*Got the first rep unassisted. All the reps after that the guy spotting me kept helping me up when I got the rep halfway up. I’m 100% confident I could’ve gotten at least 5 reps without help. Good thing the first rep is all I needed. Looks like this unlucky Friday the 13th business is for real after all.
There are only a few people at my gym that I know I would like to have spot me. If none of them are there I can just dump the bar when I get stuck at the bottom; I’ve done it before and it’s pretty simple.
Right bicep: 12 3/4" (-1/4)
Left bicep: 13 1/8" (+1/8)
Right thigh: 23 1/4" (+1/4)
Left thigh: 22 1/2" (no change)
Kept doing curls but right bicep size decreased. Did a front double bi pose and noticed that my right bicep was longer than my left (the “lump” went all the way from the shoulder to the elbow). Not sure what’s going on with that.
Happy my measurements increased. I’m convinced that I will continue to gain size if I keep eating the same amount that I do. I gained 10 lbs since cycle 5 and I’ve been eating the same c/p/f/cal with almost the same foods, every day.
Windmills
11x3
Need to do a solid re-stab so I can roll high for the second mill.
Handstands
10x2
Got some good still ones and walking ones.
Headswipes
6x3
Make individual headswipes smoother while keeping balance.
Find a way to lead into the next headswipe without banging left elbow on ground.
Airswipe/headswipe combo
6x2
Going well with extra stuff (footwork, finishers)
Make individual headswipes smoother while keeping balance.
Took a video of airswipe/headswipe combo. Will post it if I have time. Otherwise, sorry
Breakdancing*
Windmills
5x3
Keeping the left hand on the ground while collapsing allows for high rolling on the first mill which gives me plenty of room to stab for the second mill. Need to roll higher on the second mill so I don’t stop on my back.
*Didn’t feel worn out at all by the workout since it was so light, so I did a little breakdancing practice. I think I’ll do this after every deload workout.
That’s 10 cycles down, 3 to go before I find my new 1RMs.
Backspins
5x3
Improving with collapse. Got a lot of good ones.
Windmills
11x3
Slight improvement from yesterday. Re-stab with hand pointed forwards. Keep feet off ground when rolling onto back for second mill. Starting to make progress again now that I discovered that to roll high on the first windmill I need to give myself some power with my left arm as well as my right.
Handstands
10x2
Headswipes
5x3
Airswipe/headswipe combo
5x2
Used airchairs as a finisher. Wasn’t so hard with technique but I got a little winded.
Right bicep: 12 3/4" (no change)
Left bicep: 13" (-1/8)
Right thigh: 23" (-1/4)
Left thigh: 22 1/2" (no change)
Measurements went in the wrong direction, which is normal for a deload week. Ready for cycle 11 tomorrow.
Did parkour for the first time ever today. Was going to do it with a friend but he was busy, so I went out and did it myself. Basically just ran around the downtown district of my small town, leaping and vaulting on to, off of, and over park benches, staircases, and fences. Even surmounted a wall that was a head taller than I was. The whole ordeal took a little less than 30 minutes and I was sucking wind like crazy afterwards. Hope I didn’t mess up my recovery and set myself up for poor performance tomorrow but I honestly doubt it given that I’m consistently breaking PRs even with the volume of breakdancing I do.
Don’t know whether I’ll make it a weekly thing. I do find it legitimately fun. We’ll see.
RDL
2x10 - 215
1x8:F - 215
1x10 - 210
1x7:F - 205
1x10 - 200
Some dumbass came up to me after I finished my RDLs and said that “that exercise” didn’t work anything. Fuck that.
Clean
2x6 - 150
1x3:F - 150
2x6 - 140
Right DB curl
1x10 - 15
As it is now, I have access to 3 gyms:
High school (open for only 40 minutes/day) after school
Suburbs (won’t let me do deadlifts there anymore)
Downtown (Will let me do anything but can’t drive there on Tuesdays. I would, but my parents will simply not let me do that.)
So I will have to change up what day I do what, starting next week, so that I can go to the downtown gym on deadlift day. Sucks but that’s how it is. I’m thinking:
Windmills
11x3
Need to keep feet off ground and roll higher with the second mill. Focus on the re-stab. On the bright side: I only burned my shoulder against the ground once today!
Handstands
10x2
Exhaling seems to make balance harder. Got some great ones (ir)regardless.
Headswipes
5x3
Airswipe/headswipe combo
5x2
Getting some really smooth ones where I don’t get stuck in the middle of the headswipe.
DB hold
2 towels, 100s
1x25sec
1x15sec:F (didn’t rest enough)
1x25sec
Bench press
5x100
5x120
8x135 - #9 was halfway up. Was 100% sure I could’ve got it. Spotter grabbed it and pulled it up though, so it doesn’t count. Got stuck at the bottom on rep #10, which I needed to beat 9x135(9,2). So no PR today.
Squat
5x145
5x165
9-10x185 - Can’t compare to any recent previous PRs.
RDL
5x10 - 215
1x8:F - 215
Front squat
1x6 - 170
1x2:F - 170
3x6 - 160
Pull-ups
5,3,3,2,2
15 total
Breakdancing
Windmills
3x3
Less frequent crashing of hip into ground. High frequency is definitely helping. Progress felt much slower with breakdancing just 2x/week.
Windmills
11x3
Making progress. Rolling high helps. Occasionally almost got a second re-stab.
Handstands
10x2
Got some OK ones. Should time myself on at least a couple to keep myself accountable. When I don’t time myself, I can focus better but I still want to quantify how well I’m doing.
Headswipes
5x3
Airswipe/headswipe combo
7x2
Still working on making headswipes one smooth motion. Got some good ones.
In case you don’t keep up with my log, I changed my schedule to be like this:
SU: rest
M: deadlift
T: overhead press
W: breakdancing
TH: squat
F: bench press
SA: breakdancing
This is because of a scheduling thing with how I am only allowed to do deadlifts and cleans at the gym across town.
After doing the first set for this workout, I felt a sharp pang in my right mid-back. I took a break and did some dynamic stretches. I had this pang earlier this week during breakdancing but it never hurt this much. I nonetheless pushed through my workout, even surprising myself with a new deadlift PR.
I was in a rush today. Instead of cutting down on volume, I cut down on rest periods. I found that the amount of time I spend resting is way longer than it needs to be, because I performed much better today than last week in every lift with much less rest time. For what it’s worth, I also got leg and back pumps for the first time in a long while.
I went thru a few pages of your log man. Great work so far. 15lbs since July is solid (I’m guessing most of it was lean since you gained at a steady slow rate)
Only thing I wanted to ask was why go 5/3/1 as a beginner?
