Monday (10-17-2011)
squat 285 lb 5, 3, 2
press 125 lb 5, 3, 2
chinups 13, 10

Tuesday
deadlift 355 lb 3, 2, 1, 1
bench 205 lb 4, 3, 3
pullups 10, 8

Thursday
squat 255 lb 5, 3, 2
squat 235 lb 3x5
press 120 lb 5, 3, 2
press 110 lb 5, 4 (pushed 1), 3 (pushed 2)
chinups 13, 9

Saturday
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
deadlift 285 lb 2x5
bench 195 lb 3x5
dumbbell row 100lb 3x5 each side

Weight (Sunday): 178 lb

Notes: My light days might be too heavy, that or I need to drop the volume sets.  I wasn't fully recovered today when I hit the gym, and it'll show in next week's post.  Part of that was moving Friday's workout to Saturday, I'm sure, which really just came down to scheduling.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (10-10-2011)
squat 275 lb 5, 3, 2
press 125 lb 5, 3, 2
pullups 11, 9

Tuesday
deadlift 355 lb 3, 4x1
deadlift 325 lb 1
bench 205 lb 4x3
chinups 11, 7 ... 3

Thursday
squat 245 lb 5, 3, 2
squat 225 lb 3x5
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
press 105 lb 3x5
pullups 11, 8

Friday
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
deadlift 285 lb 3x5
bench 195 lb 5, 3, 2
bench 185 lb 3x5
dumbbell row 100lb 3x5 each side

Weight (Friday): 176 lb

Notes:  Going to give the 355 lb deadlift one more try this week.  My back can handle it, but my hands just can't hold on. I'm resisting the switch to straps for a number of reasons.  Going to shoot for a 285 lb squat set today, and probably keep presses at 125.  I need to take another run at a 5-rep set for bench at 205 tomorrow, probably with a spot.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Daily Fat In Diet—A high-fat diet is a risk factor for heart disease, colon cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer. For a healthful diet, choose foods that are low in fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. Based on your responses, nearly all of your food choices are high in fat, which is increasing your risk. You indicated that you are not ready to take action to reduce the amount of high-fat foods you eat. Over time, you may want to reconsider your plans. Begin by thinking about the health benefits you may gain by eating a low-fat diet. Keep in mind that only 30 percent of the calories you eat each day should come from fat.

This is what Aetna told me after my "Health Risk Assessment" Questionnaire.  Everything else in the questionnaire, I'm at normal or better than normal (my HDL is 71, for Pete's sake), and yet they suggest a low-fat diet.  The totality of their nutritional advice was to eat more candy (i.e. fruit) and eat less fat.  It's entirely impossible that my robust health is the result of me eating a ton of good fat (OMG saturated!) and eschewing candy of all kinds.  Fuck you, Aetna, I'm healthy as heck, and doctors lie.  Typical nutritional ignorance from people paid to know better.  This isn't even my job, and I could walk circles around them on this topic.

I probably could eat more vegetables, though.  I'll cop to that.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 07:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (10-3-2011)
squat 265 lb 5, 3, 2
press 120 lb 4 (f), 4, 3
chinups 11, 8

Tuesday
deadlift 345 lb 5, 3, 2
bench 200 lb 5, 3, 2
pullups 10, 8

Thursday
squat 245 lb 5, 3, 2
squat 225 lb 3x5
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
press 105 lb 3x5
chinups 12, 9

Friday
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
deadlift 285 lb 3x5
bench 190 lb 5, 3, 2
bench 180 lb 3x5
dumbbell row 100lb 3x5 each side

Weight (Friday): 177 lb

Notes:  So far, I'm liking how I've altered the program.  My hands have enough time to recover from deadlifting, and I'm maintaining/improving my squat and bench.  I might need to drop the volume sets for bench press, though.  I'm starting to notice some inflammation in my left forearm that suggests I'm tweaking my golfer's elbow.  I'll give it another week and see if keeping the volume sets at the same weight as last week allows sufficient recovery.  I'm also considering just maintaining my lifts at or near their current weights for awhile and trying to drop some body weight.  My presses seem to have stalled again at 120 or 125, but I have a little room left for bench and squat.  Deadlifts may or may not be stalled, I'll have a run at 355 this week and see if I can hack it.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 09:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (9-26-2011)
squat 255 lb 5, 3, 2
press 120 lb 4 (f), 4, 3
pullups 9, 8

Tuesday
deadlift 335 lb 5, 3, 2
bench 195 lb 5, 3, 2
chinups 12, 9

Thursday
squat 230 lb 5, 3, 2
squat 205 lb 3x5
press 110 lb 5, 3, 2
press 100 lb 3x5
pullups 10, 8

Friday
deadlift 305 lb 5, 3, 2
deadlift 275 lb 3x5
bench 185 lb 5, 3, 2
bench 175 lb 3x5
dumbbell row 90lb 3x5 each side

Weight (Friday): 178 lb

Notes: I'm not sure this really qualifies as Pavel's program anymore.  I've swapped in my other two barbell movements, and I'm varying my assistance work, along with varying my load between the power days (MTu) and the form and hypertrophy days (ThF).  It's still largely inspired by PTTP, and the associated "Bear" program, so I'm not going to bother naming what I'm doing or changing categories.  On the weight front, I've been indulging a bit much this week, and letting my carbs creep up.   Might need a week or two in ketosis to get my head right again and get back to burning fat as a primary fuel.  Probably time to start IFing again, too.  I'd stopped after my food poisoning to ensure recovery of my gut flora.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 05:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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No lifting most of the week, but I was bored and Felt pretty solid on Saturday, so I did a long but light workout:

Saturday
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
squat 245 lb 5, 3, 2
bench 195 lb 3
bench 185 lb 5, 3, 2
chin-ups 12, 8, 6, 6

Weight (Saturday, 9-24): 175 lb

Notes:  Not much to say.  Took the week off from the gym for rest and hoping to lose some weight.  Recovering from my food poisoning, however, meant that I had my normal level of hunger rather than the mild hunger I normally have when not lifting, so the only real upside to the week off was some rest for my hands and joints.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (9-12-2011)
squat 245 lb 5, 3, 2
press 120 lb 5, 3, 2
chinups 13, 9

Tuesday
deadlift 335 lb 5, 3, 2
bench 195 lb 5, 3, 2
pullups 10, 8

Wednesday
off

Thursday
squat 245 lb 5, 3, 2
press 125 lb 3
press 120 lb 3
press 105 lb 5
chinups 12, 9

Friday
off, sick

Weight (Thursday, 9-14-2011): 176 lb

Notes: Had food poisoning this week, starting just before midnight on Thursday, which is why Thursday morning's weight is listed. I lost 6 lb by Sunday morning, mostly through dehydration, but in no small part because I was nauseated and afraid to eat. Taking this week off to rest and recover. Might try a program change after that, might not. My only complaint about PTTP as I've been doing it is the damage to my hands, and I think I can mitigate that with some new gear I picked up.  My squat suffered some, but I think I can rotate in squats 1-2 times a week just fine.  I really like the short sessions in the gym, along with the regularity of schedule it gives me for meal planning.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 10:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (9-5-2011)
Off.

Tuesday
Off.

Wednesday
deadlift 325 lb 5, 3, 2
press 120 lb 5, 3, 2
pullups 11, 9
farmer's walk 60lb kettlebells 2 laps, 2 laps, 2 laps

Thursday
squat 225 lb 5, 3, 2
press 120 lb 4, 3, 3
chinups 13, 9

Friday
deadlift 325 lb 5, 3, 2
bench 190 lb 5, 3, 2
pullups 10, 9

Weight (Friday, 9-9-2011): 175 lb

Notes: Had a failed 5th rep on Thursday's presses.  I was sore going in, and probably should have just made a it a light day.  Between the holiday and various other gatherings, my diet hasn't been pristine, so I've added a tiny bit of weight I'm sure isn't muscle.  Going to stick with the program for now, mixing in squats and bench presses as the mood hits me, and maybe making one day a week a "light day" or just doing non-barbell work.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:51 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Monday (8-29-2011)
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
chinups 13, 8

Tuesday
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
press 120 lb 5, 3, 2
pullups 11, 8

Wednesday
Off.

Thursday
deadlift 325 lb 5, 3, 2
press 120 lb 5, 3, 2
press 100 lb 3x5
deadlift 265 lb 3x5
chinups 12, 8, 7

Friday
My hands needed a break, and I wanted to see how my squat and bench press had fared these last 7 weeks, so I tried some of each.  5 reps at 245 lb on squat was very hard in the hole, but felt like nothing out of the hole.  Since my deadlift is basically a 3/4 squat as far as my legs are concerned, this isn't too surprising.  Bench pressing went surprisingly well.  I did some working sets bouncing around the 195 lb range, then did two singles at 215 lb.  To date, this is the highest weight I've ever actually benched, so the carryover from an overhead press appears to be very solid.

Weight (Friday, 9-2-2011): 173 lb

Notes: Good week, even it wasn't solidly on-program.  I might take the early part or all of this week off to get some extended recovery.  I'm not sure I'm happy about what's happened with my squat, so I may have to tinker with the programming a bit and make sure I get them in somehow.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 07:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (8-22-2011)
deadlift 295 lb 5, 3, 2
press 110 lb 5, 3, 2
pullups 11, 8

Tuesday
deadlift 295 lb 5, 3, 2
press 110 lb 5, 3, 2
chinups 11, 9

Wednesday
deadlift 305 lb 5, 3, 2
deadlift 225 lb 2x5
press 110 lb 5, 3, 2
press 95 lb 2x5
pullups 11, 8, 6
farmer's walk 60lb kettlebells 2 laps, 2 laps, 2 laps

Thursday
deadlift 305 lb 5, 3, 2
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
chinups 11, 8

Friday
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
pullups 12, 10
farmer's walk 60lb kettlebells 2 laps, 2 laps, 2 laps

Weight (Saturday, 8-27-2011): 173 lb

Notes:  Good week, rebuilding to prior baseline.  Hands are suffering less this time around (better grip form, maybe?).  Weight is stable, 173-175 lb appears to be new plateau for the moment.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 02:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And they tell the whole story.

This guy's whole blog is worth reading, actually.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 04:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (8-15-2011)
deadlift 325 lb 5, 3, 2
press 120 lb 5, 3, 2
pullups 11, 9

Tuesday
deadlift 325 lb 5x2
press 120 4x3
chinups 12, 9

Weight (Saturday, 8-20-2011): 174 lb

Notes: I think went up too fast.  My back was pretty sore Tuesday, and I ended up just doing 5 sets of 2 for deadlift, then 4 sets of 3 for presses.  I decided to just take the remainder of the week for rest and recovery since my back has felt very sore on rising lately (though that might just be my bed).  Today starts a new cycle, probably at 295 lb and 105 lb, respectively.  I'm debating on whether to shift to the "Bear" variant, which is more for hypertrophy.  I could frankly use a little more size, but I'm trying to resist the temptation to go on a bulk until I'm a little leaner.  The leaner you are when you start a bulk, the cleaner the gains will be, due to the nutrient partitioning changes that come with a lower bf %.  Another week of standard PTTP, and I'll re-evaluate.  I'm really hoping to get my weight down into the 160s before I start gaining again.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (8-8-2011)
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
press    115 lb 5, 3, 2
chinups 13, 10

Tuesday
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
pullups 11, 9

Wednesday
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
chinups 13, 8

Thursday
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
pullups 10, 8

Friday
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
chinups 12, 8

Weight (Saturday, 8-13-2011): 174 lb

Notes: Good week.  No weight lost, none gained (fretting over a single pound is nothing but scale obsession), but my hands are almost fully healed, and I made through the week's workouts with just a little soreness.  Going to up the press by 5 lb and deadlift by 10 lb and see how week 5 goes.  Pressing 120 for 5 reps is near my prior limit, so I'm eager to find out if the conditioning so far has prepped me for it.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 06:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (8-1-2011)
deadlift 315 lb 1x5
deadlift 285 lb 1x5
press 105 lb 1x5
press 95 lb 1x5
chin-ups 12, 9

Tuesday
deadlift 325 lb 1x5
deadlift 295 lb 1x5
press 110 lb 1x5
press 100 lb 1x5
pull-ups 10, 9  (mild pain on right side of back/shoulder, short first set)

Wednesday
deadlift 335 lb 1x5 (calluses tore on rep 5, almost dropped it)
deadlift 305 lb 1x5
press 115 lb 1x5
press 105 lb 1x5
chin-ups 12, 9

Thursday
deadlift 315 lb 1, 1 (hands too injured, gloves weren't helping)
press 120 lb 2x3
press 110 lb 2x5
pull-ups 10, 9

Friday
Skipped so my hands and back could heal/recover.

Weight (Monday, 8-8-2011): 173 lb

Notes:  I think I upped my weights too fast.  That, and I tore my calluses and exposed small patches of endodermis on Wednesday (that's bad).  I felt strong enough to lift on Thursday, but my hands were no good, and the gloves I bought made gripping the bar harder rather than easier, so I gave myself a rest on Friday.  This week, I'll try staying at the same target weights all week, moving up next Monday by 10 lb and 5 lb if all goes well.  I'm also going to experiment with an alternative rep scheme of 5/3/2, which is apparently what ended up in later, Russian-language translations of the book, and is heavily endorsed on the forums.  On a positive note, I'm having no trouble losing weight at this point, and it doesn't seem like I've hit a new plateau yet.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 07:39 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Monday (7-18-2011)
deadlift 295 lb 1x5
deadlift 265 lb 1x5
press 100 lb 1x5
press 90 lb 1x5
pull-ups 11, 8

Tuesday
deadlift 305 lb 1x5
deadlift 275 lb 1x5
press 105 lb 1x5
press 95 lb 1x5
farmer's walk 60lb kettlebells, 3 laps, 2 laps
chin-ups 11, 8

Wednesday
deadlift 315 lb 1x5
deadlift 285 lb 1x5
press 105 lb 1x5
press 95 lb 1x5
farmer's walk, 60 lb kb, 2 laps
pull-ups 11, 9
kb swing 35lb x15, 40lb x15

Thursday
deadlift 325 lb 1x5
deadlift 295 lb 1x5
press 110 lb 1x5
press 100 lb 1x5
chin-ups 12, 9

Friday
deadlift 335 lb 1x5
deadlift 305 lb 1x5
press 115 lb 1x5
press 105 lb 1x5
pull-ups 11, 8

Weight (Friday, 7-29-2011): 174 lb

Notes: So I decided to try doing a structured wave approach to scaling up my target weights, 4 steps forward, 3 steps back.  Of course, I just realized in going through my notes that I had screwed up and not advanced my press target weight on Wednesday.  Sadness.  Also, I overdid it a bit on Wednesday's random extra crap, so Thursday and Friday were a lot harder than they needed to be.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 04:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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"The fact that we’re here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. Leadership means ‘The buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit." -Senator Barack Obama, 2006

Nah, he's probably some kind of right-wing ideologue teabagger.  Y'know, one of those fringe types.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (7-18-2011)
deadlift 285 lb 1x5
deadlift 255 lb 1x5
press 95 lb 1x5
press 85 lb 1x5
chin-ups 12, 7

Tuesday
deadlift 295 lb 1x5
deadlift 265 lb 1x5
press 100 lb 1x5
press 90 lb 1x5
pull-ups 10, 7

Wednesday
deadlift 305 lb 1x5
deadlift 275 lb 1x5
press 105 lb 1x5
press 95 lb 1x5
farmer's walk, 60 lb kb, 2 laps
chin-ups 10, 8

Thursday
deadlift 315 lb 1x5
deadlift 285 lb 1x5
press 110 lb 1x5
press 100 lb 1x5
pull-ups 10, 8

Friday
deadlift 325 lb 1x5
deadlift 295 lb 1x5
press 115 lb 1x5
press 105 lb 1x5
press 95 lb 3x5, 4
farmer's walk, 60 lb kb, 3 laps
chin-ups 10, 9

Weight (Friday, 7-22-2011): 174 lb

Notes: I'm liking this so far.  The workouts are only about 30-35 minutes, so I'm not left feeling voracious, which is helping me keep my portion sizes down.  I feel like I'm really making progress on both barbell lifts, too, even Friday's lifts felt challenging but well within my ability.  I definitely need a break from squats.  Even now, after more than a week, I still have a faint line on my upper back.  Speaking of my upper back, this week alone I've seen visible improvement in my lats, traps, and rhomboids.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 10:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I hit 175 lb this morning.  From my real start of 225 lb (my original scale was light by 5 lb or so), that makes 50 lb lost in just shy of 2 years.  Not as fast as I wanted, but I've made it this far.

That's all.  Just sayin', 50 lb.  Oh, and I can curl that one-handed now, so yeah.

Booyah.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:41 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm in a rut.  I've been doing some variation of the Starting Strength or StrongLifts template for about 8 months now, and it was all I was doing prior to the 12 weeks I spent on 5/3/1.  I'm hitting failure way too often, resetting too often, and generally regressing on strength.  Time for something a bit different.

Starting tomorrow, this is the workout:

Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday
Deadlift, target weight, 1x5
Deadlift, 90% of target, 1x5
Press, target weight, 1x5
Press, 90% of target, 1x5

That's it.  I'll be increasing weight in an unstructured wave: going up when I'm feeling strong, falling back when I'm fatigued or sore.  I might add in chin-ups and pull-ups if I have time and I don't feel like those muscles are getting enough work.  I'm going to aim for 5x a week, making it up on weekends if necessary.

This is basically the poorly-named "Power to the People" workout from Pavel's book of the same name.  It's different enough that I think it'll get me out of my rut, and I've been wanting to do something specific for my lagging presses for awhile now.  Plus, it'll give the line of skin on my back that screams "I squat a lot" a chance to fade a bit.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 02:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (7-11-2011)
squat 265 lb 3x5
bench 195 lb 5, 5, 3, 3, 3
chin-ups 12, 7, 7, ... 7, 5
DB shrugs 70lb 3x10
lateral raises 25lb 3x8

Wednesday
squat 270 lb 4x4
press 110 lb 3, 2, f
press 95 lb 5x2
deadlift 325 lb 2x3

Friday
Skipped so I could be home for some deliveries.

Weight (Sunday, 7-17): 178 lb

Notes: I tried to get some extra shoulder work in on Monday, hoping it would help on presses: huge mistake.  I was still sore by Wednesday, and my press numbers show the dismal outcome.  I'm planning to switch programs on Monday (another post to follow), as I'm starting to really burn out at the moment, and that's bad.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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