Islay_Malt's TB Log

[Islay_malt]

Base Building Week 6

Sun 28 June MS: Bench 135 x 5, 135 x 5, 135 x 10; Squat 135 x 5, 135 x 5, 135 x 10

Mon 29 June E: 30 min

Tue 30 June Recovery

Wed 1 July MS: Press 80 x 5, 80 x 5, 80 x 10; TB DL 135 x 10

Thu 2 July E: 45 min

Fri 3 July Off (flipped today and Saturday due to the holiday)

Sat 4 July E: 45 min

MS: I mentioned last week I’m doing Greyskull LP’s two day split. The basic rules are that you do 2 sets of 5 at your work weight and then a third set of AMRAP at that same weight. If you get at least 5 reps for each set you add 2.5 pounds for the presses and 5 for the lower body lifts. If you make 10 or more on the AMRAP set you can double the progression weight. DL is one work set AMRAP. I made the decision to cap my reps at 10.

E: added 10 minutes this week. Still making slow progress, but staying positive.

R: loving the mobility stuff. When I start continuation in a couple of weeks I’ll have to make sure to work this into the mix, ideally more than once a week. Feeling good.

[Islay_malt]

Base Building Week 7

Sun 5 July MS: Bench 140 x 5, 140 x 5, 140 x 10; Squat 145 x 5, 145 x 5, 145 x 10

Mon 6 July E: 45 min

Tue 7 July Recovery

Wed 8 July E: 40 min

Thu 9 July MS: Press 85 x 5, 85 x 5, 85 x 10; TB DL 145 x 10

Fri 10 July E: 45 min

Sat 11 July Off

MS: No issues with the lifts, just trying to pattern the movements well with good form. Next week will be my last week of BB so starting to think about continuation. I think I'll progress faster if I lift 3 times per week, but I'll still want to run 3 times also, so I have concerns about recovery. I suppose I can give it a shot for 6 weeks or so and adjust as needed. If anybody has any advice I'm all ears. Still planning to run the LP for at least the first couple of blocks of continuation, unless it unexpectedly culminates sooner than that.

E: Broken record time. Slow progress continues. I'm still adding a conservative 10 min a week to my E total time, not sure where I'll want to cap that, time-wise. I'd like to be able to run continuously at an aerobic HR for at least 30 minutes before adding any HIC/faster running. That goal is still further down the road.

[VenomousCoffee]

Welcome! Just now seeing the thread. My E was terrible when I started TB (it still is compared to some on here) so I might be able to offer a bit of perspective on that.

[Islay_malt]

Thanks VC, appreciate the welcome.

Speaking of low HR running, I messaged a couple of very knowledgeable guys, and they recommended throwing away the HR monitor for now, and just running easy by feel, building up to running for up to an hour at a conversational pace. When I can do that, then put the HR monitor back on, and keeping my runs at the same pace, start working to drop my HR for the same pace over a period of weeks. These are guys who are big fans of this type of training, and they are obviously good runners, but they said nobody should go through the torture of running for 2 minutes, walking for two minutes lol.

How was your experience? I think you mentioned you weren't really a runner when you started. How has your progress been?

[VenomousCoffee]

"Not really a runner" would be very generous, ha ha. I had done no E work at all, really, before TB and I'd been lifting heavy for too long and gotten too big. Plus, I really don't have any natural ability for E work.

When I started my first BB, I did the jog/walk thing because that's all I could do. Over the course of that first BB, the amount of time I could jog grew and grew. Same for the total amount of time I could work (30 minutes, to 45, to 60, etc.). And then when I got done with BB and started the HICs, I struggled mightily. It took a lot longer for me to get from terrible to bad at the HICs than at the Es, but I think I've gotten there. The attitude I took was to keep banging my head on the wall and to take on as much extra work as I could stomach. So let's say a HIC has 10 rounds, and I could do 5 the proper way and needed extra rest, etc. to do the other 5, I'd do all 10 rather than do 5 and stop.

[Islay_malt]

"Not really a runner" would be very generous, ha ha. I had done no E work at all, really, before TB and I'd been lifting heavy for too long and gotten too big. Plus, I really don't have any natural ability for E work.

When I started my first BB, I did the jog/walk thing because that's all I could do. Over the course of that first BB, the amount of time I could jog grew and grew. Same for the total amount of time I could work (30 minutes, to 45, to 60, etc.). And then when I got done with BB and started the HICs, I struggled mightily. It took a lot longer for me to get from terrible to bad at the HICs than at the Es, but I think I've gotten there. The attitude I took was to keep banging my head on the wall and to take on as much extra work as I could stomach. So let's say a HIC has 10 rounds, and I could do 5 the proper way and needed extra rest, etc. to do the other 5, I'd do all 10 rather than do 5 and stop.

Good for you, man, respect for the resilience. Were you using a HR monitor when you first started, and using that to tell you when to walk? Or were you just going by feel?

[VenomousCoffee]

Nope, no HR. And I have terrible allergies so "breathe through your nose" doesn't work for me either. I just went by the comfort/talk test when my E was strained by LSS. Now, I know my pace when I jog so I just hit that.

I should mention that I'm entirely recreational with this (I'm a high school teacher) so if I'm off a little and miss some improvement, it doesn't matter.

[Islay_malt]

Good deal, I think I’m gonna ditch the monitor for a while and just go talk test til I build some mileage. Thanks

[Islay_malt]

Base Building Week 8 (Final)

Sun 12 July MS: Bench 145 x 5, 145 x 5, 145 x 10; Squat 155 x 5, 155 x 5, 155 x 10

Mon 13 July E: 32 min

Tue 14 July Recovery

Wed 15 July E: 32 min

Thu 16 July MS: Press 90 x 5, 90 x 5, 90 x 10; TB DL 155 x 10

Fri 17 July E: 32 min

Sat 18 July Off

Continuation Goals:
1. Avoid injury
2. Reduce body fat
3. Improve aerobic fitness via running
4. Get stronger

If running is a higher priority than strength, and I want to run at least 3x per week, then I think I'm looking at a 2-day strength training plan. I still want to run a linear progression, but what I learned from BB was that the Greyskull LP, with its AMRAP sets and 10 lb progressions, was a little tough on recovery. Also, I really believe I need to be squatting twice a week. So I'm slightly modifying to a novice LP from The Barbell Prescription, designed by Starting Strength coaches for older lifters. I won't be doing AMRAP sets and will go for more moderate weight progression, in the hope of running the progression out for a while. The split will be:

Sun
Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
BW Row 3x6-8
Ab Rollout 3x5

Thu
TBDL 1x5
Press 3x5
Light Squat 2x5 (-10% from Sunday)
BW Row 3x6-8

For running I'm gonna hang up the HR monitor for a while, and just do an easy couch to 5k, 3-day per week, walk/run plan to gently get back to running continuously at an easy pace. Once I'm doing that I'll use the monitor again and work on HR. I think this is a better first step.

I'm down to 241 lbs. I first posted at 245, but actually started BB at about 249, so I've lost about a pound per week. Mostly I've vastly improved my food quality, almost completely eliminating sugar, white flour, processed meats and vegetable oils. It's tough to do, not because of willpower, but because these things are everywhere. I probably need to start measuring my waist, in addition to my weight.

Overall, I feel pretty good, came through BB with no injuries and improved fitness, and I'm looking forward to continuation.

[Islay_malt]

Continuation Week 1

Sun 19 July MS: Squat 160 x 5 x 3 sets, Bench 150 x 5 x 3 sets, BW Row x 6 x 3 sets. No ab wheel yet

Mon 20 July E: 35 min walk/run

Tue 21 July R: OS Resets

Wed 22 July Off: Felt lousy, bagged my run

Thu 23 July MS: TB DL 165 x 5 x 1, Press 95 x 5 x 3, Squat 145 x 5 x 2, BW Row x 7 x 3

Fri 24 July E: 35 min walk/run

Sat 25 July Off

MS: No real issues, just being old and stiff requires more and more warmup sets. I’m progressing my BW rows with a rep range of 6-7-8. When I do 3 sets of 8 I drop the bar one position lower in the rack and do 6 reps.

E: Freedom from the HR monitor feels good.