My Path to General Good Health

So I just turned 30 and I want this decade to be healthier than the last. I have a (soon to be) 1 year old and a demanding career and the only thing I have time for is quick workouts. In addition, I'm paying more attention to my diet which is an area I've really struggled. I eat badly and do it a lot, but over the last month I've turned things around. I've gone from 255 to 230lbs but have stalled out. I'm going to make little tweaks to my eating but mostly focus on training and "putting my food to work".

Current stats:

Height: 6'5''
Weight: 230lbs
BF %: No idea, but "average" comes to mind. I'm not overweight but I'm not super lean. I have a bit of a gut from many years of eating sweets.
Bench: No idea; don't train it.
OHP: 120lbs (based on a 1RM calculator)
Squat: 170lbs (based on a 1RM calculator)
Deadlift: 190lbs (based on a 1RM calculator)

The squat and deadlift numbers are pretty damn low. I did 135 x 10 for squat but left probably 3-5 reps in the tank and 135 x 12 for DL and left about the same amount in the tank and then found a calculator that estimated my 1RM. Whatever, though. I have no ego about my strength. I know I'm weak and inflexible which is why I'm working on it.

Goals:

Squat, bench, SOHP - Just get stronger. I have some nagging injuries I'm working through so I'm going to take it nice and easy.

Perform pull-ups. Right now I cannot do a single one from a dead hang. This is in part due to being heavier than I should, and having monkey arms, and because my pulling muscles suck. My right scapula is a little winged and weak, as well. I'm not even sure if this is fixable but I've tried working on it myself. It really hasn't responded to prehab/rehab, though. It could be a nerve issue or I could be doing the wrong things.

Perform weighted dips. Oddly enough, my long arms and weight don't really affect my ability to do dips. I can do a couple bodyweight dips and want to work up to a set of 10 or 12 before adding weight.

Get my purple belt in BJJ - I've been training since 2004 but in the gi since 2008. I got a few MMA fights, a bunch of grappling matches, and a bunch of Muay Thai and boxing smokers under my belt. It was fun but I'm older and really just care about training my grappling.

Get my weight down to 215lbs. I know, I know... 6'5'', 215lbs. I probably look like I'm wasting away; but actually, it's a very good weight for my frame.

How I'm Working Toward My Goals

Lifting routine:

WO1:

Squat
Squat assistance (usually just doing more squats)
Pull-ups/Pull-up assistance (negatives, scap pull-ups, rows, curls, etc)

WO 2:

SOHP
SOHP assistance (usually just doing more SOHP)
Abs (sit-ups, crunches, etc)

WO 3:

Deadlift
Deadlift assistance (usually just doing more deadlifts)
Dips/Dip assistance (push-ups, extensions, etc)

BJJ - Twice a week. Either TU/SAT or WED/SAT.

Diet:

I don't really count calories or avoid certain foods (other than sweets). I try to stick with meat and vegetables but I can't say I run from bread or rice or anything like that. I typically fast from 7 or 8PM until 11AM the next morning.

 

6-3-14

Squat

WU - 1 x 5 65lbs, 1 x 5 80lbs, 1 x 3 95lbs
Work sets - 1 x 5 105lbs, 1 x 5 120lbs, 1 x 7 135lbs
Assistance - 2 x 6 105lbs, 1 x 5 105lbs.

Pull-Ups

1 x 10 pull-up negatives
2 x 1 chin-ups
1 x 1 negative chin-up
2 x 10 scap pull-ups
2 x 10 bodyweight rows? I don't really know what they're called but I hang off a racked barbell with my body at an angle and then pull myself-up touching my nose to the bar.

Diet

Breakfast: Fasted. Iced americano with Bronkaid (25 mg of ephedrine sulfate).

Lunch: Salad with spinach, steak pieces, cheese, and black olives. Bronkaid (25 mg of ephedrine sulfate).

Dinner: Meat loaf with green beans.

 

Water

 

What about it?

 

Work a good jab and you'll be fine.


Just remember: it's got be thrown like a piston firing. 4 stroke... not a 2, ya cheapskate!

Intake. Compression. Power. Exhaust.
Intake. Compression. Power. Exhaust.




Intake. Compression. Power. Exhaust.


You want to look ALOT like this when your jab is poked out there.
Turn your head alittle too, off center... like this guy. It's pretty bad ass and it gets your point across pretty effectively.

 

I'm almost in the same boat. I started up a new routine 2 months ago (almost to the day). I've lifted on and off for 5 years but never been as methodical as recently. In the last two months I've gained 10 lbs and added 100 lbs to my squat and deadlift. It's really not hard.

1. Count your calories. Use an online calculator, plug in your height weight and activity level. Add 10% if you want to bulk up, subtract to lose weight.

2. Eat one gram of protein per pound of your goal weight.

3. Write sh*t down! It sounds nerdy, but it's the only way to track your progress. Write down your weight each day, and what weight you lifted for how many reps. If you want to attain baller status track your calories and water intake. I use spreadsheets but it doesn't matter. Sometimes you'll see you've been stuck at a certain weight for a few weeks. It's amazing at how often you think your stuck but if you add 5 lbs you can still get your reps in.

4. Stick with it. Seriously eat like a boss, erry day.

I thought I ate a lot until I did the math and realized that I needed 3300 calories a day and added up what I normally ate. A huge breakfast goes a long way to get you to your caloric goal.

 

6-4-14

SOHP

WU - 1 x 5 45lbs, 1 x 5 55lbs, 1 x 3 65lbs
Work sets - 1 x 5 70lbs, 1 x 5 80lbs, 1 x 7 90lbs
Assistance - 2 x 6 70lbs, 1 x 5 70lbs.

Abs

5 x 20 sit-ups

Diet

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, two sausage patties and two pieces of bacon. Iced Americano with Bronkaid (25 mg of ephedrine sulfate).

Lunch: Salad with spinach, chicken pieces, cheese, and black olives. Bronkaid (25 mg of ephedrine sulfate).

Dinner: 4 homemade soft tacos with beef, cheese, hot sauce, and lettuce + 2% milk.

Pre-workout: 2 honey and butter sandwiches + 2% milk.

 

So here's something I think is noteworthy. On Saturday I sprained my AC joint doing pull-ups like the out-of-shape loser that I am. I tried NSAIDs and ice but they weren't working. Yesterday was my scheduled SOHP day and I almost skipped it due to not wanting to aggravate it further but manned up. It was pretty painful during my warm-up and work sets but my assistance sets felt great; I worked in pull aparts between sets, too. After lifting I put ice in a plastic sandwich bag and applied it directly to my shoulder for 20 minutes, showered up, and went to bed.

The next morning it felt 10 times better. I then remembered that a few weeks ago I tweaked something in the same shoulder, again, doing pull-ups and lifting + ice worked much better than ice and NSAIDs alone. I may be onto something here and I'm sure it's something athletes have been doing for ages so I'm not going to pretend like I discovered anything novel but it's nice to know there is a quicker alternative to recovering from minor injuries than "pop pills and wait".

 

Yesterday I couldn't lift and I won't get to today, either.

6-5-14

Diet

Breakfast: Iced Americano with Bronkaid (25 mg of ephedrine sulfate); zero calorie "NOS" energy drink.

Lunch: Leftover meatloaf, green beans, and baked beans. Bronkaid (25 mg of ephedrine sulfate).

Dinner: Salad, piece of chicken breast.

"Dessert": Serving of mixed nuts, half-serving of drizzled honey, serving of Kool-Whip, a few sprinkles of cinnamon, banana slices. It tastes a lot like pie but has about 2% of the calories.

As of this morning I'm down to 229lbs. That's a -1lb loss in 3 weeks, lol.

 

In general I've eaten sort of shitty the last two days. I did manage to get in a quick deadlift session, though. My right shoulder still wasn't feeling great so I didn't do any dips; just some scap pull-downs on the bar and some chin-ups.

Deadlift

WU - 1 x 5 65lbs, 1 x 5 85lbs, 1 x 3 100lbs
Work sets - 1 x 5 110lbs, 1 x 5 125lbs, 1 x 5 145lbs

There was plenty left in the tank, but Friday and Saturday I was running a 102 degree fever and also very dehydrated due to a dumb decision I made on Friday. Anyway, I didn't want to but I got in the garage and lifted anyway.

 

I took most of last week off in terms of diet and exercise. Somehow I still managed to lose a pound. Yay.

Weight: 228lbs.

I also took a week-long break from ephedrine/caffeine, but have continued as of today.

I bought and am about 3/4 through the Greyskull LP. I'm thinking about giving it a run starting tonight, but I really don't understand the point of the 3rd 5+ rep "to failure" set. I mean, I understand the point but I guess I don't understand the purpose of the first two sets. They're work sets, but you're doing a set of 5 with a weight you can perform nearly 10 reps with on the third set, when your muscles are very fatigued.

It would make sense during a reset. Johnny Pain explains that resets really suck because you're using weights that have already been conquered so what he prescribed originally was making the third set an attempt an max reps. This seems logical to me because since you're using a weight that is 10% less you will probably be able to breeze through those 3 sets of 5 without doing enough work to elicit an adaptation, which he says is why the conventional method of resetting often did not help in regard to getting to that next level. In addition, in his experience hypertrophy gains were made during resets, so much so that his trainees were requesting them.

So here's my concern. If each squatting session the last set is nearly to failure how much progress in terms of reps can really be made during a reset? Here is what I'm thinking:

Squat

Session 1

Weight, sets, reps

200lbs x 2 x 5, 200lbs x 1 x 9

Session 2

205 x 2 x 5, 205 x 1 x 9

Session 3

210 x 2 x 5, 210 x 1 x 8

Session 4

215 x 2 x 5, 215 x 1 x 6

Session 5

220 x 2 x 5, 220 x 1 x 4

Reset (Session 5 weights - 10%)

200 x 2 x 5, 200 x 1 x ???

There are two squat sessions a week, so it's very possible that after just 2 weeks the weights need to be reset. Is it really a reasonable expectation to have a higher rep max with 200lbs? If you eat just right and sleep just right and grind it out it might be possible to get an additional rep. Technically, I guess this means you've gotten stronger but to Johnny Pain's point of resetting sucking because you're in previously conquered territory, you're still basically in the same territory.

So, just my two cents. I hate being one of those guys who reads about a routine and then immediately changes it before running it but if I don't think it makes sense, then I'm not going to give full effort anyway. I might as well run something I'm going to stick with.

But, on the flipside, I absolutely love this method for breaking through to new ground. When I was running SS, after about 8 or 9 months, I had done so many resets and the only way I ever broke through was with the help of McDonald's (gaining weight). It never made sense to me how lifting weights I lifted a month ago would help me get stronger today.

So anyway, I wanted to make an update to this thing but since I haven't lifted or been dieting I didn't have much. Hopefully this post won't get me flamed out of the logs.

 

Nice log and good luck. I'm not sure what you mean by 're-set', but sounds like you're having issues with squat progression.

I stalled out with constant/linear progression 5 x 5 programs pretty quick as well. I'm not familiar with Greyskull, but it looks like it might be similar to what I'm doing.

What I'm currently playing with is giving me good results so far. The interesting thing about this program is how the progression is set up. You basically stay with one weight all week before bumping up. This can be either twice or thrice a week depending on what template you choose.

So, I'm running a twice a week lifting template. I squat with the same weight twice a week. Week after that bumps up by a certain pre-calculated percentage, or down if it's a de-load week. Then I'm with that weight all week. If I had chosen a three-day-a-week template, I'd be squatting three times a week with exactly the same weight. Then the week after I'd bump up or down. I think there's a massive advantage to doing it that way, staying with the same weight for a while, before an increase. Especially if diet, recovery, and age aren't optimal. I'm not planning on drinking a gallon of milk a day, and I'm not going to scarf down McDonald's to add a few lbs to my lifts. Size is not the only avenue to strength.

What I like about this slower progression is you're giving your body far more time to adapt to the load before increasing. Instead of straining at your limits every single workout, which is what I felt when I reached my limits on 5x5 type workouts.

Maybe play with something like that? Keep it simple. Stick with the same squat weight for three sessions before adding a little more weight? Then repeat. Food for thought.

 

Hey, thanks and thanks for posting.

I'm currently having no progression problems because I'm just coming back to lifting after a long while off. I did, however, have multiple occasions where I had to reset (you called it "deload") because I could not hit 3 x 5 on various lifts on the Starting Strength program. The program calls for eating more, sleeping more, and then finally deloading and starting over with a weight that is 10% less. In my case I had to REALLY eat more, lol. Now a days I've got my eye on general health, not trying to be a powerlifter, so gaining a fuck-ton of fat to gain 5 pounds on the squat is not according to my goals anymore.

i think your program sounds great. There is definitely nothing wrong with slow, steady progression. Does it have a name or is it something you put together?

 

I'm using Tactical Barbell, and I've got a log going. I'm using a 2 x week lifting template because I'm prioritizing fight/skills training this year.

If strength is an equal or greater priority for you, I'd probably look at going with one of the main 3 x week templates in the book instead, like the 'operator' or 'grey man'.

It's being pushed as functional barbell training for military/SWAT types, but in my opinion the programming is totally applicable to combat athletes. Military/SWAT have the same issues; mainly balancing strength training with skills/conditioning, recovery issues (night shifts, changing schedules, shitty sleeping or bad eating), and probably very few are going to be drinking a gallon of milk a day. Many SF or 03 types don't want to put on excess mass either.

You can probably get info from my log - just keep in mind I'm logging a two-day-a-week template. There are a couple other guys logging it around here too I think.

G

 

The program sounds interesting. It will be the next book I buy, probably. I'll also check your log out.

 

6/6/2014

Squat

Warm-up - 95lbx x 2 x 5, 115lbs x 1 x 3
Work sets - 135lbs x 3 x 5

Between squat sets

Neck harness - 10lbs x 4 x 25
Chin-ups - Bodyweight x 2 x 1
Pull-ups - Bodyweight x 1 x 1
Partial Pull-ups working the upper 50% of the exercise - Bodyweight x 1 x 5
Rows

Dips - Chair assisted.
3 x 5

Curls - Dumbbell
20lbs 1 x 12

Barbell
45lbs 1 x 12

My right collar bone started complaining so I mixed in pec minor stretches and pull-aparts with the dips. My pec minor is very, very tight compared to the pec minor on the side of my good shoulder. I think with more stretching and upper back work the pain will subside.

Diet

Breakfast - Fasted; 325 mg Bronkaid; Iced Americano; zero calorie energy drink.

Lunch - Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, banana.

Dinner - Chiptole - Steak bowl with brown rice, black beans, guac, cheese, and fajitas.

 

6/17/2014

BJJ - 1 hour of drilling. 3 x 6 minute sparring rounds. It was my first class in three weeks so my conditioning was very poor.

Received 4th stripe on my blue belt.

Frequency method - 6-8 chin-ups (I honestly lost track) done throughout the day.

Diet

Breakfast - Fasted; 325 mg Bronkaid; coffee.

Pre-lunch - Iced Americano.

Lunch - BBQ - 2 pieces of white bread and a small amount of actual BBQ and potato salad.

Pre-dinner - Left over BBQ meat from lunch.

Dinner - One soft taco; coffee.

 

Today

Diet

Breakfast - 3 hard boiled eggs; cottage cheese; pineapple; Americano; zero calorie energy drink; 325 mg Bronkaid.

Lunch - Squash; asparagus; hummus and a few slices of pita bread.

Dinner - 2 pieces of baked chicken; potato salad.

Squat

Warm-up - 95lbx x 2 x 5, 115lbs x 1 x 3
Work sets - 145lbs x 3 x 5

Between squat sets

Neck harness - 35lbs x 1 x 25 (whoops, too heavy), 25lbs x 2 x 25
Chin-ups - Bodyweight x 3 x 1
Rows 3 x 10

Push-ups - goal was to get max reps but I stopped after 15 due to shoulder pain. Fucking shoulder.
1 x 15

Curls -
Barbell
45lbs 2 x 12