One of my hardest final reps on squats but I surprised myself by not panicking or rocking out of position and I just eased the weight up. Think i’m adjusting to these weights and not getting intimidated by the numbers.
June 1
Bench Press
3 x 5 x 86kg
Inverted Rows
3 x 9
Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 45kg
Tricep Kickbacks
3 x 8 x 16kg
Ab Ripper X
11 mins 44 secs
Really pleased with bench, I took my feet a little wider to get a solid ground contact and that made all the difference - could’ve done around 7 reps on this weight. Abs were brutal as always, a bit stop-start on some exercises but the intensity was there and I was sweating by halfway.
I have felt absolutely fucking horrendous* for about a week and went 5 days sipping water and not keeping anything down. I don’t know why I tried a workout in the middle of that but I couldn’t feel any worse so figured why not? I kept down a protein shake on the 11th, half a bowl of porridge on the 12th and today (13th) I had half a cup of porridge again and a big sandwich late afternoon. I know the scales will only depress me but I think i’m probably about 64kg as my face is resembling Bale in The Machinist. Probably need to eat for the rest of the week before I attempt the gym again.
*not confirmed but possibly ingested Line Cleaner at work and irritated my stomach lining for a prolonged period of time.
So this was meant to be four 300’s getting progressively faster, I imagined knocking around 0.5 secs off each run but obviously that level of precision is hard when you’re out of shape. I thought I took it out harder in the 2nd run but perhaps faded at the end. Made a point to hit the 3rd run like it was my last as I figured 10 minutes is enough for a full recovery, but the last 100m of my final run was horrible and i’m surprised it wasn’t slower.
I’m incredibly frustrated that i’m not naturally prioritising sprints/weights/diet high on my daily tasks and instead all I ate yesterday was a 5 pack of chocolate bars, today I had a box of cereal and a pack of brownie mix and I haven’t exercised since last Thursday.
My job ends on July 6th then i’m away in Liverpool for the weekend, after that I have a week off before moving back with my parents to save money while I search for a decent full-time job. I will do my best to fit in weights before the 6th and finally establish a routine I can stick to.
Not a hint of DOMS, excellent to be back and now full time work is over I can get back in the gym regularly.
July 3
Power Clean to Front Squat
3 x 5 x 50kg
Single Leg RDL
3 x 8 x 21kg
Single Leg Squat
4 x 8 x 50kg
Prone Hyperextensions
3 x 12
This caused a lot of glute ache and I am still hurting 4 days later. I enjoyed the variation in exercises and will look to include more new exercises where possible.
So I quit my job at the bar, now i’m at my parents house and moved back with all my stuff, including my weights which will now be in the garage with a ceiling high enough for OHP I’m here for 11 days then i’m doing bar work for a few weeks with an agency but will pop home on my days off to gym it up.
The bench here is at a slight incline but not enough to consider it incline benching. I did my OH press with the EZ curl bar as it just seems that will be better for my shoulder health. My fitness is down as the first few sets of bench were comfortable but I dropped the weight and struggled with the final set. My wrist straps have broken and since I intend to start deadlifting I did a barbell hold to failure to improve my grip.
i thought I would drop in and see how you are going. Good to still that your still lifting and running. Although sounds like you had caught a bug there for awhile… don’t know how you found the motivation to train. Did you eat any chinese take-away?
Doing 15 reps on the leg raise was a little beyond me at this stage. I took a while to get into GM’s but when I did I found the weight too light. Pleased with my deadlift form and I could just about do 10 reps which I would’ve stopped at anyway.
I did indeed have a chinese, was a buffet and I had a lot of chicken satay which was probably the culprit in me feeling so bad. I’ve been well, too busy to train but now i’m getting back into it. How’s your training going? Will check out your log after i’ve written this buddy.
July 16
Shoulder Press
5 x 39kg
5 x 45kg
10 x 51kg
Lat Pulldown
4 x 10 x 50kg
Bicep Curls
4 x 8 x 45kg
Tricep Kickbacks
4 x 10 x 13.5kg
Pleased with my shoulder press, I have short arms and used to do shoulders every day when I was younger so I can see me putting some good numbers up in that. Everything else was ok, building up to 5 x 10-12 in my assistance work when my fitness improves.
About a month ago I had some chinese chicken satay or something, and after that I didn’t eat for 5 days and had vertigo for all of those day. I will never eat Chinese again.
About 2 weeks later I had some Thai food as I thought its not really chinese food. I got myself some chicken and cashew for lunch. That afternoon I had the worse session in the gym ever, and I was thirsty for like a whole week afterwards.
These days I try to do some more cooking myself. Lots of chilli, egg, spinach and cheese pies etc etc.
Well I normally only ever do the other kind of eating out, not one for restaurants but was dragged to the Chinese and I think i’ll be avoiding it from now on. Yeh i’m normally a very boring eater, porridge, bulgar wheat and sweet potatoes as carb sources then rice or soya & linseed bread for hard training days.
July 18
Clean to Front Squat
3 x 8 x 50kg
SL Squat
5 x 49kg
5 x 56kg
abandoned
Step Ups
3 x 8 x 48.5kg
SLRDL
4 X 10 X 21kg
Machine Chest Flyes
1 x 10 x 20kg
2 x 10 x 25kg
Prone Reverse DB Flyes
3 x 12 x 1.5kg
When I wrote the workout I intended to have single leg squats (rear leg elevated) as my 5/3/1 but I could tell before my working set that this was a stupid idea. I then noticed the higher ceiling could accommodate step-ups, which I used to love with my old coach. I dropped the weight to make sure I wasn’t pushing off with the non-working leg and I was pleased with the sets, maybe 4 x 8 next time. I’m training with a friend on Friday and didn’t want to ache loads after the new exercises (it’ll be bench, inverted row, fly & reverse fly) so did the two new ones today at a moderate intensity to blow the cobwebs away.
This has been such a good few days of training for me and it’s such a shame I didn’t have free weights growing up because I hit the machines every day from 15-18 years old and to think of how strong I would’ve been if I knew about diet/workout planning/recovery measures makes me feel like i’ve missed out big time.
I’m based in London during the Olympics and with any luck I can get a guest pass or pay a daily rate to the gym nearby and continue my four weekly sessions and establish some continuity (always after this but never get it!).
Finally, I don’t know if I wrote it before but my spine feels bruised around where I rest the bar which is one reason i’m not doing normal back squats, the other being no spotter so my training at the moment is geared towards improving Bench Press, OH Press and Deadlifts.
Pleased with that. Not very controlled on the leg raise, quite sloppy and swingy. Deadlift was very comfortable but I could see my form going if I continued further. The middle of my left hamstring feels like it’s torn but I know it’s just where i’ve really worked it with the foam roller yesterday, I had to up my GM’s to get the tension right.
Bench Press
5 x 61kg
5 x 70kg
5 x 79kg
Inverted Rows
4 x 10
Machine Chest Flyes
4 x 10 x 25kg
Prone Reverse DB Flyes
4 x 12 x 2.5kg
Less impressed with upper body, I switched grips in inverted rows and found the 2nd and 3rd sets of bench quite difficult, barely able to squeeze out the 5th rep on the work set. I based the calculations on 100% of my predicted max. from the 8 x 71kg I did the previous week, assuming I will adjust by next week and struggle less.
Pleased with pressing ability again. Pulldowns were easier but kickbacks were difficult to lock out so i bumped it down to 11kg and when the reps came easily I slowed the movement down and paused briefly at the top, making sure to get full RoM and feel it in my tricep.
Double session tomorrow and i’m going to London a day early so next sessions after that will be next week.
Didn’t push it in deadlift, i’m happy with 5 reps. Upped GM’s and could’ve gone higher but i’ll leave it until next week as it would require switching to using my squat rack to put it on my shoulders. Bench was better, could do 4 reps if I had a spotter. All else was good, London tonight and next home on the 1st August.
Ok pressing, had a stomach bug again and spent 9 hours in the foetal position earlier today but shook it off long enough to complete this. Cut the assistance work as i’m doing the double session tomorrow.
Glad inverted rows are getting easier as I struggled to begin with. Hanging leg raise is killing me, have to grip the ledge of a wooden beam as I don’t have a chin up bar. Very pleased with my double at 90kg, it didn’t feel that heavy when I unracked it which is good as my hands have been hurting recently around 80-90kg. Back to London later this morning then back for a Monday-Tuesday repeat of the last two days.
Nope, think I caught something in the hustle and bustle of the London crowds heading to the Olympics.
Aug 7
Deadlift
3 x 86kg
3 x 98kg
6 x 111kg
Good Mornings
4 x 12 x 58.5kg
Hanging Leg Raise
4 x 10
Bench Press
5 x 63kg
5 x 72kg
5 x 82kg
Chest Flyes
4 x 10 x 30kg
Inverted Rows
4 x 10
Reverse Flyes
4 x 12 x 3kg
Hamstring and calf were tingling on GM’s and felt detached from my body, think I wasn’t warmed up enough. Good bench, went for six reps but didn’t make it. Accepted an extra shift yesterday so no shoulder press until the weekend.
Slightly poor pressing as I fumbled getting the bar to my shoulders. Might start taking it off a rack instead of cleaning it to the starting position. Assistance work was fine, my diet’s been poor over the last week but i’m home now so no excuses for eating chocolate bars! (have eaten at least 20 of them last week)
Finally found leg raise manageable, starting to think I wasn’t progressing at all. Deads were good but not great, bar is travelling quite far from my legs so I think I need to set up with the bar almost touching my shins to ensure my back isn’t overdoing it. Now that i’m home most days I can afford to go back to doing my four sessions on separate days but i’ll probably end up doubling up.
I’m here for 11 days then i’m doing bar work for a few weeks with an agency but will pop home on my days off to gym it up.