Bench felt much better than last week - had some explosiveness again and the 5x10 was the easiest it’s been and with the least rest. Still progressing the hammer press too even if it’s just one rep at a time. I’ve put dumbbell overhead press on the back burner for now, as long as it’s a solid effort I’m happy.
Occurred to me earlier that I’m burning the candle at both ends at the minute. I’m cycling several times a week, pushing the progression on my workouts and losing weight too. Once I go back to university in a few weeks I’ll be starting to gain weight again and probably cycling less so I’m not going to change anything for now but it’s something to note.
Still setting PRs on the pull-downs and finally caught up to my all time PRs with the dumbbell rows. Previous PR is 18x35 which is probably about the same but 36kg is technically the heaviest I’ve rowed. If I had known my PR was that before the workout I’m sure I’d have found the strength for another rep.
Plan is to row the 38kg dumbbell next week and 40kg the week after and let the reps drop off if need be. 40kg is the heaviest dumbbell at my uni gym and it’s been a long-time goal to row it, I also set a goal of 8x40 by October during summer so hopefully I can get that.
Got killed by the wind here but was flying on the way back once I was out of it. Funnily I overtook an old guy a couple miles from home who i had been slowly gaining on for a few miles. Once I went past him i knew I’d have to go a bit faster to get away but he sped up a lot too so that made a fun chase to end.
Also spent the first few miles on rough gravel and off-road tracks so went a bit slow there. I’m enjoying spending a few miles off road bouncing around then blasting down on tarmac for the final part. Fitness is improving fast.
Unfortunately due to work I had to go at the busiest time of the day and no bench was free so had to skip that. Smashed my chest press PR adding two reps and 5kg. Did did bench instead, which is something I should do more and got easier set by set. In the near future I’ll start pushing either flat or slight incline dumbbell bench as my second pressing exercise I think.
Doesn’t look like too much written down but it was done fast and the intensity was high. Three sets of chest press and dumbbell OHP to failure and everything else was close. Strength seems to be going up and weight coming down slowly.
This was a pretty rubbish workout. Didn’t have the energy and was not in the mood so did the bare minimum. I forgot my straps so instead of going for a dumbbell row PR I just made the reps really strict and slow.
Also been on three separate bike rides totalling about 12 miles and just over an hour of riding. First and last were pretty easy ones and the second was in my local woods with some nasty climbs but also a lot of fun downhill bits.
Was really weak today - I’m thinking it could be due to a combination of higher intensity last week and being in a deficit with too little protein this last week. Or it could just be random of course. Started off with the bench feeling slow which I put down to not benching last week but then the hammer press crushed me: I was nine reps off my PR from last week.
I made up for the lack of strength with intensity but I’m going to be making an extra effort to keep protein high in the near future.
Superset Hanging leg raise: 3x9 Single leg glute raise: 3x4 w 5s pause
Hip open machine: 3x20x25
Hip close machine: 3x20x35
Trap bar deadlift:
10x20
10x40
10x60
10x80
5x5x60 (60s rest)
2PM Bike ride:
The farthest I’ve gone by quite a lot and I only stopped briefly for two mins to check where I was going. I’m pretty sure it’s also my highest average speed.
I’m fairly sure my exercise is likely to move more and more towards cardio over the next few decades, but I’m still a long way from caring enough to get up at 4am and do it consistently at the minute.
Superset Rear delt flyes: 2x20x4s Dumbbell shrugs: 2x10x16s
Single arm lat-pulldown: 9x28, 9x23, 10x18
Barbell curl: 2x15x10
Concentration curl: 3xRP: 9-4-3x8
Old dumbbell PR is 18x35 so smashed that today. First time I’ve done dumbbell rows before the lat pull-down and doing so seemed to give me a lot more in the tank. Did my right arm first and got 21 but could only get 19 with the left which is usually stronger. I think the intensity of the right arm just wore me out but both were great efforts.
Also wanted to add because I just realised: I set myself the goal of dumbbell rowing 8x40 by October and 20x40 by the end of the year so even happier. It’s rare i actually achieve the lifting goals I set myself never mind surpass them. Also cool because 40kg is the heaviest dumbbell at my uni gym and I’ve wanted to be able to row it since I first got there four years ago. Heaviest at my home gym is 50kg so that’s the new goal.
Struggled with the top set of bench again and capped it at three to stop things getting sloppy. TM is probably too high but this is the last week of my diet so I’m hoping I can ride it out. Next time I go to 75kg is three weeks from now for an AMRAP.
Speaking of weight, was 82.4kg after drinking 500ml of water and was 82kg yesterday on someone else’s scales. 82kg is a key weight for me because it’s where I was when I started uni, this log and taking the gym seriously but now it’s more muscle and less fat. I’m hoping by the end of this week I’ll be in the 81s.
