December 19th, 2018

StrongLifts A

Squat: 5×5 @ 260 lbs.
Bench Press: 5×5 @ 137.5 lbs.
Barbell Row: 5×5 @ 157.5 lbs.
Power Clean: 5×5 @ 85 lbs.*

Pushups: 5×1 @ BW
Chinups: 5×1 @ BW

Bodyweight: 194 lbs.

Notes

*This was supposed to be 100 lbs. However, the 2.5 lb plates vanished at the gym! To compensate, I settled for an uneven loading by hanging a 5 lb plate on one side of the bar. Thus I expected the thing to not balance at the center, but instead slightly closer to the heavier side. However, this displacement turned out to be significantly greater than I anticipated, resulting in some awkward lifts. Despite this, the pulls seemed to be a bit too easy.

So then in hindsight, it was blatantly obvious when I put the weights away that what I thought was a 25 lb plate on the side without the extra 5 lbs turned out to be a mere 10 lb plate instead. Oops. Unfortunately, by that point, the gym was closing, so I had to go. (My rush to get out of there explains how I could have made such a mistake in the first place.) So, I will do 100 lbs for real next time.

At least I figured out why the balance point was 2/3rds of the way down the damn bar.

December 17th, 2018

StrongLifts B

Squat: 5×5 @ 255 lbs.
Overhead Press: 5×5 @ 95 lbs.
Deadlift: 1×5 @ 265 lbs.

Pushups: 5×1 @ BW
Chinups: 5×1 @ BW

Bodyweight: 198 lbs.

Notes

I am switching up my assistance exercises. Chinups are an important assistance according to Starting Strength, and pushups seem like a good idea, too. Instead of following StrongLifts’ built-in program of doing pushups only with the A workout and chinups only with B, I am doing both each time I am at the gym. Moreover, I am following the program I found within a couple of apps: 100 Pullups and 200 Pushups. Hopefully these work.

Back on the Wagon

The semester is over! Therefore, I have time to edit and upload training videos. Of course, I continued training diligently the whole time, but editing videos and posting them to YouTube turned out to be more trouble than it was worth when there was grading to be done. But alas, the grading is now done, and so it is time to refocus on the important things. And something I have considered for a while now is why am I not presenting my progress on my own website? Now seems like a good time to start doing that, and so that is what I am now doing.

Read More