Today's 5 x 5 workout and some fun facts

[d3track]

Has anyone tried Costco's pork chops (boneless and huge)? They are really cheap - almost ground beef price and super quality. They sell them in a large flat pack. We love them.

my pops loves those
actually, i'm a big seafood fan
so the giant packages of oysters and crab legs are hard to pass up.....

 

[Tom Treutlein]

Dammit! I just wokeup and due to this program and work I've been so hungry lately. Now I see posts about pork chops, oysters, and crab legs. I hold no quarter. I'll eat seafood or...land...food. Anything to satisfy my stomach.

I'm going to Costco this Wednesday or Friday, madcow. I'll check out the pork chops.

By the by, I've flucuated between 186-188 since I've been on the program. I routinely eat 4400 calories a day. As of this morning (had my first record week session yesterday), I weigh 190. Even still I hit 190 a week ago at a random point. I weigh myself daily, just to keep a steady log of where I'm at. Anyway, I multiply my bodyweight by 20 and I come off needing 3800 a day. My job, which you may remember, requires a lot of lifting and moving for three hours a night. Now, I may even jump past that 4400 calorie mark daily, yet I feel as if I might not be eating enough still.

What do you think? Is it just too early in the program to see anything yet, or do I maybe need a few hundred more calories?

 

[Madcow2]

I had thought you had put it on hold for a bit. It's impossible to say because you have a new very labor intensive job as well as this program. If you continue to get stronger in the rep/set ranges required you are on the right track. In reality, an experienced lifter will not see the bulk of the gains showing up until after the volume phase. People here are just not used to the stimulation of this style program hence they've gotten gains throughout - this will normalize for them over time (like taking an all machine trained person and putting them in the rack doing squats and deads for the first time, the program design won't mean all that much because they are going to gain regardless). I can't make the call on your diet. More activity = more calories so with all your new work it's concievable your requirements are up very significantly. How long have you been running it and have you made any changes to accomodate the job?

 

[Tom Treutlein]

No changes. Doing the full program, and planning to hit the 3x deloading, unless by the time it comes around I feel the need for otherwise.

I was going to put it on hold, then I just decided to bite the bullet. My lower back hasn't bothered me from all the volume at all, aside from last night when I tweaked it by twisting and tossing a bunch of 65 lb. boxes - I wanted to get the hell out of there, and I was just in a sort've rounded position. I knew it was stupid to do at the time, yet I still did it. Luckily it was only hurting for about half an hour. I feel fine again today.

I've been running it for two full weeks. Yesterday was the first day of the third week, the first record week, of the volume phase.

 

[Jim Ouini]

I referred to 'Power Eating' by Kleiner, and according to her at 185lbs I need 4200 calories per day for building.

So I need another grand or so.

I made the following changes yesterday/today:

1. Add 2 tbsp panut butter and 1/2 cup oatmeal to my pre/post workout and bedtime protein shakes = at least 800 cals additonal per day

2. Add ground beef and egg breakfast burrito to eat with my morning fruit smoothie = 300 cals? or so I figure

I bought those uncooked tortillas at Costco and they are incredible. You put them on a frying pan for 3 mins/side and you have fresh warm tortillas. Highly recommended.

3. Made a bowl of my famous 3 bean and beef chili. Will eat as a snack or maybe with my afternoon sandwich = 300 cals?

I tried all these and it seems doable. I feel kind of weighted down after the shakes now, though. And chugging the the them with oatmeal isn't bad at all, a bit thick but I'll play around with the liquid ratio (I have a very good blender)

With me being right in the throes of the intensity phase, I'm hoping these additional calories will fit right in with the adaptation.

EDIT: I've never been a big eater so 4200 cals is pretty difficult. I can only eat 2 small slices of pizza in one sitting. Some of my friends can eat an entire pizza!

 

[Tom Treutlein]

Good to see you like the protein shakes with oatmeal. I usually water them down a bit in my thermos and sip on it at work. I shake it lightly before each sip so the oats get stirred into each little bit, rather than them sinking to the bottom and me having to chew threw them at the end.

When I used to use a cup, I'd use a spoon to stir between sips. I usually finished one off in 3-5 minutes, though.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Good to see you like the protein shakes with oatmeal. I usually water them down a bit in my thermos and sip on it at work. I shake it lightly before each sip so the oats get stirred into each little bit, rather than them sinking to the bottom and me having to chew threw them at the end.

When I used to use a cup, I'd use a spoon to stir between sips. I usually finished one off in 3-5 minutes, though.

Yep my blender whirrs the oatmeal into nothingness, so it's not half bad at all and a damn easy way to get the extra cals.

Today's workout Wk 6 Day 2
BW after workout: 185.5

Deadlift:
135 x 5
185 x 2
225 x 1
275 x 1 (sumo and conventional ea.)
315 x 1 (s & c ea.)
330 x 3 x 3 (sumo)

First time ditching the touch and go. I reset my hands after each rep. Holy shit it makes it harder I felt a twinge in my left buttock after the second set; the other thing is that I need to practice my mindset when doing this since I do all my checks on the first rep and feel kind of rushed in the 2nd and 3rd. Need to practice.

I also deaded the weight back up to the rack to take the weights off, conventional

Military
95 x 3
115 x 1
130 x 3 x 3

I really suck at these. I'm messing around with my grip and elbow positioning. I tried to do these with elbows facing forward. Last rep was more of a push press

Pullups
40 x 3 x 3

Used semi-wide grip to hopefully take some stress of my elbow. Pretty easy. Have some room to spare here.

I also messed around with pullthroughs for the first time. 3 x 10-10-8 at 80, 100 and 110.

I did them to see if I'd feel anything in my glute since I thought I might've pulled something doing deads. Plus I just wanted to try them I think I like them, despite all the crazy looks from the beautiful people.

 

[Madcow2]

You don't need to take your hands off (even though some people will stand back up and completely reset). Just let the weight settle on the floor and reset your position to your starting point for the initial pull (most people aren't in perfect pulling position after the weight is lowered).

 

[Jim Ouini]

Yeah I'm still working on my tempo. I wanted to be absolutely sure the weight was dead which is why I reset my hands, temptation was there to semi-touch and go.

Sets definitely felt more intense, which is good.

BTW, any problem doing adding pullthroughs on Wed during this phase? I can always wait til this cycle is over.

 

[Madcow2]

The quesiton becomes, how much excess capacity do you have? I don't know and unless you are used to similar volume/intensity/frequency programs it's going to be tough to hazard a guess. The safe thing to do would be not add them. If you feel like you have a lot of gas you could add 2-3 sets for reps and keep it light for conditioning rather than strength.