chicanerous' journal #2

[chicanerous]

Name: Adam
Birthday: May 24, 1987
Height: 5'9"

A Few Words

I'm a nineteen year old male college student in my second year at university.

In highschool, I ran varsity cross-country my senior year and swam varsity for three years. I was never a jock, but I became keenly interested in weight-training and improving my physical fitness during my sophomore year. My roommate had gotten into lifting over the summer and wanted a partner to go with, so, after some prodding, I bowed my head and acquiesced to his request. At first, I had no idea what to do and felt extremely uncomfortable -- I've always been (and still am) very shy and quiet, especially in unfamiliar places. The gym was noisy, the kids were big, the weights were bigger, everything was dirty, and worst of all I would get sweaty. However, after a while, I began to see the progress hard work could yield and the gym didn't seem so bad. I grew accustomed to the place. The weights began to look smaller and I even started to look forward to sweating. I became motivated by the simplicity of the process -- add more weight, eat more food, rest, and then get bigger and stronger. So, I continued on, eventually found JSF and started a journal, and now here I am. This is the journal of my continuing progress. With over one hundred logged weeks behind me, there's no chance of turning back.

Goals: stronger, bigger
Starting Weight: 170.5 lbs (on gym scale)

Starting One-Rep Maximums

Romanian Deadlift: 295 lbs

Front Squat: 245 lbs
Rack Split Jerk: 220 lbs

Push Press: 190 lbs

Current Supplements

None.

Past Supplements

See: http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/s...29&postcount=1

About Notation

All exercises follow one of these notations: reps x weight, sets x reps x weight, time x weight, or simply reps or time. An ellipsis (...) between sets indicates that a short rest was taken, usually after momentary muscle failure, to attempt to finish the planned volume. Sets that are linked by addition (+) are dropsets or extended sets as noted. Time is listed in digital format: ':30' corresponds to 30 seconds, while '1:30' or ':90' corresponds to 1 minute and 30 seconds. Rest periods may occasionally be written in minute-second format: 2'30" corresponds to 2 minutes and 30 seconds, for example. Weights are listed, by default, in pounds, but may also be listed in kilograms when appropriate -- the designation "kg" will show this. Dumbbell exercises are listed with the weight of one dumbbell unless otherwise noted. After some exercises, the statistic (total volume -- average weight per rep) will appear, which is used to help track progression.

Back and front squat rep work is always ATG unless I note otherwise. Split squats are to parallel.

About My Daily Musings

Below each session's in-the-gym log, I'll often write a short paragraph about my thoughts concerning my workout, what I expect to do in the future, and just general things about my gym experience. Note that the bulk of this is often composed of complaining and has an emphasis on what went badly in the workout. I'm naturally inclined to be pessimistic, so don't mistake my ramblings for an indication that my workout actually went badly. Practically speaking, I find it much more useful in reflection to review and ultimately correct the bad than to sit complacently and revel in the good. Occasionally though, you will see entries of exuberence when I hit a goal or have a particularly great session. It is not in my nature, however, to be particularly exuberant.

Additionally, it's not a good idea to comment on one of my post-workout paragraphs while its week is still in progress. I'm liable to edit it quite a lot, correcting spelling and grammar, expanding on my feelings or expectations, or even changing my mind about them. After the week is over and the next week's blank entry is posted, it is fair game. You can comment on the in-the-gym log portion of my workouts at any time, however, as that obviously doesn't change once it's posted.

For reference, these are some exercise acronyms that I might occasionally use: SQ is squat, BSQ back squat, FSQ front squat, SSQ bulgarian split squat, GM good morning, DL deadlift, RDL romanian deadlift, SLDL stiff-legged deadlift, USLDL unilateral stiff-legged deadlift, SNDL snatch-grip deadlift, CP calf press, CH chin-up, PU pull-up, CSR chest-supported row, UR unilateral row, BP bench press, MP military press, PP push press, SJ split jerk, OHL overhead lockout, CL clean, SN snatch, SNB snatch balance, PC power clean, PSN power snatch, HCL hang clean, HSN hang snatch, JS jump shrug, HJS hang jump shrug, HP high pull, KSQJ kneeling squat jump, DJ depth jump, SHJ shock jump.

Those are probably many more abbreviations than will be necessary though.

Favourite Links

1-RM Calculator: http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html
Spider Chart: http://danjohn.org/lincolnowesme.pdf

Previous Journals

Part 1: http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/s...ead.php?t=3872
Freshman Bulk: http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/s...ad.php?t=23808
Photos: http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/s...ad.php?t=29125

[chicanerous]

Week 1 at September 18, 2006.
College Week 1 (Sophomore Year)

Monday

"Week off!"

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

[dluc]

Hey Chic! Loved following the first journal - you made some sweet progress. Good luck with this one! BTW what are your main goals this term if any?

[chicanerous]

Originally Posted by dluc

Hey Chic! Loved following the first journal - you made some sweet progress. Good luck with this one! BTW what are your main goals this term if any?

Thanks! Two words: stronger, bigger.

[zenpharaohs]

Originally Posted by chicanerous

Starting One-Rep Maximums

Romanian Deadlift: 295 lbs
Front Squat: 110 kg

Rack Split Jerk: 100 kg
Push Press: 190 lbs

This doesn't make that much sense to me. Those look like very serious jerk and push press numbers for a guy that can "only" RDL 295. I would have guessed you'd have another 100 pounds on that RDL. 100kg jerk is not fooling around.

[chicanerous]

Originally Posted by zenpharaohs

This doesn't make that much sense to me. Those look like very serious jerk and push press numbers for a guy that can "only" RDL 295. I would have guessed you'd have another 100 pounds on that RDL. 100kg jerk is not fooling around.

RDL doesn't correlate at all to jerks or push presses, but the front squat does. The power in either lift comes from about the top quarter of the squat's ROM. So, if you think about the amount of power I should be able to generate in the greatly shortened ROM of the jerk's dip, based on my full-depth front squat maximum (110 kg), which is already 25 lbs heavier than my greatest jerk, the numbers make a lot of sense.

The RDL would correlate to a clean. The highest I've pulled on a power clean is 80 kg (177 lb). I probably have a bit more than that in me, but I've never tested it.

[zenpharaohs]

Originally Posted by chicanerous

RDL doesn't correlate at all to jerks or push presses, but the front squat does. The power in either lift comes from about the top quarter of the squat's ROM. So, if you think about the amount of power I should be able to generate in the greatly shortened ROM of the jerk's dip, based on my full-depth front squat maximum (110 kg), which is already 25 lbs heavier than my greatest jerk, the numbers make a lot of sense.

The RDL would correlate to a clean. The highest I've pulled on a power clean is 80 kg (177 lb). I probably have a bit more than that in me, but I've never tested it.

I understand that way of looking at it, but the push press shouldn't be that far above the bench press. the RDL is not that far below the deadlift. So if a medium strong push press is about 1.25 BW and a medium strong RDL is about 2.25 BW then there could be about a whole bodyweight between the push press and RDL. In your case, it's like half a body weight.

By the way, the RDL isn't necessarily that close to the clean. I can RDL about 375#. I haven't even cleaned 185# yet, and I'm not sure it would be all that feasible. Your 80kg clean would definitely be my personal best. So if the RDL correlates to clean, then either I should be cleaning a whole lot more, or you should be RDLing a lot more.

[1FastGTX]

Good luck Adam!

[chicanerous]

Originally Posted by zenpharaohs

I understand that way of looking at it, but the push press shouldn't be that far above the bench press. the RDL is not that far below the deadlift. So if a medium strong push press is about 1.25 BW and a medium strong RDL is about 2.25 BW then there could be about a whole bodyweight between the push press and RDL. In your case, it's like half a body weight.

I think you're analyzing too much, zens. I also think a 2.25x bodyweight RDL would be a massive RDL for someone who can only push press 1.25x bodyweight, at least based on the relative lift charts I've seen. Even so, I am wary about trying to make a correlation between two unrelated lifts. On the lifting charts I've seen the 2.25x is always the conventional deadlift (not the RDL), 2x is the parallel squat, 1.5x is the bench press and row. If the RDL was listed, I'd put it where the full back squat came (probably around 1.75x). Based on that, a half bodyweight difference between an RDL and a push press doesn't sound abnormal to me at all.

Originally Posted by zenpharaohs

By the way, the RDL isn't necessarily that close to the clean. I can RDL about 375#. I haven't even cleaned 185# yet, and I'm not sure it would be all that feasible. Your 80kg clean would definitely be my personal best. So if the RDL correlates to clean, then either I should be cleaning a whole lot more, or you should be RDLing a lot more.

I think you should be pulling a lot more based on your leg strength -- 185 should be pretty easy. I've seen it listed on Olympic lifting sites (and I believe in El Hewie's weightlifting encylopedia) that about 55-65% of your RDL is expected for a power clean for someone who trains both lifts. If you don't train the lift frequently and haven't tried to max it out then who knows what your maximum could be?

Originally Posted by 1FastGTX

Good luck Adam!

Thanks, Chris!

[chicanerous]

Routine

Dan John OLAD style.

Monday

RDLs*
Glute-Hams or Leg Curls (3 x 8)

Dips (3 x 8)

Accessory: knee-ups (3 x 6), barbell holds (3 x :20)

Tuesday

Front Squats*
Leg Extensions (3 x 8)

Pull-ups (3 x 8)

Accessory: calf presses (3 x 8), standing face pulls (3 x 12)

Thursday

Power Clean +
Split Jerks (4 x 4)

Push Presses*

Accessory: saxon bends (3 x 6), farmer's walks (2 x :30)

Friday

Power Snatch +
Overhead Squats (3 x 3)

Chest-Supported Rows*

Accessory: calf presses (3 x 8), bent-over lateral raises (3 x 12)

Periodization

*ed exercises will be periodized like this:

Week 1: 7 x 5
Week 2: 6 x 3
Week 3: 5-3-2, max out
Week 4: deload

[chicanerous]

Week 2 at September 25, 2006.
College Week 2 (Sophomore Year)

Monday (BW 170.5 lbs; 10:30 AM)

RDL: 8x135, 3x185, 2x205, 2x225 | 5x245, 5x225, 5x255, 5x225, 5x255, 5x225, 5x265 (8475 -- 242.14)

"I didn't have much left in me after that, so I didn't do leg curls or dips. It's exactly what I planned to do though. I was also feeling a little pukey by the end -- I ate about thirty minutes before lifting. Next week will be 6x3 @ 260, 270, 250, 280, 250, 290."

Tuesday (BW 171.9 lbs; 11 PM)

Front Squats: 5x135, 3x155, 3x185 | 5x205, 5x185, 3x210 ... 2x210, 5x185, 3x210 ... 1x210, 5x185 (5690 -- 196.2)
Calf Press: 12x270, 6x360
Face Pulls: 10x72, 8x96, 6x96

Stretching: calves, hips, cossack, roadkill, glutes, butterfly, instep, quads, band, weighted pike

"Plan was to wave to 215 on FSQs, but that didn't work out. I took a short rest after the 3 x 210s and repeated the weight to try to get the planned volume in. For some reason, I failed on that single with 210 and, ultimately, terminated the squats five heavy reps short -- I should have grinded them out though. I feel a lot more comfortable FSQing with bumpers and a rack instead of in the cage with rubberized plates that this gym has. A rack and bumpers means I'm in an environment that is the most conducive to lifting and, as a result, I am really able to give it my all. Dropping weights if you miss a lift or after you've finished one is expected in that environment; that allows you to work out with a touch of insanity that just isn't present and even not allowed in the gym of the average lifter. Since I'm complaining: the cages are also set-up literally inches from the wall which is covered in mirrors and very disconcerting as I'm used to lifting about a cage's length from the wall. I don't mind mirrors in the gym, but I don't like being so close to them. Oh well. My calves were cramping so I terminated the calf work way early."

Wednesday

Thursday (BW: 173.7 lbs; 10:30 AM)

Military Press: 8x95, 6x95
Push Press: 3x95
Power Clean and Split Jerk: 4x95, 4x135, 4x155, 2x185, 2x185, 4x155
Military Press: 5x135
Military Press, Push Press, Split Jerk: 3x135 + 3x135 + 2x135 (extended set)
Military Press: 8x95

Saxon Bends: 4x8, 2x10, 4x8
Dumbbell Hold: :10x105 (thick bar), :40x80

"Wow, that's a mess. Split jerks were completely limited by my ability to power clean (185 is getting within 5% or so of what, based on the feel of that weight, I'd venture to say my max is) and my ability to perform a controlled eccentric with the bar back to my shoulders after the jerk, for which 185 was pretty difficult but not impossible. It's easy to get the weight from my shoulders to extension overhead, but not so easy to get it back down by conventional means. Normally, with bumpers, I would just drop the barbell instead of performing the negative. I originally went into this workout wanting to military press, but I think I'm going to switch back to the push pressing next week -- expect a much more organized session and bigger weights. Additionally, I'm gaining water weight and my muscles are saturating themselves with glycogen and what not, all accounting for the rapid weight gain."

Friday (BW: 172.0 lb; 2 PM)

Overhead Squats: 6x95, 5x115
Hang Snatch: 4x95, 3x115, 2x135, 1x145 (power)
Calf Press: 10x270, 8x360, 4x450

Chest-Supported Rows: 5x45 | 5x70, 5x95, 5x80, 5x105, 5x70, 5x95, 8x80 (3215 -- 84.61)
Bent-over Lateral Raises: 8x15, 5x20, 8x15, 8x15

"Not too much to say. Everything went pretty much like clock-work."

Saturday

Sunday

[DeafNgari]

Your goals get a giant good luck sir.

[uRi]

good luck. but that is only to the side that injuries should stay 10 miles away from you. we all know your workin ethics.

[TarSeal]

Originally Posted by chicanerous

I had found a place that I could return to each day and just fit in, reveling in the unspoken camaraderie between lifters and removing myself from any outside obligations, expectations, requirements, and societal pressures; in a sense, the gym came to represent a place of freedom. ... With over one hundred logged weeks behind me, there's no chance of turning back.

Goals: stronger, bigger

You're the man c. I can't wait to see how you turn out over the next few years.

[zenpharaohs]

Originally Posted by chicanerous

I think you should be pulling a lot more based on your leg strength -- 185 should be pretty easy. I've seen it listed on Olympic lifting sites (and I believe in El Hewie's weightlifting encylopedia) that about 55-65% of your RDL is expected for a power clean for someone who trains both lifts.

Oy. Well I better get too it, because 400 pounds RDL doesn't sound very nasty but 225 pound clean sounds kind of anxious. I'm going to replace some of the one-arm snatch work with cleans to reduce the number of times the AC joint gets compressed. So we may find out. I recall now that Andre told me he figured I could clean about 200-225 pounds and that was before I got the deadlift up. So you're probably right.

[bballer143]

Just want to wish you good luck and from the looks of your training journals you really seem to know what your doing so I'm sure you'll reach your goals of getting bigger and stronger in no time!

[chicanerous]

Originally Posted by DeafNgari

Your goals get a giant good luck sir.

Originally Posted by uRi

good luck. but that is only to the side that injuries should stay 10 miles away from you. we all know your workin ethics.

Originally Posted by TarSeal

You're the man c. I can't wait to see how you turn out over the next few years.

Thanks, guys.

Originally Posted by zenpharaohs

Oy. Well I better get too it, because 400 pounds RDL doesn't sound very nasty but 225 pound clean sounds kind of anxious. I'm going to replace some of the one-arm snatch work with cleans to reduce the number of times the AC joint gets compressed. So we may find out. I recall now that Andre told me he figured I could clean about 200-225 pounds and that was before I got the deadlift up. So you're probably right.

Andre knows what's up. Good luck, zens!

Originally Posted by bballer143

Just want to wish you good luck and from the looks of your training journals you really seem to know what your doing so I'm sure you'll reach your goals of getting bigger and stronger in no time!

Thanks!

[Kilter]

Originally Posted by TarSeal

You're the man c. I can't wait to see how you turn out over the next few years.

I'm curious too. With all his knowledge, a dedication like that and being only 19, he is going to go far.

[chicanerous]

Week 3 at October 2, 2006.
College Week 3 (Sophomore Year)

Monday (BW: 172.7 lbs; 11 PM)

RDL: 10x135, 5x185, 3x205, 3x225 | 3x260, 3x270, 3x250, 3x280, 3x250, 3x290 (4800 -- 266.67)
Dips: 12, 10

"I'm getting lazy. Haha."

Tuesday (BW: 172.9 lbs; 11 PM)

Front Squat: 8x135, 3x155, 2x185 | 3x195, 3x225, 3x195, 2x235, 3x195, 2x225 (3350 -- 209.38)
Calf Press: 10x270, 8x360 | 8x450, 6x450

Pull-ups: 6, 4
Standing Face Pulls: 8x?, 8x?+'2', 8x?+'1'

Stretching: calves, hips, cossack, glutes, butterfly

"Pretty good squatting. I dumped the third rep of 235 though. I was absolutely drenched in sweat today -- it was obscene. I didn't bother counting weight blocks on the cable stack for face pulls. I do calf presses very slowly, holding the stretch to dissipate potential energy and then holding the contraction. I need to consistently eat three meals and drink a half gallon of milk each day."

Wednesday

Thursday (BW: 173.7 lbs; 11 PM)

Power Clean and Split Jerk: 4x95, 4x135, 4x155, 2x185, 2x185
Power Clean and Push Press: 3x150, 3x160, 3x150, 2x165

"Ugh, horrible lift. I had no power. Cleans, jerks, push presses -- no power. I'm going to start a bodybuilding split next week."

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

[chicanerous]

Originally Posted by Kilter

I'm curious too. With all his knowledge, a dedication like that and being only 19, he is going to go far.

You guys need to stop inflating my ego.