A headache is weakness leaving the brain

[pliftkl]

Headed out to do a bench only workout today. Somehow I had it in my brain that it had been 6 days since I did this last, but apparently it's only been 4. Had planned to just bench once a week.

Bench
Warmup: 10x45 5x135 5x185
Work Sets: 5x205 5x205 5x205

Felt pretty easy. Since I failed at this weight last time, I'd been considering scaling back and pushing towards this again, but I think part of this is just rusty technique, which will come back quickly.


I may make a separate post in the main forum to ask this, but does anyone else have an issue with poor bar speed on the descent of the first rep? For reasons I can't explain, once I start to bench heavy, the first rep of any set I have a hard time lowering with any kind of speed. I'm not trying to drop the bar - just lower it in a controlled and efficient manner. I have no issues on later reps in the same set - just the first one. I know I'm wasting a lot of energy on that first rep...

 

[pliftkl]

Felt like crap going into the gym today. Got about 3 hours of sleep last night, missed breakfast, and had a crappy lunch.

Squats
Warmups: 5x45 5x135 5x185 2x225 1x275 1x315
Work Sets: 5x345 5x345

My lifting partners and I were lifting in an odd order, and they thought I was done after the second set and put away all the weights. I'll wait until Monday, repeat this workout but with the 3 sets across, then increase weight on the following workout.

Press:
Warmup: 5x45
Work: 5x125 5x125 5x125

These remain easy.

Skipped power cleans since my back felt like crap. May try to hit some over the weekend.

 

[pliftkl]

13 mile trail ride on the bike. Took it reasonably slow, and felt fine. Was really just trying to get some blood to the legs, which have felt incredibly sluggish for the last 3-4 days. My sleep for the last few nights has been poor, and this is probably hurting my squat recovery.

 

[livingdeadmoose]

13 mile trail ride on the bike. Took it reasonably slow, and felt fine. Was really just trying to get some blood to the legs, which have felt incredibly sluggish for the last 3-4 days. My sleep for the last few nights has been poor, and this is probably hurting my squat recovery.

Are you going early in the morning? Anything thing past 10am is too hot for me.

 

[pliftkl]

Are you going early in the morning? Anything thing past 10am is too hot for me.

Late afternoons. I used to live in Thailand and Malaysia, where outdoor exercise is like working out in sauna where people smoke. Until we're legitimately into 100+ days, I'm not going to worry about when in the day I ride. The heat really doesn't bother me that much when I'm on a bike, especially since I carry a lot of water with me. I feel more beat up from walking/running in the heat, since I generally don't carry as much water.

 

[pliftkl]

Not a bad lifting day.

Squats:
Warmup 5x45 5x135 5x185 2x225 1x275 1x315
Work Sets 5x355 5x355 5x355

The original plan had been to do 3 sets @345, since I only did 2 sets last time. However, I was feeling reasonably strong today on the warmups, and felt like the 355 was in reach. The first set felt the heaviest, but second and third went fine. Lifting partners said that form and bar speed were good, so I'll shoot for 3x5x365 next time.

Press
Warmup 5x45
Work Sets 5x135 5x135 5x135

Was scheduled to do 130, but after my happy squats decided that I was feeling strong and could go ahead and put a nice 45 plate on each side. Still feels pretty easy.

My lifting partners wanted to deadlift, which I wasn't ready to do yet (need more recovery than 6 days), so I stopped at this point.

 

[pliftkl]

Back in BJJ for the first time in a long while.

Warmups sucked. Guard pass drills sucked. Not because they were bad, but because I'm out of shape for the specificity of those things. Technique instruction was great, but both of my elbows were inflamed by the time we were done, which makes no real sense since I didn't do anything challenging with my arms. Declined to spar since I could already feel the elbows throbbing.

Now at home icing the elbows...

 

[pliftkl]

Squats
Warmups: 5x45 5x135 5x185 2x225 1x275 1x315
Work sets: 5x365 5x365 5x365

Was pretty happy with this, since I went into the workout really feeling tired and wasn't sure I was going to hit all my reps. I almost talked myself out of doing the third set, but after a couple extra minutes of rest I went ahead and ground it out.

Press
Warmup: 5x45
Work Sets: 5x140 5x140 5x140

 

[pliftkl]

Snuck out to do a bench workout since I'm the only one of my lifting group doing bench right now.

I was moderately surprised when I got to the gym. In the middle of the floor was a bar set up for deadlift with about 280 on it, plus another 140 pounds of chains. Apparently my gym has a new manager, and he's pretty serious about strength training. Chatted with him for a while, and he's apparently running a modified version of 531 for power lifters. Apparently he has also stashed a prowler in the back room of the gym.

Since it was just sitting there, I did lift his deadlift bar. It was definitely different. I'd never done deadlifts with chains, and the lifts felt pretty easy. I could definitely see how that would fit into a DE day.

Bench
Warmup: 5x45 5x135 5x185
Work sets: 5x215 5x215 5x215

The sets all felt pretty easy, but my elbow tendinitis is really bugging me. Ended up icing each elbow for about 20 minutes once I got home, and they still feel bad.

 

[pliftkl]

Seven mile trail ride this morning. About half of what I'd planned. Was running late, missed breakfast, and felt horrible by the halfway point. We were conveniently near a hill at this point, so we did a couple of sprints up the hill and decided to call it a day.

Supposed to be 105 tomorrow, so I suspect we'll be lifting in the gym rather than my friend's garage.

 

[pliftkl]

Was supposed to be a lifting day today, but my partner bailed claiming hangover and excessive yard work. We agreed to lift tomorrow.

This did leave me much fresher for the Sunday night BJJ class. Managed to spar for 3 rounds in a row at the end of class, and left with no injuries or strong desire to ice body parts. My elbow tendinitis is confusing me, since I would have expected a 90 minute BJJ class to trash my elbows, but they felt fine.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Late afternoons. I used to live in Thailand and Malaysia, where outdoor exercise is like working out in sauna where people smoke. Until we're legitimately into 100+ days, I'm not going to worry about when in the day I ride. The heat really doesn't bother me that much when I'm on a bike, especially since I carry a lot of water with me. I feel more beat up from walking/running in the heat, since I generally don't carry as much water.

Thailand and Malaysia eh? Whereabouts? For how long?

Chiang Mai is just a bit cooler and bit less humid than Bangkok and places further south, but running outside can still be brutal. That being said I am actually genuinely looking forward to being able to run there again in a few weeks' time, and not just because the fact that I can means that I am in home and not in Kabul.

 

[pliftkl]

Thailand and Malaysia eh? Whereabouts? For how long?

Chiang Mai is just a bit cooler and bit less humid than Bangkok and places further south, but running outside can still be brutal. That being said I am actually genuinely looking forward to being able to run there again in a few weeks' time, and not just because the fact that I can means that I am in home and not in Kabul.

I had a condo in downtown Kuala Lumpur from 2001 to 2004. In 2003 and 2004, I was spending most of my time trying to win business from the Thai government related to the new chip card based national ID card. Lived out of a suite at the President Park hotel on Suk Soi 24. Conveniently enough, they actually had a good gym and fitness center as part of the complex there.

I ran a fair amount before moving to Asia, but KL humidity kicked my ass. Running in Bangkok actually didn't feel as bad from a humidity perspective depending on the time of year, but I didn't have any good running routes that didn't involve inhaling massive amounts of exhaust fumes.

I'm back in Thailand about every other year now. My wife's family is up in a village in Maha Sarakham, so I'll usually do a week there and a week in Bangkok.

 

[JauntyAngle]

I had a condo in downtown Kuala Lumpur from 2001 to 2004. In 2003 and 2004, I was spending most of my time trying to win business from the Thai government related to the new chip card based national ID card. Lived out of a suite at the President Park hotel on Suk Soi 24. Conveniently enough, they actually had a good gym and fitness center as part of the complex there.

I ran a fair amount before moving to Asia, but KL humidity kicked my ass. Running in Bangkok actually didn't feel as bad from a humidity perspective depending on the time of year, but I didn't have any good running routes that didn't involve inhaling massive amounts of exhaust fumes.

I'm back in Thailand about every other year now. My wife's family is up in a village in Maha Sarakham, so I'll usually do a week there and a week in Bangkok.

Do you miss it? I don't think I could ever move back to the UK.

 

[pliftkl]

Good squat day.

Squats
Warmups: 5x135 5x185 2x225 1x275 1x325
Work sets: 5x375 5x375 5x375

This ties a previous PR for work sets across, so I'm pretty happy about this. Also amusing tonight were some Asian kids who were in the gym watching us squat who asked "Are you guys power lifters? That weight is insane!" The question caught me off guard since I was just finishing my last work set. It's probably a sad statement about my gym that we are the strong ones...

Bench
Warmups 10x45 5x135 5x185
Work set 5x225

Hadn't planned on benching today, but my lifting partners wanted to. Bailed after the first set since I felt very uneven on the lift.

 

[pliftkl]

Do you miss it? I don't think I could ever move back to the UK.

I do and I don't. There are a lot of things that I do miss, but life in Central Texas is really easy. I miss the cheap cost of living, the variety of foods, cheap foot massage, and the fact that I can bypass a doctor when I'm sick and just go to the pharmacy and get what I need.

I definitely don't miss Bangkok/KL traffic or pollution. Also, with a six year old daughter, living in Thailand would stick me with near college tuition costs for elementary school if I wanted to put her in the American school. I have a good friend who worked in Bangkok but moved to the US primarily because he felt the higher cost of living here was offset by the fact that school was free.

I ultimately have to retire in Thailand, since this was a promise that I made to my wife, but that's at least a dozen years out (barring some amazing financial event at one of my startups). I'm back in Thailand about every other year, splitting time between Bangkok and Maha Sarakham.

 

[pliftkl]

I think I'm formally stopping Starting Strength. I can't deadlift and squat in the same day.

Deadlift Day!
Warmups: 5x135 3x225 1x315 1x365
Work sets: Five singles @405 with a few minutes rest between

These felt ok, but my back's been feeling "odd" since the last squat workout, so I figured I'd explicitly just do some singles and rest.

 

[pliftkl]

Squats
Warmups: 5x135 5x185 3x225 1x275 1x325
Work Sets: 5x385 5x385

Back was really, really tight and starting to cramp, so decided not to get under the bar again for the third set. Will try again on Monday.

Press:
Warmups: 5x45 5x95
Work Sets: 5x145 5x145 5x145

 

[pliftkl]

Sunday night BJJ! I think we're the only game in town on Sunday nights, so we always have a good crowd.

I had to resist the urge to go to the gym today. I really wanted to deadlift, but I'm trying to be better about giving myself real days of rest now that the weight is feeling heavy.

 

[JauntyAngle]

I think I'm formally stopping Starting Strength. I can't deadlift and squat in the same day.

That does come to suck quite quickly. To me one of the most odd/cruel things about SS is that it treats DL as a pull rather than as a lower body/PC exercise. Of course it means that it can have squatting every day that way, but the cost is that it is so brutal.