FortyP's 9 sets of Deadlift per week log

[J-Madd]

Fixed the rhomboid problem! Well, J-Madd fixed it, really. I told him what was going on, and he suggested a small change in my DL setup. It made all the difference. Basically, I wasn't sitting back far enough during setup. Once I implemented the change, I hardly sensed my rhomboids anymore--but I did sense increased weight on my hips, which is where it's supposed to be, anyway! Thanks again, J-Madd.

You're most welcome! It's amazing what even the smallest adjustment can do.

[FortyPlusRunner]

Don't cross the streams!

I laughed aloud the I read this one. I love your log 40+Runner!

Thanks, J-Madd! Your book has been a great help to me. I'm very thankful to KB for making all of this possible in the first place. So, perhaps I try to give back a little in my log. Glad it's enjoyable.

[FortyPlusRunner]

Yes, Feeder: I'm in cement. If you've never experienced the complete and utter joy of running headfirst into a steady 30+ mph headwind, I heartily encourage you to do so. As one of my running friends says, "It builds character." The sensation is, I imagine, what it might be like to run through liquid cement. Bicyclists are accustomed to this, of course, but some runners aren't. You never know when something like this might happen in a race, so it's good to have some experience with it. (A half-marathon I once ran had its final 5K straight into an 18 mph headwind--exactly when you're most tired. That was intense.)

I think I caught that same headwind when I took my bike out yesterday. For a split second, I thought I was going to get blown off a railroad overpass.

Seriously--it was that intense. I almost got blown off the side of the road I was running on at one point. Could be dangerous if semi-trucks are passing by!

[FortyPlusRunner]

Fixed the rhomboid problem! Well, J-Madd fixed it, really. I told him what was going on, and he suggested a small change in my DL setup. It made all the difference. Basically, I wasn't sitting back far enough during setup. Once I implemented the change, I hardly sensed my rhomboids anymore--but I did sense increased weight on my hips, which is where it's supposed to be, anyway! Thanks again, J-Madd.

You're most welcome! It's amazing what even the smallest adjustment can do.

True that. I can only imagine that those kinds of small adjustments multiply exponentially in importance as the weights go up. And yet those guys pulling 900+ lbs DLs make it look so easy...

[FortyPlusRunner]

Block 4: Fighter + "Green"
Week 1: 75% (95% training max on OHP; 100% on DL)
Body weight: 199 lbs
Notation is sets x reps x weight in lbs
TM: Treadmill; SBike: stationary bike; HR1: heart rate 1:00 after stopping; AHR: average heart rate

Day 1: 5x5x95 OHP, 3x3x255 DL; Jog TM 1.58 mil, 15:15; AHR 145, HR1, 109
Day 2: Run TM 5.5 mil, 48:35; AHR 150, HR1, 118
Day 3: Run TM 4.0 mil, 39:23; AHR 133, HR1, 102
Day 4: 5x5x95 OHP, 3x3x255 DL; SBike 9.18 mil, 30:00; AHR 121
Day 5: Run 4.0 mil, 38:30; AHR 141
Day 6: SBike 16.7 mil, 51:21; AHR 123, HR1, 107
Day 7: Rest

Mileage for the week: 15 run + 26 SBike

Listen to Your Heart... My apologies if I just nostalgia-whacked you with a hyper-sentimental 80s reference, but... this heart rate stuff is getting complicated. Case in point...

Is Karvonen verboten? Ah, the Karvonen formula. Like many of us here, I suppose, my resting heart rate is somewhat low. I measured it this week at 48, which is typical for even recreational runners like me. (In my 20s, it hovered around 43 or 44.) This is important because a lower resting heart rate reconfigures your heart rate training zones if you adhere to the Karvonen formula (which a lot of authorities do consider to be more reliable for trained athletes). In any case, it's essential when computing the Karvonen formula to also know your true Max Heart Rate, so I'm going to have to manually test that here sometime soon. The highest it's gone in my runs so far is 180, and I wasn't going all out during that run, and that number was prefaced by a long period in the upper 170s, so it wasn't tachycardia. My completely uneducated guess: 192.

That day 3 run was slow, but your AHR was low, too. Yeah, that's what happens when you're on a recovery jog and there isn't a 30+ mph wind in your face. Seriously, I run best first thing in the morning on a mostly empty stomach; I've tested that theory on and off over the years, and it's proven itself time and again. Day 3 was one of those, and it was smooooooove. (Yes, with a "v.")

OHP notes: A bit rough on day 1, I'm afraid, but hindsight is helpful here: days 6 and 7 from the previous week were both running days, one of which was basically a HIC, so I'm not surprised I wasn't completely ready for the day 1 lifts. The error I made was doing a recovery jog on day 7 of the previous week instead of doing SBike, which lends itself really well to recovery for me. I'm noting it for the future. Day 4's OHP sets were better, and I'm finding that I do need longer recovery periods in between OHP sets now; 3:00 seems to be the right amount. Also...

It's the Traps! Strangely enough, I sensed some mild soreness and tightness in my traps after both days of OHP. That can't be a good thing for either reason I can think of: 1) My delts are maxed out, and my traps--which are secondary muscles at best in OHP--are over-compensating; 2) I'm doing something mechanically wrong and thus messing up my traps a bit in the movement. On the other hand, perhaps my traps are the weak link in this whole chain, and they're finally getting the stimulus they need to grow. Anyway, the soreness disappeared after a day, so I'm not concerned about it...yet.

DL notes: Like a glove... As straightforward as 75% week should be. I could've done another couple sets both days, but that would have been inviting the McTigue, to which I Just Say No. But...

Running notes: ...jogging on day 1 after DL was a mistake, especially since I had two runs on days 6 and 7 of the previous week. I should've simply SBiked it, which I will in the future. Also...

Did you just make a verb out of SBike? I'm afraid I verbed it, yes. But as I was saying, I also should've flipped the intensities of the runs on days 2 and 3. Note that day 3's run was much more of a "recovery" effort, while day 2's was in the Easy+ range. Flipping those two would have been advantageous the day after the multiple sets of DL. So noted.

Any particular reason for the long SBike on day 6? Yeah, my right hip was sore, and I knew running would exacerbate it, so I just did an easy SBike session to let things calm down.

Ready for a totally rad 80% week, bro? Actually, no. My sinuses haven't been draining properly the past couple weeks, so my doc put me on Prednisone, which he expects will do the trick but is catabolic. That most likely means I'll have a break-even week, at best. In any case, I'm going to make doubly sure I'm eating all my protein this week.

[J-Madd]

Did you just make a verb out of SBike? I'm afraid I verbed it, yes.

Now you've made a verb out of "verb."

[FortyPlusRunner]

Did you just make a verb out of SBike? I'm afraid I verbed it, yes.

Now you've made a verb out of "verb."

I love Mobius-stripping things.

[FortyPlusRunner]

Block 4: Fighter + "Green"
Week 2: 80% (95% training max on OHP; 100% on DL)
Body weight: 199 lbs
Notation is sets x reps x weight in lbs
TM: Treadmill; SBike: stationary bike; HR1: heart rate 1:00 after stopping; AHR: average heart rate

Day 1: 4x5x100 OHP, 2x3x275 DL; SBike 4.8 mil, 16:02; AHR 128, HR1, 107
Day 2: Rest
Day 3: 3x5x100 OHP (I tried a 4th set but got only 4 reps), 2x3x275 DL
Day 4: Rest / easy walk to & from work
Day 5: 1x5x165 SQ, 5x5x85 OHP, 3x3x235 DL
Day 6: SE 3x30 (x6 exercises)
Day 7: SBike 16.0 mil, 50:16; AHR 125, HR1, 108

Mileage for the week: SBike, 21

So, man, how is life in the Predni-Zone? Ha. Ha. NOT funny. Seriously, being on Prednisone has simply sucked. Supposedly it reduces inflammation, but it's also catabolic. On top of that, my doc wanted me on this intense antihistamine to dry up the liquid trapped in my ears, and the thing is basically a tranquilizer. Anyway, it was a trying week, training-wise. I found that out pretty quickly on day 1. Everything seemed heavier than usual--and that was after a rest day. I wasn't surprised because that's what people had generally said happens anyway. When I woke up day 2 with the McTigue, I knew it was going to be an out-of-the-norm week.

So you switched to Operator...kinda? Kinda, yeah. Day 1's SBike gave me hot flashes and weird heart palpitations just going through it, and with the Prednisone/industrial-strength-antihistamine combo, I knew I wasn't going to get any running in this week. I made it through 3 sets of OHP on day 3, but the fourth set was a wash at the fifth rep: muscle failure was imminent, so I shut it down.

What's with the reduced loads on day 5? This is somewhat counter-intuitive, but when a heavy lifting session has gone awry, I've actually found that following it up with a significantly reduced lifting session speeds recovery. It's worked for me in the past, so I tried it again here, and it went wonderfully. I started by "greasing the groove" with merely one set of squats at about 65% of my 1RM. For OHP, I dropped to 70% (with 95% training max) and ripped through 5 sets of that, no problem--snappy and wonderful. Same idea for DL: 70%, full sets, and I was ready to go. This kind of "drop day" seems to "reset" my system, and it's just what I needed after a week of the catabolic/tranquilizing medication soup I was on.

Hey, that SE session you threw in looks like it went well. It did, actually. The couple sessions of SE I did a few weeks ago, wherein I tested what might work in the future, led to good fruits here. I did make some small adjustments (dropped 5 lbs on a couple of the exercises), but otherwise, it was a properly invigorating workout. As expected, heart rate spiked up and down between the low 90s and the high 120s with each exercise, averaging out to 100.

I'm guessing you're going to throw an optional 85% week in next week? Absoeffinglutely. I'm off the "dessicate the ears" cocktail as of tomorrow, so hopefully 85% week will go better than this week did.

Are your ears better, at least? No; there's still fluid in them, even after this diabolical Prednisone. I'm going to have to see an ENT after all--probably get tubes in my ears like a kid or something. I'm thrilled.

[FortyPlusRunner]

Block 4: Fighter + "Green"
Week 3: optional 85% week (95% training max on OHP; 100% on DL)
Body weight: 198 lbs
Notation is sets x reps x weight in lbs
TM: Treadmill; SBike: stationary bike; HR1: heart rate 1:00 after stopping; AHR: average heart rate

Day 1: 1x5x185 SQ, 3x3x105 OHP, 1x3x285 DL
Day 2: Rest
Day 3: 1x5x205 SQ, 3x3x105 OHP, 1x4x285 DL
Day 4: Rest / easy walk to & from work
Day 5: 1x4x225 SQ, 3x3x105 OHP, 1x3x285 DL
Day 6: Kinda-HIC: occasional stair-climbing (see notes)
Day 7: SBike 18.7 mil, 60:00; AHR 127, HR1, 103

Mileage for the week: SBike, 19

This is not even remotely a "Green" week, 40P. Affirmative on that. I finished the Prednisone on day 7 of last week, and things went sharply downhill from there: fatigue, sinus pressure, hot flashes--just weird stuff. I knew it was going to be another out of the ordinary week, so I continued last week's "Operator" modifications.

Speaking of which, I heard you had not one but two doctor visits this week. What are you, a Cambridge Analytics employee or something? Anyway, yes, that's true. When the fatigue, sinus pressure, etc., didn't clear up, I went to see the doc. He found absolutely nothing wrong--except for what he called, and I quote, "Prednisone withdrawal." GREAT. Anyway, I started feeling myself again on day 5. Hopefully that'll continue. Unless...

What did the other doc say? The ENT? Strange. There was no fluid in my ears--so the near-worthless Prednisone actually did something after all (or was it the high-powered antihistamine? Or the both of them? Honestly, I don't care at this point). However, and this is the somewhat scary part, the ringing in my ears continues. Because I can hear my heartbeat in the ringing (it kinda "pulses" with my heartbeat), he's concerned there might be an occluded blood vessel or an aneurysm up there. WONDERFUL. So, I'm getting an MRI. Consider the irony: after all these years, I'm finally getting my head checked.

This is getting to be kinda a downer, man. Can we talk about lifting or something? Fine. Thanks for the concern, man.

Actual stair-climbing can be a HIC--kinda. I had to work about 16 hours on day 6 this week, and there was no way I was going to get a long enough break to hit the gym or the roads, so I just did what I could. I was walking back and forth between buildings throughout the day, so I simply took the stairs and took them fast (but individually, to simulate a stair-climber). By the end of the day I was feeling the burn in my quads and calves, so I definitely got some kind of a workout. Better than nothing.

You ramped up those squats this week. Indeed. These single sets are great for "greasing the groove" and building back up to where you might take on an exercise again sometime in the near future. I'm not sure if I'll include them for 90% week or not.

OHP notes: I'm still not comfortable with the weights. Maybe it was the week's "Prednisone withdrawal," but things weren't snappy. We'll see how things go next week. Of all the "major" lifts, I know that OHP progresses the most slowly, so I'm willing to be patient.

DL notes: Fine. I got into a groove on day 3 and went onwards to rep #4, and would've gone on to rep #5 if I hadn't reminded myself to leave something in the tank. Anyway, I'm excited to see how 90% week will go.

Uh...SBike notes? Simply that I could tell throughout the exercise that my aerobic condition has deteriorated slightly, which isn't surprising; I haven't had the energy to keep it up since the Prednisone debacle. In any case, I hope to return to running this coming week.

[FortyPlusRunner]

Block 4: Fighter + "Green"
Week 4: 90 / 95% week (95% training max on OHP; 100% on DL)
Body weight: 197 lbs
Notation is sets x reps x weight in lbs
TM: Treadmill; SBike: stationary bike; HR1: heart rate 1:00 after stopping; AHR: average heart rate

Day 1: 2x2x235 SQ, 2x3x115 OHP (3rd set attempted: 2 reps), 1x3x300 DL
Day 2: Rest
Day 3: Rest (MRI / MRA / see notes)
Day 4: 1x5x165 SQ, 1x3x120 OHP (=127 1RM; current 1RM = 132), 1x4x315 DL (=344 1RM ==> PR by 10 lbs <==); SBike 4.54 mil, 16:00; AHR 115
Day 5: HIC: SBike 10.5 mil, 33:22; 6 x 30-second intervals w/ 3-4 mins between (intervals at 24mph); AHR 126
Day 6: SE 3x40 (x6 exercises); AHR 113
Day 7: Rest

Mileage for the week: SBike, 15

Did you, uh, level up in DL? Your use of video-game terminology is...curious. But yes, I hit a PR this week by exactly one rep. That might seem measly, even inconsequential, for this intermediate lifter. But let's look at the circumstances. Last November I hit 3x315 for DL after a week of rest from lifting. My body weight was the same, more or less. This week, I tested within the block and hit 4x315. I could've gone for another rep, too, but I wasn't about to max it out, being only halfway through this block. So, considering not only the objectivity of the improvement--a 10-pound improvement, says the trusty 1RM calculator--the circumstances make it even more convincing. Based on that analysis, I'm going to recompute the second half of this block with the new 1RM. Might as well go for it.

Looks like you epic-failed in OHP, tho. Okay, look Mr.-Hipster-I-don't-spell-words-correctly-on-purpose-and-think-it's-cool-to-make-verbs-out-of-everything guy: it wasn't that bad. Testing within the block and hitting 96% of your 1RM on 95% day with a 95% training max on top of it is actually a win in my book. Man...tough crowd this week. Especially since I dealt with...

Attack of the Killer DOMS!! You said it brother...and how. Notice the idiocy I engaged in on day 1: I broke my rule of doing only one set of squats and did a second set...at a fairly high percentage of my 1RM. That was dumb. And I paid for it. At the end of day 2, I casually sat down on my couch when Whoa, Nellie! my left groin basically seized up. It radiated the rest of the evening but thankfully cleared up the next day. However, I woke up day 4 with some moderate pain in my lower left back. (I'm sensing a pattern here.) That's the primary reason I dropped to 65% for my set of squats that day: grease the groove, nothing more. Doing that actually helped ease the pain a bit, but yeesh. I haven't had a case of DOMS in a while, but it reminded me right quick why I'm wary of over-exerting myself, especially with newer implementations in the routine (the leading cause of DOMS). Anyway, about that MRI...

It's not a tumor!! Thanks, Arnold. That is correct: the MRI was "unremarkable," which is exactly what you want it to be in medical-speak. The MRA (angio, or blood vessel analysis) showed some flow issues in the sagittal sinus, but the radiologist didn't see any evidence of stenosis (narrowing) and said for the record the flow issues could be mere artefacting. How or if this explains my pulsatile tinnitus I don't know. The adventure continues...

Recovery week coming up? Sorta. It's Easter week. That means chocolate. That means beer. That means beer and chocolate. I don't know if I can afford a recovery week, diet-wise. I might try something a little unorthodox...

Who, you? NO... Sigh. Don't you have a canceled appointment with Ingraham or something to go to...?!