Superset:
Goblet squat: 60x12, 60x12, 60x12
Ab wheel: 8, 8,8
Notes:
Hit 7 on the SSB, May have had 8 but stopped short. I find that with the SSB, the squats always “feel” worse. I cave forward, kind of get bunched up in the whole, but I can fight out of it more than with a regular squat. Also, because I am new to SSB, pretty much every week is a PR just because I don’t have a history to compare against, so maybe take PR’s with a small grain of salt
RDLs feeling good.
Decided to do ab wheels again, wanting to get in some core work twice a week. Didn’t realize I was still sore from the last ab wheel until I did my first rep, man was I feeling it
Not happy with weight, essentially stayed the same from last week. Looking back, I see why. Was very good 4/7 days, but went out with some friends/wife a couple times and definitely splurged more than I should have.
That being said, happy with my overhead. Hit 160 for 7, felt way better than the 6 last week
Dips still hurt my shoulder like hell, and I think at this point I am doing them out of spite
Axle curls are weird, and I still can’t tell if I like them or not. Feel it more in my forearms than my biceps.
Going to make another post about some training thoughts I’ve been having and outlining some goals, but this is good for now
Thanks, I’ve been working the press hard. Not sure how much is me getting stronger though, I feel a decent amount of my recent gains has just been my body remembering how to lift weights, if that makes any sense at all. I think I am getting in the realm of PR territory, but will be a few months before I do anything really breaking. I’m somewhat awful at keeping track of PRs, but I remember once hitting 185 for 4 on overhead, so right now that’s the target to beat!
Work for yesterday:
25 min stationary bike, level 10, keeping rpm over 100
Conditioning: 3 rounds
5 burpees
6 40lb Db snatches each arm
10 sledgehammer swings each arm
5 tire flips
Total time: 5:55
Notes:
Deadlifts went well. VERY VERY happy to be using 4 plates again, I feel like that is the start of a respectable deadlift. Last set of 5 had me buried, I was definitely pushing it there. May be at 405 for a while before I bump to 415.
Front squats sucked. Every time I racked the bar, I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder/collarbone. Not sure why, but my god awful mobility surely has something to do with it. Made it hard to not cave forward on the squats.
Blissfully continuing to do reverse hypers with no idea if I am loading them correctly or if they are helping
Superset 2:
Lat pulldown: 160x8, 160x8, 160x9
Db lat raise: 20x15, 20x15, 20x15
Giant set:
Overhead Db extension: 85x11, 85x11, 85x11
Axle curl: 60x13, 60x13, 60x12
Band pull apart: 12, 12, 12
Notes:
Bench went okay. Not amazingly, but not terrible either. Hit the 3x5 which is all I really care about when I first bump up weight
Log press went poorly. Left shoulder was feeling off on the bench, and very off on the log. Got through my first work set with little issue. Second work set my left shoulder just didn’t feel set. Got one rep, tried for a second, felt a weird grinding/popping in my shoulder and dumped the log forward. Called it quits there, not trying to mess around if my joints are angry.
Down half a pound. Not great. To be fair, this wasn’t my best week. Had a couple date nights with my wife, a few work functions. Heading out for 6 weeks starting next week, so trying to enjoy my time now. Still, I think it’s good I was able to be social, eat good food, enjoy my whiskey, and still not gain weight. Not progress, but at least not damage.
My gym just got a Transformer bar, so I tried that out for SSB today. I really liked it. Very high quality feel to it, very much like the padding and knurled handles. Felt good. Not sure how much versatility I will get out of it, just put it in the SSB position, so it’s really just a nice SSB for me rather than a way to train lots of variation, but hey I like it.
Happy with my sets at 295. Reps felt a little cleaner than last week, more pop in my accent.
Overhead press went well, feel like I am making solid progress here. Slow but steady
Dips were not happening today. Not sure what I did to my shoulder, but it hurts. I feel a pinching in the front of the shoulder near where it meets the armpit. Bench wasn’t feeling the best either, but better than dips at least.
My program starts to change today. Not really because I want to, I would keep things like this if I could. But I’m going to be traveling a ton over the next 6 weeks, to include 2 weeks at sea, and a month doing some job training in Rhode Island. Will throw whatever workouts together I can during that time, more on that later.
Workouts are going to be a little different for the next month. Not in my usual gym, out in Rhode Island for the month, so no access to some of the strongman toys.
Been on my ship all last week. Did a few workouts, including some trap bar dead’s that I very nearly ate s$&@ On after we hit some tougher than expected seas.
Did this workout jet lagged, on 4 hours of sleep and not having a thing to eat or drink in over 24 hours. Not ideal. I’ll chalk that up for my crappy week overhead Press today.
First time doing back squats in months, got to see how SSB carried over. Honestly, best my squats have felt in a long time. Had a little trouble getting my shoulders into position, but man it felt good. That single of 295 felt like butter. 305 for 5 was definitely tough, but It felt good. Had some form breakdown near the end, was pitching forward, but I could good morning those babies up no problem. I like what SSB is doing for me.
Omg my quads. I haven’t felt them this much in squats ever. Not sure why that is, but I was cramping up between every set. The last two at 225 were BRUTAL. Just cramping the entire time, which I take to mean something good is happening. Excited to see where my squats go this next month.
Very slick barbells+ no chalk meant I was struggling to grip the bar for RDLs. Sweating didn’t help. Have chalk on the way from Amazon, hopefully will be here before deadlift day.
Runs felt good. Still easing into it, but slow steady progress
Never really thought about how none of that would make any sense without some background. You got it right, I’m in the Navy. Stationed out of San Diego
Superset:
Lat raise: 20x15, 20x15, 20x12
Rear delt fly: 15x10, 15x10, 15x6
EZ bar curl: 70x8, 70x8, 70x7, 50x10
Run: 1 mile (forgot to time, slow jog)
Notes:
I really like pendlay rows. I have always had trouble with barbell rows, they just never felt “right” to me. These do. Weights are explosive, trying to throw the bar into my chest. Keep a fairly stable back, brief pause between every rep. I think these are going to become a staple in the program.
Bench for good. Pic still hurts near the armpit, definitely not doing dips for awhile, but the weights were moving. May have had another rep in me, but wasn’t going to try it without a spotter.
Slowly incorporating pull-ups back into my program. Right now, I don’t think I could do enough reps to make it a main back movement for me, so I’m going to do frequent sub-max work, and then hit lat pulldowns. That being said, these were crazy easy. Will bump it a bit next week.
Overhead Press is freaking tough after bench, didn’t expect such a strength decrease.
Run felt good, starting to get some semblance of form back
Right now, a program I wrote for myself a couple months ago. Edited slightly for the new gym, but basically I have 4 days. Two upper, two lower. Focusing on one main lift a day, pushing 3x5 and bumping weight when I can hit 7 on the last set. Main lifts are bench, squat, dead’s, and overhead. Throw in some accessories and condition myself however I feel like.
Not a good program by any means, but a simple one, which is what I was looking for. I can go in, work hard, and get out. Going to keep this up straight linear progression style as long as I can keep making progress. After that, will probably hop onto 5-3-1 or some of Brian Alsruhes programming. But as long as I can keep making progress, I’m not gonna mess with a thing haha.
Conditioning:
20 Min Bike, Lvl 10, keeping speed above 100rpm
Notes:
Active recovery day. Did the circuit just to work out some kinks, get a little blood moving. And honestly, I hate just doing LISS, I need something in the gym to get me a little excited haha
not a good lifting day. Started my first set of deadlifts with 4 plates, just broke the ground when a lady at the gym started yelling at me. I was deadlifting Without shoes, just wearing knee length socks. It’s how I normally do deadlifts, never had an issue. Slip my shoes off before the set; slide em back on after. No problem. Well today it was a problem, I guess it’s against the gym policy up here, and I had to put on shoes. Only shoes I had were my weightlifting shoes, and men I was shocked my how much the heel threw off my form. I just felt off balance, kept pitching forward. Lost it on the last set, bar slipped forward and I almost landed on my face. Like I said, not a good day. Felt deadlifts way more in my lower back than my hams and glutes wearing these shoes, honestly still surprised by it, I really didn’t expect it to make any difference.
Not the biggest factor but I’ve got a decent sized cut on one finger, damn band aid kept slipping off when I was lifting and I ended up bleeding all over the barbell, which evidently is also against gym policy (I cleaned it up)
Squats felt okay, but lower back was a little iffy from that last deadlift. Kept it light
My run felt good. So day wasn’t a total loss, but I’ve had better days by far