Lol's New HST Log

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(soflsun @ May 22 2008,7:59)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I hope you're being carful with the PK's and lifting so close to the surgery.  You may have trouble noticing if you are overdoing something if the pain sensors are numbed out a bit.  Please just take it easy...glad things went well!  Why not take this chance for a SD?</div>
I hate SD!
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No, it's not that, I just don't want to do 15s again! Too darn hard. Those deads nearly killed me last time and I don't want to have to try to beat Quad for a good while yet!
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Actually, I'm prepping for my cut now which means I will skip 15s anyway next cycle.

Only used PKs for a couple of days after the op (mainly so I could get some sleep). There's no pain now unless I do something that compresses or pulls on the stitches (hence no leg work). I agree about the pain sensors; part of my leg is still numb to the touch so I am being careful not to strain it. I can keep going with other stuff though and then as healing progresses I'll start to add a few light leg exercises. I'm not too worried if my legs lose a bit of size but I really don't want to lose too much up top if I can help it.
 
Beating YOU on the 15rm deads nearly killed ME! If it makes you feel any better, I've had to SD now, so relax and eat some Ho-Ho's.
 
Sat 24/05/08

Apart from the rack pulls on Tuesday I've done nothing for over a week now. My arm soreness seems to be worse now after the rest!
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Shrugs: 3 x 15 x 160kg (352lb)

Bench: 15 x 60kg, 5 x 80kg, 10,7,8 x 90kg (198lb)

Close-Grip Bench: 2 x 5 x 90kg (198lb) - just as a test as I have never done these with my gear.

Upright Rows: 15 x 41kg, 10, 15 x 61kg (134lb)

Parallel-Grip Chins: 2 x 10 x bw

After the time off and slightly reduced cals (not by design), I felt like I had shrunk and expected to be really weak; actually I did OK. I was down to 216lb this morning which is a loss of 4lb. I think this is mainly fluid though. I'm not being that strict just yet, just reducing overall cal intake. I'm going to pretty much drop all the starchy stuff like bread &amp; pasta but I'll probably have the occasional baked spud.
 
Mon 26/05/08

Tried some gentle front squats to see how my leg fared:

Front Squats: 10 x 60kg, 10 x 70kg, 3 x 10 x 80kg (176lb)

I was very careful, performing the reps slowly and deliberately. A bit sore when in the hole but I think things are healing nicely. I think the exercise and slight stretching of the area did it good as it feels less sore now than it did before. Another week and I hope to be back in almost fighting form.
 
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(Lol @ May 24 2008,7:07)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I was down to 216lb this morning which is a loss of 4lb.</div>
Svelte! You'll be as trim as the Quadman before long.
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(Lol @ May 24 2008,7:07)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">but I'll probably have the occasional baked spud.</div>
Nature's most nearly perfect food (next to chocolate)!
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Wed 28/05/08

Still hovering around 216lb today but I'm feeling deflated already and there's a loooong way to go.

Legs got sore as heck after those front squats. Amazing the difference a few days off makes.

Anyway, I'm going to be training regularly but I'm not going to bother keeping a log of all my workouts because I'm not planning on pushing for any PRs. If I get any I will record them though. What I will do is keep track of my body weight on a weekly basis and record how I feel my training is going.

For training I'll be doing 10s and 5s. I'll revert back to 10s again after around 4 or 5 weeks of 5s and then repeat. I won't be taking SD unless I have some time away - which is actually quite likely at some point during the summer.

My leg is improving everyday but, right now, the biggest nuisance is my right arm pain which doesn't seem to be improving at all. I made it worse with Pendlays and presses last night. In fact, most exercises for my upper body affect it to some degree. I will attempt to aggravate it as little as possible and see how it goes. When I pulled something in my left forearm back in spring '07 it took many months to sort itself out so I'm not expecting this to be any quicker to heal. I will have to avoid cleans though as I'm certain that's what started this off - going too heavy too soon me thinks. Incorrect racking of the bar with +200lb puts a lot of strain on my forearm/elbow joint area. Seems my 'old' body needs more time to get used to a movement than my brain wants to give it. Oh well...
 
That's what sucks so much about getting old.  You have to do every little thing perfect, otherwise your injuries take a long time to heal.  I guess that's one reason why there are old powerlifters but not too many old olympic lifters.  Not much room for error in olympic lifting at all, especially in the way of tendons and ligaments.
 
Yeah, I hear you Steve. Also, last time I was on a cut I found that I got more niggling aches, pains and twinges. That may be an age related thing too.
 
Mon 02/06/08

Bodyweight: 215 - Definitely feeling lighter. That pound made a lot of difference!  
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I'm not doing any cardio yet. That will follow later as weight loss slows.

Right arm hasn't improved much even though I've been careful with it. Leg is still sore. Stitches out tomorrow.

During my cut I'm going to have another crack at overhead squats. I've been working on my shoulder flexibility with bar dislocates; my right shoulder has always been problematic compared to my left so that's the one that needs to improve the most. Anyway, OHS were better last night. I'm not going to push for singles yet. I just want to improve my form and shoulder stamina as well as toughen my wrists up.

OHS: 10 x 40kg (88lb)

First goal is to work up to 60kg (132lb) for 10 reps.

I'll just do a linear progression with these, adding 2.5kg (5.5lbs) each session. I can see these becoming my favourite core workout.
 
Be careful Lol, at 215 you might blow away
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!!  Cool what your doing with OHS.  They really give your whole body a real tight feeling.
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I still can't get over you doing 15 reps with 79% of your PR....that is frikken insane.   I've never been able to do that.  I couldn't even do 10 reps@79%...did you use straps when you did that?  I&quot;m asking because even if you can handle the weight without straps, just using them takes your mind off your grip and makes the whole ordeal easier
 
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(stevejones @ Jun. 03 2008,3:20)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I still can't get over you doing 15 reps with 79% of your PR....that is frikken insane.   I've never been able to do that.  I couldn't even do 10 reps@79%...did you use straps when you did that?  I&quot;m asking because even if you can handle the weight without straps, just using them takes your mind off your grip and makes the whole ordeal easier</div>
Steve: I've been thinking about it too.

First off, I think 352lb is just shy of 75% of my 1RM (which, like you pointed out at the time, might actually have been a bit higher by then but I can't know that). Every % point at that level makes quite a difference. 352lb really should be closer to my 10RM but I have always found that I can use more load during 15s than I should be able to based on predictive calcs. I wonder if it could be the effect of creatine? Bryan made a valid point that creatine can help you to get a few more reps when you are training with submax loads. If that's the case then during 15s the effect would be more pronounced than at any other time during the cycle.

I did really push it that day too (I mean it was momentary muscular failure as I finally got the bar to the top), not particularly smart when deadlifting. I could feel my lowerback giving up the ghost on the last rep and I wasn't sure I would get it when I pulled. So it was a proper 15RM.

As far as grip goes, no straps used. In fact I used a regular hook grip for the first 12 reps but then I had to change to reverse grip for the last three.

I do think that relative loads used plays a part in this. 75% of 1RM for you is a whole different ballpark. Sure you have a ton more muscle to help out but CNS wise that sort of load just has to take a massive toll on your ability to keep firing motor units.

When you say that you've never been able to do that, I wonder? Did you ever have a reason to try? It would be interesting to go back in time to when you were lifting around 500lb as your 1RM dead (you know, when you were about 12); if you could have been persuaded to try for a 15RM back then, you might very well have found that you could cope with more reps with a load closer to your 1RM than you can now.

Maybe it's partly a genetic thing too? I don't know whether this thought is backed up by any studies on differences in CNS/motoneurons and innervation of muscle tissue between different people?

Oh, don't forget Quad: he did 15 reps with 355lb and yet I think his 1RM is less than mine (well, it was) although he did use straps, which does take some of the mental strain out of it.

Not sure if this is particularly relevant but I was able to do 20 continuous reps on a leg press with a high enough %age of my 1RM to cause me to go blind for around 10 minutes (due to a lack of oxygen to the brain - very scary!). Have many people done that? Dunno. Perhaps anyone can if they set their mind to it or perhaps there's something wrong with my self-preservation mechanisms? I think I was pretty close to a similar experience from the deads but I lay down straight afterwards, which my doc suggested would help should I do a similar thing again.
 
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(BAX67 @ Jun. 02 2008,11:59)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Be careful Lol, at 215 you might blow away
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!!  Cool what your doing with OHS.  They really give your whole body a real tight feeling.
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I noticed my shoulders were really sore last night when benching; that's from the OHSs. My right shoulder is toughening up but I must be careful to give it time to recuperate. The temptation is to keep working on a new exercise because the loads are relatively light, but at my age it takes plenty of time for my body to adapt to new stresses. I must be patient. I hope I learnt my lesson from cleans.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Not sure if this is particularly relevant but I was able to do 20 continuous reps on a leg press with a high enough %age of my 1RM to cause me to go blind for around 10 minutes</div>

Yeah, that was plenty relevant.  That's the difference between you and me.   I'm hardcore, but you're insane.

Edit: Yeah, I don't know why, but I thought you did 375, not 352....still, I couldn't ever do 15 reps@75%...I never did 15 reps until starting HST, and by that time my max on deads was already well over 500

Anyway, I think that after you finish cutting and completely recuperate from your surgery, that you and Quad should see what your PR's are.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Anyway, I think that after you finish cutting and completely recuperate from your surgery, that you and Quad should see what your PR's are. </div>
Are you trying to kill them both?
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(Lol @ Jun. 03 2008,9:14)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Not sure if this is particularly relevant but I was able to do 20 continuous reps on a leg press with a high enough %age of my 1RM to cause me to go blind for around 10 minutes (due to a lack of oxygen to the brain - very scary!). I think I was pretty close to a similar experience from the deads but I lay down straight afterwards, which my doc suggested would help should I do a similar thing again.</div>
I am glad I am not the only one that goes through this. While I am no where near the level of weight you are throwing around I find that after a 10/15 resp set of deads I have to lay down on a bench for a minute to recover my equilibrium. Deads seem to be the only one that does it to me. After squats I often get sea legs and have to sit but nothing to the effect of what deads do to me!
 
Today was my last day of 15's....I did 57.9% of my 1 rep max for 16 reps...almost got a 17 rep but no cigar.  Couldn't possibly go any heavier.  I hate that feeling you get about 10 seconds after you complete a large set like that.  Can't catch your breath as your pulse rate shoots through the roof.   I was only able to do about 3 exercises after that little episode, so have to workout again later tonight.  You and quad suck...475 my ***...you can do way more than 475...or, 473, whatever
 
Hahaha, watch out or you'll be passing into the land of the terminally insane! Actually, 16 reps with 57.9% of your 1RM IS insane! However, relatively speaking you are a lightweight!
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I know what you mean about the delayed reaction; my blindness episode kicked in about a minute or so after I had completed my set. Gym was closing so I went and sat in my car. Felt like throwing up so I shut my eyes and focussed on breathing. When I opened them... nada! Everything was black as night! What the...? Still felt rotten so I couldn't do much but sit anyway. I couldn't believe it was going to last but I was in a state of mild panic and I recall starting to try to calmly plan out a) how on earth I was going to get home and b) what I was going to do for the rest of my life as a blind man!

After about 5 mins of blackness I noticed some faint specular highlights, tinged with red, on some things right in front of me (it was a beautiful sunny day at the time). Over the next few minutes the red became more intense, so I could make things out more clearly with what was like Terminator vision; a few minutes more and full-colour started to return. Then over about 20 seconds it was like someone was turning the brightness dial back up! So at the end of about 10 minutes everything seemed to be back to normal. I've never had it happen again, although the eye doc said it would be possible if I pushed it to the limit and stayed upright. He said it was best to lie down straight away. That's what I did right after those deads; I never want to go through self-induced blindness again!

Hopefully, I will make a 500 dead when I'm back at it full-on again. Cutting sucks though. Tonight, after not doing any proper squatting for nearly 3 weeks I found even 286lb pretty tough going and decided to make do with 3 sets of 5 instead of 2 sets of 10. I hope I'll recover some strength now my leg is almost back to normal and I can lift more consistently again.
 
Mon 09/06/08

Bodyweight: 214

Dropping very slowly considering I'm eating a fraction of what I was before. Mind you, I'm having to do a lot of sitting at my desk at the moment so I'm obviously burning fewer calories anyway. I'm thinking of getting a Concept 2 rower for general cardio in front of the telly. I love rowing so it would help get me ready for many a happy hour out on the sea.

Still with the arm but leg has healed really well but I have really sensitive skin all around the area of the excision (it's painful to touch it which is really weird and rather annoying). The nurse reckons it's nerve damage and should heal OK but I'll just have to be patient. As that's all it is, fine, but it's annoying at night as I wake up even more than usual now.

Did some front squats tonight but only went up to 105kg for 3 sets of 5; the third set was pretty hard so I'm down on strength after the time off but I'm hoping it will pick up again.

As far as overhead squats go, I'm having to be careful as I get impingement in my right shoulder which makes my right hand go numb after a set. Instead of 10 reps I'm going to stick with 5 reps per set until the situation improves. Form, as usual, is the thing that's hard to get consistently right and it's much more critical with these than other types of squat even though it's relatively easy on the legs.

So tonight I upped the load a little but reduced the reps:

OHS: warmups then 3 x 5 x 42.5kg (93.5lb), 1 x 5 x 45kg (99lb)

Hopefully, only six weeks to get to 5 x 60kg (132lb) if my shoulder and wrist hold out; sounds a pathetic weight but I'm finding these really hard.  
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(stevejones @ Jun. 03 2008,10:25)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">hat's the difference between you and me. I'm hardcore, but you're insane.</div>
Thank you! I thought I was the only one who noticed...
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