Merkley's guide to pretend lifting

[Merkley]

0/07/15
 
-Double Paused Deads-
135x5
135x5
 
-Deads-
225x3
275x3
315x3
350x5 –Rep PR
390xFail
390x1
390x1
390x1
 
By far my strongest dead session to date! Big thanks to Flex and Lisa for amping me up for those last three lifts! I ended up receiving praise from a few people in the gym that seen the lifts, very uplifting. The double paused deads are making a huge difference as well as a few belt adjustments that I made today.

[sakustoms]

Great job Merk.

[piperdown]

That's great Merk! 
Love those days when everything comes together!

[BLK00TJ]

Awesome work!

[Merkley]

Thanks guys! )

[Merkley]

10/08/15
 
-Bench-
Barx10
135x5
180x3
205x3
230x9 +4 = 295 1RM Rep PR
155x10
155x10
155x10
155x8
 
-Tricep Pushdown-
50x15
50x15
110x10
110x10
110x10
110x10
 
-Pec Dec-
120x10
120x10
120x10
120x10
 
Not too shabby of a workout if I do say so myself. I feel I could have nailed a solid 10 reps on that 230 but I completely under ate yesterday and took a bath that may have been a little too hot and a little too long (I dropped from 207 down to 201 from the bath) Plus my IBS was giving me a rough time this morning….a real rough time (meaning I lost a lot of water with my 3 bathroom visits prior to hitting the gym)
 
You work with what you got, right?
 
I managed to finish my cycle training within 15 min give or take so I had a lot of time to work on volume and accessory stuff, hurray!
 
Tomorrow we eat SKWAATS!

[piperdown]

230x9 is pretty damn good!

Not trying to give you diet advice but I'll tell you something my wife and I noticed about our son with Crohns (he knows it too). If he eats something with lots of sugar, like donuts, cookies, etc., he ends up in the bathroom a lot more often than on the days he doesn't. Dr said it's probably due to the gut bacteria (and it's different for those with IBS and Crohns) and how it interacts with sugar.
Seems odd that its just heavy sugar items as he can eat lots of bread, potatoes, chips, etc., with lots of simple carbs and it doesn't bother him all that much. Doesn't mean he doesn't eat donuts, etc., but it's only a couple times a week.

[Merkley]

230x9 is pretty damn good!

Not trying to give you diet advice but I'll tell you something my wife and I noticed about our son with Crohns (he knows it too). If he eats something with lots of sugar, like donuts, cookies, etc., he ends up in the bathroom a lot more often than on the days he doesn't. Dr said it's probably due to the gut bacteria (and it's different for those with IBS and Crohns) and how it interacts with sugar.
Seems odd that its just heavy sugar items as he can eat lots of bread, potatoes, chips, etc., with lots of simple carbs and it doesn't bother him all that much. Doesn't mean he doesn't eat donuts, etc., but it's only a couple times a week.

 I hear ya! Sugars haven't been an issue. Fats on the otherhand....those fuck me up, that and spicy food. So I try and keep the fats low to moderate and spicy food...only on Friday nights. I loooove spicy food!!!!

[piperdown]

230x9 is pretty damn good!

Not trying to give you diet advice but I'll tell you something my wife and I noticed about our son with Crohns (he knows it too). If he eats something with lots of sugar, like donuts, cookies, etc., he ends up in the bathroom a lot more often than on the days he doesn't. Dr said it's probably due to the gut bacteria (and it's different for those with IBS and Crohns) and how it interacts with sugar.
Seems odd that its just heavy sugar items as he can eat lots of bread, potatoes, chips, etc., with lots of simple carbs and it doesn't bother him all that much. Doesn't mean he doesn't eat donuts, etc., but it's only a couple times a week.

 I hear ya! Sugars have been an issue. Fats on the otherhand....those fuck me up, that and spicy food. So I try and keep the fats low to moderate and spicy food...only on Friday nights. I loooove spicy food!!!!

He won't even touch spicy food at all. Takes a nibble and if has a slight hint of spice he won't eat it.

[Merkley]

230x9 is pretty damn good!

Not trying to give you diet advice but I'll tell you something my wife and I noticed about our son with Crohns (he knows it too). If he eats something with lots of sugar, like donuts, cookies, etc., he ends up in the bathroom a lot more often than on the days he doesn't. Dr said it's probably due to the gut bacteria (and it's different for those with IBS and Crohns) and how it interacts with sugar.
Seems odd that its just heavy sugar items as he can eat lots of bread, potatoes, chips, etc., with lots of simple carbs and it doesn't bother him all that much. Doesn't mean he doesn't eat donuts, etc., but it's only a couple times a week.

 I hear ya! Sugars have been an issue. Fats on the otherhand....those fuck me up, that and spicy food. So I try and keep the fats low to moderate and spicy food...only on Friday nights. I loooove spicy food!!!!

He won't even touch spicy food at all. Takes a nibble and if has a slight hint of spice he won't eat it.

 To me the pain is worth it the next morning. Of course I have it in moderation so I don't have an all day shit show extravaganza...those days...I hate those days.

[Merkley]

10/09/15

 

-Squats-

Barx10
135x5 -5 sec pause at bottom of 5th rep
135x5 – 5 sec pause at bottom of 5th rep
225x3
260x3
295x3
335x3 -2 reps 1RM=355
135x10
135x10
135x10
135x10

 -Standing calf raises-

75kgx15
100kgx10
135kgx10
150kgx5
150kgx5
Drop
100kgx10
100kgx10

 ~Fin~

 Today’s training was rough…one of those “everything felt heavy” days. I will chalk todays training failure to not enough calories over the past couple of days and having my dead session so close to my squat session (my Wednesdays day off was moved to Tuesday pushing my deads closer to my squats. BUT! I did get it done at least. Since my strength was off I tried to make up for it with volume. I have to be honest, it’s embarrassing that I was only doing 135 for volume…but it is what it is.

[piperdown]

135 for volume.....embarrassing.....kiss my ass 

Ya got in and got something done, that's the point.

[Merkley]

 
10/13/15
 
Cycle 2 Week 2
 
-OHP-
Barx20
65x5
95x5
105x5
125x5
140x10 = 185 1RM
110x10
110x10
110x10
110x10
 
~Fin~
 
Sweet and to the point, kept it boring but big. This past weekend I failed at keeping within my guidelines for food consumption I had an overshot of 800 calories on Saturday, Sunday was closer to 2000, and yesterday was another 700-800 or so. Ahhhh well! Could be worse, right?

[Merkley]

10/14/15
 
-Deads-
135x10
225x5
255x5
295x5
330x8 =410 1 RM (rep PR)
 
-Double Stop Deads-
225x5
225x5
 
~Fin~
 
Today's semi successful dead day was brought to you by Fear Factory's song "Soul Slayer". I was pushing for 330x10 on my AMRAP set. Well I almost got there, I managed 8. This is a rep PR so I'm content with that for now. Could I have done better? Yes, yes I could. The bar got away from me at rep 6 and even though I do small reset each rep the damage was done. Ahhh well! I'll take my small wins where I can and I'll rejoice in my rep PR

[piperdown]

Nice job on the rep pr!

Bar slipped?