I bet! I’m just excited to finally be squating more than I bench.
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Are you copying me? I just started this myself…
@anon71262119 I think that is a fantastic thing to be excited about. Your out-of-shape ex-girlfriend might not want to hear about your lifting achievements, but I do!
@ActivitiesGuy Nope, these leg presses are now a deadlift squad thing, to be done every Thursday. I’m not too old to have a squad, am I fam? I’ll ask bae later today.
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I don’t know what any of these words mean…
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495x8 deadlifting is strong work! Congrats on the PR.
@ActivitiesGuy I think that means it is time for you to move over to the O35 section. You’re too old and out-of-touch to log anywhere else.
@DBasler Thank you very much! I’m pleased with my lifts lately, but I’m still hoping that someday I will bench more like you do and look more like you do too.
Friday 8/23/16
BW 267
Press
95x5
115x5
135x3
155x1
175x1
195x1
215xFAIL
145x10
Chins
1 set of 10
5-6 sets of 5
Dips
6 sets of 5
Facepulls
5 sets of 12
Tricep Pushdowns
5 sets of 10
EZ Bar Curls
3 sets of 12
Notes: No partner today. I did something stupid and missed a 5 pound plate on one side of my 215 attempt, which was really an attempt at an unbalanced 210 pounds. I think I would have had it if not for my blunder, but oh well. I really tried to grind it out. I felt the imbalance but didn’t realilze what I had done until I racked the bar.
My left bicep is sore now, so there’s that. Otherwise I’m pleased with this week’s lifting.
I’m also developing veins!
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Some people say it’s the small shit that counts, but vascularity isn’t small shit in my book. FWIW, my forearms are pretty vascular, I love it. The wife thinks it’s gross.
Irreconcilable differences.
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@The_Myth One thing is certain, I don’t have to worry about grossing any women out by being too vascular anytime soon. That’s one lifter problem I don’t have yet.
Monday 9/26/16
BW 272
Squat
135x5
225x5
315x3
405x1
455x1
405x5
315x10
225x10
225x10
Notes: Leg machines were surprisingly occupied, so we just squatted today. My partner got 405x16, tying his PR. Our guest squatter from last week did not return. Not even after he posted at least 5 leg day memes on facebook, publicly declared his intent to squat with me for a second week and text messaged me a picture of stairs. All that public drama, just to bitch out and stay home.
I’m not surprised, but at least I didn’t spend a ton of time showing this guy how to squat. He sure LOOKED like he’d be a good squatter, and he definitely TALKED an awful lot as well. Facebook, pshh. More like FAKEBOOK! There’s a reason I limit my online presence there to liking pictures of my nieces.
Oh well, I keep marching on. I’m always happy to let people lift with us, but he wasn’t anywhere near our strength ballpark anyway.
On a different note, I’m not sure why I’m so freaking heavy. I’ve only had alcohol once in the last 10 days, but I have been eating some food, I suppose. I just figured the scale would start moving back down by now since cutting out alcohol calories again.
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And here I was thinking, it must have been a damn good weekend 
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@ChickenLittle It WAS a good weekend!
Tuesday 9/27/16
BW 269
Bench Press
95x5
135x5
185x5
225x3
245x1
265x1
285x1
305x1
315x0
315x0
225x10
225x9
225x7
Barbell Rows
135x10
225x10
225x10
275x10
Cable Circuit
Facepulls
Curls
Tricep pushdowns
3 rounds no rest
Notes: Partner hit 3 singles with 315. 305 moved great for me and I really thought today was the day I would join the elusive 3 plate bench club. Alas, it was not to be. I think the weight psyches me out, which it shouldn’t.
I did join the rowing 275 for reps club though. I’ve never had more than 225 on a barbell for rows before, and I think 275 will be our new work weight. Hell, I should just row 315 next week. Maybe that will soothe my fragile ego.
Here’s 305.
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After watching the video I see that was 295 on the bar, not 305. I have no idea why I thought it was 305. After mis-loading my heavy strict press last week and imagining myself being stronger than I am on bench today, it sure seems like the old brain sure don’t run like she used to.
Maybe I can leverage this stupidity to my advantage by tricking myself into thinking the bar is lighter than it really is…
Don’t know if you have tried this. It works for me.
The 295 (yeah, I caught it) looked fine going up. But what really impresses me is the 3 sets of 225 after. That’s a lot of damn work. Were those rest-pause, or did you take a good breather between each one?
@ChickenLittle That’s crazy enough that it just might work!
@bigjeff68 My partner and I typically keep rest periods to however long it takes for each other to finish our sets and load the bar. Maybe a minute on top of that if we are really gassed. We aren’t there with a stopwatch, but we try to keep moving, keep breathing hard and just let the sweat flow all over the equipment, thus claiming it as ours and no others’.
The exception would be all-out sets of heavy squats or deadlifts for reps. We move on from those when we are good and ready, no sooner.
I think that’s the way to rest between sets if you have a workout partner.
ChickenLittle: I had not seen that article before. But I totally do that on squat. I never load larger than a 35 on a side and just keep adding small plates to increase the weight. How funny! I thought it was just me!
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Honestly, I think a lot of this is just genetics. I have pretty vascular hands and forearms, but when I look at the women in my family, there’s a lot of bony “old lady” hands with veins that show. And those women don’t lift. And pointy elbows. And thick ankles. 
BTW, in terms of body comp, you’ve come a long way. Looking great.
@biker Definitely. Keeps the rest short and the workload dense! Too bad I had no partner today, but I definitely kept things moving and did some work.
@anon71262119 I suppose I will need to become a leaner man to find out what sort of vascularity hand I was dealt! And thanks, you look fantastic as well!
Thursday 9/29/16
BW 267
Press
95x5
115x5
135x3
155x1
185x1
205x1
215x1 (5lb PR)
135x10
Pullups
1 set of 10
5 sets of 5
Supersetted with…
Dips
5 sets of 8
Deadlift
135x5
225x5
315x3
405x1
495x1
545x3 (Rep PR)
585x1
405x5
Here’s 545x3.
Here’s 585.
Notes: No partner today, and our third lifter left after a few warm-ups with 135. So I deadlifted alone. I did some upper-body work first while I was waiting for my partner, who just never showed. I need tomorrow off from lifting so I did the normal Friday work today.
I believe this is the first time I’ve deadlifted after doing any kind of real upper body work. I was pleased to see that it didn’t really matter much, except perhaps costing me a few reps on my very last set with 405.
I also believe this is the first time I’ve repped any weight above 515, so it was nice to triple what used to be a very heavy single for me. I can probably hit that for 5 now that I know what it feels like to rep it.
I also feel like 585 is now an any-day, all-day weight for me to pull. I hit it today after a hard triple with 545 and only a few hours of sleep.
Oh and the strict press PR was great too, especially after fucking up the bar load last week. I wish I had it on video, it was a good effort and I ground it out. I think two wheels is attainable for me in the next few months.
RANT TIME
One of the bodybuilder types at my gym took advantage of me lifting alone to run his mouth about how I deadlift wrong. I’ve known him for a few years, and we generally get along well, but every once in a while he feels compelled to persuade me that I’m somehow lifting weights all wrong. He’s always bitched about me banging my deadlifts, and I’ve always assured him I’m being as quiet as I can and continued doing what I always do. So this is nothing really new.
What pissed me off is how he told me he’d kick me out of the gym if it was his place. I told him to fuck off and take it up with the owner. Then he starts bragging about how he can deadlift 500 pounds for reps without making a sound. He’s telling me I should pause just before the weight hits the ground and reverse the movement upwards, never touching the plates to the floor.
I said, great, I’ll be hitting 495 as a warm-up, so he can work up with me and demonstrate. To my great dismay, he says he cannot do this today in my presence, or any time in the near future. He also says that his way, which he can’t find time to demonstrate, is REAL STRENGTH, and touch-and-go pulling is somehow not.
I tell his to shove his paused deadlifts up his ass and take it up with the owner. This is a guy who, despite lifting for 15+ years, can only squat 135 for good depth, 225 for bad depth and he barely quarter squats 315 for a couple of reps. I’ve only seen him deadlift once - ONCE - and they were Romanian Deadlifts. He said they fucked his back up and I never saw him do it again. I’m not sure why this guy thinks I should listen to him, but he should have figured out by now that I lift in a much different style than he does. I never comment on his endless curl sets, quarter squats or lack of any real strength work or conditioning, but I might start now.
But hey, I had a good fucking workout when I was all fired up!
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Hahahahaha, I needed a good laugh before I head to do my lifts. 
And you telling him to shove his paused deadlifts up his ass was the right response.
Solid work, 2JS.
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Congrats on another PR.