I think I’m going to drop them altogether, I just can’t stand them. I used to do them holding onto the rack for balance and they sucked, but now trying to do them without holding anything is ten times worse plus I’m limited by balance more than anything. It’s like trying to squat on a bosu ball. I think I will do a hard set of Hatfield squats now and then, like every 2nd week, for some extra quad hypertrophy. If I had the option, I would do single-leg leg press, but I don’t.
Monday, November 11 - Main bench day
Bench press
355x4 - New 4rm. Getting good at grinding on bench finally, looks like more reps and higher RPE sets is what I need instead of CAT work.
325x6, 6 - I should have done 7 on the first set, not sure what I was thinking. Laziness got the best of me.
Neutral DB pushups
+light band x9, 8
Floor pause DB flys
65’s x14, 10, 9
Chin ups - close neutral grip
bw +65x6, 3
+35x9
I wasn’t really feeling these today, and they are getting a bit too heavy. Next week I’m going to drop the weight down and do more reps, I see no reason for low rep chin ups.
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Tuesday, November 12 - Main squat day
Squat
490x2 - First rep was easy, 2nd rep was a grind, unlikely a 3rd rep was going to happen. This reminds me of how much I suck at squatting for reps because the 1st one looked like I could take another 40-50lbs. A few weeks back I did 485x2 for an all out grind, this was 5lbs more and not as hard so that’s a win. I’m going to drop the weight down a bit next week and do more reps.
440x1 - Something in my middle right back felt crampy when I unracked the bar, I did a rep and didn’t like how it felt so I racked it. Not sure if it’s my lat or spinal erectors, something in that area, I have had that feeling before after a bunch of volume but I didn’t really do any volume here.
440x2 - Went for it again, back felt fine but the weight moved kind of slow. Could probably manage 2 more reps, I guess this is good enough because not everything is an AMRAP set.
Hatfield squat
505x5 - Felt like I could do a couple more but quads also felt like they died. I’m not going to go so crazy with these because there were times that it turned into a good morning/pushup combo, but when I was doing these in the summer (before I hurt my back) my quads were definitely the biggest they have ever been so there’s definitely something to it.
SSB Good morning
245x8, 7
Today feels like a weird day, I was supposed to work this afternoon but there was a big snowstorm and school buses are canceled so I’m at home with the kids. I guess global warming is canceled too. Anyway, I slept for about an extra hour and a half and I’m horrified by the weather so I feel a bit off today.
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You know it’s serious when CANADA has a snow day
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They almost never used to back when I was a kid, I can remember maybe 2 or 3 times they cancelled the buses, aside from that ice storm thing. Now they cancel the buses all the time, sometimes just because the weather forecast says there is going to be a lot of snow but a few times there was none.
Today is a different situation because it’s not even winter yet, normally we don’t have snow on the ground here until mid December. It was snowing on the weekend but it was warm enough that it melted, now it’s cold as hell and the snow is piling up.
Thursday, November 14 - 2nd bench day
This wasn’t planned to be an easy session, but it ended up turning into one
Bench
355x1 - I was going to do 385 next but this just moved way slower than it should have. It wasn’t a struggle by any means, but seeing as I did 4 reps with this on Monday a single should have just flown right up. My pecs are still kind of sore, and my triceps a bit too, and all my warmups were feeling a bit off, I was expecting to feel better as I worked up but it wasn’t happening. So rather than keep pushing and have a lousy training session with little or no benefit, plus accumulate more fatigue, I decided to make this an easy workout. Overall I don’t feel tired or anything, just my upper body is a bit beat up and I would be better off taking it easy.
Slingshot bench
385x4
Some banded shoulder external rotation stuff - not counting
So that’s it for today. To be honest I felt like training, but from the stuff I have been reading and my own experience there isn’t much to be gained by trying to push yourself when performance is down (whether from central or muscular fatigue) so I’m just not doing it. Better save my energy for a deadlift PR tomorrow and some heavy benching on Monday.
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Friday, November 15 - Light squat/main deadlift day
Squat
315x2x6 - 45 sec. rest
Deadlift
525x5 - New 5rm. Could have done another rep for sure but my thumbs weren’t into it.
475x5 - Straps for this, went better than expected since straps always throw me off but I wasn’t trying to push it. RPE 7-8 I guess
Barbell row
355x8x2 - Put a belt on since it’s getting sort of heavy, not sure it makes a difference other than making it harder to breathe.
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Monday, November 18 - Main bench day
Bench press
360x3 - I thought I had a chance of getting a 4th rep but I failed. I should be able to do another 10lbs or so for a triple. 360 was a 3rm a while back and now it’s not really that hard, not amazing progress by any means but at least it’s something.
330x6, 5
Neutral DB pushups
+light band x10, 9
Floor pause DB flys
65’s x15, 11 - I cut the 3rd set, seems like my pecs recover kind of slow. I’m staying a rep or two short of failure, but this really works the pecs. Apparently there was a study that found that pecs are pretty much the slowest recovering muscle, I don’t doubt it.
Chin ups - close neutral grip
bw+45x9, 7, 6
Tuesday, November 19 - Main squat day
Squat
445x4 - I tipped forward on the 4th rep and let the bar drift ahead, first 3 reps moved well but the 4th was bad. Maybe could have done a 5th but it wouldn’t have been worth it.
Squat with wraps
485x3 - This didn’t go well either.
Things weren’t going my way and after the set in wraps I felt like I could take a nap so I decided to shut it down for today, didn’t seem like anything more would be very productive anyway.
Thursday, November 21 - Some benching
My upper body feels pretty beat up, my pecs are still a bit sore from Monday, triceps feel tight, lats are sore as hell for some reason. I’m also feeling a bit burnt out, its’ been 8 weeks since I had an actual deload and I have been benching heavy at least once every week. So I figured it would be better to turn this into a light session. I will see how I feel tomorrow, may or may not go for some heavy deadlifts.
Bench press
315x3x2
“W” shoulder external rotation
mini band x3 sets
That’s it!
I think what I’m going to do is cut training back to 3 days a week, just for about 3 weeks, you could call it a “recovery block”. I made some decent progress in the last couple months (squat needs some work still) but I feel like I’m starting to burn out a bit and mostly my upper body could use a break (before it breaks) so that’s the plan. One squat day, one bench day, one deadlift/upper back day. Unless somehow it magically works out better than my normal setup I will go back to 4 days a week.
Friday, November 22 - Deadlift and biceps (or so it appears)
Ok, so I’m experimenting with dropping the light squat session on Fridays. I tried something like this back in the summer when my back was messed up and it didn’t really work out, but I was also basically re-learning how to squat low bar. Aside from trying to see how my technique holds up, I also want to see how my deadlift is affected by not squatting right before.
So instead just to warm up my hips I did some goblet squats, 3 sets of 8 with 25lbs.
Deadlift
545x3 - The first two reps were easy but the bar drifted forward on the 3rd and made it kind of hard. Probably would have been easier if my lats weren’t still trashed, they feel better than the last couple days but still sore. I think squatting on Tuesday had something to with it because they felt tight after and got extra sore the next day.
Anyway, I was thinking of just doing an easy workout today because I was feeling burnt out and sore the last couple days but I was tired as hell last night and went to bed early, I must have slept over 10 hours and I felt great this morning, despite my upper body still feeling beat up. So as I warmed up I thought what the hell, let’s see what I can do today. Unfortunately it didn’t really work out as planned, but it’s not a big deal.
I would do some rows but seeing as my lats are beat up I skipped that.
Barbell curl
90x20, 16, 12 - I haven’t done these in a couple weeks, why the hell not?
So going forward it looks like if I throw in a light session here and there and don’t do a ton of volume I can go for 6-7 weeks before things start to go downhill. That seems like useful information to have when planning a meet prep cycle. Now I just need to recover a bit and do it all over again with bigger weights.
Monday, November 25 - Squat day
Squat
455x4 - This was good, I think this is a new 4rm and it looks like I could still grind out another rep.
Only problem is after I racked the bar I got some cramping in my mid/outer back. I was saying the other day that my lats were tight, and they were, but I think it might also be this other muscle called ilicostalis thoracis - see the bright red area on the back here, that’s where I feel it:
Now it’s not anything major, I’m just cautious about getting injured. Whatever it is was bugging me right up until yesterday, I tried foam rolling the area and that loosened it up but here it tightened up again. I was supposed to do a down set, and I probably could have just there was a good chance I would feel worse after. I loaded the bar with 410 and stared at it for a bit then took the weights off.
So the plan was a down set, a hard set of Hatfield squats, and a couple sets of good mornings. I still wanted to train but all that stuff didn’t seem like a good plan so instead:
Lunges
20lb db’s x15x2 - I usually feel all wobbly and uncoordinated when I do these (which I why I hate them and never do them) but I guess because today I wasn’t fatigued at all they actually went surprisingly well. First set got a little wobbly at the end so I stopped, 2nd things held together right to the end and I went until I wasn’t sure if I could do another rep, coincidentally same number of reps. How about that, a squat PR and a lunge PR in the same session.
Band leg curl - face down because it’s harder
super mini x26, 18
So that was it, at least I got some work in. I foam rolled that area and felt 90% better, I don’t think it’s a spinal injury but I said the same thing when it was a spinal injury so what the hell do I know. I just need it to feel better by Friday. But this last Friday it felt worse than it does right now and I still pulled 545x3 without any issue, except for the fact that I only did 3 reps.
By the way, I suck at squatting for reps. For example, when I squatted 480 in a meet 2 years ago my heaviest double was 435. When I squatted 500 on the SSB I had doubled 450 a few weeks before. Based on recent numbers, like 490x2, I would say I’m close to a 550 squat in sleeves, which still kind of sucks but at least I’m getting better. With wraps I should get at least 50lbs more once I figure out how to use them (I’m going to try EliteFTS Kraits next week because the SBDs hurt like hell) and also training in them for a bit should obviously make me get stronger, so next meet (spring probably, nothing on the calendar around here right now) I’m planning to squat over 600.
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Maybe I need to get the hell away from this computer before it kills me:
Iliocostalis thoracis trigger points are common in people who slouch at a desk or computer. The forward leaning posture overworks the muscles and eventually lead to muscle injuries and dysfunction. Eventually trigger points will develop.
Wednesday, November 27 - Bench day
Bench press
365x3 - This is a new 3rm but I expected it to be better. The first 2 reps went up like nothing, I must have misgrooved the 3rd because it came up fast and then around where I usually get stuck it kind of wobbled and slowed but it didn’t really feel like an all out effort still. I wasn’t expecting another rep and I failed the 4th last week with 5lbs less so that’s enough for today. We will see how next week goes. This setup sort of prioritizes squat and deadlift, which are my weaker lifts and also make up most of a total, so if I can still make bench gains while only training it once a week maybe I will stick with it. I have done lots of volume and more frequency in the past and still made barely any gains, so there is only so uh that can be done.
Slingshot bench
410x5
T&G bench
335x5 - I figured some T&G benching might have some benefit, supposedly it increases the stretch reflex. I’m actually slightly stronger with a pause.
JM press
255x7, 6
Floor pause DB flys
65’s x11, 8 - I’m doing these extra strict and with a slow eccentric rather than loading the weight up, this already seems ridiculously heavy for flys.
Front raise - incline
55x11, 8
superset with:
Side raise
20’s x9, 8
W shoulder rotation
mini band x 3 sets - not even counting reps, because that isn’t the point. What I do before this affects how hard it is, more than most exercises.
I solved this in myself by always using a super reclined position on my desk chair. All of this ‘perfect posture’ crap while sitting doesn;t work, your lower back is still tensed up, and its impossible to hold diligently. If you recline, the chair is taking all of the weight from your LB. Game changer in keeping my own back from flaring up.
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Bench envy intensifies
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As for this back thing, I came across this and it helped a lot:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5Vm-zqgsor/
It seems I have limited thoracic rotation and lateral flexion, probably front flexion too. I spent so much time trying to turn my torso into an unbendable object that it started to work against me. The funny thing is that 99% of stuff I see about thoracic mobility is talking about extension because a lot of people are hunch backed and can’t arch or overhead press, but I don’t have those issues at all.
Anyway, whatever was bugging me the other day seems to be fine now, I just need to make sure it doesn’t act up again. Probably a bit of stretching and maybe foam rolling would help. I hate mobility work and I try to minimize what I do, but sometimes you have no choice.
I usually sort of lean back too, just sometimes I get uncomfortable like that after a while and find myself leaning forward a bit. I should just try to minimize sitting as much as possible.
The thing is that it wasn’t even my lower back, it was the mid/outer thoracic back, I thought it was my lats at first until I looked at a trigger point chart. When it was tight if I sat down and leaned forward it felt like something pulling on the bottom of my ribs at the back in the “lat area”. I guess sitting, benching with an arch, and grinding out squats would have all contributed.
Yeah but you still pull a lot more than me, and you’re smaller. You can’t have it all.
I actually saw you mention this earlier in the week and thought to myself that I’ve had pretty much every back pain, but never that back pain. Lo and behold I woke up with pain yesterday in exactly the spot you mentioned and diagrammed. Calmed down today and still not sure what caused it, luckily it didnt hinder squats.
I used to get that sometimes after doing a whole bunch of squat volume, mostly on the right side for some reason. But right now I’m barely doing any volume so I don’t know what the problem is.