Squats and bench felt really solid and the latter was relatively easy. Bench was a major PR since I always tend to lift a lot more in a meet than in the gym. For reasons unknown, deadlifts felt like absolute shit right from the start. It felt like I lacked the ability to keep my core tight and my lower back felt fatigued right from the first warm-up sets. I managed to go up to a 200,0kg single with solid form but that was it.
Flat DB bench, chesticles with cables, chin-grip pulldown 5x10-15
I found out today why pulls sucked on Saturday. Apparently after getting my back massaged last Tuesday, I can easily get a lot better arch than before. I didn’t notice any strain on my back on Saturday before I started warming up for deadlifts but today it appeared during the bench itself. Benching with a bigger arch feels a lot more natural and individual reps felt nearly effortless. The only downside was that benching with a bigger arch emphasized certain muscles a bit differently during the lift than before and they got tired a lot faster.
I need to add some mobility work to get my back used to the bigger arch.
Back was still a bit sore from yesterday which limited deadlifting to some extent. I decided to do the set like a monk on morphine instead of roid raging 10 reps or something.
Barbell shrug, back extension, DB side bend 5x10-15
Front squats were a bit tough on my knees this time after doing DL-stance box squats which was mildly irritating. Yates rows with this kind of lower and middle back DOMS however were an absolute nightmare. For some reason I can row a ton more from the ground with a lot less unnecessary motion than by doing rows Yates’ style and this time it felt like shit.
I usually do some calf work after shrugs but got fed up after having to load 150kg on the smith machine for standing calf raises and did back extensions instead.
Started doing incline DB bench press but apparently my chesticles and shoulders and shoulder joints haven’t recovered from Wednesday’s slingshot benching and overhead pressing. I decided to ditch benching entirely and started doing rows which immediately started agitating my right bicep in a way I haven’t experience before. So just fuck both and do random pullovers and tricep work for pump.
I will most likely switch some things around and only do one primary and one secondary bench session per week from now on.
Flat db bench, cable fly, chin-grip pulldown 5x10-15
Decided to try a bit wider leg spread on bench than usual and felt a lot more stable and strong without even utilizing leg drive. The AMRAP set was done with just one big breath with no re-breaths and the back-off sets felt insanely easy even though the weight was just -2,5kg instead of the regular -7,5kg and I dropped the belt and wrist wraps and used longer pauses.
Unilateral cable row, leg curls, leg raises on a dip stand 5x10-15
Like last week, I was forced to do deadlifts in a very slow, calm and controlled manner. Lower and middle back tried to fuck with me again right from the beginning of warm-ups but it disappeared completely when I got to the work set. The work set felt extremely heavy right from the first rep but somehow I still got through each rep I tried. I lost count during the set, hence 6-7 reps.
Had to swap the box on box squats to a dumbbell leaving the ROM shorter, barely above parallel but closer to my actual deadlift stance. You’d think this would be worse for the knees but it’s quite the opposite.
Had to fuck around with the weights and technique on barbell rows due to ungodly lower and middle back DOMS. 110,0kg felt insanely light but I couldn’t keep my back tight enough for all 5 sets. I also ran out of time in the gym so no calf and ab work today.
Flat DB bench, pecs with cables, chin-grip pulldown 3x8-12
Made the mistake of wearing converse-style shoes while benching. During the fourth rep when I tried to use full balls to the walls leg drive, the sole gave out way more than I’m used to which caused me to slip out of balance. The set was a rep PR anyway though.
Starting this week, I’ll drop two sets off of each assistance movement to combat continuous soreness that has hindered my training for the last couple of weeks. The workouts are also shorter and I feel like I can hit the target muscles way better this way.
Unilateral cable row, leg curls, standing abs 3x8-12
Thor almighty have mercy on my back. Lower back was so absolutely annihilated from yesterday’s bench, it made my entire core like wet spaghetti. Starting tomorrow, I’ll have to try to find a compromise between maxing my bench press arch without taxing my back too much. Deadlifts have been absolute shit for so long now this has got to change.
