Mitch's Log

[Mitch]

Been lurking on here for a while, finally decided to start a log.

I'm using Texas Method primarily now after some time on a novice program; I probably could have got further with novice program but was starting to find having to set PRs every session to be very mentally taxing. My upper body strength lags my squats and deadlifts so I'm going to try and continue to progress linearly on bench and press.

I train early morning before work and my diet and sleep is often less than ideal but I'm willing to accept the slower gains now. I'm 6ft 3 and c.110kg.

Monday 14th June

Squat 5 x 5 @ 147.5 kg
Felt good, got a bit tired towards the end of sets 4 & 5.


Lateral Shoulder Raise
3 x 10 @ 9kg
Right shoulder still giving some problems, trying to focus on holding it down and back and felt pretty much fine doing this

[jonesjitter]

Welcome. I'm looking forward to follow your log. Why are you doing lateral shoulder raises? :)

[Mitch]

Wednesday 16th June

Squat: 2 x 5 @ 120kg
right adductor/hamstring a bit tight but squats felt fine

Seated Row: 3 x 8 @ 63
Doing these instead of chins until I see physio about shoulder

Cable Press: 3 x 12 @ 55
Likewise doing these instead of bench, I feel I'm more able to control my shoulder blade doing these

Back extension: 2 x 10 @ BW, 3 x 10 @ 15kg
One of those 45 deg benches, got a bit worried that I was going to tip over when holding 15kg as there is little weight to it. Back was knackered afterwards, felt better by time I'd left gym though.

[Mitch]

Welcome. I'm looking forward to follow your log. Why are you doing lateral shoulder raises? :)

I injured something in my shoulder doing a heavy set of bench presses a few weeks ago, it didn't feel right starting out the set but I decided to push through and then felt something bad happen towards the end of the set. I've dislocated it and had surgery on it in the past so I'm a bit sensitive about doing any more damage to it.

I'm not quite sure what I need to do to it to make it better so for now I'm doing light weights with exercises that don't hurt it, I'm seeing a physio tomorrow who can hopefully help me out. I don't think the Starr protocol applies here as it doesn't feel like a muscular problem. I have a small lump on the top of my AC, have pain in the front when doing certain movements and can feel something grinding when pulling my shoulder back. Hopefully I can get back to benching and pressing in a week or so.

[jonesjitter]

I injured something in my shoulder doing a heavy set of bench presses a few weeks ago, it didn't feel right starting out the set but I decided to push through and then felt something bad happen towards the end of the set. I've dislocated it and had surgery on it in the past so I'm a bit sensitive about doing any more damage to it.

I'm not quite sure what I need to do to it to make it better so for now I'm doing light weights with exercises that don't hurt it, I'm seeing a physio tomorrow who can hopefully help me out. I don't think the Starr protocol applies here as it doesn't feel like a muscular problem. I have a small lump on the top of my AC, have pain in the front when doing certain movements and can feel something grinding when pulling my shoulder back. Hopefully I can get back to benching and pressing in a week or so.

Let's hope so. Keep us updated after the physio.

[tescott]

A few guys around here have a history of shoulder dislocation and subsequent shoulder pain associated with benching. They've found that exclusively pressing has helped a lot.

[Mitch]

So I went to see the physio today and he thinks that it's not a problem with my shoulder but with my first rib, which was pulled up out of place by my trap when I was benching heavy. This is now pinching one of my rotator cuff muscles and giving the pain I'm feeling in my shoulder. He poked around my right trap and there were a couple of tender points compared to my left side, he then spent a lot of time pulling my neck around and putting pressure into my shoulder and trap (this gave me quite a strange headache). Good news is that he doesn't think there are any lifts I shouldn't be doing, just that I should do some extra stretches and rotator cuff work, and to make sure I'm pulling my shoulders back when benching. I'm due to press tomorrow so I'll see how it goes.

[Mitch]

Friday 18th June

Squat: 1 x 5 @ 162.5kg
Felt really good, like 165 would not be a problem. It looks a little to me (I squat in front of a mirror) like my right elbow is much higher than my left but it feels ok on my back so I'm not worried.

Press: 3 x 5 @ 55kg
First time doing these for a couple of weeks and felt good. Will stick with 2.5kg jumps for now.

Power Clean: 5 x 3 @ 75kg
These also felt good, found it harder on my lungs than anything else as I had to cut my rest periods down a bit to make sure I wasn't too late for work. Will go for 80 next week.

A good session, TM in the squat seems to be working well for me and I find it a lot less mentally draining only setting PRs once a week. I can work hard on Monday, look forward to Wednesdays session instead of seeing it as a chore, and then get really fired up for Friday. Clearly I'm progressing slower than if I was setting PRs every session, but I think this is the more sustainable option for me now.

[tescott]

Strong work on the squats, Mitch. How long have you been lifting?

[Mitch]

Thanks tescott, I'm 25 now and have been lifting on and off since I was 20, although I found Starting Strength about 18 months ago.

My training is based around the rugby season, so I have a period of a 2-3 months a year (now) when I'm focusing on strength. The rest of the time I'm just trying to maintain those gains, or working on strength in conjunction with conditioning and speed work, or injured. I think I got to a squat 5RM of around 150kg last summer, hoping to hit 4 plates (180kg) before the start of this season.

[tescott]

Good stuff. You play Union or League? The kgs and the current offseason tell me that you're in the UK?

[Mitch]

That's right, I'm in London and play second row or #8 in Union. My club has an associated League team but there's no way I could play all year. By the end of the Union season I'm in real need of a break, then after not playing for a few weeks I can't wait for the season to start again.

[Mitch]

Monday 21st June

Squat: 5 x 5 @ 150kg
Felt good up until the last couple of reps which were hard, took about 3min between sets.

Press: 3 x 5 @ 60kg
Was planning on doing 57.5kg but was working in with a guy who was squatting so thought I might as well go for 60kg to avoid taking the 20s on and off each time. Got through them but last reps of the last set were very hard - I really noticed that my right arm is weaker. My left hand ends up higher than my right so there is even more weight on my right, have to really focus on pushing with my right and following with my left. Will start micro-loading on this now.

Deadlift: 1 x 5 x 130kg
Haven't deadlifted for a while and was hoping to lift around 170kg, but got to 130kg while warming up and it felt incredibly heavy so thought I'd stop there. This is the first time I've deadlifted after 5 x 5 squats, and the first time I've deadlifted in my squat shoes. I don't know if I need to eat something before I go to the gym, at the moment I wake up at 7, have some creatine with juice, cycle 15min to the gym, have some coffee and start lifting around 7.40 and I seemed to run out of energy today. I also can't seem to work out how to wear my belt for deadlifting: too low and it cuts into my hips, too high and I trap a spare tyre of fat below it which stops me getting low. I'll see how it goes next week but I may need to rethink when I'm deadlifting.

All in all a good session. My deadlift lags my squat but I have been neglecting it, I may need to tinker with the program a bit if I'm finding it too hard to deadlift after 5 x 5 squats.

[Mitch]

Wednesday 23rd June

Squat: 2 x 5 @ 120kg
Fine

Chins (neutral grip): 6, 4, 3
Supersetted these with the squats to try and save time. Will have to accept lower numbers if I'm going to continue to do that.

Back Extensions: 2 x 10 x BW, 3 x 10 @ 15kg
I do these on a 45 degree incline bench, hold a 15kg weight plate across my chest to add more weight. Really nail my back, probably should have done these last but the bench wasn't free

Bench: 3 x 5 @ 70kg
Was hoping to do 90kg, but 70 was quite painful in my right shoulder. On the last set I took a narrower grip and really focussed on keeping my elbows close to my body and that felt much better. Was thinking about pressing exclusively but I think I'll continue benching once a week, perhaps with lighter weight and more reps but with very strict form.

Rotator cuff work.

A good session, squats felt good but I still think there is something weird going on with where the bar is on my back, it feels good but looks (in the mirror) asymmetrical. Really need to get someone to video me some time.

Will be missing the 5RMs on Friday so will just go straight into volume on Monday again.

[Mitch]

Monday 28th June

Squat: 5 x 5 @ 152.5kg
Got them done

Press: 3 x 5 @ 60kg
Last session was wobbly at 60kg so decided to repeat, especially as I was in a different gym and would have to clean the weight up due to the ceiling being too low over the rack.

By the end of the press I was knackered and running late so stopped there. Was pretty pleased I got this session done seeing as it came on the back of a weekend of very little sleep and a very large amount of drinking. Felt shit going into the gym but felt better coming out again.

[Mitch]

Wednesday 30th June

Squat: 2 x 5 @ 120kg
Felt good, right knee a bit sore to start with but soon warmed up

Chins (neutral grip): 7, 5, 5
Better than last time, worked my squats around the chins rather than vice-versa

Bench: 2 x 5 x 60kg
Warmed up a lot and thought I was good for 80kg but still feeling too much pain. I'm away for the next two weeks so I'll see how it is when I'm back, otherwise I'll switch to exclusively pressing for a while

Back extensions: 2 x 10 @ BW, 3 x 10 @ 15kg
Much better than last time, felt it more in my hamstrings and back felt worked but not broken

Rotator cuff

Good session, thought I could perhaps have done more but sitting at my desk now and arms are feeling pretty heavy. Friday will be my last session for a couple of weeks so hope to put up some good numbers.

[Mitch]

Friday 2nd July

Squat: 1 x 5 @ 167.5kg
Missed last Intensity day so went for a 5kg jump on two weeks ago and was pleased to get it, felt like I could perhaps have done 170kg but 167.5 will do. I always feel with these 5RMs that as long as I get the first rep, the others will come. Also makes the weight on volume day seem a lot lighter.

Press: 5,5,4 @ 62.5kg
Got the last rep up to my forehead but couldn't get it any further, pushed it up with a slight knee bend. Will start microloading now

Power Clean: 1 x 3 @ 85kg, 4 x 3 @ 80kg
Missed last set of powercleans but 75kg felt very easy two weeks ago so went for 85kg on first set. Quickly realised this would be too much and dropped to 80kg. Some nice reps but quite a few where I'm spreading my feet wide to get under the weight - need to focus on bending my knees rather than moving to a wider stance.

This was the last time I will train for 2 weeks as I am going on holiday to Malaysia tomorrow and don't plan on doing any training except perhaps some bodyweight stuff. Was considering sacking off todays session but really glad I didn't. Will be interesting to see what my numbers drop to when I'm back. I think I'll also move to a more hybrid program incorporating conditioning and speed work as the rugby season approaches, but I've still got some work to do on my strength.

[Mitch]

Monday 19th July

Squat: 3 x 5 @ 150kg
First session in 2 weeks, was hoping to get 5 sets but ran out of energy

Press: 3 x 5 @ 60kg

Deadlift: 1 x 5 @ 150kg

Reasonably happy with this, didn't appear to have gone backwards too much in 2 weeks

[Mitch]

Wednesday 21st July

Bench: 3 x 5 @ 80kg
Moved this to the start of Wednesday's session as it's the movement I want to focus on.

Squat: 2 x 5 @ 120kg
Felt fine, quite sore after Monday but loosened up

Chin-ups: 6,5,5 @ BW
Took 3min rest between sets and did my squats in between

Conditioning: 30sec on, 30 sec off x 12 on the rowing machine
Net +17m on 150m target for each interval
I wanted to add in a conditioning session on my light day as I get closer to the start of the rugby season. This was hard.

[Mitch]

Friday 23rd July

Squat: 1 x 2 @ 165kg
Wanted to get 5 reps but couldn't get the third one up

Press: 3 x 5 @ 62.5kg
Need to microload now

Power clean: 5x 3 @ 82.5kg
Tiring

[Mitch]

Monday 26th July

Squat: 5 x 5 @ 152.5kg
Went well, seem to be back on track now

Press: 4,5,4 @ 63.5kg
Probably didn't try hard enough on the missed reps

Deadlift: 1 x 5 @ 160kg
Did these after work as ran out of time before work, probably could have gone heavier - makes a massive difference coming to these fresh

[Mitch]

Wednesday 28th July

Bench: 3 x 5 @ 85kg
Quite a bit of pain in my shoulder doing these, might have to rethink my programming but I don't want to stop benching considering I'm relatively weak at it.

Squat: 2 x 5 @ 120kg
Felt good

Chin; 7,5,3 @ BW
Pussied out on the last set

Conditioning: 8 x 250m row with 30sec rest, 6:39.9 total
Slightly longer work sets this time, just making up conditioning sessions as I go along but I enjoy the rowing machine and it certainly gets me working hard

[Mitch]

Friday 30th July

Squat: 1 x5 @ 167.5 kg
No real drama, still hoping to hit 180kg before the start of the rugby season

Press: 3,4,4 @ 65kg
Difficult, might move to Texas method on Press but I think it's worth trying this weight again. Also thinking about adding in Dips; need to do something to get my press and bench.

Power Clean: 5 x 3 @ 85kg
Some nice lifts, some ugly ones

[Mitch]

Saturday 31st July

Sprints: 2 x 10 hillsprints of approx 15m, took a few minutes in between sets
2 laps of football pitch, sprinting to half-way line, jogging to goal, sprint across width, jog to half-way etc.

Been wanting to add sprints for a while, have done some speed work before and it made a big difference to my game, just need to make sure it doesn't interfere with my strength work.