Recently in lifting Category

i've been putting it off for nearly a month now, and after several false starts plus at least one good workout, I'm ready to verbalize and post my new goals.

it's obvious to me that I'm now too fat. I'm 235 or so, and were I at 8% body fat, perhaps I wouldn't feel crappy, but I'm certainly not 8% body fat, and I do feel crappy. Specifically, I realized/admitted yesterday that some of the indigestion/breathing related problems are simply gut-related-bad-posture-induced difficulties.

I've looked into the velocity diet and it really, really intrigues me, especially the part where Dan John says his cholesterol numbers were vastly improved, but hte idea of loading up on supplements for 28 days really deters me. I gave up the supplement-eating part of my life, though it's creeping back, I think. Still, if I don't venture far beyond fish oil, vitamins, and protein powder, I think I'm okay. It's once I start taking "fat burners" or "workout surge" stuff that I begin to worry.

anyhow, so I need to lose some weight. I've decided I'll do Draper's tuna and water diet, starting next Monday, because I've been meaning to try it for 10 years now, and because it's only 3 days so how bad could it be, and because I'm already feeling rather crummy so I won't notice much feeling more crummy, and because the whole point of it is that afterwards, you've flexed some discipline (not as much as it takes to do the V-diet, but it's cheaper, also higher in good stuff like omega 3 and mercury) and transition into a cleaner diet, which i am definitely both ready for and capable of doing.

I'm still not as strong as I'd like to be. My bench press is just starting to show some progress, my overhead press still sucks, and my deadlift, as much progress as I've made, still isn't 2x my weight.

today I did a set of 5 deadlifts at 365. it was pretty easy, as those things go. in my original set of recent goals, i wanted 5x315 to be easy. so that's nice. i've also been slowly learning new exercises, namely the overhead squat and the power snatch. i'd like to learn the olympic versions of the clean and the snatch.

anyhow, on with the goals and deadlines:

by my birthday in november:

body weight of 220lbs
deadlift 5RM of 405
bench press 5RM of 250lbs
olympic snatch 135lbs in excellent form
olympic clean 175lbs in excellent form
eating that is nice and clean but doesn't drive me nuts from boredom, isolation, or supplementation

after that I suppose i can take stock and reevaluate my goals. i used to say that 210 was an easy and comfortable weight for me to be, but i suspect 220 is similar as long as i'm lifting heavy.

i've got all kinds of things i'd like to try, like pavel's 40 day plan, more complexes, sets of 8 (heh, i've got so stuck into sets of 3 and 5 that 8 tires me out), and, someday, cycling again. but above all, i need to get the weight back down to where it's not pissing me off any more.

for about 6 weeks. that's something that coach john likes to say, and i believe it. incidentally, it's why most studies on "weight training" are total rubbish: even if they aren't studies of rank beginners, they usually last about 6 weeks.

it's been about 7 or 8 weeks since i began my current program, and i finally had a crappy workout. now, it's quite possible that the not-easy hike we did in rancho san antonio on saturday wasted my recovery. and thinking back, i did not indulge in over-the-top eating this weekend. these things may have more to do with today's poor workout than the "program" itself, but so may my wandering attention: i'm ready to move on.

i recently admitted to myself that i'm an optimist. this came as quite a shock to me because i consider myself more of a realist. however, i now instinctively find silver linings on clouds. for instance, i spent all of yesterday unable to walk because of a blister the size of new jersey that i obtained on my football during saturday's hike. however, i considered this a training aid: did i not say just on friday that i need to focus more on lifting through my heels? i did, and the football blister reminded me sharply when i drifted on to my toes.

so, i suppose it's true that i did say on friday i wanted to slow down and smooth out my routine. i'm going to spread the work over the weekdays like peanut butter on bread. today's workout ended after just squats and bench presses, skipping the usual monday power cleans. tomorrow i've got some nifty bodyweight things planned, including a farmer walk that i've been looking forward to, blisters permitting.

at least in the toad household, that is.

there was some question in my mind last saturday as to whether i'd lifted 420 or 415 the previous day. so today, to settle the matter, i lifted a satisfactorily verified 430. just for good measure, i pulled on 450, but it was superglued to the floor.

i love deadlifting heavy above all sports, even though i'm not good at it, and this past several months have been the most fun lifting i've had since i started. unfortunately, it has now come to the point where i do actually care about how fat i've gotten. i ignored it mightily, but i'm back to the bad old times of indigestion, belts hurting when i sit down, and frequent episodes of high stress. in short, i'm fat and not relaxed. as much as i love pulling heavy, i'm done for now. my record shows that i gained a whopping 4 pounds this last week. i gained more than that on the bar, but it appears my body has no set point when i'm lifting hard and i fear that soon i will create a gravity well.

i'm re-reading dan john's most excellent book, and this morning he said to me that there's a distinction between fitness and health. in the past months, i've gained a lot of fitness in the sport of powerlifting. but my health, defined as the harmonious operation of the internal organs, has suffered. not greatly, mind you, and maybe even not on average. but the harmony of my organs is subject to bipolar swings, and though the highs are nice, the lows aren't so fun.

fortunately, i've been here before, and i know how to get better. unfortunately, it will mean losing some of my strength. well, it's not true that i've been exactly here before: the last time I felt like this i was weak. i may have weighed this much in the past, but i'm sure it wasn't muscle back then. i had no deadlift to lament, because i was getting stronger, not weaker. but i know of no way to lose fat without losing strength, at least none that will work with the level of devotion i have to give it.

my plan, i think, is to take it real easy for a week. that's going to be hard, as i've become addicted to my routine, and both anticipate and fear the 10s of deadlifting joy every friday. next friday will be a lot more boring as i try to smooth out health.

i've got a mind to finally try draper's tuna and water diet. i'm gonna see if i can get some folks to come along for that ride. note that it's the tuna and water diet, not the tuna, water, coffee, wine, whisky, and fried foods diet. that's the rub. but it's only 3 days. i can quit all those forbidden things for three days. can my friends?

i was a bit hungry after my workout.

i ordered a carne asada burrito and two chicken deluxe tacos.

the cashier asked if i would like chips and salsa. i said i would. she handed me chips and salsa for two people.

ha!

when i go for a max single deadlift, i spend 2 days worth of energy in 10 seconds.

and that is why i feel like crap all weekend long, starting friday at 11am.

i may as well pull a YES ON PROP 19.

420 goes all the way to the ends of my bar, but i've got more m*a. this was my first single with my new belt, and in fact, only my second workout with the belt. i don't know how much of its effect is psychological, but i gotta say 420 with a belt was actually FAR easier than 410 done extra-raw.

just for kicks, assuming my questionable squat was good, my PL total for today would have been 965. gotta get that squat up to break 1000, it's still > 100lbs behind the DL (ouch!).

for the record:

405: yehat theme from sc2
410: yehat theme from sc2 (froyo the night before)
375x3: NPR
420: infected mushroom (froyo the night before)

edited to add that froyo is anabolic. both times i went for frozen yogurt on thursday night, i set a pr the next day.

is that you continue to execute the old plan until you get a new one. i do, at least.

i frequently tell people who haven't walked away in the middle of my blabbing about deadlifts that the hard part is the first two inches, and that after that, i have no trouble locking it out.

well today when the bar, loaded with 410 lbs, got to about 6 inches, it got hard. at that point, i thought to myself: "now what?"

it sure was tempting to dump the bar and say "405 is my max", but instead i just lifted it. 410 was a lot harder than 405. i'd like to say only 90lbs to go for a 500lb deadlift, but i think i'm done with singles for a bit. i got a proper powerlifting belt and while it's satisfying to lift raw, the concerns of safety dictate that i should learn to use a belt.

i used to worry that using the belt would be too much of a crutch, and indeed top lifting coaches agree. but i think i'm to the point where i know how to properly stabilize my core without the belt.

i have to say that the hardest part about lifting 405 was not laughing after it passed the 2 inch mark.

i was going to wear my kilt in celebration of my lift, but it no longer fits.

such is the price i paid.

one other important thing i learned along the way: for a 225lb lifter with my history (nearly a decade of lifting), a 405lb deadlift is not terribly impressive, particularly when you consider my wimpy squat and bench press.

however, I'm not "a 225lb lifter with my history (nearly a decade of lifting)", I'm me, and for me, a 405lb deadlift is impressive.

there's a very important point in there, for the wise.

now, i'm off to find some bifurcated garments that fit :(

at a body weight of 226, i reached my goal of a 405lb deadlift.

the careful reader will note that the original goal was for a set of five. i did a single. it was good enough for me to consider the goal "reached" and make new plans.

405 was my goal because it's 4 45lb plates (the big ones) on each side of the bar, but since i don't have 4x45, i had to make due with the less photogenic 2x45, 1x35, 1x25, 2x10, 2x5:

did the bar bend? I don't know. at the last moment, my mind said "you can't do this", i told my mind to fuck off, and i pulled it with effort to spare (but not enough to spare on a double, heh).

let the record show that I did this with no damage to my shins:

no shoes, no pants, no straps, no wraps, no belt makes this a no-no-no-no lift. yay.

i pulled the weight to the Yehat Theme from star control 2. usually I lift to infected mushroom, but this seemed more appropriate. i can tell you: youtube does not make it easy to play a playlist, and even worse, it is impossible (as far as a dumb powerlifter like me can tell) to put a song on repeat. i was attempting to play the song via the PS3 so I could enjoy it through my stereo instead of my laptop (in other words, hear it). The PS3 has a real crappy browser, and youtube has a real crappy PS3 (or HD or whatever) mode that makes it even more impossible to skip around in a playlist.

Altogether, it was an entirely unsatisfactory experience trying to get one god damned song to play to help me pull the weight.

however, I have commented before here on harnessing The Power Of Pissed Off, and I suppose the frustration at the near impossibility of enjoying a 20 year old song for 3 minutes on state of the art technology contributed a little to my brief struggle vs. mean old mister gravity.

In the past, one of my failings was an expectation of perfect training conditions. i'd try to optimize my meals, my sleep, my training hours, everything, and if anything was amiss, I'd use that as an excuse for failure.

this time around, I planned non-optimal conditions into my routine. in fact, this entire year, I've been lifting on the notion that I want to be able to make my deadlifts in a "matter of fact" fashion, without grunting, fanfare, or theatrics. you know, like my buddy here. that's 390 kilograms, not pounds like me.

so when I stepped up to the bar after suboptimal sleep last night, with suboptimal music technology to assist me, on the border of both an anxiety attack and a stomach spasm (my treacherous mind and body tag-teaming to fuck me up), and then, at that very last moment, when the little voice told me "you can't do it", I was ready. it doesn't get a lot less optimal than that, at least not for me (since I'm not training in, say, Kandahar, and it's unlikely that I will be). Despite all those little irritations, for me, it was just another day, another deadlift.

deadlifts have been on my mind. I've made that pull a thousand times in my mind's eye. I talk about deadlifting. I practice my deadlifts in the shower and getting off the can. I dream about deadlifting. Two nights ago I dreamed that I was loading up for the 405 but I ran out of plates. So I grabbed some fruit salad to make the weight, but the chunks of pineapple and melon kept falling off the bar. What was I to do!? Wake up, I guess. Anyhow, my obsession has paid off to the extent that I've reached my goal, but it is nonetheless an obsession, and i have again become unbalanced force.

I note with amusement that then I said what good is a 400lb squat if i can't enjoy ice cream?.

I don't have a 400lb squat, but I do have a 405lb deadlift, and you'd better believe I'm going to enjoy some ice cream PDQ. But alas, I must balance my forces and return to a more equalized state, where I don't abstain from things in fear of screwing up tomorrow's lifts. I've done the lift I wanted to do, and now, I'll spend a couple of days figuring out where to go from here.

now, if you'll excuse me, i must get back to my regularly scheduled week long panic attack. the euphoria of lifting is wearing off and the stress of recovery is setting in. also, i have to hit "Replay" in the goddamn youtubes to hear this song again.