Wednesday 8/19
Kettlebell Press
16 x 1 x 88
Thursday 8/20
Kettlebell Press
16 x 1 x 88
Nice work man, good to see the return to pulling. I think we hurt our backs around the same time and are in a similar boat (Lots of sciatic pain for me). McGill’s Big 3 has been helpful along with DeFranco’s agile 8.
Have you given sumo a spin? Feels a little friendlier.
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Friday 8/21
Kettlebell Press
16 x 1 x 88
Saturday 8/22
Deadlift
1x225
1x225
1x225
1x225
1x225
1x315
1x315
1x315
1x315
1x315
This was fairly encouraging. All reps easy, of course, but more importantly I felt like I was nice and well-braced and stable. I still imagine it’s going to take a few consecutive weeks of workouts like this with no hiccups to feel like my back is really secure before I can really attack a heavier deadlift with confidence, but this was very much a step in the right direction.
Also, my dad dropped off one of two squat boxes that we made back when I lived at home from 2x4’s, so now I can box squat with confidence on a proper box. In my older and wiser age, I have a mind to use a Westside-inspired idea of a “dynamic effort” (box squat) day and a “max effort” (deadlift) day for my lower body strength, surrounded by an array of kettlebell workouts and pull-ups. I know my plans are ever changing, but here’s the current intention for the remainder of August and through September:
Sunday: KB Press 16 x 1 x 88
Monday: Pull-ups (8 sets)
Tuesday: KB Press 32 x 1 x 70
Wednesday: Box Squat 5 x 2 x 225
Thursday: KB Press 32 x 1 x 70
Friday: Pull-ups (8 sets)
Saturday: Deadlift 5 x 1 x 315
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Sunday 8/23
Warmup: kettlebell swings x 70 pounder, a few sets of box squats with 135 and 165 pounds to get the feel of things
Box Squat
2x225
2x225
2x225
2x225
2x225
Also, a brief note on logging, for my barbell workouts from now on, I set the timer such that I have 10 minutes to “warm up” (which will usually be a few KB swings and a few sets of whatever barbell movement I have planned) and then perform 5 working sets; I’ll only log the 5 working sets here. As you can see above, the plan is for the working sets of box squats to start here at the lowly weight of doubles with 225 and gradually nudge upwards; likewise, deadlifts will begin with five singles at 315 and gradually progress until I have regained an appropriate level of confidence in my back durability and strength at my lower bodyweight to push things a bit more. If I’m box squatting 275 for five textbook doubles and deadlifting 405 for five strong singles by year end at a bodyweight of 210, that seems like a fair target.
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Monday 8/24
Pull-ups
10 x 3
Kept it simple today and just knocked out a bunch of triples, focusing on a good dead stop at the bottom and a little pause and hold at the top for each.
Tuesday 8/25
Kettlebell Press
16 x 1 x 88
Wednesday 8/26
Warmup: Kettlebell Swings (3x10x70), a few deadlift singles with 225
Deadlift
1x315
1x315
1x315
1x315
1x315
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Thursday 8/27
Kettlebell Press
16 x 1 x 88
Friday 8/28
Kettlebell Press
16 x 1 x 88
Pull-ups
6 x 3
Was raining (hard) when I got started so decided to kettlebell rather than the scheduled pull-ups. But, it slowed down by the end, so then I popped outside and did a few sets of pull-ups.
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Saturday 8/29
Warmup: a few swings, a few light squats on the way up to 225
Box Squat
2x225
2x225
2x225
2x225
2x225
Sunday 8/30
Kettlebell Press
16 x 1 x 88
Monday 8/31
Pull-ups
10 x 3
Tuesday 9/1
Kettlebell Press
32 x 1 x 70
Wednesday 9/2
Warmup: a few sets of box squats at 135, 165, 195
Box Squat
2x225
2x225
2x225
2x225
2x225
Thursday 9/3
Kettlebell Press
16 x 1 x 88
Friday 9/4
Warmup: a few sets of box squats at 135, 165, 195
Box Squat
2x225
2x225
2x225
2x225
2x225
Originally planned this for tomorrow but we’ll have some family visiting & it may be easier to steal away for a quick KB workout than to squat with people here, so I decided to do this today.
Very encouraged by the box squats so far. Will keep this going for a few weeks & then start adding some weight as long as good bar speed and technique are maintained.
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Saturday 9/5
Kettlebell Press
16 x 1 x 88
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Sunday 9/6
Warmups: a few sets of box squats at 135, 165, 195
Box Squat
8 x 2 x 225
Decided that I’m going to go full on with the Westside approach in the box squat workouts: eight doubles around 65% of my Back Squat 1RM (though currently estimated due to injury & recovery). I’ll eventually bring back a “max effort” day to go with the “dynamic effort” day and fill in the cracks with kettlebell workouts for conditioning and pull-ups. This ought to work nicely.
Also of note, BW 216.4 this morning, new low for the year, still working my way down towards 210.
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