Thanks vag. Hit 285 today!
And CRUSHED the 5x320 DL. Absolutely flew off the floor. Anyway, new job is doing proposal development and program oversight for health and disaster relief programs at an NGO called the Aga Khan Foundation. akdn.org/akf if anyone's curious about that stuff. First week was nuts; I didn't leave work until 8:15 last night and tonight just barely squeaked out of there at 6:35. Workout yesterday got delayed to today because I was just wiped out and a bit overwhelmed. It's been totally great so far, though, other than the long hours (11 on Thursday!).
Warm upusual, took it seriously for once
WorkSquat 3x5x285 (very hard)
Bench 4x190, 2x5x190, 1x190 (first set wasn't a weight problem: I got distracted and the bar got out of track; these felt lighter than 185)
DL 5x320 KILLED it
Cool downstretch
I'm going to switch to 5 pound jumps in the DL to see if I can keep getting linear progress that way. Squats I'm getting towards the end of straight linear progress, I think. 285 was hard as balls and I definitely didn't get below parallel on a rep or two. At least hit it for all, though. I'm going to try longer rests (only doing 3-3:30 at the moment) to see if that helps. Also the bball court was set up for volleyball tonight so I couldn't shoot or try rim grabs.
There's a dude at the gym who's starting out powerlifting who keeps harping on me to gain some weight because I'm reasonably strong for my bw at this point (168# measured at the gym today with shoes off). His point is that if I bulk up to like 190 over a few months and can DL 400+ for reps, then cut whatever fat I've gained, I'll be way more athletic than I am right now. Still not sure I want that much lean muscle as a base, though. Right now my LBM is about 151-153# at about 10% body fat. If I bulk to 190 and 15% body fat, I'd end up with ~161# of LBM and then I could cut back to 10% bf for a total weight of ~178#. I don't know, I'll think about it. My lifts would go through the roof if I started bulking, I think.
Sorry if that was boring, just kind of thinking out loud (well, the typing was out loud). It's mostly a vanity thing that I haven't started to consciously bulk already; I like the way I look now and would take a lot of crap from my friends (NONE of whom gives shit about working out and look upon me as a weirdo already for it). I gain muscle easily and have done so unconsciously over the past few months, maybe about 5# or so, pretty lean. The people on Lyle McDonald's boards would absolutely eat me alive if I posted a question like this there and I know it's stupid but whatever. I quit those boards because I was spending like 4 hours a day in them and caring what people on them thought about what I posted and oh my god fuck that. Addictive, they are. Still, his articles rule.
Now it's time for dinner.
