Had a really tight knot in my upper back/traps, press bothered it. Behind the neck presses do wonders for my shoulder mobility, need to look at including them in upcoming cycles. I don’t track them, but pair all my pressing with light face pulls or band pull aparts.
5.5 mile run exactly 44mins. Had to push and work for that, 8:00/mile pace.
Feeling last night lifting with doms in my shoulders today, I think I’d rather run on heavy legs…
Easter weekend and shifts completely derailing when I’ll squat for final session of this cycle. May have to be tomorrow morning after nights, which I tend to avoid doing unless I’ve no choice. As it stands, I have no choice! Otherwise next week Wednesday, making it give or take ten days since last squat session.
Well that didn’t go to plan. Easter weekend was hectic, I didn’t get any lifting in, just plenty of walking and much needed and neglected family time. Returned to work gym on Monday and Tuesday, off cycle for two days, mainly upper body focus but highlight was trap bar deadlifting 155kg for 5 followed by 100kg for 16.
On to today, warm up sets felt solid, top set I was in trouble on just rep 2, it straight away got in my head and my lower back wasn’t feeling too clever. I haven’t squatted in 12 days, but sensed I had done enough to tick over. Opted for a bit of a bro leg session as they felt fresh, upper body certainly didn’t.And I like it.
I’m simply not strong enough to squat 120 for 5+ reps. Bench and deadlift are going up, press is slowly going up, but squat, meh, it’s always been my nemesis.
I’ll begin next cycle on Monday, any work between now and then will be mainly conditioning based. The program calls for TM training, I’m not convinced I’ll commit to it, thinking a FSL or SSL approach, hell even a basic 3x5 LP and keep other lifts 531.
Get in off night shift for a 2 hour snooze with every intention of getting up for the fell run I had pencilled in, but not ashamed to admit I bottled it due to the weather. I can tolerate it on the road, but not in the hills, I’d be asking for an injury. Too old and sensible!
So found myself in the gym instead:
Dips
BWx10
+10x8
+15x6
+10x8
BWx8+2+2
Squat
102.5 x3x5
Pull ups
Overhand x8 6 5
Neutral x7
Seated ham curls
40x3x10
Leg press
140x3x15
BB Curls
30x4x11
Straight home to walk the dogs, legs had a wobble on.
Squats moved well.
Pull ups harder than they should have been, dips and squats left upper body feeling weak.
Off the back of 2 hours sleep post night shift, proud to say I owned this session (at least my legs and arms did!)
Bench
85x5
87.5x2 (set up completely wrong, lost tension)
90x2
92.5x1
85x3
80x4
DB Rows
40x20 18 16 14
DB Incline
20x14 12 10
In and out in 30 mins, paired rows with bench to save time. Life pretty darn hectic right now, training time at a premium, mainly utilising work gym. Completely off any program. Optimal? No. Better than nothing? Absolutely.
DB rear foot elevated split squat
15’sx10 e/l
20’sx2x12 e/l
DB Curls
15’sx15 15 12
EZ Bar Tri extensions
30x3x11
Another work session. I absolutely despise single leg work, ready for the cycle home to get some blood flow in them.
Not stepped on the scale in a few days, but feel like I’m slowly dropping. At the easy stage, I haven’t really felt hungry and pushing breakfast back has helped. Three meals a day and reigned the snacking in. Bit of a social thing tomorrow evening, so will likely skip breakfast all together. Losing weight is a novelty to me, just looking at simple hacks for these occasions that crop up.
30/4/23
98.4kg
Assault bike 4 tabata rounds
5x kettlebell A/B/C’s
This quick fire conditioning did the trick on the hamstring doms. Short on time, wanted intensity up with minimal thought process.
Moving forward, keen to pick up where I left off with 5/3/1, but gym time looking a little limited the next two months. Two day a week lifting is comfortably doable, though.
Starting to drop weight pretty quick, picked up a tub of whey for first time in months to top up protein levels, buying in to the bro science and questioning if 120-140g a day was enough. Never bothered calculating macros when eating round the clock and pushing the weight gain.
This program fits the bill for twice a week lifting and continuing the 531 work. Aim to ride out the weight loss for the full six weeks, but do have three nights away in June that will detail that, but won’t stress it.
Wanted to squat minimum 20 reps, probably had a couple more in me, but equally, I didn’t really want to do anything else after it, so must have done something right…