Slept on my damn stomach last night and woke up with a tight achy back. All was good until I got to about rep 12 on squats and it started tightening up. Had my mind on one set of 20 and got there mostly pain free, just some building tightness. Tried to do the DB SLDLs and called it after 60s, just too risky. This should pass quick, but I’ll need to baby it for a few days. The 215 set was solid. Just seems pathetic that it feels heavy. 215 pounds is heavy for me. It is what it is. Here’s the 215 vid:
Low Incline DB Press
10x2x10, 40x10, 60x10, 70x2x10, 70x9
-with-
Red Band Assisted Chin Variations
5x15
-alt with-
Band + Weight Bent Laterals
10x30, 15x30, 20x3x20
Banded Feet Up Ring Pushups
15 (orange), 3x10 (red)
Band Pressdowns/Overhead ext
200 reps
40 min inc treadmill walk
Low energy from a long workday yesterday and crap sleep last night, but got a good workout in nonetheless. Back is tiiiight, def strained it. Oh well. Will modify until back to 100%. Shouldnt be long. Band resisted ring Pushups are the shiz.
Woke 185.1. Had a pretty big cheat day Monday with a double bacon burger and sides for lunch at an event, then a Turkey sandwich and a metric ton of chips for dinner. I just wanted it, so I did it. Ate perfectly yesterday and had an active day so back to 185.1. Expecting 184 tomorrow. Goal is to see mid-low 183s fri/sat. Going to write up some new complete giant set style workouts to finish this cut with. That means I’ll peel weights back some, which I’m perfectly fine with as I rehab the back to 100%.
I remember when I did that last year. I kept starting workouts and realizing I underestimated how hard they’d be and I’d scale them on the spot so I could finish.
Back is recovering, but needs a bit more time before I can tbdl safely. Will front squat on Sunday. That r/p set was hard. Really hard. However, I did puss out a few reps shy of full failure just from being so damn out of breath and shaky.
New program, still tweaking. Squat/DB bench/OHP will be 4 weeks normal reps, 4 weeks tempo, then 4 weeks tempo + pause then restart for another cycle if working properly. Not married to main lift rep schemes, but this is the baseline. Trying to get away from only using weight as my progression, so adding in movement variables. We’ll see.
Woke 185.1. Have not adhered to my diet like I would have preferred this week, but have not gone backwards. With the back strain, prob good I give it some extra cals. Pizza tonight too, and I’m not holding back. I’ve still got time to get down to 179.9, but it’s seriously time to commit. I’m about 8 weeks from ending this cut and starting maintenance/slow gain. I’d prefer to be done in 4 weeks. So that’s the plan, 179.9 by June 18th.
The back is healing, but rather slowly. Mostly tightness now. I think it was an oblique strain. It’s on the left side/back. Been self deep massaging, planking, dead bugs and bird dogs. Almost there. Front squats will be fine tomorrow.
Program is set for the next 12 weeks. 4 weeks standard reps, 4 weeks slow eccentric and 4 weeks slow eccentric with pauses. Goal here is to push the main lift weight, safely. Impeccable form only. Once form breaks, set is over. Assistance will be exactly that. Good quality, fast paced work for muscle building and preventative maintenance. Basically I plan to put everything into the 2 double progression main lift sets, then do lightish effective assistance. Paul Carter got me thinking about the main lift work. I’ve not been viewing it as I should. And I’ve been doing too much of it. So I’ll warm up quickly (2-3 sets max, low reps) then pour all my effort into two big technical failure double progression sets. This should help keep me healthy (no junk volume), aid recovery, and hopefully progress.
3 Rounds:
Red Band Resisted Feet Up Ring Pushups
10
-with-
KB Row
44x12
-with-
Orange Band + Weight Lateral
10x15
-with-
Axle Curl
55x15
40 min outside brisk walk
Not firing on all cylinders, got a cold that’s killing my energy and low back is tight. Still, was able to do everything I wanted to do comfortably. This should be a good setup. Looking forward to putting alot into the two work sets. Will go to 120 next week. Time to get my mind right.
Front Squats
Nope - back intolerant
-with-
Ab Wheel
3x12
3 rounds:
BW Lunges
10
-with-
Single Leg Glute Bridge
10
40 min inc treadmill walk
Well damn, back is obviously worse than I thought. Pretty sure a strained QL, or erector. Cant quite tell. Tried to gently stretch before squats, and that may have pissed it off more. Rehab time. Hope it doesn’t linger too long, but it might.
I’m going to take this time to dig deep into the cut. Finish it off once and for all. More track time. Will scale back to just two lifting sessions per week and 2-3 track days.
As soon as I’m healed up I’ll jump back on this program with a small calorie surplus.
Should be easy with diet adherence and high activity. I’m def carrying a lot of water/salt right now. Legit slammed a half large bag of baked bbq lays with a massive Turkey sandwich last night. Then more tostitos after that lol. Chips and cheap chocolate candy are my nemisis. Once it starts, I lose all control.
Looked good in the mirror this morning tho!
Back is ouchies, BUT going to try to play golf today. Hate to let my customers down. Hopefully I dont have to get carted off the course
Leave the driver in the bag! I tee off with a 6 iron and the only change in the outcome of the hole is that my second shot is from or close to the fairway - instead of the trees.
Ha! I played college golf so I still have some game. However, every single shot was painful, but dont think I did any harm. The big win is I didnt eat bad, and didnt drink any beer. It was really fucking hard too…the beer part. I love drinking and playing golf. I nearly caved, but didnt.
So just went on a walk with the family. One trip around the neighborhood, which is 1 mile. They go in the house and I tear off by myself for a fast half mile run and 3 sprints and more walking. Turned into a nice cardio session. That’s a win day right there, that could have been a total loss if I had started drinking on the golf course. #proudofme
185.0 this morning. Feeling very motivated right now. Best I’ve looked in the mirror yet this morning too. Got an upper workout tonight. Mid day walk too.
Going to sneak in those cardio sessions like last night as much as possible.
Back not making progress yet. Going to be a monther it looks. Currently doing bird dogs, dead bugs and side planks for rehab.
