Martin roy training log

**Martin Roy** · 4th November 13, 01:37 PM

Sunday was the first squat session with the sole purpose of testing to see if the slight discomfort in my knees was gone, or if squatting was going to aggravate it. After warm up on the bike I did three sets of 8 with 135 and that was it. The first set felt heavy for some reason until about the fourth or fifth rep; the second set didn't feel heavy but I still felt a bit rusty; the third set felt great and I could have danced around the gym with the weight across my back. As soon as I racked the bar my impression was that my knees were happy to be squatting again. For the rest of the day I paid attention to my knees going up and down stairs - everything was good and this morning I experienced no adverse effects whatsoever. Thus, squats are now back on the table. The next session I'll take it up to 250-275 range and then the off-season fun will begin in earnest.

**Martin Roy** · 8th November 13, 11:31 AM

Felt like I needed to deload this week so I've been doing a lot of cardio, mainly bike and elliptical, and dynamic recovery movements with very light weight. Yesterday I went through the whole routine including bench with the bar - didn't count, just pumped, varying speed and grip width - and then did about 40 or so incline bench reps with the bar; I've never really done incline with any sustained focus but I want to incorporate it into the routine to some extent. What a difference a few degrees make - my right shoulder is sore this morning and I'm trying to determine whether it's just the different angle of the press or whether I irritated something in there. My left shoulder is perfectly fine. I'll roll it with a lacrosse ball and stretch it to see how it shakes out.

Meanwhile, I'll either pull or squat this weekend.

**Martin Roy** · 11th November 13, 04:26 PM

Saturday morning I went in to pull with the intent of going 300+ to offically start the off-season strength push. I did the lead-in pulls 185, 225, 255, 275, 295, all of which went smoothly; put it at 305, took several deep breaths, loud internal dialogue telling myself that this was the path to 12 in wob, and pulled it. New PR. At least with pulls, the off-season is on track. I'm looking forward to squat night on Wednesday.

Also, after the recent soreness in my right shoulder from light weight inclines, I awoke this morning to my shoulder feeling much better. So I followed up the pulls with three sets of 15 incline with the bar. It strikes me that perhaps I just needed to break up some scar tissue or something similar. In any event, I'm going to approach incline as an auxiliary to both bench and overhead, since I'm not intending to go heavy with incline any time soon. I'll either use it a a warm-up or as a finisher - I'll try both ways and see which feels best.

Yesterday was my nephew's birthday celebration - spent the day getting adequate protein in the form of ribs, supplemented by chocolate cake.

**Alan H** · 11th November 13, 05:19 PM

LIKE.....'grats on the 305 pull. VERY nice!

**Martin Roy** · 12th November 13, 11:34 AM

Thanks - I've been building towards this for awhile now. It feels good to be off and running with it at the start of lifting season.

Last night was overhead press; warm ups included traps, bike, seated shoulder routine with 10lb dbs, a couple sets of hammer curls at 35 to pass the time until the press rack opened up. Main goal on the overhead was to ramp up the weight and intensity; my pr with strict press stands at 130 and I want to be doing multiple reps at 135 in a month or so. To that end, three sets of 3 at 95 and everything felt right; moved up to 105 for two sets of 3 and it still felt right; stepped up to 110 for two sets of 3 to finish. Moved over to incline for 3 finishing sets of 10 with 55. I was very happy with this session. My right shoulder is responding to recent efforts to eliminate the kink and nothing I did last night caused any residual issues this morning.

Ended the session with sets of seated hammer curls up to 50 and a cool down on the bike.

Easy tonight, then Wednesday is squat night.

**Martin Roy** · 13th November 13, 11:02 PM

Wednesday night is Squat Night and the best night of the week is back. This was the first session that was more than just warm up weight and the intent was to ramp up in the same way I approached rack pulls. Thus, after warm ups I started with a couple sets of 5 with 185, a set of 5 with 225, a set of 3 with 255, and two singles at 275. Dropped down to 245 to finish with a set of 5. I felt strong and smooth with all of the reps and, thus, confident that I'll be able to push up to 300+ in the next couple of weeks. The biggest adjustment was being reminded of the feeling of having that much weight on my shoulders.

Very happy with this first big session.

I'll be taking the next few days off; I'm heading to Santa Barbara tomorrow to hang with an old friend who is having some health issues. Monday I'll be back in the gym.

**o1d_dude** · 15th November 13, 12:19 PM

Good work, Marty! Look at you!

**Martin Roy** · 18th November 13, 09:51 PM

Thanks, Kit. Slowly, but surely we go.

Just came off of four days of serious sitting around in Santa Barbara. When the stretch was over I realized that I really needed an extended period of rest and recovery. Today I felt refreshed and ready to get back to the gym. After four days of rest I could have started with any of the main lifts but finding my favorite squat rack open, that's what I did. Similar to the last squat session, I started at 2 sets of 5 at 185, a set of 5 at 225, set of 3 at 255, a set of 2 at 275, and then I hit a solid single at 285; finished with 3 at 225. Abs, bike and stretching to cool off.

I'm closing in on 300, but I am very aware that the margin for error and, thus, injury is increasingly smaller as the weight goes up. Gotta be smart and not get impatient.

**Derek Conley** · 19th November 13, 01:17 AM

What an inspiring thread!

I'm 38 and just started benching like 2 months ago. I've been involved in martial arts for 31 years and so always mainly did pushups, etc. Even in the Marine Corps I never did much weight training.

My cartilage in my right knee is messed up from too many years of martial arts, fencing, stage combat, etc... and so I'm staying away from squats for the time being, though I'm really wanting to try them. However, it sounds like a firecracker going off half the time when I squat down for anything and so I may not try it...

Anyway, again, great thread.

**Martin Roy** · 21st November 13, 10:43 PM

Thanks, Derek, you made my week! I've also experienced cartilage problems in my knees from many years as a catcher. Thus, I approached squats very cautiously. After a couple of months with light weight and focus on form, my knees felt stronger and I've had no problems moving up to heavier weight. Also, I find that doing rack pulls from about mid-shin level works the same muscle groups as squats but seems to put less direct stress on the knees. Figure out what works for you and go for it.