Overhead Press: 135lbs 10x3
Alternating DB Bench: 80 lbs 4x8
Standing Single Arm Dumbbell Presses: 50 lbs 3x10
GHR: 3x10
BW Dips: 5x10
Weighted ab kine tings
Well it felt good to get in the gym twice today. I’ve been slacking on working my hammies. The knee tendonitis has been a poor excuse to just not work my legs at all, when in fact they really only hurt with squats. Will make it a point to do barbell hip thrusts and GHRs at least 2-3 times over the next 7 days to repent for my sins.
Other than that, everything feels great. I usually get some pretty good workouts in on days after a poor night’s sleep, but it’s my gains/recovery from the workout the day before that suffers. Hopefully I get more than 3 hours of sleep tonight. I did get a little nap in this afternoon, but definitely need to accumulate a few extra hours over the weekend to keep my recovery up to par. Probably shouldn’t do another two-a-day until I’ve had consistent rest. Maybe do hip thrusts as my main exercise tomorrow and some volume work with GHR + weighted pull-ups (5x10 with a 25 lbs plate maybe??). We shall see.
My lats are still sore from my Wednesday workout. I don’t usually get DOMs, but this is unsurprising since that was the night I had 3 hours of sleep after the workout. Planning on going to the gym tonight to do hip thrusts + GHR. Maybe leg curls and some core work.
Hip Thrusts: 90 lbs 2x12, 2x16
Single Leg DB Hip Thrusts: 60 lbs 4x6
BW Hip Thrusts: 1x20
BW Single Leg Hip Thrusts: 2x10
Weighted Ab Kine Tings
GHR: 2x12
Kept the weights light. Just trying to wake those glutes up and not burn them out so I can hit them frequently until I can start squatting again. I think I’ll also use days like this for rest days.
Hitting the weighted pull-ups tomorrow. I’ll aim for volume since I only totaled 70 pull-ups with varying loads on Wednesday.
I’m thinking I’ll maybe go for 100 reps with 25 lbs in as little time as possible. I would set a target time, but I really have no idea what my pull-up strength is at right now. Might take 20 minutes. Might take the whole workout. Who knows. I’m thinking it will fall within the 30-40 minute range. Next week I can try lower the time by 2 minutes and progress from there. After the pull-ups probs just take it easy and do some seated cable rows and do a curl circuit. Have only been working arms directly for the past two weeks, so I can’t tell yet if it’s made a difference size wise, but I definitely think my tricep work has helped with my pressing.
The gym I go to is having a “5 Year Anniversary” event today, so I’ll be avoiding that chaotic situation at all costs. Might do some yoga at home this afternoon and then get to the gym this evening for dem pull-ups.
EDIT: Finally did what I’ve been saying I would do since I started training again; did some frickin yoga. I’ve never done yoga regularly, so we’ll see how long this lasts. Just doing YouTube sessions at home, but this will definitely help me with my shit mobility. Even if I can stick with it for just a month, I would expect a marked improvement.
Made it to the gym after a carb-filled Italian dinner. The pull-ups felt way harder than I was expecting, but I think that’s more due to me overestimating my current pull-up strength as opposed to having an “off” day. With my bodyweight, that’s ~225 lbs for 100 reps total, and that’s probably on par with my bench press strength even though my bench 1RPM is likely higher than my pull-up 1RPM at the moment. I did do half of the sets with a dumbbell between my feet rather than the weight belt.
Will look to do the same rep total and weight in fewer sets next Sunday. Just throwing out numbers but maybe 10x7, 5x6 for my 100 reps next week and 8x8, 6x6 the week after. Evaluate progress from there.
Since I’ve been doing more pull-ups as opposed to rows, I’ll need to prioritize OHP over benching this week, which was the original plan anyway. Will consider adding in weighted dips, which I have not done for years. Did have some nice gains from that before, so should probably implement them sooner rather than later.
Planning on doing yoga tomorrow afternoon and upper body pressing in the evening. Knees are feeling better each day, and my sleeves arrived in Honolulu today, so hopefully they get delivered Monday! Will proceed overly cautious with my squatting though. Might even consider doing heavy leg presses + light squats for the first couple of weeks just to be careful. Sucks because I feel like I lost most of my strength and leg size from all the squatting I did over the past couple of months, but I think most of that’s just in my head. Oh well, not like I’m training for a competition. A year from now the effects from taking 2-3 weeks off of squatting will be negligible as long as I don’t re-injure and stay consistent.
Had my best night of sleep all week. Planning on getting to the gym tonight around 9pm. Most importantly, I did another yoga routine today for 40 minutes. I know it’s just a temporary sensation, but my body feels immensely better immediately after the yoga. Hopefully sticking to it will translate to more permanent stability and mobility. Also have a lax ball on the way since I lost my old one and my glutes have been tight af.
I’ve done two videos from the Yoga with Adriene channel.
The first routine I did was her “Day 1- Ease Into It- 30 Days of Yoga,” and then today I tried her “Yoga for Beginners- 40 Minute Home Yoga Workout.” I really have nothing to compare them to, but it seems simple and effective for me. I think I will continue with the 30 Days of Yoga, which seems to be mostly 30 minute sessions, but if you have a different suggestion I’m up for whatever!
Bench Press Singles: 265, 275, 295, 305
Bench Press: 195 (~bodyweight) 4x8
Overhead Press: 135 1x5, 155 1x3 175 1x fail
Javelin Press (first time doing these): 40 lbs 1x10, 60 lbs 2x8 each side
Standing Single Arm Dumbbell Presses: 50 lbs 2x10
BW Dips: 3x20
I was supposed to do OHPs as my main lift today, but I have my sights set on hitting 3 plates for bench, so I was stubborn. The 305 felt okay, but my butt came off. I swear to myself I will do OHP as the main lift for my next upper body pressing and tried to do my best to compensate for tonight by doing all my other assistance work overhead. Javelin Presses felt incredible. I might even want to do those as a main lift one day just to see if I can work up to 90 and eventually 100+. Would be phenomenal for my core and just good overall to switch it up a bit. Not to mention totally badass.
I’m still trying to see how much yoga affects my lifts. I’ve always responded well to high frequency exercise, so doing it on days when I lift shouldn’t be an issue, but probably best to not do it on days I squat when I’m able to implement them again. Speaking of which, my sleeves should arrive tomorrow.
Awesome, thanks for the input! I’m about to do another video right now.
Do you happen to know the answer to a question I have: if I want to roll out throughout the day as well, is it suggested to do it before, after, or not proximal to yoga? Or does it not really matter.
Not sure what my morning weight was today. Weighed 198.2 lbs in the afternoon though, right after I did…
Yoga Day 3
Also have been doing band pull aparts randomly throughout the afternoon. I only took a few of my bands out of their packaging, as I don’t think I’ll need to use some of them for a while. I’m thinking they might last better in storage if I keep them in the plastic, but if anyone has insight on that, it would be appreciated. Everything looks in good condition, so very pleased with the purchase and looking forward to utilizing it all!
Knees are feeling okay, so I’m hyped to try out my sleeves tonight. I’m not going to go heavy, at most bodyweight on the bar. And if I feel any sort of pain even warming up I’m not gonna push it. Regardless of whether there’s any pain, extra fish oil, and an aspirin for good measure before bed, and I should be good to go.
