Creechur's Log

[Creechur]

Hello All. Wall of text incoming, TLDR for the wise ones who skip the wall!

Little bit of back story: started lifting in 2006 on the high school football team, graduated 2009 and quit lifting while attending Georgia Tech. Early 2011, found Muscle and Strength's website and started doing BtB's workouts and progressing a little. Asked around and had LtL show me 5/3/1 on which I made pretty stellar gains. Worked through and moved over to this website till around October of 2011 and ended with lifts somewhere along the lines of a 320 bench, 455 squat, and 455 deadlift. Got extremely overwhelmed with classes, had my wisdom teeth removed, and had a repetitive lower back injury that all made lifting really not enjoyable to me. I was tired of hurting and felt like I was devoting too much time to trying to get my numbers somewhere where I felt they were worthy for a meet. Stopped lifting and posting here around this time, basically pussing out in the lifting game, and just continued taking classes. Went on like that till May where a bunch of big life changes hit me all at once, culminating in me being pretty down-in-the-dumps (what punctuation...).

Around June, sitting in my tiny apartment alone during my internship in South Carolina, I felt like I needed something to do. I went down to the local gym (one of the few attractions in town) and tried it out. Joined up later that week and just started trying to do sets of 10 on everything except deadlift (didn't deadlift due to "gym" rules) in order to lose weight. I'm 5'7" and was around 240-245 at this time and I continued this through the end of July at which time I had lost to 215. Came across two articles on TNation, one of which was by Jim Wendler who wrote 5/3/1.
T NATION | The Boring But Big 3-Month Challenge
T NATION | Programs For the Pull-up Deficient

Took up the 3-Month challenge and pull-up program because I thought I just wanted to lift to get in shape and more muscular. I knew that before I ended up not enjoying weight lifting when I tried to push my big 3 numbers up. I just wanted to try and work hard in the gym and have results to show. However, as I completed the hypertrophy work I noticed my numbers were really going up, and I got the old itch. I started pushing just a little harder on the weeks where I would end my big lifts with a single. I did this until the week of December 2nd where I maxed out with a 520 deadlift, 330 bench, 215 (BODYWEIGHT!) press, and 455 for a double on squat (from not deadlifting at all during the summer, squatting 415, and benching 285 from the random programming in June and July). So now I can lift heavier than I ever did when I really pursued the numbers, and I feel better about it. I don't feel the pressure to up my numbers and I can just enjoy lifting to be healthy. I just want to lift to try and make myself the best I can be, which just so happens to include having a respectable Big 3 lifts. So now I would like to begin tracking my progress on this website again. The community here is wonderful, and I've missed being a part of it.

TLDR; Used to lift, quit for a year, came back, actually enjoy lifting now. If you'll have me, I'd love to rejoin the community.

Current Status:
21 years old, student
5'7", 213 lbs
520 Dead, 330 Bench, ~465 Squat

Current Program: SMOLOV

So, kind of crazy but I had the program suggested to me and turned the guy down a month ago because, as I told him, I wasn't interested in only squatting or competing in power lifting. However, the idea stuck with me and the more I thought about it, the more I really just wanted to do it to A) see if I could and B) say that I did. So now I'm trying it out with a 455 programmed max.

Introductory Cycle
Day 1

Squat - these were shaky as I was at a new gym using a rack that literally only held the bar (old school kind as seen in a lot of olympic lifting videos on youtube) and I was NOT used to it.
Warmups: 135-275
295x8
295x8
295x8
320x5
345x2
345x2
365x1

Chin-Ups (I list them as chins in my log, but do all grips)
BWx8 wide grip
BWx8 neutral grip
BWx8 close grip
BWx8 medley!

I plan on trying to get in some kind of small maintenance lifting at the end of Smolov session as I feel the program out. I have a pretty good idea of how my body reacts to stuff, so this will be instinctive. I won't hesitate to drop the maintenance stuff if I feel like it endangers the squatting.


Thanks for stopping by and reading a bit if you did. Any questions, I'd love to answer (though I'm not a fountain of knowledge) or help in any way. I'll probably be poking through logs a little at a time, this area has gotten HUGE since I took my hiatus!

[big_swede]

Welcome back man. Your numbers are more than good enough to compete.

Good luck and subbed!

[Creechur]

Thanks on all counts Swede. I'll get on a platform one day!

[bruteforce]

Glad to see you back buddy. Smash some weights and have a great time!

[LtL]

Good to see you back.

[BendtheBar]

Great to have you back Creech. Smash on!

[Creechur]

Originally Posted by bruteforce

Glad to see you back buddy. Smash some weights and have a great time!

Thanks Brute, will do.

Originally Posted by LtL

Good to see you back.

Thanks LtL, good to be back!

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Great to have you back Creech. Smash on!

Thank you BtB, working on it!

Introductory Cycle
Day 2

Squat
Warmups: 135-275
295x8
295x8
295x8
325x5
345x2
345x2
365x1

Bench Press
225x5 Worst bench I've ever tried to use, thank God this gym is only for the next 3 weeks. Couldn't get a good tuck and the bar was almost impossible to unrack for someone my height without a spotter.

Triceps Push Down
90x10x3

Machine Chest Fly
220x10x3

Woo. I've never squatted on back to back days, ever. Found out it is just as hard as I thought it'd be haha! Quads, glutes, and groin were unhappy, but as soon as I got under the bar the endorphins kicked in and I felt better. Sets were all quick, now icing down and not thinking about tomorrow!

[Creechur]

Introductory Cycle
Day 3

Squats
Warmup: 135-275
325x5
325x5
325x5
325x5
345x3
365x2
365x2
415x1 - took a video to check depth/see how painful I looked.

You Tube

You Tube

Seated Cable Row
205x10x3

Wow. So I've never squatted two days in a row, much less 3. Got out of the bed this morning and every piece of my leg anatomy screamed in protest. Got to the gym, warmups felt like PRS, groin felt like it might break, decided to continue. After about 2 working sets, my legs felt fine while I was under the bar. Between sets however, the pain in my groin and quads was pretty intense. As such, I complete these sets as quickly as possible in order to keep blood in those muscles and not let them get cold. Felt way better after the workout than before. Pretty pleased overall, I know if I can get through this program I'll not only get stronger - I'll have proved something to myself. Gym is closed until next Wednesday, so 6 days of rest until I squat again - can't complain right this second .

[BendtheBar]

Depth look good Creech. Deep and strong.

[Creechur]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Depth look good Creech. Deep and strong.

Thank you sir!

Introductory Cycle
Day 4

Squat
Warmups: 135-275
315x10
345x5
365x3
385x2
385x2

Power Cleans - for fun
135x5
185x5
205x3
225x2

Chin-Ups
Bw x 8
Bw + 15 x 5
Bw x 8
Bw + 15 x 5
Bw x 8

Good day overall. The guide I'm following for Smolov just said to work up to a 2x2 at 385, hence the random reps. Power cleans were just something I wanted to have fun with. Only negative was I had to use a power rack with pre installed safety bars that were too high, so I had to walk all the way out - about four steps .