Bench press: 205lbs x1, 215lbs x1, 170lbs x4x8
I started doing touch and go for all reps expect the first rep of the set. This was still pretty hard. I’d say about RPE 9.5 on everything except the single with 205lbs.
These were all done beltless. I was originally supposed to do 335lbs for my single. The double with 335 felt pretty good. The single with 365 wasn’t super fast, but felt good. The volume with 275lbs felt great.
Pause squat: 205lbs x3x8
Superset 3 rounds:
Dumbbell shrug: 100lbs x10
Box jump: 3 jumps
I’ve seen Josh Bryant talk about box jumps for explosiveness. I figured it’s worth a try
Good workout yesterday. Went in feeling pretty lethargic, but I got it done.
Bench press: 185lbs x3x5
This moved better than expected. I paused all reps.
Long pause bench: 135lbsx 5x3
This was a really easy weight for this, but I’ve never done this before so I figured I’d start light.
Single arm lat pulldown: 100lbs x3x10
Not the best workout today. Not too bad though. I have a pretty sore throat and haven’t been sleeping too well.
Squat: 345lbs x1 285lbs x4x8
The single moved very well. The sets of 8 got easier as they went. I saw Jesus on the first set, RPE 10, and by the last set they were flying RPE 7.5. I might add knee sleeves next time. I hope I can push this up to 375lbs single and 315lbs x4x8.
Pause squat: 205lbs x3x8
Deficit trap bar deadlift: 235lbs x2x8
I don’t know why these are so brutal for me. I have a friend who is stronger on these than his regular deadlift. This is much harder than conventional deadlifts for me. They are SO hard. I feel like they’re a pretty good movement for me in that I get an insane burn in my legs and my back doesn’t feel compromised at all.
I’ve been thinking for a while about my goals for this coming year. I want to deadlift 500lbs, and possibly squat it too. I hope to do this around 180lbs bodyweight. I have 20lbs to gain (hopefully without getting too fat), so that will definitely help a lot. I hope to bench at least 250lbs, but 275lbs would be amazing. I’d also be extremely happy with a 1200lbs total.
If anyone has advice for how I can gain weight, I’d really appreciate it. Last year when I really wanted to gain weight for about a month and a half I would eat an apple fritter (300 calories, probably mostly sugar) before every training session and add 400 calories of juice crystals (pure sugar) to my Gatorade when I worked out. Maybe it’s time to start that again, but that’s gotta be just so unhealthy.
The timeline for these goals is probably before my 18th birthday (May 23 2020). Right after my birthday exams start, which makes training consistently difficult for a few weeks. After that, I’m not sure what I’ll be doing in the summer, but I might not have access to a gym.
I’m happy about the 220lbs single. It moved decently well, and 225lbs should be doable. I think I’m actually stalled on this 4x8 progression for bench. I paused the first rep and did the rest touch and go, but I failed the last rep on my last 2 sets. I still need to figure out what to do next for my bench.
I just rub them with my hands after soaking them in water and soap. I leave them there for 30 minutes to an hour and then rinse it by hand. I leave them to air dry afterwards. You can also put them under the sun but take them in as soon as it gets dry. Never tried using a drier on them cause I’m afraid of them getting loose. Maybe others have though
Deadlift:
345lbs x2 not as easy as I hoped, but that’s ok
285lbs x4x8 RPE 8ish. Very happy with this
Pause squat: 210lbs x3x8
Single arm row: 25lbs x10
I did these in a weird way to work on my stability, that’s why the wright is so light, I’ll be increasing the weight quickly on these.
Reverse band deadlift:
Messing around, pulled 545lbs for a single. Probably the same difficulty as low 300lbs lol.
Decent workout today. Last time I was benching my friend noticed that my left arm was flaring more than my right. Because of this, I decided to take benching easy today, and hope that whatever was causing that issue will get better.
Bench press: 135lbs x3x5 paused
Superset 3 rounds:
Overhead press: 85lbs x3x8
Single arm lat pulldown: 85lbs x3x10
Superset 3 rounds:
Kettlebell overhead press: 15lbs x10
Single arm row: 25lbs x12
Giant set 3 rounds:
Lat pulldown: 120lbs x10
Overhead dumbbell tricep extension: 25lbs x12
Lateral raise: 15lbs x15
Damn. You are really strong . Especially for your age and bodyweight. I wish I had any clue what powerlifting was when I was as old as you. Keep up the good work.
Today was my first time adding knee sleeves back in. Still done beltless. Last squat day my 4x8 was so hard I didn’t think I could continue the progression this week. Today I got really in the zone and my last set was around RPE 7. I’m starting to enter PR territory. I’m extremely excited.