What a few days it’s been. Came down with a fever and sore throat on Tuesday night, and had to go into work the next day for a late evening video conference. That precludes heading into the gym at night like I normally do, so I decided to ditch work for an hour and go to the nearby Gold’s. Do it all the time. No problem. Until I realized I didn’t bring any chalk with me. On DL day. Arrrggghhh!!!
I headed in anyway, just to see what would happen. I worked up to my second working set, and between the slippery bar and my faltering grip, I just quit. Things were looking bad schedule-wise to get into the gym the rest of the week, and I’m still recuperating, so I was considering a 2-week deload. On Friday, though, I found out I’d have some time on Saturday to go train, so I made the decision to double up on deads and bench.
After the last rep, I tried again after a 10 second rest for one more rep, but couldn’t quite lock it out. Really wanted a couple more, but considering the fact I was wheezing and hacking between sets (OK, maybe it wasn’t that bad), I’m just glad I got these done.
Finished up with 205x5x5 on bench, 3 sets of 8 GHRs, and some curls.
As I was getting ready to leave, I was feeling rather proud of myself for even going into the gym after the events of the past few days. Then I saw a guy in the gym with only one arm, and all feelings of smugness left.
I totally screwed up the weights, as it should have been 245, 280, and then 315, but that last set was a downer. Last time around I got 5, and wanted 6, but it was all I could do to that 3rd rep up. Was it the lingering effects of the cold? Doubt it, as that’s never been much of an issue before. More likely I’m still not fully recovered from deads on Saturday.
Note to self: allow more than 48 hours recovery time between lower-body workouts.
Followed up the above with a superset of:
more squats: 265x5x2, 245x5, 245x3 (I was planning on on more set, but I felt like I was about to pull a glute, which buttresses (get it? butt-resses…never mind) my recovery hypothesis)
dragon flags: 3 reps of 4
I’m interested to see what Saturday deads and next Wednesday squats look like.
Superset
Bench: 45x8, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 175x5, 190x3, 210x5x4, x4
Pullups: bwx5x5, +25x4, +45x5x2
Last three sets did Kroc rows, 120x10, x8, x6
Then did the usual curl variations. Bench felt a little weird, then I realized that the bar was a little thicker than normal. Not weird enough to mess me up, but…just different.
My wife and kids are gone to Utah (I’ll be joining them next week), so I don’t have a car. Which means a 3-mile bike ride into the gym. It would have been a little shorter, but I planned a route that didn’t take me up any large hills so I didn’t kill my legs prior to deads.
First time doing 430; last time on 425 I got 5, and on 435 I got 4, so I’m calling it a +1-something rep PR. After last week’s debacle I was a bit nervous, but now I feel like I’m back on track.
Followed up with a superset:
Front squats: 135x5x3
GHRs: bw x8x3
Ab rollouts: 3 sets of 10 reps
Then I did some seated calf raises, hopped on my bike, and was glad I didn’t much more in the way of assistance all the way home.
Got a phone call from my folks saying my uncle had passed away, so I had to start summer vacation a few days early. Went to the gym early Monday (bench), flew to a business meeting in San Diego, then flew on to Utah. Hit the funeral in Idaho, then back to Utah on Thursday. Went to the gym again on Thursday night (squats) and this morning (military).
Main events went something like this:
Bench: 180x3, 205x3, 230x4 not super happy about that one. Too early in the morning? Bah.
Squats: 260x3, 300x3, 335xF! really bummed about this. The second set felt heavy, and I really can’t figure out what’s happening here. Punished myself with Zercher’s to make up for the poor performance.
Military: 135x5, 155x3, 175x2 Almost had three, and this is my best performance of the week. Especially since I followed these up with 155x3 and 135x8, which really felt good.
I’m switching to early morning training (very early once school starts for the kids), and am a tad concerned how my CNS will be, but I hope today’s performance is a good indication.