Bench
bar, 7@95, 6@105, 6@115, 5x6@120 (match rep PR, did 6x5 a couple weeks ago)
*Did not have a spotter, so I always stay conservative. These were all 9 I would say. The last set might have been an RPE 9.5 though.
Incline DB Bench
12@30s, 12,11,10@35s
DB Reverse Flies
3x12@10s
Cable Lat Pulldown
8@120, 3x8@140+8@85 drop set
Cable Neutral Grip Low Row
15@85, 3x15@100+15@85 drop set
Cable Triceps Pushdowns
3x15@40
EZ Bar Curl
3x15@40…ouch
Stair Stepper
Level 8 for 5 min then level 6 for 5 min
Sumo DL
8@bar, 8@185, 2x10@205, 1@225, 2@245, 1@265 (belt), 1@285, 1@295
*Need to work on my form but overall these felt very strong so I was very excited about them.
Leg Curls
2x10@80, 10@65
Pallof Press
4x10@22lb R/L
Bench
bar, 8@75, 6@95, 5@115, 7x4@125 (all paused)
*Attempted an amrap on last set but with touch and go. That was a mistake because it threw me off with tempo. Lesson learned.
DB Floor Press
4x15@30s
DB One armed Row with hold at top
4x10@50
Box Squat
bar, 2x5@95, 5@135, 5@155, 5@165, 3x5@175, 5@165
*Used my flat shoes for this instead of the oly shoes. Just feel like my knee is tracking wrong and it’s causing my hip flexor to be pulled along with causing right knee pain. So, while I’m working on that issue, I decided to keep it wider stance with my flat shoes. Felt pretty good overall.
Leg Press
10, 12, 14, 16@2 plates
Iso Lat Row
10, 12, 14, 16@ 2 plates
Cable Iso Lat Pulldowns with twist grip
3x12@35
Cable Face Pulls
3x12@35
Deadlift
bar, 5@135, 5@185, 5@225, 5@255 (belt), 5x5@275 (all RPE 8’s)
*This was about 2000 lbs less volume than last week it turns out, BUT much higher intensity. My first pulls of the sets were perfect and my form held in pretty well. I think I’m liking moving on up in weight steadily.
Paused DL
4x6@205…These felt pretty good actually. I was able to engage my glutes and hamstrings much better than I usually do so I’ll keep these up more regularly.
Paused Squat
bar, 2x5@95, 5x5@135
*I’m super frustrated with what my right knee is doing. It’s not a sharp pain but it’s a not good pain at the bottom of my squats in the middle of my knee. I’ve been working on stance and knee tracking over the last week and I thought I was making progress. But then when I squatted tonight it felt back to square 1. I honestly have no idea what to do to fix this so I’ll keep icing it and working my abduction and glute muscles a bit more to maybe be able to engage those more on squat. Maybe I need to warm those muscles up more before the squat anyways. Meh. Trial and error.
Banded Goblet Squat to a short box with band around knees
20@1 mini band, 2x20@1 mini band+18 lb kettle bell
*Missed my whole weekend of logging due to helping my boyfriend move into his new apt on Saturday. It was a very labor-filled day so I didn’t go to the gym on Saturday. I’ll hit the highlights for Sunday’s workout though.
Volume Phase, Cycle 2, Week 2, Bench
Banded Bench (used a red band and pulled it under the bench. Worked pretty well actually but I couldn’t really tell how much weight it added at the top. Maybe 15 lbs?)
bar, 8@65, 3@85, 3@95, 3@105, 3@115 (RPE 10), 4x3@110
I don’t remember the rest of the workout honestly so I won’t worry about recording. Just need to keep track of the banded bench because I have a feeling I’ll be coming back to it more often.
Volume Phase, Cycle 2, Week 3, Deadlift
*So after moving all day Saturday, I have not recovered fully from it. My back and all my joints have been achy which is shitty when you’re suppose to deadlift heavy. My right knee is also a big problem so I’m cutting off squating for a week or so to see if I see some kind of improvement. It still hurt after deadlifting tonight though so that’s not the best sign.
Deadlift
bar, 5@135, 5@185, 5@225, 3@245, 3@265 (belt), 4,4,5,4,3@285
*This was suppose to just be based on RPE 9. The first 2 sets were true RPE 9’s but on my 3rd set wanted 5 reps and that was an RPE 10, and finished the rest at RPE 9.
Paused DL
5x4@225 (RPE 9.5s)
Walking Lunges
4x20@25s R/L
Leg Press
2x20, 17@ 2 plates…left hip went numb, oh joy. So I stopped and rolled it out and it’s feeling better.
Volume Phase, Cycle 2, Week 3, Sumo DL
*So right now my right knee is still not getting better and my both my hips are super tight. It’s all coming to a head I feel with the years of not really taking care of my hip mobility. I think the tight hips have caused the chain reaction of my right knee taking too much. So I’m laying off from squatting for as long as I need to to fix my hips and right knee. I can deadlift and bench mostly just fine though so I’m going to train sumo Dl and see how that comes along.
Sumo
bar, 5@135, 5@185, 5@225, 4@245, 5x5@245, (tweaked some things with my sumo stance, brought my feet wayyy out wider to wear they are about 4 in from touch the bumpers and I’m sitting up straighter and dropping my hips a bit more, so much better!), 3x1@245
High Box Squat (about 2 in above parallel, no right knee pain with this height but started to get tight hips)
bar, 2x5@95, 2x5@135, 5@155, 5@175, 3x5@185 (easy but hips were pulling and I didn’t feel like I was getting much from this anyways)
SLDL
4x10@135
Hamstring Curl
4x12@50
Cable Lat Pulldown
4x12@120
Pushups
3x10
DB Lateral Raise
3x10@10s
DB Front Raise
3x10@10s
DB Reverse Flies
3x10@10s
EZ Bar Curl
2x15@40, 15@30
Attempted different abs but all hurt my hips and didn’t get consistent with them on this workout.
Volume Phase, Transitioning, Deadlift
*This workout was yesterday but it was cut very short due to getting an upsetting call about my dog. So my workout was maybe 30 min long when I had to leave.
Deadlift
bar, 5@135, 3@185, 3@225, 2@245, 1@275, 1@295, 1@315 (RPE 9)…I may have tried for 325 but looking back, I don’t know that I would have gotten it very easily.
Bench
bar, 5@95, 3@105, 2@115, 2@125, 2@135 (very smooth and RPE 9), 1@140 (was going for a double here because 135 was so pretty, this was not pretty at all. I barely even got the one rep. I think my groove was thrown off), 3x4@120, 5@120…long pauses
Deadlift
*started up where I left off last night
bar, 5@135, 5@185, 4@225, 4@255 (belt), 4x4@275
Iso Lat Pulldown
8@1p, 4x10@1.5 plates
Iso Row
4x10@2 plates
Hypers
15@BW, 2x 8@45+7@BW
McGil Situps
3x5 each side
So I had to put my dog down unexpectedly 3 days ago (obviously a traumatic thing). My workouts were not awesome due to the stress but I’m hoping to keep going and get back on track. I’m seeing a sports medicine massage therapist who can hopefully help me with my hip issue and therefore my right knee issue. I’m staying hopeful because hope is all there is as cheesy as that sounds.
Friday night:
Sumo DL
worked up to 255 but had the wrong shoes on so I tried to go barefoot but my feet were slipping which is not cool. So I switched to deficit conventional
Deficit DL
4x5@225
Leg Curls
4x10@65
Leg Extension
3x12@70
Arc Trainer
20 min, level 40…treadmill for 8 in warm down
Random Week (not working out 5 days like usual because I am getting a massage on my usual workout night tomorrow; I’ll combine bench with deadlift/squat on Friday instead)
Sumo DL
bar, 5@135, 5@185, 3@225, 3@245, 3@245 (belt), 3@255, 3@265, 3@275, 3@285 (form started to break down a lot but not heavy relatively), 2x3@275…attempted paused sumo but my hips were getting pretty tight so switched to conventional
Paused DL
5@185, 3x8@185
Goblet Squat with KB
10@28, 3x10@45
Leg Curl
4x10@65
Leg Extension
4x12@70
Iso Row with Wider Neutral Grip
12@1 plate, 3x12@1 plate+10 lb plate
Random Week, Squat
*Finally able to squat without knee pain, I’m still being very cautious and not bouncing into the hole and trying to stay very controlled but it felt great without knee pain today. I’ve clearly lost some strength and I’m ready to get back to it make up for the time lost while maintaining my knee.
Squat
bar, 10@95, 3x8@135, 4x4@155
Block Deadlift (~2.5 in)
6@135, 6@185, 5@225, 5x5@245 (super weak position for me, I apparently need to work on these badly)
Random Week, Bench
*Incredibly fatigued still from all the volume I did on bench 2 days ago so today was fairly rough. Everything felt heavy but I stuck with it. Also incredibly sore from squats since I hadn’t done them in so long. That’s fun too.
Bench
bar, 8@75, 5@95, 4@105, 4@115, 5x4@120
Seated OHP
10@bar, 8@65, 3x6@75
Iso Row Machine
3x12@2 plate
Iso Lat Pulldown Machine
3x10@1.5 plates