same exact weather here… not looking forward to the cold 
Hi! Just thought I’d pop in and let you know I’ll be lurking along.
I forgot to do Monday’s log and forgot what I did already. It was upper body, and that’s about as far as my memory extends.
So on to today!
Lower Body:
- Box Squats w/ Yoke Bar and long Monster mini bands
1 x 5 x the bar
1 x 3 x 10lbs
1 x 3 x 20lbs
1 x 1 x 30lbs
1 x 1 x 35lbs
1 x 1 x 40lbs - fail
1 x 3 x 20lbs
- Reverse band deadlifts
1 x 5 x 135lbs
1 x 3 x 225lbs
3 x 1 x 315lbs - these tore up my palms!
1 x 3 x 275lbs
- 3 x 8 x 40lbs Bulgarian split squats superset with 3 x 12 GHR’s
Did I mention I hate split squats??
It was so very very humid today. My lungs don’t function well in humidity so I unfortunately had to pass on the sprints.
Oh nice deadlifting!
Doesn’t everyone hate split squats? They’re hard!
+40lb bulgarians is no joke. I totally hate them too, which is why I don’t do them even though I know they are good for me and I need to. I think brute likes them though…
Didn’t really have a structure to what I did today but oh well:
- Floor Presses
1 x 5 x 45lb
1 x 5 x 65lb
1 x 3 x 95lb
1 x 1 x 105lb
1 x 1 x 115lb - fail
2)Light Incline Press for speed
3 x 10 x 20lb
3)Light 1-arm Rows for Speed
3 x 10 x 30lb
4)Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 20lb db’s
5)Tricep Extensions
3 x 12 x 10lb db’s
- 3 x 10s sprints on TredSled
In between the rows and the curls I tried to do a 225 deadlift because one of the guys had it set up for his rows. I did not even come close, and it really upset me. I got 225 deadlift back in February and it’s almost October and I can’t do it? I tried once before a few weeks ago as well and didn’t get it. I don’t understand. How am I getting weaker when I’m still training? In February I was in full season for my sport while training for powerlifting and was most certainly overtrained yet I hit 225. Now all I do is lift and I can’t hit it. I don’t understand and it frustrates me to no end. I feel like I’ve been at a standstill since March. I’m frustrated and I’ve only been lifting seriously since last May.
My friend tells me I just don’t get ‘angry’ enough when I try to get a PR. That’s true but I just don’t get angry in general. If I had to rate my mental game on a scale from 1-10 I’d give it a kind 3. It’s been like that for every sport I’ve ever played.
I don’t really eat very well, but I get enough calories for certain. I get enough sleep. I’m very stressed out during this time in my life, but I really don’t think that has anything to do with it. I’m just afraid that I’ll never hit any of my goals, since I haven’t hit any of them that I’ve set recently.
You are plenty strong enough. Perhaps when you are doing your sport, you are more mobile and able to recruit the muscles in your legs and butt better. Or possibly you could do with more protein (creatine could also give you an edge if you are not currently taking it). I suspect a lot of it could be mental, though. I can turn psycho killer mode on and off like a tap when doing things like shoulder press and dumbell rows but in a more complex lift such as deadlift or squat where you are thinking about keeping abs tight, keeping your lumbar curve, using your glutes and so many other things, it’s a lot harder.
Solarisol: I saw my Dl stall at 225 for a long time, and I missed that pull a number of times too. But then, one day it rained gains and my DL made some big jumps. Trust your program. I’m sure you’re stronger.
Also, I have found that I pull my best when I have done A LOT of work working up to the weight. I don’t get angry or channel any kind of emotion when going for a max effort. I just think “Stay tight and you’ve got this.” I’m boring.
you did a reverse band deadlift at 315 but cannot do 225?! did I read this wrong?
that’s a mental issue right here. try setting it up with smaller plates, visually not as impossing as 4 big plates. Do a proper ramp up - 10lbs at a time with 10 minutes rest between singles. just a thought.
Today my gym got a super new monolift and competition bench. It was lower body day so we messed around doing box squats with the monolift. I’ve never used one before so it took a few sets to get used to not having to step out.
- Box Squats
1 x 8 x 45lb
1 x 3 x 135lb
1 x 2 x 155lb
1 x 1 x 165lb
1 x 1 x 185lb - old record, felt easy!
1 x 1 x 195lb - fail
1 x 1 x 190lb
The one I failed I think I could have gotten if I tried again but I wanted to be able to say I did something new. I didn’t keep my core tight and leaned over too far to get it. At least I got 190 I suppose!
- Deadlifts (sumo)
1 x 5 x 135lb
1 x 3 x 185lb
1 x 1 x 205lb
1 x 1 x 215lb
I was tempted to try 225 again but I didn’t want to push my luck, if I hadn’t made it I would have been pretty put down. Now I kinda regret not trying though.
- 2 x 10 x 40lb Bulgarian superset w/ 3 x 10 GHR, last set of Bulgarians I only did 5 reps each side since I was pretty dead.
I definitely feel better after today, since I got a record, albeit only 5 lb increase over a month or so but I’ll take it.
Cal - Yeah I’m considering doing some running of some kind on my off days just to get myself moving, and maybe that would help. Unfortunately I hate running so I might just do some bodyweight stuff instead. My mental game is really terrible, has been since I was a kid and I have the most impossible time trying to change it. And after I do a complex lift like that I think back and think “I wasn’t really concentrating on contracting my glutes” or “I forgot about leg drive” or “I didn’t split the bar and keep my back tight”. You’d think after all this time it’d be second nature!
Nadia - Yeah I need to do a lot of work building up to it as well. I shouldn’t have tried the 225 all impromptu-like. Hoping for some gains to rain down on me too! And it’s good to know someone else doesn’t get really angry and emotional when they go for a PR. I think I would be more on the side of keeping calm too.
Mainy - No you did not! To be fair there was a lot of help on the reverse bands, and really all of my trouble with deadlift is in the first 2 inches or so, after that it’s smooth sailing so reverse band stuff helps me out a ton. And I can think to myself “you have the strength to lift that, just mentally you’re psyching yourself out” and then another part of me will say “bullshit, you’re just weak.” I’ve got issues!
However, getting a chance to do normal deadlifts today does make me feel better!
After a lovely birthday weekend, it’s back to the gym. Max effort upper:
- Bench Press w/ long Monster Mini bands
1 x 5 x just bands
1 x 3 x 55lb
1 x 3 x 55lb w/ 1 board (1 board for rest of exercise)
1 x 3 x 65lb
1 x 2 x 70lb
1 x 1 x 75lb
1 x 1 x 80lb
1 x 1 x 85lb - fail
1 x 3 x 65lb
I could really feel the leg drive on these sets, which was awesome. I think it’s actually a good thing for me mentally to have no idea how much resistance is on the bands so that I can’t psyche myself out!
- Dumbbell Decline Overhead Press
1 x 12 x 20lb
1 x 5 x 30lb
1 x 12 x 20lb
This gym really needs dumbbells that go up by 5’s instead of 10’s.
-
3 x 12 x 10lb Tricep Rollbacks superset w/ 3 x 25 tricep pulldowns
-
3 x 8 x 40lb DB Bent-Over Row superset w/ 3 x 15 x 5lb Rear-Delt Raises
-
20-yd 180lb sled pull running backwards, sprinting forwards the way back x 2
Tomorrow I have my 4th interview for a job. I’ve never heard of a place interviewing someone 4 times. Cross your fingers for me.
Can’t wait for lower body Wednesday!
Good stuff in here. 225 is my semi-short term goal right now as well although I won’t be attempting it until a month or so from now. I know it’s frustrating when you can’t match something you’ve done a long time ago, but you’ll get there!
Also, a fourth interview sounds really promising. Most places wouldn’t go through the trouble of that much time interviewing someone if they weren’t interested.
I guess I’m fortunate. My gym is metric and dumbells go up in increments of 2kg (4.4lbs) to 30kg (66lbs) and then I think it’s increments of 5kg (11lbs) thereafter though I don’t use the big dumbells so I’ll have to check that.
Good luck with that interview - I hope it comes with a job offer. That would be a nice birthday pressie.
sounds like life is going well. Crossing all my body parts for that job! 
I wasn’t feeling as excited about working out today as I usually am, but here’s what we did today:
-
Monolift Box Squats
1 x 5 x 45
1 x 3 x 135
2 x 2 x 155
3 x 2 x 165 -
Deficit Conventional DL w/ Light Short Bands
1 x 5 x 45lb
1 x 1 x 135lb - this was a lot harder than I thought it’d be, had to go down in weight.
2 x 3 x 95lb -
3 x 12 Band Good Mornings superset w/ 3 x 12 GHR
-
2 x High bar down, low bar back Prowler pushes with 200lbs, not sure on the distance but it was pretty short.
DD - I remember when I first went for 225 I was so excited, I couldn’t stop shaking. It was a big marker for me in my head and I was super confident because I was still coasting on my beginner gains. When I actually did it, it was a lot easier than I was expecting! I recorded it and at the end you can actually hear me say ‘that was easy.’ Hopefully you’ll be just as excited! I’ll be checking in your log to see when it happens for you
Cal - That would be much better for me! I’ve also thought that having weights in kg’s instead of lb’s would help me mentally, kind of like having no idea how much weight the bands add, I’d have no idea how much weight I was lifting period! And thanks, I’m supposed to hear back by Friday…
MiM - That’s some serious contortion! I appreciate it, I’m really nervous.
So I’ve been having a fabulous week so far!
- Squats
1 x 8 x 45lb
1 x 5 x 95lb
1 x 3 x 135lb
1 x 2 x 145lb
on that set, I had one of the guys spotting me and he said that I was going way past parallel, which I know I do. Everyone calls me an olympic lifter when I squat. So I thought I’d try something crazy and actually only go to parallel, having someone tell me when to go back up because I have NO IDEA what parallel feels like.
1 x 1 x 155lb
1 x 1 x 165lb - PR
1 x 1 x 175lb - PR
I could have kept going, also. Those last three sets were super, super easy. It was really exciting. They recommended that 2 PRs was probably enough for one day, however, and they’re a lot more experienced than me. 175lbs was my December goal!
-
3 x 8 x 40lb BSS superset w/ 3 x 8 x Bodyweight GHR
-
3 x 5 x 145lb deficit pulls.
Did those by just loading the bar with 25lbs. It’s pathetic how hard that is for me.
- 3 x 12 x banded good mornings superset w/ 3 x 30s elbow plank holds
In other good news I got a job that I was dying to get at a nice personal training studio where people actually know what powerlifting is when I mention I train for it, won’t make fun of me for doing my job well and get treated with respect, which is a lot more than I can say for my last personal training job.
Unfortunately I don’t start till November so I don’t think I’ll have the finances for that meet. But, at least I’ll have a job and can start saving for the next one!
That is truly exciting news on the job front.
I’m also happy for your squat PRs. Two in one day is mighty fine indeed. nod
Great squatting. Congrats on the prs and the new job!
Speed Work:
- Speed Bench
1 x 12 x 45lb
1 x 3 x 65lb
1 x 3 x 75lb
5 x 3 x 85lb
-
3 x 12 x 30lb (some exercise I don’t know the name of where you are sitting up straight with a dumbbell held behind your head and you do tricep extensions) superset with 3 x 25 band push-downs
-
Speed Squat w/ ~120lb band tension.
5 x 3 x bar
- 2 x Prowler pushes with 90lbs high bars down, low bars back
I was supposed to follow those with 8 tire flips of this 300lb tire. I could not even come close to getting that thing off the ground. Maybe it’s because I’ve never flipped a tire before and for the life of me I could not figure out where to put my hands. Also my legs are dead after the Prowler, that probably didn’t help. The guy who worked there insisted that I should be able to manage that tire fine, but I could hardly budge it. It made me sad.
On the plus side the squats felt pretty good!
Kristoph - the best thing about this new job is that I don’t have to do ANY selling for clients since it’s a studio. Someone else takes care of that, which makes me a happy, happy trainer!
Nadia - Thanks! I’ve always felt pretty bad about my squat so it was pretty exciting just to get some new numbers up! Next time we do regular squats I know I can get at least 195.
On the tire front; I have one that’s biggish but not huge. When I first got it home it was my nemesis but after watching some videos and some practice it’s flippable. Maybe that fella insisting that you can do it can work with you on technique?