Hi my name is redacted and I grinded out my LP used TM and found my self weak and injured. I started my LP Squats @185x5, Press 95x5, Bench 165x5, DL 275x5 and BW:187 @ 5ft 9’. I discovered SS as a weak Crossfitter and totally drank the Kool-Aid. In 3 months I had got my BW up to 215 and competed in a local PL meet. I went 8/9 and squatted 415, Benched 285, and Deadlifted 420. At this point my workouts were starting to get a little grindy and I thought maybe my LP was coming to a close but then I heard some guy on a “logical” podcast tell me all these tips and tricks and that I needed to grind out my lifts and milk every last 5lb’s I could add to the bar to prove I was a real man. Not one to back down to a challenge I started drinking more milk and kept going, during my last week of “LP” I squatted a top set of 380x3, Pressed 190x3, DL’d 405x5, Benched 260x3, and Power Cleaned 235x5 @ BW of 232. Each of these was, as some would say, a “no shit, bone on bone, RPE 10” Then came the Texas Method that lasted about 8 weeks. I won’t get super in depth but it didn’t take long to realize i had made decent gains but I was fat and out of shape and there had to be a better way than resting 10 minutes between sets. so during my 4th week of TM i decided to try to lose some weight while running TM. It wasn’t successful. I think part of this is due to the way I was conditioned to think about training and recovery and how DL’s were “frying my CNS” and i couldn’t recover cuz i was sissy boy without enough Testosterone to make TM work. during week 8 of TM I had a back injury and did the worst thing I could of done. I stopped training for about 4 weeks because at the time I didn’t know how to auto-regulate training around these things. I thought the only thing that mattered was weight on the bar. It turned out to be a blessing because at this time I started re-evaluating my training. What appealed to me about the SS method in the beginning was the humble mentality I thought was there. Do squats to depth, Deadlift conventionally and all that jazz. What I realized though was that by becoming so obsessed with “weight on the bar” and grinding out reps I had become my own worst nightmare, an ego lifter. So to wrap this vent session up. I came back after 4 weeks and started The Bridge with yesterday being the first workout of week 8 and have made some awesome progress and thought I’d start a training log here. Also just want to shout out the entire BBM crew for giving me a new outlook on recovery, training, and injury.
The Bridge Week 1 E1rm:
Squat: 340
Press: 179
Bench: 253
DL: 419
BW 225
Week 8 Workout 1
Comp Squat: 380x1@8, 355x3@8x2 sets E1rm: 412
3Ct Paused Bench: 225x3@6.5, 235x3@8, 245x3@9x1
2ct Paused DL: 260x3@6, 275x3@7, 290x3@8x1
Was feeling a random pain that went from my lower back down through my hamstring during my squat warm ups, but it wasn’t bad enough to mess with my lifts. After I hit my top single suat it completely went away and mildly flared back up during my second set of deadlifts and then went away again about 30 minutes after training. Bodyweight has been sitting between 215-217@5ft9’ since about week 5 and my waist has come down from 41 inches at 232lbs when I was on TM to a 37 inch waist now. Looking a little fluffy but not enough to bother me and my training has been going really well so I would prefer not to mess with it right now. My waist size is in a healthy range and I would rather just keep getting stronger
Week 8 workout 2
Pin Squats: 290x4@7, 300x4@8, 310x4@9
Comp Press: 200x1@8, 190x3@9
Rows: 175x6@6, 185x6@7, 200x6@8x2
E1rm for press has gone from 179wk1 to 216 this week.
BW: 219
Last day of the Bridge. It’s been awesome
BW:220
DL
440x1@8 425x2@failed 3rd rep. I usually back off an extra 2.5% of the rpe calculator for a back off set following a top single but I was feeling good today and went for it… didn’t go as expected. NBD. E1rm week1: 435 wk8: 477
Comp Bench 270x1@8 260x3@9 E1rm: 292… 39lb improvement
Beltless squat: 240x6@5.5 260x6@7 275x6@8x2