I think I do better on OHP if I clean the weight off the floor first. I did a couple workouts where I took it off a rack, and it made the whole process seem so slow and relaxed. Doing the explosive clean gets me in the mood of lifting more powerfully. And no, it’s not because I use any upwards momentum from the clean to do the first rep.
I’ve been waiting for this day for the past couple cycles since I thought that it would be the first time I ever get to deadlift 225 for reps. It ended up calculating out to 222.3, however, so I had to round down to 220.
It’s OK, though. Next cycle, I know for sure that I’m going to put on at least two plates per side and tear myself a new set of calluses.
Deadlift
5x175
3x200
12x220 - Massacred previous 11x215 record from cycle 5, week 3.
RDL
5x10 - 155
1x0:F - 155
1x10 - 150
Clean
4x6 - 115
1x6 - 120 - Ducked under the last rep and squatted it up, Olympics style. Felt pretty cool about that.
Afterwards I did some practice with the empty bar on doing full cleans (clean, land low, full front squat up). If I learn to duck under the bar I think I’ll be able to progress faster on cleans. I used to duck under the bar by putting my legs outwards in a split, feet forward. That was bad. Now, however, my legs still come out a little farther than I would like them to but it’s not as much as it used to be and they point outwards, letting me front squat the weight up.
This isn’t something I’ll hold myself to doing every session, like some kind of finisher - deadlift day is hard enough as it is. But I’ll keep plugging away at it when I feel like it, and eventually I’ll be banging out some good-looking cleans.
Squat
5x130
3x150
4x165 - Disappointing. Thought I would be able beat last week’s 10x160. Oh well. Just makes this PR that much easier to break next cycle. I never know with the week 3 weight - sometimes I shatter previous PRs, sometimes I get 3-4 reps less than I expected. In any case, the bottom line is that I met the prescribed reps and I’m ready to work even harder next cycle.
Did a lot better on assistance work than I thought, not that that means much. I haven’t quite yet understood how I should progress with assistance lifts. Sometimes I just add 5 lbs to one set and call it progression. Other times I’ll go to failure like this to test where my limit is. So far I’ve made progress by alternating between these two methods, which I suppose is all that matters.
Pull-ups
16 - 7,4,4,1
The last pull-up was with my thumb around the bar. Helped me feel it in my back more. I’ve been using thumbless grip for pull-ups because it lets me grab the bar and start the set instantly, but with this recent little discovery of mine I’ll start gripping the bar with my thumb.
Weight: 148.5 lb (no change)
Waist: 29 3/8" (up by 1/8")
Chest: 37 5/8" (up by 3/8")
I’m pretty sure that bringing the heavy, body english rows back is what took the chest measurement back up. So I’m just gonna keep doing my own thing on that.
Also, I think I measured my waist last week incorrectly. I think I brought the measuring tape too tightly around my midsection and it compacted my fluff in. I tested that today; turns out I can have a pretty narrow waist measurement unless I bring the tape lightly around my waist.
Breakdancing practice today. I keep it as I usually would for a breakdancing practice session; just no DB holding as a finisher. i did it this way last cycle and my CNS didn’t explode so I should be good.
Flares
15x1
Spun one around with only floor contact being hands and feet. Awesome. My goal was to do that this Saturday, but earlier is fine with me.
Handstands
5x4
Sucked. Forgot to focus. Kept going too hard with the legs and over-stressing my wrists. Had one good set. Shrug shoulders, breathe in, keep tight, and take it easy with the leg power seems to help the most.
Windmills
5x4
Feeling faster and smoother. Keeping the left toe off the ground while the belly is facing down is hard, though. Must work on that to make windmills truly continuous.
Headswipes
5x2
Not a single perfect one. Couldn’t focus. Need to get balanced in a freeze before either leg hits the ground. It’s tough to bring the left arm under me to balance myself in said freeze, though.
Weight: 149 lbs (up by 1/2 lb)
Waist: 29 1/2" (up by 1/8")
Chest: 37 3/8" (down by 1/4")
As before, deload week made me fatter. Can’t wait to get into cycle 7.
Edit: By the way why does this log have 3000+ views but no posts except by me and whoever was nice enough to tell me to do 5/3/1 instead of SL5x5 in the very beginning? I mean, you can at least say “hi”.
Still have that tick in my right lat from breakdancing practice last Saturday. It hurt even more after I did a snatch with the empty bar to warm up and my right shoulder internally rotated. It felt like a drill was going in there. Took a break for a couple minutes. It bugged me a bit today but I worked through it no problems.
Overhead press
5x75
5x85
10x95 - Was halfway through rep 11, but I was really grinding it. My left foot moved forward to keep my balance. At that point I stopped - I didn’t want to end up dropping the bar in the crowded weight room. Next time I’ll stake out more space for myself.
Mad at myself for giving up in the middle of a rep like that but I would have been even more mad at myself if I got myself injured or dropped the bar on someone. All in all did not beat any PRs.
*Did worse on these today than I did on week 3 of last cycle. Couldn’t even do a pull-up after the whole workout. This happened on week 1 of last cycle, too. I think the deload week of the cycle before makes my body fatter, weaker, and lazier.
Deadlift
5x160
5x180
15x205 - Beat previous 15x200 from cycle 6, week 1 and 14x205 from cycle 5, week 2.
RDL
4x10 - 155
2x10 - 160
Clean
2x6 - 115
1x6 - 120
1x3:F - 120
1x6 - 115
The pulling feeling in my right lat was completely gone while I was doing this workout. I feel it when I stretch a certain way doing day to day things but it was always the last thing on my mind during this workout, even while I was doing cleans.
Speaking of cleans, I should’ve warmed up. I got a burst of dizziness on my very first rep for some reason. It cleared up and I was able to give them my best afterwards but it felt odd and I don’t like feeling odd with something heavy on my shoulders.
DB bench press - screwed up bad on these. Wanted 6x6 with 55s.
1x6 - 55s
1x4:F - 55s
1x6 - 50s
1x4:F - 50s
1x3:F - 50s
1x4:F - 45s
DB ‘kroc’ row
1x25 - 90
Hit failure multiple times from the DB rotating upwards and jamming into my wrist. Had to wrap a towel around my wrist to make a little cushion so I could finish, and stopped in the middle multiple times when my grip gave out before my arm/back did.
