- Joined
- May 6, 2008
- Messages
- 12,233
- Reaction score
- 83
Welcome to my new log. This will be my log for the forseeable future. Here are my previous 3 logs with some notes in the spoilers:
B's Energy Log!!! (Strength)
The Road to One Thousand (Strength, Muay Thai)
DrBdan Presents: Operation Bench Press (2013)
A history of my training:
My focus for 2014 is to continue to gain strength, improve my conditioning for hockey, and lose a bit of weight. I also plan to regrow my beard that I shaved off for Movember and continue to drink good beer. More details to come.
2014 Starting Stats
Weight: 217 lb
Squat: 340 lb
Bench: 215
Deadlift: 455
Jan 2016
Weight: 210 lb
Squat: 355 lb
Bench: 215
Deadlift: 455
Total: 1025
Dec 2016
Weight: 218-220 lb
Squat: who
Bench: fucking
Deadlift: knows!?!?
B's Energy Log!!! (Strength)
This was my first log. It starts in July 2008, about 3 months after I started barbell lifting and 7 months after I started Muay Thai. The first post contains some background info about me. Post #3 contains my really weak starting numbers. I stopped using this log at the end of 2009 after my Muay Thai exhibition fight.
I started this log in Jan 2010 thinking I would use it for a year or maybe a year and a half, just as long as it took to hit a 1000 lb Big 3 total. It took a bit longer as the log lasted for 3 years, ending with my 1000 total in Dec 2012. It includes Muay Thai (on and off) and also started including hockey in the Fall of 2010.
The goal for this year was to bring my bench up to a respectable number. I focused on Muay Thai and benching over the Winter and hit a +10 bench PR in the Spring before returning to a more complete program over the Summer. I took a break from Muay Thai and made good lifting progress but a few minor injuries late in the year ruined any chances of December PRs.
A history of my training:
* Most of 2008: Stronglifts 5x5, done 3x5 and two days/week. I often added a day in between for grip and levering work.
I started training Muay Thai the last week of December 2007 and found Sherdog while searching for Muay Thai specific S&C work. This lead me to starting Stronglifts. I usually trained Muay Thai twice/week and played floor hockey once. I tweaked my back deadlifting in December 2008.
* Jan - July 2009: Two day split from the FAQ for added deadlift work
Still doing Muay Thai. The first couple months were spent resting my back, coming back too early, and having to rest my back more. I decided to do the two day split so I would be focusing on deadlifting instead of doing it after squats since there was an S&P deadlift competition going on at this time. It was sometime in the Spring of 2009 that I started sparring at Muay Thai.
* July 2009 - Feb 2010: Practical Programming Advanced Novice program
I really liked this program. It worked well since Wednesday was a lighter day and that was the day I played floor hockey. In November 2009 I did my first, and only, exhibition Muay Thai fight. Video here. I was incredibly green and had only 3-4 months of sparring experience.
* March - August 2010: 5/3/1, half done OG AMRAP, half done with heavy singles (called Matt Rhodes at the time)
I was going to switch to 5/3/1 to start 2010 but decided to run linear progression a bit longer. 2010 was a busy year as I had a number of weddings, including my own, plus my first niece, and my first house. You'll notice this skips to OCt 2010 as I spent most of September 2010 on my honeymoon (which I summarized in my The Road to One Thousand log)
* Oct - Dec 2010: Texas Method
Started playing ice hockey on Sunday nights, this was also my last season of floor hockey. After getting back from my honeymoon I decided to take a break from Muay Thai and focus on lifting.
* Jan - April 2011: 5/3/1 for powerlifters
I was hoping to get back into Muay Thai hence the switch back to 5/3/1 but I was pretty inconsistent. Fun fact: I made the stupid decision to have my wisdom teeth out on March 18, yeah the day after St. Patrick's Day! I think I took two weeks off to let me mouth heal and then waited a few more weeks before sparring. This was also when I switched to low bar squatting which eventually lead to on and off shoulder issues.
* April - July 2011: Custom bi-weekly progression program outlined here
I don't think I was too happy with 5/3/1 and decided I wanted something with sets across so I made this up. Unfortunately I injured my foot in late June (or early July?) so this was put on hold.
* July - Nov 2011: Texas Method
After coming back from my foot injury I took another break from Muay Thai and ran Texas Method again.
* Jan - June 2012: 5/3/1 two day split, details here
This Winter my wife got a new job where she worked 3pm-11pm which meant most evenings were free for me so I was able to train Muay Thai 3 times/week.
* July - Sept 2012: Squat/Press/Pull outlined here
Dropped back to 2 days of Muay Thai so I went back to 3 days of lifting.
* Oct - Dec 2012: Squat/Press/Pull but progression changed to APRE, details here
Tweaks to the program, started using APRE for squats and bench. I was busy on Monday nights taking some meditation courses which meant I wasn't able to spar much. In December 2012 I finally hit a 1000 lb total, video here
* Jan - May 2013: Two day split focusing on bench and chins, details here
Still training Muay Thai regularly though not being able to spar and the basic level of training in the other classes killed my enthusiasm. I wanted to focus on my bench so I alternated squats/deads once/week. Added 10 lb to my bench but did a terrible job of maintaining my squats and deads. I also focused a lot on chins and made some good progress. In May I put Muay Thai on hold indefinitely.
* June 2013: Starting Strength for squats/deads, Madcow for Bench/OHP
Time to start rebuilding my lower body strength, did linear progression on squats/deads to get them back up to speed.
* July - Dec 2013: Madcow details here, some changes made in Oct, details here
Tried Madcow almost as written, couple tweaks. If I remember correctly I did some OHP'ing at the end of August that irritated my shoulder so I had to reduce my pressing a lot for Sept/Oct. Then in November I roughed up my knees at hockey, nothing serious but enough to prevent PRs
* Jan - April 2014: Madcow/APRE hybrid , details in post #16 below
Decided to go back to APRE for bench, Madcow for squats, singles for deadlift.
* April - Aug 2014: Training for Spartan Sprint (which I didn't do, friend bailed) details here
My friend asked me to do the Spartan Sprint with him so I changed around my training to include more conditioning and added back chins. He ended up bailing so I didn't do it but I realized that the additional conditioning work made a big difference in hockey since any conditioning I had from Muay Thai was long gone at this point. I also started playing in a pick-up game of hockey once/week which was helpful. I felt like I was finally making good progress by the end of the Summer.
* Sept - Dec 2014: 5/3/1 variation, details here
Squatting 3 times in 2 weeks plus 1 session of deadlifting, essentially making the squat progression bi-weekly following 5/3/1. Bench was also 5/3/1 but just once/week. My lifting this Fall was really inconsistent due to personal stuff, work stuff, and vacations.
* Jan 2015 - ???: Bi-weekly progression program, details here
Two weeks in, so far so good. Playing hockey on Sunday and Tuesday. I'm 99% decided that I am retired from Muay Thai.
* Sept/Oct 2015 - Neanderthal No More (details here)
Over the Summer I continued to have mild back pain and left shoulder issues which meant I was basically treading water. Decided to take the plunge and try to actively fix those issues by doing NNM.
*Nov/Dec 2015 - NNM Modified
Modified NNM to go a bit heavier but maintained the majority of the program.
* Jan 2016 - NNM Modified
Switched to 1 deadlift and 3 squats every two weeks but still following the general template. details here
* Summer 2016
The plan was roughly this:
Sunday - Hockey
Monday - Supine bridges, Squats or Deadlifts, step-ups, abs
Tuesday - Heavy bench (3x5, last set AMRAP), rows, facepulls, external rotations, abs, Hockey in PM
Wednesday - rest/mobility
Thursday - Squats, lunges, pull-throughs, abs
Friday - Volume bench (3x10), rows, facepulls, external rotations, abs
However home renovations and other preparations for my first child meant I was very inconsistent and didn't manage to make any progress.
* Oct 7, 2016
My son was born!
Since then I've just been trying to get into the gym and stay active. My hope has been to at least do one upper body, one lower body, and one cardio day/week but it's been tough even getting 3 days in. Hopefully that will improve in the new year.
I started training Muay Thai the last week of December 2007 and found Sherdog while searching for Muay Thai specific S&C work. This lead me to starting Stronglifts. I usually trained Muay Thai twice/week and played floor hockey once. I tweaked my back deadlifting in December 2008.
* Jan - July 2009: Two day split from the FAQ for added deadlift work
Still doing Muay Thai. The first couple months were spent resting my back, coming back too early, and having to rest my back more. I decided to do the two day split so I would be focusing on deadlifting instead of doing it after squats since there was an S&P deadlift competition going on at this time. It was sometime in the Spring of 2009 that I started sparring at Muay Thai.
* July 2009 - Feb 2010: Practical Programming Advanced Novice program
I really liked this program. It worked well since Wednesday was a lighter day and that was the day I played floor hockey. In November 2009 I did my first, and only, exhibition Muay Thai fight. Video here. I was incredibly green and had only 3-4 months of sparring experience.
* March - August 2010: 5/3/1, half done OG AMRAP, half done with heavy singles (called Matt Rhodes at the time)
I was going to switch to 5/3/1 to start 2010 but decided to run linear progression a bit longer. 2010 was a busy year as I had a number of weddings, including my own, plus my first niece, and my first house. You'll notice this skips to OCt 2010 as I spent most of September 2010 on my honeymoon (which I summarized in my The Road to One Thousand log)
* Oct - Dec 2010: Texas Method
Started playing ice hockey on Sunday nights, this was also my last season of floor hockey. After getting back from my honeymoon I decided to take a break from Muay Thai and focus on lifting.
* Jan - April 2011: 5/3/1 for powerlifters
I was hoping to get back into Muay Thai hence the switch back to 5/3/1 but I was pretty inconsistent. Fun fact: I made the stupid decision to have my wisdom teeth out on March 18, yeah the day after St. Patrick's Day! I think I took two weeks off to let me mouth heal and then waited a few more weeks before sparring. This was also when I switched to low bar squatting which eventually lead to on and off shoulder issues.
* April - July 2011: Custom bi-weekly progression program outlined here
I don't think I was too happy with 5/3/1 and decided I wanted something with sets across so I made this up. Unfortunately I injured my foot in late June (or early July?) so this was put on hold.
* July - Nov 2011: Texas Method
After coming back from my foot injury I took another break from Muay Thai and ran Texas Method again.
* Jan - June 2012: 5/3/1 two day split, details here
This Winter my wife got a new job where she worked 3pm-11pm which meant most evenings were free for me so I was able to train Muay Thai 3 times/week.
* July - Sept 2012: Squat/Press/Pull outlined here
Dropped back to 2 days of Muay Thai so I went back to 3 days of lifting.
* Oct - Dec 2012: Squat/Press/Pull but progression changed to APRE, details here
Tweaks to the program, started using APRE for squats and bench. I was busy on Monday nights taking some meditation courses which meant I wasn't able to spar much. In December 2012 I finally hit a 1000 lb total, video here
* Jan - May 2013: Two day split focusing on bench and chins, details here
Still training Muay Thai regularly though not being able to spar and the basic level of training in the other classes killed my enthusiasm. I wanted to focus on my bench so I alternated squats/deads once/week. Added 10 lb to my bench but did a terrible job of maintaining my squats and deads. I also focused a lot on chins and made some good progress. In May I put Muay Thai on hold indefinitely.
* June 2013: Starting Strength for squats/deads, Madcow for Bench/OHP
Time to start rebuilding my lower body strength, did linear progression on squats/deads to get them back up to speed.
* July - Dec 2013: Madcow details here, some changes made in Oct, details here
Tried Madcow almost as written, couple tweaks. If I remember correctly I did some OHP'ing at the end of August that irritated my shoulder so I had to reduce my pressing a lot for Sept/Oct. Then in November I roughed up my knees at hockey, nothing serious but enough to prevent PRs
* Jan - April 2014: Madcow/APRE hybrid , details in post #16 below
Decided to go back to APRE for bench, Madcow for squats, singles for deadlift.
* April - Aug 2014: Training for Spartan Sprint (which I didn't do, friend bailed) details here
My friend asked me to do the Spartan Sprint with him so I changed around my training to include more conditioning and added back chins. He ended up bailing so I didn't do it but I realized that the additional conditioning work made a big difference in hockey since any conditioning I had from Muay Thai was long gone at this point. I also started playing in a pick-up game of hockey once/week which was helpful. I felt like I was finally making good progress by the end of the Summer.
* Sept - Dec 2014: 5/3/1 variation, details here
Squatting 3 times in 2 weeks plus 1 session of deadlifting, essentially making the squat progression bi-weekly following 5/3/1. Bench was also 5/3/1 but just once/week. My lifting this Fall was really inconsistent due to personal stuff, work stuff, and vacations.
* Jan 2015 - ???: Bi-weekly progression program, details here
Two weeks in, so far so good. Playing hockey on Sunday and Tuesday. I'm 99% decided that I am retired from Muay Thai.
* Sept/Oct 2015 - Neanderthal No More (details here)
Over the Summer I continued to have mild back pain and left shoulder issues which meant I was basically treading water. Decided to take the plunge and try to actively fix those issues by doing NNM.
*Nov/Dec 2015 - NNM Modified
Modified NNM to go a bit heavier but maintained the majority of the program.
* Jan 2016 - NNM Modified
Switched to 1 deadlift and 3 squats every two weeks but still following the general template. details here
* Summer 2016
The plan was roughly this:
Sunday - Hockey
Monday - Supine bridges, Squats or Deadlifts, step-ups, abs
Tuesday - Heavy bench (3x5, last set AMRAP), rows, facepulls, external rotations, abs, Hockey in PM
Wednesday - rest/mobility
Thursday - Squats, lunges, pull-throughs, abs
Friday - Volume bench (3x10), rows, facepulls, external rotations, abs
However home renovations and other preparations for my first child meant I was very inconsistent and didn't manage to make any progress.
* Oct 7, 2016
My son was born!
Since then I've just been trying to get into the gym and stay active. My hope has been to at least do one upper body, one lower body, and one cardio day/week but it's been tough even getting 3 days in. Hopefully that will improve in the new year.
My focus for 2014 is to continue to gain strength, improve my conditioning for hockey, and lose a bit of weight. I also plan to regrow my beard that I shaved off for Movember and continue to drink good beer. More details to come.
2014 Starting Stats
Weight: 217 lb
Squat: 340 lb
Bench: 215
Deadlift: 455
Jan 2016
Weight: 210 lb
Squat: 355 lb
Bench: 215
Deadlift: 455
Total: 1025
Dec 2016
Weight: 218-220 lb
Squat: who
Bench: fucking
Deadlift: knows!?!?
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