Efforts of an Aging Ectomorph (lifting)

[Stonebreaker]

January 14, 2012:
Starting Strength-Inspired Semi-Program: Week 2, Day 3
Warm-up: Rowing machine: 8 minutes at resistance 10: 1660m

Squat: Warm-up, 250x4x2, x3x3

OHP: Warm-up, 122x6, x5x2

DL: 355x3 (RO, no attempt 4)

Total lift time: 80 minutes
Stretch: 15 minutes
Body weight: 236lbs
Missed lifting: 19 day(s) in the last 12 weeks.

Notes:
Not a great day. My left elbow started feeling seriously sore halfway though the overhead work, and worrying myself about the implications of a recurrence of my old friend medial epicondylitis was not conducive to lifting well for the rest of the day. It’s also time to reset my “deadlift after a lot of squatting weight,” which didn’t cheer me up any, either. Finished up, stretched out, went home, took some ibuprofen and spent the rest of the evening icing my elbow.

Current plan is to baby the elbow for a couple of days, and if it winds up tender during Wednesday’s scheduled bench pressing, then babying it for a couple more. I am not prepared to accept another seven-month hiatus from all things involving elbow extension and flexion.

 

[Stonebreaker]

January 15, 2012:
Starting Strength-Inspired Semi-Program: Week 2, Day 4
Warm-up: Rowing machine: 8 minutes at resistance 10: 1660m

Back Extensions: +20x6x4
-superset with-
10

 

[Stonebreaker]

January 18, 2012:
Starting Strength-Inspired Semi-Program: Week 3, Day 1
Warm-up: Arc Trainer: 8 minutes at incline 6, resistance 20; 0.38mi

Squat: Warm-up, 255x3x5 (VH rep 3 set 5)

Pec Deck Fly: “180”x6, “195”x6x3
-superset with-
Rear Delt Pec Deck Fly: “135”x6, “150”x6x3

Total lift time: 53 minutes
Stretch: 18 minutes
Body weight: 237lbs
Missed lifting: 15 day(s) in the last 12 weeks.

Notes:
Not good.

The squats were a disappointment. I’ve managed (admittedly, very ugly) sets of 5 at 255, to be reduced to (at worst, mildly ugly) triples was a serious disappointment. Knees didn’t feel particularly nice afterwards, either, and once again it felt like I was driving off my left leg considerably more than off my right.

More ominously, my elbow felt fine as I warmed up, but was mildly achy by the end of the squats. Dropped the real lifting in favor of another day of “no elbows” machine work. Looks like I’ll be spending part of today digging around for new and exciting ideas in elbow rehab as well as whatever upper body work I can find that doesn’t involve bending my damned arms.

Not good.

 

[Stonebreaker]

January 19, 2012:
Starting Strength-Inspired Semi-Program: Week 3, Day 2
Warm-up: TB X-Ramp: 8 minutes at ramp 6, resistance 8: 0.7mi

Back Extensions: +25x6x4
-superset with-
10

 

[Stonebreaker]

Five friggin' years of continuous logging.

01/20/2007:
Warmup: 10 minutes @ resistance 20 @ c. 130 strides/minute on the arc trainer

Full Squat: 80x14; 120x12 (a couple of pauses between reps, sloppy form on last rep); 120x12 (lots of pause between reps, form on the last couple of reps looked more like goodmornings than anything else).

OH Squat: 85x7 (a couple of false starts, starting to feel rather tired), 85x3 (lost balance, decided to quit while I was ahead)

DB Lunges: 30'sx6 (just plain tired now), 30'sx4 (lost balance on return, actually managed to fall on my ass on the last rep)

Seated Calf Raise: Skipped

Leg Extensions: 90x6, 90x5

Hanging Leg-Hip Raise: Skipped

Total lift time: 50 minutes
Skipped cardio cool-down.
Bodyweight: 192

Notes:
This workout just flat sucked. I don't know what the hell was wrong with me today, but I was wiped out and weak throughout. This is a bad, bad way to start off the cycle. The word for the day is "yuck."

*reaches back in time to slap self full in the face*

Who knows where I'd be now if I'd followed more sensible programming from Day One. At least having shitty lifting days hasn't changed.

 

[Stonebreaker]

January 21, 2012:
Starting Strength-Inspired Semi-Program: Week 3, Day 3
Warm-up: Rowing machine: 8 minutes at resistance 10: 1620m

Squat: Warm-up, 260x3x5 (matches existing 3-rep PR)

Pec Deck Fly: “195”x6x4
-superset with-
Pec Deck Rear Delt Fly: “150”x6x4

Total lift time: 56 minutes
Stretch: 17 minutes
Body weight: 237lbs
Missed lifting: 15 day(s) in the last 12 weeks.

Notes:
More or less OK. Elbow didn’t feel particularly uncomfortable before, during or after the workout.

I’d be happier about matching my existing 3PR and then doing it for five sets if my 1PR hadn’t skyrocketed in the last six months, and, apparently, left my 3-rep max in the dust. No 1RM calculator that I know of tells me that I could squat anything near 315 based on what I’m doing for triples right now.

 

[Stonebreaker]

January 22, 2012:
Starting Strength-Inspired Semi-Program: Week 3, Day 4
Warm-up: Rowing machine: 8 minutes at resistance 10: 1620m

Back Extensions: +27.5x6x4
-superset with-
10

 

[Stonebreaker]

It passed quietly enough, but on the undercard of UFC on FX, Jorge Rivera fought his last fight. He didn't go out with the spotlight and fanfare that Chris Lytle had, but, edging up on 40 years old, Rivera announced a few days before the event that this would be his retirement bout, win or lose, and after a rough first round with Eric Shafer, he won.

Rivera spent his career as the model middle-ranker. He never strung together the right wins to make him a title contender, but it wasn't until the very end of his career that he ever took two losses back to back. He was the sort of fighter that any sensible promotion would keep on its roster: a guy who never turned down a fight, always came in fighting to win, had the guts and heart to go the distance, but who's fights ended in a stoppage far more often than a decision. After 11 years of fighting and a 8-7 UFC record, Rivera has hung up his gloves.

The Rivera fight that I remember best was the first I saw him in: a three round grinder against Rich Franklin at UFC 50 (my fandom doesn't date back quite as far as the fight with the infamous "Lightning" Lee Murray). In 2004, both Rivera and Franklin were fighting at 205, with Rivera already in the role of solid journeyman, and Franklin as a rising star with only one loss (Lyoto Machida) on his professinal record. Franklin rightly came in favored to win, but Rivera made him work for it: the striking favored Franklin through the first two rounds, but Rivera found his mark often enough to leave Franklin's face battered and swollen. Rivera came out swining hard in the third, knowing he needed a stoppage, but Franklin fought the smart fight and took it to the ground, controlling and slowly advancing until finally locking up the armbar with 30 seconds left on the clock. It was a loss, but it was the model for every other fight of his career: throw punches with ill-intent from "fight" to the final buzzer, and, win or lose, never make it look easy for the other guy.

 

[Stonebreaker]

January 25, 2012:
Starting Strength-Inspired Semi-Program: Week 4, Day 1
Warm-up: TB X-Ramp: 8 minutes at ramp 6, resistance 8: 0.7mi

Pec Deck Fly: “200”x6x4
-superset with-
Rear Delt Pec Deck Fly: “150”x6x4

Squat: Warm-up, 265x3x3, x2x2 (hard to very hard last reps on each set, +5 3PR)

Total lift time: 52 minutes
Stretch: 21 minutes
Body weight: 239lbs
Missed lifting: 15 day(s) in the last 12 weeks.

Notes:
The YMCA is not an ideal place for the kind of training I want to do. I know this. Case in point: the two Y’s that I use both have just one power rack, and there are occasionally days like today, when someone is using the rack when I arrive and working in with them is impractical. Today, it was some behemoth that I’d never seen before working his way up to a 325lb front squat. I figured that he’d be a while and so I went and did my probably useless “no elbows” upper body work before returning to squat.

265 is a +5lb PR for 3-rep squats. I’d be happier with it if it weren’t for the enormous gap between my tested 3RM and 1RM. I don’t know what that gap means, exactly, but it bothers me.

I had my left arm in a neoprene sleeve for most of the day, but shucked it off to lift. My elbow felt fine afterwards, but I’m not going to screw around with it. One more week of “no elbows” work, then a deload week, then back into a normal-ish routine and we’ll see how it holds up.

 

[Stonebreaker]

...and so a long running log comes to an end, not with any particular milestone in my training, or the end of yet another paper log, but with the enforcement of Sherdog's 1,000 post per thread limit.

So be it. I'm still going, and you should be too: Ongoing Efforts of an Aging Ectomorph

 

[Zerocrew1984]

Last post in an epic thread.

 

[Stonebreaker]

Real last post in what was just a really, really long thread.