Lol's New HST Log

[mickc1965]

I like it, do you wanna build me one!! Welcome back

 

[Jester]

Hello HST folks. So, that was rather a longer time away from these shores than anticipated. I've had lots of family health stuff to deal with (not mine for a change). I'm hoping the storm may have settled for a while.

In the past month I have been able to get back to some lifting and I'm building up again. My biggest problem right now is not being able to squat unless I clean the bar first. Haven't been able to back squat in months.

I am now training in a garage which, thankfully, has just enough overhead clearance to permit me to practice snatch and C&J. However, in order not to drive the neighbours mad, I've built myself a lifting platform to absorb as much of the bar-slamming energy as possible. Et voila:

View attachment 2523

At 6' x 8', it's slightly smaller than I would have liked but it's working out well so far. I built it in three sections: a centre platform and two sides, so I can take it apart after a session and stack the sections out of the way.

I have also invested in a fairly decent Olympic bar which has remained straight and true after a month and a half of lifting. Nothing heavy yet but all my previous bars have bent after only a little overhead use. Of course, the platform should help a lot too. There's about 3" of padding each side: layers of carpet underlay and cow mats!

I only have 90kg of bumpers to use at the moment but 130kg (inc. bar and all change plates) so will need to get more if and when my strength picks up enough.

Last session on 12/10/15 (have had a bit of a cold since) was this:

General Warmup then...

C&J
20/5
40/2,2
60/2,2
70/2
80/2
85/2
90/2,2
First jerk of first double with 90 was forward. Annoying. Second double was fine.

Front Squat
90/6
Depressingly hard

Clean-grip High-pull
90/5,5,5
Straps
As high as possible.

Pendlay Row
90/10+5,4,4,2,1 - Myo-rep set
Straps

Notes
Much work to be done.
Bit of a left shoulder issue going on, probably rotator cuff related.
Squat stands are on the shopping list. Need to eat more too.

Looking good.

At the moment I'm pulling off concrete and have mats for the weights. It technically means I'm lifting from about 1cm higher than the ground, but I really could care less

 

[Lol]

Looking good.

At the moment I'm pulling off concrete and have mats for the weights. It technically means I'm lifting from about 1cm higher than the ground, but I really could care less

Cheers Jester. It's early days for me.
I've had to pull off a mat/concrete combo on many occasions but as I lift in O-shoes that kinda cancels things out.

 

[Lol]

Mon 19/10/15
Garage Session, 8pm

General Warmup
Band dislocates
Air squats
Nekkid bar work

Snatch (kg)
40/2,2
50/2
55/2
60/2
65/2
70/2,2,2,2,2 - straps for last two sets
72/2 - straps for all remaining sets
73/2
75/1
77/1
78/X,1
80/X,X
80.5/1
82/X,X
75/1,1
For 80 & 82 snatches, caught the bar but lost balance coming out of hole. So close to good lifts.

Snatch High-pull (kg)
90/3,3,3,3,3
Straps

Shrugs (kg)
90/15
120/20
Straps

Notes
Quads are weak due to minimal squatting. I think that didn't help my balance in the snatch when coming up out of the hole.
Snatch H-p triples at 90 which is my target weight for snatch. I want to get used to pulling this as smoothly and as high as I can. Ideally, it should be 100 but I will work up to that.

 

[Lol]

I like it, do you wanna build me one!! Welcome back

Thanks, Mick. It didn't take long to build once I figured out a good way to make the three sections, but finding the right combination of padding for the side sections was a bit of trial and error. Materials cost about £200: £75 for the timber, screws and matt varnish, and £125 for mats, carpet and underlay.
I have enough timber left over to build a squat platform to fit between a pair of squat stands. This would allow me to lift the weight off the stands and then step back to squat on the main platform. Handy if I need to dump the bar.
Many of the commercially available platforms I looked at were stupidly expensive so building my own was the best option.

 

[Jester]

Thanks, Mick. It didn't take long to build once I figured out a good way to make the three sections, but finding the right combination of padding for the side sections was a bit of trial and error. Materials cost about £200: £75 for the timber, screws and matt varnish, and £125 for mats, carpet and underlay.
I have enough timber left over to build a squat platform to fit between a pair of squat stands. This would allow me to lift the weight off the stands and then step back to squat on the main platform. Handy if I need to dump the bar.
Many of the commercially available platforms I looked at were stupidly expensive so building my own was the best option.

Do you have anything that resembles gumtree.com.au // craigslist ?

Best place for equipment IMO.

 

[Lol]

Tue 20/10/15
Garage session - 5:00pm
Testing heart rate monitor

Clean + 5 x Front Squats + Jerk (kg)
40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90
HR @ 150 bpm

Clean + F-sq (kg)
100 - double f-sq
100 - 5 x f-sq
HR @ 165 bpm

Clean (kg)
102.5

Deadlift (kg)
130/12
HR @ 172 bpm

Notes
Only time for a short session. Took heart-rate readings using Garmin watch and chest belt just for interest's sake. Not sure how accurate it is for this sort of thing but at least the readings were consistent with applied effort. >170 is probably getting near to my max heart rate now that I am over 50.

 

[Lol]

Do you have anything that resembles gumtree.com.au // craigslist ?

Best place for equipment IMO.

Yeah. I'm looking. Nothing local enough yet. Most are collection only for obvious reasons. eBay seems ok too as a buyer.

 

[mickc1965]

Only time for a short session. Took heart-rate readings using Garmin watch and chest belt just for interest's sake. Not sure how accurate it is for this sort of thing but at least the readings were consistent with applied effort. >170 is probably getting near to my max heart rate now that I am over 50.

You would be surprised (or maybe not) how inaccurate 220 minus age is , at the age of 48 when running 4 miles or more my average heart rate sat between 160 and 170 bpm and peaking at 193 (average peak was between 180 and 190) and when cycling it peaked at just under 200 on hard hills etc (I do have records of between 225 & 242 bpm when cycling but assume these were errors) - for the record my resting heart rate was 49 bpm.

 

[Lol]

@mick: That is very interesting. I think my heart would explode at 200bpm these days.

I am aware that rate is not the whole story. Heart volume varies during activity according to oxygen demand. So, my slower rate may be partly aided by greater heart expansion during high levels of activity.

 

[_tim]

Looks like I've missed quite a bit! I love the platform, Lol - great design!

I hope the family health items are all sorted at this point and everyone is well.

 

[Lol]

21/12/15

Have squat stands, will squat.

 

[Lol]

Sat 2/1/16

Garage session - 5:00pm

General Warmup
Band dislocates
Air squats
Nekkid bar work

Press (kg)
40/10
50/5

Jerk from Rack (kg)
50/2, 55/2, 60/2, 65/2, 70/2, 75/2
80/2
85/2
90/2
95/2
100/1,1,1,1,1
90/2
No belt

Front Squat (kg)
90/2,2,2,2,2
100/2,2
105/2
110/2,2,2
120/1
125/0 - failed coming out of hole
No belt

Static BB Hold (kg)
125/40s,30s,22s
Short rest between sets

Notes
Snatch and C&J session yesterday. Sore everywhere going into this session.

Jerks are the weakest link in my lifting. My balance was okay tonight. No bad reps although one rep with 100kg was a slight press-out.

Squatting quite regularly again now that I have stands. My first session on 27/11/15 left me sore for about a week. Wanted to get 120 tonight as I missed it t'other day. Made it and then went for 125. Got close but tweaked my back coming out of the hole. Hopefully it'll heal quickly.

My goal is to get back to front squatting 140 and then see if I can push it higher.

 

[Lol]

Mon 4/1/16
Garage session - 8:00pm

General Warmup
500m C2 Row
1km X-trainer
Band dislocates
Nekkid bar work

Snatch (kg)
40/2,2
50/2,2
60/2 x 5 @ 70% 1RM

High-bar Back Squat (kg)
60/10, 80/5, 90/2, 100/2, 110/1
115/3 x 5 @ currently ~80% 1RM
No belt

Clean Pull (kg)
115/3 x 5 @ 110% 1RM clean
Straps; no belt
20 shrugs after final set

Push Press (kg)
60/5 x 5 @ 75% 1RM

Notes
Back still sore so did extra warmup work tonight and kept working loads at a sensible %age. Most likely a slight pull in intercostals on right side.

Starting a new program that I've cobbled together from various places. I'll adjust things as I find necessary. Hoping for 4 sessions/week. Will increase loads by 2-3% each week.

Back was most sore doing HBBS but still felt okay if I didn't take big breaths.

 

[Lol]

Tue 5/1/16
Garage session - 8:00pm

General Warmup
Band dislocates
Air Squats
Nekkid bar work

Muscle Snatch (kg)
40/5
50/2
55/1
60/1 @ 70% 1RM
These were aggravating my sore back so stopped there.

C&J (kg)
50/2, 60/2, 70/1
75/2,2,2,2,3
No belt

Snatch Pull (kg)
85/3,3,3 ~1RM snatch
Straps; as high and as under control as possible

Front Squat (kg)
70/10, 80/5, 90/2
102/2,2,2
No belt

Pendlay Row (kg)
90/5,5,5,5
100/5

Notes
Barring muscle snatches, back coped with everything quite well.

Only second day of new program and I'm already thinking that I'm going to change it up. The loads just feel too piddly. I think I may try to increase strength for a while with some heavier loading and work on overhead pressing and split jerks which are my main weakness.

 

[Lol]

Fri 8/1/16
Garage session - 8:00pm

General Warmup
Band dislocates
Air Squats
Nekkid bar work

Push Press (kg)
40/5,5,5
50/5
60/5
65/5,5,5
Bar taken from squat stands

HBBS (kg)
W-U: 60/10, 80/5, 90/5, 100/3, 110/1
120/5,5,5
125/5
130/1 - all the weight I currently have
No belt

Shrugs (kg)
130/20
Straps

Static Holds (kg)
130/30s, 20s, 22s
Regular grip, no hook (obviously)

Notes
No back twinges, although it's still sore when I take a deep breath.
My push press is way down so I need to claw some strength back over the next couple of months.
Squats are down too but knees are feeling good and I hope to keep them that way.

 

[Lol]

Sat 9/1/16
Garage session - 5:00pm

General Warmup
Band dislocates
Air Squats
Nekkid bar work

Muscle Snatch (kg)
40/5, 50/5
60/2,2,2,2,1,1

Snatch (kg)
W-U: 50/2

Hang Snatch (kg)
50/5, 55/5, 60/5, 65/5
Straps

Front Squats (kg)
50/5, 70/5, 80/5, 90/3
100/3,3,3,3,5
No belt

Notes
Back felt much better doing muscle snatches. Shoulder strength is letting me down. Failed to get doubles on last two sets at 60kg.

 

[Lol]

Mon 11/1/16
Garage session - 8:00pm

General Warmup
Band dislocates
Air Squats
Nekkid bar work

Push Press (kg)
40/5, 50/5, 60/2
70/5,5,5,5,5
75/1
80/1
85/1 (~ body weight)

HBBS (kg)
W-U: 50/10, 70/5, 90/5, 110/3
125/3
130/5,3,3,3,5 - belted

E-Z Curls (kg)
31/10, 41/10
46/3,7*,5
*RPE 10

Notes
Plenty of volume for push press. Managed a b/w single which must be around my current 1RM.
Squats felt a bit stronger tonight.
EZ curls because I think a little direct arm work is a good idea now that I have no access to a chinning bar. I'll endeavour to do these once a week or so.

 

[Lol]

4/4/16

So, I've had an extended break from working out. I was away for a week at the end of January and then contracted a virus which left me wiped out for a further couple of weeks. Since then I have been distracted away by other things. It's so easy to spoil good habits.

The time has come to get back at it. Just before I went off in Jan, I had managed to get my HBBS up to 150kg for a couple of singles. It would bury me now so I will be aiming to get back to that ASAP.
I did some jerks from the rack last night and worked up to singles with 95kg. Almost exactly a year ago I was knocking out doubles with 100kg. I want to beat that in the next couple of months.

I'll be getting back to snatching and C&J'ing too. My shoulders are probably the weakest link in the chain so I'm intending to do more OHP work as well as push presses to aid my jerks.

As I will be training in a garage, I'm looking forward to some warmer weather. It helps with these old joints.

 

[Lol]

Mon 4/4/16

B/W ~85kg

C&J (kg)
50/3,3, 60/3, 70/2
80/2
85/2
87.5/2
90/2
95/1

HBBS (kg)
70/5, 90/5
105/5,5,5,5,7

Notes
A ton of DOMs in legs from yesterday's w/o which improved during the session. Cleans got better as legs improved. Too soon for a max effort yet. Aiming to keep good form in my squats as I progress the load.