Agreed. Bench is lame. When I do it I prefer close grip anyways. Pressing weight overhead just feels awesome. Congrats on the pr.
1 Like
Work for today PT 2:
400m intervals, 90 seconds rest in between
1@ 7.6mph
1@ 7.7 mph
1@7.8 mph
1@7.9 mph.
Really wasnāt feeling these after work, so just banged out a few and then called it.
@cstan097 i am 100% on the same page as you there. Most of my benching is closer grip. Idk who decides whatās close grip bench and whatās regular, but my normal grip is probably somewhere in between the two, just a bit outside of the smooth one the barbell, same place I hold it for press. I feel more powerful there, and my shoulders definitely thank me compared to when I used a wider grip
1 Like
End of the Month Review:
Goals:
- weight: starting 269. Goal: 257. End weight: 259. Came close, but did not hit goal.
- Trap bar deadlift: starting 435x5. Goal: 450x5. End Weight: 465x5.
- Squat: Start: 260x5. Goal: 275x5. End weight: 275x5
- Bench: start: 210x5 goal: 220x5. End weight: 220x5
- Press: start: 140x5. Goal: 150x5. End Weight: 155x5
- Banded Chins: start: rbx5, goal: rbx7. End: rbx7
- banded Pullup: start: rbx5. Goal: rbx7. End: rbx8
- 1.5 mile run: start: 15:37. Goal: 14:55. End: 14:38.
- Atlas CFT: truthfully, havenāt done this at all this month. Used biking and running more for conditioning, think I am going to lean into that for a bit here. Goal not met by default.
All in all, pretty happy there. Didnāt hit my goal weight, but still down 10lbs this month, so nothing to really sneeze at. Strength gains have been coming at a ridiculous rate, very happy with progress there. Cardio coming along for the ride too, not as impressive but building my base back up there.
Onto the Next Month:
September Goals:
Weight: 249.
Trap bar deadlift: 475x5
Squat: 285x5
Bench: 230x5
Press: 160x5
Banded pull-ups: rbx10
Banded chins: rbx9
1 mile run: 8:10
Time to work
6 Likes
Awesome progress for August. Congrats.
1 Like
Some really good progress here mate. I like the mini goals you are setting yourself and the review at the end of a month. Great way to keep yourself accountable and on track.
1 Like
Work for this AM.
Navy PT
Push-ups: 50
Plank: 1:30
1.5 mile run: 13:53 (Post comeback PR)
Notes:
-
good idea fairy has jumped in and made command PT a thing again. Looks like this will be a 3x a week morning thing for a few weeks until everyone gets tired of it the and program is abandonedā¦ā¦
-
running with others made me actually push myself a tad. Still not a good time, but for 5am with 4 hours of sleep, Iāll take the PR.
-
on the 4 hours of sleep note, my wife brought home a dog yesterday. 1 year old female, appears to be recently weaned off a litter, looks like a staffie/lab mix. She saw some guy physically throw the poor pup out of his semi right outside her work, gal hurt her leg in the fall and was running around looking for anyone to help. She was microchipped, so we got her scanned and called her owner. His response āthat bitch makes awful puppies, I never want to hear about her again.ā So yeah, that guy deserves a bat to the kneecaps, and now we are fostering this pup. She LOVES me, much to my wifeās jealousy, but she is a little bit afraid of our two German Shepard mixes. Little bit of growling, not malicious, just a smaller pup in a scary situation. However, she was whining all night to be let on the bed; which 100% would of caused a fight because thatās where one of our other pups sleeps, hence the 4 hours of sleep.
3 Likes
You got an address to go with that chip information? I have friendsā¦
Seriously, though, there should be recourse to hold someone accountable for something like that.
1 Like
Work for today:
Giant set 1:
Banded Pullips: rbx8, 7, 5, 5, 5,
Press: 45x8, 95x3, 115x3, 135x5, 145x5, 155x5 (comeback PR), 145x5, 145x5
Kb swing: 53x10, 53x10, 53x10, 53x10, 53x10
Rear delt raise: 15x8, 15x8, 15x8, 15x8, 15x8
Giant set 2:
Lat raise: 15x12, 15x12, 15x12
RDL: 135x10, 135x10, 135x10
Z curl: 15x12, 15x12, 15x12
Conditioning:
Mowed the lawn, 45 minutes
Notes:
- took a few days to rest my shoulder, try to let it heal up a bit. Still hurting a decent amount, little concerning when you consider itās been 3 weeks, but it is feeling better than it was. Cut deadlifts out of this workout, going to keep those to 1x a week until the shoulder stops hurting altogether.
- happy with the PR. To be fair, I thought I already hit this, until I went back through the weeks realized I had only PRd at 150. Soā¦. Still a win haha.
- pull-ups felt really good, think I had 9 in me, but didnāt want to burn myself out on the first set. Getting stronger day by day.
- weight loss is weird. Woke up at 261.2. Little troubled that I am two pounds heavier than a few days ago, but didnāt think much of it. Then I put my belt on, and was down to belt loop 9 (Comeback PR), which is the smallest my waist has been to date. Iāll take it. The weight loss may not be completely linear, but as long as my strength and cardio levels are increasing, and the waist is dropping, Iām pretty happy.
- really, weight is 100% trending down, I just overthink my day to day fluctuations which is probably not the healthiest thing for me to do, but better than not watching my weight at all. Rambling done
3 Likes
I do this all the time. I have a cheat meal that was planned and all of a sudden I gain some water weight and regret all my life decisions. Then a few days later I am lower than I have been and calm down again. I usually try to just look at the downward trend on myfitnesspal these days to get around that lol
Oh and congrats on the pr that ohp just keeps going up!
2 Likes
In this regard, Iāve been having my best results completely disregarding the scale. I used to weigh myself twice a day: once before bed and once first thing in the morning. Since moving, I havenāt weighed myselfā¦and I got the leannest Iāve ever been in my life AND had a very successful gaining phase. The belt is a great metric to go by instead. I measure how things fit and how I look, and thatās enough feedback. Like you noted: itās easy to let a number get in your head.
1 Like
@cstan097 ive taken to not weighing myself the day after a cheat meal because I know it will just get into my head. Give myself a buffer day before assessing the damages haha
@T3hPwnisher truthfully, belts probably the better metric for most people. My only issue is frankly being honest with myself. Iām heavy enough that a few lbs gained doesnāt really change my appearance much, and Iāve fallen Into the trap before of thinking I was losing weight because my runs and lifts were going up, when in reality I was just getting more skilled at being an athletic fatass haha. Scale helps keep that in checkā¦ but still, the number isnāt everything, and I definitely like using the belt to help remind myself of fat loss even if the scales stagnant
2 Likes
Work for today:
Giant set 1:
Bench Jump: 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
Squat: 45x10, 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 250x5, 265x5, 275x5, 260x5, 260x5
Banded Pullup: rbx8, 6, 6, 5, 4
Ab wheel: 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Giant set 2:
Barbell row: 125x8, 125x8, 125x8
Bench: 205x6, 205x6, 205x5
Heel elevated goblet squat: 25x10, 25x10, 25x10
Band pull apart: rx15, 15, 15
Giant set 3:
Axle curl: 50x12, 50x12, 50x10
Band pushdown: rbx15, 15, 15
Lat raise: 15x12, 15x12, 15x12
800m run: 4:16
Notes:
- squats went okay, driving myself a bit crazy trying to get my form pretty. I can lift the weight with a wider stance, but then I tend to good morning it. I can bring in my stance, but then Iām literally on my toes at the bottom. Somewhat my fault for not starting the ankle mobility work like I said I would
- bench felt good
- I like goblet squats. Like weight, almost feels like mobility work
- didnāt want to run, just did a quick jog/run at the end
2 Likes
Work for today:
30min lss bike ride
1 Like
Work for today:
Giant set:
Banded Pullup: rbx9 (Comeback PR), 5, 4,
Press: 45x5, 95x4, 115x2, 140x5, 140x5, 140x5,
Trap bar deadlift: 150x5, 240x3, 330x2, 420x5, 420x5, 420x5
Band pull apart: rx15, 15, 15,
Notes:
- busy day, feel like hell, just trying to cram some work in
2 Likes
Good to see these are still progressing. These are a stubborn exercise.
Work for today:
Navy PT: 45 minutes
- did a bunch of stuff at 0500 with the group. No idea what, but the highlights were bear crawls up and down a basketball court, lunges up and down the court, suicide sprints, tons of pretty stupid core work, body weight squats, and jumping jacks. Not too tough, wasnāt really pushing too hard, just enough to make sure I was finishing in the top 25% or so of the group on each exercise.
- I hate bear crawls. Always have, always will.
- this was poorly planned. We are doing it because a lot of people put on Covid weight (myself included) and are struggling to hit run times. Why we arenāt running, I have no idea. Talked with the guy running it about it, he said he didnāt really have a plan for the PT, was kind of making it up on the spot. I gently suggested a bit more nuanced plan, and now we will have some runs thrown in.
A thought Iāve had before, not sure if Iāve mentioned it, but I firmly believe there is a difference between athletic and fit. Right now, I am not fit. Not to any impressive standard anyway. Iām fat, slow, poor cardio, etc. that being said, I do think I am athletic. I can move my body pretty well, I am quick on agility movements, I can jump and twist and do most anything else associated with sports. On a PT test, you never really see stuff like that, but with stuff like today, it comes out a bit more. Without a ton of effort, I was smoking a lot of guys easily 100lbs lighter than me on body weight work, just because I have a lifetime of experience moving my body through motions in sports. Am I in shape? Hell no. But I can move, and a lot of guys who only ever ran and hit weights never had that experience moving their body in odd motions, and it shows.
Which, in the end, makes me think that few things can really beat a childhood of playing a wide variety of sports for getting people an athletic baseline. Also makes me appreciate years of wrestling. The practices might of sucked, but even now 7 years removed from competitive days, I can still bounce around on my feet just on instinct
2 Likes
I really wish that I had done some sort of sport in school for this exact reason. Wrestling intrigued me and I knew a few people on the team, and they even tried to get me into it but I declined. Iāll always regret not going for it
1 Like
Work For Today:
30 Minute Peloton Class, 451 calories burned
1 Like
Is this some sort of bike riding?
1 Like
Yup. Peloton makes fitness bikes, they have cycling classes you can take, comes with a coach and scoreboard, itās pretty neat. Got it for my wife when she was recovering from surgery and needed a low impact way to work out. I actually love the thing. Classes are entertaining, low impact is great for my knee, and i actually get an absolutely killer workout if I push it.
2 Likes