Back in Portland. Some quick updates.
Last California workout I deadlifted 480x2. Small signs of a turnaround. I've been doing good things for my back and on the second rep I squatted down pretty deep and the bar came up very strong. Use those legs.
Swiss bar benched 300x4, then was able to do 200x5x10.
Staying in California until Saturday. Despite the stress of displacement and my stomach feeling like shit from drinking Muscle Milks in lieu of food at certain times, I set an all-time PR today.
Press:
180 x 5
200 x 3
225 x 4
> At last, surpassed 225x3 from four years ago, which has long been a goal of mine.
150 x 5 x 10
Neutral-grip chin-ups:
15, 15, 15, 15, 13
Seated cable rows:
160 x 15
Pressdowns and curls
I also went out drinking last night with George but made sure to eat high-protein bar food every few hours so I didn't go hungry. Little stuff like this pays off.
Trained at 24 Hour Fitness today due to the athletic club being closed for Memorial Day.
Squats:
290 x 3
320 x 3
360 x 8
300 x 10, 10, 5
Leg curls:
155 x 8, 8, 10
Burnout set with some low weight
> Made me wish my regular place had a good curl machine. These felt good.
I also tried doing some unilateral dumbbell stiff-legged deadlifts with 55 pounders. Yeah, that wasn't happening, balance-wise.
Last day of training in Oregon for this week. Going to California tomorrow for immigration stuff.
Swiss bar bench press:
215 x 3
255 x 3
285 x 6
> Failed a 7th but I was so happy about my pec tendons feeling well from the struggle that I barely even cared. Unfortunately this does mean I'm at the same place as I was 5 months ago: http://l3loodfist.xanga.com/770936614/entry-1145/
However, completely maintaining strength during an injury is nothing to scoff at.
Incline Swiss bench:
160 x 5 x 10
Dumbbell rows:
132.5 x 10/8
> Hurt my back on the second arm so I stopped. Back has been feeling iffy since deadlifts (more on that later).
Inverted rows:
Entire stack x 10, 15, 20
Dumbbell rows:
132.5 x 10, 10
> Back ended up feeling better.
Swiss bar preacher curls:
90 x 10, 10, 7
Had a terrible deadlift day. 430 felt heavy and I ended up not even being able to break 485 off the floor.
Press:
165 x 3
190 x 3
215 x 4
147.5 x 4 x 10
V-handle pull-ups:
15, 15, 15
Ended it here because I had an appointment to make. Did a playground and home workout later at night.
Neutral-grip pull-ups:
15, 15, 13
Kettle extensions and curls
I keep forgetting to...oh, forget it.
Swiss bar benched 270x6 with a terrible set-up from lying too high on the bench and having to arc super low and slow to avoid hitting the pins. No worries about this. Then, wanting to deviate from my regimen, I did a medley of presses and extensions, trying to find the best fit for my pec tendons. Close-grip Swiss bar was the worst, did 2 sets of 10 with 200 lbs before I'd had enough. Surprisingly, floor crushers didn't feel great up there, either. Something about the grind off the floor that made me feel it in the tendons. Normal-grip bench felt better, but I think I've concluded that I had it right originally with incline pressing.
Squatted 340x11, which I was stoked about. Unfortunately I got up from a lying position on one leg and it made my knee hurt a little. I SSB squatted 295x10 but decided not to do anymore, so I just did 50, 30 reps of Hindu squats instead (no lockout).
Today I went on a 35 minute run and walked the way home.
I keep forgetting to record my sessions.
Thursday
Deadlifts:
350 x 5
405 x 5
455 x 3, 5
> Trying to do touch-and-go and misgrooved on the third rep, losing all tightness. Probably just a concentration thing.
SSB squats:
310 x 5, 5
SSB good morning:
180 x 10
Crush gripper #1:
5, 5, 5
Friday
HIIT for slightly less than 9 minutes.
Press:
155 x 5
180 x 5
202 x 6
145 x 5 x 10
V-handle pull-ups:
15, 15, 15, 13, 13
Tricep pressdowns, curls
Two sessions.
Swiss bar bench:
155 x 5
190 x 5
Incline Swiss bar bench:
157 x 3 x 10
Pendlay rows:
225 x 3 x 5
V-handle chin-ups:
15
Swiss bar preacher curls:
105 x 5
My deload plan is increasingly to keep the weight relatively heavy but to slash volume.
---
Squats:
155 x 5
190 x 5
235 x 5
SSB squats:
290 x 2 x 5
SSB good mornings:
175 x 2 x 10
Oh no I don't. Midway through my monthly deload week neglect and I'm putting a stop to it.
In order, workout 1 being pre-deload.
Squats:
370 x 6
> Don't remember the build-up sets.
SSB squats:
290 x 10, 10
Abs
---
Press:
95 x 5
115 x 5
140 x 5
Standing Arnold press:
55s x 10
60s x 3 x 10
> Made my anterior delt hurt the next day. Nix these.
Wide variety of chin-ups and rows with Fat Gripz
> Sore forearms the next day.
Swiss bar preacher curls:
105 x 5
---
Deadlifts:
225 x 5
275 x 5
325 x 5
315 x 10
> Last set was touch-and-go. I've never been able to get used to it but it just clicked today. I've decided to stop fear-mongering about deadlifts and recovery and to just fucking pull from the floor consistently. The pattern I've noticed between periods of good and bad performance have always been high rep deadlifts, so I'm going to do what works.
SSB squat:
290 x 5
Failed to deadlift 510. I'd been up all night and even 315 felt heavy so I'm not too worried. Still, I did go to Home Depot to check out how much patio tiles would run me for. $100 for 14. I'll keep it in mind if things just aren't happening here.
Swiss bar bench press:
235 x 5
265 x 3
295 x 4
> Bar clanged hard on the pins going down on the third rep and made me press with a 2-second pause off the chest for the fourth. Scared the hell out of me because of my pec tendons but astonishingly there was no pain at any point today, which is a milestone. Would have gotten 5 otherwise, but oh well. I'm happy with how light this felt.
Incline Swiss bench:
155 x 5 x 10
Pendlay rows:
230 x 3 x 10
Cable rows:
Entire stack x 20, 20
Triceps and biceps
I am insane for doing this long a session on zero hours of sleep again.
Press:
175 x 5
200 x 3
220 x 3
> Felt like I was going to fall asleep. Had no mental focus and I stumbled back on rep 2, but my strength was there and I might have been able to muster a 4th. Belt and mouthpiece helped more than usual in this condition.
142 x 5 x 10
V-handle chin-ups:
15, 15, 13, 13, 13
Decline skullcrushers:
40s x 12, 10
Swiss bar preacher curls:
92 x 10
87 x 10
35 x 12
> Long eccentric.
Rear delt flyes:
20s x 25, 20
Came home to find that my girlfriend had bought me Metal Gear Rising and a card as a random present.
Squats:
270 x 3
310 x 3
350 x 8
> Had gas for 1 or 2 more. Who says box squats don't have application for the raw lifter? I did nothing but them for a year and my squat hasn't detrained at all. I think I could have built on it if I'd box squatted more than once or twice a month. As long as you're going down and up with heavy weight you're doing something.
295 x 10
Hindu squats:
50, 35
> No lockout.
Kettlebell swings:
25, 20
Reverse crunches:
25, 15
Stayed up all night to reset my sleep schedule. Thanks to my discovery of Diet Coke this didn't seem to affect my training performance, including joint pain.
Swiss bar bench press:
230 x 3
250 x 3
280 x 5
> Some aching on preliminary sets that got better the heavier I went. Didn't want to push past 5, although I was probably good for 7. As the weights increase week-by-week I'll be especially vigilant in monitoring my condition, which seems to be improving at least. Despite being tired and taking 4 days off the barbell felt like air. Caffeine or am I just stronger?
Swiss bar incline bench:
150 x 5 x 10
Pendlay rows:
225 x 5 x 10
> Taking a break from unilateral rowing so I'm not supporting myself up with either arm, thereby stressing my pec-delt tie-ins even more. But wow, this felt great with a sumo stance.
Skullcrushers:
45s x 8
40s x 8
Swiss bar preacher curls:
87 x 10, 8, 8
> The best bicep exercise I've ever done. Emphasized the eccentric for hypertrophy, something I did with skullcrushers too.
Rear delt flyes:
20s x 20
External rotations:
10s x 12
Goddamn does it feel good to be in the sun again.
Missed recording 265x5 Swiss bar bench and 330x9 squat sessions. Yes, I'm able to bench press again, but for the first two weeks of this cycle I'm not doing the +reps just to be safe.
Overhead press:
175 x 3
185 x 3
210 x 5
140 x 5 x 10
> Accidentally loaded the bar to 175 instead of 165. Also, this is a PR for that amount of weight. My blitzkrieg strategy of "eat and try to look like shit" is working marvelously.
Neutral-grip chin-ups:
15, 14, 13, 13, 13
Decline skullcrushers + Fat Gripz:
40s x 12
Dumbbell preacher curls:
40s x 3 x 8
Rear-delt flyes:
20s x 20
External rotations:
10 lbs x 12
Just as I was stoked about weighing 229 on an empty stomach in the morning, I went off of creatine and lost 4 lbs. Aw.
Deadlifts:
350 x 5
455 x 5
> My new approach: stay at the bare minimum of reps until week 3.
RDLs (no floor contact):
225 x 20
Hindu squats (no lockout):
50, 30
Reverse crunches and planks
Press:
150 x 5
175 x 5
200 x 6
> Weight felt heavy on the warm-ups and then flew up with the 200.
137 x 3 x 10
Neutral-grip chin-ups:
15, 13, 13, 13, 13
> Cautiously introducing movements back in. The plan was one per cycle. This time was chin-ups. No armpit pain. Really tempting to try a bench press this week. I'll warm-up to 185 and see how I feel.
Kettlebell skullcrusher:
50 x 3 x 10
Kettlebell curl:
50 x 3 x 12
Got a second kettlebell yesterday, 50 lbs for only $56 shipped. Today:
Kettlebell swings:
25, 15, 15, 15
40 minute walk
Seriously sleep deprived, but had a good night.
Squats:
285 x 5
320 x 3
360 x 5
295 x 9
Hindu squats:
50
> Didn't lock out on the last 20 reps. Do this with any bodyweight squats in the future, much harder.
Reverse crunches:
30, uncounted
I also deloaded on the press the day before yesterday.
Floor press:
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 1
> Testing the waters here. Gave up on this when I felt pain.
Push press:
135 x 3
160 x 3
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 3
235 x 3
Swiss bar skullcrushers + Fat Gripz:
85 x 3 x 10, 15
Meadows rows:
100 x 10, 10, 10
Inverted rows:
30, 20, 15
Haven't felt inclined to log lately, which I always regret. Highlights: pressed 215x3 overhead, tweaked my back deadlifting 405, and ended bench day when my pec tie-ins hurt as much as ever. Going back today, this time replacing the bench press with the push press for the foreseeable future and relegating horizontal pressing to 5 sets of 20 incline Swiss bar press. Unfortunately, I'll also be nixing chin-ups/pull-ups because they aggravate the same region.
My pec tie-ins are still hurting when I bench. Swiss bar didn't seem to make any difference. Benched 280x6 (202x5x10 paused for assistance work and 130x5x10 rows) with it and squatted 340x5 yesterday. At the bare minimum if this doesn't go away I'm going to change the BBB sets to something easier on the chest and if it still persists I'll just have to get creative with a bench press alternative.
Missed recording a couple of great days.
I did squats for the first time in over a month and, more importantly, the first full squats in almost a year. No quadricep pain. I'm going to cautiously consider myself healed so I can finally run 5/3/1 with them again.
Squats:
Something
Something
320 x 5
> Nice and easy to start with. Because of severe deconditioning my legs were sore by the first set of warming-up with 135, and now three days later I can barely walk from DOMS.
Dimel deadlifts:
225 x 20, 15
And then on Thursday:
Press:
160 x 3
180 x 3
205 x 5
Pause press:
135 x 3 x 10
V-handle chin-ups:
14, 13, 13, 13, 13
Dips:
20, 15
Band pull-aparts + curls
Bench press:
95 x 5
135 x 5
205 x 5
235 x 5
265 x 10
> Nice. My shoulders ache during and after bench pressing, though (even on the 135 set). I might go back to the Swiss bar and roll with that all the way to meet day.
Swiss bar bench press:
202 x 3 x 10
> This felt way heavier than last week, probably because 290x5 wasn't as tiring as 265x10.
Dumbbell rows:
130 x 3 x 10
Dips:
20, 15
Band pull-aparts:
25, 20
Kettlebell curls:
35 x 10, 11
First day of conditioning since getting sick. Ran three laps of hill sprints, jogged the short way home, and did 50, then 30 reps of kettlebell swings in the bedroom, with 20 reverse crunches on the floor. Had to force myself not to keep doing things after that. I have a habit of wanting to run myself into the ground when I do cardio.
I'm breaking a golden rule of meet preparation by trying out new things, but hell, my normal lower body protocol has been so screwy anyways what with recovering my quad injury that it's impossible to upset anything I've had going. In the interest of training three times a week and experiencing better deadlift performance training them infrequently, I'm only going to be pulling from the floor on the third week of the program (as well as the subsequent deload). I've been deadlifting in the 440-475 range for two years now and I don't think I'll be missing anything by training my body to handle higher weight exclusively now. We'll see how this works out.
Skipping deload because I took a week off.
Press:
150 x 5
170 x 5
190 x 6
> Strength is coming back. I'm at where I was a month ago, which is good news. I've never been this solid after being sick before, nevermind taking an entire week off.
Pause press:
132 x 4 x 10
132 x 8
V-handle chin-ups:
13, 13, 13, 13, 13
Band pull-aparts:
15, 15, 15
> My second micro-mini snapped. That makes three snapped bands in all.
Curls
Still coughing. Trying to train the bare minimum here.
Bench press:
230 x 5
260 x 3
290 x 5
> Gas for 1 more.
Swiss bar pause bench:
202 x 3 x 10
Dumbbell rows:
130 x 3 x 10
Dips:
20, 15
Inverted rows:
20, 15
Kettlebell curls:
15 x 20
I've been out for a week, easily the sickest I've ever been in my life. Last night was my first time back. I'm still sick, but recovered enough to feel functional.
Press:
145 x 5
185 x 3
210 x 1
> 145 felt so heavy that I was worried I wouldn't even get this for 1.
Pause press:
132 x 3 x 10
V-handle chin-ups:
13, 13, 13, 13
Dips:
12
Kettlebell curls:
25 x 15, 15
Felt uplifting to get in the gym and hit my goal.
I'm sick and have been having lower back pain. I'm starting to think that I just wasn't meant to sit down in a chair. I've been busy writing and applying for work but I need to take better care of myself by breaking up computer periods into shorter blocks no more than 15 minutes. I'd also like to bring back my daily walks and maybe some yoga. No-brainer practices.
Bench press:
95 x 5
135 x 5
215 x 5
245 x 3
275 x 8
> Was good for another.
Swiss bar pause bench:
200 x 4 x 10
Dumbbell rows:
127.5 x 4 x 10
Dips:
20
Pull-ups:
18
45-second chin-up x 2
Sniffly and sneezy. Attempting to blast this into oblivion with a kale, ginger, garlic and fruit smoothie.
Back in Portland, still taking advantage of my free 7-day pass at 24 Hour Fitness.
Strict press:
65 x 5
95 x 5
155 x 3
180 x 3
200 x 5
Strict pause press:
130 x 5 x 10
> Getting pretty tough. I'm thinking I'll take the pauses out at 135.
Neutral-grip chin-ups:
13, 13, 13, 13, 12
> Amazing how much I've improved. I remember when my goal was 5 sets of 10 just a few months ago.
Dumbbell skullcrushers:
40s x 11
Rear-delt flyes:
25 x 15, 15
Dumbbell preacher curls:
32.5s x 12, 10, 6
> Was aiming for at least 10 on every set. Hold back on the first one next time and maybe go 3 sets of 10.
First gym day in California since I've arrived. I made plans with George without thinking and didn't want to cancel so this session was done at 1:30 AM (24 Hour Fitness) after an evening of blasting away Terminators at Nickel City.
Bench press:
95 x 5
135 x 5
200 x 5
225 x 5
260 x 10
> There's no power rack here so I had to make do with crappy benches that had the bar set way too low. Why the hell has this become a standard now across multiple chains? Who the fuck is designing these? My shoulder-pec tie-in began to hurt from pin pressing the bar up at an awkward angle to get set, so I asked someone for a lift-off on the 260 set. He asks "A spot?" and I reply "No, I just want a lift-off. I'm not planning on going to failure so I don't need any help on the reps." He nods. What does he do? As soon as I lower the first rep I notice he's keeping his hand on the bar the whole way through and I can actually feel the weight of his arm applying and unapplying weight in his attempt to move with me. Wtf? I considered reiterating that I don't need him to do that but then thought I don't want to break my concentration, which of course broke my concentration by internally debating it. I thanked him because I don't want to be rude to someone who was nice enough to help me out, though. I guess all I can say is I can't wait to be back in Portland.
Pause bench press:
200 x 3 x 10
> Pec was a little achy and this is starting to get hard just from a poundage perspective.
Dumbbell rows:
125 x 3 x 10
> Didn't bring my strap to CA.
Incline bench press:
155 x 10, 9
T-bar row:
3 plates x 10
Set of cable rows, and super-sets of rear-delt flyes + dumbbell preacher curls
Post-workout: eggs and sausages with white grape juice. Still eating at 4:52 AM, ugh.
Had a great birthday workout (and birthday in general) yesterday. I'm visiting California today and won't have access to any specialty bars so I'm taking the opportunity to make the switch in anticipation of my powerlifting meet.
Overhead press:
145 x 5
165 x 5
190 x 7
> Belt and mouthguard. Yes, I'm proud of it.
Holy shit! I just had to sneeze with a mouthful of egg and didn't make it to the kitchen sink in time. Dammit.
Overhead press, paused:
127 x 5 x 10
V-handle chin-ups:
13, 13, 13, 12, 12
> Damn, my lats are sore now.
Decline dumbbell skullcrushers:
35s x 12
Rear-delt raises:
25s x 15, 15
Bilateral dumbbell preacher curls:
35s x 10, 8
25s x 12
Au revoir, Portland.
Swiss bar bench press:
227 x 5
257 x 3
287 x 5
> Weight felt pretty heavy tonight. Sleep has been erratic, though I've been making up for 6 hour nights with 2 hour naps in the same afternoon without fail yet still I always feeling tired. For the first time in awhile I'm looking forward to a deload. Also landed some creatine which I'll load with in the final half of the light week.
Swiss bar pause bench:
197 x 4 x 10
> Didn't use the Fat Gripz. Wow, so much easier.
Dumbbell rows:
125 x 4 x 10
> Shoulder felt way better on this now that I'm not hyperextending.
Dips:
20
Inverted rows:
25
Curls at home using weights in my gym bag. 15, 15, 12
SSB box squat:
150 x 5
240 x 5
330 x 3
420 x 3
310 x 10
> Reracked on 3, rested 30 seconds, then made an attempt at 2 more but felt a twinge in my back during the walkout so I called it a day. Nothing I haven't done better at before but it was nice to at least be back in the game after getting 0 last week.
SSB squat:
150 x 10
> First time free squatting since August. No quad pain!
Swiss bar overhead press:
162 x 5
185 x 3
205 x 3, 4
> Rested, turned on some metal, and banged out 4 on the second attempt, narrowly missing 5. I love a comeback set.
Swiss bar pause press:
127 x 10
V-handle chin-ups:
14
At the park:
Dips:
12, 12, 12, 12
Chin-ups:
12, 12, 12, 12
Curls at home
Deadlift:
375 x 3
430 x 3
482 x 3
> Felt weak. No leg drive, despite repeatedly drilling it in my mind and doing kettlebell swings on Monday. I believe I may need to warm-up more incrementally and not go from 135 to the first set so suddenly. Maybe a missing link of 225 would be just enough tonnage to practice the form under weight.
SSB box squat:
290 x 10
Swiss bar bench press:
212 x 3
242 x 3
272 x 8
Swiss bar pause bench + Fat Gripz:
195 x 5 x 10
Dumbbell rows:
122 x 5 x 10
Dips:
12, 12
External dumbbell rotations
Preacher curls
I have no idea why I've suddenly stopped updating on the days I lift. Better to be unmotivated in this area than the actual training, I guess. I almost fucking killed myself on squats so I deserve the break.
Saturday
Swiss bar overhead press:
152 x 3
172 x 3
195 x 6
Swiss bar pause OH + Fat Gripz:
125 x 5 x 10
V-handle chin-ups:
13, 12, 12, 12, 12
Curls
Sunday
ROM progression squat (11th pin):
460 x 0
> Couldn't even budge the weight.
SSB box squat:
420 x 0
> Failed. Sat on the platform like a dope for a second, then bailed out. The safety bars were pretty low so I had a long way to bend before freedom. It was jarring and my back was sore a bit, but nothing injured. Holy shit, would I have been dead without the safety bars with the way I exited myself. I basically just gradually careened forward while sitting on the box. Pretty stupid.
Box pause squat:
225 x 10
Farmer's walk:
100 lb dumbbells + Fat Gripz
I really had no leg power today. I didn't even fail the box squat by merit of struggle, I just rode the descent down and stuck to the stool.
Monday
Kettlebell swings:
25 lbs x 50, 30
Took four days off because of lacking sleep. Diet was decent and very high in protein, but could have been higher in calories and with less time between meals. Here are two entries:
Tuesday
Swiss bar bench press:
195 x 5
225 x 5
257 x 10
> Barely passed the 10th. Good overall, especially considering my insecurities in taking any time off longer than three days.
Swiss bar pause bench + Fat Gripz:
192 x 5 x 10
Dumbbell rows:
120 x 5 x 10
Curls
This fucking session took something like 2.5 hours. Felt nauseous from eating so much beforehand (I was watching Expendables 2 and kind of got lost in munching on walnuts after a bowl of chili and melted cheese, then ice cream and milk for dessert) and I didn't do the rows between press sets. Not gonna make this a habit.
Thursday
Deadlifts:
350 x 5
405 x 5
455 x 5
> Picking my battles, as Emevas likes to say, and saving my max effort for the third week. There were a lot of people in the gym tonight and I felt kind of shy about making noise, believe it or not. Even though I only planned to hit 5 anyway tonight my concentration wasn't there and I pulled too slowly off the floor, resulting in more back and less quad power. Need to focus.
ROM progression squats (10th pin):
475 x 8
> Was planning on hitting 15. Don't know if this depth is a sudden drop-off or if the deadlifts affected me this much here. Had some difficulty breaking the bar off the pins at first, and reps were bouncy. Not good. Think I'm going to repeat this next week on its own day and keep everything paused. Will monitor how my back feels.
Pause box squats:
225 x 2 x 10
GHR:
25 x 2 x 10
Swiss bar overhead press:
140 x 5
165 x 5
185 x 8
Swiss bar overhead pause press + Fat Gripz:
122 x 5 x 10
V-handle chin-ups:
12, 12, 12, 12, 12
Decline skullcrushers + Fat Gripz:
35s x 12, 10
Preacher curls:
75 x 7, 10, 8
> Assuming the EZ bar weighs 15 lbs.
Bent-over rear delt flyes:
30s x 15, 12
As is typical, I neglected to record two deload sessions for both presses, and am only really doing tonight's deload to keep in pace with my squats.
ROM progression squats (9th pin):
490 x 19
Deadlifts:
210 x 5
265 x 5
315 x 5
Pause box squats:
225 x 2 x 10
GHR:
20
Sleeping schedule is all over the place, so I'm doing good with being so consistent.
ROM progression SSB squat (8th pin):
505 x 22
> Atrocious quad pump. Felt a little terrifying getting out because my legs felt numb and I couldn't feel if the bar was racked or not.
Pause box squats:
225 x 3 x 10
> Warmed-up doing low bar, but couldn't keep doing that comfortably.
Ab wheel:
5, 5, 5, 6, 6
CoC #1:
5 x 6
Swiss bar bench press:
225 x 5
255 x 3
285 x 6
> Very easy, might have been good for another.
Swiss bar pause bench + Fat Gripz:
192 x 10, 10, 10, 8
> Got a pair of 1 lb ankle weights to use for microloading. Not quite as accurate as 1-1/4 plates but who cares, haha. Plus they were only $3:50.
Kroc rows:
140 x 22/14
> The plates fell off for my left arm. Ran out of time here so I couldn't finish.
A ton of chins and dips at the park after.
Deadlifts:
395 x 5
450 x 3
500 x 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb08tVvCx-0
GHR:
15
Ab and grip stuff at home.
It's hard to believe that I've never pulled 500 off the ground (without bands, anyways). I'm so glad to be over the days of 12-rep deadlifts in the program, honestly. I hit some pretty good numbers with video that I'm happy to have but I honestly hope I never have to go through that again, haha (not from a dead stop, anyway).
I've set my sights on a meet here in Portland on June 22. Though I haphazardly did a power clean competition in 2011 this will be my first actual powerlifting meet, so I'm pretty stoked. Since I've been hovering comfortably at 215 for over a year now I'll be competing in the 220 lb weight class. I considered 198 but I don't want to worry about cutting or weight manipulation for my introductory contest. I'm just going to get as strong as possible and worry about myself.
It's tempting to post goals right now but I'm so far away from doing singles that I'm not going to worry about that just yet. As for my programming? Continuing 5/3/1. I'm planning on rereading 5/3/1 for Powerlifting and determining if there are any noteworthy arguments for switching the weeks up when I'm currently enjoying success off the present scheme, but if there is it should be a fairly painless transition of simply making the change for a new cycle.
My California trip showed me that the Swiss bar is amazing for the straight bench, but I had trouble going from the safety bar squat to a normal squat. I have no concerns with my pressing, but I plan on doing straight bar squats as assist work for awhile before switching from SSB max squats to straight ones entirely.
Onward.
Yesterday-
Swiss bar overhead press:
140 x 5
170 x 3
200 x 4
> Failed a fifth.
Swiss bar pause press + Fat Gripz:
122.5 x 10, 10, 9, 1
> Failed a 10th, so I reracked and then hit a final rep. Lots of rest pausing. I can still ride this out. The problem is the gym closing on me and not being able to rest long enough.
V-handle chins:
12
At the park:
Neutral-grip chins:
12, 12, 12, 12
Dips: 12, 10
1-minute chin-ups:
1, 1, 1
> Insanely painful on the biceps. I love these.
Went on a relaxing 25-minute run tonight.
ROM progression squat (7th pin):
520 lbs x 25
> With the aim of a 440 max at the bottom I wonder if I didn't start heavy enough to have enough of a drastic difference from the top to the bottom. Oh well, not gonna start over every time I doubt something. Run this through and use the experience for next time if necessary.
SSB pause box squats:
260 x 10, 10
Ab wheel:
5 x 5
Crush gripper #1:
5 x 5
> I've had these for years and always sucked at them, but I'm making it my personal goal now to close the #2.
Supplement-wise, I'm off creatine and have started taking vitamin D. I also got a blender so I've been making smoothies a lot.
Deadlifted 475x3 the other day. Back hasn't been feeling good. Need to address this with a long-term solution so I'm going to read up on Stuart McGill and figure something out.
Had to train today 15 minutes after eating, but surprisingly I didn't feel bloated or nauseous. I must have had the right amount of the right things (hummus, turkey patty, walnuts, and green tea).
Swiss bar bench press:
210 x 3
240 x 3
270 x 8
> Awesome, proficiency with the Swiss bar is returning to normal. Let out a roar to get the last rep up.
Swiss bar pause bench + Fat Gripz:
192.5 x 3 x 10
Kroc rows:
135 x 25
> Jesus this sucked, which rules.
Ran out of time so went to the park again.
Dips: 15, 12, 10
Neutal-grip chin-ups: 12, 12
1-minute pull-up: 2 sets
Also didn't record that I did hill sprints yesterday.
Did Turkish get-ups, then went on a 25-minute run, just to get some cardio in. Deliberately took it easy since I pull tomorrow, though it's worth noting that I've never been a proficient-enough runner before for 25 minutes to be considered "easy". But yeah, wasn't breathing hard or anything.
Have started supplementing with vitamin D. 5000 IUs a day.
Missed recording a lower body entry on Christmas Eve. Started a ROM progression scheme for squats: 2 sets of 25 reps with 530 lbs at the 6th pin, then 450 x 5 deadlifts. Was pressed for time and had to finish in half an hour.
Didn't train on Christmas, for once. Being in a relationship is normalizing my holiday schedule. Did play Tekken Tag 2 with her, though. Beat the boss in co-op mode (PR).
Tonight-
Swiss bar strict press:
150 x 3
170 x 3
190 x 6
> Better than my bench press showing. Nothing groundbreaking but it was what I set out to do and leaves me with a 1-rep improvement.
Swiss bar pause press + Fat Gripz:
120 x 5 x 10
V-handle chin-ups:
12, 12, 12, 11
At the park afterwards I did 12 chin-ups, 12 dips, dumbbell external rotations, and 1-minute chin-ups for biceps. Before taking a shower I couldn't help but notice that my lats have increased enormously in size. Will take pics next time.
