You could be making yourself sicker by you still trying to workout hard and not giving yourself time to recover from whatever virus you have. Taking some time away from the weights could possibly help you
Saturday, April 25 - 2nd Bench day
Bench press
up to 365x1 - Moved well, not the fastest it has been but it’s getting there. Also this is with my “new” technique with less arch so my ass stays down, so that’s worth something as well.
Slingshot bench
410x3 - plus 5lbs and one rep over last week, and probably a rep in the tank too
370x6 - Not ass lifting on anything, I’m glad because that was getting real frustrating for a while.
JM press
275x5 - this was hard and felt awkward. Last time I did this I did 300x6, the way today went I have no idea how I managed that. It’s been a while I guess.
W shoulder external rotation
super mini band x3 sets
Body weight is down to 253, previously 260 before getting sick or whatever the hell happened, and this 253 is after eating at Mcdonald’s for lunch yesterday, drinking a few beer in the evening, and eating a bunch of olives with my dinner. I don’t know where it’s all going. My bench feels alright, which is odd because everyone says that losing weight fucks up their bench more than anything, in my case it’s squat and deadlift that feel extra weak lately. I’m not going to try to gain any weight back and just keep training and I should be alright soon enough.
You have a point, but that would have been a better idea a week of two ago. Right now I feel fine, I slept well and had a decent workout this morning. The only problem is my lifts are down and I don’t know when the hell I can get a day off work because we are down to 3 of 9 employees in the kitchen, but I’m definitely not sick at the moment.
I was told that I need to get tested for COVID because there is an outbreak in the nursing home where I work and this past week two people in the kitchen tested positive. I have no symptoms though, so unless I’m actually able to do the test and I test positive I’m supposed to just continue as normal. I don’t know what happened to me a couple weeks ago, I thought it was food poisoning at the time but now they say that COVID can cause nausea and loss of appetite and stuff like that too. It’s a fucked up situation to say the least, but if I don’t go to work then 60-some people have nothing to eat. Even Ottawa Public Health told me when I was leaving the place that they can’t tell me not to work, it’s up to my employer and they say they need me.
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Yeah I’ve heard that test is very brutal!!
I had no idea, I heard that they stick a swab in your throat or up your nose an that didn’t really sound cool but that doesn’t fully explain the situation. They have to shove it way down your throat, or up your nose until it goes into your throat, and there is just no way I can sit there while they do that. Straight up, they have to sedate me if they want to test me.
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Monday, April 27 - Squat day
Squat with wraps - Kraits
515x2 - Not great but an improvement over the last few weeks. Got kind of loose at the bottom of the 2nd rep and tipped forward, otherwise maybe I would have done a triple. Depth looks OK. 7 revolutions with the wraps, I could get 8 if I had someone wrapping me, instead I have a bunch of slack for a quick release.
CAT squat - sleeves
345x3x3 - This felt good by the end. Warmup sets today felt like shit, top set was better, but this is when it started to feel like it should.
Band bad girl
mini x50, 30 - last week 15 reps was a struggle. Not going to do another set or I might not be able to walk later.
Work is killing me. I’m doing 2 people’s job at the same time, the first 3 hours or so I’m running nonstop and there is no other time the work can be done. I also don’t know when I can even get a day off, there is nobody to replace me. But if I can’t train I will lose my shit, so here we are.
Still a stimulus for gains. When work chills you’ll just express more fitness
Ha! I’m on self isolation/quarantine now until May 10. I got tested the other day, they came to my work to test everyone and they did it through the nose for me which was was fucked up but not half as bad as down the throat. Turns out I’m infected, but I have no symptoms at all. I guess whatever happened to me a couple weeks ago with the stomach thing was food poisoning after all.
I’m glad I have a couple weeks off, work is totally fucked. I was doing 2 people’s work at the same time, and it’s not like I can come in early or stay late, what needs to be done needs to be done right then and there so I was running around like a madman. A lot of residents are dead now too.
They sent people from a hospital to work in the kitchen until the regular employees can come back.
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Wednesday, April 29 - Main bench day
Bench press
360x2 - not bad but bar path needs to be sorted out, since I’m at a different angle I’m not pushing the bar back like I should. Could probably do another rep but I don’t want to push my luck.
320x5x2 sets - this was good. Also it looks like I have this ass lifting issue fixed, the last few sessions I had no problem with that and I’m benching in a singlet too to make sure.
Floor pause DB flys
75’s x11, 8
Front raise
65x12, 10
Side raise
30’s x14, 11
Overall an improvement over last week. Things are moving in the right direction at least, and now I have some time to rest and relax which should help too.
Congrats I guess lol?
One way or another things are fucked up right now
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Friday, May 1 - Deadlift day - The new communist holiday?
Sumo
505x3 - Felt like RPE 8, looked a bit easier than that. Seems like I have lost my ability to strain.
Conventional - straps/beltless
415x5 - Lower back is the major weak point, if it was stronger I could pull a hell of a lot mroe conventional.
Barbell row
315x8 - Haven’t done this lately so starting back light and not cheating too much
Chin ups - close neutral grip
bw+25x10
Barbell curl
115x13, 10
This sucks, but considering all the shit I went through in the last month plus the fact I have coronavirus it’s not so bad. Bodyweight is still 253, down from 260. I don’t care about weight really, except on the bar.
I forgetti how to grind easily. It’s awkward on deadlift because even if I wanna get comfortable grinding through it’s either towards the end of AMRAPs or at like 90% 1RM + both of which are fairly fatiguing on me so they are hard to squeeze into a training block without knocking me back for a week or two.
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Saturday, May 2 - 2nd bench day
Bench press
up to 365x1 - moved well but still not as fast and explosive as before. At least it’s moving in the right direction
Slingshot bench
415x3
375x6
JM press
245x9, 7
W shoulder rotation
super mini band x3 sets
Monday, May 4 - Squat day
Still not going good
Squat
Last warmup in sleeves: 435x1 - Not as fast as it should be, too some effort when it should be easy
Warmup in wraps (kraits): 485x1 - Moved OK but I cut it high
Work set (wraps):
525x1 - I wanted a triple, but after the way 485 went I figured I would be better off lifting less weight or doing less reps but doing it properly. So I decided I would just see how it goes but make sure to hit depth. This felt shaky on the way down, came up OK (RPE 8) but I didn’t want to push it and do a bunch of sloppy reps so I racked it.
Down set (wraps):
475x2 - Same idea here, technique over number of reps. These went up fast enough but the bar drifted forward a bit on the 2nd rep so I cut it after that.
Yet another set (sleeves):
355x8 - I could have done more but the last couple were starting to get sloppy, my hips were rising too fast. Depth was no issue here.
Band bad girl
super mini x25, 20
So my squat and deadlift still suck, you would think that laying around and relaxing for a week would have made a difference but apparently not. Not much I can do other than keep training. Just like I had to make some adjustments to my bench so I stop lifting my ass off the bench, I need to fix my squat depth so I’m consistently below parallel. It only seems to be a problem in wraps, but if I plan to compete in wraps then it’s a big problem. I was doing better a month+ ago, all the bullshit in April really messed me up.
Is decreased squat performance a symptom of coronavirus?
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If it is I might be Patient Zero because I’ve had that symptom for years.
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Depends what it’s doing to you I guess. There are reports of lung damage that doesn’t go away with recovery, maybe you can’t re-oxygenate like normal and it’s messing with you. But I doubt it.
In my experience, sometimes upping the weight does the trick. I’ve done a miserable set and upped the weight 10 lbs because I’m annoyed - and had it go easier and with better form, Just throwing that out there. I’m speaking specifically about squat, not any other lift.
So this can become a chronic condition then? I need some fish tank cleaner fast.
The thing is I have no symptoms at all. I just don’t feel as strong as before.
Yeah, I can relate to that. Last week my warmups felt like absolute shit but somehow 515x2 ended up being not so bad. It’s just frustrating because I squatted an easy 600 a month ago and was on track for more, but I guess it could be worse.
Last spring I squatted 570, then later hurt my back doing some light bullshit and it took months to get back to normal training. I got over that and made some decent progress but now the whole month of April was bullshit and set me back again. If I could avoid any significant setbacks I would be squatting 700 by now.
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It’s always the light crap. Hugo Gerard pulled a ligament in his back, couldn’t do anything for a couple of months and when he finally could he had to start over with squats at 135. It happens to all of us unfortunately. Some new information is indicating the virus can cause heart and kidney damage - which you can’t really pinpoint without labs but can dick up a lot of things while you don’t “Feel” any symptoms. I’ve arrived at the conclusion that the best planis just add a few pounds when it feels off or I can’t add the reps I was looking for and then come back to that weight for the rep count later - a few weight increases later. I seem to respond better to that than anything else.
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