Muscles here I come! Lobsteriffic's Log

[MaryStella]

might be a form thing in the OHP. Are you keeping the bar in a straight line and moving your chin or are you arcing it out around your face? I'd recommend push pressing the weight. use your legs to get it started a bit and press it out.

[katz]

You would think so, but I can't. I can barely move the bar at all if I go up in weight! It's frustrating. Frustrating and weird.

 

Found the thread I was talking about, VE suggests doing one-armed clean & presses among other things. Will give that a whirl.

 

When I hit a sticking point like that;

 

I use a spotter & overload the bar by maybe 50 lb. or so - adjust your amount accordingly, and you need to have a good spotter. Usually I can unrack it by myself, & I will do the negative - then they will help me with the positive portion of the movement.

 

Only enough assistance to get me past the sticking point.

 

We continue this until the reps/set is completed. Actually, looking back through my records, I see that I overloaded the bar by 80 lbs. on my last plateau when doing it this way.

 

 

I believe a lot of this is psychological; if we believe that we are stuck at that weight, it becomes ingrained in us & hard to break into something new. The spotter is there largely for the mental support.

 

If you have a good spotter (which I do) they will be able to "read" what is going on with you during the lift & will only take the amount of weight away from you that you can't handle.

 

If you can, try my suggestion for a few weeks - I would be willing to bet that your poundage will increase!

[lobsteriffic]

Thanks! That's a good suggestion, but unfortunately I don't have a spotter. I'd ask someone, but I work out at my company gym, and there's never anyone else there when I go! Which normally I really like, it's just annoying when I need a spot!

[lobsteriffic]

03/07/11:

 

Squats:

45x5

95x5

115x5

135x5

4 sets of 5 @ 145 lbs

155 x 5 (PR!)

 

Bench:

45x5

65x5

5 sets of 5 @ 85 lbs (yay!)

 

BB Row:

45x5

65x5

85x5

4 sets of 5 @ 95 lbs (last set kind of sucked)

 

Incline Push-ups:

2 sets of 8

 

 

Lunch: (forgot my lunch at home, so I went to salad bar at work)

Salad with mixed greens, tofu, some sort of stewed lentil salad thing, cucumber, carrot, bell pepper, bean sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and lots of hot sauce

1 apple, 1 orange

 

Dinner:

Miso soup (miso, broth, nori, greens, mushrooms, scallions, tofu)

Sushi roll salad (greens, brown rice, carrot, tofu, edamame, nori, miso-sesame dressing)

2 oranges

[katz]

I believe I've said it before - your numbers are impressive!

 

But I know how you feel when you get stuck on a plateau. And your mind plays tricks with you;

 

Is this the max for me?

Can I push more weight/will I get stronger?

 

...and so on...

 

Gotta move on from that that way of thinking in a hurry.

 

Since you work out alone & cannot incorporate the overloading with a spotter...

 

There is another way that I read about years ago. Slow down the tempo of your lifts. Do the max. weight that you can and maximize the "time under tension". I like lifting this way.

 

Something like a 5-5-5 or even 10-10-10 tempo. Be creative. Moves a lot of blood to the area for a good pump, that's fore sure!

 

Also, do you change your routine regularly? I find that when it gets stale for me, that's when I end up hitting the wall with a poundage.

[gsop_3]

... your numbers are impressive!

 

...Slow down the tempo of your lifts. Do the max. weight that you can and maximize the "time under tension".

 

X2!

 

Also, remember that the SL5x5 does go to 3x5 and 1x5 before you've completely squeezed it dry of progress.

Just need to decide what your focus will be when you get there (Maximum limit strength), IF that's where you want to go (periodization with Madcow's 5x5 or something similar?), OR just move on to something else altogether...

 

Either way, Lobsteriffic, the numbers are impressive - as is your consistency! awe inspiring, really! Keep up the great work!

[lobsteriffic]

aw shucks you guys!

[MaryStella]

you deserve it! look at how much your numbers have increased since you first start blogging on here!

[lobsteriffic]

Thanks you guys. This has certainly made me feel better about my lifts. I am a long ways off from being strong, but I am certainly a lot less weak. You guys are the bestest.

 

03/08/11:

 

AM:

5 min. warmup jog

9 min. time trial: 1.04 miles

On treadmill (1% incline)

I wasn't happy with this. I was going pretty good at the end, but I started out too slow. Felt I could have pushed it more for the first bit.

I did this on treadmill since there are a good number of traffic lights where I live and I didn't want to have to deal with stopping/starting in those 9 min.

 

Lunch:

Salad with romaine, navy beans, nutritional yeast, sriracha, flax

1 apple, 1 orange

 

Snack:

baby carrots, some instant veggie soup mix stuff they keep in the kitchen at work (not sure why I was so hungry this afternoon)

 

Dinner:

Braised mustard greens with navy beans and a balsamic reduction

1 orange, 1 banana

[lobsteriffic]

03/09/11:

 

Warm-up:

20 air squats

5 push-ups

15 kettlebell swings (25# db)

60 sec. jumping jacks

 

Squat:

45x5

95x5

115x5

135x5

5 sets of 5 @ 145 lbs

 

One-arm clean and press:

5 sets of 5 @ 25# db

 

Deadlift:

95x5

115x5

135x5

165x5 (form on fifth rep was yucky)

 

Assisted Pull-ups:

80x6

80x5

80x4

[MaryStella]

nice job on the TT!

[lobsteriffic]

I know I could have done better - I started out too conservative! Will hit it next time. Tomorrow I'm going to do HR threshold testing.

[MaryStella]

youll get used to training this way and your know your rate of perceived exertion based on time better as you do it.

[lobsteriffic]

03/11/11:

 

AM:

5 min. warm-up job

2 rounds of:

Run 400m at 90-95%, Run 400m at 100%

 

Noon:

 

Warmup:

20 walking lunges

15 sumo deadlift high pulls

10 burpees

45 sec. plank (was supposed to be 1 min, got interrupted)

 

Squats:

45x5

95x5

115x5

135x5

5 sets of 5 @ 145 lbs (these felt heavier than normal)

 

Bench:

45x5

65x5

5 sets of 5 @ 85 lbs (feeling good on these, think I'll hit 95 lbs pretty soon!)

 

BB Row:

45x5

65x5

5 sets of 5 @ 95 lbs

 

Was kind of hard to concentrate, TVs had CNN on with earthquake/tsunami coverage. Probably took longer between sets than I should have.

 

03/12/11:

5 mile run, 48:42

[penpen]

Lobster, do you have progression pictures somewhere? I'm curious too see your physical improvements.. nothing perverse about this. <.< >.>

[lobsteriffic]

No, I actually don't. I should take some though. I've lost about 40 lbs since 2005, but I still have some extra body fat I want to drop and right now I am concentrating on building some muscles. I wasn't athletic at ALL when I was young so I really never developed muscle.

[penpen]

Yes, you should. Sounds like you've made a lot of progress.

 

I was an athlete and runner from gradeschool to highschool... then I became really depressed, stopped eating, then started eating again but became sedentary for a few years... I mean literally sedentary... it was rare that I even left my bed. After that I had no muscle left.

But yeah I completely understand what it's like starting from scratch.

[Adena]

Lobster, I like how your squats are coming along! Do you remember telling me you wish you could squat 135?

[lobsteriffic]

Ha, I know! I remember when a plate a side seemed like such a big deal. Now that's one of my warm-up weights.

[lobsteriffic]

03/14/11:

 

Couldn't go to the gym at lunch today because of a power outage. Super annoying. Oh well. Would go after work but I have an appointment with an accountant. Taxes are confusing when you are an alien on a work visa. Sigh.

 

Will shift things around this week and go tomorrow. Will just make today a 'rest' day, although it shan't be very restful.

[MaryStella]

checking in for some run results!

[lobsteriffic]

Everything got shifted around this week so my Tuesday run will be tomorrow (Wed) instead!

[Rob PMFF]

You broke your bench plateau, nice job!

 

How is that alternate shoulder lift working out for you?

[lobsteriffic]

Thanks! I have my sights set on a 95lb bench in the near future! Right now I'm doing one arm clean and presses in lieu of OHP, we'll see after a couple of weeks if it helped any.

 

Deadlifts are starting to frustrate me. I can squat 155 5x5, but today I couldn't deadlift 155 for 1x5! That's so lame, most people can dead way more than they can squat.

 

03/15/11:

 

Warm-up:

20 walking lunges

15 sumo deadlift high pulls (25# db)

10 burpees

1 min. plank

 

Squats:

45x5

95x5

115x5

135x5

5 sets of 5 @ 155 lbs

 

One-arm clean and press:

5 sets of 5 with 25 lb db

 

Deadlift:

95x5

115x5

135x5

155x3

 

Gym was getting super crowded at this point so I called it a day.

 

Lunch:

Mixed greens, navy beans, nutritional yeast, flax, hot sauce

2 apples

 

Snack:

tea with soy milk, 1 apple

 

Dinner:

Blanched chard, tofu wrapped in nori, roasted kabocha squash, miso soup

1 orange

 

Snack:

1 banana, protein powder + water

 

 

I usually try to keep it to 2-3 meals, but I actually only had time for 1 meal yesterday so I was pretty hungry today.

[MaryStella]

could be a form thing with the deads. also next time do your deads before your squats and see what happens. or even seperate days with them and see what happens. your legs might be cooked from the squats already. you've only got so many matches to burn.