shit show today, bum left elbow and right tricep were not having it
swiss bar bench 135 x 10, 185 x 8, 225 x 3, add rev light band 275/315 x 3, 365 x 0, no support in elbow, 335 x 3, 315 x 6
viking press 5 x 5-8
pressdowns 5 x 12
shut it down, need to let elbow feel better. will be pretty busy with kids over next week so will probably keep upper stuff light and at commercial gym for a week
Still feeling pretty tore up, and fighting some stuff related to kidneys. Took yesterday off, well it was an optional day anyway. Today fought through traffic for a DE deload. Also got called from work halfway through so shut it down even earlier. Life balance, dude.
DE squats, yoke bar, 330 to a low box 8 x 2
ghr 4 x 8
cable abs 4 x 10
then an hour and a half of conference calls. whiped
a few long stressful work days, stuck in a chair with a headset on in meeting after meeting
actually felt really really good
pullaparts and pressdowns 50 each
de bench w/swiss bar 155 + dbl minis 6 x 3
face pulls with straps 6 x 12
db bench 60s x 46
rolling tris 60s, 80s x 8
fat rotator bar pulldown 5 x 12
panoras 5 x 12
laterals 5 x 12
rev cable curl 3 x 10
cable curl 3 x 10
a few long stressful work days, stuck in a chair with a headset on in meeting after meeting
actually felt really really good
pullaparts and pressdowns 50 each
de bench w/swiss bar 155 + dbl minis 6 x 3
face pulls with straps 6 x 12
db bench 60s x 46
rolling tris 60s, 80s x 8
fat rotator bar pulldown 5 x 12
pandoras 5 x 12
laterals 5 x 12
rev cable curl 3 x 10
cable curl 3 x 10
Nice work piling up. I can see why you’re cramping up after all that dead work.
kept it compact today due to family stuff
okay, I should start an article or keep a list of when things go wrong in a good gym. today I came in and in the mono was an old smoothy oly bar, with the pad thing on it, with 25lb rogue plates left on it, and cranked for the height of a 6’6" lifter. I put this nonsense away, and began looking for the buffalo bar, which was over by the bench???
buffalo bar gms, 55 x 10, 145/235/325/375 x 5, all very slow and deep. I am not wearing a belt doing gyms, and concentrating more on going very very low, more so than I used too. I had some left in the tank, a lot probably, but shut it down there as I figured I was getting what I was going after.
bent rows 135/225/315/365 x 6
leg press 5pl per side 1 x 76
poundstone curls 45 x 60
ghr, hlr some x some
found a nice plush soccer field a few minutes from the house
sprints 50m x 8
these felt great
got a late start to gym, and had stuff to after, so again kept it minimal, which is ok as my recovery isn’t great right now. any way tried some new stuff
floor press with smooth axle bar. bar x 20, 135 x 10, 185/225/225+50/+100 in chains x 3 again right tri failing me a little here, but not much. I am having more ideas on how to correct this, updates later.
My left tri is good to bench 400+, my right is balking at anything above 315. Really wish I had had surgery when it tore, it seems it reattached short of the elbow. amazingly both look the same size from the side, but if doing a dbl bicep, or if I were ever to do a double bicep pose, you can see it is not fully there. my goal is to either compensate or re-tear and get surgery, lol
chaos bench, pvc pipe with 25s hanging from bands 2 x 20
first time trying these in a long while. I actually really think these have potential for getting me better, forcing all of the stabilizers to focus on moving just a little bit of weight. kind of like db benching on a ball, but much less gay
panoras 3 x 6
Love some floor presses for mixing it up, great work.
Quick one at commercial gym. Met up with my brother. For decades I have been trying to get him to lift. No go. He never got the bug. Guy could take on a whole bar in a bar fight, and walk out unscathed. For years he built cell towers, now works as a union plumber, and just in the last couple of years started lifting. Last year I gave him a rough template to work off of, and holy shit has he progressed. He had a lot of obstacles - from work, bar room brawls, etc. lots of wear and tear on shoulders, elbow, etc. He also had a long history of substance abuse, but has now been clean for 8 years. Now he is a lifting fiend and sitting at a rock solid 220 at 5’10". Tonight I turned around and he was doing bent rows w/275 like they were nothing. For those who say you can’t make progress at over 40, bullshit. Once he understood the basics of programming (I had to teach him to get in, do something right, and get out, you don’t need to do everything in the gym, just do the basics right), and how much protein to consume, and when to rest and when to hit it, he took off on his own. Very proud of both his sobriety and his new gym rat status. He told me it drives his wife insane the attention he gets when they go out. ‘She wishes I was fat and in my recliner’
Here was me for today. Extra day, back and bis
medium neutral grip pulldowns 8 sets, worked up to stack for set of 8, concentrating on long stretch and tight contraction
seated underhand grip machine rows 5 sets, worked up to heavy set of ten, slow bodybuilding style tempo
preacher curls 2 x 15, 3 x 8, really working on stretching out bicep at bottom
rope hammer curls 5 x 10-15
always need more lat work, and I have not been doing enough bicep stuff, which I think is impacting my elbows and shoulders. I need them not just stronger but bigger and fuller to provide support when pressing and pulling
Reads like you helped change your brother’s life a bit for the better. Congrats to you and him.
rush hour/construction forced a 25 minute drive to gym to well over an hour. after long work day w/o enough food I was ready for a steak and a beer, not squats and deads
decided to call it a deload/lower assistance
zercher to low box
haven’t done these in years, just did a few light sets to get the feel and to loosen up my hips. will put these into the me rotation
plyo leg press with dbled average bands 6 x 6
cable abs 5 x 8-10
seated leg curls 4 x 8-10
back ext 3 x 10
ghr 3 x 8
helped some people with the squat and dl form, not sure if they wanted it but they acted like the appreciated it. well, what else are you gonna do when a 300lb bald ogre starts yelling at you…
tried out a newish gym. call it suburban hardcore. bands and chains, a couple of platforms, some cheap versions of specialty bars. dbells only went up to 100s. but nice people with the right intent
upper assist
db bench 50s/60s/70s/80s/90s/100s x 15
close grip bench 5 x 10 w/185, about 30 seconds rest between sets
rear delt machine 4 x 8
dip machine 4 x 8
bb front raise 3 x 10
vgrips pressdowns a bunch
had kids last night, they slept great, I slept like hell. every bed or couch I moved to my 4 year old followed, and it was sweet little boney elbows and knees digging into me. oh well.
got to gym and was tired as shit, but took my time and got work done
front squat to low box worked up to 415 x 1, pr, lost it half way up on second rep
rack pull against quadded minis up to 405 x 6
abs x some
sprints
50m x 12
upper
Sunday night slept 12 hours, mostly on bad shoulder. yesterday I could barely raise my arm above head, today a lot better, but still impacted workout
swiss bar bench bar x 20, 135 x 10, 225 x 2 x 5, 275 x 5, (PR) 315 times unracked it, shoulder wasn’t happy, so reracked it
hammer incline 4 x 8 with 2 pl/qtr
csr 4 x 8
rotator bar pulldown 4 x 10
face pulls 4 x 8
elbow out pressdowns 6 x 8-12, between straight and v grip
machine JMs 3 x 8
considering shoulder impingement happy with how things went
Last couple of weeks have been very stressful, I need to fight out of the rut and get back on track. It is quite amazing how negatively stress impacts me now. I used to be able to let it roll off and keep training hard. Or maybe I am just more aware of it. Had bloodwork yesterday and met with nephrologist today. Need to work on improving things, but also yesterday was extremely stressful, and the doc is very understanding and informed on how it can affect your readings. I was literally getting emails from my lawyers office demanding a large check immediately while by boss was on the phone reading me the riot act. Later both my lawyer and my boss apologized, but I literally had to step away and go puke up my lunch, after which I went to have blood drawn.
Today a little better, but felt pretty dragged out after work and doctor. Fortunately it was week one of DE, so I could suffer through it.
DE box squat ,giant yoke bar, 310 straight weight, 8 x 2, 30 seconds rest
DE pulls, 315, 4 x 1 conventional, 4 x 1 extra wide (for me) sumo
long time since I have pulled sumo, it actually felt really natural
circuit
cable abs
hammer curls
db shrugs
ghr
4 x 8-12 each
sick for a few days, plus had kids, so missed a few days. will be missing more due to work/travel/fun
floor press with axel up to 275 x 5 plus two rep pr
close grips up to 275 x 5, same as above
viking press 4 s 5-7 heavy
rev grip pulldown 5 x some
rope pressdowon 5 x some
Pete, I can relate to your situation. Finding balance between the kids, job, and training while alleviating the bullshit is taxing, but very worthwhile. I leaned heavily on family and friends. I’m grateful to this day that they were in my life. I wouldn’t be where I am at today without them. Now, go deadlift or play with the kids!
What new gym were you at? I know you frequent Los C.
Tuesday
Giant yoke bar box squat, worked up to 530 x 1, then shut it down. Had been on heavy dose of dieuretic, and was too crampy, and felt injury prone
ghr 4 sets
cable abs 4 sets
now on the road and probably won’t train again until next week.