N'Suns Progress Report

Stats: 53 year old male, lifting since 2009 (age 43)

Lifetime PRs
Bench: 285x1 on 5 Nov 15
Squats: 430x1 on 8 Feb 17
DL: 455x1 on 8 Sept 17
OHP: 215x1 on 5 Nov 15

My competition best was:

In Feb 2014 as M1 Class 105 kg I did a 182.5 kg (401.5 lb) squat, 115 kg (235 lb) bp, and 202.5 (455 lb) kg deadlift for 500 kg (1091.5 lb) total, 302.52 wilks.

Recent Health History
June 2017 - Grade 2 left hamstring strain.  No working out for a month.
Sept 2017 - Grade 2 bilateral gastrocnemius strain, left 75% right 50%. No working out for 6 weeks.
Jan 2019 - Right shoulder joint issues.  These are recurrent.   Stopped BB benching for 5 months.
Ongoing - Like most older, overweight guys I also have sleep apnea, and don't get enough quality sleep. (I plan on getting a CPAP if I qualify in the next few months).

Oct 2018
Bench 245x5
Squats: 375x1
DL: 425x1

Jan 2019 (BW: 236 lbs)
No Benching
Squats: 385x1
DL: 405x1

May 2019 (BW: 186 lbs starting N'Suns)
Bench: 225x1 (small drop was a big surprise, having been only using DBs)
Squats: 295x2 (cutting really hurt my lower body strength)
DL: 355x1 (once again, cutting so drastically really hurt my lower body).

Training maxes set to:

Bench: 185 lbs (40 lbs off real)
Squats: 225 lbs (70 lbs off real)
Deadlift: 265 lbs (90 lbs off real)
OHP: 95 lbs (accurate)

Final Strength Testing (BW: 210 lbs)

Bench: 255 lbs (30 lb increase from the program start)
Squats: 405 lbs (110 lb increase from the program start, but realistically a gain of about 20-30 lbs from muscle memory).
DL: 440 lbs (175 lb increase from the program start, but realistically a gain of about 15-35 lbs from muscle memory).
OHP: 180 lbs (85 lb increase - for a double.  That being said I haven't trained OHP for years, and to be honest there was some hip thrust getting the bar moving.  I'd say realistically my strict OHP (when I start to put a bit of hip action in) is 135-140 lbs.

I have to say the program is quite well thought out and the app is really helpful.  One of the issues for me was not having a lot of time to train.  I used to have a complete powerlifting setup in my basement, which gave me unlimited time to train.  However, my wife and I are getting ready to downsize, so I sold all my gear and basically have a one hour window at lunch to train at the gym at work.  Initially I had no trouble getting in my T1s, T2s and accessories.  As the weight became heavier I found the accessories dropping off of squat and deadlift days, and then I started to have trouble getting the T2s in on those lower body days.  Upper body was fair - I was able to do things like pullups, chins, face pulls and some DB work, but loading up the bar to say, do BB rows was not possible with time constraints.

As with most programs though, once you start changing the program too much it stops being the program.  Since I am so close to my theoretical maximums I have decided to give CAP3 a shot.  This should allow me to reset and take a slower run at some of those maxes.  I'd really like to see those numbers go up a bit more, without getting terribly fat in the process.