1/29/16- Great training minus the failed reverse hyperextensions. My body is so fucked up and mysterious that I can’t even do a reverse hyperextension without pain. That’s right! The most cure all end all be all assistance exercise out there. Basically, after 3-4 reps of doing it I start feeling sciatic nerve discomfort/pain in both legs and it increases the more reps I do. Naturally, I went to google and astonishingly, there is not a single relation to nerve issues+reverse hypers. In fact, everything that came up was the exact opposite of my issue. Everyone was having their sciatica instantly cured by the exercise! Did a few cluster sets in spite of it and got a decent low back pump.
Close Stance Sumo Deadlifts (1.5 inch mat height, and loose belt): these were pretty fucking cool. I ended up getting so close that my stance was not much further out than my squat stance.
135x10
225x10
315x3,3
405x3,3
-all sets below hook grip-
500x3
500x3
500x3
500x3
500x3
500x3
Man those felt awesome, definitely think training these will help me transition to conventional in due time.
Shitty Reverse Hypers
x10
x10
x10
x10
Single Leg Hip Thrust (maybe the only post chain exercise I can do that is painless)
x15
x15
+40lbs x 12
+40lbs x 10,10,10 hamstrings are lit UP
HS curl/Pull up SS
x15/x10 pull ups
x15/x10 pull ups
x15/x10 pull ups
x15/x10 pull ups
Please be careful with trainig while/ after having a fever! A friend of mine suffered an inflammation of the heart muscle because of this. Nearly got her klled.
The situation with your back just blows my mind. You get problems from light stuff and then go on to deadlift and squat over 500 punds! Just a few questions regarding this: What does your posture look like? Any pelvic tilt? How good is your hip mobility? Mainly regarding hip flexor flexibility. Did you get your back checked (sorry if that was already mentioned, I read your log for quite a while but haven’t read through all of it)?
Thanks for the concerns buddy! Yeah, I am too stupid for my own good sometimes.
My chronic injuries (all of them) have stemmed from a pretty bad imbalance in my hips. I don’t know If I’ve ever disclosed this to everybody who reads my log, but my left leg is a half an inch shorter than my right. On some days, depending on recent patterns, like if I’m walking/standing more or sitting more, my leg can be almost a full inch shorter. Because of this issue, I get SI problems if I’m not careful with how I lift, especially when training heavy.
As far as a pelvic tilt is concerned, definitely got a ant. pelvic tilt, and it really messes with deadlift mobility but I spend at least 3 hours a week solely on mobility work. The biggest factor in managing these issues has been structure in training, and knowing when to dial things back but also when to go hard. Mobility work has been critical and I spend 40 minutes before each workout opening my hips and relieving the pressure associated with it. It’s also worth mentioning that I’ve found a way on certain exercises to accommodate with my imbalances.
All in all it seems like I probably shouldn’t be lifting, but as strong as I am currently, I’ve never felt healthier. Trial and error and remembering that where there is a will, there is a way, has lent me the ability to persist and get better. Thanks for checking in man!
1/31/16 - Good bench day, although I can’t say I’m exuberant about anything that happened. It’s a trend with me to kind of get exponentially weaker with bench as the weights get closer to my max. I know that’s a no brainer, but there seems to be an extra “oh god how am I gonna get this off my chest” feeling when I go above or around 365lbs. It’s a weakness in my chest from not having benched consistently in several years when I pursued strongman more seriously.
Still kind of chilling around that 385-390 range for bench max. I can feel it. Being able to bang out all those sets with 365 feels great. Almost casual, but it’s still dreadfully heavy at the chest and super light in the hands at the top. Gotta work on strengthening the chest.
2/2/16 - A year ago on this day I did 20 rep front squats with 275. I went in today itching to do it again, but I did not even realize I had done it a year on the day until the set was finished. I wanted 300x20 and I would’ve had it if my upper back wasn’t so weak from not having front squatted in maybe a year? I need to front squat more!
Front Squat
45x8
135x3,3
185x3,3
225x3
275x3
300x17 PR, but not happy with this. Wanted 20, legs had more but my back was just TOAST.
Random superman push ups (diamond grip, too fat and not even close to being strong enough to do these with hands a foot a part!)
x5
x5
x5
x2 fail lol
2/4/16 - One of the worst workouts i’ve had in a while. diet has been crap and haven’t been sleeping as much, bit stressed.
Bent Over Row
45x20
135x12
135x12
225x8
straps on
275x8 hard? felt light but my arms didnt wanna pull for some reason
belt on (loose)
325x8 ugh
switch to wide grip
275x8
225x12 feeling way heavy
135x15 very strict form
135x15
135x15
2/6/16 - All I ate yesterday was pretty much Taco Bell and a few hard boiled eggs. That’ll change soon. Tired and a bit overcompensating today but we managed a decent workout. Hit a technical PR on log but got a nasty stinger in my neck/shoulder.
Log (out of rack)
110x5
160x3
200x2
250x1 Pinched some shit BAD in my neck. Did not realize till I was done with the set.
270x1 easy
300x2 this is technically the most times I have ever pressed 300, but I 100% had 3 reps. I staggered on the lockout and brought it back down to the chest and just lost my tightness and couldn’t get it again.
270x5 belt too tight, but felt good
put belt loose and it actually felt a lot better
270x4
270x4 legs are DONE, but really decent pressing for me.
Crown Presses (log)
140x8
140x8
140x8
3- way shoulders. Zero point in blowing up my upper body with the lack of calories.
Honestly I wouldn’t advise doing them, but they’re basically when you just pause the log on top of your head and press it out. Of course, I have ample padding on the head and I try to be very careful and do it with a light weight. I kinda like the way they blow up the tris near the elbow.
I think the only time I’ve seen someone voluntarily press a log this way was JPS in the circa 1980 WSM contests.
Night time stuff: 4 sets of 150 foot hill sprints (moderate effort) and 30 minutes of walk. Rested about 1 minute between each run. First time running in a while so I’m going to monitor how I feel each time and frequent it more often if I need to.
2/8/16
Back Squat
45x8,8
135x5,5
185x3
225x3
275x3
belt on
335x1
405x1
455x1
500x1 Felt heavy but comfortable enough for a double.
I will say I HATE the walk outs with 500+. It’s not because I’m worried about balance, but because I already struggle to get a good foot stance with 135 so if I fiddle around too much I waste crucial energy.
Was going to do pause squats but I need to deadlift from the floor this week so I need to conserve. I will go ham next week on squat volume.
Corrective Squats (goblet):
30lbs x 15
30lbs x 15
30lbs x 15
30lbs x 15
Circuit: 20 vertical 16lb hammer swings to tire, 8 pull-ups, 15 downward dog to plank, no rest, 5 rounds. Tough!
2/10/16 - Felt overdue for a rep PR with 550 on deads. I have not been getting much sleep, even though diet has been better. I knew what I had to do though to get a PR, so the sleep thing is no excuse for me.
Deadlifts (sumo)
45x8,8
135x8,8
225x3
315x3
belt on
405x2
500x1
550x6 PR, hook grip on last rep for some reason. Sloppy reps but they were strong. Awesome.
Single Leg Hip Thrusts (love these)
BW x 15
BW x 15
+40lb x 10
+40lb x 10
+40lb x 10
drop set
BW x 15/10
HS Curl
x15 doubled up the band for these and used two legs and it felt amazing.
x15
x15
x15
x15
7 sets of 180 foot hill sprints. 180 foot walk (about 1 minute) rest periods. Went ham on these and it felt okay minus some hamstring weirdness mostly caused from the soreness from the deads and shit. Pec is feeling weird from moving my arms so violently during the sprints.
2/12/16 - pecs are still feeling strange, almost sore from sprinting lol. benching was a battle today. I won it.
Spoto Press (1 inch above chest, 1 sec pause)
45x8
95x8
135x8
155x3
185x3
205x2 reracked, felt VERY precarious in the pec.
re-warm up
225x10
225x10
225x10 hard, ended up doing about 5 min rest periods to spend time working on rotator cuff work which i feel helps me immensely in staying tight on the bench which in turn keeps my fucked up pec from hopefully not causing a blunder.
Random Push Press (axle)
125x10
180x5
215x3
265x2
315x1 super easy, wtf?
335x0 got it up like 95% and triceps were just utterly confused. Wanted a double with this.
270x5
270x5 easy on the first few and by the end it’s feeling 50lbs heavier. Definitely not a time to be doing heavy push presses! Had fun trying anyway.
Standing DB Military Press
40x15
40x20
40x12
40x12
40x15 hard
2/14/16 - Fuckin awesome day of front squats. Was a bit intimidated since I only just returned to doing this exercise after a really long break. Went heavy and got a great volume PR.
Front Squats
45x8
135x5
225x3
belt on
275x2
315x1
365x5 SO easy, had this for 8+! but I feelin like I got a rib out or somethin under my right shoulder blade
365x5
365x5
365x5
365x5 lost rack position on the 4th but finished it anyway. TOUGH shit here.
Previous rep/sets with 365 was 5x3 so this blows that out of the water big time. 10 extra reps. Man, I know I’m not this strong yet, but the 500 front squat club sounds fun to be in. Maybe some day.
Beltless Pause Back Squats +about 180lbs band tension at top
220x5
220x5
220x5
220x5 these are really heavy lol definitely feeling my quads getting hammered. Taking a lot out of me to stabilize.
Just a few questions regarding this: What does your posture look like? Any pelvic tilt? How good is your hip mobility? Mainly regarding hip flexor flexibility. Did you get your back checked (sorry if that was already mentioned, I read your log for quite a while but haven’t read through all of it)?
