When i was in the band i played rhythm guitar and would fill in on drums occasionally. On my own i still play guitar but also took up bass a couple years ago
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Hell yeah, glad you stuck with it. I took a hiatus from music after a bad band breakup and focused on other things. Still played a bit but nothing serious. Magically got back to it towards the end of 2019 and have really enjoyed it since.
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Nice thats awesome
12/6/2020 - Cardio Day
Active Recovery #4 from Forever. 20 times through. 10 minutes on rower to finish.
My back is definitely out. The active recovery really helped and I’m hoping it’s good enough to get through tomorrow’s workout before I see my chiropractor.
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12/7/2020 - 1000% Awesome L2 W3 D1
Up and moving. Back feels better but still tender, certain movements shoot some pain through my lumbopelvic region. Had a COVID scare - the neighbor I helped with the gun safe last Friday tested positive for COVID Wednesday. He’s OK and we have no symptoms, but we’re playing it safe. If I can get in to the local testing place tomorrow I’m going to try. Normal PWO routine.
Squat
45 x 5
165 x 5
205 x 5
245 x 3
285 x 5
325 x 5
360 x 5
Press
45 x 5
95 x 5
130 - 5 x 5
Assistance
SS w/ squat
Ab wheel - 3 x 10
Hanging leg lift - 2 x 10
SS w/ press
Chin/Pull-up - 6 x 5
Pull-up hold at top - 30 seconds - I can’t believe I didn’t shake my house down…
No SS
TRX Push-ups w/ 5-second hold at bottom - 10, 10, 7
Cardio - from T-Nation article and screenshot in @tlgains log
30 sec jumping jacks
30 sec mountain climbers
30 sec burpees
30 sec split squat jumps
Overall the weight moved incredibly well today, back troubles notwithstanding. But if we’re gonna consider it, I pretty much dominated my 95% set of 5’s PRO with a bad back and a widened stance (to get my hips closer to center of gravity). Press was good, assistance was fun. The pull-up hold was murder. I’d like to get to 1:00. TRX push ups were really hard and the rubbing of the strap against my tattoo is still burning (other arm is fine). Certain green tones in the tattoo are raised, which is interesting. Cardio was good, may try and talk my wife into yoga later to help my back and for extra cardio-like work.
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Morning weight: 208
Oh, those are money. Try 60 seconds next time, and also film it.
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I think Dan John is big on hanging from a pull up bar – even if you can do several reps no problem. Might find this article interesting
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He is, but as a corrective for shoulder health if I understand him correctly.
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It’s funny that in the thumbnail it says you’ll bang yourself up if you keep chasing volume, because my elbows get pissed as soon as I add weight. I do think that hanging for as long as possible is a good thing, especially because I’m whaleshit at AMRAP pull ups despite being able to do a pull-up with a decent amount of weight added. I still need to work out a coordinated approach where I do a simple 5 x 5 with added weight on one day, then focus on 1 or 2 bodyweight AMRAP sets with subsequent sets of 5 to reach 50 total reps.
@dagill2 I thought I heard/read from him somewhere that he would generally recommend doing pull ups with hangs in between, but I could be mistaken.
@garagerocker13 I’ve never had elbow pain from vertical pulling, so I dunno. Have you ever posted a video of your reps?
Nope I haven’t, but I can post Friday’s reps. Tomorrow is TRX rows which are their own special hell.
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12/9/2020 - 1000% Awesome L2 W3 D2
Up and moving. Back is still very tender and I didn’t sleep for shit. Woke up with my hands swollen enough that my (1/2 size too big) wedding ring was hurting my finger. Normal PWO routine.
Deadlift
205 x 5
250 x 5
295 x 3
340 x 5
385 x 5
430 x 5
Bench
45 x 5
135 x 5
210 - 5 x 5
Assistance
SS w/ deadlift
Ab wheel - 3 x 10
SS w/ each other
TRX Rows - 15, 10, 10
Dips - 3 x 10
Cardio
Tabata rower - 10 minutes
For being really unbalanced and uncoordinated, the weight moved well today. I couldn’t get into comfortable positions regardless of what I did, but the discomfort shifted from my back to my hips after the 385 set. It’s still there, right at the hamstring/glute junction. Bench was also uneven - symmetrical foot placement made it feel like my left foot was out and down (away from the bar) further than my right. Assistance was good. I enjoyed the cardio - putting the rower on carpet let me really push hard so I got a better workout in. Lots of foam rolling/LAX ball release and epsom salt bath tonight, and Wendler’s Active Recovery #4 tomorrow.
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Just curious, what is your BP? I have a monitor, and my readings vary a lot. Not sure if I should go with low, average, median, or high for purposes of health evaluation. For example, recently I got a 125/82 not too bad, but the day before 152/88 (pretty terrible), but then remeasured and was like 135/78. Is my meter just terrible, or do we have a lot of variation.
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After speaking with my chiropractor (who is also a bodybuilder/powerlifter and works with a current Olympia competitor), the meters are useless unless you correlate with a proper cuff-and-stethoscope reading within a short time span. Mine has given me back-to-back-to-back of 155/90, 152/83 ,and 138/81. I’ll have to check in an hour or so what mine reads. Cuff tension makes a huge difference. What meter do you have?
Edit: He also said that lifters will be higher and that mid 150’s/upper 80’s are closer to the safe limit for us, especially those carrying more muscle.
It was off of Amazon. It is called the DrKea+.
I am just trying to do my due diligence with my health, especially with using AAS and TRT. I may have to start doing more cardio.
I am worried about high BP leading to kidney issues. My dad has had some pretty bad stones, but nothing else in the family. I have seen eGFR vary on blood work a bit.
This would make sense that it would be higher in lifters. I don’t know why it would be safer for lifters than non lifters though if we are concerned with heart and kidneys? Perhaps lipids are better in the lifters compared to the obese?
I have the URBEST one and it got great reviews, but I’m hesitant to trust it. Auto meters are always high for me. Even growing up I had nurses think I was having a stroke until they checked manually, which was sometimes 50 mmHg lower. I know that when I go back for me re-check I’m gonna make her take it manually from the get-go just to give me the best chance of not getting a nervous high reading. Trying really hard to stay off meds.
My whole family has high BP, but they don’t exactly live healthy. I have noticed that more cardio has dropped my average reading, so you may be onto something there. Given that we have issues with lipids (mine are golden other than triglycerides, which are diet-related from a long bulk) and BP, I’m pretty well gonna have to avoid AAS or TRT.
I think that elevated cortisol may have something to do with it, at least on the systolic side. Add in the general increase in pressure from heavy exertion on a frequent basis and that sort of makes sense. Plus, the protective effects lifting has on the heart may offset the detrimental effects of higher BP. I definitely agree with you on the lipid side as well. I’m the only one in my family with good-ish lipids and I’m the only one that lifts and eats well.
12/10/2020 - Cardio/Recovery
Slept like shit again, not sure why. Left piriformis/IT band are really pissed so foam rolled and LAX balled (ouch).
Wendler’s Active recovery #4 - 10 times through with 10 second holds in all requisite positions
Rower - 15 minute steady state
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I’m gonna refer to last night’s band practice as cardio as well, I was completely wiped out by the time I got home. I don’t feel like I gargled razors this morning so I must be honing my singing technique a bit.
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I think instead of doing the traditional 5/3/1 deload week I may try 3 days of barbell complexes targeting mostly cardio improvement. Then again, it would be nice to handle heavy weight before going into PR sets and joker sets. I’m about 50/50 on it. Might flip a coin.
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