A headache is weakness leaving the brain

Squat day, after a 12 day layoff. Deloaded a bit to be safe.

Warmups:
5x45
5x135
5x185
2x225
2x275
1x315
1x335

Work Sets:
5x365
5x365

Both sets felt ok. Was focusing on form and depth, as I am experimenting with a slightly wider stance.
 
Deadlift day. 10 day break from last deadlifts.

Warmups:
5x135
3x225
2x315
1x365
1x405
1x425
1x445

Work Set:
5x465

Felt pretty happy with this given the disaster the last time I tried this. It felt heavy, but I might have had gas in the tank for an additional rep or two, which bodes well for next week's deadlift session.

Used double overhand grip up through 365, then switched to a cross grip. Used chalk from 405 on.
 
Squat Day

Warmups:
5x45
5x135
5x225
3x275
1x315
1x335

Work Sets:
5x375
5x375
5x375

Was pretty happy to get the third set in. When I deloaded after hitting the single set of 5x405, I had resolved to get more sets of 5 in than I had been. I hadn't been doing this much at all - I think this is the first time I worked in 3 sets across. I did have some coffee about 90 minutes before the lift, and also lifted with headphones and metal, which I don't usually do.

Edit: Hah. Rechecked my own log, and I was did 3x5x375 earlier. I guess I'm back on track then?
 
BJJ. Smaller class - just 4 students.

Worked almost exclusively on open guard passes, as well as a sweep during one of the common open guard passes. What impresses me about BJJ is that in nearly every class, I see at least one thing that amazes me. At first, I had thought this was because I was new to BJJ, but it seems to keep happening well into my second year.
 
JJ is funny that way. Theres an ebb and flow to it, but the learning process chugs right along.
 
Deadlift Day

Warmups:
5x135
3x225
2x315
1x365
1x405 (mixed grip, chalk)
1x425
1x455

Work Set:
2x475

Disappointing. This should have been a set of 5. I can't complain too much, in the sense that merely lifting 475 off the ground is a PR. I'm finding that deadlifts are probably my most "sensitive" lift, in the sense that my performance is tied to a lot of factors - diet, caffeine, rest levels, general motivation. Much more so than any of my other lifts. I don't feel like there was a massive gulf between me and finishing the set today - it felt like a couple things were just slightly, slightly off. Normally I take about 10 days off between deadlift sessions, but I compressed these to 7 days since I'm travelling next week and won't be able to deadlift. I'll try this weight again in 10 days when I'm next scheduled for deads.
 
Sunday night BJJ. Larger class - about 12 people, mostly blues with a purple and a couple of whites. Reviewed some of the open guard work that we'd been doing for the last few weeks. Warmed up with guard pass drills. Started in open guard, defender not allowed to use hands until passed, then allowed to use one hand, then two hands, then switch rolls. Was great to watch the more senior students defend without (or with limited) hands. After guard pass, we worked some submissions from the top of half guard, concentrating on a pair of attacks - one whizzer based and the other based on passing the defenders gi underneath and working to a choke. Got to roll at the end of class with a purple, blue, and a white. Was pretty gassed by the end of the third round and found myself stalling a bit to try to pace myself through the round.
 
I have sinned. I went home for the holidays, drank beer, ate food, and did not train. Returning to Texas, I found myself swamped with work, and suddenly realized it was February.

A couple days ago I went to the gym and squatted light and did some presses just to get the body used to working out again. Weights were negligible, and not really worth recording.

Today was Deadlift day. Went in knowing that it would be much lighter, but was not horribly disappointed.

Deadlift
Warmups
5x135
2x225
3x315
1x365
Workish Singles
1x405
1x425
1x445

Not horrible. Not strong, but not horrible for a 2 month break and dropping 15 pounds.

Also did shrugs.
 
Did you really get up to a 400lb squat and a 280lb bench on a linear progression? That is awesome. And still going...
 
JauntyAngle said:
Did you really get up to a 400lb squat and a 280lb bench on a linear progression? That is awesome. And still going...
Click to expand...

Mostly. I basically had 4 workouts (dead, squat, bench, press) each "cycle" of training (which was a week at first and then moved to about 10 days), and did linear progression across each exercise independently. I also took my milk seriously, hooking up with a local farmer and drinking 5 gallons of whole milk a week. The caloric surplus helped a HUGE amount in keeping the run going.

I'm going to resume a linear progression, but I'm not sure how far I'll get without the milk. I'm not quitting milk, but I just can't keep that volume going.

I expect to formally switch to Wendler's 531 at some point this year.
 
Light squat day. I've taken nearly 8 weeks off from squatting, so I figure I'll take about 8 weeks to work back to where I was in the end of December. Today's workout felt pretty easy, but I'm pretty paranoid about injury, so I'll take some time moving back up in weight.

I'm also almost 20 pounds lighter than when I was squatting last, so I'll probably need to go back on the milk if I want to continue the linear progression.

Squat
Warmup:
5x135
5x225
5x275

Work sets:
5x315
5x315
5x315

About 60 pounds down from my last workout in December. I'll probably work upwards at 10 pounds/week and see how that feels. At some point, I'll be cutting to 5/week.
 
Deadlifts day
Warmup:
5x135
5x225
3x315
1x365

Work set:
5x405

Plan on adding 10 pounds a week to get back to my peak levels by mid April. Today's workout felt pretty light.
 
Last edited:
Press day
Warmups:
8x45
5x95
5x115
5x135

Work Sets
5x155
5x155
5x155

That's way back from where I was when I stopped, and that's disappointing. Looking into my logs, that's comparable to where I was in September of last year when I had barely started pressing.
 
pliftkl said:
Mostly. I basically had 4 workouts (dead, squat, bench, press) each "cycle" of training (which was a week at first and then moved to about 10 days), and did linear progression across each exercise independently. I also took my milk seriously, hooking up with a local farmer and drinking 5 gallons of whole milk a week. The caloric surplus helped a HUGE amount in keeping the run going.

I'm going to resume a linear progression, but I'm not sure how far I'll get without the milk. I'm not quitting milk, but I just can't keep that volume going.

I expect to formally switch to Wendler's 531 at some point this year.
Click to expand...

Thats really impressive....I'm drinking 2-3 gal/week and I thought that was a lot...evidently I was wrong.
 
Squats
Warmups:
5x135
5x225
5x275

Work sets:
5x325
5x325
5x325

Felt pretty easy. I'm hoping this bodes well for continuing linear progress for the next 8 weeks. I've convinced myself to go back on the milk, which should certainly help with this. If I can get to 5x405 by the end of April, I'll be pretty happy.
 
My wife has been telling me for the last year that I've got sleep apnea. At my physical this year, I mentioned this to my doctor and said I wanted to do something about it. He scheduled me for a sleep study, which I took last night.

The technician wouldn't discuss the results with me (the doctor will do that), but given that she came in at 1 AM to put a CPAP mask on me (which she said she would do only if there were more than 25 incidents of apnea per hour) means that I've clearly got moderate to severe sleep apnea. It took some time (probably 90 minutes) to get to sleep with the mask on. However, the 3.5 hours of masked sleep that I got last night was probably the best sleep I've had in years. It's the first time that I've awakened really refreshed in a LONG time.

I view this as a very positive development, because if I can get to the point where I'm getting 8 legitimate hours of sleep with high blood oxygen levels, I'm probably going to see much better gains and recovery. I noticed a substantially improved resting heart rate this morning.

Not that it's likely, but if any of my (few) readers has any experience with sleep apnea, I'd be curious as to what treatment routes you took, and how they helped.
 
Wow. Seem to have lost 7 weeks of training there.

Apnea update: Yeah, I've got it. 89 apnea incidents per hour, making it a fairly severe case. What was fascinating was that the doctor was able to review the whole sleep study with me. I could watch my blood oxygen levels tumble as I slept, sometimes down into the low 70% levels (if I were in a hospital such a low level would get me supplemental oxygen). My pulse raced while I slept, especially during REM sleep when apnea was most severe. The doc put me on a CPAP machine, which puts continuous positive pressure down my nose and prevents apnea. It's not sexy, but it works really well. Took some time to get adjusted to, but it's been life altering. Mental capacity during the day is SO much higher than it was before treating the apnea.

Work kicked my butt most of last month and this, keeping me out of both gym and jiu jitsu. Picked up again last weekend with some walking on Saturday, and a weak, weak, weak squat workout Sunday. Did a couple of sets at 275, and today (two days later), I'm walking around like an old man. I did make it to jiu jitsu tonight, and despite psyching myself up to wuss out of rolling, found myself rolling with another strong white belt and had a decent (but exhausting roll). Hope I can keep this going.
 
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