@BethB I appreciate the kind words. I will say, I am in NO WAY advocating my thought process is a good idea lol. More, it is what works for my personality. I’ll say I had certain athletic accomplishments from it that I never could have had otherwise, but also probably 2 surgeries from me being rash and bullheaded. It’s a double edged sword, but I really prefer being physically held back to mentally. (Which kind of gets into some larger feelings of disassociation with my body. My brain is “me,” my body is a bag of meat, water, and solidified calcium that I use to carry out my brains ideas. The way I think of it, when something in my body is holding me back, it’s much less “I am broken” and more similar thought process to “damn, my car just blew a tire.” It that makes any sense.)
@T3hPwnisher man, these things took me by surprise today, really did not feel how I was expecting! I worked to keep the taps light (like when I was in high school trying not to get kicked out of the YMCA while deadlifting lol.) higher starting position REALLY kind of upped the difficult for me…. Which actually now I think back to my canceled strongman comp that had me training wagon wheel deads, and how much worse I was at those than regular…. Maybe this has been a weak spot for me for longer than I realized. Damn. Shattered some hopes of mine of just slinging some stupid weight lol
I thought about clarifying what I meant after I sent the comment and now I will. I’m not saying your “screw it, I’ll ride it till it breaks” attitude is one to follow. Lol. You should probably proceed with caution there. I tend to run the opposite direction. I have more of a “my knee feels like maybe it is thinking about possibly giving a slight twinge of discomfort, I should probably stop all movement” attitude. I just meant your ability to look at what you are doing and seeing what works, what doesn’t and how to redirect is something I admire. You try things and move on if they don’t work. I like that. It helps me to realize that its ok to change direction if needed. Plus you have very well worded posts. Lol.
I think my job is honestly a pretty big factor there. Leading teams through dynamic environments, where end results matter, you have to pick up pretty quick that some tactics just ain’t working, so you better find a new one
What’s funny is my wife will read my posts sometimes and will comment about how much more I swear on here than I do in person lol. I’m a much more vulgar person in my head than in person haha
A lot of folks have this experience with pulling from an elevated height. It’s why I always suggest using a weight you can pull for 12+ reps at the start. There’s an adjustment period for sure, and it definitely rewards “low gear” lifters. But if you stick with it, I hope it pays off!
Yup. I have a buddy who I think is there now, I should message him.
I saw a news article alleging “frequent problems with the toilet systems” and ROFL - that was the Bush. Awful vacuum sewage system. So many fun memories!
11 months is insane.
Alrighty, doc visit done, and it’s about the best news I could have hoped for.
Patellar tendons pissed at me, got some severe swelling that’s causing it to act a little funky. Doc actually think I prolly pissed it off descending Kili (side note: my doc was former Army SF, which is awesome for these kinda injuries because he has a lot of background of “I broke my body” situations.) I have some loss of feeling in general in the knee from my LAST knee surgery, so doc thinks I prolly irritated it on the mountain, couldn’t tell it was inflamed so kept working out like usual, and then just pissed it off until my quad started “failing” on me to prevent further stressing the tendon.
All that to say, try to avoid running or heavy squats for a few weeks, and take some Tylenol.
Superset:
CGBP: 170x8, 170x8, 170x8, 170x8
Chest support DB row: 60x10, 60x10, 60x9, 60x9
Superset:
Seated DB press: 65x10, 65x9
Lat Pulldown: 190x9, 190x8
Superset:
Fat Bar Curl: 57.5x11, 57.5x11, 57.5x12
Straight Bar Pushdown: 70x13, 70x13, 70x14
Notes:
5k row sucked, just because that’s a long time to row lol. Wasn’t sure what pace to shoot for, but I’m pretty content with where I ended up. I think ideally, I’d like to tighten this up to sub 20 minutes, but for a first time I’m alright with it.
No running for a bit, but my PT test is in 6 weeks, so I decided I’m gonna row the test. Did that last year on a day of decision because they weren’t offering the run, got a decent enough score, will definitely beat it with a little training this time.
We have 1 hour PT sessions for work, so I just finished off the rest of my hour taking a little walk while watching the TV. Getting a few steps in can’t hurt.
Onto the lift. Bench moved pretty well actually, sets at 215 moved better than my sets at 210 last week.
CGBP moved well, bumping weight and lowering reps to 4x6 next week, then will build back up.
Rows felt heavy. I think I’m starting to do enough of the “Pullup practice” that I’m actually a bit fatigued by the end.
giving myself one more week off squats. Still hitting some accessory work, but no squats today, just getting blood flow into the area.
Honestly, taking today light because of the knee, but it’s actually pretty nice after the ROM progression. Those things really beat the hell out of my lower back, far more than regular deads ever did lol. It’s still a lil tender.
It was VERY noticeable with the single leg work how I was doing with my left vs my right leg. Right had no issue. Left was letting me know it did not enjoy these things lol.
I AM planning to mix things up a little next week. The MRS is having a little trouble getting all 4 days of lifting in a week (she does Army PT in the AM, so it’s understandable), so I’m switching her to 3x a week 5/3/1. But, I still want to do 4 days a week. So I’m using my one extra day when she’s not lifting to go to the local Air Force gym, solely so I can steal their hack squat and leg extension, and then I’ll have one lower body day when I am just smoking quads, and the other day when I smoke deads. Really, I just don’t get much good quad growth from squats, and I just want to have a few “dumb strength” machines so I can blast them without focusing on technique.
I’m not actually sure yet lol. I have my copy of 531 forever, so I think I’ll follow the whole “2 leader 1 anchor” method with her.
I am thinking 5s pro FSL for a bit? The thing I need to keep in mind is that my wife and I are different lol. I love lifting. I enjoy being in the gym. It is fun for me. The Mrs likes BEING in shape. She does not like lifting lol. She will do it, and does it pretty well, because she likes the results, but she doesn’t like lifting itself. A common convo between us goes as follows.
Mrs.atlas: “what weight do you think I should do today?”
Me: 185 moved well last week, and you hit over the prescribed reps, let’s do 190.
Mrs.atlas: dramatic sigh “why do you hate me?”
lol so I think something a bit more submax is more her style, and then I can hype her up for some intense work during the anchor cycle, which she won’t like but can suck it up for a few weeks and then go back.
Although, I AM thinking about the beyond 531 programs that Wendler put out on tnation years ago. I remember doing those in college and they were awesome.
Hey man, sorry went a little awol. Yeah, I’m safe. Recent events have drastically changed my work schedule, working 7x a week, semi night shifts right now, little travel, it’s kind of a mess haha. But I’m stateside, so nothing too bad, just threw a fat wrench into some of my day to day schedule planning.
I just meant your ability to look at what you are doing and seeing what works, what doesn’t and how to redirect is something I admire. You try things and move on if they don’t work. I like that. It helps me to realize that its ok to change direction if needed. Plus you have very well worded posts. Lol.