Squats Cure Cancer (The Saga of big val)

[big valsalva]

Friday, 12/3/10

Squat 45x5, 75x5, 105x5, 135x5 - I'm ready to go. 5RM PR is only 136 pounds away. 12 to 16 weeks if I don't screw with stuff, or mess something up. I'll likely do one or the other.

OHP 35x5x5 - No major soreness in the shoulder. I'm not better yet, and there's still some mobility issues, but this lift is progressing.

BB Drag Curl 20x3x8 - there's an old school move for ya

Treadmill - 20:00 1.5 miles

It's snowing. We're expecting eight inches overnight (so is my wife). I've got to get the middle child to hockey and on the ice by 8:00 a.m. Time for bed.

Good luck at the PL meet, jslep. I'm not going to make it afterall.

[glwanabe]

Originally Posted by big valsalva

A Geezer Squat Throwdown it is, then. We must be twins separated at birth. While I never played cello, if I HAD to choose a stringed instrument, it would be cello. But I'd also moonlight as an upright bassist in a jazz combo.

Here Val.

A little jazz Baltica.

Palle Danielsson, on bass. The growl his bass has is incredible. The E string just hits the right low freq and that bass sings.

Peter Erskine - Jazz Baltica

I've got a Geddy Jazz, and a cheap SX fretless Precision that I bought last year. The fretless was bought as a project. I totally rebuilt it. I have a ton of pics of the project. I'll put some stuff together.

[big valsalva]

Monday, 12/6/10

Squat 45x5, 75x5, 105x2x5 - light squat day because this is deadlift day

OHP 20x5 40x5x5

Deadlift 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 255x3 - Grip issues, but that's ok for now. I'll start training at 225.

Treadmill 22:00 1.57 miles - I got my jogging up to five and a half minutes. If I duplicate my pace of today, I could do a 5k in 44 minutes. Not bad. I'd like to be able to run the whole thing though. I have three months to get there.

Pretty unremarkable session. I'm glad to get some benchmark training weights settled for now. I'll be running a quasi-madcow approach for the short term. We'll see where I stand in eight to ten weeks. Maybe I'll be ready to resume the 5/3/1 bit.

[Rich Knapp]

Great work val. ^5

[Bodybygamma]

Digging the drag curls! Slow and steady wins the race! Glad to see you back on track Big Val! I missed ya buddy! Keep up the progressive Smashing!

[jslep]

no problem on not making the meet val! its a long drive for ya and a longer day in that kinda driving conditions. keep smashing weight and next year come on up and compete!

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by big valsalva

Pretty unremarkable session.

Your deadlifts seem to be bouncing back quickly. I'm sure once you're back in the groove for a couple months your numbers will be right back where they were.

[big valsalva]

Originally Posted by Rich Knapp

Great work val. ^5

Thank you Rich. Its all starting to make sense again.

Originally Posted by Bodybygamma

Digging the drag curls! Slow and steady wins the race! Glad to see you back on track Big Val! I missed ya buddy! Keep up the progressive Smashing!

I missed you too, BBG! Drag curls. I dig 'em. People look at me like I'm tetched in the head. Oh well. Gironda knew something most people don't. I was going for 8x8, but I was pressed for time. Slow and steady is what I'm all about right now. My focus is getting my main three or four lifts back in shape, then... SFW!!! Of course, I just HAD to challenge glwanabe to a 300 pound squat. I think I'm a little behind, but as long as I push him, and I progress as well...mission accomplished.

Originally Posted by jslep

no problem on not making the meet val! its a long drive for ya and a longer day in that kinda driving conditions. keep smashing weight and next year come on up and compete!

That's the plan, Stan. If I'm able to bench press at all, I'll be a force to be reckoned with in a year's time.

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Your deadlifts seem to be bouncing back quickly. I'm sure once you're back in the groove for a couple months your numbers will be right back where they were.

That too is part of the plan, Stan. I was playing things rather conservatively for a while, but in the last few days, I've realized that at my job I'm back to 100%, and that's just as physical as a training session. I've conditioned for a few weeks, grooved my form, now I'm ready to smoke the weights. Except on the presses. I'm going to consult a physical therapist.

*********

No training tonight. I spent some quiet time with my family. We had game night, and just enjoyed the last night of the holiday. Very thankful that we didn't burn down the house.

YouTube - The Cardigans ft. Tom Jones - Burning Down The House (HD Official Video)

YouTube - The Cardigans ft. Tom Jones - Burning Down The House (HD Official Video)

This week has turned into a half-assed deload/get my lifting week lined up period. I wanted to get my light squat and deadlift positioned in the middle of the week. Tomorrow or Friday, I'm going to test more weight on the squat and Pendlay row. If I have a spotter available, I might see how 135 feels on the bench. After that, I should be set up for a good long run of linear progression...I hope.

[big valsalva]

Retro entries.

We've been hit by the "Blizzard of the Century"...for the third time in a month. Seriously, this last one was the fifth largest snowfall on record for our area. And as it stands now, we currently have 2/3 our normal snowfall for the season...and it isn't even winter yet. The snow was so bad I couldn't even get downstairs to the computer to log in my training.

I'll record:

Thursday, 12/9/10

Squat
45x5
75x5
105x5
145x3 - this is where I should start training for now
95x8 - burnout set felt really good!

BP
45x5
65x5
85x5x5
135x1 - just to see how it felt. It was easy enough, but I wasn't secure enough for more than one
65x8 - I'm going to do what I can to keep the volume fairly high on my presses. When I was running the 5/3/1, I would sometimes get 100 total reps on my warmup, work, and burnout sets. I liked the results of the volume. let's see if its still good to me.

Pendlay Rows
65x5
85x5x5
65x8 - I want to bump up the weight on this, but historically, I've stalled at 155 or so. No sense racing only to run into a brick wall. I could probably manage 135 or so, but my progression would soon peter out. Slow and steady.

End of training. No cardio. Pressed for time.

[big valsalva]

Friday, 12/10/10

Short day at work. Done by 12:30, but still managed a couple hours of O.T.

Treadmill 25:00 1.87 miles - a considerable jump in my time and distance. I was actually able to sustain a jog (6.2 mph) for 10 full minutes. What can I say? I was on a roll. Maybe it was because I didn't lift beforehand...