J.C.'s Journal - The Myth of Sisyphus

[J.C.]

Time to get in shape!

Quick background:
I'm a typical ectomorph, tall and skinny. Did a bit of sport back in the day but was never amazing. Started lifting weights about two-three years ago and made rapid progress till I was no longer skinny. Unfortunately it's a been a bit on-off since then, mostly due to factors outside of my control.

I stopped doing any exercise in about October because I was finishing up a masters degree, my gym membership ran out and I was out of money. I didn't do any exercise for about six months and lost a lot of weight. Then everything stabilised and I started up again about a month ago. Thankfully I'm making quite quick progress again and I'm looking to be in it long-term now as long as I can keep up employment/rent/food bills etc.

Goals/Programming:
Get (relatively) strong, fix weaknesses and inflexibilities, improve conditioning, compete in some kind of running event.

I figured the quickest way to get up to standard was to do a time-tested linear progression a la 5x5/Starting Strength beginning with just the bar. I was sore after the first day, with just the bar. I was that out of shape.

Once I got used to moving again the delayed soreness disappeared and I kept adding weight while trying not to be too greedy. I just took a week off to go abroad and today was my first session back, testing the waters so I did it pyramid style. Thought this would be a good time to start a journal.

Bodyweight: 84.9kg (up from 78 when I started and I haven't even been trying to gain weight!)

Squat:
100 x 5
100 x 5
105 x 5
110 x 5 x 2

Bench
60 x 5
65 x 5
67.5 x 5
70 x 5

Row
60 x 5
65 x 5
70 x 5
67.5 x 5 x 2

Chins
5kg x 5 x 2
BW x 5

Incline sit-ups: 20.

Felt easy, despite a week off. I haven't stalled yet but it's bound to happen soon. I'm hoping to get my squat up to at least 140Kg/315 lbs before stalling. I'm aiming for about 90 kg/200lbs bodyweight at a height of 6'4.

Once my strength gains plateau I'll add in some conditioning and will likely switch to a tweaked 2-day Texas Method style program. Right now I'm just happy to be back into it. Here's to progress.

JC.

[J.C.]

6th June 2011

BW: 85.5kg (steadily rising and I'm not getting fat)

Squat:
110 x 5 x 3 - smoked it, full depth, good bounce, good speed.

Press:
40 x 5 x 2
40 x 3 + 1 - poor show.

Dead
122.5 x 5 (easy, but I want to keep up momentum so I'm not adding too much too soon.)

EZ Curls
Bar + 22.5 x 8 x 2

Incline sit-ups: 25

All weights in KG. The week off did me good and I'm ready to milk this linear progression for all it's worth now. Should be a good couple of months.

[J.C.]

8th June 2011

BW: 86kg
I'm actually quite surprised this keeps going up. When I first started I had to drink a gallon of milk and eat to the point of discomfort 5 times a day to reach 90kg. This time I'm just eating a normal 3 meals a day with some milk here and there and my weight keeps on rising. Muscle memory?

Squat
112.5kg x 5 x 3

Bench
70kg x 5 x 3

Row
70kg x 5 x

BW Chins
8, 6

Leg Raise
25

All pretty easy, but I'm worried that if I increase the weight jumps I might burn out so I'm going to keep on adding 2.5kg/6lbs each time.

[J.C.]

10th June

Bodyweight
85.8kg

Squat
115kg x 5 x 3

Press
40kg x 5 x 5
40kg x 3 + 1 push press (gah)

Behind Neck Press
Bar x 5

Deadlift
127.5kg x 7

Incline sit-ups
26

Chins
8

[Kiff]

Cant believe i missed this journal, still love your squats man! Glad your back!

[J.C.]

Ah, you ain't seen nothin yet!

Considering I started with an empty bar and progressed cautiously I am surprised how easily the squat is rising. I want to get to at least 140 x 5 x 3 before stalling.

I'm busy at work and can't really browse wbb during the day, but I'm going to start hanging out in the journals a bit more when I can.

Good to be back.

[StLRPh]

Nice work JC

[J.C.]

13/06/10

BW
86.2kg

After work, I had to spend a couple of hours trekking across London for something. Hot weather + underground trains + leather jacket + no food = uncomfortable.
I got to the gym about 9.30 and managed to squeeze in a very quick session.

Squat
100x5
110x5
117.5 x 5 x 3 - woo! Going up!

Bench - just one max set
72.5 x 7 - max reps.

Bodyweight circuit, 30 second rests.
Pull-ups: 7
Neutral grip pull-ups: 6
Chins: 7
Dips: 7

Pretty good quick session.
Post workout meal: 1 pint of milk, 2 pork chops, potatoes and carrots with some butter.

[colinS3]

Looking good! Very nice squats. I'll keep up with this journal as I fill mine out too, it'll be nice to see how we both end up with this program.

[J.C.]

15/06/11

Bodyweight: 86.2 - stabilising

Squat
120 x 5 x 3 - Oh yeah! Starting to get tough now but I'm confident I can keep on adding weight.

Press
40 x 5 x 2
40 x 4 - I've failed to get 3 sets of 5 three times in a row now. Damn.

Press behind the neck
bar x 6 x 4. About 30 seconds rest.

Deadlift
132.5 x 5 - Easy

I'm going to start pushing these a lot harder. I'm being too cautious and I want to get into higher weights sooner. A belt should arrive in the mail soon, so that ought to help.

E-Z bar curl
Bar weight + 25kg x 8 x 2

The overhead press is getting embarrassing. My theory is that poor mobility and relatively skinny arms are holding me back. So to try and solve this I'm going to start accumulating some volume on the press behind the neck. This should help my mobility by forcing the shoulders back and hopefully spark some hypertrophy through increased time under tension. I was struggling with just a 20kg bar today but I hope to keep adding sets and reps until I'm doing something like 8x7 and then 4x15.

I'm also going to add a bit of hard work on curls, triceps exercises, pull-ups and chin-ups at the end of each workout. Hopefully some direct work on my arms and shoulders will add a bit of mass somewhere other than my legs and trunk. Yeah, yeah, don't mess with the program they say. Well, fuck em, I know my weak points and I need to do something about them.

[Off Road]

Just noticed you had a new journal I will be checking in from now on. Welcome back to the journals.

[StLRPh]

Can you do a smaller increment increase on the press? That's where I got stuck as well

[J.C.]

Just noticed you had a new journal I will be checking in from now on. Welcome back to the journals.

Thanks a lot Mr. Admin - I always appreciated your wise words.

Can you do a smaller increment increase on the press? That's where I got stuck as well

Well, I could buy some and take them along to the gym, but frankly with a press of less than 90 pounds I shouldn't need to microload.

[J.C.]

18/06/11

Bodyweight: 85.7kg

Squat: 122.5kg x 5 x 3 Woo!

Bench:
75 x 3 Fail
70 x 5 x 2

Row
70 x 5
72.5 x 5 x 3

Chins: 10

After my workout I got a bit of free tuition in the power cleans. The manager of the gym is an olympic lifter and there's a lean guy there, I think about 75kg who was working on the Olympic lifts so they gave me the basics. I was pretty bad but I'd love to be doing some 100kg power cleans soon.

[J.C.]

As my weight had actually dropped a bit today I've made this a high-calorie day.

Breakfast
Bacon, eggs, toast

Lunch
Two home-made burgers, pasta, peas, spinach

Dinner
Pizza and a whole garlic baguette - CARBS!!

I drank quite a lot of milk today too.

Really pleased to be increasing my strength. Tonight's calories will be beer and whisky.

[Off Road]

Eggs, bacon, burgers, pizza and beer...
Jealous, I can't wait to start bulking again

[StLRPh]

Well, I could buy some and take them along to the gym, but frankly with a press of less than 90 pounds I shouldn't need to microload.

All the more reason to get them, if you look at it as a percentage of weight moved, the smaller increments are more manageable. Might help reduce the number of resets as well.

[Kiff]

Agree on the microloading, i got stuck aroun 47.5/52.5KG had to microlaod out of the ditch.

[J.C.]

20/06/11

Bodyweight: 87.3kg - didn't expect it to increase that much!

Squat: 125x5x3 (275lbs)

Press: 40 x 5 x 3 - Finally got this.

Press behind the neck: Bar x 7 x 4 - Last time I did bar x 6 x 4.
- super-setted with -
Bent-over laterals: 6kg x 8 x 4

Deadlift: 140kg (308lbs)

EZ bar curls: 22.5kg x 8. I called it day and went home.

So a great day all in all. Saturday's squat session felt really hard and yet today 2.5kg heavier and it felt easier. I finally got all the reps on the press after three stuck sessions. I increased the volume on the press behind the neck and I added in the laterals. Will this help the press? Time will tell. I jumped the deadlift by a whole 8.5kg (19lbs) because I felt I was progressing too slowly. It felt good to be pushing that harder. 5 clean reps but the last was a little slow.

Oh, and my weight has increased about 2kg. I had a kind of impulsive high-carb, high-calorie day on Saturday but it seems to have done the trick. Today felt great after a few sessions of feeling I was wearing out. I'm going to try and keep the calories in line from now on though, with occasional feast days. I no longer want to be as big as possible and I don't want to get fat. I think I'll try and slow down the weight gain then cap it at about 94kg (205lbs) or so.

[StLRPh]

really nice session JC

[Off Road]

Good one JC...keep it up.

[J.C.]

22/06/2011

I'm going to experiment with doing my overhead/bench pressing first instead of squats from now on. I need to improve those lifts.
I'm also going to start a proper progression on chins and pull-ups. Up til now I've just thrown some in at the end of each workout, but I want an upper-body so I need to take them a bit more seriously. I'm going to do them HCT-12 style because I can't afford too much extra volume on top of a 3x5 linear progression

Bodyweight: 86.8kg (down slightly)

Chins: 5kg x 6+2+2+2 - bit of trouble retracting the shoulder blades at the top.

Bench: 72.5 x 5 x 3 - Just failed on the fifth rep, final set.

Squat: 127.5 x 5 x 3 (280lbs) - HARD

Bent-over row: 75 x 5 x 3
- super-setted with -
Triceps rope press-down: 21.25 x 8 x 3

Incline sit-up 20 - was aiming for 25, but was exhausted.

OK, that squat session was really, really hard. The final rep of the third set was a total grind. I got stuck about three-quarters up, saw my face turn red in the mirror and then had to let out a sustained groan to get upright and not black out. The valsalva manoeuvre saved me. I try not to grunt and scream when working out because you just look like a fool unless you're lifting really heavy weights, but I could feel myself about to drop back down and I had to release some of that pressure. I actually felt some pain deep in my lower abs and groin. Kinda weird.

Post-workout meal has been milk + pasta + three chicken breasts.

I'm going to squat 130kg on Friday and then I think I'm going to drop squats to twice a week. Today was HARD.

[Off Road]

I've gotten that same pain in my lower ab and groin from doing heavy deadlifts. Scares the crap out of you the first time it happens. Good session and it sounds like a great effort.

[J.C.]

I've gotten that same pain in my lower ab and groin from doing heavy deadlifts. Scares the crap out of you the first time it happens. Good session and it sounds like a great effort.

Yeah, it's happened before once or twice. It was bound to happen since I've been progressing back into weight-training so quickly. Slightly scary though. Well it's almost midnight over here so I'm going to sleep and get some recovery.

[Kiff]

Yeah, it's happened before once or twice. It was bound to happen since I've been progressing back into weight-training so quickly. Slightly scary though. Well it's almost midnight over here so I'm going to sleep and get some recovery.

Sounds scary! Like the way you are back on track with diet and routine.