Jogged/walked today. Only ran for about 5 minutes or so to get past the main road more quickly. I'm keeping my eye out for weight vests on Craigslist to walk with.

I'm all packed up for my move. After I take care of some apartment doings I'll be off.

Squats:
405 x 4, 3, 3
> Quads were sore. As a result the first rep would feel like air and the last two heavy. I'd have liked to do something like 10 sets of triples or something but, alas, time.

Pause bench:
292 x 3 x 5
> The very last rep was more of a rest pause than a controlled one. Not too sure if that fulfills the point of the exercise.

Chins:
4 x 10

Push-ups, rear delts, curls

SSB squats:
330 x 5
> I was originally going to do goblet squats, which have kicked ass for me, but I decided to make this a light squat day ala Madcow since I'm squatting every other day. High rep squats should be done on the first or last training day.

Overhead press:
197 x 4, 5, 5
> Felt heavy. First day of training everything with only one day of rest and everything felt a little sore. Had to rest pause on the last rep to get 5 both times.

Deadlifts:
422 x 3
225 x 20
> Back has been hurting so just did light work.

Squats:
405 x 5, 4, 4

Pause bench press:
290 x 3 x 5

Chin-ups:
5 x 10

Bench press:
225 x 12

Push-ups and curls

Feeling a little stronger. Have been eating more and gained 3 lbs in a few days.

Squats:
405 x 5

Overhead press:
195 x 3 x 5

Chin-ups:
6 x 10
2 x 8

Various assistance work

Pressing especially felt very light, but that's my goal to start with. Full-body is the way to go until I'm in a stable travel situation and have a permanent gym once again.

Did this on Wednesday.

Squats:
405 x 4, 3

Pause bench press:
285 x 3 x 5

Chin-ups:
4 x 10

Push ups

I've lost 6 pounds and am weaker. I'll be better about eating despite stress.

Having a rough night. Quick update, benched only 310x4 last night and am going to attempt to up my calorie intake as a result.

Squats:
360 x 5
405 x 3
455 x 0, 1
> Hit the safety bars and lost my groove completely, didn't even try to stand up. Second attempt was pretty easy. Strength is definitely on a downtrend, but this felt really strong after a week of inactivity and almost no leg volume lately. The 405 felt super heavy and sluggish so I focused on bracing my core more and breathing out harder for the max.

I feel pressure in my tailbone when I squat, but it's not painful. I hope this doesn't somehow encourage cyst growth. I'll continue the measures that have seemed to work for me so far: coconut oil applied dermally, Neosporin, zinc oxide, frequent heat, salt water, and using my standing desk.

Deadlift:
475 x 1
> It's nice to be continuing my 5/3/1 cycle seamlessly. Bar went up fast.

SSB squats:
320 x 2 x 10

Deadlifts:
225 x 20

Kettlebell goblet squats:
50 x 30
> No lockout. Don't feel pressure when it's this light; if I have to ditch heavy squats eventually I can at least do these.

Haven't trained for a week, except for 40 push-ups a few days ago. Yup, that's just about my max. I'm all fast-twitch.

I am better now, but still have to be careful. It's likely that this will reoccur very soon so I expect surgery somewhere down the line.

Bench press:
270 x 5
305 x 3
340 x 2
> Felt much stronger than I expected to. Failed a third but my spotter helped me out (the rack was taken so no safety bars). Very explosive today.

Bilateral dumbbell rows:
100s x 5 x 10-15

Incline bench press:
205 x 10, 8
> Probably going to replace these because there's too much pressure on my tailbone.

Dips:
9
> Felt achy, no good.

Push-ups:
10, 15, 15

Skullcrushers, curls

I'm currently on day 3 (or 4, technically at this time) of dealing with a pilonidal cyst. No infection, thankfully, but the pain is extremely debilitating if I choose not to ignore it (which I would do if it was safe). Cannot sit whatsoever today (driving the 60 seconds to and from my gym involved me basically using leg power to keep my weight off the seat) and no position is comfortable except lying in the bathtub. Trying to curb it with Ibuprofen and heat.

Training has to be completely overhauled. Here's what I did tonight:

Overhead press:
195 x 5
> Had to focus on keeping most of my body completely relaxed and not tense. Shocking how hard this was.

Overhead rack press:
225 x 0, 1
235 x 0
225 x 1
> Just trying to get some decent weight loaded so my shoulders remember they exist. This is a good exercise because the rack does most of the stabilizing.

Chins:
5 x 10

Swiss bar overhead press:
85 x 30, 25, 20

Swiss bar overhead tricep extensions:
35 x 15, 15, 20

Curls:
25s x 25, 20, 15

Decent pump. Training will be like this until I'm better. I'm also going to do a full body routine 3 days a week instead of 5/3/1 since my movements are so limited. If I'm lucky enough to do legs, they will be SSB quarter squats. If that hurts, kettlebell goblets for moderate reps without straining.

Bravo on consistency so far.

Haven't logged an entire week, so here I go.

I'm having major tailbone problems, and my strength is down across the board.

Squats:
335 x 3
380 x 3
430 x 3
> Rep 3 I got stuck on the bottom for 2 seconds, almost had to bail, and then somehow stood back up with it.

That's all, I had pain after this. I might have to change my entire routine except for overhead pressing to accommodate.

Bench press:
320 x 4

Incline bench:
205 x 10, 10, 7

Push-ups

Deadlifts:
450 x 5

Overhead press:
235 x 2

Swiss bar press:
137 x 5 x 10

Squats:
312 x 5
362 x 5
407 x 9
• Legs felt shaky for some reason. Came close to failing.

SSB squat drop-set:
330x10 240x10 150x10 60x10

Deadlifts:
225 x 20
• Really felt it in the glutes by rep 15.

Session time: 70 minutes. Felt exhausted walking out of the gym but because of the wisely-brief workout I recovered pretty fast and feel energized now.

Watched a strongman documentary tonight and it really makes me want to compete, but there's nothing in Portland. I have my eye set on a powerlifting meet in April, though, with my pec health and money situation being good right now, and I've even dug up my decade-old Bullshido account for throwdowns.

Two sessions to log. Not having a phone to use the Blogger app in the gym is making me lazy with this thing.

Bench press:
235 x 5
270 x 5
305 x 6
• Felt fine up until warming-up with 185 and then my triceps suddenly felt really sore. DOMS from pressing with the Swiss bar, no doubt.
• Despite not being fresh enough to PR my form was excellent today. The bar pathway felt smooth, I didn't touch-and-go, and my pecs felt completely pain-free. I trimmed my warm-up by discarding "mobility" stuff like scarecrows and face-pulls, and instead stuck to pressing the bar and doing more arm swings. Some light striking on the bag, too.

Bent-over barbell rows:
225 x 15, 10, 10

Incline bench:
205 x 10, 8, 7, 7

Underhand horizontal lat pulldowns:
220 x 15, 14

Dumbbell press:
35s x 25
15s x 30

Chest flyes:
15s x 30

Curls

Time was much better. Finished in an hour and 20 minutes. Sacrificed reps for shorter rests, hence the incline bench numbers. Huge pump everywhere.

Deadlifts:
425 x 5

SSB squats:
345 x 3 x 5
150 x 30

Neck work

GHR:
20

Overhead press:
172 x 5
197 x 5
227 x 3, 3
• Went in hungry and kept shaking as a result. Worse than a month ago.

Swiss bar overhead press:
135 x 5 x 10
• If I keep tension on my shoulders my pec tendon hurts, so be sure to shelve the bar on chest.

Chins:
6 x 10
• Different form here that feels better on my pecs: pulling in an exaggerated arc toward my stomach rather than literally to the chin/neck./clavicle. ROM is shorter but that may be what I need. Eccentric is gone, as well; I'm dropping down and letting my feet stop me.

Spider curls:
50s x 15

Rear delts and external rotations

Session was under an hour and a half, which is great considering I retried my max set. That was the point of changing assistance work, but I hope the drastic deload won't hurt me, even if it's a harder variant.

Deload

Bench press:
140 x 5
175 x 5
212 x 5

Incline bench:
155 x 4 x 10

Bilateral dumbbell rows:
85s x 5 x 10

Decline push-ups:
20

Curls

Had to really make myself get into the gym today. Just didn't feel like training.

Deload

Goblet squats:
50 x 40, 30, 20

Couch pistols:
5

Light ab work

Deload

Overhead press:
105 x 5
130 x 5
160 x 5

125 x 4 x 10

Chin-ups:
5 x 10

Incline skullcrushers:
45s x 12

Spider curls:
40s x 15

Still feeling the effects of last week. My right bicep was still a little sore from Kroc rows on Thursday, amazingly.

Thursday:

Squats:
350 x 5
400 x 3
445 x 4

Deadlifts:
427 x 2
• Back was just too tired

SSB squats:
325 x 11

GHR:
25

I am beat. Time to deload.

Bench press:
265 x 5
300 x 3
335 x 3
• Pleased with how easy this was. Might have been good for a 4th but it would have been ugly. My previous bench record was 330x3 in 2009 so I'm glad to have surpassed that finally.

Kroc rows:
170 x 25
• Soul-sucking.

Incline bench press:
205 x 10, 10, 10, 10
• Had to rest pause to get this, but at least that meant I pause benched. I don't have much steam left for my assistance lifts on upper-body days. For my next exercise selections I'm going to bring the Swiss bar back.

Bilateral dumbbell rows:
100s x 15, 15, 15, 15

Chest, curls, rear-delts

Did five minute Tabata of various movements like shadowboxing, kicks, mountain-climbers, and kettlebell swings, then a one hour walk at a brisk pace.

SSB squats:
340 x 2 x 5

Deadlifts:
405 x 3
502 x 1
• No belt or straps. I haven't gone straight-edge, but last year my form deteriorated as I let my belted back do more over my legs and hips. Eventually 405 I found almost impossible when raw. My fault, but I need to do this as I learn to fly again.
• Wanted to go up to 535 and beat my PR but I decided instead to work with a training max that I can own every time.

SSB squats:
340 x 5

SSB holds:
600 x 3 x 12 secs
510 x 10 secs

Neck work

SSB squats:
150 x 33

GHR:
20

CoC:
#1 x 10

Push press:
225 x 5
255 x 4
280 x 1, 0, 0
• No lockout again.

Overhead press:
177 x 10, 9, 8, 7

Chin-ups:
6 x 12
15

Overhead holds:
225, 255, 275 x 3-5 seconds
• I think I came up with a kickass exercise here. Basically, I'm isolating the lockout that I wasn't able to achieve. Aside from just practicing stability I'm also hitting abs.

Skull crushers:
55s x 8
25s x 20

Spider curls:
55s x 10
25s x 15

Rear-delts

30 minute jog, then walked home for about 25 minutes.

Squats:
330 x 3
375 x 3
420 x 7

Deadlifts:
422 x 5

Hungry, so that's it. Breakfast was dialed in, but this time I simply didn't eat enough.

Edit:

Goblet squats at night:
50 x 57

Sick and sniffly. Also trained hungry. Gotta stop these 3-hour long breakfasts and just force-feed myself something in the morning quick(er).

Bench press:
240 x 3
280 x 3
317 x 5
• Was hoping for 6 or 7, but oh well, pretty good. Can't expect a PR every session anymore. A year of that was amazing enough.

Incline bench press:
205 x 3 x 10
205 x 8

Bilateral dumbbell rows:
100s x 5 x 15

Slow dumbbell press:
30s x 25
20s x 30
15s x 30
• Some pec-tendon pain with the 30s. Might go back to wide push-ups instead.

Swiss bar preacher curls:
107 x 10
35 x 20 (slow)

No rear-delt work, wanted to get home and spend new year's eve with my girlfriend. Will throw some in either later or tomorrow. Probably a good thing to let my pecs rest, too.

SSB box squats:
330 x 5

Deadlifts:
405 x 5

SSB squats:
340 x 5

Walkouts:
510 x 12 sec

SSB squats:
150 x 30

Neck work

GHR:
20

Goblet squats:
50 x 50

V-ups for abs

Fun day. No hard structure here, just wanted to hit some of the parts that'll make my deadlift and squat stronger. I was thinking about going heavy on deads but my core is trashed.

Push press:
225 x 5
255 x 3
280 x 0, 0, 1, 0, 0
• As with last time I didn't lockout, which I would count as 0 on other lifts, but I find that as long as the weight gets up there my press goes up, so it's a rep as far as what I need to accomplish.
• My push press form is awful. I had a tendency today especially (possibly because my lower body is still destroyed from squat day) to sink down and pause before trying to explode up, which always resulted in failure. Standing too wide made my explosion weaker, as well, because it took a shorter range of motion for it to become too deep.

Chins:
5 x 12
11
• So much better on my pec-tendons than pull-ups, although I still stop before my speed slows down too much.

Overhead press:
177 x 9, 7, 7
• Rather than try to grind my way to a rep PR I increased the weight and decreased the rest times to make an attainable record go by faster.

Swiss bar OHP:
125 x 13
85 x 15

Skullcrushers:
40s x 10

Spider curls:
50s x 10

Band pull-aparts:
50

Can't wait for UFC 168 tonight.

Squats:
300 x 5
350 x 5
400 x 10
• Very excited about this.

Deadlifts:
417 x 5
• Doing linear progression back up. I need a long period of retraining my CNS to power the weight up.

SSB squats:
322 x 10, 10, 8
• Tweaked my back on the final rep, which was the amount I was going to do anyway, coincidentally. My back has been feeling much better lately, though. Just gotta keep it up and bring in yoga again.

Neck work

Glute-ham raises:
15

RIP my Xperia Play, as much of a crappy phone it turned out to be. One more week until I can get a new one. In the meantime, I've had to make do with my old broken Droid as a music player.

Hiked with the gf for Christmas, keeping in tradition with what I used to do with George back in CA.

Afterwards, went and saw 47 Ronin, which was goofy as hell but had good moments. Defragging Terminator scum in the arcade afterward made it all positively merry.

Christmas Eve training.

Bench press:
230 x 5
265 x 5
300 x 8
• Upper-body was sore so I anticipated doing only 5, but the bar felt light.

Bent-over rows:
225 x 15, 12, 15, 12
↓
Incline bench press:
205 x 10, 10, 10
• The outer edge of my left hand hurt when gripping to remove my wrist cloths. Do more hand extension exercises (e.g. with broccoli bands).

Dumbbell press:
35s x 30
25s x 25
• Very slow and wide to promote chest hypertrophy, something I took from Wade Johnson. Harder than I thought, amazingly. Forearms felt fried.

Swiss bar preacher curls:
85 x 13

Kettlebell rows:
50 x 50

Band pull-aparts:
40

A man was training his son in the gym today and he commented in a complimentary fashion to him how long my warm-up was, which prompted me chat him up. He said my legs look like tree trunks.

Goblet squats:
50 x 55, 50, 45

Partial pistols:
5

Overhead press:
172 x 5
197 x 5
227 x 4, 3
• Couldn't get a 5th, even when adding only 2 pounds per cycle instead of 5.

175 x 10, 10, 10
• A small victory.
↓
Pull-ups:
10, 10, 10, 10
Chin-ups:
12, 12

Overhead dumbbell press:
60s x 14
40s x 20
• Harder than I thought but I was wiped, and made my pec-tendon hurt, surprisingly.

Skullcrushers:
50s x 7

Spider curls:
50s x 13
12

Facepulls:
Stack x 15

Rear-delt flyes:
35s x 14

Deload

Squats:
185 x 5
230 x 5
275 x 5

Deadlifts:
365 x 5

SSB squats:
220 x 3 x 10

Deload

Bench press:
140 x 5
175 x 5
210 x 5

Bilateral dumbbell rows:
80s x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
↓
Incline bench press:
155 x 10, 10, 10, 10

Decline push-ups:
20

My lovely boyfriend, Hormuz,  and I are enjoying imported beers and each other. <3 He trains hard, so I spoil him well. <3

Deload

Goblet squats:
50 x 40, 30, 20

Deload

Overhead press:
105 x 5
130 x 5
160 x 5
135 x 10, 10, 10

Pull-ups:
10, 10, 10

Lat pulldowns:
220 x 15
Arnold press
65s x 10

Literally copied-and-pasted this from last time.

40-minute jog this morning, then walked home. Finally got our fridge replaced so I can eat fresh foods again.

Squats:
345 x 5
390 x 3
435 x 5
• Holy shit, this was easy.

Deadlifts:
412 x 5
• Couldn't even do 405x1 a few days ago. So yeah, I definitely deadlift better at this point in time after squats. Again, it's entirely mental, and I'm considering a max pull on this day until I get my psyche in order. After squats I don't feel shy about my back, I just bend and rip it up.

SSB squats:
320 x 10 x 3 x 10
• Felt extremely light. I even checked the bar again to make sure I was squatting in the 300s.

Neck machine:
100 x 10, 10
↓
Neck crunches:
25 x 10, 10

Deadlifts:
315 x 15

SSB holds:
600 x 10 seconds
510 x 12
420 x 12

Bench press:
260 x 5
295 x 3
330 x 3
• Failed a 4th. For some reason I was lowering slow this session and almost doing a pause bench, so that's not too bad all things considered.

Kroc rows:
165 x 27
• Was way harder on my left side than my right, for some reason. Couldn't get into a natural-feeling position.

Incline bench press:
202 x 10, 10, 10, 10

Meadows rows:
100 x 10, 10

Inverted rows:
200 x 15, 15

Decline push-ups:
17, 15
•Wide to narrow.

Swiss bar preacher curls:
110 x 6
85 x 9

Band pull-aparts

30 minute jog yesterday, and 30 minute walk home.

So, my freezer caught on fire today.

 

Just a ridiculous situation. Still waiting for them to come over and wheel the smelly thing out (the manager office is not supposed to be closed on Sunday). I've had some chest pains from breathing in smoke. 

How much of a dumbass fire do you have to be to try and burn in a freezer?

Deadlifts:
405 x 0, 1

SSB walkout:
490 x 10 sec

SSB squats:
335 x 5, 1
• Back tweaked.

Neck machine:
100 x 10
↓
Neck crunches:
25 x 10
• New icon for super-sets.

SSB squats:
150 x 30, 20

It's clear that I need to get my back health in order before I can be good at the deadlift. Keep up the yoga, go on walks, etc.

Back from anniversary beach stay. Diet was very good, sleep was not.

Overhead press:
195 x 5
225 x 3
250 x 1

175 x 10, 10, 9, 8

Pull-ups:
10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Incline skullcrushers:
50s x 10

One-arm lat pulldowns:
200 x 13

Rear-delt flyes:
20s x 25, 20, 15

Spider curls:
45s x 15, 10, 10

10 minutes of foam rolling and stretching both Saturday and Sunday night.

Squats:
320 x 3
365 x 3
410 x 6
> Interesting. It seems that my squats suffer worse from infrequency than my upper-body. Felt weak, but if I can hit that on a bad day then things are going well.


Deadlifts:
405 x 2, 1
> The weight started sliding off to one side so I had to stop and fetch clips. Was only able to hit 1 after resuming because my back felt bad. Reps were fast enough to just treat these as speed deadlifts.

Goblet squats:
50 x 55, 46. 45

Reverse crunches:
15

Bench press:
245 x 3
280 x 3
315 x 6
> Getting good leg drive by consciously squeezing my glutes everytime I press up. Feels kind of like a glute raise without the raise part.

Bilateral dumbbell rows:
100s x 13, 13, 12, 12

Incline bench press:
200 X 10, 10, 10

Decline push-ups:
30, 23, 15
> Progressively going from super wide to narrow.

Inverted rows:
30, 25

Pull-ups:
10
> Couldn't even hold onto the bar so had to use straps, embarrassingly. My forearms are fried.

Kettlebell preacher curls:
50 x 13
Both arms: 50 x 25, 20

Band pull-aparts
41, 31
> Some pain in right pec tendon. Blame it on the wide push-up set.

Hadn't lifted in almost a week, but strength was as good as ever. Sleep has been bad. I am done staying up all night to fix my sleeping schedule. The only way for me is to make myself wake up at a certain time. I hadn't been doing this because I wanted to get enough sleep but that didn't work out anyway AND I'm waking up in the late afternoon still.

Also, after a full day of not eating any real food (still did what I needed to do by munching on walnuts, blocks of cheddar cheese, and whey), it felt awesome to have a Thanksgiving feast with my girlfriend.

I also finally got the fridge fixed and my diet should be easier now. The thing had been leaking constantly before up and dying, which put me in crisis mode as I fought to prevent all our food from spoiling.