Codger's Quest

[codgerus maximus]

Time for a fresh start. I've been posting at Starting Strength for a couple of years but I'm planning to follow one of Jordan's templates so I thought it would be a good idea to jump to these forums. I'm a masters 3 lifter with one USAPL meet under my belt--last March in Albuquerque. As the only competitor in my age and weight class at that meet I managed to steal a medal with a 375 squat, 253 bench and 480 dead at a weight just over 205 pounds. (just missed qualifying for the 93 kg class.) All the lifts were PRs for me, giving me a total of 1108.

Tweaked my back a few weeks ago one week before the Raw Nationals in Spokane, so I had to withdraw from the meet. Now I'm looking ahead to the nationals in Chicago next year.

I'm slowly ramping up now with some linear programming, trying to baby the old back. Today's workout:

Squats: 240x5x1; 245x5x1; 250x5x1; belted, four minutes rest. Normally I don't start wearing a belt until I'm close to 300 but I thought I'd better play it safe.

Bench: 190x5x1; 195x5x1; 200x5x1; four minutes rest

Dead: 285x5x1

Chins with 10 pounds x 8 x 3.

[gymdad150]

Good to see you over here.

I think wearing the belt, after having tweaked your back, is a wise idea.

Now I get to see how the templates work in real time.

11 1/2 months to Chicago...

[codgerus maximus]

11 1/2 months to Chicago...

And more jackets for our collection, I hope...

Today: Some light squats plus some presses and rows.

squats: 205x5x3; no belt

Press: 125x5x3

BB rows: 155x5x1; 160x5x1; 165x5x1

One-arm overhead db triceps extensions: 32.5x10x3.

My back felt pretty good today, almost normal. I still feel something in the area that I tweaked but I wouldn't describe it as pain, or even discomfort, just a sense that something was strained and needs some recovery time. I'll ride the airdyne tomorrow and do some ab wheel roll-outs. Then on Saturday I'll do some squat in the 260 range and a deadlift of 295 and see how that feels.

[codgerus maximus]

Recovery road continues:

Squats: 255x5x1; 260x5x1; 265x5x1; belted, four to five minutes rest.

Bench: 205x5x1; 207.5x5x2; five minutes rest. The first set at 205 felt good so I added a couple of microplates to each side of the bar.

Deads: 295x5x1; 315x5x1; six minutes rest; no belt--chalk and hook grip. I was planning on doing just one set at 295 but my back felt good so I loaded on another 20 pounds for a second set. I'll continue to ramp up next week with two deadlift workouts, one at the beginning of the week and one at the end, maybe with three sets, depending on how my back is doing.

DB curls: 35 (each) x 10 x 2, two to three minutes rest.

[gymdad150]

Glad to see the Deads are coming around...

[briangoldstein]

Plus one to the chorus of peeps glad to see you over here, Codger!

[codgerus maximus]

Thanks, Brian and Gymdad. It's nice to have company from the old forum.

[codgerus maximus]

I think my back is back to normal, more or less. Everything in today's workout felt good. I'll continue ramping up this week and next week I'll switch over to Andy Baker's Strength and Mass After 40 program, which has worked well for me. After a few cycles with that program I'll try one of Jordan's templates, either The Bridge or the 12-Week Strength program.

Squat: 270x5x1; 275x5x1; 280x5x1; belted, five to six minutes rest. On Saturday I'll try sets of 285, 290, and maybe 295.

Close-grip bench: 190x8x1; 192.5x6x1; 195x6x1

SLDL: 275x8x1; 275x6x1; straps, five minutes rest.

Chins with 10 pounds x 8 x 3, five minutes rest.

[gymdad150]

Codger,

You asked what is the height of the blocks that I pull from?

The answer is 8" blocks.

If you buy them, make sure they're really solid on the top piece. If it's too thin, you'll break it in no time.

[codgerus maximus]

Thanks, gymdad. I was looking at some wooden blocks on rogue's web site. I'm wondering if I can get by with rack pulls from pins. Is there some advantage to using blocks instead of pins?


Light day today.

Squats: 225x5x3; three to four minutes rest, no belt.

Press: 127.5x5x3, four to five minutes rest.

BB rows: 170x8x3, three minutes rest.

One-arm overhead db triceps extensions: 32.5x10x3, two to three minutes rest.

[gymdad150]

I don't like pulling from the pins. I'm always afraid of dropping the bar and bending it. With blocks, I don't feel like that's a possibility.

It's a personal preference thing. That, and what equipment is available. If all you have is a rack and pins, that's what you use.

[codgerus maximus]

I don't like pulling from the pins. I'm always afraid of dropping the bar and bending it. With blocks, I don't feel like that's a possibility.

Good point.

[codgerus maximus]

Last day of ramping up today. I think my back is pretty much recovered. Next week I'll switch to Andy Baker's Strength and Mass After 40 program and after that I think I'll try one of Jordan's strength template.

Squats: 285x5x1; 290x5x2; belted, six to seven minutes rest.

Bench: 210x5x3, seven minutes rest.

Dead: 345x5x1, no belt; hook grip.

DB curls: 32.5 (each) x 10 x 3.

[codgerus maximus]

I've been curious about The Bridge program for a while. I spent a good part of the weekend reading about it and decided to give it a try for the next eight weeks. Today was my first workout with the program, and my first attempt to use RPE's as a guide to my working weights.

Squat: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Belted for last two sets, four minutes rest. The second set was supposed to be at RPE7 but it felt a bit heavy so I lowered the weight on my third set from a planned 295.

Close-grip bench: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Rack pulls: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; four to five minutes rest. I don't have much experience with rack pulls so judging RPE was tough. Probably underestimated a bit but I wanted to make sure to get all the volume in.

It will take a while to get the hang of RPEs--I think today's last bench set, for example, might have been closer to 8 or 8.5 than a 9. I'm looking forward to seeing how this experiment goes. I really like the way RPE's force me to think more carefully about my training.

[gymdad150]

Yeah, the RPE measurement is interesting. We use it a bit, but not to the extent that the BBM crew do.

I'll be watching closely...