Meet Report

BW - 222

Squat -
314
336
363

Bench -
205
220

Deadlift -
314
352
380

I wasn't feeling very motivated going into the meet this week.  I didn't have my eyes on any PRs because bench hadn't gone as well as expected the last few weeks.  The result was that I took a fairly relaxed, but workman-line approach to the day.  When I weighed in around 10 lbs. lighter than the March meet, I thought, "well, getting anything around those March #'s would be solid, then."

Squat warm-ups all felt amazing.  All the abdominal and low back issues that have been troubling it seemed to have evaporated.  Took my opener.  It was fast, look it once should have been.  Okay, well the heaviest weight I lifted in the training cycle was 325, so let's go 10 lbs. over that.  Fast. Ooookay...  Well, fuck it, let's see what happens if I jump all the way to the same weight I hit at the meet in June.  Went up a little funky, but it went up.

Like I said, heavies weight I touched in training was 325.

Bench was where I had been hoping to get a PR.  205 opener went up solid, but my 2nd was an absolute grinder.

Watching that video, I don't see much of anything that I did wrong.  This was just a limit set.  Maybe the weight loss is part of it, but it definitely means I haven't gotten stronger on this lift since March.

Deadlift warm-ups felt good like the squats did.  I went out and did 314 with no pain, no discomfort, or anything.  I started contemplating a PR, but I went out and took the same 2nd attempt that I did in March.  It was very easy.  My old coach said, "Good.  Now go get a PR."  So that's what I did.  Went one over my March lift.  Felt tougher than it looks, but it looks great, and felt awesome to get.

That goofy moment at the end is because they were having trouble with the lights not always working, so I was looking around waiting for the side judges to give a thumbs up for the lift.

So losing 10 lbs. on the bench, but gaining 5 on the DL gives me a lower total than March.  Oh well. I was 10 lbs. lighter, and I did my first 5K this month, too, and that was the thrust of my training for 10 of the last 15 weeks.  That's not meant to be excuse making, but rather the path to contextualizing the results.  For sure, some of the things I tried to do to push my bench in that time DID NOT work.  I'll be continuing with the TM team training, but that will be something to keep on eye on.  For now, I ended the meet with a lifetime PR, and that ain't nuthin'.

Texas Method Team Training. Week 1. Intensity Day

BW - 226

Squat - 285X5

Bench - 195X5

Deadlift 285X5

First "real" day training with the team, and it was the day after my 5K race.  We kind of felt it out to see what would work and give us a starting point.  We were conservative with Squats because of the race, and because there is some nagging tightness in my left hip/low-back area.  A little more aggressive with Bench, and then decided to keep Deadlift on pace with Squats.

5K Results

5K Race: 00:27:57

Beat my target time by 3 seconds.  When I rounded the bend heading for the finish line, and saw the clock was at 27:52, I just sprinted the rest of the way.

The race was hard, and I was having to push myself mentally a lot at times.  Especially the 1/4 mile after the half-way mark, when there was a long, slight incline over concrete.  Once I got into the 3rd mile it was alternating between trying to zone out but then pushing myself if I felt pace was lagging.

Training must have been on the good side as I beat my goal and never broke down along the way.  Props to Complete Human Performance and Alex Viada's programming.

Glad I did it.  Way less time than a PL meet!

Texas Method Team Training. Week 0 (Race Week Taper). Session 1

BW - 225

Squat - up to 205X3, 3, 3

Press - up to 120X3, 3, 3

Pulldowns - 3 sets of 8 to a top set

Started a group training program that will be the Texas Method. Really light this week because of the 5K this weekend.

Hybrid Training. Week 10. Intervals

Intervals - 5, 1/2 mile intervals @ ~5:00

Lost count and only did 5 when I was meant for 6.  These were all pretty hard, which doesn't bode great for my race, but I could have done a 6th.

Hybrid Training. Week 10. Heavy Upper

BW - 226

Warm-up -
Rope Pushdowns - X15
Rope Stiff-arm Pushdowns - X10

Bench -
up to 187.5X5, 5
then 147.5X12, 8

CG, Reverse Cambered Bar -
165X5
175X5
185X5
195X5
205X5
215X5

WG, Pulldowns -
Straight Weight X10, 8
Drop-Set X8, 6, 5, 6

DB Rows -
80sX10, 10
Drop-Set - 70sX10, 60sX5, 50sX5

Kind of a long session, but I just seemed to have the energy for it.

Sets of 5 on bench were a bit heavier than I expected.  I've got one more heavy session before I taper lifting a bit for my 5K.  We'll see how heavy triples feel next week.

Brought back the reverse cambered bar to see how they would feel for some extra triceps volume.  The trick here, with such a short stroke, seems to be making sure the elbows don't flare as you start to overload.  Keep it in the triceps.  I'll try 'em out again next week.

Shoulders felt too achy to want to do chin-ups, so I went with pulldowns so I could get more reps in.  Decided to go to DB rows even though they've been "light" day work.

Hybrid Training. Week 8. Heavy Upper

BW - 225

Bench -
up to 195X3, 3, 3
then 152.5X6, 6, 6

JM Press - 95X5, 5, 5

CG Chins - BWX6, 5, 4

Cable Rows - X8, 7, 7 (straight-weight)

Pretty solid session.  The top sets of bench were moving a bit slow on the 2nd reps, and getting kind of dicey on the 3rds.

I'm signed up for a meet on 9/6.  It's mostly just a practice meet to get another one under my belt before doing my main meet in March.  I have to be careful about pushing the lower body lifts too hard, because I've got a 5K at the end of September, but I should be able to keep pushing the bench, and so there is a chance I could get a small, lifetime bench PR at the November meet.

Hybrid Training. Week 7. Heavy Upper and Intervals

BW - 227

Bench -
up to 185X5, 5
then 155X10

JM Press - 95X5, 5, 5 (slow concentric, slight pause)

CG Pulldowns - X10, 8, 7 (straight-weight)

T-Bar Rows - 115X6, 4

Chest-Supported T-Bar Retractions - 90X15, 15

Intervals - 8, 1/4 mile intervals @ ~2:30

 Had a consult this week with a coach from Complete Human Performance, the company founded by the author of the Hybrid Training program.  Some of the new info gleaned went into this session.

I did a second top set of 5 at 185.  These were do-able but getting difficult.  I felt a 3rd set may have been overkill on this day.

I went for a rep out on one back-off set, instead of doing multiple sets for proscribed reps.

I tried JM Presses for the first time here as another heavy, triceps option.  The movement was much more difficult at much lighter weight than I expected.  Good.

I hit some pulldown and row variations.

The coach from CHP mentioned that he'd had great luck bringing up his upper back with chest-supported scapula retractions.  Never done this kind of thing before, but my upper back was really tired, and fried feeling after this.

Did intervals a couple of days later.  The coach said the important thing is to start getting the combined interval distance to match the race distance and at race pace.  So I added a couple of intervals here, and will look to add two intervals a week until I hit 12 quarter-miles, and then drop down to half-miles and work up to 6.

Hybrid Training. Week 0. Heavy Upper and Intervals

BW - 228.8

Bench -
up to 185X2
then 155X6, 6

Press - up to 110X5, 5

Rows - up to 162.5X3, 3, 3

Chins - BWX5, 5, 5, 4, 4

Intervals - alternated jogging and walking every block from gym to home

Starting to get the feel for the Powerlifting + 5K program from Alex Vida's Hybrid Athlete manual.  I took a nasty fall while on vacation and my shoulder has been bothering me, and so I wasn't sure how this would go.  Between that and having company this weekend, I knew I wouldn't be able to jump fully into the programming, thus "Week 0" of getting acclimated to it as time allows.  Also, I need to read the full manual in depth to understand progression.

Despite the shoulder injury, I had no issues on any of the lifts here.  Everything moved nice and easy.  It's a percentage based program, and I used what I call my "Lifetime" Every Day Max (LEDM) as the basis.  This is a bit different from  Paul Carter's EDM concept where the # is sort of instinctual.  I've always kept track of my lifetime rep maxes from 1-20.  I average those out and take 90% for my LEDM.  For example, on Bench, my best single is 231, and my best set of 20 is 135.  Together with all the other rep records from 1-20, that averages out to a projected max of 225-30, and 90% of that is 205.  So when I need a good starting point for something on bench, I take 205 as my LEDM.

The program calls for 3X10 on pull-ups.  As I've been coming back from the previous shoulder injury that impaired my vertical pulling, 5 reps have been about max, so I just did 5 sets of 4-5 here.

Intervals felt good.  Although it's been since August '15 since I did any running, and my gait felt a bit awkward being out of practice and carrying an extra 20-25 pounds.

Reps and Volume. Week 4. Bench

BW - 230

Bench -
BarX5
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
155X17, 7

Cable Rows - X75, 25 (same weight as last time)

Straight-Bar Push-Downs - X65, 35 (same weight as last time)

Ran out of strength again after Rep 17.  This week I decided to push the reps on the 2nd set closer to failure instead of getting the prescribed amount for the volume goals.  This makes sense to me.  Stick with the volume goal as long as progress is being made, but push the volume sets past the goal to try and break a plateau.  We'll see if that works.

Kept the weight the same on accessories, but managed to get them both done in 2 sets where it took 3 sets last week.

I believe the 100 rep accessories may be coming to an end after this week.  It should be enough to have moved a lot of blood through  my joints to help recover from the meet, and also to have bumped up my overall work capacity a bit.

I'm a bit torn on what the next phase is going to be.  My original plans had revolved around some specific diet goals, but I have failed to consistently meet those.  If I'm going to abandon those goals, then I feel like the options are:  1) Continue with my main lift programming, but push the accessories into bigger movements with higher intensities; i.e. strength work; or 2) I've been looking at Alex Viada's manual for awhile and I've laid out his P.L.+5K program.

If I do the latter, I believe I will need to pick a 5K to run in order to stick to that 7-day-a-week program.  Because I enjoyed the P.L. meet so much, I'm leaning towards this even though it looks much more difficult than the other option.