AB's Keeling Over Reeling Through Exhaustion

So I've decided to do the Korte. Yes, I know it's completely over the top for what I need right now. I know there are simpler ways for me to make progress. But, it's just one of those things that I want to try. Working out should be fun, right? (Ask me again in week 4 ).

For those that don't know me, I'm 34, 180lb, I've only been lifting for probably a year in total with a 6 month layoff in the middle. My squat's still below my old max, so I'm hoping the extra volume of the Korte will get me back up to that and beyond. My bench has always been crap, so I'm hoping to improve upon that by a nice margin too. And I haven't yet been able to break 3 plates for deads for reps yet, so that's another goal - to get me clear of 3 plates.

In the Korte, you're supposed to add an amount to your squat, bench and dead 1RM's to get your new projected 1RM's. You then do 58-64% of that new maximum for reps in the first 4 weeks to load up. Since this program is designed for competing powerlifters, which I'm not, I'm going to use the above as a guideline and play the weights by ear, trying to load up in 4 weeks without over- or under-doing it. I'm assuming that with the weights being light in absolute terms, the toll won't be as great on me with these percentages as it would on a powerlifter, so I'm expecting to have to increase the weights by a fair margin. I'm going to start off 'by the book' anyway.

I've guessed my current 1RM's and guessed a new projected max. Here are the numbers (all weights in kg):

............. 1RM ... new 1RM ..... 58% .... 60% .... 62% .... 64%
Squat: ... 100 ........ 115 ........ 67 ....... 69 ....... 71 ...... 74
Bench: .... 77 .......... 82 ........ 48 ....... 49 ....... 51 ...... 53
Dead: .... 140 ........ 150 ........ 87 ....... 90 ....... 93 ...... 96

(In pounds, the new 1RM figures are squat 253, bench 180, dead 330)

Wish me luck. I expect lots of heckling in the sidelines
-----------

Week 1, Day 1

All weights in kg, (WxSxR)

Squat: 67 x 6 x 5, Bench: 48 x 6 x 6 (WSNWSN), Dead: 87 x 6 x 5 ... (147lb/106lb/191lb)

Squats were easy, as was bench. I sometimes feel my old back injury after arching my back in the bench and when I started deadlifting, I wondered whether I was done for already. The first set was heavier than expected, but they got easier as I got used to deadlifting on a Monday (it's just not right).

I nearly forgot about the WSN bit. I wonder why Korte never used to bench facing East.

An easy workout. Bring it on

EDIT: I forgot to add, I'm only using the Korte for the loading phase. The deload/intensity phase will probably be using triples. I haven't thought that far ahead yet.

The squat and deads are 6 sets of 5?

Congrats on biting the bullet. If it was easy then use more weight or do more sets. At this stage more sets, later on you'll be getting hassled to bump the weight.

I'd also suggest picking a day to do extra on one of the three lifts. For example, if you choose Monday for squats day then do more squats sets than on the other days.

I have never seen korte in action so it will be educational for me to follow along.
Good luck.

Yeah, 6 sets of 5. I still haven't sat down and read your old journal (or Jim's), nor had the time to read the main Korte page. I'm not sure if that was 'correct', but one set here or there won't make any difference at present.

I was thinking of increasing the sets this week with the same weights, then seeing how I felt at the weekend. Then I can choose next week's weights.

Thanks SC. This won't be completely by the book as I'm not planning on going down to doubles and singles after week 4, but the first 4 weeks should be fairly standard.

At least you have the hardest part out of the way: coming up with a journal title for "Korte".

As always, I'll be following along...

Awesome! Looking forward to following this beast. It'll be interesting to see how it affects you, kinda' like a guinea pig. LoL

Good luck. Your first SF journal was one of the reasons I started running Sf myself. I don't think I'll follow you down the korte path just yet though. LoL

Protobuilder said:

It'll be interesting to see how it affects you, kinda' like a guinea pig. LoL

Click to expand...

Heh...

AB, will you continue doing GPP/running on your off days as you were with the 5x5? Or wait and see how you respond to the higher volume before adding that stuff, perhaps?

Cynical Simian said:

At least you have the hardest part out of the way: coming up with a journal title for "Korte".

Click to expand...

You're not kidding - that one was a week in the making with still no ideas, then I drove past a place called Keele on the motorway and

The GPP/running petered out a while ago. To be honest, I don't have much spare time in the evenings after lifting (spend too much time on here!) and I'm always busy at the weekends, so it's nice to relax on the two off days. I've no plans to add them back in again at present.

Good luck to you. Besides the physical part, I remember mentally I had all kinds of negativity when I got through 4 sets of squats and realized I had 3 or 4 sets to go. And then bench. And then deadlift.

B-dawg did a nice job of noting his mental state during the course of the program, IIRC.

Korte, Week 1, Day 2

I've had a little "I'm not used to this" kind of soreness in my adductors since Monday's workout, but nothing else to report. My squat form hasn't changed at all, so I don't know why they were singled out.

I wrote down 34 mins for Monday's workout, which seemed right at the time, but today's was 44 mins and didn't seem any longer. That includes my usual 10 mins of core work before I start. I've been starting most sets on the minute mark, so very little recovery time as the weights feel light. In fact, I did three sets of bench in a row (NSW), just to see if I could and it wasn't too difficult. I'm hoping for a glimmer of fatigue after Friday's workout, but I'm already thinking the weights are too light. I flew through this workout.

I expected deads to be heavier than expected again (is that possible? ) and they were. They weren't heavy, just heavier than expected and got easier after the 2nd set again.

All weights in kg, warmups excluded.

W1 D1: Squat: 67 x 6 x 5 reps, Bench: 48 x 6 x 6 reps (WSNWSN), Dead: 87 x 6 x 5 reps ... (147lb/106lb/191lb)
TODAY: Squat: 67 x 7 x 5 reps, Bench: 48 x 7 x 6 reps (NSWNSWN), Dead: 87 x 7 x 5 reps

I'm going to bulk during this. I already feel like I'm going to get some really good gains from all this extra volume. I'm loving it so far.