Chris_ottawa's Training Log

Training Training Logs
1116

Wednesday, January 1 - Main bench day

Bench press
350x4 - Not bad, wasn’t sure about another rep so stopped there. 355 is my 4 rep PR at the moment. Seeing as I got 340x6 a couple weeks ago you would think I should have this for 5 but getting sick really killed my momentum. I’m coming back though. Lets see if I can get 360x4 in 2 weeks.

315x8 - This might be a PR, not really sure. Kind of seems better than the top set too.

Floor pause DB flys
70’s x13, 11

Front raise
60x11, 9
superset with:
Side raise
25’s x10, 8
+1 rep on every set of assistance work over last week, I guess that’s a good sign.

W external rotation
Super mini band x 3 sets

1117

still great work Chris, keep it going

1 Like
1118

Happy new year big fella. May you be rich in gains and free from fake natty scum and token drug testing discussions.

1 Like
1119

Thanks. Happy new year!

1120

Friday, January 3 - Deadlift day

Deadlift
545x1 - I was supposed to do at least 3 reps, 4 would have been a PR, but this was way harder than expected, like RPE 8.5. I thought I must have misloaded the bar, but no. I feel better overall but my deadlift just went to shit over the last few weeks, not sure what happened.

This was supposed to be a full deadlift session, with more reps and some assistance work, but the way things went so far I figured it would be better to just make it an easy session. Something just isn’t right.

The only thing I can say is that my obliques are a bit tight and sore, but they were worse earlier in the week. On Monday morning (before squatting) the left side was sore as hell, I assume from the way I slept. Once I got moving and warmed up it felt alright and I still squatted and it didn’t bother me, but in the evening both sides were sore. It got better over the last couple days, maybe that had something to do with today’s deadlift being so bad, I don’t really know.

Anyway, I think maybe I should just turn this week into a semi-deload, aside from easy deadlift workouts and the odd easier squat session I haven’t had a deload in a while. I just did one hard set of squats on Monday and Wednesday’s benching was my only real training session this week, I think it might be a good idea to have an easy bench session tomorrow and get back to normal training on Monday. All I really know is that things were going good until I got sick 2 weeks ago (although deadlift gains seemed to have stalled) and nothing went right since then.

1121

Saturday, January 4 - Bench assistance day - easy session

Slingshot bench
405x3

A few band pull aparts just to even things out

Back to regular training on Monday, or at least that is the plan. I’m going to try squatting in the Super Heavy wraps, the other day I tried wrapping them just to see if I could really make them work or not and it seems like my knee wrapping abilities have improved over the last while. Before when I tried putting them on I could only get 6 revolutions and it wasn’t even that tight, this time I got 7 and some extra slack that could become an 8th revolution with a bit of effort and they were tight enough to hurt too. This is with the 3m pair. We will see how it goes.

1122

Jeezus. Sounds like a rep worth of effort to get them on

1123

They aren’t that bad. They don’t stretch as much as most other wraps, I can get 7 revolutions out of 2.5m Kraits and with these I can get maybe 8 at most. At first I thought I wouldn’t be able to use them without someone to wrap me but I have some kind of wrapping gains going on.

My thought right now on how to get the wraps tight: don’t waste too much time or energy pre-stretching them when you roll them up, unless maybe if you have a wrap roller, otherwise it takes a lot of energy and will fatigue your hands. Then when you wrap, pull all the slack out as you are wrapping. Put a layer of wrap over the front, unroll a bit and pull the slack out, pull it over the back, unroll and pull the slack out again and lay it over the front, and so on. Pre-stretching will give you less slack to pull out as you wrap, but the amount of effort required to do that is more than to just pull a little more slack out.

1 Like
1124

Monday, January 6 - Squat day

Squat
Warmups:
445x1 in sleeves
505x1 in 3m Super Heavies, 8 revolutions - felt slightly easier than 445 in sleeves, depth looked right at parallel. I guess I need my back and hips to catch up, but it looks like these wraps can add about 70lbs.

Top set:
555x2 - I should have gone for a 3rd rep but I was trying to avoid doing any death-defying stunts today. Call this RPE 8.5, good enough for a top set. First rep moved fast, 2nd rep looked like the first one last week with 545 in the Kraits. I’m not satisified with the depth, looks parallel again, but not bad for the first time in some crazy wraps. These are the wraps to end all wraps, if these don’t do it for you then nothing will.

I will upload the video later.

Down set:
500x3 - Good depth here, first one just slightly below parallel and next two well below. Much easier to work on depth with a less threatening weight. This set was easy too, I could probably do 3 more reps, all 3 were fast. 8 revolutions again, I don’t think I could get 9 but I don’t think I would want to either. I start at the bottom and do 3 revs up, 2 X’s over the kneecap, then a last one up above and tie off, just barely enough slack for a quick release.
@corstijeir - It can be done

Hatfield squat
475x8 - I was considering doing two sets but the way this feels I really don’t want to. I hate these, but they work. When I was doing a few sets every week before messing up my back my quads were never bigger. I could have done more reps or more weight but this is enough for a starting point, and it definitely fatigues my quads. It just feels like you are drowning once you do over about 5 reps because of the pads pushing on your chest, it feels like you are breathing and not getting any air.

Band leg curls
light band x15x2 - first set easy-ish, had to strain to finish the 2nd. Hamstrings seriously pumped, I haven’t done this lately. I think good mornings or RDLs are probably more useful but I’m trying to minimize total training stress so I will do these for the moment, this is as low stress as any leg exercise gets.

I feel better this week, I guess I just needed a deload after getting sick. I rarely get sick and when I do I always try to act like it’s nothing, but this time it was something and it fucked me up.

2 Likes
1125

I’m strong while sick, it’s usually that week after I’m sick where I hit the tank, so the question is do I deload while sick and hope the week after is good, or just know the week after I need to deload.

So many options.

1 Like
1126

Here’s the video:

https://youtu.be/ga-xyZZwXSs

1127

I haven’t actually been sick enough for it to seriously affect my lifting in quite a while. Last year I had a fever and ended up failing a squat, but it was just one shitty day. The last time I really got messed up was about 3 years ago when I got gastroenteritis. After I was no longer sick and fully fed and hydrated I weighed myself and I had lost 10lbs (I was around 230 back then). It was pretty miserable, but since I have my weights at home I still tried to lift when I was sick, for better or worse. I regularly ran to the bathroom between sets, not a fun experience.

1 Like
1128

Wednesday, January 8 - Main bench day

Bench press
355x4 - Ties PR but it was a crazy grind last time and here the last rep just slowed a bit. Not confident of a 5th rep or I would have gone for it, but this is a minor improvement. Aiming for 360x4 next week.

Down set:
320x7

Floor pause DB flys
70’s x14, 12

Front raise
60x12, 10
superset with:
Side raise
25’s x11, 9

W external rotation
super mini band x 3 sets

Not bad at all. Looks like I’m back in business, I just need my deadlift to start cooperating again.

3 Likes
1129

Friday, January 10 - Deadlift day

Deadlift
545x3 - I should have been able to do another rep but I got in position and started to pull the slack out of the bar and something felt off so I aborted it. I had to watch the video a few times to figure out what went wrong, after the 3rd rep the bar actually rolled towards me slightly (rather than away, which is the usual issue). The way I set up normally I have the bar about 1 1/2 - 2 inches away from me, over my mid foot and I wear size 11 shoes. So when I got into position for another rep the bar moved forward an inch or two. If I was stronger it wouldn’t be an issue but the last rep was going to be hard anyway.

My best triple is something like 550 or 555, so this is not far off and theoretically I should be capable of another rep. I think I might start doing multiple heavier singles now and then because I always have positioning issues when I do reps with heavier weight.

Down sets:
485x4 singles - 1 minute rest - Just to see if it made a difference, on the 2nd one I tried setting up with the bar right against my shins, it felt like I was squatting it up and wasn’t as fast as the other reps.

Barbell row
335x11 - I was going for 10 but it was too easy so I did another rep. I’m cutting back on assistance work here, lats are definitely not a weak point for me and extra work could take away from progress on the comp lifts. This isn’t Dorian Yates HIT, just hard sets.

Close neutral grip chin ups
bw+45x11

Barbell curls
105x18, 15

2 Likes
1130

WTF. Some strong shit right there Chris

1 Like
1131

Unfortunately I’m better at rowing than deadlifting it seems.

1 Like
1132

Just row in the meet to assert dominance

3 Likes
1133

Yeah, after I get out-deadlifted on the platform by some 181 guys I can challenge them to a row competition.

1 Like
1134

Saturday, January 11 - Bench assistance day

Slingshot bench
410x5, 4 - Maybe a rep in the tank on each set

JM press
280x6 - This was basically a 6rm, it’s getting heavy
255x7

Neutral DB pushups
bw+light band x13, 8

1135

Tell them there’s no weight classes in n the jungle and then bail to confuse them. Or Tonya Harding their asses I’ll help u out

1 Like