench) and only now is my programming starting to make that standard a little difficult. I might be adjusting it for bench and squat pretty soon.
bar x 6 bar x 6 95 x 4 125 x 3 145 x 1 165 x 1 180 x 1 188 x 5 188 x 2 188 x 2
paused squat 135 x 5 135 x 5 135 x 6
seated leg press 180 x 20 180 x 19 180 x 17
prone hamstring curls 70 x 15 70 x 14 65 x 14
leg extensions 60 x 15 60 x 15 55 x 13
8/21/2013
volume paused bench
bar x 5 bar x 5 bar x 5 75 x 4 85 x 3 95 x 8 95 x 8 95 x 8 95 x 8 95 x 8
incline db press 70 x 11 70 x 9 70 x 9
neutral-grip pulldowns 100 x 10 100 x 10 90 x 9
overhead tricep pushdowns bunch x 3 sets
seated unilateral iso rows 60 x 11 60 x 10 60 x 10
8/23/2013
deadlift
135 x 3 185 x 2 225 x 2 255 x 1 275 x 1 285 x 4 285 x 3 285 x 3
Barbell hip thrusts with extended hold at top 185 x 7 185 x 9 185 x 8 185 x 8 185 x 8
pull-ups 11, 8, 7, 6
GHRs, lowest possible setting 15, 15, 15, 14
quad extensions 75 x 13 65 x 15 65 x 12
8/24/2013
volume squat, beltless
bar x 7 bar x 7 95 x 4 120 x 3 130 x 2 140 x 7 140 x 7 140 x 7 140 x 7 140 x 7
good mornings 130 x 9 130 x 9 130 x 9
seated hamsting 55 x 20 60 x 17 60 x 17
quad extensions 60 x 14 60 x 15 60 x 13
abductor work bunch
8/25/2013
heavy paused bench
bar x 5 bar x 5 bar x 5 85 x 4 95 x 3 105 x 2 115 x 1 122 x 2 122 x 3 122 x 2 122 x 2
lying DB press, cumulative weight 90 x 10 90 x 9 90 x 8
chin-ups 13, 9, 7, 7
overhead cable pushdowns bunch x 3 sets
facepulls
seated iso rows
8/27/2013
heavy squat bar x 7 bar x 6 95 x 3 125 x 3 145 x 1 165 x 1 185 x 1 198 x 2 1R PR and also 2R PR. 200 x 2 added two pounds to get to 200 and then squated that for a double. 200 is now my 1RM...that I have squatted for a double. 200 x 1
paused squats 135 x 5 135 x 5 135 x 5
fake hack squat 170 x 18 170 x 15 150 x 17
quad extensions 70 x 13 70 x 12 60 x 14
abductors 140 x 16 140 x 15 140 x 15
Notes: yeah, I keep my log primarily in a google doc. So I actually DO log my training regularly, it's just not always regular on forums. That aside, here's how I'm feeling about my training right now:
Largely, good. Highlights include a 300 x 3 deadlift rep PR, a BUNCH of rep PRs on bench, some slow but steady progress on the squat with reaching the milestone of the 200 club as well as a 188 x 5 squat set in recent squat sessions. That said, I have a very skewed idea of my own lifting. I am highly aware of the top numbers in the 114 weight class and my deadlift is the only lift of the three that significantly competes with other lifters in the class. That, of course, is probably enough to give me a solid total at 114, but I just cannot ignore the comparable lag in my squat and bench. Where once a 200 squat seemed like an achievement to work towards and eventually celebrate, I am probably not as enthused about it now as I should be. I don't do well with keeping things in perspective when it comes to the competitive aspect of the sport. Perhaps if my deadlift weren't comparably in relation to the other two lifts I wouldn't feel this way about them. I find it somewhat embarrassing that my deadlift is as strong as it is and my other two lifts are so much lower--the sense that I'm doing something wrong or somehow a "fraud" as a lifter exists for me because of this discrepancy.
Chris Anderson Anabolic Furnace
Posts : 3023 Join date : 2011-11-02 Age : 31 Location : The City of Iowa
Oh god, I am NOT proportioned for it. Also, not particularly good at anything overhead, just kind of average. Nope, I'll stick to what I'm doing, and maybe be good enough in 10 years.
Chris Anderson Anabolic Furnace
Posts : 3023 Join date : 2011-11-02 Age : 31 Location : The City of Iowa
I mean, at my peak, my deadlift was my best lift, and I've always been a pretty good presser. If I didn't have such tiny rat claw hands, strongman would be my shit.
Alright, I haven't logged in a while obvious.jpg. So I'm just going to post what I did this past week, most of it in Madison. My visit to Madison is one of the reasons I went on a hiatus from logging--my mother required my attention 90% of the time, which was really okay, as that mostly involved either following her around shopping or watching a Korean drama that I am now addicted to and must finish the last 8 episodes of.
Note that all benching here was paused. I don't do TNG, yo:
I do want to go over a highlight or two from this past week. Almost everything I did, aside from the deadlift, was part of this semi-deload thing I'm doing with my programming. Basically, I've reset weights, reconfigured set schemes, and now am building back up to a suitable pre-meet peak intensity range. So I actually had a heavy squat session this past week that was under 90%, and my volume bench day was easy as sh*t. My deadlift day was a big one, and heading over to a different gym than I normally pull at had me somewhat nervous. I really wanted to go in there and at least hit 305 x 2, and when I started warming up I KNEW I was ON that day. I definitely didn't pull with a deadlift bar, which was fine, but I've realized that pulling with iron plates as opposed to bumpers is MUCH better for me when I need to rep out sets. Too bad--won't have access to that setup anytime soon. Man though, did it feel good. I had little to no fatigue from the pulling except in my mid-to-upper back the next day, which may have come from doing slow-ass eccentrics on some of the pull-ups. It probably did.
I thought about my lifting and my self-conception a lot over the past week while away. It was the first time I've realized that my self-denigration is a serious problem and that I have to make a choice about continuing on with it and allowing it to impact my training and future success or trying to address it actively now. I think that for a while before I just accepted it as "the way that I am" which, in my defense, is somewhat fair as it's just true. I have a long history of being deeply dissatisfied with things that I do--and I mean ANYTHING I do--and it seems to be built into the way I operate. That said, I have evidence that I can think in other ways and respond to my performance in other ways. I believe that I can change with work, and this past week, I took steps to do that work in the gym. Reinforcing positives in attempts to change an attitude--i.e., not saying "I shouldn't think x way" but instead thinking "let's try thinking about it this way"--is helpful. Focusing on the sense of excelling I sometimes feel--if fleetingly--while lifting and knowing that I have the potential to grow into that more consistently also played a part in my efforts this week.
It's really hard to overcome the sense of shame that I feel when I know others are witnessing my efforts. I know that's it's ludicrous to feel shame over something as innocent as training, but I really have for months now. I have often felt as if I need to apologize for how sub-par I am to...some unknown entity or mass conscience. I don't know why. No one's counting on me to grow into an amazing lifter aside from myself. If there's anything a relatively indifferent collective conscience has for a developing lifter, it's infinite patience. Perhaps I would be justified in the shame if I were someone followed by hundreds or thousands--and really, not even then--but I'm not. And so the root of this shame is illogical and probably the root of my self-denigration. I can stop it, and I think I have the potential to really do so within the year.
Last edited by babyeater on Mon Sep 09, 2013 2:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
Chris Anderson Anabolic Furnace
Posts : 3023 Join date : 2011-11-02 Age : 31 Location : The City of Iowa
Why couldn't you use the non-bumper plates at the CRWC for pulling? There's no rule saying you have to use bumper plates on the platform, and the flooring is shitty as it is, so there is not much reason to use bumper plates if they don't work as well for you.
Hfadel Class IV
Posts : 32 Join date : 2013-07-02 Age : 32 Location : Iowa City
Alright, I haven't logged in a while obvious.jpg. So I'm just going to post what I did this past week, most of it in Madison. My visit to Madison is one of the reasons I went on a hiatus from logging--my mother required my attention 90% of the time, which was really okay, as that mostly involved either following her around shopping or watching a Korean drama that I am now addicted to and must finish the last 8 episodes of.
Note that all benching here was paused. I don't do TNG, yo:
I do want to go over a highlight or two from this past week. Almost everything I did, aside from the deadlift, was part of this semi-deload thing I'm doing with my programming. Basically, I've reset weights, reconfigured set schemes, and now am building back up to a suitable pre-meet peak intensity range. So I actually had a heavy squat session this past week that was under 90%, and my volume bench day was easy as sh*t. My deadlift day was a big one, and heading over to a different gym than I normally pull at had me somewhat nervous. I really wanted to go in there and at least hit 305 x 2, and when I started warming up I KNEW I was ON that day. I definitely didn't pull with a deadlift bar, which was fine, but I've realized that pulling with iron plates as opposed to bumpers is MUCH better for me when I need to rep out sets. Too bad--won't have access to that setup anytime soon. Man though, did it feel good. I had little to no fatigue from the pulling except in my mid-to-upper back the next day, which may have come from doing slow-ass eccentrics on some of the pull-ups. It probably did.
I thought about my lifting and my self-conception a lot over the past week while away. It was the first time I've realized that my self-denigration is a serious problem and that I have to make a choice about continuing on with it and allowing it to impact my training and future success or trying to address it actively now. I think that for a while before I just accepted it as "the way that I am" which, in my defense, is somewhat fair as it's just true. I have a long history of being deeply dissatisfied with things that I do--and I mean ANYTHING I do--and it seems to be built into the way I operate. That said, I have evidence that I can think in other ways and respond to my performance in other ways. I believe that I can change with work, and this past week, I took steps to do that work in the gym. Reinforcing positives in attempts to change an attitude--i.e., not saying "I shouldn't think x way" but instead thinking "let's try thinking about it this way"--is helpful. Focusing on the sense of excelling I sometimes feel--if fleetingly--while lifting and knowing that I have the potential to grow into that more consistently also played a part in my efforts this week.
It's really hard to overcome the sense of shame that I feel when I know others are witnessing my efforts. I know that's it's ludicrous to feel shame over something as innocent as training, but I really have for months now. I have often felt as if I need to apologize for how sub-par I am to...some unknown entity or mass conscience. I don't know why. No one's counting on me to grow into an amazing lifter aside from myself. If there's anything a relatively indifferent collective conscience has for a developing lifter, it's infinite patience. Perhaps I would be justified in the shame if I were someone followed by hundreds or thousands--and really, not even then--but I'm not. And so the root of this shame is illogical and probably the root of my self-denigration. I can stop it, and I think I have the potential to really do so within the year.
Korean Drama? What? Hahahahha. And I don't know if it helps to say this but from watching your videos this past summer you've made a TON of progress! Just keep in mind why you are training in the first place--because you love it. Have fun with it and don't be too hard on yourself! Srsly...if you are disappointed in your squat I don't even know what to think of mine lol...
Why couldn't you use the non-bumper plates at the CRWC for pulling? There's no rule saying you have to use bumper plates on the platform, and the flooring is shitty as it is, so there is not much reason to use bumper plates if they don't work as well for you.
Eh, a part of me figures that the harder I make things for myself training pulling, the better it will feel when I get to work with different materials. This mostly goes for the bar itself--training with these shit-ass bars is fantastic for when one gets one's hand on a real pulling bar.
Korean Drama? What? Hahahahha. And I don't know if it helps to say this but from watching your videos this past summer you've made a TON of progress! Just keep in mind why you are training in the first place--because you love it. Have fun with it and don't be too hard on yourself! Srsly...if you are disappointed in your squat I don't even know what to think of mine lol...
Ohhhh yeah. I'm on episode 10 now! Not covering them as fast as when I was at my mom's. So sad. But yes, you're right, I have made progress! I am working on embracing that and being proud of it. And we'll just work on your squat over time--that's all it takes. In that sense, your squat is always a work in progress and should be judged as such. And that's what I have to remember about mine, arrrrgh. I HAVE to remember that. It was a rough squatting session yesterday on that front, let me tell you.
Chris Anderson Anabolic Furnace
Posts : 3023 Join date : 2011-11-02 Age : 31 Location : The City of Iowa
Eh, a part of me figures that the harder I make things for myself training pulling, the better it will feel when I get to work with different materials. This mostly goes for the bar itself--training with these shit-ass bars is fantastic for when one gets one's hand on a real pulling bar.
This is true to an extent, but using implements that allow you to handle more weight gets you better at handling more weight.
This is true to an extent, but using implements that allow you to handle more weight gets you better at handling more weight.
eh, also true. I choose to walk on the "handicapping myself" side of things for now.
9/10/2013
heavy squat
bar x 6 bar x 6 95 x 4 125 x 3 140 x 2 150 x 2 160 x 1 170 x 4 170 x 5 170 x 4 170 x 4
paused squat sets 130 x 5 130 x 5 130 x 5
back extensions 25 x 20 25 x 20 25 x 16
lying hamstring curl 70 x bunch, 3 sets
leg extensions 55 x 15 55 x 16 55 x 15
abductor work
9/11/2013
volume paused bench
bar x 5 bar x 5 bar x 5 75 x 4 85 x 3 97 x 7 97 x 7 97 x 7 97 x 7 97 x 7
incline press 60 x 16 60 x 11 60 x 10
wide-grip LPD 100 x 10 90 x 10 90 x 10 90 x 9
overhead cable tricep work 60 x 20 65 x 17 65 x 15
unilateral iso rows, seated 60 x 11 ea 60 x 11 ea 60 x 11 ea 60 x 10 ea
9/12/2013
deadlift
135 x 4 185 x 4 225 x 4 255 x 4 255 x 5 255 x 4 255 x 4
barbell hip thrusts 195 x 7 195 x 7 195 x 8 195 x 8 195 x 8
GHRs, lowest setting 16, 15, 15, 12
pull-ups 12, 7, 5, 6
quad extensions 65 x 15 65 x 12 50 x 13
So I'm doing a kind of deload/reload right now. It is WEIRD to not be working with weight in the high 80's-high 90's percentage range in deadlift. So weird. Everything except volume work on the two lifts has been reset and I'm coming in to rev things back up in a few weeks. Body will benefit from a break from the 90% range.
Keosawa American-Record Holder
Posts : 3174 Join date : 2011-10-30 Age : 37
Subject: Re: Janis Finkelman's log Sat Sep 14, 2013 12:30 am
babyeater Class II
Posts : 421 Join date : 2012-07-22 Age : 37
Subject: Re: Janis Finkelman's log Sat Sep 21, 2013 11:55 am
9/15/2013
heavy bench
bar x 5 bar x 5 bar x 5 85 x 4 95 x 3 105 x 1 112 x 4 112 x 6 112 x 7 112 x 4
DB flat press 80 x 16 80 x 14 80 x 10
neutral-grip pull-ups 9, 8, 8, 7
overhead tricep cable work
9/17/2013
heavy squat
bar x 5 bar x 5 bar x 5 95 x 4 120 x 3 140 x 2 160 x 1 170 x 1 180 x 3 180 x 4 180 x 3 180 x 3
beltless paused squats 140 x 4 140 x 4 140 x 4
weighted back extensions 25 x 20 30 x 15 30 x 15
lying hamstring curlz 70 x 15 70 x 14 65 x 14
abduction machine 140 x 16 140 x 15 140 x 15
leg extensions bunch x 3 sets
9/18/2013
volume paused bench
bar x 5 bar x 5 bar x 5 75 x 4 85 x 3 97 x 2 107 x 5 107 x 5 107 x 5 107 x 5 107 x 5
DB incline press 60 x 17 60 x 12 60 x 10
lat pulldowns 100 x 12 100 x 10 90 x 10 90 x 10
cable tricep pushdowns bunch x 3 sets
unilateral iso rows 60 x 11 ea 60 x 11 ea 60 x 10 ea
9/19/2013
deadlift
135 x 3 185 x 3 225 x 3 245 x 1 265 x 3 265 x 4 265 x 3 265 x 3
barbell hip thrusts interrupted
9/20/2013
rest/misc day
good mornings bar x 3 x 5 85 x 5 95 x 12 95 x 12 115 x 10 115 Â x 10
pull-ups 9, 8, 7, 7
A bit light on the work in the last few days, ugh. That ends today. I'm still in a recharge period with all my lifts and am looking forward to amping it up in the coming weeks. I have to peak properly for the meet, and I'm going to try to do that.
I've been dealing with some insomnia again but went to the doctor much more quickly for it than I did last time. I am taking a trial dose of some sort of light sleep aid this weekend but don't plan on continuing with it for the future--more like something that is used on an as-needed basis. The way my insomnia works, I just sometimes am unable to get to sleep. If my brain is calmed down enough to initially get to sleep when I get in bed, there will be no problem. To pre-empt the suggestions--I have tried a LOT of things for this. Most supplements/natural remedies that are relatively popular for sleep issues, as well as changing bedtime protocol. Things I have not tried: therapy, meditation, mindfulness practice-related approaches to anxiety. Those are next on my list and I am on the path to getting something started up. I think whatever I do along these lines will probably be transferable to the anxiety I experience in relation to competing. I really don't want my gastro system to go through a meltdown for this coming meet like it did the one in April.
In other news, I got a baby ball python. Her name is Lara, and she is the shit. Here's a picture of Kyle holding her:
I find her to be very soothing. Even as a baby, she's very docile and doesn't mind my cage-invasions at all.
Okay, this isn't a complete log since leaving off on the 21st or whatever, but it's close. Direct your attention to the left of the above image on the "heavy squat" day and you'll notice "knee issues" popping up in that column. Here's what happened: on Tuesday, I went to warm up for a session in which I was supposed to do a set of 3 with 190 and then three sets of 190 x 2. I think I got up to 170 in warmups when I started experiencing a really weird, really pronounced sensation around the lateral/posterior aspect of my knee. I really couldn't pinpoint what the sensation was affecting but I could tell that something significant was going on, so I opted to not do the session because I didn't want whatever the sensation was to manifest in injury. I felt it particularly clearly when extending at the knee although flexion also triggered it particularly if full extension had recently just taken place. I did a deadlift session a few days later with no sensation during the session but sensation hours after the session. I had my normal rest day after the deadlifting day and went in to see how the squatting was going to go yesterday. I'm happy to report that squatting was fine, and I only felt the sensation a LITTLE bit a few hours after the session. I'm going to go back into squatting as normal in the coming week and see how things go with it; I think it should be fine and my squatting was actually very strong yesterday.
That said, I really had a meltdown mentally with my squat on Tuesday (prior to the knee thing even remotely being an issue). I kind of had a mini anxiety-attack about squatting just before we left for the training session, which was not a good thing all around. To be honest, I just have a really bad relationship with my squat sometimes. I feel like it's very inadequate and feel like I need to catch way, way up with it--furthermore, I feel like I should be able to do this because my stupid deadlift is so high.
I think part of my discomfort with the squatting is that my numbers jumped significantly when I put on pounds this summer in order to be bigger for 114. The numbers shot up so quickly that at a psychological level I just am unable to wrap myself around my new numbers fully yet. My head tells me that 170 should be harder than it is, my head tells me that 190 as work set material was unfathomable only a short time ago. These last few weeks I've taken the intensity down with all of my lifts, and this has meant that i haven't touched very heavy weight for me as often as I had been for week after week for a bit. It's hard to come back to numbers that are very new for me and trust that I can tackle them when I haven't touched them in a while, I guess. In other words, I really mindf*cked myself on this one for the last two or three weeks. Damnit. I want to not have as volatile a relationship with my squat as I've had, but I didn't really make strides in that goal until yesterday, when I made up for the issues from Tuesday and saw that I was squatting pretty well all around. Hopefully this coming week, the start of a new three-week block, I'll be able to continue to show myself that I'm capable of squatting relatively well.
Alright, so I haven't logged for a while and that's in part because I've had a strange relationship with my lifting and certain ways I've been approaching it and competition in the last few weeks. This came to a head when my glute acted up on me in training this past Saturday, and as usually happens with me when some aspect of my body gets a little tweaked from lifting, I learned something about what I'm doing with the sport. So I think I've gotten a lot of that straightened out at this point but it does mean I'm making some arguably (in my opinion, anyway) radical changes to how I'm going to be approaching competition in the future. I'm still competing on November 17th.
Highlights from recent training because I'm just not going to try to go back and cover the ground I've missed logging:
I squatted 181 x 6 last Tuesday and chose not to do a 7th rep--it was basically an AMRAP - 1. I deadlifted 275 x 6, which breaks a 270 x 6 PR from a while ago that i did with far longer resets between reps. I did 14 pull-ups in a row in training again, which is the first time in a while I've been back up that high with that exercise.
10/6/2013 heavy paused bench
bar x 5 bar x 5 bar x 5 85 x 4 95 x 3 105 x 1 110 x 1 118 x 2 118 x 6 rep PR 118 x 2 118 x 2
135 x 3 185 x 2 225 x 2 255 x 1 275 x 1 295 x 1 295 x 5 295 x 1
Don't mind the weigh-in stuff, that's for this online competition I'm doing. Bleh. Well, now we know I was 117 for this.
pull-ups 12, 7, 6, 6
GHRs 18, 15, 15, 13
leg extensions 70 x 12 60 x 14 60 x 12
babyeater Class II
Posts : 421 Join date : 2012-07-22 Age : 37
Subject: Re: Janis Finkelman's log Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:25 pm
in case it isn't obvious, I'm really bad about logging as I get close to a meet. This has happened with basically all my meets, and I think I just get kind of quiet/secluded around my lifting online as I come up on a competition. Haven't really figured that one out yet, but I feel like I should push myself and maybe just log as much as possible (or as i can stand) leading up to the 17th. Well, the week before it will be kind of a light week work-wise. We'll see how this coming week goes.
Saturday's stuff:
squat bar x 5 bar x 5 95 x 4 125 x 3 135 x 2 145 x 1 155 x 7 155 x 7 155 x 7
band glute extensions band abductors, four setes hamstring curls 60 x 20 60 x 18 60 x 17
leg extensions 60 x 17 60 x 14 60 x 13
that was it. I've been backing off on volume for a week or so now and my squatting rocked on this day. So let's keep that momentum going for Tuesday. PR note: I squatted 195 x 4 last Tuesday.
Paused Bench (today) bar x 5 bar x 5 80 x 3 90 x 3 100 x 2 112 x 1 122 x 1 125 x 4 (rep PR, great pauses for each rep) 130 x 1 (PR, easy as hell, yay) 130 x 1 (longer pause, waited for Kyle's commands on this one) video of the second 130 x 1:
DB incline press 60 x 17 60 x 12 60 x 12
Apparently doing a set of 17 with this gasses me out for the next two sets
Alright. Sorry about the lack of dates up there, I just logged every day in my log without putting the dates in consistently, so this is basically the entirety of last week's training. This the second week of an intro cycle. No AMAPs, nothing crazy exertion-wise (except for that recent deadlift day, wtf happened, that felt like crap). Recent PRs: deadlifting 330 lbs.
Bulking. When I get up to 135 lb I will hold an "I am officially via BMI standards overweight" celebration.
I am not competing for the foreseeable future. It's not the right time for me to do so and I will know when it is. I have done three meets, and I think that my time is better spent now training. I plan on bulking up, leaning out some, and coming back with insane numbers someday. I will do this on my own terms.