OMD's Journal – Powerlifting May '22: Experimenting to fit a Ferrari engine into a Rav4, Isolation Training, Recovery Goals...
Hello!
Here is the first of two issues of OMD’s Journal for the month of June. We start the month with a recap of the powerlifting training from May and the plan going forward for the month of June. The investing issue of OMD’s Journal will come in the last week of the month so stay tuned for that.
If you’d like to follow along on my journey of becoming the best investor and powerlifter I can be then go ahead and upgrade from a free subscriber to a premium one to get access to future OMD’s Journals and get access to the archive from 2021.
May 2022 Highlight
Period Covered:
May 1 to May 28
Training Highlights:
Squat: 390lbs x 2 reps @ RPE 8
Bench Press: 235lbs x 2 reps @ RPE 8
Deadlift: 435lbs x 2 rep @ RPE 8
Daily average steps: ~13,255 steps
Nutrition Highlights:
Daily average fast: ~16.7hrs
Daily average calories burned: ~2,970kcal
Water consumption: 4-5L/day
Caffeine consumption: three double espressos from 10am to 4pm on training days
Alcohol consumption: one can of beer, two glasses of whiskey total in May
Recovery Highlights:
Daily average sleep time: ~6h 50m
# of Sauna sessions: zero
Last Month’s Goals:
Training
To not exceed RPE 9 in any sets for the major three lifts => 100% Success Rates
Nutrition
Don’t buy cake => 100% Success! There were at least three times I stared down a double chocolate loaf, walked away, came back to it, and walked away.
Drink protein on every training day => 100% success
Recovery
Sauna 4x this month => 0% success
Sleep before 1am => 46% success (13 out of 28 days)
The long term goal for training from the inaugural October Journal is attached at the bottom if you’d like a refresher on what the point of all this is.
Reflections are divided into the following:
Training
Nutrition
Recovery
Training
Training started on May 1st with a week for acclimating my body to the compound movements again. Week 1 of the new development cycle started on May 8th. It started with a rough sketch depicted in the April Powerlifting Journal and by the end of the month (Week 3 of the dev cycle) it looked like this:
Sunday - Day 1
2-Sec Pause Squat; top set of 2 @ RPE 8; back-off sets of 4 @ RPE 8-8.5; ~5 work sets
Supplementary isolation exercises for 3x8-10 incl. RDLs, leg press, extension, and curl movements
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Day 2
Competition Bench; top set of 3 @ RPE 8; back-off sets of 5 @ RPE 8/8.5; ~5 work sets
Supplementary horizontal press exercises for 3 sets for 8-10 reps incl. DB pressing, dips, machine pressing
KB Swings; 6x10 @ RPE 7-8 by last set; focus is on power with clean form
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Day 3
Competition Squat; top set of 2 @ RPE 8; back-off sets of 4 @ RPE 8/8.5; ~6 work sets
Competition Bench; top set of 5 @ RPE 8; ~5 work sets at same weight (classic 5x5)
Superset of 1 vertical push exercise & 1 glute/hamstring accessory for 3 sets at 6 to 15 rep range
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Day 4
Competition Deadlift; top set of 2 @ RPE 8; back-off sets of 4 @ RPE 8/8.5; ~6 work sets
2-sec Pause Bench; top set of 4 @ RPE 8; back-off sets of 4 @ RPE 8/8.5; ~5 work sets
Supplementary pulling (mix of horizontal and vertical) for 3 sets for 8-10 reps incl. lat pulldowns, cable rows, machine rows and high pulls
Observations—First Month Back From COVID
I noticed an odd sensation in Week 1 when I started with squatting 225lbs for 5x5. My central nervous system (CNS) seemed to be firing on all cylinders so squatting felt extremely easy…mentally speaking. But my muscles started fatiguing by the fourth rep of a set and I was huffing and puffing by the third set. It was a divergence where the weight flew up and my body couldn’t seem to meet the mind’s desire to push forward. This may have been my first case of noticing how fast endurance dropped off in comparison to strength in the most obvious fashion possible.