DE Press: 10x2@115
Explosive Chins: 10x5
DE Squat: 10x2@205
Pull-Aparts: 10x11
The gym closed really early yesterday to recognize employees or something along those lines, and I was out of the loop, so I did yesterday & today’s work just now. “Explosive chins” are basically just me pulling myself up hard enough to pop off the bar and switch grips between each rep. Think clapping push-ups.
Bench & Deadlift singles will start next cycle. Looking forwards to them.
I took a diagnostic LSAT yesterday and scored a 171 (98.2 Percentile) without any sort of prep, which is pretty much in line with how the SAT went. The sort of logic they’re testing really clicks with the way I think. The plan is still to take a prep course this summer and then test in August. If I can replicate/improve on that and keep my GPA >4.0, then a lot of good options should open up for me. At the bare minimum, I’ll be able to stay here and keep using my scholarship.
To keep it fair for the competition, I refuse to cut my hair for the sake of a job.
Edit: 100% on my second public admin paper. Still have a 100% in the class going into the final.
Bike: 3x100 Cal in 5:30/5:15/4:44
Ab Machine: 3x12@150
In other news, my neck is now too big to fit into a choker necklace I got earlier this year. No tape measure on-hand, but I’m guessing it’s bordering 19” flexed at this point.
Hit this at like 5:30 AM after an all-nighter, so we’ll take what we can get lol. This was a single at my TM, which is exactly what I was needed as a minimum.
Almost passed out on my first warm-up with the empty bar, which is a great little confidence boost. One day I’m gonna get get a video of it happening and y’all will get to laugh at me spasming my way to the floor.
Leaning towards continuing to hold off on properly reintroducing DL’s at this point. I know the back-and-forth is probably getting annoying to read, but the more I think about it the more I struggle to come up with reasons to do them week-to-week other than enjoying them. If I can PR them without training them, then putting the energy into more squatting seems like the better course of action. Doing a few DE pulls after my DE squats might be a good middle ground.
Bench: 135x5/15x5/175x11 (PR)/135x11 (CG FUB)
DE Press: 10x2@115
Pull-Ups: 10x5@10
Bike: 162 Cal in 10:00
Yesterday was mostly spent playing D&D, and then the remainder of the evening was spent with my partner. No conditioning (or at least none that’s loggable lol).
Benching is finally making its grand return. I’m doing 5/3/1 with a 205 TM, a PR set, and then matching its reps with a FSLCGFUB, which is a fun acronym. This was a 5-pound and 1-rep PR, with maybe one more rep in the tank, and all the technical finesse you’d expect of someone who benched once in the past 10 weeks. Once we get that fixed I should be good to get some decent work done.
I regularly ace tests but have never gotten 100% on a paper, despite being a decent writer (not my own words). 98%, 99%? Sure. I asked a professor how I could get a 100% and he said he’d never given anyone a perfect grade on a writing assignment. I gotta do whatever you’re doing, haha. I want this to happen once before I graduate.
Truth be told, it’s mostly because the professor’s a pretty easy grader, the writing itself is secondary to the Polisci concepts in it, and it’s only a 200-level class. In actual essay-based classes I tend to hang out around the 96-98% range most of the time.
I did have a teacher back in high school for AP lit who basically told us that day 1, and I made it my mission to prove her wrong by the end of the year lol. She held me after class a few weeks from the end of the year to tell me that something I wrote had earned the first 100 that anyone in two sections of the class had earned in like three years. It’s one of two or three papers I bothered to save from my old high school account before it got deactivated.
DE Squat: 10x2@205
DE Deadlift: 5x1@275
Pull-Aparts: 15x12
Back Extension Drop Set: 70x13/25x20/BWx35
100% on an American gov paper, 97.5% on an 2500-word American lit essay worth 35% of my grade. Did an extra credit assignment in the former which gets me an extra 10% on my final, which pretty much confirms an A+ with the 98.9 I have now. I actually have a very solid shot at finishing the semester with A+‘s across for a 4.33 GPA.
Have two events planned for next year through my QSA executive board position, so at some point I need to start sending out some emails to partner with other groups/get space and funding from the school.
Training was solid. Forgot to mention it yesterday, but my 3 upper body days will have some biking thrown on the end so that I’m being slightly less lazy on the cardio/conditioning half of things.
Press: 155x3/2x2@160/3x1@170
DB Bench: 80x10/9/5 (Short Rest)
Pushdowns: 77.5xF
Deadlift: 495x1 (20-Pound PR)
Ran into a friend of mine who pulls mid-600’s and got a little technique clinic that led to a super ugly-looking but big PR. Then sped through accessories as the gym was closing.
I have finally reached the promised land of a 5-plate deadlift and barely 2-plate bench.
December 31, 2021 was my first 3-plate pull. May 9th, 2022 was my first four-plate pull, so that’s just under a year ago. October 2nd, 2021 was just about 19 months ago, and was the first day I lifted after my spinal surgery. And they told me I should never lift again.
Back feels fine, soul feels better. This is something I’ve wanted for a long time now, and in the long run I’m sure 600 will fall.
Great day. Going to try and run triples for my chins for a bit, and should be able to chip some PR’s there in a couple weeks without too much trouble. Shrugs remain one of the highlights of my week. Finished up with biking + making up for yesterday.
I head back to Maryland next Saturday, so I’ll probably have AM and PM Friday sessions. Training will probably be the same over the summer, except for the occasional 40+ mile bike rides that long-time readers will remember fondly.
@tlgains & @T3hPwnisher That’s probably a better way of thinking about it lol. I just really don’t get what the motivation is to leave such obviously bad-faith comments.
None of them have ever responded to the classic “That’s cool. How much do you deadlift?” which is pretty telling. Along with the fact that that sort of commentary is pretty much exclusively an online thing.
Strapped touch-and-go close-stance close-grip round-back sumo with bumper plates and hitching is deadlifting at its purest and I will not entertain arguments otherwise.
Yea the fitness community is pretty dang toxic most of the time from what i’ve seen. No matter how perfect you do it, there’s always going to be someone trying to demean your effort and hard work. Don’t know why that is but I assume its envy
