AB's Keeling Over Reeling Through Exhaustion

[anotherbutters]

biggt - thanks man, that helps. I particularly liked your comments on a lifter's age - I hadn't thought about it from a 'mileage on the body' point of view. Makes sense.

I didn't want to appear to be over-analysing things with the spreadsheets. I was running through a couple of different scenarios, which raised a question that I didn't know the answer to. From madcow's analogy of teaching a man to fish, I feel like I'm out on my first fishing trip and it's not until you go out on your own for the first time that you realise what you do and don't know.

Thanks super_rice - I obviously wasn't that observant when I started reading your journal (or I've forgotten what I read already, due to my 'old' age)

 

[blut wump]

Now I'm feeling like Methuselah, I'm 49 in just over another month. When I was in my early-to-mid 30s I weighed around 215 and was probably at my best ever as a balance of strength and fitness. I was more into martial arts than lifting back then but had energy for both along with quite a bit of cycling.

As I approached 30 I'd been in another lengthy layoff and felt old, really old, a "life's over" type of old. Pushing yourself hard is a rejuvenating process so long as things don't break. Never blame any failing on chronological age: it'll only serve to convince yourself that you're old, whatever your age, and that's bad. At any stage, you are what you are and should be striving to improve, as we here all are.

 

[anotherbutters]

I should probably add a few more smileys when I talk about my age. I don't think of myself as old and a lot of my comments are a bit tongue in cheek. 34 certainly isn't over the hill. Hell, I'm in my prime

 

[anotherbutters]

super_rice, I skimmed through the old journal you link to, but it contains two runs of the DF5x5. No mention of the Korte. I did find this funny however :

40 oz steak holy fuck man

If you don't count calories, then I doubt you measure how many oz. of steak you eat. Not calling you a liar, but 40 oz. does sound like a lot. 2.5 lbs. of steak? Jesus haha, if you can do that man, then that's awesome.

there's no bone in it? it's just meat. i dunno, i just go in there and ask them for a steak that is easy to chew and big. usually when i do this i'm not paying for it

 

[Gymgurl]

morning

 

[anotherbutters]

Korte: Week 2, Day 1

My erectors felt a little sore when I started squatting, but it went away after a couple of sets. Squats were fine - no problem, although I got a bit of a sweat on. Bench was easy again. I've noticed that my target 1RM for bench is only 6% higher than my current 1RM (squat is 15% higher, deads are only 7% higher), so I think I'm shortchanging myself as they're always easy. I'll have to bump them a little more than planned to bring them in sync with how hard squats and deads are.

The first set of deads had me a bit worried, at the thought of increasing them for the next 8 workouts, but I settled into them and they got easier. I added chalk on the 4th set, which made a massive difference. It was like someone had taken 20kg off and the final sets just flew up. Confidence restored.

I did my usual 10 mins of core work before squats and the whole workout still only took 47 mins, although I was pushing myself a bit to see how I'd fare at a fair clip. A lot of the sets were 60 seconds apart, even the last 3 sets of deads. I know I don't need to do this, but it's nice to know I've a lot in reserve.

My bodyweight was up to 182.0lb this morning for the first time.

All weights in kg, warmups excluded.

................Squat...................Bench...................................Deads...........
W1 D1: .... 67 x 6 x 5 reps ..... 48 x 6 x 6 reps (WSNWSN) ....... 87 x 6 x 5 reps ... (147lb/106lb/191lb)
W1 D2: .... 67 x 7 x 5 reps ..... 48 x 7 x 6 reps (NSWNSWN) ..... 87 x 7 x 5 reps
W1 D3: .... 69 x 7 x 5 reps ..... 50 x 7 x 6 reps (NSWNSWN) ..... 90 x 7 x 5 reps
TODAY: ... 71 x 7 x 5 reps ..... 52 x 7 x 6 reps (NSWNSWN) ..... 92 x 7 x 5 reps ... (156lb/114lb/202lb)

 

[Jim Ouini]

Good workout, just checkin' in

BTW IIRC I ended up ~70%1RM (projected I think) at the end of volume for all my lifts.

 

[anotherbutters]

Korte: Week 2, Day 2

I bought myself a pair of Adidas Ironworks oly shoes and used them for the first time today. My old Nike Airmax are about 2 years old and falling to bits, so they're a bit better than what I'm used to . The new shoes are nice and solid with much better grip on the rubber matting, but I'll probably notice the difference more when I'm doing higher weights rather than all this volume. I took them off for the final set of deads and noticed the difference in height. Or rmaybe it was the angle. Either way, I think I prefer deading in barefeet.

For today's workout, squats were about the same as Monday, but I wasn't sweating as much. Bench was harder than expected and a little disappointing, but I'm sure I can still add plenty to it. Deads were ok again and I added chalk after the 3rd set again, which is always a nice boost. I managed to wrap three fingers around my thumb on the hook grip, which made it extremely solid, but I was a bit concerned about putting too much pressure on the joint with my index finger. The nice thing with the Korte is that I'll only have to wait 2 days before experimenting again.

I didn't rush through this workout like I did on Monday, and found myself quietly going through the motions today. This is the first sign of me slowing down, but only slightly. Or it could just be one of those days. Total workout time was about 57 mins including 10 mins of core work. I'm looking forward to Friday already, when I'll bump everything by another 2kg. The real fun should begin on Monday.

All weights in kg, warmups excluded.

................Squat...................Bench...................................Deads...........
W1 D1: .... 67 x 6 x 5 reps ..... 48 x 6 x 6 reps (WSNWSN) ....... 87 x 6 x 5 reps ... (147lb/106lb/191lb)
W1 D2: .... 67 x 7 x 5 reps ..... 48 x 7 x 6 reps (NSWNSWN) ..... 87 x 7 x 5 reps
W1 D3: .... 69 x 7 x 5 reps ..... 50 x 7 x 6 reps (NSWNSWN) ..... 90 x 7 x 5 reps
W2 D1: .... 71 x 7 x 5 reps ..... 52 x 7 x 6 reps (NSWNSWN) ..... 92 x 7 x 5 reps
TODAY: ... 71 x 8 x 5 reps ..... 54 x 7 x 6 reps (NSWNSWN) ..... 94 x 7 x 5 reps ... (156lb/119lb/207lb)

 

[blut wump]

Looking good. Are you intending to follow Plan A from above?

Are you making any effort to follow Korte's ESM technique of minimal emotional involvement in the lifts? If so, does it make any difference?

 

[anotherbutters]

Plan A is roughly what I'm aiming for, yes, although the figures aren't set in stone. I've already increased bench because it felt too light relative to squats and deads and I plan on doing the same on Friday. I think after next Monday's workout, I'll know whether I need to step everything up a gear to load effectively. Things are still 'comfortable' for now. I'm not sure when things should start to get hard, but I'm guessing around this Friday/next Monday.

I'd forgotten about ESM. I certainly don't feel the need to psych myself up for any of the lifts, so maybe I'm doing it anyway