Well, my diet continues to suck. I was back at 230 today. I just can’t seem to commit. I haven’t been over eating, but I’ve drank a lot of beer over the last three days. 
It turns out that Friday’s overzealous conditioning is going to affect today’s workout. My quads are sore and it’s squat day. That sucks.
See @simo74’s warm up
SQUAT
45 x 10
135 x 5
165 x 5
195 x 5
225 x 3
255 x 1
285 x 1
305 x 1 Beltless and slloooooooww.
205 x 5 x 3 sets
DB CURL
25 x 10
25 x 10F/10T/10B
25 x 8F/8T/8B
25 x 15
PRESS DOWN (still squatting after curls)
70 x 10, 15, 15, 15
RFESS
BW x 10 ea x 3
AB WHEEL
10, 10, 10
275 x 3
365 x 2
395 x 1
425 x 3 x 3
Total Time: 52 minutes. I ate three waffles and a bowl of raisin bran instead of training fasted. I didn’t hate it, but I limited the heart pumping stuff, too.
Loving the deadlier typo! It looks like you’re pulling deficit there, legs are so long! Cardio didn’t affect your squats that bad!
That’s the second time that typo has occurred but it’s not the worst auto correct so I’ll allow it.
I’m a slacker on squats so they weren’t too bad. Everything up to 285x1 is like a warm up. The sets after that are the real work. Wendler says to do 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps at about 70%. As you can see, I opt for the minimum of 3x5. I’m hopeful I can slowly get that top single to creep up. I might have to put on my belt, though. I’m not a fan of slow, grinding reps.
If you have no love for the squats and can progress on bare minimum then it’s a win!
Did you take the video with your back to the camera just to look more like Bane?
I wanted to see if I had any damn back muscles. I see all these dudes with Christmas trees and slabs of meat, but the look eludes me. I’m confident I have a plenty of meat to feed a few families, but I don’t have that thick look. It’s not for lack of trying. I think it’s a side effect of being more spread out than most.
Also, I’m dreaming about future toys. Do I add the cable column only for about $2k?
Or do I replace my rack with this beast and get the cables and Smith machine, as well?
This is just me having fun and making a wish list.
That smith cable machine is very close to what my neighbour has added to his home gym. It’s a nice bit of kit. I don’t use the smith part but the cables are a good addition. His has a foot plate you can add to the bar to get under and do leg press. I haven’t tried that yet either but I like the idea.
It’s $2k to add cables and take up more space or $4k+ to have it all with a small footprint. I’m not hurting for space…
Speaking of floor space, I’m an idiot and decided to rearrange my weight room…twice. I rotated everything counter clockwise 90 degrees and pushed it to the far side of the room. It freed up a lot of space but I ran into a problem with head space. I need to put my head between the beams that support the first floor and there are utilities in the way. The other side of the room is clear, though.
That meant that I got to move everything back to the other side of the room. My lifting platform is heavy and doesn’t move well. This destroyed my lower back. I had to resort to grabbing a corner and pulling. It would move about six inches and rotate. I’d go to another corner and repeat until I succeeded.
Did I mention I also had to cut six inches off the platform? Yeah, this was a terrible idea. But, on the plus side, I think we can fit the treadmill and/or elliptical on the same room and free up some space in the main part of the basement.
I posted this in @alex_uk’s log, but wanted to share it here. I like this picture. @kleinhound, this is the result of training to look intimidating so I don’t have to fight people at work.
Fuck yeah! Is that Frank Castle?
The only downside to my build is that ballistic vests seem to be molded around a bucket. If your body tapers then it doesn’t fit right. Adding a rifle plate to the front and 10x12" high speed handgun plate to the rear has made my vest fit pretty poorly. I have several inches of gap at the bottom on my stomach and lower back and it’s snug on my chest.
Damn I wouldn’t want to make any fuss! Looking massive.
On the deads, it feels like you have some upper back rounding. Me too. Is it a problem? I guess not as long as the lower back is straight?
I’ve never had any trouble, but I don’t think my spine is rounding. It’s my arms getting pulled forward. I start out trying to retract my shoulder blades, but the weight is too heavy to maintain that so my arms get pulled forward. What appears to be upper back rounding is just scapular protraction.
The part that stands out to me about my form is that my torso is damn near parallel to the floor when I first move the bar. I’m definitely using more posterior chain and less legs for deads.
This makes sense, it feels the same when it’s heavy.
Well you’re so tall, it makes sense! I’m shorter and I’m almost parallel as well
I don’t try to fight it. My body has found its strongest position and I’m just going to go with it. I see no reason to force myself into some arbitrary position because someone else says so. I just wish I’d find something that felt good on squats.
This. I’m the only one on my security team that works out in any major way, and coincidentally I’m the only one that complains about the vests not fitting right.
I am training to intimidate people in the line at the grocery store, so that’s basically exactly the same.
Nobody ever talks to me, so it’s working!
That might not be your physical prowess…
