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Training Training Logs
122

Actually felt pretty decent for the first time in a week.

Legs:
10 min incline walk
BS: 135 2x5, 185x5, 225x5, 265 2x5, 295 2x5
Single Leg Leg Press: 50 2x10 per leg
Leg Press: 410 3x10
Single Leg Ham curl: 50 2x10, 70 1x8
Ham Curl: 130 3x6

Total workout was about 1:05, would like to be able to do this in about 55 and be able to add in two or three more lifts to make it 1:15.

Squats felt better than they have since the Covid break, my feet were a bit more narrow which makes my left hip feel much better and engages my quads more. Not feeling like I want to press anything here and test out my max. Will hit legs twice next week

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123

Drank about all the alcohol I could last night, woke up at 4am this morning (never sleep well when drinking) and had a nagging hangover all day. I’m going to do a dry month, starting today, it’s expensive, painful and not even that much fun.
My gym is kind of hodgepodge, it’s pretty small and relatively cheap with some great lifting stuff but also has 3 different cable crossovers that have inconsistent weights so I have no idea how much I do on them unless I’m really paying attention, which I rarely am.
Shoulders:
15 min incline walk
OHP: 95 2x8, 135 x5, 155x5, 185x3, 205 2x1, 135 x 12
Bb shrugs: 135 4x12
Cable upright row: ? 4x10
Delt raises: ? 3x10
Face pulls: 3x10

So this was a weird one, my hangover was wrecking me most of the way through but I hit 205 on ohp which is solid for me. First rep was out in front of me, stalled halfway up then grindered it out. Second rep flew up, probably had 225 in me but didn’t feel the need to press it. Rest of the workout was meh but I’m glad I made my hungover ass go.

On a side note my medium term goal is to get to 1500 total and see what I want from there. If I stay strength oriented I might try for a body weight ohp, which would probably require a cut of some kind.

124

Also interesting is that my delts were still pretty sore from my chest/bench workout 48 hours prior. Reduction in alcohol intake should hopefully improve recovery

125

Hitting my back for the 2nd time this week but it’s a gap from Monday to Sunday, so no residual soreness from the first workout but definitely some fatigue from my leg session and probably just from working out 4 days in a row with a big drinking day in the middle.

Back:
Walk 20 min outside, 15 incline on treadmill
DL: 155 2x8, 265 2x5, 335 3x3, 357 1x3, 1x6
Chest supported row: 90 2x10, 115 2x8
Wide lat pulldown: 130 3x8
Straight arm pulldown: 100 3x8
Ez bar cable curl: 50 2x20

Solid deadlift session, it turns out I’m not a terrible deadlifter just an unwilling one, every time I’ve deadlifted consistently I’ve seen obvious improvement, just need to keep doing it. I did some warmup at 155 with sumo, might try and throw a few more meaningful reps in next session. The weird weight jump is a product of adding 5kg plates to 2x55,1x35.

Will either hit a light leg session tomorrow or take it off

126

Took yesterday off was pretty fatigued, think it was the right decision.

Legs (extra session):
Incline walk 10 min
FS: 1x5 95, 1x5 135, 2x5 185, 2x5 225
Hip Thrust: 1x4 175 (more on this later)
Leg Press, single leg: 50 3x10
Leg Press, both legs: 390 2x10, 480 2x10
Seated ham curls, single leg: 50 3x12
Seated ham curls, both legs: 110 1x15
Seated leg extensions: 110 x 20, 150 2x15

Decent amount of accessory and single leg work, should actually just do a lunge or split squat.
Front squats didn’t feel bad, didn’t do a ton of volume on them but felt pretty good for just getting back into them. The hip thrust station (where your back is elevated) decided to give up the ghost while I was on my first set, so I told the gym owner and moved on. Will hit glutes and hams harder on my second leg session this week, should probably do abs at some point. My quads got a really good pump from the leg press, giving the front squats some credit for that.

127

So today was day 6 out of 7 that I’ve lifted, definitely feeling it plus I slept like shit and had no carbs before lifting. Surprise, surprise, it turned out poorly.

Chest
6 min assault bike
Incline Db bench: 85 3x8
CGBP: 185 2x8, 1x10

My knee was a little sore from front squats, so I decided to do the bike. I think I’m going to do it for every upper session, it definitely kicked my ass in that short time, probably didn’t help that my quads were sore.

Working up to 85s I realized my rear delts were gassed, but made it through the sets and thought maybe the cgbp would be better, but instead my whole shoulder just felt exhausted. After playing it in my mind a few times I realized that I was just fatigued and I decided to skip my shoulder work out this week and do an arm workout instead, to reduce shoulder and general fatigue.

Not sure if I’m going to skip tomorrow or do a dl session tomorrow, leaning towards the dl but we’ll see how I feel.

128

Took yesterday off, got properly caffeinated and fed today and felt a shit ton better. Arrived at the gym 7 min late and I have to book appointments to go and I chose 75 min, so my workout time was cut by 10%. Need to go full 90 as it turns out. I’ve been watching some Alan Thrall DL videos and tried to incorporate that into my lifting, i fucked up the 5 steps (like a dumbass) for most of them before rewatching part of it later in my set. In any case, it helped me get a more consistent position where my hips are probably 3 inches higher but my back still feels locked in, all good things.

Back:
15 min incline walk (5%, 3.4mph)
DL: 135 x5, 225 2x3, 315 3x1, 365 3x1, 405 2x1, 455 2x1
Chest supported row: 45 x 10, 125 3x8
Close neutral lat pulldown: 3x8 160

At this point I ran out of time, which means I probably should work a bit quicker and shouldn’t be late to my appt and/or I should just reserve more time since I don’t want to rush deadlifts, necessarily. I took a really, really, really shitty video that isn’t super helpful to anyone but it definitely shows my hips a bit higher and my back staying solid, it’s my 2nd rep of 455. I think I probably had 485 but it would’ve sucked and I’m still getting used to this new form. Planning on backing down next DL session to a bunch of triples around 365 +/- 20lbs. Overall, happy I got 455 without any problems and happy my DL is on the up and up.

I have my first colonoscopy scheduled for the Monday after next, which I’m already dreading.

Tomorrow is a light shoulder day with tris and bis thrown in.

129
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130

Instead of getting hammered last night, I went to the bar high and took another edible, over ate a bit and drank about 1.5 gallons of soda water but much better than drinking the same amount of booze

Arms (hell yea, brother):
5 min assault bike (quads on fire)
18 min incline walk (1.03 miles, 7% incline)
High row: 3x10 80
Side/front raises: 3x10 12.5
Preacher ex curls: 40 1x10, 70 3x6
Rope pull downs/ face pulls: 80 3x8
Rope curls: 60 3x10
Machine tri extensions: 90 3x12
Probated single arm cable curls: 30 2x8
Tri cable kickbacks: 30 3x10
Supinated single arm cable curls: 30 1x12

So much volume, kind of a fun workout though, got a great pump.

Back and legs a bit dead from yesterday, will hopefully recover for squats tomorrow

131

Legs:
20 min incline walk (1.06mi, 5%)
BS: 135 2x5, 225x5, 275x1, 315x1, 365x1, 405x1, 3153x3
RDL: 135x10, 185x6, 235 3x5
Single leg ham curl: 50 2x10, 70 2x8

Will update more later, that’s all the lifting I did though. First haircut since late 2019

132

Went to the gym earlier than I normally do (9am) on a stomach of some water and cold brew and a bunch of food/carbs from last night, which worked out perfectly, somehow.

I booked for 75 min again and again fell short of doing all the work I needed, I think it’s working up to heavy weights that’s slowing me down but not ideal regardless of excuse.

Wasn’t sure what I was going to do on squats but everything felt good so I worked up to 4 plates which moved really well probably an rpe or 7.5. Had another 30-60 in me, I think. Little bit of knee soreness on my back of triples but moving my feet out a bit helped that but made my left hip hurt a bit.

Just got back from a 2+ mile nature walk. Going to stretch/do yoga tomorrow to try and loosen everything up, very happy with my dl/squat at the moment. Will keep doing my own programming for the next month or so, do a true max test and go from there.

133

Seen u lurking on me log so thought I’d drop by and say hi. The goals in your log title up to date? U look like a big barrel chested bench bro so 400 ez

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134

Yep, up to date.
I hit 365 like 5 years ago but haven’t had a consistent lifting spell of more than about 3 months in a row since then. Figure if I can keep going 400 should be the first of the 3 to fall, squat shouldn’t be far behind. I could use some of your deadlift though, you make me want to try sumo and sheiko maybe after I stall a bit.

Thanks for stopping by.

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135

Didn’t fall asleep until about 1am and woke up at about 5, fucking work stress is killing me (I pushed commits at 11pm and 6 am). Tried to go back to sleep for awhile but ended up drinking some cold brew a bit before 8 and staying up, made it to the gym by 10:30 but ate a chicken thigh about 15 min in advance, a mistake.

Back:
11 min incline walk
Trap Deads: 155 2x8, 265 3x5
BB Row: 135 1x10, 225 3x5
Medium width neutral pulldown: 130 3x12
Low cable row: 100 2x10, 100 1x15
Rope curl: 60 x 8, immediately followed by a dropset of 80 x 8, 60 x 8, 40 x 10

Took me really until my 3rd set to feel right on Trap dls, havent done those in a long while, but I think they’re going to be a staple of my back days where I don’t do barbell deadlifts. Nothing else super noteworthy, lifting wise, the barbell rows were heavy but I could really feel the lats.

I got a haircut (a mullet, it’s fucking awesome) but I think the result is that I get more water onto my cotton like mask, which means its even more saturated with water. A number of times I went to take a deep breath only to get wet mask, felt like I was being suffocated, going to bring an extra next session. My stomach felt god awful for most of this, after the first set of 265 on DL i had to sit down for like 5 min to avoid throwing up, I have a bunch of tests my gastro told me to take and I have a colonoscopy on Monday, hopefully all of that leads to something.

Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow, if I do I’ll probably work up to a heavy bench single in the 90-95% range like I’ve done for my other lifts. Thinking I’ll go 315, 335, 355 and, assuming that goes up, reassess.

136

No guarantees but sumo is worth a good try at least.

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137

Slept better last night but was up from like 3am-4am still feel way better today, gut is still kinda fucked but I’m not nauseous, at least.

Chest/Tri:
5min incline walk (8%, 3.3mph)
BP: bar x 50ish, 135 2x5, shoulder dislocations, 225 1x5, 1x3, 275 2x2, 315 x1, 335 x1, 355 x1, 375x1 (PR), 315 x3, 225 x 15
CGBP: 185 2x10
Machine tri extension: 70 x15, 90 x12, 110 x 10
Face pulls 70 3x12
Rope tri pulldown: 70 3x8
Pec dec flyes: 110 3x10

First of all, super fucking pumped about the PR. Secondly, surprised it happened given how my first few bench sets went. 135 was stiff and tired, delts seemed fatigued right off the bat. Did my first set of 225 and it felt worse, I normally don’t jump from 135 => 225 so that was probably part of the reason but I definitely didn’t feel like it was going to be a PR kind of day. 275 set 1 moved okay, set 2 was ugly, bar path was off, I wasn’t tight enough. 315 moved really well, 335 might’ve been better. Got a spotter for 355, told him I probably wouldn’t need him and absolutely smoked the weight, once it touched my chest I knew I had it easy, he remarked how easy it looked. Was pretty nervous going into 375, I’ve only touched above 315 once in 2020 (for a total of 2 reps) and this is a 10lb all time PR but got nice and tight, brought it down under control and moved it pretty easily honestly (I don’t really do RPE but I’d guess an 8.5). I think if I had everything right 390-395 could’ve gone up today but I didn’t feel like pushing it.

Everything else about the workout was solid, the 15 on 225 was rough but gave me some volume. My triceps are absolutely gassed right now, I’ve realized that my bench is way more tri dominant than it was in my younger years (my pinkies are on the inside edge of the ring), if nothing else it’s keeping my shoulders healthy.
Ramble over, will probably squat tomorrow or do some yoga/abs.

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138

Took a couple mile walk yesterday, ended a bit short of 10k steps which isn’t bad for an off day.

Walked 1.2 miles to the gym as the bus is charging money again and I don’t have a card for it, the first half is about 10% incline so I didn’t do any of my normal warmup at the gym but tried to stretch my quads and hips a lot when I got there

Legs
BS: bar x10, 135 2x5, 225 4x5, 275 1x5, 1x8
RDL: 135 3x10
Single leg leg press: 70 3x10
Leg Press: 390 2x10, 1x20
Seated ham curls, single leg: 50 3x15
Hip adduction/abduction: 110 3x12

So I have historically been a high bar squatter, I bought into some youtuber/weightlifting coach 7 or 8 years ago (John Broz) who endorsed high bar (makes sense for oly) and squatting everyday. I did some high frequency stuff for a while but backed off because, I’m not on steroids, like his lifters were but never really got rid of the high bar style until this year when I’ve been trying to transition to low bar. Thing is my hips aren’t prepared for low bar because I never do it but my left knee hates high bar now (my whole left side is a mess), so my solution of late has been a modified approach. I think I need to make the switch to low bar though, so that’s what I practiced today, I feel strong but am not quite consistent enough with it. My knee felt a lot better though, so that’s promising. I’ll post a video of my set of 5 at 275, later.

Got a lot of relatively low intensity volume and hip work in today though, so I’m pleased.

Also, Trump is in the hospital, who could’ve seen this coming?

139

Got pretty drunk last night but not full on blacked out, which is a success for me.

Shoulders
15 min incline walk (5.5%, 3.2), knees a bit sore, ugh
OHP: bar x 10, 95 x 8, 135 x 5, 155 4x5, 1x7
Cable front/side raises: 3x8 20
Upright rope row: 60 2x10, 100 2x8
Rear delt flies: 90 3x10

Definitely felt the hangover and cigarettes a bit but my shoulders still got a solid pump from this and did a decent amount of volume on OHP. Legs aren’t too sore despite the increase in volume.

I’m going to be out of town Thursday to Monday of next week, so I’m going to count that as my deload and hopefully take long walks on the beach, take a shit ton of weed and do a bunch of stretching/yoga.

140

Anyone have recommendations on knee sleeves? I see quite a few people (primarily women) in the gym using them and since my knees are kind of sore I figure I might as well use them if they help. Seems like SBD and Rogue are pretty decent??

141

Knee sleeves don’t do that much for knee pain. Probably better to sort it out properly. That being said any knee sleeve will do really. Big brand names ones like SBD are usually quite pricey but as long as u get one that is about as thicc it’ll do the job (7mm I think) check all the lifting gear websites and see what they have on clearance.

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