Ludwig Liftin' it

[LudwigVan]

Might as well start a log here.

Age: 25
Height: 6'
Weight: 194

Recent PRs
Squat: 400x1, 355x5
DL: 475x1
Press: 190x1
Bench: 195x8, 230x3

Goals: 5-plate DL, bodyweight press, then 2-plate press, squat more, stop sucking at the bench, be more badass, etc.

Current program:

1: Squat 3x3 ramping, 1x10
2: Bench 5x5, DB rows
3: Rest
4: Squat PR (every 3rd week is a DL PR), DL 1x5
5. Bench PR (every 3rd week is a press PR), press 1x5
6. Rest
7. Rest

[LudwigVan]

Yesterday I drove out to the suburbs to teach the lifts to a friend. He's 5'4", 140, and has never lifted before. It's been awhile since I've taught anyone the lifts, so I was kind of excited to see how well I'd be able to teach him and how he'd progress.

I think it went pretty well. It took longer and was more work than I had anticipated. I had him squat 75x3x5, press 45x3x5, and DL 110x3x5. His squat had some knees in, heels off the floor, and lacking depth, but it got better as the sets went on, so I think his flexibility will improve with a few workouts. His bar path on the press was all kinds of fucked up, but I know that'll take time, too. His DL looked pretty decent. I just hope he sticks with it for a little while, otherwise I'll be kind of annoyed that I wasted my time.

--------------

So, today was squat volume day. Worksets were:

350x3
360x3
370x1
310x10 -- PR

I had some nasty tightness in my left hip as I warmed up, and I felt like I was going onto my toes real bad, but fortunately it went away by the time I got to my work sets. 350x3 felt really good. 360x3 felt really hard -- I was having trouble keeping tightness on the eccentric, but I finished it solidly. I knew after the first rep at 370 that I wasn't going to get through another one, but I went for it anyway, got stuck, and left it on the pins. Bummer.

I haaate these fucking sets of 10. Having to do one after failing on the last triple is especially brutal. It's a huge mental battle just to get under the bar. The first rep felt so heavy, I didn't think there was any way I'd make it to 5, let alone 10. I feel like I really have to get my hips involved on these sets -- like my quads want to crap out, but I can somehow muscle the bar up with my glutes and hamstrings. Anyhow, I did all 10. There was some yelling involved. Time for eating.

[MAD9692]

I'm on the same program. (Monday's are slightly different)
Good luck with your goals man- mine are very similiar.

[LudwigVan]

Thanks MAD.

6/16/10
Bench volume day

Currently in a deload for the bench, so I'm doing 4x5 and then a set of max reps. I was supposed to do 200 but I accidentally loaded 210 for the first set, which is the weight I deloaded from.

Bench press 210x5, 200x3x5, 200x7

Weighted chins - bw +10, 3x5

I haven't done weighted chins in awhile, so I was thinking I'd try alternating weeks between them and DB rows.

[LudwigVan]

6/18

Squat 360x5 PR
DL 380x4

Couldn't hold onto it for the 5th rep. This liquid chalk shit isn't cutting it, I'm gonna get some real chalk this week.

[LudwigVan]

6/20/10

This would normally be my bench PR day, but my bench is in a deload and I'm very close to a goal on my press, so I fucked around a little today.

Press - 155x5, PR

Bench 190x10, PR

Dips - BWx8 -- Hadn't done these in a long time and tried to get back into them recently. They were hurting my shoulders and chest like hell before, but felt a lot better today.

DB curls - 40x15

[LudwigVan]

6/22/10

Squat volume day

Repeating last week's weights.

Squat:

350x3
360x3
370x2

Got one more rep than last week, still missed the last one. I was bummed out and didn't feel like doing a set of 10, since I got all the reps on that last week, so I did some assistance stuff that I haven't done in a long time.

Good mornings

135 3x10

These felt awkward and uncomfortable, but not heavy. I have a huge bruise on my lower traps from the bar.

Decline situps

Bw+10, 3x10

I haven't done any direct ab work in a really long time. I just read 5/3/1 so I held the plate behind my head like Wendler says and he's right, it was really hard.

[LudwigVan]

623

Bench volume day

This is the last week of my bench deload.

Bench press
205 5x5

DB row 75 2x22

Bench felt heavy at first, which pissed me off. I got into the groove a little bit by set 3. The last set was supposed to be for max reps -- I went for 6 on the last set but got stock.

DB rows were annoying. My abs and hamstrings are sore as shit from the stuff I did on Tuesday.

[LudwigVan]

6/25

Squat 365 x 5 PR
405 x 0

DL 380 x 5 PR

365x5 was ugly as shit. I was sweating profusely and I felt like the bar didn't want to stay in position. Then 405 stapled me to the floor. No fun. So I got pissed and pulled an easy set of 5 at 380, which is technically a PR, although not a true 5RM.

6/26

Press 195 x 0/0/0
160x2

Dips BW x 10/10/10/10/12

Goddamn miserable day for pressing. I wanted to hit bodyweight today, but it just wasn't happening. Couldn't get it over my head and just wasn't finding the groove. I probably got some kind of overload effect from failing it three times, though. Then I wanted to do a set of 5 at 160, but that wasn't happening either. So I got really pissed and beat the crap out of some dips. At least those have come back to me somewhat.

[LudwigVan]

6/29
Squat 350x3
Clean 155x3 175x3x3
Shrug 185x10 225x20
Back extension +10x10 +25x3x10

Squats felt like shit warming up, then the first workset felt like shit, so I threw in the towel. I'm pretty sure some combination of the following needs to happen:

1) Squat deload
2) Programming change
3) Eat better
4) Stop being such a pussy

6/30
Bench 210 5x5 - PR
DB row 75 1x15
Dips +5 10/9/9

Broke through my bench plateau.

[LudwigVan]

7/2

DL 478x1* 488x0 483x0 403x5*

I was going for 480 and pulled it pretty easily (you can see it at 2:12 in this video! (http://greyskullelite.blogspot.com/2010/07/rest-day-100704.html)), but I found out after the fact that the bar I was using only weighed 43 pounds. I added 10 pounds to the bar, but something in my low back didn't feel right and I couldn't get it off the floor. I took off 5 but I still couldn't budge it. So I stripped it down to 4 plates and pulled a set of 5 for another PR.

7/3

Press 135x2 165x1 195x0 195x0 135x5
Dip 3x12
Preacher curl 40x10 60x10 50x3x15
DB bench 100x10

Failed to press bodyweight again. I guess another 5 pound jump isn't going to happen right now. God dammit.

[LudwigVan]

7/6
Squat - 235x5 270x5 305x11*
Back extensions - +45 5x10
DB step-ups - 37 3x10

I'm going to follow 5/3/1 for my squat and see what that does for me. Squats felt pretty light today, which was nice, since I'd been feeling bummed out about squatting.

I did the back extensions with a barbell, and I felt really awkward and uncomfortable trying to keep the bar in place. Seemed easier than trying to hold a plate behind my head, though.

I wanted to do some knees to elbows, but I pulled a lower ab or some such nonsense a week ago, and while it doesn't hurt to do normal things anymore, I tried one rep of those and it hurt like hell. Fortunately it doesn't hurt when I squat. So I found a box and did some DB stepups. It was really challenging on my grip, which was a little surprising.

[LudwigVan]

7/7
Bench 212.5 5x5*
Dip +5 10/10/10/8

7/9
Press 147 5/4/4/4/3

7/10
DL 410x5*
Chin +12.5x5
DB row 75 23x2
DB hammer curl 25x12 27.5x12 30x12

7/12
Squat 250x3 290x3 325x8*
Back ext. +45 2x5 +50 3x5

7/13
Bench 215 5/5/5/5/4
Chin 8/7/6
Dip x 12

[LudwigVan]

7/15
DL 420x5*
DB stepup 45 3x10

[LudwigVan]

7/16
Press 145 5x5*
Dip 3x12

[KONG]

Some prolific training here LV

[LudwigVan]

Some prolific training here LV

Thanks, Broshua. I do have a propensity for being prolific.

7/19
Squat 275x5 305x3 340x6*
GM 140 3x10
Knees to elbows 10/7/6

[LudwigVan]

7/20

Bench 217.5 5/5/5/5/4*
Chins 8/8/6

Technically a bench PR even though I missed a rep. My low back cramped up on the 4th rep of the 5th set, and I got stuck halfway up on the last rep. I'll probably still go up next week. Shoulder pain and bar path issues are still fucking up my bench -- I know I can fix one of those, though.

[LudwigVan]

So here is what my programming looks like these days:

M: Squat 5/3/1
T: Bench 5x5
W: Off
Th: Deadlift 5RM
F: Press 5x5
S: Off
Su: Off

With assistance work following the main lift each day.

7/22

DL 425x5* 315x10*

I was short on time so I pulled a backoff set for another PR. Deadlifts still feel good. A few more weeks and I think I'll go for 5 plates.

[LudwigVan]

7/23

Press 145x5 147.5 4x5*
Dip 14/14/15*
DB curl 35 5x12

It was a prodigious day for pressing. I just forgot to put the microplates on for the first set. Set new rep maxes for bodyweight dips as well, which felt good.

[KONG]

I guess on Friday's you have a proclivity for pressing. The product of such profuse training will be the proliferation of contractile fibers in your pressing muscles.

[Johnny Pain]

I guess on Friday's you have a proclivity for pressing. The product of such profuse training will be the proliferation of contractile fibers in your pressing muscles.

Especially now that LWV will be eating like he has a penis instead of a pussy.

[LudwigVan]

I guess on Friday's you have a proclivity for pressing. The product of such profuse training will be the proliferation of contractile fibers in your pressing muscles.

I do not prevaricate when I say that achieving press PRs is my prerogative.


Especially now that LWV will be eating like he has a penis instead of a pussy.

This is true. I do still make sure to include plenty of pussy in my diet, though. Highly anabolic.

[LudwigVan]

7/26

Squat 240x5 280x5 315x11*
Back extension +55 3x10

[LudwigVan]

7/27

Press 150 5x5*
Dip 15/15/13

I decided to press today so I could bench at Greyskull on Friday. I got myself on video to assess the amount of layback in my press. PRed it though. Remember, press to impress.

[LudwigVan]

So today is the 2-year anniversary of my training log. I had been fucking around with the lifts for a couple of weeks before I started my log, but I wasn't taking it seriously enough to write it down. The first entry is 7/28/08. Let's look at what I was lifting 1 and 2 years ago compared to now.

2008
Squat - 120 5x5
DL - 200 1x5
Press - 95 x 5/5/4/3/2
Bench - 120 3x5

2009
Squat - 275 3x5
DL - 305 1x5
Press 120 3x5
Bench 175 3x5

2010
Squat - 315x11, 365x5, 400x1
DL - 425x5, 480x1
Press - 150 5x5, 190x1
Bench - 217.5 5x5

So, the comparisons have to be fudged a bit, but in the first year I added roughly 150 to my squat, 105 to my DL, 25 to my press, and 55 to my bench. In my 2nd year I added around 60 to my squat, 115 to my DL, 35 to my press, and 50 to my bench. In this 2-year period I gained approximately 50 pounds of bodyweight, going from 145 to 195 at 6'.

There were definitely periods where I fucked around with my training and barely made progress (particularly a stretch in 2009 where I was messing with Crossfit). There were a lot of times where my eating wasn't what it should have been. Looking at it like this makes me wish I'd made faster progress. But I'm pretty satisfied with the work I've done, all things considered. Onward and upward!

[KONG]

Praiseworthy! (best word I could come up with)

Great results!

[LudwigVan]

Praiseworthy! (best word I could come up with)

Great results!

Thanks man. One last bit of nostalgia -- I found a post I made on another message board on August 15th, 2008. It cracks me up:


I started following the Stronglifts 5x5 program about three months ago. I'm not super-strong yet, but I've been really happy with the strength and size gains I've seen so far and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking to get into strength training.

My bodyweight is 155 now, and my current goal is 160. Today I set personal records on the squat (155 lbs, 5x5) and bench (135, 5x5). This Saturday I'll do the same with 220 for 1x5 on the deadlift. I stalled on the overhead press at 95 -- the most I've done for 5x5 was 90. Right now my goals are to achieve a 120 press, 155 bench, 200 squat, and 300 deadlift. I feel pretty confident with my squat from lately, although I'm still a little uncomfortable with my form on the bent over barbell row and overhead press.

7/28

My girlfriend and I moved house. This involved some pretty significant effort -- lots of carrying heavy boxes and odd object up stairs. I did a one-man couch carry that I was proud of. It's funny, doing heavy lifting outside of the gym makes me glad that I've trained, but at the same time I don't like doing it because I'm already tired from the previous workout and don't want to interfere with the next workout.

7/29

DL 430 4/1* 405 1

My left hand opened up on the 5th rep, so I re-chalked and did another one. I'm going to attribute the failure to all of the grip and back work I did during the move and make another increase next week.

[MazdaMatt]

Ludwig, thanks for the update. It is nice to see this kind of progress post in such detail. Congrats on not being a weakling anymore. Your first year's progress very closely match my first year's progress and I even started on SL5x5, too (not till September, so my "first year" includes some 10-machine 1-set circuit training... *sigh*)

[LudwigVan]

Congrats on not being a weakling anymore.

Thanks, Bro-bi Wan Kenobi!

7/30

Bench 220 5/5/4/3/2

First set was ugly, but I pushed through it. I tightened things up after that and felt solid, but the weight was heavy. Bummer after my press felt so strong this week. I'll try again next week.

Lying cable curls 60 x 7, 50 x 13

[KONG]

Couldn't make it down this week. Wasn't feeling too good...

220...As you could see, the move did somewhat affect you in this workout. Next time this will go for all five 5's.

[LudwigVan]

8/2

Squat 260x3 295x3 335x8*
Plank +45 55s/45s/45s

[LudwigVan]

8/3/10

Press 152.5 5x5*

EZ bar curl, +40x6 +50x8 +40x12

Presses were a little sloppy today, but somehow they were still light enough that I could get away with it. I'm not sure how much the EZ curl bar weighs.

[Johnny Pain]

EZ bar curl, +40x6 +50x8 +40x12


Shoot for 12-15, 15-20 on these, in that order ideally.

[LudwigVan]

Got it, thanks.

[Sean5424]

Any reason for the preference of the EZ bar over a straight bar or dumbbells?

[LudwigVan]

Any reason for the preference of the EZ bar over a straight bar or dumbbells?

Straight bar curls tend to give me forearm pain.

[LudwigVan]

8/5/10

DL 435x5* 405x1

I was in a hurry tonight. Kicked a bro doing upright rows out of the power rack. Of course I don't need the rack to do DLs, but there's really no floor space to do them, and the gym staff has told me before to do them in the rack. Plus it makes loading and unloading the bar easier. Anyway, you sure as shit don't need the rack for upright rows.

[LudwigVan]

220...As you could see, the move did somewhat affect you in this workout. Next time this will go for all five 5's.

Sho 'nuff!

8/6/10
Bench 220 5x5*

I think I'm finally starting to feel confident about producing a good bar path when the weight is heavy. I'm pumped to hit 225 5x5.


Shoot for 12-15, 15-20 on these, in that order ideally.

Had a brain fart and did this the other way around, oh well.

DB hammer curl
22.5x6 27.5x18 32.5x12

[LudwigVan]

8/9/10
Squat: 275x5 315x3 350x6*
GMs: 155 3x10*

I've now completed 2 cycles of 5/3/1 for my squat. It's kind of weird. I made myself match all of the rep maxes that I set in the first cycle, so every workout so far has been 2 heavy warmup sets followed by a single high-rep set to near-failure. I've enjoyed training that way, and I think it's been good for my squat, but it's different from what I'm used to and not what I expected, I guess. It seems like if a person let himself, he could just kind of spin his wheels for the first few cycles. If I do 305x11 in the first cycle and then I only do 315x8 the next time, and 325x6 the next time, etc., am I getting stronger? But I know that eventually I won't be able to get the same number of reps, so I'll then start working in a slightly lower rep range until I can't manage that, and so on, until I'm actually doing 5, 3, and 1s instead of 11, 8, and 6.

Anyhow, these squats felt strong as shit. I forgot to check my log for what my last GM workout had been, so I accidentally made a 15# jump. They're not that hard, though. I think I'm doing them properly. Maybe I'm not. I certainly feel them in the old hamstrings for some days.

[KONG]

I got the green light to begin squatting again! So I'll be chasing you pretty soon...as long as my left knee can hold up.

[LudwigVan]

I got the green light to begin squatting again! So I'll be chasing you pretty soon...as long as my left knee can hold up.

Nice. Let's see it!

[LudwigVan]

8/10/10
Press 152.5 5x5

So I forgot what I had pressed last week and did the same weight this week. Dammit. Fortunately it felt really easy. I had to be somewhere so I'm going to go back tomorrow to do some assistance.

[LudwigVan]

8/11/10

Dip 15/15/14*

I really wanted 15 on the third set, but couldn't lock it out.

EZ bar curl 57.5x13 47.5x17

I asked them to weigh the EZ curl bar and it turns out it weighs 17.5. Whoda thunkit.

[LudwigVan]

8/12/10

DL 440x2 440x3*

This wasn't really two different sets, but I'll log it that way because I took my hands off the bar after the 2nd rep to re-apply chalk. These got really heavy by the end, but I still managed to lock out.

DB row 75x25*

[LudwigVan]

8/13/10

Bench 222.5x5/5/5/4
200x6

These felt really goddamn heavy. The first three sets were a grind. Also my eating was a little off today and I had hellacious gas, but the bigass cheeseburger casserole I ate was dee-lish. I pushed through the first three, but then my shoulders started to hurt. After I failed on the last rep in set 4, I decided to take a little weight off and go for a max reps set.

My girlfriend just said that I have more chest hair than I used to. Clearly this is an adaptation to my training.

[LudwigVan]

8/16/10

Squat 150x5 185x5 225x5
Back ext. +62.5 3x10*
DB hammer curl 30x6 35x14 30x17

This was the deload week for my squat on 5/3/1. The back extensions felt pretty heavy, though.

[LudwigVan]

8/17/10

Press 155 5x5*

Pressed the correct weight this time. These still feel good.

DB incline press 25x6 35x10 35x12 37.5x12

I'd never done these before, so I was getting the feel for them. I felt a little unsure of how I'd get the DBs in place if I went a lot heavier.

[misspelledgeoff]

nice f'ing press!

[LudwigVan]

Thanks! I'm still weighing around 196, so next time I go for a max I'm expecting to hit bodyweight at least. I'm going to try not to interrupt the progress I'm making with 5x5 yet, though.

[LudwigVan]

8/19/10

DL 445x5*

Buh-bayum. No grip problems this week, either.

[misspelledgeoff]

SNAP!!!!

When u gonna video 500 deadlift for the contest. U ready.

[LudwigVan]

I feel like I could do it now, but I'm going to try and keep moving up 5 pounds a week with 5s the way I've been doing as long as I can manage it.

[LudwigVan]

8/21/10

I was supposed to bench yesterday, but I had a migraine in the morning and a show at night, so I decided to put it off until today.

Bench 222.5 5/5/5/5* 135x10

Unfortunately I got to the gym about 30 minutes before closing. I managed to tear through 4 sets with about two minutes left, so I just stripped the bar to 135 and immediately did a set of 10. It felt good. And the best part is that it seems I'm now able to bench painlessly (knock on wood). Next week: 2 plates.

[LudwigVan]

8/24/10

Squat 250x5 285x5 322.5x11*

Last set was pretty brutal. I had tingling in my teeth when I was done. But I've made two 10# increases with 5/3/1 and managed 11 reps each time, so that's good.

[LudwigVan]

8/25/10

Press 157.5 x 5/5/4/5/5*

Leg cramp on the 3rd set fucked me up. Note to self: taking more than a couple of seconds between reps on the press is never a good idea. Press still seems to be going strong anyway.

Low incline DB press 40x12 42.5x2x12

DB hammer curl 37.5x15 32.5x19

[LudwigVan]

Went on vacation to Portland, OR this weekend and didn't end up doing any training. I did decide to do some max sets of pushups, though, which I hadn't done in a long time -- I managed 40/30/20, which I was pleased with. I don't think I'd done more than 35 in a set before.

[LudwigVan]

8/30/10

Squat 265x3 305x3 342.5x8*

Last set was heavy and not too pretty, but I ground it out.

Leg press 10 plates 5x12

The leg press uses a plate stack and the weights aren't labeled. I haven't leg pressed in forever, but after doing it tonight I think it could be a useful assistance exercise. I adjusted it so the "bottom" of the movement put me in an ass to ankles position and tried to use a slow eccentric. I found that it felt pretty heavy at the very bottom, which makes sense as all the squatting I do is low-bar and has a much different bottom position.

[LudwigVan]

8/31/10

So next week is my 5/3/1 week for the squat, then is the deload week. I was thinking of doing the deload week for all my lifts, and then the following week I'd test all my maxes, because it's been awhile.

Press 160 5x5*

I'm pretty sure I've got 200.

EZ curl 60x15 50x20
Low incline DB press 45 2x10

[LudwigVan]

9/2/10

Tonight I dropped in at a gym in a different part of the city because I might be moving there soon and the gym sounded badass. I usually train at a locally-owned but totally lameass gym with one rack that usually has a dude curling in it, crappy bars, standard stuff. Anyway, this new gym is sweet. It's called The Training Station (www.phillytrainingstation.com/). They've got 2 really nice racks (not the one pictured on their site), York barbells, 2 platforms, bumpers, chalk, a GHR, a fat chinup bar, all kinds of great stuff. It has no mirrors. The dude who owns it and his assistant both know about Rippetoe. The dude said he talks to Bud Charniga regularly and is going to hold some kind of weightlifting summit to discuss the future of the sport. And it's cheaper than my other gym. I'm going to join.

PC 135x5 185x3*

This is funny. I haven't cleaned in a long time because they got kind of heavy and I didn't have bumpers and then they just haven't really been a part of my program. I'd do some cleans with 135 to warm up my DL, but I never went heavier than that. Anyway, since I haven't cleaned in so long, I'd never actually done more than 175, so 185x3 was technically a PR for me. It felt really light.

DL 450x5*

Pretty slow and heavy and hard on the old hands, but fuck yeah.

Fat bar chins 9,8

At this point I was going to do a bunch of other assistance shit, but there was this dude squatting in the rack across the gym and the girl that worked there introduced me to him and said he was just getting started on SS. So I talked to him and said I could help him with his squat if he wanted. So he said yeah, and basically he was doing rock-bottom high bar squats with like 165 and his knees buckling in real bad. So I got his shit fixed up in like 10 minutes, and told him to re-read the squat chapter and come to this site. Bam. I wish somebody had told me that shit when I was starting out. I wish I had been lifting at such a sweetass gym when I was starting out.

[LudwigVan]

9/3/10
Bench 225 5/4/4/1/2 185x9

This really pissed me off. The bench continues to be my most stubborn lift by far. I haven't missed many reps in the past two months, but almost all of the ones I have missed have been on the bench. Although this is technically a PR for me -- I'd only ever done 225x3 a few months ago. Something wasn't right in the unracking on the fourth set, and my hand got pinched, so I racked it after one and did the double after a minute. Then I waited a couple minutes and went for max reps at 185.

Seated DB press 35 10/12/12

Getting these in position is annoying. Standing over the seat, cleaning the dumbbells, then sitting down seemed to work best.

DB flies 25 8/12

Also I canceled my membership at my current lameass gym. There was a "reason for leaving" part on the form they gave me, and my girlfriend filled it out and wrote "joining an olympic lifting gym," but I also wanted to check the boxes for "facility is ill-kept" and "staff is not competent enough." But then I would've felt sort of guilty. It's true, though.

[LudwigVan]

So what I'm thinking I'll do is do everything as normal this week, except do little to no assistance work to keep overall volume low, and then next week I'll test all my maxes.

9/7/10

This was my first disappointing squat workout in awhile.

Squat 285x5 325x3 360x4

I wanted five or six on the last set. But it's my fault. I didn't eat very well today, and I stupidly forgot to bring my belt to the gym. My girlfriend was kind of enough to run home and get it for me, but it meant I waited 20 minutes or so between my 2nd and 3rd sets, which didn't feel right. Oh well. I'd like to get at least 410 next week.

[LudwigVan]

9/8/10

Press 162.5 5x5*

Aww yeah. I realized that while doing the first 2 reps in a single breath as I've been doing is very helpful, I'm still getting way too loose trying to take a big breath at the top after every subsequent rep. Tonight I tried to focus on doing a really quick exhale/inhale at the top and then going on to the next rep. It's hard to fight the urge to take my time and get more air, but I found that I can make it through a set of 5 without losing nearly as much tightness this way.

[LudwigVan]

9/10/10

DL 455x5*

Faster than last week.

[LudwigVan]

9/11/10

Changed it up a little today.

Bench 225x3 230x3 235x2 245x1*

[LudwigVan]

I went to the beach the other day, so I figure this is a decent time for some progress shot action. These pictures represent about a 50 lb. weight gain. I feel like I've gotten a whole lot bigger, although when I look at the pictures side by side like this, it sometimes seems like a smaller difference than the numbers would suggest. Unfortunately you can't see my lower body in the old pictures, which would probably make a big difference. But anyway, here they are:

July 2008, ~145#

http://stevegoldbergmusic.com/images/front_7_08.JPG

http://stevegoldbergmusic.com/images/back_7_08.JPG

September 2010, ~196#

http://stevegoldbergmusic.com/images/front_9_10.JPG

http://stevegoldbergmusic.com/images/back_9_10.JPG

[LudwigVan]

9/14/10

So I tested my max squat tonight. My old 1RM was 400, set on 5/14/10. I started doing 5/3/1 for my squat on 7/6. Tonight was good and bad. Here's what happened:

Squat 365x1 405x1* 415x0 410x0

So I got 4 plates. Here's how that looked:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiwbhyYhCLI

I think it looks damn good, and not at all like a true 1RM. When I saw the video I was sure I'd hit 415. The 1RM calculators say I should've hit at least 415 based on the max-rep sets I've been doing on 5/3/1 lately. But I didn't. 415 didn't feel good and 410 didn't feel any better. I'm really disappointed about that.

Basically I think I didn't hit it because I'm out of practice with squatting maximal weights, and the reason I'm out of practice is because I've been doing 5/3/1. I followed the instructions exactly -- I started with my training max at 90% of my true max and added 10 pounds to my training max each cycle. For all three cycles I hit 11 reps on the 5+ day and 8 reps on the 3+ day. On the 1+ day I did 6 the first two cycles and 4 for the 3rd cycle. But in all that time I never squatted anything really heavy, and I think that hurt me tonight. In hindsight I think I should've ignored the advice to start with 90%. In any case, I'm thinking of trying again maybe next week and hopefully getting at least 415.

[Paul Sousa]

You went for 415 and 410 after your 405 attempt? How much rest did you take between? Honestly, if 415 is your true 1rm then doing a single with 98% of that could have just taken too much out of you to get it. If you are constantly setting rep maxes every week I wouldn't worry too much. If you can keep that up then you'll be doing 400 for max reps on your third week in January assuming 10 pound jumps every cycle.

[LudwigVan]

You went for 415 and 410 after your 405 attempt? How much rest did you take between?

Probably 6 or 7 minutes.


Honestly, if 415 is your true 1rm then doing a single with 98% of that could have just taken too much out of you to get it.

Yeah, that makes sense.


If you are constantly setting rep maxes every week I wouldn't worry too much. If you can keep that up then you'll be doing 400 for max reps on your third week in January assuming 10 pound jumps every cycle.

I guess that's true. I was just bummed because if I really can't do better than 405, that means I only increased my max squat by 5 pounds in the last 4 months, and I think I should be able to do a lot better than that at my current level. Meanwhile, my DL and press have been going up steadily for many weeks with much more basic programming.

Thanks for the comments.

[misspelledgeoff]

Nice freakin squat!!

[LudwigVan]

Thank you sir.

9/16/10

Bench 225x1 250x1* 255x0

My bench is still nothing to write home about, but I hit my target. It felt like a max, but I went for 255 anyway. I also got to talk to John about some different programming that I may start on pretty soon, which should be interesting.

[KONG]

That's a great 405 squat. You are good for more...just not that day.

Oh and its been less than 4 months, because I remember it was either end of June or beginning of July at Greyskull when I did a 315X5x5 because my knee felt good that day and you went for a PR of 400, went down and didn't come back up. So its not as bad as you might think.

Also, 6 or 7 minutes....are you kidding?
You are going for a 1RM. At a meet, it would be a lot longer than 6 or 7 minutes between your attempts. Do at least 15 mins next time..

So two things for "lessons learned"/"it wasn't as bad as you think":
1. At least 15 mins between attempts to give your nerves a chance to settle out.
2. You went from not standing up with 400 to standing up with 405 in about 2 months...not only that, but also the 405 looked more like a 3RM than a 1RM.

[scoppi]

9/14/10]But in all that time I never squatted anything really heavy, and I think that hurt me tonight. In hindsight I think I should've ignored the advice to start with 90%. In any case, I'm thinking of trying again maybe next week and hopefully getting at least 415.


this has been said, but if you practice maxes, you'll get better at doing maxes, but not necessarily much stronger. If you practice volume, your max will go up some because youre getting stronger, but you probably wont hit a true max because you're not used to going for maxes. Congrats on 4 plates.

[LudwigVan]

That's a great 405 squat. You are good for more...just not that day.

Oh and its been less than 4 months, because I remember it was either end of June or beginning of July at Greyskull when I did a 315X5x5 because my knee felt good that day and you went for a PR of 400, went down and didn't come back up. So its not as bad as you might think.

Also, 6 or 7 minutes....are you kidding?
You are going for a 1RM. At a meet, it would be a lot longer than 6 or 7 minutes between your attempts. Do at least 15 mins next time..

So two things for "lessons learned"/"it wasn't as bad as you think":
1. At least 15 mins between attempts to give your nerves a chance to settle out.
2. You went from not standing up with 400 to standing up with 405 in about 2 months...not only that, but also the 405 looked more like a 3RM than a 1RM.

Thanks Kong. But that missed squat you're thinking of at Greyskull was 405, and attempted after hitting 365x5. I did 400x1 successfully in May, although it looked and felt way more difficult than this recent 405.

When are you going to be back at Greyskull?

[KONG]

Not next week but probably the week after. Will be taking it "easy" next week too create a small "peak" for the meet on Sep 26th.

[Danish Viking]

Just dropping by, since I've read quite a few lucid posts from you trying to deal with SB. Pretty strong lifts, too. You don't seem to be gaining much weight though, is this intentional?

[LudwigVan]

You don't seem to be gaining much weight though, is this intentional?

No, I'm just a failure. Hopefully some programming changes that I'll be implementing soon, along with some more dietary additions, will fix that.

[Squatson]

Do you go to Greyskull on wednesdays at all? That's the only day that works for me to get up there. I'm entering a meet October 23, so I'm prolly gonna go up soon to figure out some openers and commands and stuff.

[LudwigVan]

Do you go to Greyskull on wednesdays at all? That's the only day that works for me to get up there. I'm entering a meet October 23, so I'm prolly gonna go up soon to figure out some openers and commands and stuff.

I was there this past Wednesday, actually. I tend to go on Fridays, but sometimes that doesn't work so I'll do a different day.

[Danish Viking]

No, I'm just a failure. Hopefully some programming changes that I'll be implementing soon, along with some more dietary additions, will fix that.

My BW has shot up since I implemented the carb curfew thing. Has given me more appetite. Since you seem to know John(?) I'm guessing you already use this technique? Otherwise I really recommend it.

[Squatson]

Fasted cardio on off days too...makes me ravenous.

I'm trying to hit up Greyskull when there are some peeps up there. It was just me and John when I went up...Bony came by for a minute to do some whining, and Jenn brought us some Inside Outs, but I think it would be cool to meet the whole crew.

[LudwigVan]

9/18

Press 180x1 200x1* 205x0*


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AF5rP5VDCI

I was surprised and bummed to notice what looks like a little knee bend in the video. But I'm going to count it. It's not as bad as Alexeev's 507. I got 205 to my forehead and got stuck.

Deadlift 455x1 500x1* 510x1*

A nice-looking 500:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsIJBNOhyQA

A not-so-nice-looking 510:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_69FwO3cgr8

[Paul Sousa]

I bet you have some more in you on the DL. If you pulled 500 that well, and then could get 510 not too long after, I bet you could get 520.

[Danish Viking]

That's a pretty impressive deadlift. Didn't look all that ugly to me, considering it is a limit effort. I'd agree that you could probably have done at least 520. Deadlifting in the excess of 2.5xBW is some serious shit.

The Press, however, is a mini-push-press in my opinion. Also you could get under the bar way earlier, you almost have it locked out before you push under it.

And goddamn you need to eat. Imagine the poundages you could lift if you added the 20-40 lbs of BW it looks like you are lacking.

[LudwigVan]

Thanks dudes. I feel like I could've pushed the DL a little more for sure. I definitely could've gotten under the press sooner, but I don't want to nitpick a PR too much. I'm working on the bodyweight. When I met Rip at Greyskull and he saw me squat, he told me I could squat 500 at a better bodyweight. Anyhow, I'm eating a cheesesteak right now.

[Danish Viking]

Thanks dudes. I feel like I could've pushed the DL a little more for sure. I definitely could've gotten under the press sooner, but I don't want to nitpick a PR too much. I'm working on the bodyweight. When I met Rip at Greyskull and he saw me squat, he told me I could squat 500 at a better bodyweight. Anyhow, I'm eating a cheesesteak right now.

Indeed. I wasnt nitpicking the Press (except the knee thing) but it would be easier, IMO, if you shoved your body under the bar sooner. Make that three cheesesteaks ;)